1. Keep it simple
2. Make it remarkable
3. Make the benefits concrete
4. Make it credible
5. Make it Emotion-based
6. Tell a story and get users involved in the narrative
Filed under: Engagement Marketing | Leave a Comment
1. MISSION
Why are you doing this?? What is your purpose or raison d’etre?
2. VISION
After you change the world with your product or service what will the world look like?
3. STRATEGY
What are your goals for your site? What is the ultimate objective? What are the tangible, demonstrable, measurable and impactful benefit? Quantify them and determine milestones tied to realistic deadlines.
4. TACTICS
How you are going to do it…. Will you use search engine optimization, keyword research, pay per click advertising, viral campaigns, email newsletters, What tools of the trade will you implement and how. Create a strategic plan grouping tasks by tactic and strategy with milestones and deadlines. Stick to it, measure your results and modify to maximize your marketing efforts. Refine, and do it all again. Web Marketing is an ongoing process and because of the fact that digital marketing allows for quantifiable and measurable results, the opportunity for success for marketable products and services is infinite.
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Tags: Website Strategy
Building search engine friendly websites is akin to the yin and yang of relationships. If you have a product or service that has a legitimate benefit that serves a group of people, then better rankings in search engines mean you will be better able to serve the needs of the search engine user’s customers… and your own. It is a win-win for search engines and sites to work together to maximize compatibility between the search and result, and if you have relevant products, services or information that is important to you, the search engines AND the end user . Creating and maintaining a search engine friendly website is an ongoing and dynamic process since the nature of business in a free market is dynamic as is the data affecting search engine algorithm outcomes.
What are the basics of creating search engine friendly websites? Good meta tags, relevant keywords in titles and content and great page descriptions inside your metatags are the essentials. Your meta tag descriptions are what google will show when your page is matched in a search and if you don’t have a good meta tag, Google will engineer one for you. This is the equivalent of giving a temp employee with little knowledge of your business the responsibility of being the first point personal contact between you and your customer. Do you want to go through all the trouble of creating a great product or service, identifying and courting your customer and losing them at hello? Didn’t think so!
Beyond the basics: Have a good xml sitemap. This will allow search engines to find pages they may have missed in crawling. Google sitemap is a python based script that will scrape your files, but if you are not technically savvy this is not the best choice. Rage Sitemap Automator for Mac OS X replicates the sitemap from a user experience more closely than other xml sitemap tools which ties in to relevance for the user and better matching in search engine results. Rage is one of the only sitemap automators that is not free but is worth the small investment if search engine optimization is part of your marketing strategy (duh!) If you have a large site, find a content delivery platform that will automatically generate sitemaps. WordPress has a plugin called xml Sitemap Generator for WordPress. Whichever too you use, when you have the sitemap created, upload it to google through the webmaster tools, and let the major search engines know that it is there. If you provide them with all the pages on your site, they will index them.
Want a few advanced techniques for building search engine friendly sites? Learn how to write htaccess files. If you learn how to use ht access and mod rewrite, you will create search engine friendly databases and variable-based pages for search engines and users for sharing links. Another trick of the trade: leverage as many effective keywords as you can. Sometimes you will have keywords that are not directly relevant to your content but they target your users really well. Do keyword research on off-topic but on-target phrases for your intended audience and incorporate them into your keyword strategy. Word of Caution: You still have to make the keyword phrases relevant to your content due to the level of sophistication of search engines. Always use sitemaps and keywords in a responsible way to maintain integrity with the search engines, or you risk losing the most powerful (and free) internet marketing tool available to you!
Filed under: Digital Marketing Best Practices, Improving Search Engine Rankings, Search Engine Optimization | Leave a Comment
Want to make sure your content indexes well and is being picked up by search engines??? If you are not a news site, a regular schedule for content development is a critical part of search engine optimization strategy. Fresh pictures, video and copy are picked up by search engines, and provide incentive for users to return to your site for new information, and providing you the opportunity to continue to build your relationship and brand with your customers. According to Google Engineer Matt Cutts, the ‘apple a day strategy’ will get your site regularly indexed by the major search engines. Here are key strategies for Using Content to maximize search engine indexing:
- Add one fresh content page per day to your site — even if you are not a news site.
- Develop a ‘calendar’ of content ideas that are strategically tied to your brand and industry that provide a value added service to your users and customers.
- Make sure your core pages are fully developed and optimized. There needs to be 250 to 1000 words ON EVERY PAGE OF YOUR SITE. To optimize, add two to three keyword phrases on each page at the beginning, middle and end.
