Search Engine Optimization – Trivera Interactive

Posts Tagged ‘Search Engine Optimization’

How I Make You Smarter…and Your Business More Successful…One Tweet at a Time.

Monday, April 12th, 2010

People who follow me on Twitter know that a prominent component of the way I use that Social Networking tool is to post links to helpful articles. As the primary brand voice of Trivera, my goal is to help people learn both about me and FROM me. And so while just about any time of day, you’ll see me using Twitter to opine, engage, interact, and sometimes just be goofy, every weekday during business hours my Tweet-stream contains posts like: “5 reasons your Web site is losing money http://ow.ly/1wqy,” “19 Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog http://ow.ly/1vZCT“ and “10 signs your iPad has made you the most annoying person ever http://ow.ly/1vGUQ.”

Those articles come from blogs, email newsletters and forums and are specifically chosen to help you become better at what you do, and show up about once an hour between 9am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. Whether you’re a small business owner, Web developer, marketing professional, or just a student of the digital world, the articles I link to are specifically, and strategically selected to give you a few nuggets of helpful wisdom in a quick read (or scan).

Part of my daily regimen is an early morning check of my RSS feeds, industry newsletters and a few quirky and obscure Web sites to find informational resources for myself. Of the hundred or so articles I see, and the 20 or 30 I read, I pick the 7 or 8 that really represent the cream of the crop and share them with my Twitter followers. The common denominator is that they’re short, well written, accurate, organized, timely and helpful. I often re-write the headline if I think I can better communicate the benefit of the information and improve the likelihood that people will go read them. And I use Hootsuite to shorten the URL and schedule them to trickle out during the day rather than deluge everyone with a flood of information all at once.

Some critics have questioned why I do it, pointing out that they can get all of this in their own RSS feed. But I know from my own daily exercise that, because anyone can blog, much of what fills the blogosphere is poorly written, filled with errors, or both. I’ve earned the trust of my followers to be the filter that only allows the best of the best.

The evidence shows that I must be doing something right. In addition to shortening long URLS and allowing me to schedule my posts, Hootsuite allows me to measure metrics. Since I began doing this and keeping track a little over a year ago, over 31,000 people have clicked through to read what I’ve posted. And by even being able to see which articles are the most clicked on, it allows me to fine tune the choice of articles to make sure that I’m tweeting the types of content that people find most helpful.

The good news is that you don’t even have to be on Twitter to benefit from the articles. Bookmark this link and just my tweets with shortened links will show up in your browser. If you have an RSS reader, add this feed to it, and the articles will show up there.

Since we’ve been in business, it’s been my goal raise the level of the Web intelligence of the market. I don’t have the time to blog as often as I’d like, and even when I do, someone else has probably already blogged about my topic before. But the combination of these articles and my blogs (which also end up in these Tweets and feeds), seem to be doing a great job of educating the market. In addition to making followers smarter, it also establishes me as an authority without having to spend hours a week writing my own blogs, which is a tactic we also recommend to some of our clients.

The world of the Web is changing rapidly. Web 1.0 is giving way to Web 2.0. While many of my tips are focused on Social Media, I still link to articles on Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing and making your site successful. But there’s no doubt where the market is headed, and by following my posts, you can be equipped with the information you need to ride the wave.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the most clicked through article ever is You’re doing Social Media. That’s good. But not Mobile? Uh-oh…

—-

Tom Snyder is Founder, President and CEO of Trivera Interactive, a Midwest New Media firm. Tom is a Web guy, wine snob, music junkie, Ex-Milwaukee Radio Guy, HDTV expert, and political wonk.

Tags: @triveraguy, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Social Media, Social Networking, Twitter, Web 2.0
Posted in Blog | Comments Off

12 Interactive Marketing Resolutions for the New Year

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

by Chris Remington

Here are 12 things to think about as you take your interactive marketing to the next level in 2010:

Have a plan – Yes, there are many tentacles to the interactive marketing beast, but with a well-crafted strategic plan it can be tamed. Start small if you must, but the important thing is to have a plan, execute it, and refine it over time.

