How to Captivate Your Website Visitors in 2 Seconds Flat

This article was originally published on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Are online leads important to your business? Then allow me to articulate one of your biggest fears:

It happens every day…

Your search engine marketing has worked: a qualified prospect has arrived at the homepage of your website. Your efforts have paid off. The endless content creation, the exhaustive keyword research, the tedious link building -- it's all been worth it.

A few moments go by and then, without notice, your qualified prospect -- the one you worked so hard to put yourself in front of -- hits the "back" button on her browser and continues to peruse the search engine results page. It's over. She's gone. Her business is soon-to-be elsewhere and it all happened so damn fast it hurts.

The good news is that your prospect's abrupt exit probably has nothing to do with your product or service. You know what you're doing and you do it well. Instead, when visitors leave your site prematurely, it's most likely an aesthetical issue, i.e., the design of your website and the images you use.

The reality of the situation is that your website is one of a billion -- literally, a billion -- and you only have a few seconds to captivate your visitors before they remember this fact and move on.

How to fix this problem:

Make your website a pleasure to look at.

A homepage that makes good use of sharp, high-quality images will instantly grip visitors -- capturing their attention and giving your company the credibility it needs to stimulate engagement (e.g., quote requests, service inquiry calls, newsletter sign-ups).

That being said, there's a right way and a wrong way to choose the images on your site.

What not to do:

Stop exclusively using stock photography. A diverse group of people standing in front of a white wall is meaningless. So is a plain handshake. It conveys no information. It carries no emotional message. Ultimately, it's a placeholder and if you use it too much, your website will start to look generic.

This stock image articulates nothing, fails to grab your attention, and is borderline creepy. 

Opt for something better.

Use powerful images that hone in on elements people are naturally drawn to. Consider the style, composition and color of the photographs you use. Doing so will have a profound impact on consumers – influencing everything from the way they interact with your website to how much they trust your company. 

Use striking, powerful photography throughout your website. Facial close-ups are especially captivating as the human face is typically the first thing our eyes gravitate to.

How a picture is put together – the placement and arrangement of each of its parts – can make a big impact on the viewer.

Color, especially when used creatively, can have a significant impact on the look and feel of a website.

You can also immediately captivate your website visitors with creative illustrations or images that have been cropped and integrated into the background of your website. This creates a clean, unified look that relays professionalism and credibility as well as a bit of personality and character.

Which brings me to my point: don’t be afraid to create a unique identity for your company.

Sure you’ve established your brand. You’ve made your company recognizable with a distinct logo and color scheme. Now sculpt your professional identity and company culture using creative, colorful, captivating photography that's as intriguing as it is effective.

That’s how you’ll keep people from clicking the “back” button.

Why Your Business Can't Afford to Ignore BING Another Second

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Your company website isn't the only place potential customers will go to interact with your brand online. Social media platforms as well as local search and business accreditation websites can also serve as resources for people who may want to do business with you. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Bizrate serve as  and are essential to most Internet marketing campaigns.

Search engines, however, are the final (and arguably most important) piece of the Internet marketing puzzle. And while Google is king in this arena (commanding nearly 67% of the market) Bing is steadily gaining ground. The Microsoft search engine is currently in second place with a 17.4% market share -- up 13% since May 2012.

13 percent!

Microsoft's aggressive marketing campaign combined with its exclusive Facebook- and Twitter-integrated approach to search, has yielded a rather impressive growth spurt for Bing. The integration strategy, which at first seemed gimmicky, has actually proven to be as influential as it is innovative.

The progression doesn't stop there: Apple has recently announced that Bing will be the "default search engine" for Siri. And, according to Alexa.com, consumers age 45 - 65 (you know, the ones with the money) use Bing more than Google. Coincidentally (or not), this is the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, as well.

What's the takeaway from all this? I think it's obvious: incorporate Bing into your Internet marketing campaign.

Business owners who depend on search engines for leads have a real opportunity here -- especially if many of your customers are 45 and older.