- Take a keyword centered approach tied to your core business services and build pages around those concepts. Every time you use those keyword phrases you have additional opportunity to get picked up.
- Review successful competitors’ sitemaps to understand different sections and different areas of content on their site to assist in generating relevant keyword phrases for use in your content development.
- Blogs are an exceptional way to add information to your site. Seth Godin has one of the top business blogs in the world and is a prime example of how to use a blog and fresh content to remain at the top of search engine indexing in your field or area of expertise.
- Regular enewsletters allow you to add articles to the website on a regular basis and put the content in front of your customer. Include only a portion of the article with a link back to your site for the full article. Develop a regular schedule of news to publish using 2 to 3 keyword phrases, and include these in the article title, meta tags and name image with meta tags. Add a ’send to friend’ option on your newsletter to incent sharing. Syndicate your articles so other sites can publish the information. RSS -produces a byline and link to the original content creator’s website as a mandat . The more links you have out there the more relevance your site has as determined by search engine algorithms, and the higher it will rank.
- Web optimized press releases are a great tool to build content, links and improve search engine results. Develop releases based on relevant and real company news if you have it or craft existing news into keyword phrases. Schedule press releases at least once a month and place on a newswire like PR Newswire or PR Web. Create a ‘news’ section in your navigation where the press releases can be stored and accessed by links, date and/or subject. The releases will be picked up and indexed by search engines and also accessible to media for real time access to information about your company.
- Utilize social networking sites to get community involved in generating relevant content for your site. Create a form, a message board, an opportunity to submit videos, ideas etc.
- Use blogs to address changes in the industry and respond to the market in addition to focusing on your core business areas. Including cutting edge industry news as it pertains to your business into your content strategy in a way that is relevant for your customers provides an additional value added benefit to them and further improves your ranking.
Filed under: Search Engine Optimization | 1 Comment
Tags: Content Creation
Layout and design are the science and art, respectively, of displaying information at a page level on a website. Layout refers to the logical positioning of elements related to ease of use. Design works to bring the underlying structure of the layout to life in an engaging and easy-to use-way that triggers a positive emotional response. The two tools combined provide for an optimum user experience. The methodology and processes of using layout and design together for the purpose of creating an exceptional user experience can be grouped into a set of website standards for layout and design. Aligning your site to those standards will help your user find what they are looking for and keep them coming back for more.
STANDARD DESIGN ELEMENTS
- Logo on the top left of every web page
- Navigation area at top or left
- About us page builds trust and reputation and tells about your core business to set the scene for the website.
- Contact us page is a place to aggregate all contact information from all of your social media platforms in addition to standard address/phone/fax and a mail to form.
- Search box that searches your entire site for information.
- A login option serves three benefits: 1) users are certain their information is secure 2) you will have control over levels of usability and 3) you will be able to track behaviors and preferences to individual users with the right analytics tools and can respond with modifications and content additions to further enhance their experience and better guide their site visit purpose.
- Defined body content that makes clear the purpose of each page.
LOGO AND BRANDING
Filed under: Usability, Web Design Standards/Best Practices | 1 Comment
How do you create a well-designed site that supports the user’s ability to take action? It’s simple:
Design for the user, not for you. Here’s how:
- Information Architecture (IA) refers to three key areas 1. the sitemap, 2. the flow through the site 3. functionality at page level. Usability has to do with specific tasks that the user performs in an effective, efficient and satisfying manner. Here are key tips for implementing solid IA and usability strategy.
- Define business requirements up front. If you are in business, your intention is to generate revenue and solve a business problem, not a technical problem. The user will ‘feel the business and its approach to the world through the website. What are the key critical success factors for your business in the development of your site design? Clarify these up-front and regularly review them along the way as your project develops to ascertain you reach the intended outcome.
- Define technical and functional requirements. There are certain things you can do within the time, budget and skill set of your team. Quantify those constraints, and talk to users early on in the process and throughout for technical validation. Remember, new technology is not always the best.
- Information architecture provides the blueprint of your site and a corresponding documentation of the ideas and research used to direct the site development. The site map is a diagram that shows all of the main pages. A flow diagram shows the different pathways that users can take. Wireframes diagram the activity that takes place on the page guided by the intended tasks of users to fulfill your business requirement.
