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Why you should make analytics an important part of your website strategy

September 5, 2011 By Todd Leave a Comment

This is the first post in a series of articles which expands on Six things you absolutely have to have on your website.

The series is known as The Six Pack.

When I check out a website, I am often amazed that there are no analytics installed. Analytics are invaluable to help understand what your website is doing. Are more people looking at your website this month than last month? If you have analytics installed, you will know.

Flickr: Roberrific

Defining your purpose

Does your website have a purpose? Have you defined that purpose and are you meeting your goals? This is what analytics will help you do. If your goal is to have 5,000 pageviews per month, then you will be able to adequately know if you are meeting that goal.

Is your goal to have someone to make contact with you or buy something? Your analytics will tell you if visitors are being funneled in the right direction to do so. If you have a landing page, you can also tell if your visitors are taking action when they are on the page.

Two Alternative Options

Hit counters are a skewed metric. They measure the number of “hits” or “pings” on your website’s server. Often, one person looking at one page generates multiple hits. That is because a web page often contains multiple files that are linked. For instance, a web page will contain graphics, images and other files such as cascading style sheets. This was a good metric in the early days as most websites did not contain multiple files. Hit counters are for show.

Most web hosting companies will offer a software that generates raw numbers for metrics. This is usually hard to read and sort through. This kind of software can be unfiltered. Sometimes, it doesn’t give a good reflection as it counts everything and there are usually few options to filter the data.

Your best option is to install either Google Analytics or some other web based software reporting. I highly recommend Google Analytics as it because it is free and very feature rich. Quantcast and Omniture are two other paid options.

A website is part of your overall marketing strategy and is the primary online marketing strategy for your business. Not measuring results is not an option.

Filed Under: Blog, Series, The Six Pack, websites Tagged With: Google Analytics, The Six Pack, website analytics, websites

Six things you absolutely have to have on your website

May 25, 2011 By Todd Leave a Comment

What makes a good website? Great graphics? Great content?

The answer is yes. . . . .and, not necessarily.

How about having flash? Again, not necessarily.

Often, when I am looking over websites, I find that these six things are missing!

Analytics

Analytics are your website metrics. You know, how many people came, how many views you have, how long they were on your website, those kind of things. These are absolutely essential if you want to know if it is worth the effort and expense you have made.

It also helps you know where to improve or what needs to improve.

Google Analytics is the top program, but you may also be interested in Quantcast and Omniture. They are paid options, however Quantcast has a free version which will help you with demographics.

Keywords

You need to research your keywords. If you have keywords that are not heavily searched, you may not find much traffic. Therefore, you need to really decipher what keywords you want to use. They are the cornerstone of search engine optimization. Figure out the best keywords for your business, and add them to your website in the meta tags.

Pretty Permalinks

Pretty permalinks are the internal links to pages on your website, and a string of code is not attractive to Google and her search engine friends. Make sure the permalinks include the keywords of your article or page. Add those keywords to the page and you get a nice keyword density that will help that article or page be found more easily in the search engines.

HTML

HTML is the code in which the world of the web runs on. Sure there are other types of code such as java, php and jquery which may be included in your website, but it is html that the search engines really pay attention too. This is why so many website designers are ditching flash based websites.

For instance, headers in your page that are surrounded by the header tags (<h1> or <h2>) magnify the keyword and tell the search engine that this is an important word on the page.

Updated articles/blog

With shear number of websites that are online today, a static, brochure-type website falls short of what is needed to receive the kind of traffic to help meet online goals for your business. It takes an updated website to keep track with other websites.

A frequently updated blog or blogging platform on your website can help achieve this. Add a blog to your website and publish articles, news, etc.

Points of Contact/Social Media/Email Newsletter

This is completely a “no brainer.” Your website must include contact information, and, I believe, multiple forms of contact. Include your mailing address, a business phone number, a contact form and any social media channels you have.

Also, have an email newsletter. It can be simple, but you can build an email list (not spamming or selling/renting information of course!), and send emails reminding readers of new posts, products, etc. There are plenty of email newsletter programs out there such as MailChimp.

