I think it’s safe to say that the Internet is not a shiny new toy that we were all so enamored with over a decade ago. Visiting a website in no longer a unique experience and it would be wasteful to sacrifice your most valuable piece of real-estate with “Welcome to Our Website!” Really no one cares….

To give your visitors a big “welcome to our website” give them what they came for; A headline that tells them that they are in the right place.

Dependent on different personality types, you typically have 2-8 seconds before a visitor decides to leave your website. There a only a few things that you can be sure that they will look at during that 2-8 seconds, one of them being the Headline.

Statistically, older people and woman will read more than young people and men, and not many will read your content (the body of your text) unless the Headline is intriguing enough. Even search engines (your H1 tags) more credit when indexing your website.

This meaning your headline is debatably the most imperative part of your home or landing page. Don’t waste this space!

In the place of “Welcome to our Website”, try something more interesting that will really enhance what you are offering to your visitors such as:

“Would you like a Fantastic Blog Design?”

Or…

“Methods that help Bloggers enhance their Post Titles”

Or…

“Rid yourself of that Lame Mullet Haircut For Good!”

These are probably not the best examples, but I assume you get the point. Any of the headlines above will outdo the boring phrase “Welcome to my Website”. If you want to go the extra millage, add a keyword or two into a stimulating headline and search engines will be as attracted as those lucky visitors who discovered your website!

How well your Internet marketing campaign is performing is most indicative of your Key Performance Indicators (KPI). These are the big things that make a noticeable difference.

Your “Bounce Rate” (where visitors view your website, but never move past the home or landing page), for example, is a big indication that there is a problem with the relevance of your landing page to the visitor that is viewing it.

There is no set standard KPI for every business. The objective depends on what your end results are. Say you are in a service related industry; a primary KPI would be the amount of phone calls your company received by its online efforts. As you investigate more, the length of every phone call would tell you even more than that. Shorter phone calls, under a minute, could tell you that no one actually answered the phone and never left a message. A longer phone call can tell you that your customer is being helped to solve any issues they may have had.

There are many different things that can indicate your KPI such as “Time on Site,” which tells you how appealing your website is and the “Pages Visited” can tell you whether your sales funnel is set up accurately. Sometimes the impact of your KPI is not always quite obvious and it can take a pinpoint strategy to understand what it all means.

Key Performance Indicators are typically unique to every different business as well as their individual objectives. Here are a few that I deem relevant to an assortment of businesses:

Common KPI Definitions

Visit– This is where a person visits one or more of your web pages under 30 minutes time in between page visits.

Visitor – A visitor is someone who visits your website. These people can be placed into three groups:

1. New Visitor– A new visitor is only noted once and includes those who have never visited your site previously. This is different than a unique visit and is can be measured over certain amount of time.
2. Repeat/Returning Visitor – A person that visits your website more than two times over a certain period of time. These types of visits are only recorded once in a given amount of time.
3. Unique Visitor – The first time a person goes to your website during a particular amount of time, either daily, weekly, or monthly, is called a unique visitor.

Conversion – This is when a customer or visitor finishes the action you set up for them, such as completing a web form or purchasing something.

Key Performance Indicator Examples

General KPI

• Average Time on Site –This is where a person who visits your website looks for certain phrases or keywords that have relevance to what they are looking for. In turn they will spend more time on that page than if they did not find what they were looking for in their search.
• Page Views / Visit – The amount of times a visitor views your website is a page view or visit. Numerous visits will have an effect on the amount counted.
• Page Views / Visitors – This is comparable to page views/visits, but it overlooks the number of visits that certain visitors make.
• New Visitors / Visitors – This follows the number of people who are first time visitors. This is a great way to determine new prospective clients.
• Repeat Visitors / Visitors – These are returning people that have previously come to your website. This shows that your website has the ability to attract visitors back to your site.

KPI is Important – Take your KPI to the Next Level

Measuring how well the strategies you use in your business to produce a positive effect starts with the  inclusion of the development of your KPI and reaching the Internet marketing goals you have set. Your KPI can give you warning signs early on and can help you figure out what works and what does not. As soon as you get the results from reviewing your KPI, you can adjust the parts of your business that are not as effective and boost those that are working positively.

A KPI does require more evaluation that you’d think. A professional digital marketing specialist is someone who can help you analyze a KPI with proficiency. Interpreting data and certain experimentation should be set up to gage cause and effects of incremental changes within your business. A Professional Digital Marketing consultant can even prepare a Competitive Analysis on the KPIs of direct competitors in your industry.

Continually being in more places and offering more content to people is what Web Presence Optimization is all about. In the past, consumers only had a few media choices to get their news from. Today, these media outlets have multiplied a thousand times over and are spending less time on more of those choices. The idea is to get your content in front of those people in many of the "right" places possible.
Here is a noteworthy approach:

Start an Internet based radio show. You can interview many affluential and knowledgeable people and have them send links out to their influential friends.

This sounds like an absurd idea, right? But it really is becoming a type of trend that seems to be working. Recently, I was interviewed here in Orange County by two separate radio programs.

Most recently I was asked to be on a live drive-time radio show called "Pilgrim on the 405" hosted by Will Crist. It is a radio show that caters to commuters who travel through Orange County on the 405. To listen to Will's interview; Pilgrim Talks: Chuck Bankoff and Mark Friedman to get a better idea of the format I am talking about.

The first radio show I was asked to be on was only a few day prior with veteran journalist Tony Demaio who is with Big Media USA. We discussed the truth about Search Engine Optimization. Additionally, Tony is helping me work on a radio show of my own coming soon.

Do you think the idea works? I mean after the interview was completed I posted this article on a number of social networks, including Facebook and Twitter and a few blogs and here you are reading about it!

Offline conversions are very important and many businesses overlook just how important they are. You should remember that often times people find you on the internet but instead would rather visit your physical location or call instead of using your website to make their conversion. Offline conversions are pretty hard to track, but if you’re not tracking them, your ROI data about your online campaign will not be accurate and might lead you to under-budget your SEM program. Here are some techniques that can be used for a more accurate insight on your online SEM campaign.

Lead Measuring Techniques For Phone Calls:

Using our research and analysis, we have discovered a few effective ways to measure your phone leads that result directly from your online marketing strategy. Here are a few of them:

Campaign On / Campaign Off: This method works by letting you see how many calls you are getting over a set period of time with your campaign turned on, verses how many calls you are getting over a set period of time with your campaign turned off. You can try this a few different times in order to get a better sense of where your phone calls are actually coming from.
 
Using Different Phone Numbers: While running a Pay Per Click campaign, your landing pages can actually have a different phone number than the other pages of your website. The only issue with this is that sometimes a person that found you through your PPC campaign will revisit the site through your regular url. While this strategy isn’t 100% accurate, it gives you an easy way to gauge the general success of your online marketing campaign.

Software To Track Your Calls: This is another method that can be extremely helpful, especially when running a mixed media campaign. What happens is that the software assigns different and unique telephone numbers for each search engine. If you also wanted to track beyond the media vendor, you can assign specific coupon codes or extensions through your listings. You can also use pop-up software that is able to initiate a call or voice chat that is then taken by a qualified sales person. The only problem with this method is that most often people have pop-up blockers enabled on their browsers.

Dynamic Reverse Proxy: The strategy I like the best is an intelligent system that that can differentiate the source of the visitor to the site. Depending on which source directed them there, the visitor will see a different phone number. Your telephone would ring just as it usually does, but all the calls will be tracked, the phone number of the caller, the length of time the call lasted, and the call will be recorded. Not only that, the actual voice conversation with your sales rep will be recorded as well for playback on demand.

Obviously phone calls that stem from your online marketing efforts are among your top KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Many of these strategies are very easy and you can probably handle them yourself. You may want to get the advice of a certified Digital Marketing Consultant to really leverage the techniques and technology.

QR Codes…my new favorite toy (and a Digital Marketing dream) are becoming incredibly popular because of their ease of use and unlimited applications.

A QR Code (short for "Quick Response" Code) is a 2-dimensional digital icon that your customers and prospects can scan with their mobile phone to get access to well...virtually anything that you want them to have access to. Not only that, they come standard (and free) on most mobile phones, even the most basic software to design them is free as well!

