Why Using a Website Designer who says: “We don’t do SEO” might be a bad idea.

Posted on January 31, 2012 by admin| Leave a comment

When a potential client asks me to look at a website, like most people, the first thing I notice is how it looks. If it has a good layout, great colors, and a catchy header (especially one that “flashes”) I am impressed.  However, as I look closer, I often see some glaring problems.

Here is a short list of things I have recently noticed on the home pages of sites I have been asked to evaluate:

  • Little or no text on the home page.  While sites that look cool grab my attention, if I can’t find any useful information, I am probably not going to do anything but admire the page.  And that won’t make the website owner any money. Also, without text, the page may be invisible to search engines, which means if I don’t know the web address, I probably won’t find the website in the first place.
  • No Phone number.  While we used to put contact information on a page called “Contact,” the newer thinking is that the phone number should be prominent on all pages, encouraging viewers to make a call from any page they are on.
  • Text and phone number enclosed in images.  Search engines can’t search text in images, making it invisible to search engines.  When the phone number is in text, people who access websites from their smart phones can simply touch the number to make a phone call; this is not possible when the number is presented within an image.
  • Page titles.  Page titles can be valuable Real Estate in a website. They should contain keywords to help search engines rank the pages.
  • No “H” tags. Headings are given greater weight  by Search Engines and should be considered on all pages. (If you don’t want big glaring headlines, you can use CSS to make headings smaller.)
  • No Clear “Call to Action.”  If you don’t tell me what you want me to do, I probably won’t do anything.
  • A menu or navigation system that is not intuitive.  The navigation should fit in one line across the top of the page (or down the left side).   If the navigation bar will not fit on one line, use drop-down sub-headings. Don’t split the main tier of the navigation.  (One site I looked at had part of the navigation above the header and another part below the header – Confusing!)
  • No “alt” tags on images.  Alternative text is important for vision impaired people and also from an SEO standpoint.
  • No meta tag for description. While meta tags have fallen out of favor, they are still often used by search engines in Search Results pages and  may be used for SEO by the Search Engine.
  • Site not verified on Google.  Google is the biggest search engine around.  Having it verified is a small step that can pay big dividends.
  • No listing on Google Places.  This is especially important for “brick and mortar” businesses, but should be considered by anyone who wants local customers.

Most of the above issues can easily be addressed when the site is being developed, but will be far more costly when done after the site is complete.

Content Management Systems like WordPress make it easier to publish cool looking websites, and many graphic designers have the ability to design gorgeous sites.  However, for a website to be found on search engines, engage viewers and entice them to take some action, a pretty site may not be enough.

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Social Media – 2012

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

“Today, much of what we see is still traditional marketing disguised as social media.”  – Brian Solis

When most of us took our marketing classes, we were taught traditional marketing strategies.  However, today, we realize that there has been a sea change in the way marketing is done, and we are scrambling to understand how social network marketing works, why it works, and how it fits into our businesses.

Many have turned to seminars, webinars and workshops (we have even taught a few ourselves) to understand what social media marketing is and how we can use it.  The problem is, even when you understand the concept, you are left trying to implement a social media campaign that sometimes seems counter intuitive.  Marketing that is not marketing!

Using social media platforms for traditional marketing doesn’t work, and may end up hurting your business instead of helping.  Are you sure you understand the difference?

Social Media Marketing is still in its infancy and is evolving.  Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn regularly tweak their platforms and new outlets are constantly emerging. (Google+ and Pinterest both launched in 2011.)  Businesses that survive and thrive will need a way to track the changes, make sure they follow the rules and use the right platforms in the right way for their business.  This probably means hiring a marketing company that not only understands the concepts of social media marketing, but is keeping track of the platforms and how to use them.

 

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You’re #1 on Google, Now What?

Posted on November 14, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

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I am always mildly amused when clients ask me about paying high monthly fees to get their websites higher on search engines, while not paying attention to what visitors see when they find the website.

A view of just a few websites that have hit the top 3 on Google can be quite revealing. For example, I did a search for home inspectors in my town. Looking at the first three, it looks like each used a template (actually very similar templates). And while the first pages looked great, the content was also very similar for all of them. (Did the content come with the template? Are home inspectors really that generic?) Also, the company ranked first on Google gave no contact information on the first page. When I hit “contact” I was taken to an error page, which asked me to click another link. When I finally got to the contact page, I was asked to fill out a form with a “Capcha” before an email would be sent. I hate filling out forms and am not a big fan of Capcha’s. Next…

Conversion – turning lookers into customers – is what it is really all about. Here are a few suggestions about how to make your website more “customer friendly.”

