Category Archives for "Management"

1 Using Keywords Effectively

Let’s say you’ve found 3 keywords (or phrases) that summarise your organisation’s offer.  The next step is to add them to your site.

You should not put them all on the same page.  One keyword or phrase per page is enough.  Many people think the only way to a website is through its home page.  This may be true for some sites but it is better to optimise several pages as landing pages, pages designed to attract people searching for a particular thing.  One landing page each for the 3 keywords.

Is This the Right Page?

Once they land visitors need to know they are on the right page.  You need good copy above the fold that clearly states what this landing page is about.  Your keyword should feature prominently; after all someone has followed the link because they’re interested in that keyword.  If it doesn’t feature, they might lose interest.

Don’t overdo it but make sure the keyword is prominent and not obscured by:

Places to Put Keywords

Good places to put the keyword are:

Do you have any suggestions?

1 How to Find Good Keywords

Last Tuesday, I introduced keywords and suggested their main purpose is to tell first-time visitors what your site is about.

The chances are the name of your organisation won’t tell your visitor much about what your site offers.  Even if it does, people are unlikely to search for it because they might not have heard about it.

It may be gratifying to type your organisation’s name into a search engine and find your website ranking high on the results page.  But realistically, how many people are likely to do that?

You need to find alternative words or phrases, people might search for and through them find you.  This is a massive topic, called search engine optimisation (seo).

Let’s imagine a company, “Amphibiana Plus” wants to rank for “plague of frogs”.  First, they need to put good relevant content on their site.  In time people will find it (seo is about how to promote this) and they might add a link from their site to yours.  As more organisations recommend your site in this way, your site will climb in the search engines rankings.

Note good content is the key.  Google, the world’s main search engine, is changing the way its search engine works to encourage good content.  Only good content will rank high on the search engine results page.  So, it is really important to understand how keywords relate to good content.

So, how do you find keywords (or phrases!)?  Here are few pointers:

• Review your current website content and printed literature and note any recurring themes or issues.  They might be in your mission statement, for example.
• Brainstorm around these themes and get as many ideas as possible.  You will need to consider each idea and ask realistically whether it is something people might enter a search engine.
• Choose a good keyword and enter it into Google.  Type slowly and watch the suggestions Google supplies.  At some point they will become relevant and you’ll get some idea what other people are already entering.  Remember if there are lots of relevant options, it’s a good thing because it shows there is interest in that theme.
• If you want to explore more ideas, try using Google Adwords.  Google offers a number of useful tools under this heading.  They are free to use and you are under no obligation to purchase advertising.  (If you are just starting I would council against using paid ads until your organisation is well established online.)  Anyway, register if it is your first time and then click on the Tools menu and you’ll find the keywords tool in the menu.

So, that’s how to get started.  Next time I’ll show you what to do with them once you’ve found them.  Do you have any tips about finding keywords?

2 Using Keywords on Your Website

Keywords are vectors on your website pages.  Do you remember learning the difference between speed and velocity? Speed is a scalar quantity, which means it is simply a measure of how fast something is going; how many miles per hour.  Unlike vector quantities, such as velocity, speed does not include direction of travel.  With velocity we can work out how long it takes to travel from A to B because we know the direction.

Keywords do two things; explain what the page is about and increase traffic to your site.  The ways in which they increase traffic has undergone recent major changes. These mean you can use keywords to tell visitors what your site is about and not worry about search engines.

They say, if you want search engines to find your site you need to find keywords for each page.  I’ll discuss the need to court search engines in later posts; the point is you need keywords to communicate with your visitors.

Keywords and Relevance

Consider this: how long do you stay on a new site when you visit it?  It depends upon whether the site is relevant to your search.   Occasionally you might be distracted by something you’re not looking for. Usually you have a goal in mind and will stay if the site seems relevant.

As a site owner, you want people to stay who are looking for what you offer.

So, when your page opens, it needs to say clearly what it is about.  This helps visitors who arrive by mistake to go their way.  People actively interested in your site stay and enter into a long-term relationship.

When we get onto search engines I’ll write more about how keywords help people find your site but for now, once they arrive they expect to see the keywords they used to find you!

