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Understanding Semantic Search

Fri, 25 Oct 2013 19:37:00 GMT

Google has been progressively rolling out some major changes and updates over the past two or so years. Last year Google debuted The Knowledge Graph, which is an extensive database of the most searched for people, places, and things. This year came Hummingbird, which was designed to provide users with better results based upon how you search, rather than from keywords used. These changes all result from a new search approach for Google.

Semantic search

Until recently, Google has primarily relied on keywords and phrases to provide users with links to their search results. This is no longer the way with semantic search.

Semantic search draws upon the use of language and the relationships between words used in a search in order to provide answers. It means to be an improvement of search accuracy by understanding user intent. When you search, Google will know right away what you're referring to and give you the answer by drawing upon its extensive knowledge database. It is Googles road to understanding conversational language used in searches.

Google is leveraging everything it knows about a searcher in order to provide semantic search results. Things such as device type, location, and search habits will all influence what Google presumes to be the user’s intent when performing a search. As the use of semantic search goes on, you are providing Google the entity information it needs for its Knowledge Graph.

Knowledge Graph

The Knowledge Graph is used to provide facts about people, places, and things in conjunction with Google's traditional results. It's Google's term for how it is building relationships between people places and things to report facts about them. The aim is to garner information from an extensive range of sources to make your search results more accurate.

Through the graph, Google is attempting to understand the query and establish associative context around the entities. Basically, the knowledge graph is aimed to produce answers not just links. It will help users get what they need without having to navigate through various websites to compile the information they get on their own.

Does it effect SEO?

So far, Keywords were easy to work with in the sense that you could optimize your site around them. Optimizing your site around the intent of users will be a little more challenging. Google hasn't explicitly stated whether or not there would be an impact on SEO; but know that when people perform a search they are looking for answers. They want personalized information at their fingertips.

Essentially you will need to write for human users and not search engines. With everything that you write ask yourself if it helps answer the searchers question. Good SEO goes beyond the reliance of your keywords. It is no secret that Google appreciates sites that provide original, well written, and original content.

Optimizing URLS for Beginners

Wed, 16 Oct 2013 16:24:00 GMT

URLs are used to specify the addresses of webpages. When a URL is properly formatted a user should be able to identify the subject matter immediately upon seeing it. They tell the web server what the page user wants. URLs are basically directions for humans and crawlers. Often times your CMS will generate the URLs of your website pages. However, you can help your search engine results by optimizing your URLs manually.

Benefits of optimized URLs:

Semantics. Well written URLs should make sense semantically. This is beneficial to both humans and search engines. It should reflect the page contents.

Relevancy. Sites are more likely to get search engine referred traffic due to the use of proper keywords in the URL.

How to improve URL structure

URLs that are properly formatted enable users to easily remember and share your pages. Clean URLs also help facilitate search engines in identifying the pages relevance to the search query. It is easier for crawlers to index clean URLs than haphazard ones.

That being said, the structure of your sites URLs should be as simple as possible. Indexing problems can occur when URLs are overly complex. Construct URLs logically and in a way that is both readable to humans and easily indexed by crawlers.

Depending on your CMS, it may generate a "messy" URL or a "clean" url.

For example:

A messy URL may look like this - http://www.yoursite.com/article.php/34317089/

Here, there is no indication in the URL of what the page content will be about.

In contrast a clean URL would resemble: http://www.yoursite.com/articles/optimizing-urls

In this example, you know that the page will be about optimizing URLs. Always make sure you use descriptive words that clearly represent the content of your pages.

Rewriting unsightly URLs

If your URLs are not up to the right standards, it's time to rewrite them. It may sound intimidating, however you can change the structure of your URLs without compromising your pages.

If you need to rewrite URLs as they appear in search engine results, it's best to do so by 301 redirects. Redirects ensure that both people and crawlers are directed to the right pages. There are several other instances where 301 redirects should be used. SEOmoz provides a great writeup for for redirect best practices.

For an in depth look at rewriting URLs for beginners, here is an excellent post from Smashing Magazine -Introduction to URL Rewriting. The article explains the process of rewriting URLs, how URL rewrites can help with your SEO, and some examples.

URL best practices

Optimizing your URLs doesn't have to be complicated. Here are some best practices to keep in mind:

Never repeat keywords throughout URLs
Optimize for both users and crawlers
It is recommended that URLs be in lowercase

When incorporating keywords:

Keep in mind that Google may not necessarily put lot of importance on keywords used in URLs. Keywords can help improve the click through rate from the search engine results pages. They are most important for user interaction. Use of keywords can make the URL memorable, be informative, and be helpful for users typing out the URL. Here are some tips:

Put most important words first.
Limit the number of keywords you use - keeping the URL short.
For better readability separate words with dashes (hyphens).
Make sure the keywords you use actually reflect the page's content.
Be careful not to stuff keywords in URLs. It's best if they are short, descriptive, and memorable.

URLs help users and crawlers identify what the content of the page will be. After Google's algorithm change, it is more important than ever that your URLs reflect user search queries. Make them short, descriptive, and memorable.

SEO and Content Marketing without Keyword Data

Wed, 09 Oct 2013 20:45:00 GMT

Initially, many were concerned with losing valuable keyword data with Googles recent algorithm change. The idea of the change is to help better understand the context of search queries and content; how people are using language, the meanings of words and phrases, and how they are used. The difference now is that we need to change our focus from getting traffic from keywords to getting traffic to pages. This may sound like a lot, but take a breath, because classic SEO and content strategy rules still largely apply. This means you can still have an actionable SEO strategy without the specific keyword data that was once provided.

Start with good planning:

Planning out your content is key in successfully engaging your audience. Make sure your content satisfies the targeted phrase behind it. Here's what to do:

Make sure your main point (targeted phrase) is totally apparent
Write for your target audience and personas
Be clear on the actions and thoughts you want readers to make and feel

Content marketers can still use other keyword research tools for inspiration. Paid search ads are an option since those keywords are still provided. Reports in Google Webmaster tools will provide some measurement for keyword visibility. Continue to plan content based on the experiences of your customers and the factors that drive your business.

Have a webmaster account

Having a Webmasters Tools account will provide you with valuable information for ongoing SEO strategies. Access to your search queries, crawl errors, malware infections, as well as a list of sites that linked to your site. You won't be able to see anything beyond 90 days, however it will give you an idea of your website's current keyword rankings and clicks in Google Search.

Get technical and be creative

Since you have lost visibility to the keywords that are driving traffic to your site, technical SEO research is critical.

Look at the other search engines. While Google holds a large percentage of search market share, you can still review keywords for the other searches forming from Bing and Yahoo.
Focus on other business objectives and results. Focus on lead generation, increasing conversions, and creating authentic content.
Track URL performance. You can see which pages of your site are performing and create content around those topics.

Optimize for mobile

Google recommends optimizing sites for mobile. Sites that are mobile-optimized will do better on search results than non-optimized sites. It's common knowledge that fast sites provide the best user experience. As stated by Google, "Faster sites make for a better user experience, and mobile sites are no exception..there are many pages out there that still don’t perform well on mobile." As more people access sites from their mobile devices it is critical your site performs to the highest standards. Your site will do better in SERPs if it is optimized for mobile.

Good SEO goes beyond the reliance of keyword data. You need to really think about your audience and provide the content that is important to them. Being unable to ascertain keyword data will not and more importantly should not cripple your SEO strategy. You can still have an actionable strategy without keywords if you plan, prioritize, and optimize.

Content Marketing and Search after Hummingbird

Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:00:00 GMT

Previously, the basis of online and content marketing was largely based upon keyword research. Marketers analyzed keywords to understand exactly how customers searched and arrived to their site. They used their findings to improve search engine results and create campaigns around keywords that were proven to work.

Google has totally changed it's algorithm though the release of Hummingbird. The changes are meant to take into account the whole search query rather than certain keywords. It's about a bigger picture and the natural evolution of search. That being said, it's still important to create quality content regularly. Here's what you can continue to do in light of these changes.

1. Continue to engage.

Although you can no longer determine the exact keywords that are driving people to your site, you can still see which URLs drove conversions. This means that you will still be able to see what sections of your site are performing the best and which need to perform better, based on your key performance indicators. It is still important to continue to engage with your audience. See what pieces of content work and from there drive them to make conversions.

