Your website is an important part of your toolbox for promoting and selling your business.  But remember that many people that see your website might never have seen you face to face.

The internet is a big place, so it’s crucial you make it easy for people to trust you.

10 Checkpoints

If they’re searching for what you’re offering, then you’re already in a good position – they’re looking for someone they can buy from, they can trust.  Make the most of it and ensure your ‘credibility rating’ is rock solid with these dos and don’ts:

(more…)

It’s been a while since I’ve written at length here…eek! Mainly down to being nice & busy with work, which can’t be a bad thing. Time to make up for it though… here are a few thoughts on something which is actually quite important – how to make the most of visitors once they’ve arrived on your website.

People invest a lot of time & effort in driving visitors to their website. It’s not always easy. So it’s ultra important that when you succeed in that goal, you then maximise the opportuity while a visitor is on your site.

Self Serving?

It’s not quite as self-serving as it first appears. Remember, the user always has a back button, so whatever you do has got to be of use and valid in the eyes of your visitor. It’s not about making it really hard for the user to find what they’re looking for, so they have to search for ages – chances are, they won’t, they’ll use the back button and go elsewhere. But by the same token, it’s not just about giving everything away and not expecting anything back.

Their Goal or Yours?

Consider why people may be coming to your website. What are they looking for? Why are they there? You need to fulfil that need.

But also consider what your goals are for your website visitors. You need to fulfil that need too. Don’t assume the two sets of goals are the same.

An Example

Rather than going through the theory, let’s illustrate the point.

My goal for a gardening tips website might simply be to get people to sign up for a newsletter, so I can then stay in touch & publicise special offers & discounts.

A potential user may arrive at the site to find an answer to a gardening question. They have no intention of signing up to a newsletter.

One option would be to give them a chunk of an article, half answering their query, then make them signup if they want to read the rest. In my eyes: BAD IDEA. They’ve probably never seen the website before, don’t know who you are, and immediate demands for sign-up will make most people very uneasy.

A second, more effective option, would be to give them the article that answers their queries – make it worth reading and professional. Having answered their query, you’re then in a good position – you’ve earnt some respect. Make the most of it with some ‘signposts’ to, for example:

• other, related articles – linked perhaps from the bottom of the one they’ve just read. Lists of ’10 most popular posts’ or category lists are good here too. (What this does: visitor stays on site for longer, builds more respect points)

• downloadable guide/whitepaper/template/other resource. (What this does: builds more respect, visitor then has local record of your brand, website & contact details – assuming you put them on the download! Thus more likely to re-visit)

• Twitter feed, Facebook page, LinkedIn profile. (What this does: even if visitors don’t signup first time around, they’re starting to get more of a feel for who you are – and what other people think about you)

• Your newsletter signup form. Not everyone will sign-up on first visit, but the point at which you will get people to sign-up is when you’ve gained their respect. Add an incentive relevant to the user’s goal. (What this does: you’ve achieved your goal!)

Hmm… writing this has made me realise how much my own site could be improved in this respect

Are you listening?

Effective public speaking is a skill, a talent (and one that unfortunately I don’t possess in abundance).

They’ve got your attention, you’re focussed on what they’re saying, and you’re listening with rapt attention as they tell their story.  At that point, the speaker is in a pretty powerful position.

(more…)

Download Blog Planning Template here (MS Excel file)

So you’ve decided to start blogging. Or you’ve been told that Google likes regularly updated content on your website. Tis true, and what’s more, users like it too.

But before you launch into the blogosphere, do me a favour and stop to think awhile. For this reason – it looks a bit half-hearted if users arrive at your website only to see five or six posts that were written in a burst of energy a year and a half ago, and then… nothing.

Establishing and maintaining a blog requires effort. I actually find writing posts, articles, newsletters pretty enjoyable. But it does require some dedication.

Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way:

• Start as you mean to go on. Don’t start with a bang and then fizzle out. Think about how much time you can realistically commit on a regular basis to your blog or website. If that’s just an hour once a month, then fine – but keep it consistent. That way, users know what to expect.




