The real question is whether your business will benefit from using Vine.  It’s always a good idea to be visible in as many places as possible, but if you do not have someone dedicated to managing your social media presence, you should pick and choose where you want to invest your resources.  Think about your target market and whether they would benefit or enjoy watching videos by your company.  Currently, Vine is only for iOS, optimized for the iPhone, so that is also something to keep in mind.

Vine is still a new medium, so finding the right way to use it to leverage your brand properly may be a challenge.  However, here are a few different accounts that are already using Vine in creative ways:

1. NBC News

They posted a video showing a tour inside 30 Rock and already have Vine accounts for their affiliates throughout the country.

2. Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon posted a hilarious video telling us the meaning of life.

3. Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed gives their followers an inside scoop of what goes on in the office

4. Redvines

Redvines has posted fun videos on different ways you can play with their delicious candy

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What do you think of Vine? Do you think you’ll be using it for your business? If so, please comment with your Vine ID – I’d love to follow you!

What’s the best way to get feedback from customers?
I talked with Mai Sue, a Product Manager on our team at Intuit to find out how she gets customer feedback to improve our products. Mai says, “The best way to get feedback is to talk directly to your customers. However, it’s sometimes difficult to reach a lot of customers at once – and you don’t necessarily get enough of the information you need.”

At Intuit, we ask for your feedback in a lot of places. There’s usually a point in our software somewhere that asks you for feedback about our product or whether you’d recommend us to a friend. Mai feels that customer feedback is extremely valuable: “It’s great when customers take the time to write constructive feedback.” Mai recommends the following ways to get feedback:

• Provide a form on your website to request feedback.
• Create a survey that customers can respond to (you can use survey creation tools like Survey Monkey or Google Forms).
• Provide your customers with a link to a review site like Yelp to give you a review and star rating.

“Invite your customers to provide feedback to you because they may not think to email or call you directly themselves.” Mai suggests that you give your customers multiple choice questions or a scale rating. “When you give your customers an open ended feedback mechanism, sometimes people are overwhelmed and can’t write a response.”

What do you do with feedback after you get it?
We’ve all given feedback and kind of wondered if anyone pays any attention to it when we do.

Mai looks at feedback all the time. “I definitely pay close attention to feedback that customers give to us when they report bugs and issues. If I see a lot of comments about the same issue, we’ll definitely focus on fixing the issue right away. Feedback is a great way to see if the software that we just released is going well or not. It’s a fast way for us to learn what’s working, what’s not, and what we can improve on.”

Intuit does extensive testing using quality assurance testers and user studies where we invite users in to test our software before we release our software to customers. But it’s not quite as good as having customers using our software out in the real world. “We try our best to thoroughly test new features before releasing our software to customers, but sometimes issues arise that we can’t predict.  That’s why it’s important to keep a close eye on customer feedback and have the ability to react quickly,” Mai points out.

Should you respond to customers that give you feedback?
Regardless of whether a customer leaves a positive or negative comment about your business, the fact that you responded and acknowledged their feedback makes your customer feel appreciated. Mai says, “To respond on a site like Yelp, you have to claim your business, and then you have the ability to respond to any review, positive or negative.

“For a negative review, you can say, “We’re sorry you had a bad experience, we’re definitely going to look into that.” And you could provide the reviewer with some kind of incentive to come back again. You don’t want to lose them as a customer, and it’s a good way to remedy a bad review.

“For a positive review, a simple, “Thanks for stopping by – please come by again,” is going to always be appreciated by your customers – and may make them come back again.”

Business owner and website developer, Lesley, took a few moments to tell us about her business and share some tips that may help you with your business dreams!

What inspired you to start your business?

An avid baker for over 15 years, I caught the cake decorating bug about two years ago. After a while, I came across some cookie decorating blogs and a new love was born. It’s amazing what you can design on a cookie! I was just blown away with ideas. Cookies are easy to share, transport and ship, and can have the same wow factor as a beautiful cake.
I started posting my cookie pictures on my Facebook page, and things kind of took off from there.  I realized there was demand for something more than cakes and cupcakes — especially for folks who want to ship gifts to out of town friends and family. So, I investigated business opportunities in this niche market and officially launched Frosted by Lesley, Inc. (“Frosted”) in October 2011.

What is your favorite part of running your own business?

Stepping out of my comfort zone! It’s a new challenge every day, and I love it.

What lessons did you learn along the way that can help new businesses just starting up?

First thing I tell anyone who’s thinking of starting a business: Get yourself to your local Small Business Association/Small Business Development Center. They are invaluable resources to get your business on the right track – and most importantly, focus on the big picture things that can get lost when you’re so tuned into your “big idea”.  They generally assign you an adviser who holds you accountable every week for making great strides in your business.

