June 15, 2009

- web design and marketing for SALES!

Sure anyone can build a website now adays. This is why hiring the right web designer is more important than ever. Some interesting Facts about the internet:

Netcraft said there were 186,727,854 at the end of December 2008, which translates to an increase of 1.56 million sites in November 2008 and to an increase of 31.1 million over December 2007.

So that means, every day about 60,000 websites are created?! So the bottom line is -- what are you doing to stand out?

Before starting a large web marketing campaign I test my target audience. I test an ad, conversion of that ad and sales -- sometimes before I even have the product or service ready. What should be tested? Layouts, colors, designs, and most important -- Calls to action!

For example, while helping with SEO for a client we found that the words 'Learn more' converted at a much higher percent than 'Contact Us'
Before investing tons of money in SEO and social media optimization, budget money on a great design -- and then tweaking the design using pay per click marketing. You can also begin the SEO process early as well -- because SEO is always building on itself. I believe in a phased approach:

1) Get a great design
2) Get feedback and test your design and calls to action using PPC
3) Start an agressive SEO campaign with a great SEO company
4) Make sure you have analytics installed -- every month make adjustments based on what's working!