Website Optimization: Ways To Make Your Website More Interactive

Website Optimization: Make Website More Interactive

One of the primary challenges that businesses face in online marketing is keeping their existing customers engaged with their brand, as well as being able to interact with potential new customers who visit their websites.

Below we list several website optimization methods that can help make your website more interactive for users to help your business achieve this level of engagement with site visitors.

Produce Content Worth Reading

The most beneficial strategy you implement to make your website more interactive is to develop content that is worthy of interaction.

No matter what format you post your content, whether that be in the form of a sharable video or in a blog post that allows commenting from users, if the content isn’t valuable or interesting to a user, they won’t be compelled to interact by leaving a comment, liking your posts, or sharing your content with others.

Integrate Social Media Elements

Integrating social media elements into your website design is an excellent way to make your website more interactive.

Among the social media elements you can implement to make your site more interactive for users are social sharing icons so your site visitors can easily share your exceptional blog posts, videos, web pages easily with their Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or Pinterest contacts.

Social Sharing for Making Website More Interactive

Integrating other social media elements such as your Facebook or Twitter feeds, so that your social media pages are easily accessible, or integrating “Sign in with Twitter” or “Sign in with Facebook” login options also makes your website more interactive – and socially relevant.

Social Media Website Login with Facebook or Twitter

Provide Incentives to Your Site Visitors

Keeping your site visitors engaged by offering incentives to keep coming back to your website is a great way to make your site more interactive for users.

Offering them discounts on services, awarding random giveaways for liking or sharing your content, providing coupons or free information when they sign up for your company eNewsletter or a free eBook are all excellent ways to make your site more interactive for users.

Make it Easy to Contact You

Calls to Action for Conversion OptimizationThis might be a simple suggestion, but it goes a long way for the overall effectiveness of your website for users. Ask yourself some of these questions:

  • how easy it is to find your company’s phone number or email address?
  • is there an easily accessible contact form allowing users to get more information about your products or services?
  • does your website offer a live chat feature for users to immediately interact with someone in your organization who can get them the information they’re looking for?

If the answers to these questions aren’t positive, you’ve got room to improve when it comes to making your website more interactive for users.

These website optimization strategies are just the tip of the iceberg when making your website more interactive. If you’d like to learn more about optimizing your company website or effective website design strategies, contact me today for a free consultation.

In SEO, Top Rankings Aren’t Everything

In SEO, Top Rankings Aren't Everything

The job of a search engine optimization consultant has evolved greatly over the last few years. No more is SEO just a narrowly scoped task to get clients ranked in the top 3 for their targeted keyword terms and then calling it a day.

Top rankings are nice, but that’s not the ultimate goal of the client who is paying the SEO consultant to his/her services. It’s all about return that they receive for their dollars invested in the Internet marketing campaign.

What separates the top Internet marketing companies from the mediocre ones is their understanding of how to optimize their clients’ websites not only for the search results, but also to capture more conversions (sales/leads) from visitors who land on their clients’ websites. This element of Internet marketing is known as website conversion optimization.

Varying Definitions for “Conversion”

“Conversions” can be defined in multiple ways depending on the website’s functionality and set of goals. Ecommerce websites have an easy definition for “conversion” in that if someone makes a purchase on the site, they’ve converted.

Website Conversion OptimizationFor other lead-generating websites, a website conversion can be construed in a few different ways. For example, if you’re a realtor, getting a lead (phone call or email contact) from a prospective listing simply gets that site visitor into the realtor’s “conversion funnel.” It’s then the realtor’s job to sell themselves as the right agent for the job to the person. But the Internet marketing company can’t necessarily help in that process once the initial contact is made, so the contact itself is considered a website conversion.

For other websites that are more concerned with information gathering for future marketing purposes, capturing a website visitor’s name, email address and phone number would be a website conversion.

Ultimately, the goal for any business whether it be ecommerce or offline is to make a return off the investment they’ve made in Internet marketing. If your SEO company is driving traffic to your website, but you’re not receiving any sales, leads or other website conversions, then you’re not going to be receiving a return on your investment.

Optimizing Your Website for Conversions

It’s important to understand that in Internet marketing and website optimization, web design and SEO go hand in hand. There are several key elements to optimizing a website for higher conversions. Some of which deals with SEO and others that rely on an effective website design. Below are some ways in which website conversion optimization relies on each of these sides.

Conversion Optimization and Web Design

Take Action Now CTAIn terms of website optimization, simply having an attractive website doesn’t guarantee a user will convert. Here are some ways that web design elements play into a user’s overall experience and ways to increase the likelihood of a conversion:

  • Simple, easy-to-use navigation to get the users to the information they’re looking for.
  • Utilization of appealing graphics that have a strong call to action such as enewsletter signups, eBook downloads, discounts and deals, free information, etc.)
  • Creation of custom landing pages for SEO-targeted keywords.
  • Easy to find placement of pertinent contact information.
  • Inclusion of social sharing icons on each page of the website for easy sharing amongst users.

SEO and Conversion Optimization

When it comes to SEO and its role in bolstering website conversions, there are both on-site and off-site factors that can play a significant role. Here are just a few:

On-site:

  • Utilization of cross linking to other related internal pages on the website that might be of interest to a user.
  • Crafting highly optimized, but balanced web copy that is well structured so it speaks to the search engines, but also convinces a user that the product or service they’re reading about is of value to them (ultimately turning them into a conversion.)

Off-site:

  • Using link building and content marketing initiatives to help achieve high rankings for “conversion oriented” landing pages on the website (i.e. product landing pages on ecommerce sites, etc.)
  • Promoting the website and its conversion-oriented pages in a variety of Social Media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Feel free to leave your thoughts on SEO vs. website conversion optimization in the comments section below.

Getting Back In Touch With Project Management Basics

Getting Back In Touch With Project Management Basics

Today I came across a great article titled “14 Ways to be the Worst Web Project Manager” … It’s a great article that really emphasizes the fundamentals of project management basics and the career path that I’ve chosen. I’ve been managing web redesign and SEO projects for the past 3.5 years. Every project is different with its own set of technical specs and stakeholder personalities, but after reading this article it really puts a perspective on what’s important for being an effective project manager – project management basics.

With Project Management Basics in mind, here is the list of 14 Ways to be the Worst Web Project Manager:

    1. Let Interruptions Dictate Your Schedule
    2. Don’t Communicate Clearly With Your Clients
    3. Keep Your Clients Guessing
    4. If You’re Not Going to Meet a Deadline, Don’t Tell the Client
    5. Always Underestimate the Resources Needed for a Project
    6. If a Client is Being Rude, Respond in Kind
    7. Never Admit to Making a Mistake
    8. Shift Blame to Someone on Your Team
    9. Don’t Double-check Your Team’s Work
    10. Spend Very Little Time Writing E-mails
    11. Don’t Get to Know Your Team
    12. Assume Your Team is on Schedule
    13. Don’t Create a System to Remind You to Contact Clients
    14. Come into Meetings Ill-prepared

Here is a link to the article if you’d like to read the whole thing.

Or you can download the PDF Version