• Have a set time in your diary once a day/week/month when you’ll update your website/blog. Set a reminder in your calendar so you can’t avoid it! Ok, so this is real life, so things will crop up that mean you can’t always do what you’d planned. But you can make sure you fill in the gaps as soon as you have a spare moment.




• Think about where you’ll be getting your ideas from. Here are just a few suggestions, I’m sure you’ll come up with more:
  • Keep an eye at what’s going on in your industry/sector and share your opinions
  • Share some of the knowledge you use when working with your clients
  • Answer the questions that you had when first starting out in the industry
  • Share a solution you’ve arrived as a result of a problem in your day-to-day work




• Create a schedule with dates, future post titles and ideas – sit down every two or three months & plan out future posts. Print it out & pin it on your notice board – no getting away from it then! I started out with this strategy this year, and it’s incredible the difference it’s made to the regularity of posts on my blog!




• If you’re limited on time, consider one of these options:
  • Rather than long, in-depth posts, just keep an eye out for useful, informative or engaging posts by other writers – and then link to them, with your own thoughts & comments on the subject
  • Re-use content you may already have accumulated – articles, user guides, press releases, etc. But make sure they’re interesting, up-to-date and relevant!
  • Find someone else to blog for you – there are companies that will offer this as a regular service to clients. Ideally, you’ll sit down to discuss & agree topics in advance. Work out who will be doing the research, and what input is required from you.




• Remember to publicise as well as write! Use article publishing sites; put a link to your blog in your email signature; use Social Media to tell people about your new post; link back to posts from your newsletter; and tell everyone you know about your blog & where to find it!

I created a blog schedule template for my own use, and have posted it here so you can take advantage of it too. It’s nothing complicated – have a look and adapt it to your own liking. Click here to download Blog Schedule Template (MS Excel file).

I don’t know about you, but I find it frustrating when Google returns a site in the search engine results which looks promising in relation to what I’m searching for – only to find when I get there that it’s not at all what I was looking for. Grrr!

Obviously, despite the amazing technological feat it has attained, Google is not perfect – and never will be. But site owners can help it on its way – and gain the trust of users at the same time.

Consider what it is your users are looking for. I’m not talking in-depth scientific research here –more just employing some common sense for half an hour. Once you’ve worked out what your users are looking for, you have to supply that need – and let Google know, through your site meta data, headings, etc – what it is that’s on your site.

Example: A Local Primary School

A while back, I built a website for a local primary school (www.dry-sandford.oxon.sch.uk). Rather than simply putting a fresh look over the old website, we sat down & thought what people would actually be looking for, and what people would find useful.

Here are a few examples of what we came up with:

• Existing parents – likely to be looking for latest news on school closures, club updates, when school photos are going to be taken, the list goes on… So throughout the website, we have a ‘Status board’ which the school secretary regularly updates – so parents can immediately see latest news
• Existing parents again – finding a school dinner money order form might be useful if the one in Ben’s bag got a bit worse for wear while said bag was used for a football goal after school. So we have a School Office area – where forms, newsletters, etc are all uploaded & accessible to parents for download & printing.
• Prospective parents – the obvious one is comprehensive details of the school, its ethos, structure and more. But we felt it important that prospective parents get a ‘feel’ for the school – so we’ve used a lot of images and also got children involved in creating audio clips – so their voice is heard on the site too.

Are you at odds with your users?

Bear in mind though – sometimes what your users are looking for, and what you want to give them, might be two different things. Maybe they’re just looking for information, whereas you are looking to sell.

In many cases, a hard sell to someone who is just looking for information, will fall flat on its face. The trick is to start gaining that person’s trust, proving your expertise in the field, supplying a certain amount of information – so that you then start to earn the right to pitch to that user – usually at a later date.

Consider how you can create incentives which will encourage the user to come back to your site, to stay in touch. Think about how you could get users to register their email address on your site, so you then have a means to keep in touch. The golden rule here is to remember that users are NOT stupid – and that’s why it’s important you gain people’s trust, provide something of value – to avoid them feeling like they’re been used, or conned into some marketing programme.