Website-ROI-Guy.com

Best of the Website Success Blogs (April 24, 2009)

There is so much good content online.  There is a lot of drek too.  I try and distill the best parts for you from time-to-time in Best of the Website Success Blogs.

(cue the intro music)

Successful websites depend on so many things; design & layout, message, usability, marketing, strategy, metrics, etc.  Today, we have many links to information anyone interested in website ROI should consider.

Right off the bat, check out Today is Kick Ass Friday -- 10 Q's for U  Kick Ass Friday is a regular feature and I think you like other recent posts, especially if you're an owner or manager.

The rest of the links include search engine tips, design tips for webmasters and social media tips for baby boomers from the always fabulous Barbara Rozgonyi.

For the more technical, we'll take a look at robots.txt files, link to some CAPTCHA scripts and introduce you to a cool tool for putting videos in your website.

And, don't forget the 'hits and giggles" section.  Some funny images captured by the Google Streetview team and a funny video on Facebook manners.

Biz Tips Blog:
Animoto is a Super Easy Video Tool
I've seen a demo of this and would have to agree that it should be in every webmaster's toolkit.

Clickz:
Is Your B2B Site a Good Salesperson?

Daily SEO Blog:
30 Web Design SEO Tips for Webmasters

Online Business:
Top 10 Search Engine Optomization (SEO) Tips

Search Engine Journal:
Google Selectively Ignoring Meta Description Tags?

Search Engine Land:
A Deeper Look at Robots.txt

Dream CSS:
10 Free CAPTCHA Scripts and Services for Websites

the Blog Herald:
20 Law-Related Questions Every Blogger Should Know
You may want to bookmark this!

SearchEngineWatch:
No Need to Freak Out Over Google Analytics Suddenly Disappearing

Copyblogger:
The Art of Writing Great Twitter Headlines
You can adapt some of Brian Clark's recommendations to website content too!

Corporate Dollar:
How to Build a Social Media Cockpit With Firefox

Mashable:
The Web in Numbers: The Rise of Social Media
Facebook had doubled to 200 million users in 8 months

Social Networking Websites Review:
2009 Social Networking Websites Product Comparisons
Interesting side-by-side comparisons.

wiredprworks:
10 Social Media Savvy Tips for Baby Boomers

And finally, for hits & giggles:

Facebook Manners and You

Caught on Camera: The Best of Google Street View

What We Learn From Radio Programmers About Website Strategy

Early in my career as a radio programmer, I learned about quintile analysis and its effect on strategy.  I worked for the NBC owned and operated FM radio station in Chicago: Q-101.

Quintile analysis looks at a situation broken down into five parts, 20% pieces of the whole.  In radio, QA studies how the 20% of the audience who does most of the listening compares with the 20% of the audience that does the second-most amount of listening, on down to the 1/5 of the audience who really is not brand loyal and doesn't listen very often.  The 5th quintile usually prefers another station OR they may like your station alot, they just don't listen to the radio much.

It's much easier to get the top 20% or 40% of your audience to do something than it is to get the 1/5 of your audience who listens the least to do something.

It was the first time I considered the differences between segments of audience; their respective needs, loyalties and motivations.  Getting your first quintile to listen 10% more was far more effective than getting the 5th quintile to listen more often. And you're motivating 20% of your audience who listen much longer than any of the other 4 segments, so a 10% improvement of those most brand loyal is worth much more than a 10% improvement in those audiences who are not as dedicated.

It's helpful to analyze you website's audience in a similar way.  Visitors who have bought something from you are more likely to buy from you again than those who have not received products or services.  Consider them your first quintile audience and look for ways to maintain relationships that lead to a followup sale.  That could be links to non-public pages with special offers or premium content.  That also includes websites where "Thankyou for your order" pages also promote an  up sell or cross sell.  If you know what motivated them to do business with you in the first place, it'll be easier to figure out how to 'rinse and repeat.'

