Internet Marketing Podcast, Web Usability Blog - Intuitive Websites

Posted on: November 12th, 2012 by Thomas Young No Comments Glenn and Tom continue their series of podcasts on the new rules of sales and marketing. Look for more podcasts coming soon on this topic and follow-up discussions on what this means for your Website. Today they review the power of simplicity in driving results from Internet marketing. How to Keep it Simple Communicate directly, simply, and well! Simplicity takes courage and brains. Simplicity takes direction from the marketplace. Pick three things–no more–for your Website. What Customers Want Direct and simple communication Information to solve a problem Enhance their lives and convenience Product and service information Understand exactly what you do Lots of details and all price options How to contact the company Business locations Delivery and shipping information Access to interactive information, search and research

A Review of AMAnet.org Podcast Number 82 — October 2012 Glenn and Tom review the Website AMAnet.org, the Website of the American Management Association (AMA). The AMA is the winner of our free Website review from our recent social media promotion. Here are the key areas of improvement for the Website: The purpose and goal of the organization and the Website should be clearly stated. The Website needs direct taglines for the home page and each market segment. Become an AMA member should be a key conversion point. The Website assumes the visitor knows what they need. There are very few design elements on the site. Use of clip art versus real photos and product graphics can help. The site needs to be more conversion friendly and simplified. Make the site easier to use to drive more conversions. There are many AMA Websites that display in a Google search. The Meta description is very important. Key action items for the for the Web marketers at the AMA: Find ways to simplify the Website. Start by simplifying the site map. Focus on a tagline for each market segment. Conduct user testing in most profitable segments. Get serious about eCommerce and conversions to drive sales. Both product and training sales are part of eCommerce shopping. Get the become a member conversion point on the home page.

Podcast Number 80 — August 2012 Glenn and Tom examine the strengths and weaknesses of the Website Homes.com. Here are a few observations on the site’s results: Can the listener determine the revenue model for Homes.com? A very competitive industry and their domain sets them apart. What do Homes.com advertisers really want? They are making money from ads and visits. What pulls the user into the site? Focus on a low bounce rate and high page views. Look at other revenue models if possible. A number one ranking in Google for the search term “homes” is huge. The term gets 45 million searches per month in Google. Search results are the biggest part of the user experience. Put the home address next to the price. Put the address of the home in the title tag. Home page search box disappears on interior pages. What are the benefits to joining and having a login? A great user experience will lead to people converting. Ads are for a variety of services, not just realtors. What are the key action items for the Web marketers at Homes.com How can the site move beyond the domain name? Conduct user research–take the time to get inside the head of your Website users. User testing sessions could be useful to develop new revenue models. Build loyalty to the site that will build quality traffic. Development of a very valuable email list. Local resources should be more prominent. Avoid multiple and changing navigation systems. A lot is happening on this site and most of the content is ignored. Overall a very impressive Website

Podcast Number 81 — August 2012 Glenn and Tom review the Website TrustySeals.com. Sometimes the best way to learn about Web marketing is with a real live example. The Website www.TrustySeals.com provides real safe technology. What does that mean? Nice looking design and simple, but the message is not totally clear. How do they make things safe? What do they make safe? Maybe the user will know, maybe the user won’t. The best approach is to have 10-out-of-10 of site visitors understand the site. The “see how it works” should be in the main navigation. The benefits may be confusing to some users. Is it possible to see examples on the home page? Can the seals be placed on the home page? Beware of content below the fold. What are the key action items for the Web marketers at TrustySeals.com? The site owners need to clearly communicate to site visitors. A new tagline is recommended. A connection needs to be made with the Web visitor and the site needs to build trust, just like the trust building it is selling. Benefits should be clear and on the home page in bullet form with an explanation of how and why the process works. Add call to actions on all Web pages. Add Contact Us to the main navigation menu. The audio was late coming in the video. Go talk to customers and tell their conversion success stories.

