Build a Better Website with Tips from Rory Martin
Posted by Rory Martin in Web Design and Development on January 5, 2012
Netcraft reported that as of November 2011, there were approximately 525, 998,433 websites out in Internet-land – and many of them aren’t perfect. Think about it: when you look at your website, what do you see? Do you see a sleek design? Is it easy to navigate? Do you see compelling imagery or a big block of text? Are you missing the little things like SEO or a Footer? Are you effectively using Social Media? Or have you forgotten to actively add that element to your website?
To make your website more “perfect”, you need to think about all the things we’ve just mentioned. Seattle Web Design and Social Media Marketing company, RoryMartin.com can help you perfect your website with a few tips on designing a better website.
It’s true that content is key when it comes to making an impact on the web, however design is also key. There are a variety of browsers, processors and monitor sizes, so it’s important to design a site that looks great on all of them. While you may use Firefox or Chrome, and so you may design for those two browsers, consider the fact that 40% of internet users STILL use Internet Explorer. Cross-browser compatibility can be a difficult problem to solve, but producing a sleek design without all the extra bells and whistles can save you some time in trying to determine why this or that widget doesn’t work.
Design also plays a big part in your website’s layout and navigation. Consider this – 60% of the time, users cannot find the information they’re looking for – and much of that is due to poor execution in navigation and UI design. Making sure your site is simple but well-designed could save your visitors a lot of time and effort trying to find out where you’ve hidden that gem of information they’re looking for. And where user interface is concerned, users report clicking away from a page that has pop-ups or plays music or video automatically when the webpage has loaded.
One big part of web design that is often overlooked is the footer. Often, businesses forget all about the SEO properties and usability of their footer in favor of more visible elements like header images and information. At RoryMartin.com, we build footers for clients that include copyright information, the company address and contact info, their business tagline and even quick navigation links for the web-user who’s made it to the bottom of your page. We also recommend links to your social media profiles, because, as users arrive at the bottom of your page and want to know more, the footer can convert your web visitors into Twitter or Facebook followers.
Are you actively using social media? Is it easy to find your social media links (and maybe even your Twitter stream) on your website? Web marketing consultant Chris Brogan says, “Social Media puts the ‘public’ into PR and the ‘market’ into marketing.” Social media is one of the easiest, most direct, and most prominent forms of both public relations and marketing, available to businesses today. If you’re not using social media, and displaying your information prominently, you’re missing out on a huge target audience. And, studies have shown that social media builds customer loyalty.
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is probably the biggest key to driving customers to your site. Using a correct combination of keywords and search terms throughout your website in strategic places will help propel your website to the front page of Google. Of course, being on the second page of Google’s search isn’t bad either – considering a quarter of all web searches progress to the second page of Google. But keywords aren’t the whole story: Though 42% of users click the top ranking link on Google, the text that shows up beneath your link is REALLY the driving factor. It’s this text – copy pulled directly from your website, that truly drives traffic to each site, while your strategic keywords ensure you’re listed in those search results in the first place.
If you’re looking to update your website, grab the wide world of social media marketing by the horns, or just looking to manage brand communications, our skilled staff of social media marketing and web design experts can help. Find out more about what we can do for you at www.rorymartin.com.
Making the Best Use of Edge Rank
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing on December 14, 2011
A while back we wrote an article on making an impact on Facebook through your business Facebook page. We wrote:
While Facebook updates may seem like a way to alert fans to events and news – showing up like messages in users’ in-boxes – a very small percentage of updates are actually visible to fans, because of an algorithm called EdgeRank.
EdgeRank gives every post a quality score – measuring the number of comments, likes, and shares per post against the number of fans a page has. Businesses who want to be seen need to build up their EdgeRank, by making their posts interaction friendly – which means businesses need to spend more time building community with their fans.
If you can succeed at building your EdgeRank, your business has a higher chance of increasing your brand recognition and therefore, your revenue. If you’re like most businesses, this means that EdgeRank should probably play a larger role in your marketing efforts.
