How to Tell if Your Website is Outdated

Here at Code Rustlers, your friendly local Bozeman web design firm, we know how having an outdated website can hurt your business.  Having an outdated website can depress your search engine rankings making your business hard to find, and prevent prospects that do find you from turning into customers.  Here are some ways to tell if your website is outdated and costing you customers:

Flash Animation Means Your Website is Outdated

If your website is heavy on Flash, this hurts your business in several ways.  First, Flash doesn’t work on the very popular iOS systems – like the iPhone and iPad which comprise over 60% of all non-PC web traffic.  Making sure that your site plays well with Apple iOS  is a smart move for your future web business with over 300 millions iOS devices sold to date.  Interestingly, the iPad alone has outsold all desktop PCs combined in 2011.  Second, Flash is slow loading, and generally hides your content that search engines use to determine ranking.  

 A Splash Page Means Your Website is Outdated

If your website has a splash page that says something like “click here to enter,” you have put a stop sign in front of your prospective customers, hidden your most important content from immediate viewing, and forced your web visitors into making a decision.  Research has show that about 50% of web visitors will immediately leave if they land on a splash page.  It also puts your content deeper into your website, which is not good from a search engine optimization standpoint–your most relevant keywords and content should be on your top level page and connecting pages.  A modern website delivers the relevant information your customer wants with a minimum of clicks (research shows that if a web visitor has to click more than 2-3 times to find what they want they will give up and go to another website).  Put key buying information in front of your customers right away,  preferably on your landing page.

 All Graphics and Not Enough Content Means Your Website is Outdated

If your website has more graphics than content, then it is outdated.  Google and your prospective customers want rich, relevant content.  When your website is more about graphics than content, it negatively effects your search engine ranking and puts off your customers.  The exception might be if you are an artist and your primary content is graphics.  However, even if you are an artist, your website needs multiple pages of non-graphical content, such as an artist’s statement, biography, influences, curriculum vita, etc..  Explain who you are as an artist, what you believe in.  Tell your prospective customer the stories behind your art pieces, give them the context with which to understand your graphical content – use your website content to allow your customers connect with you and your product.  Graphics can be beautiful, but well-written content is what builds relationships, and relationships make customers.  

Who is Visiting Your Website –  Without Metrics Your Website is Outdated

If your website doesn’t track who is visiting from where, then it’s outdated.  Being able to see the effect of advertising campaigns, promotions, and search engine position changes gives you the metrics you need to make appropriate business decisions.  Google Analytics is free, is installed for free on every Code Rustlers website, and will let you know a lot about your potential customers.   This information allows you to reach out to your potential customers accordingly.  

Stale Content Means Your Website is Outdated

Has your website not changed in over a month?  Or maybe a year?  The latest Google algorithm update puts a greater emphasis on “QDF” (Quality Denotes Freshness), meaning that fresh content matters more now than ever – if you have a static website that is not updated regularly lowers your search engine visibility.  But it is not just about search engines.  Your customers also want and appreciate fresh content. One of the easiest ways to keep your site content fresh is by installing a blog, which comes with every Code Rustlers website. 

If your business has expanded or changed in any way, then your website should reflect these changes.  In fact, your website is the best near-real-time customer relations tools at your disposal. 

Making regular changes to your website may seem daunting, but Code Rustlers is here to help. If you can edit a word processing document and surf the web, we make it easy for you to make changes to yourself whenever you want–all of our websites come with WordPress installed at no extra charge to you, which is the most user-friendly do-it-yourself content updating tool available. Here at Code Rustlers we specialize in empowering our customers to create and maintain your own content on your own website, so you aren’t dependent on your web programmer to update your content for you.  

But if updating your content seems technically daunting, or you simply don’t have the time, we’re happy to do it for you for a small fee. We even provide copy-writing services, so if you give us topics and a few key pieces of information, we can even maintain your blog for you, and build good SEO into the text. 

We are grateful to Ellie Staley, Director of the Downtown Bozeman Association, for writing this terrific article about Code Rustlers and our parent company, Grateful Ventures! Read the full article here. Click “Next” when you get there–the article is next to Ceilon’s smiling face. 

Promoting Your Website

6 Proven Strategies to Promoting Your Website

There’s a proven way to make money online, you can do this by selling information or knowledge you have.

The great part is you’ll be your own boss. You’re work from your home, while earning money on line. Isn’t this fun?

But to successful, you’ll need to promote your website.

