I like to talk a lot about landing page optimization. As a marketing tactic, it delivers unparallelled returns because you are taking advantage of existing traffic. It raises conversion rates, lowers your cost per action and increases the profitability of your campaigns.
But all too often, optimization stops at the landing page. The success page (the page immediately following the desired action) holds just as many opportunities.
Success page marketing is the optimization of the content contained on confirmation pages and the promotion of a secondary call to action.
This isn’t a technical post on how to redirect users to a mobile version of your website. There are numerous articles that cover that topic in great detail. Rather, this post will cover the user experience implications of mobile redirects and what not to do if you want to keep visitors happy.
Mobile Redirect Options:
- Redirect to mobile version of website and provide an opt-out to full version of site
- No redirect and provide an opt-in to mobile version of site
- Provide an interstitial page asking the visitor what version of the website they want to see
Cookie duration can provide additional customization options.
My Preference for Mobile Redirects
In most cases, I’m a fan of automatically redirecting visitors to the mobile version of the site and providing an opt-out to the full website. I think this provides the best experience (assuming your mobile site has the same functionality as your main website) as it doesn’t force the user to think. Obviously, there may be situations where this isn’t the correct method, but I think for most websites it works best.
The second option (not redirecting users to the mobile site and providing an opt-in) usually gets lost in the details. Often the design of the website causes the opt-in link to be small enough to go unnoticed. And if it does get noticed, the user is forced to reload the page.
The third option (interstitial page) is my least favorite option. It places too much pressure on the user; how should they know what version of your website to use, they haven’t even seen it yet!
Even though I believe one method is better than the rest, any of the three options can provide a good experience if implemented correctly. Unfortunately, since all websites are different, selecting the wrong method for your site can destroy the user experience.
Examples of what not to do
At Radium, we perform a ton of SEO audits. Some are simply a cursory overview of a website while others are much more detailed and in-depth. For the latter, we use a mix of marketing tools to analyze current metrics and provide feedback based on actual website data.
These tools provide a wealth of information but we also use another great tool. One that’s often overlooked in the SEO world…our eyes.
Usability, Design and Interaction
These 3 items are rarely talked about in search circles since they’re not necessary to have a properly optimized website (or at least they weren’t). However, investing in these elements can deliver tremendous value to the overall site and can actually help strengthen more traditional search metrics.
Our client, Nestlette, recently went live with a brand new website and logo and we just couldn’t keep the news to ourselves! We are very excited for the team at Nestlette and anticipate the new design and functionality of the website will bring them closer to reaching their marketing goals.
The goal of the new design was to increase content consumption, encourage social sharing and maximize profitability of the site through increased ad exposure and affiliate click through rates.
Usability and Wireframing:
To facilitate a smooth design process, Radium developed wireframes for key pages on the website. Click the images below for full size versions of the completed wireframes.
Website Design
The wireframes were brought to life beautifully by the design team at Southern Media. Coding and development was handled by WP Coder.
Homepage Design
No matter what your internet marketing goals, there is a tool to help you achieve them. But selecting the right tool from so many choices can seem overwhelming. To help you find the right software for the job, we have compiled a list of some of the best tools available to help you manage, optimize and guide your internet marketing strategies!
The list contains tools for SEO management, paid search (PPC) optimization, usability testing, analytics, email marketing and social media management.
Calculating projected ROI (return on investment) for a website redesign is both a science and an art. The science piece relies on historical averages and known variables while the art piece is a best guesstimate of the redesigns impact on these metrics.
Most of the time, this sort of calculation is not done. Either because people believe it is too difficult to accurately calculate or they don’t want to be held accountable for their projections.
Why you should perform ROI calculations
Agency side: This sort of calculation can be extremely valuable during the new business stage. Quantifying the positive return of a website redesign will position your agency as much more than a creative shop.
Client side: Establishing estimates will give you a baseline for the new design and will let you know if the new site is performing better or worse than the existing site design. Not to mention it will get you thinking about additional tweaks and changes to the site post-redesign.
Calculating ROI
The easiest place to start is with actual data. Hopefully, you are accurately tracking website analytics and gathering this information is only a couple clicks away.
A new year is upon us. Hopefully your internet marketing strategy for 2011 is already in place and that the new year brings you incredible returns.
If you’re still looking for ideas and recommendations it’s not too late. Here are 25 resolutions worth pursuing.
25 internet marketing resolutions for 2011
It still surprises me when I see bad web design being sold to clients. It’s almost 2011, there is no reason to put up with bad creative. To prove that, let’s debunk the most common excuses for poor website design.
Cost – “We don’t have money for a quality design.”
Sorry this isn’t a valid excuse. It’s true, some websites can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars…but most don’t. Most small and medium sized websites can be had for $5,000 – $15,000. Some cost much less but I think the majority would probably fall within that range.
If a few thousand is too much to spend there are thousands of website templates that can be bought and customized for less than a hundred dollars. Sure a template isn’t as good as an original design, but when budgets are extremely tight (or nonexistent) a little bit of customization can go along way.
Nature of the business – “We are in a boring industry, people expect our site to look like this.”
This is easily the most ridiculous excuse. If all of your competitors have crappy websites wouldn’t you want to stand out from them with a great site?
In cases like this the bar is so incredibly low, all you have to do is not suck. Craft a user experience and design that customers don’t expect. Make it easy for them to navigate your site and find what they need. Give them an experience they will remember.
CMS limitations – “Our system can’t do that.”
There is absolutely no reason to be stuck with a content management system that doesn’t deliver what you need. The options are almost endless and prices start at absolutely free. Technology should not be a limitation to good website design.
Are you the cause of bad web design?
Maybe you haven’t been tripped up by the excuses above but somehow you still ended up with a poorly designed website. Could over involvement be the cause?
Having finally gotten around to taking the new AdWords certification exams, I’ve been thinking a lot about the basics of paid search. The two required qualified partner exams, “Google Advertising Fundamentals Exam” and “Search Advertising Advanced Exam” should both be considered basic knowledge to anyone actively practicing AdWords paid search management (I hope).
To test this theory and have a little Halloween fun, I decided to see how many advertisers were practicing what I consider to be the 3 basic principles of paid search.
Basic principles of Google AdWords (paid search):
- Targeted (related) thematic keyword groupings
- Compelling ad text with relevant keyword inclusion
- Relevant landing page content
I’m sure we could expand the list to include other basic elements like ad delivery, budgets, conversion tracking, etc. but I feel these 3 items are the basic core to a solid paid search strategy because they drive relevance.
My testing methodology is quite simple; enter in a search phrase and review the first page ads to determine if the advertiser is using relevant ad copy and directing the searcher to the most appropriate page on the site. Keyword groupings are difficult to assume with only a few tests, and, are therefore excluded from this analysis.
Since Halloween is right around the corner I used variations of Halloween costume related search phrases for the analysis.
Today it’s easier than ever to launch a blog. With so many free and easy to use blogging platforms available you can have a new site up and running in no time at all. Best of all, most of the functionality comes right out of the box. But with that standard functionality comes standard settings. And if you want your blog to stand out in a crowded space, you may want to rethink those defaults.
Here are 5 default blog settings worth changing.
1. Remove extraneous links
By default most blogs automatically link to categories, tags, comments, post dates and authors. Sometimes these links can be helpful to readers but many times they’re unnecessary and can create duplicate content issues for search engines. Every link on your website should add value for the reader. If you have links that don’t add value, remove them. Your readers will appreciate it and search engines will reward you.
