We live in a result-driven world!  Achieving sales, margin goals and cash flow results are common and constant discussions at most companies. However, when it comes to website performance, unless you’re selling products online, most people avoid conversations about results. Why is that?

Without sales, margins, and cash flow, a lot of organizations simply don’t know what to measure. If you’re talking about the web, search engine results are a great place to start.

Let’s say you own a pizza parlor and you want people to find your location online. 

How can you possibly get on the first page of Google search results, maybe even become number one, for pizza knowing that there are millions of pizza places in the United States?

 

 

The answer lies in selecting keywords that are specific to your business, such as “Pizza Parlor in Wheaton, Illinois,” for example.  Selecting the right keywords, as you might have guessed, is not easy, but it’s critical to quality search results. That’s why you have so many search engine optimization (SEO) specialists advertising on the web. Search engine traffic, it has been proven, can bring you more sales and new customers if done correctly. (Did you know that your website can get penalized for taking certain actions and actually drop in ranking? http://www.webconfs.com/15-minute-seo.php)

But with so many promising that they can make you number one in the rankings, on Google, how do you know who or what to believe?

When you search the internet for “search engine optimization” companies, you are bombarded with choices.  Many promise you immediate results in getting your rankings up, and they even promise you that they can guarantee you’ll be number one in the rankings.  Is that true? Can they really do that?

The answer is no. We have several clients that we’ve taken their keywords and over several weeks and months gotten many, sometimes most, of their keywords ranked #1 on Google. Does that mean we can do that every single time?  I would never make that claim. None of us know Google’s formula for ranking sites so making such a bold claim is, in our view, irresponsible marketing. There are many ways to accomplish high ranking results for your website.  The work that goes on behind the scene of your website is only the starting point.  There are online and offline optimization techniques, which we’ll leave for another blog.

Search engines have adapted to this new web-world of blogs, social media, videos, etc., and are constantly changing how they rank websites.  In previous years, your keywords and links was all that really mattered but times have changed!  Search engines take many more factors into account these days, such as your content, download speed, keyword relevancy and competition, the importance of inbound and outbound links, and of course your connections. 

It is not always about quantity, you also have to factor in quality.  As search engines are getting smarter, so should you.  A reputable marketing company can not only improve your website ranking but do it in a way that preserves your reputation. If someone is guaranteeing you #1 ranking on Google you need to ask yourself, “Does this sound too good to be true?” If it does, well, it may be time to consider another SEO firm.

What a bummer, I got fired yesterday. Bounced unceremoniously like an old worn out dishrag. It was swift and ruthless but apparently necessary.

 

Thank God my dignity was left intact. No one walked into my office and gave me some long-winded crap thanking me for my significant value and then blaming impersonal budget cuts, that apparently no one is responsible for creating.

 

It’s always personal when someone gets the boot, at least to them.

 

I was glad the intercom didn’t buzz and announce that I needed come to HR immediately. The world knows when the boot comes through the intercom. I didn’t have to do the dead-man walking (through the halls) routine but, nonetheless, I got canned.

 

I must admit, it tore at my gut. I literally felt like crying. I’d worked so hard. How could I have failed?

 

Crying wouldn’t help. Business is like baseball in that regard. But at least I didn’t have to tell my wife.

 

You see, I fired myself.

 

I knew there was more I could do that I didn’t do. I worked my butt off but somehow I didn’t get everything out of my ability that was inside.  There was more value within my head, my heart, my soul, and there was only one way to get it out of me.

 

I fired myself figuratively. No one knows I did it but many are feeling the effects.

 

Over the weekend I stopped thinking about office politics, budget decisions that no longer had any relevance, and everything in the “Past” column.

 

Starting Monday this was a new job, a new chance, a new value I would have to bring to survive, add more value, and improve my team’s performance. I decided to approach my work as though I’d just been given a new assignment, which I did.

 

My mindset was one of a new hire. I acted like my new boss had just called me in and said, “This business is broken and we’re looking for you to get us on-track. Fix our processes, evaluate the team, empower the winners and address the losers swiftly, find ways to increase shareholder value now, get some early wins…”

 

So on Monday I looked myself in the mirror and responded, “Yes, sir!”

