Archive for the 'Web Design' Category
What will 2009 bring to the marketing? Depending upon how many of the ever-proliferating “social media strategists” you may know, it is likely that your crystal ball is clear as mud.
Some would like for you to believe that the social web is about to take over the world…..others I see declaring the emergence of social as the “death of SEO”. Which I personally find laughable.
From my Monday Morning QB chair a few things do seem quite clear:
1. Chad Pennington threw quite a few interceptions (Captain Obvious)
Sorry, Monday Morning QB had me thinking about football for a second….back to work.
2. The Social Web positively deserves your attention from this point forward.
If you are not thinking about how to integrate the growing number of social tools into your overall marketing strategy you need to start now. Otherwise, start working on the resume, as you will need it in the not-so-distant future.
3. SEO is far from dead, it has just become more complex.
Social will not replace SEO, it will however, have a profound impact on SEO and will, in my opinion, create further separation between those that understand SEO and those that still base decisions on what the ‘green bar’ tells them.
According to a story in BusinessWeek, Google has applied for a patent that essentially ranks the value of a user on a social network. A user’s score would rank them based on a variety of factors to determine their influence.
http://www.imediaconnection.com/news/20684.asp
For the truly geektastic, take a look at one of the Google patent applications found over at SEO By the Sea.
You need not bog yourself down with the ins and outs of algorithms, and reading of patent applications to understand that your future SEO and Social efforts will correlate.
The morale of the story? Has SEO been a key component of your strategy in the past? If so, you need to begin thinking about your social strategy and participation. Budget time, budget resources and begin planning.
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Thanksgiving….turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy….parades and “Black Friday”. As we enter the holiday season it is so easy to forget why we are celebrating in the first place.
This post will be random (surprise) and disconnected, but will be just another way of saying “Thank You”…..no spell check, emotion, typos and more! Transparency in the raw.
While it is a personal priority of always letting people know that I appreciate who and what they are, and what they do, the majority of us still are pretty poor at showing appreciation. For some saying “Thank You” is akin to Fonzie and “I’m sorry”.
As I reflect on things and think about my business and personal life, I realize that in being a small business owner, the two are joined at the hip.
I owe many people thanks and I am grateful for many, many things. I would like to share just a few that have helped shape who I am.
Family
It all starts with family, and without it, I am nothing. Just a few incomplete thoughts about the parental and immediate influences of my “fam damily”…
Thankful For:
My wife and kids
Think Brady Bunch Lite….I have two step-sons whom I am VERY proud of, ages 14 and 17 and a daughter that will soon turn 5. Between sports, dance and school, we always have somewhere to be. I’m thankful for the kids putting up with gadgets littering the home and the crazy work schedule of a small business owner and more importantly for reminding me of what is really important. Watching games, coaching a team, going to a dance recital, playing “tickle monster” and ….coloring.
My wife…..why she puts up with me, I haven’t a clue. I could write a book…
I’m thankful for her dealing with me working late, having to travel and rambling about CSS, search and the latest Google update. She has stood beside me all along the way, taking the feast and famine nature of starting and running a small business in stride.
From running to Staples, stops at the post office and helping with filling out tax forms and paperwork, I couldn’t do it without her.
My grandparents for instilling in my entire family the importance of hard-work and education (amongst other things!)
My Grandma Mary for teaching me patience and that anything can be accomplished amongst family. She and her sisters collectively put themselves through school (one set would work to pay for the others schooling, then return the favor) to become teachers….she rode a horse to school for her first job.
My Grandpa Gene for teaching hard work and the art of tickling. He died when I was young so my perspective is that of the eyes of a child. As a kid every time I would walk through the door of their home it was clock work, “Paaaaattttttttttt-aaaaaaaaaa-reeeeeee-kkk-usssss!” and he would then tickle with a finger mangled in a railroading accident. My Grandpa worked hard, multiple jobs from railroading to mailman, to support his large family. Work ethic and responsibility.
My Grandmother Ruthie for teaching me to tell people what you really think and more importantly that it’s that it’s perfectly fine to have fun ! Whooppin’ hollerin’ and spending that “mad money” that you saved for a rainy day on things that make you and others smile (you can’t take it to the grave right!). Ruthie loved life and it loved her back.
My Grandfather “Granddaddy” for teaching me work ethic, education and walk softly while carrying a big stick. He grew up in lumber camps and on farms and despite all odds, found a way to get an education on his own. He overcame obstacles of the era (farm chores and his own father’s de-emphasis on education) and worked by the light of an oil lamp to complete assignments. In this manner he completed high school, then college and became a teacher and principal. He worked hard, he served his country, he gave back.
