Category Archives: Brian Flook

My Heartfelt Thoughts on a Great Man

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When I heard the news of Steve Job’s death, I was immediately stricken with a deep sense of grief. Obviously I didn’t know the man, but my personal and professional connection with his products is deep and personal. I sincerely believe Steve to have been one of the greatest creative businessmen ever. He will be missed.

I purchased my first Mac in 1987. It was a Mac IIci and it was so incredible. I remember because I also purchased a ridiculously expensive laser printer at the same time and it all blew me away. That was the beginning of my Apple love affair.

If you are a Mac fan, you will understand my feelings. If you are not, you should stop reading now, because if 27 years of the greatest product design and performance didn’t impress you, I doubt anything I say will matter either. Apple computers, iPods, iPads and of course the iPhone are great products. The sales numbers bear that out and are indisputable. Since my first Mac purchase to this day one thing remains true: when you purchase an Apple product it works … every time. There is no wondering if the printer will work or if the drivers are there or if it will do what ever. It just works. But that isn’t the magic.  The real magic is that it works just like you feel it should. Jobs and the team at Apple had an uncanny ability to get inside our heads and make their products do exactly what we expected they should and often exactly how we expected them to do it.

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How to Develop a Website that Sells

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Learn the Crucial Elements of a Killer Website and Improve Your Web Presence
By Brian Flook, MIRM, President of Power Marketing

In today’s online environment, a killer website is your single most important marketing tool. Much of the time, buyers will visit your website before they ever see or talk to you in person. Your reputation and closing ratio are often determined by the website alone. What chances does your current site give you of closing a deal online?

You may want a website that is simply an interactive online brochure or you may need a comprehensive e-commerce site. Knowing your consumers allows you to build the most effective web experience.

So think: What do you want your website to do?

Do you want them to purchase something? Do you want visitors to join your database or get out their credit card? Every website should have an objective besides unique visitors. Your website is much more than a destination, it can be where your consumer eliminates you or takes action.

Once you decide what you want to accomplish with your website, you can begin to develop a killer website. So what is a killer website?

A Killer Website:

  • Clearly communicates your company’s NICE™ message
  • Gives visitors what they want, QUICKLY
  • Is easily findable using search engines
  • Is easy to navigate
  • Entices visitors to drill deeper
  • Successfully collects customer data and provides immediate feedback

Developing a NICE
NICE stands for “Nearly Instant Compelling Effect.” Your company’s NICE message should be an instantaneous message that clearly communicates your product’s most sustainable, distinctive and compelling qualities. Unlike your more traditional Unique Selling Proposition, your NICE message is all about speed and the Internet. Similar content, but designed for immediate perception.

When a prospective customer visits your website, their immediate impression is your NICE message. Within seconds your home page communicates to the buyer more about your company and your product than is reasonable, fair or desirable. BUT THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS! What is the immediate signal your website sends out? What is the instantaneous effect your website has on visitors? That is your NICE message.

Some websites communicate poor quality or shoddy marketing and design. Others communicate your company’s attention to detail and use great imagery, web savvy and navigational ease to get the point across.

We all make snap decisions, and the Internet makes it that much easier to make a snap decision when making a purchase or choosing to hire a company. Don’t miss out on sales opportunities — respond to the change with a great website.

Top 4 Keys for Developing a Killer Website:

  1. Preparation is imperative
  2. Content is king
  3. Design matters
  4. SEO trumps them all

Be Prepared
Carefully plan your site’s navigation. Your site’s navigation scheme is the essence of the experience. Ask yourself “What do my customer’s want?”

         Helpful Navigation Hints:

  • Try to limit your top-level navigation to as few links as possible
  • Utilize different types of links
  • Remember these important elements: Speed, Simple Navigation and Great Design

Use Keywords in Your Content
Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Sure, both provide light, but one gets your attention while the other demands it. Write first for your human friends and then for search engine robots. That being said — research your keywords! Pay for a keyword research project or use Google’s Keyword Tool. Our SEO team at Power Marketing would be happy to price a custom SEO campaign for your company today. Just click here!

         Helpful Content Hints:

  • Geography is important — be specific.
  • The narrower the focus, the better
  • Use keywords in the proper places: title tags, body copy, description tags, h1 and h2 headers, adwords
  • Use keywords everywhere you can! Including URL/URI, web copy and headers, landing pages, social media entries, syndicated articles, online PR

Think Simplicity in Design
The greatest designers know that simplicity is the supreme form of sophistication. Clutter, confusion and visual turmoil are repulsing; clean, simple design gently entertains my presence.

         Helpful Design Hints:

  • Remember the “F-Pattern.” The F-Pattern refers to the layout of your site and correlates with the way people naturally scan websites — seeing the top, upper left corner and left sides of the screen the most. So place your most important elements in the top left — important navigation, logo, branding, call to action — with text flowing on the left side.
  • Use the logo in the upper left and always link it as a breadcrumb back to the home page
  • Good photos don’t sell. Only GREAT photos sell

Search Engine Optimization is Critical
SEO matters! Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an Internet marketing strategy with the purpose of improving the volume and quality of traffic to your website from SERPs (search engine results pages) using organic search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion.