 

The point of this silly little story is, it’s easy to get caught up in the flow of whatever it is we’re doing. But becoming part of the status quo doesn’t move the needle. If we really want to matter, if we really want to succeed, we have to challenge ourselves in major, not minor, ways and own the results.

 

If you’re up for that, then fire yourself and come in, as a new hire, and make something happen now.

 

My team was surprised, and I dare say, inspired by my decisiveness, assertiveness, and willingness to take on calculated risks.

 

Only you know if you need to be fired. But if you ask me, it’s time to give the new person a chance. He or she just might surprise you.

There’s a lot of debate about setting SEO goals. Some good work has been done on SEO goals linked (no pun intended) to building traffic, selling more goods, branding/image marketing, lead generation and conversions, and influence through thought leadership.

 

Those are all good goals but we think a better goal exists. While most of our clients want to rank #1 for all of their keywords, few understand that may not be possible. Especially if they share keywords with Global 100 multi-national corporations, ranking #1 across the board isn’t always possible. And, at least initially, even if it’s doable it may be too far off, too ambitious as a starting point. So we highly recommend a simpler approach.

 

Pick one of your competitors and beat them into dust.

We have one client who requires that we measure them against their largest competitor every month. After about a year, when it was clear that we were performing better for selected keywords than their larger, global competitor, I recommended we stop measuring ourselves against that competitor and select someone else to “beat.”

 

The client, having competed against the other firm - their mortal enemy - for decades, rejected our recommendation. We understood but that hasn’t affected our recommended strategy.

Pick one competitor to measure yourself against and once you’ve beaten them in the search engine ranking game, select another target.
 

 

If you’re the New England Patriots setting a target of winning the Super Bowl every year may make sense but most of us aren’t the Patriots. We need to walk before we run.

1. Every page needs a focal point

 

Every page on your website should have a focal point, a place where the visitor’s eyes are naturally drawn. It can be an image, a special offer, or a headline. In addition, that focal point should direct your visitors to act, a call-to-action.

 

Click here for free sample, for example.

 

Think of your pages as Billboards. Billboards are big, bright, and clearly direct you to take a specific action. You site pages should do the same.

 

Your focal points should include images and copy that is keyword rich and help the search engines find your site.

 

2. Headline can be very effective

 

Headlines organize your content by making a promise to the reader. It follows then, that your content must then deliver on that promise.

 

Using the “who-what-why” formula isn’t the only way to format your headlines, but it works. Think of your headlines as a promise, a commitment you make between you and your visitor.

 

There are many effective headline formulas out there, so you need never worry about repeating yourself.

 

Whether it’s on the page or in your meta data, headlines are an important SEO tactic.

 

3. Get 50% through the use of numbers

 

People are more apt to believe something when a number accompanies it. 51% of those surveyed believed something is more powerful than a majority of those surveyed believe…

 

Numbers grab our attention and are more credible than general terms. It seems people like specifics.

 

4. Use power words

 

Words like fast, easy, guaranteed and free are powerful copy.

 

    “Free is the most powerful word in the copywriter’s vocabulary. Everybody wants to get something for free.”

    -Robert W. Bly

 

In our email marketing we typically use headlines such as, “Free PDF…” or some other power word to increase click-throughs and, eventually, sales opportunities.

 

5. Think about your images

 

The cliché is “a picture is worth a thousand words” and it’s true. And if a picture is worth a thousand words then a video is worth ten thousand. Think long and hard about the visuals you use. Pictures and videos can supercharge story and include:

 

    * Photographs

    * Artwork

    * Charts and Graphs

    * Slidedecks

    * Video

    * Infographics

 

Make sure your images have an ALT description so the search engines know what it is you’re trying to communicate through your images.

 

6. Use Sub-Headlines

 

Would you read a newspaper if it had just one headline? Of course not!

 

We want information that is categorized and well organized.

 

If your text is longer than 250-400 words, you must use sub-headlines. No exceptions.

 

While the search engines give sub-headings slightly less impact than Headings, sub-headings remain an important SEO tactic.