How do you use social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) to promote your business and engage with customers?

Frosted uses social media to promote special offers on the Intuit Storefront and to engage fans. Last Christmas, there was a “Guess how many cookies are in the oven?” contest, and a limerick contest for St. Patrick’s Day. (Usually the prize is a free dozen cookies!)

What are some new or exciting things we can look forward to for your business in the near future?

Frosted will be participating in Chicago-area farmers markets this summer. Also, we just launched D.T.Y. – Design Them Yourself cookies for a truly custom cookie. Perfect for corporate logos, sports, teams and more!

Thanks so much, Lesley! Be sure to check out her website and Facebook page!

Word of Mouth (with a Megaphone)

Word of mouth advertising has always been a great way for companies to attract new customers without spending tons of money on traditional advertisements.  And essentially, social media sites are like word of mouth advertising, but with a megaphone.  The ability of good or interesting content to go viral is more likely on the internet, and the interconnected nature of the web means that it can spread farther and faster than it ever could offline.

One of the greatest difficulties with offline word of mouth advertising is that a business needs to find market leaders to spread the word about the business, those who aren’t well connected aren’t able to share the company’s message as widely.  Unfortunately, authorities in a field, well-connected people in a community and celebrities aren’t always easy to approach or convince.

Linkbait content eliminates this challenge.  While contacting bloggers or those with large social media followings in a specific market can help spread the word about a business, linkbait attracts people on its own and encourages them to pass it on to others, leading to a phenomenon known as “viral marketing.”

The Good Virus

Viral marketing uses different forms of linkbait to start the spread of a message to an exponential number of contacts.  Offline, a person is limited to the people he or she knows.  Online, these same people can tell those they know, who then go on to tell others they know – and the list goes on.  This is why cute kitten videos get a million hits apiece and why Justin Bieber is now a music icon.

The trick with linkbait and viral marketing is to avoid making it look like linkbait.  Most people can see through impure marketing motives, and web surfers may reject the content that a company wants to spread.  When creating linkbait, the intention needs to be focused on creating valuable, marketable content – the rest will take care of itself.

For this reason, a solid linkbait campaign should result in a large number of links back to a website.  This improves search engine rankings, as Google rewards sites with plenty of organic links.  It should also increase the number of targeted visitors to a site – which can, in turn, increase sales and revenue.

Various Forms of Linkbait

If you want to harness the power of linkbait content for your website, know that there are several different types of linkbait that can be used to encourage links and attract visitors.  Some are positive, and are used with the intent of informing, entertaining or flattering web surfers.  Others take the “bait” part of linkbait literally and tend to use controversy, opposition or even insults to drive traffic.  While both forms have their uses, you’ll need to determine what type of results and visitor experience you want to create when using linkbait techniques.

In general, the six most common types of linkbait are:

Attack – “Attack” linkbait pieces can be aimed at a specific target or large group, and are used to incite readers into clicking on the link. As you might expect, if not used carefully, this form of linkbait can backfire on the user.

Humor – Making people laugh is often a positive strategy when it comes to spreading links, which is why joke emails are usually passed along more frequently than political or religious messages. When used properly, this type of hook may reel in the largest catch of visitors online.

Contrary – “Contrary” linkbait is a milder form of the “incite readers” hook.  It uses controversy to drive traffic, but it does it by revealing the other side of a popular opinion or theory.  If backed with information and respect, playing devil’s advocate can also show the business as an industry leader in its field.

Incentive – Baiting a hook with offers such as free items, awards or software is a great way to bring in new visitors.  Few people can pass up on something that’s free – just make sure that the terms of your offer are clear and that there’s no catch to the giveaway.

News – Offering RSS news feeds or the latest information on a specific topic is a fantastic way to drive traffic.  There’s so much information available on the web that it isn’t easy for people to find it all.  For this reason, being a “go to” source for current events should increase your initial traffic and repeat visitors.

Resource – One way to increase the number of new customers visiting your website is to demonstrate your authority as a “thought leader” in your industry.  Creating informative content that resolves important problems for your target market is a great way to create viral links and drive search engine rankings.

17 Types of Linkbait

Now that we’ve established how valuable linkbait content can be and the different types of linkbait you can use to drive visitors to your website, here’s a list of a few specific linkbait styles you can use to improve your site’s online presence:

Video – 90% of web surfers will stop on a website that has a video.  Video links also account for a majority of social media traffic, which is why creating videos is a one of the most common linkbait methods.

Infographics – Like videos, infographcis are informative and visually appealing.  And, with the growing popularity of Pinterest, infographics are rising as one of the most popular forms of linkbait.

