Web Marketing
Category Archive
What a Small Business Website Should Do for You
Author: Wade Sonenberg 06 10th, 2008
I’m short on time with six sites going live in June, but I simply had to share an article I just found on Business Week about the good, bad, and the ugly concerning small business websites.
Whether you are looking to contract Rainmaker for your next small business website or somebody else article by Steve McKee should be required reading.
Read “Make Your Web Site Work for You”
Here are some highlights:
Even in the age of technology there’s nothing more powerful than a first impression, and your Web site increasingly is your introduction. I used to counsel startup companies not to underestimate the need for a professionally designed logo. I stand by that advice, but now I extend it to their Web presence as well. You simply can’t afford to look anything less than first-rate online.
The Flash introduction is a little cheesy, but it does seem to capture the personality of the company. What it doesn’t do is communicate anything about what Health Barn is or does. That’s a big missed opportunity, especially given the short amount of time parents can spare.
Revat, which describes itself on its site as “the leading self-defense program for adults living in an urban environment,” appears to be off to a good start, but it’s missing the drama. The fear of being accosted is powerful, yet the Web site doesn’t capitalize on that. Imagine how compelling a mini-movie dramatizing Revat training would be to its prospective customers.
Does Your Website Look Good? Are You Sure?
Author: Wade Sonenberg 05 8th, 2008
Unfortunately, websites display differently on different computers. What may look perfect on your setup, may look horrible on others. The obvious problem with this, is that many of your customers may be running any of them. Websites layout differently due do different browsers, operating systems, as well as the actual website encoding itself. Some computers support a million colors, some support sixteen. Even valid XHTML/CSS designs will jump all over the page in Internet Explorer 6.0!
While diagnosing and fixing problems may or may not be easy, discovering a problem is very easy.
Enter BrowserShots.org to the rescue. BrowserShots allows you to check your web site’s appearance on literally dozens of browser and operating systems for free. You can then either view or download JPG images of how your site lays out in all of them. It usually takes 15-30 minutes to load them, but you can go do something else while it loads.
An example of AmericanVagabondPhotography.com in the Netscape Navigator browser on a Ubuntu Linux operating system. It’s not important that I don’t know what either of those are, what’s important is the site looks clean in whatever they are….
24 Fishing and Hunting Directories
Author: Wade Sonenberg 04 27th, 2008
Submitting your guide service or outfitter to directory websites is a good idea for two reasons:
First, because many of these sites come up in major search engines for a variety of phrases, which can lead potential clients to your website. Second, it can help build your search engine rankings by giving you high quality, relevant inbound links to your charter or guide website. Most are free, and some require you to link back to their site from yours (reciprocal linking), but all offer web links as well as contact info pointed towards your business.
Fishing Directories |
Hunting Directories |
10 minutes, more traffic with Google & Yahoo! Local
Author: Wade Sonenberg 03 28th, 2008Have you ever typed in a search to the effect of “dry cleaner roswell, GA” and had a map pop up with dry cleaners in or around that city? If you’re not on the list for your trade area and industry, you may be losing out on highly targeted traffic to your website.
But never fear, you can sign up for Google Local and Yahoo Local within 10 minutes! Oh, and it doesn’t cost you a thing.
Google Local Signup
https://www.google.com/local/add/
*you will need a Google account to sign up, but it’s free too.
Yahoo Local Listings
http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
RoswellOfficeCondos.com goes Live
Author: Wade Sonenberg 03 11th, 2008We just wrapped another site this morning, RoswellOfficeCondos.com. It’s a rather simple yet elegant little site, based on the Cleaker 2.1 theme by Adam Walker Cleaveland. Time was money on this one, and by going with a premade WP theme (with some modifications of course) we had it out on the web in 48 hours.
Screenshot:
RoswellOfficeCondos.com includes:
- All the basic info on the park
- Suite specific pages
- Virtual tours
- Photo Galleries
- Map & custom directions form via mapquest
- Embedded youtube video
- Contact form
Visit Roswell Office Condos
read comments (0)A Great RSS Primer
Author: Wade Sonenberg 03 6th, 2008For those of you who haven’t run across RSS feeds & readers, or if you’ve heard the name but you’r not sure what RSS is exactly - check out this introduction post. It’s non-technical, and RSS is going to cause some fundamental changes in how we use the web over the next few years, especialy those of us using the web as a marketing platform.
read comments (0)Forum Posting: Clients, Links, and Search Engines
Author: Wade Sonenberg 03 5th, 2008Gone are the days when online forums were “geek-only” territory. Now, not only is there a deluge of forum posters for every possible subject, but even more people are finding & reading forum posts - and they may be your customers.
Building Business through Forum Posts
Knowledgeable posts and interesting discussions on forums and message boards can benefit your business in four ways:
- It helps establish you as an authority. Think about someone searching for family trust or tax issue that you answered back in 2006. You had it answered, think they may want to give you a call if estate planning is on their mind?
- Direct Web Traffic. And it’s targeted too. Let’s say you answered the question “What’s the best time of year to fly fish for tarpon in the Florida Keys?” Potential clients can follow the link in your signature to check you out your charter operation.
- Search Engines Love Them. Posting on boards that allow you to include a link to your website is a cheap and non-technical way to increase your search engines by building relevant, in-bound links to your website or blog.
- It keeps working for you. Although message boards normally list current topics first, your post content still shows up in the message board’s search function as well as search engines proper. The post is still their linking to your website, so the in-bound link isn’t going anywhere. Lastly, on many forums, when a visitor comments on an old post - it jumps right back up to the top for it’s category!
Pick Your Forum Wisely
Nearly all forums and message boards are free, with few exceptions, skip any that have membership fees. There are three criteria you should evaluate before joining a forum and posting on it regularly.
Subject Matter
Sounds like a no-brainer, huh? Well, back up for a minute and think about where your customers or clients might lurk. Are they going to be in a national fishing forum discussing redfish and marlin, or are they more likely to be zeroed in on a Florida fishing forum before they book their next outing? Every business niche will have a different posture on this, but take a look at who’s posting around the message board and ask yourself is the subject matter relevant to your customers?
Popularity
Nobody likes talking to themselves, and web forums are no different. Look for vibrant, active communities to join, it will help you more in search engine rankings and human trafficNobody likes talking to themselves, and web forums are no different. Look for vibrant, active communities to join, it will help you more in search engine rankings and human traffic.
Signature & Linking Policies
Last, but most important. Make sure to read the message board’s terms/rules/guidelines and find out if you are allowed to add link(s) to website in your signature. Without links, it may be fun and/or informative, but it’s not doing anything for your business. Even if you can put your company name in a signature, will the interested parties “Google” it? If they do, will they find you? Speaking of Google, and all major search engines for that matter…. The web is a democracy, and think of links as votes. The more votes, the better the rankings. If you write an excellent post or tutorial on tying salt water flies, they won’t know who wrote it if your link isn’t in the signature.
How do I find them?
A simple search on your favorite search engine should suffice. Just enter your trade or industry name, along with geographic keywords if appropriate, and take a look at the top results.
What is a signature? What’s the best setup?
A signature, in forums speak, is text, links, and even images that are automatically inserted underneath your forum post as shown below:
Each forum may be different, but somewhere under “Profile” or “User Control Panel” or the like, will be an option to set up your signature. While adding your name, company name, an image, or anything else is up for debate - you certainly want a link (or more if allowed) to your website. If possible, you want to include keywords into the actual text of the link (called anchor text), because it tells search engines what your site is about. Links will most likely be inserted in one of three ways:
- Bulletin Board Code. Just copy this code, making the necessary changes of course: [URL=http://yourwebsiteaddress.com]Your Website OR Keywords[/URL]
- HTML. Again, copy this code making the necessary changes: <a href=”http://yourwebsiteaddress” mce_href=”http://yourwebsiteaddress”>Your Website OR Keywords</a>
- Code Editor. There are many variations on this, but anything that pops up and asks you the name/text and address for a link that you wish to insert. Just enter your website’s name or keywords in the name/text box, with your website’s URL in the link box.
Tips on Posting
- Don’t be a spammer! Nobody likes spammers, and quickly posting “Have boat, can fish, call me” will annoy board members, potential clients, and possibly get you banned from the forum.
- Do make worthwhile contributions. You don’t have to give up the farm, or for example, list GPS waypoints of your favorite fishing hole. But lending your knowledge or perspective on an issue can demonstrate your command of the subject matter, and build a solid foundation for building personal relationships and sales.
- Strong, concise titles. A great title is half the battle in getting readers to check out your post. It should be as concise and descriptive as possible, and never post generic titles such as “Fishing?”
- Provocative posts are actually good. Controversial posts are often replied to more, and also linked to more often from external websites. This keeps your post up at the top for longer, and increases the value of that signature link in the eyes of search engines.
