The constant battle which every online entrepreneur has to face constantly is page rankings on the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  While it is important to vie for the right and popular keywords, it is also important not to overlook the quality of the content found in the pages of your site.

What is Quality Content?

This is the question which all online entrepreneurs should know the answer to especially if they intend to sell a lot of products.  Here are the most important aspects of good web content:

Highly Informative- While it is your intention to sell products and/or services, it is essential to genuinely educate potential customers of what they can expect from such items and how they can benefit from buying one.   Sales copies might be able to effectively catch the attention of visitors and perhaps even persuade them to make a purchase but if it is your intent to build genuine relationships which can result to multiple repeat purchases in the future, consumer education should be a priority.

Honest and Factual- The information on your website has to be backed up with facts so that customers can rely on whatever they read and can make informed decisions accordingly.  Avoid publishing any claims which cannot be substantiated or statistics that may not be accurate.

Brief and Concise- Catching the attention of readers is already challenging enough but maintaining their interest is even harder.  Useful website content should not be longer than 1000 words per subject matter; otherwise you run the risk of boring readers who are bound to jump to other sites where they can get the same type of information in digested form.

In all, the right keywords used in proper website content is the right combination that can turn visitors into buyers.

Erica Haferkamp
Sagentic Web Design
sales@sagentic.com
(817) 760-0098

http://www.sagentic.com

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We often wonder if our content is good enough for search engines. Well, the question is a tricky one, and although there are no ground rules that govern it, there are a few things we can do to make our content lucrative. Everyone is distracted about keywords and their density. Whatever happened to writing compelling, natural content?

Copywriting for SEO purposes nowadays, includes a variable use of keywords and is without a doubt, a seamless way of getting unique traffic your way, but there are a few loopholes on the way up! When we decide to write content with keywords as our primary focus, we tend to go off guard and deliver content that isn’t natural. Search engines like Google and Yahoo can detect content that is counterproductive or content that is written with an uneducated theme.

Like webmasters, search engines compete with each other to deliver quality content to their users, in order to consistently achieve the #1 position. How often do you go to a web page and are distracted by everything around it, but the actual content? It is best to highlight the key phrases within your content with titles and paragraphs or bulleted lists, while writing compelling and natural copy.

The proven way to get miraculous rankings is to ask yourself a simple question when creating your content. Is my content valuable to my readers? Keep in mind that this can only be achieved, if you’ve built a strong foundation in coding the website properly and performing site mapping and analytics activities. Tweaking your pages has proved to play a vital role in attracting some attention from search engines, but this works best if done after you’ve established that your content is compelling enough for your users.

The last thing you want to do is compromise on your content in the pursuit of rankings. Once you’ve realized the potential of writing valuable content, you can embed your keywords, but only in the right way! In layman’s terms, keywords are a combination of phrases that are typed by the end user into the search engines in order to gain information they are looking for.

The best way to establish the right keywords is to think like the target visitor and gather all the keywords that one may possibly input to get to your site. For example if you’re looking for Sagentic Web Design in Cleburne, Texas – then the keywords one may use might be variations like Cleburne Texas web design, web design in Cleburne Texas, or simply Sagentic. The proven fact is that single keywords are favored over phrases and works best when sprinkled evenly through the content, including the titles and domain addresses.

To reap the benefits keywords have to offer, it is very important that they be used in a natural way, without overdoing them or making them obvious. First and foremost, you need to determine who you are trying to reach and what the most effective search terms are in order to reach them.
Keep in mind that it is not just your website that is hungry for rankings……there are a million or more just like you! It may take several weeks to be recognized, but you will notice the gradual results over a period of months, once this is achieved.

When followed religiously with fresh and interesting content, these steps are sure to get you, what your content is worth!
If you have any questions about this article or would like someone to help you achieve your goals with your website, please contact the author here:

Erica Haferkamp
Sagentic Web Design
sales@sagentic.com
(817) 760-0098
http://www.sagentic.com
Like us on Facebook!

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These days, many employers are looking at ways to save money and retain employees. Sometimes, that is a very difficult thing to do depending on the job requirements and types of employees available. One method practiced often in the web design and marketing field is Telecommuting. Telecommuting is the practice in which an employee works from home or another remote location away from the actual business facility at which he/she is employed.

