why your website matters

Your website is almost always the first and sometimes the only part of your business that customers see. Unless you are already privy to a highly skilled web marketing team, taking the solo approach to web design will most likely result in either a demanding and stressful workload for your existing IT gurus or an end product that is difficult to find on search engines and looks unprofessional, unoriginal or unreliable.

where one-man web shops fall short

Any good website must encourage page visits and customer interactions through:

1. Optimized visibility
2. Simplified navigation
3. Thoughtfully designed visual elements that contribute to overall brand stability
4. Up-to-date, correct content

To create a website that meets, if not exceeds, these standards a web design team would need a thorough understanding of:

1. SEO keyword creation strategy and technical programming integration
2. Webpage usability and navigation enhancement strategies and tests
3. Web-based graphic design knowledge
4. A careful, patient eye for content proof-checking, grounded by an marketing-oriented background

That’s a lot of skills to demand of just a one or two person IT team, and those are just the basics. The list grows longer if you plan for your website to run deeper than a few pages or tie into an accompanying mobile site, a near necessity in our digitized, on-the-go consumer society.

partner up for success

By working with a web-marketing partner, you free up the employees within your business to concentrate upon the full scope of their own job responsibilities, pausing only when necessary to make content updates to your new, organized, optimized web presence. Once your business has a correctly designed and constructed website set in place even major feature alterations and additions become easier and more cost effective to integrate. Most web marketers are only too happy to build upon an organization’s web framework when they know it has been correctly constructed from the ground up, unrestricted by the technical red tape of “go-to” proprietary content management systems (CMS).

Don’t put your business’ reputation at risk. Make the investment in your venture’s future and entrust your website’s creation to a skilled web-marketing partner to ensure that its content, design, SEO and navigation professionally and effectively communicate your purpose.

At some point or another each of us has undoubtedly caved in to the irresistible urge to share a great website, funny pic or shocking video with our friends, family and coworkers.

Now, Google’s caught onto the trend, offering users the opportunity to “+1” their favorite web pages – to basically give friends from their Google contacts the “Go” sign on websites they enjoy.

the 41+1

The +1 feature, which is currently available in Beta, is similar to Facebook’s popular “Like” button, publicly allowing users to spotlight the sites that they enjoy. Google has even offered users the option to only share their +1s with friends, family and coworkers from their own, personal Google contact accounts instead of automatically making the preferences visible to the general public. The selectiveness of this feature may give Google +1s an advantage over the often-criticized “share-all” aspect of Facebook.

But don’t expect to see the demise of the Facebook “Like.” Users and web marketers will most likely use +1 as an additional social networking tool, not a replacement. Plans to integrate +1s into established networking platforms such as Twitter and Flickr are already underway, but since +1s and “Like”s compete more directly, don’t expect to see +1s on your Facebook friends’ pages anytime soon.

bring your +1

Google’s new +1 feature has the potential to take the giant online service provider and extend it even further into the role of a fully integrated member of the established social network landscape. The success of +1 could mean big things for both everyday net surfers and forward thinking, professional web marketers.

By actively rating websites using +1, Internet users move towards further improving the quality of the Google search results they receive. Just as search engines already take into account web page content relevance when deciding search result rankings, if Google +1 gains acceptance with users, +1ing will heighten the importance of targeted, strategic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques in the web development process.

just the facts, m’am

Most people hate spam sites and would never put their stamp of approval on a website that falls into that category. The advent of Google +1 increases the importance of integrating relevant and useful information, marketing strategy-based web design and simplified navigation throughout an entire website, rather than only on a specifically created web ad landing page.

If you’re looking for your website to increase awareness of a cause, make a sale or attract a following, now is the time to step up your SEO. Don’t get lost in the tide, just as the newest wave  of web marketing prepares to sweep in.

data to dissect

The server will share all of this information with you in a website analytics report. Time spent and pages visited are just the basic facts. The server can report:

• unique users and repeat visits
• navigation behavior
• usage data by hits, kilobytes and session
• landing pages, exit pages and files downloaded
• referral sites, search engine referrals and search terms
• user location

key performance indicators

All of this data is useful for evaluating and evolving the website design over time, but if you can interpret the data, it will tell you a lot about your products, your audience and your brand. These “key performance indicators” are not only valuable for assessing your web design – they can help you evaluate your overall marketing effectiveness, public perception and brand communication.

