This should be the big year where we all take a turn for the better. The ideas below are all scalable — each one could take as little as a day, or could be a long-term project. Take a moment to review your company's marketing strategy for 2010. With a little effort, you could make a big impact.

Re-assess Your Brand

Is your brand still on target? Does it resonate with prospects and your community like it did when you first created your logo, website, sales materials? Send an informal survey to colleagues, friends, family, customers, etc. Get feedback. User experience is key to good graphic design. PS. A recent analysis by Fred Reichheld, a Bain & Co. consultant and author of Loyalty Rules , found that even a 5% increase in customer retention rates results in a 25% to 95% increase in profits (depending on the business). It definitely pays off to keep customers happy enough to return.

SEO

You've heard it for years. Search Engine Optimization is the most tried and true way for constituents to find you online. It is well-known to some and downright mysterious to others. It starts with a keyword discovery process. You then apply those keywords to your website both in the copy and in code.

Metropolis Creative has successfully improved our SEO over the past year. Keywords were optimized on website, images and blog. Targeted search phrases were used in our outbound messaging (blog, twitter, and facebook) to link back to our site. With the help of good graphic design of keyword search and discover programs like Wordstream and Google Analytics, Metropolis was found at the top of most searches for our target niche.
PS Meta keywords, paid links and keyword stuffing are the practices that worked in 90's and early 2000's. Search engine algorithms are changing and if you stick to the outdated strategies, then one day your site may no longer rank in the previous postition and greatly decrease your rankings.

Landing Pages

Getting traffic to your site isn't very helpful unless you can convert those visitors into customers. Traffic is driven to your site via channels. It could be a google search term, or it could be an email that you send out. It could be a keyword linked from a blog post that was picked up by another website, or mentioned in a social media post. The point is, you control the link to your web site, so link them to a page that makes sense. Minimize distractions here. Make a simple and obvious point, and give them the tool to contact you or make that purchase. The simpler, the better. A testimonial doesn't hurt. And BTW — plug some keywords on this page too (for Google).

Test, Test, Test!

There's no excuse not to use different versions of landing pages, email campaigns, and banner ads (among other things.) Its as easy as trying two or more versions and looking at the results. Learn from your successes and start over — every time. You don't have to create two entirely different pieces, just tweak the headlines, reverse the order of the content, change the subject line. You have a golden opportunity to learn what works best every time to send a message out. Use it.

Get Social

Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé…In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen. What are you using for social media? Use it for communicating, relationship building, reach, and even SEO. Build relationships with people who share interests with you. Then those people will tell others. It's relatively easy to maintain existing relationships with occasional messages, useful resource links, and reciprocal comments. The culture of social media fosters information sharing. If you post something useful or interesting, it will be shared and re-shared. If you include keywords in your post that link back to your website, it will help your SEO standings.

Somethings don't change — they just get better. With a little work, you can take a huge step forward in improving your brand, visibility, and conversions. Post a comment or question and I'd be happy to help you get started.

Labels: boston web design, brand identity, brand process, call to action, conversion optimization, landing page design, search engine optimization, SEO

Just three years ago, "Google" was added to the dictionary. The trademarked term is not defined, however, by the company bearing the name but rather the act of searching for something online using the Google search engine. This addition is just one example of how search engine use in the past decade has infiltrated most aspects of our culture. And it's not a surprise: the use of search engines has skyrocketed over the past ten years. So it's no wonder that companies are willing to pay for their page to rise to the top of a result page. A report released by eMarketer shows that paid placement on search engines and organic search engine optimization (SEO) are more effective than traditional advertising and marketing tactics and is the most cost-effective way to gain new customers. Channels of communication with consumers are evolving and growing significantly in online space, so making sure that your site shows up in a Google or Yahoo search is critical to businesses. Marketing firms have entire teams of people that work on optimizing your search engine placement, but here are a few ways to raise your SEO for those with a tight budget (we are, after all, in a recession). Many of the most-used search engines today (like Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN, etc) are all crawler-based. They each have an algorithm that "crawl" or "spider" the web to create automatic listings. What they collect through the information provided in the title, body copy and elements of your website design is then put into the ranking algorithm that is eventually delivered to the searcher. But SEO isn't rocket science, and there are several steps you can take without having to break the bank that will bump up your rank.

Enhance Your Page Titles
One of the first things that spiders look for is page title. Make sure you have a title that is specific to your product—don't be vague or general about titling the information on your page. Having a static title on every page of your site that only includes your company name or the overall site name will undoubtedly drop your site on the search engine result page and make it harder for consumers to connect with you. Instead, include both the website title and the page title so that crawlers can pick up more information.

Only Publish Unique Content
It's hard to know exactly how many websites exist at any point in time. But netcraft, a company that surveys the web in attempt to accurately report the number of pages in existence, estimated last month that there are over 235 million websites in existence. How can you stand out competing with hundreds of millions of other sites? With the ever-increasing number of sites competing for the same audience, the way to get hits on your page will be to have content that no other site has. And because so much of search engine results are based off of the content, it is almost necessary that your content be search friendly—don't bother with Flash, Javascript or AJAX when it comes to the body copy on your page.

Think About Your Image Names
When you're designing web pages, it's easy to keep get lazy with your labeling system and save your images with nondescript titles, like "IMG_001". But making sure that your images have relevant titles will help with optimizing your placement on the result page—put yourself in the shoes of the search engine user and try to anticipate what they would search.

Utilize the Tags
This advice is for all the bloggers out there (and companies or organizations that have a blog on their site). Blog search programs, like Technorati, search tags to deliver results to those using their services, so make sure you utilize them correctly. Try to stick to a rotation of no more than 20 subjects and tag every post with no fewer than two tags. Not only will proper tagging make page navigation easier for the reader, but it can actually bring more readers to your site.

Linking
The final thing that you can easily do to better your position on a search engine result page is to make it easy for others to link back. This step can be as simple as adding a widget that allows readers to easily "link back to this article." If you really want to increase your presence online, though, it may take a bit more work. We've all heard the old saying: "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Although admittedly clich‚, this phrase is fitting: networking is a fundamental part of running a website. Try to get other bloggers in your niche to link to you and encourage your readers to submit your posts to digg or StumbleUpon.

There you have it. Five tips that you could implement by the end of today. And if it weren't obvious enough, don't forget to link back to this post.

Labels: content marketing, link baiting, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, SEM, SEO, TItle pages, title tags

So what’s the connection between a website and a party? Consider your website as your brand ambassador — your host/hostess — smartly dressed but not over flashy. The overall theme is decidedly trendy but not so funky that it will become dated tomorrow. Can people find you (the host) and your location? (Note how many times this week you can’t find a phone # on a website). Then there's content, your community and the conversation. Plan ahead. Match your theme to your attendees.

Join your peers and industry leaders Wednesday, April 29th from 6:00 – 8:30 PM at 28 Degrees in Boston to see what site deserves an Extreme Website Makeover!

I promise not to shout MOVE THAT MOUSE! But, I will do a before and after presentation to show how the winning website has:

• Branding — serves as a brand ambassador — a party host per say!
• SEO features — keywords and design to attract and wow a crowd
• Call to action — lead capture tools; ways to draw an audience
• A RSVP or more info spot
• Means to get the buzz into the community

These aren't just nice things to have in a good web site design, they are required. So why do so many web sites fail? Why are so many parties boring? Because web technology, search, and social networking have rapidly changed the overall marketing and community landscape.

Keeping up with the latest technology requires constant effort. For example, when you scroll down a page, you move away from the navigation bar. To solve this usability issue on our blog, we found a nav bar that follows you down the page. Although there are multiple solutions for this, we chose one that has a smooth sliding movement — like a Travolta move (on most current browsers) and stays in a fixed position on older browsers.

"Search" is the hip party term for all things relating to Search Engine Optimization. Making your site searchable goes much deeper than just getting found. With concerted effort and smart design, you can get your company cataloged, linked to, and talked about. Searchability really is key. This can be done by carefully planning the hierarchy of content, and by using keyword-rich typography as a design element. Good design firms optimize the back-end code for search and include unique keywords on page titles. Extraneous code is separated from the main pages to allow for easier indexing of content by search engines. (See some upcoming trends on the Search Engine Journal blog.)

Social Networking blends both technology and search into an additional network of interactivity and community. (Read Bob Cargill's post: Five Important Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Use Social Media) To start with, social networking helps your company on a brand loyalty level. Customers who "belong" will not only promote your brand, but will protect it as well through blogging, comments on other blogs, and recommendations. Social networking is also viral. So the more people who are in your network, the faster (exponentially) you are able to broadcast your message. And social networking offers opt-in subscription models to ensure that people who want to hear from you never miss your message.

Usability is often overlooked in favor of fitting all the "right" content on the page. Of course you have a lot to say, but you need to show restraint in your message. Say only what you need to in order to get the desired response. Other usability factors include section titles, navigation options, and e-commerce paths. Make it easy and quick for your users. Give them a positive experience so they talk about you and come back for more. Note to self: When is our next party?

Call-to-Action — What are you trying to get your site visitor to do? Buy a product? Download a demo? Sign up for a mailing list? Call you on the phone? Whatever it is, it should be everywhere and prominent. Stay focused on the call-to-action. The purpose of your web site may not actually be to educate the user about your product, but to get them to buy it. Educate only as much as you need to achieve that goal.

You'll see what I’m talking about on April 29th. One lucky organization will be selected for a homepage redesign, social media PR makeover and email marketing offer. In front of a partying crowd of marketers, social media makers and my peers, I'll show you a quick before and after presentation. Complete with gratis martinis and tasty apps. Networking and tweeting is optional! Sign up here!

Labels: call-to-action, Google Search, innovative usability, lead capture, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, SEO, social networking, Web design, website redesign

There are over 182 Million web sites out there according to Netcraft. So what makes your site findable, usable, and effective? A good web site design should have three basic things on every page: search engine optimization, a good user interface, and a strong call to action. If your web site doesn't focus on these things, your target audience will just move on, or not find you at all.

Search Engine Optimization
This is a huge topic, but I'll talk about some web design basics.

1. You need a list of key phrases. If you are a web design company, "web", "design", and "company" are horrible keywords. But "web design company" is a good one. Think about key phrases as opposed to words. Include your city in there as well. The more keywords you can come up with, the better.


2. Target the keywords to your pages. You can't effectively target more than 5 keywords per page. Three is a better number. Start with the page title bar. Use your keywords there, and then in the copy of the page. Links using keywords are great, too. Instead of saying "See our web design work here" use "See our web design work here". Lastly, take a look at your copy, and see where you can inject your keywords more often. You need to balance effective communication with adding additional keywords, but it's usually not that hard, just time consuming.


3. Code the site correctly. A good web designer will use HTML searchable text, not text in a graphic. True, you can't get too crazy with fonts this way, but findability is more important than how it looks. And there's a lot you can do with HTML fonts anyway. Images should always have ALT tags, with keyword-rich descriptions. Headlines using tags hold more weight then body text. And if you can get keywords into the actual file names, that's even better.

A good User Interface
This obviously starts with an easily understood nav bar.

• Navigation is expected either on the top or the left side of the page. If you deviate from that, it will be harder to find. Don't forget that most web surfers are still a bit technically challenged.


• Keep the navigation options to the minimum. The more options you give someone, the harder it is to choose


• Buttons should look like buttons. And if it isn't a button, then don't make it look like one. (Sounds simple I know, but we've all clicked away on that thumbnail image waiting for it to do something... waiting... grr — not a button.)


• Wording on the buttons needs to be obvious. Don't put product names on buttons. They make sense to you, but not to your visitors. Also, don't get cute with titles like "The Team" and "Home Runs." What does "Home Runs" mean anyway?


• Don't forget that the user interface includes proper labeling of areas of the page, including the name of the section that you're actually in. A depressed button usually isn't enough to tell you where you are.

A Strong Call to Action
What's the point of your web site? Is it for lead generation? Or are you selling a product? There should always be a call to action on every page if you can. The top right column is ideal for this for a couple of reasons. It's usually space that's available, and it's where people expect to see an important announcement. Make your call to action prominent, and you'll see an increase in action.

What's interesting, is that all of these things can usually be done to a web site without requiring a complete redesign. If you'd like an analysis of your site's effectiveness, post a comment below and we'll check it out!

Labels: call to action, search engine optimization, user interface design, Web design