Creating a Well-Oiled Website

  By Ron McArthur
 

Just like cars need monthly maintenance, the same philosophy can apply to your company’s website. Proper

upkeep, along with a strategic plan that entails a clean look and engaging content, can help drive more

visitors to your site and customers to your business. With more than 200 million people around the country

using the Internet, and social networking becoming more popular than ever, websites have become a vital

part of any businesses’ success.

 

So, take advantage of the following tips:

 

1. Avoid information overload. — Who is your audience? Does the content on your site speak to those

people? In writing content for your site, make sure to think first and foremost about the readers. Use

language that they can understand, and include information that they would want to know. Essentials include

the services you provide and costs you charge. Also, think about what sets you apart from your competition.

Do you have a unique product or special deal available? Consumers want to know how you can save them

money!

 

2. Add a personal touch. — It’s important to shape a positive image of your brand through other

people’s words. For instance, layering customer reviews and testimonials can help paint a better picture of

your company’s strengths. Other examples include creating a blog (and add a link to it on your website) or

record interesting things happening within your business. This will engage readers and let them feel involved

in your business, as well as give them an opportunity to comment and provide feedback on the things you’re

doing.

 

3. Show, don’t tell! — It’s important to engage your reader. Instead of telling them how efficiently you can

change their oil, show them. Upload images or create multi-media components, such as a video with

dialogue and music. This will get potential customers excited about using your services. They’ll also have

fewer questions and more trust in your company. By adding these elements to your website, you’ll not only

save your customers time, but your business too. These elements can be easily created with a digital

camera and help from an employee.

 

4. Less is definitely more. — Your website is a reflection of your business. If it’s not aesthetically

pleasing, then your client will assume your business is unorganized and outdated. Consider not only design

but also colors. And keep it simple. Internet users are lazy, and they want their information to be easily

accessible. Use the one-click rule. With no more than one click of the mouse, your potential customer should

be able to venture off your homepage and find exactly what they’re looking for.

 

5. Create a stir. — Just like you network in person, you must network on the web. It takes work to bring

traffic to your website, so link it to as many search engines and social networking sites as possible.

Examples include Wikipedia, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Make your business its own Facebook and

Twitter profile where you can display company specifics and your businesses’ link. You can also visit relevant

blogs and post a comment with a link to your site below other’s postings. And make sure your website is

compatible with mobile phones.

 

6. Keep up to speed! — The technology and content on your site should both be up to date. You want to

make sure you have the proper technical support so readers aren’t waiting forever for pages to load and

pictures to pop up. Frequently check external links and make sure they are actually linking the reader to

another site. Additionally, you must update your site’s content regarding industry buzz. Stay in the know by

reading trade magazines and attending the Automotive Oil Change Association’s events and educational

programs.

 

RON MCARTHUR is president of WSI, a provider of Internet marketing solutions to small- and medium-size

businesses. He can be reached at 888.678.7588 or via e-mail: rmcarthur@wsicorporate.com

 

To contact your local Internet Consultant, call Stephen Palmer @ 866-885-8316 WSInetEffects.com

The definition of Holistic:

"Relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts" by Merriam-webster.com.

To achieve good visibility on the internet, website development and the promotion life cycle must evolve and begin to use a Holistic process. Consider the following list elements that involve online marketing and SEO:

• Vision
• Innovation
• Growth
• Marketing
• Viral
• Interactive
• Website
• Direct

Knowing that promotion is the evolution of invention, tailored to current trends -

How many Teams are required to collaberate on a given SEO success initiative?

Website designers and developers help to visualize the creative ideas and apply the code to make sure that the end user experience has a definite business purpose: To create interest and intuitive visitor paths.

Content developers supply the copywriting and graphical experience to web pages. They create an appealing experience for readers and users with words, pictures, audio and video channels.

Website marketers bring SEO (search engine optimization) to the process of increasing visitor traffic to establish viable leads for a given business.

Search engine marketers (SEM specialists) help to buy digital media for direct advertising. They manage text campaigns like Google Adwords and the likes, banner campaigns to increase business branding and awareness.

And let's not forget about the ever popular, Social Media professionals who advise and maintain awareness through the powerful new channels like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin - not to mention 100's of additional channels, where they will connect new prospects with businesses.

The holistic approach requires strong project management skills due to the extensive number of professional disciplines required to complete the project. The project manager needs to identify and select the team members. Identify and define the website elements necessary for a given project. And, determine the advertising budget and spread the promotion budget across all the appropriate channels for success.

The holistic approach is really nothing more than a common sense website promotion and development process. With website promotion becoming increasingly competitve, the website development process becomes complex. Having an undersdstanding of the evolution of search marketing and how it relates to web development is a huge advantage in business website promotion.

Ensuring that a website will have a presence to deliver revenue, either directly or in-directly, requires a holistic approach.

Google includes real-time search results from popular social networking sites, opportunity for SEO linking.

In much the same way as it includes image, video, blog, and news results in a "Universal Search" result, tweets, notices, and status posts from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other sites are now streaming alongside Google's regular search results almost immediately after they are posted.

