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In an era when people spend more than half of their waking hours consuming media, the content on your website has never been more important. And likewise, with the vast amount of redundant or otherwise useless information that populates much of the Internet, having a well maintained and well-sourced website has never been more valuable.

Is your site findable?

Content is the key for findable and authoritative websites. It also helps build your brand by injecting both a manageable personality and a point of view into your business.

Regardless of how many keywords you upload to your Adwords account or how much time and money you spend on delivering your ads to prospective customer’s eyes, you’re missing a significant segment of the market if you don’t have keyword-rich, focused and fresh content on your website. Also consider that your “best” ads may not even be showing due to a perceived lack of relevancy to what’s on the destination web page.

What the newspaper industry’s woes have shown us is that the democratization of information is expanding daily. In order to capitalize on this fact, everyone from non-profit organizations to publicly owned companies should be turning their websites into information sources, not simply glorified advertisements or electronic storefronts.

The benefits of content

The first benefit to turning your website into an information source includes increased organic traffic. The more quality information you have on your site, the more there is for browsers to connect with in web searches. One of the best parts of organic traffic is that it’s free, while online advertising can cost a significant amount of money to produce a beneficial ROI. Also, good quality content can produce targeted organic traffic and ROI long after its creation, unlike paid mediums.

Coinciding with your content creation should be an intensive marketing effort to increase your content’s visibility. This includes link building, networking with industry related blogs and news sites, actively participating in social media websites and posting to message boards and forums. Still, first and foremost, regular content production is the key.

Second, you’ll establish your business as a reputable source for the latest news and information about the product or service you provide – preferably before someone else does.

Finally, you’ll show search engines that your site is worthwhile to Internet surfers, which will ultimately increase your website’s credibility and search ranking.

While written content is arguably the most important part of your overall content strategy, multi-media content including videos, graphics, polls and the like, all combine to create a complete content package.

Once you have a content strategy nailed down – maybe you’ve even created an editorial calendar – you need to identify your audience. Who are you writing for? As tempting as it may be, you’re not just writing about your company, product or service. You’re writing for the people you hope to turn into customers. What do they want to know?

With all that in mind, go forth and start producing that content! And remember, the existing information on your site continuously needs to be optimized with updated keyword research and competitive analysis. Keeping your website on the cutting edge of web searches is a never ending process.

We can help you create a viable content and online strategy, give us a buzz.

Image via all-sorts.biz

Groupon, the popular, online coupon service that launched less than two years ago in Chicago, has become a hit with money conscious consumers. But as it continues to expand to more and more cities including right here in Phoenix, local business owners are discovering the service isn’t without its downsides.

A Local Story

Dana Mule, part owner of Hula’s Modern Tiki at 4700 N. Central Ave., recently participated in a Groupon deal offering $30 of food for $15. The resulting hoard of customers that descended upon Hula’s to take advantage of the 50 percent off deal created havoc for Mule’s restaurant.

“Initially, it was disaster,” said Mule. “Far more people showed than we could accommodate, which made for long wait times … and angry people (which counteracts any benefit you’re supposed to get from this kind of marketing).”

How Groupon Works

The way Groupon works for consumers is relatively simple. Every day, a new local deal is featured on the Groupon homepage, sent to subscribers in a daily email and updated daily on the Groupon iPhone app. If the pre-determined minimum number of people purchases the Groupon within the established time frame, then the deal is active. If the minimum isn’t reached, then the deal is cancelled.

Mule initially decided to take part in Groupon to get additional exposure for his business and to expand his customer base, which are two of the key selling points Groupon uses to attract businesses. But as some experts have pointed out, there can ultimately be a backlash if the discount price ends up taxing a business’s ability to serve its customers, thus eroding their brand.

“The race to the bottom is never the way to get to the top,” said Ellen Malloy in a recent Reuters article regarding the Groupon phenomenon. Malloy promotes high-end restaurants in Chicago and blogs about the topic of discounting for Restaurant Intelligence Agency.

Groupon Threatens Customer Experience

According to Malloy businesses risk a cheapening effect on their brand and that the customer experience can be threatened if an oversubscribed offer ends up producing a short-term spike in demand.

Mule’s own experience with Groupon was uncomfortably akin to Malloy’s cautionary advice.

Groupon provides the business no tools to help manage the number of coupons sold – they up sell you to drive the value of the coupon up (making them more money),” said Mule. “They are not responsive with concerns – the amount of the sell given to the restaurant doesn’t even cover food/liquor cost – and they will not let you put a limit on the total number of Groupons you’d like to sell (we had to beg them to stop it at 1,000).”

After his initial experience with Groupon, Mule said he wouldn’t participate in the service again. He also advised businesses that require appointments, such as salons, to avoid Groupon altogether.

“We’ve talked to other businesses where they had sold so many Groupons that those were to only appointments they could accommodate for months, allowing them to take no additional new clients who would more likely become repeat customers,” he said.

So what do you think?

Email marketing ties in well with eCommerce, and is a popular online marketing channel used to drive sales. However, eCommerce companies need to be aware that gaining and retaining a loyal customer base is a key component to the bottom line, and if you’re customers aren’t happy, expect to see that bottom line plummet.

Here is my experience with one eCommerce company and their email marketing campaign. I was less than pleased with the over-all experience, and will share the pros and cons as they relate to both email marketing best practices and overall customer experience.

The Good

• This company did well in quickly shipping the item I purchased. I had the package in my hands in about two days.
• They were also helpful in recommending what size I should choose, the item of clothing fit just right.

Email Marketing: Room for Improvement

• A promotional email was sent to me for 20% off but never stated when the promotion expired. Tip: Always present the user with all offer details – from promo code to expiration date to any hidden terms.
• I received an error when I went to make my purchase saying the code was invalid. I had to contact the company in order for them to temporarily reactivate the code. Tip: Make sure that Marketing is communicating with Operations. Most customers don’t have the patience to pick up the phone. Online chat is an optional tool to handle these types of requests, but make sure they are trained appropriately.

Web site Usability: Room for Improvement

• Product information was incomplete on the site. They did not have photos showing the complete product I wanted to order. I had to contact them and ask them to add an additional picture to the website. Tip: Always ensure you have photos of every item you are selling on your website. Consumers don’t have the luxury of tangibility online so providing as much information about the product is imperative. Angles shots, videos, and customer reviews are all optimal content assets when selling a product online.
• Part of the fun of ordering online is the anticipation of the package being delivered. Tip: Tie your email marketing in with shipping/operations to create a lifecycle campaign that keeps the customer excited to receive their shipment and notifies them of tracking and delivery.
• Further disappointment came when my package arrived and I discovered I was sent the wrong piece of clothing. I sent it back to the company and received the correct order less than one week later. Tip: Always double-check that you are sending the specific product that the customer ordered. Include easy instructions on how to return the item. Tip: Don’t overlook the details of providing a simple thank you on receipts and shipping invoices. A coupon for their next purchase is also a great way to encourage repeat visits.

While I do love what I ordered, my over-all experience with the eCommerce site left me less-than impressed and I will not be making purchases from them in the future. I hope this first-hand customer experience has given useful insight to new eCommerce businesses looking to engage in email marketing and provide users with a great customer experience. Paying attention to all the details and making sure all departments are working together will ensure you a loyal customer base and an increase in your bottom line.

And while I have no arguments about how helpful and resourceful this article is with regard to Non-profit Website Design, I do believe these best practices can be repurposed for nearly any organization looking to build a new Web site or update their current one.

A listing of Best Practices for Non-Profit Web sites are as follows:

1. Make your site donor-friendly
2. Make Your Site Media-Friendly
3. Make Your Site Volunteer-Friendly
4. Make Sure Your Organization’s Purpose is Immediately Apparent
5. Make Sure Your Content Takes Center Stage
6. Make Sure Your Website is Consistent with Your Other Promotional Materials
7. Know Your Site’s Purpose Up Front
8. Include a News Section or Blog

Find a breakdown for organizations that are not non-profit, on how to utilize these same Website best practices for your own company below.

Read the original and full article here.

If YOU ARE FOR-PROFIT organization, here are some Web site Key Takeaways and Thoughts from this article that can be utilized for your company:

• Make your site donor-friendly

Whether you are collecting donations, selling a product or providing information your site needs to be easy to navigate and checkout. The checkout process can be collecting donations, moving consumers through an actual purchase process, or requiring them to sign up for a webinar, or fill out information to download a whitepaper – you need to make it easy and requiring too many steps and requesting unnecessary information can mean losing that potential customer.

• Make Sure Your Organization’s Purpose is Immediately Apparent and Know Your Site’s Purpose Upfront

If visitors cannot figure out the purpose of your company or what you offer they cannot be turned into prospective customers. A cute logo and clever tagline won’t cut it. Make sure to include clear precise copy on all pages that informs visitors of what you offer, how to get more information and how it all works.

