How your website fits in with social media

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, August 1, 2011

What's the trendiest, shiniest thing in marketing today? Social media, of course. It's hard to have a conversation about marketing without some form of social media being mentioned. Social media is a powerful form of communication and I'm a huge fan of all the things that businesses can do with it. However, there is a danger in getting too caught up in the hype if it causes you to start neglecting your website.

Your website is the information hub for your organization. It is the place where you walk your prospects through the solutions you offer. It's where you allow your constituents to go deep into your content to solve problems, get help, and complete transactions. Even more importantly, it's the central location for your brand online.

Another great reason to make your website your primary online platform is the concept of ownership. You own your website. You do not own Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+. In fact, these networks can sometimes interrupt or destroy all your hard work with no warning or opportunity for recourse.

In a previous blog entry, I discussed content marketing and how it works. Much of your content comes from your organization's website and is the launch pad for your communication on social networks. Content fuels social media and gives you something to talk about.

So how do you utilize the content on your own website with social media?

First, maintain a blog. Blogging has tremendous SEO benefits when nurtured consistently and gives you powerful content to share and discuss on social networks. Be sure to optimize your blog for social media so that your content connects to all the major networks.

Next, make sure that you create the proper permission channels and calls to action on your website. Social networks are a great way to draw traffic back to your organization's website. When people decide to click through to your content, they have moved higher up the ladder of commitment and are more serious about buying or at least learning more. Give your website visitors opportunities to subscribe to your blog, fill out a lead form, join your mailing list, or simply research your solution. If they click through from a social network and then arrive at a stale, outdated website, then you've missed an opportunity.

Finally, always tie activity back to your primary web presence. Link all of your social profiles to your website. Post your content on your website. Maintain your website and keep it up to date with a content management system. This is the property that you own online. Your organization's website is where content is stored and social media is a great way to distribute that content.

Have articles to share? Post them on your website and share them on social media. Have videos to share? Embed them on your own landing pages and share them on social media. Maintain a blog? integrate it into your website and use a social commenting engine to centralize communication communication while distributing socially.

Social media is a powerful way to connect with people. However, be sure to nurture all sides of the equation. Maintaining a strong social media presence along with a well designed and properly maintained website is an effective way to approach online marketing.

There’s no automation to SEO

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, July 25, 2011

This week's blog is a special guest post by Megan Brown, social media networker at Slingshot SEO. Contact her: megan@slingshotseo.com or follow her on Twitter: @thatgirlmegan.

You can have the world's most aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly web site full of useful and engaging content. But if no one who is searching for terms relevant to your organization and what you have to offer can find it, does it really exist?

In reality, yes, your site does exist. Potentially those who search for your unique company name may even find your site within the top few results. However, those who may be searching for your exact services or terms relevant to your company may never even know you exist, and thus opportunities for engagement and conversion are lost when they visit competitor sites.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can and will build online reputation and digital relevancy so that you do show up in those top search results. Put simply, SEO is a continuous, ever-changing process, organically built on deliberate implementation of search-friendly practices both on and off your site that in turn raises your site's placement on a search engine results page for relevant terms.

Although there are constant updates of Google's secret search algorithm - sometimes as a precaution to combat those who are attempting to 'game' the system in order to raise page rank unfairly, there are ways to increase page rank while remaining within the bounds of Google's guidelines. Slingshot SEO helps deserving brands build this relevancy, starting with the strong foundation of the CLASS methodology.

When beginning an SEO campaign, it’s important to remember that search engine optimization is more than just keywords and links – an old myth that is slowly getting dispelled. It is imperative that if an SEO campaign will be successful, it must focus on all aspects of CLASS – Content, Link Graph Optimization, Architecture, Social Signals and Strategy. If one piece of CLASS is ignored or viewed as less important to others, an SEO campaign won’t see lasting, impactful results.

Enterprise SEO requires dedication, patience and investment. Results do not appear overnight, and changes must constantly be made to an SEO campaign to narrow in on certain focuses as well as adapt to social and algorithmic changes in search. Implementing and updating the components of CLASS is important when creating and updating your site.

Just as you continually define your brand and refocus marketing efforts to meet consumer’s needs, you also must update and acclimatize your SEO campaign. Using the foundation of the CLASS method will better enable you to build relevancy to and engage with current and potential online clients. 

If you’re interested in learning more about enterprise SEO and what to look for when engaging with an SEO provider, read our SEO Buyer’s Guide.

