Marketing Your Business

10 RULES FOR WRITING YOUR HOME PAGE

By Susan Greene (susangreenecopywriter.com)

Because the home page is the first page most of your visitors will see, it’s also the most important page. Its purpose is to grab the readers’ attention and help them find information quickly and easily. If your home page lacks facts or is confusing, your visitors will click off before they ever gets a chance to know you. Here are some tips for ensuring your home page is effective:

1. Keep it concise.

Today’s web surfer has a short attention span. The home page needs to cut to the chase or risk losing the reader. Don’t waste a lot of time giving details and background. Tell the visitor what your website is all about right off the top. Make it concise and focused. A good size is 200 to 250 words. That should give you enough space to tout your biggest benefits and also encompass those all-important keywords. Save lengthy, detailed copy for inner pages.

2. Use keywords.

Search engines use keywords to determine where to place you in their directories. Make sure you write your home page to include the words you most associate with your business and, more importantly, that your prospects likely associate with your business. You need words, the right words. That’s why flash sites and graphics-only sites do not perform as well on search engines as sites with keyword-rich copy. Take some time to brainstorm what keyword phrases best describe your offerings. Don't know what search queries might be used to reach your site? Go to www.wordtracker.com where you can actually test your keywords and get suggestions for related terms. Also, do keyword research through various search engines. Get feedback from customers, suppliers, sales people and friends. And don’t forget to check your competitors’ websites. How do they describe their products or services? Now determine what will work best for you.

3. Write copy from the reader’s viewpoint.

First you must know your reader. What is most likely to interest him? Visitors are looking for the answer to the question, “What’s in it for me?” They don’t want to read company profiles or lengthy corporate histories. They may want to learn more later, but first they want to know that you’re offering something that they want. Here’s a quick test you can do to see if your copy is reader-oriented. Count how many times you use the terms “I” and “we.” Next count how many times you use the terms “you” and “your.” If the “I’s” and “we’s” outnumber the “you’s” and “yours,” you’re likely to lose your reader.

4. Provide specifics, focusing on benefits, not features.

Rather than giving broad generalizations about features such as, “Our machine is fast,” it’s better to make strong, specific benefit statements like, “Our machine will increase your productivity by as much as 25%.”

 5. Simplify navigation.

Your visitors should be able to instantly determine where to click on your site to locate the information they want. Hyperlinks should be easy to find. Use good descriptive phrases for labeling buttons.

6. Personalize your approach.

More people will buy from you when they feel you are talking directly to them about their individual needs. Make your copy friendly and conversational. Despite what you were taught in Freshmen English, it’s okay to write in second person. As mentioned earlier, sprinkling the words “you” and “your” throughout your copy will personalize your approach.

7. Use headlines and subheads.

Big blocks of copy turn readers off. Use catchy headlines and informative subheads to break up long-winded paragraphs and guide the reader. It’s a good idea to use keywords in your headlines and subheads whenever possible as their prominence can help boost your position on search engines.

8. Sound enthusiastic, but don’t go overboard.

Readers are pretty savvy these days. They’re also pretty skeptical. If your copy is filled with obvious exaggerations, you’ll lose their trust. For the same reason, don’t fill your copy with exclamation points, bolding, underlining and too many font styles and colors. Use these eye-catching techniques with discretion. A hyped-up home page will decrease believability. Instead, mix an equal portion of enthusiasm with believability, and you’ll see results.

9. Proofread your copy.

It’s easy to find errors in grammar, spelling and punctuation on the Internet. We’ve all seen them. But that doesn’t make them right. Nothing detracts more from your professionalism than misspelled words or sentences that don’t make sense. Proofread your work, and ask others to do it too. An extra set of eyes may catch mistakes you miss.

10. Make sure your design is professional.

First impressions count, even on the Internet. Be sure that your online image, particularly your home page, conveys professionalism or you’ll lose the visitor’s trust. Your site doesn’t need to have glitzy graphics and expensive flash screens, but it also shouldn’t look like it was designed by your 13-year-old nephew.

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Susan Greene is a freelance copywriter located in the Orlando, Central Florida area. If you would like assistance with your writing project or permission to reprint this article, please contact Susan at susan@susangreenecopywriter.com or call (407) 578-5528.

Copyright © Susan Greene

Turn A Phrase To Turn A Head

There in front of me sat the unusual "tip" jar, with a twist. I stood at the new coffee shop in town ordering the usual concoction to quench my caffeine craving when I noticed sign on the jar. The sassy and delightful gal named Nadean went to fix my brew and there I was, left to consider the tip offer. Instead of the usual jar for leaving tips that you see in nearly every coffee joint from Starbucks to the local hang outs, there sat this jar with an offer facing me. Instead of the of the everyday sign with "Tips" printed on it, this one said, "Tips Make You Sexy!". I nearly laughed out loud.

Of course I had no newly found delusions that my key to renewed sexiness hinged on whether I threw a buck in the pot or not. Still, I liked it. It turned my head, made me notice it. It was also a quick lesson in great marketing that is so often forgotten. Sticking the unexpected in places where the expected is, well... expected

Doing ordinary things doesn't mean we have to do them in ordinary ways. That is what 'turning a phrase' is all about. One of the reasons so many sites fail to convert into sales and leads is the overwhelming drive they seem to have in building them in ordinary ways, just like everyone else. Want to stand out from the crowd? You really can't do that by being just like the rest of the crowd.

A simple turn of a phrase transformed an ordinary coffee shop tip jar into an experience I found I actually looked forward to every time I swung in for coffee. It was like an investment in my sexiness. In my own mind, I'm sure, but still it got results from me above what I would normally do. If you can think out of the ordinary, how would that change the wording of your website, newsletters, publicity and even your search engine optimization?

Let's look at a couple of things you can focus on to get more action rolling on your website and examine how all this weaves into Search Engine Optimization. First, look at what NOT to do.

Eliminate Anything That Results in NORC

Go ahead, pronounce it. Say it out loud. It's like NORK. Snort it every time you read something like, "We pride ourselves in...". No One Really Cares what you pride yourself in. "Our Mission Statement..." NORC! "Our goal is..." NORC! When visitors come to your site, at first at least, they really don't care if you live or die, just don't die on their doorstep. What they do care about is what makes them sexy, look good, feel good, reduce pain, be loved, get more.

Face it, you and I are in business because we help fix other people's problems. They have to want your solution enough to part with their hard earned money for it. So your focus has to be on the customer and how they are going to have their problems solved or life improved.

One book that drove this home to me is "Waiting For Your Cat To Bark". It's available through Amazon, of course. Dogs are eager to please their masters. Cats think the world revolves around them and their nap. Which one are you when surfing the net? Guess which one your customers are most like? Stop waiting for them to bark. Want a cat to come in off the screened porch from his 5th nap of the day? You had better be shaking a box of treats. Better to offering something he wants more than a nap or bird watching.

Tell your visitors plainly in everyday language how you are going to help them. Don't make them hunt for it. You also have to make it believable. The baloney meter is always on. If it is baloney, make it laughable. 'Tips Make You Sexy!" is so full of baloney that becomes funny and effective. It made me chuckle enough to like that business and I kept coming back for more. Who knows, I may now be the sexiest man alive with all those tips. I'm betting Nadean and her staff spent them just fine. Make sure you have your "tip jar" one click away from any page on your site so that when they are ready to buy they can.

Eliminate the 'We We'

Another point driven home by numerous site consultants is that many sites die because they we-we all over themselves. "We have, we do, we will" and all the rest, NORC. Read your site's wording and apply this test. Do words like "you", "yours" and "your" outweigh words like "we", "us" and "ours"? It really should be a 3-1 ratio. Reading over your wording in this fashion should tell you whom you are most concerned about. It may be subliminal but you can bet the customers sense that as well. Remember, "tipping makes YOU sexy". She had it right. Tips weren't for her, they were for my sexiness.

