How To Hire A Search Engine Marketer

The Right SE Marketer WILL Boost Sales

If you’ve seen a modicum and encouraging amount of commercial site success, you might consider hiring an SEO or SEM professional to take your site to the next level. (You can finally quit your day job!!)

But here’s the thing. Your Aunt Tilly could call herself an SEM or SEO professional. There are no credentials, no certifications or letters after the name, i.e., Dr. Jon Smith, PhD in SEM. So how do you know which of the thousands of SEO/SEM gurus is for real? Here are six things to look for.

1. On first contact, does the expert take the time to bring up your site on his or her screen and discuss it, maybe even providing a few free tips and suggestions? S/he should. As you describe your site and its perceived limitations, you want a potential expert to “be on the same page” as you are.

Conversely, if the “so-called” expert starts to bombard you with insider jargon “Well, Bob, I’ve developed interesting analytics that show your hit ratio increases when we spice up your meta data and add an opt-in.” Huh?

2. Find an SEM who walks the walk but doesn’t necessarily talk the talk.
Forget the jargon. Who cares? The fact is, experts in any field use jargon as a code language to exclude outsiders and SEM pros love to toss around terms like “keyword stuffing,” and content architecture.

Speak English! Search engine marketing is an on-going process but it’s, by no means, a difficult subject to master. It ain’t brain surgery. So, if your prospective SEM starts throwing insider gibberish in your direction, ask to have the information put in terms you can understand, whether you’re a first time e-vendor or own a hundred sites.

It’s like doctors. They tell you stuff only they understand. But, if you pin them down and ask for an explanation you understand (even if you have to resort to Crayola crayons), you finally understand options and consequences. Same with an SEO. You want to make the decisions.

That means you have to understand proposals, marketing campaigns and other SEM deliverables in terms that allow you to (1) turn the information into action and (2) contest the information if you think the SEM has missed a key demographic or some other oversight.

Otherwise, it’s all just a pile of numbers.

3. Can the SEM guru provide references you will contact?
A reference based on experience is the best reference you can get so, is there an SEM client willing to discuss the services provided by your prospect?

Now, don’t be surprised if the answer is ‘no.’ There’s a unspoken (okay spoken, here) understanding that client information is privileged and must be protected. However, many site owners give their SEMs permission to send visitors to the site to use as an example of the pro’s proficiency, Which gets us to:

4. Does the SEM provide reference sites?
This shouldn’t be a problem for any web pro with any kind of track record. Ask the SEO to provide sites that s/he has worked on. Then, go Alexa on each site’s assets.

Alexa.com delivers stats and graphs to show how the performance of a site has improved or deteriorated over time. Look for an increase in site traffic and lots of links. (See Connectivity in the post below). Look for improvements in page views and, by all means, employ Alexa’s Time Machine, a feature that enables you to see the evolution of the site and, especially how the site looked before and after the re-do by the SEM.

If you don’t see significant increases in the SEM’s reference sites, you are talking to the wrong SEM! Take your time, here. You’re about to sign a big check (SEM pros are pricey because of their highly-specialized knowledge) and you want to see quantifiable results that occur after the SEO/SEM optimizes the site.

5. Please don’t try this at home.
If your sites are performing well, you might think you can take yourself to the next level without the expense of a web marketing pro. Not recommended in the bang/buck equation.

You might pay $200 for a once-over lightly site review, or $20K on a tear-down and website rebuild, and still actually lose ground. Fewer site visitors, lower Alexa ranking, lower links popularity and so on. It happens thousands of times a day. The gnomes who inhabit Castle Google tweak the search algo and all of a sudden, a site that was on page one of Google’s SERPs has slipped to page 106.

So, if this is your money-maker, don’t shake it. Hire an SEM with a track record and see what s/he can do to boost your bottom line.

6. If you don’t like the results, jettison the web guru.
Do NOT sign a contract with an SEO/SEM agency. You don’t have to in the competitive consultation market, so go with a company that let’s you pay as you go or pay for play. You want results and you’re willing to pay for them. No positive results. “You are so outta here.”

It’s reasonable to ask a prospective guru to develop a plan for site growth. It doesn’t have to be long, but it must be informative, and once again, written in terms that make the gibberish understandable to you – the guy or gal with the checkbook. Hey, that makes you the boss even if you don’ t know an HTML title tag from a dog tag!

It isn’t recommended that you make major changes to your site – including migrating to another web host – without expert opinion and technical know-how behind you. Major changes can produce voodoo numbers in your site’s performance.

Evolution in site design makes it easier for search engines and clients, visitors or other site stakeholders, to access content and, in the case of customers or clients, place an order.

That’s why you built the site. You run the show. But let a good SEM help you grow to real profitability. If you find a professional who isn’t blowing smoke and provides a few dozen sites you can check out, you’ll see improvement in rankings and, more importantly, in site traffic.

Conversely, if you hire the first snake oil salesperson you come across in a webmaster chat room, you may be out a few grand as you watch site performance deteriorate right before your eyes.

Spend time finding the right fit and pay for quality consultation and services rendered. Consider it an investment. Just make sure you’re investing in a blue chip SEM not a penny stock loser.

Need to drive some traffic to your digital turf. Drop me aline or give me a call. It ain’t rocket science.

Webwordslinger.

Before You Hire a Search Engine Marketeer…

 

If you’ve seen a modicum and encouraging amount of commercial site success, you might consider hiring an SEO or SEM professional to take your site to the next level. (You can finally quit your day job!!)

But here’s the thing. Your Aunt Tilly could call herself an SEM or SEO professional. There are no credentials, no certifications or letters after the name, i.e., Dr. Jon Smith, PhD in SEM. So how do you know which of the thousands of SEO/SEM gurus is for real? Here are six things to look for.

