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How to Tell If Your Website is Targeting the Right Audience

Doug Williams @ 4:26 am

This blog entry was posted on August 31, 2010.

Just because visitors are coming to your site does not mean they are qualified prospects. Frequently I will look up the website on Quantcast.com to get a profile of the demographics and then look at the website analytics to see what pages are being viewed most.

This will give me an idea of who is coming to the site and what their motivation is. Let me give you an example. I had a medical products company contact me last week and they were getting a steady flow of traffic, but they were convinced something was wrong.

The company manufactures medical devices meant to be used primarily in the treatment of 50-70 year old patients. Their website was designed to be informational rather than transactional. Their website was meant to be educating potential patients using their products in their treatment and physicians wanting to learn about available treatments.

They had only very basic website analytics that only showed traffic, keywords, pages visited, etc.

We started by looking at the demographics of their visitors. We went to Quantcast.com and noticed that their primary audience was 18-34 Female. We then looked into their analytics and saw their most visited page after their home page was their careers page.

We went back to the company and they confirmed they had been doing substantial recruiting and they were not surprised by this.

With a little more checking we confirmed they were only being searched for by their name and their site was not optimized for any of the industry standard terms that physicians or consumers might use.

What did we recommend? This organization is working to become a prominent medical products company. Their website needs to reflect what they will become. They need a website that creates confidence and trust in what they do. The first recommendation was to replace their current site and create a new high image website structured with separate sections tailored for the physician and for the consumer.

They need to have a prominent positioning on the search engine for terms and phrases that will attract qualified prospects. Identify these keyword phrases and then create a comprehensive keyword plan for initial web pages and future pages. Technical medical phrases would be placed under the physician section and more common lay terms would be used in the consumer sections.

Create a content growth strategy with keyword rich text using articles and blog postings. Create back linking strategies to build of the link popularity of the site.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



Is It Better to Build a Niche or a Brand?

Doug Williams @ 5:49 am

This blog entry was posted on August 29, 2010.

Should you focus on building up a prominent brand and use that name recognition to market your products? Or should you find smaller niche markets to dominate? Both are forms of brand building. The difference is the size and costs involved.

Prominent brands take a lot of time and money to build up. Brands are very important in helping you sell to a broad market. They help you win customers and help you to keep them.

Want to create another Amazon.com? You would need to invest millions in brand building before you could build market wide name recognition. The advantage is you are creating “top of mind” awareness and it will take on a life of its own, building a natural sales momentum.

Niche marketing certainly is one of the buzz-words in online marketing. Here you concentrate on a small and focused target market. Branding in a niche market has a lower cost of entry and it is easier to dominate.

The perception today is that big is not better. A smaller organization that specializes in a niche market is seen as a better authority and more knowledgeable about the market needs and market trends. Communications are specific to the needs of that market. Products are developed with features specific to the specialized needs of that market making the products produced superior for that niche.

Even though a niche is a subset of a market, this does not necessarily mean lower potential sales volume. The goal in niche marketing is to gain a very high market share by supplying specialized products to that niche and more focused marketing.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Positioning Your Website for Success

Doug Williams @ 4:09 am

This blog entry was posted on August 27, 2010.

Positioning Your Website for Success

There is more to positioning than getting a top ranking on Google. Getting people to your website is only the start of creating a top producing website. In marketing, positioning is the process of creating the best image, identity and solution for your target market.

Website positioning to get maximum effectiveness takes three types of positioning.

  1. Position for a top ranking (SEO)
  2. Position to attract your best buyer
  3. Position as the best solution

Search: Anyone with a website wants to be in the “top ten” results. Being on page one of the search results will make the difference getting a flow of visitor traffic and being invisible on the web. The key is to select keyword phrases that are specifically tied to core products and services sold by the business.

Buyer: Don’t make the mistake of trying to sell to everybody or you will appeal to no one. Instead focus on your best buyer. Your best buyer is the most receptive prospect and is most likely to buy what you offer. What specifically are they expecting you to help them with?

Solution: Go after your best buyer. Address the specific needs of that customer and how you will solve a problem that will directly benefit them. Ask yourself, “How will what I offer make my customer’s life better?”

Online viewers can only focus on one thing at a time. If you present many options, then they won’t hear any of them. If you have a number of services, show them simply and graphically with a link to a focused page about that service.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



9 Ways to Inspire Trust and Win Customers

Doug Williams @ 2:18 am

This blog entry was posted on August 25, 2010.

Building trust is a critical part of creating a high converting website. When people first arrive to a website for the first time, they are immediately suspicious. They will look for signs of whether they should trust you before they are willing to buy or even sign-up for a newsletter. Building website trust will determine how well you succeed with your online marketing.

