Owning Your On Line Presence

The big social media platforms are always changing, searching for new ways to gain users, keep engagement up and make money. Yesterday, Google+ announced new leadership and the reorganization of some of the features. Within the last year, Facebook has changed the way business pages are able to reach followers, drastically dropping organic reach. Twitter is working on implementing more advertising and native video. And the list of changes goes on and is happening on every single social media platform.

With the adoption of social media as a 'required' marketing element for business, one important reality is often overlooked...that every single one of the platforms is owned by someone else. As a user of any of those platforms, you have absolutely no control over what they decide to change, how they decide to present your information and when they will require paid inclusion. While I don't underestimate the value social media can provide right now, I don't think it's a good idea to have your on line efforts solely focused there. The best questions you can ask yourself are,

"What if (social-media-platform-of-choice) disappeared today?  

                 Would I still have an effective on line presence for my business tomorrow?"

The very best approach to social media is to use it as a supplemental tool, not as the end-all-be-all of your on line presence. It is time for you to own your on line presence and not leave it in the hands of others. So how do you accomplish that?  Develop and maintain a good website.

Now more than ever, your website needs to be the hub of information, content, calls to action and marketing efforts. With your website, YOU are in control of your company message, brand identity and business information, both how it is presented and the way it reaches your target audience. Investing in the development of your site is a long-term strategy that allows you to utilize short-term tools to boost effectiveness. (Read my blog post, "Is Your Business Internet Presence A Well-Oiled Machine?" to see how social media fits to an effective on line presence equation.)

So in the end, make the effort to develop your website - it is truly the element of your on line presence that will stand the test of time.

Respect the Fold

While screen sizes are constantly changing these days and responsive design is all the rage, user studies tell us that content "above the fold" — a term borrowed from print terminology and used to reference what is visible on the webpage without scrolling — is still very important and relevant. Regardless where the fold lands, what is at the very top of your webpage needs to be some of the most important content you are offering - or at the very least hold the promise of great content if a user scrolls.

So how do you make the most of the very top of your webpages? Here are some quick tips to consider:

1. Exceptional Visual Elements
   Engaging graphics and great pictures can help draw the eye down the page. They don't have to be large but they do need to be high quality and placed in a way that enhances content.
   


2. Compelling Content
   Write with user-focused language and give site visitors information they are looking for. Your visitors should be so engaged with your content they want to explore, scroll and navigate.
   


3. Detailed Links
   Show users what is available below the fold with clear, well-placed links that will take site visitors right to that content. This includes descriptive navigation as well as links within on-page content.

And if you're still not sure that the fold matters much anymore, recent quantitative studies estimate the fold's impact on the user experience. On average, content above the fold was viewed 84% more by users than content below the fold. (Nielson Norman Group, Feb. 1, 2015)

So respect the fold when considering website layout, content placement and navigation. Your website visitors engage with top-of-page content so help them uncover your important below the fold elements. And they will scroll, click and navigate if you deliver on the expectation of valuable content.

3 Content Marketing Tips for 2015

Many small businesses are under the false assumption about a web site, "if you build it, they will come." We are at a time when more web sites exist than ever before and that number grows significantly every single day. So how do you go about getting your site - your content - noticed by the users that matter most to your business? It takes some careful thought, ingenuity and marketing. Here are three tips to help you market your content more effectively in 2015:

1. Focus on your audience
   Your content is for people...not Google, Bing, bots and crawlers. Every item of content you create for your site should be uniquely targeted to your audience. Clearly define and get to know your potential customers. Create content that speaks to their interests, needs, preferences and provides information that is relevant to them.
   
   And the result? Your site will develop positive search engine optimization scores. Google's search algorithm has evolved enough to now take into consideration user experience factors along with programming protocols. So site content that is optimized for users will organically begin to perform better in search engine results. Not to mention the fact that your chances to convert site visitors to paying customers is much greater as well.


2. Promote - Promote - Promote
   Half the battle of content marketing for small business is just getting it published. If it's a blog post, a product video on YouTube, a new page on your web site or a new product picture on Instagram, making the time to do it is the challenge. But once you make that happen, it's time to promote and share that content through every means you have - email, newsletter, social media, guest blog post, maybe even a press release. And a key element is to direct people who see your content to your main information hub - your web site. It's fair to say that you should strive to put as much effort into promoting your content as you do creating it.


3. Align your message
   For every place you publish content - whether it's blogs, web sites, social media accounts, emails - make sure your message is consistent for your target audience. That doesn't have to stifle creativity but it does require some alignment in the way you present your information. As users follow your content and visit your web site they get a cohesive message. And as those users transition into customers, they value the content you provide and will be keenly aware of the fact that you meet their needs.

So make 2015 a year for content ingenuity, not just creation. Your small business has a value-added message for others and it's time to share it!

Read the Fine Print & Know Your Providers

Another unscrupulous attempt to trick website owners into giving up their information came across my desk today.  It made me think it would be good to share a little more information with others and caution about taking quick actions.

Because many domain registrations have information that can be accessed publicly, devious scammers use that information to send legitimate-looking invoices or renewal notices to domain owners. These invoices or notices usually have very fine print somewhere that hints at their sneaky motives but they use language that is particularly confusing. Many times they talk about "registration", "renewal" or "expiration notice" and the due dates are often within a few days of when you receive it. They are designed to catch your attention, take you off-guard and make you think some part of your website domain or hosting registration is about to become inactive if you don't act immediately.

If you ever get an e-mail, invoice or some type of notification that requires action & payment, look it over carefully. Be aware of who your domain registrar is and the company that you have your hosting account with. Also being aware of your renewal dates for each of these accounts is helpful.   If something doesn’t seem quite right, trust those instincts and keep investigating.  If you don’t feel confident you understand what you are being asked to pay for, contact your registrar, hosting company or a website development professional to help you sort out the details.  Your diligence will pay off!

The Importance Of "About Us" On A Website

In the last 10 years, Internet usage in the United States has grown over 150%, with over 77% of the whole US population utilizing the Internet, according to Internet World Stats. That is astounding growth and it is a huge jump in the number of people potentially visiting websites. Even with millions of websites on the web, an optimized, well-built site has the potential of being seen by lots of people. So what sets a site apart, giving it a personal feel in an impersonal Internet experience? The "About Us" page.

Although most sites have them, they are usually undervalued and ignored once they are written. However, with lots of users on the Internet finding lots of information, this "About Us" page is an opportunity to let site visitors know more about a company, its products & services and earn the company a customer. When a consumer is interested in a site, the "About Us" page is among the first three pages they visit. That in itself reveals the importance of this page on any web site.

So here are some practical, easy steps to making more of the "About Us" page:

1. Make a personal connection.
   This page is really a story about the organization - how it started, who is behind it, it's long term goals and mission. But it is also a way to bring a personal connection into the impersonal Internet world. Consider adding pictures and bios and even include some details about hobbies or activities. Include e-mail addresses and links to appropriate contact information, blogs, publications, etc. Site visitors interested enough to read the "About Us" page want to know, like and trust the organization and those involved with it.
   
   


2. Make sure it is up to date.
   This should go without saying but it is necessary to review this page at least once a year, if not more often. Add details about recent projects, major milestones and mention recent awards, recognition or community events. Let the site visitor see that this page is updated often enough to keep them informed of timely details about the business. An outdated page sends the message that the organization does not really value the perception of the site visitor.
   
   


3. Share testimonials from current customers and incorporate social media.
   It is great to speak about an organization in first-person to fill in potential customers about the story of the company. But it is even more interesting and influential to incorporate testimonials. New site visitors are just becoming familiar with the business and what better way to set the stage of loyalty, service and credibility than to use current & past customer testimonials. This is also a great place to incorporate social network links. Potential consumers have the ability to view the company interactions and see discussions & comments made outside the framework of the organizations web site. Touting company accomplishments is one thing but having customers share their experiences goes a long way in developing trust in a potential new business relationship.
   
   


4. Break-up the text with visually interesting additions.
   The "About Us" page is a 24-hour billboard for your company. Spice-up the layout of the page with photos, highlighted text, bullets, links, etc. If the page is paragraph after paragraph of bland text, the 'billboard' is boring, stale and uninviting. Without disrupting the purpose of the page, introduce visual additions to break-up text, provide easy reading and substantiate information. Everything from pictures of the building to graphics depicting the company mission are great options.
   
   


5. Incorporate keywords and other appropriate search engine optimization strategies.
   Just because the "About Us" page is written a little differently and created to appeal to the personal/relationship side of business, that does not mean it should ignore the basics of effective web page design and optimization. Keywords and phrases should be introduced as much as possible within the text on the page. Follow the rules for optimizing a business web page so the "About Us" page is effective on all levels.

An effective, memorable "About Us" page is relatively easy to achieve with some thought, determination and a little know-how. The tips above can help any company web site offer a personal touch to one of the most important pages of the site...that 24-hour billboard where the world learns all "About Us".

Tips For Optimizing Your Small Business Website

Search engine optimization is something every website needs. But before you can make that happen, you need to understand what it is. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of refining website content and using various programming techniques to improve a web site's ranking in search engine results. So how does a small business owner go about optimizing their site? Here are 5 basic tips to get started:

1. Good content.
   Text on your site should read well for humans. That may sound silly but in the past, people making sites have tried to do all kinds of things to get search engines to rank them well, including filling pages with hard to read, link-filled, run-on sentences. Search engines have evolved to be able to know what good content looks like. Not to mention the fact that you want site visitors who get to your site to be able to read and navigate through your information effectively.



2. Chose appropriate keywords for your business.
   Focus on no more than 15 key phrases. The goal is to rank well in search engine results for the most important terms and phrases to your business. This takes some time and consideration, as well as using some tools to determine the words that will give you the best quantity and quality of site visitors. A good tool is to use Google Insights. Then once you narrow down the keywords that will be the best for you, start incorporating them into all the pages of your website.



3. Use keywords in content, page titles, page descriptions and links.
   Search engines use very complex algorithms to determine search result rankings and no one really knows all the variables. However we do know that quality, keyword rich content & links help the search engines determine what a website is really all about. So by using your list of 15 key phrases in the text of your pages, in the HTML page titles & descriptions and in any links on your site, you are helping the search engines know even more about your site content.



4. Put names on all images.
   To a search engine, an image is just empty space unless it has what is called an alt attribute. Getting keywords and phrases into the alt attribute of all images on the page replaces the 'empty space' with quality content that the search engine can use to help rank the page.



5. Publish new content and pages regularly.
   Of course, that is a tough one for a small business owner but the more you can share updated information, the more attention your site can get from search engines. An easy way to do it is add RSS feeds of related subjects to a page on your site. Or add a Facebook Page Badge if you have begun working with social networking. Fresh content is important to returning site visitors as well.

Getting a higher search engine rank for your web site is not as straight-forward as following a list of rules and recommendations for search engine optimization. As I noted before, no one outside of the programmers at Google, Bing, Yahoo and other search engine operations really know all the details about how it works. But a foundation of good content, appropriate keywords, smart keyword placement and fresh content is the best place to start building your SEO strategy.