Analytics are your friend – WebTrends, Omniture or Google Analytics; no matter which one you use (you do have analytics on your site, don’t you?!) take time to mine for the nuggets of information they offer about your site, your customers and how they consume your interactive content. Use this to power your plan (see H above).

Pretend you are your customer – You are too close to your product(s) and your industry. Think like your customer would think. Knowing what they would call your product(s), how they would search for it on a search engine, and where they gather online to converse about it, will help you massage and finesse your web content so it speaks to them in their language.

Performance indicators are key – What are the top two or three goals of your website and interactive marketing strategy? Customer engagement? Brand awareness? eCommerce transactions? Lead generation? Pick your goals, ensure you can monitor and track them, tailor content to achieve them, and track the effectiveness of your actions.

You can do it – While others would argue the fact, interactive marketing is not rocket science. It is still about the 4 P’s from Marketing 101 – product, place, price and promotion. Smart online marketing is no different than smart offline marketing. Research, plan, execute, monitor, refine. Repeat. Know the limitations and aspirations of your internal team as they relate to your interactive marketing efforts. Empower them. Empower yourself. You and your team know your strategy best. Go for it. Hire outside help when (if) needed.

Not doing anything still has a cost – Yes, the website you built and paid for in 2003 still functions, but does it still work? A website with old or static content and a tired look sends a message that you are complacent, not innovative, and don’t care to engage your customers. Can you really afford to NOT spend money on your interactive strategy?

Embrace change – See N above. Research to see if your customers (and your internal team) have an appetite for consuming your web content in video form, on mobile devices or via Social Media. Don’t change for change sake, but if your customers and industry are ‘going there’ you should too. With a plan, of course (see H above).

Web-enable content – See E above. Your website can likely streamline workflows and improve customer service with only minor enhancements. Would product installation videos on your site reduce customer service calls? Would a password protected media room enable your customers, dealers or distributors to download their own sell sheets, logos or ad templates? If so, web-enable this content and free up your marketing support team to pursue more important projects.

YouTube? Twitter? Facebook? – Social Media is all the rage. Make sure you are ready to embrace it. If a goal of your Social Media presence is to drive traffic to your website, ensure the site is rock-solid first. If the answers are yes when you ask yourself if your website content is compelling, if it is up-to-date, if it is user-friendly, and if there is no doubt about the site’s call(s) to action, they you are ready to develop a Social Media strategy. Think of your website as the bull’s-eye of a target – only when the bull’s-eye is rock-solid should you venture to the next ring of Social Media.

Engage your audience – Your customers are talking about you online. How good of a job does your site do to encourage and facilitate that conversation? Do you know where else these conversations are occurring online? If not, learn. If so, what value are you bringing? Recognize and thank those who talk positively about you. Reach out to the naysayers and turn their lemons into lemonade. You will be viewed as someone who cares and ‘gets’ the new transparent world where your customers, not you, are in control of your brand.

Authority, Relevance, Popularity – These are three things that search engines consider when ranking your site. Look at your website content and interactive strategy through these lenses and if what you are doing shows search engines (and the consumers who use them) that you are an authority, your content is on the mark and others find it useful, you are on your way to better rankings and more traffic. If your interactive marketing efforts aren’t enhancing your authority, relevant, or positioning you as a popular player in your space, don’t do them.

ROI – The great thing about interactive marketing is it is quantifiable and measureable. Return on investment is easy to analyze. Assign action items to your interactive marketing strategy like obtaining more leads, increasing eCommerce transactions or reducing customer service calls. Measure, adjust and measure again. Repeat. The important thing is to have a plan, make the investment (see N above) and monitor the effectiveness.

——————-

Chris Remington is an account executive for Trivera Interactive. Trivera specializes on Online Brand Management for companies and organization that understand and appreciate the power of the Internet and Social Media to re-inforce their brand. In addition to helping Trivera clients, Chris also speaks at local business events, and teaches at the University of Phoenix.

Tags: Brand Re-enforcement, Chris Remington, Milwaukee, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web design, web development, Web site design, Web site development
Posted in Blog | 1 Comment »

Out with Old, In with the New

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

It’s been said “Don’t look back, unless that’s where you’re headed.” But I hope you’ll accept my apology as we take a look at the adventure that was 2009 one last time before we launch into an exciting new year.

