What Do You Want Your Website Visitor To Do?
March 27, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
What Do You Want Your Website Visitor To Do?
This post was originally posted back in November of 2008.
When you talk with most website designers the first question that they ask is “What kind of look and feel do you want your website to have?” That is the last question that we ask our perspective design clients. The first question that we ask is this “what do you want your visitor to do on your website?”
This should not be overlooked. It comes down to this; is your website designer interested in your websites success or theirs. Website designers by whatever form of training that they have are not marketers. We have interns who are formally trained with MIS degrees and lack any marketing skills. Most web designers do not take an active role in the creation of the sites content.
We first define what the websites goal conversion is then we work back from there. Most websites have one basic goal that they want the visitor to accomplish for that visit to be considered a success.
Service based businesses primarily are attempting to generate a sales lead through a phone call or an email. They may have a secondary goal to sign up for a newsletter. The consultant or business coach may be after the newsletter sign up as their primary goal with a phone inquiry as a secondary goal. The blog owner may simply want you to make a comment.
As you can tell we left out the websites that are selling products online out of this discussion. The process is similar but since we don’t work with E-commerce sites we will not make any suggestion for this group, however, we believe that this group can benefit from this approach as well.
Once the ultimate goal has been established you can begin to construct your content to bring that visitor to a buying decision, even if that buying decision is only a phone call. How then do you accomplish this?
This is where you rely on a tried and true sales technique right out of sales 101. This process is known as a features and benefits presentation. You simply tell the visitor what you do and how it benefits them and then you ask for the sale. It’s really that simple. Now, let me ask you how many websites have you visited that have taken this approach?
You may be asking yourself why this isn’t done more often. The answer is basically this; website designers are not generally marketers. They are skilled at code and not selling. We are first and foremost marketers who build websites and that gives our clients a huge advantage.
We figure if the features and benefits approach is good enough for the automobile industry than its good enough for us. Think about it, when you go to the car dealer, what happens? They tell you about all of the cars new features. Then they explain how those features will benefit you, and finally they ask for the sale.
If your website has not been built with a features and benefits approach and doesn’t ask for the sale on each page then maybe it’s time for a change.
We invite you to join the conversation and leave a comment. We also invite you to continue the conversation on your blog or perhaps use a trackback, or even maybe social bookmark this article, give it a Digg or Stumble it.
03//27/2011: This service is no longer available
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KISS My Website!
March 26, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
KISS My Website!
This was originally posted in October of 2008.
I was reading an article today about website usability. When it struck me that what they were saying was the equivalent to Keep It Simple Stupid. I thought, Wow, this really sums up our approach to building websites that convert website visitors into customers.
When I encounter a website that was way too much information crammed onto a page I leave quickly wondering “what were they thinking when they built this site.” These sites often have multiple navigation menus and way too much information. This creates information overload. These websites have very high bounce rates and are not very effective.
Many websites overload you with too many options on the home page. This makes finding anything difficult. They often include flashing avatars to get your attention. They fail to understand how the eyes track when you visit a website. Eye tracking studies have shown that any movement, picture or graphic on a web page actually makes concentrating on the written content more difficult.
This is why we only use simple clean designs that do not overwhelm the visitor. That is why we focus on turning the website visitor into a customer, before we concentrate on “The look and feel” of the website.
As part of our KISS approach we use a hub and spoke system of website design. Our home page hub provides snippets of information about the other pages and provides a link to this detailed information. These links act like spokes that lead away from the hub.
We specialize in building websites for service industries. Visitors to these sites are transactional searchers. The transactional searchers are looking to complete a transaction. They are active and highly motivated to find a service provider who can fulfill there needs. They respond well to clean straight forward websites that clearly define the service and how it will benefit them. The final touch to our KISS approach is that we ask you to pick up the phone and call Now! We do this on every page.
We often remind clients that vanilla ice cream is by far the largest selling flavor of ice cream world wide. We dish up vanilla websites day in and day out. The reality is that the service website visitor is looking you to solve a problem or fulfill a need.
03/25/2011: This service is no longer available!
That is why we KISS our websites.
What say you?
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, New River, or Cave Creek, Arizona and beyond and you need Google Places SEO solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
An SEOs Love Story V 2.0 Living With Dying
March 26, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO Citations blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
This blog covers local SEO which is dominated by Google, Google Places and the need for citations. The blog also covers just about any thing related to Google search results and related topics. I hope that you might glean some useful resources while you are here.
Here is the original story: An SEO Love Story – This Post Is Not About SEO
I help people get there websites properly indexed by Google for their targeted keyword phrases. The idea is to their their websites high up in the search engine results, and more specifically in the Google search results.
I really enjoy what I do as it can have an enormously positive impact on my clients business. I believe in a triple win philosophy where the searcher is happy because they found may clients site and they had their want fulfilled. The client is happy because their website is finally producing income and I am happy because they are happy. I really love what I do. I don’t sell useless products or services like many SEO do just to make a buck. My work is truly a labor of love.
