Metrics, measurement and meaning!!! If you're website is going to be successful over time then you must use some sort of metrics program to provide you with accurate measurement and interpret that information so that it has meaning for you in a way that allows you to take action and improve the results. Many small and medium sized businesses overlook this critical element of their online development and waste resources doing what they think is the right thing to do, not really knowing whether it is or not. This is costly both in time and capital resources and the solution is readily available. If you aren't, your competition is, and they're winning your prospective business.
You know how difficult it is to measure how successful your marketing activities are, is it the ad in the paper, the direct mail piece, the radio, television or print ad, the flyer campaign or trade show that is generating your results? In the years that I've spent in the world of small business development, I've counseled every company that I've had the pleasure to work with to do their best to track the results they are getting but it's very difficult. You have to make certain that your staff are trained to find out how inquiring prospects heard about your business, make certain you have a process in place to record this information, then analyze the information and finally decide if it's right or not. (In my experience it's as right as it is wrong!) This leads to the often heard expression "I know that 50% of my marketing spend is what is getting the results I want, now if only I knew which 50%."...so true!
Imagine campaigns where you knew how many prospective clients were responding to each individual offer you had. Where the prospect had come from, some of the reasoning behind how they had found your offer. what if you knew the company they were from and what their email address was? Do you think you could use this information to improve your company's sales figures? What if you could know some of this information about your competition? Welcome to the online world! The right metrics solution can give you this and more. No more wondering what is or is not working, just solid information that you can build on going forward to further improve your results.
You may have heard of Google Analytics, hopefully you have, and hopefully you're using at least this basic information to assist you in evaluating what results your website is generating but let me be clear, there is much more information available if you know how to find it. For example Site Meter (www.sitemeter.com) offers a free software that will give you pretty good information and the paid service they offer (starting at $6.95/month based on up to 25,000 page views/month) gives pretty good information for you to work with and there are many other solutions out there that will provide you with similar or better information. I repeat, this information is critical for your ongoing success online! As a website owner please recognize that once you have a website that's just the beginning. Like any other form of corporate promotion you must evaluate and modify to improve the results on a continual basis so budget for it. How much more is available? Lot's!!!
In the last three postings I've given a very brief outline of a three step process that will absolutely improve the results you're getting online from your website: 1- create content and promote it; 2- give your website visitors ample opportunities to convert in some manner or another while they are visiting your website; 3-measure the results for meaning. There is a lot of work to do but whatever time and resources you commit will provide you with the best ROI of any marketing investment you make. What if there was a platform that gave you this and so much more? I encourage you to check out www.hubspot.com because they have the best most cost effective solution for small and medium size businesses that I've found. If you are going to spend anytime investigating what possibilities there are for your business online, I urge you to check out Hubspot, and I guarantee that at the very least you'll learn something valuable for your business. Let them know how you found them!
Want some help? Contact me. I want to help you be as successful as you want to be with your online presence development. I'm your outsourced VP of Online Marketing and I will deliver more and better results from your website than you have ever had before and love doing it.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Showing posts with label internet communications. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet communications. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Website Marketing and Conversion, Step 2
Website marketing requires time and intelligent planning to create the business outcomes you want for your business. In this series, I've been outlining the simple basics of how to begin creating a website that will:
1- Receive targeted traffic;
2- Convert that traffic to new client relationships;
3- Allow you to monitor results, change/develop content to constantly improve results.
Today we'll focus on #2, converting your websites traffic to new clients.
What is meant by the term conversion? Web conversions take many forms ranging from accessing information such as a whitepaper, filling out a form for contact, to completing an online purchase. Regardless of what the conversion is, as small and medium sized businesses your number one priority should be creating conversions and if appropriate having a series of conversions that lead to the creation of a new client...really, what else matters? Website designers will have you believe that your website needs to look a certain way and that this colour or that layout is better...the best return on your investment is when visitors to your website ultimatley become clients right? Stay focused on conversion!!!
How is this done? There are many details that I won't go into, (branding, language, etc.) that's not the intention here, what I want to give you is some ideas on how to make this work for your business. What's important is to remember that a conversion doesn't necessarily mean that you create a new client right away, remember relationships take time, all you want to do is begin a relationship and provide opportunities to develop that relationship over time. Generally this can be accomplished when your website provides the site visitor with different ways to engage with information that will help them answer questions, questions that you should understand for your business based on real world experience. Here is a simple example.
