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12 Web Marketing Articles to Build Your Business

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

flyte crew - 2011The best web marketing articles of 2011…that appeared on our website.

Which is still pretty good. Because you know, we don’t just publish any old crap.

Here’s the last 12 months of articles that appeared in your inboxes if you’re a subscriber to the flyte log, our award winning web marketing email newsletter.

Well, that’s that!

Have you signed up for the flyte log email newsletter yet? When you do, you get the following articles only available to subscribers:

  • 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Website
  • The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make
  • 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Facebook Business Page
  • The 11 Commandments of Writing Web Copy for the Non-Copywriter

 May 2012 be your most prosperous year yet!

Rich Brooks
Internet Marketer

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Posted in Business Blogs and Blog Marketing, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »


10 Questions To Ask Before Setting Up a Website – 2012 Edition

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a WebsiteWhat questions should you ask yourself and your web developer before setting up a website?

Whether you’re building your first website or ready to revamp your current website, there are important questions to ask if you want a website that will:

  • increase your online visibility
  • attract more qualified traffic, and
  • convert that traffic into leads and business.

I wrote my first “10 Questions” as my second (print!) newsletter back in 1997 that included such questions as:

  • should I get my own domain name? and
  • are my customers online?

I rewrote the article in 2002, and that version is still one of the most popular pages on our site. In fact, it’s been plagiarized multiple times since it’s original publication, including by the US government! (For real! My brother helped me send a cease and desist letter.) I’ve been told plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.

After that I revamped it again and offered it up as a lead generation tool for our email newsletter, flyte log.

A couple of weeks back I reread it, and realized again the web had made this article feel dated. So here it is: the 2012 edition of 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Website.

The article has evolved, and now many of the questions focus on generating more online leads from your website and measuring your success.

Why 2012 when we’re still in 2011? Two words: Shelf. Life.

To get it, you’ll still need to sign up for our free, monthly email newsletter, but when you do you’ll have access to the following articles:

  • 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Facebook Fan Page 
  • The 11 Biggest Mistakes Small Business Bloggers Make
  • The 11 Commandments of Writing Web Copy for Non-Copywriters

You can also unsubscribe from the email newsletter as soon as you’ve downloaded the articles. But why would you?!? Every article has specific information on how you can grow your business using the web.

If you’re ready to take your business to the next level on the web, be sure to download 10 Questions to Ask Before Setting Up a Website.

Rich Brooks
Still Asking Questions, 14 Years Later

P.S. Current subscribers can follow the links to the article from previous emails, or in any upcoming email newsletter.

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Posted in Web Design & Development | 3 Comments »


Frightful Filler for Your Damned Designs: Zombie Ipsum

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Zombie Ipsum Twitter AvatarLorem Ipsum alternatives are all the rage these days, but for your macarbe designs and Halloween websites, there’s nothing like Zombie Ipsum.

If you’re a web designer who needs a Lorem Ipsum alternative for a Halloween or horror-themed website or brochure, you need to give Zombie Ipsum a spin. Unlike Lorem Ipsum and many of it’s popular derivatives, Zombie Ipsum is specifically designed for these undead creatures and the people that hunt them.

If you don’t know what Lorem Ipsum is, it’s that latin-looking text that designers use when showing clients a website or brochure to review. We don’t want you getting hung up on the words, we just want you looking at our amazing designs and layouts, so we use bogus text that’s easy to ignore.

Here’s a sample of Zombie Ipsum, straight from the generator:

Zombie ipsum reversus ab viral inferno, nam rick grimes malum cerebro. De carne lumbering animata corpora quaeritis. Summus brains sit​​, morbo vel maleficia? De apocalypsi gorger omero undead survivor dictum mauris. Hi mindless mortuis soulless creaturas, imo evil stalking monstra adventus resi dentevil vultus comedat cerebella viventium.

I can’t tell you the special sauce we used to create Zipsum, but I can say that no zombies were harmed in the production process.

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Posted in Web Design & Development, Web Site Launches | No Comments »


The Flyte Tip Jar: Web Design and Internet Marketing Tips for You

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Need a web design or internet marketing tip? Just reach into the jar.

