Inner Circle Media

So, you want to get higher search engine ranking? Here’s a tool to help.

Google is offering a great tool to help you determine what new content to write about on your website and blog. The tool is called Hot Trends, and it allows you to see a snapshot of what’s on the public’s collective mind by viewing the fastest-rising searches for different points of time. In other words, Hot Trends lets you see what terms are being searched right now!

Hot Trends Today:

At present (June 9, 2007), it appears that many people are searching for “trees with purple flowers” (#5 search term out of the 100 most popular terms) and “Spanish port” (#14 search term).

1. Tree with Purple Flowers: Since I’m here in Michigan, I don’t currently have the joy of seeing the Jacaranda tree blooming in California, but I’m guessing that it’s a top search term because it’s currently in bloom on the west coast and dropping purple petals all over the lawns of California. This tree sounds amazing – it survives in extremely hot climates and needs only 6.5 inches of water per year.

2. Spanish Port: Spanish Port could be a top search term for a few reasons. Here’s one possibility – Today there are two American treasure-hunting ships in Gibraltar carrying a disputed undersea trove of gold and silver valued at $500m. Reports say that Spain may seize these ships if they enter Spanish waters. Here’s an even better possibility – People are finally realizing that Port Wine (originally from Portugal) is dang good stuff. I’m particularly fond of the tawny variety, especially when it’s accompanied by some decadent tiramisu.

OK, it’s true – neither of these terms has much to do with the overall purpose of this blog. We’re not tree/flower experts, and while we may enjoy a good desert wine, we’re not food/wine critics. However, the point of this post is to show you that you should use online trends as well as your own website’s statistics to determine what to write about on your website and/or blog. When you write about the topics that people care about, your site is RELEVANT and it bumps up in the search engine rankings.

I’ll do a follow up blog entry to let you know how much this post boosts our site traffic and search engine placement. In the meantime, please feel free to send me some purple flowers and a nice, old tawny port.

The following are seven tips for writing compelling website content. For a more comprehensive “how to” guide, watch for our new workbook about developing better web content.

1. Know your audience- their needs. worries, stresses, goals, ideas, etc.- and write content that addresses your audience members’ concerns in a way that is relevant, helpful, non-preachy, and logical.

2. Stop sounding like your competitors! If you want people to choose your products or services, show them that you are different from and better than your competition. Make sure that the features and benefits you list on your website address your potential customers’ needs and speak in their own common language. Offer your customers something that they can’t get anywhere else.

3. Avoid common content mistakes- such as rambling text that requires scrolling, techie talk or industry jargon, or a lack of a clear focuses message.

4. Make sure the first 25 words on each page include keywords. Use keywords and keyphrases (the common words and phrases that people type into search engines when looking for a product or service like yours) throughout your website content with the most specific terms in the first 25 words. Avoid keyword spamming (over-stuffing keywords into your content to try to increase your search engine rank).

5. Allow easy visual scanning. Make sure your content is easy for visitors to quickly scan by using clear headings, short sentences and paragraphs, bulleted lists, obvious calls to action, inverted pyramids, and error-free content.

6. Keep it current! Make sure you update your website content as often as possible to ensure that your users will continue to visit your website. Fresh content also invites search engine spiders to re-index your website and increase your chances of higher rankings.

7. Invite your visitors to participate. Use a “call to action” to inspire users to call you, purchase products, contribute to your blog, and sign up for your mailing list. If you want your visitors to act in a certain way (such as purchasing your service), then make sure your text effectively guides them toward the appropriate action.

In this Google-centric world, people are obsessed with their ranking, their traffic, or, at a more basic level, just want more site visitors. We advise people to watch their site stats monthly, even weekly, to tie into their marketing campaigns, press releases, etc., but for some clients, that’s too time consuming or confusing. (Current clients: want to learn more about your stats? Email me!)

