According to new research from comScore, on the State of Local Business Search, search on mobile phones is growing. The study found that 22% of U.S. mobile phone users searched on their phone in January 2011. That’s an 8% increase from the 16% who reported searching via mobile in January 2010.

Not only are more people searching from their mobile phone, the frequency of mobile search is increasing, too. The report found that of those conducting a search on their mobile device, 27% reported searching at least once a week, 43% reported searching 1-3 times per month, and 20% reported searching almost every day. According to the report, 73% of users are conducting search via a browser on their phone, and 56% conduct search using an app.

Further, 33% of mobile users are accessing local content, demonstrating that the rise of local search is not only for desktop users. One of the most popular types of information that users are looking for is maps.

So What?

Well, when it comes to marketing your local business online, this research underscores the importance of two key things:

1. Having a mobile friendly site for your business so it can show up in local search.
2. Optimizing your business’s Google Places page so that it will rank well in Google maps search.

Do you have a mobile optimized site for your business? Is your Google Places page optimized?

Contact us if you need a little help.

Here are my top 6 reasons I may hate your website:

1. Slow Load Times – If your site takes more than 4 seconds to load, then chances are I’m not waiting around. Google hates slow page load times too and is starting to incorporate it into their ranking algorithm.
2. Splash / Intro pages – These pages were cool in 2000 but now they just waste my time. I do not care to see the same intro every time I visit your site. An exception would an intro where you’re really telling me something new or making an offer.
3. Poor Web Design / Confusing Layout -  I use the 4 second rule on this one too. I should be able to quickly determine the following: Am I on the right site? Do you have what I need?  What do I need to do next?  Don’t make me think about it.  Your web design needs to lead traffic down a path that leads to conversions.
4. Too Little Information – Give me as much information as I need to move to the next step. If I cannot find the information on your website, then it is likely that I will move on to the next site. A good rule of thumb is to give your visitors as much information  as you can in a manageable format. Give me a quick overview and then give me a link to more detailed information if I want it.
5. Lack of Contact Info – Seriously?  Are you a real business? I’m very skeptical about doing business with a company that doesn’t give me easy access to contact them, if needed.
6. Too Many Google Ads – I really hate sites that are littered with Google Ads. I understand their value but a home page with Google Ads throughout it screams spammer to me. Google hates spam in their search results, yet many of the spammy sites I run across are littered with Google Ads…go figure.

Most of my reasons are common sense, yet I still see websites everyday that I hate. How does your site stack-up?

Just last week Google released it’s annual “Benchmarking” Report that consists of key metrics generated from websites. That’s data from hundreds of thousands of websites if you’re keeping score.  So with so much data the metrics are pretty statistically significant and really give an accurate picture of what’s going on with websites.

The fun for me, and it’s NOT looking at all that data, is that I just “zero in” on a few numbers that I think are important like BOUNCE RATE. The significance of Bounce Rate for me is that this one number tells me if websites are making a good FIRST IMPRESSION and getting that potential client to spend some time on the site and look around.

But first, let’s define BOUNCE RATE. Bounce Rate is when a web Visitor, or in this case a potential customer, comes to your home page and EXITS your site WITHOUT going to any other pages, in most cases within 15 seconds. For years Google reported this number as a range, generally between 40% and 60%. Now the numbers are getting a little more exact with this year’s number coming in at 47%. For those keeping score at home – High Bounce Rate BAD – Low Bounce Rate GOOD.

OK, so it’s 47%, what exactly does that mean to my website and my business?

I’ll answer that question, if I may, with a little game of pretend. First, let’s pretend that your website is a salesperson. Second, your salesperson meets 100 potential clients. Third, your salesperson introduces themselves to all 100. Fourth, 47 of those 100 potential clients walk away while your salesperson is still talking.

WOW! Say goodbye to HALF of your potential clients, “POOF” gone in 15 seconds. I guess that game of pretend wasn’t much fun was it? However Bounce Rate is not pretend IT’S REAL!