Now, I’m not referring to "work-from-home" jobs such as stuffing envelopes. I am talking about jobs that normally would be done at an office or business facilty, but through technology and administrative procedures, it is done remotely.

Take for instance, web designers; in house, I have a few web designers that show up for work everyday. They clock in and clock out. They work a normal schedule and maintain their desks and computers here in my facilities in Texas. In addition, I also have web designers and programmers that work from home or their own personal office. One lives in Kansas, one in Ohio, and a few in Canada. There are many more at my disposal if I ever need them from all over. They work whenever they feel like it. Some at midnight after the kids have gone to sleep and some during the day while the kids are at school and the spouse is at work.

I have always been cautious when it comes to hiring people that don’t come to my office everyday to report for work. It may be the Marine in me but, I like to hold a morning formation and go over the mission for the day. Actually, we sit at a conference table and pull our hair out trying to accomplish the mission. Occasionally, but not often, we may have an employee join us via video conference. Somtimes I wonder if my money is being well spent on these "ghost" employees that I never get to see.

Let’s start with the disadvantages of having telecommuters. First, the lack of oversight. It bugs me that I can’t see what they are doing as it is being done. What happens if one of my designers is headed in the wrong direction with a project. They may waste 8 or more hours on it before I get to cry over the first draft. Then they have to start over again – only with the same risks.

Second, there are security concerns. While my company didn’t invent the web, we do have trade secrets and specialized programming that we really don’t want to share with the competition.

Then, we have some of the most common of promblems – dedication conflicts. Are you dedicated to me and my deadlines, or are you dedicated to the baby or the toddler that needs your attention like I do? I feel I always get put on the backburner because I am not there and the kid or spouse is.

That aside, what about the advantages? Top of the list honors goes to cost savings. A telecommuter doesn’t use my electricity, my computers, my software, my air conditioning, my toliet paper… Cost savings means a lot. I can get the same work done with less overhead. I can also get talent from more than just my local area without having to factor in gas money.

Second on the list of advantages is increased employee productivity. When my telecommuters are left alone wherever they are, they normally produce really good work, but only faster. They don’t have to meet with the clients that decide to drop by or call continuosly wanting up to the minute updates on their project. Sometimes, I feel my job is to run interference for my telecommuters – protecting them from the outside influences that can slow them down.

Last, I figure the telecommuters are happier. Not that I am difficult to deal with personally, but the telecommuters are getting to work from where they are most comfortable. They save money and typically have more flexibility & freedom.

I woke up this morning, and like millions of my teenage peers, the first thing I did was power up my Dell and pop on the web to "check a few things".

What I mean by "check a few things" is just doing the daily routine…log into my email, check for someone who wants to talk. Log into my Facebook, check for someone who’s had a profound day already. Log into my Twitter, to see if I’ve missed any good tweets. Rolled by some forums I’ve been watching and then youtube (You searched for the Kayne West drama too, admit it!) and then I realized…

I check these sites every. single. day. And why is that? They’re always changing! No one wants to bookmark a tired old site that never does anything interesting…unless they click on it once every few months and then forgets about it again.

The message of this post? Update, update update! You will be surprised just how many more hits you get from people "just checking up" on your site if you do!

A major problem with our school districts today is that the priority placed on the school’s website and online public relations is extremely low. The importance of online public relations and distribution of information must receive a greater amount of attention than ever before. Many schools that have websites have non-qualified personnel assigned to designing and planning it’s structure. Information is usually either outdated or non-existent.

It’s easy to recognize a poorly designed and structured K-12 website. Most likely, they will still use the long outdated domain such as northtown.k12.tx.us. IT personnel or Network Analysts will be responsible for setting it up and one or more teachers will be responsible for the content. This normally means they have a hard to navigate, incomplete, and visually unappealing website using an outdated domain name and designed using Microsoft Word or Publisher. Maybe, if they are lucky, they might get to use Microsoft FrontPage – a program Microsoft no longer supports. These websites are are using very old technology and with little to no HTML or accessibility standards compliance.