Company XYZ has a website that promotes their residential HVAC solutions. One very common question will be "How much will my new furnace or air conditioner cost?". It may not be the first question, but it will certianly come up at some point as the site visitor continues their purchase decision making process and it opens a great opportunity for XYZ to begin a relationship. How? Simply offer a "FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTATION". This could be a link in the appropriate position in the text that takes them to a form, or it could be a "button" link at the side of the text that takes them to a form, or it could be a specific call to action in the text that says something like, "Call us today to get yoru free no obligation estimate." Regardless of which one (or all) of the conversion options used here, any serious prospect is going to want this information and there are three ways outlined in this example that will allow the site visitor to begin or deepen their relationship with Company XYZ that can lead to that prospect becoming a client. Converted! As noted earlier, there are many other considerations, but the basics outlined can dramatically improve the ROI from your website.
Are there other conversion possibilities? Many! Depending on your business and how relationships are created in the 'real world' you could use information in the form of whitepapers, landing pages that speak to a prospect in a certain manner on a specific question or concern typical prospects have, create "FREE TRIALS" or "SPECIAL OFFER" buttons, and these are just a few ideas. What's of greatest importance is to make certain that you are in fact providing visitors to your website with a variety of relevant ways to begin a relationship with you. If you're uncertain about the details, contact somebody who can help you, again I repeat, as a small or medium sized business, your number one objective should be to create new business from your website, anything and everything else...justs costs you money!
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
1- Receive targeted traffic;
2- Convert that traffic to new client relationships;
3- Allow you to monitor results, change/develop content to constantly improve results.
Today we'll focus on #2, converting your websites traffic to new clients.
What is meant by the term conversion? Web conversions take many forms ranging from accessing information such as a whitepaper, filling out a form for contact, to completing an online purchase. Regardless of what the conversion is, as small and medium sized businesses your number one priority should be creating conversions and if appropriate having a series of conversions that lead to the creation of a new client...really, what else matters? Website designers will have you believe that your website needs to look a certain way and that this colour or that layout is better...the best return on your investment is when visitors to your website ultimatley become clients right? Stay focused on conversion!!!
How is this done? There are many details that I won't go into, (branding, language, etc.) that's not the intention here, what I want to give you is some ideas on how to make this work for your business. What's important is to remember that a conversion doesn't necessarily mean that you create a new client right away, remember relationships take time, all you want to do is begin a relationship and provide opportunities to develop that relationship over time. Generally this can be accomplished when your website provides the site visitor with different ways to engage with information that will help them answer questions, questions that you should understand for your business based on real world experience. Here is a simple example.
Company XYZ has a website that promotes their residential HVAC solutions. One very common question will be "How much will my new furnace or air conditioner cost?". It may not be the first question, but it will certianly come up at some point as the site visitor continues their purchase decision making process and it opens a great opportunity for XYZ to begin a relationship. How? Simply offer a "FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTATION". This could be a link in the appropriate position in the text that takes them to a form, or it could be a "button" link at the side of the text that takes them to a form, or it could be a specific call to action in the text that says something like, "Call us today to get yoru free no obligation estimate." Regardless of which one (or all) of the conversion options used here, any serious prospect is going to want this information and there are three ways outlined in this example that will allow the site visitor to begin or deepen their relationship with Company XYZ that can lead to that prospect becoming a client. Converted! As noted earlier, there are many other considerations, but the basics outlined can dramatically improve the ROI from your website.
Are there other conversion possibilities? Many! Depending on your business and how relationships are created in the 'real world' you could use information in the form of whitepapers, landing pages that speak to a prospect in a certain manner on a specific question or concern typical prospects have, create "FREE TRIALS" or "SPECIAL OFFER" buttons, and these are just a few ideas. What's of greatest importance is to make certain that you are in fact providing visitors to your website with a variety of relevant ways to begin a relationship with you. If you're uncertain about the details, contact somebody who can help you, again I repeat, as a small or medium sized business, your number one objective should be to create new business from your website, anything and everything else...justs costs you money!
