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13 Tips to improve your website

Posted by Christopher Long

Do you want to improve your website and do not know where to start?

There are hundreds of things you could be doing. If you do not know where to start here are 13 tips to improve your page:

1. Make the navigation easy – Reduce thenumber of options

Got thirteen elements in the navigation bar? A cleaner navigation makes things easier to find. Whenthings are easier to find, itcreates a better experience for visitors.

2. Having a call to action oneach page

Do not make your visitors think. Put a button, a hyperlink or something on every page that leads to action, which ultimate is what you want them to do.

3. Put your phone number on the home page

It seems obvious, right? However, many do not do this. Oftenthe pone isburied in a contact page … Big mistake! Many visitors go to your web site only to find your phone number, so it’s important to keep it in your home page. The upper right corner is the best place.

4. Add the opening times

Can I call you at 6 in the morning? This question and others are in the heads of your customers more than you think.

5. Add a page about yourself or your business

Who are you? Do you work with a big team? When a business person – or a customer – select a company to do business, they often want to know with whom they are working. Adding photos from your computer with real biographies is a plus. In short: it shows you’re a true human being.

6. Use big, bold images

This seems to be a trend in web design, but it is because larger images speak for them selves. Capture y our visitors with beautiful images.

7. Make your website look good on mobile

It’s hard to navigate a site that is not optimized for a small screen. One of the facilities available today is the responsive design.

8. Branding

Did you just updated your logo or you changed the colors of your company? Make sure your site is up to date as much as possible.

9. Cut the distractions (music and splashpages)

The music on a web is an error, rather than help can annoyed the user because he has to look into how to turn it off and frustrate him so he would probably abandon your web site.

10. Put links to your social networks

Start with a Facebook page or Twitter account and focus on the control of one of them, then jump to the next one.

11. Put your customers to work – get testimonials

Your current customers are a great asset to your company because that may give case studies of real world – and evidence – as to how your company has helped save time, save money, etc. … Ask your best customers for testimonials.

12. Be clear about the main goal of your website

Why have a website? What do you want your web site to do for your business? When you answer this add or remove pages and consider restructuring your website if necessary.

13. Hire a professional

All points above lead me to the lasttip; Hire a professional. You can get the Project done yourself, but if you want to level up let a professional help you and give you advice.

We hope this have been helpful. Anything that you need we will be at your disposal.

10 symptoms of a social networking addict, are you addicted?

Posted by Christopher Long

 

If the fact that you have profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Goggle + … doesn´t make you think that you’re addicted to social networks, then take the test and see for yourself. These 10 symptoms of a person absolutely hooked on social networks as defined by Jeff Bullas lets you know social addict status.

The 10 symptoms of a social networking addict, are you addicted?
1. – If you leave the phone forgot at home and feel lost, isolated from the world … because you can check updates from Facebook and Twitter on the go, at work, in the office.
2. – If you check your Facebook account roughly 20 times a day on average.
3. – If you do not receive a comment on the last post in less than 12 hours, you think you and your friends or followers you have left and you begin to ask yourself suicide.
4. – If you refuse to go weekend without take your laptop.
5. – If you have more social media icons on your mobile than productivity applications.
6. – If you bought an iPad or tablet and you only use it to update Facebook from a larger screen than the phone when you are away from home.
7. – if you have more friends online than in real life.
8. – If you tweet from your phone while you’re walking.
9. – If you get into Facebook even before brushing your teeth in the morning.
10. – If you check the latest updates on Facebook and Twitter right before going to sleep.
I got 5 out of 10. I’m not as hooked as I thought, are you?

Web Marketing Agency – The Integrated Approach

Posted by Christopher Long

Web Marketing - Many hands clasping image

The New Method Web Marketing: Service Driven Campaigns

 

The word is out and the word is good. We are in the dawn of a new era of Web marketing and nothing could be better for businesses and consumers. The piecemeal perspective of fragmented marketing services is in a state of rapid decline, with the advent of an integrated / holistic approach to creating inbound marketing channels quickly coming into vogue. But, while this new paradigm is now coming to the attention of mainstream marketing, it has long been in practice by any legitimate Web marketing agency.