1. On first contact, does the expert take the time to bring up your site on his or her screen and discuss it, maybe even providing a few free tips and suggestions? S/he should. As you describe your site and its perceived limitations, you want a potential expert to “be on the same page” as you are.

Conversely, if the “so-called” expert starts to bombard you with insider jargon “Well, Bob, I’ve developed interesting analytics that show your hit ratio increases when we spice up your meta data and add an opt-in.” Huh?

2. Find an SEM who walks the walk but doesn’t necessarily talk the talk.
Forget the jargon. Who cares? The fact is, experts in any field use jargon as a code language to exclude outsiders and SEM pros love to toss around terms like “keyword stuffing,” and content architecture.

Speak English! Search engine marketing is an on-going process but it’s, by no means, a difficult subject to master. It ain’t brain surgery. So, if your prospective SEM starts throwing insider gibberish in your direction, ask to have the information put in terms you can understand, whether you’re a first time e-vendor or own a hundred sites.

It’s like doctors. They tell you stuff only they understand. But, if you pin them down and ask for an explanation you understand (even if you have to resort to Crayola crayons), you finally understand options and consequences. Same with an SEO. You want to make the decisions.

That means you have to understand proposals, marketing campaigns and other SEM deliverables in terms that allow you to (1) turn the information into action and (2) contest the information if you think the SEM has missed a key demographic or some other oversight.

Otherwise, it’s all just a pile of numbers.

3. Can the SEM guru provide references you will contact?
A reference based on experience is the best reference you can get so, is there an SEM client willing to discuss the services provided by your prospect?

Now, don’t be surprised if the answer is ‘no.’ There’s a unspoken (okay spoken, here) understanding that client information is privileged and must be protected. However, many site owners give their SEMs permission to send visitors to the site to use as an example of the pro’s proficiency, Which gets us to:

4. Does the SEM provide reference sites?
This shouldn’t be a problem for any web pro with any kind of track record. Ask the SEO to provide sites that s/he has worked on. Then, go Alexa on each site’s assets.

Alexa.com delivers stats and graphs to show how the performance of a site has improved or deteriorated over time. Look for an increase in site traffic and lots of links. (See Connectivity in the post below). Look for improvements in page views and, by all means, employ Alexa’s Time Machine, a feature that enables you to see the evolution of the site and, especially how the site looked before and after the re-do by the SEM.

If you don’t see significant increases in the SEM’s reference sites, you are talking to the wrong SEM! Take your time, here. You’re about to sign a big check (SEM pros are pricey because of their highly-specialized knowledge) and you want to see quantifiable results that occur after the SEO/SEM optimizes the site.

5. Please don’t try this at home.
If your sites are performing well, you might think you can take yourself to the next level without the expense of a web marketing pro. Not recommended in the bang/buck equation.

You might pay $200 for a once-over lightly site review, or $20K on a tear-down and website rebuild, and still actually lose ground. Fewer site visitors, lower Alexa ranking, lower links popularity and so on. It happens thousands of times a day. The gnomes who inhabit Castle Google tweak the search algo and all of a sudden, a site that was on page one of Google’s SERPs has slipped to page 106.

So, if this is your money-maker, don’t shake it. Hire an SEM with a track record and see what s/he can do to boost your bottom line.

6. If you don’t like the results, jettison the web guru.
Do NOT sign a contract with an SEO/SEM agency. You don’t have to in the competitive consultation market, so go with a company that let’s you pay as you go or pay for play. You want results and you’re willing to pay for them. No positive results. “You are so outta here.”

It’s reasonable to ask a prospective guru to develop a plan for site growth. It doesn’t have to be long, but it must be informative, and once again, written in terms that make the gibberish understandable to you – the guy or gal with the checkbook. Hey, that makes you the boss even if you don’ t know an HTML title tag from a dog tag!

It isn’t recommended that you make major changes to your site – including migrating to another web host – without expert opinion and technical know-how behind you. Major changes can produce voodoo numbers in your site’s performance.

Evolution in site design makes it easier for search engines and clients, visitors or other site stakeholders, to access content and, in the case of customers or clients, place an order.

That’s why you built the site. You run the show. But let a good SEM help you grow to real profitability. If you find a professional who isn’t blowing smoke and provides a few dozen sites you can check out, you’ll see improvement in rankings and, more importantly, in site traffic.

Conversely, if you hire the first snake oil salesperson you come across in a webmaster chat room, you may be out a few grand as you watch site performance deteriorate right before your eyes.

Spend time finding the right fit and pay for quality consultation and services rendered. Consider it an investment. Just make sure you’re investing in a blue chip SEM not a penny stock loser.

How To Hire A Search Engine Marketeer

Ready to Take Your Web Biz to the Next Level? Hire a Marketeer!

Search engine marketing is NOT for the faint of heart or the newbie. In fact, if you don;t know how to market a website – even the best website in the world – you’re out of business before you even open your digital doors.

Expect to set aside at least half of your start-up stash on marketing. Without good marketing, a good site is invisible on the W3.

If you’ve seen a modicum and encouraging amount of commercial site success, you might consider hiring an SEO or SEM professional to take your site to the next level. (You can finally quit your day job!!)

But here’s the thing. Your Aunt Tilly could call herself an SEM or SEO professional. There are no credentials, no certifications or letters after the name, i.e., Dr. Jon Smith, PhD in SEM. So how do you know which of the thousands of SEO/SEM gurus is for real? Here are six things to look for.