One year ago, my wife/business partner predicted that something big was going to happen this year. We had no idea at the time, but she was definitely right.

A big story of the year was the economy. As budgets were cut and some companies even went out of business, Trivera committed to keeping our staff intact, a move that enabled us to superserve existing clients, but also helped us gain the confidence of a large list of new ones. New to our staff this year was a great addition: account manager Chris Remington, who has also added “Trivera blogger” to his duties with a great end of year contribution.

Major new Web projects for existing clients Mitchell Airport, Usinger’s, Halquist Stone, Zach Builders and Nuemann Development worked their way through our pipeline this year. We also worked with long time partner ClearVerve Marketing to implement a re-design of their site. Frank Mayer and Associates, Mustela USA and ATL continued aggressive Search Engine Optimization programs with us.

But new clients represented the lion’s share of our traditional Web business in 2009. Among the clients who were able to experience the joy of working with Trivera for the first time: Frabill Manufacturing, Strattec Security, Sellars, Vaportek, US Peacekeeper Products, Renewable Energy Solutions, Chemrite Copac, Breckenridge Landscape, SoHoBizTube, Amici’s Restaurant, JailHouse Restaurant, Deductive Energy, Studio 5-D, Western Racket and Fitness, Fresh Coast Partners, and South Shore Dentists.

We also began a great partnership with Chicago agency TargetCom, which resulted in projects for US Cellular and Kellogg School of Management.

But the huge story of the year was the emergence of Social Media as a powerful tool in brand strategies. Our Social Media University – Milwaukee event in July drew nearly 400 people to the Italian Community Center for a day of hands-on learning. As a result of that event, Trivera has helped dozens of businesses create their Social Media program, and several of them have contracted us for more significant ongoing SM implementation. Those include Mitchell Airport and two major political campaigns. The event, our ongoing work and a dozen speaking engagements by Trivera staffers has launched Trivera into the media spotlight as an authority on Web 2.0. And the power of Social Media manifested itself in a big way by creating dozens of new collaborative partnerships with other businesses in our space.

As you can see, 2009 has been a year worth looking back at. But as we wrap up a solid year, we look forward in anticipation to an even better 2010. Our move back to a historic building in Menomonee Falls will give us an infusion of great creative energy. A large project with a national brand through our partnership with TargetCom is slated to begin in first quarter. Several other big projects with companies whose names you’ll recognize should fall in line in January. And we we begin our first major collaborative relationship with Hartman Design, a neighbor in our new space, in serving new client Regalware.

And we’re planning on an even bigger and better sequel to Social Media University – Milwaukee in March.

So with seatbelts and tray tables in their upright and locked positions, we’re ready for takeoff. We hope you’ll grab a seat with us as we wish both you and ourselves a shamelessly successful New year!

Tags: @triveraguy, Brand Re-enforcement, Chris Remington, Milwaukee, Search Engine Management, Search Engine Optimization, strategy, Trivera, Web 2.0, Web design, web development, Web site design, Web site development
Posted in Blog | Comments Off

New Trivera Web Package Sets Restaurants Free From their Golden Handcuffs

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

The chorus of discontent has been growing for years. It’s the sound of restaurant owners tired of paying an annual fee for a substandard “web site” that’s just part of an online directory. While seeming to put restaurants on the Web, these “sites” are actually an inoculation that prevents them from actually catching a full blown case of Web success. And while paying upwards of a thousand dollars a year may seem like a deal, you multiply that by 5 or 10 years, and it’s really just a pair of golden handcuffs.

Compounding the problem is the fact that there are a lot of high end restaurant Web site developers that price a quality product well out of the reach of smaller, local, non-chain establishments. On the low end, there are template-based solutions that provide economy, but the restaurant owner faces the risk of having their Web site look exactly like that of a competing restaurant…even in their own market.