Lists – If it works for David Letterman, it can work for your business. “Top 10” style lists have always ranked well on the Internet, as they allow people to absorb a large amount of information in a short period.

Curative Posts – This type of content recaps the important news in a specific industry.  Most people don’t have the time to do this on their own, so they appreciate sites that recount the important information for them either once a week or once a month.

Guides – Both free and paid guides are a great way to attract traffic and links. If the content is written well, it can be included in posts, articles and resource sites for a long time.

Surveys – Whether it’s business-related, political or personal, people love to take surveys.  Use surveys to find out what a target market is interested in and increase traffic to your site.

Interviews – If you’re able to conduct interviews with authorities within your industry, these files can be used as viral-worthy content that’s sure to drive traffic.

Free Software – Shareware represents one of the most downloaded types of content on the web.  Free tools and software that helps solve major problems or make life easier will often spread virally with little effort on your part.

Giveaways – Any form of freebie – whether an e-book, report, shareware or guide – that’s made available on your website is sure to attract attention from interested visitors.

Awards – If you offer awards on your site, contestants and winners will often visit your other pages as well. They’ll also share the links with their friends, family and social media contacts, leading to more traffic and more links for your site.

Contests – Offering contents is another surefire way to create natural links.  As an example, asking people to choose a name for a new product or a new flavor for an existing product line are two popular forms of contest linkbait.

Widgets – As with shareware, helpful widgets tend to spread quickly throughout the web.

News – Keep people informed and prove yourself as an industry leader by posting breaking news in a specific field.  If you’re the first to report on a major subject in your industry, you can expect to receive a major influx of backlinks and traffic!

Industry Discussions – Similar to reporting on breaking news, being the first site to explain new breakthroughs and market news on a consistent basis is a great way to build quality linkbait.

Previews – People generally want to know as much as they can about new products, services, books, movies and more before they buy.  Writing informative previews about hot items in your industry can be a great way to promote your viral marketing campaigns with little effort

Year in Review – “Year in Review” style articles are always a great way to drive traffic.  Recapping the major events that occurred in the past year, as well as how they affected your specific industry, is a great way to create viral-worthy content.

Incite a Response – This type of linkbait creates controversy by attacking a person or company, or playing devil’s advocate on a popular topic.  This can backfire, though, so use this type of linkbait carefully.

Have you had good results with launching linkbait campaigns in the past?  If so, share your tips and tricks in the comments section below!

Image: cab234

Here’s what to look for when it comes to hiring a good SEO agency…

A Website Doesn’t Exist Without SEO

Your business can have the best looking website out there, that’s packed with fantastic content – and still not receive any visitors. If your site isn’t search engine friendly, no one will even know that it’s there. Moreover, there are thousands upon thousands of websites in any given market. Without effective SEO, finding your particular website on the Internet can be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Sure – programs like WordPress can make it easy for those with no technical expertise to create professional-looking websites. There are even special plugins you can install that will help with search engine optimization. But unfortunately, these plugins aren’t going to tell a website owner if he’s using the right keywords for his target market or how exactly to promote his website to ensure optimum traffic and conversions.

If this website owner doesn’t have the time or inclination to learn proper SEO best practices, he may be better off hiring an agency to do the work for him.  A good SEO agency can help this business owner to find the right words and phrases to use on his website to separate the buyers from the tire kickers.  The agency can even look at the website’s Google Analytics and other metrics to determine how to properly promote the site in the SERPs and how to adjust individual web pages to increase conversion rates.

In general, search engine optimization isn’t a process that’s done once and then ignored – it needs to be monitored and tweaked over time to make sure that the site is attracting the right visitors, and keeping them. Unfortunately, most businesses – especially small businesses where everyone has two or three jobs already – don’t have time for this type of ongoing project. In these cases, outsourcing SEO to a qualified agency helps save the company time and money by building an efficient, converting website that increases overall revenue.

The SEO is a Changin’

But beyond the time-saving advantages of hiring an SEO agency, it’s important to remember that keeping up with current SEO techniques takes an entirely separate amount of effort!

Search engine optimization techniques aren’t even close to the same as they were when the internet first developed as a place for businesses to attract new customers. In addition, with the launch of its Panda algorithm update in 2011, Google revolutionized the way keywords, links and other SEO techniques should be used on the internet.

Even for those SEO specialists working within the industry, it can be difficult to keep up on all of Google’s various changes.  For business owners and other non-professionals, it’s even more difficult to stay on top of what Google’s doing. However, the consequences for not adhering to the search giant’s most recent updates can be severe.  If Google deindexes your company website, you’ll probably wind up spending a great deal of time and money trying to back into Google’s good graces.

