So what's wrong with WordPress?

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Choosing the right Content Management System, or CMS, is critical to the success of your website. The right CMS will empower your team and make content management an efficient process. Unfortunately, choosing a CMS without enough research to make a fully informed decision can lead to frustrations and problems later.

One of the most popular CMS apps available today is WordPress. It's free, flexible, and easy to install. It's used by hundreds of thousands of websites. Since Wordpress is so popular, accessible, and affordable, it's easy to see why so many organizations want to use it to power their websites.

But is WordPress the right option for you?

Ok, before going any further I need to acknowledge that I'm entering "holy war" territory here. Aside from politics, religion, and Mac vs. PC, few things stir up heated controversy more than which CMS to use. Well, at least in the marketing/technology world.

We know a lot of agencies that use WordPress for their client projects and feel that it's the best way to manage a website. That's ok. But it's important to understand when it makes sense and when you might run into problems.

Let's take a look at some facts about WordPress:

• It's open source (you can modify the code to your heart's content)
• It's "free"
• It's popular
• It's got a lot of plugins and add-ons

Sounds pretty good, right? Let's take a look at some realities.

While being able to modify the code can be a good thing, it can also be a recipe for disaster. Making custom changes to WordPress can add features that you may need but it can also open a Pandora's box of bugs and hacks that are difficult to recover from. Yes, it's true that with the right developer and a cautious approach you can go for a long time without any issues. However, we've seen too many organizations come to us with broken, cumbersome, or hard-to-manage websites that were built on a customized version of WordPress. They were fed up with trying to deal with it and just wanted to switch to a "real" CMS.

But it's free, right?! It's only free if your time (and your developer's time) is worth nothing. Yes, the install is a 5-minute process, but what then? What if you want to add additional features like calendars, membership databases, directories, or e-commerce, it's not as easy. I think Darien Kruss explains it nicely in his presentation below from a recent Accrisoft Partner Summit:

So does this means that WordPress is bad? Absolutely not! WordPress is a great option in many cases. The problem is that much of the time, it's mis-used and incorrectly chosen in situations that go beyond it's capabilities simply because the siren song of "free" and "flexible" are shouted by well-meaning agencies and developers without looking at the big picture.

So when does it make sense to use WordPress? It's a great option for:

• Personal blogs
• Professional blogs and individual "thought leader" websites
• Small business websites with simple needs

Right about now some of you are saying, "Reynolds, you're a big bozo... there are tons of really big companies using WordPress!" Yep... that's true. In fact, I'll happily point you to a list of big companies using WordPress right here. However, there are few details to consider here. First, these companies likely have a team of developers and/or highly paid agencies who maintain and manage their websites. With the right development team, any CMS will work just fine. Additionally, if you look closely you'll notice that many of these companies do not use WordPress for their entire website but instead use it for the blog portion of their online presence (take a look at eBay, GM, etc.).

So if these big companies know better than to use WordPress as a full website CMS, what should you be doing?

It really comes down to using the right tool for the job. I know a lot of companies using WordPress very successfully to power their websites. These organizations likely made an informed decision and had the resources to maintain it properly and/or had requirements that fit the decision.

However, we've also seen too many organizations choose WordPress because a committee or board of directors were swayed by the words "free" and "popular" (mostly "free") and failed to look much further at the big picture.

Again, WordPress is not bad -- it is an excellent tool in many situations. Other times, it make more sense to use a more robust CMS. Be sure you understand the difference and your website will function well and serve your marketing and communication needs.

Using content to convert visitors into prospects

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Thursday, January 24, 2013

Modern online marketing is all about quality content. As more and more organizations jump on the content marketing bandwagon, it's becoming more and more important to cut through the noise with high-quality content.

Content marketing makes use of elements like social media, blogging, email, video, SEO, books/ebooks, case studies, and any other form of content that teaches, educates, or solves a problem.

Lorraine Ball and I recently discussed this on her podcast, More Than a Few Words. Being a guest on Lorraine's show is always a treat and we talked about the current state of content marketing (also called inbound marketing), how to integrate it into your strategy, and how to use content to convert vsitors into prospects.

Listen in by playing the full episode below using the BlogTalkRadio audio player.