The decisions we make are rarely based on reason alone. It requires emotion first. That emotion motivates the decision process to be made. Then our emotions tell our brain to do the research to justify the decision. I know it's not supposed to be done that way, it just is. If you want your visitors to act in the way you want them to, you have to touch something to bring an emotional reaction.

Learn From Politics

Want my take on why Obama beat out Clinton for the nomination? Obama came up with a more emotionally gripping slogan. Their progressive beliefs and philosophies are roughly two millimeters apart and born from the same philosophical egg. Obama had "Change We Can Believe In". Clinton had... what? Can you even remember it, or them? She ran through about a dozen of them. In a close race it only takes one element like a missing emotionally rallying slogan to bring you into 'also ran' status.

Let's go a step further. You know that offering 'change' is not exactly a new idea in politics. If you don't know that you are probably are experiencing pimples and your first election conscious year ever. It started around the time of John Adams. The people deciding between Obama and Clinton would have opted for any of the candidates if it was the only choice against whoever the Republicans nominated. It is the same for the Republican side of the equation.

It's as if we have two heads, one emotional head and a logical head, and God only gave us enough blood to run one at a time. I won't push that point any further. Anyway, once we side emotionally, we'll find a way to justify it by our research in the aftermath. As one politician in the 1930's candidly put it, "The good people of Nebraska are for free silver, I'm for free silver. I'll figure out the reasons later".

The key is to emotionally appeal to the choir enough to bring in a few fence sitters also. In this case the choir wants out of Iraq, lots of green ecology stances, lower gas prices and pretty much anything seen as non-Bush. The details will come later. Almost like, "voting for Obama makes you sexy".

How This Applies to Search Traffic

Two key issues on getting clicks to your site after you rank on the first few pages of Google or Yahoo for your search term is what you have said in the Title tag and the Description tag on each of your web pages.

Title Tag

When you do a search in Google and find listings, the very top line of that listing is taken from what is called a Title META tag. This should be put in as code in the header area by your web designer and it should be unique for every page on your site. This should not be thought of lightly because it is the first line seen at the top of your listing in search results and it is the clickable link to your site. If that tag simply says, "ABC Fuel Additive Home" don't expect a huge click through rate. Sure, "See How Widgets Increase Your Sex Appeal" might get more click through actions yet there will be no joy or happy endings once they arrive. This is called your "bounce rate" - one page peeking and gone. Maybe something like "ABC Fuel Additive Cuts Fuel Costs for Farmers". Appeals to the pocket book are always emotional.

Remember, one Title tag for each page and make each one unique and appealing to the emotion side of the human psyche. Make them reflect the content on that page. Do your keyword research for phrases that you can target and have little competition for them. That takes time and tools. One simple free tool is Google Analytics and one of my favorites is WordTracker. WordTracker is not free but if you want to find out how to drive traffic from free search results, this is huge.

Description Tag

 If you don't put in the proper description tag in the header, Google and the rest will simply take the first few words on your page and plug those in. That could be your address. No appeal there. This is the second line that reinforces the title tag in search results. If you've turned the head with your Title tag, don't mess it up with a clumsy description. This should reinforce the title and further entice a click through. Think this through carefully. Describe what's on the page in a quick catchy way and make it only 160 characters long including spaces. Any longer and it will get cut off mid-sentence. Do a quick search for any word or phrase and see how many really mess this up. Here is your chance to get it right.

How about, "Farmers nationwide are averaging a 10% reduction in fuel costs using ABC additives for all their diesel needs. Learn how it works." You don' t have to use all 160 characters. Brevity is the key and make it good.

Use this process for A/B testing using different phrases in the title and description. This is done through Google Adwords. You can set up an account and start some testing to see which gets the most clicks.

Come On and Work Those Phrases

You should now work those keyword phrases in the text of your page aimed at readers, not robots. Yet do it in a way the robots like. Make your Title tag phrase the first line of your page text and put it in <h1> tags for greatest emphasis. It orients the user that he has landed where expected and the robots give that phrase more force in the index.

Make your description tag the first sentence on your page after the header. Same reason as above.

The Reasons Should Be Clear, My Dear Watson!

Clarity trumps persuasive reason every time. Bullet point your benefits with clear and concise ways right up front Don't use little bitty html outline characters either. Use nice graphic bullets, check marks or images to stress the points and reinforce them with bold for each point. If visitors want to read more details make it another page but don't make them have to go there to act. Put the button on the left hand side of the page so they can "act now" on your offer.

When you do have to use many paragraphs on a page take the time to bold and enlarge the first word of each paragraph. You will increase the chances of it actually being read by 18%. 

OK, so tips may not have made me sexy. The right words can change your lifestyle. Turn that phrase and turn a head. 

The Most Ignored Key To Website Traffic!

My Web Site is Built - So Where's the Traffic and Business? 

Your website is built and sitting pretty. So where are all the people you hoped would come over to play? You need traffic for your site to be effective and to start generating leads. Now that you know that just having a website won't necessarily drive business to you, you should consider the most important thing most people miss in this effort.

Here are the 3 factors that need to be in place for a successful website and successful business. I'll list them from least important too most important:

1. Sound 'on-site' Search Engine Optimization strategies. This refers to the things many consider the most important. There are the basic A-B-C's of getting things set up with keywords and phrases so that you will rank well against your competition in Google, Yahoo and the like. This involves a lot of elements that you, as the end user, may never realize or see. Having the proper titles for each page, putting in the right key words and header tags. There are solid things that should be done and most web designers that I talk to rarely take it beyond this point. Being ranked well by search engines starts here but the best realize this is only the start.

2. Content That Is Effective. Traffic us useless unless they buy something or make contact with you. We call this "Conversion Ratio". What percentage of your website visitors convert into buyers and users of your services? This can and should be measured. The important things here are the attractiveness and professional appearance of the site with content that is compelling. Having the right mix of words, graphics and informational content can take conversion rates from being non-existent to well over 10%. Do this right and your income level can really zing.

Web designers get so many calls from business owners that can only think to ask, "how much do you charge to make me a website?" What they miss is what it will cost them in business profits if it is not done right. Web designers may know how to make a good looking site but not necessarily how to input the words and content for the best effects. Writing compelling content is a very specialized talent. This takes more work and more time to do. It costs more but the difference can be huge on your return on investment.

When you have this part right, the most important part of driving traffic can be taken advantage of. This aspect is where many web developers simply drop off the map in helping clients. If you are shopping price only you won't find this part of the mix. What is it that they miss?

3. Off Site Factors Are Most The Important Factors in Driving Traffic!  What are 'off site factors'? The most important key for ranking well with Google are the links that come to you from other sites that Google considers to be important sites. MSN and Yahoo are important sites. So are Digg.com, Wikipedia.com and WowWebWorks.com. OK, so the last one is more important to me more than Google.

Here is the rub. How can you control whether or not other sites talk about you and link to you? I don't mean calling other site owners and saying something like, "Hey, I'll link to you if you link to me" stuff. Mutual links are not important anymore. One way links are. So how can you get those rolling? Well, this takes work. The nice part is that it is work that will have a direct effect on your bottom line. You have enough "busy work" as a business owner. This isn't busy work; it's vital.

Social-Business Networking Sites - Use Them 

This is where sites like LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com and even MySpace.com come into play. I recommend using LinkedIn.com for business development. From there you can refer to your website and create interest in your site in others. I have a full article of ideas for this elsewhere so I won't elaborate there. For more on this see "Why Bother with 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook'?" By posting your information and inviting contacts to link in with you can be huge. It's like having a second or third website with positive recommendations about you and your business.

