Build a Better Website Blog

Don’t spend alot of time convincing prospects that you have the best products or services known to man, but then forgetting to make it easy to get in touch!  Display your contact info prominently throughout the site, but add a contact page with all of your info and show a map to help them find your physical location.

Contact Us
Make it easy for people to contact you! If you are not selling items directly online, this is the most important page to drive traffic to. List all possible ways to contact your company, including phone, email, fax, Twitter, LinkedIn, mailing address, physical address and office hours. If you have several departments, provide instructions for contacting each to prevent confusion.

Contact Us page

• Email contact form – make it easy for visitors to “fill in the blanks” and select items they are interested in. Include fields for their phone number and required email address.
• Never ask for more information than you need – be careful not to turn off visitors. Once there is a commitment, you can request further details.
• Photo of owner or smiling staff members on the page again shows that you are real people who care about your customers.

Location or Directions
Make it easy for people to find you! If you want people to visit your main office or branches, display directions online.

Directions or Map page

• Driving directions from various points.  From north or south, from neighboring towns.  Use landmarks such as “turn left at the Exxon gas station”
• Map showing your location(s). Even an outside source such as Mapquest is handy to allow changing of a map’s scale.
• Photo of the facility or your signage so it can be recognized from the road or parking lot.
• Office hours and instructions on any sign-in procedures.
Include contact info or links for help in case of confusion.

Contact Webmaster Ray for more ideas related to your own website.

Your home page should motivate visitors to click through to the particular product, service or contact page to they can successfully find the solution to their specific need or problem.  Depending on how many categories you have, there may be one overview page or simply links to any category of interest.  That Products/Services page needs to contain enough info to drive them to “buy now” or contact you.

Products / Services Overview
Display a brief summary of each product or service line. Then link to the individual item detail pages. This page can help visitors quickly narrow down exactly what they are looking for while motivating them to learn more.  Give just enough details to lead prospects to the next step of the sales process.

Products page - restaurant menu

• Name, photo and brief description of each item.
• Lists of sample uses or top features for each item.
• Links to individual item pages.

Product / Service Details
Each item (or sub-category of items) can have it’s own sales page with photos, descriptions and specifications along with a call to action to purchase now, email for more info or call now!  Additional info can be included using links to it so that it’s optional to be bombarded by the specifics.

Services page

• Begin each page with a brief summary of the product/service. When people search for information, they want it immediately
• One or more photos or a video demonstration (it’s fine to use You-Tube)
• Description including any available options or choices (colors, sizes, package deals)
• Customer reviews specific to the item.
• List of sample uses, actual customers, features or benefits.
• Prices (specific or range), terms of use, warranty information.

Before / After or Case Histories
Besides a sales page for each product or service, you may want a page of real-world samples of your work for prospects to more easily identify with than generic descriptions and sales copy.

Before & After

• Before/after photos or slideshow or video of an example project
• Description of the problem, customer requirements, timeline, difficulties overcome, and final solution.
• Names of satisfied customers along with testimonial.

Always use a call to action to prompt visitors to next step of the sales process.

Contact Webmaster Ray for more ideas that relate to your project.

There are many possible secondary pages that can help close the deal for visitors to contact you or request information.  “About Us” isn’t critical to your product or service, but the information you include can help to set you apart from the competition or give visitors “another” reason to contact you.  Stand out from the crowd and explain what makes you special!

About Us
This page (aka “About Us” or “Our Company”) may include any kind of background information to make visitors more comfortable with you. Company history, mission statement, introduction of staff members, awards and honors, or explanation of what separates you from the competition. On the surface, you may provide similar products or services as others, but certain secondary facts displaying your unique qualities can close the deal. Maybe you assist a charity that’s important to some potential clients.  Maybe you’ve won an award.  Maybe you have a unique certification.

About page

• Photos of owners or employees – show that you are human beings and not just “brand x”
• Logos of industry affiliations, chambers of commerce, well-known vendors and even large customers
• Mission statement, warranty or guarantee, message from President
• Background of the company and certifications earned – use this page to brag about yourself! Include miscellaneous items that don’t fit on other pages.

News Page
News or “Announcements” pertaining to your products, industry or company can be a great way to show that you are active and conscious of keeping customers informed. Web surfers will often view to check for the latest information. It is another opportunity to tout your accomplishments or show involvement in the community.
Stay current, to prove that you’re on top of everything

News page

• Announce new products, product lines or improvements.
• Press releases, new testimonials from customers, related topics
• Sales, special deals, promotional offers
• Honors received, partnerships formed, new staff members

Events Calendar
Events list or ‘Upcoming Events’ or ‘Schedule’ can provide details of meetings, trade shows, seminars, or any type of events that occur on a regular or periodic basis. You may wish to include a page of past events as well, to possibly include photos and a recap of the activity.

Show people how involved you are in the community and how you provide great support.  Show people that you’re busy!

Events page

Contact Webmaster Ray for more ideas.

Web 2.0 has had a large impact on SEO, with Google and other directories gradually increasing credit from popular websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Regular new content on blogs increases their relevance.