Your website structures your brand communication – it describes your company and engages your audience in a clear and organized manner. By observing user behavior as it is revealed in website analytics, you learn a lot about your customers:

one: what they are looking for

Today’s shopper browses the web before they browse your aisles. Analytics can tell you what keywords or keyword phrases your web visitor used to find you. By charting the visitor’s path through your site, the reports can show you the customer’s thought process: “home improvement” to “tools” to “hammer.”

two: where they come from

Knowing where your customers came from helps you assess the effects of your marketing initiatives. Analytics can tell you about the geographical origins of the servers visiting your site, but a more telling statistic is the referring site. If your website is well optimized, search engines will probably be the source of most of your inbound traffic. However, a more significant report comes from the other sites where the user found your link.

• Direct address comes from people who type your url into the browser. If you have an active off-line campaign, including a simple domain name in every print ad, billboard, location sign, broadcast spot and business communication
• If you have an active social media campaign, you may find visitors drawn to your site by a tweet or post – particularly those that include your link.
• If you have an active Internet ad campaign, either with banners or cost-per-click campaigns that include display networks, you could see results from all kinds of related websites. esd is currently managing a nurse recruitment campaign. We were startled to find an incoming link from “HighwayHypodermics.com” until we discovered it was a site for traveling nurses.
• If you are an active blogger in your industry, and include your link when you comment on other blogs, you may find traffic coming in from those sources.

three: where they “landed”

Not all of your traffic has to come in through your website’s “front door” – the home page. As you can see in the referring metrics, inbound links can come from a variety of sources across the web. Since many of those links originate with your own marketing activity, you can target your inbound links to various “landing pages” within your site.

You are targeting your customer on both sides of this technique – you are planting links in specific location (a pizza delivery Internet ad banner placed on a sports page) with an appropriate offer (the “Super Big Super Bowl Pizza Deal”) linked to a page you published on your site specifically to promote (with localized phone numbers and an online order form) the offer.

four: how they react to your offers

The pizza shop knows exactly how many customers used the special landing page to place their order. When the visitor comes in and clicks the phone number to dial their smartphone or uses the online ordering form, it’s considered a “conversion.”

But user behavior results are not limited to ads – as visitors come to your site and use its links to find the resources they seek, they are showing you their preferences. If you are promoting a particular product, service, event or news item, the number of visitors that click through to the details tells you a lot about who’s interested and where they are coming from.

reading the tea leaves

Many website analytic services are offered on the web, but they are often regurgitated numbers rebranded with the service company’s logo who leave the interpretation to your imagination. Having the numbers is not the same as understanding the numbers. It takes training and experience to interpret analytics, then an extra step to correlate your analytics with marketing efforts. You need to track a site over time – Saturday’s numbers can’t tell you how the site – and web community – will behave a week from next Tuesday.

A full-service web analytics report should read the numbers and trends, match them with your marketing activities during the same period of time, and deliver interpreted insights and recommendation. That information can do a lot to tell you where you’ve been with your communications, and where you need to go next.

a fair fight for the top of the page

Content farms are websites that produce low-quality articles specifically designed to “trick” search engines into giving their sites high rankings, resulting in a huge flow of traffic – hundreds of thousands of earnest searchers drawn to sites that offer no value, wasting the searcher’s time and degrading the search results.

No more. In one of the most significant changes they have made in years, Google’s modification affected 12 percent of their traffic and suppressed 84 percent of the spammer farms.

That’s good news for you for two reasons – your searches are going to be more reliable and your site no longer competes with cheaters for search rankings.

basic building blocks for search success

The art and science of engineering a website to gain its rightful place at the top of search engine rankings is called search engine optimization (seo). esd has carefully studied and implements good seo in all of our Internet media. Optimization sounds sophisticated and techy, but it really consists of best practice for any communications initiative – clear organization of your most compelling messages to present relevant information for your audience.

The basic elements of effective seo have been known for some time:

• developing well-researched keywords – esd keyword analysis examines a number of demographic and search results factors to determine a solid, compact list of relevant terms for every page or every site we build
• creating a clean hierarchy of headlines and information – a good sitemap resembles the term paper outlines you did in school
• tagging every element – every image, every text block, every page, every video has a descriptive tag that tells search engines what it is, and presents an opportunity to increase keyword density
• unique content – the search engine’s first duty is to discover what’s different about your page, so we make sure the unique content is easy to find, and we avoid repeating sentences and other content within a site as well as from other sources on the web
• intelligent use of JavaScript and Flash – web utilities make your site more interactive and animated, but they “hide” content from the search engines; we use these elements, but they are usually embedded in a healthy html site with good seo

the popularity contest

But it’s not enough to be the prettiest site in your field, you need to also be the most popular. As search engines have evolved, the practice of indexing words has been matched with other considerations to ensure a more accurate and productive search.

