The Core Blog
Landing Pages & SEO
2010-06-22 16:52:00
Landing pages - we've all seen them. They're not your average home page. They're straight to the point, and deliver a lot of information in short amount of time. They've got a simple call to action, and invite users to purchase a product or a service. But we're not talking about your every day landing pages, we're talking about building an SEO campaign that involves landing pages to better track, filter, and guide customers to the information they're looking for.
I'm sure you've been to a website with a landing page that serves as an introduction to a website, often flashy graphics or even "welcome" animation. This is not the type of landing page that will help with your SEO. In fact, it can often hurt you.
Landing pages with regards to SEO and marketing campaigns are the pages that a customer will go to when they click on online ads, or e-mail links. These specialized pages draw special attention to a particular product or service. By having a special page to direct customers to with your internet marketing (be it ads or e-mail campaigns), you can better track how effective these marketing strategies are, and have a more precise conversion rate than your standard web page. Only users who view your ad or e-mail will be visiting the landing page, so you know how much traffic you are receiving from your marketing efforts.
Your landing page in and of itself could be optimized for particular keywords. The domain name, title, and content could be so focused on one aspect of your business that it gets better search results than your main website. You could have a landing page for each of your products, or each of the services you provide. It helps your customers get the information they are searching for right away.
Beware of "SEO" companies who want to offer you a landing page to help track your website, or even ones that give you a new phone number to help "track" leads. This can become very dangerous. The "landing page" they are creating for you is often on their domain - giving them better SEO, not you. Additionally, if you choose to discontinue the company's service, search engines will still point to their website and phone number, resulting in potential leads lost. If you truly want to get better search engine results, go for a more organic approach. These "smoke in mirrors" tricks to getting better search engine placement can only hurt you in the long run.
If you're interested in learning more about landing pages, or would like to get started on your ad or e-mail campaign, contact us at Avallo. We can get you started on the right track with your online marketing strategies.
Julie
Get Noticed with Facebook Pages
2010-06-16 17:27:00
Facebook profiles, groups, and pages. What are they, and how can you use them to your advantage? Which one best fits your goals for your business? Read on to learn more about how to optimize your Facebook page for your followers, and how to get noticed in the multitude of Facebook pages.
Facebook Profiles
Facebook profiles are intended for personal use. One of the biggest faux pas I have seen is a business or organization creating a Facebook profile. Why is this wrong? For one, it's difficult to find a business or organization that's linked to a Facebook profile. Profiles are also set up to be more private than a group or a page. Instead of just clicking "like" and immediately becoming a fan, you must submit a "friend" request. If you want to have thousands of fans (and who wouldn't!?), you would then have to accept each of those friend requests separately. Additionally, you cannot contact all of your customers at once. Both groups and pages allow you to contact all of your customers with one quick message.
A profile also limits to you one account to modify, update, and change information. To have multiple administrators, you would have to pass out the user name and password to the profile to everybody, which has its own security problems. If an employee decides to leave the company, you would have to change the password and alert all other employees of the change. It's not very efficient.
Bottom line: if you're a business, corporation, or organization, stay away from profiles. Profiles are great for individual employees, but a Facebook group or page will better represent your company.
Facebook Groups
Groups, while more public than profiles, are also originally intended for personal use. Groups allow you to choose the network the group will appear in, as well as allow an administrator to approve members. This proves useful for organizations that are invite-only.
Like Facebook profiles, there is only one user to administrate the group. You can, however, add group officers to help administrate the group. However, if the creator of the group decides to part ways with your company at any time, they will be stuck as the admin. If this is a concern for you, a Facebook Page is a better choice.
When your customers interact with you, they will be listed as "Members". Their feed will be updated with "Customer Name has joined the group, "Your Organization Name"".
Bottom line: While great for organizations or clubs, Facebook groups don't offer the functionality that business or corporations would need.
Facebook Pages
Intended for businesses, brands, organizations, or even public figures, Facebook pages offer a variety of options that neither groups nor profiles provide. A Facebook page, much like your company, is a separate entity. You can add or remove administrators easily, and administrators are not listed on the account - they remain anonymous. This means that activity reflects on the company as a whole, and not one particular admin.
Facebook also makes it easy to create advertisements for your Facebook page so you can promote it and hopefully gain more fans.
The biggest difference is that pages allow you to add apps to a page, but not a group. Apps allow for greater flexibility and customization for your company. Take Avallo's Facebook page, for example. Instead of seeing the Wall when you visit our page, you are greeted by a full-color and fully customized landing page that points our customers to our website, blog, and other valuable offers and information.
