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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Free Survey Tool Fuels Marketing Insight

Over the past few days I have inexplicably come across a number of marketing tools that were new to me; I am not sure if it was by chance or a lot were just released or something. Anyway, I am still testing a few of the more promising ones but one free tool called 4Q could really help many a webmaster understand their visitors better.


4q-logo.jpg

4 Questions (4Q)
Have you ever wondered why your website isn't functioning as well as you originally anticipated? Or perhaps you are seeing some very odd fluctuations in traffic and you wish you could ask your visitors what is going through their minds? Well now there is an easy way to get these answers and it is the classiest solution I have seen so far... and better yet it is free! Enter 4Q, the brainchild of analytics guru (or analytics "god" in my opinion) Avinash Kaushik and analytics company iPerceptions.

So what does 4Q do?
4Q is designed to answer 4 critical questions for you:

1. How satisfied are my visitors?
2. What are visitors at my website there to do?
3. Are they completing what they set out to do?
4. If not, why not? / If yes, what did they like best about the online experience?

The system is very simple for anyone to setup as Avinash personally notes in a helpful video tutorial he created.

Here is how it works once it is setup on your website:

1. Of every 5 people that enters your website 1 will be selected and politely requested to participate in a survey to help you ensure your website has provided them with what they need; you can increase the ratio to whatever you like, all the way to 100% of visitors. Note: the survey is presented as a request to the visitor, provided in the politest manner possible and is not a popup.
2. Once the visitor says "Yes" they agree to participate a popup window will be created and will be minimized to their task bar as they continue their session through your website. Should the visitor say "No" the request disappears and the visitor is taken to your website and will not be bothered again.
3. Once the visitor has completed his/her session on your website he/she can open the popup that is waiting in their taskbar and quickly answer the 4 questions. Upon completion of the survey they are thanked and the popup disappears.

StepForth implemented this system on our main site (www.stepforth.com) just last weekend and so far I have been impressed by the preliminary feedback. StepForth's website is about to get replaced with a new design and emphasis so it is even more worthwhile to learn whatever I can about the current site's failings. In the spirit of sharing and accountability here are our preliminary 4Q results in PDF format; sharing this information will make us improve our approval rating that much faster. Here is an example of the survey showing what we could improve upon:
4q-discontentsample.jpg

In the above screenshot (click image for larger version) one can clearly see some visitors have had problems finding the latest news that we publish on our SEO News Blog and about StepForth's company information. From this feedback it is now obvious we need to provide clearer routes to both types of content. It may seem we are jumping the gun since our data is based on only a few replies; however, I have a hunch that the people that replied represent a great many who had the same problem but did not fill out or get invited to fill out the survey.


You may be wondering... doesn't analytics provide a lot of these answers? Not really, as Avinash states "Clickstream data is often missing the context... But with answers to these simple questions you'll have the context to make sense of it all." In other words, combining 4Q and a great analytics program will provide the information you need to make even more insightful changes to influence your website's success.

Will 4Q Impede Search Engines?
No, 4Q is a JavaScript-based system and since JavaScript is not activated by visiting search engines you can be confident that 4Q will not impact your search engine rankings. In fact, if anything the answers provided by 4Q will allow you to create a better user experience on your website and with additional insight into visitor's intentions you could very well increase rankings.

Surveys are Everywhere, What Makes 4Q so Special?
4Q was created by analytics experts to add context to the often incomplete picture that current analytic software provides. The system is simple, free, easy to install, and once you set it up there is no maintenance required other than making changes to your site or patting yourself on the back based on the valuable feedback you receive from survey participants.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Reach more people with a mobile website

More people are starting to browse the web with mobile devices as it is now a “on the move” business tool. Usually when people are not in their offices, they are not near a computer and so they cannot reach you online. This is false! By having a mobile website you are opening your doors to users accessing the web from a mobile device such as a cell phone.

Most companies have a regular website but not a mobile website. A mobile website (light version of a normal website) is optimized to be viewable on the mobile web and a cell phone. Very few businesses today have a website that can be easily viewed on a mobile phone.