Effective PR Campaigns

This can be the most important foundation for your business success in existence. As our business partners Ray Lohner and Jerry Ogg from E3 Public Relations have drilled into me, most businesses have it all backwards. Here is what they preach for priorities:

Wrong!

Many businesses we build websites for already to some advertising with varying degrees of success. They do some advertising yet often don't know how that differs from marketing and ignore PR altogether.

Right! 

It is PR that really sets the table for all the rest to work. Even that is being transformed by the Internet. Every time you have a bit of company news from hiring a new employee to lending support to a local charity it deserves a PR piece. Open a new office? PR. Have a unique solution to a problem? Let the press know - they may just do a story on it.

The idea is that if you get enough good PR working for you it opens doors for marketing and advertising because your company and name are more recognizable and respected. Just knowing who you are can be huge.

What has changed in the PR realm in recent years is the rise of online PR companies that will take your electronic releases and send them as feeds to news services nationwide. An example is www.prweb.com. It is chock full of information about good PR and advice on how to write it for best effect. Your submissions are sent out and picked up as a feed by other services. If your PR piece has a reference to your website you now have 1 if not dozens of incoming links to your website. Do dozens of releases and you have dozens of one-way links and start to get noticed by other people interested in your field. Google notices this also.

Why Is PR All But Ignored? 

So why don't more businesses use this? Why do business owners nod in agreement but rarely follow through doing this? Because it takes time and effort to put together a good PR piece in a form that will be picked up by other sites or publications. It takes some knowledge to know where to even send it after you write it. Frankly, you probably don't have time to sit down and pen out a 700-word piece. Few have the writing talent to do it right. It's a skill, specialized skill. Even if you do have the ability, you may well not know where to send it or who at a publication might be interested in it. This is exactly why PR firms exist. They do it well, know where to send it for greatest effect and they know what is news worthy to send. They usually know people at the publications on a first name basis and what they are looking for.

I'm betting that if you cut your advertising budget in half and put that half into paying for a PR firm to take over that job that your remaining advertising will be even more effective than before. 

This is one of the added values for quality web development companies. Next time you call a web design firm and ask, "How much does it cost to build us a website?" find out if "fries" come with that. Do you get just a website or do you get the added value of expertise in Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising. Trust this, you will get no more than you pay for. Find out if they know enough about LinkedIn to even be there. If not, maybe they can't help you there. How about their press releases? Do they even do them for themselves? How do they pro-actively do marketing for themselves? Maybe they just do static (read "you have to call and pay us to edit your site") everyday ordinary sites? Then they probably are the cheapest bidder. A larger vision can make you a lot more money. You have to decide if "who's the lowest bidder" is more important than how much money and exposure the site adds to your bottom line. After all, isn't making money the point?

John Clark   

Why Bother With "LinkedIn" or "Facebook"?

That's what I used to ask myself as numerous acquaintances kept tagging me to be part of their realm of contacts in FaceBook.com or LinkedIn.com. It seemed a nuisance until I sat down with an old contact, Don Tinney from EOS Worldside (EOS=Entrepreneurial Operating Systems). Don is an EOS Implementer whose job is quite simple. He says simply, "We make millionaires out of owners of small to medium size companies".

I was in both LinkedIn and FaceBook and didn't see the significance. My business was humming along just fine and didn't need the distraction. Don forced my mind open a bit and so I took it upon myself to find out if there was some gold to mine there that I had missed. Like hunting for Morel mushrooms, it went from "none to be found" to being surrounded with all kinds of uses. Here is my quick rundown of uses in the hopes all our business partners can begin to take advantage of these tools.

To begin with, I'm going to concentrate on LinkedIn.com because I find it the most dialed in of the two for "business networking". While I'm in Facebook also my contacts there are almost all personal life related. Sure, we all can use a few friends but the majority of my day is more about business and LinkedIn appears to me to have a larger corner on it.

So if you…

• Are new to LinkedIn and don't know how to use it to help your business and career
  
• Have been using LinkedIn yet felt like you haven’t really accomplished anything with it
  
• Are trying to persuade your friends to join LinkedIn and want need to communicate the value of it
• Wondering if LinkedIn type sites can help increase your web site's visibility
  
• Think there’s no real value in LinkedIn

...then this is for you!

Here is a small amount I've learned about using LinkedIn, understanding there are millions of users who know a whole lot more about it than I do. This still should give you a starter kit on the value. It will also be a great link section to teach you as much as you can possibly know about this.

Off-Site Factors Enhance Your Web Site's Ranking More than On-Site Optimization

The original criteria the creators of Google used to rank web sites is still the same as it is today. It ranked sites according to the value of the web sites that linked to the evaluated web site. If you have dozens of important sites with links to your site and those sites are related in subject matter to what your site is all about, it will out weight many of the things you put (or fail to put) in your site for rankings.

When you have links to your web site in your LinkedIn or Facebook listings, those are off-site links. If you make recommendations for other people in your circle of contacts and include your web site address as part of your signature then you have even more. Make dozens of good recommendations and receive them in return. It's truly a "giver's gain" world there.

Add to this some effective Public Relations campaigns and you can really begin to boost our rankings. Write articles like this to online magazines and make links to your web site part of your signature. It takes some real honest to goodness work but the results can be magic in your rankings. There is more on how all this works in one of our blog articles: The Most Important Key to Web Site Traffic! 

Business Development - Marketing - Sales

We all know that strength of a warm lead. All the initial hurdles have been jumped. Linked in contacts can help you get to the right people. Interested in doing business with Acme Widgets? Do a search in LinkedIn for current and former employees of the company. Find out if any of them are connected to someone you know in your circle. If so, ask that contact to give you a formal introduction.

Before you meet that contact look over their interests if posted. Going to meet someone who is President of the company you want to work with? Look them up in advance and discover their interests and background. See who they know that you may also know. Create common interests and connections from that information and start the conversation warmly.

Did you know that ALL 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are represented on LinkedIn? Either the CEOs or the upper level management are to be found there. There must be something to it. Those who are active on it may just be looking for you and who you are on LinkedIn. If you're not there they may wonder why. This is dang near as good as the Mason secret handshake without all the silly rituals or red beanie cap.

For a good article on warm calling using LinkedIn see A Guide To Business Development 2.0.  

When searching for companies, uncheck "current companies only" and find out what former employees have to say about the company. What kind of talent has left the company and how fast? Contact them and find out things the company may not want you to know. Learn their weaknesses and how to market to it. The list is endless.

Increase Your Own Credibility

Imagine that before agreeing to see you on a sales call the business owner checks to see if you are on LinkedIn. Not being there could be a strike against you because he feels he's flying a little blind in your regard. If you are there, he or she may want to see your background, your connections, or your recommendations. Finding numerous positive reviews from others who have worked with you can create a positive frame of mind. If they know some of the same people you do it can get even better. 

Here it can get even better - receiving calls from buyers who found you on LinkedIn and want to buy something from you. Shocking? See how all this can work in the real world in Using LinkedIn to Make the Sale. 

Career Enhancement and Job Search

Enhance your efforts in searching for a job or finding qualified applicants for positions you need to fill. It should be no stretch to your imagination at this point on how you can take advantage of this when looking for career advancement. Use your LinkedIn link as part of your email signature or refer to it in your resume. A large number of HR people and managers will recognize it. If you've done your homework and have numerous recommendations it can really work in your behalf. Make friends and get recommendations before you need them. The best way is to start by recommending others first.

For more on this check out "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn". 

Increase Your Website's Visibility

This will be the subject of my next article because this one's getting a bit long. In short, there are two main things that can positively affect your website ranking and visibility with search engines. The first, and least important are your on-site factors. The most important is your off-site factors. This aspect it mostly ignored by business owners and web developers. It is all part of true professional web development. In this regard you will truly get what you paid for.

