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Get Your Visitor Experience Right

On May 16, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Have you ever visited a website and got frustrated because you either couldn’t find the contact information or had a hard time locating the path needed to be taken to make it through the website correctly? It is called user experience and if you get it wrong and forget to really apply it to your [...]

Have you ever visited a website and got frustrated because you either couldn’t find the contact information or had a hard time locating the path needed to be taken to make it through the website correctly? It is called user experience and if you get it wrong and forget to really apply it to your website than your SEO is going to go down the drain. Optimization means all aspects of a website not just search.

Before you think about launching an SEO campaign to drive targeted visitors have you stopped and taken a long hard look at your website? If you are not aware of how your user should be engaging with your website you might want to have someone do a really thorough conversion audit before you start driving traffic to it. The last thing a website owner wants to do is spend a great deal of money trying to drive visitors to a website only for the visitor to arrive and leave due to a poor user experience. Your website visitor needs something to do in order to stay on your website. You don’t want them leaving due to boredom or lack of direction. Lead them down a path to your ultimate business goal. Remember that user experience is just about converting that visitor into a lead or a sale. It is also about creating an emotion for that user so that they engage with your website a bit more than normal.

Your website needs to pull some sort of emotion out of your visitors whether it is from an engaging video, blog or you guessed it, your content!. It is not just about launching a campaign and trying to dump targeted visitors and crossing your fingers hoping they might call or make a purchase. Give them something to do and smile about. Create a community type feeling around your website and give people a reason to bookmark it.

Will the SEO Bubble Burst?

On May 2, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Being in the in the SEO industry for quite a while I have seen the industry speed up and grow extremely fast over the last five years and absolutely explode over just the last few years. Recently some are starting to understand that SEO is really a marketing approach and not a science project geared [...]

Being in the in the SEO industry for quite a while I have seen the industry speed up and grow extremely fast over the last five years and absolutely explode over just the last few years. Recently some are starting to understand that SEO is really a marketing approach and not a science project geared towards just achieving search engine rankings. It is good that some businesses are starting to realize that this is the right approach that everyone should be taking and shifting their focus, but many are still clueless, dumping hundreds of articles and press releases per month, taking spammy approaches just to fill in the search engine results. What happens to all those companies that have been taking a science project approach and only worrying about rankings when Google and Bing drop the hammer on the SEO bubble? Will it ever happen? Who knows, people used to laugh when they heard the real estate industry would implode. Who’s laughing now?

The search engines are clearly changing and I still see businesses everyday taking this horrendous approach to their SEO simply to achieve rankings. Google has come out and has clearly stated that personalized search will be making much more of an impact in the near future. When someone is logged into their Google account personalized search has already started taking shape. You can even read more about how personalized search works directly on Google’s official webmaster blog. I think the problem is that most people have a hard time changing and the search engine marketing industry is very fast changing and fast moving industry that can quickly leave people behind if they don’t pay attention to what is going on around them. SEO companies pop up over night with inexperienced individuals make shotty promises and performing subpar search engine marketing techniques just adding to that bubble. As this continues that bubble keeps building and eventually sites like Google are going to drop the hammer on the whole search engine optimization industry. I can see the similarities between the SEO industry and the real estate industry clearly. The greed and the money symbols in some people’s eyes are inflating this industry leading it to it’s demise. The worst part about it is that many of us professionals are left with a tarnished image from all the bad apples. Too many businesses out there have already been burned leaving it very difficult for the ones that do it right to really get the credibility they deserve and to pass on their experience and industry knowledge to their Clients. I guess with every tool comes abuse it is just unfortunate to see it have gotten to this point.

Eventually this bubble is going to pop, where will you be when it happens? Will you have changed your ways and your techniques to cushion the blow? Or are you going to be scrambling around and trying to find out how to adapt at the 11th hour? It will be too late at that point. Like everything in life, what comes up must come down sooner or later and the search engines are getting ready for a much needed clean up. This clean up will happen sooner than later piercing through the bubble and showering the industry with some upset individuals and firms. The problem stems from a lack of knowledge and not enough outside the box thinking. Outside the box thinking like how to put together a nice solid link bait campaign and not figuring out how to control the search results with a not so news worthy press release. Google is dropping a very large algorithm change towards the middle of 2010 which I strongly believe could be the first stages of not only speeding up the efficiency but eliminating the trash that makes its way into search results.