At the Social Media FTW conference the other day flyte had a booth. On that booth was a tip jar. However, instead of asking attendees to leave loose change behind, we asked them to pull a web design or internet marketing tip out of the jar.

Despite the fact that there were loads of people at the conference, math tells us that many more couldn’t make it. Even those who did were not able to read all the tips.

So, to share the knowledge, here’s our list of web design and internet marketing tips that appeared in the jar.

Web Design Tips:

  • To increase contact form conversion rates keep the number of fields to 5 or less.
  • Good web design is not just about pretty pictures. It’s also about having a user-centric philosophy.
  • When designing a web site give priority to the website user’s needs.
  • Before designing a web site, clearly define the objectives of your company and your user.
  • Before the design process begins, create wireframes to help define the overall structure of the website.
  • Hire a professional web copywriter to write your website content.
  • To design a great website, you must understand the needs of your users.
  • Include a site search on your website.
  • Limit primary navigation categories to eight.
  • Limit the number of fonts to 3.
  • When developing navigation naming, the text should be clear as to where the navigation button is taking you.
  • Each page on your web site should contain a “call-to-action”.
  • No two web users are alike so make sure you offer multiple ways to navigate your web site.
  • Don’t make web users think. The web page should be obvious and self-explanatory.
  • Limit the number of clicks it takes a user to locate the information they are looking for.
  • Keep it simple. This principle should be the primary goal of web site design.
  • Limit the primary color palette to 3 colors.
  • An e-newsletter signup form on your website is a great way to grow your customer database and initiate customer relationships.
  • Utilize video on your web site. It’s another great way to deliver content.
  • To avoid overwhelming, confusing and frustrating the user, limit the number of items on your home page.

Web Marketing Tips:

  • Visit Google Trends and look at the Hot Trends for the day to come up with blog titles/topics.
  • Check out keywords by region in Google Insights for good terms to use in blog posts targeting local audiences.
  • Check out Google’s Contextual Targeting Tool via Google Adwords, for help with keyword ideas and organizing and structuring your keyword lists.
  • Use Wordtracker’s Keyword Questions Tool for good blog post titles/subjects.
  • Google Instant Search provides suggestions while you are typing your search term, use these suggestions for blog topics.
  • Check Out Ubersuggest for keyword ideas http://suggest.thinkpragmatic.net/.
  • Look at Ask.com’s Related Questions and Related Searches for good blog posts ideas.
  • Think long tail keyword phrases not single keywords.
  • Title tags are the most important part of your site for SEO.
  • Spend extra time to create compelling titles that grab attention.
  • When using images for content optimize them by using alt text, captions, and URLs.
  • Your audience consists of 3 types of searchers: Navigational, Informational and Transactional; make sure your content serves the correct audience.
  • Place your keywords early in your content and make them prominent, bold, in header tags, linked, title, and bulleted.
  • Facebook ads are a cheap way to get information out to a highly targeted audience.
  • Update your Facebook page at least once a day. It will help your Edgerank.
  • Posting questions on your Facebook page, especially T/F, Multi Choice, and Agree/ Disagree type questions will get you more engagement.
  • Check out this cool Free Tool on SEOmoz LDA http://www.virante.com/seo-tools/lda- content-optimizer.
  • Post links in your Twitter updates; shown to get more Retweets and engagement.
  • Twitter Tip: “Please ReTweet” gets 3x more ReTweet’s than “Please RT “.
  • Post to Facebook and Twitter on Saturdays and Sundays to beat the competition.
  • The least shared type of information on social media are negative messages; stay positive.
  • Create a Facebook landing page to welcome new fans and inform them why they should like you.
  • Repurpose your blog posts for Facebook updates, Twitter updates and YouTube videos.
  • Use NetworkedBlogs to syndicate your blogposts to Facebook.
  • Make sure you have sharing tools on your blogposts.
  • Set up Google Alerts on your brand and keywords for blogposts, articles and status update ideas.
  • For more bloggers in your niche, check out AllTop.com.
  • Create blogposts that are short, sweet, to the point, and that have a catchy title.
  • Make sure your social media status updates provide your audience with content they want.
  • Use Twitter Search (http://twitter.com/search) to find tweeps in your niche.
  • Keep blogposts around 250 – 500 words and articles 500 – 1,000 words.
  • As you think of blogposts, be sure to make a note of them. You’ll be glad you did for a rainy day.
  • When possible, use a photo in your blogposts. They’ll help enhance the content.
  • Don’t forget about video. Even a “talking head” clip of you can help add personality to your content.
  • Remember, images and video are just one more way to rank well at the search engines.
  • If you have a local business, don’t forget about local search. Try starting with Google Places: http://www.google.com/places/.
  • It seems simple, but make sure all of your social profiles are 100% filled out. That means a photo, information, and a background (depending on the site).
  • One of the best ways to get an incoming link to your website? Guest blogging. Make sure you have a blogpost ready to go before you make contact.
  • Make sure all of your web efforts are connected; and that they all link back to your website.
  • Do you make PowerPoint presentations? Try uploading them to Slideshare.net and get some traffic to your website that way.
  • Don’t join every social networking site under the sun. Find out where your audience spends their time and spend yours there, too.
  • Use Twitter as your new RSS feed. Follow the movers and shakers in your industry and read the articles they talk about.
  • The web-based Twitter not working well for your lifestyle? No problem! There are easy to used web, desktop, and mobile apps that are easy to use. [TweetDeck is one of our favorites.]
  • One of the toughest (and most important) social media decisions to make is what voice your account will be coming from. The business? The owner? An employee?
  • Remember to always add value. So, always be less “sales-y” and more resourceful.
  • Add your personality to everything you put out there. People like doing business with people.
  • Don’t dilute your message. If you don’t have a lot of time to devote to social media, do one thing and do it well.
  • On both Twitter and Facebook, try doing at least a few tweets and status updates every day. And feel free to use the same ones.