My LinkedIn Site

If you are a member of LinkedIn - log out and then search for yourself. When you find yourself, copy the address from your browser's address bar. Use it for a link in your signature for emails. 

Other Sites for More Education:

Top Ten Reasons to Use LinkedIn 

How do I use LinkedIn to find a job

How to use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content 

Wall Street Journal - The Right Way to use LinkedIn 

Organic SEO Top 10 Myths

By Seomul Davis (c) 2008

There are many SEO myths circulating on the Internet. These misconceptions are often crazy and while some are based on partial reality, others have spread due to the lack of being proved wrong.

Here is an example: Let's assume you make a change to your website content. Maybe after a few days you notice that your Google ranking for a certain keyword has altered. Now, it would be natural for you to assume that your content change had led to change in ranking. However, it may not be true. Your ranking could have changed due to several reasons, and may have absolutely nothing to do with the changes made to the content.

Of course, this action of mixing up the cause and effect is a common error on the part of new SEOs. Well, if it were limited to just their work, I wouldn't really mind it. But these guys are clueless and many a times spread their ignorance to other newbies on blogs and forums and create a ripple effect of newer myths. Here, I am making an attempt to discuss and clear the top 10 organic SEO myths:

Organic SEO Myth 1: You must submit your website URL to search engines. Once upon a time, this could have been the "in" thing. But since the past 5-6 years it has become unnecessary.

Organic SEO Myth 2: In order to get better ranking, you absolutely need a Google Sitemap. It's partially correct. However, if you have built your site properly (ensured its crawler-friendly) you don't require a Google Sitemap. That being said, having one won't hurt you and you can even use other Webmaster Central tools offered by Google, but this doesn't guarantee higher ranking.

Organic SEO Myth 3: For higher rankings, update your website regularly. Regular updating of your content pages may certainly increase the crawl rate for search engines, but not your website rankings. Only update your website content if it is necessary and not because search engines will like it any better. As a matter of fact, the highest ranked websites on Google are those that haven't been updated in years!

Organic SEO Myth 4: PPC (pay per click) ads can help or hurt rankings. What amuses me most is that many people believe that participating in Google AdWords campaigns will hurt their organic SEO ranking, while many others believe that PPC will spike the traffic and up the ranking. All I can say is that neither of this is true!

Organic SEO Myth 5: Not following guidelines on Google will ban your website. Google's guidelines are common sense but not mandatory. It's advisable to read them, however just don't do anything purely for search engines and you'll be fine.

Organic SEO Myth 6: Buying links can lead to banning of your website. It is partially true again. Google doesn't like to count paid links as votes for a website page. Mostly Google is unable to find out if the links are paid for, but even if it does, it won't count the links. Google won't ban your website in any case. A quick update - Google has made it easier to report paid links in sites that are unrelated to your site. Though the reasoning is yet unclear and best practice should tell you don't buy links in unrelated sites to your theme.

Organic SEO Myth 7: Header tags or H1 should be used to ensure high ranking. There is no evidence to prove this. However, this is one of the most common myths. You can reach top Google positioning without H1 but they certainly don't hurt so use H tags correctly.

Organic SEO Myth 8: Meta keywords tag need to be used on your page. The fact is that a Meta keyword tag was introduced to use keywords that are NOT on the site page already! However, this tag is ignored by Google in any case.

Organic SEO Myth 9: The SEO copy should be 250 words in length. 250 words is not really an optimal number nor is it specific for SEO rankings. Easily, 250 words allows one to write good marketing copy and can be optimized for 3-5 main key phrases. However, shorter SEO copy works just as well.

Organic SEO Myth 10: Your pages should be optimized for the long tail keywords. This is not true. Nowadays, long-tail keyword phrases are no longer effective as not many pages use them and not many people search using long tails. You can include these keywords in blogs or even an article, but that is not really optimization.

Remember don't go spreading any SEO myths that you believe may be true. Test it yourself several times on different websites before reaching any conclusion as there are other factors involved as well. ================================================================ Seomul Davis is a SEO Services expert with SEO 1 Services a Dallas based search engine optimization company (http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com) and a frequent contributor on http://www.seo-services-expert.com.

7 Easy Ways to Romance the Google Bot!

By Natalie Revell (c) 2008  

For most of us, Google is a hard nut to crack. Efforts upon efforts are put forth to increase your site's SEO and while your efforts are working in other search engines, they just seem slow when it comes to Google. So what do you do? Try romance!

Yes, romance. Who isn't looking for romance? Non-human bot or not, the Google Bot also wants it. It wants to be romanced and feel the love from your site. If it doesn't, oh, look out! Just like a scorned woman, you are going to pay. Come on, everyone knows what I mean. It's either "Penalty City" or "the silent treatment". It all depends on what you did or didn't do.

If you really screwed something up on your site, Google is going to make you pay. This is Penalty City. Google may even take a point away from your ranking or just entirely drop you from its index. Yikes! If you actually get dropped from the index, good luck trying to get picked back up.

If you didn't screw up, but you're not really doing anything to get the Google Bot's attention, you are going to get the silent treatment. This is when Google acknowledges the existence of your site but pretty much gives you no communication or reaction at all and just goes on about its business.

Google is female!

Because of these two reactions described above, I'm absolutely convinced Google is female. And I can say that because I am female. So, what should you do to romance the Google Bot and get on the good side of this heavy weight engine? You should make Google's job easier. It's just that simple.

There are several things you should do actually, but we're just going to focus on the major ones. For now though, let's think about the Google Bot's job in order to understand the Google Bot better. The better we understand the bot, the better chance we have of winning it over with our romance techniques.

The Google Bot's Job

Think about it. What a feat it is to have to go through a gazillion, trillion websites reading text and following links to make sure everything is not only properly indexed, but that it is properly working. When things are not in order on your site, such as a broken link, this makes the Google Bot have to stop. This does not make the Google Bot happy. It wants a clean, safe path to travel as it has many places to go. It doesn't like to be tripped. That's just not nice.

Once it has retrieved all of your site's information, it still has to take that information back to the Google database, then go back out to another site and do it again. Then it has to bring that information back to the database. Then go back out again, etc. You get the idea. And it has to visit each site every so often to keep the indexing updated. Let's just say the Google Bot's little feet are extremely tired all of the time. Especially considering this goes on 24/7, nonstop. The poor little Google Bot. We need to help it out. When we do help it out, it tends to like us.

7 Easy Ways to Romance the Google Bot

Remember the primary purpose of any search engine is to offer the best, most relevant websites to its searchers.

1) Remember also that Google is a META crawler search engine, so one thing you can do to offer up some romance to the Google Bot is to ensure all of your META tags are done properly. That is pretty much like a bouquet of roses right there. You can use this source to ensure your tags are properly done: http://webdesign.about.com/od/metatags/a/aa111600a.htm.

2) Want to throw in a box of chocolates? Make sure all your links are working properly. This helps out your searcher too, by the way. If you want to run a searcher off, frustrate them to no end by letting them click on a broken link and see how fast they exit your site.

3) How about giving a bottle of perfume? Try adding a robots.txt file. The Google Bot loves these files. This is like an invitation to come index your site. Every site should have one of these, but most don't. Those that do really stand out to Google. Just like anything else though, make sure it is done correctly. One wrong character in one of those codes can send you packing, my friend. You can create these files very simply in Notepad. To learn how to properly create a robots.txt file and where to place it (in your root directory of the home page), please see: http://www.robotstxt.org/robotstxt.html. Another good resource is: http://www.outfront.net/tutorials_02/adv_tech/robots.htm

4) Now what could possibly be like giving the Google Bot a diamond necklace? How about a Google-Friendly Site Map. Knowing the job of the Google Bot, why not make the bot's job easier? I can hear the Google Bot now saying, "Thank goodness for this map. Finally, a site that gets me! I mean it...a site that finally gets it!"

