Is there such a thing as feng shui (pronounced “feng shway”) for a webpage?

Feng shui is an ancient Chinese philosophy that governs spatial arrangement and orientation. It relates to patterns of yin and yang (the philosophy of how polar or contrary forces are interdependent in the natural world, i.e. “all things are in harmony and opposition”).  It is an intriguing thought and there is no apparent reason why these ancient philosophies cannot govern effective webpage development.

The Natural Yin and Yang of Web Pages

We could assign some of what appears on a webpage to each of the values so we can examine how a webpage may be more in harmony with the way the natural mind best assimilates information. For example, copy could be thought of as the yang to graphic art’s yin. Also, within copy, answers to questions are the yang to the question’s yin.

Feng Shui of Good Copy

Effective, persuasive copy has its yin and its yang. No yang answer (product benefits) has as much force as when it is coupled with its yin question. The question or objection that grabs the readers’ attention the most will be the one they would ask themselves (in their own words), and not the polished copy you might write.

• For product testimonials (discussed elsewhere on this blog), they are much more credible when the hesitations are described along with the happy results.
• For headlines, nothing attracts the mind’s attention like the real questions a person would ask; it is much more effective at gaining attention than to just keep mouthing the benefits.

Feng Shui of Good Graphics

When it comes to the placement of graphics, nowhere is it more important than during the super-quick reading of a web page.  Layout artists must keep in mind that they have about 1/20 of a second to attract the user with a desire to seek out more information.

When graphics are placed in the channels of the natural eye scanning  movements, and counterbalanced by salient, persuasive copy points, the combination will have a much better chance of winning the holy grail of rewards: the click-through to the sale or lead.

Take the knowledge of the ages, which includes thousands of years of observation of how humans interact with their natural surroundings and strive to meet them half-way, harmoniously.

Tip #1: Search engines reward you for having keywords in your domain name.

For example, if you were an auto glass company located in Central California, you could choose: www.AutoGlassCalifornia.com, www.CaliforniaAutoGlass.com or www.AutoGlassRepairCA.com. Likewise, you could place your city name (www.SantaMariaAutoGlass.com) or your geographic area’s nickname (www.CentralCoastAutoGlass.com).

Tip #2: You can also choose to have your company name in your domain name (www.YourCompanyName.com).

However, if it’s already taken by another company with your same name, you can add something after it, such as: www.YourCompanyNameOnline.com (added “Online”) or www.YourCompanyNameCA.com (added “CA” for California).

Tip #3: Do NOT use Hyphens!

This makes your website difficult to repeat to customers. It also makes it difficult to remember. DO NOT do this: www.Your-Company-Name.com.

Tip #4: If possible, buy a “dot-com”.

In other words, do NOT use a “.net” or “.org” extension. They are difficult to remember, and if people remember your domain name, they almost always try to place a “.com” at the end. If you don’t own the .com, your customers could end up at your competitor’s website!

Steps for Securing Your Domain Name

• Choose a Domain Registrar. ThriveMarketing is a domain registrar (Visit www.ThriveWebsites.com to buy your domain). We can sell you a domain name for $6.95 / year. You will be informed automatically every year to renew your domain name. If your credit card expires before the time of your annual renewal, you will receive an email warning you to go online to manually renew.
• Enter in your desired domain name on www.ThriveWebsites.com and pay for it online with a credit card.
• Choose a “5 Year” Renewal Plan. Search engines reward those who renew their domain 5 years in advance. This shows Google that you are not a “fly-by-night” operation. They will reward you with higher rankings. We HIGHLY recommend that you buy your domain for 5 years OR MORE in advance. You also don’t have to worry about renewing every year, giving you peace of mind.

Hiring a Great Website Designer

Now that you’ve secured a good domain name, make sure you have hired an experienced web designer. Remember, the reason 99% of websites fail is because they were built by a technician and NOT a marketer. Let ThriveMarketing’s team of senior level marketing executives build your website by requesting a proposal now. If you have already hired us, thanks again for your business and you can now sit back and relax and let us guide you from here.

Why Aren’t Testimonials More Believable?