Your second quintile audience are those who you've had some interaction with, but not necessarily a sale.  They filled out a form or survey, requested information, attended a teleseminar, signed up for a newsletter, etc.  You know something about their interests and what they've been exposed to.  More importantly, you know SOMETHING about who they are by the contact information they've given.  Use that information to follow up.  Give them an update.  Make them feel like you care.

Web Asylum has a customer that markets industrial products all over the world.  They offer dozens of whitepapers about the market and the products they offer.  We built an application where the sales manager can view what whitepapers have been downloaded by date and where their prospect is in the world and assigns the lead to the appropriate company rep or dealer.

Quintile analysis can be even more effective when you incorporate website analytics!

I'm not saying that 20% of your visitors are all buyers or that 20% would all fit a common description.  But to evaluate your prospects by previous behavior or brand attributes will give you a unique perspective that can be leveraged successfully.

And that will increase your website ROI.

-- Kurt

Best of the Website Success Blogs (Feb 21, 2009)

I was thinking about "Saturday Soup" this morning.  My dad would make it several times a month out of leftovers in the fridge when we were kids.  Often, we'd have good sandwiches too, like liverwurst or summer sausage on rye with a little onion and cheese. Splitting an apple was a great way to end the meal and get on with the afternoon.

Saturday Soup was always something nice to look forward to every week.  Writing the best-of blog post is something that I look forward to too.  I find the information interesting, profitable, thought-provoking and fun.  I've made some friends when they've commented on a post or called.  I look forward to even more of that!

But with all the great suggestions people send in and the ever-growing number of bookmarked sites, it's becoming a full day job!  So I think I'm going to break it into 2 posts a week. I also work on other blogs and work "catch up" on Saturdays and the best-of post is interfering with that.  (I need at least SOME time on the couch on Saturdays!)

I really think my best-of posts will guide you to things that will make your website or blog more successful, therefore achieving a higher ROI.  I look at it as filtering stuff down so that you can be more efficient (and spend more time on the couch).  And if there is something that you would like to contribute, by all means shoot me an email at Kurt @ WebAsylum . com

This week, more tools, tips, strategies and trends to achieve website ROI. Then we'll wrap it up with a fun cartoon!

Google Conversion Room:
Website Optimiser - Test and enhance your website
A must-have tool!

Matt Cutts Google, Gadgets and SEO blog:
"State of the Index" talk
This is the "director's cut" of a recent presentation at PubCon. Also a link to his PPT slides.

The Official Google Blog:
Stop bouncing: Tips for Website success
First in a series on website measurement.

ION Interactive:
5 Ways to Improve Your Landing Pages Right Now

Dream Systems Media Blog:
SMX Session Notes: Up Close With Google AdWords Quality Score
Good stuff from the recent conference.

Search Engine Guide:
Dominating Your SEO Competition Through Competitive Knowledge
Research is very important when developing an SEO or PPC campaign.

Search Engine Journal:
SEO: a Process Not a Project
SEO meets the green industry!

SEO Book:
Why it Makes Sense to Target Longtail Keywords First
Excellent strategy!

Small Business Search Marketing:
Searchers Using Longer Queries in 2009
The long tail and what it means to you.

Big Slick Design:
46 Questions to Ask for a Web Design Project
This is geared more for web development companies (and I know I have some such readers) but they are important thinking points for any website project.

SEO 2.0:
12 Social Media Trends You Must Be Aware Of

LinkedIn Expert:
So why in the world would you become LinkedIn?

Google Conversion Room:
Add a search box to your site and act on the data
Improve the user experience and gain powerful insights!

Search Engine People:
5 Steps to Creating Sticky Social Content

Wired PR Works:
Business Communication Shortcut to Success: The Creative Workplan
Whether you have writer's block or just want to get better, Barbara Rozgonyi has a great system.

Seth Godin's Blog:
Five tips for better online survey

And finally, just for "hits & grins."

Have a great weekend!

-- Kurt Schollle, @KurtScholle

Public Speaker Website Case Study We Can All Learn From

My company, Web Asylum, has built a bunch of sites for public speakers, so it's a market I think we understand.  But this case study might be useful as a model for doing an assessment of any website.