Written by: Megan Brown, social media networker at Slingshot SEO. Contact her: megan@slingshotseo.com or follow her on Twitter: @thatgirlmegan.

Tired of shouting? Give content marketing a try.

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, July 18, 2011

Do you ever feel like you're shouting at your prospects?

Whether you represent a business or a non-profit, chances are at some point you have fallen prey to the old-fashioned marketing tactics that have been the norm for ages. The formula goes something like this:

1. Create a campaign
2. Launch a campaign
3. Wait for people to buy from you (or donate, etc.)

Look familiar? It certainly does to me. Step 2 can take many forms, such as TV commercials, magazine ads, email campaigns, social media campaigns, billboards, etc.

While this can certainly work for some organizations, it doesn't always work for everyone. Additionally, your prospects are getting more and more resistant to these old-style marketing techniques and they also have more ways to opt-out of them.

So what's the alternative?

There is another school of thought that suggests that if you first give something of value to your prospects, they will give you a small commitment and a minimal level of trust. This then gives you permission to ask for a little more commitment and trust by offering something of higher value. This continues all the way up the ladder until that prospect becomes a customer. This is called content marketing.

So how do you produce this content? It will depend on your organization but some great examples of high-value content include blogs, webinars, e-books, white papers, videos, etc. The key is to find out what your prospects find valuable, and then start giving it away.

If you represent a corporation, it could be industry information that your prospects can use to make money. If you represent a non-profit, it could be content that is relevant and useful to your donors. If you represent an association, it will be content that helps your members grow their businesses.

It's important that you avoid "announcement-style" content. We've seen it all before. Instead, focus on content that is full of meat, education, and value.

Once you've figured out what kind of content you can produce, you then place it in a chain of permission steps that leads people up the ladder until they eventually get to the top.

Sound difficult? It's certainly not easy and it takes time. Content marketing is a slow and steady strategy so you won't see results overnight. However, once your permission funnel gets bigger, you will start to enjoy a more consistent stream of customers who know, like, and trust you and that can be a much more sustainable marketing strategy.

How to lose money with bad usability

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Monday, July 11, 2011

I'm kind of a nut about usability. Jakob Nielsen is my hero and I live in a constant state of frustration at all the ways today's systems (and the people who design them) pay little attention to the issue. While usability is an issue in all types of systems, many of the usability sins committed occur on the web.

Bad usability is also expensive. Many developers don't always connect the dots between usability and revenue but if they did, they could save their organizations time and money, as well as avoid negative branding.

Here's a recent example. I received an email a few days ago from The Hartford. It looked like this:

When I received the email, I thought "great!" since I hate paper and would welcome the chance to switch to electronic documents. Not that I understand anything The Hartford sends me, but that's another issue. So I clicked "go to Plan Access" and was presented with this login screen:

First of all, calling my username an "Operator ID" is a bit clumsy. Am I an "Operator?" I thought I was a person? Or at least a user? By straying from conventional naming schemes, The Hartford is already causing me to question whether I am even in the right place. "Operator" sounds pretty official. Maybe this is actually a place for my financial advisor to log in?

In any case, I gave it a try. Since I rarely log in to this site, of course I don't remember my username or password. So after a failed attempt, here is what I got:

I am now at a dead end. Since I'm working on this on a Saturday, I'm not even going to try calling the 800 number because I'm not expecting anyone at a financial company to answer the phone. And even if it were a weekday I wouldn't call because it's simply not worth it for me to wait on hold for someone to reset my password. I simply don't care that much. So now I completely give up and move on. I have lots of other email to get to and it's not worth it to me to spend the time logging in.

If I were not planning to write this blog, then it would be end of story and The Hartford would continue spending money printing and mailing me things. However, since I am writing this blog I explored a bit further. I clicked the "Back" button (which many people would not bother doing) and scanned the login page. I then noticed that there was indeed a "Forgot Your Password?" link tucked away in the corner in very tiny text. So I clicked on it and got this:

Well, this is not very helpful to me because I don't know what my "Operator ID" is. I am pretty sure I knew my password but I vaguely recall that The Hartford's website made me choose some non-standard "Operator ID" back in the day so I don't remember what it is. Another brick wall! So despite my extra effort to figure things out, I still hit a snag and I'm actually giving up for real now.

Could I have spent a little time figuring it out? Sure. I could have saved the email and called The Hartford on Monday. Or I could have spent a few minutes trying different usernames to see if one would work. However, the point here is that it's simply not worth it to me. I'm not going to win some fabulous prize if I figure it out. I'm just trying to get my 401k provider to send me documents electronically rather than on paper. The incentive for me to spend time on this is not very strong. Apparently I would rather write this blog than continue to try to log in!