 

7. Lists work

 

This entire post is a list.

 

Why do lists work so well? Lists are the building blocks of the thinking process, of ideas. To communicate your thoughts quickly and effectively, nothing structures the information like a well-thought out and logically organized list.

 

8. People love quotes

 

In my book Communication Wins, I opened every chapter with a quotation. Selecting the right quote for each chapter took up a significant part of my editing time.

 

Use quotes to organize your ideas and demonstrate that our major points are significant enough to have earned a historical quotation. If Abraham Lincoln commented on your major point, then it’s probably important enough for people to want to learn more about it.

 

9. Fun with font

 

Some people change fonts within their copy for emphasis. We think that’s a bad idea. To attract attention to a particular point or section of your copy, try using bold and/or italics.

 

The search engine can detect bold and/or italicized font in your copy and assume these are the important terms (keywords).

 

10. Your voice sells

 

There are dozens of good SEO copywriting techniques. We encourage you to learn and use them.

 

However, at the end of the day, you need to find your own voice. Your particular point of view, style, and tone, form the foundation for your audience appeal.

 

I love the way Peggy Noonan writes. She was President Reagan’s speech writer and has a lyrical style and velvet touch while, at the same time, the ability to cut like a knife, without sounding angry, through the foolishness that is served up to us on a daily basis as serious political discourse. Would I like to write like Peggy, you bet!

 

But I can’t. There’s only one Peggy and I’m not her. So I have to do my best to write like me. I’ve learned that my best writing is typically short declarative sentences that are easy to read and understand.

 

Do you agree?

Writing and submitting articles to article banks, e-zines and e-book publishers has proven to be one of the most effective of all traffic generating techniques. You may think that you have no writing ability, but you can definitely write articles about the topic of your website and about the products or services that you are selling. You just need to know the rules for making them effective.

The Headline.    The first and most important few words of your article are in the title or the headline. The title MUST contain the key words that relate to the topic of your website and to the products or services that you sell. This is the first thing that other website owners or E-zine publishers will look at when they decide whether to reproduce your article on their websites or in their publications because they want their copy optimized for search engines.
 

The other thing about the title or headline of your article is that it must be attention getting. For example, you can’t just title your article ‘Fish Bait’.  ‘Fish Bait the Fish Can’t Resist’ would entice the person who was looking for information about fish bait to keep reading.

The First Line.    Equally important to your article is the first line of the first paragraph. Internet surfers have a notoriously short attention span and rarely actually read anything word for word unless it is information that they believe will serve their needs, solve a problem or make life better in general for them. So the title and the first line are what you use to entice a reader to actually read the article.

The first line needs to contain the key words as well; and it also needs to be attention getting. So, if you like fishing, you would probably keep reading an article that starts with. ‘The fish were begging for more of this fish bait after my first cast!’

Length.  Another thing about writing articles that you plan to submit to article banks is that they need to be short. Very short! They should be a maximum of 400 words and closer to 300 would be better. It’s easy to get carried away and produce an article that is 1000 words or more when you are discussing a subject that you know a lot about and are interested in. If you start writing and forget to stop, break long wordy articles down and make three or four articles out of the one long one.

Formatting.  Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Remember that short attention span that we talked about? Don’t use big words and don’t use run-on sentences. Make your article easy to read. Go easy on the exclamation points, as well. One exclamation point indicates importance or excitement...  a half a dozen are just rude.

Warning! Do NOT word-wrap your link! Type it out in full, as in http://www.whatever.com. All email programs that E-zine editors use to send out their newsletters and E-zines do not support word-wrapped links so you can defeat your own purpose by word-wrapping the link to your website.

You may not actually generate any real traffic for your website at the very outset but this technique will serve you very well in the long run!

 

We keep talking about the importance of communication.  Being able to communicate is what will make or break your marketing campaign, what will make website visitors stay longer and what will eventually turn leads into customers.

We mostly communicate through content, but the first impression we leave largely depends on the visual appeal of the content we are presenting, may that be our website, our social media landing pages, our reports or our marketing collateral.  Choosing the right images to visually communicate our content is crucial to engaging our readers.