We were approached by "Chris" about fixing some work a graphic designer had done on the site.  Chris' webmaster had said that the dynamic pages on the site were interfering with the general layout of the site and what could we do to eliminate the dynamic pages?

In this case, the dynamic pages had nothing to do with the flaws that arose while the site was being maintained.  The dynamic pages on the site were only used to manage a form.  None of the HTML pages were affected by a database.  The graphics files were abused by the graphic artist trying to stuff more into the pages than the page was designed for. 

Why the graphic designer didn't know that is troubling.

I was also able to review traffic statistics for the site and found these facts:

1. The site is averaging 5 visitors a day.
2. The 'bounce rate' is 54%, meaning just over half of Chris' visitors leave the site without viewing a 2nd page.
3. Only 27% of the site's traffic was coming from search engines.  That's very low.
4. About half of the keywords and phrases used in search engines revolved around Chris' name or the website address.
5. NONE of the search engine traffic came from keywords that were directly related to Chris' product's and services.

What's it all mean?

The 2 keys to getting a ROI from a website; traffic and conversion were missing.  5 visitors a day is a small fraction of the number of visitors we see on other public speaker web sites.

Search engine traffic was low and none of it came from coveted keywords.  That suggests that the site needs to be optimized (by section) for appropriate keywords.  Chris may also want to consider the recommendations I made earlier this month to Pat.

One way or another, Chris needs more traffic.

The other problem is conversion.  The site doesn't do enough to engage visitors and begin a relationship.  That's evidenced by the high bounce rate.  It also has a low "Time Spent on the Site" rating of under 2 minutes.  The site could be better written to give visitors a sense that they had found what they were looking for.  The site could also do a better job of escorting the visitor thru the site (2 or 3 clicks) to find relevant information.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to the chiropractor for an adjustment.  But he's an entirely different case study!

-- Kurt Scholle

Annual Website Assessment (Pt 2) Website Metrics

One of the most important elements of your website assessment is knowing how many visitors your site gets.  Without traffic, your site fails.

I've discussed website visitor metric before, so I won't discuss the difference between "hits" and "visitors."  But you should track and study these useful metrics:

1. Visitors: Knowing how many come to your site is critical.  Some metrics packages will tell you how many "unique" visitors you have.  E.G. You could have 3,000 visitors to your website and 2,000 of them could be unique, which means that about half of them returned - an interesting statistic.  Implication: Only a fraction of your site visitors will convert.  If 1 out of 75 visitors converts, and you're getting 6 visitors per day, you're probably not achieving your goals.  Know how many return is a measure of interest.
2. Pageviews: It's important to know how many pages are being viewed on your site and with this information you can calculate the number of pages viewed.  The more they look at, the more interested and engaged they become. Track this figure.  Implication: Unless the goal of your site is to sign people up to a squeeze page (a 1-action page) you need people to immerse themselves in your site. (See Bounce Rate below)
3. Time on Site: Like 'average pageviews' this is a measure of interest or loyalty.  You want people to spend time on your site.  Implication: In most cases you'll want your time on site to be at least several minutes.  If they visit for a minute or less, your offer is not resonating with them.  It might not become apparent or of interest to them in the initial 3-8 seconds from when they land on the site.  There may be no callout to respond to.  The reasons are varied.
4. Bounce Rate: This metric tells you how many people landed on a page and then moved on without clicking any of your other pages.  Implication: The lower the better.  A reading of 50% or more is a problem.  In many cases, a bounce rate of 25% or more is a problem.  Study the correlations between Pageviews, Time on Site and Bounce Rate.
5. New Visits: Expressed in a percentage, usually, it is a great indicator of how well a traffic building program is working.  Implication: If you are working to build website traffic by any means, this will help you understand what's working and what isn't.  New visitors is always a good thing.  Returning visitors are too.  Know the difference and track both metrics.
6. Traffic Sources/Referrers: It's important to know HOW or WHY you get traffic to your website, so knowing how many came from "Direct" (typically they typed the URL into their browser) vs Search Engines or Referring Websites will help you understand how they reach your site.  Implication: This can help you measure the success of Search Engine Optimization, paid search, direct mail, print ad or link-building campaigns.  That can help you determine the ROI for any of those activities.  Seeing how many visitors you got from the chamber of commerce or a trade association website helps measure the ROI of those memberships, but it can also help decide of the links from those sites are compelling or effective.  Maybe the copy or graphic needs change?
7. Keywords: Understand the keywords that your visitors used to find your site.  This can be very illuminating.  Then, TEST those keywords (there are free and paid keyword research tools) to find similar keywords that can drive traffic to your site.  This is an often overlooked strategy.  Implication: There are usually many possible keywords that people will use to find your goods and services, but don't necessarily use all of them at once.  You must also use just a handful on each page and each page needs to be optimized for different keywords.