There are several techniques you can employ at no or low cost to get more people to come to your site:

>Write a blog. A blog, you say? Like this very one I am reading, you ask? Why yes, find a topic you are passionate about, or that your company specializes in, a service that you can provide for clients and customers, and write about it. To read some basics on blogging, read Alaine’s entry from Feb. 13. Write about how national news ties into something your company is doing. Write about your favorite services locally. Brag about your kids, business awards, or post photos of your cute dog. Get some fresh content up there so returning customers, or potential clients, see who you are, what you do, and how you do it better. Wouldn’t you rather work with a company with some personality and expertise than a faceless generic company?

>Optimize your site. That’s just a fancy way of saying, make sure your keywords, metatags and site are set up to make the most of those creepy crawly web spiders that the search engines biggies use. Do you know the keywords that people would use to search for you? Do you have compelling title tags on each of your pages? We can help make sense of the SEO gobbleygook, just ask!

>Send out an email newsletter/update to current and prospective clients.
Many local companies and organizations do this very well. Menlo, the Ann Arbor Area Chamber, and Brogan Partners are just a few of the many I receive, and I am almost always clicking on a tidbit or story to read more, which leads me right to the business’ or organizations’ website. Give readers an incentive to read more, register for an event, purchase something, or just contact you with simple links and lots of entry spots in the enewsletter.

>Never leave your office without business cards. Maybe I’m just nosy, but every new business card I acquire, through a networking event at the IT Zone or the Chamber, or a friend-of-a-friend, I immediately go back to my office and look at their web site (assuming they put the URL on their business card, of course.) Now I know that’s what we do here at ICM, but I want to see what their company is all about and you’d be surprised at what I find and the many, many websites in need of an overhaul. But that’s a topic for another day…

>Wait, I don’t even have a website—do I need one? That’s where we come in. Call us, let’s grab some coffee, and talk about if we can work together.

Are you planning to build or rework your website in the coming months? Are you worried that you don’t know how to choose a good web firm? Taking bids is a time-consuming process, but if you settle for the first firm you find in Google, you may end up with a cookie-cutter website that took way too long to build and cost twice as much as you expected to pay. Scary!

With most firms, the web development process is going to take several months and cost thousands of dollars, so it helps to have a strong confidence in the firm you choose. In preparation for that decision, here are some questions to ask when speaking with prospective web developers:

1. Does the web firm listen to you and focus on your goals? One of the first questions your prospective firm should ask you is – What do you want to do with your site and WHY?

2. Has the web firm worked with companies/organizations like yours? Now, if you run a nonprofit membership organization for left-handed guitar players, you don’t necessarily want to work with a web firm that works only with organizations just like yours (not many do!). But you do want to make sure that the web firm has worked with nonprofits and membership organizations and understands your unique needs and goals.

3. Do they inquire about and understand your target market? If they don’t get to know your target audience, how will they help you share your knowledge, sell your stuff, or create an online community?

4. What are their capabilities? Planning, user experience design, interface design, coding, programming, databases, web-based applications, e-commerce, search engine optimization – although it’s a long list, it’s important to understand what they can and can’t do.

5. What’s are they most proud of in their portfolio? Make sure to ask them about their favorite projects, clients, and sweet spots. And listen carefully for hints about their work ethics, commitment to timelines, and project management style.

6. What kinds of technologies do they use? Are they a Microsoft or open source shop? (By the way, this isn’t necessarily an “either/or” question. They might be both.)

7. Will they design a custom look for your site? If the look of your site is important to you, make sure the web firm isn’t planning to just reuse a design template they’ve used for 5 other sites.

8. Will there be a dedicated, experienced project manager assigned to your job? What projects has this person worked on in the past 6 months? You may consider asking prior clients about working with this project manager.

9. What are the steps in their development process? Where do they require client input and approval? How much say will you have at each stage?

10. How long does the web firm expect the project will take? Is there an additional fee for rushed work? Are there penalties for delays (for both the developer and client)?

11. Do they do all the work in-house or will they send out a portion or even all of your job to another web development company? Some web companies have a team of designers, developers, and project managers who work together on your project. However, it’s costly to pay a team of experts a yearly salary, so some web firms outsource their work to smaller companies, overseas companies, or freelancers. This may mean that they can pass on savings to your company. On the other hand, it may also mean that their quality is inconsistent and their projects are not properly managed.

