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.

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?

For your inbound marketing to succeed, a call to action is a necessity.  Without it, how will you build your lead and future customer base?  An opt-in incentive gives your readers the option to stay informed by being added to your mailing list.

Opt-in incentive is often referred to as ‘bait’. For you to convince visitors to your website to hand over their name and email address to you, you need to give them a good reason. There is one common trait among computer users... they REALLY LOVE FREE INFORMATION and other freebies.

Online freebies are common and they leave the visitor wanting more when they are well written and present themselves as informative introductory materials. Consider such freebies as:

1. Giving away an eBook with your ad on it. Allow your visitors to also give the freebie away. This will increase your ad exposure and increase web traffic to your website at the same time.
2. Holding free online classes or seminars. They could be held in your website's chat room. The idea of "live" information will definitely entice people to visit your website. You will become known as an expert on the topic.
3. Giving visitors a free entry into your contest or sweepstakes. The prizes should be something of interest or value to your visitors. Most people who enter will continually revisit your web site to get the results.
4. Letting visitors download free software such as freeware, shareware, demos etc. You could even turn part of your site into a free software directory. If you created the software, include your ad inside and let other people give it away.
5. Targeting specific groups who might worry about using the Internet with free lessons in using it on your site – senior citizens, busy workers etc. might find these convenient and alluring.
6. Offering free online services or utilities from your website.  For instance, they could be search engine submitting, copywriting, proofreading etc. The service or utility should be helpful to your target audience.
7. Giving free consulting to people who visit your website. You could offer your knowledge via e-mail or by telephone. People will consider this to be of tremendous value because consulting fees can be very expensive.
8. Offering a free start-up package that has a finite time; enough time for the customer to practice with your online product and like it enough to pay for continued use.
9. Sending out free CD-Roms, CDs, DVDs etc. that contain starter packs or teasers to encourage the customer to use your site more.
10. Offering free screensavers or templates for business cards, cards, writing paper, etc., anything that a customer can print out.

Being creative with your ideas and putting strategies in place will grow your customer base.  It is only a matter of time!

We’d love to hear from you – what has worked for you in the past?  Feel free to share your success stories with our readers.

Someone once said (may have been Guy Kawasaki), “Building a website and then not spending the time and money to do SEO is like creating a commercial and then not buying any television or radio airtime.”

I agree. A build it and they will come website strategy is, honestly, folly. Yet, time and again, I see companies build nice websites and then believe they’ve completed their work. Nothing could be further from the truth.

So, if you want to get some mileage out of your website, here are my Top 7 SEO recommendations:

1. Register your website with DMOZ, also known as the Open Directory Project, at www.dmoz.org. The Open Listing Mission is the most important and most complete directory on the Web. It is also the only one Google uses. Since Google tends to have between 60% and 70 of the search engine market share, it’s important that you make sure you’re your website is easily found by Google. DMOZ is also used to feed many of the other web directories as well. Note, DMOZ is an all volunteer organization so it can take months to get your site listed. So register your site today!
2. Manually submit your web site url address to Google at http://www.google.com/addurl. Once accepted, like DMOZ, it can take months, Google’s software will crawl (scan) your site (see bullets 4-6 below), determine what your site is all about, and, in most instances, begin including it in their search results. 
3. Yahoo is a little different. Yahoo asks you to pay $299.00 to be included in their official directory listing ($600.00 if your site includes “adult content).” But Yahoo can still find your site and include without your paying any fee. Yahoo also has a free submission page - http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/submit - you can use to improve your Yahoo search engine rankings. I’ve read that Yahoo’s Directory also drives results on Bing and AltaVista. But I wouldn’t count on that, so I’d also recommend submitting your website to Bing at http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx. 
4. Make sure you are using the best keywords and keyword phrases in your Metadata and in your website copy. This is a biggee! Having the right keywords is critical in getting your site ranked high in the search engine results. There’s actually a metric, KEI, which stands for Keyword Effectiveness Indicator, you can track. Since almost every site has unique high KEI keywords, we won’t go into how to develop your high KEI terms here but we will encourage you to either take the time to learn how to develop high KEI keywords or outsource the work to a professional.
5. The more links you have to your website, especially if the linking sites have a high Google Page Rank, the more likely it is Google and the other search engines will rank your website high in their search results. Some effective ways to build links to your site are article submission, affiliate programs, sending emails to webmasters at sites you think your target audience visit, or hire someone to build links for you. We do not recommend hiring one of those firms that say they’ll get you 1,000 links in one week for $500.00+/-. The search engines may view that type of instant growth in links as “gaming the system, which it is, and punish you. Links need to be built over time.
6. Install Google’s free Sitemap code in your website. A sitemap is XML code that lists all the URLs (pages) in your site and makes them easy to read and understand for the search engines. Sitemaps enable the search engines to quickly crawl and index your site in an organized manner. They also allow your webmaster to include additional information to help the search engines find your site and keywords, when it was last updated, and other important information. Sitemaps complement the software, or crawl-based tools such as a robot.txt file, they do not replace those tools. Using Sitemap code does not guarantee your site’s search engine rankings will improve.
7. The last tactic is perhaps the most difficult; be patient. SEO is like farming. You plant seeds, nurture them along so they can grow, and then, one day, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Note, conversely, Pay-per-Click, or PPC, is like hunting. Bang! Lunch. In other words, you shoot something (buy ads) and you get leads. Some good; some bad. Here’s another difference between SEO and PPC, once your SEO tactics have you at the top of page one on Google, it’s highly likely you will stay there for some time. With PPC, once the ads (expense) stops, the leads stop.

