Month: August 2013

  • 10 Basic SEO Tips To Get You Started

    Every business with a Web site should make Search Engine Optimization — trying to get your site as high up as possible on Google and Bing search-results pages — a part of their growth strategy.At its most basic, “SEO” means finding ways to increase your site’s appearance in web visitors’ search results. This generally means more traffic to your site.

    While intense SEO can involve complex site restructuring with a firm (or consultant) that specializes in this area, there are a few simple steps you can take yourself to increase your search engine ranking.

    All it requires is a little effort, and some re-thinking of how you approach content on your site.

    Monitor where you stand

    You won’t know if your SEO efforts are working unless you monitor your search standings. MarketingVox suggests that you keep an eye on your page rank with tools like Alexa and the Google toolbar.

    It’s also important to check your referrer log regularly to track where your visitors are coming from and the search terms they’re using to find your site, according to PC World.

    Keywords, keywords, keywords!

    You should be conscious of placing appropriate keywords throughout every aspect of your site: your titles, content, URLs, and image names. Think about your keywords as search terms — how would someone looking for information on this topic search for it?

    The title tag and page header are the two most important spots to put keywords, PC World notes.

    BEWARE: Putting ridiculous amounts of keywords on your site will get you labeled as a spammer, and search engine spiders are programmed to ignore sites guilty of “keyword-stuffing.” Be strategic in your keyword use.

    Link back to yourself

    There is probably no more basic strategy for SEO than the integration of internal links into your site — it is an easy way to boost traffic to individual pages, SEO Consult says.

    You should make it standard to link back to your archives frequently when creating new content. MarketingVox advises that you also make the anchor text search-engine-friendly: “The more relevant words point to a page, the more likely that page is to appear in search results when users run a query with those terms.”

    As with all other SEO approaches, be sure your links are appropriate, and be careful not to cross the line into excessive linking — you don’t want your visitors to get annoyed.

    Read More (Source: Bianca Male, BusinessInsider.com)

  • 5 tips for a rockstar web design strategy

    In an age of digital communities, your website should be more than “just another website.” It should be as distinctive as your business and offer a visually engaging and intuitive experience for your visitors.

    Your website is your digital stage. You don’t have to be a superstar to engage with your customers, but with the right strategy in place you can make that impression.

    1. The 10 second impression

    Your website should tell any visitor what your business is about instantly. The moment someone lands on any page, blog post or even a 404 error page, your website should make them want to find out more – not click away.

    2. Who are you?

    How does your brand make visitors feel? Your web design strategy should ensure visitors feel what’s aligned with your business personality. Achieve that cohesion by using complementary colors, typography, images and site layout.

    3. Where’s the “any” key?

    If a visitor can’t find what they’re looking for, they will look elsewhere. The evolution of web design has implemented standards of usability that people have become accustomed to – such as the location of the navigation menu. While you don’t have to be rigid in your approach (in fact, a creative approach is often the best one), your website should be easy to use and explore.

    4. No two websites are created equal

    You’re not in business to be like someone else, so your website should reflect your unique approach. A poorly designed or “identikit” website could actually do more harm than good. Consumers have always been visually engaged and in a digital era of instant web-access your design strategy is an ongoing investment in your business.

    5. Integrate and assimilate

    Your website may look good but if you haven’t integrated social media into your design strategy, you may lose potential future admirers. Your design should be consistent across all social media platforms and instantly recognizable as YOU. Incorporating cross-platform functionality into  your design is an essential part of your strategy. Using a Facebook “like”, “recent tweets” or “recently pinned” button on your website makes it easy for visitors to interact with you. A unifying design approach across multiple platforms reinforces your brand message.

    Read More (Source:  Jules Robson, waveapps.com)

  • The Benefits of Crowdsourcing for Small Businesses

    Small business owners live and thrive in a world full of buzzwords, trends and fads; and innovators are always looking for the next “it” when it comes to running your business. How many headlines do we see on a weekly basis claiming that your business will sink without marketing method X or that Internet innovation Y will make or break your business in 2012? The world of marketing moves quickly. It’s easy to get hung on marketing’s flavor of the week and obsess over whichever buzzword claims to rake in millions in minutes.

    A business isn’t built on buzzwords, unfortunately. What creates a successful business is patience, innovation and resourcefulness. Take away the smoke and mirrors and one quickly realizes that there’s no shortcut or quick-fix when it comes to entrepreneurship.

    That said, some buzzwords are worth their buzz. Some innovations are worth looking into, and aren’t be-all, end-all if a business wants to get on board; one such example is crowdsourcing. Low-risk, high reward, and flexibility. Sounds like marketing snake oil, doesn’t it? Think again.

    Crowdsourcing. You’ve probably heard the term thrown around on marketing blogs or perhaps just heard it in passing. It sounds like a token buzzword, doesn’t it?

    The concept behind crowdsourcing is rather simple. Need a task done? Outsource it. Who performs the task? The crowd; a group of workers as small or big as you’d like, and most of the time, you don’t necessarily even know who’s doing the work. Sounds problematic, doesn’t it? Worry not, as crowdsourcing allows you to make the rules and determine which work makes the cut. You often only pay for what you need, meanwhile also having the flexibility to do work that needs to be done quickly and easily without relying on employees or in-house resources.

    Read More  (Source: Brent Barnhart, ChamberofCommerce.com)