5 Tips to choosing the correct image:

1. Determine the overall concept of what it is you are trying to communicate. Then decide on the theme of your image.
2. Make sure you consider the colors in the image of your choice. There are many sites that offer images for a reasonable cost, such as Clipart.com,  iStockPhoto.com, Free-StockPhotos.com, PaintShop Pro, NeoPaint, and with so many images available, there is bound to be one that will be the perfect fit.
3. Avoid a cluttered image (unless you are writing about clutter).  A good image draws your eyes to the story you want to tell.  A cluttered image distracts from the story.
4. Consider your target audience.  Don’t leave anyone out of the story.  Make sure you choose an image that covers the whole of your target market, not just one part of your audience.
5. If you have any inkling that you have to explain the setting in the image to communicate your intention, it’s not the right picture.   

Remember, choosing the right image while communicating your message can make or break the deal!

To maintain a successful website you want to keep your visitors coming back again and again. That means you are responsible for creating interesting content that adds value to your visitor’s life and is updated regularly. It’s a big responsibility.

Here are 6 surefire ways to keep your visitors returning:

1. Articles: Articles give your visitors something new to read and, like a blog, sometime to comment about. But more importantly, as you put your expertise and thinking out there for all to see, you are also, in a subtle way, inviting questions and further dialogue. It’s a simple formula of generating interest in your target audience and then trusting that at least a few of the people who read your article will be curious enough to contact you to discuss your product and services as they relate to their needs.

You do not need to write these articles yourself. There are plenty of competent services (yes, including Aligned Marketing).

2. Contests: Most people like contests. Or should I say, most people like to win something for free. Contests, especially if they cycle from one to the next frequently, are a great way to generate fresh content and keep your loyal following returning to your site. Remember, it’s not about the size of the prize, it’s about winning.

When the visitor signs up for your contest be sure to capture their information, add it to your contact list and then contact them later with offers, such as subscribing to your online newsletter.

3. Coupons and Discounts are a great way to entice existing visitors and new customers to return to your website and online storefront.

You can use the coupons a number of ways. Here are a few ideas:

• A buy 1 get a single free.
• A certain percent discount (such as 10%)
• Free or discounted shipping

Discounts are typically given through the use of a code. They are simple to administer since most shopping cart programs include a discount module. A simple code word such as “savings” enables buyers to receive a discount.

Alternately, you can offer an online discount that is only redeemable at your physical (offline) store.

4. Forums: Forums offer something people enjoy - conversation. Forums are a form of the growing trend of social media. Hosting a forum on your own site gives visitors a reason to return to your site, again and again. A good way to keep the conversation going is to ask provocative questions and take controversial positions on important issues. A few passionate regular comments from visitors can boost your traffic numbers substantially.  
5. Blogging:  Blogs have become incredibly popular in recent years. And while it may be hard to believe, there are people interested in what you have to say. Blogs have added benefits; you can pepper your blog posts with your keywords and keyword phrases to help boost your search engine rankings.
6. Newsletter: A newsletter is one of the best ways to keep your visitors, your audience, engaged and coming back to your site. If you chose the newsletter approach, be sure to publish on a regular basis and make sure that each article in each issue delivers value to your audience and refers them back to your site for additional information.

Once again, if all this sounds like too much work or writing just isn’t one of your favorite things to do, there are professional writers and writing services available to help.

No matter which tactic you use to drive traffic to your site, the only way to keep people coming back is to deliver constant value.

This blog has always been about helping others. We report, offer free marketing tips and share best practices. Of course, it's indirect marketing done to promote goodwill. It's also good citizenship, done to improve the community.

