Archive for January, 2010

Jan 16th 2010

Is Your Website Ego-Centric?

People look at websites for many reasons – to discover new products, new ideas, as an information resource, and to get the background on a company before conducting business with them. It doesn’t take much time for them to get an impression of your website’s offerings. If your site is centered around you and only you, it stands to reason that visitors will leave quickly and won’t be back any time soon.

What Does Your Site Say About You?

Have you analyzed what your website says about you recently? You may be surprised to find there is too much ‘you’ and not enough room left for others. Sites that are focused on talking only about themselves and how great their products or services are certainly have missed the point of a website. A visitor is coming to the site to learn a little bit about you and what you do but their main objective is to find answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. If you are not providing that consistently, one click is all it takes to move along to someone else.

Bring It Back To the Customer

It is the smaller businesses that seem to be most at fault with maintaining egocentric websites. They stray too far away from a customer-focused site that it becomes a turn-off dramatically affecting the bottom line. It is essential for companies to regularly evaluate their sites and make sure the customer is always showcased as the priority. It is the duty of the business owner to view the site objectively as if they were the customer.

  • Maintaining a smart, customer-focused website requires considerations of the following”
  • Company statements and product/service descriptions are clear, accurate, and understandable to the customer
  • Addresses foremost the needs of the customer and engages visitors directly the dialogue
  • Specifies with backup data the claims the company is making, such as using customer reviews
  • Answers questions logically and addresses likely objections for the customer
  • Keeps the visitor on target and not searching aimlessly for pertinent information

Marketing Efforts Are Long Term

Effectively communicating with potential customers by putting them first is key in successful web marketing. Sure, the customer wants to know a bit about who you are but primarily their own needs and problems are at the forefront of their mind when they check out your website. If you are unsure your site is customer-focused, spend some time away from the computer and consider the top 5 needs of your target audience. Jot down these needs in a question form then return to your website to see if you honestly addressed these questions in a clear manner. Remember also that as times change, needs change. Marketing is not a once and done solution. You need to remain proactive and keep up with the business trends of your industry and reflect those changes in your on-going marketing copy and site content.

Jan 11th 2010

Is Content Still King Online?

We’ve heard it said a thousand times- content is king! But what does that really mean in terms of your website or blog? The simple explanation is you need to offer your readers useful information that is relevant to what they are doing and is different from every thing else they are reading. You also need to post that content on a regular basis so your site is always fresh, new and active. Simple right? Not so much. There are three ways to help you keep your content interesting enough to draw attention and useful enough to draw loyalty.

  • Check your facts. Make sure your content is accurate and helpful. It doesn’t do you or anyone else any good if you post information filled with errors or self-serving hype. Spend a little time around the Internet and see what people are reading. More importantly, try to find out what questions they are asking. Look on forums and through the comments on blogs related to what you do. What are people talking about? Are they asking how to do something? Where to find certain information? Search out the best answers to those questions and write a post or two providing the information in a clear, easy to read fashion so your readers will have answers to the questions they haven’t even asked yet.
  • Keep it real. One of the best ways to demonstrate to your readers- new and old alike- that you are the go-to guy or gal in your niche is to be straight with them about what you know and what you don’t. No one is the master of every detail of every niche. We all have our areas of expertise and mastery and we all have places that just aren’t our thing. Go ahead, claim what you know, and acknowledge what you don’t know. Of course, keywords and SEO are very important to search engine rankings, but if all you are doing is researching keywords and then plugging our words to work around them for SEO purposes, you aren’t going to cut it for long. If the latest research shows that hang gliding while speaking Japanese on a megaphone is the hot trend in your market and you are afraid of heights with a distinct lack of Asian understanding, don’t try to fake it just to work in your keywords. Instead, tell your market that your friend in Japan covers this hang gliding thing much better than I can and go back to writing about what you know best. An old proverb says, “It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” This definitely applies to the content on your site!
  • Add your flavor. While it is critical that you know what you are talking about when writing your content, you also need to write in a way that makes it yours. Don’t try to sound like an economics professor if your personal style is laid back and casual. In the same way, if you are at the top of your field on a topic, go ahead and let people know you have the smarts to back up what you are saying! The point is, write in your own style and personality. Be authentic and genuine or everything you write will sound contrived and awkward. At that point, it won’t matter what you know, it will be boring and difficult to read and your audience will wander.

There are many ways to make sure your content is king, but working on these three points is a definite step in the right direction!

Jan 4th 2010

SEO and Link-Building

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization,  involves building links back to a webpage. The point is to make your content attractive to the search engines so they rank your article or website content as close as possible to the top of the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages.) People tend to click on the uppermost links when they search for information online, so the higher your page can rank the more likely it is people will surf to your site. The process of spreading links to your website around the Internet is commonly known as link-building

Link-building is a process. You don’t just create a link or two to your website and then forget about it. The Internet is all about being dynamic- ever changing and constantly moving. So building a network of links to your site needs to be a consistent part of your business activities. So how do you go about link-building? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  • Keyword research is fundamental to link-building. You need to know the keywords people are using to search for your products. Without spending some time researching the keywords, you are wasting your time by guessing what people want. Instead, spend some time regularly checking out exactly what words and phrases people use when they search for your services or products. There are plenty of free keyword research tools available online- and yes, Google makes one of the best.
  • Check out your tribe! Make a list of websites and blogs that are a good fit for you to link to and from. They should be in the same interest area as your site, but not really your direct competition. Find people whose readers and site visitors need what you have and make some connections. Leave comments on blogs, with a link back to your site. Ask site owners if they will link to you. Offer to link to them. Provide guest blogging articles that include a link to your site.
  • Write press releases when you have something new to announce. Create events to give yourself a reason to write a press release. Make sure you use your SEO techniques within the press release. Online press release services allow you to link directly back to your site. Many of the online press release services are free, so get your thinking cap on and find some reasons to write press releases.
  • Keep track of your link-building activities. A spreadsheet program can be very effective to keep a list of website URLs, blogs, forums, keywords, contact dates and results. This way you know exactly which efforts are worth repeating, which resulted in nothing and which ones are promising, but need a little more attention.

Link-building is easier than you think once you streamline your techniques and begin streamlining your processes. Using the tips above will help you get started link-building with effective SEO strategies so you can increase the traffic to your website and increase your sales revenue in no time.

Jan 1st 2010

Welcome and Thank You for contacting us

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for trusting us with your name & email information.

In exchange for that trust, we plan to offer you honest & valuable information.  Someone from Trace Media will respond to your request within two (2) business days.

If you need a faster response, please do not hesitate to call us at (212) 931-8541 x24.

Best Regards,
Chris Dawkins, CEO

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