2. Don't completely give up on keywords

There are still some methods you can use to see which keywords are producing traffic:

Adwords: Marketers can still use AdWords to create a campaign to see keywords that are driving traffic. Google has replaced it's previous Keyword Tool with Keyword Planner, which may help improve research for paid search campaigns. Keyword Planner is only accessible to those who have an Adwords account.
Bing and Yahoo!: It's also important to note that other search engines continue to pass along keyword data. You may not receive the full picture anymore but you can still get some indication of useful keywords.

3. Continue to create quality content

If you continue to create for your audience, write high quality content, and link to relevant websites your website is still going to rank well. People will continue to click on content links, keeping optimized content high in search results.

4. A mobile strategy is becoming even more essential

Google is continuing to focus on mobile and how to offer a better experience the user. This change is meant to facilitate Google in providing accurate and fast search results for mobile users. Since Hummingbird enables Google to better understand complex search queries, a proper mobile strategy is going to be essential.

Search data is continuously evolving. Marketers just need to become a bit more savvy in the content they produce. The stress is now, more than ever, on quality content and how you deliver it. It's time to listen, connect, and provide value - all to better serve users.

Content Marketing Problems & Solutions

Fri, 27 Sep 2013 17:25:00 GMT

The core concept of content marketing is simple - engage, build trust, and create a loyal following. Sometimes brands lose their way and convolute their message because of poor marketing tactics. Here are some common problems brands face with easy solutions.

Problem: Content is not performing

Your content may not be performing due to a number of reasons. It may be due to the lack of social media integration, you may be putting your company quota first instead of your audience, or you may simply be misplacing your efforts.

Solution: Begin by focusing on your customer and audience

The best way to get yourself on the right path is to identify the needs and requirements of your audience. Content that is often useful will focus on providing solutions to a problem. Content marketers care about their audience and understand their prospects.

Problem: You have content but it isn't reaching your audience

You have to know where your audience is online in order to get your content in front of their eyes. This may be obvious to some, but if you're a small business just starting out you may not know where to begin.

Solution: Find, acquire, and share with your audience in these steps:

1. First, define your target audience. Ask these questions:

What is the type of audience you want?
Who is your ideal consumer?
What do they like? What do they dislike?

2. From there you:

Identify what they do
Find out what is important to them
Find out their problems

3. Then, conduct your research through:

Surveys
Online forums
Market research

4. Finally, share your quality content. Here are some ways:

Targeted commentary. Write a Facebook update for a targeted audience in mind with a link to the post.
Relevant hashtags. Use when appropriate to expand shareability.
Chop your post into a set of tweets or Facebook posts and drip them out over time.
Leverage LinkedIn groups to target content delivery and share your blog posts there.
Incorporate "Click to Tweet" into your posts to encourage reader tweeting - useful for statistical information used in posts.
Don't forget to link to your blog in ALL social media profiles!

It's also important to review your the structure of your posts to improve the quality of your content marketing.

To further avoid problems, keep these do's and don'ts in mind:

Do:

Have a diverse mix of content. This includes blogging, infographics, statistics etc. Offer your audience a well rounded experience.
Blog REGULARLY - focus on high quality content.
Share all content on social media.
Make the content easily shareable by your audience.
Enter the conversation yourself! Respond to interesting blog posts and share the content of others.

Don't:

Avoid implementing a hard sell approach. Don't push services or products. Instead, engage and be a resource for others. In turn people will naturally gravitate to your site and circulate your content for you.
Don't focus on quantity over quality. If you can't come up with any quality content it's better to not write anything at all! Don't put too much focus on maintaining an average number of posts per week/month as you may risk it's quality.
Don't forget that content marketing isn't solely about lead generation. It's about forging relationships and becoming a resource. It's important to focus on customer retention at their benefit.

Your content marketing problems may not be the result of a lack of effort. You may just be focusing your efforts in the wrong way. Know that your audience IS out there - you just have to know what they want and where to look!

How Responsive Design Impacts SEO

Fri, 20 Sep 2013 14:38:00 GMT

Before deciding to delve into a responsive site design, it is important to know where the majority of your website traffic comes from. If you notice an upward trend in mobile searches the time for a responsive site may be near. A responsive site ensures that no matter how visitors arrive to your site, they will see all the same contents as they would on their desktops. These sites guarantee your visitors will find what they want without any restrictions due to the device they are on.

There are countless devices with varying screen sizes on the market. Responsive sites are the best way to guarantee consistency across the board. These sites not only cater to the customers search needs, but will also benefit your SEO. A responsive site provides consistent SEO results, allows you to easily avoid duplicate content, improves usability, and so much more.

Easily Avoid Duplicate Content

As you probably know, Google penalizes sites for duplicate content. Instead of housing content on the original site and on a separate mobile site, responsive design removes this need. The same content appears once across all platforms, adjusting to the device size.

Keep Links

Link building is a timely effort. Chances are you have already invested time into building backlinks on your current site. That being said, you'll probably want to use those same links to benefit your mobile site. When you build a stand alone mobile site, you'll have to build backlinks specifically for this site. A responsive site will maintain the same links across all platforms.

Better Usability

Mobile users desire an optimal experience. The better their experience- the better your SEO. Site quality is a huge SEO factor. When your site is poorly designed or is not optimized, users will bounce. Don't let visitors leave your site because you don't have a site that fits their search needs.

Maintain Current Onsite SEO Efforts

A responsive site allows you to maintain all of your previous onsite SEO. This includes your anchor text, internal linking structure, title tags, keywords, description and content. You won't have to optimize or create for a separate mobile site.

Improve Local Rankings

People are most likely looking for directions to local businesses from their mobile devices. If the user can't find what they are looking for they will leave your site. A responsive site that targets local keywords can help improve your search rank, decrease bounce rates, and enhance the user experience.

Other Benefits

Easier to maintain. Content and new feature updates are easily managed on responsive sites. You make a change in once place and it occurs across all platforms.
Consistent URL structure. A responsive site will eliminate the need for URL redirects and will eliminate any confusion.

Increases conversion rates. Since there is no need for redirection, there will be a positive impact on your conversion rates by eliminating performance barriers.

It is imperative that content and complete functionality of your website be available to mobile users. You will have consistent SEO results and seamless transitions. Responsive design positively impacts and impoves SEO. In order to satisfy users while maintaining important SEO juice, responsive design wins out.

Tips for Better Social Media Calls to Action

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:48:00 GMT

Social media calls to action really work. Direct calls to action on social media profiles have a high click rate and are a great way to drive people to take certain actions. There are different calls to action to use for all the different social media sites. It is important to integrate the right calls to action into your social media campaign.

Here are the steps to take:

Determine what you want your prospects to do. Your CTA's should encourage your audience to engage further with you. Make them an offer that they will be interested in.
Motivate them to take action. Create a sense of "take action now!" to your audience. You're competing against a lot of noise on social media sites and your biggest challenge will be finding a way to overcome this noise. Give them a one time offer that they simply cannot pass up.
Optimize your calls to action. This is an important aspect of your overall success. Make sure CTA's are optimized to be relevant, that they stand out, and are placed in order of importance. Read more about calls to action and design tips.
Make sure your landing pages and calls to action are consistent and reflect one another. In other words; show continuity.

Twitter

Ask for a download. Give people a clear direction and incentive to click. Have a new product or whitepaper that's ready for download? Here's your perfect opportunity to implement some social CTAs and boost those download numbers.

Ask for a retweet. Tip: Spell out the word Retweet instead of using the short RT. Ask people to retweet in order for their entry into a contest.

Ask for a follow. Reach new audiences on Twitter by simply asking for a follow. Provide incentive for a follow such as prizes or promoting a contest.

Ask for a reply. Use a conversational tone and ask for a reply or an opinion at the end of your Tweets. This helps boost engagement and also gives you some additional consumer insight.

Facebook

Use cover photo. Use it to promote a website, promote external content (such as whitepapers, ebooks, or infographics), or use the cover photo as an opportunity to promote a certain tab on your Facebook page. Using cover photos as CTAs is a great way to generate more Facebook leads, promote more content for your customers, and helps to improve conversations around what it is you are promoting.

Blog

Drive more likes to blog. Drive more likes, comments and shares to your blog by mentioning those exact keywords in your posts! You could also prompt a blog post reader to share your article on their social profiles. Try this - "If you enjoyed this post, take a second to share it with your friends on Facebook!". Sometimes it's as simple as that.

As you are formulating your call to actions keep a few things in mind:

Make your action obvious
Use powerful words to prompt your followers
Keep it short and sweet

Social call to actions are a great way to drive a wider audience to participate in certain campaigns. You'll need to tailer each call to action for each profile and for your target audience. Implementing CTAs can help drive more likes to your blog, get more follower participation in a new campaign or contest, and can boost your overall social media strategy.