A Google-Friendly Site map not only wins you favor with the Google Bot, it helps you out as well. To create a Google-friendly site map, see http://gsitecrawler.com/, which is also Yahoo-friendly:

* The SEO on your website will benefit as any correctly designed Google-friendly Site Map will ensure all web pages are found and properly indexed.

* If any pages are not indexing properly, the program will advise you. This includes advisement on broken links, blocked links, etc.

* You get an inside scoop as to how Google views your website and you can cater your efforts accordingly.

* Google will tell you what it concludes your site is about based on your content. If you don't have the proper message, change it!

* Google gets notified when something on your site is new or has changed.

5) Why stop now? Keep going with your romantic interlude and also present the Google Bot with champagne and strawberries by using bold, keyword rich headers on each of your web pages. Don't make the bot guess and have to dig to find out what the page is about. Just tell it up front and then reconfirm your message throughout the rest of the content.

6) Add a day at the spa by keeping your content clean, relevant, an easy read, and keyword rich with properly placed keywords. There is a proper way to pepper in your keywords to make the content SEO-friendly without making your content choppy. Your searcher must also be able to read the content in a good flowing manner, so be sure to write for the searcher also, not just the bot.

7) You can also add a day at the beach by not using Flash. Females usually like flashy things, but not this one. Not Flash technology anyway. Flash is built in frames and it stops the Google Bot dead in its tracks, confuses it, and then nothing gets indexed. Not good! If you are dying to have Flash, then try keeping it in your banner only. Home page banner only is even better, if you are carrying your banner to all inner pages as well. While Flash is very eye-appealing if not over done, it is a big no-no for SEO.

Put these 7 romantic techniques into action and see what happens. What do you have to lose? Any results that come from proper use of these techniques beats a trip to Penalty City or getting the silent treatment any day.

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Natalie Revell is the eMarketing Director/Owner of Write Ink Marketing, http://www.writeinkmarketing.com/. WIM offers many services and continues to grow. Natalie is currently working on becoming a certified eMarketer. You can contact her at natalie@writeinkmarketing.com, or by visiting the site and filling out the contact form.
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Using a Higher Price as a Tempation not a Turn Off

Lock this concept into your mind: The higher the price, the higher the perceived value and quality. With that higher perceived value comes the temptation, for those who can afford either choice, to step up the quality that price promises. A higher price creates the perception which in turn creates the satisfaction in the buyer once paid.

The Case of Gibson Guitars

I was privileged to have been raised in Kalamazoo, MI, the home of Gibson Guitar. I have never played the guitar but over the years it has been interesting watching the company grow and develop. They made legendary guitars, pioneered the electric guitar as in the famous Les Paul Custom. Watching one of my favorite guitarist ever, Eric Clapton, I notice how often he used a Gibson guitar.

With the growth of the industry in the 60's and 70's came the huge pressures of competition and soon the Japanese invaded the market in much the same way they did the auto market. High quality, defect free and inexpensive instruments.

Gibson's response was so typical. In order to compete they felt they needed to cut their prices figuring that they could make up through volume what they were loosing in market share. What actually happened was the opposite. Cutting prices resulted in a drastic decrease in volume. The classic laws of "supply and demand" just did not work. Why? Gibson cheapened their perceived value which only a higher price can command.

With the survival of the company now at stake they began to smell the coffee, higher priced coffee. They increased their pricing. Gradually, volume began to return and the profits with them. Over the years the more they increased the price the more they sold. 

If you are a musician with a "starter kit" band or budget you may well only be able to afford the cheaper instrument. Yet all the while you know that when you finally "make it" and step into a higher level professionally, you will also step up and get a Gibson. It's a sign of success.

Higher Price = Perceived Value = Greater Prestige = Self Satisfaction

My Fossil watch tells time just as accurately as any Rolex. Why spend $3,000 for a Rolex when a Fossil or Seiko will do exactly the same thing for under $100? Because for those who have the money, higher price is a temptation not a turn off. What makes an Acura four door sedan worth $5,000 more than a Honda four door sedan built on the same chassis? Successful people want to be seen and perceived as successful. Owning an Acura gives them that. Being seen driving only a Honda is not good enough.

Customers that focus on price alone and purchase your services on price alone will drop you just as fast as they hired you and dropped that last guy. These are not the customers you want. You should simply avoid the discount buyer. They will give you a 3 out of 10 in a customer satisfaction survey anyway. Discount customers do what they always do, shop for discounts and a lower price than you have. They will then use that competitor to beat you up or turn their back on you. Discount customers will rarely refer business to you, are very poor judges of quality and will demand more from you in customer service time. You can not build a top quality business on them.

Start with yourself and adjust your own mental attitude 

One of the first things that needs to be adjusted is your own frame of mind. If you don't believe it yourself you will probably never be able to sell it. Stop being afraid of charging more than the next guy, assuming you both aren't selling the exact same widget. Even if you are, what is your "added value"? 

Once you've mentally worked it through and adjusted your confidence level, approach your next sales call in reverse mode to your usual. The usual may be silent prayer that they will buy something from you.

 Potential Clients should have to "Qualify" to Buy from You!

Yes, you read that right. Reverse the roles by interviewing them on your initial consultative interview. Put yourself in the mental frame of mind to be actually deciding if you want to work with them or not. You might surprise yourself by actually refusing to work with some of them because you can see what was coming. In business consulting, philosophies have to match at a certain level. If the clients starts working you on price a bit hard, demanding option A for my option C price, be ready to walk away from the table and dust off your shoes. If you cheapen the price, you will cheapen your product and it's perceived value. What you offer is a top quality product and what you truly believe is one of the best values on the market. Of this, if you have few doubts, it will be seen and read by your potential customer.

When price becomes the chief obstacle you also have to realize you may have messed up at another level. It's not that you should charge less, you just need to sell better. If the value is presented, the price will always fall into line.

Consider Starbucks 

So, the next time you are standing in line at Starbucks and paying three times as much for that cup of java as you know you should, think about why you are doing it. The experience? The aroma? The perceived value? If they dropped their prices by half, would you still be as excited about stepping up to it?

What are your prices saying about you and your company? If you are scurrying to just make sure you are the lowest price in your market you may well be sowing the seeds of ultimate failure. Position ourself and your image. Brand and image must be massaged for success. Start with raising prices.

Take Your Advertising Money and Give It To Your Customers

In early 2003 Amazon.com did something very revolutionary and stupid, or so it was thought at the time. Funny how people who do things truly innovative are thought to be crazy, at least until it works. His decision was to eliminate all advertising and instead take that advertising money and give it to his customers in the form of free shipping. This was not "free" shipping as in "increase the price $4 and make it look like free shipping". No, it was actual money cut from the bottom line and essentially given to the customers.

Investors and analysts went berserk. Jeff Bezos told them to just shut up and watch. What he was doing was turning all of his customers into small evangelistic advertising centers for their over-the-top customer experience.

Results speak for themselves 

Did it work? We are now four years into the future, enough time for hindsight and backyard quarterbacking to get a clear picture. Lets look at this years Amazon facts, all of which you can glean from their press release. Consider these few:

• Amazon sold 62.5 items per second on its busiest sales day this season. That's more than 5.4 million items sold in one day, compared to only 4 million in 2006 and 3.6 million in 2005.
• In the latest holiday season they sold 17 Nintendo Wii systems per second while they were in stock
• Sold enough high-definition DVD players to cover seven football fields
• Sold enough GPS units to make a trail from New York to Philadelphia
• Amazon shipped more than 99 percent of orders in time to meet holiday deadlines worldwide.
• Shipped to over 200 countries
• Amazon.com sold enough high-def DVD players to cover seven football fields.