1. On first contact, does the expert take the time to bring up your site on his or her screen and discuss it, maybe even providing a few free tips and suggestions? S/he should. As you describe your site and its perceived limitations, you want a potential expert to “be on the same page” as you are.

Conversely, if the “so-called” expert starts to bombard you with insider jargon “Well, Bob, I’ve developed interesting analytics that show your hit ratio increases when we spice up your meta data and add an opt-in.” Huh?

2. Find an SEM who walks the walk but doesn’t necessarily talk the talk.
Forget the jargon. Who cares? The fact is, experts in any field use jargon as a code language to exclude outsiders and SEM pros love to toss around terms like “keyword stuffing,” and content architecture.

Speak English! Search engine marketing is an on-going process but it’s, by no means, a difficult subject to master. It ain’t brain surgery. So, if your prospective SEM starts throwing insider gibberish in your direction, ask to have the information put in terms you can understand, whether you’re a first time e-vendor or own a hundred sites.

It’s like doctors. They tell you stuff only they understand. But, if you pin them down and ask for an explanation you understand (even if you have to resort to Crayola crayons), you finally understand options and consequences. Same with an SEO. You want to make the decisions.

That means you have to understand proposals, marketing campaigns and other SEM deliverables in terms that allow you to (1) turn the information into action and (2) contest the information if you think the SEM has missed a key demographic or some other oversight.

Otherwise, it’s all just a pile of numbers.

3. Can the SEM guru provide references you will contact?
A reference based on experience is the best reference you can get so, is there an SEM client willing to discuss the services provided by your prospect?

Now, don’t be surprised if the answer is ‘no.’ There’s a unspoken (okay spoken, here) understanding that client information is privileged and must be protected. However, many site owners give their SEMs permission to send visitors to the site to use as an example of the pro’s proficiency, Which gets us to:

4. Does the SEM provide reference sites?
This shouldn’t be a problem for any web pro with any kind of track record. Ask the SEO to provide sites that s/he has worked on. Then, go Alexa on each site’s assets.

Alexa.com delivers stats and graphs to show how the performance of a site has improved or deteriorated over time. Look for an increase in site traffic and lots of links. (See Connectivity in the post below). Look for improvements in page views and, by all means, employ Alexa’s Time Machine, a feature that enables you to see the evolution of the site and, especially how the site looked before and after the re-do by the SEM.

If you don’t see significant increases in the SEM’s reference sites, you are talking to the wrong SEM! Take your time, here. You’re about to sign a big check (SEM pros are pricey because of their highly-specialized knowledge) and you want to see quantifiable results that occur after the SEO/SEM optimizes the site.

5. Please don’t try this at home.
If your sites are performing well, you might think you can take yourself to the next level without the expense of a web marketing pro. Not recommended in the bang/buck equation.

You might pay $200 for a once-over lightly site review, or $20K on a tear-down and website rebuild, and still actually lose ground. Fewer site visitors, lower Alexa ranking, lower links popularity and so on. It happens thousands of times a day. The gnomes who inhabit Castle Google tweak the search algo and all of a sudden, a site that was on page one of Google’s SERPs has slipped to page 106.

So, if this is your money-maker, don’t shake it. Hire an SEM with a track record and see what s/he can do to boost your bottom line.

6. If you don’t like the results, jettison the web guru.
Do NOT sign a contract with an SEO/SEM agency. You don’t have to in the competitive consultation market, so go with a company that let’s you pay as you go or pay for play. You want results and you’re willing to pay for them. No positive results. “You are so outta here.”

It’s reasonable to ask a prospective guru to develop a plan for site growth. It doesn’t have to be long, but it must be informative, and once again, written in terms that make the gibberish understandable to you – the guy or gal with the checkbook. Hey, that makes you the boss even if you don’ t know an HTML title tag from a dog tag!

It isn’t recommended that you make major changes to your site – including migrating to another web host – without expert opinion and technical know-how behind you. Major changes can produce voodoo numbers in your site’s performance.

Evolution in site design makes it easier for search engines and clients, visitors or other site stakeholders, to access content and, in the case of customers or clients, place an order.

That’s why you built the site. You run the show. But let a good SEM help you grow to real profitability. If you find a professional who isn’t blowing smoke and provides a few dozen sites you can check out, you’ll see improvement in rankings and, more importantly, in site traffic.

Conversely, if you hire the first snake oil salesperson you come across in a webmaster chat room, you may be out a few grand as you watch site performance deteriorate right before your eyes.

Spend time finding the right fit and pay for quality consultation and services rendered. Consider it an investment. Just make sure you’re investing in a blue chip SEM not a penny stock loser.

The E-conomics of E-Marketing

I apologize for this rather long-winded look at marketing econonmies on the web, but the simple fact is web ad revenues are projected to increase 15%. Follow the ad revenues.

So, if you’ve been relying on the local newspaper, direct mail, auto-responders or some other marginally effective marketing as a solo, keep reading.

Time to go digital, amigos.

Advertising – Changing Course

First, share prices of advertising and marketing companies are at annual lows on the day of this writing. Investors aren’t ignorant of what’s taking place. The traditional marketing outlets…well, they’re on their way out.

Newspaper revenues have been heading south for years and magazine advertising, predicted to grow at 4.1% in ’07 according to ZenithOptimedia will actually come in at 2.5% to 3.3%. “Shrinkage,” as George Costanza would say.

Part of the reason for this has been mass advertising’s slow response to web-based advertising. Consider this: thanks to the remote, I don’t have to sit through annoying commercials. I have become adept at getting back to the show I’m watching with just seconds to spare. But I’m not watching commercials, that’s for certain.

