Archive for January, 2010

Is your website doing its job?

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Your website should be more than just pretty, it should deliver results. Here are a few factors to consider:

1. Determine your site’s goal: what do you want your site to do? For example:

  • Sell products (ex: amazon.com, Etsy.com, theawesomer.com)
  • Pre-qualify & Produce Leads (ex: car dealership sites, real estate sites)
  • Provide information (ex: petfinder.com, webMD, treehugger.com)
  • Customer Support (ex: help.com, apple support)

2. Design

  • Great design (professional, innovative) helps establish credibility
  • Harmony & flow. Everything should work together to create one clear message
  • Organize pages so they make sense to the first-time user
  • Colors & graphics should reflect your message, and fonts should be easy to read
  • Create a call to action- what do you want visitors to do on your site? Make a purchase, fill out a contact box, leave a comment, etc.

3. Usability

  • Easy to navigate
  • Loads quickly- be wary of lengthy flash intros- although pretty, they take a while to load and many times are irrelevant to the message of the site, contributing only to the aesthetics. You don’t want your clients to go to another site simply because your site takes too long to get to the stuff they are looking for. Also search engine bots don’t read flash.
  • Keep content simple, easy to understand and concise.
  • Make it easy for visitors to participate in your call to action with features such as a contact box on every page.

4. Stickiness

  • Maintain repeat visitors by keeping your site fresh with regular updates & new info/products.
  • Encourage visitors to join or subscribe to your social networks, consider giving them an incentive such as a coupon.

5. Tracking & Searching

  • Use Google Analytics (it’s free!) to track your site’s performance. With this info, you can see which pages retain traffic and which ones need to be revamped.
  • Make your site easy to find with either PPC or SEO.  Since only 28% of users bother to go beyond the first page of search engine results, if you rank on page two or three you might as well be on page 65.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Website Design | No Comments »

Will Google’s Caffeine Give Your Site the Jitters?

Thursday, January 21st, 2010

Google Caffeine, Google’s newly revamped search engine, has many of us wondering what effect it will have on our websites SEO. Many studies, including an impressive 9,000 keyword research conducted by Summit Media, found that although search rankings are not highly affected, Caffeine favors sites that have new and timely content, especially for generic searches. Unlike long tail searches that are more specific, generic searches will bring up results that are real time oriented in order to give the user a more current scope of results. Here are a few ideas to consider about Caffeine’s effect on your site:

  • With Caffeine showing a bias towards updated sites, consider integrating features onto your website that will keep it fresh and dynamic, such as a blog.
  • Caffeine is said to boost real-time results, you may want to amp up your social media by contributing regularly to Twitter, blogs, etc.
  • Since Caffeine will deliver more relevant search results, focus on keywords and use relevant, high quality links. Get rid of broken and irrelevant links and make sure your site loads quickly.

If you have experienced Caffeine, please feel free to share your findings or any user tips.

Tags: ,
Posted in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Maximize your twitter business account

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Twitter, like many other social networking sites, gives us the opportunity to connect.  For businesses, this micro-blogging service functions as a channel to building relationships with everyone from clients to colleagues.  With just 140 characters businesses can obtain new clients, discover a new resource, or gain genuine feedback on products and services.

It appears that this communication platform is here to stay.  On January 7, 2010, Ford Motor Company announced they would be adding Twitter to their voice-activated Sync service.  Yes, drivers will be able to have tweets read to them, along with being prompted when new tweets are posted.  With the growing popularity of commercial-free satellite radio, could this new Twitter service be the way back into our customer’s cars?  Because accessing tweets means members have to “follow” you, your messages will be heard by people that have opted to hear them, and should be interested to some extent in what you have to say.

Since Twitter will most likely be a fixture in modern communication, here are a few pointers to maximizing your Twitter account for business:

  • Provide twittastic (fantastic) exclusive deals/discounts for your followers
  • Ask followers to respond (feedback) to product/service questions
  • Offer expert advice to questions that followers post (encourage followers to post questions)
  • Give followers “insider information” on new products/services
  • Link to your blog, announce when you have a feature blogger
  • Always respond to comments and retweet messages you find interesting or helpful
  • Post fun pictures of everything from clever ways to use new products to staff events
  • Get creative and start a contest for your followers, offer a fun prize!
  • Use the Search feature to view what people are saying about your business

Find more information at Twitter 101, and check back for info on more twapplications (twitter applications).

Tags:
Posted in Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

Tips to Using Google Analytics Data

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

According to Netcraft, as of December 2009 there were over 230 million websites! In an environment where the term “stiff competition” is an understatement, how can you tell if your website is effective? By analyzing every single page! Yes, were talking hard core analysis with charts and statistics provided for free and packaged beautifully by Google Analytics.

Google Analytics is a user friendly service that basically tracks your website’s performance, reporting how visitors found your site and what they did once they found it. Created for marketers, Google Analytics is uncomplicated with straightforward directions devoid of confusing techie lingo. To get started, copy and paste the html tracking code into pages you want tracked. From visitor tracking and loyalty, to source conversion, Google Analytics offers over 80 customizable reports.

Here are a few tips on how you can use this data to get better conversion rates:

  • Pages with high bounce rates should be reviewed. This could mean optimizing for usability. Consider shortening and simplifying lengthy text with bulleted lists or adding a video.
  • Having the ability to see the path your visitors take- which page they just came from and which page they went to next- tells you if your customers are following the path you have created for them. Your site should be deliberately constructed to direct your customer into some form of action.
  • Recognizing which external sources drive traffic to your site, especially if you are paying for them, allows you to focus on successful sources rather than wasting time and resources on ones that bomb. If you notice a large portion of your traffic comes from social media sites, you may want to implement or invest more time blogging, optimizing videos, or creating a facebook app.
  • Identifying keywords used to drive traffic to a page helps SEO with both successful and negative words (keywords you do not want to come up for in a search). For example, a high end retailer may not want to come up in a search for “cheap or free”.

To maximize the benefits of Goggle Analytics, stay on top of reports with consistent review.  This way you can learn about patterns, effective pages and sources, and ways to get a better return on your investment.

Tags:
Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »