Exit Traffic Strategies : What are you doing to stop people leaving your site?
You spend lots of time, effort and probably money attracting people to your site. So what do you do about those that come in and leave straight away - do you just let them go? If you are, you are crazy...
...So [in terms of Exit Traffic Strategies] what are we talking about?
The trusty pop up window. Before you scoff and leave, my finance client hated pop ups too! Until it added £1 million worth of income to his bottom line that is...
...[and] I'm not talking about delivering adverts via popups when people visit the site. No, No, No. This is what gives popups a bad rap!
These are popups with a difference. In fact, they should be called exit consoles!
...
What you put in that popped up window is key! Don't just put in a banner ad or an advertisement! Give them something of value or use.
Why are they leaving? Because they didn't find what they were looking for. So help them do that. Give them options. Open with something like...
"Sorry you did not find what you were looking for."
This shows them you are trying to help and gives the visitor the impression that the resources being delivered are recommended.
Secondly, brand it like your site but don't open it as a full window. Create a mini branded console. This tells them where this window has come from.
In this window, you can do lots of things but in the main, you want to try and direct them back to your site, get them to leave an email address, or give them a 'phone number so they can call you.
...
There are other clients that used their Exit Console to carry out customer research, build a mailing list, offer exclusive deals, drive traffic to their call centres and generally earn an income from people that were leaving their website.
So if you have a high traffic or medium traffic site, you could be generating a revenue from those that are leaving your site.
Obviously there is a bit more to it than that. But this article was just to get you thinking about the possibilities.
If you would like to discuss your website and what you could be doing with Exit Consoles why not drop me a line or visit our Exit Traffic Strategies section?
by Jason Hulott, Director
[article shortened, to read the whole article get in touch with jason@speediepr.co.uk]
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Enhance your search engine results
How to enhance your search engine results with the professional network 'LinkedIn':
In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.
If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site.
To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”
according to Guy Kawasaki
In addition to your name, you can also promote your blog or website to search engines like Google and Yahoo! Your LinkedIn profile allows you to publicize websites. There are a few pre-selected categories like “My Website,” “My Company,” etc.
If you select “Other” you can modify the name of the link. If you’re linking to your personal blog, include your name or descriptive terms in the link, and voila! instant search-engine optimization for your site.
To make this work, be sure your public profile setting is set to “Full View.”
according to Guy Kawasaki
Improve your Google PageRank
Have you thought of improving your Google PageRank with a professional network? Here is how you do it:
The network LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index.
Since LinkedIn profiles receive a good PageRank in Google, this is a way to influence what people see when they search for you.
To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name.
To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web. For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.
The network LinkedIn allows you to make your profile information available for search engines to index.
Since LinkedIn profiles receive a good PageRank in Google, this is a way to influence what people see when they search for you.
To do this, create a public profile and select “Full View.” Also, instead of using the default URL, customize your public profile’s URL to be your actual name.
To strengthen the visibility of this page in search engines, use this link in various places on the web. For example, when you comment in a blog, include a link to your profile in your signature.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Youngsters less open to Online Ads
Youngsters make far more use of the Web, but are less receptive to online ads than their elders, according to a new pan European study.
The 14th session of the NetObserver Europe study looked at the online behaviour and perceptions of more than 210,000 Internet users in 5 European countries; UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The research focused on the web characteristics which distinguish the younger generation (ages 15-24) from their elders (25 years and over).
The Novatris/Harris Interactive study examined the behaviour of the European Internet users focusing on time spent online, communication and entertainment activities, the perception of ‘Web 2.0’ and views of online advertising.
There is a higher proportion of females amongst young Internet users
Whatever the country, the feminisation of the Internet has a larger impact on the younger generation. Indeed, within the group of 15-24 year olds, females are either of the same ratio to males (Italy, Spain) or in a majority (UK, Germany and France).
On the other hand, there are more males in the over 25 age group, even though their proportion is similar to that of women in the UK and France.
The younger generation undoubtedly spends more time online than their elders
The majority of young Internet users connect several times per day. However it is not just the frequency of connection, but the time spent online that distinguishes the younger generation from their elders.
For each of the 5 countries studied, there are more young Internet users who spend more than three hours per day online in comparison to their elders. Reversely, a higher proportion of users aged 25 and over spend less than one hour per day online.
Above all, for the younger generation the Internet is a communication tool
Young European Internet users are larger consumers of various online available communication tools than their elders.
15-24 year olds regularly use more direct (through instant messaging, telecommunication software with the Internet, chat rooms) or indirect (through discussion forums or blogs) communication tools than those aged over 25.
Looking at the main differences from one country to another, it is clear that young Spanish Internet users use instant messaging the most (80% regularly use instant messaging) and that young German Internet users use ‘chat’ the most (46% regularly use ‘chat’).
But the Internet is also a medium of self-expression and entertainment
The younger generation is more likely to not only consult blogs and community sites, but also to create their own online personal space (blog or personal page). They are also more likely to listen to radio online, play online videogames and use an audio or video podcasting service.
The five countries studied countries have their own characteristics:
46% of young British Internet Users regularly listen to the radio online. Whereas nearly half of young Germans regularly play online video games. As for the young French Internet users, 46% of them regularly visit blogs, personal pages and community sites.
Finally, regarding Spain and Italy, their young Internet users come out ahead in the usage of podcasts and videocasts: 36% of young Spanish Internet users regularly use podcasting services (audio or video) in comparison to a quarter of young Italian Internet Users.
Young Internet users perceive ‘Web 2.0’ more useful than their elders
Owing to the younger generation being larger consumers of the new features allowed by the technological evolution of the Internet (Ajax, XML…) it is understandable that they are more likely than their elders to consider these features useful.
The publication and sharing of information (text, audio or video) amongst a community (Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo! 360°…) is the feature considered to be the most useful by both generations. Besides, one can note that this feature is appreciated even more by the young Spanish and Italian Internet users because no less than 88% of them consider it
useful!
Customisation (My MSN, My Yahoo!, Netvibes...) is the second feature of ‘Web 2.0’ which strikes a chord with a large majority of young people. Nevertheless, its degree of usefulness is somewhat close to that of the contribution to collaborative sites (Wikipedia) and that of RSS feeds.
On the other hand, for those aged 25 and over, RSS feeds are more useful than customisation or collaborative contribution. This is not surprising as European Internet users aged 25 and over, regularly receive more RSS streams than the younger generation.
For the younger generation, the contribution of content to collaborative sites or wikis (Wikipedia) lies in third position. For the young Germans, this collaborative aspect of ‘Web 2.0’ even has the same degree of usefulness as the publication and exchange of information.
RSS feeds are the least popular in terms of the most useful features according to young people. Nevertheless, it is not a matter of rejecting this functionality outright because there is always more half of them who consider it useful.
Consequently, the level of usefulness received by RSS feeds is similar between both generations. Yet the level of usage of RSS feeds is lower amongst young people as they use the Internet less to keep them informed than their elders do.
With the exception of the United Kingdom where advertising is considered to be particularly creative, young European Internet users are less appreciative of online advertising than their elders.
Overall 15-24 year olds are less interested by the majority of advertising that they see on the Internet than those aged 25 and over. All the same, fewer young people in comparison to their elders estimate that advertising helps them make better purchasing decisions. They are also less numerous in thinking that advertising helps them find products and services that they search for in comparison to those aged 25 and over.
An important part of young Internet users recognise, however, that advertising helps them to discover new products and services.
Finally, the majority of young Internet users find that online advertising is creative and innovative. In other words, advertising agents are compelled to adapt their communication strategy when using the Internet to reach young people. They could, for instance, refer to the communication, self-expression or entertainment aspects that constitute the main motivations of young people when using the Internet.
Source: NetObserver, March 2007
Novatris/ Harris Interactive
The 14th session of the NetObserver Europe study looked at the online behaviour and perceptions of more than 210,000 Internet users in 5 European countries; UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
The research focused on the web characteristics which distinguish the younger generation (ages 15-24) from their elders (25 years and over).
The Novatris/Harris Interactive study examined the behaviour of the European Internet users focusing on time spent online, communication and entertainment activities, the perception of ‘Web 2.0’ and views of online advertising.
There is a higher proportion of females amongst young Internet users
Whatever the country, the feminisation of the Internet has a larger impact on the younger generation. Indeed, within the group of 15-24 year olds, females are either of the same ratio to males (Italy, Spain) or in a majority (UK, Germany and France).
On the other hand, there are more males in the over 25 age group, even though their proportion is similar to that of women in the UK and France.
The younger generation undoubtedly spends more time online than their elders
The majority of young Internet users connect several times per day. However it is not just the frequency of connection, but the time spent online that distinguishes the younger generation from their elders.
For each of the 5 countries studied, there are more young Internet users who spend more than three hours per day online in comparison to their elders. Reversely, a higher proportion of users aged 25 and over spend less than one hour per day online.
Above all, for the younger generation the Internet is a communication tool
Young European Internet users are larger consumers of various online available communication tools than their elders.
15-24 year olds regularly use more direct (through instant messaging, telecommunication software with the Internet, chat rooms) or indirect (through discussion forums or blogs) communication tools than those aged over 25.
Looking at the main differences from one country to another, it is clear that young Spanish Internet users use instant messaging the most (80% regularly use instant messaging) and that young German Internet users use ‘chat’ the most (46% regularly use ‘chat’).
But the Internet is also a medium of self-expression and entertainment
The younger generation is more likely to not only consult blogs and community sites, but also to create their own online personal space (blog or personal page). They are also more likely to listen to radio online, play online videogames and use an audio or video podcasting service.
The five countries studied countries have their own characteristics:
46% of young British Internet Users regularly listen to the radio online. Whereas nearly half of young Germans regularly play online video games. As for the young French Internet users, 46% of them regularly visit blogs, personal pages and community sites.
Finally, regarding Spain and Italy, their young Internet users come out ahead in the usage of podcasts and videocasts: 36% of young Spanish Internet users regularly use podcasting services (audio or video) in comparison to a quarter of young Italian Internet Users.
Young Internet users perceive ‘Web 2.0’ more useful than their elders
Owing to the younger generation being larger consumers of the new features allowed by the technological evolution of the Internet (Ajax, XML…) it is understandable that they are more likely than their elders to consider these features useful.
The publication and sharing of information (text, audio or video) amongst a community (Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo! 360°…) is the feature considered to be the most useful by both generations. Besides, one can note that this feature is appreciated even more by the young Spanish and Italian Internet users because no less than 88% of them consider it
useful!
Customisation (My MSN, My Yahoo!, Netvibes...) is the second feature of ‘Web 2.0’ which strikes a chord with a large majority of young people. Nevertheless, its degree of usefulness is somewhat close to that of the contribution to collaborative sites (Wikipedia) and that of RSS feeds.
On the other hand, for those aged 25 and over, RSS feeds are more useful than customisation or collaborative contribution. This is not surprising as European Internet users aged 25 and over, regularly receive more RSS streams than the younger generation.
For the younger generation, the contribution of content to collaborative sites or wikis (Wikipedia) lies in third position. For the young Germans, this collaborative aspect of ‘Web 2.0’ even has the same degree of usefulness as the publication and exchange of information.
RSS feeds are the least popular in terms of the most useful features according to young people. Nevertheless, it is not a matter of rejecting this functionality outright because there is always more half of them who consider it useful.
Consequently, the level of usefulness received by RSS feeds is similar between both generations. Yet the level of usage of RSS feeds is lower amongst young people as they use the Internet less to keep them informed than their elders do.
With the exception of the United Kingdom where advertising is considered to be particularly creative, young European Internet users are less appreciative of online advertising than their elders.
Overall 15-24 year olds are less interested by the majority of advertising that they see on the Internet than those aged 25 and over. All the same, fewer young people in comparison to their elders estimate that advertising helps them make better purchasing decisions. They are also less numerous in thinking that advertising helps them find products and services that they search for in comparison to those aged 25 and over.
An important part of young Internet users recognise, however, that advertising helps them to discover new products and services.
Finally, the majority of young Internet users find that online advertising is creative and innovative. In other words, advertising agents are compelled to adapt their communication strategy when using the Internet to reach young people. They could, for instance, refer to the communication, self-expression or entertainment aspects that constitute the main motivations of young people when using the Internet.
Source: NetObserver, March 2007
Novatris/ Harris Interactive
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The future of advertising
Hi everyone, the following is a bit lengthy but I think an interesting article so I thought I'd share it with you. If you do naything around advertising or PPC the following might be of interest to you:
"Ad revenue-sharing - The future of advertising?"
Paying users a share of ad revenues for submitting content to websites is becoming a popular practice. Andrew Davies, Marketing Director at idio, looks at the impact this emerging business model could have on the advertising industry at large.
YouTube's introduction of an advertising-revenue-sharing scheme for contributors, a story that even 6 months ago would have been confined to the technology press, made the mainstream news a few weeks ago. YouTube is not the first company to offer contributors a share of advertising revenue, but its market-leading position does in some way legitimise this method as a valid business model.
Advertising-revenue-sharing allows contributors of content to be remunerated based on their content's popularity. Although looked down upon by traditional publishers, it provides a great way for contributors to be rewarded for their (often considerable) effort, for online publishers to attract better quality contributors, and for advertisers to better reach the increasing millions of eyeballs that view the social web every day.
However, traditional publishers do have a valid point: User generated content will, for the foreseeable future, be limited to certain (they would say "cheap") subject types. For example, whilst user generated content might create an abundance of funny videos and semi-professional industry opinion blogs, it certainly doesn't yet produce documentaries with the depth and reputation of Planet Earth or Panorama.
A similar quality issue faces advertisers: Because controversial content attracts viewers, the new "popularity equals revenue" equation for contributors exacerbates the much-discussed fear of unknowingly placing advertising alongside unsuitable user generated content.
So how can advertisers balance the necessity of effectively marketing to the mass audiences/participators in social networking, with the need to secure quality delivery and positive placement of advertising? An obvious answer is through some form of publisher moderation/editorship of content, whether it is on a user level (where user know they will be rewarded fairly for the value they actually deliver to advertisers), on a site level (where publishers endeavour to select and deliver only the best user generated content), or on a network level (where advertising networks develop a method for categorising content into marketable verticals).
However, fully exploiting the inventories of social networks is not the final frontier. The big step up in campaign effectiveness needs to come when forward-thinking advertisers start to use the mass of personal information to actually personalise their advertising. Publicly available profiles, and the behaviours of these online personalities, provide immense opportunities for adverts to become so targeted, and so linked to user action, that they reflect the same characteristics (relevant, helpful and unobtrusive) as Google AdWords and the search advertising phenomenon.
This leads to another key question arising when marketing to the audiences of social networks: What should the relationship be between the content and the advertising, both contextually and spatially? Although it obviously varies between product types, most advertisers see the benefit of advertising that is contextually relevant (i.e. a user interested in the content will be more likely to be interested in the advert) and spatially suitable (i.e. catching the eye of the user without intruding to the point of annoyance).
For example, many of the generic networks (eg MySpace and YouTube) have not been able to connect their advertising with their content, leading to a situation where the advertising generally drags down the user experience, with the company forced to rely on increased pageviews to gain more revenue. On the other hand, many of the more specialised social networks are integrating the advertising to a much greater extent, not only improving the user experience, but adding value to the advertiser. And especially where the advertising-revenue-share model is used, the value and acceptability of the advertising in the community's eyes increases significantly.
Instead of users being force-fed advertising; it needs to be subconsciously accepted and even sought out. As adverts start to actually add value to users (whether by being humorous, engaging, or just plain relevant) the increasing effectiveness of campaigns will ensure that, through the strengthening of the advertising-revenue-share model, contributors get their just rewards.
Andrew Davies
Andrew Davies is the Marketing Director at idio, a personalised digital magazine that matches quality content and immersive advertising with the interests of the individual. This is achieved through a unique system of weighted tagging which intelligently adapts to readers' interests as they rate the appeal of the content they view. idio therefore allows advertisers to dramatically improve the targeting and effectiveness of their campaigns via non-intrusive, full screen rich media formats. Advertisers are charged on a CPM basis with revenue shared between content providers based on their content's popularity
www.idiomag.com
Source: Netimperative
"Ad revenue-sharing - The future of advertising?"
Paying users a share of ad revenues for submitting content to websites is becoming a popular practice. Andrew Davies, Marketing Director at idio, looks at the impact this emerging business model could have on the advertising industry at large.
YouTube's introduction of an advertising-revenue-sharing scheme for contributors, a story that even 6 months ago would have been confined to the technology press, made the mainstream news a few weeks ago. YouTube is not the first company to offer contributors a share of advertising revenue, but its market-leading position does in some way legitimise this method as a valid business model.
Advertising-revenue-sharing allows contributors of content to be remunerated based on their content's popularity. Although looked down upon by traditional publishers, it provides a great way for contributors to be rewarded for their (often considerable) effort, for online publishers to attract better quality contributors, and for advertisers to better reach the increasing millions of eyeballs that view the social web every day.
However, traditional publishers do have a valid point: User generated content will, for the foreseeable future, be limited to certain (they would say "cheap") subject types. For example, whilst user generated content might create an abundance of funny videos and semi-professional industry opinion blogs, it certainly doesn't yet produce documentaries with the depth and reputation of Planet Earth or Panorama.
A similar quality issue faces advertisers: Because controversial content attracts viewers, the new "popularity equals revenue" equation for contributors exacerbates the much-discussed fear of unknowingly placing advertising alongside unsuitable user generated content.
So how can advertisers balance the necessity of effectively marketing to the mass audiences/participators in social networking, with the need to secure quality delivery and positive placement of advertising? An obvious answer is through some form of publisher moderation/editorship of content, whether it is on a user level (where user know they will be rewarded fairly for the value they actually deliver to advertisers), on a site level (where publishers endeavour to select and deliver only the best user generated content), or on a network level (where advertising networks develop a method for categorising content into marketable verticals).
However, fully exploiting the inventories of social networks is not the final frontier. The big step up in campaign effectiveness needs to come when forward-thinking advertisers start to use the mass of personal information to actually personalise their advertising. Publicly available profiles, and the behaviours of these online personalities, provide immense opportunities for adverts to become so targeted, and so linked to user action, that they reflect the same characteristics (relevant, helpful and unobtrusive) as Google AdWords and the search advertising phenomenon.
This leads to another key question arising when marketing to the audiences of social networks: What should the relationship be between the content and the advertising, both contextually and spatially? Although it obviously varies between product types, most advertisers see the benefit of advertising that is contextually relevant (i.e. a user interested in the content will be more likely to be interested in the advert) and spatially suitable (i.e. catching the eye of the user without intruding to the point of annoyance).
For example, many of the generic networks (eg MySpace and YouTube) have not been able to connect their advertising with their content, leading to a situation where the advertising generally drags down the user experience, with the company forced to rely on increased pageviews to gain more revenue. On the other hand, many of the more specialised social networks are integrating the advertising to a much greater extent, not only improving the user experience, but adding value to the advertiser. And especially where the advertising-revenue-share model is used, the value and acceptability of the advertising in the community's eyes increases significantly.
Instead of users being force-fed advertising; it needs to be subconsciously accepted and even sought out. As adverts start to actually add value to users (whether by being humorous, engaging, or just plain relevant) the increasing effectiveness of campaigns will ensure that, through the strengthening of the advertising-revenue-share model, contributors get their just rewards.
Andrew Davies
Andrew Davies is the Marketing Director at idio, a personalised digital magazine that matches quality content and immersive advertising with the interests of the individual. This is achieved through a unique system of weighted tagging which intelligently adapts to readers' interests as they rate the appeal of the content they view. idio therefore allows advertisers to dramatically improve the targeting and effectiveness of their campaigns via non-intrusive, full screen rich media formats. Advertisers are charged on a CPM basis with revenue shared between content providers based on their content's popularity
www.idiomag.com
Source: Netimperative
Effective Business Emails
The Creative Group, a staffing service, surveyed advertising and marketing executives about annoying aspects of communicating by email with colleagues and business contacts.
The most oft-cited annoyances were "receiving unsolicited large files" and "unnecessarily being copied on reply-to-all messages”. These were followed by “messages that are too long”, “typos or grammatical errors” and “having to scroll to find information”.
The most oft-cited annoyances were "receiving unsolicited large files" and "unnecessarily being copied on reply-to-all messages”. These were followed by “messages that are too long”, “typos or grammatical errors” and “having to scroll to find information”.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Top 10 men’s magazines online
"UK Top 10 men’s magazines online"
Maxim is most popular online men’s lifestyle magazine in the UK, while Bizarre is fastest growing, according to new research.
The findings, from Nielsen//NetRatings, also indicate that Monkey has the most loyal audience, while Loaded has the greatest affinity with men. Maxim is currently the most popular men’s lifestyle magazine online with 479,000 Unique Visitors in January 2007 – 27% more than second-placed FHM (378,000).
FHM was the most popular in October 2006;
Monkey the most popular in November and December 2006
Most popular men’s magazines online by Jan 07,
by
Rank Magazine Unique Audience Jan 07(000’s) Publisher
1 Maxim 479 Dennis
2 FHM 378 Emap
3 Monkey 347 Dennis
4 Zoo 198 Emap
5 Nuts 176 IPC
6 GQ 113 Condé Nast
7 Men's Health 81 NatMag Rodale
8 Loaded 80 IPC
9 Bizarre 78 Dennis
10 T3 73 Future
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, UK NetView home & work data, Oct 06 - Jan 07"
Maxim is most popular online men’s lifestyle magazine in the UK, while Bizarre is fastest growing, according to new research.
The findings, from Nielsen//NetRatings, also indicate that Monkey has the most loyal audience, while Loaded has the greatest affinity with men. Maxim is currently the most popular men’s lifestyle magazine online with 479,000 Unique Visitors in January 2007 – 27% more than second-placed FHM (378,000).
FHM was the most popular in October 2006;
Monkey the most popular in November and December 2006
Most popular men’s magazines online by Jan 07,
by
Rank Magazine Unique Audience Jan 07(000’s) Publisher
1 Maxim 479 Dennis
2 FHM 378 Emap
3 Monkey 347 Dennis
4 Zoo 198 Emap
5 Nuts 176 IPC
6 GQ 113 Condé Nast
7 Men's Health 81 NatMag Rodale
8 Loaded 80 IPC
9 Bizarre 78 Dennis
10 T3 73 Future
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, UK NetView home & work data, Oct 06 - Jan 07"
4 Basic Web Design Skills
Four basic skills your web designer needs to do a good job for you.
1. Graphics software ability and an artistic sense.
Geeks can run graphics programs, but unless the geek has a trained artist's eye, these graphics won't look right -- and neither you nor the geek may know the difference. You need to pay a person with graphic design experience. An alternative, if you must, is to use a pre-designed template included with build-it-yourself web tools, such as Site Build It! or Yahoo! Small Business Hosting. At least these templates will have been designed by a professional.
2. HTML ability.
Lack of HTML knowledge isn't usually the problem. You can find good website design tools, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. With one of these tools, you don't really need to know much actual HTML code. The design program creates the code for you. Yes, they tend to build websites that are a bit bloated, in terms of the amount of mark-up code used, but this isn't usually the fatal flaw.
3. Navigation and usability design experience.
Without such experience your designer is likely to produce a website that can't expand beyond five or six webpages as your business grows and which will cause a poor visitor experience. Software is no substitute for experience, since there are no one-size-fits-all rules of thumb here. Yes, a novice can read a basic website design book like Web Design for Dummies or a usability book such as Usability for the Web. However, the chances are very high that he will bumble through your website without realizing the mistakes he is making. It's better to pay an experienced professional to do the basic design. If you're a budding website designer, don't despair. These things can be learned with practice. Build a first website for your own online business; you'll learn a lot in the process.
3. Basic search engine optimization skills.
Sadly, some website designers don't have a clue how a site is found by the search engines. My friend with a life coaching website ended up with the home page titled "Home Page" in the title tags. With a title like that, the site will never appear under a search for "life coaching," and if it were to, no one would click on a search result entitled "Home Page." Before you contract with a website designer, make sure that she knows something about SEO. If need be, buy her a copy of Dr. Wilson's Plain-Spoken Guide to Search Engine Optimization to educate her on the basics. Your designer doesn't need to be an SEO guru to understand and insert appropriate keywords in the title tag, description meta tag, headings, and body text. But your designer must do this or you'll be dead in the water.
4. Provision for the site owner to make changes.
Far too many websites look beautiful but can't be altered by the site owner. If all changes must go through the site designer (who is now working on someone else's project), they probably won't be made in a timely manner. Two easy ways to fix this are: (1) Have you site designer build your site within the structure of a site-building system with a web interface, such as Site Build It! or Yahoo! Small Business Hosting. That way you can add webpages that will be based on the existing template and will have automatic links to the navigation system. (2) Use a tool that allows any webpage to be edited by the site owner using a web interface. Two applications to consider are edit.com (monthly fee) and interactivetools.com's Page Publisher (one-time fee).
by Dr. Ralph Wilson
For more information on webdesign go to: http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design_print.htm
1. Graphics software ability and an artistic sense.
Geeks can run graphics programs, but unless the geek has a trained artist's eye, these graphics won't look right -- and neither you nor the geek may know the difference. You need to pay a person with graphic design experience. An alternative, if you must, is to use a pre-designed template included with build-it-yourself web tools, such as Site Build It! or Yahoo! Small Business Hosting. At least these templates will have been designed by a professional.
