August 11, 2010

Funny proofreading errors

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website, Web design/Internet Marketing — Tags: — Carolyn Griswold @ 11:43 am

I just got back from a long road trip. While traveling, I noticed a few proofreading errors in marketing materials that were worthy of a Jay Leno spot.

1. A truck stop billboard ad said. “EAT HERE! (Get Gas Later).”

2. A road service billboard ad: “24-HOUR TOE SERVICE!”

3. A menu at a major hotel chain restaurant offered “A side of fires“. The embarrassed server reported that it was the 2nd printing with the error–when they changed the menu they missed it again!

The moral of this post: Remember to take the extra time to proofread your marketing copy to make sure you mean what you say and say what you mean.

Anyone else have any funny proofreading errors? Feel free to comment.

May 19, 2010

Why is my new website not on Google?

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Question of the Day — Carolyn Griswold @ 7:16 am

The website went live at around 3:00 PM.  At about 4:00 PM I got the email asking “why can’t I find my website on Google?” I’m happy that clients recognize the importance of being found in a Google search.  But as good as Google is at indexing the web it’s likely going to take their software longer than an hour to find your new website.

Google and most search engines have software that constantly crawls the web (often referred to as spiders) following links from web page to web page and indexing material as it crawls. Given the vast size of the web, you can imagine it might take a while for even the fastest, most efficient spiders to find  and index your website.  However, there are techniques you can use to expedite and improve the chances that your site will be indexed soon.

  1. Create a Google local listing and while you’re at it, create a Bing and Yahoo listing too.

    screenshot of Google local listing

    Screenshot of Google Local Listing

    A Local listing allows you to create a free business listing on each of the search engines.  When you create your listing you’ll have the opportunity to select business categories, a business description, types of payment you accept, your hours, and your contact information.   A local listing is especially advantageous if you have a local market, but it doesn’t hurt to be “on the map” even if your market extends beyond local.

  2. Have business and trade associations link to your site.
    Inbound links are one of most overlooked aspects of SEO (search engine optimization).  Think about how search engines work.  Their spiders crawl the web from link to link and index websites.  If there are no links to your website it will be harder for the spiders to find your website.  If there are many links to your website they will find you more often.

    Contact associations where you are a member, like your Chamber of Commerce, or other trade associations and if they offer a link on their website make sure you give them your new website address.  Contact any strategic alliances you may have and see if they’ll put a link on their website to your new site.  Do a search online for directories that specialize in your industry and create listings where appropriate.

  3. Submit your URL to the search engines. You can submit your URL to  search engines, and although it doesn’t guarantee they will list it, it doesn’t hurt to tell the search engines your url.  Here are the links to submit your url.
    1. http://www.google.com/addurl/
    2. http://www.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx
    3. https://meme2048.appspot.com/search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html

Finally, remember that search engines are in the business of indexing information, so make sure that the information on your website is clearly written and kept current and relevant.  Keep your website on your marketing schedule and make sure that it is updated regularly as your business changes and grows.

April 13, 2010

Manage your domain name and beware of domain renewal scams

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Internet Scams, Web design/Internet Marketing — Carolyn Griswold @ 5:53 pm

You own your domain name and it’s an important part of branding your business.  Some businesses are even named after their domain name–think Google, Yahoo, and yes, even cgwebhelp.  So it’s important that you have control of your domain.  You should know where it’s registered, when it will be due for renewal and how the process of renewal works.  And you should watch out for domain transfer scams.  Here’s a couple of scams that I  see regularly.

Domain Registry of America

This company may be a legitimate domain registry service, but their methods for obtaining customers is so unethical, I certainly wouldn’t want to do business with them.  Their technique for obtaining new customers?  They send an invoice.  Well it’s not really an invoice–it’s a solicitation to transfer the domain.  If you look very closely at the fine print, you will read that by sending payment you are authorizing them to transfer your domain to their registry service.  So the unsuspecting person sends them the $35 (which is likely more than their current registry charges to renew a domain) and unwittingly starts the process of transferring the domain.