This could very well be the very first attempt to shifting people’s focus away from just rankings and shifting it over to simply marketing their business online the right way. The search engine industry is just getting started but it is growing very very quickly. Unfortunately there needs to be a shift in focus and I think we are starting to see that now. Customers don’t become customers by bumping into one of your hundred articles that you released in one day. They become customers by trusting online brands over time.

SEO Should Never Stand Alone

On January 18, 2010, In SEO, by Nick Stamoulis

Search engine optimization was once a very powerful form of communication and marketing by itself but as time has pushed on and the technology has changed, morphed and evolved SEO alone will become less potent than it once was. However SEO is still very important at the very minimum and should always be implemented and [...]

Search engine optimization was once a very powerful form of communication and marketing by itself but as time has pushed on and the technology has changed, morphed and evolved SEO alone will become less potent than it once was. However SEO is still very important at the very minimum and should always be implemented and taken seriously but coupled with other forms of internet marketing SEO becomes a much more powerful driving force in the online marketing space.

Search engine marketing comes in many different slices and search engine optimization is really just one slice of the marketing pizza. There are many different approaches to SEO which is primarily why so many website owners have a hard time putting a definition on what it really is. It is important that whenever feasible other aspects of online marketing are introduced with your search engine optimization efforts. This will help strengthen your SEO by not only allowing for new pathways to your website but it shows the search engines that you are diversifying your online marketing approach and trying to build your business online the right way. Remember that the search engines are always changing and what helped them grow in rankings a few years ago does not necessarily work now. The search engines reward those who take a diversified approach to their online marketing efforts so it is important to really take a step back and put together a comprehensive online marketing plan that is robust and full of different entrance ways to your website. Search engine marketing gathers strength in numbers so have many different quality pathways or links connecting to your website will allow for you to over time to really grow in visibility.

Social media marketing is one very important element that is just as important as SEO. It is an element that is vital in today’s market place and should be included in your internet marketing strategy at all times. Even if you have a business that is very obscure and niche it is important to find your community online and reach out to them. Depending on what you offer as a business other efforts like affiliate marketing and pay per click advertising are very important compliments to your organic marketing. You should never put all your hopes into one marketing or advertising effort but rather approach it with a multi pronged approach in order to keep things diversified if one should stop working for you.

Persuasion 101: Ask Yes/Yes Questions

On December 8, 2009, In SEO, by Dr. Pete

Posted by Dr. Pete

You’d have a hard time telling by my posts (let alone my Twitter stream), but I’m supposedly a psychologist or something, so I thought it was time I did a little psychologizing here on the Moz blog. One thing I like to think I’ve learned over the years is the subtle art of persuasion – not the manipulative, why-won’t-my-clients-be-reasonable variety, but the art of communicating in a way that helps promote win-win situations with clients, prospects, and partners.

This post is the first in what could be a series (if you like it) about the art of professional persuasion. Whether it’s your boss, client, prospect, co-worker, or website visitor, your success often hinges on the ability to communicate persuasively.

The Yes/No Question

Every web designer has a version of this story – you work your little fingers to the bone to come up with the perfect design, research your client’s color preferences, industry competitors, and TiVo playlist, finally present your masterpiece to them, and then gasp in horror as they rip your baby to shreds like a pack of wolves on tainted Slim Fast. What happened? Whether you realize it or not, you forced your client against a wall by asking them a Yes/No question:

On the one-hand, you have your design, and on the other hand, nothing. Your client can only approve or disapprove. If they approve, great; if they don’t, then they start to do what all people do: rationalize their decisions. On a gut level, there’s something about your design they don’t like, so they look for things to pick apart. You (naturally) get defensive, and it’s all downhill from there.