2. HTML ability.
Lack of HTML knowledge isn't usually the problem. You can find good website design tools, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. With one of these tools, you don't really need to know much actual HTML code. The design program creates the code for you. Yes, they tend to build websites that are a bit bloated, in terms of the amount of mark-up code used, but this isn't usually the fatal flaw.
3. Navigation and usability design experience.
Without such experience your designer is likely to produce a website that can't expand beyond five or six webpages as your business grows and which will cause a poor visitor experience. Software is no substitute for experience, since there are no one-size-fits-all rules of thumb here. Yes, a novice can read a basic website design book like Web Design for Dummies or a usability book such as Usability for the Web. However, the chances are very high that he will bumble through your website without realizing the mistakes he is making. It's better to pay an experienced professional to do the basic design. If you're a budding website designer, don't despair. These things can be learned with practice. Build a first website for your own online business; you'll learn a lot in the process.
3. Basic search engine optimization skills.
Sadly, some website designers don't have a clue how a site is found by the search engines. My friend with a life coaching website ended up with the home page titled "Home Page" in the title tags. With a title like that, the site will never appear under a search for "life coaching," and if it were to, no one would click on a search result entitled "Home Page." Before you contract with a website designer, make sure that she knows something about SEO. If need be, buy her a copy of Dr. Wilson's Plain-Spoken Guide to Search Engine Optimization to educate her on the basics. Your designer doesn't need to be an SEO guru to understand and insert appropriate keywords in the title tag, description meta tag, headings, and body text. But your designer must do this or you'll be dead in the water.
4. Provision for the site owner to make changes.
Far too many websites look beautiful but can't be altered by the site owner. If all changes must go through the site designer (who is now working on someone else's project), they probably won't be made in a timely manner. Two easy ways to fix this are: (1) Have you site designer build your site within the structure of a site-building system with a web interface, such as Site Build It! or Yahoo! Small Business Hosting. That way you can add webpages that will be based on the existing template and will have automatic links to the navigation system. (2) Use a tool that allows any webpage to be edited by the site owner using a web interface. Two applications to consider are edit.com (monthly fee) and interactivetools.com's Page Publisher (one-time fee).
by Dr. Ralph Wilson
For more information on webdesign go to: http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design_print.htm
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Google Offer: Click Fraud Protection
Beginning April 2007, Google plans to give advertisers the ability to prevent their PPC (pay-per-click) ads from being shown to competitors suspected of repeatedly clicking on the ads.
The move, to be announced in Google's AdWords blog on Thursday, is an effort to curb click fraud, which involves generating clicks solely for the purpose of increasing the cost of an advertiser's pay-per-click ad.
Google, will allow advertisers to specify which Internet Protocol addresses--numerical addresses assigned to individual computers--will be blocked from receiving the ads.
The move, to be announced in Google's AdWords blog on Thursday, is an effort to curb click fraud, which involves generating clicks solely for the purpose of increasing the cost of an advertiser's pay-per-click ad.
Google, will allow advertisers to specify which Internet Protocol addresses--numerical addresses assigned to individual computers--will be blocked from receiving the ads.
Increase Conversions Quickly
Here are ten quick ways to increase your web site conversion rates:
1. Blue and underlined links
2. Custom 404-redirect
3. Links in body content
4. Visible phone number
5. Fix typos and grammatical errors
6. Fix broken links
7. Show prices and shipping info
8. About us page
9. Calls to action
10. Answer emails and phones
For information on how to use the above correctly, click here.
1. Blue and underlined links
2. Custom 404-redirect
3. Links in body content
4. Visible phone number
5. Fix typos and grammatical errors
6. Fix broken links
7. Show prices and shipping info
8. About us page
9. Calls to action
10. Answer emails and phones
For information on how to use the above correctly, click here.
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