Make a comprehensive marketing plan that where you’ve clearly identified your markets and how to appeal to them. You’ll also need to
work closely with your web team to optimize your website, so your business connects with both the human audience and content spiders.

But remember – you can only do some much promotions and marketing before you fall flat on your nose. Be sure you have the following elements present in your website.

To promote your website successfully, you need to have great products and services. Otherwise, they will come in to look but won’t buy. Your promotional efforts will be a total waste.

Make sure your website is perfectly positioned, to sell and process orders. If your e-commerce aspect is not secure, then no one will buy. No matter how many great products you have. No matter how many links you swap with, promoting your website will just be a waste of time.

Third element – internet marketing, means you need a marketing plan which clearly speaks to your audience. Make sure that it’s at a price you can afford. If you spend too much on your promotional efforts, only to have it die down because of lack of funds, you will lose your momentum. So stick to a promotional budget you can afford.

So how do you promote your website?

Website design
Keep your website design basic and user friendly. This means minimizing the use of animation or outlandish colors. Make sure your content has the appropriate keywords in them, so that search engines can read and put you at the upper top of the rankings.

Optimizing your website for search engine rankings

Make it a point to submit your website to two of the most popular and heavily used crawler based search engines – Yahoo and Google. If your promotional budget is small, make sure it’s keyword rich. Then submit, wait patiently for a few months before it to appear. Or you can do a sponsored listing if you have a bigger promotional budget.

Submit your website to directories. This is free; and many seo experts say you’ll dramatically increase your chances of appearing at the top of the search engine results. Try these directories: MSN, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista and Inktomi, for starters.

Do swap links with other websites. Only after, you’ve researched their websites to see if you’re a fit for each other. Some will refuse to swap links, but don’t let it throw you. Just keep trying.

Post authoritative comments about subjects you are knowledgeable about. A majority of these forums give you the freedom to put your URL at the bottom do so.

Lastly – write articles about subjects you are an expert on. Submit these articles to the directories that have big audiences. Include your URL and byline. Soon, you’ll get the traffic you need, because of the promotional efforts you’ve done.

Author Bio
Not long ago, I didn’t know ANYTHING about Internet marketing… However, within just 2 weeks, I launched my own website AND learned how to profit from an opt-in list, pull in sales with ezines, make money with Google Adwords and setup my own BLOG! 
Here’s how: www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-9583
Here’s the website: 
www.JennerJohnHomeBusiness.com  

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content

Writing Articles that Captivate Your Readers

By: Terry Jackson

You’ve heard it time and time again: if you want to get your name out there, write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box pointing back to you, of course). Largely, that is true. A well-written article can:

help you build your profile as an expert
draw traffic to your site, and
help you to build a database of potential clients through associated e-courses or a newsletter.
So far you probably haven’t heard anything you didn’t already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content – but how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for more?

Let’s assume that you understand the basics of constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that. But if you’re not content with simply “getting something out there” – if you want to WIN readers – then you need to start thinking about what they want to know, rather than what you want to tell them.

Put your readers first – every time. Give them what they want, and they’ll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they’ll blast by you so fast you’ll be spinning in the back draft.

The following four steps will give you a blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers – whatever the topic.

1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want
Sometimes you’ll know what they want because you’re an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don’t know the subject area well, you’ll have to do more research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need solving? Can you provide an answer? (“If they have a headache, give them an aspirin.”)

2. Start With An Attention-Grabber
Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like “Have you ever wondered why so many people find it difficult to lose weight?” Firstly, it’s dull. Secondly, it’s not targeting the person reading the article – what do they care about the difficulties “many people” have with losing weight? They only care about THEIR weight problem!

Try to come up with an opening paragraph that gives the reader that warm “Hey, this is about me!” feeling right away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement – “This could be the answer I’ve been looking for…”

Example: “The diet gurus make it all sound so easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the “Big People” stores would be out of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A way that won’t cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived.”

3. Write As You Speak… Then Edit!
The sample opening above also illustrates the importance of the tone you use in your article. You need ‘meat’ in each article, of course, to make it worth reading – but make sure it’s not indigestible!

You’re better off writing your article in a natural, relaxed style that’s akin to normal conversation. It doesn’t matter if the first draft is a little too informal – you can fix that when you edit. Naturally you don’t want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style, but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through.

4. End On A High
What’s one of the biggest problems with most articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don’t know how to end on an upbeat note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like: “So what are you waiting for? Get started today!”

