Let’s take a look at some of the various website business goals:

1. Ecommerce: If your goal is an ecommerce website you need to focus on your products entirely. Don’t worry about being a community or pumping thousands of articles into your website simply worry about your visitors finding your products as simple as possible. Ecommerce websites require much more positive user experience than a traditional informative website. Things like recommended products on individual product pages along with simple things like sizing charts if you are selling clothing are simply a must.

2. Website Leads: I have actually come across websites that have a website lead conversion as their business model and they have one contact form on the entire website. If you are looking to develop leads coming through your website you are going to have to have a contact form on every single page of your website. Don’t ever make people hunt and look for anything. Focus on your goal and build your website around that goal.

3. Phone Calls: If phone calls is what you need make sure to have the phone number on your website. Not just once, not just twice but actually a handful of times on each service page of your website. If you want your phone to ring how do you think that could happen if you only have it listed on your contact page?

Understand that a website requires certain elements depending on what your business goals are. If you have more than one goal than make sure to incorporate the right elements to satisfy those goals tastefully. Contact forms and phone numbers will sometimes work differently when placed in different areas of your website. Test and change from time to see what works better and what doesn’t.

Here are some ways you can tackle YouTube if you sell a product:

Product Videos: Regardless of what you sell you shouldn’t have a problem of putting together a short 30 second clip of your product and using a relatively inexpensive editing software to spruce it up a bit and posting the videos on YouTube with nice product titles and descriptions. This will get the product videos bouncing around which you can then use right on product pages.

Customer Videos: Whether you have a physical store or just a website try and see if you can get customers on video (with their permission of course). Put on fun little games inside the store for your customers to get involved with to win free stuff or have a contest on your website to entice customers to send you videos of themselves doing funny stuff with their products. Use these videos on YouTube and other websites like Twitter and Facebook to slowly build a following.

Office Videos: Video marketing is all about getting people to smile and show the video to their friends. Try thinking of some fun things the employees can do in the office to catch on tape and start to push them through YouTube and other social media channels. Customers love companies with personality.

Video marketing is all about thinking outside the box. There are many different videos out there that companies put out so don’t be scared to just shoot something and get it out there. Unless you are a FTSE Index brand most people will not throw their arms in the air if they don’t like your video, they will most likely just move on. Get your team together and start brainstorming some video ideas and see what you come up with. I think you might be pleasantly surprised with your results.

Next was the techno-hype era in which designers and clients looked for new ways to stand out form the crowd and get attention by using the latest web gimmicks. There was a greater focus on the glitz and glam of applets, flash, and videos as opposed to content. Just as water finds its own level, it became obvious that graphic designers and their spectacular creations didn’t translate into profits. The business website had the potential to bring in new customers and supply them with enough information to inspire them to contact the company; having visual distractions or poorly-placed information could cause the visitor to leave the site early before the message was received. Web pages heavy with moving visuals had the problem of being very slow-loading, causing many visitors to get restless and leave the site once they waited too long for the server to deliver.

Today, we are in a stage of web evolution where a good web experience is the result of mutual collaboration between presentation (visual design), interaction (response to users), and organization (site structure). This stage is referred to as the usability era. Sites that were once considered “cool” sites are no longer as cool as we once thought they were. Focus is now being placed on usability as determined by user studies.

Eye-tracking studies show that people react better to the content standing out from the background and aligned in the center. Backgrounds in off-white and grey with the words in black are effective for both the human eye and the search engine spider. There are still some site owners who use a black background and white letters which can really sting the eyes of someone trying to read it.

Simplicity works because the human attention span is growing shorter as we’re bombarded with information from all sides, and there are countless choices available to the web surfer. The content should be compact and easy to understand, and laid out so that the visitor is led to the section where they can interact (fill out a form, buy something, contact by phone, etc.). By simplifying the content you kill two birds with one stone, because the search engines will have an easy time understanding what the pages are about, and reward you with page views and higher rankings.