I'm going to be selfish today. There's a lot happening at Aligned Marketing. Here's a partial update:

• We continue to sign up clients for search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) projects. We recommend both because SEO is like farming, it produces results (food) in weeks or months, and PPC is like hunting, Bang!, dinner. A friend of mine used SEO & PPC to grow a distributor’s online sales from $72K/month to an impressive $1.0M+ per month and counting. What recession? Smart companies are getting off the sidelines. There are still markets out there with unmet needs. Someone is going to serve them, why not you?
• We team up with other companies to enhance our capabilities without adding fixed cost. One of those companies just completed a landmark four year study in collaboration with the University of Michigan. Over 200 companies participated in interviews and surveys that included manufacturer and distributor sales reps as well as industrial buyers. They observed over 1,000 live sales calls. From that research they developed a new approach to selling, an actual best practice process. The field test data is compelling and, I believe, can be a game-changer with the right commitment from senior management.
• We launched a 10-day social media campaign for Aligned Marketing and increased visits to our website by 343% in the first week. Because of the way we structured the program visits will continue at the new higher level for several weeks and should remain well above our prior level into the future, assuming we don’t do anything stupid...stayed tuned.
• Gary Vaynerchuk is a top-5 Internet celebrity who has been on Fox News, The Today Show, CNN, Conan O’Brien and several other shows. He reads my blog…surprised me too. Anyway, on October 13 his new book, Crush It!, goes on sale and as part of his promotion tour I’ll be interviewing Gary using video over the Internet. I’m excited to finally communicate with Gary live, not through email, and the technology we’ll be using is very cool. More to come.
• My wife and I attended a convention for web-geeks in Orlando last week. There were over 400 people in attendance. While I didn’t get to speak one of the presenters put my picture up on a slide and recommended that everyone read my book. I didn’t know he was going to do that so it was a nice surprise, although seeing my face fill up two 20’ screens was weird…frightening, actually.
• As companies prepare for 2010, and what we all hope is a year of recovery, many are using outside resources to fill gaps created by the recession and gain specialized expertise without adding fixed cost. Our approach is, "Let us help you reach your business goals." It seems to have some appeal so go ahead and borrow it if you think it will help your business.
• This remains a very challenging time (obviously). The only way the economy is going to turn around is if we all pull together and work our collective butts off. That's what my friends are doing and that's what I'm doing. Sitting on the sidelines and waiting for things to improve will only get you left behind, it's a loser strategy. You get one shot at each day, so make the best of it!

All the best,
Steve

Bob Parsons is CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com. He’s famous for his over-the-top advertising, which include commercials featuring a porn star or race driver Danika Patrick in a bikini. To me he’s the Howard Stern of entrepreneurs, sophomoric but highly successful.

His business success and therefore, acumen, is what gets overlooked. Like Stern, this mega-millionaire knows what his target audience wants and he gives it to them. While his actions seem cavalier, my guess is there are few casual events in Bob’s business life.

In his September he shared his 16 Tips for business success, which you can view here: Bob Parsons' videoblog. Once you get past the girlies in their tank-tops, I think his advice is both unconventional and excellent. If you want to avoid the girls, here are Bob’s tips in text format:

