Proper Evaluation is Crucial in Achieving Your Website Goals

Effectively measuring site performance will enable you to accurately gauge ROI, and will aid in future decisions and strategy for evolving your site. Google Analytics is the most widely used website statistics service. The basic service is free of charge and a premium version is available for a fee. Google Analytics generates detailed statistics about the visits to your website.

Tracking visits is vitally important for a deeper analysis of your website. When you can reliably track visits, the additional statistics you can derive are some of the most informative and interesting.
A few are:

• Number of visits
• Average number of requests per visit
• Average duration of a visit
• Top referring organizations
• Top entry pages
• Top page durations
• Top exit pages
• Top referring URL’s
• Average number of users per day
• Most active day of the week

Planning a Successful Website

A successful website must have clearly identified goals and compelling content that encourages your audience to explore deeper into your site. In addition, the site must be easy to navigate and attractively designed to complement your content. Here are important considerations when planning your site:

Site Planning
When planning the organizational framework of the website, there are 3 concepts that require your attention:

1. What the audience wants from you
2. What you want to say
3. How you arrange the content to best meet your audience’s needs

Site Content
Most content on the Web is gathered in short passages. Users appreciate short “chunks” of information that can be located and scanned quickly. This method translates well to the Web for several reasons:

1. Few Web users spend time reading long passages of text on-screen
2. Chunking can help organize and present information in a uniform format
3. Concise chunks of information are better suited to the computer screen. Long pages tend to disorient readers and require users to scroll long distances.

The content should focus on potential and current client’s needs. People visiting your site are only concerned with their needs—not necessarily what you have to offer. Copy should reflect the true business value that you deliver to your clients.

Site Design
The design of your site should offer relief to the eye by striking a balance between text and graphic elements. Photos can reinforce the text message as well as add a more “personal” element that would breathe life into your site.

Consistency
A consistent approach to layout and navigation allows users to adapt quickly to the site design and predict with confidence the location of information and navigation controls across the pages of your Web site. Omnipresent logos and contact information should be consistently displayed on all pages of the site.

Compelling Choices
Never assume your visitors will click past the home page. They’ve arrived at your site somehow and for some reason. Now give them several compelling choices to encourage them to click further into the site before

Web Site Conventions Enhance User Experience

Without being taught, we learn to read a newspaper - the large bold text is a headline, the text under a photograph is a caption; these elements are called "conventions". Conventions are a set of accepted standards and norms that make it easier for people to process information. When it comes to the web, conventions are essential because they help visitors “feel at home” when visiting your website. Most websites adhere to a few important conventions and yours should to. The most common conventions are:


The logo should be at the top left corner of the page
This is the first place people will look to identify the site they are on.

Your logo should link back to your homepage
By clicking on the logo, visitors should expect to go back to your website home page.

Links are underlined and in a different color than regular text
Links are usually underlined and blue, but it has become common practice to match the color scheme of the site.

The navigation is consistent and predictable throughout the site
Consistent navigation means that it is always at the same place, usually across the top (horizontally) or along the left side (vertically).

Conventions are visual shortcuts, capable of conveying complex information with the simplest visual cues.

Inbound Marketing: A Primer

There’s a lot of talk about inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing these days.

At the heart of the discussion is that inbound marketing historically translates in better ROI than outbound.

Here’s the reason: inbound marketing means that prospects and customers are reaching out to YOU, as opposed to you reaching out to THEM through more traditional marketing, like print, radio, TV and direct mail.

The tried-and-true method of marketing shows us that with frequency, advertisers will achieve success in the form of some prospects taking action. But that formula means that advertisers will have to "buy" consumer actions via a media spend.

With inbound marketing, you’re more likely to experience a better ROI, a more loyal customer following, and better word-of-mouth promotion. Another important difference: your customers will engage on a more personal branding level when they FIND you as opposed to being accosted by advertising at all turns.

Inbound marketing allows you to deliver personalized, consistent information across all channels through social medial and content marketing.

So the question is: when will your brand be “hitting on all cylinders” for inbound marketing?