So, if someone concerned about a plague of frogs, arrives at your site and reads “If you’re experiencing the current plague of frogs this site will give you all the answers you’re looking for …” the chances are that visitor will read on.

They may be seeking frog poison.  If your site advocates building ponds for them, your visitor might be convinced by your copy – so long as it looks as if it’s going to be relevant when the visitor first arrives.

You might like to go to a favourite website and try to find the keywords, perhaps the words that helped you on your first visit to the site.  If you do, add the url and keywords you have identified as a comment and share them with the other readers.

0 Writing Good Copy

Writing good copy for your website is really important.   It takes time to write copy people will read and act upon.  It is the foundation for everything you do online, far more important than the technical side of website development.  If you know html and css, it is an advantage but people read your copy and not your  mark-up  – so it’s worth making the effort to get it right.

Let’s assume you have a cause, product or service and need to make a better case than your competitors.  With non-financial causes, you may have a message to share with the world and want to find others to share thoughts and discuss the cause.  Sometimes you may want your readers to attend a meeting in real life (or a webinar) or else become a member or subscribe to an email list.

Imagine a spectrum from those who wish to simply make money online by any means available, through to those who have a cause and no desire whatsoever to make a penny.

In reality, it hard to occupy either extreme.  The money-maker might want to make money at the start but is likely to discover they have something people value and find they take pleasure in sharing it.  As they develop their reputation in this new area, they will naturally discover ways to generate income from it because they have that mindset.

On the other hand, those who have a cause often find it necessary to generate income to finance it.  In real life this can lead to hours pursuing funding through grant applications and then to find the cause undermined by the need to generate outputs to meet funder’s requirements.  If the cause itself can generate income independently of funding bodies, this can help keep the cause’s integrity.

Generating income and pursuing a cause are not always contradictory and online it is easier to do both together.  Good copy can support both a cause and the need to make sales online.

If you’re serious about your cause then an income can really help.  So you do need to consider carefully whether you or your organisation needs an income.  Are you aware of websites that combine a cause with trading?  How successful have they been?

0 Managing your website: secondary concerns

Last time I looked at the primary concerns of site management.  Whilst content is always your primary concern, secondary concerns, the technical issues that cut across the purpose of your site, are also important.  They include:

I’m going to major on writing copy for the next few posts.  If you want more information about any of these let me know in the comments and I’ll bring them forward.

2 Managing your website: primary concerns

Here are some things to think about when managing your website.  Many people make continual changes to their sites and this theme will help you develop your site.  The days when a site launched and then stayed pretty much the same with occasional updates are over.  Most likely you develop your site in response to users’ needs but this can present new problems for organisations, particularly where volunteers manage the site.

Your primary concern is good content and this post will review options for the content you might produce.  The next post will be about important secondary issues.

What You Sell

Your aim is to produce content that builds trust, demonstrates command of your subject and furthers your organisation’s purpose.  Your organisation will be offering at least one of the following:

1. Services – activity tailored to your client’s needs.  This might be something to do with information, such as consultancy or training, or it might be a physical service such as hairdressing, car mechanics, etc.
2. Products – usually mass-produced and appeal to a range of customers.  If you sell things, products are easier than services because once created, it is easy to reproduce the product and deliver it to customers.  Customers can download information products or receive physical products through the post.  It is possible to sell local products through a shop with online promotion.  Don’t forget, if you give it away, it is still a product!
3. Causes – this is where you seek support from your site visitors for a campaign.  The support might be through signing petitions or writing letters, or it might be a request for donations.  Some campaigns involve visible protest, eg flash mobs.