Not quite convinced? Let's break it down some more:

Bing looks sexy.

Microsoft's "Bing It On" campaign features a side-by-side Search Engine Results Page (SERP)challenge. The commercials show participants choosing Bing's SERP page because it has the most visual content.

Their point is that people are drawn to vibrant, beautiful images -- not just information. This concept is what led to Facebook's visual revamp after trends showed that nearly half of all News Feed content consisted of pictures and videos. By making visual content on the site bigger, brighter and generally more appealing, Facebook increased user engagement.

The same strategy now works for Bing.

Bing loves local businesses.

Look. Google+ Local is nothing to kick dirt at. But just because Google developed a great tool doesn't mean Bing is irrelevant. In fact, in addition to incorporating local/maps into its search results, Bing Places for Business goes a step beyond Google: giving business owners the ability to display images, custom URLs and even their company logo within maps.

Make sure you capitalize on these innovations by verifying your company's location and optimizing your listing on Bing.

Twitter & Facebook love Bing.

Being active and reputable on Twitter and Facebook will not only promote your company's brand, it will win you valuable eye-catching real estate on Bing.

When a brand search is executed on Bing, the far right rail of the SERP will display your company's Twitter account info as well as any recent tweets you may have posted. It can even show your Klout score.

If you're logged into Facebook and you've granted Bing access to your account info, you'll be able to see the companies your friends "Like" directly in the results. It's a refreshing way to experience a search engine -- personalizing the experience for searchers while instantly creating interest and credibility around your brand.

Bing is gaining on Google.

Although Google's algorithm is more advanced than Bing's (e.g. it's more accurate and efficient), the gap between the two search giants is steadily closing.

Currently, Bing's algorithm works (more or less) the way Google's worked about two years ago. Naturally, because they're completely separate entities, the updates Google has made since then don't affect Bing at all.

The steps you take to improve your organic results on Bing, however, won't hurt your Google efforts. So go forth, optimize, and experience the boundless rewards of the path less traveled.

Keep it simple: produce quality links with keyword-rich anchor text. The title tags on your websites should include relevant keywords, as well. Again, these techniques will improve your rankings on both Bing and Google, so it's a win-win.

In conclusion…

Bing is here to stay. Recognizing and accepting this fact will make branding your company, managing your online reputation, and acquiring hoards of quality leads a simpler, more streamlined process.

How to Convert 88% More of Your Website Visitors into Quality Leads

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Your company's website, regardless of the product or professional service you offer, is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. This is especially true if your business depends on a consistent stream of quality leads.

Recently, we initiated an A/B test which completely reinforces the notion that trust and credibility are of paramount importance online. We measured that one of our sign company customers was consistently converting 7.8% of their website visitors into leads. In other words, for every 1000 people who visited their site, 78 either submitted their e-mail address or uploaded a logo/design to their file sharing system for a free quote. These statistics were recorded when the slider pictures on the company's homepage advertised the company itself (e.g. displaying its logo and headquarters).

In an effort to increase our number of conversions for this client, we switched out some of the company-branded images on the homepage with examples of their work. These included signage projects for major corporations such a Chase Bank and even AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The results were profound.

Every 1000 visitors to the site now generated approximately 147 leads -- an 88% increase! And why did this happen? Because the new pictures instantly gave the company credibility.

At Spectrum, everything we do revolves around the acquisition of leads and new business for our customers. To do so we use a slew of advanced marketing techniques and technologies. We also test. 

We test everything: landing pages, quote forms, e-mail signup requests -- the list goes on and on.

We test because doing so ensures that our clients' conversions are consistently improving. Testing gives us the confidence to definitively say what's working and what's flopping. The more you test, the more you'll understand your potential customers -- gradually trimming the fat off the lead-capturing techniques you employ until all you have left is lean, efficient and effective strategies that get the job done and put money in your pocket. 