My Mom and Dad for always, always, always being there and as difficult as I made it at times, supporting me no matter what.
I could write a book about all my parents have done for me….but will highlight one thing. Fast forward to the 8th grade!
I always loved playing sports, but basketball was never “my game”. However, I decided in junior high, that I wanted to play for the school team. I tried out…and was cut.
Don’t expect a Michael Jordan story, here, something on a smaller scale, it was the lesson it taught…not the outcome.
As a kid, I was pretty good at all the other sports I played and it was tough being cut. My parents took time to explain to me that things don’t come easy…you have to work at things and earn it.
One quote from my Dad that stand out, “You can prove them right…or you can prove them wrong”.
They bought a basketball hoop, put it up in the driveway and handed me a basketball. In hindsight, I guess it was their way of seeing what I was made of. I decided to prove them wrong.
Everyday, snow, rain wind I shot baskets, worked on layups, free throws….and shots behind the back from the rhododendrons! (Hey…never know when a game might come down to that!). By the time tryouts rolled around the next year that ball was worn smooth…I can still see and “feel” that ball to this day. I tried out, made the team….and started every game (yet somehow managed to only score 20 points!).
Them…proven.
Work ethic….check.
Events
It’s interesting to take a look at how events in our lives shape who we are and what we become. I touched on one earlier, but there are others that I look back on that had a major impact on my business.
I’m going to keep this short, but it’s quite a story, next time you see me ask for the “non-condensed” version.
Years ago, I handled the marketing for a small rafting company. There was no budget and so I turned to the then emerging Internet as a low cost marketing tool. Little did I know, it would later become my career.
I learned the in’s and outs of how search engines worked, how a website worked and how to use them to promote a company. Long story short, we had great success and the business saw a significant surge in rafters. After two years of growth, I asked for a modest raise….I was single, had very few bills yet was still barely making it.
My request was denied and I attempted to explain, in the foyer of their brand new log home, why I thought it was a valid request.
Their business had grown substantially, and I mentioned that I had “become pretty good” at what I did. When I said that, one of the owners laughed and she said, “I don’t think so”.
I walked out the door and haven’t looked back. Dad…I took your advice, and proved them wrong!
Sadly, they went bankrupt two years later.
People
There are a great number of people that have helped me in various ways. From providing encouragement, advice and business I am indebted to those folks that went out of their way to help. Just to mention a few….
Geoff Heeter, of Opossum Creek Retreat Cabin Rentals fame, was not my first client…..but he was my first paying client! He has endured countless experiments and has provided valuable feedback on a variety of things. More importantly, he has become a great friend and has provided great, at times much needed, laughs along the way. Be sure to follow Geoff on “Tweeter” (I think he’s becoming insecure about his single digit followers!) and ask him how his Linux install is going!
Susie Hofstetter and Len Hanger at Songer Whitewater gave me a job years ago, and an opportunity. An opportunity to also work on my own projects and grow my business on the side. Their help, encouragement and support played a huge part in getting Matterhorn Marketing off the ground.
Dave Arnold at Class VI River Runners is an entreprenuer’s entrepreneur. While I have never had an opportunity to work with Dave, and despite working for his competition, he has always supported, encouraged and opened doors that otherwise would have never opened. I have developed a great amount or respect for Dave on both the personal and professional level and am thankful for the help he has provided.
Sorry!
I apologize for being long winded, and could (and should to adequately say thanks) easily write much more. Much like telling my family I love them, It is important to me to say thanks and make sure people know it. I am often quite liberal with my use of “Thank You” and “I really appreciate that”, but I mean it when I say it.
Reminds me of a time, not long ago, while tucking my daughter into bed. She was half asleep as I pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.
I whispered, “I love you”.
She whispered back, “I know”.
Let people know…
Tags: thankful, thanks, thanksgiving .
At the onset of this blog, and several restarts, the objective was to provide only Internet Marketing tips with a focus on travel and tourism. Posts were a bit sporadic, and at times simply ceased, for a number of reasons: 1. I felt that if I did not have real, actionable by all, tips to share, then there was no reason to post. 2. The company grew so fast that it became a time issue.
There will be a slight change in the approach and objective and the result will be more blog posts on a wider variety of both topics and “skill” levels.
