Tony’s Website Design Blog

Ouch! What was that? Who put that sofa there? Why didn't I see it? Oh, the lights were not on. Yeah, that would help me to see where I'm going and avoid things. I'd also get to where I want to go without problems.

Ok, that's a dumb example but many companies have that same exact logic if they're not checking out their website statistics. They want to do "web marketing" but don't know where they're going because the lights are off, basically.

Make it a goal this year to dig into your web stats. You've put your website out there, so how are people using it? Where are you getting the most traffic? What's working and what is not? If you knew all that now, you'd be making some great, informed decisions. It's totally worth doing. You'll be amazed at what you see.

If you don't have Google Analytics installed, then why not? You get great stats with nice graphs and just tons of information about what's going on.

Google, years ago now, bought a company called Urchin. Urchin made a website stats program that was really good. I had used it on a number of websites and the stats were nice. What Google Analytics looks like now is nothing how Urchin looked before. It's so much better. If you need help getting Google Analytics installed on your website, just let us know. We'd be happy to do it and help you analyze what's going on.

I remember one client we showed his web stats too a few years back and his jaw dropped when he found out how many people were going to his old looking website. He instantly wanted to know where to sign. Once he knew he was getting traffic to that ugly website, he wanted to change it since he knew that people were getting the wrong impression of his company. It's a great example that still works today.

So turn the light on and see what your website is doing instead of bumping around in the dark! And for goodness sake, get a blog!

-Tony

We've decided to extend our Maintenance Blocks Bonus Blocks Sale until the end of the week since some people may have been out for the holiday break. Through Friday, January 8th 2010, you can still get the bonus Maintenance Blocks.

Update Your Website

I was thinking this morning about some people that have websites and all they may want to do to them is just change their copyright date at the bottom from 2009 to 2010 so that their website looks current. Yeah, you should do that but that's not nearly enough. Make it a resolution this year to update your site monthly or weekly. As I've been explaining, that's a great use for a blog. Make your own news. Subscribe to industry e-newsletters and then you'll have something to blog about. You can even set up a Google News Alert for keywords in your industry. I really suggest doing that.

It's a new year, a fresh start and time to make your website work for you. Get return on your investment. The potential is there. This "Web" thing isn't just a fad. More people have the Web on their phones than ever before. More people are connected at work and at home than ever before. It's everywhere and it's only going to increase.

Do Search Engine Optimization Now or Fail

For SEO (search engine optimization), I believe a window is closing. It's just starting to close but it's closing. It's still relatively easy to get ranked for searches that people are typing in but give it 2-3 years and it's going to be MUCH harder to do that. MUCH harder. You need to get your place staked out now. NOW is the time to make yourself / your site the authority in your online market. It's the final hour until you're really going to need to do a lot more to get the same results you can now for much less time and effort (money). That window is closing. Get in while it's still easy.

Why do I think this?

It's all these people working from home. Seriously. We've all seen that spam. Well, I know what they're doing and it actually works if they work at it. I've tried it myself and have seen results. They're finding the search terms that people search on and are setting up entire websites just for a few search phrases. They're cherry picking the best ones now and once they get those, they automatically rank for the ones below it if they're doing it right. Last year, in 2009, we saw a lot of people lose their jobs so the strength of this force is really building. They're gobbling up keyword search phrases and even setting up support sites and doing link exchanges. Give it a few more years and they will dominate about everything - guaranteed.

So NOW is the time to take what you have and work it. Claim your ground on the Web. Make your site the authority in your industry. It's still relatively cheap to do it. It's kind of like a land grab when this nation was first getting settled. You need to do it to succeed on the Web. You can do it later but it may cost up to 10 times more.

Sorry to scare you but I'm being really honest. That's what is happening and I'd rather be the guy to warn you about it now than to have people wonder why we never said anything when this does happen. These people and your competition are doing it, so you need to or you may wonder where all your business went.

Contact us for more information about how to get going with SEO or to get a website redesign.

Have a great 2010!
-Tony

Hello and Happy New Year!

If you're in the Southern Wisconsin area, you can participate in the Million Pound Challenge. Keep your New Year's Resolution this year and lose some pounds. When you do, you're donating food to our local food pantries!

Here is how it works: For every pound of weight you lose, the Princeton Clubs, and our corporate sponsors, will contribute 10 pounds of food, to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin, up to ONE MILLION POUNDS. That’s 500 tons of food!

Go, sign up and join the Webstix team or start your own team!

-Tony

As we wrap up 2009, it's good to think about what's coming up in the next, new year. Of course, search engine optimization (SEO) is on everyone's minds. We all want to be found in the search engines. How will search engines change next year? The way I see it, they always have to change. New websites are being launched every few seconds and hundreds of thousands of new pages are added every minute. With this rapid development of online information, the ways it's sorted just naturally has to evolve.

What this means for you and your website is that it may become increasingly more difficult to rank. Your website has to be in tip-top shape and very much look like an authority on the topic. For local search, there's still time to rank pretty well but if you have a national or world wide audience, then you already know that it's not easy to rank.

Here's an interesting article I found:

Four New Signals in Search (searchenginewatch.com)

Search engines constantly look for new signals they can use to improve the quality of the results they provide to users. Ultimately, user satisfaction is a critical component in retaining or increasing their market share, especially over the long term. Let's explore some of these new potential signals and the way search engines evaluate and make decisions to use a new signal.

He talks about page load time, clicks, social media and even how many times something is referenced (that's not a link). This tells me that search engines are striving to be as smart as possible. With more competition out there, websites, like I said, need to be in the best shape they can be. Here are some things that come to mind:

• Does your website use CSS design?
• Are page titles optimized?
• Does your website look good?
• Is there enough unique content on your website?
• Is that unique content real text? (versus images, Flash, etc.)
• Do you have enough links pointing to your website?
• Are you updating your on-site blog? Do you even have a blog??
• Are you using social media like Facebook and Twitter?
• Is your website converting traffic into leads?

You need to look at your competition and do at least twice as better as they are doing. You need to dominate the search engine results for what you or your company does or produces. Anything less and you're not doing enough website marketing.

Speaking of marketing, remember that you first really need a good, solid, offline marketing plan before you go online. Take time to draw up the plans and do marketing research. Your website is only going to be as good as your marketing plan. If your branding or positioning is off, then a new website will only magnify that problem. Don't base your entire success on your website. Business marketing success depends on a well balanced offline and online marketing strategy. For example, if your offline marketing doesn't point to your website, that's a fail.

I like to say that having a website is a lot like having a phone number - just because you have one doesn't mean people will call.

Plan your 2010 marketing now and include in those plans some resources toward your website. Dominate your market and crush your competition. Instead of buying pay-per-click ads, spend that same money on organic search engine optimization, which is long lasting. Blog twice a week. Check your analytics and adapt to the online world.

At Webstix, we'd be glad to talk with you about any questions you have and what we can help with. We can help as little or as much as you want. Sometimes we just do the work of setting the plans and strategy while other times, we're working quite a bit to get a client to rank well. My theory is that you only get out of something what you put into it. Having experts on your side is one way to know what to put into it.

-Tony