Archive for the ‘SEO’ Category
25th June 2008
by Diane Aull
Okay, as I’m sure you suspected, that deliberately-provocative headline isn’t quite true. What your website doesn’t need is boring, repetitive, same-old-same-old content. Interesting, useful content — content that helps drive sales? That, of course, you do need.
The problem (for me, at least — and I suspect for others as well) is coming up with fresh ideas. I mean, let’s say I have a site that sells red lederhosen. Made from the finest, most supple suede, hand-crafted to my exacting standards by authentic Alpine lederhosen makers, these are by far the most comfortable and durable lederhosen available today. And did I mention they’re red? Talk about unique.
But what can I write about these lederhosen? My first temptation is to simply regurgitate the same “history of lederhosen” article that every other lederhosen site has. The problem is, that topic is tired and overdone… and it doesn’t do a darned thing to promote sales of MY lederhosen.
What to do, what to do?
One thing I’ve found that works well for me when I need to come up with fresh, original article ideas is to observe every day life and see how I can relate my experiences to my product or service.
So let’s say I’m standing in line for a long time at the bank (or the grocery store or the “fast” food restaurant or where ever). I start to think how how stylish and comfortable I’d feel if I were wearing a custom-fitted pair of lederhosen made from my company’s signature extra-soft suede.
How about an article on how to properly take your own measurements so as to insure the most flattering and comfortable fit for your lederhosen? (Along with a call to action linking to my lederhosen order page.)
Or I’m riding in a car for a while, and when I get out at my destination, I notice some creases in the legs of my lederhosen and, uhmmm, a flattening of the “nap” of the suede on the backside. I decide to write an article about how to properly care for your lederhosen if you wear them when traveling (which, by the way, would be a very timely thing to post a month or two before the summer vacation season).
Of course, I’d also mention how comfortable and breatheable genuine suede lederhosen are on long trips, and include a call to action linked to my lederhosen order page.
Or I’m eating my favorite schnitzel and sauerkraut for supper, and I spill some on my lederhosen. I realize my customers would likely appreciate an article with tips on how to remove schnitzel stains and sauerkraut odor from suede without destroying the suppleness of the leather.
And, naturally I’d mention how my lederhosen are pre-treated for stain and odor resistance with (you knew this was coming) a call to action and a link to the lederhosen order page.
Do you see what each of these articles have in common? They all:
- Are relevant to experiences my customers could commonly run into, because they’re based on real life situations.
- Demonstrate how my lederhosen are designed to address these issues.
- Are, therefore, useful, original and fresh content.
- Include a call to action linking to the appropriate product order page, thereby making it super-easy for visitors to buy the fabulous products they’ve just learned about in the article. (This is the step site owners most often overlook, in my observation.)
Now that’s the kind of content I think every sales-oriented website could use.
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25th June 2008
by Jackie Baker
I’m a huge fan of blogging - whether it’s just a hobby or part of your business strategy. While blogs can be a lot of work, they can also be very rewarding.
This week’s site clinic focuses on a relatively young blog, BeFitAndStrong.com that has been up and running since September 2007. Blog owner Curtis Penner is doing many things very well, and I’d like to take some time to point those out as well as suggest a few improvements he can make to better reach his goals. As much as we learn from our own (and other people’s) mistakes, we can also learn a lot when we see something done well.
BeFitAndStrong.com is a blog geared towards adults ages 30-55 who are interested in losing weight and getting fit. One of it’s unique properties is that Curtis offers instructional exercise videos; they are short 2-3 minute videos each detailing a specific exercise and how to perform it correctly. The primary goal of the website is to gain subscribers; the secondary goal is to generate affiliate and product sales.
Blogging Done Right
The first indicator I saw that BeFitAndStrong.com is a good blog is the fact that I got caught up in reading articles and watching videos … and forgot that I was supposed to be analyzing the site.
Strong Content
Blogs are only going to be successful if they are providing well-written, relevant, interesting content in a format that is easy to read. BeFitAndStrong.com hit that nail on the head.
Curtis has a conversational, yet authoritative tone to his writing that made me want to read more, and convinced me that he knew what he was talking about. He breaks each article up into sections, varies the paragraph lengths, uses descriptive headers, and incorporates bulleted lists where appropriate. The videos are very well done and make the exercises understandable and easy to replicate correctly.
I love the way Curtis has designed his home page. Where most blogs display the most recent articles on their landing page, Curtis has used his home page to feature content and drive visitors deeper into the site. Visitors can quickly scan the homepage and get a good idea of the kids of information they are going to find on this website, and then go directly to it.
Incorporating Key Blog Elements
There are several “must haves” for good blogs, and BeFitAndBeStrong.com has most of them:
- Prominent subscribe by rss and email links with text and icons (primary conversion point is accurately positioned at the top of the right column)
- List of categories (primary blog navigation)
- Author photo and brief bio at the bottom of each post
- Links to featured/popular content
- Links to related posts following each article
- Buttons to submit articles to social sites such as Del.icio.us
- Catchy page titles
- Videos/images to supplement copy
- Author responses to comments
What’s Missing
BeFitAndStrong.com has almost all of the elements of a great blog. However, there are three very important items missing that are keeping it from reaching the next level: 1. open commenting 2. an about page and 3. the secondary conversion point.
Open Up the Comments
One of the first things I check on a blog is the comments section; it’s a quick and easy way to know if the content resonates with readers. With everything else on BeFitAndStrong.com done so well, I was shocked to discover that commenting is restricted to readers who are logged in.
Besides the fact that I have to log in to comment, there is no information about where you have to be logged in. If you click the “logged in” link, you are taken to the Word Press admin log in for the BeFitAndStrong.com site, for which I don’t have a user account. Do I log into my own WordPress account? Nope, that didn’t do it either. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to leave a comment on this blog. And most people wouldn’t spend the time to try to figure it out like I did. (While I did find a few posts that have comments, I’m not entirely sure how they got there.)
Requiring visitors to log in before they can comment in general is superfluous and likely to turn away many people who would like to get involved in the discussion. These discussions are an important way to increase engagement, build community around your website, and encourage more loyal visitors. While comment moderating is often necessary to prevent spam, this is taking it a little too far when it makes it difficult for the real people.
Wordpress has some great options for moderating comments, including requiring visitors to have a previously approved comment. If they do, all subsequent comments are posted automatically.
Dig around in your WordPress settings and figure out how to turn off the setting that is requiring visitors to log in before they can comment!
Tell Readers About Yourself
Losing weight and getting in shape is a popular topic right now. There are a lot of people out there all telling us different things, and it’s very hard to know who to listen to. Because virtually anyone can start a blog about whatever they want, there’s a lot of bad information out there. And that makes it especially important to include a prominent “about” page on BeFitAndStrong.com.
If you want to be recognized as an expert, you have to allow people to get to know you. Tell them who you are, why you care about this topic, and what experience and knowledge makes you an expert. In short, let them know why you are worth listening to.
In addition to telling us who you as the writer are, let readers know what this website is about. Because the homepage isn’t a traditional format, it’s not immediately obvious that this is a blog. Tell your reader exactly what this site is and what it’s all about.
The about page should be a top-level link; on this particular site it probably fits best alongside “home” and “contact” at the top.
Make Your Conversion Points Obvious
Every website should have a goal and should always be working to drive visitors to that goal. Here the primary conversion point is to subscribe to the feed, and that’s not hard to figure out–or do.
But the secondary conversion point, generate affiliate and product sales, is virtually non-existent. I never would have known that was even an option if Curtis didn’t mention it in his submission.
First, if you’re looking to create partnerships with affiliates, create a page specifically for affiliates. Because there aren’t currently any advertisers on the site, potential sponsors are likely to assume that you aren’t interested. Adding a page directed at them will
- show you are interested in such partnerships
- tell them what you are looking for
- tell them what you offer
- tell them what your rates are
Second, if you are selling informational products such as an e-book (which is offered for free in some articles) that needs to be a prominent feature in that right sidebar. Make a button or a feature box right under the subscription that will drive visitors to download the free e-book or to look at the informational products available for purchase. If you aren’t selling anything right now, it’s because visitors don’t know it’s there!
Tidbits To Improve Your Blog
Just a few other small improvements that could be made on BeFitAndStrong.com (and maybe on your blog, too!):
- The link on “Curtis Penner” in the bio box goes to a 404 error page, which in turn lists an about page that goes to the default WordPress sample page (oops!).
- Search Engine Optimization can be helpful on blogs. Target some keywords and use them in your title and opening paragraph. Install the All-In-One SEO plugin and create more descriptive title tags and meta descriptions.
- Make sure your category names are descriptive (not cute) and include targeted keywords.
- Incorporate a benefit statement/tagline in the header to briefly let visitors know what this site is about and why it’s unique.
- Consider putting videos on YouTube, where visitors searching there for exercises may come across them, which will drive more traffic back to your blog.
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25th June 2008
by Sage Lewis
Whether you’re Barack Obama or the Associated Press, this week has been about cleaning out the proverbial skeletons in the closet. Obama launched a website called Fight the Smears in which he debunks and clarifies false rumors about himself and his family. The Associated Press is bringing legal action against bloggers for using too much of the AP’s content in their blogs. Also, ClevelandSEO.com points to The Karcher Group as a good case study for domain name changes; The Karcher Group has been blogging in detail the trials and tribulations associated with transferring their domain name to TKG.com.
