You Are Not Your User

It’s really easy to believe that everyone else is like you. They aren’t.

Everyone tends to do it. It takes a conscious effort to not do it. I mean, you are a rational person. You believe everything you believe and think everything that you think. Why wouldn’t everyone else think and believe the same way? What are they? Morons?

It's really easy to believe that everyone else is like you. They aren't.

When you are designing your site and writing your content, do it from the users point of view, not your own. They are the ones that you have created this magnificent new web site for, so honor them by talking in their language and answering their questions and meeting their needs.

The first step to do this is to define just who they are. Once you have them defined, forget everyone else. If you want to sell video games, your site will look much different then if you want to sell medical equipment.

It might be helpful to write down your definition of your users and tape it to your monitor, where you can remember them while you’re writing.

Their words, their needs, their solutions. That’s what you need to focus on.

Posted in content |

How Much Does SEO Cost?

SEO should be free.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. How much it costs will depend on how optimized you want it to be. Nothing in SEO costs any money, only time. You should learn what the techniques are and then you should do them your self.

SEO just wants to be free.
Don't pay for it.

The first thing that you must do, MUST do, is to pick some keywords or phrases that you want to rank highly for. The best way to do this is to think about it from your users point of view. What problem are they trying to solve when they come to your site. Why should they be there? Wedding Flowers? Car Repair? Pizza? a TV Show? What are those words that they will type into Google to find you?

It’s good to get one main phrase that you was to own. That phrase will go everywhere on your site, so many times that’s annoying.

Now you need to pick 3-5 more phrases that you want to do well for. Maybe you won’t own these, but you still want traffic from them.

Remember, these phrases must be from the user’s point of view, not yours. You might think that you sell “water treatment systems”, but your users want to buy “water softeners”. You might think that you sell “hand made, one of a kind, jewelry”, but I’m looking for a “woman birthday gift”. You might think you sell “woman’s action wear”, but my wife’s looking for “woman sports clothes”.

Now that that has rolled around in your head for a while, you can write down the phrases that you want to rank well for and the one that you want to own.

Next, you can scatter those phrases around your site and ask for links from other sites. Make your title on every page contain that main phrase. Leave comments on other sites using those phrases. Do all of the other SEO stuff that you can find on the Internet and that I’ll talk about later.

SEO just wants to be free. Don’t pay for it.

Posted in SEO |

Many Portland churches cancel Christmas Eve services – OregonLive.com

This is the correct use of a church web site! When things change, it’s much easier to check the computer in the den to see if the church service is still on or not than to drive down there in the snow to find locked doors.

My dad lives in Portland. He said it’s been snowing, melting, freezing, and snowing more. It’s really slippery. This is why I live near Los Angeles, a half mile from the beach. It will never snow at my house. Never.

Church web sites should contain current information about everything that is happening at the church. Special events information is at the very core of why you want a church web site. What time was that meeting again?

Many Portland churches cancel Christmas Eve services – Breaking News From Oregon & Portland – OregonLive.com

Please use care and discretion in problematic travel conditions. God wants you healthy and happy and so do we.

The Portland First Church of the Nazarene and the Portland Christian Center canceled their Christmas Eve candlelight services because of the weather. So did the Portland Foursquare Church , Hinson Baptist Church, and New Song Community Church.

Portland’s First United Methodist Church scaled back to a single service at 7 p.m. with carols, a children’s story and informal communion in the chapel. The church’s Web site expressed what many in the religious community are thinking: “Please use care and discretion in problematic travel conditions. God wants you healthy and happy and so do we.”

Read the entire article at Many Portland churches cancel Christmas Eve services – Breaking News From Oregon & Portland – OregonLive.com

Posted in church |

Saddleback Church Site Not Taking Down Gay Condemnations After All

Here’s some clarity to what is happening. If you are going to offend someone, you should be clear and precise about what you are saying.

Saddleback Church Site Not Taking Down Gay Condemnations After All / Queerty

We received a nice email from Kristin Cole, the press rep for the Sadleback Church letting us know that they are keeping their anti-gay rhetoric on the church website after all.