Why don’t testimonials work harder at convincing new customers to follow their experience? After all, they represent the experience of one who has already been your customer. Is there something the testimonials do or don’t do that causes them to fail to communicate the great experience received from your product or service? There are actually several tasks you can do to assure that the testimonials you use on your webpage and in your other advertising can be more effective at reaching into the customer’s mind and actually do what you intend them should do. From a good communications standpoint, let us take a look at what is wrong with the testimonials we see all the time.

Eating Sweets All the Time Isn’t Very Appetizing

Flavoring things with a little sugar can make them more palatable, but no one really enjoys a steady diet of sugary sweets. It is the same with your advertising copy, but nowhere can you tell the difference more than you can in customer testimonials. Why? Because all that sweetness and sugary language is just not that palatable; it isn’t that believable. We expect that a testimonial should be the sharpened point of our advertising spear but it is not. It is, however, supposed to be an honest appraisal and reference.

Testimonials Are Not Commercials

For the most part, a person’s instant response to a commercial is, “Yeah, right. Whatever.” That is the worst response you can get because it blocks all thinking and future consideration for your service or product. When your message is believable, fills a need, answers or overcomes objections, then it gets through. However, it is not easy to overcome objections if you don’t acknowledge what they are.

A Testimonial is a Spoken Reference in the Form of a Story

There are two sides to every story. Testimonials typical have one; they should have two. After you finish reading two or three overly-sweetened testimonials, it is hard to digest any more and that thinking part of the brain no longer finds all that sweetness appetizing and inviting. A testimonial needs to be told with both sides present. It should “talk” to you the way the original person would “talk” to you if he or she were there in person.

In order for a testimonial to be truly believable, it must reflect the kind of experiences you are likely to have yourself. To illustrate, imagine you have stumbled across a Mexican restaurant somewhere on the outskirts of Tucson, or somewhere similar, where you would expect to find the most excellent in Mexican cuisine. It is nestled behind an old drug store and a warehouse, or perhaps in an abandoned gasoline station. There are no great signs or outside appearance that is particularly inviting, but you’ve heard it was a good, reasonable place to eat. Finally, after passing it by countless times, you go in and try it and discover the very best meal you have ever had. Now, picture yourself telling someone else about it. It might go something like this:

“At first, I was hesitant because the place didn’t look like much. The building was old and uninviting and it was nothing like a pictured a fine restaurant should be. Boy! Was I in for a shock! When I finally took the chance I found the best tasting food I’ve ever had in any cuisine. I’m only sorry I didn’t discover it a long time ago as I would have been able to experience that great food and wonderfully friendly service for a lot longer.”

That’s how someone might actually verbally tell you. A testimonial should “talk” to you. The problem with almost all of them is that they simply don’t.

Let Your Customers Actually Tell You Their Whole Story

Testimonials should be “built.” There is a pattern that helps make them sound more convincing. Start with the objections, the reservations and the hesitations; those are elements that are very real to the reader. In developing testimonials, you can ask specific questions of the person providing it and get the verbiage you need right from your customer. Literally, they can “write your copy” for you.

Ask them the following points:

1. What was your initial objection to buying the product or service?
2. When you finally did buy, what was the result?
3. What feature(s) did you like most?
4. Can you name 3 other benefits?
5. Would you recommend it and why?
6. What else can you add?

You can do this by mail or email, but the best way is to be able to record it. In that way you can pick up on the actual words the customer uses. These are the words that will have the greatest appeal to your prospects – not the milled and refined sugar that comes from translating it into “advertising talk.”

Testimonials can be an effective way at conveying the positive experiences of your customers. The problem with the way testimonials are used is that they are simply not believable – people really don’t talk like that. In testimonials the negatives can sometimes be much more powerful as the positives because they attract attention and they make the positives more believable.

Like all writing, there is an art to it as well as a science.  It is the art of telling a story that creates a winning testimonial. Thrive Marketing is always available to help you tell your own story more effectively and more convincingly. Give us a call, toll-free, at (866) 521-0827 or request a proposal and let tell you our story of how well we can help your business thrive.

What has more emotional impact on you: a stop sign or flashing red light or a green light?

• Which would cause the greater reaction on your part?
• While you are stopped, do you look around?
• Do you sometimes change your mind about what direction you wish to head?