Boost Conversion Rates Through These Landing Page Fixes

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:26:00 GMT

Landing pages are a fundamental and crucial part of a successful inbound marketing strategy. They are the center of your lead generation efforts and every campaign that you implement should be tied to a landing page offer. The sole purpose is to get visitors to perform a specific action such as downloading a whitepaper or signing up for a 30 day trial for a software that a company offers. Landing pages need to look good in order to perform well and sometimes important copy and design factors are overlooked.

The copy of a landing page can either seal the deal or send prospects running. Design also has an impact on the success of a landing page. Perhaps you already have a landing page and it's performance is less than stellar. If you've made some landing page mistakes, here's what you can do to fix them, as well as some other general fixes. Fix the problem now and you'll be on your way to better conversion rates.

Logo Recognition

Add the logos of some of your better known clients. This helps improve credibility and may as a result improve conversion rates.

User Reviews

Much like logos add a sense of legitimacy, user reviews help the customer in decision making and can ease any concerns. They give confidence to products or services and give the landing page a customer voice which will increase the chance of conversions.

Create a Responsive Site

Don't assume that people do not make purchases on their phones or tablets. People are still increasingly using their mobile devices in favor of a desktop. Make sure your site is accessable to everyone. Responsive design is not just a trend and isn't something to disregard. Repsonsive design is flexible and will not hurt SEO one bit.

Implement social media call to actions

Direct calls to action on social media profiles have a high click through rate and are a great way to drive people to take certain actions. Integrate the right social media call to actions into your campaign and boost your conversions. There is no better way to share your landing page than through the power of social media share buttons.

Improve your pitch or promise

If you're pitch or promise is coming across in a lackluster way, improve it's punch and delivery. Make it so that people believe there is no better offer than the one that is right in front of them.

Knowing the general structure of a landing page before you begin will save you from a few headaches down the road. Read our post on how how to create the ultimate landing page from scratch.

QUICK FIXES:

Design - Make sure the landing page is designed with one goal in mind. It's important that it moves the visitor to take a desired action. Design is important. If you use the right placement, colors, whitespace, and font (and test against another option) you will be able to choose the page that better performs.

Headline - The landing page can almost be deemed useless unless it has a believable, obtainable, and beneficial headline. Make sure it keeps the promise of the ad, link or email that brought the visitor to the page.

CTA - Stay away from generic call to actions. Tell the visitor that they're going to get something they want or need by clicking.

Proof - Back up promises with testimonials to prove credibility.

The center of your lead generation efforts revolves around landing pages. When successful they get visitors to turn into leads and customers. Improving and tweaking your landing page can make all the difference in your campaign's success. Tweaking the headline, design, or call to action can help in a way you didn't think possible.

How to Generate Leads Using Social Media

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 14:43:00 GMT

Lead generation is an important way to getting people naturally interested in your business. It is how you warm up potential customers and lead them to the path of eventually buying or investing in your product or brand. Lead generation techniques are vital to your inbound marketing efforts and will increase sales.

In oder to do this, you need to attract potential customers to your business and get them interested. A good way to generate leads is through social media. It may seem like an overwhelming place to start, as there are over 1 billion users on Facebook per month and there are over 50 million tweets sent out per day.

Don't panic - in this article, you'll learn how to focus your efforts utilizing different social media features to meet your lead generation goals.

Twitter

Twitter Chats. Twitter chats are hosted by a person (on their twitter account). Each chat uses a particular hashtag which enables other users to follow the conversation. This is a great place to gather leads as chats are usually community focused. Chats will help you gain visibility with the right people.
Hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to integrate keywords into your social media campaigns. Hashtags allow your tweet to reach the eyes of anyone who searches that word. Make sure you only use relevant hashtags in your Tweets and try to limit them to about 2 per Tweet.
Promoted Tweets. Promoted Tweets get your message in front of the right audience. You can target people by device, location, interests, and even gender. It's an ideal way to promote an event, deal, or service. Make sure you are aware of Twitter's advertiser policy before you begin.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a very useful tool for generating leads if used properly. You can use it to connect with prospective clients, announce new products, and to simply build awareness of your company. LinkedIn was made for engaging with an audience and building a network. Use it to get leads! Here's how:

Groups. Use groups as a way of demonstrating thought leadership in your market, then promote the group to grow the community. By creating or joining a group in your area of expertise you are closer to finding potential leads.

Identify group members who constantly ask questions or members who genuinely need help and answer their questions. This helps establish credibility and shows you take the relationships you make seriously.
DirectAds. This is a great way for members and businesses to deliver relevant opportunities to LinkedIn members. Targeted by profile demographic information, ads are pushed to LinkedIn subscribers.

Facebook

Facebook Ads. Placing an ad on Facebook is one of the most targeted advertising opportunities. They work in the same fashion as Google Ads - placing a bit telling Facebook how much you are willing to pay per click. You must try to craft your ad to get people to "like" your page - ultimately trying to build a long term relationship with them that will result in a purchase.
Promote posts. Use promoted posts to highlight important quality content on your page. It's another really easy way to get more people to see your posts. Here's the rundown from Facebook on the types of posts to promote.
Share offers. Sharing your content and current offers across all social platforms is a really easy way to try and generate leads. Try adding photos to your posts - visual content receives more clicks than the average post.

Blog

Connect blog. Connecting your blog to your social media profiles enables you to publish your post to Twitter and Facebook the moment it goes up. This is a fast and easy way to get your posts read and circulated by a larger audience. This is a great way to increase the likes and shares of your newest entries.
Respond. If someone takes the time to write a thoughtful and purposeful response to your post, take the time to respond. Respond whether it is positive or negative. If they ask a question, you should answer. Help your audience understand something that needs clarification. Provide additional links to help answer their questions. This helps build relationships and keeps the doors of communication open.
Post regularly. Finding the time to write and post regularly may seem difficult to some but it is extremely important. Good quality and steady content makes search engines happy and visitors like to see new content too!

Google+

Hangouts. Google+ Hangouts On Air allows you to engage with audience in real time. Host a hangout around an offer and show your value as a business. You can instantly save your hangout and post it to YouTube - getting it in front of an even larger audience. Learn more about hangouts.

Here are some additional social media tips on how to grow fans and expand your reach - something that is important when trying to capture leads:

Optimize your social presence
Promote this presence
Share useful and valuable content
Add social sharing buttons to all content
Find, follow and connect with people in your industry
Interact and respond to fans and followers
Optimize your social media call to actions

The more you interact, respond, follow, and share the more you'll get back in responses. You need to attract people to your brand and offer them valuable information. Build a relationship with your audience, expand your reach, and connect with potential clients!

How to Organize your Social Media Content

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:13:00 GMT

Social media is one of the main ways companies create and maintain their online presence. It helps to shape brand recognition and strengthen its position in the industry. Social media content must be refined beyond just putting messages out at random and crossing your fingers. It is a part of peoples every day lives and companies must make the most out of everything they publish.

Social media management is an ongoing process. The nature of it being a fast paced and constant flow of information leaves community managers with some pretty big tasks. Community managers must develop comprehensive content strategies for all of their channels, gather a variety of input, and monitor feedback.

Companies that use social media effectively will get more leads and customers than those who don't. Developing, organizing, and monitoring your social media content can become a daunting and time consuming task if you have the proper tools or insight. There are some simple tips and rules you can apply to your social media organization to make the best of your time and pack the biggest punch.

How to stay organized:

Organization may not come natural to some people. Sometimes there are shortcut fixes that end up creating long term problems. Taking shortcuts with your social media content plan will not help you reach your goals. Take the time to create a plan each month around your content, promotions and events based on a calendar. This will help you with your daily tasks and implementation.

Tool: Google Docs

This is a simple and free tool and will be a big asset. You can create a spreadsheet to map out your content for the month and easily share them with other departments.

Sometimes you may struggle with coming up with the right content at the right time. Here are some resources for finding social media and blogging content to help you along.

How to implement:

Now that you have organized and mapped out a plan for the month the sharing can begin. Start by scheduling some posts to share before the week begins. You'll feel better knowing you have shared something useful to your followers at least once a day. Advance scheduling allows you to monitor conversations easily. Be careful not to rely ONLY on scheduled posts as they can seem robotic and not personal.

Tool: TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a social media dashboard application that can help you manage your Twitter accounts easily. Aside from using this platform to schedule tweets, use it to create custom alerts on a combination of keywords, welcome new followers, and manage notifications.