• Make Sure Your Content Takes Center Stage

Content does not equal copy. Content refers to copy, videos, blogs, Flash elements, images, and other types of media. Consider the types of audiences coming to your site and the best forms of content to include on your site that appeal to many types of personas. From researcher to purchaser, focus on the main types of personas interested in your product or service offering and appeal to their purchase process. What key pieces of information need to be present to get them to the desired action (e.g. requesting more information, signing up for a trial or demo, checking out). Different pieces of content appeal to different users and finding the right mix of content while balancing design and creating clear goal/conversion paths is no small challenge. Measure and test everything.

• Make Sure Your Website is Consistent with Your Other Promotional Materials

Take a hard and fast look at all on and offline materials. Cost efficiencies can be saved across the board by picking standard sizes, having image libraries, and all departments working from the same pool of resources. This ensures consistency across the board and that is the number one rule – consistency makes for success. Your brand identity will also be salvaged. In addition, make sure someone is assigned to managing your Web site and that they are made aware of all marketing initiatives both on and offline. There is nothing worse than having a press release sent out over the Internet and then visiting the actual company Web site for more information and there is little to no information on the product or service that was promoted, let alone the press releases hasn’t even been posted to the company site. You miss out on great search engine visibility opportunities by missing on such a simple web update.

• Include a News Section or Blog

Don’t miss out on opportunities to become an authority in your area. You don’t always have to be promoting your products or services, think inside your box but with regard to end-user. What problems do they encounter that your product or service might help solve? Blogs and News Sections are opportunities to take advantage of ongoing search engine visibility as well as deliver valuable and relevant information to your audiences. They keep your site current and fresh and provide valuable insight into your companies work ethic and level of service.

photo credit: cogdogblog

1. Do track and monitor visitor behavior.

Studying your Web site visitor’s behaviors will enable you to determine what on the web site works in order to have visitors meet the objectives of your web site. Analyzing your web statistics on a regular basis will give you a better understanding of how to enhance or improve your site. Information such as referring keywords and referring sites can lead to opportunities that will increase your online presence. If you’re unsure how to get started, we recommend talking to your hosting provider to see what Web statistics tracking comes with your account, or use free analytics tools such as Google Analytics or AWStats, No site should be without these, and it is vital to your success online.

2. Do set online goals and objectives for your company or organization.

Ask yourself what goals you want to achieve for your company. It could be increasing sales leads, revenue, awareness, online visibility or trial downloads. Objectives for your company can be as simple as increasing more eyeballs to a specific page on your site, downloading a whitepaper, or making sure visitors can easily navigate their way through your sales process. If you don’t set goals or have an understanding of what your objectives are, your Web site is merely a glorified marketing brochure. Make your Web site accountable and put it to work for your business.

3. Don’t build a new Web site without first understanding what was working and what was not on the existing site.

Before you write that big check for a new site, it may be a good idea to understand the successes and failures of your present site. If your site isn’t performing how you would like, it may just need some improvements and clear paths to goals. If you’ve got an idea that your site should be entirely video, hot pink, or you want to add a multitude of new features, ask why and then ask if these new elements are appropriate for your audience and their needs? Assess your current site and your competitors’ sites. Review your site stats, conversion paths (are visitors having trouble accomplishing tasks or accessing pertinent information), talk with current staff and clients to get a better understanding of how to improve your site.

4. Do build and nurture your customer database. In a down economy, the old adage of “it is less expensive to keep a customer than find a new one” was never more accurate.

Repeat customers are often overlooked while advertising dollars are spent on obtaining new ones. Start at home. Customers who have previously bought from you are saying “We like you.” So why are you ignoring them? Learn about who they are, what they like, and how they like to be communicated with. Learning the reasons why customers continue to work with you can help direct your new customer acquisition strategies. Don’t underestimate the value of a testimonial from a repeat or long-time customer.

5. Do listen and talk to your customers. Your customer is your biggest asset. They will tell you what is working and what isn’t. See #4.

The customer IS always right. This saying has evolved to mean more than just the obvious. Who else is going to tell you where your company is falling short? Certainly not the folks who work for you. Your customers care about you – they do – but they need caring back. Your customer is your biggest asset. They will tell you what they need, how to market to them, where to market to them, and what they like and dislike about your products or services. If you are not willing to listen, plan on having a large advertising budget that continues to attract one-time business. When it comes to your Web site, you may have no trouble navigating because you use it everyday. What about a first-time user? Understanding the obstacles visitors face when visiting your site and addressing them can lead to a higher percentage of repeat business. A pleasant customer experience is worth a thousand words (or more business).