Podcast Number 79 — June 2012 Glenn and Tom talk about the changing role of Web content and how to develop strategies that drive results from content marketing on the Internet. The Website www.ScreenComment.com provides great content, but is struggling to be successful and develop a solid revenue model. Here are a few suggestions to improve the site and help develop a revenue model. Everything starts with strategy, the site needs a more focused strategy. The “me too” strategy is hard to develop into revenue. The site needs a stronger niche. The bounce rate is high and page views are very low. This is a disconnect between the site and visitor needs. Design and layout of the site communicates the strategy. The current site has an “insider” look and feel. Competitor sites are much more consumer focused. What are the key action items for the for the Web marketers at ScreenComment.com? The site owners need to clearly understand who they want on their Website and what is a clear call to action for these users. Conduct research and take the time to get inside the head of your Website users. Develop an upgrade Web marketing strategy and work to find a competitive niche. Include several ideas for developing a revenue model. Look to finding investors to help fund the Website.

Podcast Number 78 — June 2012 Glenn and Tom talk about the changing role of Web content and how to develop strategies that drive results from content marketing on the Internet. What is content marketing? The online distribution of information about your organization that provides value to customers and the target market. This content should drive inquiries and sales for your company. How is content marketing changing? It has gone way beyond content on your Website and email marketing. Social media has changed how content is perceive and used. Content marketing is much more important and it is strategic. Content comes in many different forms and is still evolving online. Content marketing is interactive and starts a discussion. What do you mean by content marketing being strategic? Content marketing is used to drive leads and sales. Marketing has been turned on its head. The easy brochure copy content is no longer relevant. Content must be relevant and have a great impact for the user. Simplicity and direct communication is always best. What are a few examples of good content strategies? For eCommerce Websites it is more specific product information that may not be found on the Website. For service-based companies, content that helps the target market do their job better. A variety of content types such as video, audio, ebooks, pictures with captions, slide shows, animation, written articles and more. A distribution strategy for coordinated distribution of relevant content. Content that builds trust and awareness is key. What are the key action items for the listener? Develop a content distribution strategy segmented by user type. Work to coordinate efforts from all forms of content distribution. Take advantage of what has worked offline. Keep content simple and visual when possible. Get feedback and measure the results. Check out www.AltimeterGroup.com for more information on content marketing strategies.

Podcast Number 77 — May 2012 Glenn and Tom discuss the future of email marketing and how email fits in to the new world of content distribution from blogs, social media and other sources. Is email marketing dead? No email marketing is not dead, but it will need to change. There is a much more competitive environment for content distribution. Some people use email like text messages. Some people use social media like email. Others prefer photos as content, like Pinterest. What are the changes that need to happen with email marketing? Content needs to be more relevant and have a greater impact for the user. Keep content brief and make use of links. Use a call to action in the email message line. Email has to compete or must supplement blog postings. Make use of visuals and captions in your emails. What are a few examples of good email marketing strategies? It is coordinated with other content efforts. A newsletter or specific content sent out monthly. A targeted promotion to the specific email list. Measured in your Web stats. Highly relevant to the user and helps them solve a problem or meet a need. How should email lists be segmented? Loyal customers come first. Use campaign-based email programs. Segment by buyer and prospect type, but don’t overdo segmentation. What is the future of email marketing? Great content gets read and distributed. Email marketing can still deliver great content and will be one of many options and should be supplementing other content efforts. People will get content in ways that is most convenient to them. Email may be less popular, but will stay a part of a comprehensive content marketing approach. What are the key action items for the listener? Make a list of Web-based content sources in your target market. Segment your current data base into loyal customers and prospects. Coordinate your email strategy around a broad content strategy. Test, research and watch the data in your results. Glenn and Tom discuss the future of email marketing and how email fits in to the new world of content distribution from blogs, social media and other sources.