That is exactly what you want people to do in terms of your business.

Headlines Should Be a Stop Sign

Headlines on your website should serve as a stop sign where people pause, think, and reconsider where to go next. It is your opportunity to suggest a solution to the objection or problem your prospective customer has in regards to your product or service.

Why don’t benefit-driven headlines work as well?

Although most people would expect that the headline they want to write should tout the greatest benefit of a product or service, an effective headline will suggest a solution or overcome an objection. Human nature means we will identify with a problem much quicker than we will identify with a solution. After all, it is the problem or objection that takes us on most searches and it is the problem or objection that our thought process will focus upon.

What is a more effective headline format?

There are two ways to phrase an effective headline: one, base it in a question; two, base it in a statement. Here are some examples of attention-getting questions:

• Is getting your website in shape driving you nuts?
• Do you know why your website isn’t doing better?
• Do you know the reason questions make better headlines?

Headlines based in questions come closer to what attracts your reader than flat statements ever will. Questions interrupt the thought process and cause the mind to ponder, momentarily. It is during that time that you have the best chance to motivate a new behavior and invite a prospect to read on. Not only is this true for websites, but it is also true in visual presentations, email messages, speeches and even conversation.

Think about it. The fact is:

A question headline will always outperform the same topic when it is simply put in a statement.

A website should contain useful, usable content that informs, sells, explains, and provides support to whatever the selling premise is. Somehow it needs to be controlled so it is up-to-date and matches what is going on – not only on the company’s website, but also on their social media websites.

Content also needs to contain the language that is in use by the customers, not the company. For example, your television manufacturing company may refer to the devices as televisions, but your customers are looking for TVs.

Solving those issues is essentially the definition of what a content strategy should be looking to manage.

Here are the four main areas to consider
when forming your content strategy:

Search Engines

• What are people looking for?
• What words do they use when searching the search engines?
• What descriptions do you put in navigation?
• Where do you want your audience to link?

Analytics

• What kind of content do your people seek?
• How long do people stay in your content?
• How often do the share it with others?

Social

• What are people talking about?
• Do they get engaged with your products/market?
• What do they say to others?

Email

• How do we get people back on our site?
• How do we get them to make requests?
• How do we get them to buy more efficiently?

Website Ecommerce

• Whom do we want to attract as potential customers?
• What do our product descriptions say?
• What are the differences in conversion rates from differing content?
• What is working well and what isn’t?

The focus of content strategy should be to make all content out there, that is in the interest of the company, be reflective of the main mission of the company’s strategy for a web presence.

The number one task for implementing a content strategy is that someone, or some department, must be given ownership over the updating and unifying of all copy on and around the company’s website(s). If no one has ownership, then no one will accomplish the needed tasks.

Just planning to have a content strategy will begin to unify your message.

• Adopting a style guide for content is also very helpful. There is a good one at http://styleguide.yahoo.com that will get you started in the right direction and provide further ideas for optimizing your content.
• To begin, adopt a uniform way you present and style company logos, slogans, and the look and feel.
• That includes how and what to capitalize, what copy always goes with what graphic and the phrasing of terms to use.
• Be consistent in style. It does make a difference.
• Include with the terms you use what will optimize the site for SEO.  Again, call your products and product category what customers call them. Make it easier for them to find you instead of your competitor.

With the advent of the web-enabled, larger screen cellular phones, such as the Blackberry line, it is now possible to do these little quick searches for information, locations, or actual shopping right from your telephone.  The newer phones have both touch screen and a larger, slide-out QWERTY keyboard for ease-of-use, but the Torch keyboard slides out in the narrow direction instead of the better, wide one.

Searching the internet has taken an even larger, giant step forward with the newer telephones such as the Androids, HTC, running Google software. Searches can even be conducted with the spoken word which has been a huge boon to using cellular phones for this application.

It is no wonder that searching the internet has become such a key, headline feature when Google is behind the programming of the new phones.  Hmm. Maybe it is just a coincidence.

New Problems for Internet Marketers

Now that a good share of searching is done on those little screens, visibility in the searches has become an even greater issue. There are two distinct problems that internet marketers need to address.

