Attract More Visitors

Recently I heard a Marketing Edge podcast by Albert Maruggi called "It is a Gift to be a Relevant Marketer".

An excellent podcast as always, it made me think that "relevance" is only one great aspect marketers should strive for.

If we could get our relevant messages across with elegance then our communications would be clearer, stronger and more effective.

Relevance

"Relevance" is what pertains to what we need or want.

Elegance

"Elegance" is simplicity with some style.

Simplicity

Simple messages are:

• Shorter
• Clearer
• Less complex
• Straight to the point

Stylish

Style can be added to messages by using:

• Nice photos/graphics to emphasize your point
• Some formatting (bullets, italics, bolding, fonts, colors, etc.)
• Easy to scan/skim text

The Long and Winding Road...not!

In the past my blog posts tended to be long and obtuse...on purpose (yikes!).

• My strategy was to show something and then show how it was done.
• Sadly my posts often became long and involved.
• The main points were lost in a jumble of words.

Striving for Relegance

Now I'm going to strive for "Relegance", relevant elegance in my posts.

And why do I say strive? Because I realize that this is a process.

Relegance doesn't just happen, it has to be consciously thought of and put into action.

So I challenge myself...and you...to act now and be relegant!

I'd welcome your thoughts and advice on this.

Be well and happy and prosperous!

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Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/annia316/ / CC BY 2.0

Photo title: "Suddenly things seem crystal clear to me..."

In Part I we started looking at ways of evaluating and changing your website (or blog) to improve it. Today I'm giving you 10 Quick Questions to help with this process:

10 Quick Questions for Evaluating/Improving your Website

1. Does your website look nice and inviting? (Does it make your visitors "feel" nice, like the landscape on the right?)




2. Is it a site that you'd feel like staying at if you just happened to land on it? (Where you feel like you could lie down in the meadow, enjoy the blue sky, and watch the  clouds - in other words: hang out for awhile, check out the info/resources, and engage at the site.)




3. Can visitors find your "Buy" button? (so they can take the desired action easily, e.g., Buy, Join, Subscribe, Register, etc.).




4. Can prospective buyers (visitors) find what they need easily (information, prices, reviews/testimonials, etc.)?




5. Is it easy and intuitive to navigate around your site? (Or is it a virtual maze or an impossibly dense mishmash of text or links pretending to be organized)?




6. Is it easy to use/access your site? (Are there so many fonts and colors that the content is difficult to see, especially for visually impaired individuals)?




7. Does your site rank highly in search engine results (particularly Google's)?




8. Is your site's search engine result (Title and Description) enticing enough that you'd click on it (versus all of the others)?




9. If you click on your site's search engine result, are you taken to the site you'd expect from the Title and Description?




10. Now loop back to #1 (above) and quickly run through this list again with "fresh" eyes (based on how your site might be found by potential visitors searching the internet).

Bottom Line

IMPORTANT: Please note that "potential visitors" aren't visitors until they visit and "potential buyers" aren't buyers until they buy.

Your task is to re-design your site to create the environment that entices searchers to visit and visitors to buy. This may involve using some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well as some E-Marketing techniques and strategy (list building, E-Newsletters, Social Media/Networking, etc.) to promote your site and attract people to it.

If you'd like more ways to evaluate and improve your website (or blog) you might enjoy our free 77 Great Tips of Internet Marketing (at top-right of web page) for a more complete checklist.

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Have any questions, comments, or tips of your own for evaluating websites? If so, please leave a comment...

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Next post (Part III): 11 Quick Questions for Podcasts
Prior post (Part I): How's Your Website Doing? -- Part I - Opportunities for Change Looking Forward