- Information design focuses on how users think about how information. Taxonomy is a form of information design that structures information into a hierarchy according to the categories that apply to end users to help them find information. When building your site, use a language register style that fits the user most: either formal, neutral or casual depending upon your user personas. Information design also creates a visual hierarchy that helps the user visually identify your site navigation, and can be achieved from a top to bottom point, with information stored in blocks or modules, and using larger fonts for titles. Each page of your site should have a specific main purpose.
- Interaction design concerns itself with the components that people interact with – tabs, menus, drop downs, radio buttons, etc. Focus on the most efficient ways to create better interaction design for the user. Sites should be designed to be interactive at a glance. Keep the most important content above the fold. Keep response times in mind. .1 second, 1 second and 10 seconds are key intervals. .1 is not noticed. 1 second raises concern that something is wrong, and 10 second waits usually cause a user to think something is broken and leave the site. If must use important flash that takes a long time to load, you want to inform the user that the action may take several seconds to perform.
- Visual design creates a sense of engagement and emotional response to a website through color, overall style, look and feel. This can be a very powerful tool in usability even though it is an aesthetic because of how important emotional response is to user experiences.
- Usability testing is an essential part of the process that only needs to take a day or so if planned properly, and save you time and money and prevent you from having to redo things later on. Use 5 to 8 users for usability testing, which can be either remote or in person. You want recruit testers from a broad base and grade them on a curve. If you connect with users who truly represent your defined personas you will have success in your end product. Keep tests to 40 minutes to maximize user attention span. Standardize note taking and recording methods. Have an assistant or facilitator and backup participants to ensure you get the information you need if one of your participants is unable attend. And remember, you are testing the site, not the user.
- Usability reporting should be done immediately after the test. You want to get out the top five or so findings as soon as possible. Create a follow up report that is reviewed in front of team members with screen shots showing where users had issues. Divide findings up into quick fixes and more complicated IA issues that need to be addressed.
IA is a great tool to ensure that your site is user centric and task oriented. Usability testing will save a lot of time and money in getting to the intended end result for user and business purpose.
Filed under: Usability, Web Design Standards/Best Practices | Leave a Comment
The technology platform you choose will be dictated by the context in which you will use it. There are three different levels of website architecture: 1) the front end, which the user sees; 2) the middle, where web administrators and editors communicate to the underlying system; and 3) the back end – databases files that you don’t see. You need just enough technology to solve your website problems. Here are nine key areas to consider when choosing your technology platform.
- Open source versus proprietary software: Open source is cheaper – in fact, it is free. FOSS is the acronym for Free Open Source Software. Open source means a bunch of developers get together to create code to ’scratch their own itch’. It is more flexible, customizable, and with the GPL (General Purpose License) it is more cost effective and scalable. It is also easy to use because it focuses on solving a few key problems. It’s not locked to one particular vendor and is a community-centered, rather than the top-down typical approach of a software development company.
- Adobe Flash versus Microsoft Silverlight: Flash and Silverlight are ‘flashy’, look good, and are easy to use, and are much more interesting than a flat html page. It exists in a black box in a sense in that you plug it in and the rest of the site works around it. Animation and special effects can be created and saved in an .swf file. Microsoft is leading the way in encouraging high-level coding developers to create more interactive experiences online.
- PHP vs .NET: PHP is a major open source scripting language used to develop websites. .NET is a full-service platform that allows a builder to build a pages on the fly and it supports a number of different programming languages. It also has server controls that can separate the code from the content. .NET files have an .aspx extension.
- HTML: the coding languages for most web pages that was created by Tim Berners-Lee. It stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It isn’t really a code but uses tags to tell a web browser how to display content. Each piece of code is called an element or a tag.
- CSS. Cascading style sheets are great for web accessibility and dynamic sites. You can replace CSS and make your entire site look differently with one set of changes. CSS gives more control to web designers.
- Javascript: is a scripting language (not to be confused with Java which is a programming language). It’s easy to learn and widely used for very small applications that run on the web client or server. It is a more interactive coding language but can be problematic in different browsers.
- AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). What it means is that you can build interactive applications into a site without reloading an entire page. This is a new technology that puts a lot less stress on your server and allows quicker response, and works across most browsers.
- SQL (Structured Query Language) is an open source relationship database management system (RDMS). The structured query language is able to communicate between the database and website to retrieve information, and is used as an open source alternative to the proprietary database systems from Oracle, IBM and Informix.
- Ruby on Rails (ROR) or Rails is an open source framework for web development in ruby, a programming language developed in Japan. Through lots of structure it increases speed and avoids all the time consuming steps of regular programming. Although it is new as a software technology, it is 5 to 10 times faster, you need less coding skills and can get applications up running online more quickly and easily.