And though I get a couple of newspapers a day, I scan the news (which is already old thanks to digital technology), glance at the sports page during baseball season and see what Mike Doonesbury is up to.

Then, I spend eight hours a day (sometimes more) online, conducting research for articles like this one. Right now, on screen I’ve got an ad for Forbes magazine and Adify, purveyor of ads for vertical market segments, i.e. niche markets. Here’s what Adify offers versus the local newspaper:

• Achieve greater reach and impact with unique targeting

• Choose from quality networks created and managed by leading brands and experts

• View and control exactly who (within and across networks) runs your ads

• Run IAB Standard rich media, video, display or text ads

• Target any ad format across quality branded and niche sites

This ad placement service is the direction we’re all headed – finding ways to get our company’s message in front of more eyeballs. You already see it on TV with product placements in TV shows and the “Lo-Jack Caught Stealing” replay during the sixth inning. Advertisers know we surf or skip the commercials when we TiVO so instead of shredding out the commercials, they’re interwoven into the content itself.

In fact, you can’t watch a sporting event without being bombarded by product placements and ads. All the players on certain college teams wear a certain brand of shoe. Why? Because all the players love the shoe? Of course not, the manufacturer pays big money to display their logo on athletes’ footwear.

The Death Throes of Ink
My local newspaper has been sold three times in the past 12 months. It’s a hot potato – it doesn’t have any other print competition and they still can’t turn a profit.

Search engine localization (local search) is changing the entire dynamic of advertising. Instead of spending money on a one-time insert that may or may not pay for itself, car dealers, appliance stores and even the big boxes are hopping on the web bad wagon. These big retailers know which way the wind blows. They also know why people are turning to the web rather than the local paper.

More features. Greater convenience. You can log on and conduct a search for a car in a specific price range, specific make and model – even location – and in seconds have full-color pictures of your options that day. Print advertisers aren’t going to deliver that kind of response. In most places, Saturday is car day in the papers. The last section or two are dedicated to all the different cars on sale at local dealerships. You may have noticed this because a lot of car shopping takes place on Saturday.

But the car dealers who depend solely on this arcane form of advertising are going to be blown out of the water by specialized search engines that equip the user to find the best deal to a completely-customized auto within a 35 mile radius.

Print can’t compete on that level. It lacks the ability to interact with the user in a fully dynamic way.

The Future and Your Place In It
You’re looking at it. You’re reading it.

The Director of Forecasting at ad giant Universal McCann, Bob Coen, downgraded his forecasts for ’07 from 4.5% ad revenue spending growth to 3.1%. However, Coen believes that ’08 will see a 5% growth in total ad revenues, with less and less of those revenues going to traditional promotional outlets like local cable, newspapers and regional magazines – older forms of accessing potential buyers.

The money is being spent on web advertising and you can take advantage of it as both a seller of goods and owner of a web site. Either way, you can generate more revenue than through traditional media.

Want to watch a music video on AOL? OK, “but first a 15-second message from our sponsor.” The sponsor, BTW is always targeting the young, tech-savvy user since gramps wouldn’t know a music video from another “danged” commercial.

Bank of America’s financial analysts lowered their stability rating of The New York Times from a neutral to a sell – definitely an indicator of how large, institutional investors are turning away from print and putting those ad dollars on your site – or on somebody’s site!

How to Sell Ad Space on Your Site?
The easiest way is to become an affiliate. You don’t exactly sell ad space but you collect a small piece of the sales transaction and maybe a flat fee for each successful click, for example. But you aren’t going to attract the deep pockets advertisers through an affiliate program. At least not efficiently and cost effectively. What are you going to do? Call the marketing director at Coke?

It’ll cost you to use online advertising placement services, put it may be worth it – especially as a means of generating some cash flow quickly.

There are plenty of online ad agencies that can help design a cogent marketing plan – one that places your ads in the right places on the right pages of the right sites as well as generates some cash by selling space on your site.

However, before you contact one of these digitally-based agencies, consider the following:

1. How much can I spend on marketing? If the number is small, or even less than zero, please refer to the posts on viral marketing because it’s going to take cash to see some company flash on high ranking websites.

2. The guy with the checkbook is always boss. If you’re placing ads, you can and should stay involved through the entire process working with your account executive. If a well-branded player wants to place a big banner on your home page, and the money is right for you, go for it. Give the boss what he, she or it wants.

3. Never sign a long term contract with an agency. Anybody can call themselves an online ad agency but if you aren’t seeing soaring results, you want to be able to bail ASAP and find a more productive agency.

4. Learn to listen. You may know everything there is to know about drill bits but give the ad pros a chance to soup up your bottom line. However, if you don’t start to see noticeable results in six months, move on to another agency.

Why Digital Advertising?
Digital is digital is digital.

Once a marketing piece has been created, it can be formatted quickly for use through a wide variety of media including digital computers, digital cell phones, PDAs (digital) and, of course, digital video (DV), including digital HDTV.

So, for deep pockets advertisers – the IBMs of advertising – this enables the marketing department to create content once, format it six ways from Sunday and blitz the entire media spectrum using the same content.

You want to be a part of this marketing tsunami heading your way? So, okay, maybe become an affiliate – just to try it. If it works, great. Good for you.

But, also, consider selling ad space and buying ad space on relevant sites. Use one of the hundreds of online ad agencies that are all reading from the same book. Then, monitor results.

You don’t want excuses. You want results. That’s the only way to measure the success of your agency’s marketing plan.

If you’re paying an agency and NOT seeing spectacular improvement in sales, your cost of acquisition (CPA) is soaring, your inventory is piling up in the garage and your online advertising account executive is mysteriously away from her desk whenever you call.