As a Seattle Social Media Marketing company, Rorymartin.com focuses on helping our customers build their EdgeRank. Our clients are better equipped to educate their target audience and build brand awareness. Our clients are able to win and retain customers with engaging and impactful websites and web marketing.
So how is EdgeRank calculated, and what do you need to do to improve yours?
Every post (status updates, polls, photos, etc) is an “object” and objects all have edges – therefore each of your posts has “edge”. Every single EdgeRank score depends on individual Facebook users’ post consumption. The EdgeRank Algorithm was designed to show individual users more of what they “like” to see in their news feed. The higher the EdgeRank of your particular post, the more likely it will appear across your users’ feeds.
The algorithm looks like this:
So what does this algorithm mean?
Social Media Affinity is the relationship between your business and your target audience, based on frequency of contact, logins, likes, post responses, shares etc. If a user has interacted with your business Facebook page in the past, the user has an affinity for your brand. The only way you can build affinity is to create engaging post content that will entice your target audience to come to your page to interact.
Weight is based on how many clicks a post receives against each major Facebook metric (clicks per like, clicks per comment, clicks per impression). For example, just getting a bunch of users to click “like” won’t cut it – unless you have millions of them each day. What you really need are comments, since comments have 4 times the weight of “likes”. How do you create comments? Comment generation is done in much the same way as building affinity – create engaging content.
Time Decay is KEY. Think back to your Facebook timeline. How many times does that page change in an hour? In a minute? In 10 seconds? EdgeRank changes the time-decay factor based on how frequently users log into Facebook – so if your users are used to checking Facebook several times a day, your post may disappear more quickly based on this time decay-factor. EdgeRank Checker explains,
“With the new hybrid news feed comes more objects in the feed, as Top Stories happen at a faster rate than previously. Facebook most likely increased the speed at which objects time decay. It seems that this has created a more “honed in” EdgeRank effect. Meaning, EdgeRank is creating Top Stories for users who are more likely to engage and dropping less engaging objects into Recent Stories.”
How do you overcome time-decay? Post when your target audience is ready to engage. This means doing a little research on your target audience. Know when they’re online and what they’re talking about.
Other tips: Treat each “like” as a potential brand ambassador and make it worth their while to be on your page. Offer exclusive fans-only content. Use calls to action – for example “Like this status if you agree!”
Well this all sounds pretty difficult, doesn’t it? That’s where Rorymartin.com comes in. We’re focused helping our customers create and execute their social media campaigns. We offer a comprehensive set of services from website design and web development to search engine optimization and search engine marketing and social media marketing. From entrepreneurs to established businesses, we do the work so you don’t have to – making social media simple.
Twitter and Facebook Build Customer Loyalty
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing, Social Networking on October 24, 2011
As a company that specializes in Seattle Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Marketing, the RoryMartin.com team likes to keep you informed about new studies regarding social media. A recent study, generated by Chadwick Martin Bailey, states that Twitter users who follow brands on Twitter are more likely to buy from and recommend that brand. The group also produced a previous study correlating Facebook users’ purchases with the brands they “like” on Facebook.
This is good news for businesses who are using social media networks to improve their marketing efforts, especially because Twitter and Facebook users are some of the most frequent internet users in general. The study showed just how Twitter users were interacting with brands, reporting that 84% of Twitter users who follow brands do actually read brand tweets, making Twitter an effective form of presenting your company and products. Even better, approximately 1/4 of users who follow brands on Twitter do tweet about the brand. 1 out of every 4 users in your Twitter audience are likely to be talking about your brand right now.