SEO is the best insurance available to earn a return on your website investment. It is what helps your website be found by existing and new customers and, even if you outsource the work, it’s simply not that expensive. Without SEO you are simply hoping your website is found and that’s not good business practice.

It is also an ongoing effort because the search engines continue to tweak their algorithms. In 2009 it was reported that Google made almost 300 changes. By implementing the tactics outlined in this post your website can become an amazing source of new business. Perhaps the best part about SEO, and digital marketing in general, if done right, is you can measure the return on every tactic.

I’ve bludgeoned you all with survey results, spending information, and agency forecasts to drive home the point that a titanic shift is taking place from offline to online marketing. With 70% of product and service searches beginning online, it’s no surprise the marketing dollars are flowing in that direction, toward the people.

Your phone calls and emails are supportive but many of you are experiencing issues with your leadership. This is what I’m told:

Senior management refuses to act and are ignoring their own real-world experiences, since they too use Google and make purchases online. That frustrates people.  Here’s what that sounds like over the phone: “We sit around and talk about web-commerce and being found on Google all the time, but we never decide anything…” Line two: “We know our web-strategy is poor but we have other priorities that we're more comfortable working on, so that’s where our time and money goes. I guess it’s a comfort thing but it’s costing us sales.”

In second place (sorry senior management), leadership is dumb. Ever heard that one before? The grumbling comes because senior management says they believe the data and think of themselves as fairly web-literate. Really? One very frustrated VP said, “I’ve been pounding the table for over a year and they just don’t get it.” Another person said, “We spent a lot of money on a good website and they (senior management) actually think we’re done. That no other actions are required…it’s amazing.”

The grumbling and accusations are not new to senior managers. It’s no fun but when knowledge and action fail to intersect, they take the brunt of the storm. It comes with the big check.

The solution is having a clear marketing strategy that begins with a web-strategy. That’s right, new marketing strategies begin on the web, not the other way around.

Here’s the image:

It’s a three-part strategy that forms a virtuous cycle, with each part supporting the other two and all of them supported by traditional marketing tactics. The results are clearer messaging, better branding, new sales leads, increased revenue, higher margins and a lower cost-to-serve model. It’s a very productive cycle.

1. Social media locations like YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, or whatever works for your company, are great for having direct conversations with your customers. You need to know what they’re thinking. It’s Marketing 101 stuff; only the data-collection tools have changed. You can call your customers if you want but you’ll probably get voicemail. They’re online.
2. The reason social media activity is important is because it will improve your rankings on the search engines. That means all those great products and services you offer, as well as that fantastic website you invested in, can actually be found by customers. Did I mention 70% of product and service searches begin online, mostly on Google?
3. Marketing generated action, such as Blogs, search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and adding videos and photos to your site, not only provide fodder for social media, they also drive search engine rankings. Google bought YouTube so it’s no surprise that YouTube videos rank high in Google’s algorithms.

Traditional marketing doesn’t go away, advertising and print media still have their role. It’s a supporting role.

The payoff for all this strategy is more website traffic to drive sales. Finally, something we can all agree on.

Steve

The next two blogs are dedicated to low-cost websites and the the 5 top reasons websites fail to deliver business results. We'll start with $300 websites:

A quick online search for "web design", "web designer" or "web development" will return literally millions of pages. The Internet industry has no shortage of companies and individuals who are enthusiastic about offering "website design packages" for your business.

The ads read, "Get a 3 page site for $x!" or "5 pages and a free email account for $x.” The prices vary but the approach is the same. You arbitrarily decide how many pages you want and they'll build you a site to match, just place the order, no questions asked. That approach is simple and works well when buying a pizza, but it's no way to make a decision about a critical business investment.

Years ago it was common for a business website to be little more than an online business card or brochure, and those bought-by-the-page website designs were a reasonable approach. And while today's cheap web designers provide more graphically rich layouts than in the past, in the end you are still left with an online brochure.

Assuming your brochure-site can be found, and that’s a huge assumption, it may give prospects some basic information about your company, but it won't do much to increase your sales, profits, or improve customer relations. That takes a clear marketing message and an online strategy.

I'm talking about measurable results. This is how most marketing companies differ from those "$300 websites” providers. A sound Internet Solution is derived from true business objectives. It is built with specific purposes in mind and measured according to your business plan, sales goals and activity goals. Good solutions are scalable, so no matter what size your business is today you have the tools and flexibility to be larger tomorrow.

The bottom line is, if your website is costing you money instead of making you money, then you need to change your marketing strategy and online approach.

Steve