eMarketSouth Central

Ok, so you have a fabulous website (because we made it for you) and you are getting a lot of traffic. But how well are you letting your potential customers get to know you?

A growing trend on websites is to include profiles of key executives and personnel. This allows your potential customer to put a face with a name when they call or email you. It also may help you to connect with a customer that may be on the fence about choosing you over a competitor. For example, if you include your alma mater in your profile, you may attract former classmates or other alumni. (I should caution sports fanatics about listing their favorite teams: nothing sparks more passion and controversy than sports rivals.)

Your profile can be as long or as short as you want, but the idea is to put yourself out there for the visitors. You also have an added bonus: profiles may help your SEO. That’s right. Adding content to your site is always a good thing, and think of all the keywords your profile may contain, such as schools, business associations, certifications, trainings, awards, etc.

Recently, Coastal Pet Rescue re-vamped their Leadership Team page to allow each team member to have their own page with biography and Curriculum Vitae. Visitors now see the list of each team member, their title and job description and may click a link to learn more about that individual. CPR chose to do this to build credibility for the organization and demonstrate the diverse skills and talents of the leadership team.

Now that you’ve decided you want a profile, what do you do next? I highly recommend making an outline and bullet points. Use titles such as education, certifications and training, awards, and family. Once you have your outline, then you can begin to put information together. Remember to write concisely and try to avoid run on sentences. And whatever you do, don’t forget the spelling and grammar checks. Have someone proof read your profiles before making them public. After all, you want to make the best impression possible to your potential clients.

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
No Comments »

While this is not a new term, it certainly is hard for many people to get a grasp on an actual definition. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, but what is it exactly?

SEO essentially means making your site search engine-friendly. It sounds simple, but actually involves quite a bit of legwork. Good SEO means your site not only reads well to the engines, but also your customers.

Some basic components of SEO include:

• Domain Name
• Title Tags
• Meta Tags (description and keywords)
• Keyword-rich content
• Regularly-updated content
• Sitemaps
• Links from other websites to yours

With SEO, content is the key. Think about your product and the types of phrases your customers might use if they were searching for a product similar to yours. Make sure these phrases appear throughout your page. Additionally, make sure your website is updated regularly so engines will see changes.

SEO can be a very daunting task. On average, you should spend at least an hour a day checking out your website, updating content, checking your searches and traffic. We understand this can be very time consuming, so eMarketSouth created an SEO package just for our customers. Email us or give us a call today at 912-356-1140 to find out how we can help boost your site’s SEO.

Tags: Search Engine Optimization, eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
No Comments »

The following is the full transcript that was to be presented at the April Buy Local Savannah luncheon, however, due to time constraints, was cut to bare bones when presented. 

Your website is your greatest selling tool and should be an investment that you commit to more than just one time. The “if you build it, they will come” does not work for online marketing. You can’t just build a website and wait for business. So how do you get people to you?

You have to advertise. I can’t count the number of clients that don’t bother to put their website address in their marketing materials, such as print collateral, business cards, TV, radio and even billboard ads. You should also consider purchasing banner ad space on websites that share your target demographic but do not compete with you directly.

Once you get people to your website, you have to capture their interest to keep them there. You have 10 seconds to capture your visitor’s interest. So take a fresh look at your website. Is it attractive to you? Is the information your potential client most wants to know on the home page or easy to find? Suggest to your employees and current clients to provide feedback on your current website. If they have comments or concerns, take note of them. This website is not for you, it is for your potential customers. Make sure you create a design that is inviting and your content is easy to read and find. A big problem I notice is a change of text fonts, styles and colors from one page to another and even one paragraph to another. Please be kind to those reading your site, especially if you have a lot of information to digest. Keeping font styles consistent allows for a user’s eyes to flow easily through your information and increases their retention. Consult with a professional firm that has experience in designing business sites. They will be able to help guide you with regards to color schemes, content development, navigation, and layout. And please, have people other than yourself read through your content for spelling and grammar. This is a glaring problem I see when clients submit content. Your customers will notice, too.

Once you’ve caught their interest, you need to be available to them for contact. Make sure to have your physical location, directions or map, hours of operation, phone and fax numbers, and of course, a way for them to contact you via email. I have seen too many sites where a business says you may only contact them by phone during certain hours. People are online because they want to conduct business online. If you aren’t providing them that access, you are missing your chance to sell.

Your business should never be over after the sell. Use your website as a tool to keep your clients informed and sell them on other services and products as you make them available. Consider adding a blog to your site that covers topics related to your business that will be of value to your clients as well. The tone can vary, such as upgrade information, new hire, community partnership or case study.

So if you build it, will they come? And if they come, will they stay? The only way to get a strong return on investment for your website is to take the time to plan through your website development and stay open to periodic changes to enhance the user’s experience.

Tags: Design, Search Engine Optimization, eMarketSouth by Lisa Scarbrough
No Comments »