Twitter is proving itself a very useful forum for customer loyalty. It’s important to know your audience and to make sure you’re tweeting authentic content, though. 67% of users expect unique content from the brands they follow. In the decision to follow brands on Twitter, customers cite exclusivity and promotions as some of the top reasons they follow brands. Here are the top five reasons users follow brands:
- 64%: I am a customer of the company
- 61%: To be the first to know information about the brand
- 48%: To receive discounts and promotions
- 36%: To gain access to exclusive content
- 28%: To receive content/information to retweet and share with others
If your business is not using Twitter right now, you are missing out on a very valuable marketing method. The report shows that businesses shoud be tweeting to their customers as a means of building brand loyalty. Don’t know where to start? At RoryMartin.com, we help businesses customize their social media marketing plans, provide customized facebook pages, overall website overhauls, web design, and perfectly timed tweets.
We can help you build a Social Media Strategy that reflects your unique brand and meets your business goals. From a one-time site analysis to full search engine optimization strategy and execution, RoryMartin.com makes social media simple.
Why Should I Customize my Facebook Business Page?
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing, Web Design and Development on October 10, 2011
With the popularity of Facebook fan pages and the releases of new timelines, it’s becoming increasingly important for businesses to implement a customized Facebook page for your business. Since the new Facebook Timeline feature shows your posts to your fans and your fans friends, in a ticker at the top right-hand side of the page. Your posts now reach a much wider audience – and you need to stand out from the crowd.
Offering interesting updates with a well-designed Facebook Page is often the deciding factor in whether or not your fans will choose to interact or share your page with their friends. Building interaction with your fans is an important factor – you need to have relevant information that isn’t always self-promotional. However, we like to stress the importance of having a well designed Facebook page, that offers incentives for prospective fans to click “like”.
Do you "like" the RoryMartin.com reveal tab?
Consider this: The first thing users see is your business’s wall – and while that may have relevant information, it may lack the branding your company needs to make an impact. We’re finding that businesses are increasingly aware of the visual impact their Facebook page has, and trends point to the increased use of “splash pages” or reveal tabs for facebook pages. It’s the equivalent of having an active ad built directly into your page that’s clickable. You can set these Facebook reveal tabs to be clickabe so that users can click to like, which would reveal discounts, for example.
When it comes to the internet, looks are everything. The design is as important as the implementation. Having a well-designed landing tab will help you stand out from the crowd. Keep it simple, and neat. Don’t go overboard with apps. Be consistent with your branding, and display different pages for fans and non-fans. You can even engage your current fans to take another action via links or reveal tabs. RoryMartin.com builds these welcome tabs and customizes facebook pages for a variety of clients.
And while you’re customizing your Facebook fanpage, it’s a good idea to consider implementing a custom URL. If you have 25 or more fans, implementing a custom URL on your facebook page will increase your search engine rankings and will be easier to promote. Consider your custom URL another step towards branding your business.
Here are a few simple ideas for implementing customizations on your Facebook Page
- Display the services or products you offer
- Be sure to include a specific call to action, along with a link so your fans can actively participate
- Host a contest
- Make sure to post about your blog, and share your blog posts with fans
- Let people know who you are and what you’re about
- If you do any charity work or special events, make sure to share those
- Give fans a reason to like your page by using reveal tabs, or by letting users know what to look forward to
- For your fans, let them know how they can contribute
- Share your twitter posts
Now, more than ever, it’s increasingly important to make sure your social network business profiles are integrated into your marketing and branding. If you’re not sure how to implement social media into your marketing strategy, come see us at www.rorymartin.com.
Building a Better Keyword Strategy
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization on August 22, 2011
We were reading SEOmoz’s 6 Keyword Research Mistakes post this morning, and since we love visual cues when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, we thought we should show off this Keyword Matrix from Skyrocket.
SEOmoz identifies the keyword categories in their post:
- Question marks – these are keywords in areas where growth is likely but at present you’re not getting the performance you’d expect. These are very often untapped keyword opportunities and you should plan how you are going to improve performance on these kinds of keywords.
- Stars – high-performance keywords and loads of room for growth – find ways to capitalise on growth. My advice is to focus your resources of gaining results in these areas for maximum ROI in a short period of time.