When your site is properly optimized for search engines, your web presence and Internet relevance greatly improves. SEO is crucial, but don’t forget to design your site and copy for people first, then search engines. Don’t forget to add media to your website, including anchor text, images, video, .pdf files, etc.

Five SEO Techniques You Can Start Tomorrow!

  1. Use anchor text keywords in your website to link inside your website and landing pages and to other sites
  2. Get high-ranking backlinks to your website
  3. Use keywords in your title tag and description tags.
  4. Make sure you have an XML site map
  5. Rewrite your website copy with keywords loaded

If you want to succeed on Google, you must understand Google! Best of luck as you pursue your success online. Keep reading our Power Points for more tips about web design, strengthening your keywords, SEO and your overall marketing strategy. To learn more about the ideas in this newsletter and others, contact us at info@Power-Marketing.com.
*Article appeared in the July issue of Power Points. Sign up to receive the monthly e-newsletter here!

Get Top Search Results with SEO

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Article from Power Marketing’s Builder Bulletin Newsletter, March 2011. Sign up to receive Builder Bulletin monthly here.

In a very short amount of time, the Internet has completely transformed the way we do business — from internal processes to attracting job applicants and perhaps most importantly, clients. The nature of that transformation is both incredibly exciting and overwhelming. The Internet presents a landmine of opportunity for business, yet the ground to cover can seem endless. In some ways, it is!

That’s where organic search optimization comes in. The way people shop for goods and services, including their next home, continues to rapidly transform right along with the Internet, meaning the way you market your products must change too. Consumers can easily get information about different companies and products without ever interacting with that company directly, meaning their first impression of you likely won’t come from any personal interaction. That is IF they can find you online at all.

Search engine optimization (SEO) ultimately attempts to drive potential customers to your website, where they are converted into sales. But you already have a great looking website! Sure, but does it contain the right, relevant clues that allow search engines — and subsequently customers using those search engines — to find your business?

Relevance and How to Find It
So what exactly is relevance, and how does it relate to SEO? Here is the Wikipedia answer: Relevance is a term used to describe how pertinent, connected, or applicable something is to a given matter. A thing is relevant if it serves as a means to a given purpose. What does it mean to be relevant? Why do Google and other search engines rank relevance so high in their search criteria?

The answer is so simple it may surprise you. Google and other search engines exist to provide answers to search queries. A search engine’s primary audience is the searcher, not the website owner or the advertiser. When you — as a random Internet searcher — key in a search term and find exactly what you want, Google feels it has done its job. But when you key in your search term and are sent to a page full of links that are not relevant to your query, Google has failed you. A search engine’s raison d’etre (reason for being, in case you don’t speak French) is to help searchers bridge the gap between need and discovery. One primary way they do it is relevance!

The primary tools for achieving relevance are words, sentences, and paragraphs that utilize the right keywords and keyword phrases. The more relevant your keywords and keyword phrases are, the more buoyant your website will be in an organic Google search. The goal is to get your site to float to the top of page one. There are two issues here: The first is the search engine and how it interprets relevance. The second is the human mind and how it interprets relevance. What is the key to opening the human mind? Why does a consumer who is looking for a gas grill key in “barbecue grill” and not “gas grill?” Why does a mother shopping for a child’s car seat key in “safety seat?” … Relevance!

Your goal with your website is to determine and use the keywords that are most relevant to your prospective buyers. Attempt to think like a buyer! Ask yourself what is most relevant? Or you can hire us to do a keyword study for your website so you will know without suspicion that your keywords have traction.

Google is looking for keywords, title tags, body copy, headers and description meta tags that produce the search results their searcher wants. Your job is to think like a customer and give the search engine what it wants: relevance. If you want help with finding your way to the top of search engines call us today, 301.416.7861, or visit our website at www.Power-Marketing.com. Search engine optimization is not an event; it is a process. It takes time and it costs money. An organic listing on page one of Google is rarely free. You don’t have to pay Google for it, but it does cost. You pay for AdWords by the click, but in the long haul, organic search success has much more value.

Power-Marketing-Strategic-Internet-Marketing-SEO

Source: Survey of hundreds of businesses for HubSpot’s “State of Inbound Marketing: 2010 Report” by Mike Volpe, HubSpot VP Marketing and Adam Blake, MIT Sloan MBA Student

Dominion on the Internet isn’t a one-time event; it’s a well-thought-out online strategy designed to reach your audience and achieve your sales goals over time. Keep reading our Builder Bulletin for more tips about strengthening your SEO and your overall builder marketing strategy. To learn more about the ideas in this newsletter and others, visit our website at www.Power-Marketing.com or contact us at info@Power-Marketing.com.