But it is a woman named Geri that I meet eight years ago and who I grew to love that has my attention now. She is dying. She doesn’t like me saying that because she doesn’t want to lose hope. I however. must deal with the cards that I have been dealt. Her liver is shot and when your liver isn’t working lots of other body parts begin to fail as well.
She ended up being hospitalized on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. I took her there again on New Years Day. Every time the visits are getting closer together. On the way to the hospital she jokingly asked what’s the next holiday. Then she wryly asked isn’t there a presidents birthday coming up. Faced with adversity she went for levity.
We don’t have insurance so the emergency room is our entry point for health care. Every time we leave they give us treatment plans that are never fulfilled because we can not pay for them. We have tried to get government assistance but we are still waiting.
Yesterday, they could barely draw blood because she never got the transfusions that she needs ans has lost a lot of blood. The liver helps the blood clotting process and without that she bleeds easily. I feel so guilty that this business could not been able to support her medical needs. I am a very emotional person and writing about our struggles is my release valve.
But out of all of this there was a success story. We made it to the library on New Years Eve. It was our first trip outside the home together since she was put on oxygen 24/7. It may not sound like much but for us it was like a holiday.
Later we sat in bed together and talked, not only that, we laughed and smiled. I allowed my silly side to come out and her smile seemed to be the happiest smile that I had ever seen. She actually looked cute from behind her oxygen cannula. It was as if it wasn’t there. I will always cherish that moment, her smile, and that radiant glow. Then she began the downward spiral again.
She would not let me stay this time in the emergency room. She said she could not tolerate seeing me sad sad and uncomfortable and that it was too hard on her. She’s dying and she worrying about me. That is what I would call An SEO love story. As it was I could not sleep. I just put on another pot of coffee and I wait and when I can not wait any more I will call the hospital to find out what room she is in… or if…
An update 01/25/2010: Well, Geri has managed to stay out of the hospital for about 18 days until recently. She has returned again for the fourth time in less than three months. This time she has acquired pneumonia even though she has had a recent vaccine shot. Apparently, it does cover all the various varieties. This is scary stuff. Ever time that she has returned to the hospital a few pints of blood got her feeling better almost withing 24 hours, but not now the rules are different this time around.
I am scared and trying very hard not to show it. She asked me today “Do I looked any better today? The nurses said that I look better.”OMG, I wanted to cry.” My response was “You look marvelous, darling.” All the while I was praying that she was too tired to read the pain in my face. I quickly changed the subject.
Again, I want to thank all of who have visited and left us with your kind words and thoughts. I especially want to thank a blogger named Mitch who was returned to follow this story and has left very warm and kind messages.
I want to thank all of you who have supported us with your thoughts and prayers.
Since late November my Soul Mate, my Friend, my SO (Significant Other), Geri and I have been valiantly struggling with life, living, happiness and the uncertainty that is inherent with dying. From time to time I have returned here to my blog to share our lives with you. Tonight, I will be sharing what we learned today while visiting her new primary care physician.
We have become more proactive about her health care and we had determined we need to find a doctor who would become more involved in her care. We had been getting the run around from her health care providers about her life expectancy. This doctor did an extremely thorough exam. He preformed like most doctors would if they had time. His insightful and patience were very reassuring to us. We nodded to each other during his in depth questioning acknowledging this guy was a keeper.
Then in a very straight forward manner he inquired if we wanted to know the truth about her life expectancy. Geri, trying to protect me suggested that I leave. I refused, I had expectations of getting a health reality check today, so I wasn’t going anywhere. He suggested that she likely had three months to live. It was what I wanted to hear while at the same time it was not what I wanted to hear. I was quickly overcome with grief and it showed. It showed so much so that the doctor expressed his regret for have gone down this path.
I reassured him that even though it was extremely difficult for us to face we had to know. All of our care providers had avoided discussing death and dying with us. However, the new doctor stepped right up and deliver a strong dose of reality for us. I assured him that this was really important for us it would now allow us to openly address our end of life decisions.
(Snack break time)
Well, I just took a break and ended up having a very open talk with Geri about what we had experienced today. I noted that I was blogging about it just prior to this discussion. She is note real thrilled to have our lives on display this way, but she recognizes it value for me and relents with the classic rolling of her eyes. In her usual blunt approach she explains to me that “I don’t care about dying” she pauses. Then she explains “I’ll be dead so I won’t care. It is you and others that I care about, you’ll be left behind.” We have grown to call these moments “Gerisms.”
This was one the best exchanges that I may have ever had with Geraldine. It was a no walls zone where we discussed the reality of her ending days. At times like this life takes on new dimensions. Things that didn’t much matter matter a lot and things that were important aren’t so much anymore. We are truly living one day at a time. As for Geri her spirits remain extremely positive despite the grim prognosis. The most important thing for me is that she is not in pain which she isn’t.