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Monday, June 8, 2009
Free Website Development Tools
Small business is in a tough position, you want to make the business grow and you know that there is opportunity with the internet, you just don't have the resources (here I'm talking of capital resources) to take advantage of what's out there to help you. Maybe you've even heard that there are many tools offered that target your problem in a cost effective way, either free or very low cost, but finding them can be time consuming. Here I offer for you 20 great tools that you can use which fit into the category of free or very low cost. They will help you, you just have to use them. If you don't...know that your competition is, so invest the time or hire someone who will invest the time on your behalf, the cost of inaction to your business is too high!
CRM - contact and lead tracking, sales and contact management, sales pipeline management and forecasting, customer service and business management. Keep yourself organized! Free version available from www.freecrm.com, from $7/mo at www.sugarcrm.com
Market Research - Google Alerts is a "must-have” clipping service. Set up your favorite key words and www.google.com/alerts finds and delivers articles about any subject of your choosing to your inbox every day. Watch for news and mentions of your own company, your customers and your competitors. Free
Creative Design – Want a design for a new logo, brochure, website or business card? Go to either www.crowdspring.com or www.99designs.com, upload your requirements, run a contest and pick your favourite. You pick the purse size, I’ve seen contests get dozens of great results for only a few hundred dollars.
Marketing Collateral – Want fast easy printing? Upload files for brochures, business cards and stationary. These companies, www.overnightprints.com and www.vistaprint.com, will print and ship – too easy. vistaprint.com is also available in Canada at www.vistaprint.ca
Permission-based Marketing – create and send opt-in newsletters, deliver and track blog posts and updates to customers, prospects and colleagues. www.campaigner.com starts at $10/mo, www.constantcontact.com starts at $15/mo
Accounting – track your time and expenses, manage contractors, send and manage your invoices, totally on-line, getting rave reviews. Join the wave at www.freshbooks.com, pricing starts at $15/mo
Conference Calling – when you need to convene a meeting (and look professional doing it), you can get free reservationless conference calling at www.freeconference.com
Remote PC Access – for those times when you need to get to a file on your computer but your computer is in your office and you’re not. www.gotomypc.com starts at $20/mo
Long Distance Calling - www.skype.com offers free or very low cost long distance calling (works best with headphones), and it can also do conference calls
Project Management – web-based project management software that marries time tracking and task management in a collaborative online space with powerful reporting. www.myintervals.com is $20 for up to 15 projects
Taking orders/selling stuff – the dead easy way to accept credit cards on your website, www.paypal.com only charges you when you sell, a transaction fee up to 3% of sale value
Keeping track of it all - make notes on anything on the web or on your computer using www.evernote.com and have these memory joggers available (and search able) at any time - free
Sending really big files – www.yousendit.com – for when you need to send a really big file that your customer may not be able to receive otherwise, or when you absolutely need to know a file reached it’s intended recipient – yousendit has a pay as you go option or plans from $10/mo
Virtual Fax – if you deal with Fortune 1000 companies you know how they love their faxes. www.efax.com lets you receive faxes in your email account instead of on a fax machine – way more convenient. You can also send scanned docs as faxes using the same service. Starts at $17/mo
On-line Meetings – www.dimdim.com makes your meeting almost as good as in-person and much less expensive than airfare. Use it to deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and web pages and share their voice and video over the Internet. Free and $20/mo options
Virtual Receptionist - an Internet voicemail system accessible by phone, email, or the web. an auto-attendant that acts as your virtual receptionist. You can create virtual mailboxes for your employees and enjoy voicemail call forwarding, call transfers, call routing, voicemail notifications, and much more.... www.my1voice.com from $10/mo
Transcription – For those people who just hate to type but love to talk, you can record your messaging, upload it to www.speakwrite.com and receive a typed doc back via email in about 3 hours.
Sharing your thoughts – absolutely the best way to publish your powerpoint presentations on the web and share them with others - www.slideshare.com is free
Document sharing and collaboration – my personal favorite, docs.google.com allows you to upload word or excel files and work on them collaboratively with selected people. Takes all the hassle out of emailing docs around for comments. - free
Running an event? Use www.eventbrite.com to create a webpage for your event, accept and manage registrations and even publish who has RSVP’d. Free if your event is free, 2.5% of ticket price for paid events.