- Dogs – the poor performing keywords with little or no chance of growth – bin these in favour of other keywords, reallocate any resources to other areas.
- Cash cows – the high performing keywords that show little opportunity for growth – look for ways to enhance and maintain performance whilst identifying patterns and translating this learning to other areas or verticals
We found this little matrix helpful in determining which keywords to optimize, pairing it with Google’s Keyword Research tool. For more on how to generate great keywords, check out our post on choosing better keywords. Keywords play a large role in search engine optimization, and are a key factor in social media marketing. Having the right combination of keywords will generate hits, increase traffic and drive sales.
As a Seattle Web Design company that specializes in Seattle Search Engine Optimization and Seattle Social Media Marketing, RoryMartin.com can help you build a Social Media Strategy that reflects your unique brand and meets your business goals. From a one-time site analysis to full search engine optimization strategy and execution, RoryMartin.com can help match your keywords to your SEO needs
Forbes: 10 Social Media Mistakes
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing, Social Networking on August 5, 2011
We found an article on Forbes this morning listing 10 social media mistakes businesses commonly make. They range from not addressing negative feedback, to skimping on social media time, to not measuring your return on investment. Forbes tells you what to do, and at RoryMartin.com, we tell you how to do it:
Mistake No. 1: Not Having a Plan
Sit down with your marketing guru and map out where you want to be with your social media campaign and what you want it to do for you. Be realistic about what you can achieve in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years. Figure out how you’re going to do it and who’s going to administrate your accounts. Map out your monthly social media calendar and estimate how much time you need to spend on each piece of the puzzle. Great planning produces great results.
At RoryMartin, we create customized social media calendars for each of our clients, making sure we match our marketing recommendations with your marketing plan.
Mistake No. 2: Too Much Too Soon
You don’t have to do everything all at once. Your plan (above) should work in waves. That way, you have ample time to put into each step of your plan and nothing is missed. If you follow your social media calendar you should avoid that overwhelmed feeling of trying to do it all. Keep it simple, and only build when you’re ready to take on a new challenge.
If you don’t have the time to keep up with your social media accounts, consider hiring a company like RoryMartin.com, a search engine optimization, web design and web development, social networking, and social media marketing firm.
Mistake No. 3: Not Measuring Your Success and Return on Investment
You need to know if what you’re doing is producing results, right? Get Google Analytics and become familiar with that tool. Check out Google Webmaster tools (and yes, the two are very different). Create Google alerts, email alerts and Twitter alerts to find out when, where and how your company is being talked about. Analyze which avenues work the best and build on them, which will help you cut out the unnecessary steps in your social media plan.
RoryMartin.com specializes in helping businesses create social media strategies with the analytics and reports that help you see the effects of a good social media strategy.
Mistake No. 4: Underutilizing Social Platforms for Branding
Make sure you fill out every available field you can on those social media accounts. It’s like talking about your company or touting your elevator pitch. The more complete your profiles are, the more accessible your business becomes and the more transparency and brand value those sites have. Won an award? Manta asks for those kind of stats, and that can be the reference your brand needs to pick up that high profile account. Got a blog that offers industry insights? Put that into your LinkedIn profile, to make sure other professionals in your industry know about your blog and have the chance to stay up to date. Make sure your Twitter account is linked to that blog, and to your LinkedIn, and to your Facebook. Leave no stone unturned.
Mistake No. 5: Promoting Without Listening or Engaging
We’ve talked about social media engagement, here on the RoryMartin blog. Social media is a communicative tool. As with any form of communication the best thing you can do is listen. Listen to your audience, your competitors, and people you want to work with. Listen, or look for conversations that you want to be a part of. Listen to, and watch social media influencers and keep track of ways that you can contribute to become an authority.
Be a part of the conversation – the HUMAN conversation. Creating relationships in the social media world is important to creating trust between your brand and the world. Develop a deeply human relationship with your audience, and your audience will reward that relationship.