To solve that problem, Trivera has created a new program that provides owners a fully functioning, complete custom Restaurant Web site at a price that’s easy for them to swallow. Additional optional features are also economy priced, and can be added now or later. The site even comes with basic search engine optimization to help it come up in Google, Bing and Yahoo. And instead of having to pay for it year after year, they own it. And if they still really want to remain a part of an online listing directory, Trivera can point them to the ones where they’ll be listed for free, with a link to the Web site.

Restaurant owners can now unlock the golden handcuffs that are only providing success for the directory owners and can begin creating success of their own with a custom Restaurant Web site from Trivera.

Tags: Restaurant Web site, Search Engine Optimization, Web design, web development, Web site design, Web site development
Posted in Infocenter | Comments Off

Chris Remington joins Team Trivera

Monday, March 16th, 2009

With a 10 year track record as one of Milwaukee’s leading Interactive and eBusiness strategists, Chris Remington joins Trivera Interactive, a Germantown based Web site Developer and Search Engine Marketing firm as Senior Account Manager.

Remington’s career includes successful stints at Mark Travel, Reiman Publications and most recently Hanson Dodge Creative.

Tom Snyder, Trivera Interactive President says, “Our paths first crossed nearly 8 years ago when Chris was the Interactive Account Manager for a company we were discussing a partnership with. The partnership never materialized, but meeting Chris was, in hindsight, the ultimate takeaway from that situation. Trivera has always prided itself in having a team of the best and brightest in the region. Chris allows us to continue that philosophy.”

Remington will also continue to serve on the faculty of the University of Phoenix, Milwaukee Campus where he teaches eBusiness, Management, Critical Thinking and Strategies for Competitive Advantage.

Trivera Interactive, since 1996, creates and develops Web sites, as well as developing and executing Search Engine Optimization, E-Mail, Mobile and Web2.0 Marketing Strategies.

Tags: Add new tag, Chris Remington, e-commerce, Milwaukee, Search Engine Optimization, strategy, Web design, web development, Web site design, Web site development
Posted in Infocenter | Comments Off

Search Engine Optimization Unmasked – Pt 2

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

It’s Saturday. Fox Business Network. The show is called The Fox Docs. Biz Whiz Dr. Dani Babb is talking to a caller who’s not getting the results from his Web site that he should. She tells him to optimize his site to come up in the search engines. Suddenly, as the theme music comes up to go into a hard commercial break, the host asks “so how do you do that?” With six seconds to explain, she said what most people who know a little bit about SEO believe: “Meta data!” Make sure your Meta data is correct.” Cut to commercial.

Knowing there was so much more to SEO, I used Twitter to get in touch with Dr. Babb and offer her some of what we’ve learned (and continue to learn) over our years. After several subsequent emails this week, she was armed with lots of new-found knowledge. So on this week’s show, the very first caller was rewarded as she used my bullet points (and credited Trivera) to explain how to get his site to come to the top, avoid the expense of a Paid Placement option for his keywords and just augment organic placement with Pay Per Click. And the host responded, “Brilliant!” (see video below)

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

But as I watched, it became obvious that SEO is one of those “rocket science” things that will make most peoples’ eyes start to glaze over. As much as you wish getting a site to come up Page 1, Position 1 in the search engines was as simple as watching a business show and getting tidbits of information, it’s unrealistic, unlikely and probably impossible.

The Internet, and the billions and billions of pages on the Web continue to grow by the second. And the search engines need to get better and better at determining which of those pages deserves to come up at the top of searches. So they constantly spider and index every site, every page and every link, compare each to all the other information they gather about every other site on the Web and use complex algorithms to determine how high or even if a site should come up for keyword searches.

Unfortunately, those algorithms are kept more secret than the recipe for KFC. That means that even *I* can’t give you a definitive answer… nobody can. Especially not in 6 or 60 seconds on a business show. But those of us who have been doing this for a awhile take the broad guidelines that Google and the others do give us, combine that with a lot of detective work, much trial and error and networking with others in our field and use it all to come up with strategies and tactics that work..realizing also that what works today may not when Google changes their algorithms.. which they do all the time.