The results of our A/B test are also indicative of the fact that your logo doesn’t necessarily have to be the first thing people see when they go to your website. Let your work -- especially if it's iconic and notable -- speak for your company. This will help you drastically improve sales without even increasing website traffic.

It's a good deal.

Should Your Business Website Have More Than One Domain?

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Ever heard of Kimberly-Clark?

No, it's not a person. It's a corporation -- a major one.

Kimberly-Clark (KMB) is a publically traded, multi-billion dollar company with nearly 60,000 employees. It produces internationally distributed paper-based products that we all know and use and love. These include Kleenex, Huggies, Depend, Cottonelleand Pull-Ups.

Like I said, everyone knows these products. So why do so few people know about Kimberly-Clark?

The answer is simple: branding.

Kimberly-Clark owns so many profoundly successful brands that advertising itself as a parent company would be a futile venture. 

Kleenex, Huggies, and the over one-dozen other brands owned by KMB are, in and of themselves, corporations -- each of which is marketed very differently to a target group of consumers. Therefore, each brand demands its own unique presence on the Web. Kleenex, for example, is so well-branded that it has become synonymous with the very word "tissue." It's an incredible accomplishment and, in order to perpetuate the brand name, Kleenex must maintain its image with individualized advertising (including a single website and domain).

When it comes to local or regional businesses, however, multiple domains are almost never necessary.

For example, a local remodeling business should only maintain one website (even if it has a wide selection of products and services). A common misconception is that creating a separate domain for each product offering (e.g. windows, doors, flooring) will help monopolize popular industry keywords. Once upon a time, this (unethical) strategy worked well. To avert this practice, Google has since limited the weight that is placed on domain keywords -- forcing business owners to do things the hard (but right) way.

Ultimately, you want to have a domain for each brand you're trying to develop. For example, if you own a moving company and a real estate firm, you'll want to have two separate websites -- one that focuses on each business. Otherwise you'll not only confuse your customers, but the search engines you're trying to rank on, as well.

If you only own one business, you're only trying to build one brand. Therefore, you only need one website. Investing in more than one means you'll also have to devote more time to your SEO efforts. Multiple domains will also spread the authority of your brand over the Internet rather than centralize it -- diminishing your credibility something awful. And if you don't have credibility online, what do you have?

How to Turn More of Your Website Visitors Into Paying Customers in 4 Quick Steps

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

These four steps revolve around four crucial words: optimize your landing pages.

Landing pages, whether they're a product of your SEO or PPC efforts, deserve a great deal of attention and consideration. Their purpose, after all, is to sell potential customers.

If prospects leave the landing page you directed them to, they're most likely gone for good.

Luckily, we've created a list of steps that will help you create compelling, clear, irresistible landing pages for your business:

1. Optimize your page titles

When someone performs a search on Google or Bing, the search engine will try to match the keywords in the search with the title of a page.

This fact makes page titles extremely important.

Keep your page titles short and concise to ensure they are indexed correctly. Also, be sure to keep them relevant to the service or product you're offering.

2. Don't disregard your URLs

To increase the chances that your website will be found in a search, keep your URLs to 65 characters (this is usually the digit search engines like to see). Also, don't forget to include the main keywords you want to be found for in those first 65 characters.

3. Keep your visitors interested

How do you maintain people's attention on the Internet? Start with rich, well-written information and supplement it with clear, beautiful pictures. Ultimately, you have to find a balance between content and aesthetics -- put some emotional appeal behind your landing pages. Also try presenting links to:

• Customer reviews and product description

• Query and feedback forms

• Social media profiles

• Reciprocal websites

• YouTube videos

You know, the good stuff.

4. Optimize your images

Every video and every image has a file name. By changing (optimizing) this file name and saturating it with relevant keywords, you'll be making it much easier for search engines to find your website.

High-quality images that are interesting, stimulating and intriguing will also help convert your visitors.

SEO or PPC: Which is Better for Your Business?

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

When it comes to your company's Internet marketing, is it best to allocate time and money to your search engine optimization efforts or your pay-per-click advertising?

