flyte blog: small business web marketing blog

ProSites - Affordable Web Sites for Small Businesses

We don't often promote individual ProSites -- our affordable Web sites for small businesses -- here at the flyte blog, but every once in a while it's nice to list some of the companies that are now using the ProSites.

• Maine Custom Woodlands - A full service timber harvesting, land management and excavation company.
• Alan Shaver - Candidate for trustee of the Episcopal Church Pension Fund.
• Psychological Associates of Northern Jersey - A multi-disciplinary partnership of mental health professionals in northern NJ.
• Business Etiquette Institute - Margie Kelly, a business etiquette consultant.
• Reduce My College Costs - A resource-rich Web site for parents of college-bound children looking to save money on tuition.

All of these sites are built on the WordPress platform, allowing our clients to update their Web site without any HTML knowledge or expensive 3rd party software. Just a modern browser is all they need to keep their Web site fresh and smelling like springtime.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Sites

How to Share Your Google Analytics (Without Sharing Your Google Account)

As you may know, here at flyte we're pretty fond of Google Analytics and set our clients up with this great, free traffic reporting software.

If you're working with a contractor who's helping you with search engine marketing, or improving your Web site's effectiveness, they may want/need access to your traffic reports to make better recommendations. However, if you give them full access to your Google account they can also access your Gmail and intercept all of your mushy emails or those cease-and-desist letters from Sarah Palin's lawyers.

Here's how you can give them access to just your reports but keep curious eyes away from anything else.

First, login to your Google Analytics account. Down near the bottom of the page you'll see "User Manager." Click there.

That will take you to a page that will show you any user that already has access to the traffic reports. In the dark gray bar you'll see an Add User link near the right. Click there.

This will take you a page where you can add a new user. You can give this new user just View Reports access or make them an Account Administrator. If you choose to give them Account Administrator access they will be able to edit your account settings such as adding other users, creating filters or having Google Analytics email certain reports to users.

This could be just what you want, but just be aware of what you're choosing.

Your new user will need to have a Google account, but as Google accounts are free this probably isn't much of a problem.

You may be tracking reports for multiple Web sites. If you're just giving View Reports access you'll need to select at least one domain from the Available Website Profiles, click the "Add>>" button, and make sure they end up under Selected Website Profiles. Otherwise, the reports won't transfer.

And as always, save your work.

That's all you need to do. Next time they log into their Google Analytics account they'll see a link to your analytics on their dashboard page.

Rich Brooks
Web Analytics Guy

Web Marketing Course for Entrepreneurs and Small Business

I can't believe that we're just one week away from the first class of Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business over at the University of Southern Maine.

Well, actually I can, as I spent most of yesterday afternoon updating and revamping the search engine optimization content for the class. And I've blocked out plenty of hours this week to review the rest of my content and build out the social media component. But the "I can't believe" part stresses the fact that it's only a week away, and if you were planning on coming you've got to get a move on.

Who should go? Well, you should be in driving distance of Portland, Maine. (Yes, one of these days I'll create an online version, but not today.) Assuming that you can get to the campus, this course is geared to small business owners, marketers and entrepreneurs who are looking to build a Web presence to grow their business.

Topics will include search engine visibility (how do you out rank your competition,) email marketing, business blogs, social media, e-commerce, and building a Web site that will convert prospects into customers.

The course is held over four Monday nights, 11/10/2008 - 12/1/2008, from 6pm - 8pm at the Abromson Center on the campus of the University of Southern Maine (directions.) The cost is $205, but you need to pre-register for the class, so...

Register Now!

We'll be spending class time reviewing students' current Web sites (when applicable) and making on the spot recommendations to help you rank higher, drive more qualified leads to your site, and convert more prospects into customers. So what are you waiting for?

Register Now!

Rich Brooks
Oh Captain, Your Captain

Protect Your Email Address from Email Harvesters

Putting an email on your Web site has traditionally been the most effective way to learn about low mortgage rates, Russian brides and Viagra. That's because email harvesters--evil little programs that scour the Web for email addresses--collect your email and deliver it to spammers.

However, as our own Andy Woznica reports in our flyte crew blog, a Web based version of Enkoder is back. Enkoder is a program that hides your address from the email harvesters while showing it to the humans who want to contact you.

Now, personally, I think this is just the latest salvo in the spam wars, and one day the email harvesters will figure out how to decode the enkoder, just as the Terminators learned to mimic human form. But for now, the good guys are winning.

If you feel the urge to show your email address on your Web site, check out the Enkoder today.

Red Bull Delivery = More Efficient Web Development

Two beautiful women just delivered three cases of Red Bull to our offices here at flyte. (Actually, I can't be sure they were beautiful, but the way the light gleamed off the three cases of Red Bull they seemed entirely angelic to me. Nah, I'm pretty sure they were beautiful.)

As I carried one of the cases triumphantly around the office above my head, Andy asked the all important question: "when will they be cold?" Realizing they weren't getting any colder two feet above my head, I stuffed as many of them as I could in our small fridge.

Now I know that my team will be sufficiently energized to complete the work ahead of them.

I'm wondering if we'll have to start changing the tagline on the bottom of all our Web sites: Web Site Design by flyte new media | Fueled by Red Bull.

Rich Brooks
Got Wings?

How to Create an Effective Site Map for Your Web Site

As I struggle through a 527 line Excel spreadsheet that I need to coerce into a coherent site map, I decided to write up some of my thoughts on developing an effective site outline for a Web site.

In no particular order:

1. The home page doesn't get any sub-navigation. Don't ask me why, it just does. Move along, nothing to see here.
2. A site map's purpose is to tell you where pages exist within the structure of a Web site.
3. A site map's purpose isn't to list every element of each page, especially repeating items like "search box" or "email signup box." That goes somewhere else, like in an Information Architecture document or a checklist of "things it would suck to forget."
4. A place for everything and everything in its place. Think of the site map as a tree. If you have a page that doesn't connect to the rest of the site what you've got is a dead branch. The only pages you don't need in a site map is Not Found and Thank You (landing page for contact forms.)
5. "About" should be one of the last items, not right after "Home." Web sites for individuals may be the only exception to this rule, and even then not very often.
6. If you've got to the 5th level of navigation, you've gone too far. Carol Anne - listen to me. Do NOT go into the light. Stop where you are. Turn away from it. Don't even look at it.
7. Every line in the site map = one Web page. If you've got a Resources section that includes Links and FAQs, you still need content for the Resources overview page.

Any other suggestions?

Rich Brooks
Site Maps for Dummies

Learn Internet Marketing in Maine This Fall

For those living in or near southern Maine who are looking to learn more about using Internet Marketing to grow your business, you may be in luck.

I'll be teaching a 4 class course on Web Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Small Business at the University of Southern Maine. I've taught this course a few times before, and it continues to evolve. This time around there will be more time given to social media and how you can use it to leverage your brand and connect with prospects and customers. We'll look at YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and more.

As in the past, we'll also spend time on what I consider the building blocks of Web marketing:

• Search Engine Optimization: how to improve your search engine visibility through keyword rich content and incoming links.
• Business Blogs: how a blog can increase visibility, improve rankings, and establish you as an expert.
• Email Marketing: how to build a subscriber base in a world that has too many ezines already.

And we'll look at traffic reports (analytics), podcasting, and building a Web site that converts prospects into customers.

Dates & Times: 4 Mondays, November  10-December  1, 6-8 p.m.        

Cost: $205 (8 contact hours/ 0.8 CEUs)        
Place: Abromson Center, 88 Bedford Street, USM Portland campus (directions)

Register Now!

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Marketing Expert

How to Get a Small Business Web Site for Nearly Nothing

In today's Small Business section of the Wall Street Journal is an article called Creating a Successful Site for Almost Nothing by Vauhini Vara. (Link will expire soon for non-subscribers, so click now!) And unlike a lot of similar-themed articles for mainstream media, this one is pretty well researched and written. If you've never had a Web site before, following the instructions in this article is a great start.

You'd think this would make me nervous, being a Web designer and all. I mean, look no further than travel agents to see a job title that's been almost erased by free tools on the Internet. Do free and nearly free Web sites mean the end for your local Web designer?

Ummm...no. Although many travel agents closed their doors after Expedia and Travelocity became popular, others chose the value-added route and became wildly successful. Like any service professional, the best will focus on services that can't be automated or outsourced abroad.

