This week I have been counseling a business owner on some SEO practices. We are redesigning his site, and while it is still in the design stages, it is a few shades better already to say the least. While discussing with him the implications of site design, consumer awareness, general marketing, and web marketing, I took note of the biggest confusions that he had. Here are the discussions I had with him on each of those issues, which I think may be of huge benefit to you guys out there.

1)      Design, design, design: The fact is that if you get to the top of Google and you cover the page for your niche, you will make money. Still, don’t forget that the end user is your actual consumer, and if your site is terrible looking or un-useful, you are killing yourself. Imagine what those top spots on Google could mean to you if your users actually enjoyed your website—you would be visible and awesome (a great combo). Invest some time and energy into the design of your site, and you will see a huge increase in revenue.

2)      SEO, SEO, SEO: Maybe this should have gone as number one. Heck, read it along as 1a, but no matter what, let it sink in. If you are investing time and/or money into a website, make an effort to appease the search engine gods. A recent statistic I read was that less that 10% of all websites put any work into search engine optimization—that means that with a little will power, you can beat the competition (at least on realistic keywords… it might take a lot of willpower for the harder ones)!

3)      Consumer focus: the business owner discussed above has an online franchise company, and he therefore has different facets to his websites. He has aspects of the site for consumers, some for potential franchisees, some for current franchisees, and some for advertisers. We are working to separate them so as to keep the content pertinent to the reader. If you are careful, it is possible to have a site designed for many users, with each of them seeing only the content they want and need.

4)      K.I.S.S.: Keep it simple-ish. Simple is good; clutter is bad. Most users read the top and bottom of a page. I have spent quite a bit of time in my career explaining to clients that it is great to have loads of content. After all, it’s good for SEO and for the user, but don’t just throw it all on one page, and don’t throw it on multiple pages without some serious planning, either. A lot of information can be a burden as well as a blessing.

5)      Abide by web standards. Check out the information from the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) at http://www.w3.org/. Live by the rules if you want users on different browsers to be able to access your content.

6)      On the same note as number 5, I must separate this point out, which I discuss with nearly every client. With the invention of WYSIWYG website design tools, many people who are creating websites probably shouldn’t. I don’t mean that with a tone which could stifle creativity, but make sure that the site is made for the end user, and don’t just trust your site designer. Check that it fits in a decently small browser window, make sure you don’t use crazy fonts, take advice from established and credible web designers, and you might just be able to do much of the work yourself. Again, though, don’t trust the WYSIWYG always really gives you “what you see.”

7)      Be social, but not too social: No matter what efforts you employ, don’t forget that you have a minion much stronger than yourself. If you have a decent size following, allow them to spread the word. Be careful with how you add social buttons to your web pages, however. Some “out of the box” buttons will leak out a lot of SEO juices by providing ungodly amounts of outbound link from your pages.

8)      Combine marketing efforts. There is no reason to stick to one marketing campaign or style. Cover more demographics and get a good return by analyzing multiple means. Often our marketing goals are to 1) manipulate interest and/or 2) enhance consumer awareness. Consumers are everywhere and not always reachable by one medium or another, so regard all marketing efforts as valuable if the ROI (return on investment) will be high.

There are loads more issues to discuss, but for now, take heed with these tidbits. I discuss these eight pointers approximately two to three times every day, so consider yourself a step above if you really implement them. In the future, I will discuss more tips.

With a dear friend looking to head to Haiti to help in the relief efforts, I have been glued to the news updates on the subject. Please search for “Hope for Haiti,” and see what you can do to help.

One thing that you will hear my repeat over and over is the importance of a comprehensive marketing plan. There many levels to this, and like I mentioned in the last post, the first step is always consumer analysis. Many marketing consultants bundle this together with market research or “industry analysis,” but I prefer to single out the most important focus—consumer analysis. After consumer analysis, what’s next? In essence, the big question is, “So we know our consumers now—what they do, where they eat, how old they are, and the like, but how to do reach them?”