But wait, before you BOUNCE the baby out with the bath water, please realize that  knowing your Bounce Rate is a good thing even if it’s ugly. Because now you know exactly how to measure your salesperson’s FIRST IMPRESSION effectiveness. If it’s not good, maybe some home page “makeovers”, changing some text, or sprucing up your Value Proposition to make a better FIRST IMPRESSION is in order.

Of course many of you may be happy with that 47%. But here at WSI Webworks we’re NOT. Our average Bounce Rate is 34% (that’s 33% lower than the Google average). Some of our clients even come in below 20%. We work hard to make that FIRST IMPRESSION a good one which in turn brings in more clients. But it all starts with knowing one number – YOUR Bounce Rate.

Is your Website’s first impression a good one or does it need a BREATH MINT?

What’s your thoughts?

In days of old, those days before the web that is, the “Elevator Pitch” AKA “Value Proposition” was generally accepted as the first presentation by the salesperson to a potential client. The purpose was of course to give a 60 second high dose pitch of the Company during that critical DO or DIE “first impression” step of the sales cycle. Of course this, well scripted and profusely practiced event, was to get the potential client to instantly say – “Yes, yes tell me more”.

Today, our first impression or experience with a company that we are thinking about doing business with is NOT a salesperson, but the Company’s website. Now cutting out the salesperson during that first impression step I personally have no problem with. Sorry salespeople, blame Al Gore, he invented the internet and that’s just the way it is.

What I DO have a problem with is that when they cut out the salesperson they cut out the “Elevator Pitch” too. Example – My research of many service company websites found that most had nothing close to the old fashioned “Elevator Pitch” as we knew it. You know that same “Elevator Pitch” that just a few years ago was so critical  to the sales process. Now that important “first impression” step is a company website dressed as a fancy brochure. Ask any salesperson how shoving a pretty brochure in a prospect’s face after shaking their hand works.

The web and the creation of beautiful websites has been a huge step forward. But leaving out many of the “basics” of selling has been a GIANT step backwards. Call the website a beautiful salesperson, fine with me. But don’t forget, that beautiful salesperson has to know how to sell. By forgetting time tested sales steps AKA the “Elevator Pitch” and swapping it for an online brochure AKA “Brochure BARF” just doesn’t get it. Next time you go to a website, check your shoes, there just might be “Brochure BARF on them.

The term Web 2.0 is bandied about quite a bit. Most people have a vague understanding what this term refers and those in business really need to be familiar with it in a more than cursory manner.

Web 2.0 basically refers to the advancements made on the internet over the past decade. In particular, these advancements have led to a greater degree of communicative ability thanks to the advent of social networking, blogging, video sharing, wikis, and other such venues. Really, the world has become a much smaller place thanks to the ability for people from all over the globe to come together with relative ease.

Warning: Don’t Lose Sales Because Your Web Design Sucks

Did you try and save a few bucks and design your own site?  Or worse, have your out of work brother in-law design it? Don’t do that. Your business reputation will suffer. You see, just because you can afford to buy the tools, doesn’t mean the experience in how to use them also comes in the box.

I’m not the design guru at WSI but I have seen enough bad designs over the years to know what not to do.  In today’s world, online credibility can mean the difference between ever getting a chance to talk with a prospect, much less close a deal.

Listed below are seven of the most common mistakes webmasters and business owners continue to make with their websites.