And the answer is…when your brand flexes its “social media” muscle through Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest; when you offer content marketing in the form of white papers, blogs, podcasts and develop a community of followers; and when your website offers search engine-rich, meaningful content that speaks to each of target markets as individuals.

Last, remember to measure your results through analytics, website form submissions, and other feedback mechanisms.  

What’s All The Buzz About “Buzz”?

Surely you’ve heard people talking about “buzz” associated with a company, product or service.

Contrary to what appears to be an arbitrary or random display of interest, buzz is actually the result of a carefully cultivated strategy to help an organization benefit from social networking.

Just what is buzz and why is it important?  

Buzz might be defined as the sum of activity and discussion about a product among a group of people at a given time. It’s sort of like a bit of gossip exchanged at a cocktail party among friends. After a short time, lots of people in the room will be talking about the rumor.

The American public is strongly susceptible to word-of-mouth advertising.  If you need a handyman, statistics show that you are far more likely to ask a personal contact for a reference, rather than selecting a source through advertising.

In fact, a study shows that 80% of Americans depend on personal networks as the best sources of information. That tops many other sources for recommendations, including advertising.

But if buzz was easy to generate, every organization would be involved in creating it, and then it wouldn’t be as valued.

Buzz is like……

Buzz is very much like the sun’s role in solar power.  Like the sun, buzz can be harnessed as a source, but one can never truly control the sun, or the interference of clouds. However, one can reap the benefits of the sun’s power. See? It’s beyond control, but it’s worth leveraging.

So, to recap, buzz can help you get the word out more efficiently and more cost-effectively, and can help position your product through well-regarded sources.

Why Buzz Works So Well

Buzz works, very simply, because it’s an inherent part of our survival mechanism. We interact with others to advance our own agendas, improve our knowledge, and avoid risks. Part of our evolution has helped humans discovered the power, safety and advantage of socialization and networking.

Who Starts the Buzz?

As we live and work each day, we move in and out of interpersonal communication networks: some are work-related, some are personal. These networks are key to the promotion of buzz.

All of us know that one person who travels from circle to circle, making acquaintances of our acquaintances. These people, as labeled in sociology experiments and publications, are connectors. The term connector refers to a fundamental part of all networks, from world economies to electronics to the human cell.

Connectors as people help advance the buzz from one group to the next. They are key to carrying a message forward, and are a vital part of keeping social networks together.

Then there are those people are considered important social opinion leaders. The can influence the opinions and behaviors of others informally. They are referred to as hubs.  Although they are opinion leaders, hubs are not the same as satisfied customers or “champions” of a product or service.

Both hubs and connectors can carry your message between social networks, tailoring your message to meet the concerns of each group.

How Do We Get People Buzzing?

Getting buzz started is like trying to hula hoop for the first time. It takes some coordination, some vision and moving in the right direction.

1.     First of all, simplify your message. Make it brief, but make it compelling. Attention is at a premium these days: the average American is exposed to more than a thousand advertising messages each day.

2.     Next, refine that message. Avoid your “rational claim”. Don’t talk about your service, your quality, or your selection. Instead, appeal to customer emotion to separate your company in the marketplace. For example, if you are selling life insurance policies to parents of young children, remind your audience of the security offered by parents who will always ensure the safety and well-being of a child.

3.     Then, think of ways to connect with social networks of your target market. If we look at the life insurance example again, consider connecting with board members at sports leagues, members of parent-teacher associations, camp directors, and more.

4.     Identify the members of these groups who will help spread your message effectively: connectors and hubs.  

5.     Once these social networkers are identified within a given group, look for ways to connect with them, and offer up your message.

6.     Encourage these social connections and interface frequently to build relationships and amplify your message.

Buzz Right In

Social networking is a learned skill, made better when you sharpen your intuition for networkers, improve your level of patience, and practice your messaging competence.

The single most impressive thing about generating buzz is that, when it works, buzz produces like no other form of marketing. All networkers want a “hot tip” a “good deal”, or to be “in the know.”

So, get your target market buzzing and you’re sure to see migration to your product and growth in your sales.