Follow the BETS strategy when selecting your technology platforms: Budget, Environment, Time and Skills. What are the financial limitations of your project? How much time to you have before the scheduled launch date? In what environment will the site be built? And what are the existing skill sets of the site builders? You have multiple choices but thinking through your commitment to a technology strategy based on desired outcome, limitations of time, money and skills, and how basic or complex your site is.
Filed under: Digital Marketing Best Practices, Usability, Web Design Standards/Best Practices | 1 Comment
Starting a new website? How do you go about choosing a domain name to most effectively brand your business? You want something short and memorable, but the trading of domain names is a vast market and yours may already be off the market. You may be able to buy or even request a domain name. Here are a few key pointers for strategic domain name selections.
- Short and memorable is key
- Select a domain name that is similar to keywords users will search when looking for your type of product or service.
- Go to a domain name registrar like Godaddy or Network Solutions. Here is a quick domain registrar comparison chart.
- If the name you want is already taken, go to your internet browser to view the site to see if it is active or a domain parking site. You may find a link on the site to purchase the domain name.
- When you buy a domain name you want to protect yourself across domains like .com, .net, .org, .edu, .gov etc.
- If you are a large company and have the budget to purchase a definitive keyword phrase for your industry — it will make you seen as the experts in the industry. The internet is here to stay and the purchase of a top keyword url is like having an office at the most prestigious address in town.
- Protect against common misspellings as well – if you have a number in your url, buy both the spelled out number and numeric symbol version (you can redirect traffic from the misspelling to your actual domain).
- When you find a domain name that you like and that is available, check on the trademark before you purchase. You can go to the US Patent & Trademark website search page to see what the status of your selected url is before you purchase the domain.
- If you are a large company and really serious about this business, consult an attorney for help with aligning your business name, domain and trademarks.
- There are people called domainers that have several hundred or thousand domain names and monetize these names as the real estate of the future. ICAN is the worldwide governing body for domain names. DN Journal, TRAFFIC and the podcast called Domain Masters are great resources in the domain name industry.
Filed under: Digital Marketing Best Practices | Leave a Comment
Ever wonder who has access to your personal data? How it’s being collected and used, and what is happening to it? What are the laws that protect privacy and how do web developers create privacy policies that respect the user? The FTC has no statutes in place right now, but formal regulation is inevitable in the digital era. If your organization is engaged in any form of digital marketing in the internet, the creation and adherence to a sound and ethical privacy policy will build trust with your users, and adherence to the policy will protect your interests.
FTC has five guidelines for protecting personal information:
- Take stock – know what personal information you have in your files and computers
- Scale down – keep only what you need for doing business.
- Lock it – protect the information in your care.
- Pitch it – properly dispose of what you no longer need.
- Plan ahead – create a plan to respond to security incidents.
PRIVACY LAWS
At this point there is no federal law governing the concept of privacy. Specific industries like health care and banking have privacy laws, and any organization doing business on the internet must adhere to these laws and share privacy policies that conform to the law with online users in the digital realm as well as offline. There is a law, however specifically related to children, called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that governs businesses marketing products, advertising or websites geared towards children under the age of 13. Any digital marketer in banking, health care or marketing to preteen children is advised to seek legal advice in the development of a sound and ethical privacy policy.
Any organization that uses the internet and harvests data from users must post the privacy policy on their site. In the absence of federal privacy laws, The Federal Trade Commission and state agencies are applying fraud laws to privacy policies to be sure that companies engage in fair business practice. Make sure your policy is clear and straightforward. Do not use vague terms like ‘industry standard security’. As in any sound advertising, marketing and business practice, mean what you say and say what you mean.
California has lead the way in the development of privacy policies. If you are doing business in the national realm at all, you will want to ensure that your privacy policy adheres to state standards since more than 40 million Americans reside in that state. If your site collects (PII) personally identifiable information, then you need to post clear and conspicuous privacy policy. It either needs to be on the home page or linked in all caps in text larger than the rest of the site. Putting the policy in every footer on the site is a web standard practice worth adopting. The FTC will impose fines for policy violations whether they are intentional or based on inadvertent negligence. If you do breach your privacy policy you must notify consumers of that breach.
PRIVACY POLICY DEVELOPMENT
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has recommended key privacy policy elements as follows and even offers a free Privacy Policy Generator on its website:
- Clarify your company name, address and contact information in the privacy policy.