It appears they got something right. What they got right was realizing it was better to have customers shouting about how great their customer service is than shouting about it themselves in paid advertising that most ignore anyway.

Advertising great customer service and actually providing it are two different things. 

Am I suggesting you should no longer advertise in publications, radio or TV? Probably not, however, in my own company we rarely use it. Nor do we aim for "Satisfied Customers". If customers are only "satisfied" they will never carry your banner to their friends and other business owners. Thrilled customers will. Awed customers can not keep from bragging about you. People who walk away from you with a "Wow" under their breath will drag others to your door.

Consider the value of a customer

 To understand the true value of one customer you really need to examine the lifetime potential of the client. More than just the immediate selling urgency you must weigh what you do and all your interaction with that customer in terms of "over the top" satisfaction. Consider the following:

• Sales upgrading - money that comes to you from their upgrading their products with you in the future.
• Renewals - when it is time for them to renew will you be first on their list? Has their experience with you been to the level that they will not even consider anyone else?
• Expansion - will another department, group or organization adapt your services or products based on what you have already provided?
• Word of Mouth - this is revenue generated because somebody said something about you.
  
• Competition Lockout - your services are so great you have locked out the competition from even getting a foot in the door.
• Cost of a New Customer - it costs 7 times more to acquire a new customer than to resell to a current happy customer. When you consider sales man hours, advertising, printing, brochures and all the effort it makes sense.
  

Make service part of your advertising budget

Imagine this scenario, you have just done a customer a favor and it took $25 of your time. Your customer asks for the total charge and the bill. In response you say, "Bill, if it's OK with you, why don't we just include it under our advertising department budget. Mind if I bill them instead?" What is he going to say? How is he going to feel about it, about you, about your business? Do you even need to tell him to "advertise" for you? Don't spoil it, even if he's of slightly below average intelligence he'll get the point.

You could take out an ad and shout about it, or, you can simply do it and let the advertising legs develop under the customer you just helped. Which will carry the message with the most impact? 

How Do People View Your "Expertise"?

Just because you think something to be true doesn't necessarily reflect the real truth. More often than not in my life it has reflected self delusion between those two extremes. In studying the field of business marketing I have finally discovered a number of "truths" that should have been obvious to me years ago had I not just accepted the commonly held beliefs. Here is a quick list of a few eye opening things I've discovered that may trigger some fertile ground in your mind as well.

People usually don't do what they say they'll do unless it's also what they want to do.

To add to the complication, what they want to do is, more often than not, based solely on emotion which trumps logic every time. People will stand outside the polling station and tell George Gallup's inquisitors they will go in and vote for candidate Jones because they want to be seen as supporting the social consciousness they know they want to be seen supporting. They will then go into the booth and punch the ticket for Smith. Why? Dunno, Smith just makes them feel good and is better looking.

Our purpose for research is actually justification not truth.

To understand this you have to think a bit about how we all make decisions. While we like to delude ourselves into thinking our research has led us to our knowledgeable decisions we usually get the cart before the horse. We first decide what we want to do, then we set about doing research to justify that decision. In science you research first then decide. We are not animals of that science. Why? Because actual research may tell us we are wrong and then we will have to do what we really don't want to do. That folks, is not permitted.

Here is a case in point, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. A real clever play on words. In order to arrive at an accurate conclusion on any subject the researchers really need to be without any forgone conclusions. Mental blank paper looking for evidence, compiling both side as truthfully as possible from the best evidence out there and then weighing the results. Research that arrives as a conclusion first and then searches for supporting evidence is what lawyers are trained to do. It's what we recreationally do.

Now on the environment and the issues of global warming most people have formed their conclusions long ago. New adults most likely reflecting the opinions of teachers they like, or their parents. What are those decisions based on? I suggest it is based on what you really want to believe more than what you have researched. What Al Gore succeeded in was giving visual and emotional justification for people with forgone conclusions. The choir sang it's praises over the obvious evidence and the political right puked at the slanted half truths. I ask you, was objectivity the ground from which the film sprang? If you think so, I've got this bridge...

If this is true, or even half true, what has that got to do about my business website and marketing? 

Think about this a minute. When a visitors comes to your site or responds to your brochure, how will they make their conclusions about doing business with you? Probably they will make a totally emotional decision, positive or negative, within 7 seconds of their arrival. Like an 18 year old girl picking out her first new "chick" car, form and function will take a distant back seat to emotional attraction and image. Top 10 list be damned. Faster braking? Like, whatever! She's going to get that Sunbird because all her friends have one, dependability and resale value being horrible will not matter in the least. She'll work the parents for the salesperson.

In that key 7 seconds on your site they will establish how they "feel" about doing business with you. If it "feels" good you are going to have to stumble badly to not get the business. If it doesn't "feel" good you are pretty much dead meat. Your mission statements, research and talk will have to achieve heroic proportions to get the sale. You will rarely be perceived for who you are. It will be based on how they "feel" about who you are. How you look goes a long way in establishing that. Your research will only help the "already sold" justify their predetermined conclusion. Unless you get them to that positive emotional feeling first all the rest is wasted breath.

Apparent expertise will not reflect true expertise - you are only as expert as you appear

Harry Beckwith, in The Invisible Touch, relates a story about how the level of expertise in veterinarians is achieved. In his illustration, a woman brought her Siamese cat to her veterinarian for routine inoculations. The vet noticed what the loving owner missed, the cat seemed to be walking off balance. As he probed the cat slowly up the spine he found a growth lump behind the cat's ear. It was a cyst that could be malignant. He explained this to the owner, anesthetized the cat, removed the growth and sent the cat home with her later that same day. Life probably saved.

It was the clinic's practice to give owners a survey and among the questions was one that stated: "How do you rate your veterinarian's medical skills?" She gave him a 7 on a scale from 1-10. Now what reasonable person would come to that conclusion?

The answer was in his coat. He didn't wear a lab coat that day. He was Indian and wore his Madras shirt. Pet owners give the lowest scores to vets who fail to wear a lab coat. The next lowest score goes to those who wear a blue coat. Second highest is a white lab coat. So, what earns a 10? Only those with a white lab coat and a stethoscope around the neck - by a wide margin.

How you and I "feel" is how we will decide and ultimately act. Don't expect your customers do be any different. They will decide first and research to justify. Go with it and you will win. Fight it and go out of business.

How does your website make visitors feel? 

Folks, this is what it all comes down to: If they feel good about you from that first impression then you are pretty much in. If they aren't "feeling it" you are mostly toast. This is where going beyond the ordinary can take you. Touch the heart first, the pocket book will soon follow.

Enough About You - Let's Talk About Me

Harry Beckwith relates insightful keys to business relationships in his book, "The Invisible Touch". One of them is the need to constantly remind ourselves about what the customer really thinks is important. To illustrate it he recalls to mind the movie The Fugitive when Harrison Ford shouted his insistence the he did not kill his wife. Standing in that water drain ready to leap out into the dam he got Tommy Lee Jones' true feelings on the subject, "I don't care!"

When it comes to your business, here is a brief list of eight things your new prospects probably don't care about:

• How special you think you are. This is earned by their experience with you and only they are allowed to think it. Your self claims are always discounted.
  
• They don't care that you have a self inflated judgment of yourself, enough to claim to be #1 at whatever it is you do. Idle, unverified claims are discounted out of hand.
  
• They don't care about your number of years in business or the anniversary of when you started in business. When you claim "125 Years of Tradition" they are probably appending that with, "yea, and Unmarred by Progress". People don't care to work with companies that appear to be meeting customers' needs during the Grant administration. Remember the Chicago Cubs - an unblemished tradition of nearly 100 years without a World Series appearance and probably worse because of the failure.
• They don't care about your "Mission Statement" or your various statements about your commitment to your mission. Think about it, do you care about mine? Statements are good. Just keep them to yourself and don't bother to create a special page stating it. If truth in advertising was practiced, the menu item for this would be labeled "YAWN".
  