Cole writes us:
“I wanted to make sure you were aware that the Q & A addressing homosexuality on the Saddleback Church Web site has not been permanently removed, but rather repurposed for clarity. I know your readers have noticed the change.

Read the entire article at Saddleback Church Site Not Taking Down Gay Condemnations After All / Queerty

Posted in church |

Careful What You Put On Your Site

Just a reminder that what you put on your site will be forever available. Hardware wears out, but data is forever. Apparently Rick Warren’s church changed their web site in the midst of criticism, but Google remembers the old version in its’ cache.

Rick Warren pulls anti-gay language from his Web site (John Aravosis/AMERICAblog News) – Examiner.com

So Rick Warren pulled the anti-gay language from his church Web site.  The site used to explicitly ban gays from membership in the church.  —  Now the offending language is gone, but you can still find the anti-gay language via Google’s cache.

Read the entire article at Rick Warren pulls anti-gay language from his Web site (John Aravosis/AMERICAblog News) – Examiner.com

Apparently Rick Warren's church changed their web site in the midst of criticism, but Google remembers the old version in its' cache.

We don’t know if this was a staff person acting on their own to polish the web site or if it was a directive from Rick himself. That question points out that the owner or head of an organization should be aware of what goes on the web site.

Mistakes happen. Change occur. A leader can’t always be aware of what is going on in the organization. When something like this happens, you better come out and explain it right away. The truth will always come out (except about the Kennedy assassination…)

People will always forgive if you tell them the truth. They will never forgive a cover up. Compare Nixon with Clinton.

I worked with a designer once who was playing around and used monkey heads instead of human heads on some presentation comps that were to be presented to a client. It was a joke and he would change them before the presentation. You know what happened.

A developer was coding a site once and had some external links on it. He didn’t know exactly what the correct URL was, so, as a place marker, he added the tag as <a href=”xxx”>. When the client reviewed the site, they clicked on one of those links.

What does your browser do when you don’t complete a URL? It adds a “www.” to the beginning and a “.com” to the end and tries to go there. What do you suppose the client saw on the site at “www.xxx.com”?

Posted in church |

Cutting Marketing Budget During Hard Times is Bad For Business

Everyone knows that the economy is in trouble. How should you react as a small business owner? How are you going to pay the rent next month? Which employee are you going to let go? How will you keep your current clients? Don’t panic.

The easiest and quickest budget item fora small business to cut back on is marketing. There’s no immediate affect felt, so you think it might be safe to cut, but nothing could be worse for your business. The Harvard Business Review said:

It is well documented that brands that increase (marketing) during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.

The best time to take advantage of your place in the market is in an economic downturn. Because other people are quick to cut marketing, you will have the perfect opportunity to reach even more prospective customers. In a downturn, aggressive PR and Communications strategy is the solution.

Building or updating your web site is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to reach those prospective customers. Now is the time to put some time into reviewing your web site. Does it say everything it needs to say about your small business? Can you add features that allow more customer involvement or at least feedback? Maybe it’s time to have a professional review your site and give you suggestions on how it can be improved.

Now is the time to spend more on advertising, not less.

Posted in marketing |

How to Convert More Website Traffic into More Customers & Sales by Inviting Prospects to Take Action

SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » How to Convert More Website Traffic into More Customers & Sales by Inviting Prospects to Take Action

Here Are 3 Easy “Calls to Action” to Convert More Website Traffic into Sales on the About Us, Media and Contact Us Pages

1. On the “About Us” page, after your bio, add a powerful client testimonial praising your expertise and your measurable and specific impact on the client’s bottom line. Then add the line “Ready for these kinds of results in your organization? Click here to get started now!” (This links to the contact page).

This call to action, in fact, can be used for any page that does not have an obvious next step.

This call to action, in fact, can be used for any page that does not have an obvious “next step.” Just make sure the testimonial ties in to the page content. If the page is a list of your keynote speaking topics, have the testimonial be about how your keynote set an awesome tone for the entire conference, not about how helpful your sales department is to your customers.

2. Your “Media” page should not just be a collage of logos. It should contain short videos of your TV appearances, audio clips of your radio interviews or featured-expert interviews on teleseminars. It should also include links to the articles where you were quoted or links to your articles that got published on the top websites. Let the world see what a sought-after, in-demand expert you really are.