If I can help you address any of these problems, let me know!

Photo source: practicalowl

Filed Under: Blog, websites Tagged With: analytics, articles, blog, email newsletters, html, keywords, pretty permalinks, Social Media, websites

What is SEO and why is it important?

July 18, 2010 By Todd 1 Comment

If you have a business and/or a website, at some point you will be solicited via email or phone by a company doing SEO. I have received emails and so has one of my clients looking to help us rank better in the search engines.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/byronshell/

So, what is SEO? SEO stands for “search engine optimization.” Search engine, of course, refers to search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing. Optimization, is the act of optimizing or “to make as effective as possible” the object which needs the optimizing. In this case, SEO is the act of optimizing your website to rank as high as possible in the websites.

Over the years SEO has changed. SEO has evolved along with website design over the years, and now there are a number of ways to do SEO effectively. Hiring a good consulting firm to manage your SEO can be very expensive. These folks are really good at what they do and the businesses they help usually have huge benefits from their work.

So, what is a small business like your to do? After all, you don’t really have the budget to hire a full time consulting firm to begin to handle your SEO. There are a few options.

Learn more about SEO

As any consumer of a product, you really should learn more about SEO yourself. That might start with a book which can sometimes go over our head or some other kind of resource. I would start with Google’s own article on SEO and then move to something a little more specific such as SEOBook.com. A good book to get would be Search Engine Optimization for Dummies

Talk to your Website Designer

Some of the best SEO folks are actually website designers. If they aren’t sure how to at least navigate SEO for the purpose of building your website, then you might need a new designer. They should have set the ground work for a well optimized website, and many offer additional SEO services for a fee.

They will be able to walk you through the process of choosing keywords and inserting them in to the appropriate areas of your website. Further, if they haven’t already, they should be able to get your website indexed in the “big three” search engines; Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Social Media Saturation

One of the best things you can do is join the social media channels. Social media sites are some of the best places to get additional “fuel” for your search engine rankings. A friend of mine refers to this as “social media saturation.” Make sure the URL to your site is linked to your Facebook, your twitter, your Linkedin and your Youtube accounts or whatever else you use for social media.

Blogging

Blogging is technically part of social media saturation, but it can also be an example for having an active website. Blogs show activity at your website, making it dynamic, not static. The search engines are attracted to activity. When you blog, you create a regular update to your website that is noticed by search engines.

When you blog, you should create good content, and by that I mean content that is in line with the purpose and keywords of your website. For example, if you have a website for your pet sitting business, then you would blog about pet sitting tips for pet owners. Create a reservoir of good content that will be searched for and found by a frustrated owner looking for help.

One more thing, I highly recommend getting either your blog or your entire website built on WordPress. WordPress is built to be SEO friendly out of the box. Many of the things I mentioned are a lot easier with WordPress.

There is much more to SEO than this such as Pay Per Click and online advertising. Further, there is also “black hat” and “white hat” methods. There is also link building which can take time and there is being included in directories. Nevertheless, you can learn enough to know how to approach SEO with your website.

I am only trying to get you thinking about the subject. Don’t react impulsively to an unsolicited email or phone call from someone offering to put you on the front page of Google. Often they aren’t better than the one who designed your website.

Filed Under: Uncategorized, websites Tagged With: rankings, search engines, SEO, websites

Why businesses don’t value their websites

May 13, 2010 By Todd 1 Comment

How much do you value your website?

Yesterday, I saw the company truck of a business that I know has a website. While looking at the truck, complete with all logos, etc., I noticed it did not have its website URL listed. I was flabbergasted. I asked myself, “Why don’t they have their website listed on their truck?” Then, my next thought was, “I guess they don’t really value their website.” Which makes me wonder why they went to the trouble of building a website to begin with if they are not going to promote the site.

In this day and age, we are lead to believe, a website is indispensable, and I believe it is. However, if we don’t value the website, we might as well not have one at all. There are three ways (at least) that businesses don’t value their website.

First, a business does not value its website if they do not promote the site. Not putting your URL on your business card/company vehicle/stationary, etc.? Then, you really don’t value your website. You are not putting the website to good use if that is the case, and what other tool of business would we invest money (you did invest money didn’t you?) in and not use as it was meant to be used?

Second, a business does not value its website if it does not utilize it to generate leads or customers. Would you invest money in retail space and not bring customers in to buy your product? That is what you are doing with a website if you do not learn how to bring in traffic and convert them to customers or, at the least, a good lead.

Businesses put up websites because “everybody is on the internet.” However, when we let the website become stagnant, then we have wasted the money that we invested in to begin with. This brings me to a third way that businesses fail to value their website.

Businesses fail to value their website by having it built for free or cheaply. If you don’t believe it is worth investing in the website up front to get it designed well, then, then you do not value your website.

Businesses often wonder why their website becomes useless, but they fail to value it enough to invest properly in it’s use. That leads to little to no results. If you don’t invest up front, then what incentive to do you have to promote the website or use it well.

People who are good at this cost money. However, the rewards are many. Have you wondered what it would be like to be on the top of the first page in your major key words? How about what would it be like getting quality leads from your website without sending a salesperson?

Solutions

First, you need to invest up front in a good website. Find a good website designer who has done good work, and get over the sticker shock because he or she is worth the money. If you don’t know anyone, contact me and I will help you find someone. Having this done right up front can save you a lot of time.

Second, you need to either learn or pay someone to optimize your website for maximum performance. This involves skills such as search engine optimization (SEO) and copywriting. The copywriting can be tricky, but you need to find somebody who knows how to do it for the internet. A good place to start is with Copyblogger. They have a lot of articles to help you learn on your own.

Third, you should consider a social media marketing campaign. This involves setting up social media profiles for the purpose of marketing your business. You need to know that you cannot market the same way you do in traditional channels. In the realm of social media, people mostly listen to those they trust. A good to place to start is with Shama Kabani’s new book The Zen of Social Media Marketing which I have reviewed here.

If you need help in mapping out your new website strategy, don’t hesitate to contact me. The fuel that runs the engine of these three solutions is having a strategy.

Photo Credit: Dude With Camera on Flickr

All the best,

Todd

Filed Under: Uncategorized, websites Tagged With: strategy, value, websites

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Free Website cont.

May 4, 2010 By Todd 1 Comment

In the previous article, I talked about the background for having a good website and listed the first six reasons. Quite simply, as a twitter friend of mine said, “You get what you pay for (@guynamedlucas).”

It's good to learn from the best

4. Access to the code/directory–You need access to those things. Try setting up a blog on one of those turn-key sites. Do you have access to the directory; can you install WordPress. There are times when a user needs access to his directory on the server via a ftp client, or a user needs access to the code on the web page. With those turn-key sites, this is not always possible.

3. Positioning your website for traffic–Simply putting up a website will not bring visitors to your site. A skilled designer knows this. They will do everything they can to position your website for traffic. You still need someone who can be the webmaster, but when setting up your website, a poor functional design will have you swimming up stream from the beginning.

2. Updating can be difficult–I worked with HTO and was amazed at how cumbersome it was. I am a skilled webmaster, or so I tell myself. The rest of the staff was at a loss for what to do. It took me a week to begin to figure things out. Other sites can be the same way. I would rather see businesses use a free blog from blogger or WordPress because those tools are very user-friendly. If it is harder to use than one of these two solutions, it is too hard.

1. Would you get a house built for cheap or free? –This analogy might be wanting, but it has a point. People ask me how much money it takes to build a website, and I wanna answer, “how much money does it take to build a house!” Your website is your business home online. The results might not be as catastrophic as if someone did a terrible job building a house, but it can be costly. Do not take chances.

Hire a skilled designer who has had results. He or she should have a good history of designing quality websites that function well, has good site architecture and does well in the search engines. Even better would be someone who is skilled in search engine optimization (SEO), conversion techniques such as landing pages, and an understanding how to use social media to market your website. Granted, if you find someone liked this, it will cost good money. However, it will be worth it.