Chinese Domains

This one arrives by email and suggests that your trademark is about to be infringed upon unless you swiftly purchase your domain with the .cn extension, as in yourdomain.cn.  This might be of benefit if you have a market in China or you anticipate developing a market in China, but most of the folks I’ve known who have received this solicitation have no intention of marketing to China.  For more information on this scam see http://professionalwebservices.blogspot.com/2007/10/chinese-domain-name-scams-from-china.html.

Know Where Your Domain is Registered

If your domain is important to your branding, and it most likely is, you should always know the following:

  1. Where is it located?  GoDaddy, Register, Network Solutions, Enom, OpenSRS, or one of the many other registry services available.
  2. Know how to access the information  and keep it updated with current contact information.
  3. Know when it is due to expire and the process for payment.  If it’s set for auto- renewal, make sure you keep a current credit card and contact information on file with the registry service.  If they can’t  charge your card because it’s expired, and the e-mail address on file is outdated, you’ll likely lose the domain name.

March 8, 2010

What are common sense internet solutions?

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Web Design — Carolyn Griswold @ 7:27 am

Let’s break it down. Merriam-Webster defines “common sense” as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts”.

We also find reference to the pamphlet Common Sense written  by Thomas Paine during revolutionary times.   Paine’s Common Sense made a straightforward argument for colonial independence that common folks understood. The plain-spoken pamphlet was widely read and is likely to have influenced the course of American history.

Given the definition of common sense, what are common sense internet solutions? If you define “solution” as being a problem solved, you could conclude that “common sense internet solutions’ translates to “a straightforward, sound and prudent course to solve your internet problems“.

Whoa! We can’t solve all the problems of the internet! But what we can do is solve your internet problems as it relates to your website.  So if your website is not performing as expected, we can help diagnose the problems and take steps to improve it’s performance.

How do we do that? Let’s break it down.

The problem: Your website is not performing as expected.   Perhaps you’d like to see…

  1. increased traffic and exposure
  2. increased sales
  3. increased leads
  4. better branding

Once your expectations are clear, we can take specific steps to solve your problem(s).  First we would look at your website.

  1. Is the website customer friendly? Is it well-designed? Will it appeal to your target market?  Does it look professional?  Is the content well-written and organized for on-screen viewing?  Can the average person find the information they need quickly when visiting your website?
  2. Is the website current?  Does it have relevant updated information? Does it provide a way for customers to communicate with you? Is it inviting?
  3. Is the website technically sound?  Does it comply with current coding standards?  Do all links, forms, carts, pages work the way they’re supposed to?

Once the website is user-friendly and polished, we look at how to spread the word.

  1. Is the site coded for search engine optimization?  Does it have well-written keyword title and descriptions tags?  Does the content include keyword rich headings?
  2. Are you tracking traffic?  Are you using a good statistics program like Google Analytics to analyze and review your website traffic?
  3. Are you or should you use social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter to help spread your message?
  4. Would an e-newsletter or e-promotion strategy help?
  5. How about online advertising such as pay-per-click programs or banner ads?
  6. Could you benefit from online public relations strategy using websites like ezinearticles.com?

Once we’ve worked through these steps, we can create common sense internet solutions that will fit your business and your website will be in a better position to meet your expectations.

November 17, 2009

Stay safe on social networks

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website — cg @ 10:03 am

Is there a danger to accepting  unknown blog subscribers and Twitter followers?  The short answer is yes.  But if you have a blog and you are communicating via social networks, presumably one of your goals is to spread your business or organization’s message.  So where do you draw the line?

I received this TWITTER Question from a client: “Is there a danger to me in being Followed by someone who rarely tweets, follows a lot of people, has few followers? Do I need to block these people or is it sufficient to not follow them back. Sometimes, I can see that Twitter has suspended them for improper activity. What is the danger? What are they doing?”

If you suspect danger, trust your instincts.  You can set your Twitter settings to restrict access to only those people you approve. Consider how you use your Twitter account — if it is used to communicate with a business community and the goal is to build community you probably want to attract as many followers as possible.  If your account is of a more personal nature you probably don’t have the need to allow unknown followers access to your account.

If you see that Twitter has suspended someone for improper activity it means they have violated Twitter’s rules.  It could have involved impersonating someone else, spamming, threatening someone, copyright issues or any number of other issues that Twitter includes in their Rules.  I would probably block anyone that Twitter has suspended or that you suspect of being involved in any of these activities.