• They don't care about your "Commitment to Excellence". This is "blah, blah, blah."
• They don't care about your president's message to shareholders, at least not without nausea pills.
• Don't communicate for the sake of communication. Customers can easily hit the unsubscribe button and they find it easier when you bore them with "yada yada".
• Don't tell them something about your company because some other clueless company made similar proclamations. Heck, they probably copied it from some other clueless company who had extra in their advertising budget to spend but nothing really to say.
  

In simple words, tell them something they really care about. Tell them about "them". Once they know you care about them first then, ever so slowly, they will start to care more than 2 cents about you.

Here is a simple test for you to conduct on your website, brochures or other communications. Search and count how many times you say I, we, us, our, ours. Then count the times you say you, yours. If you and yours doesn't outnumber all the others by 3 to 1 then you have missed a key point of the true interest each visitor to your site or business has. That is lost sales. Each lost sale is a lost opportunity for the life cycle of that customer.

Stop being unmarred by progress for 20 years or whatever. Give them what they want and you will end up getting what you want on the way.

John Clark 

The Complete Value of a Customer

When you consider the complete value of a customer to you and your team – the lifetime value – the importance of having a sense of "selling urgency" should skyrocket. Every money hour* not invested in sales activities can delay (or completely eliminate) potential revenue to you and your company. And, it can go far beyond the dollars made with the initial sale.

Depending upon what you sell, you may also have...

• upgrade revenue – revenue derived from future upgrades
• renewal revenue – revenue derived from future renewals
• cross-selling revenue – dollars generated from selling additional products/ services to a customer
• expansion revenue – dollars generated from potential organization or group growth and/ or implementation of your product/ service across an entire organization from one department
• advocate revenue – revenue derived from sales influenced by word-of-mouth advertising
• lock-out revenue – dollars generated from a customer over time because of the perceived hassles associated with switching to your competition

Remember, the first to acquire the customer tends to retain the customer – and with retention comes lifetime value.

Continually remind yourself and your team of the importance of having a constant "selling urgency". Commit to it and make sure the next 10 customers (or more) in your industry, become your lifetime customers.

just sell®

*money hours: the hours in a sales day where one can talk with prospects and/ or customers... the most valuable hours of the day

Is Your Website An Asset Or a Liability?

Is Your Website An Asset Or a Liability?
By Nick Yorchak (c) 2007

Remember back in the good ol' days when having a website was something every company needed and wanted? Websites were the wave of the future, and the dream of transitioning to conducting business online filled our heads with visions of a revolution in the way commerce was conducted. With a website, a company could reach clients and interact with potential customers on a global scale. A website was indicative of a company's technological prowess, symbolic of the desire to innovate and evolve with developments in the industry.

Today, this mindset has changed drastically. We all know that we need a website, but many of us think that simply having one is enough. In fact, there is research indicating that many firms with an online presence haven't touched their websites in years. They haven't spent any time improving functionality and appearance, and they have yet to consider the basics of website usability and the inherent potential of search engine optimization.

Of course, we all recognize by now that having a website is an essential business asset, if it's done correctly. It's easy to see that if your site is an outdated eyesore, it becomes a liability that hurts you more than it helps you. Conversely, a well-designed site can make all the difference. It's the first place users go to research your products and services, serves as a lead generator, a CRM tool, and even to make purchases.

We've all heard the adage about first impressions, and it's no secret that they're the most important factor in the way people remember their first encounter with you or with your website. On one hand, a well-designed, user-friendly website will showcase your business and your brand, impressing clients. On the other hand, an outdated and otherwise bad website can hurt you far more than it can help you. Potential customers will eliminate you as a possible vendor after interacting with your brand and substandard website for only a few minutes.

I'll utilize a real estate analogy here to expand upon this thought. You'll impress guests when they arrive at your home if it's clean, well-kept, landscaped, painted, and overall welcoming. But, if you arrive at a home that's dilapidated and falling apart with chipped paint and an overgrown lawn, you'll think a lot of less of whoever lives there. Are they lazy slobs? Maybe. Or maybe they just haven't had time to take care of the property. Either way, your first impression is less than positive. We all try not to "judge a book by its cover," but in an online atmosphere, a company's website is their cover, the digital face they present to the world, so in that case you can't not judge the book by its cover. After all, that's all you have to go by.

So this must leave you wondering: Is my website an asset or a liability? By answering the following questions, you can find out if it's time for an overhaul or just some simple changes. Or maybe your site doesn't need any work at all. Ready to find out?

Home Page

  * Can visiting users tell immediately who you are and what you offer?

  * Is your site organized in a clear fashion that promotes navigation?  

  * Is your home page an information destination or just a messy landing page?

  * Does your home page give a good first impression that entices users to click through your links?

Performance Issues

  * Do your images, videos, and pages load quickly?

  * Does your site utilize clean, un-bloated code?  

  * Does your site have a "search" function? If so, is it fast and useful?

  * Have you performed quality assurance testing to ensure your site looks the same across different   browsers?

Content Is King

  * Is your content written clearly and persuasively? Does it speak to your target market?

  * Have you included useful and relevant resources like case studies, white papers, articles, or links?  

  * Does your content effectively describe your products, services, and benefits?

  * Is your content keyword focused to cater to users and search engines alike?

Links & Navigation

  * First and foremost: Do all your links work?

  * Are your links clearly marked?  

  * Do your links utilize descriptive and enticing anchor text?

  * Is your navigation menu or framework consistent throughout your site?

  * Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site?

Critical Pages

  * Is there a top-level page that describes your products and services?  

  * Do you have an "About Us" page to describe your company?

  * Is the "Contact Us" page clear, informative, and thorough?

  * Do you have a page where users can ask questions or answer their own?

  * Do you have a Testimonials section?

  * Do you have a blog that you update frequently?

  * Do you have social bookmarking buttons to take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies?

Usability

  * Is your site organized so that information is easy to find?  

  * Do you have a site map that wireframes this organizational structure and links to all your pages?

  * Is your site "user-friendly?"

  * Is your type scannable, easy to read, and written for the web?

  * Do you utilize bullets, headlines, and other stylistic elements to organize and present content?

  * Do you have calls to action that prompt users to take desired actions?

  * Are you using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control the layout of the site?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  * Is your site search engine friendly?

  * Have you optimized your site for specific and relevant keywords?  

  * Have you acquired a network of high-quality, relevant links?

  * Have you utilized online PR or social media marketing for its SEO benefits?

  * Does your navigation menu provide access to your entire site?

Now that you've answered all of these questions, you need to decide what to do next. Start with some competitve analysis to see what your competitors are doing and what you need to do to catch up. Then, survey users to see what they think and act upon that feedback; don't wait, evaluate and reciprocate.

So make as many changes as you can to improve your website, turning it back into a business asset instead of a liability, and watch as your web presence creates leads and ultimately sales that impact your bottom line.
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Nick Yorchak is an SEO expert and Search Engine Marketing Specialist at Fusionbox, a full-service Denver Internet marketing, web design, and web development company. He can be reached at his Fusionbox email or at (303)952-7490.
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Copyright © 2007 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

Sales Success - Don't Allow Permission Based Failure

From justsell.com 

Bottom line... sales success is based on dollars ultimately generated

There are certainly several additional organizational contributions that the salesperson can (and should) make, but when evaluating a salesperson's value... sales results are primary... and results are best achieved when goals are formalized (no epiphany here).