  1. First impression: Within the first fraction of a second of arriving, your visitor will perceive the whole before they perceive the parts. They look at graphics, color scheme, navigation and layout before they get to your attention getting headline.
  2. Logo: They look for a credible logo in the upper left. People instantly look to the source of the message, before they read the message. Use your logo to create reassurance and confidence.
  3. Easy contact: Prominently display your phone number and physical address on every web page. This reassures your visitor that you are a real company and that can be easily reached if there is a problem.
  4. Interaction: It is harder to create a lasting impression in a single encounter. Devise a way to interact with visitors on an ongoing basis. Use opt-in newsletters or have an interactive blog on your site.
  5. Selling sequence: Guide your visitors through your sales pitch in the same way you would do this in person or on the phone. Each product or service will have an optimal process of converting a prospect into a buyer.
  6. Comparisons: Many customers want to comparison shop before they buy. Improve your conversions by comparing your products against your most popular competitors. If you supply this information, then they don’t need to spend the time searching.
  7. Minimum information: Require the absolute minimum of information for sign-ups, quote requests or purchases. Don’t ask for information from your visitors unless there is a real need for it.
  8. Easy checkout: Don’t make visitors register and give their information prior to the checkout. Make your checkout process simple and streamlined. You will lose buyers if your checkout process is long or frustrating.
  9. Security: If you are taking credit cards or confidential personal information secure these web pages. You should implement a secure shell with at least 128-bit encryption to protect your visitor.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing



Easy 3 Step Formula for Website Conversion Improvement

Doug Williams @ 4:19 am

This blog entry was posted on August 23, 2010.

Does your business website just sit there without producing any leads or sales? Do you have visitors coming to your site without buying or taking action? If your answer is yes, then you need to apply our 3 step formula.

For your offer:

  1. Make it compelling
  2. Make it visible
  3. Get them to trust you.

Compelling: Why are visitors arriving and what are their motivations? The key is to exactly match the motivation of your prospect and then provide a compelling action that provides a solution. It is the clarity of how you state your value proposition and how relevant your site is to your arriving visitor. Is it a compelling and cohesive solution that answers your arriving visitor’s need?

Visible: Does your website have a clear and visible action for visitors to take? Is it clear? Is it visible without the need to scroll down on the page?

A clear action must be visible and compelling on the home page. We want your targeted best buyer to see and then take some specific action such as sign-up, request a report or buy now. The “offer” must be valuable to your targeted best buyer.

Trust: Building trust is a critical part of creating a high converting website. When people first arrive for the first time, they are immediately suspicious. They will look for signs of whether they should trust you before they are willing to buy or even sign-up for a newsletter. Building website trust will determine how well you succeed with your online marketing.

Make it easy to contact you with a phone number and an actual street address (not a PO Box). Post your privacy policy, shipping procedure and your refund policy.

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Filed under: Web Usability



What is Social Media Spamming?

Doug Williams @ 3:58 am

This blog entry was posted on August 21, 2010.

Social media marketing does not mean spamming. Social media marketing is about creating unique, newsworthy and remarkable content on popular sites such as YouTube, social networking sites and other social sites. Social media marketing is about authenticity, creating relationships and trust.

Unfortunately there are many that try to exploit social media using spam methods. Spam is no longer limited to emails. These are 6 types of spam that hurt social media today.

  1. Spam Messages: This is sending unwanted ads and commercial messages on social networking sites. Marketers will target a certain demographic and send unsolicited messages.  Facebook spam is a major issue today.
  2. Twitter Spam. Sometimes called follow spam. This affects Twitter and other micro blogging services. This is when you follow a huge number of people for the purpose of getting them to follow you back (as opposed to actually caring about what they have to say).
  3. Profile Spam: These are profiles set up on social networking sites for the purpose of creating links and not for the purpose of contributing to that community.
  4. Comment Spam: These are comments placed on blogs with the sole objective of getting links back to their website. Some are blatant ads for weight loss, discount prescription drugs or pornography sites. Others are more innocuous with the commenter saying   “Excellent post. Keep up the good work.”
  5. Spam Blogs: These are blogs that automatically gather search results using feeds from services such as Google Alerts. Spam blogs can also aggregate feeds from other niche blogs. These can then promote affiliate sites or generate money from advertising. This often called autoblogging.
  6. Social Bookmarking Spam: This is usually done with automated programs and services that will create “personas” to promote a particular website. These programs automatically create social bookmarking links on sites like Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon.

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Filed under: Social Media Marketing



Natural SEO Requires Quality Content

Doug Williams @ 5:25 am

This blog entry was posted on August 19, 2010.

Having text on your web page is critical for organic search engine optimization. Unique, original, keyword rich content is the key to make your website search engine friendly. Use these words to draw in your customer and convince them to purchase. These same words will be spidered and indexed by the search engines and make your website available for search.

You are writing your content for two audiences. Use keyword rich content for the search engines. Engaging and informative content is for converting visitors into buyers. It takes both to make a successful website.

Develop a content growth strategy for your website. Don’t just create a website and forget about it. Fresh information offers an incentive for visitors and search engine spiders to keep returning. Use blogs, press releases, articles and new product sections as ways to regularly grow your website content.

