Marketing insights by one of Internet Marketing's top guru.
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TIMR Web Services
1412 Albatross Ave.
Comox, BC
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250.218.5285
In his blog Seth Godin noted:
Laying out the design of a page or a flyer so it looks like a pro did it takes about ten times as much work as merely using the template Microsoft builds in for free, and the message is almost the same…
To many small businesses are taking the "Quick and Dirty" road to website design. Hiring "Template Hackers" in place of more expensive web designers. While the initail cost is low – the ultiamte cost in lost sales is too high to even consider.
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Google recently announced the release of their latest major update – code name ‘Caffeine’. Google has been working on the update for a number of months. The release is currently in a test stage. However, you can expect it to be rolled out across the Google network later this year.
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A half of a second isn’t much time. Most of us would have a hard time thinking of something we do that only takes half a second. Certainly it is not enough to worry about!
Wrong!!
Over the years I have bothered anyone who would listen about the way forms are designed. Problems range from entering unnecessary information to forms that are hard to understand. However, I have always looked at the problem from the user’s point of view.
In this article Jared Spool looks at the cost of poorly designed forms from the businesses’ point of view. In particular he outlines how one business lost potentially $300,000,000 (yes – 3 million dollars) in sales due to one button.
Finally, made it home from my holiday. Spent a LOT of time driving. This being spring, much of the driving was in road construction zones, constantly slowing down, speeding up and watching for flag people. All-in-all not very enjoyable.
We all know road construction is necessary. And, while we might not enjoy it – we all put up with it. However, ‘Under Contruction’ is something you should never see on a website.
Web page that waste their clients sites with links that go nowhere or to the all too common – “Page Under Construction” message have no place on any website – particularly a business website.
Keep your website professional – check that links still work and never – EVER – link to an “Under Construction” page.
A few years ago I saw an article saying Google had applied for a patented on the concept of basing search results on the users response to the items. The particular application quoted in the article was to base future results on how long a user spent on a page before returning the the search engine. Since then Google has refined the technique to what we now see as personalized search.
Personalized search means your search results are based on your past searches. For example if you are trying to determine the position of your website on the search engine results page (SERP) and continually click on the page once you find it, you may see it rise to a higher position. The search engine has learned your preference for that page when used with a specific set of keywords. Now, the SERP you see has no relevance to that seen by other users searching for the same term.
This means that a high SERP position can no longer be used as the ultimate measure of a websites success in bringing traffic to a site. As personalized search becomes more refined the differences between what you see and what your neighbour sees for the same search results will become more varied.
Search engines are already doing a good job of geo-targeting search results. (see Island Pizza Beats Pizza Hut ) So, a search for a plumber here in Comox is not going to give the same results as a search for an plumber in Victoria or even Campblell River.
So, how do you measure the success of a site? Qualified traffic!
Traffic by itself is a rather useless measure of a sites success. Qualified traffic, users that remain on the site, view at least two pages or, better yet, take some action that will lead to a sale, is the only true measurement. of success.
We still need to use the tools to view the SERP position for someone who doesn’t have a history with your page or keywords. And, we still need tools to get the results of searches from different geographical areas. But, these results now have to be viewed through the lens of personalized search.
Top Rank had an article on the Marketing blog A Strategic Approach to Internet Marketing with Content & SEO where they interviewed a number of marketing professionals on the importance of content in marketing online. While the comments were insightful, they seemed to me to lack one basic premise, knowledge of you audience. (I left a comment to that effect.)
Too many small businesses treat their website like a shotgun. If you have a wide enough pattern you are going to hit something. Put enough information on your site and someone will buy.
This is the wrong approach.
Think of your website as a laser pointer. Narrow your focus and put targeted information on the website. If you have more than one target audience – segment your website. Keep each area focused. Give your prospective customer the information they want. Don’t make them hunt through a lot of information they don’t want to find the relevant information.
Websites can be segmented in a wide variety of ways. Product segmentation is the most common. But, if you have a product that appeals to a wide variety of people you may want to segment by age, singles and married, families with kids, families without kids. The possiblities are endless. But you have to know your customers.
I got an email the other day from a fellow Vancouver Islander. He pointed out two errors in the wording on our home page. These were the type of errors you can look for all day and not see – yet someone else spots right away. They were also the type of thing that can cause people to doubt your professionalism – and I really appreciated the feedback.
I checked out his website – Oceanside Communications expecting a literary or copy writing site. Instead, I found the site was for video production.
Video production, like copy editing and photography is one of the areas where you have to decide whether to ‘wing it’ or get professional help. In many cases the decision is going to be based on what works for your brand.
There are any number of sites where grainy ‘web cam’ videos are part of image they want to portray. They are designed to develop a warm, ‘I am just like you’ feeling. However, the more professional or ‘up scale’ your product or service – the more you need the skills of a professional. Whether it is video production, photography, or copy writing – a skilled professional can add value to your website.
There was a post in one of the Google groups I belong to about splash pages. The group was for web developers, and the person was asking about integrating a spash page into WordPress.
This was the second time I had come across someone interested in a Splash page in the last two weeks. The first was from a potential customer who wanted us to do some SEO on her Splash page. The rest of the site was Flash and she wanted the Splash page to carry the SEO for the rest of the site. When we couldn’t convince her to redo the site without the Splash page – and the Flash pages as supplements to a regular site, we gently refused the job.
Splash pages were concieved, rather poorly, as an introduction to the main site. Think of your website as a store. Have you ever seen a store with someone guarding the door saying:
“You can’t come inside until I waste your time telling you nothing about our product or what we do. Thank you for listening — you may now enter the store.”
Sounds like something out of a Seinfeld sketch.
This is Broken – Again
Restroom sign in Braille
While coming back from a trip this spring my wife and I stopped at the Tim Horton’s in Merrit BC. For those of you south of the 49th parallel, Tim Horton’s is the Dunkin Donuts of the north. They are in most, if not all, cities accross Canada. While IMHO, they will never win any awards for great coffee – they are clean, friendly, and you always know what you are getting.
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