As the founder of Matterhorn I have witnessed a number of profound changes to the landscape in the past 10+ years of involvement in Internet Marketing. I have also been part of a changing company and dynamic as well.
Up to this year Matterhorn Marketing was a one man band, with some “virtual” partners that created websites, dealt with development issues and all of the things associated with marketing them (seo, ppc etc.).
The past 12 months have brought about a profound change to our company structure, processes and products with even more to come. We hired our first full-time employee in late 2007 and in doing so, have added the ability to handle more projects with shorter turn arounds (pending the clients do their part!) and more importantly added photography to our list of available products.
The beauty of the Internet, in relation to running a small business in a rural location, is the globalization effect. Matterhorn has forged strong partnerships with a small, highly skilled set of spcialized contractors to help with custom php scripting and database development, graphic design and copywriting.
We have additionally made significant investments in technologies such as a SMS text message marketing platform, equipment to create short online videos, call tracking services and more.
It has been an exciting year at Matterhorn, and we are excited about what the future holds.
We are currently looking for the right people to join our team: If you are interested in social media, CSS coding and standards-based design, give us a shout!
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Are you serious about sustaining your business? “Yes, of course!” you say….
What are you doing to make that happen? What are you doing to ensure profitablity and longevity?
The culture of business is changing dramatically: Changes in post-consumer-society behavior and ideaology, to rethinking the status quo business structure and embracing and utilizing emerging technologies. Adopting the “this is what we have always done” philosophy and simply maintaining (not to mention hanging onto a romanticized view of ‘yesterday’) your processes will leave you ripe-for-the-picking by newcomers.
I am witnessing a growing disparity between those that embrace new methods and tactics and those that are still holding onto the soon to be (if not already) antiquated view of what worked in the past….and by past, I am refering to the very recent past.
Some businesses are making use of emerging social media outlets, growing comfortable with blogging, utilizing video and otherwise creating and maintaining conversations with their audience. Others have yet to discover the email newsletter, or for that matter realize the value and importance of knowing how to use a computer!
I am challenged, in multiple instances, in finding ways to educate those that have significant opportunity in front of them on ways they can use technology to move their business forward. The excuse of “I am computer illiterate” is something I have heard on multiple occasions, and by more than one small business owner. Struggles with simple tasks like emailing attachments and not responding to emails from potential buyers because, “I don’t like using email”.
Folks, it’s time to sink or swim…and unfortunately I think a number are outside the range of the life preserver.
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I think you can tell from our blog posting, more telling the lack there of, that this has been a busy year.
Much has changed in a very short time, and our blog was obviously one of the casualties.
After our recent event at the West Virginia Governor’s Conference on Tourism, and fielding questions about blogging, I decided it was high time to restart the conversation.
Without further adieau, I would like to use our recent dearth of blog posting as a case study for a recent question.
“How often should I post to my blog”
Good question, with many different answers…the right answer is known only by you.
The point of blogging is to share information and initiate and maintain a conversation with your audience. The frequency, duration and tone of your posts is dictated by your audience, not by what some perceived “expert” blindly tells you.
Frequency of posting is a critical element as you must keep the conversation moving along not allowing it to stagnate. Daily, weekly, monthly posting? That is a determination you must make on your own.
You can use our blog as an example of what not to do; Which is simply stop, with no explanation to the audience. While it is no excuse, our company began growing so quickly that blog posting became an after thought. While we had many great post ideas, finding the time to actualy articulate them was difficult.
If you provide you audience with regular, quality information an expectation will emerge. An expectation of timely posting, or quality information, or a continuation of the conversation. When that expecation is not met, and repeated again and again, your audience will seek other sources of information……even if your’s is the one in which they are most interested.
Don’t expect friendly reminders from your audience to provide impetus to post. Just expect a slow, steady single file line of readers heading towards the exit.
Create compelling, unique and informative content and deliver it on a regular basis and you will have created a valuable dialogue with your audience.
In the coming days we will post more on this topic, and will hopefully have a guest blog post to help you with your writing.
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Last week, I was given an opportunity to present at a West Virginia Department of Agriculture “short-course”. The presentation focused on how everyone, including small agriculture-based companies, can benefit from having a website.
It was a special opportunity for me to give back a tiny bit to a community that played an important part in my family heritage.
My goal in making these types of presentations is to help other businesses succeed. This particular presentation had additional meaning, as I meant it to be a small tribute to my late Grandfather who was very important to me. If you could humor me for just a moment, I would like to share a story about him.
