SEO is Not a Silver Bullet to Sales

November 2, 2011 by Carolyn Griswold 2 Comments

This morning I came across a post offering the top things not to do when optimizing your site for Google search. See “Search engine optimization Elite Review On Google Prime ten NoNo’s“ The points are all valid and a well optimized site should follow all the rules if they want to have their site rank as high as possible. The problem I see with many customers is their laser-sharp focus on getting a good search engine rank while neglecting other marketing and possibly even the website itself.

This hyper-focus may have been enhanced by the glut of SEO experts telling people how vital SEO is to their success. But, web site owners would be wise to remember that the only thing good SEO will do is have your site show up in a site search. It’s not a silver bullet to sales. It will only improve the odds or bringing customers to your website. After that it’s up to you and your website to impress potential customers with amazing content–content that’s current, clear, accurate, informative, and attractively designed.

So while you’re reviewing SEO strategies (because I’m not discounting the effectiveness of a well-optimized site at getting people to the door) don’t forget to review your website. The stuff that customer’s actually see is as important as a good SEO strategy. Here’s a brief checklist of things you should be looking at:

Is it clear (to the layperson) within seconds of landing on any page in your website what you’re selling?
Is your phone number visible? On every page?
Do you give people a reason to call you? Do you clearly state benefits of doing business with you?
Is your navigation easy to follow?
Are your markets clearing defined. Do you provide market specific content for different market segments?
Do you update your content with current information?
Does your site design look professional? Does it look current or dated? Does it show well on mobile devices?
Is your site design (colors, typography, logos, images) consistent with your brand?
If you have a shopping cart, is the cart secure? Are products clearly displayed and identified?
Are customer service policies, shipping methods, return policies, privacy policies in place.
Do you provide a physical location and multiple ways for people to contact you?
Are you using social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others that are appropriate for your markets?

Always focus on building a website that benefits your clients and potential clients. If you keep that in mind as you optimize your site and your content you may find that customers are not only finding you, but they’re also buying from you. And that’s really the ultimate goal isn’t it?

Filed Under: Carolyn's Posts, Internet Marketing 101, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Tips for a good website, Tools & Tips

What I learned from Twitter this morning

October 21, 2011 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

It’s 6:49 am and I’ve been scanning my Twitter feed with CNN on the TV in the background.

I use Twitter to primarily follow web designers, application developers and SEO experts, with a small dose of news sources and random other hobbies and interests. By scanning through my Twitter feed I learn of new tools and techniques in my industry.

Here’s what I’ve learned from Twitter:

From @smashingmag: How other digital designers are using Fireworks – (one of my favorite tools). In reviewing this post I realize there are techniques I can try that will make me more efficient in my daily workflow. The post also made me want to upgrade to CS5.
10 reasons why business card size matters. Some interesting design samples — it’s always inspirational to look at other designer’s work.
From @1stwebdesigner: 10 tips for designing better infographics. Insights into making a better bar graphes, pie charts, etc. Some good pointers.
From @catswhocode a Black Cat Rescue Shelter in the Boston area. Black cats are less likely to be adopted. People are weird. Beautiful black cat featured available for adoption. Hope he finds a good home.
From @ZarkoCompare – Link building guide from the Bliss SEO blog. (Found the color scheme of the website hard to read)
From @Biz: Large, slow moving plane video. (okay this one was a waste of time)
From @CNN: Senate blocks vote on jobs bill
From @CNNMoney: Foreign buyers scooping up US homes.

Here’s what been on TV this morning:

Gadhafi’s dead, Gadhafi’s Dead, Gadhafi’s dead… Jackson’s doc on trial. 7 billionth baby

Who do you follow? What’s in your Twitter feed?

Filed Under: Carolyn's Posts, Internet Marketing 101, Tools & Tips

Best Design Practices for Effective Email Marketing

September 16, 2010 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

When I read email, I typically have one finger on the delete key. Like most people, I get a lot of e-mail. And like most people, I don’t have time for games. So when designing an email marketing piece I’d advise you to avoid techniques that may slow down the email scanning processes of your readers.