Social Bookmarking and Web 2.0
Join social media and bookmarking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Digg, MySpace and Del.icio.us, or for more convenience, use a service like http://www.AddThis.com to generate interest in your site. Create a list of useful sites including one or two of your own, and then publish them to your profile. Search engines are recognizing the merit of these portals and visitors can “vote” for the popularity of your site.

Blogging: Your Blog
Create a blog within your site or use a free blogging service that links back to it. Present your opinions and recommended solutions for your subject. Add comments regularly (daily, weekly or monthly). Besides building an audience of visitors who appreciate your thoughts or advice, you can constantly add backlinks to help in search results or just send readers to your site.

Blogging: Submit to directories
Add your Blog to directories such as http://www.Technorati.com and http://www.Digg.com for more exposure. It’s free advertising, just like getting listed in search engines.

Blogging: Post on others’
Find existing blogs that suit your purposes and sign up. Most blogs provide the opportunity to link to your site via your name when you add a comment. Pick a name that includes relevant keywords. Post relevant content and you’re reaching people who may not have found you otherwise. Add comments and links of value!

Don’t just say “Come over and visit my Blog”. Do not spam these sites or you risk having your site delisted.

Link building is a important for achieving greater page rank in search engines. Along with quality content, search engines view inbound links as proof that your site is valuable to visitors. In other words, if lots of sites link to yours, your site must have worthwhile information, since in affect, they are citing you as an authority or a reference.

Free Directory Submissions
Directories are the logical place to start your link building campaign. They are happy to post your site to build their list or relevant results. Submit your site to as many web directories as you can. You can later refresh your information by re-submitting it, especially if content has changed. Free directories can take weeks, or even months to include your site. It is only necessary to submit your home (index) page.
Start with Google, Yahoo, MSN and the Open Directory.

Specialized Directories
Besides general category directories, you should submit to industry and geographically specific directories. These will help your search engine ranking and they can also drive targeted traffíc to your site. If you are a member of an association, the association website may include a list of members.

The state, county, region or city you live in may have a directory of sites for that particular area. Many will offer a basic listing for free with the option of an enhanced listing for a fee. http://www.Craigslist.org allows free advertising as long as you follow their guidelines.

Paid Directory Submissions
Annual subscriptions can be purchased for directories such as Yahoo, BOTW, and http://www.Business.com. They will add your profile more quickly than their free counterparts and are more likely to allow you to choose the title of your link. This gives you the opportunity to build your links according to your targeted keywords instead of simply the site name.

For example if your site is ‘ABC Lawn Co.’, a better ‘title’ in a directory or any other website would be “Grass and Lawn Mowing Service” since it directly includes several applicable terms. Paid directories may also allow deep linking to individual pages of your website so that particular search terms will automatically lead visitors to pertinent information.

For best visitor retention and sale conversion rates, use conversational tone and provide plenty of text to generate interest. Use the terms that people are searching for.

Speak in simple language
Explain in terms that the average visitor would understand. Avoid using industry jargon when your target audience is the general population. It’s easier to trust you if they understand what you’re saying.

Keep text easy to read
Use short sentences. Longer sentences are often more difficult to follow. In most cases, a conversational tone will be more interesting and readable than a scholarly explanation. Don’t put too much information on a page. Instead, “continue” on to additional pages.

More text = more content
Don’t skimp on the total amount of overall text. Think of a search engine as a hungry tiger and your text as meat. Feed the tiger! Give it lots of juicy text to chew on. As long as page length isn’t excessive, more applicable words on a page means better results. You can work in many more keywords and keyword phrases in 300 words than you can in 100 words. As long as you break up the text with subheadings, bullet points, and graphics, human visitors will devour it as well.

Repeat yourself (again and again?)
Drive home important points by explaining yourself in a number of ways or by providing examples to illustrate details.

Put critical information near top of page
Important points and ideas should be visible “above the fold” to human visitors. Help them easily find key content without becoming impatient and having to scroll for it.  Long pages could include some links to “jump” to lower sections of that page.

Place targeted keywords prominently on page
Keywords that are introduced towards the top of the page actually count more towards that page’s search engine ranking as well. This is logical in that the main theme of any page is expected to be discussed at the very beginning. Think of each page as having its own headline, lead paragraph main discussion points, supplementary or supporting information, and finally a summary (including a call to action like “Sign up now!”). Thus, the first and last paragraphs on any page should emphasize the targeted keywords.

Use bold text for keywords
Where your targeted keywords or keyphrases appear on pages, make them appear in bold text at least once or twice to catch the attention of visitors and tigers! Using HTML, these tags are placed around the words: <b>word word</b> 
Yes, search engines give these highlighted words additional increments of credit towards pagerank!!!

Use the word “Free”
Find a way to work ‘free’ – in bold letters – into your site, especially the home page. You probably have something that you can give away, even if it is a PDF full of good advice. The internet was built on the premise of ‘free’. In fact, your customers may have typed in ‘free widget’ as a search term!

Use the words “Today” and “Buy now”
Why wait until tomorrow? Order now! Don’t delay! Take advantage now! Enjoy our product today! Be the first on your block! Foster a sense of urgency. Your visitors are looking for reasons to take action. Facilitate the process.