Mobile websites are different than normal websites found on the web. Cell phones have small screens and usually limited abilities and cannot process large websites full of graphics because most websites are developed and designed for the web, not the mobile web. Cell phones requires simpler websites, smaller in size and with few graphics.

A dedicated optimized mobile website is needed if you want your “website” to be displayed on cell phones. Mobile websites are much smaller and usually have fewer pages. The message on your “mobile” pages should also be more focused what your mobile audience wants to know.

The mobile web is much lighter than the normal web. Desktop computers connects to the web through a stable high speed connection. Cell phones by their nature have to connect on the move. Connections are transferred from cell tower to cell tower and are affected by carrier coverage. This makes it quite limited in bandwidth.

Even though to view your website depends on network coverage, by having one you are enabling yourself to be found easily.

Reasons for having a dedicated mobile website.

* If your company depends on local customers.
* If your company depends on advertising.
* If your prospects want to get information on the go.

The mobile web is still young but it is growing fast. To be the leader in your market and niche, it is highly recommended to get a dedicated mobile website.

I have been using the mobile web for a couple of years now and I have optimized this blog to be “mobile” ready. Browse to our blog from your cell phone and you will see. This helps me answering my visitors comments when I’m not in front of my computer. A mobile blog that I can access anywhere!
Friday, July 24, 2009

Useful SEO tools for your website

Find below a list of useful SEO tools that you can use to see useful statistics regarding your website. These tools are very useful as they include keyword tools and back link checkers.

There are many other useful SEO tools available on the internet (Google Webmasters, Yahoo Site Explorer, etc) as more and more companies focuses on dedicated search results.

* http://www.google.com/insights/search/# (See what everyone is searching for)
* http://google.com/sktool/# (Search based keyword tool)
* https://adwords.google.cn/support/bi….py?topic=1500 (Google keyword tool)
* https://adwords.google.com/support/b…y?answer=64886 (Best practices when using the Google keyword tool)
* http://www.google.com/trends (Google trends)
* https://adwords.google.com/select/Tr…timatorSandbox (Web Traffic estimates)
* https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal (New keyword ideas)
* https://adwords.google.com/select/Ke…?defaultView=2 (Same as above, might produce different results in different browsers)
* http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear…ry/suggestion/ (Overture keyword selection tool)
* http://adlab.microsoft.com/ForecastV…TrendsWeb.aspx (Keyword forecast)
* http://seoserp.com (Google 1000 SERPS checker)
* http://www.rightscripts.com/outboundlinkchecker/ (Outbound links checker)
* http://www.backlinkwatch.com/index.php (Check backlinks)
* http://www.seoserp.com/web_tools/goo…ps_checker.asp (Check SERP)
Monday, July 20, 2009

Useful SEO websites and tools

I have found a couple of useful SEO tools that might help you in the DIY SEO process of your website. SEO is a long term process and if done correctly, you will reap the benifits. It doesn’t mean that when you use these tools that you will up the rankings of your website. They are only as useful as how you use them in the exploration of your website SEO process.

If you have a couple of useful web tools not listed here, feel free to comment your tool and I will add it to the list.

Keywords and Content

* Free Directory (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/)
* Meta Tag Generator (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/advanced-meta-tag-generator/)
* Keywords Suggestions for Google (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-google/)
* Keyword Density Tool (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-density/)
* Website Keyword Suggestion (http://www.webconfs.com/website-keyword-suggestions.php)
* Keyword Difficulty Check (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-difficulty/)
* Search Radar (http://searchradar.webaroo.com/)
* Keyword Optimizer (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-optimizer/)
* Keyword Top 10 Site Info (http://www.seocompany.ca/tool/top-keyword/)
* Google Sets (http://labs.google.com/sets)
* Keyword Typo Generator (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-typo-generator/)
* Keyword Density Checker (http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-density-checker.php)
* Social Media Keyword Checker (http://www.tweetvolume.com/)
* Meta Tag Generator (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/meta-tag-generator/)