Comments? Feedback? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

How your online reputation affects your inbound marketing efforts

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Inbound marketing includes tactics like SEO, social media communications, email marketing, and blogging, and can drive highly qualified leads to your organization. While these techniques can be very effective for increasing awareness of your business, have you thought about what happens when prospects start to do research into your online reputation?

Online reviews and ratings can play a big part in helping prospects decide whether they want to do business with you. To learn more, we sat down with Polly Wood, Head of Strategic Projects for Reputation.com.

SpinWeb: What is reputation management?

Polly: Reputation management is the practice of monitoring, analyzing, managing and addressing the online information that creates a detailed impression of who you are to others.

SpinWeb: What types of organizations do you typically work with?

Polly: We work with all kinds – small and medium businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and individuals who range from politicians to high profile executives to professionals or even college students.

SpinWeb: Without naming names, of course, what are some ways that your customers' online reputations have caused harm to their marketing efforts?

Polly: We’ve seen some customers underestimate the importance of online reviews. That’s fairly significant because studies show that 78 percent of consumers think it’s very important to research service providers online before deciding to do business with them, 89 percent trust online reviews, and 72 percent trust online reviews as much as word of mouth.

The online review space is clearly enormously influential on consumers’ buying decisions so ignoring online feedback, responding in a defensive or unprofessional way, or failing to be timely are big issues.

SpinWeb: What are some ways your customers' online reputations have helped their marketing efforts?

Polly: Our customers use our tools to aggregate and analyze their online reviews – so they can see what’s being said, understand the trends over time, and respond quickly. We’ve seen our customers use the platform to generate intelligence they can use about their business. For example, a customer could see that a particular employee shows up over and over in results for positive reasons. The customer may decide to send that employee to a branch of the business that is not doing as well so that person can train the employees there. That’s meaningful action that will have a big impact.

Our customers who choose to use our proactive reputation management tools also generate some great returns. We customize campaigns for clients so they can ask their customers for honest feedback, via email or even through in-store tablets we provide. Building up or broadening your review base is smart practice.

SpinWeb: What is the most common mistake you see your customers making when working on their online reputations?

Polly: Every customer would like just-add-water, instantaneous results. Reshaping an online reputation takes time. As more accurate content is generated and published, it slowly rises to the prominent positions within your search results and by default, pushes down the results that are unbalanced, outdated, untrue, etc.

SpinWeb: What industries are typically most affected by their online reputations?

Polly: The advent of technology means that no industry is unaffected by online reputation issues. Whether our client is a family doctor or a Global 2000 company, they must contend with online reviews, blogs, news articles, social media, etc.

SpinWeb: What websites and services do you recommend that businesses are most concerned about when thinking about their online reputations?

Polly: Establish yourself on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn. Make sure you get in the online directories like Google Places. Create a Tumblr account. Constantly check your search results and Google yourself. When it comes to online, ignorance is not bliss!

SpinWeb: Should B2B companies have different concerns than B2C companies when it comes to online reputation?

Polly: No. Everyone should be concerned about their online reputation. Negative or erroneous content online can affect a sale to a client today or a business deal down the road. Everyone needs to pay attention to their online reputation and make sure they are presented accurately.

SpinWeb: What advice do you have for companies that would like to maintain a positive online reputation?

Polly: First, do good work. Provide a good product or services, make sure your customer service is top notch, and work hard to quickly resolve issues. Establish a presence online via social media, blogs, online directories, etc., and update these routinely to help keep these prominent in your search results. Monitor your online reviews so you can be aware of issues and ask customers to review you on the sites that matter most to your business.

SpinWeb: How does reputation management integrate with inbound marketing efforts, like SEO, social media, and content creation?

Polly: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is more focused on people who do not know you exist, whereas Online Reputation Management (ORM) is for people who know who you are or are doing research about you. With search becoming increasingly local, we are seeing ORM be a major part of SEO as well.

For example, a Google search for a plastic surgeon in Denver will give several doctors and tie them to a map. That map has reviews listed for each doctor as well, so even in a generic search, there is a visual impression that conveys the quality of that doctor. Furthermore, if a client then goes to compare several doctors online, which is likely given more than 20% of healthcare related searches are for a specific provider, then your ORM efforts will be what helps give the best impression.