Writing for the web however forces us to use a completely different set of rules, and those rules created for hard copy writing don’t really apply any more. For example, when writing for print you should really use a Times-like font when writing, because the slight serifs (the small marks at the end of each leg of a letter) allow the reader to quickly separate and identify the letters more quickly than any other letter. This is part of the meta-information of a document: it facilitates meaning without meaning something itself.

However, the rule is different for the web. Researchers have found that sans-serif fonts, specifically Verdana or Helvetica, work the best. People can more easily read on the screen when using these fonts. Thus, when setting font type, these are perhaps the best used.

Actually many specify “verdana, sans-serif;” just to be safe. In such a case if verdana is not available, the available sans-serif will be displayed. This might be a trend, after all web design is design after all, but research has demonstrated that sans-serifs seem to enhance understanding when reading online information.

Maybe it has something to do with how we read online. We scan for information, when we find that information we concentrate on it, and then move on. We tend to skip to topics sentences throughout a page. Thus, perhaps words in san-serifs stand out more. And because we aren’t reading an immense amount of text, we don’t need the same strategies we use when reading hard copy documents (with which we typically read much more than we do online anyway).

With regards to font size: larger is not better! Large fonts make for awkward reading, and it is difficult to use the space effectively to find the information we’re looking for when the words are too big. A font size of what would be equivalent to 11 pt typically are the best. Sans-serif fonts tend to be larger, so scaling it back down from what we would normally use on hard copy (12 pt) is needed anyway.

You can use bigger font sizes, of course, for headings and titles, but try to limit the amount of larger font sizes used: it actually detracts from understanding and it’s hard to see the entire screen easily when the font size of any element is large.

Using colors with text is tricky. Web designers used to erroneously think that bright colors would attract people to read something. They also felt that some type of rainbow effect was useful or would be catchy somehow. It was actually more kitsch than catch.

The rules of contrast apply especially to screen. Light background and dark font need to be used to effectively communicate. Because we scan screens for information, you need to use effective contrast to highlight information. We will quickly miss important information that blends in with the background.

The size of the page, and the amount of text on it are also extremely crucial to aiding people in their task of finding and understanding information. As we graze over a web page, we are scanning back and forth for specific pieces of information. Thus, long paragraphs tend to hamper our attempts. The more information we put in a paragraph, and the longer it is, the more people have to scan.

This will cause a couple of things to happen. People will either get frustrated and leave, or they will not find the information they need because it’s buried under a layer of text they don’t need. Thus breaking up the paragraphs into smaller, more manageable chunks of information–usually by subtopic–is necessary to help people find information.

Many experts recommend what’s called the upside-down pyramid approach to organizing information. Unlike hard copy writing strategies, where we introduce a topic and gradually get to the point, we want to quickly give the important information at first and then fill in the details. Readers will first read the important info, perhaps the first or topic sentence of a paragraph, and then determine what they want to read next.

Also, the length of a page can be a detriment to design. Long, scrolling pages are harder to navigate as well, according to many studies. Users would rather skip to the next page, just like when reading a book, than scroll through a bunch of information they don’t need. We don’t use things like papyrus scrolls anymore, after all, so it’s hard for users to adjust to finding information in that manner.

To enhance the amount of information the user gets, we need to also try to constrain the viewing information as well as the amount of information we are giving. Thus, the viewing size in which the primary information is given should be reduced. This makes the reading task more familiar to users because, again, it’s more like reading hard copy, which is how we were originally taught to read: small pages with small bits of information. We weren’t originally trained on the landscaped rectangles we use to view web pages on, thus it just doesn’t seem natural.

Writing for the web isn’t hard, it just takes a different set of considerations than writing for print.

Why SEO Is Like a Seed by Nick Stamoulis

SEO is not something that happens right away. For most people they have learned to understand that search engine optimization takes time and you need apply good quality approach in order to make an impact on your targeted industry search results.

Here are some reasons why SEO takes time for those who are not so convinced:

Limited Space: For every keyword and phrase there are only ten parking spaces in the search results which means that you need to put in the leg work to be visible in these areas. If everyone did a little SEO wouldn’t it be impossible to have everyone rank in the search results for a specific word or phrase?