Thanks to Ryan Goan for the web design tips, and Joan Crocker and Nicki Hicks for the web marketing tips.

Rich Brooks
Delegating

Photo credit: Tina Burnell

Posted in Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | No Comments »


Do I Really Need Discovery for My Web Project?

Thursday, September 8th, 2011

You need some programming done on your website and your web developer has asked for some paid discovery time…is she scamming you?

Although most of the websites we build don’t need Discovery (notice the capital “D”), whenever we come up against a complex programming job, we strongly recommend it. And what’s more, we expect to get paid for it, even if you decide not to move forward with the project. Why do we do this?

In the fourteen plus years I’ve been running flyte I’ve realized that my assumptions and the assumptions of my clients don’t always match up perfectly. That’s certainly not their fault; building a website is not an every day occurrence for them and so they make certain assumptions based on similar experiences in vaguely-related fields, or just on their hopes and wishes. And on my side, I often forget that building websites isn’t their business, so I make my own misguided assumptions…like they’re no longer using IE6. :roll:

I’ve had clients who were surprised to find out that we weren’t writing their copy for them, or creating a logo for them, or setting up their new email login on their iPhones. (All services we offer as add-ons. Except for the iPhone. That’s what your local Genius Bar is for.)

Custom programming takes this to a whole other level.

Even when we’ve listed out the deliverables as specifically as possible there are always issues:

  • Do you want the ability to create your own subcategories? If so, do subcategories need to be tied into just one category or several? If you delete a subcategory do all the products/services that were aligned with them also get deleted? If not, where do they go?
  • Do you want the system to send out confirmation emails or did you want to be able to override that with a personal message?
  • What type of discount codes will you be offering? Will those change in the future?
  • How will people create/recover usernames and passwords?

These are just a few examples of what we’ve run into in the past. Even when you think you know what the client wants, even when they feel they’ve been as clear as possible, miscommunication happens.

To limit this, we like to create storyboards that walk clients through what their experience will be (here’s how you approve a new member, here’s how you send them a reminder email, etc.) as well as the experience of the user (this is where they can sign up, where they enter their discount code, etc.)

Doing this takes time. Besides the hours it takes, it’s also based on years of experience in programming and user-interface. What makes sense for your end user? What is scalable? What is affordable?

