for my clients
Do you ever wonder about the first impression visitors have of your site? What does the average person think when they stumble onto your site? Well wonder no more! CLUE is an app by Zurb that creates memory tests of your web page, then gives you the results. Remember my article about the "5 Second Rule"? You only have 5 seconds to capture a new visitor's attention when they first land on your site, or they will click away. CLUE gives the user 5.5 seconds to look at your site, then asks the user to jot down 5 things they remember about your site.
You can view the results of my site here: http://www.clueapp.com/50269+
Or learn more about CLUE here: http://bit.ly/p8Pwee
If you would like for me to run a CLUE test on your site, just ask! It's quick, easy and free!
If you sell products on your site, you need to be aware of how important those photos are, they can make or break the sale. This article has good information about how to improve your photos for little cost, and suggestions for what works well when incorporating video.
A frequent question I'm asked by my clients is how to find the right keywords that people are searching with. My first answer is always, "Start with your common sense." Typically, you know your site's content better than anyone, because it's your area of expertise. If that's the case, you know the industry jargon. Now spend some time thinking about all of the different terms your customers use. That will give you the best start. However, there are more opportunities for expanding your list of keywords. Here are some good places to look:
- Keyword tool suggestions (such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool, if you're an AdWords customer)
- Similar/related sites, see what words they use
- Alternative search query suggestions in ranking results (see the bottom of the list in Google searches)
- The dictionary and thesaurus
- Top ranking pages (competitor sites that rank better than yours)
- Wikipedia and other authoritative sites
- Books on the topic
An interesting article on how to write search engine optimized copy for your site (and where several of the above ideas came from) can be found here: http://searchengineland.com/seo-copywriting-tips-optimizing-for-multiple...
Interesting article, written for the travel industry but applicable to all industries. It offers three basic steps in marketing to build customers' trust, that all come down to being trustworthy, behaving in such a way they believe in your integrity, reliability, honesty and competence.
- Demonstrate mastery of your subject.
- Show commitment to your clients. Use language that speaks to their benefits. Testimonials are valuable as well.
- Recognize they are individuals with unique needs. Empower your client, educate them, soothe their fears.
http://www.travelresearchonline.com/blog/index.php/2011/08/trust-me/
My last article was about how you only have 5 seconds to grab a person's attention with marketing, and how that applies to websites as well. Five seconds may seem difficult, but what's worse is after they decide to stay on your site, you only have a couple of minutes to communicate with them. Whether it's to sell a product, inform, educate, or engage, most people won't remain on a website for more than two minutes according to this article. My own site stats are a little more favorable, indicating that visitors tend to stay on a site for a little over 3 minutes. The linked article below provides several ideas for how to maximize those 3 minutes.
http://www.bryaneisenberg.com/2011/02/the-2-minute-customer/#axzz1Gxb2BuE0
The tips provided fall into the "usability" category, something I emphasize when developing a site. Millions of sites are just a click away - you can't frustrate your customer or s/he will go somewhere else in the blink of a click. As an example, think of your own experience performing a search. Typically 10 site results are presented for your search. You click the first link, glance at the page, then hit the back button because either it wasn't what you wanted, the site didn't please you, or it took too long to give you the information you wanted. Your visitors are doing the same!
In today's fast-paced society, you only get 5 seconds to sell your stuff. Forget the 30 second elevator pitch, you're down to 5 seconds. This article has some good ideas about how to make the most of your 5 seconds when advertising on billboards, TV/radio, direct mail and email:
http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/marketing-sales/2011/03/09/second-rule/#
What the article doesn't mention is it's applicable to your website as well. Most people choose to click to a website (opposed to being presented an ad or commercial,) and testing has shown that you actually get a little more for a website: about 7 seconds. Remember though, this includes load time! Make sure you home page loads quickly, and make sure your message is prominent and easy to understand. If a visitor can't easily identify what they're looking at and confirm that home page is where they want to be and that site has what they're looking for, you'll lose them.
Step 1. You must have a Google account. A Google account gives you access to a variety of Google services, such as GMail, YouTube, and of course, Google Analytics. They're free, and I've never been spammed by them. If you have a Google Account, skip to Step 2. To create a Google Account, click here.