Problem No. 1

When you zoom in on the webpage so it is large enough for a 13-year old to read, you need to have some pretty good stuff in the view so the prospect will actually go through the pain of re-linking to a new page for more information.

Problem No. 2

Finding your website following a search engine query is going to be a bigger problem if your site is not optimized for the common, productive search terms. This makes search engine optimized articles for the most productive terms on your website of much greater importance.

From the ninth grade on, writing teachers, sales managers, copywriters, and others will tell you that you need to shout out your strongest benefit in your headline to attract the readers’ attention (just like everyone else’s headline). Although that would seem logical, it is not the most effective way to get better attention from the reader. So, how can so many people be so wrong?

Headlines and their character depend a lot on the context of the situation.

For example, headlines that capture our attention in a newspaper may not catch our attention the same way on an internet site. The reason is simple.  The purpose for reading each is generally quite different.

What Is In It For Me? vs. What’s New?

On a website, the purpose is to gain new information whereas in a newspaper it is to catch up on current events. Some familiarity is usually present when reading the newspaper because of the geographical interest and other ongoing news.

On a website, we are attempting to invite a person to consider new information and the purpose for reading the new information is somewhat selfish.

• “What is in it for me?”
• Does the information appear credible?

Overall, there is more reader intent on websites and the payback must be more immediate.

In the newspaper, much of the reading energy is more relaxed, casual, and without the searching intensity. Also, in the newspaper there is a stronger context associated as the headlines generally are adjacent to a photograph, text, or story context information. A non-descriptive headline, in such cases, isn’t much of a loss while the eye is scanning the other visual cues.

That isn’t a luxury a web reader usually has when viewing a webpage.

Often, the well-thought out headline will be at least a click away from the photos, nicely arranged pages, and content related to the website’s purpose. Non-descriptive headlines won’t convey enough information to urge the reader to make that extra click; they simply just pass by looking for something else more captivating.

After all, half the readers will bypass a webpage within the first five seconds. The other half has to have a further reason or they will leave, too.

One major benefit in writing headlines for websites, as opposed to writing headlines for print is that there are no restrictions on how you use the space. Abbreviations are not necessary and shouldn’t be done. Because of the column widths, print headlines often don’t have verbs or won’t make complete sentences. Neither is necessary on a webpage.

Imagine seeing this headline on a newspaper’s front page and on a webpage:

“Abandon Hope.”

This headline would be effective if placed next to a photo of earthquake rubble, for example, but what are you going to do on the web page to get the reader to click through?

That’s the point. Maybe this one would work:

“Abandon Hope of Website Success without Effective Headlines.”

Content Management, Vital to Search Engine Success, Done with WordPress

A WordPress web designer can show you how efficiently and economically you can manage the content on your website. WordPress, like some of the brilliant software created by Microsoft or Apple, has its fans and its detractors; however, there are many more tasks made simple in WordPress where it takes only a couple of clicks instead of maybe ten or more to do the same thing with another package.

Where WordPress has excelled in its popularity is not just a blog tool but as a content management system. Here are the 5 most important reasons for using WordPress as your CMS:

1. It’s free, or nearly so. Whether you wish to do your own content management or have a WordPress web designer do it, your overhead is still an important factor and using WordPress helps keep down your overhead.
2. Simple to use for anyone which makes it quick to use, and also means you can save time when simple maintenance can be done by yourself.
3. It’s highly portable since the software is on the internet. Not having it hosted on your home computer means you can make adjustments even if you are on vacation or traveling for business as long as you can obtain an internet connection. Of course, the same would be true for your agency or content manager if they are not within easy access of their primary computer.
4. Can be set with multiple levels of user access and that means you can reserve higher access for yourself or your agency while still allowing others to maintain their own segmented responsibilities.
5. Makes it easier to optimize and enhance search engine results that can increase your inbound potential customers. SEO needs to be maintained. Not only does the search criteria change from time to time, but you website needs to have content that is freshened from time to time.

How can something so simple solve such complex problems?

Most people still believe that WordPress is simply a blog tool, but it is so much more. WordPress allows you or your WordPress web designer to create and maintain beautiful websites. The software itself is built by a large cadre of volunteers who are also users. You can transform it to suit whatever your needs are to suit your own purposes.