Which is better for your business?

PPC is a fantastic surface-level way to get your business in front of potential customers almost immediately.

SEO is a deeper, more long-term investment that takes patience, time and dedication to effectively execute.

Both demand knowledge and experience. Neither is necessarily superior to the other. The popular contention, therefore, is that to make the most of an online marketing campaign, business owners must utilize both strategies in congruence. Here are 7 excellent reasons why:

KEYWORDS, KEYWORDS, KEYWORDS

Pay-per-click is a great place to test the keywords you plan to use in your SEO campaign. Targeting several different keyword phrases throughout multiple PPC ads will help drive traffic to your site that actually converts into revenue. Knowing this information will allow you to target only the most effective keywords throughout your SEO campaign.

HIGHER CLICK-THROUGH RATES, MORE CONVERSIONS

Most business owners cut their PPC ad spend as soon as their website achieves top organic rankings for their most relevant keywords -- mainly because they feel as though they'd get the organic click anyway so why spend the extra money? Right?

Actually… not exactly.

When both your paid and organic listings appear on the same search results page, searchers are more likely to 1) click through to your website and 2) convert once they're there. This is because a dual SERP occurrence conveys credibility as well as an established presence in your particular market.

BRAND RECOGNITION

This goes hand-in-hand with higher click-through rates and more conversions. When your website has both an organic and a PPC presence on a search engine results page, your company brand will become more recognizable and, in turn, gain the trust of consumers. 

COMPETITIVE EDGE

The more your presence is felt by consumers -- both organically and in pay-per-click -- the more your competition will struggle for their cut of the pie.

MORE DATA, BETTER ANALYSIS

Concurrently running a SEO and PPC campaign will yield twice as much data to review and analyze. With a larger data pool, you (or your marketing company) will be able to make more educated and impactful adjustments to your strategy as time goes by.

YOUR ADWORDS QUALITY SCORE WILL GO UP…

Your Adwords Quality Score will gradually improve if the pages you're sending clickers to have been properly optimized for SEO. Improving your quality score will lower your cost per click and result in better PPC placement for the ads you're running.

…SO WILL YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC

It can take search engines a fair amount of time to trust a freshly-launched website. A PPC campaign can supplement the work that crawlers do by sending a steady stream of traffic to your site -- building authority, egitimacy and clout with search engines.

How to Make the Most of a BAD Review on Yelp

This article was originally published on the Spectrum blog. 

---

A bad Yelp review is like a hard punch in the gut. Only the pain doesn't go away. It lingers horribly in the pit of your stomach while your face illustrates the agony you're going through.

Everyone can see it.

Receiving a bad review on Yelp is extremely frustrating for a small business owner. Besides the fact that it feels like a personal attack, a crumby review is public and effectively permanent. What's worse is that you don't even have to sign up for the service to be reviewed. Virtually anyone with an opinion and an Internet connection can negatively critique your service, your product, your business on Yelp.

Of course, people can also say nice, pleasant things about your shop -- but this article isn't about that. It's about how to respond to poor reviews and turn a bad thing into a good thing.

Believe me, it's possible.

Just keep these principles in mind as you yelp back:

FOOLS RUSH IN

As a business owner, it's important to make your voice heard in the midst of negative publicity. However, if your voice is just as acidic as your reviewer's, you'll want to hold off.

Don't respond to a negative comment about your business in the heat of the moment. If you emotionally respond with a sarcastic, condescending or disingenuous remark, you'll only make the situation worse. And two wrongs really don't make a right.

It's always best to respond to a bad review after you've had some time to think about the comment and formulate an intelligent, tactful and solution-oriented response. Anything less will most likely reflect poorly on your business.

YOUR MANNERS MATTER

Simple and polite, just like your mama taught you.

Always remember that potential customers will be judging both your customers' reviews and your responses. If you come off rude on Yelp, people will instinctively think you're rude in real life.