Now a business update:
On the brighter side of things business wise. I am working on the details for a new product launch where I will be providing video SEO and link building training. I am very excited about this project. It will be a component of a much larger program. That program will include providing websites for small business owners along with hosting and SEO for a monthly fee.
Update 05/20/2011: Well, it is now a year and a half later and Geri is alive and well. She opted not to have a transplant. This is good because the state of Arizona will not pay for these anymore. She is doing as well as expected for someone who needs a liver. She simply got better medical care and decided that she didn’t want to die just yet!
As for the business it is still a viable concern.
What say you?
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If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, Arizona or beyond and you need Google Places SEO Citations solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Websites Are Like NASCAR!
March 25, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
Websites Are Like NASCAR!
This post is from 2007.
Recently it dawned on me that websites and race cars have a lot in common. A race car team puts a lot of time, training and effort into their high performance machine. They pay lots of attention to the smallest details and are constantly fine tuning the engine and suspension. These two must work in harmony for the team to become a champion.
Successful websites are no different in that they also require many pieces of the machine and team to be in harmony. Websites must also pay attention to details and fine tune to the ever changing needs of the search engines through effective optimization of the source code and content.
The other part of this website team is the user experience. Every thing must work and it should work effortlessly. Your site should be a well oiled machine that converts visitors into customers. The visitor wants to walk away a winner too by feeling they made the right choice going with your team.
So SEO then becomes like the racing teams pit boss making adjustments and fine tuning the website to produce peak performance. However, you must be able to adapt to the changing environment to become a champion. During a race the team may use multiple types of tires often adjusting and changing through out the race.
A successful website team is no different. We who practice SEO have to make sometimes drastic changes quickly to adjust to how search engines, especially how Google handles the acquiring of website links. Managing a website requires the same attention to detail as a NASCAR racing team, you want to keep it well tuned and ready to win the race.
Win the race to the top of search engine ranking!
What say you?
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, New River, or Cave Creek, Arizona and beyond and you need Google Places SEO solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
Walmart Takes On Craigslist And E-Bay
March 24, 2011
Welcome to the Google Places SEO blog at Tucson SEO Solutions.
Walmart Takes On Craigslist And E-Bay
Perhaps, brick and mortar Walmart is taking a page out of the online retailer E-Bay’s book by entering the free classifieds market. That would lead one to suspect these free classifieds sites are income producers.
E-Bay was looking for different marketing opportunities when it turned to Craigslist in 2004. At that time they purchased a 25% interest in Craigslist. This seemed like on odd move for the retailer, as most of Craigslist classifieds are offered for free. In the process E-Bay had out maneuvered many Silicon Valley venture capitalists, as well as companies like Yahoo and Google
Insiders would later reveal that the honeymoon didn’t last long. Tensions between the camps mounted over time. E-Bay’s 25% position gave it control of one of three board seats. Then in early July of 2007 E-Bay launches it own free classifieds site Kijiji.
By April 2008 E-bay sues Craigslist for shareholder dilution. Many writers rejoiced seeing these purveyors of used items going at each other. And to make things more interesting, of course, Craigslist counter sues. Craigslist alleges E-Bay was performing corporate spying.
Then as these corporate giants slug it out, The Wall Street Journal, reported today that Walmart has quietly joined the free online marketplace for classified ads. Wow, that’s three giants feeding at the same trough.
It seems Walmart is teaming up with another classified website Oodle.com. Now, finding this area on the Walmart site was not an easy task. If you use their search feature on the site it will provide you with 435 products related to “Free Classifieds.” You have to use the site directory which is found on the bottom of the home page. Click on it and you will see the link for classifieds. Follow that and you will eventually arrive at your destination.
Since the Wall street Journal failed to provide that url, here it is www.oddle.walmart.com. One is left to wonder how Walmart will deal with the onslaught of spam that will surely target their new venture. This should be interesting since Oodle has been a spammer haven for sometime. They pull ads from other sites and place them on their site. So there is not a whole lot of filtering going on here.
From my perspective this might be a very smart move for Walmart. Their market is a low income customer or someone interested in saving money. This is the same demographic that these other websites are targeting.
So let’s say you have a $30.00 budget for a used DVD player and you visit Wal-Mart’s free classifieds option. While on Wal-Mart’s site you search for a DVD player and you find a new one under warranty for $49.00. All a sudden that new DVD player at $49.00 starts to look real good.
Update 03/25/2011: I can’t remember when the last time I heard anything about Kijiji. It seemed so promising at the time but the buzz was no more.
And I never thought I would something good to say about Walmart!
What say you?
If your business is located in the communities of Tucson, Yuma, Flagstaff, Tempe, Mesa , Chandler, New River, or Cave Creek, Arizona and beyond and you need Google Places SEO solutions please call Tucson SEO at 520-505-6024 Now!
Tucson SEO… Solutions that create probabilities out of possibilities.
