Monday, February 1st, 2010
I updated the landing page for the FREE SEO Book and revised the promotion in the sidebar.
I asked for my landing page to be reviewed and got some great feedback.
They pointed out that the story of how I beat Wikipedia for the word “survivor” was powerful and I should move that up a bit. I added a new image that points out the rankings on Google.
It’s really important to ask other people to review your site. Other people will always see things differently than we see things ourselves. That’s true for everyone, no matter how experienced or smart you may be.
This is especially true for copy. Having a proofreader review your copy is really helpful. Review it from the marketing point of view, did you hit all your marks?, and from the proofreading point of view, did you make any typos?
No matter what you write or design or post, run it by someone else first. It will ALWAYS make it better.
Posted in SEO |
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Get an Evergreen for Your Blog This Holiday Season
If you want more traffic to your web site, you need to write posts that last a long time, that people can point at and come back to, over and over again.
These kinds of posts should be about what your site is about. They should show your expertise on the subject. They should be the kinds of posts that are so valuable, so informative or entertaining or insightful, that people will want to read them for years to come.
If you could write THE definitive guide or explanation to the subject of your site, there will be links and tweets and traffic.
Think about what your subject is, what keyword you want to be know for, and write a really good post about it.
You’ll see the traffic.
The evergreens we admire for their longevity
The most obvious way is to write about a topic that never gets old. These are cornerstone reference posts, like ‘10 Ways to Build a Better Blog.’ These posts are evergreen simply because people always need that information.
The good news is that evergreen reference posts are pretty straightforward to write. Do a step-by-step summary of how to do something from start to finish, and you’ve got yourself an evergreen post.
They’re also good for defining something that’s often mis-defined. For example, I have posts bookmarked in my ‘Evergreens’ folder on “What Marketing Really Is.” And I refer back to them often, because marketing is a slippery subject.
There are downsides to these types of evergreen posts. You’re up against a lot of competition, for one. There are already thousands of evergreen posts on building a better blog or providing better customer service. There’s probably an evergreen post on 10 Ways to Do Absolutely Any Topic Imaginable.
If you want your evergreen post to be the one that gets bookmarked, you’d better make it really, really good.
Which brings us to the second downside: Evergreen posts often require much more work than your standard post. You’ll probably wind up putting in at least 5 hours — and probably more like 15 — making sure everything is well-written, entertaining, compelling, and that you didn’t make any mistakes.
You might also be putting some extra hours into in-depth research if your evergreen post is on a topic that’s difficult to understand.
Read the entire article at:
http://feeds.copyblogger.com/~r/Copyblogger/~3/0GUusIszMsk/
Posted in web traffic |
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
KICKAPOO JOY JUICE - THE ORIGINAL DOGPATCH RECIPE
When I was about in Jr. High, which is what we called Middle School back then, I have a vague memory of going to a county fair or someplace like that, where there was a lot hustle and bustle. I remember that, as we were leaving, we came across a wagon, I think it was a wagon, with a bunch of people, (maybe girls?) handing out free samples of a new soft drink.
I’m a sucker for free stuff so I got a bottle of it and drank it down. It was like nothing I’d ever tasted. I saved that bottle for years before losing it in an annual bedroom cleaning with my mom.
It was Kickapoo Joy Juice.
What a great name! I want “joy juice”, doesn’t everyone? The bottle I saved had a painted label and is probably worth some money today, but it’s long gone.
I remember feeling like I was in on a secret, on a new soda pop that was coming to market and I got it first. It was like owning the first record of a band that got famous later, but you could always say that you liked them first.
I never hear of Kickapoo Joy Juice after that encounter, but Mountain Dew came out soon after. I always thought that the just changed the name because of marketing reasons or something. It seemed like the same stuff to me. The labels even looked the same back then. Of course, Kickapoo Joy Juice never sponsored the X Games.
You do get the whole Dogpatch comic strip tie in, right? If I remember correctly, this drink was featured in the comic strip.
That brings me to this bottle. It’s back. The label is printed paper, instead of painted on.
The smell is the same. The taste is the same. It’s sweet, but citrus. I never knew it was “citrus” back then, or even that Mountain Dew is “citrus”. This has a full, sweet, citrus taste. I really like it.
Mountain Dew has more a chemical taste, but otherwise it’s similar to this. This is what Mountain Dew SHOULD taste like.
I’ll buy this again. I do like it. It takes me back to being 13 years old.
I think the girls were wearing Daisy Mae outfits, the original “Daisy Dukes”.
INGREDIENTS: Carbonated Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup and/or Sugar, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate (a preservative), Concentrated Grapefruit Juice, Caffeine, Gum Arabic, Sodium Citrate, Natural Flavor, EDTA (to protect flavor), Brominated Vegetable Oil and Yellow 5.
Posted in Soda Pop |
Friday, January 30th, 2009
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.
As you grow up, you begin to realize that not everyone else is like you. There are other people in the room and they might think, believe, and feel differently than you do. Bigots never grow up.
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 |
Friday, January 23rd, 2009
Really? Is it really time for Twitter? They have clearly captured the platform and will be the way to the future of microblogging or whatever you want to call it, but I’m just not sure that the numbers are there yet. You need to have people to make it valuable. There are still too many pastors that don’t quite get why they need a web site.
It's Twitter Time for Your Church
Facebook has everyone and their brother on it now. I’ve met more people from my past in the last two months than I knew that I knew. It’s what’s happening now. Twitter is what will happen next year.
Do you use Twitter? Do you use it often? For what purpose? Do you follow more than you tweet? Please leave a comment.
Quoting from Church Marketing Sucks: It’s Twitter Time for Your Church
The Reasons Your Church Must TwitterAnthony Coppedge recently released a $5 e-book entitled The Reason Your Church Must Twitter.
It covers everything from what in the world a Twitter is to how your church can make maximum use of Twitter in various flavors–from simply having public conversations to using Twitter as a devotional tool.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/archives/2009/01/its_twitter_tim.html
Posted in church |
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Quoting from The Role of Design in Modern Church Marketing [Design Principles]
Yet the recent image makeover of churches is unpalatable for some. In 2006, Pastor John MacArthur published a popular article (“Grunge Christianity?”) condemning modern churches that trade sanctity for “cultural relevancy.” MacArthur and his supporters disagree with so-called pragmatists who seek bigger, more worldly congregations. Nathan Smith (GodBit.com) counters, “we are naive if we try to take an isolationist approach. God wants a direct relationship with each person, so we—as facilitators of that calling—have to meet people through what they know, and if that is pop culture, then so be it.”
How many congregations identify with dark, gritty imagery?
So what about the multitude of recent church web sites designed around ragged, dark, asymmetrical elements—what does this communicate about the church? How many congregations identify with dark, gritty imagery?
Read the entire article at:
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/design-modern-church-marketing/
Posted in church |
Friday, January 9th, 2009
If you want people to read your stuff, you should be clear and succinct. Get to the point. People are not up for reading a book, so make it quick.
Quoting from adn.com | Church visits : Guest Blog -Top 10 Church Website Design Mistakes of 2007
Get to the point.
There is something to be said about Shakespeare’s oft-quoted assertion from Hamlet:
‘… brevity is the soul of wit …‘
Or as usability expert Jakob Nielsen writes his 1997 post entitled “how people read the web:”
People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word.
Read the entire article at:
http://community.adn.com/node/131981
Posted in web site build |
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
Half of all churches in America today do NOT have a web site. Half! What excuse is there for that? This article below is quoting a Duke University survey to make the point that the church has caught up with the times, that only a fifth of them had a web site in 1998. But the glass is not half full here. It’s half empty.
If you are involved with a church that does not have a web site, I can show you how to get one for free, using Wordpress.com. All it takes is a little initiative on your part and you can have a web site. You don’t need a $300 site. You don’t need a $500 site. You can have a free web site for your church. Go to www.worpdress.com and follow the instructions.
Do it now. For the children.