In the past, the Web was awash with a la carte online marketing service providers. SEO firms, social media marketers, Web developers, email marketers, etc., all battled for the attention of potential clients while jamming statistics down the consumer’s throat about why their marketing services were superior to all the others. But one must ask: how could they possibly know which marketing channel would be most effective for your business without knowing the intricacies of your business, assets and industry? The short answer is that they couldn’t. You cannot take something to market effectively unless you understand the market competitively. Whether through ignorance or arrogance, these firms would tout the benefits of their offerings while having no idea about the most effective areas in which to compete on the Web.

The essence of this paradigm was to sell, sell, and sell, irrespective of the actual benefit they offered to potential clients / businesses. This led to oversold, overpromised and under-delivered marketing campaigns that heaped distrust and greatly tarnished the reputation of competent Web marketing agencies everywhere. What these stand-alone service providers failed to understand was that successful Web marketing strategies looked at the entire process as a chain of events with each step as important as the one precipitating it. Akin to a relay race, if the baton gets dropped you simply don’t win the race.

Even more frustrating were the marketing companies that offered a multitude of Web marketing services but without ever understanding how they all worked together. At the core of their failings was a revenue driven business model that left service distantly behind by the wayside.

Today there is a powerful awakening in the Web marketing industry to this change in strategy… at least it is better late than never. Unfortunately though, by and large this evolution is driven by a reaction to the market instead of being a driving factor of market change. In essence, they are still missing it. They are not catching the glimpse of the bigger picture: Service.

Henry Ford was famously quoted as saying, “The man who will use his skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little he can give for a dollar, is bound to succeed.” This prophetic little piece is still accurate today and is the true catalyst behind the massive overhaul to Internet marketing currently underway. While this change might be something new to a majority of Web marketers as an obligatory adaptation forced upon them if they wish to survive the transition, as stated earlier, it is nothing new to any legitimate Web marketing agency.

Service oriented business is good business. If you have cared about your clients, understood their business and competitive playing field and treated their budget like it was your own, then you have been adhering to this marketing panacea for some time now.  You’ve understood how social media merges with SEO, how a website’s development supports optimization and how its design maximizes CTR and UX. You know how retargeting advertisements, continuity of branding in email marketing and touching potential consumers respectfully through multiple marketing channels is essential. You have sat down with your clients and understood their strongest assets to leverage, opportunities to take advantage of and what you can do to position their business for long-term growth, achieving the greatest ROI possible. You did not sell them a level 2 / tier 2 SEO package, thus performing a checklist of optimization tasks before cashing their check and never looking back. You were a legitimate Web marketing agency & the emerging trend of service oriented marketing is nothing new. Tip of the hat from Capisco if this has always been your approach.

Online Marketing in Orange County

Posted by Christopher Long

Orange County Sign Image

Regional Marketing Campaign

Finding an effective way to market your business online can be tricky business. There is so much competition in reaching potential customers through the Internet that it is now more crucial than ever to understand the subtleties of the digital marketplace that you want to compete in.

Online marketing in Orange County offers a particular set of unique challenges and benefits for small or medium businesses (SMB) competing to connect with consumers locally. Where most people identify themselves with the municipality they reside within, customers in Orange County will identify themselves with both the city they live within as well as their county. So, when considering how to position your digital presence think about which geo-targeted term might fit you better.

One deciding factor when making this consideration is to gauge how far the average customer would be willing to travel for your goods / services. If they are only willing to travel 10 – 15 miles then you might want to focus on identifying your business’ Web presence with your city; if it is over 15 miles then your business would be a good candidate to affiliate it’s Web presence with OC.

Another important factor to weigh is how often do customers search by the city they reside in versus the county? Google offers you a free tool to see: www.adwords.google.com/‎. Run a few traffic reports with Google’s keyword analysis tool and get an idea of which geo-targeted term gets the most search queries.  Be sure include the services you wish to market with the regional affiliation when you do your research.