Podcast Number 76 — April 2012 Glenn and Tom talk about getting inside the head of Website users to establish rules for developing and designing a Website that gets results through better usability for the target market. How are Website design and development rules established? It all starts by understanding the target market. Get inside the head of your users and really understand them. Not all Web users are alike. How are these rules made practical? Survey your target market and spend some time living their issues. Conduct user testing with the target market and compare those findings to Web stats. Hire team members that are part of your target market and listen to them. What areas should rules cover? All areas of Web marketing should be covered in these rules. Content is a key area for site-wide consideration. Navigation and conversion points. Use of design and photography. Other areas that matter to your key demographics. Aren’t most usability rules the same for all Websites? Many fundamental usability rules apply to all sites. All Websites should be easy to use for their specific target. How they Website is used is the key difference. These rules go further then the basics and focus on the target market. The rules help avoid the online brochure problem. What are a few examples of rules for specific target markets? Consider the differences between the following market segments. Engineers and non-technical salespeople Teenagers and the elderly Construction workers and IT professionals Mobile versus office workers Real estate professionals versus accountants What are the key action items for the listener? Conduct research and take the time to get inside the head of your Website users. Make a short list of universal standards for your Website. Distribute those standards or rules to all team members. Have someone make sure the rules are followed as your Website is updated.

Podcast Number 75 — April 2012 Glenn and Tom talk about 10 things to do before large investments in social media and SEO. This podcast is a review of Web marketing fundamentals that come before social media and driving Website traffic. Many Web marketers focus too much of their attention on social media and SEO and forget the basics. 1. Develop a clear and sustainable strategy for your Website. 2. Make sure the Website has clear and measurable conversion points. 3. The Website should be very easy to use and valuable for the target market. 4. 100% of site visitors should understand what the Website is about, especially on your home page and key landing pages. 5. The Website should be designed appropriately for the target market. 6. Set-up Google Analytics, test it and set data goals. 7. Develop a strong content strategy for the Website for all products and services. 8. Write a monthly email newsletter and blog daily or weekly. 9. Establish a strategy for social media content marketing prior to launch. 10. Research comprehensive, measurable SEO and PPC programs with strong ROI prior to launch. Do these ten things and then you are ready to launch a comprehensive SEO and social media strategy. What are the key action items for the listener? Take these ten steps and write an action plan or strategy for each one. A brief plan is better than no plan! Always remember that social media and SEO are parts of the whole and do not stand alone in Web marketing.

Podcast Number 74 — February 2012 This podcast covers generating conversions in blogs, social media or likes in Facebook and other social media sites. How should we define a conversion in social media? Any interaction between the visitor and your company is a conversion. If they interact, it’s a conversion. Most social media site visitors don’t interact, they just read what others are doing. This is true of blogs as well. Interactions are hard to measure because they may not be direct. Why are these conversion important? There are many examples where social media interaction is not important and can be a distraction to driving results. Web activity is building around interaction with social media. If done correctly, these conversions drive business results including increased Web traffic and sales for your company. What should Web marketers being doing to drive conversions in social media? Developing an overall Web strategy that builds interest. What is your special content gift or message? Implementing that strategy with great content. Assigning the right person to social media updates. Updating the right frequency of about once per week for social media and more often for blog postings. How are these conversions measured? Likes and followers in Facebook. Visits to LinkedIn pages and followers. Google+ circles growth. Twitter followers. Blog visits and postings. Website conversions. What are the key action items for the listener? See your social media strategy as an extension of your current business strategy. Be ready to measure all direct and indirect results from blogs and social media. Set goals for the various conversions discussed in this podcast. Include blog and social media marketing in all Web marketing efforts. Blog valuable content everyday. Thomas Young