SpinWeb: Anything else you would like to add?

Polly: Don't underestimate the impact your online reputation has on your revenue. It can have a significant impact on your business.

SpinWeb: Thank you for your knowledge and insight. We really appreciate it.

Polly: My pleasure!

Polly Wood currently acts as the Head of Strategic Projects for online reputation management (ORM) firm Reputation.com, Inc., where she has contributed her expertise and proficiency in administrative capacities since January 2011. In her role as Advanced Client Solutions Manager for one of the leading ORM companies of the day, Polly Wood assists both individuals and businesses in taking control of their online reputations by protecting their sensitive information and defining, monitoring, and defending their images.

5 ways to slow down your corporate website project

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Thursday, January 17, 2013

Redesigning, building, and launching a new corporate (or nonprofit) website is a big project and takes careful planning and coordination. We normally see a timeline of 4-6 months for a website project to go from discovery to launch with lots of steps in between to make sure it's done right.

One of the first question we are asked before a project starts is, "how long will it take?"

Some people are surprised by our timeline while others give us feedback that it's much quicker than they expected. Timelines are, apparently, in the eyes of the beholder!

In any case, we do our best to keep things moving and on schedule but since our experience spans two decades, we've seen a number of speed bumps along the way. There are a few things that can cause a website project to slow down, stall, or even grind to a halt. We've outlined them here so you can be aware of them and can make plans to avoid them.

So here are 5 ways to slow down your corporate website project.

1. Form a committee with no clear ownership.

In our experience, the number of people involved in the process and the time it takes to launch a new website are directly related. When one person from the organization is responsible for feedback and approvals, things tend to progress smoothly. When it's a committee of five, however, be sure to add at least a month to the schedule. This is especially true when everyone on the committee has equal "weight" since this leads to perfect storm of diverse opinions while at the same time no one person wants to take responsibility for approving the design.

2. Write your own content.

Want to add another month or two to the timeline? Insist that you will write or provide your own content. I promise we love working with you but you won't give us the content on time. I promise — it just won't happen. Since website content is a critical component of your online presence, it's usually better to outsource this to your agency or to a professional content developer. That's why at SpinWeb we include content writing in all of our projects as part of the service.

3. Get a design idea in your head and reject every concept until you see it.

This is a touchy subject and we believe that you deserve to have a website that you love. However, sometimes it's important to keep an open mind and look at a design concept from a neutral perspective. Design is subjective (and at times, mysterious) and it can be difficult for a designer to capture exactly what's in your head. However, a great designer will be able to listen to your business goals and then create the right design and user interface for your constituents that will lead to success. If you can let go a bit and step back from design direction, you will most likely be pleasantly surprised.

4. Survey your customers to see if they like the design.

We know you love your customers, just like we love you. But if you want to include customer feedback into your website project, add another month or two to the process because it will cause everything to stall. So does this mean that customer feedback is not important? Not at all! Your customers are the lifeblood of your organization (along with your fabulous employees). However, introducing that many opinions into the process midway through will not serve anyone. Instead, consider including just a few key customers and let them participate in the planning process, too. That way, they will have context for feedback when the time comes.

5. Ask to see some "sample concepts" right away.

One of the biggest mistakes many design teams make is jumping into design too early. Design is the sexy part of the process and it's no wonder everyone wants to see pretty Photoshop files right away. However, design without proper planning in advance can often lead to rework and wasted time. Take plenty of time up front for site mapping, content development, and discovery. It takes patience but it also ensures that the design process will go faster and with better results.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are some easy ways to make a 4-month project take almost a year. We certainly don't want to see this and neither do our clients. It can take some discipline and some slightly uncomfortable conversations inside your organization to address these issues but if you do, your next website project will have a greater chance of progressing on schedule and with great results.

LinkedIn: your address book on steroids

Posted by: Michael Reynolds in General on Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Today's post is from Lorraine Ball, Creative Director at Roundpeg. She's super-smart so be sure to catch this one. Plus, we know you've been neglecting LinkedIn :)

I always thought of LinkedIn as an extension of my address book, a large list of people I had met along the way. But I don't feel that way any longer. I have discovered that with just a little time, LinkedIn can be so much more. As a matter of fact, it is quickly becoming my favorite business social network.

