Did you miss our Easy Website Optimization Webinar?
Don't despair! We recorded our recent webinar for your viewing pleasure. Whether you are watching it for the first time or as a refresher Lorrie Thomas, AKA The Web Marketing Therapist, offers up fantastic tips to increase your website’s visibility and sellability!
You can view and download the webinar slides here.
We had an overwhelming number of questions after the webinar in which Lorrie Thomas was kind enough to take the time to answer. We have included these below as an added bonus!
1. Should "the who, whom, what" all be CLEAR on the homepage, or just somewhere on the site?
The who you are, what you do, and whom you serve can benefit you on the home page of a website, but if it fits better to have this on an about page then that works well too. I suggest having who, what and whom on the home page to make it clear ASAP to a web visitor so you help the people who get TO your site get THROUGH it faster. This can be said not only in text but also in photos and video too. Now, if you are Amazon.com, the “whom you serve” is everybody so that doesn’t need to be spelled out. Ask yourself these three questions then make sure that your messaging is clear – it’s a healthy exercise in web marketing optimization not for a home page, but for all areas of a marketing messaging.
2. Do you have any suggestions or tips specifically for web marketing for utilities?
For utility companies where competition is fierce, having strong value points in messaging and using the web to build visibility, credibility and sellability is a must. That doesn't mean that utility companies with more of a monopoly do not need to pay attention to web marketing. Customer service (usability) is am must. My advice for any utility company: Have a great web experience to serve and support customers. The rules of marketing apply to all industries.
3. Any ideas/examples to get people to our site? We have lots of info on the site, but most people only read email and don't go to site, even when I put the site link in the email!
Make sure your site is optimized to be search friendly. My book The 36 Hour Course to Online Marketing has TONS of ideas post email. I suggest exploring SEO (search engine optimization), social media, online advertising and online PR as possibilities. Learn the options THEN apply!
4. Can you please explain affiliate programs and how they help optimization?
Affiliate programs are revenue sharing agreements between advertisers and website owners where the website owner who is promoting an advertiser’s offer ONLY get paid if they generate a specific action (lead, sale, download, etc.) Affiliate marketing can help boost conversions, but it does not help website optimization.
5. Can you review the wonder wheel?
The Google Wonder Wheel is a way to get key phrase ideas based on Google’s research of what phrases are searched on similar to the phrase you have already searched on. Read more on the Google Wonder wheel (I explained it on my blog http://bit.ly/i6ZFYz)
6. Do you have a specific web tool for setting up a small web based business you could recommend?
The #1 tool I suggest is the thee pound machine in your skull (brain) Technology is meaningless unless it is driven with purpose; that's where human thinking comes in. Small businesses need smart websites in order to be found in search engines and author helpful content (blogs, social media), but the main game is to have a healthy web marketing foundation first. The McGraw-Hill 36 Hour Course: Online Marketing has a ton of ideas that are perfect for getting the ideas flowing ( I share a ton of tools too!)
7. It sounds like META tags in pages are less important than having the content in the text?
Incorrect. Search engines look for three things for SEO, architecture (url names, meta tags) content, and linking (on and off site). Search engines look at all three. Meta title tags set properly on each page of a site are super helpful to boost SEO. The more architecture, content and linking are employed together the better.
8. Could you elaborate a bit on the value proposition aspect?
Sure. OWN YOUR WORTH! That is what value propositions are all about. Why should someone support your products and services and not somebody/something else? Get clear on your value and weave this into messaging (on site, maybe a tagline, testimonials). Help people understand the value in working with you.
9. What are your thoughts on advertising on Facebook?
Facebook is great for visibility and targeting certain markets. Anything we set up on our profiles (age, gender, hobbies, location, etc) can be targeted. For example, mom sites can reach moms, golf companies can reach golfers, etc. All online advertising must be tracked (by sales, goals etc) so be sure to have a plan and goals before anything is purchased.
10. What is the downside of using the same Meta Tag description on each page?
You don’t help a search engine understand the uniqueness of each page which can hinder your visibility. No extra effort, no extra visibility. That simple.