As you might suspect, finding answering this question is not a simple, “Do A, do B, and then do C, and I promise success.” Rather, this is a new tier of the marketing conceptualization. No matter the solution however, your market research, specific consumer analyses, and other marketing and advertising expenditures are for not if your product is not up to par. When discussing web marketing, your product, whether it is actually you company’s physical product or not, is the website. As such, here are some tips to help your company develop and implement an original, attractive site design.

1. Keep a consumer focus. Notice that the last few weeks, or perhaps months, have been dedicated to knowing your consumer. Now that you know what they like, make them happy to be treated to the look, feel, and functionality of your site.
2. Get inspired. Go through design catalogs, and see what you like. I often make use of inspiration I get by looking through architecture magazines, beauty products, interior design examples, and other web sites. If you take a gander below at one website for which I designed the layout, you may see hints of the classic Paul Mitchell shampoo bottle. I have appreciated that bottle since I was quite young, and I was able to make use of it on the home page of a client’s blog.
   
3. Abide by the rules; break some, but don’t feel like a vigilante—you might be sorry. There are times to break rule and times to fall in. When considering the aesthetic appeal of your website, go for the gold! Dream it, and make it. When it comes to conventions, however, remember that there are reasons that the W3C meets. You want your website to accessible through different browsers, in different resolutions, and for years to come. Make sure to go by their coding guidelines, or newer browsers and newer standards could leave you in the dust.

In summary, the issue is this: when developing a comprehensive web marketing strategy, remember that after putting in all the effort and funds it takes to get to the top Google listings for valuable keywords, the last thing you want is for your bounce rate (high rates indicate that visitors quickly leave your site—often due to disinterest) to be enormous. Remember, if your site is poorly designed, there is always a competitor’s listing below yours on Google, and if their site is designed better—and their bounce rate is low—well then site design is the difference between a good return on investment and a bad ROI.

Take some time to make your website representative of the great product or service your business should be famous for.

web design, website design, site design, comprehensive marketing, business web design, web design marketing, successful businesses, los angeles, santa clarita, valencia, seo, search engine marketing, traditional marketing, guerrilla marketing, steps, tips, how to

Last year I was able to travel to many different countries, and suffice it to say that I was astounded by the differences between marketing strategies across geographical boundaries. Successful pubs in England, for instance, are in a relatively unique situation in which they often keep a customer for life. In Norway and France, however, clubs seem to be hot one week and not the next. Businesses are therefore forced to develop strategies which are truly tailored to their target markets. This is square one, I typically tell my clients. The fact is that Industry A may benefit from strategy A and industry B may benefit from strategy B, but not vice versa. Many business owners are left scratching their heads when they find that their marketing tactics which were successful in previous ventures are slow to have an effect in current ventures.

Now, I will get to the point. In the last month, I have been counseling two businesses in Santa Clarita—Valencia, California to be specific. In my market research I have found that Valencia (but Santa Clarita as a whole—Castaic, Newhall, Canyon Country, etc.) hosts a unique and eclectic mix of consumers. Market trends are actually quite easy to predict in these areas, and captivating the desired audience is very practical. For example, in what is perhaps a perfect microcosms for entrepreneurial efforts, restaurants go through very typical cycles, and when considering their target market, such research leads to a far more likely success.

As a tip to businesses in the area, in my work thus far, I have found SEO (search engine optimization) to be the name of the game in these Valencia businesses. For these businesses, search engine optimization has been the most affordable, most targeted, and most dynamic of strategies. I nearly always recommend that businesses put quite a bit of effort into proper (though ingenious and clever) web marketing, and in future posts, I will go into some more detail about how I have been able to capture the consumers’ attentions in the Santa Clarita Valley.

This is the first post on my new blog. My name is Casey Troy, and I am a marketing consultant in Los Angeles, California. I will use this blog to catalog my notes and advice in the realms of SEO, web design, business development, and guerrilla and classical marketing. Stay tuned.