Many thanks to the group of great people at www.onedegree.ca for compiling this information!
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
CRM - contact and lead tracking, sales and contact management, sales pipeline management and forecasting, customer service and business management. Keep yourself organized! Free version available from www.freecrm.com, from $7/mo at www.sugarcrm.com
Market Research - Google Alerts is a "must-have” clipping service. Set up your favorite key words and www.google.com/alerts finds and delivers articles about any subject of your choosing to your inbox every day. Watch for news and mentions of your own company, your customers and your competitors. Free
Creative Design – Want a design for a new logo, brochure, website or business card? Go to either www.crowdspring.com or www.99designs.com, upload your requirements, run a contest and pick your favourite. You pick the purse size, I’ve seen contests get dozens of great results for only a few hundred dollars.
Marketing Collateral – Want fast easy printing? Upload files for brochures, business cards and stationary. These companies, www.overnightprints.com and www.vistaprint.com, will print and ship – too easy. vistaprint.com is also available in Canada at www.vistaprint.ca
Permission-based Marketing – create and send opt-in newsletters, deliver and track blog posts and updates to customers, prospects and colleagues. www.campaigner.com starts at $10/mo, www.constantcontact.com starts at $15/mo
Accounting – track your time and expenses, manage contractors, send and manage your invoices, totally on-line, getting rave reviews. Join the wave at www.freshbooks.com, pricing starts at $15/mo
Conference Calling – when you need to convene a meeting (and look professional doing it), you can get free reservationless conference calling at www.freeconference.com
Remote PC Access – for those times when you need to get to a file on your computer but your computer is in your office and you’re not. www.gotomypc.com starts at $20/mo
Long Distance Calling - www.skype.com offers free or very low cost long distance calling (works best with headphones), and it can also do conference calls
Project Management – web-based project management software that marries time tracking and task management in a collaborative online space with powerful reporting. www.myintervals.com is $20 for up to 15 projects
Taking orders/selling stuff – the dead easy way to accept credit cards on your website, www.paypal.com only charges you when you sell, a transaction fee up to 3% of sale value
Keeping track of it all - make notes on anything on the web or on your computer using www.evernote.com and have these memory joggers available (and search able) at any time - free
Sending really big files – www.yousendit.com – for when you need to send a really big file that your customer may not be able to receive otherwise, or when you absolutely need to know a file reached it’s intended recipient – yousendit has a pay as you go option or plans from $10/mo
Virtual Fax – if you deal with Fortune 1000 companies you know how they love their faxes. www.efax.com lets you receive faxes in your email account instead of on a fax machine – way more convenient. You can also send scanned docs as faxes using the same service. Starts at $17/mo
On-line Meetings – www.dimdim.com makes your meeting almost as good as in-person and much less expensive than airfare. Use it to deliver synchronized live presentations, whiteboards and web pages and share their voice and video over the Internet. Free and $20/mo options
Virtual Receptionist - an Internet voicemail system accessible by phone, email, or the web. an auto-attendant that acts as your virtual receptionist. You can create virtual mailboxes for your employees and enjoy voicemail call forwarding, call transfers, call routing, voicemail notifications, and much more.... www.my1voice.com from $10/mo
Transcription – For those people who just hate to type but love to talk, you can record your messaging, upload it to www.speakwrite.com and receive a typed doc back via email in about 3 hours.
Sharing your thoughts – absolutely the best way to publish your powerpoint presentations on the web and share them with others - www.slideshare.com is free
Document sharing and collaboration – my personal favorite, docs.google.com allows you to upload word or excel files and work on them collaboratively with selected people. Takes all the hassle out of emailing docs around for comments. - free
Running an event? Use www.eventbrite.com to create a webpage for your event, accept and manage registrations and even publish who has RSVP’d. Free if your event is free, 2.5% of ticket price for paid events.
Many thanks to the group of great people at www.onedegree.ca for compiling this information!
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Keeping Social Media Fun
As I speak with more and more businesses on the subject of social media engagement and what they can expect from their effort, I'm also recognizing that these initiatives can get tiresome and become just one more thing that has to get done on a list of many. Questions start coming up about whether this is really worth the effort. Do you want to achieve a richer web presence? Elevate your search rankings? Drive traffic to your website? Ultimately these are questions you'll have to answer for yourself but before making any rash decisions consider this; if you aren't engaged who is? You're competition? If so, why are they and not you? In the end analysis it all comes down to ROI. A well planned and thought out social media campaign will drive traffic to you and assuming you have a website that has been carefully designed to achieve the conversion you want, more traffic = more conversions = more customers. If not yours your competitions...what does that cost you?
