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Would you read more if I said, Double Your Sales?

Doubling conversions can mean various things for different web sites. It depends on what you track as a conversion. It could be a contact, a page view, a lead generated, or a confirmed sale.

If it is a sale, this means you just got a whole lot busier. This is the case for one such client who recently signed up for the Edit-X Usability service. We did a full site review, tested the processes, and quickly had a plan to increase the user experience. Within just a few hours of simple changes, we had already noticed a change in user response. The web site inquiries were coming in at rates never seen before. This meant more communication with customers, which translated into more sales.

Edit-X has a new layout method, which places a small contact form on every page. This addition can be worked into almost any web site layout and will prove to be beneficial. Sometimes renaming a link or moving the required action to a different location can make a big difference. In this case, we are placing the form for quick inquiries on every page making it easy for the user to make contact, without having to click another link to view the main contact form. Since it is simple and already in front of the user, instead of bailing they submit the form. This allows you the chance to correspond with them, instead of loosing a potential customer. Even if you can't convert them to a sale, the data collected from the inquiries can help you to further enhance your site.



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Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 09:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wikipedia has a great definition of a corporate blog:

"...a publicly available weblog where company employees, teams, or spokespersons share their views. It is often used to announce new products and services (or the end of old products), to explain and clarify policies, or to react on public criticism on certain issues. It also allows a window to the company culture and is often treated more informally than traditional press releases...in some corporate blogs, all posts go through a review before they're posted. Some corporate blogs, but not all, allow comments to be made to the posts."

A corporate blog is simply a "web log" or web site published in conjunction with your corporate web site where you become the expert in your field and provide important information about your industry and your product or service that your readers and customers will find useful. It also provides a informal identity of the company as well as a way for your readers to comment back on what you provide according to what is important to them.

Free Blog Software: Movable Type, WordPress, Blogger, Edit-X Blogger

Why Blog? Who has the Time?

Search Engine Rankings - Each entry of your blog will have it's own index within the search engine's and can have top rankings on key topics.

Back Linking - The more you link back and forth to your corporate web site could yield increased rankings for both sites. Blog surfers will link to your blog further increasing your polarity.

Networking - Build a rapport with the other leaders in your field. Not only can you develop relationships with industry leaders, you yourself can become one...

Categories - Classify each post or "tag" them with a popular keyword(s) or categories for the search engines. Entries can be classified on multiple categories so they can have multiple tags.

Customer Feedback - If you allow commenting it is a great way to start discussions related to your entry which will be chock full of relative keywords.

Polling - If you need a quick answer to questions, throw up a poll on your blog. Your readers will answer your question and the answer will often surprise you.

Comments - Moderating comments in general is a good idea because of spam. You will get many great comments either supporting or disagreeing with your entry. It's wonderful to get customer opinions on certain topics, but better yet, have them comment on each other's comments.

Grow Your Business - Blogging has brought increased inquiries from many over the last few years. Blogs build familiarity and positive branding. Customers do business with you because they know you, like you and they trust you.

Unique Content - No where can content be found like your own personal blog entries. Search engines find unique text and gobble it up. This will increase rankings.

Self Promotion - Avoid too much "shameless self-promotion" if you can, unless that's what you want your blog to be. People are less likely to link to your blog if it's more about you and less informational. A blog should be used for marketing but should be weighted toward information.

Search Engines - The more content you have on your blog the more the search engines will index keywords on your entries. It's both quantity and quality they look for.

Be The Expert - Research similar blogs and see whats out there. You might find very little or you might find a lot. Either way if you talk about the right the right stuff you will create a following. Write about what you know the best and be sure you can back up what you say. You will become the expert to your readers.

Reusable Content - From time to time our PR folks will use our content as the idea for a story that a publisher might find interesting.

Syndication - Use RSS to allow others to publish feeds of your latest posts. It can support what you sell if your readers think you're the industry expert. This will also drive traffic back your blog so that your readers can get more information.

Enhance Resume - A successful blogger with a considerable following is a powerful addition to any company, particularly one who's seeking to build branding over the web.

