Does Your Small Business Have a Website? If Not, Why Not?

Doug Williams @ 5:37 am

This blog entry was posted on January 16, 2011.

If you have a local business, you need a website. People don’t use the yellow pages anymore. If they want something… they Google it. The biggest Internet trend is toward local. If you want Pizza, if you need a dry cleaner or if you need a plumber, you find it on the Internet.

If you want to tap into the biggest source of ready customers, you need a website first.

You need to consider two things as you plan your website

What to put in your website.
How to get people to come to your new site.

When people come to your site they want to know what services you offer, the hours you are open, where you are located, phone numbers and your story (About-us page). Here are some ideas for different types of businesses.

Restaurants: Include menus with prices, photos of your restaurant, the hours you are open and coupons and specials.
Consultants: Include testimonials and case studies of projects you worked on.
HVAC Companies : Include your service area, seasonal specials for maintenance, you can sell filters online and include a 24/7 emergency phone number.
Contractors: Include a photo gallery of homes or remodeling projects that you built, include a detailed list of the types of construction that you do (bathroom remodel, decks, fences, etc). Include licenses that you hold and testimonials from past clients.
Photographers: Include a portfolio (photo gallery) of photographs, pictures of their studio, how to set an appointment and provide contact details.

To get traffic to your website, make sure you list out your products and services and list your address and communities that you serve. People search for local services most often with the service and the city name. Listing locations on your site encourages your site to come up for local search. Then use a backlinking service to push your website up in the search engine results

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Filed under: Local Search,Website Design

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27 Ways to Make Your Website More Trustworthy

Doug Williams @ 5:54 am

This blog entry was posted on December 11, 2010.

Exactly match your business name and your domain name. (YourBusiness.com)
Use a .COM domain instead of NET, INFO, etc. since 73% of all domains are COMs.
Use your website domain in your emails instead of Hotmail or other free email.
Have an interesting About-Us page that tells your company story.
Your website should have a professional appearance to create a positive first impression.
Your home page message should be clear, focused and relevant to your visitor.
Provide a clear and visible action to buy, sign-up or join.
Provide clear navigation that is intuitive and easy to use.
Keep your content updated so that it appears credible and timely.
Optimize your graphics so that your page loads fast.
Regularly check your site for dead links.
Spell-check your website content.
Have your phone number posted clearly on every page of your website.
Include your physical address on every page of your website.
Have a contact page with email form and all your phone numbers, fax, skype and address in one place. Include a driving directions map.
Provide a money-back guarantee (risk reversal).
Post a refund and returns policy.
Post a privacy policy if you collect email addresses.
Post a security policy that shows how you make transactions and the site secure.
Ask for testimonials to show you hold yourself accountable and that you care.
Post real testimonials on your website (social proof).
Secure purchases or forms with private information with SSL encryption.
Keep your SSL certificate up to date and make sure it doesn’t expire.
Add a blog and educate visitors with tips and how-to advice.
Publish case studies that show how your products solve real problems.
Have high search engine rankings. People trust number one rankings more.
Include logos of associations you belong to, credit card logos, etc. (trust logos).

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Filed under: Website Design

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How to Build a Lead Generation Web Site

Doug Williams @ 4:54 am

This blog entry was posted on October 12, 2010.

Your website should move your visitors through your selling sequence toward becoming a customer. Websites designed to capture leads are known as lead generation websites. These sites are focused on getting visitors to sign-up and leave their email address behind.

Your lead generation website must have a compelling offer and a clear call to action designed to convert a casual website visitor into a prospect. Your offer could be a free report, signing up for an e-course, downloading a free white-paper or signing up for a demo.