Competition: You really don’t know what your competition is doing as far as marketing to be ranking in those search results. You can search around and take a look but ultimately you don’t really know what types of link building activities they are performing for them to show up in those areas.

Ranking Factors: There are close to 200 different ranking factors that determine where a website ranks. It takes time for a website to cover many of these factors which is why SEO is a long term effort.

Age: If you are in an industry where the majority of the websites that rank on page one or two are aged, meaning they have been live online for a much greater time than yours it will require even more patience and time. Age is a very important ranking factor in the search engines so if you have just recently launched your website it is going to take some time to really catch up to your competition.

Volume of Business: The internet has allowed people to start businesses relatively easy which means that content and websites are being dumped into the web space at much higher rate than ever before. The volume of content that exists in the internet is astonishing and it is not slowing down any time soon.

Don’t compare the rankings you might have achieved years ago to now because the game has shifted and changed quite a bit.

SEO was once a much different effort. Several years ago, before social media marketing was effective, a company had to rely solely on SEO for their marketing efforts. The effort has changed and forced businesses to take a much stronger SEO marketing and branding approach in order to stand out from the crowd.

The following ten tips are key to maintaining a successful web site. Follow these and your site will do better. Nothing will guarantee that a web site will be successful as there are simple too many different factors that impact web success – but as a general rule these ten tips will always lead to better performance.

• Content
• Freshness
• No Tricks
• Links
• Structure
• Accessibility
• Quality Code
• URLs
• Style
• Images

1. Content

Content is key!

Almost all the search engines scan a sites content now – almost ignoring things like meta tags. The more content you have on your site the more the search engines can scan – but there is more to it then that: people like content too. Many people measure a web site’s success by the number of visitors it gets – so ask yourself – why would people come to your web site? Do you offer them interesting and informative information that relates to your product or service? if not, why would they come?

Relevant content and lots of it is a key for a successful web site. There is always room for more content on a web site, and you can never have too much.

Take this article you are reading for example, while it’s fairly useful information for many of our visitors, it’s also additional content for our web site – and will serve to help our site do better. Writing articles about aspects of your industry is a great way to generate content.

Set asside an hour a day (or at least an hour a week) to devote to adding new content to your web site.

2. Freshness

Keep it current

Having lots of content is great – but if it is all three years old it’s not going to look like your site is much of a priority. The search engines actually track this. They monitor how frequently your site changes as they visit it for indexing. The more often it changes the better your rank in the freshness category.

What constitutes change? Pretty much anything – which is why keeping a BLOG or adding frequent news articles to your web site usually produces such good results. It is also the reason why having something as simple as rotating content and the current date on every page has been shown to make a difference.

3 No Tricks

Don’t try to outsmart the Search Engines – Eventually you’ll loose

Many web design companies promise success through the use of tricks, backdoors, and special tactics designed to sneak a web site into a top position rapidly. Something, of course, that the search engines are constantly battling to defeat. Why play the game? As the search engines find the cheaters they will plug the holes and a rank (that usually costs a pretty penny to achieve) will immediately be lost.

Rather, follow the recommendations of the search engines – most set out rules for web masters that outline what they would like to see in a web site. By following the rules the engines are actually battling all the cheating web sites and working to promote the sites that follow the rules – they are fighting FOR you!

4 Links

Links both in and out must be relevant

There has been a lot of talk about link exchanges – people linking to others merely to gain a higher rank (hmmm this smacks of breaking tip 3) if you are going to link to someone and/or ask them to link to you – ask yourself: is it relevant?

Any old link is not going to help you much – search engines will look at who is linking to you – they also pay very close attention to how many links you have off your web site on a page. This is being done to try and drop sites with pages of links (do you have a links page on your web site?)

It is far better to have relevant links places throughout your web site – on only those pages that specifically the topic that relates to the page being linked to.