But here are the general tips I gave Dani:

There are some that claim that Google doesn’t even index Meta Data at all for their search results. I was trying to figure out why a particular site was beating one of our clients in ranking at Google, and checked out their “Keyword” Meta Data. The ONLY thing in it was: “Keyword Meta tags are totally useless.” I don’t completely buy that, but rather I’m convinced that Google checks the meta data on a page, and then compares it to the visible text on the page. If they jibe, the site moves up for the words and phrases that, together, describe what that page is about.

But there are a lot of other factors, way too numerous to mention. Here are just a few:

Page titles (what shows up a the top of your browser when you’re viewing a page)
Actual file name of the page (what shows up in your URL bar),
File names of embedded images (and the alt tags for those images),
Text links to other pages within the site (and whether the words that are clickable actually send you to page that are about that specific text – Google is smart enough to figure that out),
How many outside sites link to yours,
How long your domain name has been registered, and how many years in the future it is currently registered for,
How frequently the content of the site is updated
Whether or not your webmaster appears to be trying to jack the system to get the site to show up higher than it should.

That last one is critically important, because while all the other ones help you move up, that last one can force you down, or even get a site de-listed altogether.

Bottom line is that it’s not easy…virtually impossible to do yourself. It’s also not an event… it’s an ongoing strategic process. And most entrepreneurs are too busy running the other aspects of their business to spend the necessary time to learn this and do it right. If showing up in the engines is critical to people finding you, the only silver bullet is finding someone really good to do it for you. It’s like a good accountant, a good banker or a good lawyer… your SEO person is worth their weight in gold.

(By the way, if you are a business owner, and haven’t caught the The Fox Docs show yet, you need to. Dani Babb and John Rutledge are amazing, and you’ll find yourself waiting for every episode for the great information you’ll learn).

Tags: Milwaukee, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, SEO
Posted in Blog | Comments Off

Search Engine Optimization Unmasked – Pt 1

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

A week doesn’t go by without someone asking us “How do I get my site to the top of the search engines?” The answer is a simple one:

1.) You and your site first need to DESERVE to be at the top
2.) Then you need every single element in your site that the search engine spiders use to determine that you deserve to be at the top absolutely correct.

That, of course is in a perfect world. But we all know that the world of search engine placement is far from perfect. But that basic premise can help your site place well in that imperfect world of Search Engines.

The primary goal of a search engine’s organic listings is to produce the best possible results to a visitor search. That means when someone searches for a company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin that sells sausage, the very first position on page 1 of Google should be occupied by a company located in the city of Milwaukee that actually sells sausage. And if there are several, the one that the most likely to sell the best sausage in Milwaukee would come up first. Using common sense, one could assume that would mean the company that has been in business the longest, has had a Web site for the longest period of time, has a great reputation and so has lots of other Websites linking to it.

So it’s no surprise that a Google search for “sausage milwaukee” has Trivera client Usinger’s as the #1 result. Not only that, but the actual shopping cart where you can purchase Usinger’s bulk sausage products also comes up in on the first page as a separate entry, and little further down, Usinger’s Gift Boxes come up as well. When Google lists local businesses on a map, Usinger’s comes up in first place there as well. Additionally, and probably contributing to Usinger’s success, is the fact there are also a bunch of other sites in the first few pages that refer to Usinger’s. Klement’s, another Milwaukee sausage company that hasn’t been in business as long as Usinger’s comes up #2. A few other local sausage companies also show up further down the list, and as you get deeper into the 435,000 results for that search, they get less relevant and less helpful to actually helping one find a Milwaukee sausage company.

And that is an example of exactly how every search should be. Unfortunately, the vast majority of searches produce results that are just the opposite. Incorrect, frustrating, useless and in some cases dishonest results often make searching an exercise in futility. And while that’s bad for searchers, it’s good news for Web site owners.

Going back to my original hypothesis, oftentimes, the sites that deserve to be on the top aren’t built in a way for the search engines to determine that they should be at the top. But SOMEONE needs to be #1. So the resulting vacuum fills the first page with junk… that is until someone whose rightful position may be on the second or third pages of results finds an SEO specialist that help them move up and become the leader by default.

