As part of our on going series, The Web Manual, we will dive into the world of search engines. Now I know you have an awesome website, and are now working on some quality content for your site.Today lets talk about the search engine. This post isn’t designed to be a full search engine optimization (SEO) guide, but an intro so you can be better informed, do some basic SEO work, and get found!

The Search – Part 1

Are you one of the people who think the search results don’t matter? or maybe think they only matter a little? According to a recent study by Enquiro, 51% of users start by using a search engine.  Shoes > search, plumbing > search, Doctor > search, church > search, and so on. 51% start by the search!

More data:
77% of users prefer google as their search engine
80% click through the organic ads (non-paid, but earned spots)

So this simple survey should tell you one thing. Being ranked well matters.

But how can I help my site?

Lets dive into some easy, low hanging fruit on the SEO work.

1. Analyze.
You have to know where you are at now, to know whats working right? Google Analytics is amazing, but statcounter.com and others work well too.

Look at traffic counts, traffic sources, keywords coming in, etc.

2. Pick some key terms
What do you want to be known for? Be specific. generic terms are too hard to fight for, and dont lead to quality leads. A Tempe cigar shop doenst need to be found for “cigars”, they need to be found for “tempe cigar shop”. Why you ask? The first term is broad, and people searching for cigars are looking for resources, news, online retailers, forums, etc. Now the second term will lead to customers walking in the door, buying local, and hopefully staying hooked on that shop. Now a generic term wont hurt the latter, but 100x hard to be well ranked, and most of your traffic won’t / can’t walk in the door.

Other examples: Are you a church, try a term like [you city] + church. (Atlanta Church). Hardware store? Try the same thing. Most users these days are pretty location aware, and know that google is too. When I need my local Pizza joint’s phone number, I don’t turn to the yellow pages, I google “maricopa Barros”. Its always the first result, and if I’m searching from my phone, I can just hit the call button. Easy!

Action: Pick 3 or so key phrases you need to be found for. Write them down.

3. Test.
Where do you rank now for that term? Write this down. We want to test often. Ranked number 32? don’t worry, we want to change that. Now also note who is in the top 10. Write those top few down as well. Or better yet, screen capture, print to PDF, something to expedite the process.

Now onto the dirty work. Content.
Last week we discussed that content is king. Google care more about your content than almost any other factor. Sure there is some giant algorithm in a closet somewhere at google headquarters, but if you have great content, and get the word out about your great content, good rankings will follow.

So you have been working on your content from last week, now lets make sure you have those search terms in your content. Are you page titles specific? do they contain a search phrase? Do you have heading tags on your page that also have the search phrase in it? Be specific about using these search phrases! use them often, but keep things natural. If you need to hire a copywriter to help you with your content, tell them your key search phrases!

Next week, we’ll explore some other search techniques and tools to help your SEO efforts. Including google webmaster, location search services, and backlinks.

There is a lot of debate about the value of Facebook & Twitter. Here are two things that can make them worth some of your time.

1. Follow people, businesses or organizations that matter to you. Identify those who are in your field or in your area of interests. People are watching who you follow.

2. Add value to the people who follow you. If you run a business or lead an organization make sure that you are adding value when you contribute something on twitter. Don’t say things here that you wouldn’t say in a relevant business meeting. Please, don’t tell everyone about your morning breakfast from your work account.

If you are like most of our clients, you need a great web presence, and you have better things to do than figure out how to do it yourself. So you hire great companies (like factor1) and you end up with a great looking site.

But now what? How do you manage content? How do you edit and crop photos? How do you track your traffic? The list goes on and on.

In this series of weekly posts, we will share some great tips, resources, and ideas specific to managing your presence online. Lets get started!

Week 1: Content…Quality Content

Your website has a purpose. It may be to generate leads, sales, present information, communicate services and expertise, etc. Regardless of that purpose, content is driving it. Sure it may look pretty, but after the first 5 seconds, your visitor stops admiring and starts reading. They begin in the upper left, and generally scan left to right, top to bottom, looking for what they came for. When you planed out your site design, we probably discussed the user flow, what are the big directional elements on the home page, what navigation is there, and how do we use graphics to help that user flow from one thing to the next.