Avoid over-reliance on images

More and more often I see email marketing in my inbox that is made up entirely of images. Since my e-mail client is set not to download images until I tell it to, I see a blank white screen with some red x’s where the images should be, until (or unless) I click the “download images” button. Unfortunately for the email marketer, I’m more likely to click the delete key than the “download images” link. And once I hit the delete key, the message is gone. All the effort that was put into choosing the right images to portray the message is lost forever.

Instead of concentrating on “wowing” the reader with the beautiful design that they’ll likely never see, think about using a clever phrase to wow them. Or just use clear, straightforward language that the reader can quickly scan and comprehend without having to click the download images link.

Avoid unnecessary click through links

If you expect me to click through to something, you had better give me a compelling reason to move my finger from the delete key to the click through link. Sending an email that is an image with a click here link isn’t very compelling.

However if you provide an interesting sentence or two, with a link to more information, you might get me to click. If you offer an enticing discount on a product I might click through. If you give me some interesting details to an event you’re promoting, I might click through.

Keep the design simple

Remember that people are using email clients to read your piece. Not only are there countless email clients that may be in use by your readers, but many people read their email on their phones. What renders well for one reader may unreadable for the next. Current techniques used to design websites or print pieces simply won’t work consistently for email. Keep it simple if you want it to get read.

Filed Under: Email marketing, Internet Marketing 101

Funny proofreading errors

August 11, 2010 by Carolyn Griswold 1 Comment

I just got back from a long road trip. While traveling, I noticed a few proofreading errors in marketing materials that were worthy of a Jay Leno spot.

1. A truck stop billboard ad said. “EAT HERE! (Get Gas Later).”

2. A road service billboard ad: “24-HOUR TOE SERVICE!”

3. A menu at a major hotel chain restaurant offered “A side of fires“. The embarrassed server reported that it was the 2nd printing with the error–when they changed the menu they missed it again!

The moral of this post: Remember to take the extra time to proofread your marketing copy to make sure you mean what you say and say what you mean.

Anyone else have any funny proofreading errors? Feel free to comment.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website, Web design/Internet Marketing Tagged With: proofreading

Why is my new website not on Google?

May 19, 2010 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

The website went live at around 3:00 PM. At about 4:00 PM I got the email asking “why can’t I find my website on Google?” I’m happy that clients recognize the importance of being found in a Google search. But as good as Google is at indexing the web it’s likely going to take their software longer than an hour to find your new website.

Google and most search engines have software that constantly crawls the web (often referred to as spiders) following links from web page to web page and indexing material as it crawls. Given the vast size of the web, you can imagine it might take a while for even the fastest, most efficient spiders to find and index your website. However, there are techniques you can use to expedite and improve the chances that your site will be indexed soon.

Create a Google local listing and while you’re at it, create a Bing and Yahoo listing too.

Screenshot of Google Local Listing

A Local listing allows you to create a free business listing on each of the search engines. When you create your listing you’ll have the opportunity to select business categories, a business description, types of payment you accept, your hours, and your contact information. A local listing is especially advantageous if you have a local market, but it doesn’t hurt to be “on the map” even if your market extends beyond local.
Have business and trade associations link to your site.
Inbound links are one of most overlooked aspects of SEO (search engine optimization). Think about how search engines work. Their spiders crawl the web from link to link and index websites. If there are no links to your website it will be harder for the spiders to find your website. If there are many links to your website they will find you more often.

Contact associations where you are a member, like your Chamber of Commerce, or other trade associations and if they offer a link on their website make sure you give them your new website address. Contact any strategic alliances you may have and see if they’ll put a link on their website to your new site. Do a search online for directories that specialize in your industry and create listings where appropriate.
Submit your URL to the search engines. You can submit your URL to search engines, and although it doesn’t guarantee they will list it, it doesn’t hurt to tell the search engines your url. Here are the links to submit your url.

Finally, remember that search engines are in the business of indexing information, so make sure that the information on your website is clearly written and kept current and relevant. Keep your website on your marketing schedule and make sure that it is updated regularly as your business changes and grows.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Question of the Day

Manage your domain name and beware of domain renewal scams

April 13, 2010 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

You own your domain name and it’s an important part of branding your business. Some businesses are even named after their domain name–think Google, Yahoo, and yes, even cgwebhelp. So it’s important that you have control of your domain. You should know where it’s registered, when it will be due for renewal and how the process of renewal works. And you should watch out for domain transfer scams. Here’s a couple of scams that I see regularly.

