Google Simple, Apple Elegant
When designing a website or print work I can’t stress enough to K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid). When somebody comes to your home page it should be clear what you want the visitor to be informed with. A good way of doing this is to give a brief description of each item (max 4-5) making your newest/best item the most prominent, and giving the visitor a CLEAR CALL TO ACTION on how they can reach this information. I’m sure you have heard people say “Where do I click?” or “Where do I go?” take out the guess work, people like things easy. An entrepreneur friend of mine lives by the motto “Google Simple, Apple Elegant” and Apple is a perfect example of the clear call to action. Visit their home page and you will notice there is no confusion on what Apple wants to share with you or how to get to that information.
Revisit your website with a fresh set of eyes and see if your website is overwhelming with content, offering 100 different paths to take or if it’s clear where to go with the important stuff.
When designing for the consumer just remember you can get your design lookin’ darn sexy while keeping the users experience easy by keeping it Google Simple, Apple Elegant.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...10 SEO Tips [that work]
Here is a list of SEO methods I find help crack the magical SEO challenge of getting your website higher up in the rankings.
Title Tags:
- Your title should contain important keywords.
- Use a different title on every page.
Links need titles too:
- Add a title tag to every <a> tag and give a short description (5 words) what the link is about.
- Tip: Be honest and don’t just cram random keywords into this section.
- EX: <a href=“about.html” title=“Come find out more about us”>About Us</a>
Image Alt:
- Add the Alt attribute to all of your images.
- EX: <img src=”gnomes.jpg” alt=”A bunch of happy gnomes” />
Be standard:
- Validate all of your work.
- Search engines / Spiders like websites that are created properly.
- Validate your site via w3c – Validate Now
Use common tags:
- Be sure to use the <H1>, <H2>, <P> and other common tags.
Link around:
- Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible.
SiteMap:
- Google + SiteMap = Love
- Create a sitemap via XML-Sitemaps
- Link to your sitemap here via Google Webmaster Tools
Submit your site:
Local business center:
- If you type in “restaurants 92106″ into google maps it will give you a listing of local restaurants around the area code 92106.
- To get your site to do this, add it to Googles Local Business Center Click here to add your site
Helpful tips:
- Get the word out by adding your URL to any account you have online (facebook, myspace, youtube account…)
- Help people out on forums (people wit questions) and have your URL in your signature, Don’t spam. Help and they will come.
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5) Loading ...6 Step Marketing Strategy
If your planning on starting up a small business or launching a project here is a simple marketing strategy I compiled that will help maximize your effort.
- What is the purpose of your marketing plan? (ex: get a client to call or purchase a product)
- How can you separate from others? (research your competitors, make a comparison list)
- What solution or quality can you add to your target client?
- How can you maximize their profit?
- In two sentences explain why a client should use you over the competitor across the street. Keep it short and sweet go for their heart no head. (ex: “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the drugstore we sell hope.” Apple did a good job with “1000 songs in your pocket”)
- What is your strategy?
- What mediums will you use? (mailers, emails, ads, speaking…)
- Make sure each medium is setup to analyze. (landing page, analytics, calls)
- Work with your target clients perceptions. (ex: did you know soy milk does NOT need to refrigerated before it’s opened? In grocery stores they market it by having it in the refrigerated section to give the perception it’s more fresh.)
- Set a realistic budget
- Set realistic goals, refer back to your purpose (step 1) and set a time line for each medium.
- Analyze all avenues taken to find the most effective.
- A good way to analyze effectiveness is to use these two simple formulas.
- Cost per sale:: Amount spent on that medium (divided by) number of sales = Cost per sale
- Cost per reaction:: Amount spent on that medium (divided by) number visitors/calls = Cost per reaction
This is just a brief overview, if you would like to learn more about marketing fundimentals head on over to www.smallbizu.org/m101/ for a more comprehensive look at marketing 101.
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...