Smog Testing | Is Your Website Copy too Hard to Read?

I was recently reading through numerous white papers and a few ebooks about copy writing for the web and came across a few interesting thoughts about what we write and the need for SMOG testing (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook).  In my own experience as a web site builder, I get to read and learn about many businesses and industries.  Often times I am sent material from a client to post or use to construct a web page. 

Writing is certainly a gift and some people can do it and some cannot.  I don’t do a bad job of writing and have a few folks I rely on when I get stuck.  Beyond making thing readable, how about understandable?  When you are writing it is rather important to think about a few factors.

1. Who is your audience? 
2. Is your information filled with jargon and industry buzzwords? 
3. Is your copy written above what your intended audience can comprehend?
4. Have you written too much to get your visitor to take action or move beyond your home page?

If you are wanting to know the reading level and clarity to the copy you are writing I suggest you do some SMOG testing by visiting the following sites:

1.  WordsCount

2.  SMOG

I hope you get good results and your SMOG testing will help you “clear the air” and your content so it can be best understood and enjoyed by your target audience.

 

Michael Mock

Improving Your On-Line Image

I have been involved with the 30 Day Challenge presented by Internet Marketing genius Ed Dale.  I am very intrigued by the countless numbers of people who join in every August to participate.  It is a demanding and thought provoking 30 days of information to help you make a single dollar on line.

Now I know some of you are thinking just a buck?  Is that all he is going to help you do is make one measly dollar?  You are going to give up 30 days to get a single George Washington?  That’s crazy talk!  Yeah, I know.  But think about this.  What is always the hardest part of anything?  Doing “it” (fill in the blank here) for the first time.  And after you do “it” (once again fill in the blank) the first time and succeed, you want to do “it” over and over.

That is not the real reason for my post though.  I have seen a large number of posts about pen names and blogs.  I write this blog and use my real name.  I registered for a domain name and had to use my real name.  Some people are very uncomfortable using their real names   because of a number of other people who prey upon other both on line and off.

I have clients that wants to be a voice and a face to other potential businesses and clients.  The problem they experience though is a way to be themselves without revealing their identity.  Let me see if I can clarify this a little better.  We work with a non-profit organization.  The person tasked with the  administration of the website also wants to start doing some social media, but doesn’t want to be “herself”  My co-owner (wife) made a fabulous observation and suggestion.  You don’t have to be, but you have to be.  Huh?  She went on to further explain.  Is there a King in every Burger King?  How about a Wendy in every Wendy’s?  I don’t think so.  But everyone knows the icons of the businesses and relate to these characters as the persona or image.

Our local bakery is a hipster named the Breadhead.  He has a real name, but very few people know it.  His on line persona is an icon of a baker with a paddle holding a round loaf of bread that resembles a peace sign.  You can follow him BTW on twitter @breadheadbakery.  But he is successfully building a brand around that image.  He interacts on Twitter and Facebook.  It also acts as his “gatekeeper”.  To get to him you’ve got to go through the Breadhead.

I recently taught a class on Facebook for Business and we discussed how YOU the consumer are now in charge of a great number of things that I call my business.  My brand is in your hands if I really want to be included as a product.  NASCAR learned this lesson and epitomizes it.  No one is more brand loyal than a NASCAR fan.  My brother in law will only drink Miller Lite because his driver is sponsored by them.  He only drives Chevys because his driver drives one.  It makes me laugh, but NASCAR fans have an image in their minds and support the labels that ride around on the oval.

So to make my brand your brand I have to do certain things.  I need to be transparent.  I need to offer value.  I need to be courteous, kind, funny sometimes, helpful, and honest.  I need to really listen when you talk.  I need to work at being your friend and partner.  Overall I can be an icon or a label, but it has to be one you can trust and embrace as your solution.  You can find a content managed web site builder or a social media instructor pretty easy these days.  I can’t find clients that easy.

So I guess in short, if you want to be the voice of your business as an icon, a picture of a stuffed animal, or an animated movie clip that is fine.  but play by the rules of being a good friend.

• Be helpful
• Be nice
• Be honest
• Be cooperative
• Be constructive

People forget my name pretty quick, but my company name stays stuck in peoples heads. That has something to do with the fact I have made it a priority to be a friend long before I do business.  Sure easier to take help from a friend than someone you just found in the search engines.

Michael Mock

Social Media and the Balance of Power

Today my company (that I co-own with my wife) Technology Workgroup taught a class on Facebook for Business.  We love being social media enthusiasts and evangelists.  We are big believers in the “new” way of sharing information and exchanging ideas.  We also are enjoying sharing the things we have learned and allowing people to achieve better ways to promote their ideas, products, and businesses or organizations.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks I have found for most people though is their belief or misconception that social media will drive business to their door.  They have bought into the freemium model of marketing.  Facebook is free, Twitter is free, LinkedIn is free, YouTube is free, you get the picture.