How to monitor

There are several ways to monitor accounts and there are a few things to look for while monitoring. First, ask yourself "what does my business need to measure?" and go from there. Some metrics to measure:

Engagement
Influence
Followers
Mentions

It is also important to compare efforts to those of your competitors. It is important to monitor campaigns to take note of what is working, what isn't working, what followers respond to, etc. Having a plan and knowing what to monitor for each campaigns helps you stay organized when it comes time to lay out your next content strategy. You'll know what worked, what didn't, how to fix it, and have new content ideas ready to go.

Tool: Google Alerts

A free and easy way to monitor your social media campaigns is by using Google Alerts. It is the best way to monitor your brand mentions across the web. For every query that you're interested in, Google Alerts regularly checks for any new results. When there are new results, Google Alerts will notify you in an email.

Kicking off any campaign requires great organization. If you start off with an organized content plan, the implementation and subsequent monitoring will be a breeze and help you create content for your next campaign. The nature of social media is a constant flow of information and updates so using the right tools for the job is a key way to stay organized.

8 Elements of Effective Homepage Design

Fri, 31 May 2013 14:48:00 GMT

The homepage of your website must pack a punch as it is often the first page visitors land on. This means it must be perfectly designed to make a good first impression. The purpose of a homepage is to engage visitors and make it easy for them to find exactly what it is they are looking for. Use it to tell your story, elaborate brand objectives, and to build a strong brand image.

In all, a homepage should do three main things:

Fulfill it's purpose
Brand your business
Engage your visitors

The homepage needs to provide all the basic information about your business. This includes contact info, links to social media, overview of services, and any testimonials or industry recognitions that build your credibility.

Here are 10 elements that of a well designed and effective homepage:

Value Proposition

This is where you will identify the preferences and priorities of your target audience. You will give an idea of what your business does and what it can do for them. Give them a reason to choose your business but do so without overselling yourself.

Links to Social Media

Using a little homepage realestate, there is a great opportunity to get your visitors to engage with your company on social media. Place them in a subtle spot on your homepage to give them that little push they need to visit your social media pages. Check out these 8 resources to amp up your social media content if your own content needs a little boost.

Intuitive navigation

Navigation on your website is obvious, but it needs to be easy to understand and user friendly. Users should be able to easily navigate to all other pages on your site. A successful website will have an intuitive navigation.

CTA's

A call to action on a homepage is important as it helps navigate the visitor deeper into your site and engages them to take a specific action. One call to action is great but even having a few others is great as it provides a little something for all your different customers. Most likely a first time visitor will be looking for something a little different than a returning visitor. Having different options provides a unique and custom experience for both.

Contact Info

It is important that your visitors can find your contact info easily from your homepage. Provide all the necessities needed for your customers to contact you easily if need be.

Blog highlight

Highlighting your blog on your homepage is a great way to push some additional traffic to it. A lot of time and effort go into those posts to this is another way to get people to see it. Just like with social media buttons you don't want to overstate your blog highlight but you want it to be just noticeable while perusing your homepage. Don't forget that a blog is a great way to provide additonal insight and resources about your business and industry and is a way to further engage your audience. If you are wondering how to engage your audience, here are 5 content ideas to get you started.

High quality media

Media could include videos or photos, but make sure they are of the highest quality. Stay away from stock images and misleading photos. Use real and thoughtful images to help build trust. Videos are also a great way to keep your visitors engaged and interested in your brand. It's all about using diverse content to attract new visitors and keep returning ones invested in your company.

Overview of services

Keeping it simple and to the point, provide a brief overview of the services or products your visitors can expect to see from you. Include a link to each so they can read additional information on what you offer.

Recognitions or awards

Since your homepage is what makes the first impression, show off any industry recognitions or awards! It ads to your credibility and may help influence visitors to choose you over a competitor.

Make the right first impression with a perfectly designed homepage. Knowing what is needed to properly position your business while making your site intuitive for the user are the keys to success.

How to Keep your SEO Rank After Launching a Redesigned Website

Wed, 29 May 2013 16:01:00 GMT

A website redesign can be an exciting and terrifying experience all at the same time. Most likely you're redesigning your site perhaps because your business has grown and the site has become outdated and has functions and features that are no longer used. It may be the right time for a website redesign because the current site is not responsive and is not functional on all the different devices people use to access sites. Either way, it is an exciting time but can also be scary if you're worried about loosing all the SEO steam your site has gathered. The potential of losing traffic doesn't have to worry you if you implement these tips.

Know your site

Before doing anything you must know the existing pages and structure of your current website. Perform a website audit that is designed to be a complete inventory of your site and identify the areas that need improvement; paying attention to site structure, SEO, and the overall quality of content. It sounds time consuming but it greatly benefit the redesign process. How else would you know what to fix without knowing what's broken?

Preserve inbound links

An extremely important indicator to search engines that your site is worth directing traffic to is the number of inbound links your site has. You MUST create 301 redirects for these pages as well. If you don't remap them you'll lose these precious bits of SEO gold! A great tool to use for this is SEOMOZ Open Site Explorer.

Have a 301 Redirect plan

You'll need a thought out 301 redirect plan in order to preserve your inbound links and to ensure it goes smoothly. In order to prep for this migration, developers need to be familiar with .htaccess, mod_rewrite, and ISAPI_Rewrite and how to use them to issue 301's and to rewrite URLS.

And don't worry, a properly designed responsive site will not hurt or hinder the redirect process and should not be a problem.

Develop new content

To compensate for any possible dip in performance, develop new content for search engines to crawl. An ongoing content marketing plan should have always been in place, but if it wasn't now is the time! Spiders always love new content to index and is an important part of SEO.

Indexing

When you are indexing your site you are making sure that your site will be found along with the other websites in your niche. It is the process of gathering information from a recent site crawl by the Googlebot. To ensure the Googlebot crawl your site in a way that gets you notices is to create a sitemap .xml file inside of your new website. Also, you'll want to submit your sitemap to Google Webmasters tools.

Don't forget about optimization

A redesign is a great opportunity to go over your current optimization strategy. Look it over and document it making sure the new pages contain the same optimization. Don't forget to optimize title tag, meta description, headings, and content.

What to do after launch:

Track search engine ranks for any fluctuations to intercept any problems quickly
Create benchmarks of the before and after site launch. These include: a ranking report, running a website speed test, noting bounce rates, and checking pages indexed in Google.
Create a custom 404 error page for any pages that did become obsolete

Sometimes when going about a redesign, all the attention is put on what new elements will be added to the site, and not enough attention is being paid to auditing what is already achieving rankings.

With these tips you'll be able to tackle that redesign without any hesitations. If you know your site, preserve inbound links and have a plan before you get started, you'll keep your SEO rank in tact after launching your brand new website. Don't be afraid of what a redesign could do to your rank but DO pay attention to all the details!

How to Design a User Friendly Website Registration Form

Wed, 29 May 2013 15:58:00 GMT

From a users perspective, filling out a website registration form can seem both intimidating and bothersome. These forms however are an important part of doing business online and are extremely valuable. That being said, as marketers and website designers, we must always keep the intent of these forms in mind. You want potential customers to provide information on the forms in exchange for something you are offering. If you ignore certain UX choices, you will rub your website visitors the wrong way, thus loosing a lead or potential customer.

According to Forrester Research, "11% of US adults have previously abandoned an online purchase either because they didn't want to register online or the site they were visiting was asking for too much information". Many websites make it difficult to register by including too many form fields. Your potential customers want a simple registration process and you want them to fill out the fields honestly and completely.

When designing a sign-up form it's important that you:

Eliminate the fear of spam
Make the form easy to understand
Eliminate complexity

Design a user friendly website registration through these easy steps!

Use copy to build value around registration

You want to entice the visitor to provide their information on the basis that they'll get something too in return. Use a little copy to describe the benefits of registering.

Avoid form field greediness

The fewer the form fields the better. Determine the information that is most valuable as a start. The more information you ask of your visitors, the more likely they are to abandon the sign-up process. Just like a landing page should only ask one action of users, only require they provide the most important and relevant information.

Make security and privacy policies extremely clear

It is extremely important that you make your customers feel secure when they're providing any personal information. Eliminate the fear of spam by ensuring that their information will not be given out or abused in any way. Provide a link to your privacy policy along with indications of your sites security.

Make password requirements secure but not overly complicated

We all know online security is extremely important so it is crucial that user passwords are secure. Typically secure passwords are a mix of capitals, numbers, and special characters. This is a great start, however try to maintain reasonable password security expectations. Make things too complicated and people will often forget their passwords, make things too easy and security could be breached. If possible, include a visual indication of their password strength.

Enable easy password recovery

Sometimes visitors forget that they have in fact registered on your site before. It is also likely they they will have forgotten what password they used when registering. Make sure you make it easy for them to obtain their password so they don't abandon your site completely.

Clearly identify any form field errors

Mistakes are likely to occur when filling out forms. Show the user where the mistake occurred and explain the correct way to fill out the field.

Here is a good example of how you can show the mistakes and what the user needs to do to correct them:

Offer social sign-in

Also known as social authentication, allows visitors to sign into your site using networks such as Twitter or Facebook. This allows your visitors to register for your offer quicker and helps you gather more valid data about them.

Provide guest checkout option

Sometimes customers may not have the time to complete a full registration process. On ecommerce sites, offer the option of a guest checkout without registration. This will help to lead to more completed transactions while ensuring satisfied customers.

Be sure not to drive any potential leads or customers away by complicating the registration process. Eliminate the complexity of registration and squash the fears of users using the tips above. Now, you can easily design a user friendly registration form and obtain more complete registrations and transactions!

How to Design a Mobile Ready Email in 6 Easy Steps.

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:43:00 GMT

When designing mobile friendly email for your email marketing campaign, there are two extremely important roles that come into play: content and usability. To comply with these roles there are several design elements that need attention when creating a functional mobile email. Just as mobile friendly websites have become a necessity to many businesses, mobile friendly emails cannot afford to be forgotten.

Below are 6 design tips you can implement immediately on your next me designing a mobile ready email where content and usability are equally important.

Create an easy to read layout

A single column layout is probably the best option to choose when you consider the limited screen size of phones. Incorporate inline images that float right or left to the text to keep the email from being too boring. Single columned emails greatly increase legibility.

Enlarge fonts

Considering the size of the screen, make fonts enlarged and easy to read. Stick to using fonts that are 14x or larger. Fonts should be set larger than you would use in traditional emails.

Call to action

As true with any email, a strong call to action is needed in order to be effective. Don't be afraid to make the CTA button big and bold; front and center. It should be an obvious clickable or "tappable" button.

Use images carefully

Images are great but use them carefully. Aside from iOS they are automatically blocked by other operating systems and users have to approve their display. Also determine if they will render correctly and if not, it may be best to skip them and amp up the text a little.

Keep message concise

Since people are most likely scanning their emails on the go or away from their computers, it is extremely important to keep your message simple and to the point. Place all important design and content elements in the upper portion of the email.

Cut away clutter

Space is limited on handheld devices so cut down on any social sharing buttons and other navigations. Present a clean and streamlined design while keeping the email message at the forefront.

These are just a few design tips for you to implement when focusing on mobile ready emails and will hopefully help you better understand effective mobile marketing. It's been said before that responsive design is not just a trend and that designing for mobile devices is becoming a necessity for every business. This no longer just pertains to your website but also to the emails you send!

5 SEO Techniques to Stay Away From

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:49:00 GMT

If you're just starting up your own business and have never managed a web presence before, you may not be aware of the do's and don'ts of certain marketing practices. Sometimes, without even knowing, you may be practicing some bad or "black hat" seo tactics. You may think that what you're doing will benefit your sites search rank, however you can almost guarantee that it will kill your credibility as a trustworthy business.

Here are 5 SEO techniques to stay away from:

Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing occurs when a site is crammed with keywords in order to increase a sites search rank. There are several ways in which you may (and perhaps by accident) be participating in keyword stuffing.

Here's a list of ways in which this malpractice can occur:

Unnaturally repeating keyword phrases throughout content
Stuffing keywords in anchor text
Creating keyword lists or blocks of keywords
Adding irrelevant keywords

You can avoid this tactic by simply creating useful content in which your keywords occur naturally.

Low quality content

You can almost guarantee that you will rank higher in search engine results if you produce high quality content. You want your content to be useful and engaging to not only your core audience but to those who may stumble upon your site. Here are some ways in which you can instantly improve the quality of your content.

Only Focusing on Ranks

Chances are your search rank will likely fluctuate from time to time. It's tough to get to number one and it's even tougher to stay there. It's possible for your rank to change without you having even done anything to influence it. Try not to put all your focus on your rankings and focus on creating quality content that your readers will naturally share and link to.

Overloading anchor text

Anchor text is the visible characters that hyperlink display when linking to another document or location on the web (seomoz). To avoid abusing keywords in your anchor text, try to think of the ways in which readers may link to you. This could be your business name, website URL, etc. Get creative and think of a variety of relevant words or phrases to use. Always vary and don't overload your anchor text.

Swapping links

In this sort of "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" game, swapping links as a favor to another blogger or business owner as part of a link building approach is frowned upon. Links to your website is an important part of SEO because it signals to Google that your site is popular. However you need to be sure you don't abuse the way in which you get these inbound links. A good way to link to content is by linking to some of your own content in new blog posts. This is called internal linking and is a great way to increase movement, reinforce your topic, and what it is that you do.

It's easy to think that some of these tactics will benefit your search engine optimization strategy but they will definitely do more harm than good. If you willingly choose to use these unfavorable techniques you will be killing your credibility and your businesses trustworthiness. You can also assess the credibility of SEO companies buy measuring their practices and standards against what has been outlined above.

Create a "Likable" Content Marketing Campaign that Drives Website Traffic

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:16:00 GMT

Marketers who share the right content at the right time to their target audience will have no trouble driving traffic to their website. By creating a content marketing campaign that drives likes, shares, tweets etc., you will encourage users to click through to your website onto various landing pages, with the end goal of converting them to customers. Ultimately people want your expertise, not your content marketing pummeled on them, however if you find the right balance using these tips, you'll create a "likable" campaign that will drive traffic to your website.

Create the Perfect Message

Use a compelling and descriptive headline. Use the headline to advertise exactly what it is you're product or service offers.
Give people a reason to click. Whatever the platform, present a clear call to action. Be sure to deliver what it is you're offering. On Facebook and Twitter, make sure your audience knows that the link you provided leads to a landing page on your site; this will also help build trust.
Provide value, be consistent, and be dynamic. A content marketing campaign is useless unless there is value and consistency wrapped around a dynamic and well thought out brand presence.

Image Selection

Images elevate your content and help purvey your message. Images get shared on Facebook more than any other type of content. Use images to support your content marketing campaign, get more likes and shares on Facebook, and drive traffic to your website.

Standards for Sharing

Find your brand voice and follow these points to remain consistent and give your audience the content they like.

Be relevant. It is good to know what is appropriate, popular and timely according to your audience. This way, your job is made that much simpler when trying to connect and engage with them. You'll be able to accurately distribute the appropriate content to all the various social media channels and hit your target audience...all while being relevant and relatable!
Be consistent. Your tone and voice will be understood by your audience if you are consistent in every aspect of your content marketing campaign. Maintain consistency in your tone, voice, frequency of messaging, and kinds of messages.
Be informative. This is probably the most important element of creating a "likable" content marketing campaign. Be informative! Make sure your campaign brings insight to new and old users alike.
Be entertaining. Content that is entertaining is more likely to be shared and consumed. Try to form an emotional connection with your audience.
Be honest. Put a name, face, and personality to your brand. It will make you or your brand all that much more relatable!

Why People Share:

People share content for many reasons. Here are a few of the most common:

Product involvement. People have personally used a specific product and feel strongly enough about it to share with family and friends. They typically have had a positive experience with said product and want others to know about it.
Self involvement. Some may be personally affiliated with a product or brand and therefore share certain media pertaining to it.
To get the word our about causes or brands. Some people know others who are affiliated with a certain cause and share it within their social circles to further spread the word.
To bring valuable and entertaining content to others. People sometimes share certain content that they may find valuable to their family and friends. People often share entertaining content to brighten and lighten the day.

What People Share:

Educational content. As mentioned above, being entertaining is a standard of content marketing. People are more likely to share educational content than content that leaves the audience emotionless.
Informative content. Often times users will share content they found useful themselves to their circle of friends.
Entertaining content. Videos, memes, cartoons, jokes etc., are various content types that have a great potential of being widely shared.
Inspirational content. People love stories or excerpts that tug at their heartstrings and evoke emotion.

Most Frequently Shared Pages

People most often share these website pages:

Active campaigns. These could be contests, promotions, or giveaways. People love freebies, and social media platforms allow you to quickly share current promotions or contests. When your audience is encouraged to share your campaigns, they are helping to spread your brand message.
Blog posts. People follow you on Twitter, are fans on Facebook, and subscribe to your blog for a reason. They are interested in your brand and the content you produce. Most likely your audience will have friends or family who may also be interested in your company. Posting your blog posts to your social media profiles will give them the opportunity to share it within their own community. Make sure your content is of the highest quality otherwise you won't get many shares.
Product pages. You may want to stay clear of promoting your product pages on your own social media profiles, but that doesn't mean other people will never have the opportunity to share them! Provide social sharing buttons (such as Pin It buttons) so your audience can quickly share their favorite products on their profiles.

What not to share

Product pushes or advertisements. Do not just push your product or services onto your audience. Provide them with something more. The value of social networking is to build relationships and not to simply market to your fans.

People don't want to be blatantly advertised to so blend the above components to create a campaign that not only shows of your industry expertise but builds relationships. There are some content marketing challenges, but nothing a savvy marketer cannot overcome. By understanding what, why and where people share content, you'll have no trouble creating a campaign that appeals to new and returning customers.

5 Content Ideas Proven to Engage Audiences

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:39:00 GMT

There are many challenges that content marketers face. One of biggest challenges that applies to not only marketers but also to business owners, is the ability to constantly produce the kind of content people will find engaging. In addition, the ability to constantly create engaging and thoughtful blog posts can be extremely difficult. The benefits of blogging are too high to count, but a blog is an essential platform to use in order to increase web traffic, improve search rank, generate leads, and gain credibility.

Here are 5 easy content ideas that you can use to keep the content flowing and amp up your blog.

Lists
Posts that clearly lay out a number of tips and strategies are loved by both bloggers and readers. They are easy to write and easy to read. Customers typically do not have a lot of time to read through dense blog posts. A numbered lists allows for the content to be read quickly and to be easily absorbed.

How: Highlight a "10 best", "top 10", "10 greatest" etc., in your industry to encourage readership.
Trends
Developing a blog post around a news story or industry trend is a guaranteed way to engage your audience. Not only will they be engaged in your post, but you will further prove that you are on top of industry news and trends, boosting your credibility. News and trend reports are never ending, providing endless content ideas.

How: Use Google Alerts to research a current trending topic in your industry and tie it to your brand message.
Guest Posts
Enlisting a guest blogger to write for your blog is a great way to add value and expert opinion. Guest blogging helps to build relationships, can capture a wider audience, and can help with linkbuilding. You can choose to keep the guest bloggers within your company or you can extend outside of your company into your industry.

Tip: SeoMoz provides an excellent guide to guest blogging. In it contents you'll find which sites offer guest posts (should YOU ever decide to write one!), things you should pay attention to, guest blogging mistakes to avoid, prerequisites, and keys to producing truly unique and original content.
Interviews
Interviewing community leaders, customers, or industry influencers will bring fresh perspectives to your blog. You can further validate your business to new customers by providing reviews and perspectives from past customers.

How: Conduct interviews via email. Send them the questions and format their response as a blog post.
Answer Questions

Answering a common question about your industry, circles around your blog, or that you just happen to come across often is a great idea for content. Answers to any question provides great value. You can use this as an opportunity to shed some light on various topics. This type of content benefits new and returning readers and will keep them coming back to your blog in the hopes of finding out answers to future questions or concerns.

How: Often times readers will leave questions in blog post comments or send them via social media. Answer the most common question or the most intriguing for a start.

In addition to these rather broad content ideas, use these 8 resources to help you find social media and blogging content. Write blog posts with your readers in mind and keep them coming back for more by delivering clear, concise, valuable and engaging content!

5 Ways to Instantly Improve the Quality of Your Marketing Content

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:42:00 GMT

High quality content is as equally important to your website as is the design. Truly valuable marketing content addresses your target audiences needs and questions. You will have an easier time laying out your marketing content once you fully understand their needs and what they look to gain from reading your content. Performing regular quality checks and updates may also help improve your search ranking. It's a win win!

1. Implement visuals

Visuals will help improve content in a variety of ways. Enhance your readers experience by breaking up big chunks of content with visual media. Images and videos will grab your readers attention and keep hold of it. Also, visuals will often make content more sharable.

Consider these types of visuals:

Memes. An internet meme is a concept that can take the form of an image or video. Hashtag memes on social media to increase their reach.
Infographics. These are visual representations of certain statistics, information, data and other similar knowledge. They help audiences absorb sometimes complex information quickly and clearly. There are a number of tools to help you create your own infographics.
Photos. Spice up your photos by adding text. Adding text to a photo will help get your message across faster.
Videos. Video content can be used to drive awareness, leads and even sales. You can use videos to demonstrate a product, educate audiences, or to position your brand.

Visuals help create your brand identity and foster a deeper connection with your company.

2. Update landing pages

The purpose of landing pages is to lure your audience into navigating further into your site. Make sure your headlines and copy are clear, understandable, and creates interest to grab hold of your visitors. Keep in mind that any tweaks to keywords in your campaigns should also be reflected on your landing pages to further improve content quality.

3. Organize Content

An effective way to organize blog content is to assign each topic a level of difficulty. This will help target specific audiences from beginners to experts and everyone in between. Other ways to organize:

Tags. Tags are keywords and phrases that are associated with your content. Choose tags that quickly show your audience the important concepts in each piece.
Groupings. Reduce clutter though content groupings. Bring similar content together and make it easy for your audience to sort through your topics.

4. Edit and proofread

It may seem obvious, but your content should be edited and proofread before it's published. Content Marketing Institute has put together a comprehensive checklist of things you should do before you publish your content. This checklist is a great guide to use to when making sure your content is completely free of errors.

5. Improve the format

A large and dense looking block of content is definitely unappealing. There are a few ways in which you can help the readers identify the important pieces of information in throughout your content. Content that is properly formatted is easier to absorb and holds the attention of your audience. Here are a few ways that you can improve the format of your content:

Use bullet points. Use of bullet points help the important content stand out and absorbed quickly.
Use headings (H1, H2, H3). They help break up large sections and tell the reader what each section is about.
Highlight important facts. Use bold, italics or underlined text to emphasize important keywords or phrases.

Proper formatting will help make large blocks of content look more appealing, easier to read and boost the chances of it being shared via social media.

The benefits of creating quality content are numerous. Quality content engages visitors, gives the potential for a site to rank higher on search engine results pages, and can generate natural inbound links. There are also numers ways to improve the quality of your marketing content but the tips provided above can be implemented immediately. Keep your current audience satisfied and attract new visitors by performing regular quality checks!

Responsive Design is not Just a Trend

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 18:32:00 GMT

Here at Brunello Creative we've been talking a lot about responsive design lately. It is a hot topic among website designers and agencies. Responsive design is popular now because of the large numbers of tablets and smart phones on the market. Here on out blog, we've talked about how a responsive site can benefit ecommerce businesses and how mobile growth has impacted many companies decisions to redesign their websites to be responsive. It is necessary for developers to think about all the ways information is being viewed.

That being said, let's cover some additional things you need to know about responsive design.

It's not just a trend

Responsive design has been around for several years now, but really came to life in 2012. We will continue to see more and more sites adopt this type of design. It's not about doing what everyone else is doing, but rather doing what is best for your audience. If you see an upward trend of people accessing your site via mobile or tablet, it may be time to consider a site designed to fit their needs.

Responsive sites only need to be designed once

Content only needs to be applied once and the results take place across all platforms. No need for content specific to certain devices based upon screen size restrictions.

Mobile design and responsive design are totally different

A responsive site is a whole web design that can be built once and accessed on any device. Mobile sites are a completely separate entity to a companies main website. It is built up of its own images, content and most likely has its own subdomain. SEO is compromised as a totally different website needs to be optimized. We'll touch on this more a little later.

Responsive design is flexible

A fluid grid-based layout, flexible images and media, and css3 media queries are the core ingredients of responsive design. A responsive website adjusts its layout and features according to how it's being viewed.

Image size and quality are extremely important issues

The quality of the images used is extremely important as well as ensuring images are optimized for web. Images need to be large enough to view on a huge desktop screen, but they eventually get sized down visually for small screens. They are created large but then when viewed on smaller screens page load time is slightly compromised. Adaptive images provides a work around to this problem, however there is no perfect solution - just yet.

Responsive design is good for SEO

Since you'll only have one set of content to manage instead of multiple pages with multiple domains, management will be simpler. Link "juice" and page authority will be preserved. The page will retain its original link authority. No need for redirects which would ultimately take away from any ad campaigns. Take a look at Google's official recommendation of responsive sites and why it's beneficial to SEO.

Provides a consistent URL Structure

Traffic numbers are consolidated to one URL that are used across all platforms thus improving the performance of marketing campaigns. Your desktop and mobile content is provided by a single URL. A single URL makes it easier for your users to share and link to your content. A site with one URL and same HTML is easier for Google to crawl.

If you haven't already, you'll continue to see more articles written and see more sites designed to be responsive. Because of the large numbers of smart phone and tablet users it is imperative that designers and developers consider how people are accessing websites and make them truly accessible from any where on any platform. Responsive design isn't a trend it is the future of web design.

Landing Page Mistakes That Kill Conversion Rates.

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:32:00 GMT

Landing pages are one page elements meant to capture leads. They are often sales pages, opt-in email sign ups, or a blog subscription page. They may seem simple enough, but rest assured mistakes can be made. Without proper landing page design your visitors will bounce and the hope of any conversions will be killed. One thing to remember is that your landing page shouldn't be just about what you like, but it's about what your target audience will like.

Capture leads by avoiding these mistakes:

Too much copy

Remember this is a landing page, not your website. To much copy on a landing page can result in high bounce rates. The copy is too overwhelming and won't be absorbed buy visitors. Use copy that is short and to the point that includes the offer, value to the consumer, and the action they need to take to obtain the value.

Cluttering the page with irrelevant media

Unnecessary images will confuse the visitors thus killing conversions. Be sure to use relevant media that focuses on the proposition your campaign offers.

Ignoring basic website aesthetics

Your credibility will be crushed if you ignore the basics of web design. Great landing pages use the proper fonts, colors, and images that are tailored to the audience, enhancing their experience and boosting conversions! Make sure to improve the design of your existing landing pages to decrease bounce rates.

Driving visitors to your website homepage

Your websites homepage should never be considered a landing page. Create custom landing pages for each ad and cost per click campaign.

Using a generic headline

The success of a landing page can be summed up in its headline. Blow the headline and you'll ruin your chances of any conversions. The headline is your one chance to grab the attention of your visitors. A great headline will definitely boost the effectiveness of your landing page. A/B test different headlines to see which is more effective.

Providing too many options

Keep the users focus by only providing one option. The user will more likely perform a specific action of there is only one option given to them. A landing page should ask for one specific action and that's all. Often times the variety of choice ends with no choice at all.

Keeping the navigation

The navigation should be taken away especially if you are looking to increase leads. You don't want prospective customers steering away from your landing page.

Not tracking landing page performance

Be sure to track the performance of your landing pages so you can see which ones are doing better than the others.

No share links

What better way to get things to go viral than to share them on social media? Provide social sharing links on your landing pages so people can easily spread the word about the great offer your business is providing.

Aside from avoiding these mistakes, A/B testing is the best way you ensure complete optimization of your landing pages. Some factors to test are headlines, colors, call to actions, image positions and button sizes. Here are some do's and don'ts of A/B testing.

Further reading: How To Create a Landing Page: The Ultimate Guide.

Responsive Design for Ecommerce Sites

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:02:00 GMT

E-commerce websites make the lives of consumers very easy, as they allow us to browse and make purchases from the comfort of our home. However, more and more people are ditching their laptops in preference of tablets and smartphones; whether they are in their homes or elsewhere. This means that potential customers are accessing e-commerce sites that are not designed for their needs and the result is a loss of business. The number one most important thing about website design is to always keep the user in mind. You can do this by making your site, even an e-commerce site, accessible from any device.

Some important factors of e-commerce design:

Put Usability not aesthetics first. Usability is extremely critical for e-commerce sites as their prime means of revenue is through online interactions (purchases). Give users an easy and hassle free way to access your site.
Strong search functionality. You want to give the customer the ability to tract down specific products and their availability.
Build trust. Make sure company policies are accessible as to cut down on customer inquiries.
Use high quality images. This is the second most important factor about selling things online. Images should be of the highest quality and have the ability of being enlarged without becoming pixilated or distorted.

Given these highly important elements of e-commerce design, it's important to look at how a responsive e-commerce site would enhance each element.

Ask yourself:

What makes responsive design a good design choice for your customers?
What makes it special?
Would it be good for your business?

Sometimes you'll find that some businesses will have a website designed for desktops and when you access their site on a tablet or mobile device, they'll direct you to download their app. If you're a small business owner and trying to keep within certain budgetary constraints, it would be more expensive to build a separate website and mobile/tablet apps. Also, often times customers are simply not interested in the hassle of downloading yet another app. Keep the user in mind and give them a seamless high quality experience through a responsive site.

Here are some additional benefits of a responsive site:

Provides customers a high quality experience
Only needs to be designed once. There is no need for a web version, mobile version or tablet variation of your website.
Saves time and money (precious resources!)
Any changes or updates that need to be made only need to happen on one site
Where usability improves, bounce rates are decreased and conversions are increased.

If your main goal is to improve conversions, a responsive design website design approach may benefit your business, especially in todays increasingly mobile environment. Any web design that allow you to improve the user experience, increase conversions, and decrease bounce rates it is worth consideration. Here are a few additional questions to ask yoursef before deciding on a responsive design approach:

Does my target demographic access content mostly via mobile/tablet or laptop/desktop?
Does my target demographic need HD videos or media rich elements to aid in their decision making?
Do I have a store where it is important for people to comparison shop via mobile?

These questions should help you get thinking about your demographic, how they access your site, and what design elements are needed to navigate them through the buying process. If you see there is an upward trend in views from mobile devices and that your target demographic are early adopters, it may be time to consider a website designed to fit their changing needs!

Here are some examples of responsive e-commerce sites for you to check out:

Tip: Play around with the size of your browser to see how the sites adapt!

Burton

Suit Supply

United Pixelworkers

At its core, responsive design looks to solve accessibility and is about serving one HTML document to countless browsers and devices. Knowing how your customers are accessing your site may be one of the biggest deciding factors for a responsive design approach for your ecommerce site.

Read this interesting article from Smashing Magazine that discusses the disadvantages of building completely separate sites for all user devices.

Adwords is Revamped Through Google's Launch of Enhanced Campaigns

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 17:31:00 GMT

Often times you probably find yourself constantly switching between your smartphone, laptop or tablet. Throughout your day you're using whatever device that works best for where you are and what you're doing. Because of this, it is important for marketers to focus on reaching the right audience in the right context, rather than just targeting a specific device.

Google AdWords is undergoing a massive change in order to boost its mobile revenue during a time where the company has seen its cost per click fall for five consecutive quarters. They're trying to figure out how to get users to click on ads when accessing the web from a variety of different devices.

Advertising plans that used to require separate campaigns, like ones that required bidding differently by device or by location, can now be handled in a single enhanced campaign, making it easier to reach users no matter where they are or what device they are on.

In short,

Enhanced Campaigns:

Enable powerful bidding
Offer smarter ads
Complemented with advanced reporting metrics

With Enhanced Campaigns:

You'll no longer be able to target mobile devices in separate campaigns.
Campaigns will target all devices: desktops, tablets, and smartphones
As a complement, google will roll out cross-device conversion tracking - conversions will span devices

Enhanced Campaigns in AdWords

With enhanced campaigns, you control the mobile bid adjustments. Set your bid as a % of your desktop bids.
A "device preference" option can be set for each ad and ad extensions. This provides consistent messaging to all users, regardless of device.
For reporting, same user awareness is critical.

Upgrading to Enhanced campaigns

Will happen automatically in June
All previously desktop only campaigns will begin targeting users on mobile devices
Enhanced campaigns open up mobile targeting to your entire campaigns list

Why the change?

Over the last 5 or so years, growth in search volume from mobile phones has greatly outpaced growth in query volume from desktops the number of daily searches on Google from mobile devices is expected to surpass daily desktop search volume by next year.

Enhanced campaigns will feature ads that are optimized for devices. According to Google, new campaigns will be complete with the appropriate ad copy, links, and app or extension based on device capabilities. In addition, they will allow companies to analyze campaign performances.

Here's a closer look at enhanced campaigns.

Responsive Design and Mobile Growth

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:56:00 GMT

The Mobile Market continues to expand rapidly and as a result businesses are looking to capitalize and provide seamless user experience across all devices. It is increasingly important that websites can be accessed easily on any kind of device as the market continues to shift away from desktop computing. As we continue to move into the new year it may be a good idea to move forward with new responsive design techniques that are seamless for the audience.

