Red Humpy

There are websites that look beautiful but function horribly – information is hard to find and navigation is almost non-existent.  And there are also sites that have clear and concise information, but the look is not something you’ll remember or invite friends to look at. Finding a good balance of  form and function will be the key to a site that you and your customers will love.     

I Want Everything!

I’m working with a client who has a small budget but would like the ability to add updated product photos and information to a new website for their retail shop.    

Their current ‘site’ consists of a main page with basic store information and a second page with a little Flash slideshow that showcases some of their featured products. The client is ready for a larger site, one that she can add content to on a regular basis and provide a place for her customers to browse some of the unique and handcrafted items that she carries.    

With a budget of under $1000, I suggested a content management system (CMS) like WordPress that is template-based, but could be mildly customized to suit her needs. Using a test site, I found a template that included a rotating slideshow on the main page and set up a basic site to present as a model for her to consider.   

“We like the idea of a more layered collage kind of look,” was her response. “Maybe blow up details of an image for the background…and use the hands as tabs for categories instead of straightforward  tabs and margins. We want it to look fun, but also clear and easy to navigate.”   

Having designed websites since 1996, her comments were not surprising to me. Often, business owners see a ten or twenty-thousand dollar site they like and want their own pages to be as elaborate. And even when price is not an issue, many well-intentioned people choose a pretty design over considerations that would benefit the people that will use the site most: their customers.   

Most often, the biggest challenge is convincing clients that having all the bells and whistles on their website isn’t neccessarily better.   

Web Design vs. Web Development

A good web designer will create a site that reflects the nature of your business in a way that is unique enough to stand out from the crowd of online storefronts.   

A good web developer will design a site that is user-friendly, adheres to web best-practices, and functions correctly.   

The most common mistake a business owner makes when choosing a site design themselves is not understanding who the site is being built for. Wanting something that appeals to themselves, rather than the needs of their customers who will be using the site, is not the route to go.   

I once collaborated on a web project where the client insisted that their new site should look exactly like their favorite car dealership site, with a main page Flash slideshow and exciting sounds and buttons. The problem was that their business dealt with document storage and recovery. Even after trying to explain that document storage probably wouldn’t be as graphically exciting in a web slideshow as new cars, the client wouldn’t budge. Not wanting to create something that we knew might please the client but wouldn’t serve the needs of their customers, we charged them a small consulting fee and politely referred them to another website company.  

Web sites that do not address the needs of the visitors who will be using them will not perform well. 

With the basic understanding that the usability of the site  is equally important as the look of the site, you will make better decisions about your online web presence.

What is Best – Form or Function?

Just as a functional doorknob can also be a work of art, your functional website, designed with your users in mind, can be a thing of beauty.

Since your website should be built for your customers and not you, a good site should contain a balance of pleasing design and practical functionality.   

As consumers, we have all been to sites that might look pretty at first glance, but quickly frustrate us when we can’t find what we need or things don’t work as they should.

A long load time waiting for that fancy slideshow to appear is a sure way to push customers away.    

If I physically walk in to a local store and am confused by what I see, I won’t stay long. If the store is pleasant to be in and was designed with my needs in mind, I will want to stay, and will want to return again.   

Your website is a virtual storefront and the same considerations you would make for your customers in a brick and mortar store should be taken with your online business presence.   

Don’t neglect design for function and vice-versa. Instead, use a balance of the two and your site visitors will be pleased.

Using experience, advice and techniques learned from researching  Social Media trends and inbound marketing strategies, I have developed a 20 step list of tasks that a small business owner can undertake with a commitment of a half hour a day. Check back for blog posts that elaborate on each step!

20 steps to Social Media Success

After you have established your marketing objectives and how you will measure success, use these 20 steps to implement your plan:

1. Pick a name that will work on all of your social networking sites.
2. If you don’t already have one, create a website.
3. Write down a list of 30 ideas for blog topics, based on conversations you have over and over again with your clients or questions you are asked all the time. Take a few weeks if you have to, but build your list to at least 30 topics.
4. Create a Twitter account with your chosen name and link to it from your website.
5. Find a nice head shot or photo of you to use on all of your networking sites as an avatar.
6. Create a Facebook personal page, then add a Facebook fan page.
7. Sign up for a Facebook simple URL to make it easy for people to type in your Facebook address. Keep it consistent with what you chose in step 1.
8. Create a blog with your unique name using an online site like WordPress or Blogspot. If possible, keep it hosted in a database on your own server. (GoDaddy is great at making this easy to set up and integrate.)
9. Sign up for Google Alerts for your company name and relevant industry terms. This will help you track new information as it happens. Start receiving alerts for keywords that will keep you in touch with your industry.
10. Find good bloggers who are writing about your field or trade and who have ideas and information that interests you. Subscribe to their feed. Leave thoughtful comments and participate in the conversation. Ask questions, or answer questions from others. Don’t sell and don’t market. Just let them know how great you think they are!
11. Search the web and identify your competitors who are getting found online, narrow them down to only the best few, and add them to your Google Alerts. Keep track of what they are doing, what they are saying and what is working for them so you can do it better.
12. Using your list from step 3, as well as new ideas you’ve been jotting down, create Blog content that is thoughtful, unique and informative. This is an important step! Don’t try to market and sell, write like you would be talking to your customers about something that excites you. Don’t make the posts too long, and you don’t have to do them all at once. Just a few each week is a good start!
13. Re-broadcast posts from other bloggers whose content is relevant to your industry by discussing why you agree (or disagree) with what they said and posting it to your own blog. Include a link to the original post.
14. Create a StumbleUpon account and spend a few minutes each day stumbling and voting on topics relative to your industry. Befriend those who are submitting interesting and relevant sites.
15. Create a YouTube account with your unique name, even if you won’t be using it right away or ever.
16. Consider creating a YouTube how-to video. It can be just a few minutes long. People love videos!
17. Pay attention to your own blog comments (they will come!) and engage those who took the time to write. Answer a question, or leave a comment about something that was said.
18. Promote other bloggers. Just as in Miracle on 34^th Street when the Macy’s Santa promoted the competition, Gimble’s Department Store, you can promote the people who you find helpful or those who link to you. Stumble them, Digg them, re-Tweet their ideas. It will all come back around to you.
19. Add your blog’s RSS feed to your website to share your information with site visitors.
20. Have fun!

This list can be expanded, of course, but these 20 tasks will set you on your way to being a functioning part of the world of online social media. I’d love to hear your feedback!

Special thanks to Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah and Gary Vaynerchuk. Their books provided fresh, insightful and useful information that stood out from the same messages being repeated over and over in different ways.

I was recently introduced to a wonderful tool that will scan your existing website and present you with an instant report on many aspects of your site.  The report is easy to read, full of useful information, and completely free.

The report is available at Website.Grader.com and was created by HubSpot.com. In addition to entering in your own website, Website.Grader will  let you enter the websites of your competitors so you can compare your results to theirs. Very handy for market analysis and search engine optimization (SEO).

The generated report includes a Blog analysis, how many pages are being indexed on Google, heading and image summaries, domain info, inbound links, promotion ideas, and a comparison of your score to your competitors. The site does require an email address where they will send a link to the report, but you can opt out of receiving HubSpot.com’s email notifications if you don’t want to receive their informative email news about fresh ideas and ways to promote your site.

I know of other SEO firms that charge a few hundred dollars for a complicated report that only they can decipher for you. The website.grader report is easy to follow and each section offers you the reason for the rank and tips on what you can do to improve your site.

Check out Website.Grader.com and see how you rank!

My best friend’s husband is a carpet cleaner and has decided to create a website. Being a web developer, I told him I would help him set up a basic page and would trade for services.

As I am learning more about how to concentrate on pulling people into your website (inbound marketing) rather than reaching out and interrupting your client base (outbound), I decided to use the carpet cleaning and resoration as a good example of how inbound marketing could help grow his business.

I explained to Mr. Carpet that there are probably things that he tells his clients over and over again. He takes it for granted because he says it all the time. But for someone who is getting their carpets cleaned for the first time, or just had their house flooded because they didn’t inspect the hose on the washing machine, the information is new and important.

When I mentioned to Mr. Carpet that sharing the information via a blog would be a good way to educate people and introduce them to his services, the first thing he said was, “Yeah, if they pay me for the information.” And therein lies the paradox.

Based on information from online research and webinars, and reiterated in Halligan and Shah’s Inbound Marketing book, it may not make sense to share industry information that your clients are paying for. But by doing so, you are building a reputation and customer trust, which should bring in new customers and thus, more revenue.

When a potential client reads a blog article by Mr. Carpet on why a dry cleaning system is no better than a wet system in a low-humidity climate, he is offering valuable information that will help that client make an informed decision. When that potential client needs cleaning services and has a choice between Mr. Carpet and Mr. X, both of whom they do not know, who do you think they will choose?

The same paradox can be used for any business. A realtor can create trust by blogging about the trends in the market that her competition doesn’t want to mention because they may expose something negative. A hunting outfitter might share not only happy stories, but also events that his clients should be aware of and plan to avoid. By offering content that will educate potential clients, the goal is that they will share this information with others, link to your site, and eventually become a client.

Changing your the marketing strategy of your small business to draw people to your site, rather than spend money on attempting to reach your client base, will allow you to do what you do best. If you have a good product or service, share it with others and they will come to you.

And keep in mind that the time you spend creating a blog post will result in a marketing piece that can be found by anyone in the world, from now until forever. That ad you put in the newspaper or magazine is gone within a month. Print advertising is useful to draw attention to your blog or website, but should not be the only way you are reaching out to your customers.