Here is what The Hartford is doing wrong:

• Using non-standard labels on login fields, causing the user to question the validity of the system
• Giving the user no automated password reset option when displaying the error message
• Defaulting to "call this number" as the suggested password recovery option
• Hiding the password reset option on the previous page and far away from the login fields
• Making the user remember more than just the email address in order to even reset the password

Here is what The Hartford should be doing instead:

• Using standard form field labels, like "username" or better yet, use email as the username and explicitly say so
• Instead of a "call us" dead end, offer a self-serve password reset option when displaying the error message
• Only ask for email address for the password reset option
• Make sure the "forgot password" link is clearly posted under the login fields so it's not missed
• Improve the language on the login and error screens so it's not so robotic

A few simple usability improvements could have gotten me to switch to paperless document delivery. However, I am giving up and will be resigned to getting things printed and mailed. Now multiply that by all the customers who received this same message and who got stuck like I did.

Let's do some math. I don't know how many customers The Harford has but according to its website, it's in the millions, so let's say one million. Now, let's come up with a reasonable cost to mail a document to me. If we factor in the cost of printing, mailing, and general processing, let's just say it costs one dollar to mail me each packet. Now, if The Hartford were using good usability practices on it's website, let's say 50% of the people that received the email decided to go paperless and were able to do so. Now, The Hartford is saving $500,000 each time a packet is distributed. Not bad! However, since usability is lacking on the website, let's say that in reality, only 25% of customers are able to log in and go paperless. Remember that this is a financial services site, not your Gmail or your Facebook account. Most people don't visit this site very often and so there is a high probability that many will not remember their usernames and/or passwords. Now, The Hartford is only saving $250,000.

As you can see, because of some simple usability problems (which would take very little time to fix), The Hartford is potentially losing a quarter of a million dollars with every mailing because of unnecessary printing, mailing, and processing costs.

My numbers are made up, but I'm sure you can create your own scenarios based on best guesses. I chose to be conservative and I would bet they they are losing a lot more than this.

By connecting the dots, we can now see how usability attaches to dollars in a very real sense. While some may think investing in good usability is expensive, ignoring it seems a lot more costly to me.

15 years ago today

Posted by: Michael Reynolds, President/CEO in General on Friday, July 8, 2011

Today is the 15 year anniversary of SpinWeb. On this very day a decade and a half ago, we officially became a company and started delivering web solutions. I co-founded the company with Dannie Stanley (who is now a brainiac developer at Purdue) and later partnered with Duane Gran (who is also a brainiac developer - see a trend?) and started advertising around the Ball State campus. At the time, I was a junior at Ball State University learning HTML and getting excited about the possibilities of the web and Dannie walked by my dorm room and said "hey, we're getting pretty good at this... maybe we should start a business!" I think he might have been joking, but I shrugged and said "sure, why not?"

We advertised by placing (wait for it) paper fliers, of all things, around campus! Apparently it worked, though, because we got an email from our first client within a couple of weeks. Our first client was DeVon Yoho, Director of Center for Economic Education at Ball State. He asked us to put one of his classes online and that was our first project. We even used JavaScript - we were so cutting edge for 1996! I will always be grateful to DeVon for his trust in use and for giving us a chance.

A couple of years later, we had enough business to lease an office in the Village area of Muncie and started hiring. I graduated from Ball State with a degree in both music and business. Can you guess which one ended up being more useful? I do still play the cello from time to time, though.

We continued to grow and eventually Dannie and Duane decided to go get "real" jobs (probably a smart idea) while I was apparently crazy enough to stick around and see where I could take the business. Around this time I moved myself and the business to Indianapolis and made it a goal to hire the best of the best. I'm happy to say that I believe I have done that. You can see them all here.

We have expanded to work with clients all over the U.S. However, I am also happy to say that much of our business continues to be with great organizations right here in Indiana. This is where our roots are and this is my community.

A lot has changed since then, most of all technology. However, one thing has not. I have continued to make it my top priority to be the best at what we do, hire the best people to do it, and do everything I can to take care of my team and my clients. Through economic downturns, tech bubbles, and many other challenges, SpinWeb has enjoyed steady growth and improvement for 15 years.

I am deeply grateful for my talented team, our clients who decided to take a chance on us, and all of our supporters and partners. Thank you for being there for us over the past 15 years. Really - thank you.