I’ve put together a list of basic safety tips to help you stay safe while communicating with virtual strangers online through your website, blog or social networks.

1.  Don’t give away personal information.

  1. Don’t provide home address or phone number on your website or in your profile
  2. Don’t tweet or post that you’re away from home — don’t post vacation photos until you return home — no need to inform the world that your house is vacant
  3. Don’t include personal information like your birth date in your profile.  Birth dates are helpful to idenity theives.

2. Be careful with social networking “apps”. When those Facebook applications tell you they need to access your personal profile in order to work — you might think twice about how important it is to use that application.  See Facebook Application Privacy for details and set your limits based on their information.

3. Watch out for “Phishing”.  Whether a social network post or an email, always assume that the identity of the poster could be an impostor–especially if the message seems out of the ordinary.  Be suspicious!  Assume any link that leads you to a login page to be suspect. See “Fraudsters Target Facebook With Phishing Scam”.  If you receive a message from a “friend” that you suspect is a “phishing scam”, both you and your friend should change your account passwords.

4. Do NOT use the same username/password combination on all your accounts.  If a thief obtains your username/password to your Facebook account, make sure it doesn’t also give him access to your bank account, Amazon or Paypal accounts.

5.  YOUR BLOG: Review your blog’s user and discussion settings.  If using WordPress the subscriber level by default allows them to read, comment and subscribe to your RSS feed.  There doesn’t seem to be too much danger in that.  However, I think it’s wise to review your subscriber list frequently and delete any suspicious addresses.

More information about online safety can be found at the following links.

Web site safety building safer websites

11 tips for social networking safety

June 22, 2009

Free Shipping Closes Sale

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website — Tags: , , — cg @ 10:35 am

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail Father’s Day reminder from a store where I’ve bought gifts from online before.  Since I typically put off holiday gift buying to the last minute and end up paying extra for shipping, I was grateful for the reminder.

Lesson one to online merchants: EMAIL MARKETING WORKS!

With over a week before Father’s day I thought the ample lead time would save me some cash on shipping. I clicked through to the website and browsed to find some sweet treats for dad. I quickly found a nice gift of sweet snacks at a reasonable price and clicked through to the checkout page.  Where I stopped.  The shipping charges nearly doubled the price of the goodies.  Call me cheap,  but if there’s one thing I learned from my dad growing up on his farm in Minnesota it’s the value of the dollar.

That reasonably priced gift now seemed tremendously overpriced. If I was going to spend that kind of money – it had to be a better gift. So I abandoned my shopping cart and Googled “Free Shipping Father’s Day gifts”.  Multiple stores came up and I quickly found a gift.  It was much nicer than the original gift.  I did end up spending the same as the other gift would have cost with it’s shipping charges,   but I now felt like the gift I was sending was worth the money I was spending.

Lesson two to online merchants – FREE SHIPPING WORKS! Consider the value of your product.   If shipping costs make your item seem extraordinarily overpriced you will lose sales.

Lesson three to online merchants.  CLOSE THE SALE! If your e-mail marketing campaign is driving traffic to your site but you’re not seeing corresponding sales, make sure you look at the value you’re offering to your customers.  It’s a shame when something like high shipping costs causes them abandon their shopping cart when you’ve successfully drawn them to your store with your e-mail marketing campaign.

May 3, 2009

New website for local massage therapist

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101 — cg @ 9:31 pm

Recently launched MyHandsYourHealth.com website for local massage therapist.  Calm, quiet design.  

April 10, 2009

SSL certificates explained

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101 — Tags: , , — cg @ 4:29 pm

What SSL Certificates Do:

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology protect websites and make it easy for visitors to trust websites in three essential ways:

  1. An SSL Certificate enables encryption of sensitive information during online transactions.
  2. Each SSL Certificate contains unique, authenticated information about the certificate owner.
  3. A Certificate Authority verifies the identity of the certificate owner when it is issued.

Who needs an SSL Certificate?