The way we (and many other firms) set this up is that you pay us for the Discovery work, with the deliverable being storyboards and a firm price on the project. You’re not required to move forward with us at that point, and you can even shop those storyboards around. Of course, if we’ve done a good job why wouldn’t you want to work with us? :)

If you don’t do discovery, we still need to create those storyboards during the project to be able to do the programming. (You wouldn’t build a house without a blueprint, would you?) Unfortunately, if some major misunderstandings surface at that point that cause the budget to change it may be more difficult to extricate yourself at that point…we may already be hip-deep into web design, a keyword analysis, or other parallel work for your site.

In short, Discovery isn’t extra work or a programmer trying to pad their bill, it’s insurance for your job coming in on time and on budget.

Can I get an “amen?”

Rich Brooks
Now I’m Selling Insurance?

Photo credit: BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Design & Development | No Comments »


How to Create Your Own Free Online Surveys

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

What’s the best online survey tool? With Google Docs you can create your own free online survey tool, collect data and get your responses in real time.

Whether you’re trying to get feedback on a recent event, a new offering, or if any of the bachelors are good enough for Ashley (fellow Mainer), an online survey is a perfect tool for collecting that data.

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Posted in Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 2 Comments »


Flyte Welcomes Joan Crocker to the Crew!

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Joan Crocker - flyte SEO & Social MediaJoan Crocker joins the flyte crew as our new search engine marketer.

If you follow the flyte new media news (and who doesn’t, really? I think CNN has a tab for us on their home page), then you may have heard that our search engine marketer, Nicki Hicks, is moving south for warmer climes.

Although she’s going to continue working for flyte, we knew we also wanted to have a search and social media expert in the office here in Maine.

Enter Joan Crocker, the newest addition to the flyte new media crew.

The first thing you need to know about Joan is she doesn’t like to share. That ice cream cone is all hers. Don’t come looking for a bite unless you want to be starting something. Besides that, there are a few things you should know about Joan:

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Posted in flyte news, Search Engine Marketing, Social Media, Web Design & Development | 2 Comments »


Santa’s Not the Only One Who Needs to Make a List

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Santa ClausDear Rich,

I’m a mental health professional and I have a website. I’ve been told that I should be building a list of contacts, but I don’t really see the point. Outside of my sessions I don’t really have anything to sell, so what’s the point of building a list of contacts that I’ll never do business with?

–Listless in Lisbon

Dear Listless (heh-heh),

While it’s true you may not have anything to sell to people now, that may change in the future. You’re probably a specialist in something–maybe dealing with children with ADHD, or adults with OCD, or helping repair relationships. Over times, your experience will grow, and so will your ability to help people.

But, you’re still only going to have 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week.

Imagine if you had a free download, such as 10 Tips for Helping Your Kids Manage Their ADHD, or 5 Surefire Ways to Stop OCD from Ruining Your Life, or 3 Strategies to Try Before Calling the Divorce Lawyer, and tied that to an email newsletter signup. Any one of those might be a valuable enough offer to get people to subscribe.

Then you publish a monthly ezine on your topic of choice, archiving each article on your website or blog (for SEO benefits, ‘natch.) Over time, you’re going to develop quite a list of interested people.

So, in two, five or ten years from now, when you’re ready to publish that book (or ebook, or put on that webinar, or develop that online course), you’ll have a ready list of opt-in, interested people who want to learn from you and buy from you, and who will likely share your good name with their networks.

Just be sure to include me in the acknowledgements.

If you’d like to learn more, but sure to check out this month’s flyte log article, List Building: How to Build a List of Contacts at Your Website.

Rich Brooks
Listing

Photo Credit: Bart Fields

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Posted in Business Philosophy, Email Marketing, Entrepreneur & Small Business, Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | No Comments »


301 Redirects: How to Keep Your Search Engine Ranking During a Redesign

Monday, March 28th, 2011

Confusing Traffic Sign, Boston MA301 redirects are essential when you’re redesigning your website and don’t want to lose the search engine traffic that you currently enjoy.

The unfortunate thing about a 301 redirect is that it sounds so extremely geeky and off-putting to the average business owner that they’re scared away. That’s too bad, because it is a critical tool in search engine optimization. So, to that end, I’m going to attempt explain the benefits of 301s in the least geeky way possible.