6. Don’t take email marketing for granted – it cannot be commoditized. Put the elbow grease into targeted and personalized email marketing. Track, test and analyze.

Sure, how hard can it be? You send email every day. Email is more than just hitting the send button. Segmenting your customer lists to market directly to their preferences can serve as your number one revenue generator. It seems like a daunting task, but you’ve got to start somewhere. How effective is your email marketing software? If your message is getting to only 80 percent of the folks on your list, that is 20 percent of revenue you may be missing. Make sure your email service provider has relationships with the appropriate ISP to ensure a high deliverability rate. Monitor your email results to understand how visitors are reacting to your messaging – from subject line to layout to copy. Utilize professional email solutions in conjunction with a quality web analytics package to remarket directly to them.

7. Do start a paid-search campaign or continue with one. This is still the most cost-effective advertising medium today. Knowledge gained can be used in other online and offline initiatives.

Paid search (such as Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN adCenter), can get you quick results and visibility within search engines. Statistics show that 20 percent of search engine users click on sponsored listings. You may garner sales from terms that you have no reasonable shot of generating non-paid traffic from. Furthermore, it is believed that visitors from paid listings are generally further along in the buying process, whereas organic visitors are most often gathering information.

8. Do start a blog. But have a plan, and know why and what you want to say.

Blogs are a great way to drive traffic and increase your online presence. But they don’t run themselves. Blogs need to be managed and maintained consistently to prove value. The biggest struggle is finding something valuable to say, especially when thousands of new blogs are created every day. Make sure you are offering something of interest to your target audience. Put yourself through a Q&A to discover your strengths, key areas of expertise, and most frequently asked questions from clients to get ideas on what to post and how you can provide value to your audience on an ongoing basis. Be prepared for negative comments and remember that a blog is not a surefire route to success. It takes hardwork and dedication.

9. Don’t buy blindly into the hype of social media. First understand what your goals are online and understand that social media equals managed media.

Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace are merely tools in the toolbox. You can’t build a house with only a hammer and that is the same situation with your brand and your visibility online. Social networking for marketing purposes requires an organization to implement labor, management and planning. If there is no one there to manage or build the relationship, your efforts will fall flat. A clear focus, understanding of your audience, and reasonable expectations will save a lot of money and frustration in the long run.

In collaboration with ROI Research, Performics released survey results of 7,043 consumers on how search engines play a role in their purchasing decisions, seven demographic audience segments were questioned across nine different verticals.

Michael Kahn of Performic makes a key statement, “Consumers turn to search for different reasons, online strategies from one marketer to the next can look like night and day depending on the verticals and target segments each needs to navigate. In some cases, consumers use search to buy; in others, it’s a research tool, often used to find offline retail locations.”

Key differences across demographic segments were identified in how search is used in the purchase process, a few of these findings can be found below:

• 81 percent of silver surfers (65 years and older) spend at least an hour/day on the Internet, utilizing search to find best prices and product information, but typically buying offline
• 89 percent of African-Americans spend at least an hour/day on the Internet, most often using search to find offline locations, especially for automotive and electronic purchases
• Baby boomers used search more than 75 percent of the time when purchasing automobiles, appliance and electronics
• Gays/lesbians, who reported more overall shopping than other demographic segments in nearly every product category, used search most often to shop for automotive, appliance and electronic products and services

This online vs. offline dynamic emerged as a key theme. Some interesting findings include:

• Travel reigned as the top online product category, with 70 percent of respondents reporting making their last Travel purchase online
• Health care was the most dominant offline category, with 81 percent of consumers indicating their last purchase happened offline; yet 90 percent of respondents used search to research these purchases
• Use of search was split almost evenly across the seven segments for telecommunication purchases, and 39 percent made their purchases online
• Tweens were most likely to purchase apparel and electronics, but despite the notion that Tweens often “live” online, most make and recommend purchases offline

Liberty Interactive Marketing: We say that all advertising, on and offline works together.  Among all the clutter and the competition, you must be present online and ahead of your competition.  It does not necessarily mean having to spend more (although that does help), but in this economy it may make better sense to know who your customers are so that you can be there at the right time and the right place. It can be as simple as utilizing all resources online to make sure every brick and mortar location can be found easily online with an address, map, and phone number.  That your site is programmed efficiently for mobile accessibility. That your web site has an appropriate customer experience, in which consumers are able to access many different levels of information quickly and easily. Additionally important, is your visibility online within search engines and various shopping sites.  Can consumers find you, your products, and the information they need to make a purchase in-store or online? If they can’t, your competition is just one click away or up the street. What are you doing to keep the focus on you, to solidify the purchase process with every prospective customer?