The beginning and the end of your article are the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of anticipation… and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.

If you are offering advice to help them solve a problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good about them. Don’t make rash promises… but do offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative – and don’t rush it.

Here’s a final tip: create an article-writing cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS – end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)

Do this, and you’ll be steadily cranking out articles that everyone wants to publish!

Author Bio:

Article by Terry Jackson. Terry is the webmaster of, www.webmarketingpro.biz, a free resource for web site promotion and search engine optimization. Please visit his site for more free tips and tutorials on building traffic and generating income on your site.

Top Ten FREE Traction Building Ideas for a New Web Site

By: Andrew D. Ive

The dot com era proved that just building it isn’t enough. The chicken and the egg issue exists -you need customers to get customers… and attempting to launch a web site, is that issue on steroids. So, how to get traction?

Here are Ten FREE Traction building Ideas we are trying:

1) Email Your Friends:
Find everyone you know that relates to your target market and introduce them to your website via email… as you know them, leverage every piece of emotional capital you have with them to encourage them to take a look at your new site and join.

2) Ask Your Friends to Refer Others:
If you send an email to people who are your target market, clearly articulate why it is valuable to ‘THEM’ (not just you) to join your site… and then ask and make it easy for them to refer people they know. Here’s an example of an email I wrote that asks for a referral -

“Please forward to anyone that may be interested… entrepreneurs, advisors, people with Blogs, press contacts etc! Even forwarding to four or five contacts will make a big difference for us!

Happy New Year and thanks!

++

I’ve just discovered a new web service bringing potential business advisors together with entrepreneurs and early stage businesses. For Advisors – It’s a great way to discover new deal flow and get involved in a hot new company. For Entrepreneurs – a great way to take your business to the next level in 2007!

The site is called Advisor Garage – http://www.AdvisorGarage.com and was recently featured in Business Week!

Please sign up and forward this email to great advisors and entrepreneurs.
++

After three or four weeks of steps 1 & 2 we found that we had begun to get a few people onboard… So now what?

3) Write a Press Release and get it OUT there…
I can almost hear a few folks swallowing and already considering looking for the next blog… it really isn’t that tough and it isn’t expensive. In fact, its FREE! Don’t believe me? Consider signing up to PR Leap (http://www.prleap.com/learn_more). Not only do they have some good articles which explain for dummies (like me!) how to write a press release but they also offer a free submission service to multiple channels such as Google News, Google Search, Yahoo! Search, Topix.net, Technorati, MSN, Ask News, Moreover, NewsNow and others. According to their website – PR Leap is the best way to send your news release(s) to all major search engines, newswires, and websites. And basic accounts are free!

So what happened with us? Well we signed up, created a one page press release (took about 30 minutes), submitted it and it was approved earlier today. It will appear tomorrow. If you are interested, the link to the press release is: http://www.prleap.com/pr/61185/

The basic plan (read… Free) comes with stats, so I’ll let you know in a few days if the press release was actually read by anyone and if it was picked up by any sites, bloggers, press etc. Let’s see how good PR Leap and our press release writing skills are!

4) A Personalized Toolbar:
A great startup called Conduit (http://www.Conduit.com) offers people the opportunity to create their own, personalized toolbar for FREE. Conduit has a wizard embedded within their website which takes you through the setup process step-by-step. It took about twenty minutes and once you’re done, they create a link to your toolbar download site which you can then share through an email signature or through a click through download on your new networking site. There are a number of cool ways to tailor the toolbar… your branded search, create links to particular pages on your own site, add weather, a radio and so on to make sure its a value download for your customers.

5) Design Your Site with the Customer In Mind and Make Inviting Others Easy
If, like us, your marketing budget is measured by the quarters rattling around in your pocket, then do your site a favor and design it so the ‘Invite Others’ button is never far away. No matter what page the users happen to be on. Bold it, make it big, underline it if you have to but referrals from happy customers are always easier to get than attracting new customers.

6) Friends & Contacts Revisisted:
Do any of your friends know anyone in the press or people who have blogs ? Well you won’t know until you ask… ASK!