In addition to charting the content of your site, the search engines have devised ways to determine which sites are the BEST, determined – fairly or not – by which are the most “popular.” It’s not enough to have the most informative site about classic Corvettes – you need to have a site that others refer to, in the form of inbound links.

To determine popularity, the search engines look at how many people are sharing your link with others on other sites. That means that social media has become a vital seo factor.

When someone “likes” your site on Facebook and posts a link for all their friends (who in turn, share the interest with their friends, and so on), your site accumulates inbound links. Now, multiply that effect with every person that tweets your link on Twitter, mentions it in a blog or drops it into a comment on a news site in your industry. Pretty soon, we’re talkin’ real popularity, and a higher rank on the search engine results pages (SERP).

practice best practices

The Internet is the foundation of most communications initiatives. Build a strong website, then promote it through social media, search engine marketing and both Internet and offline advertising. Our channels have changed in the past 20 years, and advertising agencies have added programmers to the artists and strategists who communicate for our clients, but the basic practice remains the same: build a compelling message and spread the word as far and wide as possible.

four essential tools

If you’re doing business with the public, your website needs to be mobile friendly. The essential tools for a business on the mobile web are:

1.    a locator map

2.    a short description of essential products and a way to buy them

3.    contact information/utilities (most smartphones allow “one click to dial”)

4.    social media connections

1. there’s a map for that

Maps are key to marketing on the mobile web. Google estimatFes that most of the shopping inquiries hitting their search engine come from shoppers eager to buy and seeking a retailer. This was a key point in the sites esd developed for Shiner and Trumer Pils, two of the fine beers brewed by The Gambrinus Company. Beer connoisseurs don’t want to find any old beer – they want their brew of choice. Locators on both mobile sites deliver Google maps of nearby locations.

2. information to support the purchasing decision

Customers are also intensely interested in the descriptions of the products they seek. They are often comparing products as they are out shopping. Trumer Pils is a unique beer, so its specs are easy. But Shiner offers a variety of beers, including special brews offered for a limited time – esd made sure the main site’s “On Tap” feature works well in the mobile environment with a graphic menu of bottle caps leading to brief descriptions and specifications.

Here’s a good rule of thumb:

• If you have fewer than six featured products, you can list them on a menu screen – your customer gets to the information in three clicks
• If you have more than 6 – 9 products, break them into categories – customer gets to the information in three clicks
• If you have more than nine, consider mobile microsites; you can give each major product or line its own site, which responds to its own search words – customer arrives in a single click

4. social shopping

Every five seconds, someone uses the Yelp app to call a business, with 35 percent of the searches coming from a mobile source. In addition to Google, customers use directory sites like Yelp to find restaurants, retail and service businesses. The directory sites have become social media platforms – users not only find your business on the directory, they can also read – and post – customer photos (every 30 seconds to Yelp) and reviews. Most of the sites include direct links to your site, where the customer can find a menu, list of products and services and other key information. Customers can immediately link their reviews to their Facebook pages.

desktop sites offer too much, too tiny

Two problems plague “desktop-only” sites when accessed on a smartphone. First, the display is tiny – the “pinch zoom” function doesn’t always enlarge the area on your homepage that leads to the information the customer is seeking. Secondly, your desktop site is loaded with information, designed for deep browsing and detailed information delivery. Navigation to the customer’s desired resources may take several clicks. Generally, a mobile user wants information now – too many clicks will send them off to a competitor.

So, we start mobile sites with a fresh sitemap. We winnow out the details and identify the resources the mobile user is most likely to seek on your site. We build a simple, direct interface that produces the requested data within seconds. Many mobile sites include a simple search field as well.

coming soon to a customer’s phone near you: pay by phone

Your mobile phone is about to become a credit/debit device. Morgan Stanley estimates that 9 quarters after the iPhone launched, 85 million users are surfing from their phones, and that does not include an equally large Android/Blackberry/Windows mobile market. With this many shoppers and increasingly effective security, the mobile phone has become a powerful commercial tool. Plus, it’s easier to get to than your wallet.

so, get mobile

Next time you are out on the town, dial up your website from the phone. Is it mobile friendly?

from flat grey to rich green

Wholesale operations have traditionally operated in an industrial environment, with large machines manufacturing bulk products which are stored and shipped from warehouses – concrete buildings filled with row upon row of large steel shelves holding huge boxes. The classic sales catalogs representing these goods were very similar – technical data introducing grey pages of tabular product listings.

Early web developers merely transported this environment to the screen, building grey tables on white pages.

color equals excitement

Today’s web is capable of a much more dynamic interaction, an effective, colorful sales environment that organizes information for faster discovery and presents products with more appeal. esd recently brought this transformation to Aspen Beverage and their fine coffee, tea and non-carbonated drink products.

context befitting the product

Coffee is a delicate product, and Aspen Beverage was created to put the best brew in your cup every morning. They have worked for years to develop coffee concentrates that flow through the machines at your favorite store, delivering just the right balance on the tongue and a productive, easily-maintained mixture in the machine.