Step 2. Once your account is created, you'll need to let me know the email address used to create the account. This might be a GMail account, but it is typically the primary email address you use. Once you have alerted me to this, I'll add you to your statistics account so you can view your stats.
Step 3. Once I have given you access to your statistics, you can view them at any time without needing my assistance. Go to the Google Analytics home page at http://www.google.com/analytics. Find your site address and click on "View report".
A Quick Overview of Google Analytics
The first page you are taken to is your Dashboard. Here you get the high level site-health-at-a-glance view. The date and graphs on the right side of the page allow you to customize the time period and view, currently set to a default of the past month by day. Another common choice is to view the past year by month, or you may choose to compare this month to last month.
Visitors is where you'll find information about the number of unique and returning visitors, and information about them such as where they are located and which browsers they used to view your site.
Traffic Sources tell you how people are finding your site, such as via search engines and other sites that link to yours. It's quite useful to see which keywords are driving people to your site.
The Content section identifies which pages people are viewing the most, which ones are "landing pages," and more.
I've written more articles on how to mine information from Google Analytics,be sure to view these here.
Eric Butler announced the release of a new application this week, designed to expose the vulnerability of open WIFI networks. Unfortunately, his application simply makes it all that much easier for hackers and hacker-wannabes to steal your identity.
Firesheep is an extension for Firefox, the leading open source web browser. Using Firesheep, a hacker logs onto a wireless network, like one you'd find at Starbucks or Barnes&Noble. The hacker runs Firesheep and can see that you are on the same WIFI network, posting an update on Facebook. He double-clicks your name and is instanty logged into Facebook as you. He now has access to your private information, can change your password, and can post obscene status updates to your Facebook wall as if he was you. Not good.
This affects any site that uses "cookies" (pretty much any site you log into), and does not use HTTPS (SSL). This includes Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and many more. Note that while many sites may use the https:// connection to log you into the site, once in the information is transmitted by standard http:// protocol. That means that while your password was encrypted (secure) when you logged in, your cookies are still floating through the wireless network every time you click, just waiting for a hacker to grab and abuse them.
Please note this does not apply only to laptops. This is for any device you access websites with, such as iPods and iPads and even cell phones if you're connecting via WIFI. It also applies to apps such as Twitter and Facebook update apps.
Not everyone comes through your front door. A landing page is the first page a visitor encounters on your website, how that visitor enters your site. We typically expect this to be the home page, and most often it is. Why?
- It's the shortest address for someone to remember and type in.
- It's the address we advertise.
- It's typically where other sites link to on your site.
- It's where your visitors expect to find the latest news.
There are also unique landing pages created for advertising campaigns, the ones with that short and un-linked URL as discussed earlier.
But there's more you can learn from your top landing pages. Using Google Analytics, go to the Content section, then view your Top Landing Pages. Using the Advanced Segment drop down at the top of the page, check the boxes for All Visitors, Returning Visitors and Search Traffic. It will now display not only the total number (All Visitors), but also the proportion of visitors who were returning to your site. If they are repeat visitors returning to a particular page, they may have that page bookmarked. (Remember, we're looking at the first page a person sees on your site in unique visitor sessions, not how many times a visitor looked at that page in one session.) We don't know for sure how they arrived at this page, but we know it is important enough for them to know how to get to this page directly. What does that tell you about these pages? Perhaps you should pull the most current news/content from the top landing pages and include it on your home page.
Now analyze the search traffic segment. This should correlate with your top search phrases as mentioned earlier. Again, this identifies what people are looking for, and what they expect to find the most interest of on your site.
You'll also notice a column about Bounce Rates. A "bounce" is defined as a single page visit. For your returning visitors who went directly to this page, a high bounce rate isn't uncommon. They came to this page because they knew that was where the information they wanted was located. They found it, they left. It's disappointing they didn't spend more time on the site, but not entirely unexpected. Search engine traffic tells us more. If someone is using a search engine, they may not be familiar with your site. If they landed on a page and then left your site without looking around at other pages, this is where you'll want to focus some effort. You want visitors to explore your site if they are unfamiliar with you, so look at the top landing pages by search traffic, and if they have a high bounce rate, add elements to those pages that cause your visitors to explore further. Add cross-marketing features ("people who were interested in this item also found these useful"), coupons, promotions, and obvious links to related pages. You may need to improve your navigation links on these pages: are they difficult to see?
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