- Include what Clickstream data is collected
- Explain how PII is used or shared
- Clarify policy on cookies and email opt-out
- Clarify ad server relationship if you work with one
- Create a change of policy notification practice
- Make clear to user how to access or change PII being held
- Detail your site security and provide links to enforcement agencies
- If data is shared, specify who the recipients are
- Provide a mechanism for updating data
- Provide a description of the process for policy updates
- List a policy effective date
As with any form of user communication make sure it is easy to understand. Share it with your employees so that the rules are clear to everyone, and also to stakeholders and investors.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau also has policies. They recommend that both the advertiser and publisher have their own policy, that the policy is posted on the information/collection page, that policy changes are highlighted, that policy is regularly reviewed, and that email information is not shared without any 3rd party without consent.
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND INTERNET PRIVACY
There is great concern over privacy and the internet as social networking continues to grow. Facebook is in several lawsuits related to privacy, and Internet Service Providers are even getting involved in sharing your physical ISP address and tracking real time provide relevant ads. The FTC is focusing on self regulation and transparency, and enforcing failures to adhere to privacy policies, but internet powerhouses like Google and Microsoft are pushing for clear legislation.
SPYWARE
There are no federal laws on spyware but proposed legislation is pending in Congress. Even though laws have not been passed the language in the bill can be beneficial in developing privacy policy. The legislation defines spyware as ‘computer code of any kind, including adware (but not including cookies), which has been downloaded to an end user’s coputer without notice and consent, for which no simple mechanism for removal is provided, and for which its purpose is to track end user’s browsing activity, obtain PII, interfere with or control the end user’s computer, log keystrokes or perform any fraudulent, illegal or inappropriate activity. The FTC is using anti-fraud statues to combat spyware issues until legislation is passed. At this time the use of cookies and web beacons is not recognized by Congress raising concern for violation of privacy.
Filed under: Digital Marketing Regulations and Codes of Practice | Leave a Comment
Even the United States Congresss recognizes that email’s low cost and global reach, and high rate of effectiveness make it a “frictionless commerce”. The Anti spam Act has been grossly misinterpreted by some people who think that any unsolicited email is spam but that is not what Congress’ intent was when enacting anti-spam legislation.
The essential law is that you can email anyone, any time as long as format and process criteria are met. Can Spam stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. The key criteria are as follows:
- Is the email sent for commercial or transactional purposes? Online communication that confirms warranty information, product recalls, provides safety updates, benefit plan information, fulfillment of subscriptions or other ongoing commercial relationships is transactional in nature and not subject to the CAN-SPAM act. Commercial email correspondence is subject to the legislation.
- The sender of the email is the person who initiates email, not just the person that sent it.
- You cannot have fraudulent header information or fraudulent or deceptive from line, and the physical address needs to be included.
- You have to include a working opt-out or return address and it needs to keep working for 30 days after the email has sent. You must honor the opt-out request within 10 business days. The 10 days is subject to review and the FTC is evaluating whether this will be shortened.
- You are allowed to supply opt-out email suppression files to businesses that do your marketing campaigns for you for the purpose of complying with customer’s opt-out request.
- Subsequent affirmative consent can undo opt-outs according to the Act.
- Refer-a-friend viral campaigns are subject to the Act.
- Anything sexually explicit needs to be identified in the subject line unless you have affirmative consent from recipient first.
- Prohibited acts include sending to stolen email addresses, randomly generating addresses, intentionally using a false domain, routing through another computer without consent (called spoofing) or using email to commit child pornography, identity theft or any other criminal act.
CAN-SPAM is enforced by the FTC, state attorneys general or other agency or governing bodies who have jurisdiction. Violation of any part of the CAN-SPAM act makes the sender/initiator liable for a $250 fine per email sent, with a cap of $2 million per action with increases possible in aggravated circumstances.
States also have laws but the FTC act preempts state laws. States focus on fraud enforcement like falsifying commercial information, stealing the use of a third-party computer or network or email addresses to send spam.
The best advice is to do the right thing and fill all the key criteria to avoid being subject to fines and prosecution. Guarantee compliance with CAN-SPAM by any vendors and all of their affiliates. They must use your suppression list and convey opt-out information to you in a timely manner so that you can comply with the law, or use their own opt out requests. If they refuse to comply, you are better off finding a different vendor. Have a system in place for sending out updated suppression lists, and have the use of those updated suppression lists contractually required.
The FTC follows up on and fines big and small companies. Follow the rules and ensure that your third party email vendors do as well with contractual requirements.
Filed under: Digital Marketing Regulations and Codes of Practice | Leave a Comment
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