They named their company for the crisp, clean environment of the Colorado Rockies. esd used a backdrop in the new design of mountainsides in the Fall – the user can almost feel a chill in the air, contrasted with rich images of beautiful beverages and happy consumers. We presented text and images on a fine wood grain texture, reminiscent of a dining table ready for the first morning cup of coffee.

deliver the data

The site uses this appealing environment to deliver all of the technical specifications that give the industrial buyer the data they need to make a good purchase decision. Aspen’s product lines are clearly divided into hot, iced, frozen and ingredients (coffee extracts and concentrates). Each product has a general description, followed by a list of benefits and flavors.

Aspen has always represented their products with “cut sheets” listing features, benefits, available flavors and technical specifications. In the process of bringing this data to the web, esd redesigned the cut sheets into colorful, illustrated sales flyers.

print to pixels

In 20 years of the graphical Internet and exploding use of its communications capacity, we have learned more and more about transforming the sales environment. As print has yielded to pixels, we are able to give the promotional dynamic a deeper, more efficient floor to work from. It’s exciting, and very beautiful.

esd&associates

immediate response, wider donor base

Text message donation brings two significant benefits to fund-raising: it provides an immediate, affordable opportunity for donor response (simply) and it quickly broadens the organization’s traditional donor base. The immediate benefit for SAMMinistries is especially meaningful during September as the organization qualifies for matching funds in a Deborah & Rex Amini Challenge Grant.

A broad campaign of radio, outdoor and newspaper advertising will increase awareness across the community. When people see the ad and act on it with a text message donation, they convert awareness into active affinity with the organization.

growing into leadership with 27 years of stewardship

Founded by four downtown churches confronted with a mounting population of transient homeless, SAMMinistries has been known for its men’s shelter for 27 years. Over the years, they have become the authority on homelessness, adding a host of other services for individuals and families, from job training and life skills counseling to medical and psychological assistance. SAMMinistries has also forged a proactive approach to preventing homelessness, finding people, especially families, who are struggling and intervening before they lose their homes.

many organizations under one roof obscures independent status

SAMMinistries recently moved their emergency shelter to expanded facilities on the Haven for Hope campus. The move has confused some supporters into thinking that the two organizations – Haven for Hope and SAMMinistries – merged. While SAMMinistries occupies 45 percent of the space at Haven for Hope, it is a separate entity responsible for its operational expenses and conducting its own programs. In addition to SAMMinistries, seven other organizations share the Haven for Hope campus – each organization is responsible for maintaining its own budget.

fresh branding clarifies mission and leadership

To grow its support base and retain its independence, SAMMinistries needs to reassert an independent identity and establish solid branding. Faced with that challenge, SAMMinistries asked esd to help amplify their brand.

To communicate their comprehensive role, esd changed SAMMinistries tagline from “Offering Hope to the Homeless” to “Overcoming Homelessness.” The change is subtle, but it expands the mission from overnight shelter to policy leadership. The campaign also uses children as the face of the campaign, emphasizing SAMMinistries’ role in helping families transition to economic and social stability.

esd has applied a fresh brandmark to SAMMinistries’ identity package and it will grace an aggressive outdoor campaign. Our team also crafted radio PSAs, print ads, transit shelter signs and other media to expand SAMMinistries’ outreach and encourage increased giving. With the extra energy from text message donation, we are able to bring immediate results to the overall fund-raising appeal.

esd is committed to educate, support and inspire change in our community. As we help SAMMinistries mount a comprehensive, fresh communications campaign, esd understands that we’re doing more than serving the client, we’re helping people realize positive change in their lives, we’re helping our city take care of its own.

Join us in supporting SAMMinistries – text SAMM to 50555 – a donation of $10 will be added to your phone bill or deducted from your pre-paid balance. Thank you.

• When you’re promoting an event, temporarily replace your profile picture with a small poster – keep the details spare so they’re readable. esd recently created custom Facebook pics for SeaWorld San Antonio to promote their events.
• When you’re testing a new logo or illustration, use it for your profile picture and ask people to comment.
• When you just need a lift, a new perspective on your internal image, isolate a specific element in your logo or pick a word from your mission and make it your profile picture.

As the current leading social network, Facebook is a place to be more informal, to post and maintain an open dialogue with your customer (fan) base. You want to stay true to your branding, but you can also loosen up a little bit. Social networking is, after all, social. Go ahead and have some fun.