Website Server, Domains, ETC

* Domize (https://domize.com/)
* Check Server Headers (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/check-server-headers/)
* Spider Emulator (http://www.webconfs.com/search-engine-spider-simulator.php)
* Physic Whois (http://www.psychicwhois.com/)
* Class C checker (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/class-c-checker/)
* Search Engine Optimization Analysis Tool (http://www.seoworkers.com/tools/analyzer.html)
* Search Engine Rank Checker (http://www.searchenginegenie.com/google-rank-checker.html)
* Domain Age (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/domain-age/)
* SEO Friendly Redirect Checker (http://www.webconfs.com/redirect-check.php)
* Page Size Extractor (http://www.prioritysubmit.com/seotools-page-size-extractor.html)
* Alexa (http://www.alexa.com/)
* Check Yaho Web Rank (http://www.webconfs.com/check-yahoo-webrank.php)
* Web Page Analyzer 9http://www.websiteoptimization.com/services/analyze/index.html)
* Indexed Pages (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/indexed-pages/)
* Compete (http://compete.com/)
* Domain Stats Tool (http://www.webconfs.com/domain-stats.php)
* Domains Bot (http://www.domainsbot.com/)
* Page Rank Lookup (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/pagerank-lookup/)
* Instant Domain Search (http://instantdomainsearch.com/)
* SEO Browser (http://seobrowser.com/index.php?address=www.3q.co.za&action=Parse+URL)
* URL Rewriting Tool 9http://www.webconfs.com/url-rewriting-tool.php)
* Page Size Finder (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/page-size/)
* Google Trends (http://www.google.com/trends)
* Quancast (http://www.quantcast.com/)
* Robots Text Generator (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/robots-generator/)
* Awstats http://awstats.sourceforge.net/)
* Website to country tool 9http://www.webconfs.com/website-to-country.php)
* Zeitgeist (http://www.google.com/intl/en/press/zeitgeist.html)
* Graphical Search Comparison (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/graphical-search-engine-comparison/)

Backlinks

* Reciprocal Link Check (http://www.webconfs.com/reciprocal-link-checker.php)
* Multiple Datacenter Link Popularity Check (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/multiple-datacenter-link-popularity/)
* Link Diagnosis (http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/)
* Backlink Checker from We Build Pages (http://www.thelinkpop.com/)
* Backlinks Summary (http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-summary.php)
* Analyze Backlinks (http://www.analyzebacklinks.com/)
* Backlink Builder (http://www.webconfs.com/backlink-builder.php)
* Link Popularity (http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/link-popularity/)
* Domain inbound links checker (http://www.online-utility.org/webmaster/backlink_domain_analyzer.jsp)
* Backlink Watch (http://www.backlinkwatch.com/index.php)
Saturday, July 18, 2009

Google Offers Stronger Conversion Tracking via AdWords

If you are a Google AdWords advertiser and rely on Google's conversion feature to help you figure out your campaign budgets, you'll be interested to learn more about some conversion tracking features they put into place last month. John over at PPC Hero has a nice write up on the features and how you can apply them.

John explains:
Conversions can now be segmented as one of the following types:

* Leads
* Purchase/Sale
* Sign-Up
* Pageview
* "Other"



Within each conversion type, you can create any number of actions. For example, let's say you are selling neck ties for Father's Day. This is a limited time offer and a very specific sale. So, you would click on "Create a New Action" and select "Purchase/Sale" to choose the right conversion tracking code. Input "Father's Day Neck Ties" as the action name for reporting. To complete the setup, you would then place the tracking code on your purchase thank you page. Once visitors to your site begin buying your Father's Day neck ties, these conversions will show up in AdWords appropriately labeled!

While I'd encourage any business to look toward investing in strong analytics software that can do this type of tracking without giving Google access to your exact conversion rates and online sales flow, this is still an option worth looking at if you're starting out with zero budget.

You can get the full story (including quite a few links to more information) on the new AdWords Conversion Tracking at the Inside AdWords blog.
Friday, July 17, 2009

Does Your Blog Have a Twitter Landing Page?

