Category: Web Sites

5 Simple Website Mistakes That Many Businesses Make

market research, marketing researchWe work frequently with clients to evaluate/audit and make recommendations for improvements to their websites and write website content. In addition, Linda serves as a digital marketing specialist with the State of Wisconsin’s Business Intelligence Team and Purdue University. In this role she reviews and makes recommendations to websites of small but growing companies.
Through this work, we tend to see some very common (and, fortunately, easy to fix) mistakes being made. Here we take a look at “5 Simple Website Mistakes That Many Businesses Make.”

Continue reading “5 Simple Website Mistakes That Many Businesses Make”

Using Google Search Console to Improve Your SEO

Google Search Console (GSC) (formerly Google Webmaster Tools) is a free online resource of tools and reports that Google makes available to users to help them improve their websites and optimize them for search. If you have a website, you should be using GSC—or using an agency that can help you uncover valuable insights to help improve your website performance. Continue reading “Using Google Search Console to Improve Your SEO”

Think Like Your Customers to Draw Traffic to Your Website

website marketing, digital marketing, online marketing, marketing websites, marketing online

Ten to fifteen years ago, the advice to be given to a small business owner regarding an online presence may well have been, “you should have a website.” Today, it’s rare to find a business of any size without a website; however, that only means it’s harder to stand out among the crowd. Having a website is no longer in and of itself a sign of an established, sophisticated business. That website has to be designed to ensure brand consistency as well as prospect and customer engagement.

Here are some strategies to outshine your competitors in the digital environment. Continue reading “Think Like Your Customers to Draw Traffic to Your Website”

Are You Creating, or Removing, Barriers for People to Buy Your Product/Service?

Sometimes I think the most simple thing that we can do as businesspeople and marketers is to “put ourselves in the shoes” – literally – of our prospects and customers. Are we making it easy to buy? Or are we setting up unintentional barriers, however “slight,” that may interfere with – or obliterate – the purchasing process? Continue reading “Are You Creating, or Removing, Barriers for People to Buy Your Product/Service?”

Evaluating and Choosing the Right Content Creator for Your Brand

Nobody would dispute that “content is king” in the 21st century. Marketers are scrambling to create, distribute, and repurpose content in ways that resonate with their audiences. Demand for original content has likely never been higher and continues to climb. That’s good news for the agencies and freelancers who are positioned to provide quality content; their numbers are growing exponentially.

That can be both a good and a bad thing for the companies that need unique, high-quality content to feed consumer demand and stand out from the competition. Continue reading “Evaluating and Choosing the Right Content Creator for Your Brand”

Misconceptions about Social Media Data

The modern marketing strategy just isn’t complete if it doesn’t include a social media element. As we’ve discussed in a previous blog post, tools like Google Analytics are great for tracking your social media activity and its impacts on your business. While we encourage social media marketers to read that blog and the background information linked within, it’s also important to discuss some of the misconceptions many businesses have about all the social media data they are collecting. Some might focus on information that isn’t particularly helpful, while others might be disregarding or missing entirely key metrics. Continue reading “Misconceptions about Social Media Data”

Facebook as Your “Website”? Here’s Why That Might Be a Bad Idea

Not so long ago, having a website for a small business seemed like something that was only feasible for the high-margin business or the tech-savvy entrepreneur. Today, a professional-looking website is within reach of virtually any business. Still, in the Facebook age, many businesses are tempted to use a page on the social networking site as their primary online presence.

Facebook is certainly a low-cost option to very quickly get your business’ web presence up and running; however, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind before using Facebook as your only online vehicle. Continue reading “Facebook as Your “Website”? Here’s Why That Might Be a Bad Idea”

Would You Believe There are Still Businesses Without Web Sites?

by Linda Pophal

 

A few years ago my husband was in the process of researching restaurants online for a trip we were planning. When he shared the results of his research he said:  “I’ve found a few good ones – there were a couple of others I wanted to check out, but they don’t have a web site, so forget it.”

I’m guessing he’s not alone in that sentiment. How often have you tried to find information about a restaurant, or some other business online, only to give up on them and select another option instead?

In the 21st century, if you’re in business and you don’t have a web site Continue reading “Would You Believe There are Still Businesses Without Web Sites?”

Blogging Best Practices

Blogs continue to be a great communication tool for marketers of any size, in any industry. Blogs have two “big benefits”:

  • They help you stay engaged with your audience in, hopefully, valued ways—keeping you “top of mind” when members of the audience are in need of your goods or services
  • They aid in driving traffic to your website – because blogs are (or, at least, should be) updated with new posts regularly, your content will be fresh, and will contain relevant key words and phrases that can boost SEO

We have a blog that we’ve been posting to since 2009. We also manage blogs for a number of clients. In our work we’ve discovered some important best practices: Continue reading “Blogging Best Practices”

Who Needs a Physical Location? You May Be Surprised!

Some of my favorite authors/social economists do a great job of cautioning us to beware of “conventionally held wisdom”–Dan Ariely and Steven Levitt are two that immediately come to mind. It’s so easy to get swept up by conventional wisdom and then, unfortunately, to act based on that wisdom–whether it reflects reality or not. Continue reading “Who Needs a Physical Location? You May Be Surprised!”