Unfortunately you can’t exert too much control over the way that other sites link to yours but it is worth looking at how a site usually links to others before to specifically go requesting a link from them.

5 Structure

Organize your web site and everyone will thank you.

Both the search engines and your web visitors prefer a web site that is well structured. The search engines due to their very nature (being computer programs) must break down all web sites into elements based on the structure of the pages. People, so frequently rushing to find the specific information they are looking for, rarely read through web pages but rather scan headings and bulleted lists to find the detailed sections of interest. In both cases a well structured site will be far better received then one that is a mish-mosh of information haphazardly thrown together.

This is simple to do – but all too often missed. Make headings, use the correct coding tags for them, organize sections of content into groups, and use bold and bulleted lists to present key points.

Keep in mind when writing paragraphs of text that most humans will not read them unless they are specifically titled with a headline that matches what they are looking for.

6 Accessibility

A web site that speaks to all is better then a site that only speaks to some.

Tips no 6 and 7 are closely related: The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) provides a list of guidelines for how to create web sites that are accessible to as many people (and systems) as possible. Think about your web site – can someone with a visual disability (perhaps even something as simple as colour-blindness) still get information about your product or service? If not, how do you feel knowing that you have just excluded a vast segment of the population from accessing your web site?

7 Quality Code

Well coded web sites perform better.

Many small business owners don’t have too much control over the code used to create their web site – but it is still important to know how important it may be. Standard compliant code that has been checked for errors is easier for the search engines to assimilate. It is more widely visible across varied platforms (computer types) and in different browsers.

Ensure your web designer is writing standard compliant code that is validated for errors. You can also check your own web site using free on-line tools from the W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium – the standards body that administers Internet technologies). All NECSES Webdesign websites comply to W3C Standards – giving our customers peace of mind.

8 URLs

Prudent choice of URLs will impact your web site’s performance

Professional web designers should already know this – but if you are using a content management system to build your web site, or portions of it, it is important to understand the significance of the URL used to access pages on your web site.

Search engines look at the address of every page on your web site and try to extract key-words from the content of the url. For example, you may have a page about “Widgets” on your web site called “somewhere.com” creating the page with a filename of widgets.html will give a better keyword rank then page6.html

This is a fairly subtle point but makes a significant difference for most search engines. It can also make it much easier for people that are typing in a URL to access a specific page of your web site. Notice the URL for this web page – it’s called http://www.necseswebdesign.co.uk/top-ten-small-business-web-site-marketing-tips/ for a reason!

9 Style

Looks do matter – but perhaps not the way you think…

In the grand scheme of things the “looks” of a web site in the classic sense are not really that important – honestly! Once people have looked at a web site for a few minutes they will quickly discard their first impression (based on looks) and move immediately to asking – is this site giving me the information I need – and can I find it quickly (going back to tips 1 – content and 5 – structure)

So what are we on about with style? Simple – ensure the style of your site makes it easy to read. Avoid things like black backgrounds with white text (inverse text is harder to read) and ALL CAPS (humans read by identifying word shapes – writing in all caps forces people to read every letter and quickly becomes annoying – plus on the net it is used as a typographic method of indicating you are shouting) font.

10 Images

Selling a product – better make sure it looks good

If you are selling something that has a visual representation – then professional looking photography is key. Even a multi-million dollar resort will not look good if the photographs are amateurish. If you care about what you have to sell, then it’s worth investing in some professional photographs to show people what you have. Remember, on-line people can’t get a hold of your product – so you need to give them some really good photographs so that they can feel confident that it meets their needs.

Flash websites are very eye-catching, but search engines cannot read or index this type of content. If it is impossible to avoid a Flash-centric website and you need search engines to index it, you will have to offer an html version too. Search engines don’t like Flash sites for a reason – a spider can’t read Flash content and therefore can’t index it.

9. Don’t Use too Much JavaScript

Searchbots are not designed to read and understand JavaScript code. If a website contains a few lines of text in the JavaScript code, chances are that searchbots will ignore the entire block of code along with the text. This is true in the case of JavaScript menus. Try to keep the use of JavaScript to a minimum. Alternatively, create an external JavaScript file if it is unavoidable.