Podcast Number 73 — February 2012 Intuitive Website just launched a new Website, what do podcasts listeners need to know about the new site? This simple Website is the result of many year’s of work and thought about Web marketing and usability. The new site is an example of the difficulty in making Websites simple. Our competitor Websites are much more complex. The site is a work in progress and will improve over time. It showcases what is key to our prospective clients, our Four Step Process and our knowledge base. It will drive leads that are highly qualified and ready to buy our services. What are the key objectives and goals of the new Website? The goals of the Website are to drive inquiries for our services. It does this through ease of use and education. The Website supports our sales process. It gets results from a variety of traffic sources. The voice of the site should connect with our key audience. We will refer people to the site to drive conversions. How does the site go about meeting those goals? The site has very straight-forward messaging. It uses one level navigation for most pages. A brief introduction to our services. A very simple contact us form and fewer options. It communicates on a subconscious level that we know what we are doing because we organize our approach around a process and we understand users. What are the key action items for the listener? Go checkout our Website and gives your feedback. Go to the site and subscribe to newsletter and read our articles. Compare us to competitors in the industry and let us know your thoughts. Consider a switch to WordPress (our new site was built in WordPress). Hire us to be your Web marketing, design and development firm. Thomas Young

A review of four Websites Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple and Borders Podcast Number 64 — March 2011 In this podcast Glenn and Tom discuss the importance of online publishing and its impact on Website marketing. They review key marketing strategies from Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Borders. Find out who are the winners and losers in selling content on the Web. Here are the action items from the Podcast. Understand the importance of Web strategy. Know technology trends before they happen. Understand the importance of content and technology (online publishing). Learn more about online publishing and how this trend can be used to improve your Web marketing efforts.

Welcome to the Intuitive Websites Internet Marketing Podcast, bringing you the country’s top podcast on the subject of Internet marketing. I am your host Glenn Thayer and today we are going to discuss Web marketing and mobile devices. I am here with the CEO of Intuitive Websites, Thomas Young. In this podcast Glenn and Tom talk about strategies for Web marketing to mobile devices like the smart phones and iPads. Here is an outline of their discussion. The Future of Mobile Devices Fastest growing devices in the tech world and for Web access are small mobile devices like smart phones and iPads They are creating a new perspective on the use of technology These devises are still in the adopter stage More models coming soon to compete with iPads Read “Dealers of Lightning” on your iPad to learn more about trends How People Use Mobile Devices Mobile devises are very basic and not that deep The trend is toward more detail needed from mobile devises Mobile devices will begin to replace laptops in everyday use iPhone versus iPad Size matters! The iPad has a large screen and is easy to use and buy online eCommerce sales on the iPad are double sales for smart phones. How to Market to these Devices What are your goals? What is the strategy? How do your customers use these devices? Use of Mobile Apps Versus Websites Must know how people see your company on the mobile Web Keep it much more simple, with a strong interface Sample each device to understand what users see We end each podcast with an action item plan. What are the key action items for the listener? Review your Web stats to develop a profile of the mobile user Look at your Website on mobile devices Research and survey the possibilities of application development Set a plan in motion to meet the needs of mobile device users Consider a strategy for mobile apps and Websites This has been the Intuitive Websites Internet Marketing Podcast for more information and to see all the available podcasts and much more, visit IntuitiveWebsites.com.

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  How should a company talk about themselves on their Website? Always easiest to talk about yourself. Develop an “About Us” page. This is the place where people come to learn more about your company. Take it seriously. If done right, it can drive conversions. Users look for value first then want to learn more about your company. Opportunity to build trust and credibility. The “About Us” page reinforces the brand. What should be included in the “About Us” page? Philosophy and business approach. Company history. Bios and photos of team members/staff. Client lists, case studies, and testimonials. Location photos. Videos, photos and other content that describe your company But, how does the “About Us” page drive conversions? First, a visit here shows a high level of interest. The visitor is highly qualified; a trip to this page is likely, not random. Build the credibility and trust the visitor is looking for, then make it easy for them to convert from this page. Action Plan: Create, write or improve your “About Us” page. Make the “About Us” page visible on the main navigation. Get user feedback on the page and edit as needed. Include the items mentioned in this podcast. Keep the page current, review it often. Measure the stats and conversions from this page. This has been the Intuitive Websites Internet Marketing Podcast for more information and to see all the available podcasts and much more, visit IntuitiveWebsites.com.