A prime example is the Varicose Vein Treatment market here in Milwaukee. 2 years ago, a search for that produced a list of directories, non-targeted medical information sites, and news links. What wasn’t there were listings for any of the vein clinics in the Milwaukee area, even though there were over a dozen. All of them had Web sites, but there wasn’t a single one that was built in a way that the Search Engines felt they should occupy the top spot. Great Lakes Radiologists was one of them.

In an effort to get serious about capturing a larger market share they contacted Trivera. Re-branding and repositioning themselves as the Women’s Vein Clinics of Greater Milwaukee, gave us the opportunity to register a domain name with “vein” and “clinic” right in it. Even though they didn’t have any actual clinics in the city of Milwaukee, “Greater Milwaukee” in their name gave us that legitimate entre into the search engines. The site was optimized using all the techniques and tools that Trivera has mastered throughout a history of SEO services that began before Google even existed.

The site immediately began to get traction in Yahoo, MSN and AOL. Because the domain name was brand new, Google kept the site in its “sand box” for a few months. But after that short period of typical probationary exile, the site skyrocketed to page 1 positions in every one of the 23 keyword phrases we optimized it for. Within 6 months there wasn’t single targeted keyword phrase that didn’t have them come up in position 1,2 or 3. Traffic to their site continued to increase, and two years later, the site still owns top organic positions. A plethora of Paid Placement ads now peppers the first page to try to undermine that succcess. But when you take the fact that people are 3 times more likely to click on the top organic result than any of the paid listings and combine that with the cost for those paid ads, our client has come out the obvious victor.

Two different cases, but a common moral. Whether you deserve to be #1 or not, you have little chance of getting there unless your site has been properly optimized. When the Search Engines determine who wins and who loses, you need to have your site built to let them know you belong at the top.

Web 2.0 and Your Business

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

We received this question in an email this morning:

Q: We recently got some inaccurate and unfair press coverage, and that coverage made it to the Web. Because of the way the Web and search engines work, when people Google our company, we come up, but the rest of the results page is full of results that contain or refer to the article..forums, blogs, even Wikipedia entries. I was at a seminar for our industry last week and one thing they mentioned is how we could use Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube to force those results to other pages than page 1. How do we do that?

A: The Web allows information about you and your company to spread like wildfire… which is great if it’s good information, but disastrous if it’s bad.

Situations like this demonstrate that conventional Search Engine Optimization is just one part of your Web strategy, because it can be instantly subverted by circumstances out of your control. These days it’s more than just a great Web site and SEO. Facebook and the others you mention are increasingly critical to a total strategy to take fullest advantage of the power of the Internet. It’s also about what is now being called Web 2.0 – all the social networking tools you mention above, as well as RSS feeds, SMS (Text messaging), and Blogs.

These all enable you to communicate, connect and interact with people by putting you and your “brand” are amongst the steady flow of ideas, thoughts and concepts that flow to them via their desktop computer, laptop, and cell phones 24/7. While the goal of all these is not primarily to get to the top of Google, using all of these helps improve your position there.

But like anything valuable, it doesn’t happen by itself. It takes a financial investment, a time commitment, and a partner with the right expertise. Huge companies (and even the Obama Administration) have full time people in a position called “Director of New Media.” Medium sized businesses hire companies like Trivera to formulate a strategy and help execute a plan. Small businesses often have good intentions to try and tackle this on their own but fail because of the discipline and commitment it requires.

Trivera uses all those tools, and has a handful of customers who are using us to help them take advantage of these tools. We’re putting these elements in all our proposals these days. If you’re willing to make a commitment, we can help you. The best way to tackle this is to determine your budget and we’ll give you a proposal with some recommendations.

-Tom Snyder

Tags: Milwaukee, Search Engine Management, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, Social Networking, Web 2.0, web development
Posted in Blog | Comments Off

How’s Your E-fitness Quotient?

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Originally published, December 2007

For many Americans, a brand new year signals a commitment to improving their fitness. Resolutions are made to eat better, work out more often and make lifestyle changes to reduce stress and increase longevity. TV, radio and print ads at this time of year mirror the huge spike in interest in fitness with hundreds of weight loss, smoking cessation and exercise ads…each with an important disclaimer: Make sure to consult your physician before beginning this new regimen.