Ad placement should create synergies between your site and the host site or, if your’s is the host site, it should generate lots of sales for the advertiser and some dependable cash flow for you – especially during the first few months of operation when outgo far exceeds income. Placing an ad on your site for Ford or Toshiba will, indeed, generate ad revenues and the higher your PR the more $$$ you’ll earn.

Or, if you’re the advertiser (the one paying for the advertising), at least in theory, you’ll see more click-throughs, site traffic and revenues. Advertiser or host site – either way, there’s money to be made online so stop the presses and join the millions of commercial site owners who have recognized that print is NOT growing, but digital is.

Which side do you want to be on?

 

 

Sorry for the long-winded post. Peace, Out!

INCREASE YOUR COVERSION RATE BY 1000%

Hey, now that’s a headline that got your attention, didn’t it? You’re still reading so it did get your attention – and that’s what a good headline on your homepage does. It gets attention.

There are plenty of high-priced, Fortune 500 company sites that have ignored this basic marketing axiom – headlines grab attention. Don’t believe it? Okay, imagine the next issue if your favorite magazine arrives with no contents page, no headlines or subheads – just big globs of text and pictures without any captions. How long are you going to wade through all of that content to find the stuff you really want to read?

Same idea with your website. A grabber headline will lower your bounce rate because more visitors stick around, pulled in by a great headline.

Okay, what’s a great headline?
A good headline is one that keeps the visitor on site. So what are we talking about, here? What’s going to keep a visitor from bouncing?

Self-interest headlines identify the benefits of the product or service to the reader. The objective of these headlines is to be as specific as you can about the benefit(s). For example:

Double Your Portfolio Return Without Risk

Backache? Let Acme Pregnancy Pillows Make You Comfortable

Lose 30 Pounds in 60 Days: FREE Recipe Book

Notice that each headline defines specific benefits: double returns, get comfortable, lose weight easily. Self-interest headlines describe the key benefits of whatever it is you’re selling.

A note worth noting here: web users are NOT idiots. Headlines like:

EARN $5000 a DAY FROM HOME

DOUBLE YOUR MONEY IN 60 SECONDS

BUY RENTAL PROPERTY IN FRANCE:
EARN $10,000 A MONTH WITH NO MONEY DOWN

STAY YOUNG FOREVER WITH ACME ALGAE DRINK
(May not be legal in all states.)

You still see this ridiculous bombast all over the web. Look, all you site owners who are doing this. Web users are smart so treat them with respect and don’t insult their intelligence with this kind of hype. Self-interest headlines work but screw the top back on the hype jar. People aren’t idiots.

News Headlines present information without any sales spin, though spin is usually the point.

HERBENOUGH EARNS SEAL of APPROVAL

XZY ENERGY BRINGS OIL TO THE PIPELINE

DOCTORS AGREE ON GLAUCOMA TREATMENT

Now, the news headline should be void of any type of sales or promo. Think of it as a press release or newspaper headline. These headlines work well for NFPs, service organizations, pharmas, micro-cap companies (penny stocks) and other agencies projecting a non-commercial, online persona.

Even though these headlines should be void of sizzle, they should still draw the attention of the reader. Boring doesn’t sell. The sites that use this type of headline are usually sites that attract the needs-driven buyer – the guy facing foreclosure or the gal who just lost her health insurance. Needs-driven buyers want information. They don’t want (or need) a lot of sales hype. The sale is already made.

Intrigue Headlines appeal to the curiosity of the reader – evoking a need to learn more.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THESE SYMPTOMS?

IS THAT A UFO IN YOUR LOCKER?

WAIT’LL YOU GET A LOAD OF THIS!!!!

Hmm, do I have any of these symptoms? Hey, I better do something. These headlines tease the reader into digging in and reading the rest of the piece, which can include some sizzle, but please remember the hype quotient (HQ). Keep it to a minimum.

Designing the Perfect Headline
Check out that sub-head: perfect headline above. So, if you’re a site owner and you’ve read this far, you’re going to want to learn some tips for developing the “perfect headline.” Get it?

So, okay, the headline should fall into one of the three categories described above. The headline should be the largest design element above the fold on the homepage. Bigger than your business logo, company name, contact information – the perfect headline demands attention.

Turn the spotlight on the reader. Don’t talk about “me” and “my.” Who cares? Talk to “You.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO EARN EXTRA INCOME?

YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOUR WATER IS DOING TO YOU

YOUR FUTURE BEGINS TODAY WITH US

People are motivated to read content that applies to them. It may sound callous, but it’s the old “What’s in it for me?” mentality. So tell the reader what’s in it for her – in the homepage headline.

Avoid any kind of negativity. It’s okay to say “We’re the best.” That’s positive. It’s not okay to say “Our competition stinks.” Way too negative so keep the focus on your positives, not the competition’s negatives.

Tests indicate that long headlines, as long as no scrolling is involved, work as well as short headlines. So, go for it:

EARN MORE MONEY THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT POSSIBLE
WITH ABSOLUTELY NO RISK TO YOU AND NO COST TO YOU
A BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY THAT HAS UNLIMITED UPSIDE
WITH VIRTUALLY NO DOWNSIDE WHATSOEVER

You get the idea. Visitors will read the long headline as long as it continues to point out benefits to the reader. So go short or go long. Just keep it focused on the reader.

Avoid headlines designed to show just how clever or witty you are. Again, the site headline is designed for one purpose – to grab and hold the visitor’s attention, not to “wow” the visitor with your rapier wit.

Don’t use industry insider jargon, either. You can’t be sure who will be reading the headline and if it’s a clerk in ‘Purchasing’ he may not understand the headline.