We use headlines and graphics on the home page to draw that user in. View that service, product, or mission statement. Eventually they go deeper, and dig in. We want them to read your content, find what they are looking for.

My challenge to you.

Answer the following questions. On every page, Yes every single page. Think about your typical (not perfect, not current customer, but typical) visitor.

• What are they here for?
• What single concept do you want them to take away from this page?
• What is a next action for this visitor? (contact? next product? directions?)
• If this is the first page they saw, will they understand us? (remember, not everyone comes in through your home page)

I feel that if every page on your site has this kind of thinking and purpose behind it, you are off on the right foot. Now there are still some fundamental tasks you must take into account on your content.

• Good content is free of spelling and grammatical errors. Trust me, this one is tough, I’m a big picture guy and typos plague me often. Hire a copywriter as needed.
• Good content is keyword rich. We’ll talk more about basic SEO in the coming weeks, but using words that are search terms, relative to your page of course, are important. Give the search engine something to find.
• Break up content with headlines, lists, and images. While you don’t want visual road blocks, creating content that is easy to follow will help readers flow down the page, or jump to what they are looking for.
• Avoid the run on sentences or paragraphs.
• Use bold and italics formatting sparingly, and have a reason or pattern to using them.
• Don’t underline text for emphasis. Users expect underlined text to be a link, and are frustrated when its not a link.
• Read, re-read, and have others read your content.
• Cross link your pages. Is something on your page relevant to your other content? Link it!

Anything I missed? Please share your tips for good content!

Do you have a topic you want covered? Ask!

It’s really easy to lose sight of WHO your website is for. We all know it is for our customers. In fact, I would argue it is for the people who aren’t our customers yet but who we really want to be our customers. TRUTH is that we are all guilty, us included, of designing our sites (and other marketing materials) and writing our content the way we know how to. Worse yet we are all are guilty of designing and writing for our personal tastes and styles not for what would be most effective in reaching new costumers.

We all need to stop doing that and we need to start zeroing in on our target audiences.

I read this article about a business owner who has over 2 million monthly subscription customers. He spends a majority of his time writing, editing, re-writing and fine-tuning their website and marketing content. The E-myth (great classic book about small business) teaches us that we need work on our businesses not just in our businesses.

So here are some simple challenges to all of us:

• Study your front page / landing page – Is it geared for new customers?
• Look at your language – Is it clear? Is it proper? Does it have your customer in mind? Are you too wordy?
• Does your website navigate easily for the most important information?
• Do you have a clear call to action?
• Have you any idea how much traffic your site is getting and other important statistics? (Link it up with Google analytics)
• Spend 1-5 hours EVERY WEEK fine-tuning your messaging on your site – Learn how to make it the powerful tool that it can be for placing you first in your market category.

[Ryan also writes for RedBikeLeader.com - engaging & developing young leaders]

“Things may come to those who wait…but only the things left by those who hustle.”
– Abraham Lincoln

Do you hustle? Do you give every day all you have? In reality, we are all pretty average. We lead average lives, run average businesses, and do the things we have to. Hustle changes all of that. Michael Jordan had hustle. Sure he had talent. But he practiced non stop, he failed, he missed shots, he worked on his game every day. Hustle Hustle Hustle.

If you are like me, you believe organization has a higher purpose and great value. Then hustle. Go, get on it. Hustle. Be more than average by working, practicing, failing, and earn that great value. It wont come on its own for most of us.

This video is one of my favorites, and really shows the passion and hustle of Michael Jordan.

Just thought I would share a recent testimonial From Cary Peters over at Streetlight

Matt Adams and the staff at factor1 have been outstanding to work with over the past 5 months. Matt’s design talents and understanding of the user experience in web layout and functionality are a key strength. Personally Matt is one of the very best ‘web guys’ I have had the pleasure of working.

Thanks Cary!