So, commit now, to winging it no longer. Don't allow yourself to say, "What happens... happens. I'll just do the best I can." Don't listen to those who suggest goal planning is "fluff"-- whether they're successful in sales or not. All else being equal, the sales professional who formally sets performance goals is the one to bet on. Leave permission-based failure to your competitors. You know formal goal setting is a good investment of your time, so make sure you get it done if you want to succeed.

If you've not had the opportunity to formally set your goals for the coming month, quarter or year, consider using the goal setting worksheet below to help guide you on the points you should give thought to. Because sales environments, processes and organizations can differ significantly, you may need to rework some of the points. No problem. Use what you like and toss what you don't but make sure you do it (in writing) or you'll always be subject to your environment (a boat hoping the current will bring it safely into the harbor).

You do not have our permission to fail. Yes, you're human, but in our book that means you sell... go to work and...


results

• income target


• less base salary
• equals commission/ bonus target


• commission/ bonus target


• divided by the average commission/ bonus earned per sale
• annual unit sales target to reach income target


• annual unit sales target


• divided by 12 months
• equals monthly unit sales target


• annual unit sales target


• divided by 50 weeks (assuming two week vacation -- adjust accordingly)
• equals weekly unit sales target

activity

• average outbound calls per [day, week, month] (method typically used-phone, in person, etc.) to engage in an initial sales interview


• average number of initial sales interviews or demonstrations per [day, week, month] to find a highly qualified prospect where a contract or proposal will be developed and delivered
  
  
• average number of contracts or proposals delivered per [day, week, month, quarter] to close a deal

activity/ results formula

(given the activity averages and the results targets above)

• outbound call target per [day, week, month]


• outbound initial sales interview target per [day, week, month]


• outbound contracts or proposals delivered per [day, week, month]

development

• targeted future position or professional status


• targeted time frame


• targeted number of professional development classes or seminars to attend during [month, quarter, year]


• targeted number of professional development books/ audio/ video to complete during [month, quarter, year]


• targeted number of professional events to attend during [month, quarter, year]


• targeted number of comfort zone challenges for the [month, quarter, year]


• list specific titles or names for targets above that are currently known

additional organizational contributions

• targeted number of product or service ideas to be submitted during [month, quarter, year]


• targeted number of improvement suggestions to be submitted during [month, quarter, year]


• targeted number of company activities to participate in, outside the sales role during [month, quarter, year] (e.g., training others, strategy sessions, writing an internal newsletter, etc.)


• list specific ideas, suggestions and activities for targets that are currently known

professional mission statement

• professional mission statement for [month, quarter, year]

Websites: It's The Experience Stupid

By Jerry Bader (c) 2007

The other day I picked up a book that was sitting on my night table for over a year. It's just a small book and seemed like an easy read, perfect for falling sleep. It was called, "The Invisible Touch" by Harry Beckwith. Mr. Beckwith has written several books and is an expert on positioning, branding, and client relations. I wasn't sure if I was going to bother reading it or not, but after looking at the introduction I was hooked. This guy knew what he was talking about; he must because I agreed with most everything he said. That surely makes him an expert, at least in my eyes. Anyway, he tells a story about going to a concert for one of his favorite artists, a Laura Nyro. He purchased her recordings and loved them for their exquisite sound and her technical playing ability but the concert was a disaster.

Ms. Nyro performed with her usual skill and precision, but she never once looked at the audience, preferring instead to sit at the piano staring offstage while she played. Each song was preceded by a perfunctory introduction that was barely addressed to the audience. Needless to say, Harry was disappointed, as you can imagine anyone would be.

The Difference Between Products and Services

The point of the story Harry Beckwith was making was that there is a big difference between products and services. To quote from his book, "Products are made; services are delivered. Products are used; services are experienced." In this case, recordings are products and concerts are services. This got me thinking of my own experience, perhaps not quite so genteel as Mr. Beckwith's but instructional, nevertheless.

Marketing Is Creating Memorable Experiences

When I was a young man, just after graduating from College in New England, I started working in the family business. My father exiled me to the shipping department where he figured my newly earned business degree wouldn't get the company in too much trouble. One day he came out from his office to the plant floor where I worked and said, "Come on, let's go to lunch." My father knew I never eat lunch so this was a special moment, as he never bothered asking me to lunch at work. Perhaps this was the day that I would finally be allowed into the ranks of real businessmen who worked in the office and wore ties to work.

As we got into the car I asked where we were going, to which he answered, "The Dirty Bagel." He looked over at me and saw me roll my eyes and grunt in disgust. Of course I knew the place he was taking me. Every businessman in Toronto who worked in the garment district knew "The Dirty Bagel." It was a legend more than a restaurant.

Its real name was just "The Bagel" but everybody called it "The Dirty Bagel" to distinguish it from another uptown, neighborhood place where the same businessmen eat breakfast on the weekends and where their wives lunched after shopping. Back then it was rare for upper middle class women to work, so they shopped and ate lunch when they weren't taking the kids to the dentist or hockey practice.

"The Dirty Bagel" and the "The Bagel" both served the same kind of food, simple meals, bagels and coffee. The downtown version was old, grimy, and well worn, while the uptown version was new, well lit, and well ... cleaner. The waitresses in the new place were middle-aged, chewed gum, had pencils stuck behind their ears and called everyone "Hon." The waitresses in the downtown version were old, actually ancient, spoke with thick European accents, and were just plain nasty. If you asked for an extra pad of butter or more cream for your coffee, instead of getting a "Sure thing Hon" you were more likely to hear something like, "Sophia, listen to Mr. Big Shot, he wants more butter. Hope he knows a good heart doctor..." and as she turned to leave you probably over-heard some Yiddish profanity under her breath.

Now you may be thinking, why would a bunch of rich, privileged businessmen who owned their own businesses, wore expensive silk and mohair suits, and drove Lincoln Continentals, put-up with nasty old ladies who tossed the food on the table and treated you like you were in prison? At least that's what I wanted to know.

On this particular occasion, the food arrived skidding across the table like a curling stone looking for the button (that's the red center of the bull's eye for the uninitiated). After mopping-up the spilled coffee and reassembling my bagel and egg salad, I asked my father, "Why on earth do you come here, the place is old, the waitresses are nasty, and the food is something you could brown bag?" My father looked at me, smiled and said, "It's for the 'experience." And then he took a bite out of his giant twister bagel and winked.

These businessmen were old school, not an MBA in the bunch. They survived the Depression and built substantial businesses with little or no formal business education in conditions that were quite frankly antagonistic. No matter how successful they became, they always remembered where they came from and what was important. These men were characters, who built their businesses by force of personality and shrewd decision-making. "The Dirty Bagel" offered these men an experience that kept them grounded and reminded them how they got to be successful.

Of all the lessons I've learned about business and marketing over the years, this was probably one of the most important. It's about the experience stupid!

 If Your Website Isn't An Experience, What Is It?

Today every business has a website but so many are sterile, impersonal and lack any kind of meaningful experience for the visitor. Businesses spend so much time worrying about driving traffic to their websites that they forget what happens when people arrive.

If you provide your website audience with an experience, it is something your competition can't appropriate. On the other

hand, if all you're providing is a commodity, it's something somebody else will eventually provide cheaper and faster in which case you may end up eating at your own version of "The Dirty Bagel" and not because you want to remind yourself where you came from, but rather where you're going.

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Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit http://www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, http://www.136words.com, and

http://www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246.

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Copyright © 2007 Jayde Online, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.

SiteProNews is a registered service mark of Jayde Online, Inc.

Brand New Websites: A Search Engine Optimization Company Perspective

By Scott Buresh (c) Medium Blue 2007

 It's an unfortunate fact - no matter how good your search engine optimization company or in-house talent is, brand new websites have a more difficult time achieving search engine success for competitive phrases than their older counterparts, particularly on Google. However, the worst thing that a new site owner can possibly do is presume that they are "too late to the game" and decide not