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PubCon '06: SEO & Big Search

Nov
21
2006
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To insure that we got the most out of PubCon, our fearless leader assigned sessions to each team member. My first session was SEO & Big Search, moderated by Jake Baillie.

This was an interesting session in that it was primarily an opportunity for some of the primary search properties to discuss their own in-house SEO campaigns. This is what each had to say:

AOL: Represented by Melanie Mitchell, Director of SEO/SEM. Melanie gave a detailed account of AOL’s SEO initiatives. She described their approach to SEO as focusing on 3 key areas:

  • Indexing – Insuring crawlability and page focus.
  • Ranking – Achieving prominent rankings for targeted search phrases.
  • Metrics – Defining clear and measurable objectives and acquiring tools for measuring progress.

Yahoo: Represented by Dave Roth, Director of Search Engine Marketing. Dave presented a wealth of information including Yahoo’s internal SEO score card that they use to track their campaigns. The scorecard includes evaluations such as:

  • Inherent referral value
  • Size of opportunity presented
  • Month over month and year over year growth
  • Trademark search phrase referrals
  • Non-trademark search phrase referrals
  • Keyword visibility scores (a proprietary Yahoo! metric)

Google: Represented by Adam Lasnik, Google Search Evangelist. Adam has a fascinating job at Google; he is tasked with bridging the gap between Google and webmasters. Adam gave no indication that Google has a formal SEO initiative for their own sites, he did however offer a great deal of advice for webmasters and search optimizers. Here is a rundown:

  • Websites should consider the “SNACCC” acronym:
    Speed – throughput (delivery)/latency(time between action and result)
    N avigability – Where am I, how did I get here?
    A ccessibility – Resonable URL’s / Useful alt text
    C larity – Underlined links / Links on one line
    C omfort – Easy to read / no jumpy pages / easy copy text / black / no italcs / include height and width tags for all images.
    Consistency – uniform error msgs / alerts / info
  • Use a tree-like site structure or web-like structures
  • Have simple pages
  • Focus on quality text
  • Keep the user happy

PPM Re-Design and New Tag Line

Nov
20
2006
By

Pole Position MarketingOver the last several weeks I’ve been working on a new version of our website and was able to finally rolled it out. Its not a complete re-design, just a minor upgrade over the previous version of the site. Take a look at it here.

Here’s what’s changed:

  • Left Nav Removed: All navigational elements are now encompassed in the drop down. Any sub-navs are found in the body on the pages to which they are necessary. I have been wanting to get rid of the navigation for some time, and even with the last re-design I contemplated it but just couldn’t figure out how to lose that without losing usability to essential pages. A slight re-organization of our sections fixed that problem.
  • Right-Side Info Panel: For the most part the “nav bar” has been moved from the left side to the right side but its been cleaned up a bit and is no longer a navigation bar. Instead of a gray background setting it apart from the body area it now is fused in with a white background. This looks much cleaner and gave me room for some cool stuff I wanted to do. More on that below
  • New Top Nav Menu: The old top nav menu was justified to the right but I moved this one over to the left. Made sense since there is no left nav anymore. I also restructured our main service categories and combined some old categories into these. Instead of a “services” drop down that had about 20 links, I’ve got our main services across the top and each drop down containing six or so links. For those that browse with JavaScript turned off I made sure that the category buttons link to pages as well. That was a problem with the old site, when JavaScript is turned off the drop downs downs don’t work. Now the navigation bar still does regardless.
  • Colored Nav Buttons: I added a script to swap images in the top nav depending on which section of the site you’re in. Previously, these were always black and the drawback to that is it made the top navigation difficult to locate as id kind of blended in a bit. That was another reason why I kept the left nav. But now, the buttons turn yellow for the section the visitor is in. Not only does it make it immediately apparent that this is a navigation menu, it helps letting visitors know where they are in the site.
  • Rotating Testimonials: I always liked having testimonials visible but putting them in the nav bar made them static. I’ve changed that by putting the testimonials in the right-side information column and adding a script that pulls a new testimonial with each click or refresh. I also added some stats to rotate in and out of here as well just for a more rounded experience. Below the testimonials is a link to read more which takes visitors to the testimonial page.
  • BBB Membership: I’ve made my Better Business Bureau membership more visible. This is an important usability issue and helps give visitors some confidence. Instead of being lower on the page it is now prominently displayed at the top.
  • Updated Footer: I updated the footer to be consistent across all pages. Previously the four images were only on select pages but I incorporated these into the site wide footer. This also allowed them to spread out across the entire bottom of the page rather than just as wide as the body area. I like this better.
  • New Tag Line: I felt it was time for a new tag line. The old, which I liked very much, was “Position Your Business First”. A nice play on words with positioning and the meaning of “Pole Position”. This time I wanted something a bit more aggressive and many ideas were bantered around. Ultimately I settled on one I like very much, “Velocitize Your Web Marketing”.

    Tag lines can be hit and miss. Like I said, I really like this new one, but what do you think? Did we hit?

More Logo Madness

Oct
24
2006
By

emp logoWhile the debate on the Grand Sierra Resort logo has been raging, one commenter was kind enough to point out that this blog might have its own logo issues. I was reminded of Luke 6:41 which says

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

OK, fair enough. Let’s take a look my own plank: the EMP logo. Now, I have to say that I absolutely love this logo, but that’s because I get it. I know what it represents, or at least its my own interpretation of what I want it to represent. But before I spill the beans on that, lets upon this up to see if anybody else gets it.

Tell me what YOU think it is. I’ll give a free EMP book to the first person who comes close enough to getting it right.

SEO Your Website First, Design Later

Feb
28
2006
By

I’ve been doing SEO for years and I can’t get past the fact that optimization continues to be the “after thought” of website development. This was all well and good in the late 90′s as SEO was just beginning to come onto the scene, or even in the early 2000′s when SEO was moving into it’s prime. Back then websites were always developed first and then considerations for online marketing came later.

But in the past couple years, as online marketing becomes more and more important to the success of any business, online or off, it simply no longer makes sense to wait until after a website has been developed to start thinking of how best to market it on the Internet. The two are so completely intertwined that doing one before the other often times causes you to have to go back and redo, or worse, undo things in order to create a compatible synergy between the website and its marketing campaign.

I often get calls from people exploring search engine optimization but want to wait until their website is fully developed and operational before they sign on with any particular SEO company. It makes sense on the surface because they want to make sure the site looks and performs properly before dropping money into a long term commitment to an online marketing firm. But that’s like making sure your brick and mortar store is up and running before you develop your business plan. It should be the other way around.

With web development, the marketing aspects should be the driving force behind how the site is developed. There are so many things that can be, and often typically still are, done wrong from a search engine marketing perspective, but still allow you to have, my most measures, a fully functional and operational site. But rolling out a site that operates at less than it’s full performance capabilities is not only a waste of time, it’s a waste of money, even if you’re not quite ready to put the thing into high gear.

It’s not good enough to develop a site that has to be re-developed when you’re ready to market it. You want to have a site built from the ground up that is SEO campaign ready. It’s the difference between being able to give your car a tune-up vs. having to rebuild the entire engine.

Having a good SEO or SEM onboard during the development stage can save countless of hours and dollars. Here are just a few examples:

Database Driven Websites: There is nothing wrong with database driven websites, but the most common problems we run across is not having the flexibility to create unique Title tags or Description and Keyword Meta tags. We often require developers to go back and re-program their dynamic systems to accommodate. Sometimes that’s easy, sometimes it’s not.

Clean and Validated Code: More times than not we come across websites with over-bloated code. As a performance issue this may not mean much, but a lean website can speed up performance to the user as well as the ability for search engine spiders to quickly gather the information that matters, allowing them to move on to other pages of your site on a more frequent basis.

Content: Many sites are still not developed with content in mind. I still hear people say that they don’t want too much text because it makes the page too long, destroys the look, etc. These are valid concerns, but a properly designed site can accommodate both a graphically intense layout (if that is what is desired) as well as quality content designed to enhance the ability of the site to sell. Not all visitors want to read a bunch of content, but neither are all visitors ready to buy if they are not given the right information to satisfy their desire for information on the product or service they wish to purchase.

In a previous article I talked about allocating your web site’s budget properly. I explained how the development of your website should be considered as part of the overall marketing plan of your online business, not as simply a “development” expense. This is an important point that I think still too few online businesses are getting. Even those that do but then don’t bring in their marketing team to participate in the website design and development process still don’t fully understand what’s at stake.

Before developing your website, picking your design and development should be secondary to bringing your optimization and marketing team onboard. The marketing team can help you interview and select the right designers that will build the site within the specifications and parameters that will be necessary for a successful marketing campaign, saving both time and money in the long run.

Establishing Credibility for Your Business, Part X

Feb
27
2006
By

Stanford’s Guidelines to Web Credibility:

Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.

Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to keep your site up and running.

We all make mistakes. The worst are the little things that are often overlooked but easily correctable. Before publishing new content on your website, take a few extra minutes to run the content through a spell check program. Even if you’ve made a only few minor edits, don’t assume that you don’t need to double check your work.

Just like any other form of medium, it’s best to get a third party to proof read your site’s content. Undoubtedly, they’ll find something you missed even after several proof reads of your own.

Aside from spelling and grammar, you should check your site regularly for broken links. Allowing visitors to find broken links on your site is just another way of letting them know that your site is outdated or that you don’t have the proper infrastructure to handle their needs. This is as good of a reason as any to leave and purchase from a competitor instead.

Regularly check your site for broken links. There are plenty of online tools that will spider your site and give you a broken link report quickly. Even if you have not made changes to your site in a while, running a broken link check will identify links to external pages which may have changed or been relocated. Regular checks will ensure that all links, both internal and external, are completely functional.

Establishing Credibility for Your Business, Part IX

Feb
26
2006
By

Stanford’s Guidelines to Web Credibility:

Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).

If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.

Let’s set the distinction here between commercial sites and informational sites. Ads on informational sites and blogs are fine and a great way to create an additional source of income. Of course, this only goes so far. Even informational sites can lose their credibility if you have too many ads or utilize annoying popup/popunder windows.

On commercial sites, displaying ads that sell similar or competing products/services or directs visitors elsewhere to get what they came looking for, is just plain silly and a bad marketing strategy. You might get a small stream of “additional” income from these ads, but undoubtedly it will be at your own expense in the long run.

Commercial sites should be focused on selling one thing… your own products or services. Anything on the site that pulls visitors away or interferes with that selling process is a bad marketing strategy that will inhibit your own ability to “sell” your visitors on what you offer.

When writing content for your site, be sure to keep your target audience in mind. If you customers are more technologically savvy or highly educated, then write accordingly. If your audience is the average John or Jane Doe Consumer, then write toward them. Whatever you do, don’t write above your audiences head, and don’t talk down to them either. While you won’t be able to please everybody, knowing your primary target audience will ensure that you are not insulting the larger percentage of your audience.

You also want to be clear about what you offer. Don’t write to try and keep your visitors in suspense about what your product or service is. If it’s appropriate, you can use sales jargon that enhances the anticipation, but don’t string it out for too long otherwise your visitors will tire of seeking the payoff and go look for your product or service somewhere else.

The best sites are those that are informative, professional and don’t resort to gimmicky content or designs. The bottom line is that you should treat your visitors as you would want to be treated.

Establishing Credibility for Your Business, Part VIII

Feb
24
2006
By

Stanford’s Guidelines to Web Credibility:

Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).

People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.

Have you ever been to a website and you could just tell the content was old and stale? Maybe it wasn’t obvious right away, but as you browse through the site you begin to see things that perhaps don’t align with other things touted on the website. Or maybe you see a “Valentine’s Day Special” still hanging around a week AFTER Valentine’s day.

Small thinks like this can really turn visitors off. One the less obvious stuff you have a bit more leeway–until someone actually recognizes the contradictions–but on the obvious stuff, it can be a clear sign that you’re not paying attention, leaving a potential customer wondering what kind of care or service they’ll get from you.

Sure, you can make the argument that you’re too busy working for your customers to worry about the small details on your own site like that, but then that’s assuming you get the opportunity to make that argument. The potential custom might have already bolted from your site.

Something else you often see on sites is an “page last updated” blurb with the date. Things like these tend only to be important for sites where information frequently gets dated fast. For commercial sites this can be handy if you need to highlight new products added, but generally there are better ways to do that. The best thing to do is to simply make sure that your content remains current and relevant to your products or services.

Establishing Credibility for Your Business, Part VII

Feb
21
2006
By

Stanford’s Guidelines to Web Credibility:

Make your site easy to use — and useful.

We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.

How do you make your site easy to use? Clear, concise and consistent navigational elements.

It is important to let your visitors know where they are on your site and how to quickly navigate to where they want to be, or where they need to go to get what they want. There are a few very easy things you can do to accomplish this:

1) Use breadcrumbs. While most people do not use breadcrumbs as a navigational element, the simple presence of these allows the visitor to know exactly what page they are on and how deep into the site. They also provide a one click option to get to each backward level of your site.

2) Use contextual links. Don’t rely on your main right, left or top navigation to get your visitors from point A to point B. While these are an important part of your site, using links within the text body of your website helps drive visitors to areas of the site which interest them, or to take the course of action you desire.

3) Use calls to action. Whether it be contextual links or obvious image that say “click here to…”, calls to action let your visitors know where they need to go to get the information they need.

4) Keep your main navigation consistent. Sites who’s navigation changes location from page to page simply confuses the visitor. Make it easy for them as they flow from one page to the next.

The other issue here is to make your site useful. This is relatively easy to accomplish, especially for those who know their stuff. If you’re trying to sell a product, don’t just offer that product, but provide information that will help the visitor see why they should purchase this product, and why purchase it from you.

Providing extra information including features and benefits of your product will help users make the decision to buy. Adding information such as pricing comparisons, warranties, and quality customer service helps users realize why they should purchase from you.

A useful site is a site buyers will return to time and time again. Maybe you attract them with the information as they do their research. Maybe they don’t buy from you today, but if your site is one that provides them information that helps them make their decision, you’ll be the first site on their mind when they are ready to purchase.

Establishing Credibility for Your Business, Part VI

Feb
16
2006
By

Stanford’s Guidelines to Web Credibility:

Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).

We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose.

I’ve written about this extensively in the EMP Book. For many industries, it’s OK to have a mom and pop feel to your website, but in no case should you have a website that looks circa 1992. If your site has not undergone a major re-design in the past few years, it’s probably time.

As the look of the average website has improved significantly over the past few years, web users are expecting more from site’s they do business with. If your site looks like something that was thrown up on a shoestring budget, you’re not giving your visitors much confidence in how you run your business.

You need to look at your competitor’s websites. If your site cannot match or surpass them in appearance then you need to consider a re-design. It’s tricky though, because much of that is subjective. Usually, though, you can tell when not much effort, or thought, was put into the design of a website.

While a more professional looking site may be in order, don’t go overboard. Different industries require different styles. Again, check out what your competitors are doing and if there is an overall consistency of tone, you might want to try to find a similar tone with your site. In other words, don’t go corporate when your competitors are going artsy. Don’t go mom and pop when your competitors are going high tech. Don’t create an overly busy website when your competitors have opted for simplicity. But also, don’t trust your competitors to always make the best decisions. You know your audience, do what is right for them, but by all means, give them a site worth looking at and doing business with.

I have an Unhealthy Hatred of PayPal

Feb
14
2006
By

Is it just me, or is PayPal really not all that easy to use. Sure, for simple transactions, but I’m trying to use some of their more advanced features. Maybe it’s just me and I’m going about it all wrong, but I’m trying to figure out how to install a “buy now” button on my site. I’ve done this many times before but now I can’t seem to get to the information I want.

I thought that this information would be in “Merchant Tools” and at first glance it is. In Merchant Tools I’m given four options for accepting payment. I select Website Payments Standard. I know how it works (or at least I did) so I then select the “Learn how to Use” link.

I’m now taken to a page that offers several scenarios. I just want to sell one item at a time so I select that. Now I’m given specific steps to follow. Step one tells me, “After logging in to PayPal, go to the Buy Now Button page.” But I am logged in. Where was this link? How do I bypass all this nonsense to get to that page? I go back to the home page and look for this link? Nowhere to be found. I browse around a bit looking for this link. Nope. It seems that there is no way to get to this page other than by going through page after page of options. Lucky for me, I kept the steps page open so I could click on the link to the Buy Now Buttons page.

Yep, this is the page I wanted. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t have to go through all these steps before, so someone over at PayPal decided to make their process more complicated, and significantly more frustrating, than it needs to be.

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