website reviews via video

Your website design should showcase your company’s strengths and services—not make them impossible to find.

DC-area public relations firm Crawford PR is suffering from a bad case of Internet irony; the award-winning telecom PR strategists have sorely neglected the marketing potential of their own website. With some good content hidden behind an anti-Google shield, potential customers are unlikely to find the company, let alone initiate contact. But with three strategic upgrades, the Crawford PR website could and should become a lead-generation machine.

Site, Meet Google
The homepage look is well designed, clean, and professional, but because every element is an image, the best it can do is rebuff Google’s advances, convincing the search engine that it’s nothing but a pretty face. That’s a real shame, because there are over 40,000 searches every day for the key phrase “public relations,” and over 27,000 for “pr agency.” Unfortunately, Crawfordpr.com is so impenetrable that it doesn’t even show up in a search of “pr” and its specific suburban hometown. Given the evident search interest, that’s a significant missed opportunity.

Cool or Confusing?
But Google isn’t the only rejected suitor, as visitors who do make it to the homepage are likely to be confounded by the menu options. Using a driving analogy, the traditional “services” and “about us” sections, for example, are disguised as “milestones” and “navigators,” making it unnecessarily difficult to find relevant and compelling information. Persuasive material—like the well-done case studies—are too easily missed, and the site thus fails to develop the sense of trust that would persuade visitors to become clients.

Then What?
One of the axioms of Internet marketing is that you have to be brutally clear with your potential customers about what steps they can take toward retaining your services. Known as a “call to action,” this could be anything from a free quote request form to a subscription option on an engaging and updated company blog. The Crawford PR site offers nothing along the lines of a sales funnel, and thus offers little reason for a visitor to make contact.

Physician, Heal Thyself
The prescription? Marketer, market! Reconstruct the site and optimize it for Google, so that online traffic has a chance of finding the website. Make the menu options user-friendly and add a news blog with a subscription option to build interest and trust by actively presenting case studies and analyses of news in the world of PR. Finally, present visitors with a call to action through blog subscription, a free consultation offer, or other means.

Your website can be a phenomenal marketing tool—but only if potential customers can find and navigate it.

The proprietors of Absolute Aluminum went out of their way to put forward an arresting website design, complete with flash animation, sound effects, and links to further company media. The result is slick, but misses a fundamental truth of online marketing: the goal of a website is to increase your audience. If visual pizzazz confounds your site visitors—or, worse, keeps your site out of search results—it isn’t worth having.

Help Google Help You
The single biggest problem with this website is that it has managed to make itself nearly invisible to Google. By implementing a Flash-based homepage design without a single text link to a subpage, the company has effectively convinced Google that its website is one big animation file. Without content to crawl and links to follow, Absolute Aluminum is missing out on even the most targeted keyword searches.

Cool Stuff Overload
The production value of the homepage flash presentation is impressive, but the load time eats up the crucial ten seconds during which visitors look for a reason to stay on a site. The image may have caught their eyes—but as a distraction, not a motivational guidepost.

The problems of the intro, unfortunately, are compounded by the layout, which is far too busy, with a large (but misnamed) side menu, an FAQ section that clutters the page, and redundant or unnecessary links. The result is an overdone visual impression that will tend to confuse potential customers, rather than inspiring them to act on their interest in what the company has to offer.

Missed Opportunities
And what should visitors do if they are interested? That could be a lot clearer. Like many sites, absolutealuminum.com lacks a real call to action—a hook prompting visitors to make initial contact. There is no form to request a free quote, and while there is a newsletter sign-up on the front page, there’s no explanation of what the newsletter has to offer. Visitors may be left feeling impressed with the site’s complexity, but not moved to transition from passive visitor to active consumer.

The Fix
To start, take off the Google-invisibility suit and simplify the website design. Use real text links that the search engine can find and follow, and post the company’s buried—but effective—ads on video sharing sites where they can catch Google’s roving eye. Then, install a news blog to show off the latest projects, providing new searchable content while establishing a sense of professional trust with visitors. Finally, use a subscription option for the blog and an omnipresent “request a quote” form to compel potential customers to answer the company’s call to action. With increased visibility, navigability, and focused visitor direction, Absolute Aluminum should see a marked improvement in traffic and lead generation.