Even more importantly, WordPress can fill the demanding need for a content management system (CMS) and its popularity is catching on. If you think about it, what is primarily needed as a CMS is a blog tool with greater power and utility over web pages. Designed to be an effective blog tool, WordPress is simple to use, taking no more skill than using Word or PowerPoint. The best part is that it is a quick solution and it is cheap.

WordPress is flexible

WordPress functionality is added through plug-ins. The choices are almost endless, or so it seems. The do-it-yourself manager or a WordPress web designer can set up multiple users with varying levels of user-control so access is possible site but limited in their activities. WordPress is ideal because can manage and operate both the website and the website’s blog. A website with WordPress can be managed so the posts and the blog is be separated. Additionally, a user-history file is created with each revision of the site so the primary user can identify the changes made and by whom.  Best of all, you don’t have to know code to use it.

Good CMS software should be easy

Good content management software should make it easy for people with limited technical expertise to use it to organize and manage web content and WordPress makes that simple and economical.  That means a small business can afford to manage its content without a huge incremental increase in its technology budget or have a WordPress web designer do it for it without a great incremental cost.

A superior solution

Having an easy-to-use, flexible and economical content management system at your disposal means you can increase the effectiveness of owning and managing a website without an increase in overhead maintenance expenses. Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer, or you prefer having WordPress web designer such as Thrive Marketing manage your content for you, there is no question that WordPress makes a great selection as a content management system.  Give us a call at Thrive Marketing’s toll-free number, (866) 521-0827 and give us a chance to show you how many ways we can make your life easier while making your business more profitable.

“Make more white space!”

• What does it mean?
• Why would art and copy people want less art and copy by providing more white space?

It is all about what the eye sees and how much the brain can take in at one time. White space in advertising serves the same purpose as “negative space” in fine art and portraits. It is that space that forces the eye to see what you intend it to see. If there is not enough negative space, or white space, then the eyes and brain have trouble settling on what is important and needs to be viewed first.

As a general rule, layout in advertisements, as well as landing pages on websites, breaks down to:

• 60% – 65% illustrations / art
• 20% – 25% copy / text
• 10% Headlines / subheads
• 5% for logo and company information

However, the total of all that usage should not exceed 80% and probably less. That means 20% to 30% of the image should be should be unfettered with copy or illustration.

Copy and graphics need to be positioned where eyes and brain expect it. Eye tracking for almost all people in our society starts in the upper left corner and then tracks in a double-Z pattern to the bottom right of the page. By using this knowledge, the white space can be arranged to guide that somewhat natural instinct. Also, knowing that pattern, allows you to anticipate where to put the greatest emphasis on your message by placing it in the upper left and the corporate addresses and contact information in the lower right. Also located near the top should be important links and offers.

The next time you review an ad or a landing page, notice what your eyes do. If you find that you are not sure what the pattern is, maybe it is time to call, “More white space!”

Not just any video will do. First it has to be optimized for the search engines, has to have relevance to your site, and actually, as a final but important step, will have to be submitted to the search engines.

According to a Forrester Research study completed recently, there is a 53 times better likelihood that your site will list on page one in a Google ranking with an optimized video than without. It’s worth the odds.

Although proper SEO is very effective at raising your listing, it doesn’t always work with every keyword you would like to be able to use. Some simply have too much competition. Adding a video helps make a quantum leap in the likelihood as the search engines adopt more blended search results. Since there is less competition in video SEO, each one is more effective.

First,

The video belongs on your home page, near the top, where it is most likely to be seen. It does not belong on YouTube with only the embedding on your home page. That doesn’t create enough reasons for Google and other search engines to raise the ranking. Besides, YouTube will get the click result. Make sure the video is a good one, because that is by far the most likely item your visitors will click first. Scatter the video on other pages throughout your website.

Second,

Optimize the video using SEO techniques, placing keyword phrases in the name of the file, the captions, and so forth as well as within the code for the page where the video is posted.

Third,

Submit it to the search engines using XML tools. Promote it also on your Website, Blog, and Social Media (Facebook, Twitter).

These actions will increase you listing in the search engines general search – not just the video search.