Another option that schools often choose is an out-of-the-box and expensive system geared specifically towards schools. Companies that offer this solution often times have people that are just technically savvy enough to sell and explain how the program works. Any customization is out of the question unless the school is willing to shell out a lot more cash. IT personnel will still be responsible for setting it up and one or more teachers will still be responsible for the content. While the technology may be new, because of the way it is used, the school will still have a website with little to no HTML or accessibility standards compliance. The school will still have a hard to navigate, incomplete, and visually unappealing website using an outdated domain name designed using a much more expensive program.

So what’s the answer? Some of the most successful websites I have seen for schools have been developed by a local or regional web design firms that specializes in web design and marketing. Usually, these firms will have an extensive portfolio for all types of organizations and businesses. They will understand how to disseminate information in a way web users want to receive it. They will use new and emerging technologies and have professional graphic designers on staff that understand accessibility and the latest trends in design and layout.

A good website for schools should not be hosted locally, either. It should have a custom domain name that can be remembered easily and represent the school in a search engine friendly way – northtownisd.com/football is so much easier to remember than northtown.k12.tx.us/activities/fb/pages.aspx?content=123&session-id=987554. The website should be hosted on the same high speed business servers that businesses are hosted on. These servers should be backed up nightly, weekly, and monthly and have technicians on staff 24 hours a day. Clearly, third-party web servers are less expensive and easier to maintain than servers in house. They are also more flexible with the type of content that can be placed on them because of the supporting software installed on them.

Web design services from a good and reputable firm should be a flat annual fee that can be budgeted by the school district. The annual fee charged by a local or regional firm providing custom services will most likely be less expensive than handling things in house or choosing a national company selling cookie cutter software.

After a custom design is implemented by web and graphic professionals, the web design firm should also provide a flexible Content Management System that allows for custom options. This will allow teachers, coaches, support staff, and administrators to change the content when needed, but in a way that is geared towards the type of content being implemented or changed. A news section should operate like a news section and a football schedule should act like a football schedule. You can’t use a program designed for news style content to be the program used for sports schedules or event calendars. A good web design firm will have a solution for all necessary sections of a website.

The web design firm should provide the school district with year round support and assist in developing new sections when needed. The school district needs to understand that the parents are customers and are paying for a service. Many of these customers want to have clear information about what they paying for. The web design firm must also be familiar with the attitudes and concerns of customers, employees, public interest groups, and the community in order to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships. This practice of online public relations needs to be relayed to schools officials in a way that helps them understand how they can do a better job and keep pace with the trends of information management.

In addition to helping the school get the message out to its audience, these professionals in communications and online public relations may also be responsible for developing and running programs designed to keep the lines of communication open between company and organization representatives and their various audiences. This may include the use of social networking platforms such a Twitter and Facebook or the use of bookmarking and sharing platforms such as RSS Feeds.

While some school districts keep the function of public relations entirely in house, others opt to outsource all public relations functions. Others strike a balance in which in-house public relations efforts are complemented by the work of an outside agency. A potentially huge mistake school administrators can make with their website and online public relations effort is to try to handle things completely in-house by personnel that aren’t exactly trained to handle this task. The credentials and education of a teacher should be highly scrutinized before they are allowed to teach students. The credentials and education of someone working in the IT Department should be highly scrutinized before they are allowed to interface with the school’s computer networks and systems. Neither of them should be expected to handle web design and online public relations platforms. There are professionals out there for this that do it every day for businesses and organizations. All school districts should should have a one representing them.

This video is so true – so many times a customers want to haggle over price.  Not gonna happen!

Vendor Client Relationships

Domain names are one of the first things people see of your company; plastered on a business card, on a commercial, on a flyer or banner, even emails. Your domain name has to be short, precise, and get the message across as quickly as possible. No numbers, no funky spelling…keep it under three words. Now you’ve got a domain name that people will go to.

The only problem with traditional advertisements like these: how do you reach out and advertise to those who don’t come into contact with your business cards, flyers, and banners?

This blog is about squeezing all you can out of that website of yours, and why not? You’ve paid for it, it’s professionally done, it’s filled with information that you get asked a thousand times a day, and best of all, it’s one of the most powerful advertising tools on the market today. But how do you stretch that just a little farther?