1. Get and stay out of your comfort zone. I believe that not much happens of any significance when we're in our comfort zone.  I hear people say, "But I'm concerned about security."  My response to that is simple: "Security is for cadavers."
2. Never give up. Almost nothing works the first time it's attempted.  Just because what you're doing does not seem to be working, doesn't mean it won't work.  It just means that it might not work the way you're doing it.  If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and you wouldn't have an opportunity.
3. When you're ready to quit, you're closer than you think. There's an old Chinese saying that I just love, and I believe it is so true.  It goes like this: "The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed."
4. With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of "undefined consequences."  My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, "Well, Robert, if it doesn't work, they can't eat you."
5. Focus on what you want to have happen. Remember that old saying, "As you think, so shall you be."
6. Take things a day at a time. No matter how difficult your situation is, you can get through it if you don't look too far into the future, and focus on the present moment.  You can get through anything one day at a time.
7. Always be moving forward. Never stop investing.  Never stop improving.  Never stop doing something new.  The moment you stop improving your organization, it starts to die.  Make it your goal to be better each and every day, in some small way.  Remember the Japanese concept of Kaizen.  Small daily improvements eventually result in huge advantages.
8. Be quick to decide. Remember what General George S. Patton said: "A good plan violently executed today is far and away better than a perfect plan tomorrow."
9. Measure everything of significance. I swear this is true.  Anything that is measured and watched, improves.
10. Anything that is not managed will deteriorate. If you want to uncover problems you don't know about, take a few moments and look closely at the areas you haven't examined for a while.  I guarantee you problems will be there.
11. Pay attention to your competitors, but pay more attention to what you're doing. When you look at your competitors, remember that everything looks perfect at a distance. Even the planet Earth, if you get far enough into space, looks like a peaceful place.
12. Never let anybody push you around. In our society, with our laws and even playing field, you have just as much right to what you're doing as anyone else, provided that what you're doing is legal.
13. Never expect life to be fair. Life isn't fair.  You make your own breaks.  You'll be doing good if the only meaning fair has to you, is something that you pay when you get on a bus (i.e., fare).
14. Solve your own problems. You'll find that by coming up with your own solutions, you'll develop a competitive edge.  Masura Ibuka, the co-founder of SONY, said it best: "You never succeed in technology, business, or anything by following the others."  There's also an old Asian saying that I remind myself of frequently.  It goes like this: "A wise man keeps his own counsel."
15. Don't take yourself too seriously. Lighten up.  Often, at least half of what we accomplish is due to luck.
None of us are in control as much as we like to think we are.
16. There's always a reason to smile. Find it.  After all, you're really lucky just to be alive.  Life is short.  More and more, I agree with my little brother. He always reminds me: "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!"

Steve

Having great content and a solid design are critically important for your website. However, if you’re trying to build a business, at some point you need to sell something to someone.

Web entrepreneurs consider this the point where the rubber meets the road but, too often, it’s where the runner meets the pothole. Here are four of the most common mistakes and what you can do to correct them:

1) You’re not asking for the order:

This seems so obvious but the truth of the matter is many sites never really ask for the order. For the purpose of this conversation I consider an order any call-to-action that a visitor completes.

Every page of your site should have a clear focal point, a place where the eye is naturally drawn to, and a clear call-to-action.

That call-to-action can be to actually buy something from you but it can also be a request to have your visitors register (call, click here, etc.) to receive more information, such as a free whitepaper. Different pages may have different calls-to-action.

The good news about this problem is it’s the easiest to fix. You may be able to do this yourself but contact me (800-707-9150 or shartkopf@aligned-marketing.com) if you need help.

(Yes, that was a call-to-action in my blog)

2) Your visitors are confused

One of the first laws of selling is a confused mind says “No.”

If your website has lots of motion graphics, four or more fonts, poorly contrasted or unappealing colors, clutter, too many choices, unclear copy or 100 other things that distract and confuse the mind, you’re not going to sell anything.

The KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach works best. Again, a clear focal point, call-to-action and lots of whitespace are all that’s needed.

Video and customer testimonials are great for SEO and to help build credibility, see next bullet, but they are more icing than cake.

3) Companyspeak

Your copy, call-to-action and value proposition, your business message, needs to be clear, concise, compelling and written in simple language. It also needs to be believable.

Talk to your visitors in terms of benefits to them, which are usually very different than the way your internal team talks about your product. Internal audiences tend to get wrapped up in features and function. Customers care about benefits. How will your product make them money, healthier, more attractive, save them time, etc.

Similarly, people are skeptical. They know advertising lies, marketing manipulates and even Tiger can’t be trusted anymore. No one can afford to waste money and no one wants to feel foolish.

Talk to your audience in simple believable words.

4) Ouch!

This one hurts a bit so brace yourself; they just don’t want what you’re selling.

A lot of webpreneurs are so passionate about their product or service they just can’t understand why people aren’t beating a path to their door. Well, I’m sorry, but if you’ve done everything else right, or mostly right, then the market has spoken and you lose.

As one prominent Democrat recently said when they were struggling to sell the Healthcare Bill to the American people, “The problem is the dog doesn’t like the dogfood.” You can fix the message, the packaging, but if the dog won’t eat the dogfood you’re not going to be selling any.

The fix here isn’t redesigning your website or more creative copy, the fix is transitioning your product from something you think people need into something people actually want.

Steve

800-707-9150