WE'RE ALL HUMAN

People like to feel as though they've made a difference. Often times, even the most seemingly altruistic acts are driven by our desire to feel better about ourselves and our role in the world.

Use this to your advantage.

After you thank a negative reviewer for their feedback (pretending its Joe Pesci helps), offer some additional information. Explain what changes you plan on implementing to fix the issue(s) they complained about. People will appreciate your honesty and initiative. They'll also feel good about the fact that their voice made a positive difference. Who knows, they may even come back to experience the changes first hand. If they do, you can feel good knowing that your calm, level-headed reaction was what prompted their return in the first place.

So remember: be positive and optimistic when responding to bad reviews. Offer solutions. Give thanks and don't forget to apologize for any inconvenience. Putting the customer first is what being a good business owner is about. Not to mention that a public forum like Yelp gives new meaning to the mantra the customer is always right. Respect this fact and, in return, customers will respect you -- bad reviews and all. 

6 Ways to Get More PPC Leads Than Your Competition

This article originally appeared on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Powerful advertising platforms such as Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter have made online marketing for small- and medium-sized businesses convenient and effective.

As the Internet continues to burrow deeper into the lives of American consumers, business owners continue to capitalize -- taking money away from print and television to invest in channels like PPC, which have proven to yield exceptional ROI when well-executed.

The ever-increasing popularity of pay-per-click advertising, however, has brought about steeper competition. In the midst of so many campaigns, getting your ads clicked on (and your product out the door) has become a difficult proposition.

To help with this dilemma, we've compiled 6 ways to get a handle on your PPC campaigns, reel in more leads and, ultimately, outperform your competition:

1. Align your selling points with those of your competitors'

The Internet is a heaven for comparison shopping. After all, when a better deal is a mere click away, the urge to browse prices can be irresistible. To combat this issue, you should always know what your competition is offering customers. At the very least, you should strive to match it.

If, for whatever reason, you can't match or beat your competitors on price, focus the focal point of your landing page on a different selling point. For example, free shipping. Producing great copy will also help you positively distinguish your company from a direct competitor, which is never bad for business.

2. Create an intuitive, no-stress conversion process for your customers

While you should avoid a condescending tone in your ads and generally be respectful of your audience, you should still focus on making your conversion process as simple as possible. Make it so that a third grader will breeze through it and you'll be a surprised at the difference it makes.

All of the content your customers see -- from the PPC ad to the landing page to the sales form -- should be clear, concise and compelling. Your design work should be captivating, as well, delivering a clear path for your potential customers to follow.

3. Read the fine print of your campaign performance reports

Pay-per-click advertising demands a detail-oriented mindset. Understanding the finer points can make a profound difference in the long-run. When your AdWords or adCenter report becomes available, be sure to analyze:

·  Search query reports

·  Landing page split tests

·  Keyword/advert level performance

·  Conversion rate analyses for each landing page

4. Isolate your targeted and generic keywords

In most cases, a PPC account that consists of only one campaign will be ineffective. Doing so usually allows for more generic terms -- the one's that everyone has their hands in -- to consume your budget.

Targeted terms that are tailored to your business will convert much better than generic terms.

Therefore, consider creating specific campaigns for your most highly targeted and relevant keywords.

5. Analyze your competitors' marketing behavior

For example:

Are your competitors cutting off their ads at specific times?

Are they using some keywords more than others?

Asking yourself these questions will help you understand what's working for your competition and how you can use it to benefit your own company.

6. Never, ever settle

Complacency is the beginning of the end.

To improve your conversion rates and, thereby, increase your profits, you must constantly test different keywords, dverts and landing pages. As an online marketer, you should always be striving to increase your conversion rates. And the best way to do so is to test. Regardless of your experimental results, the knowledge and experience you gain in the process can make all the difference further down the road.

14 (Crazy) Smartphone Facts That'll Convince You To Go Mobile Before 2014

This article was originally published on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Whether you know it or not, responsive website design (RWD) is the future of your website.