The Yes/Yes Question

So, what happens if you give your client two options? You’ve turned a Yes/No question into an A/B question. Instead of "Do you like it?", you’ve made the shift to "Which one do you like?":

Not to over-illustrate what may be obvious by now, but you’ve just asked a Yes/Yes question, and the answer to a Yes/Yes question is almost always "Yes".

Isn’t That A Lot of Work?

I know what you’re thinking, because I thought it for years: isn’t creating two designs a lot of work? Pardon a tangent, but I should say that design is just one example – you can apply this principle to proposals of just about any kind (except maybe the marriage kind – "Will you marry me? How about Chad?").

A designer friend finally turned me on to the secret – take the original proposal and make some modifications you can live with it. At first, I have to admit that this seemed like cheating. If you just tweak a couple of colors and fonts and act like it’s a whole new proposal, isn’t that a bit shady? Well, no, and here’s why. First, what amounts to "just tweaking" for you only seems easy because you’re a professional. Second, every one of us, in the process of creating anything, inevitably makes choices along the way. Many times, we make a decision because we have to, but we could’ve gone more than one direction. Revisit those decision points, and use them to generate a second proposal. Ultimately, you’ll be able to present people with options that aren’t too difficult to create and still maintain your integrity.

What if They Mix and Match?

There’s another worry people have with this approach, and it is justified in some cases, if a bit overblown. What if you present two options, and your target audience mixes and matches in ways you can’t live with? This could be true for designs as well as sales proposals. The complicated answer is that you eventually learn to engineer your choices in a way that makes mixing-and-matching a bit more palatable.

The short answer is: So what? Would you rather have a discussion about how Element B doesn’t fit Site A and have to get creative or have your client tell you why Site A sucks and they don’t want to pay you? If you can get your client to mix-and-match, then at least they’re telling you what they like. Hearing a laundry list of what someone doesn’t like is useless – hearing what they do like gives you options.

How Much Choice Is Too Much?

So, by my own logic, if two choices are good, how about three or more? More is always better, right?

Sorry, got carried away for a minute there. Unfortunately, more choices won’t necessarily yield more excitement for your target audience. Recent research certainly suggests that there’s such a thing as too many choices. In most cases, 2 options will be sufficient – in some situations, especially where a lot of money is involved or the risk of a bad decision is high, 3 or more choices may be required.

Let your own decision path be your guide. If you naturally encounter points along the creative path where you can’t decide which of two options is better, that may be a good place to diverge and create a second version of whatever you’re working on. If this happens frequently, then 3-4 versions may be natural. Just don’t invent versions for the sake of bombarding your audience with options – the goal is to give people a choice, not overwhelm them to the point of decision paralysis.

A Few More Examples

I’ve used the website design example to illustrate this concept, but there are many more cases where I think Yes/Yes questions can help you persuade someone in a win/win way:

Sales proposals – Try 2 package options or pricing levels
Boss proposals – Bosses love choices – 2+ options boost the odds you’ll get 1 of them
Copywriting – Provide a long and short version (if applicable)
Logo design – Consider color options to allow for client preference
Christmas lists – I would like a (1) Upscaling DVD player or (2) HD TiVo – it’s your choice

Of course, never present an option you can’t live with. The whole point is to create a choice that helps you get an end result that’s positive for both you and the client/boss/etc. Get creative, and you’ll be amazed how often a little extra work up front can save you hours of headaches down the road.

Speaking of persuasion, this is where I try to persuade you to check out SEOmoz’s 6-DVD Advanced SEO Training series. The introductory price (20% off + free shipping) has been extended until December 12.

Do you like this post? Yes No

Posted by Dr. Pete

You’d have a hard time telling by my posts (let alone my Twitter stream), but I’m supposedly a psychologist or something, so I thought it was time I did a little psychologizing here on the Moz blog. One thing I like to think I’ve learned over the years is the subtle art of persuasion – not the manipulative, why-won’t-my-clients-be-reasonable variety, but the art of communicating in a way that helps promote win-win situations with clients, prospects, and partners.

This post is the first in what could be a series (if you like it) about the art of professional persuasion. Whether it’s your boss, client, prospect, co-worker, or website visitor, your success often hinges on the ability to communicate persuasively.