Domain Registry of America

This company may be a legitimate domain registry service, but their methods for obtaining customers is so unethical, I certainly wouldn’t want to do business with them. Their technique for obtaining new customers? They send an invoice. Well it’s not really an invoice–it’s a solicitation to transfer the domain. If you look very closely at the fine print, you will read that by sending payment you are authorizing them to transfer your domain to their registry service. So the unsuspecting person sends them the $35 (which is likely more than their current registry charges to renew a domain) and unwittingly starts the process of transferring the domain.

Chinese Domains

This one arrives by email and suggests that your trademark is about to be infringed upon unless you swiftly purchase your domain with the .cn extension, as in yourdomain.cn. This might be of benefit if you have a market in China or you anticipate developing a market in China, but most of the folks I’ve known who have received this solicitation have no intention of marketing to China. For more information on this scam see http://professionalwebservices.blogspot.com/2007/10/chinese-domain-name-scams-from-china.html.

Know Where Your Domain is Registered

If your domain is important to your branding, and it most likely is, you should always know the following:

Where is it located? GoDaddy, Register, Network Solutions, Enom, OpenSRS, or one of the many other registry services available.
Know how to access the information and keep it updated with current contact information.
Know when it is due to expire and the process for payment. If it’s set for auto- renewal, make sure you keep a current credit card and contact information on file with the registry service. If they can’t charge your card because it’s expired, and the e-mail address on file is outdated, you’ll likely lose the domain name.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Internet Scams, Web design/Internet Marketing

What are common sense internet solutions?

March 8, 2010 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

Let’s break it down. Merriam-Webster defines “common sense” as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts”.

We also find reference to the pamphlet Common Sense written by Thomas Paine during revolutionary times. Paine’s Common Sense made a straightforward argument for colonial independence that common folks understood. The plain-spoken pamphlet was widely read and is likely to have influenced the course of American history.

Given the definition of common sense, what are common sense internet solutions? If you define “solution” as being a problem solved, you could conclude that “common sense internet solutions’ translates to “a straightforward, sound and prudent course to solve your internet problems“.

Whoa! We can’t solve all the problems of the internet! But what we can do is solve your internet problems as it relates to your website. So if your website is not performing as expected, we can help diagnose the problems and take steps to improve it’s performance.

How do we do that? Let’s break it down.

The problem: Your website is not performing as expected. Perhaps you’d like to see…

increased traffic and exposure
increased sales
increased leads
better branding

Once your expectations are clear, we can take specific steps to solve your problem(s). First we would look at your website.

Is the website customer friendly? Is it well-designed? Will it appeal to your target market? Does it look professional? Is the content well-written and organized for on-screen viewing? Can the average person find the information they need quickly when visiting your website?
Is the website current? Does it have relevant updated information? Does it provide a way for customers to communicate with you? Is it inviting?
Is the website technically sound? Does it comply with current coding standards? Do all links, forms, carts, pages work the way they’re supposed to?

Once the website is user-friendly and polished, we look at how to spread the word.

Is the site coded for search engine optimization? Does it have well-written keyword title and descriptions tags? Does the content include keyword rich headings?
Are you tracking traffic? Are you using a good statistics program like Google Analytics to analyze and review your website traffic?
Are you or should you use social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter to help spread your message?
Would an e-newsletter or e-promotion strategy help?
How about online advertising such as pay-per-click programs or banner ads?
Could you benefit from online public relations strategy using websites like ezinearticles.com?

Once we’ve worked through these steps, we can create common sense internet solutions that will fit your business and your website will be in a better position to meet your expectations.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Web Design

Stay safe on social networks

November 17, 2009 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

Is there a danger to accepting unknown blog subscribers and Twitter followers? The short answer is yes. But if you have a blog and you are communicating via social networks, presumably one of your goals is to spread your business or organization’s message. So where do you draw the line?

