What we did

Headstand Media created and executed a plan to bring a more strategic, improved and memorable user experience to the Magenium Solutions website. During the discovery phase we identified content for key target audiences, developed a search strategy, created in-depth wireframes that outlined all page types and created an updated site/content architecture.

In the following creative design phase we designed an updated user interface and experience for the website that incorporated a modern look with specific action-oriented call-outs. Headstand then converted the final approved interface designs into HTML/CSS/Javascript templates.

These master design template files were then integrated into Magenium’s Sitecore content management system my Magenium developers.

Project goals

• Increase the number of new business leads and inquiries
• Create a more remarkable and effective user experience
• Provide more in-depth content and information around the solutions and technology that Magenium offers

Do you need help developing a customized digital strategy for your company? Contact Headstand Media to learn how we can help.

What we did

Throughout this project, it was our goal create a new website for Heritage that would look great, be easy to navigate and that would drive more patient referrals to their office. To accomplish this we updated the entire user interface, developed a more intuitive content organization plan, build the site with search engine optimization best practices and gave Heritage the ability to create regular and timely site content with a new blog.

Moving their site from a static framework into a CMS (WordPress) has empowered them to edit and add content to their site in a strategic and timely manner.

Custom staff filter

One UI challenge we faced was how to help users find the right staff member with a set of expertise that fits their needs in a location that is convenient to them. To solve this problem, we created a dynamic custom staff filter using Javascript jQuery that allows each visitor to select an area of focus (i.e. Addiction, Family Therapy, PTSD) and their desired location. You can view how this staff filter works here.

Looking forward

We are very excited about the potential improvements Heritage Professional Associates will experience in new client referrals due to the many improvements on this site. We are monitoring their site analytics and anticipate being able to report significant contributions to the practice as a result of their improved search engine performance. Although it is too early to make any final assessments, it is encouraging to note that in the first week of the new site, it received 40 more Google search referrals that their average weekly Google referral rate from all of 2012.

The Question

Thanks go to Tom Martin for writing this great blog post - How Much Should A Digital Marketing Strategy Cost? - and articulating a thought-provoking and assumption-challenging response to this question.

Tom writes that when he is confronted with this question, he asks a simple question back:

“How long does it take to think a thought?”

This question puts the questioner in the position of having to think about the assumptions in their question.

The Problem

We live in a world where more and more elements of it are being measured, analyzed and bottom-lined. Yet, the creative and artistic process cannot be valued in these kinds of equations.

Tom is right in asserting:

“Great Marketing Is Built On Great Thought”

Or as I would rephrase it in our business context:

Great digital strategy is built on great thinking.

In the last section of his blog post, Tom asks,

“What Kind Of Thought Would You Like Today?”

When it all boils down, clients don’t want half-baked, small, limited, uninformed, average thinking from their digital strategy partner. They want creative, grand, custom, unique and exciting ideas that will add value to their business or organization.

“The innovative marketing idea that drives a 20% increase in sales is just as valuable to the client if thought of in five minutes or five days.” – Tom Martin

So true.

The Answer

It seems to me that a digital strategy should cost the customer an amount that is fair based upon its worth to their business, organization or brand. This view is my underlying philosophy when communicating about this topic with clients and prospects.

So, thanks again to Tom Martin for this great blog post! I now have some better thoughts and language with which to engage with our customers and prospects around the value of our digital strategy services.

For the first 12 weeks in 2013, we will be engaged in helping one of our larger corporate customers to assess a section of their company intranet that serves approximately 30,000 employees. The goal of this first phase project is to determine the best way to reorganize the content to reflect the company’s new enterprise level business structure, and make the intranet a more effective business tool for its users.

There are many elements of digital strategy that still apply to a corporate intranet:

• User experience / creative visual design
• Content organization / navigation systems
• Search feature capabilities (within the private intranet, not public Google)
• Social media-like features such as internal blogs, discussion/commenting, content tagging, rankings and ratings of content by users, video, etc.
• User generated content
• Personalization of content
• Workflow, business procedures and standards
• Document and resource libraries
• Digital asset management
• Mobile access and apps

Headstand Media will be applying these and other digital strategy principles as we study the existing intranet and make recommendations for its redesign and reorganization.

Happy holidays from everyone here at Headstand Media. As you can probably guess, some of us participated in the ugly Christmas sweater contest. We’ll leave it up to you to guess who won…

We’re passing them along to you because we feel they are very valuable for anyone that is involved in SEO, search/digital strategy, content creation or anyone whose business depends on ranking strongly in Google.