Natural SEO is more than adding keywords into your website content. Keywords are how people think and search for what you offer. Use these keywords to attract attention and engage your visitors. You Engaging SEO writing will attract visitors as they search and then engage them once they arrive.

For SEO to be truly effective it needs to focus both on attracting targeted visitors and then to engage them with compelling words that answer the question arriving people are searching for. The voice, tone, and formality needs to speak to your audience in a way they understand.

Adding a blog to your website is a great way to attract search engine spiders. Each post should be enriched with keywords that are focused on your topics.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies,Website Design



Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Doug Williams @ 4:19 am

This blog entry was posted on August 17, 2010.

SEO can be confusing to someone that is pondering how to get their website to the top of Google. SEO is many things. It is an art, it is a science. It is technical, it is logical and at the same time creative. Doing SEO, you need to be part marketer and part techno Geek.

Most of all SEO is a methodology where you look at how visitors search using keyword phrases. Not all keywords are created equal. Some will be better at attracting researchers while others are better at bringing  buyers.

The goal in organic SEO is to get well placed in the natural search results. You want to choose keyword phases that will attract people who are interested in what you offer. If your business sells to the local community, then you need to focus on using community names in your keyword phrases.

There are three major facets to search engine optimization.

  1. Keywords: Research and select the phrases that people are likely to type when they are doing a search. Buyers will tend to use more specific 3-5 word phrases. They will frequently use manufacturer names and model numbers rather than broader phrases. Create a written plan with your selected keywords , assigning phrases to specific web pages.
  2. On site SEO: Here the keyword phrases are used visibly on your actual web pages. Keywords are used in the page names, in the page headlines, in the text on the pages and in the hyperlinks on the pages.
  3. Off site SEO: These are steps you do outside of the website. Getting other websites to link to your site is a large part of off site SEO. Links should be from relevant websites, blogs, directories and social media. Ideally the hyperlink text (anchor text) will include your keyword phrases.

SEO is the art and science of increasing the traffic your website receives from the search engines. This optimization includes improving internal and external aspects of your site.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



What is the Index Page for Your Website?

Doug Williams @ 6:36 am

This blog entry was posted on August 15, 2010.

The index page is also known as the home page, front page, default page or main page. This is the main arrival page for visitors needs to quickly tell visitors what your website offers. The home page acts as the index to the entire site and is the starting point for visitors. It typically has navigation that links to all the major sections of the website.

A well written home page greets a visitor with solutions to their problem. It is organized to be quickly scanned. It shows how you are different and why your solutions are the best.

The home page is the most important page in business web design. It is the page that first greets someone to your website. A visitor will spend 3-5 seconds scanning your home page and then decide to enter your site or leave in a click. Your home page is also the most valued page by the search engines as they look for keywords.

What should your index page do?

  1. Answer the Question: A visitor comes to your site with an assortment of questions, but they all add up to the same thing. Can you help me with my problem? This means when writing to your customer, you need to address THEIR concerns. Talk about solutions not your product or service.
  2. ABC Text: What are the ADVANTAGES, BENEFITS, and CONVENIENCES of using your product or service? This is the heart of what a home page needs to say. The question that a visitor asks is what can you do for me that your competition won’t? Remember write about how you can help your customer and not so much about your company.
  3. Call to Action: You should place action words somewhere prominent. Use words such as SIGN-UP NOW, Request for a FREE Quote, Talk with our experts now! Using short phrases with an immediate word encourages the visitor to make a quicker decision. Figure out what you want from the customer and encourage them to do it!

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Filed under: Website Design



How to Optimize a Regional Business for Local Cities

Doug Williams @ 4:17 am

This blog entry was posted on August 13, 2010.

Let’s suppose you have a chain of restaurants or even a regional office products company. How can you optimize your website when you serve multiple communities within a region? People will search using the local community name and you want to rank well for every community within your service area.

The solution is to create a separate page for each community. The page URL should include the community name. Each page should be highly optimized for your most important keyword phrase and the community name. Let me give some examples of how you could implement this.

Restaurant Chain: Let’s suppose you have a dozen restaurants within a 2 state region. Create an “Our Locations “ in your website navigation. Create a page for each location with the address and phone number, a paragraph of unique text, driving directions, hours of operation and anything else your customers would find interesting.

Office Products Company: Let’s suppose you have a single location that serves a dozen communities. You take orders online or by phone. You have trucks and crews that deliver, install and service in each of these communities. Create a page for each community optimized for the services available. Each page needs to have unique text so it is not detected as duplicate content by the search engines.

Whether you’re optimizing for a single location or a multiple location business, you still want to create a separate page for each location served.

You will want to create great marketing copy that provides helpful information for your visitor, not just content for the search engines. After all, once a visitor arrives, you still need to get them interested and guide them into your conversion process; otherwise the effort in search engine optimization will be wasted.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



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