This article I found today and it gives great direction about how to keep your social media initiative vibrant and on track: http://econsultancy.com/blog/3936-keeping-social-media-sustainable It's a very worthwhile read and only takes about 2 minutes to get through, well worth the investment if you're considering some sort of social media engagement or need to re-ignite the effort.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
This article I found today and it gives great direction about how to keep your social media initiative vibrant and on track: http://econsultancy.com/blog/3936-keeping-social-media-sustainable It's a very worthwhile read and only takes about 2 minutes to get through, well worth the investment if you're considering some sort of social media engagement or need to re-ignite the effort.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
B2B or B2C Blogging for...What?
There is some disagreement out there about whether or not corporate business blogging is really beneficial or not. On one side, those who adamantly feel this is an important component of your company image, an the other side that feel it has no value particularly because the ROI is not clear and so it is a waste of time and resources. One thing is certain, if you don't have a blog, the ROI is...zero! I personally believe that a blog does have value but there are certain conditions required to achieve returns...uh oh , here we go with PLAN again!
Before beginning to blog brainstorm some questions for example, who is your audience? What information do they want? What problem(s) are they looking to solve?...and so on. A good next step is to determine what blogging is to accomplish in the scope of your overall corporate strategy, is this an info, dialogue, branding or other type blog? If you're comfortable that you're on firm ground up to this point get to blogging...with certain conditions.
Speak truthfully in a clear voice that will be heard by your audience, there's enough 'stuff' out there. If you offer information or insight that is not the truth expect to be called out on the carpet, we don't have time for it. A key to successful blog development is that you become recognized as a trusted source, so stay true. Reflect on real experience or comment similarly but you must have a motivation that stays on the high ground or you will not develop any loyalty from your readers.
It's true that there are many blogs that are not generating the desired outcomes and there is little or no ROI, but a well planned blog, that forms part of a consistent corporate strategy and is patiently nurtured and adheres to the highest level of integrity will have tremendous ROI. Want to invest the time? Ultimately this is your decision but here's a final thought. If your blog initiative resulted in one more satisfied customer, what would that be worth to the company? What about two? Three? If you don't blog, it could be that you would never generate that business, its lost to a competitor...
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Before beginning to blog brainstorm some questions for example, who is your audience? What information do they want? What problem(s) are they looking to solve?...and so on. A good next step is to determine what blogging is to accomplish in the scope of your overall corporate strategy, is this an info, dialogue, branding or other type blog? If you're comfortable that you're on firm ground up to this point get to blogging...with certain conditions.
Speak truthfully in a clear voice that will be heard by your audience, there's enough 'stuff' out there. If you offer information or insight that is not the truth expect to be called out on the carpet, we don't have time for it. A key to successful blog development is that you become recognized as a trusted source, so stay true. Reflect on real experience or comment similarly but you must have a motivation that stays on the high ground or you will not develop any loyalty from your readers.
It's true that there are many blogs that are not generating the desired outcomes and there is little or no ROI, but a well planned blog, that forms part of a consistent corporate strategy and is patiently nurtured and adheres to the highest level of integrity will have tremendous ROI. Want to invest the time? Ultimately this is your decision but here's a final thought. If your blog initiative resulted in one more satisfied customer, what would that be worth to the company? What about two? Three? If you don't blog, it could be that you would never generate that business, its lost to a competitor...
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Monday, May 11, 2009
Thinking Social Media...Read This!