Performics and ROI Research sought to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of search on consumer purchasing behavior including how frequently consumers use search to gather product information, compare prices, and look for specific brands or retailers. The study also tracked key demographics such as income, education and media consumption patterns. Read the full release here.

Their process goes something like this:
1. Searched “scottrade” in Google, they are running PPC for their branded term. Smart. Also, they show up #1 for their own company term. They’ve been awarded sitelinks from Google, those are the links below their listing in the organic – login, branch office locator, etc.

2. Login and open a new account are NOT hard to find! Thank you.

3. One criticism is when you hit “open an account” the form is a popup instead of just opening in a new window or taking you off the page.  Also, there are no question mark links (?) to help you select what type of account you want.  This is where I stopped, but the smart thing is that Scottrade asked for just some brief information about me prior to getting into the details of the account preferences and selection.  Why is this smart? Because this is a friction point. I stopped because I didn’t have the answer.  The next day I received a phone call from Joel, the Branch Manager hoping to help me out with completing my account setup.  I figured out the answer so I didn’t need to call him back.  Two days later I still hadn’t completed my account set up, but in the mail I received a PERSONALIZED booklet from Scottrade offering an offline way to complete my account setup! Wow, A) thanks for reminding me and B) thanks for helping me out if I didn’t feel comfortable completing it online.

4. The next week I finally completed my account setup online, what can I say I was busy.  The only portion I was unable to complete was linking my bank account.  Friction point.  Low and behold, I received another phone call from Joel, the Branch Manager (not a different person, the same person!!).  His voicemail offered to provide me with options for helping me set up my account for funding and  when I didn’t return his call, I received a paritally filled out form so help me along the process WITH A SELF-ADDRESSED POSTAGE APPLIED ENVELOPE! Thank you. It’s like my soccer coach always said “You can’t have control of the ball if you just stand around waiting for it to come to you, you must go to the ball to make things happen.”  Scottrade was bringing the proverbial “soccer ball” to them and it worked.

Why do I feel good about this persistence aka customer service? Because Scottrade found the right mix of online and offlline initiatives. They didn’t bug me until I was blue in the face and turned off from the process.  Their methodology and flow was more like reading my mind because they were aware of the friction points within their conversion process.

How you can get there?
1. Start with your Web site, ask friends, family, strangers to use your site and ask them to complete your desired goal for them, if you are serious about investing in your online customer experience, contact us or  Red Flag Consulting

2. Determine friction points throughout your conversion funnel/process, are they something that can be fixed online or do they require offline operations/interference to get customers to the end goal? Determine solutions, time and effort. Rethink your process if necessary, just because it isn’t broken doesn’t mean it can’t be improved! Raising conversions even .5% can have a serious impact on business.

3. Talk to your customers, listen to your customers, find out what went wrong, what worked, etc. Make changes and test!

4. Keep testing, if you find that your conversion process is half online and half offline find the right mix of phone calls, emails, direct mail.  You’re bound to tick some people off but at least you will learn if you are willing to listen.

4. Implement online marketing strategies, test landing pages and your process from all lead sources.

5. Listen, learn, test, repeat.

6. Feel comfortable with not being able to please everyone; please the majority, the right majority and you will remain on the right track.

Congrats to Scottrade for an excellent example of how to get customers through your conversion funnel, understanding that there were friction points along the way and knowing how to solve those to get customers to complete their desired task, as well as yours.

1. Before researching any ecommerce software vendors, take a look at your business online.  Outline key objectives and goals in the areas of operations, accounting, shipping, etc.
2. Think about your audience and what information, features, etc. they will need in order to make informed decisions before purchasing.
3. Go as far as to outline the process and flow from customer facing front-end to back-end needs.
4. Make a list of technology requirements and ask about their technology in regards to platform, search marketing, lifecycle email marketing and customer database management.
5. Do your research and understand your needs.
6. While you may be overwhelmed with choices and savvy reps trying to sell you on how great their product is, understand that you can start small with the right product and ask your vendor if it can scale to your big dreams.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…