My Grandfather grew up in lumberjack camps across the state of West Virginia and his high school years working on a family farm in Doddridge County. In that era, education was a secondary priority and in order to continue in school my Grandfather was required to first complete his daily farm chores.
He worked his way through high school in that way, and then with the help of others he worked his way through college and earned a degree in Agriculture from West Virginia University.
He spent time in the Pacific Rim during World War II and then taught Vocational Agriculture at Cairo High School until 1975. Each summer my Grandfather would give his students a summer project, in many cases it was to grow a particular crop.
Some years ago, a former student of my Grandfather’s approached me and shared a story:
I cannot recall what the crop was that this student was growing that year. However, he told me that he was working one day in the field and looked across the field to see my Grandfather walking towards him.
He told me, “I thought, ‘Oh, no, here comes Mr. Strader to grade my project’ and I wasn’t ready to be graded.”
My grandfather walked across the field, and approached the student. The man told me that when he came up to him, he simply greeted him and said, “I was just stopping in to see if I could help.”
He had went out of his way to try and help. He was wanting to impart a small bit of his knowledge in order to help his student learn something that may benefit him in the future.
That is the basis for my desire to help people. To share something I know, that could help a business succeed.
It may seem corny and trivial, but to me my presentation was a small tribute to my Grandfather. A man I respected and loved and learned a great deal from. I miss him everyday.
Ironically, the day of the presentation….was his birthday.
Download the Presentation Files
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I have had a number of questions about this lately; “Don’t people read anything?”.
The answer is….yes, visitors do read online, just in a different way.
Keep website copy succinct. Brevity, online, is a virtue…and bullet points can provide information quickly.
For example…
Instead of:
Our cabins include a wide variety of amenities including utensils, linens, towels, appliances, hot tub and a great location.
Try:
Cabin Amenities
- All Utensils
- Linens
- Towels
- Appliances
- Hot Tub
- A Great Location!
Simple enough isn’t it? Keep in mind that the majority of website visitors ’scan’ a page in search of visual cues. Continual blocks of text become monotonous and visitors will quickly lose interest.
Write for the Web With:
- short paragraphs
- bulleted lists
- clear topical headings
Leverage your photography by presenting relevant photos adjacent to blocks of text or bulleted lists.
If your list is about what you offer for lunch, provide a photo of your lunch. If the paragraph is providing information about your location, provide photos of your location.
Quality page content is an essential component of any Search Engine Optimization campaign. Keep page copy topically relevant, use proper heading tags (H2, H3) and bulleted lists in conjunction with relevant photos and graphics.
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Participate! It is your product, your website - invest the time to participate to ensure you receive the type and quality of website you expect.
All too often I see companies select a designer and SEO, then disappear, leaving design teams, strategists and marketers in the lurch. The end result is all too often a client with a product different from what they had envisioned….and no one to blame.
Why can’t the contract be signed and project handed off?
Easy, the primary stakeholder knows the product best, and must provide direction and the materials (logo, content, photos) necessary to complete the project.
There are a number of different tools available to help keep the project on course, and to keep clients and production team members in constant contact throughout the process.
A simple, and useful, online project management tool is available at BaseCampHQ which allows communication, file sharing and project tracking. The web based application allows you to access project information from anywhere in which you have an Internet connection. Share files, to-do lists, chat and send messages to team members involved in the project. Ideal for production team members, the software allows stakeholders to track the progress of the project using simple visual cues such as strikethrough text indicated a task has been completed.
Another useful tool, for brainstorming and mapping out site architecture, is MindJet - Mind Manager Software. This product allows you to layout thoughts, or content sections, and map them to the central theme and dependents. The maps can be easily customized, and shared via exporting to different formats.
The point of this post, however, is that as the client, your role is not over upon signing the contract. If you want the highest quality product provided, you must make the effort to provide your production staff with the direction and information they need to complete the job.
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This is a brief recap of a poignant presentation I made at a recent conference. I crammed a tremendous amount of information into a roughly 16 minute period. Brief, quick hitting…and admittedly, cursory.
Here it is in a nutshell.
In developing your website you need to take a number of things into consideration before going to market.
One of the most common questions I am asked is, “How can my site rank highly in the search engines?”
Rarely have I been asked the most important question, “What can I do to improve my website?”
Before you begin to market your website, you must consider the following things:
Do you offer quality, relevant content that a member of your target market would find useful?