Outsourcing your business SEO needs can help avoid this hassle.  As many of Google’s recent changes have to do with keyword optimization, linking strategies and webpage optimization, a good SEO agency can help you navigate these latest sets of requirements. They’ll be able to help you make any necessary improvements to your site, both simultaneously improving your online results and avoiding the hassle of being penalized by Google.

Local SEO Is Just As Important

But just to add to the confusion, small businesses must be familiar with local SEO practices, as well as the online techniques needed to rank well in the traditional SERPs. If a business has local, as well as online customers, it needs to use local SEO techniques – which can incorporate Google strategies, using social sites such as FourSquare and even mobile strategies to help local consumers find both its website and physical location.

If you only conduct business locally, understanding and implementing these techniques becomes even more vital.  Given that nearly 80% percent of consumers conduct internet research before buying a product or service, it’s obvious why local companies must prioritize local SEO techniques that enable them to be found on the web.

But since learning local SEO requires studying an entirely new set of techniques, many small businesses find that they benefit from outsourcing these tasks in order to focus on more important areas of company operations. Hiring an SEO agency to take over local SEO can ensure that your business is found by both local and Internet customers through the appropriate use of linking strategies, keywords and tagging.  They’ll also be more up-to-date on the latest local optimization technologies – including both mobile and interactive applications – that can help make businesses easier to find.

How to Find the Right SEO Agency

If hiring an SEO agency to take over your business’s web and local SEO needs sounds like a wise use of your time and money, be aware that there are plenty of different aspects to consider.  For example, the agency’s expertise, strategies and past successes should be examined to make sure the organization is professional and competent.  It’s also important to understand the agency’s mission statement and how they deal with clients to make sure your final selection is a good fit for your business’s needs.

Here are a few of the specific questions you’ll want to ask when interviewing potential SEO agencies:

“Where are they located?”

An SEO agency doesn’t have to be local to be successful.  Some businesses like being able to have onsite meetings with their outsourcers to make sure everything is on track, although with today’s technology, online meetings can be just as productive as physical meetings.  As long as you’re comfortable working long distance and the agency you’ve chosen is well-qualified, dealing with an SEO organization located elsewhere isn’t a problem.

“How well do they communicate?”

Even a local agency can be difficult to work with if they aren’t good about communications.  While it isn’t reasonable to expect someone at the agency to answer the phone all the time, your agency contact should call back or reply to an email within a single one business day.  They should also have established methods for updating clients and receiving feedback to alter a project as needed.

“Do they stay current on new advancements?”

With the field of SEO changing consistently, an SEO agency needs to demonstrate that they stay abreast of changes in technology and techniques.  To determine whether or not this is occurring, look for whitepapers they’ve written, notes on social media sites about seminars they’ve attended or blog posts their employees have written about new techniques in order to find out how knowledgeable they are about their field.

“Is a long term contract required?”

Because SEO strategies need to be monitored and changed over time, you’ll want to find an SEO agency that you can work with in the long-term.  However, be wary of getting roped into a long-term contact if you aren’t certain your SEO campaign will achieve good results.  When looking for a new agency, start with a three-month contract to find out if they’re a good fit. This way, you won’t be stuck with ineffective consultants you can’t work with.

Because SEO is so important to internet marketing, it’s imperative that you use the newest and best strategies on your business website.  If you aren’t able to commit to learning these techniques yourself and implementing them on your website, hiring an SEO agency to carry out these best practices for you could wind up being a smart business decision in the long run.

Image: kandyjaxx

Maybe your company is going through a re-branding and redesign process and you’d like your website to reflect your new business name.  Or maybe you’re moving your website to get away from a hosting provider whose actual up-time never quite reflected the guarantee advertised on their sales pages.

But whatever the case, moving a website is a process that should be approached with caution.  Depending on the specifics of your proposed move, it may be necessary to take proactive action to avoid losing the SEO authority your content has built up at its current location.

Here’s what you need to know…

Typically, there are two major types of website moves – hosting provider moves and domain name moves.  The specific actions you’ll want to take to move your site safely will vary based on the type of move you’re completing, so be sure you understand the distinction between the two before you get started.

Scenario #1 – Moving website hosts

As far as website moves go, switching hosting providers while keeping the same domain name isn’t nearly as complicated as moving your site to a new URL.  Because link authority is based on your URL (which isn’t changing in this situation), there’s no risk that you’ll lose the accumulated value of your backlinks when moving your site.