Below I’ve included two example businesses (Dentist | Marketing) with some desirable search terms to research:

Example 1 – A Dentist in Dana Point: (Service + Geo-target)

  • Dentist Dana Point
  • Dentist Orange County
  • Teeth cleaning Orange County
  • Teeth cleaning Dana Point….. 

Example 2 – A Web Marketing Company in Orange County (Service + Geo Target)

  • Web Marketing Orange County
  • Online Marketing Orange County
  • Web Marketing OC
  • Online Marketing OC 

So, come up with your own list of “service + Geo-target” keywords for your business and enter it into Google’s keyword tool. Google will tell you the monthly search volume for each of your terms. Once you have this information you will have a good idea of how customers tend to search for your services in your area and how to develop your Web presence to maximize your visibility in those areas.

Top 10 Social Media Best Practices

Posted by Christopher Long

Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn, oh my!  It’s a social media jungle out there, and it’s easy to get lost if you don’t know how to navigate through the thicket.

Most smart companies are already on the right path of making social media work for them, while others are just getting started or are still hesitant to start down the yellow brick road. While social media continues to evolve and millions of people are joining the multitude of networks out there DAILY, it’s more crucial than ever that your company not only includes social media to your marketing mix but that you’re doing it efficiently. With the proper social networking techniques it will help you get fans and followers, it will help you drive traffic to your website, and it will help you generate leads. And the best part about social media is that it’s never too late to start, you just have to make sure you’re doing it… and doing it correctly.

Who do I target? What do I post? Where do I get my content? Why do I need to do this? We’ve come up with a Top 10 List of Social Media Best Practices to help you answer the who, what, where and why. Follow these steps and it will help you down the road to a successful social media campaign.

1. Research your competition.
Do you want to know how you stack up against the other guys? It’s important to research your competitor’s pages and see what they’re doing. Go to the main social media networks that include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. If other social media networks are important to you like YouTube, Instagram or Google+, then make sure you’re researching those too. However, as you will read later, do not try to dominate every network.

The key things to note when doing research on your competition include:
• The number of fans/followers they have.
• The frequency of postings.
• What kind of content are they posting?
• How much is original content vs. shared content?
• How much fan engagement do they get?

Keep checking back to see where your competition stands. This will help you measure your ongoing social media strategy.

2. Have an editorial guideline.
Posting in real time is fine, and sometimes the content of your posts calls for it like breaking news, a recent photo or a live update. However, it’s smart to have your posts ready ahead of time and creating an editorial calendar will help you do that.
Choose one day of the week (maybe a groggy Monday when you’re trying to get ready for the week ahead, or a slow Friday when you’re trying to make it to the weekend) and come up with your posts for the next seven days. Mix up your content and decide the time and day of each post. This will be your editorial calendar.

Coming up with content for you calendar is the tricky part. Here are a few suggestions:
• Pull content from your website or blog and turn it into posts.
• Curate content from blogs, websites, data points, infographics, etc.
• Publish a Q&A or a list of facts.
• Post photos or videos.
• Hire a content writer for blog posts.

The most important thing about an editorial calendar is having one.

3. Use keywords strategically in your posts and your tags.
Search engines and social media sites are starting to integrate more and more, so it’s important to integrate your keywords strategically. Use the keyword research from your website and apply that to your posts. That doesn’t mean to over saturate your posts full of keywords, just use those words wisely when crafting your messages. Keyword optimization is the most fundamental form of on-site search engine optimization and this goes for websites and social media sites.

The most important sections to pay attention to are the About section, Mission, and Company/Product description, since these areas are actually pulled from your social media sites as SEO elements. To optimize your page for local searches, it is important to include your address, city, state, zip and phone number.

4. Back link to your fan page on existing channels.
The more inbound links to your page, the higher it will rank with Google. So, whenever possible, include a link to your social media site from your other digital channels like your website, blogs, other social media networks, or email newsletters. Don’t forget to add social media sharing buttons (i.e., Share on Facebook, Sharer on LinkedIn, Tweet This) to all of your blog posts and your email newsletters.