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25th June 2008
by Jennifer Laycock
When I teach Social Media classes to small businesses, I can always count on someone in the audience to ask a question that goes a little something like this: “I’ve got limited time to invest in social media, but there seem to be a million sites out there. How do I know which one is worth my time? If I only have time for one, which one should it be?” Well I generally try to weasel out of that question by telling them I’d use both LinkedIn AND Twitter, the truth is if I had to pick just one, LinkedIn would win, hands down. Let me tell you why.
LinkedIn is one of those sites that tends to get brushed aside in the sexy, shiny world of social media. It’s not flashy, we rarely hear buzz about billion dollar valuations and you don’t get eleventy billion email reminders to visit because your contacts on LinkedIn are not encouraged to write on your wall, send zombies after you or take lengthy and inane quizzes.
Instead, LinkedIn tends to sit there quietly, waiting for you to realize it’s more than just another place to “add your friends.” That it’s actually one of the world’s best networking tools. That it’s “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” translated into the business world. That it’s your ticket to building your business.
When I first joined LinkedIn a few years back, I spent an hour or two adding all my friends from my contact list and exploring friend’s contact lists to see if I’d missed anyone. I updated my profile, ran a quick search for past co-workers and then moved on my merry way. I’d get a handful of LinkedIn friend requests after conferences, but beyond that, I pretty much ignored it. Par for the course with most of the small business types I’ve spoken to.
But forgetting to revisit and make use of Linked In is a big mistake if you run the type of business that relies on making contacts.
The Tipping Point
My love affair with LinkedIn started last winter when I happened to login to add some contacts from Search Engine Strategies Chicago and saw a notice that Allison Clark was now working with Advanta as a PR consultant for their new Ideablob small business community site. I knew Allison from her days working with the eComXpo virtual trade show and I knew Advanta dealt with credit cards for small businesses. I’d never heard of IdeaBlob though, so I went to check it out.
Turns out, the site was a pretty neat find. I emailed Allison to learn more, ended up connecting with their team and writing a story about IdeaBlob right here on Search Engine Guide. Ultimately, Advanta ended up coming on board as one of the sponsors for our first Small Business Marketing Unleashed.
Not bad for a boring little social networking site, right?
That’s when it dawned on me that I was completely missing the boat with LinkedIn. LinkedIn’s search feature wasn’t about finding contacts I knew, it was about finding contacts I NEEDED to know. The whole “degrees of contact” bubble weren’t a fun way to see who knew who, it was invaluable insight into how to make contact with new companies.
(For those new to LinkedIn, the site will track the connections between you and every other member of the site and will tell you how many “degrees” apart you are from any one contact. 1st degree means you know them personally, 2nd degree means you know someone who knows them, 3rd degree means they’re a friend of a friend of a friend…and so on.)
Using LinkedIn’s Search Feature to Expand Your Business
So how exactly am I using LinkedIn these days? Well, I’m using it to daisy chain my contacts and meet new people. Search Engine Guide and our network of sites has been growing like crazy and with the introduction of our new Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference series, we need to expand our network of advertisers and sponsors accordingly. While I’ve been around long enough to be pretty well connected in the search realm, I’ve only just begun to get actively involved on the small business side of things. That means working my network to expand my network is essential.
Here’s a quick example of what I mean.
For our last show, we’d been in touch with the team at Carbonite, a subscription based service company that backs up your hard drive online. This time around, we’d stumbled across Mozy. Mozy offers up a very similar service, but with prices starting at under a month, we knew they were perfectly targeted for the very small businesses that attend our show. Unfortunately, I didn’t know anyone at Mozy. We all know cold calls don’t tend to go over well, so I did what I now always do in these situations…I headed to LinkedIn and ran a search.
A simple search for the word “mozy” turned up a slew of Mozy employees.
As I scrolled through the list I quickly stumbled across Dave Robinson, the VP of Marketing for Mozy. The first thing I did was look to see how many degrees separated us. Unfortunately, it was three. That meant I didn’t have any direct contacts who knew Dave. Now, I could have used the LinkedIn network to ask my contacts to introduce me to his contacts, but I’m not really comfortable going that route. That said, at least we had a name to work with, which made it much easier to call Mozy and seek out contact information for him.
A few days later, I decided I wanted to try and get in touch with Stamps.com. Once again, I headed over to LinkedIn, ran a search and was greeted with a list of possibilities.
Once again, it took a matter of moments to find out Jim Bortnak was the Chief Marketing Officer over there and the person I needed to get in touch with. This time, I had better news: Jim was a second degree contact. That meant I already knew someone who knew him. Next step: click through to his profile page to find out who “someone” was. LinkedIn makes this part simple. On any member’s profile page, you’ll find a little box that looks something like this:
Quick as that, I could see I had two contacts who knew Jim. One was Ami Kassar, the contact I’d made at Advanta via Allison Clark. The other was Chris Caputo, a friend of mine who heads up marketing for American Greetings here in Ohio. I knew Chris better than I knew Ami, so I decided to leverage that contact to see if I could reach out to Jim. I used the LinkedIn system to compose a message to Jim and then wrote a separate message that would be sent to Chris asking him to pass my message along.