Finally, test different headlines to determine which is stickiest. You might think it’s the greatest headline ever written but if it isn’t pulling, move on and try something else that focuses on the benefits of the product or service to the reader.

editor@webwordslinger.com

Want to Work At Home? Web-Based Biz Tips

Perfect for work at home parents

 

 

 

 

Let’s Start With What Doesn’t Work

Anything you see in the newspaper or the back of magazines on making $$$ while working at home is most likely a scam. You’ll have to buy some kind of “kit” required to do the job and you’ll never hear from the goons who scammed you. If anyone is recruiting you to work at home for them, run for the hills.

What Does Work?
Your energy, enthusiasm and your need for more cash each month can lead to a profitable business – an on-line business. Don’t know anything about the world wide web? That’s not a problem. Today, anyone can own a web business without taking out a second mortgage on the house.

The Benefits Of An On-line Business

Low start-up costs
Really, you can have a nice, professional-looking web site up and running on-line for less than $100. True. The web hosting industry is highly-competitive so web hosts (they’re the ones that hook up your store to the web) have to provide a lot of services for a little money. So start looking for the right web host – a host that delivers enough digital space for your enterprise, the tools needed to build a site (it’s all done with templates, just pick and click) and run a site. Go with a web host that offers low monthly fees but packs a wallop with a trunk full of freebies.

Passive Income
If you already have a job, or you’re chasing after the kids all afternoon, you don’t have hours a day to tend to another business. No problem. Once you get your site set up, whether you’re selling products or services, you can automate the entire transaction process from purchase to shipping to customer satisfaction.

Now, don’t think you can just open a little cyber storefront and it’ll generate enough for you to move to the Riviera. If only it were that easy. You will have to spend some time taking care of business but you can minimize that level of participation. What’s even better? You can work when it’s convenient. Put the kids down for a nap and you’ve got an hour to process some orders or handle customer queries. Someone’s got to do it, but there are pop-in software modules that’ll take care of everything from building a great looking storefront, to processing and tracking orders, to shipping and handling, to customer queries.

So, you do have to spend some time running that on-line business but you pick when and how often.

Right Place. Right Time.
The world wide web is the fastest growing medium ever. Faster than newspaper, radio or even TV, which changed our lives in profound ways. The W3 is growing in importance to commerce at a truly phenomenal rate.

That means you’re entering the fastest growing market in the history of the world. Billions are being spent by on-line advertisers who now recognize that the interaction with our computers is much more engaging (addictive) than channel surfing for something – anything – to watch passively.

The web delivers interactivity, billions of pages of indexed text in search engines and the almost irresistible urge to communicate and interact with the rest of the world.

Risk Versus Reward
Always a crucial consideration when starting up a business. How much risk are you taking in order to reap the reward, i.e. the big payoff? In the case of an on-line business, your downside risk is limited to $100 if you do all of the work yourself – and these days you don’t have to know anything about web design to build and run a website.

You can earn a few extra bucks each month to make life a little easier or you could become the next youtube.com, which was sold to Google for $1.6 billion and it had only been on-line for two years!

Okay, it’s not likely that your idea for an on-line business will sell for a billion bucks, but it is likely to deliver some extra earnings – whether it’s a hundred dollars or a couple of thousand – each and every month.

It’s Not Brain Surgery
That’s a fact. There are a lot of dim bulbs on the web who are working at home, naming their own hours and making a living, or at least supplementing the family income.

Start by coming up with the right idea for you. It should be something about which you’re passionate, something you love because you’re going to spend a lot of time working to build your home-based, web-based business.

Next, find the right web host. Shop around. A lot. You can even get free web hosting as long as you’re willing to display the web host’s paid advertising on your “free” site. Not a good way to go.

Find a web host that doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg for a monthly subscription (less than $10 a month is good). Some excellent web hosts cost even less than that. Finally, look at the tool box the web host offers. Does it have everything you need to build and run your on-line business? It should, and you should be able to get all of this for less than you spend at a fast food place for a family dinner.

Build It and They Will Come
There’s software today that does everything but suck up the dust bunnies behind your computer. Site builder software. Merchant account software (so you can accept credit cards). Checkout software with built-in security. Software to measure your site’s performance, start your own blog, advertise and market your web site. There are dozens and dozens of software packs that make it easy to build and run an on-line business. Your kids could administer the site. (Well, maybe not the four-year-old but who knows?)

Here’s the key distinction between work-at-home jobs: if they’re coming after you, you’re about to be scammed. If you’re working to build an at-home business and you started it all on your own, you have to consider the world wide web for its risk versus reward equation.

No, it’s not easy but nothing worth having ever is. You will have to work at it. Pay attention to it and oversee daily functions – on your schedule. And that’s what makes the difference. It’s your business and you receive the benefit of your hard work and solid marketing instincts.

You can do this. For pocket change, just to test the waters. And if you start growing and becoming more profitable, you can gradually build your on-line presence from a small storefront for your hand-made ceramics to “Sue’s Ceramics Barn, Best Prices on the Web.”

Hey, it could happen. The simple fact is, you’ll never know unless you try.

SEO Tips: A Few Chistmas Goodies

 

First, thanks for taking the time to stop by. I hope we can get to know each other better in the months ahead.

Second, since I can’t send each of you a Rolex, I thought I’d provide a few goodies to hang on the ol’ digital Christmas tree.

Wishing you the best of holidays, and a Happy Festivus!

editor@webwordslinger.com

Goodie #1: To best optimize site text, be sure to direct search engine spiders through the use of embedded text links like my blue link above. Bots don’t bounce around like ping-pong balls. They follow links.