Social media continues to dominate a lot of discussions for companies as they consider what they're plans are...hopefully they are in fact considering instead of just acting as this may have undesirable results! I invite you to read the following as I couldn't have said it better myself and in fact extend the concept outlined to not just social media engagement, but website development generally. Here is one way to think of it, what would you like your web presence to do for your company? If you can imagine it, it can probably be done...plan! Failing to plan is a very good plan to fail. Read on...
http://econsultancy.com/blog/3797-social-media-is-about-the-steak-not-the-sizzle#blog_comment_8529
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
http://econsultancy.com/blog/3797-social-media-is-about-the-steak-not-the-sizzle#blog_comment_8529
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Friday, May 8, 2009
Be Cool Internet...Stay Nice! 5 Reasons
Have you ever had an experience that left you really frustrated with a company if not outright mad? Whether it's a flaw with something that you bought, (zippers on hockey bags come to mind...Easton Canada, not so nice!!!) or a real let down in what you thought you were getting as a a service and what was delivered, it is more important than ever that you respond well to your customers concerns. Deliver good service, be honest, stand behind your product. Why? Today, more than ever before, an unhappy client can make their frustration known to a wide audience...really wide audience!
How you ask? Here are just five:
www.ripoffreport.com
www.settlement.org
www.evalu8.org
www.fraudalert.com
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/consumer-rip-off/
When I say just five, what I mean is there are probably 155...thousand similar websites or blogs! I don't think anyone can afford that kind of 'free press' do you? Is this fair? I think so, what do you think? Be cool...stay nice.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
How you ask? Here are just five:
www.ripoffreport.com
www.settlement.org
www.evalu8.org
www.fraudalert.com
http://en.wordpress.com/tag/consumer-rip-off/
When I say just five, what I mean is there are probably 155...thousand similar websites or blogs! I don't think anyone can afford that kind of 'free press' do you? Is this fair? I think so, what do you think? Be cool...stay nice.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Thursday, April 23, 2009
What is a Website For?
So...what is a website for? Really! Give me some answers I want to know what you're thinking.
As I observe what is happening with online communications and the conventional marketing options, here is a comment that I would be really interested in opening a discussion on:
Traditional marketing vehicles, print, TV, radio, trade shows etc. continue to be valid options but they are expensive and very difficult at best to track results. The internet offers business accurate, trackable results, unlimited ability to communicate relevant information, and a return on investment that is unmatched by any conventional media offering on a minute by minute basis and as a result, more and more companies are investing in their online presence.
What do conventional media do? They are supposed to get the prospect to engage with the company. What is a website for? In my opinion... get the prospect to engage with the company! In the online world we call this conversion. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing from you, leave a comment.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
As I observe what is happening with online communications and the conventional marketing options, here is a comment that I would be really interested in opening a discussion on:
Traditional marketing vehicles, print, TV, radio, trade shows etc. continue to be valid options but they are expensive and very difficult at best to track results. The internet offers business accurate, trackable results, unlimited ability to communicate relevant information, and a return on investment that is unmatched by any conventional media offering on a minute by minute basis and as a result, more and more companies are investing in their online presence.
What do conventional media do? They are supposed to get the prospect to engage with the company. What is a website for? In my opinion... get the prospect to engage with the company! In the online world we call this conversion. What do you think? I'm interested in hearing from you, leave a comment.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Improve Website Results 100%, 5 Steps
You may think this is a joke, not possible...what if it was guaranteed? Don't look for a guarantee like this on this blog, it's not my style, but I will say that these kind of improvements are very possible with a well executed and organized web development plan...oh no, here I go with the plan thing again. Yes, hear me, you are not going to get those kind of results without planning unless you are unbelievably lucky. For those who think this isn't possible I offer this, if it is possible and you don't engage with this kind of process, then the new opportunities that would have been yours? Well, they'll be go to someone else. How much will that cost you?
Five Steps
Step 1- Content, content, content. Check it over, are you giving your visitors the solutions they're looking for? Nobody cares about your product except you, they care about their problem and solutions for the problem, get your answers lined up and give them what they want.
Step 2- Check out your competition, what are they doing? What are they saying? How are they ranking in searches, why? How are they converting site visitors? Standard business. You don't have to re-create the wheel, just improve it a little and you'll win all the business you want.
Step 3- SEO, you think I'm crazy mentioning this don't you? Well let me tell you something, I surf a lot of websites and an unbelievably high percentage don't even have keywords and those that do well, many have the same keywords on every page of the website. Missed opportunities.
Step 4- Blog. Yes, again I say blog. This is probably the easiest way to improve rankings with the search engines. A blog provides your website with changing content, blog more, more change, more search engine relevance.