With that being said, a simple, but effective call to action would be, “Sarah B. Marketer looks forward to being the featured expert on your next program. To schedule her appearance right now click here.” (This links to the Contact page.)

3. The Contact page, by definition, is a call to action. It needs to take your visitor by the hand and lead them through the next step.

It should not just be a page that displays your mailing address, phone number, and main corporate e-mail. Rather, it should lead with a paragraph that congratulates the reader for their decision to take action. Then, it should explain the process for getting in touch with you. It should also describe what someone should expect once they contact you.

Next, guide them through a simple web form that asks specific questions. This way you can do your homework and present prospects with a specific response and action plan. Make sure to keep this form as brief as possible, and only ask questions that directly inform how you and your visitor would do business together in the near future.

Having a web form, rather than just a link to your e-mail address, guides your visitor to take a specific action. This raises their level of commitment to you and increases your chances that they will buy from you.

Bottom line: Make sure that every page on your website provides a roadmap for your visitor with a specific call to action. This is the only way your prospects will reach the destination that you prepared for them. And, it’s the only way you will increase your website sales conversions.

Read the entire article at SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » How to Convert More Website Traffic into More Customers & Sales by Inviting Prospects to Take Action

Posted in marketing |

Last Edit for Web Site Starter Kit

My wife went through the draft with her pen and marked it all up. Anything that she didn’t understand is being rewritten. Some of my organization wasn’t clear, so I’m making that a little clearer. We want to make Web Site Starter Kit the best it can be, which means clear, concise communication.

They haven’t quite released Wordpress 2.7 yet, so I’m still rocking the RC1 version of it. They say they will release the final version tomorrow. A few more screenshots today and it should be good to go.

Web Site Starter Kit should be released by the end of the week.

Posted in web site build |

How To Set Up A Small Business Web Site

So you think you need a web site for your small business. You’re right. If you don’t have one by now, you’re behind the curve. If you have one that sucks, you need to make it better.

Don’t worry, we’ll walk you through the steps to get one up and running. The overview of the process contains the following steps:

1. Register a domain name.
2. Find a web hosting company.
3. Set up the domain name to point at the web host.
4. Design the web site.
5. Develop the web site.
6. Post them to the web host.
7. Maintain it.

There are a lot of companies out there promising to do it all for you for cheap, but be careful of who you give your money to and what you get stuck with. There are deals and there are dangers.

The first rule of web site development is DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH NETWORK SOLUTIONS!. They are evil. They will suck you into a black hole of fees and never let you go. They are the La Brea tar pits of the Internet.

Each of the steps above has it’s own page dedicated to it and they are many other resources out there on the web for information about each subject.

Posted in web site build |

Using The Wrong Web Hosting Service Will Kill You

Using The Wrong Web Hosting Service Will Kill You | Gwizz IT by John Bear

Picking the right web hosting will be one of the most important decisions you will ever make with your online business. Why? Because the web server you choose will really make or break your online business.

It Could Kill You

Today I am going to discuss two types of servers; Virtual Web Hosting and Virtual Private Servers.

Lately, Virtual Web Hosting has been the only way to go when choosing a web server. One of the reasons that Virtual Web Hosting became so popular was because they supported the necessary files and allowed you to have more freedom than other conventional web hosting accounts. But now you can have more freedom than ever before with Virtual Private Servers. Moreover, Virtual Private Servers should not be confused with Virtual Hosts, because they are completely different types of accounts.

Before we go any further I’d like to explain what the difference is between a Virtual Host and a Virtual Private Server, so that you can really fully understand. In this article I will also go over the advantages and disadvantages of both types of servers, to help you decide which is right for you and your business. Let’s start off with Virtual Hosting.

Virtual Hosting

Virtual Hosting is also known as Shared Web Hosting, where you are sharing the physical server and a single set of software applications with other users. Virtual Hosting has been extremely popular in the past for its fast deployment, strong resources, and most importantly for having a very reasonable price. Another advantage to Virtual Hosting is that you have a powerful, reliable, and professionally managed server without having to have advanced technical skills, making it ideal for an individual, small business, or even a beginner.

Posted in web host |