I could go on and on about keyword strategies and much of what needs to be know can be found in the archives of this blog and in other areas of the web.  In fact, you could probably write a book on each of the metrics I mentioned above.  (And there are certainly a bunch of other metrics to follow!) 

The point is to try and understand what website metrics tell you and then use them to monitor the success and ROI of your initiatives.  What a great way to watch how people behave in your sales funnel! 

Don't analyze your metrics once a year.  Monthly is better.  Weekly is even better.  There may be a case for watching it daily, especially when you are actively working on increasing traffic, rolling out a new offer or simply tweaking your site.

You can do some of this yourself, but you may want to consider bringing in an expert to help review your stats and make recommendations to improve them.

If you have any questions, please drop me a line.

Our Annual Website Assessment series continues tomorrow.

-- Kurt, the Website ROI Guy

New Nielsen Numbers

According to the Nielsen Media Research, we're spending 9% more time online than a year ago. In May, we spent an average of 26 hours and 26 minutes (26:26) online vs 24:16 in May 2007. 2 hours and 19 minutes of that surfing were spent watching video on the Internet.

Nielsen reports, "Watching video on the Internet is no longer a novelty; 119 million unique viewers viewed 7.5 billion video streams in May 2008."  That's significant.

And it's not coming at the cost of television.  We averaged a record 127:15 in front of the tube in May, a 4% increase.  The older we are, the more TV we watch.  The heaviest users of the Internet are Adults 35-44.

Social networking may account for the increase in time spent online.  Facebook grew more than 10% from the previous May to 29.2M unique visitors in the US. Meanwhile, LinkedIn, a professional social networking site, grew more than 20% month-over-month to 9.5M unique visitors. Year-over-year, that represents a 77% growth for Facebook, and 187% for LinkedIn, respectively.

Source: The Nielsen Company

If they know my website name, why do they search on it?

I was asked yesterday why people search for a domain name to find somebody's web site.  "If they know the web address, why do they search on it?"

It's simple.  Many people have a search engine default page come up when they open a web browser.  Instead of typing in the URL into the address bar.

 

They type it into the search querie box.

I would include those as "direct traffic" counts.  Direct traffic is when someone types in your web address, as opposed to traffic that comes from search engines or referral sites.

-- Kurt

New Search Engine Ranking Tool

One of the biggest mistakes people make with their websites is not checking any metrics and making proper decisions.  One set of metrics you should follow is your page rank for coveted keywords across multiple search engines.  You need to know this stuff!  If the search engines don't rank you, then your prospects won't find you.  (We'll discuss how to define the best lists of keywords another time.)

One of the first keywords, however, might be your name, your organization's name or your web address.  It's a unique set of text and one you probably don't get alot of competition on, so it's a good term to search when you initially begin optimizing your site for search engines.  You can go to Google or Yahoo! and easily check your name, company name, product name or site URL.

Ultimately, you will want to be found for additional terms.  Good SEO practices dictate that you'll optimize a page for just a handful of key words and phrases, but your whole site might ultimately have dozens or even hundreds of keywords.  You could check each keyword by hand and list the rank and page it appears on in a spreadsheet, but that can be really time consuming.