7) Join Linked In (http://www.linkedin.com)
If you haven’t already, consider joining linked in. Yes, its another networking site, and you could consider them the compeitition (In your dreams!)… but after joining you can search through the directory and find people that may either a) be interested in joining your site or b) encouraging others to do so. If you aren’t a member already, take a look

Groups & Forums:
Are there Yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com) or Google Groups (http://groups.google.com) or other online forums that include the types of people you want to attract to your new networking site? If so, join them but beware… most groups want members to contribute to the discussions and no groups appreciate spam. So find the best forums for your target customers, join and spend some time getting to know what subjects are being discussed. Give it a week or two then jump in and add some value… and make sure that your post includes your email and perhaps the web address. If it is valuable, then members may check out your new site…

One last thing, if there aren’t any good groups with your target customers… consider creating your own… and make it it feeds your new networking site. Here’s one I started and yes… I know it only has a few members… but its more links in the internet for your website which appears in your google or Alexa results: http://groups.google.com/group/Harvard_Entrepreneurs_Startups?lnk=oa&hl=en

9) Write to your Existing Members:
Do you have a few members? If so, email them occassionally (Not every day!) and remind them of the value of your site… perhaps highlight a particularly useful tool or feature of your website. Maybe reach out to some of the individual members and ask them if you can write about them joining the site, a person feature if you will. At the bottom of each of these emails… give them a few sentences (above for example) to send on to others they know. Stress how much you would appreciate their help and how important they are to you and your young business.

10) Drum roll… .badda badda badda… .Create a Blog!
Here’s hoping that a blog is the tenth and most valuable means of getting the message out there about a new networking site. (WordPress.com is FREE)

Good Luck!

Andrew

NOTE: I grant permission for every reader to reproduce on your website or blog the article you are now reading. But copy this article ONLY, without any alteration and please Include the copyright statement. (NOTE: I am giving permission to host on your website this article AND NO OTHERS. Reprinting or hosting my articles without express written permission is illegal, immoral, and a violation of my copyright.)”Copyright © 2007, Andrew D. Ive, Advisor Garage. Advisor Garage Blog. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reprint this article on your website without alteration if you include this copyright statement and leave the hyperlinks live and in place.”

Author Bio
www.AdvisorGarage.com

Improve Your Website’s Performance

By: Rob Jones

How well is your website performing? Are you satisfied with the amount of customers who view your website? Do you get enough business through your website? By reading this article you will be in a position to do something about all three questions.

It’s all very well having a nicely designed and appealing website for your business but it’s of no use if you don’t get the customers to visit it. The number one term you will find associated with this is search engine optimisation. You will find endless sources on the Internet telling you to optimise this and optimise that but what does it all mean?

Search engine optimisation simply means making your website as friendly to search engines as possible. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN provide your business with the ability to reach a huge amount of customer’s, they are by far the most successful method to boost sales for your business. If your website is nicely optimised then you will have a greater chance of appearing higher up on the search engines.

Most customers will type in a phrase into the search engine and view the first couple of websites that it finds, they will usually be successful in finding what they were looking for on the first page of results. Statistics show that customers very rarely look further than the first page (90% don’t look past the first page) so what good is it if your website was on page 10? This is where search engine optimisation comes in, it will give your business a greater chance of being on that first golden page in the search engines.

There are many methods that all contribute to a higher ranking but some are more influential than others. The first factor is having a well built website. This is a standard feature that all website design companies should offer.

The second method is keywords. Keywords are the words that are associated with your business, the idea is to include these words in your website so when a customer types in a phrase in a search engine, your website is more likely to appear. Keywords should be chosen carefully to target the correct market for your business. It’s no good targeting the word “Fruit” if your business sells website design.

The third factor that contributes to a high search engine ranking is back links. This simply means a link from someone else’s website to yours. The more links you have to your website the better. Search engines view your back links as a sign of popularity and obviously the more popular you are the more successful you appear.

One of the best methods for this is to submit your website to online directories, not only will you get a back link but you are also likely to get a lot of customers coming to your website from that link. Make sure that you select trusted directories and one’s that can relate to your business, there is a chance that you will get penalised by search engines if you sign up to link farms (websites that collect lot’s of spam and poor quality links).

Finally, having a website that is constantly updated also gives you a boost in terms of search engines as they like to see fresh content. This is also likely to draw customers back to your website as they know they are likely to see something new. This in turn will boost the amount of traffic you get to your website which will also help in gaining a higher search engine rank.

These are just some of the methods in which you can improve your website performance, there are many other factors that contribute to a high search engine ranking. Most are an on-going process so it is very beneficial to your business to continually try to improve your performance as there is always someone competing against you for that top spot.