You’re excited about trying some Social Media Marketing. You’ve got your Facebook page and Twitter profile ready to go and you can’t wait for all those hot new leads to come pouring in.

Whoa….hold on there just one minute. If your website is screaming 2003 it’s time to go back to the basics and fix your foundation first.

Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before launching your Social Media Marketing campaign.

1 - Is my website visually appealing? - Do the colors, layout and images look like a nice, new Web 2.o site…or is it plain, rigid and templated? Are there scrolling marquees? Do you have multiple navigations? Are there little pieces of clip art that flash and float around? …There’s your sign.

2 - Is my website set up to “convert”? – Is there a prominent phone number in the top right corner? Do you have a simple contact form on every page of the site? How easy have you made it for users to contact you? Remember, they may land on any page of your site based on their search results. Can they easily get in touch with you from every page?

3 – How well does my site come up in the search engines? – If you’re “Joe’s Crab Shack in Myrtle Beach”…does your site appear in the organic results when someone searches for “seafood in Myrtle Beach”? What other keywords or search terms do you think users would type in when searching for a business like yours? Check all those out also.

4 – Do I have enough content on my site? – Is there robust, relevant content on every page of your website? I’m not talking about a 700 word mini-novel. You need a couple of specific, well-written paragraphs that incorporate those keywords and search terms the search engines will be looking for. (Contact Me to learn more about making sure your website is coded properly for the search engines.)

5 – Do I have analytics installed on my website? - Before starting any kind of internet marketing campaign you have to make sure you’re able to measure results. Google Analytics is free and easy to install on your site. This way you’ll know how many people are coming to the site, what they’re doing while they are there, how they left, where they came from and how they found you. Analytics are imperitive.

Granted, there are tons of other issues and questions we could cover here. However, if you get these basics down your site will be more effective. We can drive tons of traffic to the website, but if it’s not visually appealing, set up to convert and easy to use…we’re wasting our time.

Remember also, fixing your website is probably one of the most cost-effective marketing solutions to your multiple business challenges. Fix your foundation first. Then, build your dream house.

Feel free to contact me with any questions or to learn more.

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They’re trying so hard to master Facebook and Twitter. There are so many theories and nuances about both. The smaller, local business is more likely to have issues unless they hire a trusted consultant or employ someone with solid experience and a good track record.

Here’s my beef…

What about your websites, people? Do you even care what they look like or how well they work? How about those Google search results? Are you ranking at all?

It’s 2011 and I’m still seeing websites in the market that scream 2002. And slapped somewhere prominently is a great big, blue “F” with a caption that reads “Join Us on Facebook!” Join us? Do I join a page? Do you still have a scrolling marquee on your home page? There’s your sign.

Is Facebook going to be around forever? Most would say nothing lasts forever. So, unless you’re banking your entire web presence on Facebook  (this is a mistake, by the way), you’d be much better off giving your website an overhaul and making it search engine and social marketing friendly.

Make sure your website is clean, visually appealing, easy to navigate and has a blog integrated into the main part of the site…not separated from it with a different root URL, etc. Get it ready for the search engines with solid metadata (yes, it’s still important…even ALT text), proper URL structure, heading tags and a domain name that’s registered for more than one year.

We’re scratching the surface here in this post. This is the Reader’s Digest version.

So, take a break from the social media kegstands and get your Base Camp set up on a firm foundation. Then you can get back to the party and you’ll most likely get better results from whatever it is you’re drinking.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

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Social Marketing campaigns work best on sites that are designed and developed effectively with landing pages and conversion points in mind.

I see websites every day that scream 1998…and it’s 2010. It boggles the mind.

Here are 6 quick ways to know that your website needs help:

1 – Your design has too many bright colors, flashing boxes and/or scrolling marquees. Please, this went away at the turn of the century. Go with softer colors that are easier on the eye. Ever read a website with a black background for a length of time and then looked at something else?

2 – You have multiple navigations. You don’t need a nav down the left side, across the top and at the very bottom of each page. Stick with one simple, yet thought out navigational structure.

3 - Your site only loads right in Internet Explorer. It’s time to re-work the site if  there are pieces of  it all over the screen when yours opens in Chrome. Just do it.

4 - Your metadata doesn’t change from page to page. This is SEO-101, but still important. Your keywords should reflect the page you’re on. If you’re on the “services” page, the keywords in the metadata should contain those services.

5 – Your site takes too long to load. Page load time should be cut down to 3-4 seconds. Google does pay attention to this. So, if you can run to the grocery store while the site is loading, it’s time to make some changes.

6 – Your site is not social media friendly. The site should have links to ALL your social media profiles and pages. Also, be sure to integrate as many social media widgets as possible, especially the Facebook “like” button.

This is another topic that we could discuss for a long time. There are definitely more than 6 things to pay attention to when assessing your website’s short-comings.

To learn how we can help, CONTACT US!

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Here are five key ingredients your site must have in order to be successful:

1 – Page Titles: The blue bar at the top of every page of your site should contain the name of your site and the title of the corresponding page. This will aid in SEO.

2 – Clear, Concise Navigation: Your nav should be simple and short, but specific. It needs to be laid out in a logical manner with layers kept to a minimum.

3 – Quality Links: Your site should link out to specific websites and pages/articles of interest to your readers and users. Additionally, your site should have as many inbound links as possible for better SEO. These are links coming to your site from other quality websites.

4 – Contact Info: Are you making it easy for your users to contact you from anywhere on your website? Google may find a particular page of your site to distribute to a user. Will that user be able to locate your phone number, email address and simple contact form easily from that page? Put this info on every page, if possible.

5 – Content: Keep it to 250 words per page. Make it simple, specific and easy to read. Remember, your users are looking for pertinent information, not a novel. One of the secrets to SEO has always been GOOD CONTENT. Make sure you use a keyword research tool and incorporate those keywords into your content.

This is a short list, but if you implement these five key parameters your website will be more successful. There are certainly more things you need to include for optimal performance. We’ll touch on these soon.

To learn how we can help, CONTACT US!

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Maximizing your social media marketing is hard to do if your website is not set up to convert.

You can Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr yourself to death…but, unless your potential customers are landing on a page or a site that makes it easy for them to contact you…it could be a waste of time and money.

Some key questions to ask include:

1 – Is there a prominent phone number on every page of my website?
2 – Are there simple contact forms strategically placed on my site…preferrably on every page?
3 – Does my site make it very easy for anyone to contact me?
4 – Are there strong headlines and calls to action within the content?
5 – Are the colors and images on my site inviting?

Addressing these 5 simple questions will help put your website on track to turning visitors into potential customers. Of course, there’s much more to it. These are just some of the basics.

Don’t have the budget right now to redesign/reconfigure your website? Try custom landing pages with analytics instead.

To learn more and get a free, no-obligation analysis of your website, CONTACT US!

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