However, when performed incorrectly, a website hosting provider move can result in downtime for your site.  Too much downtime may negatively impact your site’s SEO and rankings, so it’s important to pay attention to the following recommended steps:

• Sign up for your new hosting account at least 1-2 weeks before shutting down your existing plan.  It will take time to migrate your site to its new account, so the last thing you want is for your existing plan to cut off access to your site before the merge is complete.
• Once your new hosting account is set up, move your existing website files to the new account, which you’ll be able to access using an IP address provided by your web host.  Comb through your new site to be sure any issues that cropped up during the move are resolved before your new site goes live.  (Note – if your site runs on WordPress, you’ll need to create a backup database of your existing posts and import this file into your newly created site.)
• After you’re confident that everything on your new site is in good working order, adjust the nameservers on file for your domain name to point at your new hosting account.  Your new hosting account’s support team can provide these addresses to you if you aren’t sure what information to use.

Keep in mind that, when moving your website to a new hosting account, it isn’t necessary to move your domain name registration as well, as your domain name’s nameservers can be adjusted to point at any hosting account.

However, if you do decide to move your domain name (either because you prefer keeping your accounts consolidated or because you got a good deal on renewal registrations by changing hosting providers), you’ll need to release the URL from your previous registrar’s account.  Different registrars have different processes for conducting domain name transfers, but you’ll likely need to supply a code from your old registrar to your new registrar indicating that you do, in fact, want to move your domain name.

Scenario #2 – Changing URLs

As mentioned previously, changing your website’s URL is a little trickier.  If you’ve spent any amount of effort building backlinks to your new site, changing URLs risks losing the value passed by these web addresses, as any links pointing at your old site will no longer be valid.

While it is possible to notify the search engines of these changes in order to diminish the impact of moving your URL, you’ve got to perform the following steps in the right order for this process to run smoothly:

• Start by making a backup copy of your existing website and its sitemap.  You’ll use this old sitemap later on in the process of moving URLs, so take special care to make sure it’s backed up accurately before proceeding.
• Recreate your site on your new URL while your old website is still live (don’t delete your old website until after this entire process has been completed).  Go through the site you’ve created on your new domain in order to correct any internal links that may inadvertently refer visitors to your old site, and then start building new content on your new URL as quickly as possible.
• Add both your old URL and new URL to Google’s Webmaster Tools (if you haven’t done this yet).
• Go back to your old website and add site-wide 301 redirects that tell the search engine spiders that your content has been moved to a new URL.  The easiest ways to do this are with PHP header redirects or WordPress plugins that can add 301 redirects to all pages automatically.
• Now, resubmit your old URL sitemap to both Google and Bing.  This will cause their search engine spiders to reindex your old pages and detect the 301 redirect indicating that your content has been moved.  It’s also a good idea to complete Google’s “Change of Address” form at this point in the process.
• Once you see that the Googlebot and Bing-bot have indexed your old site and taken notice of your redirected content, submit your new URL sitemap to the search engines and wait for them to index the content on your new website.  Pay special attention to your Google Webmaster Tools account – as soon as your new website is indexed, any errors that occurred during the indexing process will appear in your website’s diagnostics section.

Once you’ve addressed any errors that appear in your Webmaster Tools account, you can assume that your transfer has occurred successfully from the point of view of the search engines.  As long as your 301 redirect was set up correctly, the link authority pointing at your old URL should carry through to your new URL, although it may take some time for the search engines to process all of these changes.

But what about your human visitors?  Although you may be tempted to take down your old site in celebration of this lengthy process being completed, consider temporarily putting up a single page explaining to users who enter your old URL directly into their browsers where to find your new content.  Think of it as a “We’ve moved!” courtesy announcement that will prevent visitors who haven’t been on your page in some time from receiving a “Site not found” message that could diminish their trust in your brand.

Alternatively, you could simply create a domain redirect that automatically sends visitors who land on your old URL to your new pages.  If you do decide to take this route, be sure to keep your old URL’s registration up-to-date.  Although this type of redirect won’t offer a personal message to your visitors explaining the reason for your move, it will ensure that they arrive on the correct page after entering your old URL into their browsers.

Image: Daveography.ca

In fact, the reality is that – in many cases – as long as your business website is professional-looking and well-organized, it may not matter if the design and image elements you use are unique to your company.  Here’s how to determine whether you really need to invest in a custom website design for your business website…

Step #1 – Study your competitors’ websites

Before you can determine whether it’s worth investing in a custom website design for your business, it’s important to understand who your competitors are and how they’re using their websites to promote their businesses.

As an example, consider the different website needs of an online ecommerce store selling highly competitive electronics products compared to a local orthodontist’s office.  In order for the ecommerce seller to stand out in a crowded marketplace, his website will need to be unique, visually appealing and engaging – all of which will likely require a custom website design in order to be achieved successfully.

On the other hand, the orthodontists’ office may be competing against – at most – ten different local businesses offering the same services.  For this reason, the orthodontist’s website doesn’t need to feature all of the latest “bells and whistles” the ecommerce seller must pursue.  As long as his website looks good, provides the appropriate information and is visually distinct from his competitors, the orthodontist likely doesn’t need to invest the time and money required to produce a custom website design.