I received this TWITTER Question from a client: “Is there a danger to me in being Followed by someone who rarely tweets, follows a lot of people, has few followers? Do I need to block these people or is it sufficient to not follow them back. Sometimes, I can see that Twitter has suspended them for improper activity. What is the danger? What are they doing?”

If you suspect danger, trust your instincts. You can set your Twitter settings to restrict access to only those people you approve. Consider how you use your Twitter account — if it is used to communicate with a business community and the goal is to build community you probably want to attract as many followers as possible. If your account is of a more personal nature you probably don’t have the need to allow unknown followers access to your account.

If you see that Twitter has suspended someone for improper activity it means they have violated Twitter’s rules. It could have involved impersonating someone else, spamming, threatening someone, copyright issues or any number of other issues that Twitter includes in their Rules. I would probably block anyone that Twitter has suspended or that you suspect of being involved in any of these activities.

I’ve put together a list of basic safety tips to help you stay safe while communicating with virtual strangers online through your website, blog or social networks.

1. Don’t give away personal information.

Don’t provide home address or phone number on your website or in your profile
Don’t tweet or post that you’re away from home — don’t post vacation photos until you return home — no need to inform the world that your house is vacant
Don’t include personal information like your birth date in your profile. Birth dates are helpful to idenity theives.

2. Be careful with social networking “apps”. When those Facebook applications tell you they need to access your personal profile in order to work — you might think twice about how important it is to use that application. See Facebook Application Privacy for details and set your limits based on their information.

3. Watch out for “Phishing”. Whether a social network post or an email, always assume that the identity of the poster could be an impostor–especially if the message seems out of the ordinary. Be suspicious! Assume any link that leads you to a login page to be suspect. See “Fraudsters Target Facebook With Phishing Scam”. If you receive a message from a “friend” that you suspect is a “phishing scam”, both you and your friend should change your account passwords.

4. Do NOT use the same username/password combination on all your accounts. If a thief obtains your username/password to your Facebook account, make sure it doesn’t also give him access to your bank account, Amazon or Paypal accounts.

5. YOUR BLOG: Review your blog’s user and discussion settings. If using WordPress the subscriber level by default allows them to read, comment and subscribe to your RSS feed. There doesn’t seem to be too much danger in that. However, I think it’s wise to review your subscriber list frequently and delete any suspicious addresses.

More information about online safety can be found at the following links.

Web site safety building safer websites

11 tips for social networking safety

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website

Free Shipping Closes Sale

June 22, 2009 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail Father’s Day reminder from a store where I’ve bought gifts from online before. Since I typically put off holiday gift buying to the last minute and end up paying extra for shipping, I was grateful for the reminder.

Lesson one to online merchants: EMAIL MARKETING WORKS!

With over a week before Father’s day I thought the ample lead time would save me some cash on shipping. I clicked through to the website and browsed to find some sweet treats for dad. I quickly found a nice gift of sweet snacks at a reasonable price and clicked through to the checkout page. Where I stopped. The shipping charges nearly doubled the price of the goodies. Call me cheap, but if there’s one thing I learned from my dad growing up on his farm in Minnesota it’s the value of the dollar.

That reasonably priced gift now seemed tremendously overpriced. If I was going to spend that kind of money – it had to be a better gift. So I abandoned my shopping cart and Googled “Free Shipping Father’s Day gifts”. Multiple stores came up and I quickly found a gift. It was much nicer than the original gift. I did end up spending the same as the other gift would have cost with it’s shipping charges, but I now felt like the gift I was sending was worth the money I was spending.

Lesson two to online merchants – FREE SHIPPING WORKS! Consider the value of your product. If shipping costs make your item seem extraordinarily overpriced you will lose sales.

Lesson three to online merchants. CLOSE THE SALE! If your e-mail marketing campaign is driving traffic to your site but you’re not seeing corresponding sales, make sure you look at the value you’re offering to your customers. It’s a shame when something like high shipping costs causes them abandon their shopping cart when you’ve successfully drawn them to your store with your e-mail marketing campaign.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website Tagged With: e-commerce, e-mail marketing, free shipping

New website for local massage therapist

May 3, 2009 by Carolyn Griswold Leave a Comment

Recently launched MyHandsYourHealth.com website for local massage therapist. Calm, quiet design.

Filed Under: Internet Marketing 101