Business owners who are looking for free and nearly free Web sites aren't my target audience. Cheap is not the same as valuable; in fact, the two are usually diametrically opposed. As the article states,

[The hosting companies that offer free hosting] often make money by charging for premium services or running ads on your Web pages.

I mean, what business would have free ads on their Web site? Probably the same ones who hand out business cards that say "Learn how you can get your 50 free business cards by calling..." It doesn't reek of professionalism.

Now, when I started out I designed my own business cards and printed (yes, printed) my monthly newsletter on my dad's printer/copier to save money. I remember the startup days. But if you're a serious business, you shouldn't be trying to create a free Web site, you should be trying to build an effective Web plan that includes search engine optimization, email marketing, blogging and maybe even a social media strategy.

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Sites and Internet Marketing

Does Your Web Site Engage Your Site Visitors?

When a business's Web site isn't generating the leads or bringing in the sales that were planned, often the first thing an owner does is throw money at a search engine optimization firm to bring in more traffic. More traffic = more business, right?

Not always.

Although sites in general are getting better, there are still too many sites that are simple brochure Web sites and ask the visitor to take a passive role at the site. There are no clear calls-to-action, and just 5 - 10 pages of information.

I used to do sales, and while I was on the road I listened to a lot of sales tapes. One of the techniques they talked about was getting the prospect involved. On a Brian Tracy tape I particularly liked, he told a story of a plexiglass salesperson who sold far and above the most hammers of anyone in the company (this took place a while ago, when plexiglass was brand new.) His secret? Rather than just show that a baltine hammer couldn't break the plexiglass, he asked his prospect to see if they could break it. Getting them involved was the difference between success and failure.

If your traffic is OK but your conversion rate is low, look at ways to engage your visitor. Can you create a survey/quiz that they complete to get answers to a question? Can you add some interactivity to the site? Maybe a free download? Even a simple Flash movie that requires a visitor's clicking to forward the story/demo would be a step in the right direction.

The more active you get your site visitors, the more likely they'll be to fill out a contact form, pick up the phone, or Buy Now!

Rich Brooks
Small Business Web Site Design

CrazyEgg is Crazy Good News for Web Site Owners

I've been using CrazyEgg, a tool that helps site owners get a better understanding of how visitors are using their Web sites.

CrazyEgg using tracking software to see where visitors are clicking on your Web site. What makes this a step above Site Overlay through Google Analytics, is that GA only tracks links. CrazyEgg tracks all clicks on a given page. Further, it breaks down those links in a few different ways.

To get started with CrazyEgg you can sign up for a free account which will allow you to track up to four pages. You'll need to add a piece of javascript to the pages you want to track.

CrazyEgg offers four views including Overlay, List, Heatmap and Confetti.

Overlay: You'll see different color-coded symbols by the links on the page you're analyzing giving you an immediate impression of what links are hot and which are not.

By clicking on any of these symbols you open up a window with more detailed information on how many people clicked on the link, and also the referrers that sent the visitors your way.

List: Provides a laundry list of all the clicks that took place on your page and organizes them by popularity. You can further export this list to Excel or other spreadsheet program.

Heatmap: The heatmap view gives you a visual overview of where people clicked on your site. What I found interesting from this view (and Overlay) was how many people visited our Contact page or signed up for our email newsletter at the bottom of the home page.

I didn't expect to have anyone want to contact us before checking out the site, and I've always felt the email signup was buried, and that we were getting signups because of the email bait we offer. (That was significantly more popular, but it was nice to see some people just wanted to sign up for our email newsletter.)

Confetti: This fun view shows you EXACTLY where visitors clicked, and allows you to color coordinate the report based on the top 15 referrers, the top 15 search terms, operating systems, browsers, window size and even time to click.

It's interesting to run a test and see how people are interacting with your home page. You may find certain links you consider important are completely ignored, while others are getting a lot more play. Based on the reports you may (as I did) rework parts of the page to increase signups or get people to call you.

It's also interesting to see whether people are clicking on images or text calls-to-action. I was also fascinated to see people clicking on images that weren't links at all. I'm not sure if these were accidental or not, but it does get you thinking about how different people will act differently at your site.

There are--of course--paid levels of CrazyEgg for site owners needing to run more reports at once, but almost any entrepreneur can benefit from the free trial version. CrazyEgg is a great addition to Google Analytics as you strive to better understand your visitors and build a more effective Web strategy.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketer