It seems like everyone wants to improve their website design these days. Maybe it’s that time of year, or maybe we get bored with our website after six months or so.

Of course, it could be that nagging feeling that your website isn’t getting the results you’re looking for… like lots of visitors, leads, and sales!

Whatever the reason, here are seven important questions to consider before starting your website design project.

1.  What’s the (real) purpose of your website?

• Generate leads and phone calls?
• Support the efforts of your sales team?
• Sell your products?
• Offer engaging content to build an audience?
• Provide helpful information about your company?

It’s okay to have more than one purpose. Just be clear on what the main one is so that you can design your website with that purpose in mind.

2.  Who is your target audience?

Can you describe them in detail? I hope so… since you’ll be spending plenty of time and money trying to find them on the Internet. Not to mention, hoping to get these prospects addicted to your website and offering. Again, who are you targeting?

3.  Can prospects find your website in search results?

Make your website “search friendly” so it shows up in the search results of your target audience, since the more people that find your site via “natural search” the less you’ll need to spend on marketing to find them. Not sure how to search engine optimize (SEO) your website? Get an expert to do it for you.

4.  How will your website visitors know they’ve come to the right place?

Your logo, “tagline”, and a handful of short benefit statements (with search-friendly keywords!) are really important for explaining what your website is all about and why your business is different. Photos, videos, and testimonials can also help tell your story and engage your target audience.

5.  How easy is it for prospects to find and act on what they’re looking for?

What do your website visitors want to do? And have you designed your site with these actions in mind? Take the time to figure this out before you redesign your website. For example, is it easy to learn about your services and pricing, or (gasp!) reach out and contact you?

6.  Have you made social media part of your website design?

Get customers and prospects to “like”, “tweet”, and otherwise share your website content with their social network. Put your business on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Start a blog, and post reviews and testimonials. Bottom line: make it easy for everyone to “spread the word” about your business!

7.  How will you know if your website is getting results?

Create clear goals for your website and marketing efforts. Track and measure your progress. This is where having a good web anlytics software is critical. How many website visitors are you getting? Are they doing what you want them to? Do they ever come back? All intriguing questions for sure…

Start your website design efforts by first answering these questions. Then worry about the “look and feel” of your website. Do this and your website will have a better chance of generating the results you’re looking for. Otherwise, it’ll soon be time to work on your website design (again).

Want to learn more about this fun topic? Check out these posts:

Who are you targeting with your online advertising?

Let’s talk about SEO basics. You first…

Ready to grow your business with social media?

Without web analytics your website is flying blind

And don’t forget, we’re here to help… just give us a call at 888.330.3236.

C’mon you’ve heard it before (with infomercial voice-over in your head?) “You too can build a business on the Internet, work from home, and watch the cash roll-in!” Sorry. Not true. Building a business online takes a lot of work and commitment. Don’t trust anyone that tells you differently. But if you’re serious about bringing your business online (or starting one) then…

It all starts with your website.

Having a professional looking website is as essential as a listing in the Yellow Pages used to be (yes, used to be). I mean your new Internet prospects need a place to find you right? And nothing says, “Open for business!” like an engaging and friendly website. The good news: creating a website is well within reach of even the smallest upstarts (we have one!)

But I don’t know anything about building my own website!

No worries. Thanks to some of the great website builders out there, it’s now easy to create a professional website with just a few clicks of the mouse. And you don’t need a degree in computer science either! Check out Yola, Moogo, and SnapPages to see what we mean. They offer a wide range of templates, tutorials, pictures, and graphics to get you started quickly. Did I mention that they’re free to use? Yes, free.

Most website builders will also help you get set up with your own domain name (e.g. www.yourbizname.com), which you can add to your business cards, letterhead, and other marketing materials. Pretty cool, huh?

As you build your website, keep in mind that most business-oriented websites have the following pages:

• Home Page: This is the first page most of your visitors will see, so don’t be coy – provide all the key information here. Your logo, business name, phone number, address, and business hours are the most important things. Bottom line: make it easy for them to contact you!

• Products or Services: This could be products you sell, services you offer, your menu, or your class schedule (you get the idea). Be sure to include pricing (unless your prices change frequently) and a few attractive, high quality photos to remind customers why they like your stuff the best!

• Contact Us: Make it easy for people to get in touch with you for questions, to make an appointment, or share a story. Provide multiple ways to contact you – email address, phone number, and a simple web form they can fill out.  If you’re into social media, invite prospects to follow you on Twitter or “Like” you on Facebook.

• About Us:  Is your business family owned and operated? Do you specialize in organic products or local suppliers? Offer a money back guarantee? Tell your story in your own words – it builds trust with your prospects, and, after all, people buy from people they like!

• Testimonials: Already have customers? Then ask them for testimonials for your website. Remember: nothing convinces prospects more than happy customers. You can’t afford NOT to start asking your customers to share their experiences. Use comment cards, email, or better yet, your Contact Us form!

Here’s our complete list of the Best Free and Affordable Website Builders from our blog: Best Online Advertising Stuff. You’ll do well using any of the website providers on this list… so take your time and find one that works best for you.

That’s it. You’re ready to jump in and start building your very own website. Remember, there’s no better way to get started than… getting started!

Let us know once your website is up. We’ll want to check it out too!

I must confess… I didn’t (gasp!) do keyword research before writing the copy for our website. And the truth is I should have. But better late than never. So let’s pretend we’re writing our website content today (maybe you are)… and then take it from there!

First of all, why is keyword research so important?

Search engines (i.e., Google) are the number one way that people find your website. Your job is to make it easy for them. There’s much you need to do to make this happen… but it begins with figuring out what words and phrases (keywords) your prospects use when searching the Internet for what you sell. Then you need to make sure your website content includes those keywords. Do it right… and your website shows up in your prospects search results!

Here’s how to get started:

1.  It’s all about your target customers. You really need to understand who they are, what they’re looking for, and why they’d buy from you in particular.

2.  Think about what keywords they’ll use when searching on Google for your products and services. (If you already have customers… ask them!)

3.  Then make a big list of all the keywords you come up with.

4.  Add qualifying terms to your keywords that help better define your market… such as your product features and business location.

5.  Boil your list down to the keyword phrases you’re going to use with your website content. These phrases should best reflect your product offering and be search terms your prospects will use often.

6.  Now write (or update!) your website copy with these keyword phrases in mind.

Simple enough?

For example, let’s say you have an Italian restaurant located in Long Island, NY. You want keywords that target customers will use to find your restaurant. The keyword “restaurants” isn’t specific enough. Maybe: “Italian restaurants”? Better for sure. But we need some qualifying terms to make it even more specific. How about “Italian pizza restaurants” or “Italian restaurants on long island”? Now we’re talking! Just include these keyword phrases as often as you can in your website content.

You should target 5 to 10 keyword phrases depending on how many products or services you sell, and the different types of customers you serve. Have lots of products and services? Then you’ll need more keyword phrases.

The good news is there are free tools to help:

• Google’s keyword tool makes it easy to come up with hundreds of keyword phrases to consider. Plus it’ll show you the number of monthly searches for each phrase.

• Wordtracker is another good keyword tool for generating ideas. And it will also show you the popularity of each keyword suggestion.

• Google Analytics is free web analytics software that gives in-depth data on your website traffic… including which keywords send visitors to your site!

Now it’s time for a few cautionary comments (sorry!)

Spicing up your content with good keyword phrases will make it easier for prospects to find you… and also make generic website copy more specific and interesting. But don’t go overboard. Remember, it’s all about making your website helpful and informative for your target customers… not about stuffing your pages with keywords for the search engines. (see our related post)

And the process of keyword research never stops. You need to keep an eye on what keywords are driving the most traffic to your website… since your prospects are changing how they search all the time!

Don’t forget to keep your keyword phrases handy. You’ll not only reference them for your website copy but also for your online advertising campaigns, social media efforts… and even your offline advertising (which also influences what people type into a search box).

Let’s get started with your keyword research!

Btw, did you notice the keyword phrases I’m using for this blog post? Let us know which keywords you used to get here. Thanks!

Don’t try to do the (almost) impossible. That is to get someone to buy from your website on the very first visit. It just won’t happen. Why? Because we consumers like to shop around, get familiar with your offering, and feel safe and secure in buying from you. Nothing personal, it’s just how it is. And it takes time… usually seven or more visits before we’re willing to pull out our credit card.

Instead, focus on getting website visitors to give up their contact information. More specifically, their email address… so you can start building an email list of prospects for your products and services. You can then market to this list again and again to get potential buyers comfortable with your brand and what you have to offer. Over time, this ever growing email list will become the heart of your marketing efforts!

Of course, website visitors aren’t going to hand over their email address for free. You need to promise something valuable in return. Coupons, newsletters, buying tips, and free trials are all good examples of content that not only gets prospects to “sign up” but also keeps them on your list… as you work to build a trusting relationship.

How to get started:

• Put an easy to see “sign-up” or “join mailing list” button or link on every page of your website. The upper right hand section of your site is a great location for it.

• Link to an email capture form that asks for your prospect’s name and email address. Sure you can ask for more but it’ll result in fewer folks handing over their information.

• Set up an “auto-responder” email that will automatically be sent to prospects after they join your mailing list. Use this email as a welcome and to let them know all the benefits of opening your emails!

Don’t worry if you’re not technically inclined (I’m not). Most email marketing companies offer tools that make it easy. Check out AWeber, MailChimp, iContact, and GetResponse to learn more and get started.

You’ll also have to figure out your content strategy. Meaning, what are you going to email to the prospects on your list at least once a month (or more!)? Make sure and send helpful information that they’ll be happy to receive such as newsletters and coupons. Otherwise, they won’t open your emails… or worse, they’ll ask to unsubscribe from your list!

Just remember to create goodwill with your email list. Your prospects will thank you… by taking advantage of special offers you send their way!

Just started your blog? Or maybe you’ve had one for awhile but now it’s time to get serious. In any case, we probably don’t need to convince you of the benefits of having a blog. For example, creating more awareness for your business and developing a relationship with prospects… maybe generating leads too!

But how do you get more people to read your blog?

Exposure is critical to building readership… which will eventually result in sales. It really will. So let’s start with the basics. You need to get your blog to show up in search engine results. You also want prospects to stumble upon your blog. What’s an easy and cost effective way of doing this? List your blog with the best blog directories.

Listing with blog directories creates links to your blog. Google and other search engines really like these links because it says your blog is important. The more important your blog the higher up it will show in search results. Not to mention, the best blog directories have tens of thousands and even millions of visitors every month… some of which are potential readers (prospects!) for your blog.

Here are three blog directories that we recommend:

• BlogCatalog is a blogger community and directory which makes it easy for visitors to find, save, and organize favorite blogs… and it attracts millions of visitors every month.

• Blogs.com has a team of editors on the lookout for the best blogs and posts to feature on their site. Maybe your blog will get featured too!

• Blogged is a blog social network and directory with 100+ plus categories to choose from. Its editors will rate your blog and users can “follow” your posts with the click of a button.

Other blog directories to submit to include: Best of the Web Blogs, BlogFlux, Bloggeries, EatonWeb, and BlogTopList.

It only takes a few minutes to submit your blog. You’ll register with the blog directory, type in your blog’s URL, choose categories that your blog fits, and provide helpful keyword tags to make it easy for directory searchers to find you. That’s it.

Best of all, most blog directories offer free blog submission.

In a few cases, you may be asked to pay a fee but even then it’s affordable (e.g., $35 per year)… and some offer advertising opportunities that may make sense for you to consider.  But don’t be surprised if the blog directories ask that you link your blog back to them. Why not as they need promotion too.

So what are you waiting for? Let’s start marketing your blog!