Responsive Design

The increasing number of device resolutions are pushing designer/developers away from fixed width websites. Responsive design looks to achieve a seamless user experience across all screen resolutions without the need for multiple sites / applications. As we continue to move into the new year it may be a good idea to start thinking about how you can integrate responsive techniques to your site and engage the mobile market.

There are three core ingredients that make up responsive design. They are: a fluid grid-based layout, flexible images and media, and the css3 media queries.

Rather than build separate sites for each web and mobile device, responsive design uses media queries to create breakpoints that react to different properties of the devices. A responsive website can adjust its layout and features according to how it's being viewed. With that being said, there are various benefits to implementing a responsive website design for any business.

Content is focused

Limited space forces your team to consider what is truly important allowing for a greater focus on relevant and quality content.

SEO friendly

Some businesses do choose to design a completely different website for their mobile presence. As a result, a totally different website needs to be optimized. All of this is eliminated through responsive design. Traffic numbers are consolidated to one URL that are used across all platforms thus improving the performance of marketing campaigns.

Easy to manage

Content editing across all devices is done through a single markup simplifying the design/development process.

Reliable / Easy

Allows the browser to deliver the content rather than having to possibly download an app or redirect to micro sites or device specific markup.

What about cost?

Responsive web design creates fewer needs for stand alone sites and apps, having to design specifically for iOS, Android devices, desktop, notebook, laptop and tablet would get expensive. Website designers will spend less time maintaining multiple code bases and content would only need to be applied once and the results take place across all platforms. Responsive design is one way to focus resources while getting the most bang for your buck.

Moving Forward

If a site is responsive it will deliver the same content no matter the screen size. Because this approach is device agnostic your site is more future proof when the next generation of devices roll out. Sites that are responsive will stand the test of time longer than those that are not. That said the responsive development process is new and will take effort integrating with your company and team. Responsive design is also not the only answer depending on the scope of your project. You may find your needs are more specific and a more tailored solution is needed.

Responsive design adaptation is going to continue strongly as more and more companies look to create a cohesive design strategy across all platforms. Not giving proper and easy access to a company website to an audience at any given time is a major disadvantage. The key benefit to remember is that you can build a website once and it'll work across thousands of different screens. Keep a competitive edge by taking on responsive web design.

Six Revisions has put together 25 Beautiful Responsive Web Design Examples for Inspiration. Check them out for inspiration as to how your business can benefit from responsive design.

Facebook's New Social Search Tool, 'Graph Search' Demystified.

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:08:00 GMT

Social media's biggest player made a pretty big announcement yesterday. Facebook released news that had people waiting in anticipation for weeks. Yesterday, Zuckerberg and his team announced a new product, a kind of search engine they are calling "Graph Search". According to Facebook, this new search engine, which is still in beta, "allows people to use the graph to make new connections". This new feature will be gradually rolled out.

Graph Search is quite different than web search. It is a different kind of search that allows you the "ability to provide you answer and not links that MAY have answers", according to Zuckerberg. So let's take a look at Facebook Graph Search, search quality, and the new meaning of a "like" for individuals and businesses.

How Graph Search works.

Currently there are four main focuses of search. They are: people, photos, interests and places.

People Search. This is similar to the “Find Friend” toolbar that let users find friends by different cities, schools, employers etc. It is relaunched as part of People Search. Here are some search term examples: "friends who live in my city," "friends of friends who have been to New York," "people who like what I like".
Photo Search. Users can search for specific photos. Search examples: "photos I like," "photos of my friends," "photos of the Golden Gate Bridge".
Interest Search. Examples: "music my friends like," "movies my friends like," "books read by friends".
Places Search. Users can search for places by location. Search examples: "restaurants in Boston," "countries my friends have visited,".

Here's an image of what the format looks like from Facebook

The idea is that Facebook has enough data that people can find whatever they want on the social networking site. It will be a completely new way to get info out of Facebook and fundamentally different than web search. It will lead people to use Facebook in entirely new ways: finding a date, new job openings, new restaurants, and other new businesses in their areas or anywhere in the country.

Zuckerberg said that this push into search is actually a return to the company’s roots, “When I first made Facebook, we actually offered some functionality that was like this but only for your college,” he said. “Facebook then was arguably as much for meeting new people around you and exploring your community as it was for keeping in touch with the people you already knew. But it was such a hard problem to do it for more than a few thousand people at a time. We transitioned from connecting with whoever you wanted to primarily staying with people you already knew. But Graph Search is like the grown-up version of that discovery aspect. Exploring your community is a core human need, and this is the first big step we’re taking in that direction.” Facebook will utilize social signals to create a unique and comprehensive social search experience.

While there has been some skepticism (privacy concerns, naturally), it is an interesting product. With Facebook's Graph Search, it’s taking our existing behavior and incorporating it into the results without us having to do much of anything else. Basically, it is crowd-sourcing our lives. It is also safe to say that the feature results will most likely improve based upon how people actually use it.

What does this mean for businesses and individuals? Going forward be careful of what you "like" and "share" on Facebook. The businesses, photos, and other information that you "like" and "share" on Facebook will likely impact future search results. There is a new meaning to "likes" on Facebook. Make sure the things in your profile actually reflect your interests.

How to Determine the Right Time for a Website Redesign.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:54:00 GMT

Redesigning your website shouldn't be about just changing its look and feel. As technology continuously changes, redesigning and refreshing a website goes much deeper than the way it looks. Things such as improved functionality, presentation, increased load speed, and how easily they are updated are things that should prompt a website redesign.

Questions like these will help you assess where your current site stands and where you could possibly make improvements:

What do you like about your current website?
What is missing from your current site?
What do you want your new site to do that the current isn't?
What platform do you want your site to be built on?

Redesigning a website is a big undertaking, so there must be a clear vision and real purpose for it. There must be a problem that needs solving or something that is lacking on your site. The way sites are being used is changing and evolving. Here are some additional tell tale signs that can help you decide if its time for a redesign.

Your business has grown

If your business has grown since the launch of its website, it's time to re-evaluate it to make sure it meets the requirements of your business needs. You may want to engage your visitors in social media or publish company wide updates on your site.

Your current site is not responsive

With the huge array of products that are able to access the web that are out on the market, there has been a push to make websites more suited for these devices. It is no longer sufficient to design a website for a laptop or desktop. There is still a growing need for web designers to create sites that are accessible to those on their smartphones, gaming devices, TVs and so on. If your current site cannot be easily viewed on all these devices, it's definitely time to redesign your website.

The current site is hard to update

An updated site is what helps keep visitors coming back. Think about it; if you came across a retail website that hasn't been updated with new products at least seasonally, you wouldn't come back to that site again, would you? The same can be said for ANY site. If periodic updates are not made, there is no reason for people to keep coming back.

If you don't have the time to update your site, find someone who can help you. If you don't know HOW to update your site, its DEFINITELY time for a redesign. Consider hiring a website developer to install a CMS so that you can update the site yourself without any further help.

There are functions and features that are no longer used

As your website, as well as your business grows and matures, there may be some functional elements or features that are outdated and stale. If your portfolio is old, with projects listed from years ago, it may make people wonder what you've been up to recently! Include your most recent projects or products, and feature one or two on prominent pages like your home page or about us page. This will let your visitors know that your company continually grows and takes on new challenges.

Determine website redesign goals

Remember that it's not enough that you want a fresh look to your website. Since a redesign is a huge undertaking, it should only be considered when things aren't working the way they should be. Here are some measurable factors to assess when considering a redesign:

Increase number of visits/visitors to your site
Decrease bounce rates
Increase time spent on site
Drive organic traffic
Increase speed

Determining goals before you consult a web design company will help you stay organized and help create your vision. Of course they can help you in determining some additional goals that you may have overlooked or not thought of otherwise.

Make notes of your high-performing assets

The main goal of a redesign is to improve the performance of your website. Your current website may already have some assets that have been built up over time and are important to your site. These may include:

Highly shared content
High-trafficked pages
Top performing pages
A large number of inbound links to individual pages

It would be wise to make notes of these assets so that when you DO head into a redesign, important pages and highly shared content won't get removed. This could cost you a lot of SEO credit. Provide your website developer with a list of these assets so they can implement a strategy for maintaining these critical pages on your new site.

If any of the above rings true to your website, it may be time to start gathering your resources for a redesign. Redesigning a website is about more than plain esthetics. Technologies are constantly changing, as are design trends and necessities. Of course presentation is important but make sure the proper changes in functionality are implemented.