A site built with RWD will adapt its layout to the device it's being viewed on -- a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone -- making it easier for visitors to read and navigate a website without having to constantly pan and resize the screen.

Before RWD technology was available, you had to create (and maintain) a completely separate mobile version of your site. Responsive web design allows for one, easily maintainable site that updates automatically across all platforms.

Every day, more businesses are making the transition to responsive website design because statistics have overwhelmingly shown that the functionality of RWD lends itself to the habits and expectations of consumers. Take these 14 smartphone facts, for example. They're a powerful reminder that when it comes to generating business leads, smartphones truly are the future:

Within 4 years, more consumers will access the Internet on their mobile devices than on their PCs

(Source: Brightcove)

There are 5 times as many cell phones in the world as there are PCs

(Source: Impiger Mobile)

74% of smartphone users use their phone for shopping research – 79% ultimately make a purchase as a result

(Source: Impiger Mobile)

82% of adults in the United States own a cell phone

(Source: Pew Internet)

49% of the mobile subscribers in the United States own a smartphone

(Source: MobiThinking)

25% of Americans ONLY use their mobile devices to access the Internet

(Source: GoMo News)

73% of smartphone users said they used mobile web to shop instead of an app

(Source: Yahoo)

74% of people will wait 5 seconds or less for a site to load on their smartphone before giving up

(Source: Compuware)

60% of web users expect mobile sites to load in 3 seconds or less

(Source: Compuware)

72% of US smartphone users go online with their device while traveling

(Source: zmags)

70% of mobile searches lead to action within one hour – It takes one month for the same percentage of desktop users to catch up

(Source: Mobile Marketer)

64% of US smartphone users go online with their device while in a restaurant or coffee shop

(Source: zmags)

63% of US smartphone users go online with their device while shopping in a store

(Source: zmags)

90% of mobile searches lead to action and more than 50% lead to a purchase

What's the Magic Behind Google?

This article was originally published on the Spectrum blog. 

---

Do you use Google? Do you use Google for work? Could potential customers use Google to find your business?

Then read on.

The more you know about Google -- you know, what makes it tick -- the better you'll be at using it personally and professionally. The better you'll be at making Google work for you, as well.

Unlike your car or the clock hanging in your living room, Google (and the information it organizes) is consistently changing. Whether or not you understand the inner workings of a watch won't change how it works -- time is time. How you approach a search engine, however, can make a tremendous difference in how you search and how people search for you.

So how does Google work? What powers this ever-changing machine? What's the magic behind its awesomeness?

Read on.

Google does three things:

It Crawls.

The text you publish on your website, your blog, in the comments of someone else's blog -- wherever -- is browsed and collected by software programs called Googlebots. They're also known as crawlers or spiders. Essentially, these are bits of computer code developed by Google in order to find and "read" information on the web. Googlebots cover millions of pages everyday -- tirelessly looking for fresh new content (or changes to existing content) so that it can index it.

It Indexes.

After a Googlebot crawls a web page, it stores the information away in an enormous database. This is called indexing. Ultimately, the goal here is to store as much information away as possible and present it to searchers through an algorithmic ranking process.

It Ranks.

Part of Google's mission as a company is to organize the world's information -- a process otherwise known as ranking. Naturally, the algorithm Google uses to do this is a closely-guarded secret. There are, however, several widely accepted strategies you can employ to ensure your website ranks well.

Here are just a few examples:

Consistently create great content.

Use keywords, just don't overdo it.

Incorporate anchor text throughout your content.

Create a great website that's also responsive.

You know, the basics. 

Of course, all this information begs the question: is it more important to create content for humans or for search engines? Which strategy will
yield better results.

The fact is you need both. Compelling, informative and entertaining reads coupled with proven SEO strategies is just what search engines are looking for: great content that's easy to crawl, index and rank. With that said, if you were to start anywhere, start with a great idea. Strive to engage your target audience. Try to create something you would want to read yourself. Use your passion for whatever you do as a base and let Google work its magic.