The applications are limited only by your imagination. Here are a few of them literally off the top of my head. Some of these are cleverer than others, but I guarantee these are just scratching the surface:

1: Business Cards & Flyers: This may be one of the most obvious places to use a QR Code, but the applications are endless. You could set it to download your contact information to your prospects smart phone (where it belongs) so they don’t have to look for your business card the next time they think of you. Or you could do the obvious and simply link it to the home page of your website. Just make sure that you link it to a mobile optimized page or you won’t fully be taking advantage of the technology.

Or you could be clever and link it to a “special” promotional page that is reserved for those who put forth the effort to scan it. For example, you could link the code to a special “VIP Room” with a special discount or offer that can only be obtained by entering through the scan.

2: Your Website: Yes, another obvious one, so think it through… If they are already on your website you could give them remote access to a hidden special offer page (mobile optimized of course) or you could simply download your contact information or product offerings.

3: Shirts: Just think about doing an expo or a convention and everyone on your staff has a large QR code emblazoned on their shirt. Having people aiming their smart phones at the large gaudy design your entire staff is wearing just might be the attention getter you’re looking for. What would it link to? How about an “event only” special?

4: Social Media Icons: You could use it as a profile picture or as your personal picture on Skype or as the secondary logo on your LinkedIn Business profile.

5: Graffiti: Come on…who could resist scanning some hi-tech tagging on the side of building or fence? Or a little more conventionally, on the door to your OWN office or store.

6: Menus: Why should a restaurant rely on pieces of paper to make their takeout menus available to patrons? Why not let them scan it and store it on their smart phones. If the scan links to the mobile menu page on their website, it can constantly be updated by the time the patron takes her next look.

7: Tattoos & Tombstones: What’s the difference between eggs and bacon? The egg was involved…the bacon was committed. If you’re really committed to this concept of QR Codes, why not tattoo one on your body? After all, a tattoo is permanent proof of temporary insanity. Speaking of “permanent”, nothing says forever like chiseling your final epitaph on your final resting spot. Now that’s commitment!

Here is a little step-by-step guide on setting up a QR Code. Of course in many cases you might need help in setting up a mobile enabled website or specific mobile web page. Your Kreative Webworks team can help you with that.

I received call from a noted cosmetic surgeon in Denver a few months back. His issue was that he was stopped and cited for a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated).  This made the local newspaper (the online version) and despite the fact that he was acquitted, his business dropped off substantially.

I don’t know about you, but before someone takes a knife to my face I prefer they not be intoxicated. Apparently this is unavoidable in some pubs and taverns I’ve been to…but that is another story. In this case his potential patients easily found this out simply by Googling him by name.

He wanted to know how to make that article disappear. The problem is that content on the Internet is forever. You can’t make it disappear; you can only bury it onto deeper pages on the search results.

What makes this such a tough assignment is that the content came from a Newspaper website. That makes it extra challenging because by its very nature news sites are constantly updating their content and search engines give extra weight to pages that contain “fresh” page content. “Fresh” content refers to page content that updates regularly as opposed to being static.

A good example of this would be the home page of news sites like CNN.com. Essentially, the home page automatically updates whenever a new content page (a new article) is added. So do the links to other related articles.

It is important to consider fresh content when planning out your site architecture. The home page and all category-level pages should include a content element that will automatically update when new content pages are added. That is why Blogs and News modules have become so important.

And the Cosmetic Surgeon? In a fleeting sober moment he did the math and realized that the cost of a Reputation Management Program paled in comparison to the devastating effects of bad PR. It took a few weeks, but we were able to push the nasty article off the first page. Cosmetically enhanced faces in Denver are once again on the rise.

For some, “Social Media Optimization” is a buzz phrase with no definition. You know that you have to “do” Facebook, or that you have to Blog, but face it; you don’t really have a plan do you? The fact is that everyone is migrating to social media, whether they know it or not. Whenever you go online to see what other people are doing or what they recommend, you are leveraging Social Media whether you know it or not. If you use Social Media for business, why not take full advantage of a population of users that exceeds most major counties?

1. Focus On What Is Important

One of the most important things you can do is listen to what your customers are saying on their social media posts. This will help you gain a better understanding for their needs. Connect with them; see what they are up to. This will help you have a better understanding of what you can do to help them.

2. Personalities and Style Make a BIG Difference

When using social media tools like Facebook or Twitter, the two most dynamic ingredients for success are personality and style. This is often what makes the difference between a post and a viral post. It can also give you more credibility when it comes to being a trusted source in your industry.

3. Implement Good Habits In Your Strategies

Making sure your policies, guidelines and structure matches your company’s size. What may work for a smaller company won’t necessarily work with a large company. You will need to adjust these to fit your needs as your company grows. You will want your team to exhibit qualities that enhance your relationship with customers. Customers value quick, consistent and well-spoken responses and posts.

4. Rules and Regulations?

You will find that having a few rules and guidelines regarding your social media strategies will seem more and more necessary as your company grows. Keep in mind that every situation is different and that your may have to bend the rules when necessary. Trust your team’s intuition; don’t blindly lead wit a book of rules and regulations.

5. Utilize Metrics

In order to effectively manage you social media strategies, you should pay attention to metrics and tie in the social media aspect to you overall business goals. When starting up a brand new project, you should determine what metrics and goals you should set before getting started.

Wondering where to start with Social Media for your business? Let us offer you a Social Media readiness evaluation. We examine your company goals along with your existing assets to determine what is the best media and the best strategy for you.

There is lots more to take into consideration when selecting a domain address than one may think in the beginning. After you develop your web site, distribute your website address on collateral product and enhance it for search engines like google, you will be considerably committed… so you better make a great choice up-front.

Generally speaking, listed below are my recommendations:

Shorter is preferable to longer:

Naturally short domain names are simpler to type, and often are simpler to recall. The issue is that the majority of good short domain names happen to be taken. You might have to get innovative, or search for a new extension (Dot Net or Dot Biz, etc.). Shorter is certainly desired, however, not at the cost of various other factors (read on…)

Simple to spell:

Admit it, some words and phrases are commonly misspelled. I'd personally never suggest taking up a intentionally misspelled domain as the primary, but you will really need to consider the ease of spelling versus the specific nature of the words in your domain. The worst case scenario is if the frequent misspelled name belongs to your competition.

Don't Use Special Characters:

Dashes, underscores and dots are very easily missed. Most likely you're turning to unique characters because variations without having those dots and dashes have been used.

No Acronyms:

Unless you are currently a brand name…or attempting to create one, do not assume people to understand that www.scvma.org is the domain for the “Southern California Veterinary Medical Association”. OK… that's a difficult one, however, if possible choose something longer that's memorable and simple to spell before you attempt to make someone recall SCVMA…

“Dot Com” beats “Dot everything else”… most times

Dot Com is definitely the granddaddy of all domain names. When you have a great “Dot Com” the majority of people will give you credit for being around a while… or at the least being the original. There's no shame in going with a different domain name extension, but see what you can do with a “dot Com” first. The exceptions are a “Dot Org” if you're in fact an organization. Or “Dot Info” if you'd like to be regarded as a source for information rather than commerce. Please don't knock yourself out attempting to force-feed yourself into a left over “Dot Com” when it does not make sense… Just check it out first.

Easy to remember:

Often even short domain names aren't easy to remember. Acronyms can be quite difficult; meaningless words and phrases or easily mixed up names can be quite a challenge as well. This becomes a issue when trying to leverage word of mouth marketing (one friend telling another) or collateral advertising that really needs the target audience to visit the website afterwards (for example radio advertising, or billboard marketing).

It isn't especially relevant if somebody is clicking on a hyperlink, but should they have to remember your website address or spell it… they better be able to remember it.

Use Keywords and phrases:

Search Engines Like Google assume that if you have a keyword within your domain, that your site has to be relevant for that term. When possible, employ a word or words that happen to be appropriate for you to appear on the various search engines as part of your website.

One more word of advice:

When publishing your domain name start using a method known as “stemming”. That is; rather than www.mydomainname.com, distribute it as being www.MyDomainName.com so that humans might actually make sense of it every time they see it. That makes it simpler for them to read it and remember it.

Not one of these guidelines are absolute. The best alternatives out there might require that you break a guideline or two. Just take into account that you're most likely going to need to live with your domain for some time… so make a beneficial choice.