Who are you? Have you ever seen a group of soldiers in a parade? Would you be able to recognize one individual soldier after the parade? I believe that websites should reflect the true personality and culture of the business, and unfortunately, while most templates look okay, when everyone is using the same ones – I can’t tell much about who you really are.

It isn’t just about the Homepage. While the home page is the best place to start when people find you on search engines, there are times when your links on other sites, your blog, your Facebook page and even your print pieces reference information on a specific page of your site. Why not have the link go to the appropriate page. No one likes to click through several pages to find what they are looking for.

Don’t make them go to the “contact” page to contact you. For most of us, it isn’t on the contact page that we make the decision to make contact. Don’t make your viewers navigate back to contact page or even the home page. Put your contact information on EVERY page. If you have a form to sign up for your newsletter, add that to each page.

Don’t make your phone number an image. And make it big. When people are looking for you on a smart phone, the phone number changes to a link.

Improve the content. Okay, as a writer, I still believe that content is king. Here are a few of my pet peeves when visiting websites:

  • “Generic” content that doesn’t really tell your story. I want to know what you do, how you do it and why I should care.
  • Cluttered pages. If my eyes don’t know where to go, they are going to another page. Make the site neat. Don’t confuse people. The site should be interesting, but easy to read and follow.
  • Contrast. Please, do not use dark gray on light gray paper – I can’t read it. But do not use bright red print on a royal blue background – it gives me a headache!
  • Make the navigation obvious. Make it easy to find all of your pages.

Give enough information, but not too much. If you need many, many pages, are you trying to tell people too much? Are you confusing them? Have you told customers enough so they can make informed purchasing decisions? People want to understand what you are selling and how it will meet their needs. If you can’t tell them that pretty quickly, they will move on.

Post prices! While many companies back away from publishing prices and fees, this is a wonderful way to qualify customers. Most people are more comfortable knowing pricing up-front. And, think about it, do you really want to talk to someone who can’t afford you?

Posted in SEO, Websites

What is EMarketing?

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Sandy |

eMarketing encompasses all of the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web. When the term was coined, those activities included static websites and one-way email blasts. Today, while the definition hasn’t changed, the term also encompasses social network marketing, … Read more »

What is the Next Big Thing in Social Network Marketing?

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Sandy |

“Two things are sure with regard to social media and businesses: 1) as a way to connect with customers, social media is here to stay; 2) social media will evolve into an essential, customer community-building tool every successful business – … Read more »

Is It Fair (Smart) to Hire a Social Media Manager?

I have been helping my clients speak to their customers for over 20 years. I ghost wrote a book. My client received author credit and has been interviewed many times about the book. My name is never mentioned. When I write websites, newsletters, brochures and press releases, my name is not mentioned; my clients take the credit – I take the cash. In other words, people pay me to write for them. But I don’t make stuff up. When I take on an assignment, I take the time to understand what it is my client wants to say and to whom. I work with clients to understand their personalities and quirks. I often do further research on the subject I am writing about. And when I write, I take on the persona of my client.

This should not be a surprise. The most successful fiction writers are able to take on the personas of their characters. They are able to “get into the skin” of an axe murder, a victim and a detective in the same book – making us understand and believe in the personalities of each of the characters.

If I do my job correctly, my clients look good, and people understand who they are and what they want to say – often better than if the client, himself, were to try to convey the information. When my client says, “It sounds like I wrote this myself,” I feel I have done my job well.

Social Network Marketing should fall in the same category. It is no secret that there is no one person speaking from Coca Cola, Dell Computers or McDonalds on the social networks. We are hearing the personalities and “voices” of people who work at those companies. So why would it be wrong for a small company to outsource the Social Network Marketing duties to me? In fact, because it is my business to quickly understand the culture of a company and their social media strategy, I can often speak for that company better than its employees – especially since it is my business –and I have no political agenda.

The New Marketing 101

Okay, I’ll admit it, it has been a few years since I took Marketing 101 in college, and I’ll bet things have changed since then, but I wonder if they have changed enough to account for the exponential growth of social media marketing. And I wonder if marketing departments, peopled with those of us who grew up in a world without Social Networking, are changing fast enough to keep up with what has been a revolution in marketing.
A few weeks ago, I was explaining to a client that he needed to start looking into Social Media Marketing for his company. He does marketing for a company that sells adaptive vehicles to people with disabilities. I mentioned that because it is harder for these folks to get around, they were probably quite conversant with the Internet, and have probably joined social networks. This gentleman actually became angry. He was outraged that he was being “forced” to do business this way. He felt it wasn’t fair. Why should he have to change?
I told him that he didn’t have to change, but that his competitors probably were changing and if he didn’t, he would probably lose sales, not to mention spending money on ads that no longer work.
I guess we can all get angry at having to change the way we do business, and get upset that we have to learn how to function in a world where information goes viral and travels around the world in a few minutes. It was a lot easier when we bought advertising space on television or a magazine, or sent a direct mail piece. It was a lot more expensive and wasn’t as effective as a good social media program – but it was easier…

What does a Social Network Marketing Manager Do?