However, the only way to determine where your website falls on this spectrum is to analyze the websites offered by your closest competitors.  Do they appear to be using custom designs to attract and retain visitors?  If so, this could be because having a unique presence is vital to standing out amongst your peers.  On the other hand, if you see a variety of custom sites, template sites and obviously “homemade” websites, you may not need to hire a web developer to build a totally unique website.

Step #2 – Identify industry standards

In addition to taking a closer look at your competitors’ websites, try to get a feel for what standards exist within your industry when it comes to website design.

Beyond what your immediate competitors are doing, what types of websites appear when you Google search for related keywords in your industry?  Do the sites you see incorporate lots of interactive add-ons (for example, pop-up windows, forms, Flash elements and more) or do you see primarily “billboard” style sites that function as virtual print advertisements by displaying primarily text-based information?

If you find highly-customized websites with extensive upgrades or add-on features across your industry, know that it will be harder to find a template-based design that you can adapt to your business in order to compete in this environment.

On the other hand, if the sites you see throughout your industry are largely static and text-based, odds are you’ll be able to build a website that meets your needs and expectations using a template design.

Step #3 – Assess your time and budget constraints

Again, the idea of assessing your unique time and budget constraints when it comes to choosing a website design solution is something we touched upon briefly in our earlier article on hiring a website designer.  However, as cost considerations will likely be the foremost concerns for most small business owners managing their company’s internet presences, this topic deserves a review.

So first, take a second to assess the amount of time you have available to dedicate to your website project.  If you have no time whatsoever to contribute to your new website’s creation, you’ll probably need to hire a professional designer to complete the project.

Alternatively, if you have more time than money to dedicate to your new website, a template website solution might be a perfect compromise.  Keep in mind that most professional web designers charge $1,000 and up for a custom site – and sometimes much, much more if you require any number of interactive features.  If you can’t commit this amount of money to your redesign, look into template website design solutions that are typically much more affordable.

Step #4 – Evaluate website design alternatives

If you do determine that budget constraints will prevent you from hiring a professional website designer, don’t worry – there are a number of different template website solutions you can take advantage of that will allow you to put up a good looking website with a minimal amount of work.

The following are a few of the different template website design alternatives you should consider:

Open source blogging platforms – Choosing to build your website on the WordPress, Drupal or Joomla platforms may be a good choice if you have some experience with web coding.  These three platforms are all free to install on your hosting account and offer an unlimited number of free or paid templates that can be quickly and easily applied to your base content.

In addition, with the library of plugins and add-ons available for these website design platforms, you’ll likely find that it’s easy to include interactive elements on your website, making it more engaging for your site visitors.

Of course, it’s also worth being aware that you’re on your own when it comes to using these website design platforms.  While there are plenty of support resources online, these free-to-download platforms to not come with any kind of customer support team to assist you if your site “breaks” due to incorrect customizations or hacked themes and plugins.

Template web design programs – If you aren’t comfortable with fixing these types of errors that can and do occur on open source web design platforms, consider a paid template web design service.  As a member of these programs, you’ll pay a small monthly fee to build a website based on one of your provider’s stock designs (although customization support may be available for an additional cost).  As part of your monthly cost, you’ll typically also receive the customer support needed to ensure your website remains live and functioning properly.

The two best known template programs are Intuit’s Website Builder and Yahoo’s Small Business Site Solution service programs.  Although both of these website design programs represent an easy way to quickly build and launch a professional-looking website, it’s important to browse through their respective template offerings and read up on their support guarantees before choosing the program that best meets your needs.

Image: kayaker1204

The truth is that every website “sells” something, whether you’re vending physical products, trying to capture leads for an offline business or even just trying to convince people to follow your line of thinking.  And since we all “sell” online, we all need to be concerned about making the sales copy found on our websites as effective as possible.

There’s no doubt that the specific words we use on our websites have a dramatic impact on how effective our online sales processes will be.  So if you have the sneaking suspicion that your site’s copy may not be as effective as it could be, check out the following process for improving your website’s sales process through the use of “words that sell.”

Step #1 – Identify areas of sales copy on your website

If you run a long-form sales letter style website that sells a single product on a single page of text, identifying the specific instances of sales copy on your website should be easy – it’s your entire page!

However, if your site structure is more nuanced than a single page of HTML, determining which areas of your website are functioning as sales copy may be more difficult.  For example, on an informative website, the heading text you use to convince people to stick around and read more of your content could technically be considered “sales copy” – even though the only thing you’re asking people to do is pay attention.