Since this real-time search capability is a first among the big three search engines, Google's announcement caused an instant sensation. Google envisions real-time results as displaying not only breaking news but also local information such as traffic alerts, the latest movie reviews, or any other topic that is deemed to be "hot" with social media users. But, it has much larger implications for SEO webmasters because it is likely to affect search results even in sectors not traditionally associated with "breaking news." For example, it is especially relevant to brands that have a social presence because a search of a company's brand name will now likely turn up the last tweet or posting about that company as the No. 1 organic result. That means online reputation management has become especially important these days.

Take advantage of the SEO boost in new real-time search results. Minimize any potential negatives.

Four fundamental steps for business managers:

• Keep positive messages about your brand or products alive in the online news media. Issue frequent press releases with positive news about your company and create positive viral content related to your brand or product that has the potential to be mentioned frequently on popular social networking sites and even featured in news stories.
  
  
• Be active on sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, FriendFeed, Jaiku, and Identi.ca. Create positive messages about your brand or products in the online social media sites likely to appear in Google results. Promote positive news stories published on mainstream news sites that result from your press releases or viral content promotions, as well as positive viral content that you created yourself.
  
  
• Maintain an active presence in social networking and microblogging sites. Cultivate relationships and interact with influential users to enlist their help in spreading your positive message. In addition, be responsive to both positive and negative mentions of your brand or product to mitigate any negative press that may occur. (Note: This is not a job for an intern. Ensure you are represented on these sites by a professional with social media and public relations savvy.)
  
  
• Closely monitor news and real-time buzz sites for mentions of your brand or product so you can react if necessary. That means setting up accounts with Google Alerts, Yahoo Keyword News Alert, and Twitter Alerts and following them.

We know that consumers use search engines and visit brand websites throughout the purchase process;

their blogs and websites discuss products; and they trust consumer reviews and opinions about brands. In fact, Opinion Research notes 84 percent of Americans are influenced by online customer reviews. According to a new study from Performics and ROI Research, consumers are also very willing to engage with and discuss brands on social networking sites. Forty-six percent of people say they are likely to talk about a product on Facebook; 44 percent say the same about Twitter.
A critical part of managing your brand's reputation is monitoring for negative publicity that can be easily found on the web. This concept extends beyond basic alignment of online tactics and messaging with traditional, or "offline," reputation management strategies. Furthermore, it is not just about the brand name itself, it's also product names, the domain name, the industry, competitors, and publicly known figures associated with the brand (e.g., Bill Gates to Microsoft; Richard Branson to Virgin).

Online reputation management consists of three key strategies:

1. Search engine optimization (SEO): Provides cost effective, long-term benefits that enable positive online content and messages
2. Paid search (SEM, PPC): Addresses immediate communication needs and counteracts negative messages
3. Social media: Acts as a viral, message distribution, and brand engagement channel

Long-term benefits of SEO

Like any SEO effort, protecting a brand's online reputation takes time; but the rewards can be more than worth the wait. Although SEO efforts won't take care of immediate issues a marketer faces when combating a reputation crisis, a sustainable yet adaptable SEO program is a marketer's best proactive strategy for nurturing their brand online on an ongoing basis.

Start by perusing the existing sarch engine results page (SERP) for brand queries and make a list of the positive, neutral, and negative listings. Now create links from a relevant section of your site to each of the positive listings. These links will help boost the positive listings higher in the SERP thus forcing less positive listings down the page. Read the content behind all the negative listings and develop a strategy to respond to each criticism and attack. This should be done in conjunction with an offline strategy. Neutral listings should be evaluated and assisted by SEO if it is felt they help keep less positive listings from ranking higher in the SERP.

Opportunities with online reputation management

Smart marketers should build up a defense against reputation issues. If you don't have an online reputation management strategy, it's never too late to start. Keep these four best practices in mind when managing brands with search:

1. Control your brand before others do it for you
2. Continually monitor what is being said online about your brand
3. Create messages that resonate and engage with consumers
4. Invest in short- and long-term solutions to secure your brand's equity

Content from iMedia Connection

 

Mission Statement

"To be the leading provider of internet marketing solutions to small and medium businesses the world over."

Core Values:

"To create a community built on sharing for the benefit of all.
  To foster an environment of mutual respect.
  To channel our energies and focus on opportunities in technology.
  To provide leading edge solutions for business growth.
  To demonstrate passion and continuous learning for the benefit of all.
  To represent ourselves in a community environment that represents excellence."

The WSI creed of excellence. One great reason I joined WSI is their continued support and forward thought leadership. Without the backing of a large organization, we all become me-doers. If you find yourself in the predicament, I recommend hitting yourself on the head with a large brick!!

Success is not accidental, it comes through, thoughtful planning, consideration, education and hard work. Those people on this earth that know not of the work part, are generally going to be found with misery. If these common threads of success were practiced more commonly - would there be as many accidents in the world? I think not.

This blog will be about success. Success driven from failure, for the betterment of our country.