With all the hype about Social Network Marketing, and the many people who claim to be “experts,” it is important to understand the role of a social media manager. If you are hiring someone who doesn’t understand what the job entails, you might be surprised by the results you get…

Some of the things a social media manager does…

  • Provides an overall Marketing Strategy. Social Media Managers must take into consideration all of the marketing tactics already in place, both traditional (outbound) and social (inbound), and come up with a strategy that makes sense for your company.
  • Provides expertise – A good SMM quickly gets a “feel” for the culture of your business, understanding that what works for one business may not work for another. Google changes its algorithms regularly. Social sites come and go. Keeping current on what is going on in the “Social” world is a key element for a good social media manager.
  • Keeps up on the rules and regulations of the sites. Social sites are constantly “tweaking” their rules to make the experience more valuable for their members. Not keeping up with the rules can cause your pages to be “blacklisted” or have you actually kicked off the sites – with no appeal.
  • Provides consistency – When you get busy, you might “drop off the map.” A good SM Manager will have a schedule and post at consistent and appropriate intervals.
  • Monitors trends within Social Network Marketing. A good SM manager will be on pertinent news feeds and email lists. Keeping up to date with what’s “hot” and what’s “not is sometimes challenging, but an integral part of keeping sites fresh and current.
  • Monitors Your Wall – When someone has a comment or problem, it should be acknowledged and dealt with promptly. Keeping company management apprised of these contacts and working to make sure problems are dealt with quickly and appropriately is a big part of the Social Manager’s job.
  • Designs and customizes the various “Pages.” Facebook, Twitter and other sites are allowing pages to be customized. Having a social media manager who understands graphic design and web design or works with someone who does, is becoming increasingly important.
  • Finds and posts interesting and appropriate content – while this is often believed to be the main job description of a social media manager, as you can see, there is a lot more to it. However, what gets posted is still the most important part of the job.

Social Media management is like any other job – businesses need to develop a job description and ways to assess the manager’s performance. The above points are just some of the things that businesses have to consider when hiring social media managers.

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What if you are not #1 on Google?

Posted on August 1, 2011 by admin| 1 Comment

“Most of the new visitors to my content come from referrals by people in their communities, not serendipitious discovery in a search engine. That works fine for me. If Bob, a knowledgeable communicator working in the kind of organization for which I want to consult or speak, is in my community, and he shares a link to one of my posts with Mary, that’s a far more useful connection to me than an anonymous user who finds my post because it matched a keyword search.” –Shel Holtz, Social Media Today

I had a meeting with a new client. He is starting a business and believed that all he really needed to do was get his website (his generic, template driven, canned content website) on the first page of Google and he would have all the business he could handle. He truly believed that his business would be successful based solely on people finding him on Google. He said that it was the first place people looked when looking for products and services.

I asked him if he had found me on Google. He said, no, one of my clients had referred him. He thought a minute and said someone else had referred the landscaper he was using … and his plumber … and even his doctor. He could not think of one time that he had opened Google, found a company on the first page and then used them.

It may sound blasphemous, especially for a digital marketer/web developer, but people starting businesses should not ignore face-to-face marketing. A lot of my business comes from referrals from current customers and contacts I make through the Chamber of Commerce, my referral group and the workshops I give. Social Network Marketing can be done in the real world – not just the “virtual” one. That doesn’t mean that I ignore my website or social sites. I know for a fact that many of the leads I get are converted to customers when they look at my website, read my blog or check out my Facebook page.

While statistics prove that businesses get more traffic when they are on the first page of Google, there really is more to marketing than being #1 on Google. (It’s a good thing, or most of us would starve.)

My advice to my new client (and all of my clients) is to get the best website they can afford. Make sure the site tells their story, is easy to navigate, attractive to look at, contains a call to action and gives people many opportunities to contact them. It is also crucial that they understand and use the social sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any others that make sense for them. And finally, they should spend the time to write a blog and update it often.

After they have done all of that, they should walk away from their computers. They should go out and meet people, shake their hands, look them in the eyes – their real eyes.

 

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