8. Do Implement a Robots.txt File

The primary purpose for using a robots.txt file is to gain complete control over the data indexed by the searchbots. Implement a Robots.txt file only when you want to prevent unwanted web pages from being indexed. A robots.txt file is always placed in the root folder of the website where the searchbots can access it easily.

7. Do Target the Correct Keywords

Targeting the wrong keywords is a common mistake many optimizers make and even worse – veteran SEO professionals do it. Marketers select keywords that they think are explanatory of their website, but the average searcher does not think in those same keyword terms. Picking the right keywords can increase or decrease traffic to your SEO campaign. A first-class keyword suggestion aid, for example the Google search-based keyword tool, will help you find keywords that are appropriate for your site.

6. Do Include Long Tail Keywords

With a million websites competing for short tail keywords, it can take more than 6 months to rank in the top 20 for a competitive keyword. In this case, long tail keywords come in handy. Long tail keywords are more specific and can contain the name of a specific product, brand or city. Ranking for long tail keywords is comparatively easier and the rate of conversion is better than that of short tail keywords. Do include keywords in the title tags.

5. Do Maintain a Uniform URL Structure

If your website is dynamic, then you need to modify the URL structure of the web pages. This maintains uniformity and helps searchbots to understand which page it is indexing. It is very easy to maintain the URL structure in dynamic websites. Blogging platforms like WordPress provide an option for permalinks.

4. Don’t Link to Low Quality Websites

Link building is a very crucial aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines consider the number of incoming links to a website as an indication of their popularity and give them priority rankings. Many beginners fail to realize that it is links from authoritative and quality websites that are important and they mistakenly link to low quality websites for higher rankings. This tactic can cause the credibility of the website to go down with search engines and in some cases, the website may get banned.

3. Do Perform Competitive Intelligence

Before starting your search engine optimization program, visit the competing websites in the top results. Research these types of questions:

A. How many websites are competing for the same keyword?

B. How old are the websites in top search engine results pages?

C. How many back links do the top ranking websites list?

D. What type of social media is used by the competing sites?

2. Do Take Advantage of Google Analytics

2009 was the year when web analytics gained momentum. Google Analytics came up with advanced metrics and intelligence report features which revolutionized free analytics tools. Companies realized the benefits of using web analytics tools to extract their relevant data. Implement Google Analytics to analyze data and build a 2010 plan to increase traffic and rates of conversion.

1. Do Create Fresh Content

Search engines are famous for penalizing a website for publishing duplicate content. With plagiarism on the rise and availability of content checking tools such as Copyscape, marketers have become more cautious. Yahoo is considered to be among the harshest of all the search engines with regard to this penalty. Add fresh content to your website to help build visitor interest and credibility with the search engines.

These 10 simple do’s and don’ts can help you to avoid making potentially dangerous SEO mistakes and ensure your site is indexed and boost rankings.



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Testimonial

“I just wanted to congratulate you on the new website. It is excellent! Such an improvement on the old one – which is just what we wanted to achieve. It fully justifies hiring NECSES Webdesign.”

I’ve had a lot of people asking about this web metric recently. So just to clarify a few things on what it is and isn’t. The bounce rate is the amount of people who leave your site immediately on first arrival. A high bounce rate can be indicative of a number of things, but can also be influenced by a number of things.

Here’s a brief break down of a few of those:

1) Your content isn’t what they expected

So you turn up on a search for “bananas” when you are selling “apples”. Nothing much you can do about that, but don’t expect visitors to wait around. You may want to perhaps start growing a potential banana business by providing a page on your site about where they can find them.

2) Your site design isn’t professional

We make judgement calls on people’s appearances within 30 seconds of seeing someone. Unfortunately the same is true online. If we are in “buyer mode” then it is all the more important to make first impressions count. A poorly thought out navigation system, or an ugly site banner, could be enough to put people off.