Here is a summary of the Q&A by Search Engine Watch. In this article you’ll find answers to questions like:

• Is Bounce Rate a Signal in Determining What Content May be Spam?
• Negative SEO – Will Google Add an Option to Disavow Links?
• Is Google Trying to Make a Point About Buying Links?
• Will a Reconsideration Request Help You Recover From Penguin?

No surprise that this video is also in alignment with the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide document.

This video and guide document contain the basis for the customized advice that Headstand Media provides to our clients when helping them develop a digital strategy for their business or organization. Let us know if we can help you apply these basics to your business or organization.

These early 2009 conversations lead to Patrick hiring Headstand Media to repurpose his static HTML site into WordPress, adding features that allowed him to add, edit and delete content, and implement a website content strategy that we educated him about and described for him to follow. This he did, and did very well. He treated us like a valued business partner, calling and emailing questions and ideas in a free flowing collaborative manner.

Digital Strategy Results

The results in that first year were amazing. By 2010 his site traffic had more than tripled, and many of those unique visitors made an inquiry, which lead to a new client relationship, which grew his practice. After making additional changes and implementing even more fine tuned strategies that we suggested, in the following year the site traffic almost doubled with similar conversion to new business.

In 2011, Headstand Media launched a second generation website design with more fine tuned adjustments and changes to the site search strategy. Included in the new strategy are client testimonials and videos, syndicated on YouTube, giving Richards Patent Law a presence in this important content channel. The user experience for the site visitor has been greatly enhanced with upgraded professional photography by an award-winning Chicago Tribune photographer, and a cleaner and easier to understand navigation system.

Google Search Results

Keyword Phrases and Google Search Results as of the date of this post:

• Chicago Patent Law = #1
• Chicago Patent Lawyer = #1
• Chicago Patent Lawyers = #1
• Chicago Patent Attorney = #1
• Chicago Patent Attorneys = #2

Depending on your location, Richards Patent Law will also be #1 for more generic terms like patent law, patent lawyer, and patent attorney.

The Big Question

Can a digital strategy really make a difference to a business or organization? The answer for Richards Patent Law is a resounding Yes! Can it make a difference for you? The answer is the same if the following key conditions are met:

• An openness and commitment to educating oneself about the foundational principles communicated by Headstand Media.
• A willingness to change internal culture and ways of thinking and doing business for the sake of growing your business or organization.
• The wisdom and perseverance to invest time, resources and money in implementing the strategy and giving it a chance to work.
• An experimental attitude that collaborates with Headstand Media to measure the data, interpret the results and make continual and gradual changes over an adequate and reasonable period of time.

Need help with your digital strategy?

If you’d like to learn more about how a targeted digital strategy can help you or your business, please contact Headstand Media today. We’d love to talk to you.

Each attender was given a name tag as they entered, and were asked not to put their name on it, but instead their twitter handle (mine happens to be @digitalbenjamin). Each person was given a gift bag that included a Cubs “social media” t-shirt, a copy of Vine Line magazine, the smallest foam finger I’ve ever seen, a voucher for a Vienna Beef (@viennabeef) hot dog and a multi-card set of Cubs “Social Media Series” baseball cards featuring Cub players that are on Twitter. As an added bonus, there were randomly inserted cards autographed by the players featured.

The 3 person panel itself was hosted by Kevin Saghy. Robbie Gould shared about social media from an athlete’s perspective. He uses it primarily to connect with the public, build up his own fan base and promote his local charity. Carrie Muskat approaches social media from a different perspective in that she is a reporter for the Cubs and an employee of MLB. Carrie said she primarily uses Twitter for 1) Sharing team news and stories, 2) Following other Cubs reporters and blogs to get the latest team/player news and 3) To follow current players who Tweet.

The most interesting part of this event however, was hearing how the Cubs use social media as an organization. So this is what I wanted to share with you primarily in this blog post.

How the Chicago Cubs use social media

1. Deliver the core values of the Cubs

The main thing the Cubs want to do through Twitter is to share who they are as an organization and what they value. This is simply an extension of how they approach marketing themselves in other digital and non-digital channels. No surprise, right? But some organizations lose the fact that you need a cohesive marketing strategy, and that you don’t change “who you are” based on the channel you’re talking through.

2. Get to know their key influencers

The Cubs goal is to not only get to know fans, but also their key influencers as well. This includes bloggers, members of the media, writers and people who run websites dedicated to talking about the team. They understand the benefits of having a healthy relationship with these individuals.