S.E.O. I’m sure if you own a website, you’ve seen the term thrown around, and if you don’t already know what it means, this is an excellent time to learn. SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization, a method of tossing your website up in the ranks when being sought out by search engines. Keywords, tags, a domain name with keywords in it…there’s lots of tips and tricks to get your website “up there”.

If you are not showing up on the first page, or at least above your competitor’s ranks, SEO is something you need to be looking into. There’s no reason not too; SEO is one of the easiest, cheapest and most successful ways to get your website promoted. In fact, it’s one of the most important aspects of having a website. After all, what’s a nice design and a slew of information when no one can find you to see it?

Search engine output can dramatically change the way you conduct and receive business. As the search engine age rolls forward, keywords are beginning to take over: some businesses now even put keywords at the bottom of their advertisements to search for, to supplement a domain name should the card or flyer be lost and a customer has to look you up by memory.

Keywords are nearly as important as your domain name, and need to be chosen wisely, applied liberally and repeated often for them to be successful. Slapping up 100 words that are popular but don’t contribute to what your site really is won’t help either: using keywords correctly takes some homework. You must know where to use them, how to use them, where to submit them, and how to hide them.

Now, just when you think you can understand SEO a little better, here I am to confuse you again; there’s many types of SEO as well, two of the most popular being “Organic” and “Paid”.

Paid SEO is basically what it sounds like…you cough up the dough and watch as your site goes up the ranks…however, miss a payment, decide that a couple hundred dollars a day or week isn’t in the ballpark of what you’re looking for and pull your money…and your site hits rock bottom all over again. It’s quick, yes, but it’s also under no circumstances permanent. Organic SEO is slower, but much, much cheaper to do. Of course, you must know (or hire someone who knows) how to do it; however when looking in the right places, that shouldn’t be too hard (I’m sure the SEO specialists are hiding behind a computer somewhere!). What organic SEO does is integrate your site into a search engine naturally: the clever usage of keywords, blogs, social networking pages, directories…if you know how to do it, the search engines will find you. And the best part? It’s permanent and can cost little to nothing to do if done the right way. Search engines like organically integrated objects in their search systems and tend to hold on to them longer, and makes them more relevant than the paid versions of SEO.

Before you dive into your search engine of choice to learn more about SEO, a word of caution: don’t expect a miracle in statistics. If you own a company that specializes in math tutoring in Dallas, Texas, don’t expect to see your site up at the very top of the first page of google when you search for common words like “math”, or even “math tutor”. The word “math” received over 13 million searches in google just last month; you can’t expect to be one of the top results globally for a word that is searched that often. So remember, while promoting the words “math” and “math tutor” in your keywords or descriptions is a good idea, you will be more likely found using search terms such as “Math tutors in Dallas”. The more narrowed down your keywords are, the more relevant you will be to the searches that are made.

So, keep your chin up and keep optimizing your website, even if it takes off slow at first. Set a realistic goal, and keep on going until you reach it. Do some research on SEO and how to implement it, and start paying attention to some of the search engine inquires that you do; the results are that way for a reason.

Destiny Chaney
Sagentic Web Design
destiny@sagentic.com
(817) 760-0098
http://www.sagentic.com
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You are an expert at what you do, but it takes more than a great product or service to compete as a successful business in this economy or any other.  You need great marketing to not only survive – you want to thrive.  It can be a bit daunting to figure out how to place puzzle pieces into the equation.

Where do I start? What do I really need?  I am giving you insider industry information that big advertising agencies don’t want the little guys to know.  You can look like a big corporation on a small business budget, you just have to know how and where to spend that budget. Whether you consider yourself a beginner or intermediate marketer, this will give you a glance at what advanced marketing firms are providing to high end corporate clients and what you can do to build your brand like they do on a budget that won’t kill you.  This is just the basics – there are much more advanced marketing topics in each area.  This will get you started.

Market Research

This is something you have to do for yourself in order to know what you are up against.

• I know EXACTLY who my target market is.
• I can name my competitors
• I have compared my pricing to theirs
• I am on my competitors’ mailing list and email list
• I know the number of potential customers for my service in my target area.
• I know what the dollar value of the maximum amount of product or service is that I can deliver.
• I have subscribed to marketing and industry information, in the form of email newsletters, print publications, or news alerts to stay informed in my industry and in marketing in general.