The proper placement of embedded text links on each site page will insure your site is completely indexed quickly. Always a good thing.

Goodie #2: Consider using second- and third-tier keywords. These keywords are less popular but if you’re competing against heavy hitting competition in a vertical market, you can actually eliminate some of that competition by employing lesser-used keywords.

True, fewer search engine users will enter your second-tier keywords but you’ll show up on page one of SERPs when those lesser used keywords are entered.

Goodie #3: If you haven’t done so already, submit a site map to Google, Yahoo and Inktomi. This serves as an invitation to get spidered and a site map provides all links so spiders have an easier time properly categorizing your website within the search engine taxonomy.

A little tip: each search engine requires its own formatting regs for site maps which means the development of three different site maps for each of your sites. However, you can purchase site map modules that create a site map of your existing site properly formatted for each SE.

Goodie #4: Employ guerrilla marketing tactics to build a larger web presence. Guerilla marketing is based on two simple premises: (1) it’s free and (2) it employs the resources of other web entities to your advantage – legally.

For example, post a vid-clip to YouTube, create a LinkedIn profile, a FaceBook and MySpace profile, sign up for Twitter – all free opportunities to build web creds and drive traffic – free and legal.

A little tip: My free-to-build blogs are the second leading source of clicks to my site after Google organic so flog the blogs. It works.

Goodie #5 Post hoc ergo propter hoc, which loosely translates to “after this therefore because of this.” It’s a quantum leap in logic that leads us all down the wrong path. Here’s an example.

You launch a PPC campaign and see an immediate boost in traffic. You assume that the boost can be attributed to the PPC campaign simply because that increase occurred after the PPC launch.

That may or may not be the case. That increase in traffic may be the result of any number of factors from improved optimization to the ever-changing algorithms of search engines. This is one of the problems with interpreting metrics and setting your business course based on these performance numbers.

The hard numbers must be assessed and evaluated by you, the site owner. Making business decisions on assumptions derived from metrics can have you sending your marketing dollars down the proverbial rat hole.

There, now, wasn’t that better than a Rolex?

Intuitive SERPs

Search engines, as we know them today, will soon join the heap of outdated technologies along with 8-tracks, VHS and DVD. Why? Because search engines collect data on our browsing habits and produces unique results pages based on our past browsing histories.  

If I type in “dogs” as my query word, I’ll get everything from pet stores to the history of the basset hound. And, if I’m using one of the growing number of Chinese search engines, I’ll come up with some recipes, as well. Unfortunately, my broad query provides thousands of results, often requiring me to refine my search to whatever it is I’m looking for. “Dogs” as a query just won’t cut it.

However, that search engine will have in its database a long history of my queries. The SE will know that I order dog chow on-line in bulk and will (1) bring up outlets where I’ve previously purchased dog chow and (2) offer a few hundred SERPs of similar sites to those I’ve frequented in the past.  

Amazon employs this approach to a more “intuitive” search engine my scouring my buying history and offering “MY RECCOMMENDATIONS.” So, my Amazon home page will display different products than those shown on your home page. Very convenient and obviously very effective.

So, the days of the “throw anything out there and let the user decide” will soon come to an end, at least as the default mode. Of course, you’ll always have the option of “SHOW ALL.” This will change the fundamentals of how users search.

Looking for a specific item or type of item. Personal search.

Want the full spectrum? Search all.

Getting Found By Spiders, Bots and Crawlers

“Hey, I’m back here – on page 63!” 

You’ve got a good site, you’re selling a good product or providing an important service and you still show up at the bottom of page 63 of the SERP (search engine results page). You’ve got a problem – a recognition problem. Your best, potential customers or consumers don’t even know your cyber hut exists. This is not a good problem, but a problem that can be solved, or at least mitigated.

You need to be found, or your site does, actually. So how, exactly, do search engines find your little bit of digital real estate. Well, there are lots of ways but let’s start with the most common, and coincidentally, the least expensive – as in free!

Search Engines – Powered Up For Success
There are hundreds (yes, hundreds) of search engines on the www. Some, like Google and Alta Vista are free. You submit the appropriate information and your site will be listed for free. Of course, your site will be buried on page 63 of the SERP, but everyone has to start somewhere.

Then, there are PPC sites – pay-per-click sites that nick you for every click they generate leading a potential customer to your cyber store. Yahoo is the best known of the PPC sites. Yahoo (in its usual fashion) has set off on its own path to search engine development, breaking off a once-promising partnership between Google and Yahoo – a good thing for us. The more competition among SEs, the better the quality of search results.

Directories – Get Proactive; Get Noticed
As a newcomer to cyber town, you should also consider registering your site in directories. There are open directories, like the aptly named Open Directory Project (DMOZ), in which volunteer editors search the www for interesting, helpful sites and then catalog each site for inclusion under one of many subject headings.

Then, there are smaller, more targeted directories where you can list your related site. For example, there are directories for charitable giving sites, sites of legal firms and so on. In fact, there are directory sites for just about any business or service you can imagine.

There are also association sites with outbound links, community directories, interest groups, political groups – many specialized directories that will list you for free – as long as your site is somehow related to the directory. If you’re selling the better mousetrap, it’s a sure bet your site won’t be accepted on a national jewelers’ directory. There has to be some connection between you and the subject of these topic-driven directories.

When you register with any of these SEs (free or PPC) and directories, in addition to the usual contact information, you’ll also provide a list of key words – words and phrases that a potential customer might enter in conducting a search for a site just like yours. Your selection of key words is critical to the success of your e-biz. Enter inappropriate or off-target key words and you’re not going to get the visitor traffic you’d get if every key word were dead on the money. In fact, there are a variety of assessment tools top site design firms employ to help you develop a tight, targeted key word list for submission to search engines and directories.