A new Firefox browser plug-in will make the job much easier and it's FREE!  Search engine optimization expert Aaron Wall has come out with Rank Checker.  I've been testing it and I like it.  It's not as robust as some of the other reporting tools we use, but I dare say it's much better than what most people are doing right now.

Simply download the plug-in (you'll have to download the browser first if you're not using Firefox), add your keywords and hit the Start button.  You'll see where you rank in the top 200 for Google, Yahoo! or MSN.

You can save these reports as "presets" and run them again.  Rank Checker will add new information to older reports so you can follow trends.  Use different presets for different websites or categories within a website.  You can export your information to csv files, which also helps when creating a report for customers or your boss.  You can also set up scheduled tasks so your reports run in the background automatically - daily, weekly, monthly or even customize it.

I think you'll benefit from using this tool on a regular basis.  Use it to measure the progress of optimizing your site with search engines and tweaking your efforts.  But you can use it for competitive analysis, checking your competitor's rank for their search terms and the ones you covet the most.  A key element to any successful web site strategy is know where you rank on the biggest search engines. 

-- Kurt Scholle, the Website ROI Guy.

Google Share Continues to Rise

More than 2 out of every 3 online searches are done on Google - an all time high.

Hitwise sampled 10 million online users and found that 67.25% of searches are done on Google.  Yahoo! came in a distant second at 20.29%, MSN 5.25% and Ask had a 4.09% share.

Google is obviously the place to be when it comes to online marketing and visibility, but there are options with the other search engines, especially those that serve a specific market of interest.  Don't ignore the rest!  People will find you on them and help build your website ROI.

-- Kurt - The Web Site ROI Guy

Multiple Domains - When to Use Them

I was recently asked about using multiple website domain names that point to the same website.  The person I spoke with said that they had been told that using a name, like MaryJones.com was not as effective with search engines as something that described their business, such as ElderLaw.com.

If you're trying to build your personal brand, the MaryJones.com URL is the way to go.  You can still optimize it for search engines and pay-per-click and be found both ways.  This may be a problem if your name is hard to spell.  (EG: FredWiesznewski.com) But, maybe you think people will remember your service better at the next trade show, chamber function or on a local billboard if you go the ElderLaw route.

We've worked with a number of public speakers and most of them use their name as their website address - they are almost always building their personal brand.  But, if they prefer to be known as the Green Industry Speaker, then GreenIndustrySpeaker.com may be the way to go.

It is possible to have several domains point to one site, but have the URL appear as what was typed in.  We built a site for Kunkel Team Realtors and you can get there by typing in KunkelTeamRealtors.com.  But the actual site URL is NapervillePlainfieldRealEstate.com, which is very keyword-rich for their market.  That URL is only found through search engines.  Tom & Kelley Kunkel use the KunkelTeamRealtors.com URL in all other marketing from yard signs and magazine ads  to business cards and email addresses.  When people type that into their browser, that is the address they see.

Al Lautenslager, who co-wrote the bestselling book "Guerrilla Marketing in 30 Days," was doing a lot of radio/TV/newspaper interviews and had followup and ordering information on his Market-For-Profits.com website.  He could easily have put up a niche site to support the book, but felt that many people would mis-spell "guerrilla."  And saying "market dash for dash profits dot com" on the air was a mouthful, so he registered the domain gm30.com.

Sometimes you will want to use a different URL to measure the effectiveness of a marketing campaign or to credit a joint venture partner for traffic to your site.  You can use applications called "ad trackers" that document the number of times a certain URL is typed and the viewer forwarded to a landing page.  You can assign different URLs to different campaigns, such as "LowCostWidgets.com" to a print ad you're running and "CheapWidgets.com" to a joint venture partner who is promoting your products to properly give credit and pay commissions.  Then, use "Widgets4Less.com" for a direct mail campaign.  You'll get useful metrics for all your initiatives.

Savvy Internet marketers will also split-test different URLs to see which draws the most traffic.

I know a guy who has about 36 URLs registered that are related to his industry.  That's probably overkill, but he'll be ready for ad tracking, joint venturing, split testing, split personality - you name it!

-- Kurt Scholle, the Website-ROI-Guy