Figure out why your customers would want to befriend you in their social media networks. They want to know “what’s in it for me?” And you need to be able to answer that question. At RoryMartin.com, we can help you answer these questions and show you how to engage your social media customers.
Mistake No. 6: Not Addressing Negative Comments or Feedback
Instead of responding with ire, or just ignoring this conversation completely, ask those negative commenters what you can do to “make better”. Customer service is all about finding better ways to communicate and better serve your customers. Look at those avenues of social media as creative ways to give better customer service. Start a dialogue with your unhappy customers, and they’ll be a lot less unhappy.
Mistake No. 7: Not Claiming Existing Profiles
Your business is most likely listed in several places you didn’t know about. And the info on those sites may be old, outdated, incorrect or incomplete. The strategy here is to search for your company, across the web, to find out where you are listed and what needs to be updated. After you’ve made a list, go through and systematically update your profiles to reflect your website, your address, your contact info and interlink your profiles – adding things like your Twitter account and Facebook page.
Mistake No. 8: Skimping on Time
Let’s face it: Social media is a time investment. It can take months for your social media efforts to pay off, and patience is key. That’s why tip #2 is so important. Don’t bite off more than you can chew, and know that you’re going to have to block out chunks of time to monitor and engage in your social media efforts. If you don’t have the time, hire a professional who knows the ins and outs of social media engagement, or look for a Social Media Marketing company like RoryMartin.com who can help you build and implement your social media strategy – so that you have more time to run your business.
Mistake No. 9: Lacking Passion
If there’s one thing we have here at RoryMartin.com, it’s passion for social media. Without the passion, your social media efforts may fall flat – you know your brand and as a business owner, you more than likely love what you’re doing. Try to channel that into your social media efforts, since social media is an extension of the way you promote what you love. If you just can’t get jazzed about interacting on the social web, consider hiring social media professionals who have the passion and knowledge to be the voice of your brand.
Mistake No. 10: Not Knowing When Social Media Isn’t Right for Your Business
81% of entrepreneurs still don’t take advantage of social sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and 40% small and medium-businesses don’t even have a Web site. That said, internet users spend approximately 22% of their Internet time in social media, making social media a priority for any company that wants to be visible. Think about your target market and your audience. Who are they and where do they spend their time. Maybe social media isn’t right for your business, but how will you know unless you try it?
At RoryMartin.com, we’re focused on finding the right social networking and social marketing options that are right for you. We do the work so you don’t have to, bringing social tools to every business, and making social media simple.
Make the Most of Linkedin for Your Business
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Networking on July 28, 2011
As a web design and web development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing and social media marketing firm, we like to keep on top of the trends – and exploring trends on LinkedIn is no exception. We stumbled across this article that boasts 10 LinkedIn Tips for Professionals, that says:
Despite the hype over Twitter and Facebook, Linkedin offers the greatest opportunity for professionals to make connections that lead to business.
We agreed with Ian Brody’s article, especially the following tips
1. Don’t make your profile look like your resumé. Brody says that the number one temptation when setting up a LinkedIn profile is to fill in all those prior job slots, but that’s ineffective where LinkedIn is concerned. The business connections that you’re looking for are going to want to see solution-oriented details. Add the business name and title, leave out things like, “managed four people who perform business-related tasks.” Explain where you went above and beyond the basic job task, improved something, saved money, or where you were excelled and were just plain awesome.
2. Find Connections – Know your Strategy. LinkedIn is social, and there are a lot of professional networks on LinkedIn, where you can flex your knowledge and show off your skills – for example, you might find us in the LikeSocialMedia.com group. Of course, like any social network, it’s best to get a feel for the pulse of the community. Listen, watch and learn; find out what other pros in your industry are doing and saying and be cautious at first about sharing dissent. Like anywhere (or any social network) first impressions are lasting impressions. And Ian Brody notes, “Create a connection strategy to build valuable discussion.”