Quoting from The Church In 2009 – KYPost.com
Close to half of the churches offer Web pages.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.kypost.com/content/middleblue3/story/The-Church-In-2009/o3oMerab5E2upfPeBvDqdg.cspx
Posted in church |
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
This is a great list of things that you should have on your church web site.
Quoting from 5 Features That a Church Website Shouldn’t Be Without | Web Site Design Blog
A good church website needs to be informative, visually appealing and have a bit of interaction with the visitor. After all shouldn’t your church’s website inspire people to visit your church physically? It can be easy to forget that people not in your local community may be searching for a church to attend a worship service. What features do you look for when you are looking at a church website?
How do you get there? Sure an address is great, but a map or written directions would be better.
Driving Directions
How do you get there? Sure an address is great, but a map or written directions would be better. Make it as easy as possible for the website visitor to locate your church.
Service Times
When do you worship? Often more times than not the service times are not listed on most church websites. Be sure to place your worship times prominently on the homepage of the site.
Sunday School
Let’s say that your visitors have children. What do you suppose they would like to know about your church? Make it well known that you offer a Sunday school service to avoid any confusion with new guests to your church.
Events Calendar
What if a member of your congregation misses a Sunday, but would like to know about the youth soccer game in the park? By having an up-to-date events calendar you can let your church members know what is going on.
Pictures
Sure stock photography is great in some cases, but what about those great pictures from your church’s mission trip? Be sure to include real pictures of your church and congregation. This will give your site a more realistic and personal touch.
Read the entire article at:
http://blog.collinsinternet.com/27/5-features-that-a-church-website-shouldnt-be-without/
Posted in church |
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
This is a great check list to run through while you review your existing web site. If you have any of these things, please remove them. I’m begging you. It’s for the sake of the children.
Quoting from 10 Reasons Why Your Church Website Needs Work | Web Site Design Blog
1. You have an over excessive use of animated clipart.
This may have been acceptable in the 90’s for personal home pages, but it should never be used on a church’s website.
If you want to really annoy your visitors, keep this feature because it works.
2. You play background music that cannot be turned off.
If you want to really annoy your visitors, keep this feature because it works.
3. Your site is in frames.
So you figured that you would make it easy for the navigation to be updated. Too bad you didn’t realize that search engines and some web browsers cannot properly view frames.
4. The last time you updated the site was two years ago.
It’s always good to know what events took place in the past, too bad we have no idea what’s going on in the present.
5. You utilize scrolling marquee text.
Sure it may look okay on CNN, but it looks horrible on a website.
6. You use numerous font types throughout the website.
A little Comic Sans here, a little Arial there and a few Wingdings here, it’s a masterpiece! Perhaps only to a child.
7. You built the site using Microsoft Word.
It was easy, just outline everything how you wanted it and then save as webpage. It doesn’t matter how different web browsers and different screen resolutions see the site, because it looks fabulous on your screen.
8. You used Java or Flash for your navigation.
Look at the pretty cool effect. It’s a shame that search engines have a hard time trying to crawl a site with that type of navigation.
9. You didn’t properly resize images before you added them on the site.
Why is that picture of the Pastor so blurry?
10. You have used the same website design for the past five years.
Why change it now? That old outdated look really defines our church.
Read the entire article at:
http://blog.collinsinternet.com/34/10-reasons-why-your-church-website-needs-work/
Posted in church |
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Quoting from Churches open door to ministry on the Web By Tracy Farnham
Bennie Greene, left, chairman of Media Services for Hopewell Baptist, and Ken Mull, sound technician for Hopewell Baptist, work on a recent Sunday morning to get the churches services online.
Photo contributed by Joshua Norman
MORGANTON – Much like an interactive church bulletin, local congregations are embracing the Internet to broaden the scope of ministry and stay in touch with members.
Hopewell Baptist Church uses the Web for their church calendar, prayer requests and member contacts. Josh Norman, who handles media and technology for Hopewell, said they had a test run in October for previously recorded services over the Internet.
“We record all our services and broadcast them on the Internet. We went full streaming with our Sunday morning services in November,” Norman said.
Along with offering free sermon outlines, questions may be asked and submitted to Dr. Raymond Rowland. The Web site has information about ordering a CD or tapes with messages through the Bible by Rowland. These are free and can be received by following the links on the site at www.afocusonchrist.com.
To view past services for Hopewell go to www.hopewellbaptist-church.org.
Read the entire article at http://www2.morganton.com/content/2008/dec/29/churches-open-door-ministry-web/
Posted in church |
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Douglas at Hostgator actually looks for people talking about his company. This is the kind of proactive research that you should be doing for your company. You need to search Google and Technorati to see what people are saying about you on a regular basis.
Look at his response. Leads with a compliment, addresses the concern, and follows with a positive statement. Also notice that he gets a link to his site in the comment he left (good for SEO). If it was just comments spam, I wouldn’t have approved it. Since it was a meaningful comment, it’s approved and he got the link.
I wish I could comment as well as Douglas! The dude is a professional. I’m happy to give him the extra links.
I’ve been promoting PowWeb, since they are who I’m happy with, but perhaps it’s time to stroll on down to Hostgator and check them out.
Quoting from How To Use The “Suckage Ratio” | Web Design and Developement for Small Business
I wish I could comment as well as Douglas!
By Douglas – HostGator.com on Dec 29, 2008 | Reply | Edit
I’m glad to see that you utilize a ratio (most posts like these just use the flat out number of results), but am disappointed to see that HostGator had the highest “suckage ratio.”
With that in mind, though, our customer service is still amongst the best in the industry and is continually improving. We also invest a lot of time and resources into reaching out to customers that have any trouble (we have an extremely strong presence on the Twitter and regularly reach out to bloggers). And the CEO of the company is also personally available to customers who ask (this is not a gimmick and actually does happen).
Hopefully our reaching out will help demonstrate our commitment to customer service excellence. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to send me an email.
Read the entire article at:
http://www.walton.com/2008/12/22/how-to-use-the-suckage-ratio-to-pick-companies-and-products.html#comments
Posted in web host |
Tuesday, December 30th, 2008
Web addresses on business cards just work. Every church needs a web site. Every one.
Quoting from Church Marketing Rocks « Billy Chia
When I reached into my wallet to pull out my debit card to pay, I pulled out a churchinabrewery.com card as well. I laid it down and said,
Web addresses on business cards just work.
“I worshiped with these guys on Christmas Eve.”
She said she’d never heard of Church in a Brewery but that she really enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at Grace UMC. She asked to keep the card. (My vibe was that Grace is the right place for her – but I’m suspecting she might have a friend to pass the card along to who would find a great home at Sojourn.)
Business Cards with a web addresses just work. In a situation where it’d be awkward to try to start up a conversation about going to church while there are 300 other people waiting for driver’s liscneses it’s simple and gets you to the point quick.
Read the entire article at:
http://billychia.com/2008/12/29/church-marketing-rocks/
Posted in church |
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
WOW! THIS is what using the Internet is about. Here is an organization that advocates spending less money on Christmas and giving more. This is what Christmas is all about.
This is what Christmas is all about.
Now, look closely. Their web site is hosted on wordpress.com, a free hosting service. This is what I advocate you do in my Web Site Starter Kit book. Look at the domain name of the site.
This organization has a free web site that looks great, works great, and has great results.
Yes, they did lobby displays and other, more traditional marketing efforts also, but the free web site was part of it.
Merry Christmas. Spend time, not money.
news: Back to the basics at Christmas
How did the movement generate such a massive response?
Church leadership sowed the seeds several months earlier. Beginning in October, the congregation, including children, repeatedly heard the Advent Conspiracy’s call to “spend less, give more, worship fully and love all.” Officials added a blog to the church Web site (adventconspiracy.wordpress.com) and created a lobby storyboard where churchgoers could share ideas on how to give creative gifts of time and relationship.
Read the entire article at news: Back to the basics at Christmas
Posted in church |
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
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 |
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
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.
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 |
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
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 |