What caused this change in attitude was a 30-day experiment. At the encouragement of a friend who is an avid LinkedIn user, I made a commitment to spend 20 minutes a day on LinkedIn daily for a month. During that time, I revised my profile, explored Groups and Answers, changed my news feed display and expanded my company profile and activity. I saw increased traffic and connections almost right away. The bottom line: Investing the time paid off. So what did I do?

Improved My LinkedIn Profile

• Personalized my profile - While still professional, I adjusted the summary to be a bit more personal. The objective was to create a profile which would encourage people who read it to want to reach out and connect with me.
• Added keywords to profile and job descriptions - LinkedIn profiles sometimes show up in Google searches and the search tool on Linkedin is much better, so I optimized my profile they way I would any web page. I added critical key words into job and role descriptions. If someone is looking for a web designer, marketing strategist or social media consultant, I just made it easier for them to find me.
• Separated volunteer and paid jobs - I have always been active in the community, but listing my volunteer roles made my profile confusing. It was never really clear which jobs were paid and which were volunteer. LinkedIn has added a category for volunteer and board roles, and so I took the time to separate them. This also allowed me to include many more of these intersting projects in my profile.

Increased Content Sharing

• Routinely posted two updates a day - When I first saw this suggestion, I thought it would be too much, since I had been updating my status about three to four times a week, but I gave it a try. I always post a link to the current blog post and then later in the day a comment on a news article or a great link. What I like about sharing content on LinkedIn is the ability to provide more explanation with a link. This gives me a chance to provide a compelling reason for the viewer to explore the content I am sharing. Taking the time to write a longer introduction has increased the amount of interaction and traffic to our site.
• Added a daily company update - Until I started this project, I didn't give much thought to the company page. I was surprised to discover that we had more than 150 people following our page. I began running a comparison, posting different updates in my personal and company status. The company updates drove traffic more consistently to our website.

Becoming More Social

• Comment, share and like. The first step to becoming more social on any network is to comment, share, like or reply to updates from others. Unfortunately as you browse the newsfeed, it's sometimes hard to find anything worth responding to. Why? The good information is buried under a stream of "Joe just connected to Mary" and "Peter just endorsed Mike." But you can turn off the meaningless updates by adjusting your account settings. Once I did that, my newsfeed became a newsfeed. Now I make it a habit to scan my feed and respond to five or six people every day.
• Ask and answer questions. I started taking the time to browse topics in my area of expertise and answer a few questions. I've ended up in several really interesting conversations. I was interviewed by a woman's magazine, had one of my comments included in a longer blog post and have made several great connections. I started asking questions too, not as a way to back door promote my expertise, but to really learn what other's were thinking. Because I have a community around the world, at any time day or night, I can pop up a question and get several really good responses.
• Manage my group memberships - I was routinely joining groups just because I was invited, but never participated in the discussions. I started by pruning my groups, unsubscribing from groups which were nothing but a sea of spam. I reduced my memberships from more than 50 to 11. Now I have time to drop by each group once or twice a week, read the latest discussions and add a comment or two.

LinkedIn is now a steady source of web traffic, and on some days even outpaces Facebook or Twitter in terms of site referrals. I have learned a few things from discussion groups, and am inspired to test a few other ideas soon. I don't expect LinkedIn to replace Twitter or Facebook, but it is definitely earned a position as part of my regular routine.

As Creative Director, Lorraine is typically at the center of the managed chaos that is Roundpeg. With more than thirty years as a marketing professional (lie, tell her she doesn’t look that old) Lorraine keeps Roundpeg popping with a never-ending stream of new ideas.

A native New Yorker, Lorraine is a Hoosier by choice, and is committed to fostering growth and entrepreneurship in her adopted city. Recognized by the Indianapolis Business Journal as a  Woman of Influence, she is an active member of the local Indianapolis business community.

When not at Roundpeg, Lorraine can be found sharing what she knows in seminars and presentations around the country.  She has a BA from Queens College, City University of NY, and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.