Step 5- Social network campaign. It's time that you engage in the conversation, offer your tweet, your wall space, your flick...beware, this isn't where you advertise, this is where you provide good conversation, want to be interesting? Be interested.
There you go, five steps. Yes, there are many more, no I haven't said all there is to say, there are many details, come back again soon and I'll have something else.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Five Steps
Step 1- Content, content, content. Check it over, are you giving your visitors the solutions they're looking for? Nobody cares about your product except you, they care about their problem and solutions for the problem, get your answers lined up and give them what they want.
Step 2- Check out your competition, what are they doing? What are they saying? How are they ranking in searches, why? How are they converting site visitors? Standard business. You don't have to re-create the wheel, just improve it a little and you'll win all the business you want.
Step 3- SEO, you think I'm crazy mentioning this don't you? Well let me tell you something, I surf a lot of websites and an unbelievably high percentage don't even have keywords and those that do well, many have the same keywords on every page of the website. Missed opportunities.
Step 4- Blog. Yes, again I say blog. This is probably the easiest way to improve rankings with the search engines. A blog provides your website with changing content, blog more, more change, more search engine relevance.
Step 5- Social network campaign. It's time that you engage in the conversation, offer your tweet, your wall space, your flick...beware, this isn't where you advertise, this is where you provide good conversation, want to be interesting? Be interested.
There you go, five steps. Yes, there are many more, no I haven't said all there is to say, there are many details, come back again soon and I'll have something else.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Are 'Things' Changing
Yeeeeeaah! In the world of online communication...wow are they changing!
OK, so much for the exclamation points. I bring this topic up for two reasons, first, in a recent conversation with a friend who knows of my involvement with website services, he asked me about Facebook. I asked him, "What do you want to know?", his answer (really) "What is it?" I have to tell you, I was a little blown away but realized quickly that there are a lot of people like John, (not his real name) who are so busy with their business that they truly don't think they have time for such things and truly don't understand what social networks can provide their business with. In a nutshell, my first point is that they don't get to access information that will allow them to make an informed decision, and this is really too bad because there are so many opportunities for them to improve their business that never existed before. Website design, website services...online communications is evolving at a remarkable pace, I truly believe it will be better for all of us, allowing better, more targeted and concise information distribution which will result in improved outcomes. That said, I also hope that the SMB marketplace will avail itself of this continuing evolution in communications.
Second reason...find a way to engage in the process, I strongly believe this is really important. Should I emphasize that some more? REALLY IMPORTANT! Whether you're in the internet industry to help others, or you're seeking that help, find a way to access the info you need that will help you, either better serve your clients, or serve the business outcomes you seek. For business owners and managers, you should probably put this process into other peoples hands, you don't really have time. Just make certain you're working with someone you're comfortable with and who is really keen on what is happening in this online communication world. When you do this, your investment will be paid back many many times over. If you chose not to engage somehow...well let's not go there.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
OK, so much for the exclamation points. I bring this topic up for two reasons, first, in a recent conversation with a friend who knows of my involvement with website services, he asked me about Facebook. I asked him, "What do you want to know?", his answer (really) "What is it?" I have to tell you, I was a little blown away but realized quickly that there are a lot of people like John, (not his real name) who are so busy with their business that they truly don't think they have time for such things and truly don't understand what social networks can provide their business with. In a nutshell, my first point is that they don't get to access information that will allow them to make an informed decision, and this is really too bad because there are so many opportunities for them to improve their business that never existed before. Website design, website services...online communications is evolving at a remarkable pace, I truly believe it will be better for all of us, allowing better, more targeted and concise information distribution which will result in improved outcomes. That said, I also hope that the SMB marketplace will avail itself of this continuing evolution in communications.
Second reason...find a way to engage in the process, I strongly believe this is really important. Should I emphasize that some more? REALLY IMPORTANT! Whether you're in the internet industry to help others, or you're seeking that help, find a way to access the info you need that will help you, either better serve your clients, or serve the business outcomes you seek. For business owners and managers, you should probably put this process into other peoples hands, you don't really have time. Just make certain you're working with someone you're comfortable with and who is really keen on what is happening in this online communication world. When you do this, your investment will be paid back many many times over. If you chose not to engage somehow...well let's not go there.
We're at the edge of the future!
Andy Xhignesse
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