5. Include a call to action.
Simply, tell your followers what to do. Posts score better analytics when followers engage. Don’t assume they will engage on their own, so tell them what to do: download, retweet, share, pin, post, follow, like, bookmark, forward, comment, subscribe, check-in, watch, contact, etc.

6. Include an image in your post.
Social media fans love visual content and when this happens engagement will soar. Facebook photos generate higher engagement than the average post. It’s not hard to explain, a picture is simply more appealing to the eye than an average post when scrolling through your news feed.

Ideas for visual content include:
• Post infographics.
• Post a chart or graph with important data your followers can use.
• Find a cartoon about your industry.
• Take behind-the-scenes photos of your employees, office, store, trade show, customers, etc.
• Share videos on interviews, how-to’s and demonstrations.
• Photos (especially on Facebook) get the most likes and shares.

7. Best time to post.
There’s nothing set in stone when it comes to the best time to publish a post. Many factors determine the engagement you will receive from what you are sharing: the social network site you’re posting to, what industry you’re in, who you are targeting, the content of your post, etc. The main factor to consider when posting is the social network you are using, because different networks cater to different demographics.

Below is a suggested list of times to post. Keep in mind this is all relative.
Facebook
Best between 1-4pm, Monday – Thursday
Peak time is Wednesday at 3pm
Not ideal before 8am or after 8pm
Traffic builds after 9am
Weekends usually receive best engagement, depends on the content, too.

Twitter
Best between 1-3pm early in the week
Traffic builds after 11am, Monday – Thursday
Avoid posting after 3pm on Friday

LinkedIn
Best between 7-9am and 5-6pm, Tuesday – Thursday
Avoid posting on Monday and Friday

Pinterest
Best between 2-4pm and 8pm-1am
Traffic builds after 12pm
Peak time is Saturday morning
Worst time to post is the late afternoon, especially between 5-7pm

Google+
Best between 9-11am
Peak time is during work hours
Traffic builds after 9am
Avoid posting in the evenings after 6pm

Quick tip: In general, post 1-2 times a day, post between 9am-11am and 4pm – 6pm Monday – Friday, and post at least once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

8. Be responsive and build relationships.
Have conversations. Follow others. Share links. Don’t over sell. Don’t just publish a post and think your job is done, you have to monitor the activity on your page – just like being a fan. Your followers will expect you to provide customer service there. You have to be present to respond to questions, handle concerns or even say thank you if it’s a nice comment. It’s better to have one or two well-manned social channels than a multitude of accounts you have trouble keeping track of.

9. Don’t try to dominate every single social network.
Find where your audience is and go there. Choose the top 3-4 to meet your need like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest. But you may find that others such as YouTube, Instagram or Google+ are more important for your company. Your research and measurement of success will help you decide where you need to be. Pick a few and focus there.

10. Measure your success… and failures.
It’s important to keep track of your analytics and measure the success of your social media campaigns. The data you collect will help you discover which social media sites are worth you while, where your leads are coming from and what works and doesn’t work to help you plan for future posts. Keep track of what content performs the best so you can tailor your posts to leverage that attention.
These are some helpful sites to measure and manage social media: HootSuite,HubSpot , SocialOomph , SproutSocial and Raven.

Here are a few things you need to track and understand:
• Who visits your pages?
• Where visitors come from?
• What they do and where they leave?
• What gets their attention and makes them react?
• Which keywords bring traffic?
• Why people follow you?
• When your posts get the most attention?
• What percent of your visitors are engaged?
• Understand your virality and reach.

Ultimately, you will learn where you should invest your time and money in order to manage a successful and efficient social media campaign.

Any good social media technique is just like the art of conversation. When in doubt just remember to listen, ask questions, pay attention, be informative, comment clearly and concisely, bring others into the conversation, and know when the conversation has ended and move on. And finally, when it comes to social media, yes it’s worth it and it’s never too late to start. Just make sure you’re company is doing it… and doing it correctly.