Your website can be a crucial element of your marketing strategy—if it’s designed with your services and your professional goals in mind.

Freelance writer Ruthann Baler’s site is doing well on several statistical fronts; her pages viewed per visit are above average; her bounce rate is below; and the average time a visitor spends on her site is just over three minutes. But a closer look at the website’s stats reveals several major weaknesses that are hindering its ability to effectively market Ruthann’s services. With a few structural tweaks and a renewed sense of focus, ruthannbaler.com should become a driving force in the growth of her business.

Search Engine Optimization
Ruthann’s website draws just over 44% of its traffic from search engines—pretty good for a site that is not search engine optimized. But while her #2 and #3 keyword searches are right on target for her industry, she isn’t taking full advantage of the search interest in freelance copywriting. A little bit of SEO would make a huge difference.

Publishing
Ruthann really should be taking advantage of blogging. As a writer, not only would a blog demonstrate her talent, but it would give her an opportunity to sell the importance of her services—how great copywriting can help businesses. From the perspective of search engine optimization, blogging would also up her profile in Google by providing new and relevant content.

Focus
The site statistics reveal that the most popular page on this site isn’t Services, About, or Home, but a page entitled Music and Community, which has no obvious relationship to Ruthann’s business. A full 32% of the link use from the home page goes there, and it takes the top rank for most visited pages on the site. While there may be some advantage to highlighting charitable work, this example does not appear to be doing anything to optimize Ruthann’s site as a marketing tool, and she may want to consider diminishing its prominence, or removing it from the site altogether.

Call to Action
Not surprisingly, businesses benefit from interaction with their potential clients. But many websites fail to feature a call to action—something that would prompt a visitor to make that initial contact. Ruthann’s site lacks that kind of obvious lead outreach, and could be significantly improved by the addition of features that would take a visitor from passive viewer to active inquirer. Something like a free consultation or an option to subscribe to her blog could make a huge difference.

In sum, ruthannbaler.com is in an excellent position to benefit from targeted improvement; with search engine optimization, an updated blog, renewed focus on her services, and a call to action for site visitors, Ruthann should see a dramatic increase in the leads generated by her online presence.

Simple but effective changes in web design and strategy can make all the difference—transforming a functional website into an internet marketing powerhouse.

A Cambridge hotel set in a converted Massachusetts firehouse, the historic Kendall has a lot to offer: lovely rooms, great specials, and the kind of boutique appeal that could inspire a network of referrals. But although the Kendall’s website is generally in good shape, some reorganization would bring good content forward, while attention to relationship-building could open up significant opportunities to grow the business.

Keep It Simple—and Targeted
The average visitor to a website spends 10 seconds evaluating where to go next from the homepage; if you don’t want him to hit the “back” button on his browser, you have to catch his attention with appealing and useful information.

For quick impact, the Kendall’s menu has a few too many options, some of which aren’t really targeted to visitors’ interests. Additionally, valuable page real estate is occupied by links with limited appeal, while the helpful virtual tour has been relegated to a spot that visitors could easily miss. A shift in emphasis toward the most popular and most enticing information—Rooms, Amenities, Dining, and Specials—would offer visitors what they need to become guests.

Cast the Net Smart
The Kendall could also benefit from targeted outreach and relationship-building—with the nice side effect of improving the website’s Google ranking. With a “News and Specials” blog, the hotel could streamline layout and provide new searchable content, while allowing visitors to subscribe and receive updates, building a sense of familiarity and inclusiveness. Submission to broad and targeted directories, as well as the use of social bookmarking would increase the number of good quality inbound links, again appealing to Google, but also taking advantage of high-tech—and highly effective—”word of mouth.”

In short, the Kendall Hotel can improve its already good standing by making a few simple but strategic changes to its website. First, bring the best content to the forefront, simplifying options and highlighting the most compelling information. Second, add a blog to manage news and special offers while building relationships with visitors and improving site rankings. And finally, strengthen the hotel’s network position by submitting kendallhotel.com to directories and utilizing social bookmarking.

This Boston based bakery servers up fantastic wedding cakes to the area is locally known and has been in business for quite some time. The biggest issue is that Google does not know this. Watch this video to find out how to get Montilios found online and how to promote the products they make… cakes!