11. is there a "best" file extension to use to imbed still pictures?
No. Just name the photos descriptively so search engines know what it is. Image456.jpeg is not as search ready as attorney-los-angeles.jpeg (if that is what your company does!)
12. Can you tell me which is a better site in terms of SEO - static or Dynamic?
Search engines can read both these days, so as long as you have your architecture, content, and linking optimized with key phrases that you want to be searched and found on, you are ok. Some SEO gurus vote for a static site since that code is easier for a search engine to read, but I say chose a website platform for your end user first then follow SEO best practices after.
13. What is the difference between the "tags" in the source code?
There are three tags, a title, description and keyword tag. Go to Google and search for anything. The blue lines are titles, under it are descriptions. This is how these tags look to a real person. To a website, these tags are merely HTML code that tells a search engine what each page is about. Marketers need to write these mindfully to maximize SEO. More on SEO and meta tagging can be watched here http://bit.ly/bJKnrp
14. As a non-profit what are the top 3 things I should concentrate on for my web page and what is the best bang for my dollar to create a great website?
Credibility, Usability, Visibility = Sellability. You want credible design and messaging, good user-experience and a seach-visible site. Read my book The 36-Hour Course to Online Marketing before you build a site – it covers everything from planning to post launch marketing.
15. How helpful are using the cloud analysis tools to see the keywords web search engines associate with your site?
They are helpful as long as that data is coupled with measuring current on site data. But note: What a cloud sees as associated with your site only connects to phrases you use on your site. Be sure you brainstorm key phrases you want people to search (brain+storm means using your head, not just relying on a computer to scan your site) ART+SCIENCE = good SEO.
16. The content sharing sites you recommended were google knol and what others?
I love Squidoo and Knol – those are my fave. I have a chapter on content marketing in my book too that lists tons more.
17. Can any of these tips be done by someone other than the web master?
YES! Marketers should drive marketing, not a webmaster. Webmasters need us to partner with them to marry the art and science of web work. Today, so many sites can be managed by people other than a tech pro or at least creative directed by a marketer (making lists of new meta tags, site optimizations, etc)
18. Do you feel Google AdWords can be a part of the Web Optimization strategy? If yes, how does it help?
Adwords is a way to buy traffic and potentially sales. Of all the online ad channels, Google adwords is my favorite option. Adwords will not help your natural search visibility, but it can get you more eyeballs and traffic. Just be sure you have clear advertising goals and tracking in place. You can manage what you can measure!
19. I work with a small company that is within the umbrella of a larger company. As such, what we can do with our website is very limited (mainly post content only). Do you have any suggestions on how to increase traffic to our site given these limitations?
Buy candy, pizza, and beer for your web people (kidding, ok, maybe not totally kidding!) Seriously, in your case, you will want to champion any web changes with rationale as to why changes will help increase revenue. Also remember that social media (blog, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, article marketing, online PR, and LinkedIn) can be off site work that you can do to help drive traffic to your site.
20. What would you recommend for a business that has no marketing budget and wants to increase traffic and sales for the website?
1. Buy my book – its full of no cost ideas. 2. Get into social media 3. Author content to help boost credibility and usability.
21. For SEO, do you recommend navigation having lots of sub-pages or mainly hi-level category pages? Should we optimize all, or just top level?
Both, but start small and do high level pages first. There is no need to optimize all pages at once, do some every month and chip away at the most important pages you want to be searched and found on first.
22. Do you have any tips for optimizing images and video?
Name the files and tag them with key phrases that describe the content to help pull people in! If the video is about sustainable farming, name the image or video sutainable_farming-video (or something similar). When you are uploading images or video, be sure to use smart key-phrase rich descriptions in alt tags and titles.
23. Do your tips apply to all of the search engines, or should I focus on just the main ones, Google, Yahoo, etc.
They apply to all.
Don't forget to register for the final webinar in our our four part series; Sophisticated Social Media Marketing. Grab your top hat and monocle and get ready to take your web marketing to the next level and unleash the full power of social media for your business. You don’t want to miss this one happening on June 22nd at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern! Click here to register.
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