In general, think of any area of your site where you’re asking people to take a specific action as “sales copy.”  Again, this could be the text you use to convince people to make a purchase, or it could be the language used in your headings, your opt-in boxes or your subscription request forms to encourage readers to follow through on some defined activity.

Step #2 – Analyze the impact of your current sales language

Now that you’ve identified these specific areas of sales copy on your website, it’s time to start analyzing how effective they are in terms of achieving your website’s goals.  There are a couple of different ways we can do this…

• The “gut check” – Isolate the sections of sales copy you identified on your website in Step #1 and look at them with a fresh set of eyes.  Do you feel compelled to take action based on this standalone sales copy?  If not, it’s safe to assume that your readers won’t be motivated as well.
• Statistical copywriting software – If you have a little extra money to invest in your sales copy writing process, tools like Glyphius or ScribeJuice provide an automated way to compare the effectiveness of your sales text against algorithms based on past successful advertisements.  Although these tools aren’t cheap, they can be an easy way to quickly analyze and uncover opportunities for strengthening the weak spots in your sales copy.
• Google Analytics goals and funnels – Ideally, if you’ve set up your website correctly, you should have at least a few Google Analytics goals and sales funnels set up to monitor the effectiveness of your website.  Consult your most recent results to determine whether or not your site is performing up to snuff.

Step #3 – Revise your sales copy using proven copywriting principles

Now, unless you’re a Joe Sugarman level copywriter, chances are you’ve uncovered at least a few areas for potential improvement within your website’s sales copy.  With these weak spots in mind, brainstorm a few potential variations according to proven copywriting principles.

Keep the following guidelines in mind as you create these unique versions:

• Good sales copy uses “power” words. Certain words – for example, “achieve,” “discover” and “secrets” – have the power to capture attention and encourage action.  For more examples of these motivational power words, check out this list of “50 Power Words to Juice Up Your Sales Copy.”
• Good sales copy encourages urgency. While you don’t need to resort to artificial scarcity tactics (ie – “This offer good for a limited time only!”), it’s best to encourage your reader to take action right away.  Things that aren’t urgent priorities are rarely accomplished!
• Good sales copy focuses on benefits, not features.  Don’t just tell someone that the TV you’re selling has a 32” screen or 1080i resolution.  Make them viscerally feel how much better their favorite TV shows and movies will appear on their new TV, as well as how jealous their friends will be after viewing content on such advanced technology.
• Good sales copy is easily understood. Leave out the big words and jargon.  Since most people only scan webpages for content that interests them, your sales copy must convey both the action to be taken and the benefits of doing so quickly and clearly.
• Good sales copy focuses on a single priority.  Although your website might have multiple sales goals, each instance of sales copy on your site should focus on a single desired action.  Mixing your priorities can cause confusion in your readers, preventing them from completing any of your established goals.

Step #4 – Test different variations to improve your sales results

At this point, you should have a few different variations for each instance where sales copy appears on your website.  And now – as you might expect – it’s time to test them using A/B split testing!

Split testing refers to the process of serving up two or more different versions of a page randomly to website visitors in order to determine conclusively which variation results in the most conversions.  For example, if your goal is to make more sales on your long form sales letter style website, you might create two different versions of your webpage to test, with each variation featuring a slightly different headline in order to find out which introductory line is more effective at keeping visitors on your site long enough to make a sale.

Once you’ve created your different web page variations, you’ll need to upload them into a split testing program that will serve up each version randomly and return the results of your split test.  Google’s Website Optimizer is a great free program that provides this functionality, although there are plenty of other third-party software programs that offer these features and more.

The one crucial piece of advice to keep in mind when it comes to split testing is that you’ll need to run your split tests long enough to determine that your results are statistically significant.  If you only gather data on a few conversions, it will be difficult to tell if the results you achieved can be attributed to a handful of people, or if they can be applied to the population as a whole.  For this reason, it’s a good idea to run your split tests until you’ve received at least 100 conversions.

It’s also important to be mindful of the exact type of split testing you’re carrying out.  If you’re new to the process of data-driven website optimization, stick to A/B split testing in which you test multiple versions of a single variable against each other.  As you become more advanced in your optimization skill set, you can move on to multivariate testing – in which multiple variables are tested at once – in order to truly beef up your website’s sales copy.

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The eyes of the search engine spiders, on the other hand, are quite a bit more limited.  Despite all the effort you put into making your website’s design as attractive as possible, there are certain elements of your website that these automated programs simply won’t be able to process.