3) Where you’ve been linked from

If you have been linked to from a highly trusted resource, the chances are your visitors will stay longer than if you get a link from say comments in a blog.

Think of it this way.

If you are stumbling on the web, and are in what I call the “bored browser” mindset, you will be fickle. If you have ever used StumbleUpon – you’ll know what I mean by this. If however you are in the “ready to learn” mindset you examine web pages more carefully, you read around the subject you are researching.

4) The speed of your site

If you are running on a slow server, people aren’t going to stick around. Better to invest in a lightning quick hosting package than to have visitors leave because they are waiting for pages to load.

5) Audience profile

Lets say for the sake of argument you are a retailer selling shoes. If your traffic is coming from young and hip social networks such as Bebo or Myspace or Facebook – you need to analyse how many of these people are bouncing. Adding additional tracking metrics can help you determine if your online stock is appealing to younger audiences, and can actually help shape your buying decisions. Remember that age can influence how fickle an audience potentially is.

1. Brochures – Brochures are a great marketing tool because you can provide a lot of information about you and your business. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce and other businesses to see if you can put out your brochures.

2. Newspaper Ads – Run classified ads in some local or not so local newspapers. Remember these points when writing your ads:

• You must get the reader’s attention.
• Once you get their attention, you must keep them interested.
• Turn their interest in desire for your products.
• Give them a call to action!

3. Radio Ads – Check with popular radio stations to see what they charge for a short ad and make the ad pop as much as possible.

4. Promotional Items – Have your URL printed on caps, t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc. and give them to as many people as you can to wear. This can be very effective in getting your business known.

5. Postcards – Postcards are very cost effective and versatile. You can announce new items, offer special deals, promote a special business event or announce your website and what types of products/services you offer.

6. Offline Networking – Join your local Chamber of Commerce. Get involved in business clubs and groups and talk about your business whenever possible.

7. Car Signs – These are great products because they allow you to advertise your business wherever you go – family outings, running errands, visiting family, etc!

8. Business Cards – Design your business card wisely. They are no longer just for listing your name and address! Have your business card double as a coupon or gift certificate. Hand them out whenever the opportunity becomes available.

9. Flyers – Distributing flyers is a very affordable way to market your online business. Be sure to specify what service/product you offer and use incentives to get people to ACT NOW. You can also encourage people to pass the word if your products/services can help anyone they know. Parades and other public events are great opportunities for handing out your flyers.

10. TV Ads – TV ads are a bit more expensive but if you have the budget it would definitely be worth looking into.

11. Coupons – Print out coupons and hand them out wherever and whenever you can. Offer special deals, sales discounts, etc. This can lead to many sales and a larger customer base.

12. Freebies and Samples – People love getting things for free. Offer small items as free samples. You have seen grocery stores do this many times. Give a free sample of a good product and you will get more sales!

13. Letterheads – Have your business name and URL on everything that gets mailed out of your office/home. You never know who will be reading it and if they might take an interest in your products/services/opportunity.

14. Catalogs – If possible, have catalogs made and distribute them as much as possible. Use direct mail as well, if you can. Offer x amount of dollars off their first order or a free gift with first order.

15. The Yellow Pages – Get listed in the Yellow Pages so more people can find out who you are and what you offer!

16. Billboards/Signs – We all notice billboards and signs and they can be very effective in increasing your business.

17. Job Fairs – If you offer a good business opportunity, make it known by participating in job fairs and career days.

18. Print Magazines – Purchase advertising or try submitting articles to various print magazines. Getting an article published can do a lot for your online business.

19. Greeting Cards – Send personal greeting cards or even thank you notes to all your customers as well as people who expressed an interest in what you offer. This is guaranteed to make a lasting impression!

20. Gift Certificates – Print out gift certificates and distribute them as much as possible. Put them in mailings both personal and business. Work with other businesses to distribute each other’s certificates (complementary not competing businesses).

21. Community Involvement – Getting involved in your community events and activities can be one of the most effective ways to get your business noticed. Volunteer for school activities, work for charities, attend social functions, etc.