3. Ian Brody suggests updating your status to remind people what you do, and what you’re currently working on. If you connect with a lot of people, staying current with status messages can do anything from help you connect with someone who’s looking for YOUR expertise to keeping you up to date on news in your field, to helping you and your brand grow in ways that your clientele are looking for.
What do you think readers? Have anything to add to Brody’s tips for LinkedIn?
If you’re curious about how to use LinkedIn for your business, contact RoryMartin.com to find a strategy that fits your social networking needs, as well as the social tools that simplify your social media integration. We offer a comprehensive set of services from website design and web development to search engine optimization and search engine marketing and social media marketing. If you need creative ideas, easy implementation, and a limited investment into your social media campaign, RoryMartin.com has experts available to assess your needs, provide excellent customer service and innovative marketing tactics before you’ve even signed a contract.
The State of LinkedIn
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing, Social Networking on July 12, 2011
Have you ever wondered how LinkedIn actually affects your business? Ever asked yourself why LinkedIn is important to your company’s potential? At RoryMartin.com, we’ve been researching ways for businesses to use LinkedIn to build a better social media strategy.
Having your business profile out there on the web WILL help increase your organic search results, so if you’re not optimizing sites like LinkedIn, you’re not fully optimizing your search engine potential. LinkedIn also helps your business look more complete, and is an established tool for reputation management – especially through customer testimonials.
LinkedIn is also a powerful tool to analyze your company and its connections through your employee network. An article on Mashable notes that, “…it will automatically calculate your company’s median age, top schools, and other companies that they are well-connected to.” This can be effective for recruiting job candidates, and networking in your industry. Through LinkedIn you have the ability to post polls, and receive answers, letting your business know what your clients are interested in, and keeping you up to date on industry standards.
If you’re curious about how to use LinkedIn for your business, contact RoryMartin.com to find a strategy that fits your social networking needs, as well as the social tools that simplify your social media integration. We offer a comprehensive set of services from website design and web development to search engine optimization and search engine marketing and social media marketing. If you need creative ideas, easy implementation, and a limited investment into your social media campaign, RoryMartin.com has experts available to assess your needs, provide excellent customer service and innovative marketing tactics before you’ve even signed a contract.
Deciphering your Bounce Rate
Posted by Rory Martin in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing on July 7, 2011
In trying to keep visitors on your site, knowing your bounce rate is half the battle. It can be difficult to determine how your bounce rate is calculated and which factors affect your bounce rate. We found this cool infographic from KissMetrics that shows which factors you can work on to retain visitors, and it even shows the industry standard for your industry. Check it out!
As a Seattle Web Design company that specializes in Seattle Search Engine Optimization and Seattle Social Media Marketing, RoryMartin.com can help you build a Social Media Strategy that reflects your unique brand, draws and keeps visitors on your page. We help implement exciting content and social tools that will make your business stand out. From a one-time site analysis to full search engine optimization strategy and execution, RoryMartin.com can help your business grow.
Time Your Social Media Efforts for Maximum Effect
Posted by Rory Martin in Social Media Marketing, Social Networking on June 30, 2011
We found a cool infographic on the best times to send out social media posts. We like to couple this with the Problogger strategy for blog postings when we’re considering the best way to send out social media messages. This is a great infographic to keep in mind – especially if you’re using something like HootSuite to schedule your posts. The original post says,
Included are stats for Facebook and Twitter on what days and times are best to maximize the audience size and the possibility that your content will be both found and shared.
As a Seattle Web Design company that specializes in Seattle Search Engine Optimization and Seattle Social Media Marketing, RoryMartin.com can help you build a Social Media Strategy that reflects your unique brand, draws and keeps visitors on your page. We help implement exciting content and social tools that will make your business stand out. From a one-time site analysis to full search engine optimization strategy and execution, RoryMartin.com can help your business grow.
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