If you, or your customers fit into any of the following categories, then an SSL Certificate is a must:

  • Operate an online store or accept online orders and credit cards
  • Offer a login or sign in on your site
  • Process sensitive data such as address, birth date, license, or ID numbers
  • Require compliance with privacy and security requirements
  • Value privacy and expect others to trust you.

How SSL Encryption Works

Imagine sending mail through the postal system in a clear envelope. Anyone with access to it can see the data. If it looks valuable, they might take it or change it. An SSL Certificate establishes a private communication channel between the browser and web server enabling encryption of the data during transmission. Encryption scrambles the data, essentially creating an envelope for message privacy.

Each SSL Certificate consists of a public key and a private key. The public key is used to encrypt information and the private key is used to decipher it. When a Web browser points to a secured domain, a Secure Sockets Layer handshake authenticates the server (the website) and the client (the web browser). An encryption method is established with a unique session key and secure transmission can begin. True 128-bit SSL Certificates enable every site visitor to experience the strongest SSL encryption available to them.

How Authentication Works

Imagine receiving an envelope with no return address and a form asking for your bank account number. In the case of organization- or Extended-validation certificates, every SSL Certificate is created for a particular server in a specific domain for a verified business entity. The validation process for EV certificates is quite extensive and provides fuller information about the website owner than a standard certificate. When the SSL handshake occurs, the browser requires authentication information from the server. By clicking the closed padlock in the browser window or certain SSL trust marks (such as the VeriSign Secured Seal or GeoTrust True Site Seal), the website visitor sees the authenticated organization name. In high-security browsers (IE7/8, Firefox 3.0+, Safari 3.2+, Chrome and Opera 9.2+), the authenticated organization name is prominently displayed and the address bar turns green when an Extended Validation SSL Certificate is detected. If the information does not match or the certificate has expired, the browser displays an error message or warning.

A Matter of Trust

At the end of the day, SSL Certificates are all about trust. If you want to develop and instill a sense of trust with website visitors, an SSL Certificate is the way to do it. An SSL-protected site gives users the confidence to share personal information without having to worry about whether that data is safe as it travels around the Internet. And, the SSL Certificate provides further peace of mind to web users by offering verification that those in control of the web server are who the web surfer thinks they are.

If trust is important to the end users of your customers – and I’d venture a guess that it is – then they need to know that one of the best ways to build that trust is to secure their websites with an SSL Certificate along with a prominently displayed site seal that end users recognize and trust.

This information provided by OpenSRS.  cgwebhelp, llc is a reseller for OpenSRS.

February 16, 2009

WebSavvyMarketers.com launched

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, New websites launched — Tags: , , — cg @ 5:24 pm

Last week a collaborative team of Web Savvy Marketers launched the new blog WebSavvyMarketers.com.  The team is made up of Rahna Barthelmess, Nancy Simonds, Beth Devine and me.  Our goal is to explore and discuss the numerous online marketing options availabe for businesses today.  Each of us operates our own marketing and web related business yet we all have different specialties.  Check out websavvymarketers.com and feel free to comment and ask questions.

January 31, 2009

Ten-Point Web Content Evaluation

Filed under: Internet Marketing 101, Tips for a good website — Tags: , , — Nancy Simonds @ 9:02 pm

Is your Web site an effective marketing tool?

The New Year is a perfect time to evaluate the effectiveness of your Web content. Use this checklist to review your written content on these ten important points:

  • Does the content clearly and honestly describe your product or service?

  • Have you presented your core message concisely and effectively?
  • Do you use meaningful page titles, sub-headings, and other techniques that help visitors find what they’re looking for as they scan the page?
  • Are your Web pages viewable in a couple of screen views, without too much scrolling down?
  • Does each page have a strong call to action?
  • Are there key words and phrases that help potential customers find you through a search engine?
  • Do you review your site statistics to see what page visitors enter on, what page they leave from, and whether or not they take any action?
  • Does the content match the design in terms of tone and personality?
  • Is the type in a size, style, and color that make it accessible to the widest possible audience?
  • Is your content free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors?

If you’re not sure whether your current Web content is clear, easily “scannable” by the visitor’s eye, and truly descriptive of your product and services, take advantage of our evaluation and consultation services.

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