Website

This is something you should never do for yourself, unless you are a seasoned designer. Focus on what you do well and let another professional make you look great on the web.

Would you use a cheap storage facility as your office location, probably not! Yet, some of you are content with your online image being a cheesy website builder program – change that way of thinking. Would you want to do business with your company after looking it up online?

• I have a website
• All of the information on my website is current and accurate
• My website has the following:
  • A good website address – one that is easy to remember OR is the name of my company
  • A call to action on every page
  • A home page that directs visitors exactly where to go
  • A place to collect names and contact information with a compelling offer
  • Prominent contact information
  • A professional design custom to your image
  • An easy to navigate menu
  • An about us page with Staff Pictures
  • Testimonials from happy customers
  • Photos that support the message I am trying to convey
  • An FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page if needed
  • A Products and Services page which delineates the benefits of each product or service I have to offer
  • Details on any press or awards our company has
  • A contact us page
• I have gone through my website from the perspective of a potential customer and it made me want to do business with my company

Email Marketing

As a small business owner, this is something that you can do for yourself very inexpensively.  With some website companies, like my own, email marketing software is included with websites at no extra charge.  You can have a professional develop a template to make your emails more colorful, but I suggest as personal approach as possible – simple, good information, with an offer that makes me want to buy from you.

• I understand how often I should email based on the appropriateness of my subject matter
• I have setup a system to collect email addresses with permission through my website and over the phone
• I have signed up with an email marketing service, such as Constant Contact, or I have software built in for me by my web design company
• I have created a newsletter template which I will update each time I send my newsletter
• I track responses to my email marketing

Social Networking

This is something you can do for yourself, but you can hire a professional designer to extend your branding to make your social network backgrounds match your website.

• I have created accounts on LinkedIn and Facebook
• I have heard of and/or have an account on Twitter, Blogger, or other news posting sites
• I understand how these sites can bring me repeat business from customers who may have lost touch or new business through friend referrals

Traditional Marketing Materials

You should never go to your neighborhood office supply store, whip up something in word or publisher, and print your brochures / business cards off of your inkjet printer.  The materials you hand out to potential clients tell them how much you care about getting their business.  Invest in good design and high quality printing.  It is as important as a good location and a good website.

• I have professionally designed printed materials that showcase my brand –
  • Business Cards, Letterhead, Envelopes
  • Brochures, Sell Sheets, Folders
  • Direct Mail Postcards
  • And many other items specific to your needs
• The information on my printed advertisements are current and correctly represent my company
• I am advertising my business in places that I want to reach their readership, such as a magazine that reaches a high end consumer in my local area.

Budgeting

It is a necessary evil that you have to do.  You will not get as many new customers as you would like this year if you don’t make a marketing budget as important as keeping your electricity on.  You just won’t grow, and you may lose business to your competition that is willing to.

• I set weekly, monthly, and annual leads generation goals.
• I keep track of where I am on these goals and take actions to ensure where they are met.
• I set aside a portion of the money that I make each week for marketing actions.
• I know what the value of my average customer is, so I know how much I want to spend to acquire a new one.

As I traveled to Michigan this past Thanksgiving, I couldn’t help but notice one thing in particular. Airtran.com. It was everywhere. At the terminals. On the wings. On the plane’s body. On the gates. On the baggage equipment. On the tow trucks. On the power units. On the baggage. On the uniforms. This is a company that apparently wants you to visit it’s web site. Search Engine Optimization can only take you so far – it’s imperative that you use other methods to get the word out about you domain name.

At the start of my 10 years in the Marine Corps, I noticed something right off – we plastered our emblem everywhere. No wonder it is very recognizable by civilians. ALL successful companies do it. It’s called branding. Are you recognizable to anyone besides your family and friends? There’s only so much money you can make there.

Call us about printed advertising, signs, banners, stickers, or pay-per-click advertising for your website. Especially if you are running an e-commerce website. A good pay-per-click advertising campaign can do wonders for getting traffic to your website really quick. Printed materials give customers something to walk away with and ponder – even it doesn’t turn into a sale immediately.

That person may refer you the next time they’re asked if they know anyone that offers the services you offer. That’s called "word-of-mouth" and it’s the best advertising a company can hope for.