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What is Website Optimization and Why do I Care?

This is a question that I’ve received on more than one occasion. Anyone who has a website should care about website optimization. If you have a website, odds are you’ve spent time and money to create it. So what is it doing for you? Too many people create a site and do nothing to drive traffic to their site, then, wonder why business hasn’t improved. In traditional terms, you can create the most beautiful advertisement, however, if you never place it where it can be seen, it’s useless. It’s the same for websites. That is where website optimization comes in. It’s the practice of driving traffic to your website. There are several ways to do this.

The first way to drive traffic to your site is to ensure that your site can be found. This is called Search Engine Optimization or SEO. By including meta tags and descriptions as well as improving the content of your site, you can improve the organic search-ability of your site so that people can find you. This is a long-term investment that pays off in gradual increments. Over time, search engine optimization will help improve your search engine rank and make it easier for potential customers to find your site.

The second way to improve your website optimization is a traditional pay-per-click program. These are the ads that show up in the right hand column of a Google search. The nice thing about these ads, as the name says, you only pay for those searches that actually click through to your site. This program is intended to drive unknown prospects to your site.

A third method of website optimization is called e-marketing. This includes creating an e-newsletter campaign and/or blog to help educate your customers. It is a good way to ensure that you have a consistent presence with your existing customers and known prospects. It will remind them that you’re out there and in some cases, depending on the article, educate them about capabilities you have that they may not know about or have forgotten.

The final form of website optimization is inclusion of RSS feeds to your website to pull the latest news from a blog into your site. This can help to keep your site updated with little effort. This will also help your search engine optimization and gives users a reason to go back to your site more frequently as they’ll know that you have updated information.

Basically, website optimization is a means to get your site working for you. Years ago, when people created or changed their website, they would let everyone they knew know about it. We’ve gotten away from that practice. Website optimization takes the best of those practices and incorporates them into a program that will make your website work for you.

How To Be the Perfect Client

This week I finished up writing the content for a simple Web site for a massage therapist. She wasn’t convinced at the outset that she needed help from a copywriter, and wasn’t prepared to pay for much more than “tidying up the home page.”

As the project moved forward, she began to see the value of a copywriter’s contribution: clearly stating her core message; developing a powerful call to action for each page; keeping copy concise and easy to scan; and introducing important key words and phrases that potential clients might use to find her in a Google search.

She turned out to be a terrific client. She gave me good raw data to work with, got back to me right away with her feedback, and really understood and appreciated what I was trying to accomplish on her behalf. The cherry on top? She paid her bill within two weeks!

I called her right away and said, “I wasn’t sure how things were going to work out for us, but now I wish all my clients were like you!” Know what she said? “I’d be happy to write a testimonial you can use on your own Web site!”

So, again, what makes a perfect client? Someone who:
*Values the contributions to the project
*Provides what is needed to get the job done
*Responds right away with feedback (So the project stays on track!)
*Works in a collaborative fashion
*Pays the invoice in a timely fashion
*Speaks highly of the work to others and makes referrals

Nancy Simonds, promotional copywriter

WebSavvyMarketers.com launched

Last week a collaborative team of Web Savvy Marketers launched the new blog WebSavvyMarketers.com.  The team is made up of Rahna Barthelmess, Nancy Simonds, Beth Devine and me.  Our goal is to explore and discuss the numerous online marketing options availabe for businesses today.  Each of us operates our own marketing and web related business yet we all have different specialties.  Check out websavvymarketers.com and feel free to comment and ask questions.

Mary’s Place launched

Marysplacect.orgFriday we launched the redesigned website for Mary’s Place, A Center for Grieving Children in Windsor, CT.  I designed the original Mary’s Place website in 2003. After six years it was time for a fresh look.  We incorporated video and some flash slideshows into the new design in addition to making it easier for people to donate directly through the website and through Amazon.com  and IGive.com affiliations.  Check out Marysplacect.org

Let’s talk passion

WebSavvyMarketers is a group of four marketing professionals who have joined together to explore and comment on digital and on-line marketing.  We each have a unique passion that drives our individual careers and as savvy marketers we recognize the power of strategic alliance and collaboration.  Meet the WebSavvyMarketers.  

Rahna Barthelmess, who jumped in with the 1st post on the blog, has a passion for marketing. She’s helped  large corporations and small companies navigate the digital marketing world with up to date, and effective online strategies.   She’s focused and energetic about her passion. Tap into her energy here and through her website beacon-marketing.com.