1. Cluttered Home Page – You have probably seen these sites – there is so much information on the page it makes it impossible to know where to start first. Simplify the process and have a clear plan on where you want your visitor to go. Simply put, make it easy for them. Start with eliminating as many icons and buttons as possible. Get rid of that ‘Welcome to our site’ paragraph while you’re at it. Keep it simple for your visitors and they will not only stick around, but they just might come back, which is a very good thing.
2. Animation - This was cool in the 90s – it is now considered annoying. If you must use animation, the maximum the animation should “loop” is three times. You want to use animation to draw attention, but you do not want to annoy your visitor.
3. Unreadable Backgrounds – You’ve been there, the website that looks good until the background image loads and now you cannot read the text. The beach, the sky, your dog – I am sure they are all very important to you, just do not use them as your background.
4. Inconsistent Text – Yes you can have different fonts besides Arial, Verdana, and Times New Roman, but do not go overboard. Stick to one font for your text. Fonts like Arial or Verdana are easier to read on-screen than Times New Roman. Also remember that if you use a certain font for your text, your visitor must have that font loaded on their system in order to view it properly. You can create graphics with different fonts, but remember, graphics can slow down the download time of your page.
5. Background Music – Background music on a page adds no content but increases the annoyance factor and the page download time. It is okay to include music clips on your site, but give your visitors the option to listen instead of assaulting them with your choice of music. Since most people surf the Internet at work, or have music already playing on their computer, adding to that really detracts from their experience.
6. Color Combinations – The Web Palette consists of the 216 colors that both Macintosh and Windows systems display accurately. A lot of graphics are “too large” meaning they have “unused” colors in them which cause the graphics to be larger (in file size) than they need to be. By taking out these unused colors, it will make your graphics load faster. Sometimes by as much as 30%.
7. Overall Consistency – Do not change the layout and design of your site from page to page on your site. Instead, keep the look and feel consistent throughout. Keep the color scheme, sight lines, navigation buttons and text links in the same places from page to page. This will give the visitor a better experience as they will come to expect certain aspects of the site appearing in the same places each time.

These seven “traps” are not the only “traps” which can cause your visitors to leave your site. Remember to review your analytics on a regular basis and check the “top exit pages”, make adjustments and continually test to find the optimum look and feel of your web design.

By understanding why people are leaving your site before contacting you or buying, you can make changes and modifications to those pages to make them more appealing.

The short answer is ‘Yes’.  If you have a website, then you also have a mobile presence.

As mobile technology continues to advance more people are using their smart phones to find you online.  So, I think most businesses should know what everyone is seeing.  Have you taken a look at your site on your phone?  If not, take a few minutes to see what others are seeing.

Here is a good example of a client in the service industry that did need a separate site.  If you visit www.corleypro.com, you will find a Home page with images and a small flash piece.  If you had previously attempted to view this site on your phone, you would find that not all images display and you have to scroll both horizontally and vertically to find what you’re looking for. If I just need a plumber for an emergency, I don’t want to have to go through all of that.

So, for this client we created a very simple mobile web design with basic information and an easy contact form. We maintained the branding but you can see the www.corleypro,com on your smart phone looks quite different.

Not everyone needs a separate mobile site. Think  about your target customers.

• Are they likely to be searching for your business on their phones?
• Is it easy for them to find your contact info on the mobile version of your site?
• If you do need a separate mobile site, what exactly needs to be on it?

Okay. I’m sure there are a few of you out there that do not have smart phones yet. That’s okay. There is an excellent tool called Mobile Phone Emulator that lets you see how your site looks on different smart phone browsers.  Take a look and see how your site stacks up.

In my previous post, I talked about the importance of having an effective landing page. Now I’m going to give you a few practical guidelines.

Step 1: Define Success

In order to accomplish your goals, you have to know what they are. Is this an eCommerce website focused on transactions? Is the purpose to generate leads, or is it about branding or relationship building or increasing your database through membership registration? A good marketer will often start at the bottom of the sales funnel and work their way up to the point where the visitor first enters the funnel.

Step 2: Define Your Customer

It’s NOT about YOU! Many businesses feel compelled to tell their story to what they perceive as a captive audience. There is no captive audience on the Internet. Check your ego at the door; it’s just too easy for visitors to leave and find what they really want.

A tried and true technique for defining you customer is to actually create a persona… complete with name and age and marital status, etc. You may even have multiple profiles; just make sure that you prioritize them. Remember… if you try to appeal to too many different customer types, you will wind up appealing to no one. Once you know WHO you are selling to, you can craft your message so that it appeals to THEM.

Step 3: Selecting Domains

Most businesses consider their home page their landing page. That may be perfectly acceptable in some instances, but it is not always the best choice. Your landing page may be part of a micro-site or single page with its own domain name. You might consider one or more “vanity names” targeting a specific product or service. That is particularly effective when the domain will be visible, such as on printed material or other instances where the domain will be visible such as sponsored link advertising (pay-per-click).