Elements of an effective lead generation website

Design: Your site must have a professional looking design. It should appear credible and trustworthy. This is the first impression people have of your company or product.
Organization: Visitors must understand your offer and your value proposition at a glance. Organize your content and your navigation to make it easily understood by a first time visitor. Make your site scannable with bulleted lists and subtitles.
Message: Focus on what really matters to your visitor. They arrive searching for a solution. Make your offer clear and identify the benefits that they will get by using your product or service.
Offer something for free. This is something that your best buyer would find irresistible. This could be a newsletter, a free membership, a free analysis or some special free report.
Capture Form: Drive your visitors toward a desired action. Make it clear and highly visible. Placing an online form in the upper right quadrant of your web page makes it the most visible. Ask for the minimum amount of required information. The longer your form, the fewer the number of people that will complete it.
Follow Through: If someone signs-up, have a great follow-up system. This could be a personal phone call or an automated email responder or drip marketing. Generating leads is worthless without a good system to nurture and convert them into customers.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing,Website Design

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Wireframing is the Step Before Website Design

Doug Williams @ 3:53 am

This blog entry was posted on October 8, 2010.

Before a web designer will create the visual graphical design, they need to decide which page elements need to be included. The mapping out of these elements into a schematic layout is called wireframing. This could be done with a pencil and paper or with software to assist the designer.

This is kind of a “first draft” used in planning and organizing a web page. It is a skeletal rendering of how the web page elements fit together onto the page.

This website prototyping saves time and money. Why spend time creating a graphical design before decisions have been made on how to best present information to the website visitor?

Your website needs to convince visitors to take some sort of action. Make your offer clear, visually important and visible to visitors when they first arrive. Wireframing is the organizing of the web page elements so the arriving visitor can understand your offer. Your page layout should be designed to get your prospect to take a specific action.

Using a planning wireframe will often generate new requirements and questions that hadn’t been thought of before. It forces you to think through your website’s functionality at the page level. We use creating a sitemap and wireframing as the first two steps in website design.

Wireframing Tools

Wireframing can be done with a pencil and paper or using graphics software such as Illustrator or Photoshop. There are a number of very good wireframing tools that make the layout process easy.

Balsamiq: This makes the process of creating wireframes easy, particularly in a team environment where layouts and changes can be made in real time.
Omnigraffle: This is a Mac only software that has great editing tools and is a favorite of many designers. It makes conceptualizing easy and moving around pieces of wireframe simple.

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Filed under: Website Design

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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

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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?

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.
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.
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

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The 4 Critical Parts of a Great Logo Design

Doug Williams @ 4:26 am

This blog entry was posted on July 30, 2010.

Branding is how you make your company memorable. Your logo is a visual icon of your branding. You use your logo on your website, business cards, letterhead, brochures and in your email. A great logo is memorable, creates a visual impact and helps your company become easily remembered. So, what makes a great logo?

It is simple, distinctive, represents the company and has the illusion of action.

Simple means that it is not overly complex, can be reduced to a small size on a business card and doesn’t have many complex and competing elements. Simple also means good contrast and a bold look.
Distinctive means being unique and memorable, graphic (not just letters), not being cluttered in look and something that has a unique look. The colors, shape and font should be used in combination to help the business stand out and not blend in.
Represents the company and is meaningful and appropriate for the company. It should have permanence so it won’t have to be changed.
Illusion of action means the logo has the appearance of motion and doesn’t just sit there. The challenge here is to keep it simple while still showing action.

A simple great logo may not be easy or quick to create, but it is powerful in your company’s branding for marketing strategies or Internet marketing.

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Filed under: Business Consulting,Website Design

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Do You Know Why Your Website Visitors Aren’t Buying?

Doug Williams @ 6:26 am

This blog entry was posted on July 16, 2010.

You have a steady flow of visitors coming to your website, but they just leave without doing anything. Why? You have a professional looking design. You check your traffic stats and people are finding you what seems like the right phrases. What could be wrong?

Here are 6 possible causes for visitors just leaving.