3. Listening and engaging

It’s clear that it’s a priority for the Cubs to actually listen to their fan base. Kevin said that he and his team ready every single tweet and message they receive through Twitter, and they often respond. Kevin asked the group how many people received a personal response or reply from @Cubs on Twitter and a large number of hands went up. They not only listen and engage on Twitter, but they also pull together user trend reports based on their Twitter activity and then share that information in meetings. These reports focus on what they see is and is not working on their Twitter channel.

One neat story Kevin shared that illustrates how the Cubs engage their fan base is that they have started taking questions on Twitter during the game and answering them. The example he gave was answering a question from someone in Section 204 who asked where was the closest concession stand that sold chicken sandwiches.

4. Offer something of real value to the fans

Along with sharing news and conversing with fans, the Cubs also use Twitter to offer its followers great prizes through sweepstakes, giveaways, care packages and more. They just started a “Tweet Your Seat” offer where fans are encouraged to tweet their actual seat #, and then the Cubs will upgrade 1 lucky person to a great seat close to the field.

5. Financial benefit

Just like any business, the Cubs are always looking to increase revenue and make more money. This reality is not lost on the use of Twitter for them. The Cubs also tweet commercial types of messages that include ticket offers, event information, merchandise deals and more. All of this interaction is tracked and measured by the Cubs so it’s easy for them to put an ROI on the use of Twitter. They said that although this point is not the main reason the Cubs are engaging in social media, it still is an important one.

Kevin mentioned that the new management is more supportive of the use of social media and I can only assume that trend will continue. Overall the night was very enjoyable (despite the Cubs bullpen blowing the game in the 8th and 9th). The Cubs viewed this night as a “thank you” to the many fans that engage with the Cubs online. If you are interested in attending the next Social Media Night on September 17th, you can find more information here.

Based upon the combined experience of the Headstand Media team designing and building hundreds of websites since 1996, I’ve put together my Top 10 List of features that help websites succeed. Here they are:

1. Develop a Digital Strategy

Our 21st century world is too complex, changing and technology dependent to fly by the seat of your pants. Every business or organization needs an overarching strategy to guide their decision making regarding the constantly changing world of digital technology. As new sites and platforms become popular, many organizations get caught “chasing the shiny object,” without a clear direction or purpose. Some recent examples of digital media changes are the rapid popularity of Pinterest, or the growing use of YouTube as a search engine.

These examples raise questions like: “Should I have a Pinterest account or not?” “Should I have a YouTube channel and how would I use it most effectively?” Upon what criteria would one make these decisions? You might wonder why a company like Apple Computer doesn’t use Pinterest, or Facebook and Twitter for that matter … yet many other companies do? The bottom line here is how do you know that the money and energy you are putting into digital media are being used in the most effective manner to build your business?

To answer these and more questions, most people need a trusted advisor and partner helping them understand all the factors at play to determine what the most appropriate strategy is for their business or organization. This happens to be the point at which Headstand Media most often engages with new customers. To start the digital strategy process, contact us using our contact web form.

2. Buy a Great Domain Name

What is a name worth? Well, on the web, it can make all the difference. Simple, short, memorable names just plain work better. People remember them. They can play an important role in building great brand recognition. Not only is this important for your business or brand, it is important to be able to get the domain that matches your name/brand. If it is not available, you should consider changing your name or brand, or buying the domain you need from its owner.

If I am going to sell custom clothes hangers online, should I call my business Randy’s Custom Hangers (randyshangers.com), or should I get a more generic domain like: customclotheshangers.com? Maybe I should get both… but how do I use them most effectively?

The answers to these questions are also informed by a digital strategy. In most cases a digital strategy should be developed and is most helpful BEFORE these kind of foundational business decisions are made. In today’s world, the name and the domain of your business plays a huge role in its potential for success.

3. Organize Your Content

When writing a paper for school, a newspaper article or really anything you want people to actually read, the better organized the content, the more likely it is to be read. On the web (and elsewhere, certainly) people don’t read long pages of densely written copy. They skim and scan and make split second subconscious decisions about staying or leaving your page. They might read shorter sections of content that have clear headings communicating what the content is about.

Google understands this maybe better than anyone out there. Their search engine rewards websites that have well organized content, and penalizes websites that don’t. On page 15 of the Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide they offer this advice:

• Write easy-to-read text
• Stay organized around the topic
• Create fresh, unique content
• Create content primarily for your users, not search engines

On page 20 of the Guide they also suggest: “Use heading tags to emphasize important text.” They further suggest that you imagine that you’re writing an outline, putting thought into what the main points and subpoints are, and then using heading tags accordingly. If you don’t know what heading tags are, they are explained in this same document. We suggest that anyone serious about improving their website should become intimately familiar with this critically important document. Download The Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.