For many American businesses this should also be a time to re-commit to improving their fitness. With that in mind, Trivera is encouraging you to make a resolution to make your Web site better, communicate with your email list more often and make Internet strategy changes to reduce business process inefficiency and improve your vendor and customer relationships.

But like personal health changes, a change in Web business practices needs to begin with a consultation with your Web Doctor. So to wrap up 2007, Trivera is recommending a complete Web physical, and is offering a free 15 point custom e-Fitness report to our clients and our potential clients.

Included in this report are answers to many important questions:

With most companies reporting a 25-50% percent increase in their Web sales this year, there’s no question that the businesses that “get it,” are reaping the rewards. Are you? How are your Web conversions?

Are you communicating with your opt-ins? Are you doing so frequently enough? Too often? How do you know?

Does your Web site maintain current navigation best practices? Is your site taking advantage of current monitor resolutions, desktop sizes, greater audience bandwidth availability, differing browsers and mobile delivery systems?

Is your credit card processing mechanism in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards? 85% of all sites aren’t, and will risk being totally prohibited from taking card transactions in 2008. Will your site be among them?

Does your site come up in search engine results that count? Do you come up high in keywords and phrases that nobody’s actually searching for? Do you come up at all in the keywords that people are actually using to search for a business, product or service like yours? Are you an unnecessary victim of click fraud in your paid placement campaign?

Is how your site was built now hurting your position in the search engines? If you have the words “click here” anywhere in your site, the answer is yes. Image Alt tags, link text, page names, incorrect use of images vs. text, file names and content are critically important to your placement. And how they work has changed since last year. Have you made any changes? When was the last time you checked your position against your competitors?

And there are more:

Does your site contain broken links? Are you paying too much for your digital ID? Are you inadvertently giving your employee email addresses to spammers? Is your site experiencing downtime you’re not aware of where it’s hosted? Is your content management strategy doing you harm? Are there Web 2.0 opportunities you’re missing out on?

The new year is right around the corner. 52 weeks to succeed or fail. And while many personal health resolutions require a commitment and discipline that lasts more than the first few weeks of January, all it may take to create benefits for your business is a resolution to act on your e-fitness report from Trivera.

If you’re serious about success, let us help you achieve that success today!

Tags: e-commerce, Milwaukee, Search Engine Management, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, strategy, Web design, web development
Posted in Blog | Comments Off

Navigating the Internet Minefield – A Final Thought

Tuesday, July 10th, 2007

For our past few Newsletters, we’ve been guiding you through the Internet Minefield and trying to keep you from mis-stepping.

The underlying theme is that there is simply too much specialized knowledge, it’s too easy to get it wrong, and the stakes are too high for a small to medium size company to even consider developing and executing their own Web strategy. And few Web development “companies” and even fewer Ad agencies are much better than doing it yourself.

I promised a personal story to illustrate the point.

I’ve owned a Web company for ten years, and I write and talk about this stuff all the time. Heck, I even used to build Web sites for my clients when I first started the company. So when I recently sold my house, I figured if anyone was qualified to build a Web site to promote the house, it would be me, right?

Armed with my “experience” I started to build my own Web site. I couldn’t believe how hard it had gotten to get it right. Knowing what Cascading style sheets are and actually building and using them are two completely different things. And while I was able to get some of it right, it was embarrassing to think how much I got wrong.

I eventually finished, but it was amazing how much time it took me to build a less than average-looking site.

So then I decided to try my hand at applying my search engine knowledge to get the site to place high in Google, Yahoo and MSN. I used all the tricks I knew and was pretty proud when I actually showed up in the top position for all the keyword phrases! And that’s where I stayed for three days until my site got de-listed entirely for an improper use of metatags.

So much for doing it myself!

The moral of the story is this: I should have trusted the project to my team of specialists. And if I, as the owner of a Web design company came to that conclusion, how can anyone else come to a different one?

-Tom Snyder

Tags: Search Engine Management, Search Engine Optimization, Web design, web development
Posted in Blog | Comments Off