How You Sell It

The good news is things have become much easier in recent years.  Media you would never have dreamed of using, even a couple of years ago are within reach.  So, here is a list of media you might use:

1. Web pages have many functions.  They can be particularly helpful for those who want to advertise a service and use their site as an online brochure.  This works where the site content does not need to be updated often .  I don’t necessarily recommend this approach but it seems to work for some organisations and free-lancers.
2. Blogs are a good way to publicise just about anything.  A steady and consistent blog can prove your knowledge and understanding of your subject area, draw search engines to your site and publicise developments online and off.  They are also a good way to organise information such as directories of local organisations or events.
3. Downloadable papers and ebooks are also effective, especially where people use the material on your site.  For example, an instruction manual in .pdf format may be more helpful than simply putting the content on pages, because it is easier to print and pass between devices.
4. Images are always helpful and with a digital camera or mobile phone, you can capture images very easily.  You can also have great fun mucking about with images on Photoshop.
5. Audio files that can be downloaded to listening devices are extremely popular.  So too are audio CDs.  The reason is people like to listen to things whilst in their car or out jogging.
6. Videos are extremely popular.   They are much easier to produce than they used to be.  Perfectionists may balk at using their mobile phone to film a short video but so long as you get the lighting about right and eliminate background noise, you can produce something good enough. Of course better quality videos are better but you have to start somewhere and the opportunity may be lost if you have to go home and fetch a better camera!

These are your basic building blocks.  The ways in  which you combine and build one upon the other can transform your website.

What do you think?  Have I missed anything important?  Have you any examples of great content at minimal costs?

0 Marketing: The Irresistible Offer

Charles Darwin’s survival of the fittest has a lot to answer for.  It seems Darwin supported the idea that competition is totally natural.

Survival of the fittest makes sense if you lust after unaccountable power.  It’s brilliant to be able to suggest the universe runs on your principle of power.  “I’m better at competition, I defeat and wipe out my competitors.  It’s all perfectly natural.”

But survival of the fittest is culturally determined.  I read somewhere the term did not appear in Darwin’s first draft!  You can see the appeal to  people seeking to justify their greed and lust for power.

The fittest is the one who fits best.  And you fit best by collaborating.  Even relationships we might read as violent can be mutual.  Foxes need rabbits yes.  But rabbits also need foxes; without foxes they compete for food and ultimately starve.

Examples of collaboration in the natural world far outweigh examples of violence and use of force.  Nothing works when the bullies take over.  Nothing evolves on its own, punching its way to superiority.  Eco-systems evolve, not individual species.

So, the marketplace is not an arena for competition but for collaboration.  It is where we supply one another’s needs and a place to exchange ideas and support each other.  It is only in relatively modern times that we understand it as a place for competition.  Competition happens when things go wrong, the fittest survive because they know how to collaborate.

We enter the marketplace because we have something to share. When we’re online we’re in the market place: those who go there to scam, bully or otherwise be destructive are ultimately not survivors.

Design for your Market

Web design is barely 20 years old and so it is no surprise designers do not agree about what their job is.  It is an important question, especially where resources are scarce and value for money crucial.  Even if a wealthy business or charity can afford a beautiful site that does no work for their organisation. no serious organisation can be satisfied with this.  The problem is many organisations do not know there is an alternative.

The old model is ‘graphics – words – numbers’.  The message here is the site’s graphics are most important, then the content (often supplied by the client and not of particular interest to the designer) and then numbers – the research to find out what actually works for the client.

The new model reverses this: numbers – words – graphics.  First we do research, then construct excellent content, get it online, more research and as we find out what works introduce and improve the graphics.

I would add two more terms to these series, which I think shows the difference between (traditional) web design and web consultancy.

Web Design

(Designer) – graphics – words – numbers – (Client)

Web Consultancy

(Client) – numbers – words – graphics – (Consultant)

With numbers first, the web consultant can help their client find their place in their market.  Their site design should grow naturally from the client’s understanding of their market.

Market

Do you know your market, their demographics, their level of awareness of what you’re offering and their habits online?

Content

With first-rate content, visitors to your site will understand your offer and its benefits.  It encourages visitors to use your service and they might recommend your site to others?

Structure

How you structure your site, your branding, each page’s appearance, how people land on your site, the links between pages; all contribute to your site’s success.

What is best practice for the various types of pages found on websites?  I shall compare home, about, contact, landing and other page types.  What content is on them?  How can it be improved?

What are the basics for layout of pages?  What works and what doesn’t?  How to bend your CMS to your will!

Management

How do we square the various demands on the site?  These may originate from various priorities within an organisation or else from the competing demands of search engine optimisation, good copy, legal issues, accessibility, etc.

Reviews

Reviews of sites and groups of sites to show what works and what doesn’t.