4. Create Intuitive Navigation

If the organization of information on a single page of content is critical for success, so is the organization of pages within the website, which is the foundation of the navigation system.

The navigation of your website is very important for search engines and your users. Some helpful tips from Google are:

• Plan your navigation based upon your home page
• Create a naturally flowing hierarchy
• Use mostly text for navigation
• Ensure more convenience for users by using “breadcrumb lists”
• Allow for the possibility of part of the URL being removed
• Prepare 2 sitemaps, one for users, and one for search engines

5. Include Critical Business and Contact Information

How many times have you arrived at a site that you expected to have the information you are looking for, only to not be able to find the most simple, basic information? People sometimes get caught up in the “cool factor” of flashy features, background music, and all sorts of other web gimmicks and forget to include the most obvious and logical things such as contact information, location maps and business hours, menus or products and services listed, and so forth.

Don’t get carried away with the gimmicks. Remember that your website is primarily meant to serve your website visitors, not you and your personal tastes and preferences. If it is a site centered around you, your likes, preferences and ideas, it will most likely not succeed.

6. Integrate with Social Media

The Internet is no longer just a repository of information. It has become the primary communication and relationship connecting platform for the global marketplace. Social media isn’t just about “social” but is actually still human “word-of-mouth” trust, facilitated to a new level by technology. Successful businesses and organizations understand this and learn to connect their products and services into this powerful human trust and interaction network.

Again Google suggests that to succeed you:

• Know and get educated about social media sites
• Reach out to those in your site’s related community
• Promote your site in the right ways
• Master making announcements via blogs and being recognized online

7. Build a Mobile Ready Version

It is clear to anyone paying attention that websites are being accessed via mobile and hand held devices at an increasing rate. Within the next few years experts predict that the majority of web access will be through these devices. A successful website needs to have a mobile version that can be easily accessed and used by mobile users. Google suggests:

• Run desktop and mobile versions of your site
• Redirect mobile users to the correct version
• Switch content based on User-agent

Those who ignore this trend will only find themselves having to catch up in a few years, and for many businesses and organizations, that will be too late.

8. Provide Appropriate Security and Hosting

Many websites are hosted based upon cost or pricing. They overlook the high cost of losing business because a website is down, slow or insecure. In the big picture, $5 per month web hosting may not be in your best interest. Successful websites are hosted on appropriate technology platforms by reliable by reputable Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), at competitive, fair and reasonable prices.

If your site handles sensitive information, or facilitates financial transactions of any kind, you need to make sure the appropriate security is in place and functioning properly. Most ISP’s are very helpful on these more technical aspects of a website. A reputable and experienced web designer or development firm will also be knowledgeable and helpful on this important topic.

9. Include an FAQ Section

Many people are not aware of how many searches are done every day in search engines put in the form of a question. “How do I file a patent?” “How do I file an insurance claim?” These are just a few examples of the thousands of questions asked everyday. It is no longer a good idea to withhold information about your business or organization online. Answer as many questions as you can, publicly and authentically. Some of the most successful websites have extensive FAQ or Question and Answer sections containing hundreds of pages of content.

By providing a section on your website that anticipates the most likely and common questions people may have about your products or services, you not only help them as users, but also help the search engines deliver answers to people asking these questions.

10. Use Google Analytics

It’s amazing how many websites still don’t use this free and incredibly powerful tool. All you need is a Google account (free) to add this feature to your site. By placing a small bit of custom code supplied by Google on your website, your website traffic, visits, referrals, and many other statistics are made available to you 24×7.

Interpreting these statistics correctly can help you optimize your site for increased performance.

Oh, and Don’t Do These Things!

• Don’t Use Flash – This technology might be “cool” but it doesn’t work on iPhones and iPads, and most of the time its content is invisible to search engines. Use Javascript and HTML5 instead.
• Don’t use an “Intro” or “Demo” page before your home page loads. Google assumes the first page of a website is the “home page.” If you first page is an animation or video, Google will think your website home page has no content.
• Don’t use background music or any other kind of background loading technology. Not only is this annoying to users, it makes your web pages load more slowly.
• Don’t assume that because you like your website design, everybody else will too. Get a professional opinion and follow good advice about design, user experience and interaction.

We are interested in your thoughts related to our Top 10 list. Do you agree or disagree? Let us know by sharing your perspectives and points of view using the commenting feature below.