Are you offering things which will help them plan a trip and learn about your area and offerings? Or are you busy telling them how you are the “best” and the “greatest”? If you are going to make superlative claims, you’d better back it up as people’s BS meters are more sensitive than ever. Make sure you are providing useful information on the visitor’s frequency, WII.FM. (what’s in it for me?!)
Make it immediately clear what you do and who you are
Make it easy for people to find what they need, to do what you want….you do know what you want them to do don’t you?
This is a component of what is termed, ‘usability’. Steve Krug has written a great book on the topic and the books title provides us all with a mantra to put into use when developing and designing our websites, Dont Make Me Think
. If people have to stop and figure out what you do….they will leave.
Provide thoughtful, intuitive navigation systems for people to move about your site in finding information to help them. With smaller sites, this is a rather easy task, however when you have a wide variety of products, trips, or lodging options, you must implement a thoughtful navigation schema using a practice known as “Information Architecture”.
All too often I see homepages with dozens and dozens of links which confuse and intimidate the visitor…..remember, make it intuitive, logical and consistent. As Mr. Krug says, “Don’t Make Me Think!”
Compliance and Availability
Ensure that your website works on all browsers, is not entirely dependent upon technologies such as Shockwave, Java and Flash, and ditch the intro pages.
All too often I see over-designed websites that have a great number of visual cues and are “cute” …yet in the end are just junk in a fancy wrapper.
Use technologies such as Flash, Shockwave and Java as a component of your website, not its basis, and keep them at least one version behind the most currently available. The overuse of animations, and video can clutter your site, cause your visitor to lose focus and distract from the primary goal of converting them into a paying guest.
2 no-no’s…auto-play video and embedded mp3’s. People at work don’t want to be found out and if people want to watch your video, they will….when they want to.
Make sure your designs work in at least Firefox and Internet Explorer and begin taking mobile devices into consideration. If you are starting a new project, insist on a CSS based layout which will help eliminate cross-browser issues.
Provide a site that works on all browsers and put the emphasis on substance over superficial fluff and eye-candy.
If you have a website that contains these basic elements you have a website ready for market that will be a success.
There are a number of effective methods for marketing your quality site. I am going to provide some very quick overviews of two of the most important ones.
Organic Search
Holy Grail – free clicks based upon the relevance of your content to the search terms used.
There are a number of things which you can do, in addition to providing quality content, to help in this regard. However, ALWAYS, build your sites for people, not GoogleBot.
You can however, leave a mint on the pillow for GoogleBot by making sure you have quality, unique page titles, H1 tags and keyword rich text links within your site. Do not keyword stuff your titles…it is no longer 1997 and Alta Vista no longer cares how often you can stuff in a keyword.
Also, eliminate duplicate content. If you have multiple domains which “mirror” sites or you utilize tracking links you are creating multiple sets of the same pages and you are confusing the search engines. Use what is known as a 301 redirect, NOT a META redirect and eliminate your duplicate content.
Build quality inbound links. Stay away from link farms, FFA links pages and links from casino, pharma or porn sites. Obtain links from topic relevant sites.
Keyword research is paramount.
Pay Per Click Campaigns
Pay per click campaigns are a great way to increase traffic, extend your online footprint and reach new markets. However, if you are uninformed, utilize poor tactics and bid on the wrong keywords you will walk away disappointed, with little return on your investment and a lighter wallet.
Done correctly, you can realize a tremendous ROI.
Utilize your keyword research your organic campaign and craft quality ad titles and descriptions and test them using A/B and A/B/B methods until you find the best possible combination.
Utilize the new tracking and conversion features available from the major ppc engines, including Google and Yahoo! search marketing.
Do not fall into the set it and forget it mindset. You need to monitor, adjust and be careful not to fall to the temptation to bid the farm for the upper-most, top-level terms. These are people just entering the buying cycle…you can hit them when they get closer to the purchase by bidding on drill-down terms that are more relevant to your specific area of trip offerings.
Other important marketing considerations include email marketing, social media marketing, and article marketing.
Tags: online marketing tips, website development .
Some local search information that is going to help people find you…this is going to be posted as I have time to review it.
Here are two solid options to get you started.
Yahoo! Local Merchant
You can choose from three different levels of service, depending upon what you are trying to accomplish…and will assuredly be dictated by your level of competition.
Very easy process to sign-up, include your business and make it available for people to find easily. If nothing else, test the free version, then go from there…the free version DOES include a link to your website!
Try it out - http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
YellowPages.com
Visit the link below, click the ‘Get a free listing’ link and use your common sense.
http://www.yellowpages.com/sp/advertise/
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