One of the best bit of social media advice I ever received came from Chris Brogan when he said that when you want to decide if a social media tool is for you, observe how someone that is really good at the tool uses it. Right now Twitter is hotter than Memphis in August, and one of the true power users of Twitterville is Laura Fitton, who is known on Twitter as Pistachio.

So it should probably come as no surprise that Laura seems to have literally created the concept of adding a Twitter landing page on your blog. On your Twitter profile page, there's a small area where you can create a bio and link to your blog. But Laura saw an opportunity to improve on the skimpy space that Twitter provides.

Laura added a link on her Twitter page that sends you to a special page on her blog that explains more about who she is, and what she does. I emailed her to ask her why she created this page, and here's her response:

"Here's the thing, when someone clicks a Twitter profile URL, they're probably trying to get just a little bit more information on who is writing the tweets. Chances are, they don't have a bunch of time to go in-depth. So I thought it might be nice to put out a little welcome mat.

I'll probably expand it to fill in some basic info about how I engage with Twitter, like asking the favor of an "@reply hello" so that I can return the follow. For others, they might use the space to tell folks what their "follow back" policy is (it's different for everyone,) really, or other stuff to know about following them. Like, I point out that I tweet an awful lot and that for someone new to Twitter, they might be better off following me in their RSS reader so my frequent tweets don't drown out the stream."

Here's a sneak peek at what Laura's Twitter landing page looks like on her blog:
PistachioTwitterBlogPage.jpg
The page also includes links to posts she has written about Twitter. I absolutely love this idea because Laura is thinking about how her followers on Twitter view her page. She is also already thinking about the future and how she can possibly change the page to make it more useful to her followers in helping her communicate with them.

This goes back to Chris' advice about observing how people that are really good at a particular social tool, use that tool. Laura has found a way to tap into the incredible communication and networking power of Twitter to become a literal superstar in the social media space. She does so by understanding the capabilities of the tool, and utilizing it effectively.

So if you spend any amount of time on Twitter, consider adding your own Twitter landing page to your blog. I will be creating one for my blog soon, and given that Twitter is sending me more and more traffic, it only makes good sense.

BTW if you are still getting your feet wet on Twitter, make sure you follow both Chris Brogan and Laura "Pistachio" Fitton. They are two of the true Twitter experts, and both are sincerely good people to boot!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Web designers understand search engines

It is not hard to find a web design company or to find web developers to develop your online application according to your needs. The question is…do they understand search engines? Do they know how to optimize your whole website?

So you told your web design company that you would like to appear on search engines. Great, now what? It’s not an accomplishment if you type in your company name in the search engines and you are ranked number 1. How can this benefit you? If people already knew your company name why not just type in your url to browse to your site (if they knew your url of course).

What if you were ranked on the first page on the search engines for the keywords your company relates to? If you were, people would find you without typing in your company name on the search engines.

Most web designers/developers don’t know the critical information regarding SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and the vital role it plays when designing/developing a new site. SEO needs to be taken in consideration from the first moment when the development for your site has begun. Most of the factors like title tags, headings, keywords, meta descriptions, content, image tags, linking structure, xml sitemaps, etc plays an important role in the on page optimization of your website.

SEO doesn’t consist of just on page optimization. Off page SEO plays a bigger part than most think. Off page SEO consists of article submissions, press releases, social bookmarking, back links, etc.

All of these factors needs to be in place if you want people to know about your website.

What is the point if you have the greatest, nicest looking site and no one knows about it? It is the same as if you had a expensive new sports car and it just stays in your garage because you don’t have fuel to drive it.

If you are in the process of designing / developing a new site, I strongly suggest that you speak to your web designer about this and to make sure that they understand SEO and Search Engine Marketing. Your website should be build from the start with on and off page SEO in mind.

To find out more regarding on page SEO, view this post where I disscuss some tips and techniques regarding search engine marketing: http://blog.opencircle.co.za/search-engine-optimization/part-1-five-startup-on-page-seo-tips/