Now, this is the part where I am supposed to say that I am that person. Not at all! There are tons of people out there more talented than me, and I say, if you have the money, hire them. I don’t have a problem saying that. However, if you just don’t have a few thousand dollars to sink in to a website, then contact me and we can talk.

I have developed a page with some website packages. These are for users to have an idea of price points, but a website can be more customized to fit your organization.

Photo Credit: RachelC

Filed Under: Uncategorized, websites Tagged With: 10 reasons, free and cheap website builders, websites

10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Free Website

May 4, 2010 By Todd 6 Comments

I realize just how undervalued the online side of business is when I looked at a job posting for an Internet Sales position at an Automotive Dealer. The job posting noted that no experience was required and that candidate only needed to be a high school graduate. I think people often have the understanding that the ideal person to work on websites is the high school computer geek who does it for fun. That may have been the case 15 years ago, but those kids are now adults.

Yahoo closed the most popular free website builder

Recently, I had a website job, in principle, to develop a website for a new online radio company. I gave them my rate, which was not as much as it is now, and expected to start quickly. Later, I found out that they went with Microsoft Live Office free websites. They went with the cheap, albeit free, solution. I suppose they didn’t think they had the money to spend on the website. A month ago, I had another start-up business to inquire about a website via a recommendation. After not hearing from them, I contacted again to find they were looking around. I am reminded of something Samantha Hartley told me about her business and what she says to clients, “You can find someone to do it cheaper, and you can find someone to do it better, but you won’t find someone cheaper to do it better.”

People still haven’t decided to invest money in to the building of websites and optimizing it to get more traffic. The truth is, like anything, it takes time and money to have a site built and to work for your business. Do you have the money? Can you afford get it done? Can you afford not to?

In this economy and the changing mindset of the consumer, companies do not make the investment until the same thing they did for twenty-plus years does not work anymore. At that point, if they aren’t careful, it may be too late.

So, here is a list of 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy a Free Website (or cheap). Yes, I meant buy, because one way or the other, it will cost you.

Disclaimer: Not every turn key company will fit every “reason.”

10. Web Standards–These cheap or low cost and free turn key site builders have no concept of website standards. Web designers will design your website to be accessible to as many different people as possible. If you don’t think this is an issue, try searching the web while closing your eyes. There are dozens of browsers out there although most use one of about four different browsers, but each of those browsers have multiple versions.

9. Search Engine Rankings–There is so much to say here, but so little space and time. The bottom line is this, these free/cheap solutions are almost exclusively built using tables to handle the presentation of the website instead of today’s accepted use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Search engines like Google reward those who use CSS vs. tables. Google actually encourages it in Webmaster Tools. What does that tell you?

8. Customization–It is not easy to customize with a turn key site builder such as Homestead or HometeamsOnline (HTO). When using HTO, I noticed that the stories I wrote for the website has a generic News Story heading when I copied the link in to Facebook. Having customized headings and tags is another way to help your rankings with the search engines, especially Google. There is no way to customize these things in some of these types of sites.

7. Syndication–Do you use My Yahoo or Google Reader? Those are made possible with RSS feeds. RSS feeds allow you to import the news from the sites you want so that you don’t have to go to 100 different websites. On the internet, the modus operandi is about sharing content. Many of these free/cheap solutions don’t have an RSS sharing mechanism. Syndication allows your website and your articles/news to be shared everywhere while giving your site credible backlinks.

6. Promise more but deliver less–That is what they do. They want you to think you are getting a great value, but when you look closely at what they offer, you find out that you have to pay more for advanced features that a good website designer will include in the cost of designing your website.

5. Media Limitations–One site I worked with only allowed pics to be a certain size. What? I could only have pics that were 300 pixels wide. I never heard of that. The reality is that you are limited in the amount of media you can upload. If you have your own hosting and domain, you know exactly what you have. Limiting the size of pics you upload to your server is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. Facebook doesn’t do that!

Photo Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/encouragement

continued . . . .

Filed Under: websites Tagged With: free and cheap website builders, websites

Why you should make analytics an important part of your website strategy

The series is known as The Six Pack.

Defining your purpose

Two Alternative Options