Search Engines and Trust

There are a lot of variables in why one site ranks higher than another site at Google and other search engines. One is how long the site (and a given page) has been in existence, and another is how many incoming links a page has. All things being equal (which they never are), older pages rank higher than newer pages and pages with more inbound links rank higher than ones with fewer inbound links.

Breaking that Trust

Often, when rebuilding a site, you end up changing the URLs–or addresses–of your web pages.  Maybe it’s because you’re reorganizing your site, or maybe it’s because you’re redeveloping your site on a content management system like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. In either case, the new URLs don’t have the trust that the old URLs do, even if a lot of the content is the same.

It’s like moving to a new town. You may have been the greatest manager/plumber/accountant in your old town, but that doesn’t mean anything in the new town. You haven’t changed; you still have an excellent bedside manner or mad sales skills, but you’re starting from scratch in this new town.

When you take your established content, uproot it and replant it somewhere else on your site, you are resetting the clock on when that content was created and breaking all of the inbound links that pointed to it.

Reestablishing that Trust

There are many ways to tell the search engines that you’ve moved your content, but the most search engine friendly way is the 301 redirect. By setting up 301 redirects for your content, you show search engines where your content has moved from, and your inbound links will now direct to your new pages.

How you setup your 301s may depend on the type of host you have. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s time to talk to your web developer and get them involved.

If you want your web developer to create redirects for you, I recommend writing up a guide for him or her to show where the old pages should be redirected. Here’s a guide for you to use, where the first item is the old page and the second item is where you want the traffic to flow:

  • old/old.html -> new/new.php
  • van-halen/david-lee-roth.html -> van-halen/sammy-hagar.html
  • wonka/gene-wilder.php ->wonka/johnny-depp.php

If you do feel comfortable playing around with 301 redirects, .htaccess and other files on your server, there are plenty of resources online:

These are just a few of the top results.

Final Thoughts

301 redirects are also great when you are changing from one domain to another (never a great idea, but sometimes a necessary evil.) Even with a 301 redirect, you should expect a dip during a major overhaul of your website. However, my own experience has been that the numbers get back to normal in about a month or three and then you see increases after that.

Rich Brooks
Maine SEO

Photo credit: nnecapa

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Posted in Search Engine Marketing, Web Design & Development | 6 Comments »


How Can I Get More Buyers to My E-Commerce Site?

Thursday, March 24th, 2011

Shopping!Dear Rich,

I have a website and many [handmade apparel items] and some traffic but no buyers. How can I get a buyer?

Handy in Harrison

Dear Handy,

Probably one buyer isn’t going to help; you need a regular stream of buyers if you want to turn your skill into a business. I took a quick peek at your site and here’s some feedback:

  • You need more traffic. Your site is almost invisible to the search engines, so you’ll need to invest some time and money in search engine optimization (SEO). You’ll need to perform a keyword analysis so you know what your prospective buyers are looking for when they’re at Google. The name you give your product may not be the same as what your prospects call it. You’ll need to rewrite the copy throughout the site, concentrating on title-tags, headers, body copy and intra-site links. Also, check out Nicki Hicks’ Maine SEO Blog for plenty of good tips.
  • Your website could be more…um…professional looking. Ouch, I know. But if you’re selling things that have an aesthetic quality, whether they’re [handmade apparel items] or plastic surgery, you need an aesthetic website.
  • Your product photography is um…poor? OK, now I’m just being cruel. But it’s true: if you want to sell something, you should invest in some professional level photography. If you can’t afford it, maybe you could barter with a local photographer who needs a [handmade apparel item.]
  • You need to make it easier to buy from you. I had trouble finding the product page; you should make it easy to buy products from you. Put products on the home page, and write more enticing descriptions of your product. Be persuasive.

If you can’t afford all those services–SEO, photography, copywriting and web design can add up–you might want to take a look at a site like Etsy or Shopify that will get you up and running in no time.

And good luck!

Rich Brooks
Cruel to Be Kind

Photo Credit: antwerpenR

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Posted in Web Design & Development, Web Marketing | 3 Comments »

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