12. Will they advise on your domain name?

13. Do they offer hosting? Will they advise on hosting options?

14. Do they offer a “warranty period” on their work? Once the project is launched, most firms warranty their work for 3-6 month, which means if there are any unforseen glitches, they are immediately fixed free of cost to the client.

15. What options does the web firm offer for site maintenance? Will the firm maintain your site (for a fixed cost per month)?

16. Do they recommend and provide content management systems to their clients? If so, what are the capabilities of their content management system(s)?

17. Will the site be optimized for search engines? How do they optimize the site? Do they optimize the site’s code and content (text, metatags, title, navigation)?

18. How do they price their projects? Hourly? Per project? Not-to-exceed price?

19. Do they offer a complete project proposal including goals, specifications, timeline, cost, process, development plan, etc.?

20. What do their clients say about them? Ask for references, or if you feel daring, choose a few clients out of their portfolio and call them directly.

These questions should help you as you evaluate web firms. Remember – many firms can put together snazzy proposals, but that doesn’t mean they’re the right fit for you. It’s imperative that you choose a firm who understands you and your organization, and “fits” well with your goals for the future. While you’re building your website, you’ll be dealing with that web firm on a weekly (if not daily) basis. Make sure they’re easy to talk and deal with, and that their team takes pride in meeting deadlines and producing stellar work.

I often meet people who know their company’s website is in need of a major overhaul. But many of these folks say to me, “I’m not a ‘computer person.’ I have absolutely NO idea how websites work or where to even begin. How can we redo our website when we don’t know what will make it better?!”

Well, I’m not a ‘computer person’ either, nor am I a programmer, database expert, or techie geek. You don’t have to be any of those things to think about what makes one website better than another. The merit of your website will be judged on how easy it is to navigate, how it looks, and how easy it is to understand the information presented. To make the process a bit easier for those getting ready to redo a website, here are some questions for you and your team to ponder.

1. What are the goals for your revamped website? (What is your old site NOT doing that you wish it was doing?) Do you want to gather leads, make sales, provide customer service or better public relations?

2. Is there anything that you like about your old site? What works well? What have your customers raved about?

3. What are your competitors doing with their websites? (Jot down what you do and don’t like about their sites.)

4. What do you want to include on the new website – text, photos, video, animation, online store, database integration, discussion forum, or blog? Which items are “must-have’s”? Which items could be phased in later?

5. Are you prepared to write compelling text that will inspire site visitors to contact you, buy your stuff, download marketing materials, etc.? If your answer is “no,” then who will write your site’s copy?

6. What info on the site should be regularly updated and how will you keep it updated? (You should keep your site fresh and updated. Any web firm should give you several options for managing your site.)

7. Do you have in-house personnel who will develop the site? Or should you contract with a professional web design firm?

8. Does your company want to send updates to its mailing list when new info or additions are made to site?

9. If your company wants to sell directly, do you have credit card merchant account status? If yes, how will you handle product distribution?

10. Will you keep your current domain name? Will you buy any new domain names that might help with your site’s search engine placement? We recommend to our clients that they buy domain names that contain the words that people typically type into search engines when looking for a company like theirs. For example, www.detroitphonecompany is more search-friendly than www.abctelecom.

11. What is your budget? If you want a site that includes a lot of functionality (i.e. your site is more than just informational; it also will include a store, blog, video, and tie in with a database), what are you willing to pay for each functional component? If you have no idea what to pay, you might ask web firms to break out each component in “a la carte” fashion.
12. How will you measure the site’s success? Will you set up a system to track leads from the web? Will you check on your site’s statistics to see how many people are visiting your site, how long they’re staying, where they’re coming from, etc.? (Any hosting company should be able to provide you with a good, free/cheap stats tool, so you can check on your site’s performance.)

Once you’ve adequately answered these questions, you’ll be more prepared to tell prospective web firms what your organization needs in a site. (You should also expect good web firms to ask you variations of these questions when you sit down for your initial sales meetings.) After your team answers the 12 questions above, be sure to make a list of the questions you’ll ask to assess the web firms who want your business. In a future blog posting, I’ll give you some ideas for those questions.