Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Website

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Chris

If you think it may be time to give your website a bit of a freshening up, you’re right. Now more than ever, users are displaying less tolerance for slow-loading pages and poorly designed sites. Here are some steps to take to give your site a bit of a “spring cleaning”

Check for Dead Links: Few things make your site seem more out-of-date than when a user clicks one of your links and is taken to a page that doesn’t even exist anymore. Check the links on your pages, blog posts, etc. regularly, to ensure that your users have a positive experience visiting your site.

Optimize Your Images and Videos: Large image sizes cause a page to load more slowly, even in today’s world of dialup and high speed internet connections. Make sure your web developer takes the time to optimize your images, using .gifs whenever possible, and keeping the use of .pngs and larger .jpgs to a minimum. For image heavy sites, consider using a CDN (a Content Delivery Network) to make sure your pages load faster.

Get Rid of Unnecessary Pages: Your page count has the capability to get really high really quickly if you’re not keeping an eye on it. Go through your menu and determine which pages can be combined with others to make a lighter, more user-friendly website.

Try some New Fonts: Overused fonts and styles tend to make a website look dated. Instead of using the same old Arial and Times New Roman for your text and headers, consider using a solution like Cufon or Typekit to give your website a bit of a design lift.

Remember: your website is your virtual showroom! Invest the time it takes to make sure it’s swept clean and ready for visitors!

“I’m Your Number One Fan!” Three Ways to Identify the Most Loyal Followers of Your Brand

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Chris

For any brand, there are three groups of people: People who love you, people who like you, and those people who are just hanging on, waiting for something better. Just like with a marriage, it’s good to realize how important it is to keep the people in that first group on board with what you’re doing with your brand. You need to target these people in a way that’s
different from how you treat those in the other groups. So how do you find the ones who love you? Here are a few ways:

They connect with you using social media. Your brand loyalists, if given the chance, will find you on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, and will subscribe to your blog. They’ll even watch your videos on YouTube! Make sure your website has appropriate links, and maximize those social outlets so that you can make the most of your brand loyalists.

They recommend you to their friends. A truly satisfied customer can be just as vocal as a truly dissatisfied customer. Hopefully, you have strategies in place to prevent dissatisfaction from occurring, but you also need to pay attention to fanning the flames of passion from those satisfied customers. Again, make it easy for your customers to spread the word about you by making sure “share” buttons are easy to find, and that proper rewards for referrals are in place.

They are more likely to open, read, and respond to email marketing. Your brand’s loyalists love hearing from you – and so they are much more likely to read and take action on emails coming from you. Don’t be overly aggressive, but remember this when designing your email messaging. Include exclusive offers and competitive deals because these customers are craving them. Reward them for loving you.

Now that you know how to identify the people who love your brand, you can come up with creative and effective ways to love ‘em back!

10 Tips for Maximizing your Website’s Potential

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Chris

Promote your website everywhere
Make sure your site is useful
Make content on your site easy to find
Make it easy for your visitors to find you
Choose an effective domain name
Register alternate domain names and use them as landing pages or point them to your main site
Make sure your site is accessible to everyone on the web
Update your site’s content when needed
Identify the goals of your site and make sure it’s meeting those goals
Make sure your site is really meeting your potential customer’s needs

How to Choose a Domain Name

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Chris

1. Make it Memorable!

Your domain name is your address on the web. Make sure you choose a memorable name. Ideally, you should register the name of your business (www.PerfectBlinds.com). If that name is not available, try appending the name with your geographical area (i.e. PerfectBlindsAtlanta.com or www.PerfectBlinds-ATL.com).

2. Don’t be afraid to register multiple domain names.

Think about what your target customer would be searching for on the web – in addition to your company’s actual name, perhaps you could register a name that describes your business, your area or target customers’ needs (i.e. AtlantaBlinds.com or www.Easy-to-Clean-Blinds.com). This tactic helps with search engine optimization and marketing efforts.

3. Try to avoid using dashes in the name

When you’re telling someone the name of your website, “Perfect Blinds Atlanta dot com” rolls off the tongue easier than “Perfect dash Blinds dash Atlanta dot com” and is a lot easier to remember. Memorabilty is important: if your chosen domain isn’t available without the dashes, weigh the risks of sending a percentage of your potential customers to whomever owns “PerfectBlindsAtlanta.com” – because in many cases that’s what the user will actually enter into their browser.

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