Key words often have to be adapted to specific SEs. You might use one set of key words for a search engine like Google, which covers the entire universe, and a completely different set of key words for an industry directory where most searchers already know the technical terms, model numbers, etc. of what they’re looking for on a site like yours.

Let’s say it one more time: It is essential to the success of your on-line business to develop a list of on-the-money key words to make sure your site is, well, on the money.

Spiders and Creepy Crawlers
Submitting your site to search engines and directories is a great way to start building site visibility. Moreover, they’re all proactive steps – steps you can take on your own.

However, there’s another way to increase your site presence on the www – and that’s to get spidered by a crawler, which sounds pretty bad but, in fact, is pretty good. A search
engine ‘crawler’ – software that crawls (and ‘reads’) pages of various sites, stores the content data on your site and reports it back to the mother ship – the search engine index. Once this happens, restrained congratulations are in order. You’ve been discovered – maybe.

You see, a crawler (or spider) has one mission – to gather the content data on millions of sites and send that info back to the SEs index- a massive amount of stored data. Google maintains a +1 billion-page index and it grows every day. So, now you type in a search word at Google, Google scans the 1 billion pages in its database and delivers the SERP for your review. All pretty straightforward, right?

Wrong! Each search engine uses its own, ‘Eyes Only’ formula to assign weight to various search criteria, which in turn, determines your placement within the SERP. And if you aren’t on the first page or two, you might as well be working out of Mongolia. Typical users don’t look beyond the first two pages. It’s a busy world.

That’s where spidering comes in. You see, spiders don’t just crawl the web randomly like, well, like spiders. No, this is smart software we’re talking about here. Spiders follow links from one site to the next, based on the assumption that the links are, somehow relevant to the site from whence the link originated. If you’re selling snowshoes, for example, and you have an outbound link to a local ski resort, the spider will follow the link and crawl that site.

That’s why links – quality links – are so important. Why? Well, if you’re selling snowshoes and the spider follows a link to Mom and Pop’s Ye Olde On-Line Candy Shoppe, oops, that’s a garbage link – a link that isn’t helpful to your snowshoe customers. The result? You lose points in that search engines PR calculations.

There are sites, affectionately referred to as ‘link farms’ that are nothing more than sites providing in- and out-bound links. Spiders hate link farms because they diminish the quality of search results. The newest search engine algorithms place a much higher value on quality links – especially quality links pointing to your site.

If people in your area of commerce believe that your site would be helpful to their customers, the SE is going to rank you higher, based on the assumption that quality sites link to other quality sites.

An SE spider can do wonders for your PR (PageRank), moving you up in the SERP rankings from page 63 all the way up to page 6. Of course, getting spidered in and identified as an ‘expert page” (one other sites send their visitors to) will do wonders for your ranking.

But you can’t stop there. It’s a dog-eat-dog cyber world in which we exist. That’s why so many other factors enter into getting found and moving on up. Search engine optimized (SEO) text that’s spider-friendly plays a key roll. The quality of content is another important factor. In fact, there’s a checklist of do’s and don’ts that form the basis of search engine marketing (SEM). So, before you build a single pixel, or reserve a single gig of space on your host’s server, put together a business plan that includes SEM in the budget.

Why? Because if you spend all of your initial capital on building a good looking, visitor-friendly site, you won’t have the necessary cash to hire an SEM professional to deliver the traffic that will make your site profitable.

editor@webwordslinger.com

Selling Services: What are the Benefits?

I was looking at snow blowers last week, reading through the literature and trying to compare specs of different models. I don’t know squat about the tech specs of snow blowers, but tell me “this model can shred a big block Chevy engine” and I’m sold. 

I get to see a lot of really bad web sites – sites that are struggling under the weight of too many keywords in two short a body of text, headlines with keywords crammed in with a shoe horn and complete, bot optimized text – boring.

But even today, there are website owners (and I assume designers) who develop sites that employ ineffective marketing text, leading to microscopic conversion ratios. The reason?

Features. Lists of them. In every snow blower tri-fold there was a long list of tech specs. And I suppose if you use a snow blower at work it might come in handy to learn a little about what these numbers mean. Probably not.

 

Sell Benefits Not Features

All of my snow-blower options come with an emergency STOP feature. Good. Very good. Ummm, why?

Well, it turns out the automatic stop feature prevents the machine from starting accidently while you’re unclogging the blades. Now NOT having your arm ripped off is a benefit anyone can understand. So, instead of just providing the feature, be sure to cover the benefits.

Service Providers and Product Merchants

If your client site sells products, it’s pretty easy to cram a product description into 60 words and provide a benefit or two: Ideal for the Heavy Runner; When security is a must, etc. These coupled with a professionally shot product picture usually provides all the information the prospect needs to make that all-important buying decision.

Not so much with service providers – every business from accounting services to chiropractics. In these cases, it’s essential to not only list service offerings but also the benefits delivered by these service offerings:

After completion of the Advantotex Morale Seminar, you will see:

• an immediate drop in absenteeism  

 

• fewer expensive turnovers of C-level managers

 

• improved communication and cooperation between departments

 

Sure, you’d include a syllabus, target audience and other useful information that demonstrates your value – quantifies it if possible: “Average 198% increase in productivity within six months of implementation.” Sweet.

But list features and specs; highlight benefits. You just can’t assume the reader will make that critical connection between service offering/feature and “What’s in it for me?”

So sell the benefits and let those who need to understand the tech specs figure out if this is a good purchase or not.