Make Money - If you're blogging as a business, it can be an excellent investment with a very direct effect on a financial return.

Why Do I Blog?

I started bloggin' many years ago before they called it blogging. I used the first version of Edit-X to get down my personal thoughts (rants) and beliefs and publish photos and cool things found on the web. This is mostly now managed by your choice of social network like Facebook and MySpace or Photo printer like SnapFish or Shutterlfy.

It always amazed me how many individuals would find my blog (personal site) outside of my friends and family. At one time someone had taken a photo of me from the blog and posted it to a profile in Yahoo called Abercrombie and Fitch Guy and linked back to my site. I received a lot of traffic from that and to this day have people from all over the world checking out my galleries from 1996. How boring.

I was very late in the game to corporate blogging, I never early adopt. If anyone is to say they don't have time they should check my schedule. I make time for this blog and after my first post I never thought about it again. It comes naturally, an idea pops in my head and I roll with it on the spot.

I just take my experiences from each month and write something that will help my customers and readers with the questions or problems they have. After each post I actually get some relief knowing I helped people out. You will too. Especially when people thank you for the advice. It is a great feeling the first time you find out people are actually reading your blog. That is all the momentum you will need.

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's a subway map of the 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective. In theory it demonstrates the relationship between various sites and ideas, with a strong focus on Web 2.0. The Web Trend Map is based on the Tokyo metro map.

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Web 2.0 is all the rage these days. In the last blog entry we went back to the source (O'Reilly, what is Web 2.0?) to define what it really means. In his explanation, Tim O'Reilly provided some specific examples of concepts and technologies from the "old" Web and how they've been reincarnated as the "new" Web:

Web 1.0		Web 2.0
DoubleClick	-->	Google AdSense
Ofoto	-->	Flickr
Akamai	-->	BitTorrent
mp3.com	-->	Napster
Britannica Online	-->	Wikipedia
personal websites	-->	blogging
evite	-->	upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation	-->	search engine optimization
page views	-->	cost per click
screen scraping	-->	web services
publishing	-->	participation
content management systems	-->	wikis
directories (taxonomy)	-->	tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness	-->	syndication

Some of O'Reilly's comparisons are a bit of a stretch, but if you look closely, you have to agree that a lot of Web 2.0 is just applying fancy new names to established technologies.

• RSS is Really Simple Syndication. "Syndication" of content on the Web has been around since XML was created.
• Wikis are based on server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web content using an entry form in a browser. The concept of a user-generated knowledge bases like this is not new.
• Blogs are similar to Wikis, in that they are just another way of using browser-based authoring tools to post your thoughts, opinions, or activities. The technology behind blogs is basic CMS functionality that originated back in the mid '90s.
• Mash-ups are akin to a longtime practice called screen scraping-"borrowing" content from other sites (for example maps, or news, or data) and combining it with your own content to create a unique Web experience.

The point is that rather than getting caught up in the new terminology, to effectively incorporate these ideas, look at what they really are and what benefits they offer—like better ways to connect with customers, faster development cycles, and getting your message out to the world as efficiently as possible.

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Very interesting to say the least. I feel like I have a job to do.

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While Web 2.0 sweeps the internet buzz machine, businesses are a bit slower to pick up the new paradigm. Shiv Singh shows how taking the leap and embracing the collaborative nature of Web 2.0 can provide great rewards.

Read Full Article

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 06:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Forrester is out with research today on blogging platforms and named iUpload the leader in the market at this time.

Forrester evaluated leading blogging platforms across 54 criteria and found that iUpload leads the market with its robust blogging capabilities and its strong strategic vision of a blog as a lightweight content management system (CMS), a collaboration and knowledge management tool, and even as a foundation to form communities of customers. When choosing between a full-featured suite like iUpload's Customer Conversation System or strong blogging-focused solutions like Movable Type and WordPress, companies should have a well-developed vision of how blogging will be used within the enterprise and then select a vendor that shares that vision.

Posted by R. Stacy Cook at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)