Articles in The 'Blog' Tag

Does Your Website Have Strong Calls to Action?

by Marni Weinberg

You could have the most aesthetically pleasing website with tons of relevant content, but without strong calls to action, you are basically striking out. A call to action is a hugely important piece of the puzzle and should be screaming (well, not really but you get my drift) at your visitors prominently on every page of your website. Essentially, you want to hold their hands and guide them to take action on your website; it should be the most natural thing they do once they arrive at your site.

You may think that it is already so clear and apparent that you want them to complete an action item; however, there is no such thing as too apparent when it comes to calls to action. Offer your site visitors attractive, multiple calls to action, as what may interest one person, may not be of any interest to the next; cover your bases to ensure a home run.

Some examples of strong calls to action that should be conspicuously displayed on any website can be found below. By the way, if the first four are not options because your organization hasn’t took the social media plunge, please visit our Social Media Blog to learn more about the importance of Social Media and/or click here to view our Social Media Page.

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What is Bounce Rate and How Important is it?

by Marni Weinberg

Google Analytics defines bounce rate as “the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.” Wikipedia defines it as “the percentage of initial visitors to a site who bounce away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.”

Both of these above definitions basically say the same thing. What a marketer needs to know is that the lower the bounce rate, the better. So what is considered a good bounce rate? There are actually many different opinions on this. Some experts say that 50% is average and anything lower is considered above average. Others say that a number below 30% is what you should be striving for.

Monitoring your bounce rate can be a very valuable tool, but also a bit misleading and therefore should definitely not be the only way you are measuring your performance. A high bounce rate typically translates into a visitor that was not sufficiently engaged and left your site without so much as visiting a second page. A high bounce rate is also an indication that your visitor was not as qualified as you had hoped for.

That being said, this may not always hold true for lead generation sites. Think about it this way…lets say that you’re running a Pay per Click (PPC) Campaign, you have a lead generation site and you are sending visitors directly to your form page. If a visitor fills out the form and your website is not configured correctly (in other words, the URL does not change when the form is filled out), this could result in a “bounce” when in actuality, your searcher completed the desired action item. This often occurs with blogs, as well. Visitors will reach your blog, read all of the way through and then exit when done. For this reason, blogs tend to have a high bounce rate, as well.

While I encourage you to pay attention to your bounce rate, as it can be a useful way to gauge progress, other factors should also considered, such as time on site, landing page quality, percentage of new visitors, etc.

How Facebook Can Help Your Business

by Marni Weinberg

With over 321 million users (and growing) Facebook has become the most visited social networking site. People all over the world are sending friend requests, rekindling with bunkmates from summer camp and classmates from high school/ college. They are sharing pictures and videos of their children, sending out party invites, taking quizzes; the list goes on.

As fun as Facebook can be for many people, the notion that Facebook is just for fun and personal use could not be farther from the truth. Facebook can help your business in a variety of ways. Think of it like this: Your potential shoppers/clients/ leads are spending a considerable amount of time on Facebook. Therefore, you should be there, too. If your company does not have a Facebook profile, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to find new business.

Here are some tips on how to effectively manage your Facebook business profile:

• Create a separate business account, which has different functionality than a personal account.
• Completely and accurately fill out your profile; this will help to add creditability, as well as earn trust.
• Post professional pictures of your business and employees. Ensure that all photos are “business appropriate”. This means no happy hour pictures!
• Customize your tabs with relevant options for your business (Free White Paper, Events, Newsletters, etc.).
• Don’t get lazy! Update your business profile on a regular basis with current industry news and events. If your site has a blog (and it very well should) you can repurpose content directly from your blog or your other social networks to your Facebook profile. This can be done through an RSS Feed or a widget. In addition, Facebook has a plethora of applications that can be utilized.

Employing the above tips can help get you on your way to a better business profile. Make 2010 your year to get social!