As a marketing strategist with a digital focus, I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing, tweaking, testing, and generally thinking about landing pages. The topic of conversion optimization is one that’s been widely written about and discussed. And yet, I continue to see landing pages from businesses that are falling short in critical—and familiar—ways.
Continue reading “Less Obvious Landing Page Conversion Killers”
The average website visitor spends about 3 seconds on a web page before they decide whether or not they’re in the right place. Whether they’ve come to your website from a direct link, a search or maybe a pay-per-click ad (PPC), they’re looking for something. They have a need, whether it be something they want to buy, information or maybe they just need a good laugh but they came to your website to find something. Do you have what they’re looking for? Even if you do, will they stay on your website long enough to find out? Website visitors are a little like Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Terminator”.
Continue reading “Are Your Website Visitors Sticking Around Or Bailing Out?”
You’ve heard me talk about the 3-second rule before. When someone visits your website, you have about 3 seconds to convince them that they’re in the right place. That’s it. If they searched on baby buggy bumpers and clicked on a link to your site, they better immediately see something about baby buggy bumpers or they’re out of there. If they land on a site and are so overwhelmed by links to Google Adsense ads and affiliate marketing programs, they’re probably out of there too. (I would be.)
Continue reading “Can Someone Tell What Your Website/Blog Is About In 3 Seconds?”
Your blog is a website. There’s nothing special or magical about it. The same basics for good website design apply. You need to drive traffic to your blog just as you would if you had a website for your business that didn’t include a blog. The main difference is that with a blog, each post needs to function as a home page. So, here are 4 simple steps to treating each one of your blog posts as if they were the home page of your site.
I was recently approached by a gentleman who was interested in having a website built for him. As we started our initial consultation, I commented that his domain name was somewhat generic for the product that he was building the site for. Upon further discovery, I learned that the site name was intended to cover a broad market that he had long term plans of reaching. One of his goals was to segment his market by the different ways people like to learn. He had no idea how to accomplish this. (Which is why he had come to me in the first place.) So, what did we plan? Continue reading “Can One Website Meet the Needs of Multiple Niche Target Markets?”
In part 1 of this series, I recommended that before you or your website designer begin designing your website, you understand who your target customer is. What type of a website will appeal to them? Should your site have a fun and creative feel or should it look trustworthy and serious? Are you working with an existing brand that you need to integrate your website into or do you have free creative license to design it completely from scratch? Whether you’re building your own site, working with a designer or you simply want to understand what constitutes good design for a website, here are some basic tips:
We’ve all seen poorly designed websites. Some are obviously do-it-yourself attempts and others are honest efforts by someone who’s dabbled in a little code. Still others are built using free website builders that are offered by website hosting companies or built using a website template.
Continue reading “What’s The Best Way to Build a Website? – (Part 2 of 3)”
Getting ready to launch your first website or redesigning an existing one? There’s a lot of planning that needs to be done before you start. First, you need to understand what you need a website for.
Continue reading “Need a Website? – (Part 1 of 3)”