It’s a bit like asking your friend to pass a note to another friend two aisles over in study hall when you’re in junior high.
That’s just two examples, but I’ve used LinkedIn in this way dozens of times over the past few months. Sometimes it pays off in spades. Sometimes you never hear anything back. Either way, it’s far more effective than sending blind emails or making cold calls.
Even apart from the convenience factor, you get an added boost of credibility when you are introduced by someone who knows you. I trust my contacts. If they emailed me to say I should speak with someone, I’d speak with them. In the meantime, as a business owner, I hope they say the same about me.
Don’t Miss Out on LinkedIn’s Potential
That’s not the only reason to love LinkedIn of course. There are groups of like minded people for a wide range of topics you can join and make contact with and you can send out questions and survey’s to get feedback from your personal contacts. There’s great value in those things. But for me, the real value of LinkedIn is in using it to discover the hidden connections among my network and the rest of the world. You never know who you almost know. Why not find out?
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25th June 2008
by Stoney deGeyter
When performing a site architectural review, one of the first things I look at is the site’s main navigation elements. This includes top, side and footer navigation. Together, they all play an important role in both the ability of the search engines to properly spider your website, as well as allowing your visitors to find important areas and information quickly and efficiently.
Site navigation can come in many different flavors. There isn’t just ONE way to do it correctly. If there were then every site would have navigation that looked exactly the same. So while navigation can vary greatly between sites and industries, there are certain navigational elements that should be implemented to ensure solid usability and effective website architecture.
Top Navigation
Your top navigation should always display your logo and tagline (if you have one) clearly and not amongst a bunch of clutter. If the visitor cannot identify your site within a millisecond of them landing on the page then you may need to consider re-designing your top banner/navigation.
Your logo should always link to your site’s home page. Yes, even if the visitor is on the home page. Many people will look first to click the logo to navigate to the home page before looking for a “home” link, or even to look if they are on the home page already. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t have a Home link in your navigation–and make it fairly obvious, but be sure the logo links as well. No sense forcing logo-clickers to look around for the “correct” way to get back to the home page. To them, the logo is the correct way.
The header is a good place to put other important links and information. Things such as a link to the shopping basket, site search and contact information are commonly found near the top of the page. Placing this information where typical visitors expect to find them makes it easier for them to navigate through your site finding what they need more quickly.
Primary Navigation
Top
Side
Your primary navigation should be located at the top or side of the page and should link to your most important sections and pages. Categorization here is pretty important as it allows visitors to quickly eyeball the areas they are interested in. Be careful that you don’t overload your navigation with links to every page. In many ways, simple is better, though it’s important to be pretty inclusive at the same time.
Drop down and fly out lists are a good way to provide additional links to sub-pages, but you want to be careful in your implementation. Personally I think drop down menus are easier to use than fly-outs, but either way you don’t want to have too many fly-out/drop-down layers. One should be the max. Any more than that risks losing the additional menus if you accidentally move your mouse in the wrong place.
The important thing for your navigation is to hit what is most important and leave out what is not. Too many options can confuse people, but the better categorization you do, the more options you can provide.
Footer Navigation
The footer is a great place to provide additional links that might be relevant to your visitors once they hit the bottom of the page. Links frequently found in the footer are policy pages, shipping info, sitemaps, and, of course, another link to the home page. You can also place a repeat of your core site navigation, and links to important deeper pages that you had to leave out of the main navigation in the top or side.
You can also use your footer for linking to just a few primary sections of your site or even as a mini sitemap for a quick access to any page.
Breadcrumb Navigation
Any site larger than twenty or so pages could likely benefit from adding a breadcrumb trail for their visitors. And of course, breadcrumb navigation is a must-have for large sites with lots of products, categories, etc.
Breadcrumbs are a great way to provide quick visual cues to the visitor. It tells them where they are in the site, how to navigate back to any previous main sections, and/or the home page. While most visitors may not ever click on the navigation links in the breadcrumb, they are important to have for those that rely on them. The ease of site navigation it provides is invaluable to many shoppers.
Navigation done well can make the difference between a satisfied customer and a frustrated shopper that leaves for another site. Implementing a well-constructed navigation allows visitors to move through the site with ease, quickly finding what they need. Just as importantly, good navigation lets the search engines know the levels of importance for certain pages. It helps them determine categorical relevance for sections and pages, which, in turn can help improve search engine rankings.
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