In general, the search engine spiders are limited to understanding the text and text-based features (for example, backlinks) on your site.  However, there are some SEO workarounds that make it possible for the search engines to understand and process non-text elements.  For more detail on how this occurs, let’s look at each of the different elements found on standard web pages, as well as how the search engines view and value them…

Element #1 – Text

As mentioned above, search engine spiders love text- based content.  They derive a number of different clues about your website’s theme and quality from these words, simply because text is the type of content they’re most easily able to digest.

However, that doesn’t mean that all websites are built to optimize the text-based content they include.  There are a few specific things you’ll want to watch out for when it comes to making your text as cleanly written and easily accessible as possible:

1. Make sure text is visible to the search engine spiders.  Occasionally, snippets of code, embedded content or formatting inconsistencies can cause text to be hidden from the search engine spiders.  To get an idea of what these automated programs see when they land on each of your pages, use the Webconfs “Search Engine Spider Simulator” tool.
2. Use a text-based browser to check for additional formatting concerns that may prevent the proper indexation of your site’s content.  Lynx is one example of a browser that will allow you to view your website’s content without any additional features engaged.
3. Turn off Javascript in your browser.  Even text blocks that appear to be separate from script files at first glance may be hidden underneath Javascript elements from a coding perspective.  One quick way to check and be sure your site’s content isn’t obscured is to turn off Javascript within your browser to see if any of your text disappears as well.

Element #2 – Images

The concept of avoiding images from an SEO standpoint is fairly well-established, but to review – any text that’s incorporated into your images can’t be indexed by the search engine spiders at this point.

So say, for example, your site uses a graphical header to introduce your site’s name and tagline.  Be aware that, because they’re embedded in an image file, these words are no longer accessible to the search engines, which can be a big problem for your site’s SEO.

As an alternative, you can add text to your images’ ALT tag attributes, but this is no substitute for hiding either large chunks or extremely important pieces in your images.  Instead, stick to design options and graphic elements that enhance your site without steamrolling its ability to rank for your chosen keyword phrases.

Element #3 – Flash

Flash is another content type that often gets a bad rap for having a negative SEO impact.  And it’s true – just as with image files, any text you embed in your Flash files won’t be read or indexed by the search engine spiders.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you should avoid them entirely.  When used properly, Flash videos can be a great way to engage your audience and convey important points in an interactive way.  Just be sure to incorporate them in small, subtle ways and to add any relevant content from your videos to your site as text in other areas.

Of course, this doesn’t do you any good if you have a site that’s built entirely in Flash that you won’t be able to change any time soon.  If you absolutely must use Flash in a way that hides your text from the search engine spiders, use SWFObject2 code as well.  Essentially, according to Mike Arnesen of Swell Path:

“SWFObject2 is an open-source JavaScript library that can be used to embed Flash while also offering alternative content.  Basically, when a user visits a page with a Flash object that is embedded via SWFObject2, a script checks to see if the user can actually view the Flash content.  If the user can’t, alternate content is pulled up instead.”

While Google hasn’t guaranteed that they support this alternative, it’s still a better option than simply leaving your text hidden.  (Just don’t use this opportunity to serve up alternate content as an excuse to fill your site with spammy text!)

Element #4 – Javascript

As you might expect, using Javascript on your website has a number of different weaknesses from an SEO standpoint.  Although it can add important features that make your website more enjoyable to use, it can also hide your text from the search engine spiders, preventing proper indexing from occurring.

As with Flash, it’s important to serve up alternate content in order to protect your site’s overall SEO authority.  In general, there are two specific areas where you’ll want to be sure your Javascript codes aren’t overwriting your content – in your navigation system and within any user review system you use.

First, when it comes to your navigation system, be aware that although Javascript can produce some great-looking, interactive menu bars, it’s much weaker from an SEO standpoint than building your navigation system using HTML and CSS.  Although the search engines are catching up in terms of parsing and dealing with content stored in script codes, they still aren’t perfect when it comes to accessing links stored in this way and passing authority through them correctly.

Second, if you use customer reviews on your site (which can be a good way to increase visitor engagement and add relevant keyword mentions), be sure the specific app or plugin you’re using serves up an alternate view of the text found in your reviews to the search engines.  Most customer review plugins are built in Javascript, so if you use one without alternate content functionality, you’re limiting your exposure to potent long tail keyword mentions.

Element #5 – PDFs

Contrary to popular belief, the search engine spiders can access certain elements of PDF files.  While their overall “word-for-word” translation of these documents can be hit or miss, they are to read certain tags associated with your PDF files, including the title, author, subject and keyword tags, as well as your headline and image caption tags within the document.

For this reason, it’s important to pay special attention to the keywords you integrate into your PDF files as you create them.  While it’s unlikely that adjusting these factors alone will result in higher rankings, they’re one of the few opportunities you have to guarantee that the search engine spiders will see your chosen keywords – so don’t waste it!

Image: Jeff McNeil