Nancy Simonds loves to proofread.  Isn’t that an unusual passion?  In a world where the practice of texting has developed a new lexicon and threatens the art of a complete sentence, we need people like Nancy.  Although Nancy has helped develop web content for many business websites, she would probably be the first to admit that blogging, facebook, and twitter are a bit, shall we say, beyond her comfort zone.  But exploring new worlds is part of being a websavvymarketer and I think Nancy’s perspective on this “new world” will bring comfort to those of you who might  find some of the new technologies overwhelming.  More about Nancy at simonds.com

Have you ever met anyone who loves to cold call? Meet Beth Devine.  I swear, her passion for cold calling, could possibly be an addiction.   What’s her perspective?  How does a cold calling addict become a websavvymarketer?  Stay tuned.  By the way, Beth also creates multi-media sales CD’s and tradeshow presentations.  and recently has begun to work with me on SEO projects.   More at devinesolutionsinteractive.com,

And finally, who am I and what’s my passion?  I’m Carolyn Griswold and have a passion for the web and for building websites.  I love the technology that is ever evolving.  I love the immediacy of the web.  I love the interactivity, the functionality, the design, the language and the art.  I love to explore the web and as I explore I plan to use this space to share ways to become a web savvy marketer.   More at cgwebhelp.com

The Concept of Collaboration

Contributed by Rahna Barthelmess, Chief Marketing Strategist, Beacon Marketing

Anyone who has ever participated in a brainstorming event or worked on the high school dance committee knows this very simple truth, that two heads are always better than one.   The contributors to this blog have started this discussion because they believe that collaboration is one of the Top Ten Secrets of Digital Branding.  Each of us feels that 1+1+1+1 really does equal so much more than four.  Collaboration is a cornerstone to the digital world, underpinning such mastermind concepts as Wikipedia, that captures the world’s collective definition of all things and Amazon’s “ratings and recommendations” for music, movies, books and more.

As a Marketing Strategist, it’s my job to guide my clients in the development of the best, most business-building strategies available.  Collaboration is one strategy we always employ when developing massively successful marketing plans.  The tactics we use to execute those strategies are multitudinous.  Blogs, wikis, forums, message boards, rating systems all work to foster that collaboration.  And the beautiful thing about the digital world is that these many tools automate the collaboration process, which means that the collaboration process can go on…even when you are not there.

This blog is an example of one such automated tool.  Blogs are a place where you can start a conversation and have anyone jump in at any time of the day or night.  It provides a forum for listening to your consumers, an avenue for inspiration, and a way to connect with others who have similar interests, ideas, and investigations that they are undertaking.

We hope you will participate in our discussions here at this blog.  Our aim is to provide inspiration and practical advice on a variety of web-related topics.  All of the contributors of this blog have been involved with the web since its inception and have gained a great deal of expertise about how to market something on-line.  So what is your question?  Tell us what you want to know.  In the meantime, we’ll share some of our wisdom and pose questions about contemporary marketing issues.  Share your thoughts with us!  We’re eager to engage in conversation with you!

So here’s a question for today: While you’re reading this, ask yourself, “What am I doing to engage with my customers?  Who can I collaborate with to supercharge my customer’s business and my own business?”  Here are some idea starters:

  • Ajacent categories: What else does my customer need that relates to my product or service, but does not directly compete with me?
  • “Add-ons:” Are there other services or product enhancements that could provide partnership opportunities?
  • Distribution Opportunities: Perhaps there are retailers or distributors that deliver your product or service to the end user that you could collaborate with.
  • Passionate Consumers: There may be concentrated enthusiast groups that you could work with to deliver even more powerful consumer experiences.
  • Employees: Are there some highly customer-oriented employees that you could tap into for even greater delivery of customer engagement and satisfaction?

These are just a few of the examples of collaboration that may inspire a new delivery mechanism for you, a new section of your website, or a new product opportunity.  Let us know what has worked for you (and what hasn’t!).  We want to know.

Ten-Point Web Content Evaluation

Is your Web site an effective marketing tool?

The New Year is a perfect time to evaluate the effectiveness of your Web content. Use this checklist to review your written content on these ten important points:

  • Does the content clearly and honestly describe your product or service?

  • Have you presented your core message concisely and effectively?
  • Do you use meaningful page titles, sub-headings, and other techniques that help visitors find what they’re looking for as they scan the page?
  • Are your Web pages viewable in a couple of screen views, without too much scrolling down?
  • Does each page have a strong call to action?
  • Are there key words and phrases that help potential customers find you through a search engine?
  • Do you review your site statistics to see what page visitors enter on, what page they leave from, and whether or not they take any action?
  • Does the content match the design in terms of tone and personality?
  • Is the type in a size, style, and color that make it accessible to the widest possible audience?
  • Is your content free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors?

If you’re not sure whether your current Web content is clear, easily “scannable” by the visitor’s eye, and truly descriptive of your product and services, take advantage of our evaluation and consultation services.

10-Point Search Engine Optimization Checklist

Can your potential customers find you when they do an Internet search? In other words, is your web site optimized for search engine indexing? Use this checklist to evaluate your web site for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

  1. Have you developed a key word list that contains words and phrases that describe your product or service?
  2. Does each page on your web site have a keyword-rich page title that accurately describes the content on that page?
  3. Does each page on your web site have a meta description tag that clearly describes the content on that page in one or two sentences?
  4. Do you use keywords within the content on your pages?
  5. Do you use keyword-rich alt tags for each image on every page?
  6. Do you use keywords in text links on your site?
  7. Do you update your site on a regular basis?
  8. Do you take advantage of industry- or regional-specific on-line directories to list your business, with a link to your web site?
  9. Do you use on-line PR services to submit articles related to your business that link to your web site?
  10. Do you have a blog, or participate in forums, blogs or on-line business networking services like Linked In, Facebook or Plaxo?

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