Website Marketing
There Are No Shortcuts to Awesome
This is a quote from a fellow web developer Andy Stratton in the US, presenting at a recent conference. Every client wants an ‘AWESOME’ website they can be proud of. But Andy reminded us that there’s still a trade-off when supplying any product or service. When I worked in the print industry back in the 90s, it was Quality, Speed, Low Price – Pick two.
Need traffic? The Website To-Do List
Ideally, an expertly rebuilt, Google-optimised website should get a 300-400% traffic increase within 3 months of going live.
The above results come from a project done by an expert colleague in the US. But sadly, this seldom happens, as the goals for most website rebuilds is around ‘the look’. It’s somehow assumed that more traffic will magically follow! Yeah, right
More Leads with Blog + Facebook Combo
This came from some recent stats out of the US today. It seems those who run an active blog get 55% more website traffic and 88% more sales leads!
However to me it comes down to having the right mix of communication channels available to customers. I have several clients selling their products or services to
consumers that use both their Website and a Facebook page very successfully. The general indication is that around half their new business comes from their WordPress blog and website, with people using a search and their site pops up. The other half comes from Facebook chatter and online referrals.
Businesses Missing out on eCommerce Dollars
A stark reminder of this fact came from an article today in Smart Company in Auzzie, We’ve no equivalent online magazine here in NZ, but the Australian small business and retail experience discussed in their articles mirrors what’s happening here.
Do we really need graphic designers to build websites?
This came out of some debate on a linkedin forum recently. There was a comment from Mike Hihn, an industry veteran who does online marketing for business.
“As for what I call owner-build websites, I have marketing/sales/SEO packages which include no design at all – other than helping them determine how many landing pages to have, and their best keywords, BEFORE designing the site. And analysing what the competition is doing, which very few pure designers even ask about (so I’m told)… The two most important factors in a website are content and links, neither of which has anything at all to do with graphic design. …..anyone focused on the bottom line should build their own [content-managed] site, then hire somebody to help them with the marketing and search aspects…”
Read more on Do we really need graphic designers to build websites?…
Fastest Growing, Most Popular CMS – WordPress
We’ve had a few things to say round the benefits of WordPress technology over the last year for small business website projects. e.g. Best small biz CMS (Content Management System) web platform. Easily optimised for Google Search. Best upgrade path. Ease of use, being the ability to self-manage content. Mobile apps and compatibility. Support etc, These amazing feature-benefits have been acknowledged by website designers and developers worldwide. Here’s the latest stats of WordPress platform adoption.
Here’s the 12 major reasons Google hates you…
Not getting your share?
Successful websites get lots of traffic, with around 70% sent from Google.
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Site not well optimised for phrases or keywords that people actually search for.
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Site pages and their headings (H1/H2 tags) are poorly chosen and/or not relevant
6 Ways to BE FOUND online
Much of our time these days is around building websites for clients that ‘GET FOUND’.
In many respects, it’s never been more difficult. Competition is high for all sectors and keywords with millions of sites found. Any success comes from a complex art of on-site and off-site strategies. And when you talk to the ‘experts’, few agree on what works best. There is no single magic fix. Just hard work. However with Google sending most sites 60-70% of their traffic, the need for business to appear on Page one of Google is dire.
15 Million Downloads!
This was the heading of an article in techcrunch this week, (read more) being a popular daily news site for those geeks and marketers that monitor technology and the net.
15 million sounds important to someone, but what does it mean?
YOU Like Your Website – But Does Google?
SEO and the ability of a website to ‘be found’ by Google is ever-changing. Unfortunately design schools seldom teach the intricacies of search marketing – Which is why most small business websites today are ranked low by Google and will never get to Page One.
All advice and opinions here are offered freely on a no-liability basis.
