Search engines have been adjusting the way they show search results to users, giving preference to local content in certain scenarios.  For businesses, this is an opportunity to take advantage of as consumer media habits are rapidly changing. In this scenario, businesses often face a dilemma when trying to understand these changes and how they should readjust their marketing tactics to suit these trends.

There are plenty of tips available to help you determine what you should be doing to optimise your website for local search. Below is a list of the most important ones.

• Keep your company’s website and profiles on local search sites, like Google Places, up to date. When prospective customers search, they do not want to find data that is no longer valid. Keeping listings updated will ensure that you do not lose sales and also make your business appear credible. It is a good idea to add optimised images and videos to make it even more useful.
• Make sure your website’s home page, about page, media page and contact pages have accurate information and in legible font that is large enough to read easily. Tiny print against dark background is a no-no and spells bad usability for your site.
• Avoid using vanity phone numbers that are a combination of alphabets and numbers.  The letters cannot be dialed on cellphones with numeric keypads, making it hard for customers to get in touch with you.
• Do not hide your phone number inside a graphic image. If you have to, include the number in the alt text and html as well.
• Flash-only websites tend to perform badly on search engines and also do not show up properly on mobile screens.
• Use descriptive keywords as link text rather than ask users to “click here”
• Take part in the conversation about your business across social media and track it regularly, responding when the need arises. If there are negative reviews, offer solutions and aim to convert them into positive ones.  Acknowledge unhappy customers, and take the discussion offline even as you let your community know that you are taking care of the issue.  For resolved problems, request the customer to post feedback.

Since Google’s aim is to provide users with the most relevant search results for their queries, you can use the above strategies to increase your chances of being found for your targeted geo location.  If you have any other tips feel free to share them!

 

The most effective marketing material features a prominent call to action that prospective customers can act on.  The same goes for direct sales – sales people should ideally always conclude their call with a call to action to achieve the objective of their call. Websites are businesses’ 24/7, 365 days of the year sales men that work long after business hours and here, a call to action button plays a critical role.

While a link or some text can also achieve this objective, a call to action button that is well-designed is more effective. This makes call to action buttons an integral part of website design. It is important for a call to action button to be effective and therefore, care must be taken to select the right ones for your website, design it well and position it where it can benefit the website. Mostly, the process of a visitor’s conversion to a customer begins when they click the call to action button. Therefore the button must entice the website visitor to click on the button and take further action.

The button’s location plays a significant role vis-à-vis its proximity to other elements on the web page. If the business sells from its website, a “buy now” button near each of its products would be an effective call to action. Call to action buttons must also be prominently featured near other elements that trigger conversions such as testimonials, special offers and so on.

Here are some tips to make your call to action button stand out and convert website visitors into loyal customers:

Create a call to action button that is immediately noticeable

Make sure the button gets noticed as soon as the visitor arrives on the page. This can be done by placing the button in a highly visible part of the web page which could be the middle, or on the left, just below the content. These are proven to result in better conversion compared to the upper left of your web page as visitors read from left to right and up to down.

Let the call to action button be large and attractively coloured

Choose colours for your call to action button that stand out from your web page’s back ground colour and make it distinctive from other page elements. Research colours and select the appropriate ones for the right response.

Use the right phrasing

Keep the message simple and effective. Be clear about what you want the prospect to do and add some punch to it.

Prioritise

Suppose you would like your visitors to do two or more things on a page, distinguish between these calls to action by making the first priority most prominent. Differentiate by colour and size or present the least important call to action as linked text.

Add value by offering more information

Allow your visitors a preview of what will follow when they click the call to action button. Provide this information just under the call to action and ensure that it invites the reader to take action. This works effectively for free downloads, sign ups and product trials.

Add images

Call to action buttons with attractive, yet relevant images have higher click rates than text-only buttons.

Remember not to crowd your website with call to action buttons, test a few buttons and keep only those that are effective. Your visitor must feel confident that clicking the button will not lead to unwanted consequences.  Which call to action buttons have been the most effective on your website? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

 

Once you’ve got your website up and running, you will naturally be keen to know who your visitors are and how they’re engaging with your website. Attracting the kind of target market is the basic goal of any website for a variety of reasons.  The reasons can range from building the business’ prospect base, converting visitors to buyers and to keep in touch with visitors who can eventually become customers. Whether your website is for an online or offline business, measuring metrics is mandatory – only the modus operandi varies. Let us take a look at a website’s metrics – which ones should you track?

To begin with, you would certainly want to know:

• How many page views were received over a given period
• Which browser the visitor is using
• The visitor’s behaviour on the website
• How much time they spend on the site
• Which search engine they used to find your website
• Keywords and key-phrases that brought them to your site

Most of the web analytics programs like Google Analytics (a free analytics package) offer a dashboard with basic information. The latest analytics service on the block is Woopra, which is similar to Google Analytics, but offers real-time data with additional features such as live chat with site visitors. Woopra’s statistics is useful as it offers real time streaming data of even the minutest activities on the website.  Below are the most common metrics that can be measured via web analytics.

Operating system and browser

You will need to know which browsers and operating systems are being used by visitors so that your website can be optimised to their needs. Test your site with the most popular browsers and operating systems (OS).

Statistics related to referrer

Referrer statistics relate to the origin of your visitors and the pages that link to your site.

Unique visitors

This gives you an idea of the unique visitors to your site and the number of times they visited during a particular time frame.  While tracking data may not always be a 100% accurate, you can use cookies to track visitors. It is best to watch for trends rather than numbers so that you can tweak your website accordingly.

Location

Visitor location and geo tagging information helps you to know where your visitors are coming from. For businesses that are targeting a particular geographic location, this can be valuable data to design their campaigns effectively.

Entry and exit pages

Which pages do your visitors land on, and which pages do they leave from?  While a majority of websites see a lot of visitors accessing their site via the home page, it is possible for other pages to receive more visitors. These pages must be identified and designed to give visitors easy access to other pages on the website.

Link popularity

You can track links to see which external links are popular, besides tracking your internal links. It also helps you find out which areas of your page receive the maximum clicks, so that you can put vital information there.

Search engine stats

Getting search engine statistics can help you design a successful SEO campaign. When you know which search engines are sending people to your website and which pages they bring them to, you can focus your search engine optimisation efforts accordingly.  This information is available from referrer reports.

Keywords

You need to know which keywords are bringing people to your website and capitalise on them. If there are keywords you are yet to optimise for, then now is the time to do so by creating content and landing pages related to those keywords.

The idea is to structure your website and other elements of your online business to give your visitor the best experience possible, while achieving your business goals. By spending time analysing your Analytics data you can optimise your website to achieve optimal results.