Step 4: Wireframing

Essentially a “sketch” of the page layout. Start by listing all of the elements that go on the page and lay them out on a piece of paper taking up approximately the amount of space they will warrant. You should do this before you write the copy because the space available will dictate the amount to copy you have to work with. Make sure that you place the most important elements above the “fold” (the spot on the page where most visitors will have to scroll down to see more).

Step 5: Copywriting

People don’t actually read on the Internet… they scan. They see headlines, bullet points and graphics. Headlines should refer back to what the visitor was looking at before they landed on your page. Only about 20% of your visitors will actually read the body copy… still, it has to be good (less is more). Don’t forget the call to action! You might test matching up the call to action with the headline since that is almost certainly the one element on the page that you can be sure they will read.

Step 6: Testing & Tweaking

This is not a spare time activity. It is something that should be scheduled at regular intervals. Examine your metrics, make incremental changes, and re-examine the effect. Don’t make too many web design changes at once or you won’t know what you did to effect the changes. Your testing and adjustments should match your original goals (Transactions, Lead Generation, Branding/Education, Relationship Building, Registrations, Viral Marketing, etc.)

In season 25 of The David Susskind Show, Susskind interviewed David Ogilvy, “The Pope of Modern Advertising” and you can watch the full episode on Hulu. The interview is a beautifully awkward hour of two old men talking about advertising, life and old friends that no one watching the show would know. Hidden among the banter and pipe smoke where some of the most fantastic insights into marketing and advertising that you’ll ever find. One statement that struck me as relevant and vital to digital marketing was:

“If you make the assumption that the consumer is an intelligent person and not a moron, you won’t go and insult her intelligence, you won’t think that you can sell her a product by singing at her, for example. Say something to her.”

Too often in internet marketing (and it’s probably true in all advertising) we get wrapped up in numbers. We analyze the visits, bounce rate, conversion rate, and a host of other charts and graphs and forget that each visit is a real person who is not a moron. They will not think more of your product because you have an explosive flash presentation on your home page. They will not contact you and give you vital personal information just because you told them to. They will be scared off by retargeting ads and they will go to your competitor if they promise more.

Remember that your site visitors are people too. Don’t think you can wow them into giving you their email address. You have to promise them that you are also a person with the best product and service on the planet. You can’t stalk them around the web with retargeted ads without offering them something more – like a discount. Just like with normal people, if you want to get something, you’re going to have to give.

It’s Not About Technology; It’s About Psychology……

“Advertising is the art of getting people to buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have”. That statement predates the Internet by a number of decades, yet it is as true today as it was back then.

A bit cynical? Perhaps, but let us not forget that in the Internet world people rarely stumble across a website without actively searching for something. If you have what they are looking for, your job is to help them find it. The problem is most websites are so ill-conceived and poorly constructed that they are little more than monuments to their owners.

Let’s make something transparently clear; people do not read on the Internet… they scan! They see headlines, images and bullet points. Depending on the personality types of your visitors, you have between 2 and 8 seconds to convince them to stay on your website and delve deeper into it. They click in… take a quick peak… and click out. Those are the conditions in which business is conducted on the Internet.

Why Are Effective Landing Pages Essential?

A Landing Page is where visitors land after clicking on an email link, a search engine result, a banner ad, or manually typing in a specifically advertised address.

Actually making use of that tidbit of knowledge is a little more complex. It’s easy to fall into the trap of throwing money into driving traffic and living with your conversion rate. Want more customers? Just buy more traffic. Not exactly efficient… or cost effective.

The scenario below illustrates that a mere 2% increase in conversion results in 240 additional customers WITHOUT increasing traffic. Depending on the lifetime value of those new customers, that might be a game changer for this particular business.

• 12,000 people visit your website. They buy at a conversion rate of 1%, i.e. 1 in 100 visitors buy when visiting your site. This conversion rate would yield 120 customers.
• 12,000 people visit your website (the traffic is the same). However, they convert / buy at a rate of 3%. This conversion rate would yield 360 customers, or 240 additional customers without the same traffic.

Half the battle is won once you get a visitor to your website. So, shouldn’t more energy be focused into turning those visitors into customers?

Stay tuned. In my next post, I will outline 6 steps to effective landing page design.

You may also request our white paper for full details – Contact us for a copy.