By customizing your Facebook landing page, you can stand out from the crowd. Add some color to the normally blue-and-white Facebook, and get the most important information and updates to your customers.
Even more importantly, pages are indexed by search engines. This means that if someone searches for your company, it's very likely your Facebook page will appear in the results. Groups are not indexed.
The bottom line: Facebook pages are intended for businesses. It only makes sense, if you're a business, to take advantage of a Facebook page.
So what's best for you?
Both pages and groups have their strong points. Ultimately, it's up to your company to decide which will work best for your marketing strategy. Pages are a public company profile that allow you to interact, create events, and send updates to customers. Groups are a more exclusive club that allow invite-only members, and even allow you to send messages to everyone in the group - but this functionality is revoked when you have over 5,000 members.
Pages are indexed by search engines which means it will be easier for your customers to find you. They also allow you to include applications, making it incredibly easy to customize your page and stand out from the crowd. Both pages and groups allow you go create events and interact with your customers.
Once you've decided what you want, let the experts at Avallo help you set up your Facebook page or group, and even create custom apps or landing pages for you. While you're at it, become a fan of Avallo on Facebook and receive a free chocolate bar! You will also be entered into our monthly t-shirt drawing. How awesome is that?
Julie
Web 2.0
2009-06-22 15:02:00
While it has been several years since the term "Web 2.0" came onto the scene, we at Avallo still hear the phrase come up from time to time in conversations. Whether it's with friends, clients, or fellow companies, it seems as if nobody can agree or is really clear on what "Web 2.0" really means.
At first glance, one could assume that "Web 2.0" is a new technology, a remake of the original internet, something better and faster. This isn't really the case. The internet is still being run on the same technology. While there are always changes and new technologies being added to the web, it is still built on the same basic framework. You may reupholster your couch to update the look, but it's still the same couch structure underneath.
"Web 2.0" is merely an idea; a coined phrase used to describe the changing ideas of how the internet should be used. In the early 2000's, companies began moving from static, informational websites to something more interactive. Websites moved from a digital business card of sorts to an open dialogue with customers and powerful marketing tool. Blogs, wikis, comments, forums, communities, consumer reviews, interactive searches, RSS feeds, and links are often associated with "Web 2.0", but in fact many of these features were around long before the emergence of the buzzword.
Since the exact definition of "Web 2.0" will vary depending on who you ask, don't fall into the trap of thinking you need to go with a company that deems itself "Web 2.0 Compliant." This doesn't really exist. What you should really be looking for is someone who follows W3C Web Standards, and can offer Search Engine Optimization. When you're ready to make the move from a stagnant website to a more interactive, customer-focused website, give us a call.
Julie
How Not to Blow Your Budget by High Website Design Fees
2009-06-10 17:14:00
The cost of a website can be hard to figure out. Since a website is constantly changing, it can be hard to keep it under control. Here are some tips for you to keep your costs under budget and keep your sanity (and friendship) with your web design team.
- The biggest mistake companies and individuals alike make is to leave the end price open. With every rule there are exceptions, and developing new tools for the web is one of them. But for most websites, if the site map is complete and accurate, can be quoted at a firm price. Always have one round of text changes included as these changes can quickly add up.
- Before you start the process, be prepared. Have all of your content ready before the web programmers start. The designer needs to have the look created and approved. The copywriter should have pages copy written and SEO copy ready to go. The photos should be marked to match the site map. A big time killer for programmers is unorganized content which can leave holes in the site and cause delays that can be costly.
- Have everything in writing. If you are paying per page of the website, what constitutes a page? Who owns the website copyright after completion? Can you move my site to a different server and is the domain register in the company's name with a company representative as contact? These are all very important for both sides to have this documented.
- If the web firm is making changes, learn what their policy is on how fast the changes will be done. What is the minimum cost for this service, is it hourly or by job? If you are entering into a maintenance agreement, (which I don't recommend) how many hours does it include and can you carry over unused hours.
- Customer service is key to a great website experience. Your sales person or production manager need to represent you and keep the project moving. If you do not click with your rep, ask for a new one right from the beginning... or don't use that company - you may be very sorry.
Here at Avallo, we cover all of the above and more. We get most of our projects by referrals from our very satisfied customers. Our Process was designed to keep everyone on the same page, so the end product is done timely and with your budget in mind. And since I am the go-to person for Avallo, your customer service is guaranteed. With a little bit of organization, and a reputable company, you can have a beautiful website done fast, and within budget. Contact us today to get started.
Julie