Wrong audience: Are you attracting people that are even interested in what you offer? Perhaps you are not using the right keyword phrases to attract the right visitors?
No clear action: The action you want taken should be clear from the instant a visitor arrives. Locate the call-to-action above the fold so it is visible without scrolling down. Tell your visitors what to do. The first word in the call to action text should be an action verb like: Buy now, Get a quote, etc.
Offer not visible: Use big call-to-action buttons that will clearly stand out. Website visitors take just a few short seconds to make a decision of what they want to do. If they don’t see what to do, then they will quickly move on.
Too many Offers: A page should not have more than 3 possible actions on it with only one being a primary action. It could be Buy now, learn more and sign-up now. Too many possible actions and visitors become confused and just hit the back button.
Not valuable enough: People will sign up or take action if there is clear value in it for them. If it is not compelling, then they will not take action.
Not easy: Perhaps you are requesting too much information, have too long of a sign-up process or you require registration before they can buy from you. Remove any barriers or surprises to make it easy for them to do business with you.

Every page should have a call-to-action. Developing your call to action is one of the first steps in planning your website. The call to action should be clear in the headlines, the navigation and in the organization of the website. A clear call to action gets results.

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Filed under: Web Usability,Website Design

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Create a Website Wireframe Before You Design

Doug Williams @ 4:49 am

This blog entry was posted on July 10, 2010.

A website wireframe is a schematic view of your web page layout. This is kind of a “first draft” used in planning and organizing a web page. It is a skeletal rendering of how the web page elements fit together onto the page.

Wireframing is generally done with grayscale block diagrams that illustrate the overall navigation and blocks of elements such as images, content and functionality. The call-to-actions are strategically located. These are an organizing plan and not a design. They are done before any artwork is generated.

The term “wireframe” comes from the world of computer graphics and 3D animation. Here wireframes are used for prototyping and because they are quick to generate and they use a minimum of computer processing.

Using a planning wireframe will often generate new requirements and questions that hadn’t been thought of before. It forces you to think through your website’s functionality at the page level. We use creating a sitemap and wireframing as the first two steps in website design.

How to create your wireframe

Determine the basic layout such as how many columns the page will have. Should the navigation be along the top (horizontal) or on the side (vertical)?
Decide on the call to action for the page. Place it where it can be easily seen, preferably above the fold so it can be seen immediately by an arriving visitor.
Organize and place the page elements such as the header, footer, navigation, content objects, and branding elements. Group and prioritize the elements according to how you want them seen.
Label the navigation links, headings and content objects.
Use placeholders for text and images. Use dummy text such as lorem ipsum to show text areas.

The wireframe gives your web designer a visual guide to design from. This ensures the call to action and priority elements are placed on the page for maximum effectiveness.

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Filed under: Website Design

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How to Design Your Website to Convert Visitors into Buyers

Doug Williams @ 5:08 am

This blog entry was posted on July 8, 2010.

It is not enough to get visitors traffic to your site. You need to design your website to encourage visitors to take an action. You need to design in your selling sequence to convert visitors into buyers. Or at least get them started into your conversion process.

A business website should be designed with a specific goal in mind. There should be the final action that you want your visitor to take online. You want to solve the core problem or need your customer has. Then build a selling sequence to address that need. This could be to buy, to request more information or to request a quote.

Think of your selling sequence as a sequential order of events that guides your prospect as they journey through your website. Start by getting their attention, and then create interest. Guide them through the benefits to generate desire. End with getting them to take a specific action. Plan your conversion process from first arrival to purchase. Each page should be designed with a clear action to be taken.

The sales funnel is a metaphor. We can visualize the sales process which is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. A large number of prospects will arrive to your site and yield a much smaller number of sales. The website sales funnel describes the process or steps that your website visitors go through from the moment they arrive at the site until they fulfill your goal.

Start by breaking your sales process down into steps or stages that each visitor who buys from you will pass through. Increasing the flow at any step will increase your final sales numbers.

Website statistics packages such as Google Analytics allow you to set-up a sales funnel or goals to track this data automatically. This way you can make changes to your website and watch the impact. This allows you to change and refine your website conversion rate over time.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing,Website Design