TANSTAAFL (there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch)!  Social media takes time to become a useful and powerful tool for promotion.  It also takes effort and focus.  As I said yesterday, forget yelling at the crowd, put down the bull horn, pull up a chair and sit at the table and talk to me, smile at me, thank me for being your friend.  Let me learn about the ways you can help me solve a problem.  Tell me a joke, share a little about who you are and what you are.

I also can appreciate the free idea, in this economy who can’t.  I just think that it is unrealistic to believe that putting up an on-line presence and expecting it to solve all of your problems is just naive.  There is no cruise control for social media, it is alive and will flourish,only of it is watered and feed.

During class today I did point out that a Fan page or profile for you business is only part of an effort to reach your clientele or prospective customer.  Facebook is HUGE and getting bigger every day, but just as a good marketing company, it is NOT the only venue.  I recently asked who owns the billboards, newspapers, and the radio and television stations in our area.  Not hard to believe that they are some how related to each other.  Imagine that!  All of these are enticing me to buy or engage.  The radio comments on a newspaper story and in turn the local tv station talks about the radio and newspaper coverage.  Billboards tout the best of all of those.  See the pattern here?

The same is true of using social media, Twitter points to Facebook, which in turn points to blogs and other sites.  LinkedIn and Plaxo get business together in cyberspace to collaborate.  It all brings us around the table.  Think about that and don’t see if like me some of your most fond memories have evolved from dinner time.  We laugh and share at our dinner table.  I have entertained perfect strangers at dinner that became friends and some even clients.

Think of it as a table with four legs, you need all of those legs to keep the table up and level.  Otheriwse it is a lopsided wobbly mess.  Kind of like thinking a Fanpage will save your business or get your message out effectively.

Watch in the next couple of weeks as Technology Workgroup is getting ready to release an eBook by the same title as the post “Social Media and the Balance of Power”.  It will be available both here on the blog and on the website www.technologyworkgroup.com you can also go over to the website and sign up for our newsletter and get on the inside track on how to get the book by helping me proof read  it before release!

Keep spreading the word and see me soon,

-Michael

Tips To Generate Website Traffic

There is only one hard and fast rule in generating money from your website:  A steady flow of website traffic.  If no one goes to your site, it doesn’t really stand a chance of generating any income.  It takes money to maintain a money making site; it also takes money to make money.

BUT, it doesn’t take tons of cash to get website traffic.

Ever wonder how does big hit sites drive traffic top their site? Most of them are spending tons of money to drive the traffic to their sites, investing in many advertising campaigns and different forms of marketing schemes and gimmickries. This is all worthwhile because, well, they are what they are now, high earning, big hitting websites.

You don’t have to do this if you don’t really have their resources. There are many ways to generate low cost website traffic without having to spend what you don’t have or can’t afford. Many people have banked on high cost methods and have ended up losing their shirt over it.

Here I present to you some tips to generate low cost website traffic that could help your site a whole lot. Even if you only get a small percentage of successful visitors in to client ratio it still works especially if you get a high number of website traffic.

• Exchange Links

This is a sure and proven method. Rarely would you see a site where there is no link to another site. Many web masters are willing to exchange links with one another so that they could produce more public awareness about their sites. You’ll soon see and feel the sudden upsurge of the traffic coming in to your site from other sites.

A major prerequisite in exchanging links with other sites is having the same niche or content as the other site. They should share a common subject so that there is continuity in the providing of service and information to what interests your target traffic.

Exchanging links also boosts your chances of getting a high ranking in search engine results. It is common knowledge that search engines ranks high sites that have inbound and outbound theme-related links. With a good ranking position in the search engines, you will generate more traffic in your website without the high costs.

• Write and Submit Articles

There are many e-zines and online encyclopedias in the internet which provides free space for articles to be submitted. If you want to save costs, you can do the articles yourself. There are many freelance writers who are willing to write for you for a small fee, but to save money, it is wise to do those articles yourself.

Write articles that are themed along with the niche of your site. Write something that you have expertise on so that when they read it, they can feel your knowledge about the subject and will be eager to go to your site. Write articles that produce tips and guidelines to the subject or niche your site has.

Include a resource box at the end of your article that can link them to your site. Write a little about yourself and your site. If you provide a light, information-laden and interesting article, they will go to your site for more.

• Create a Newsletter

This may sound like hard work because of all the articles you may need to use to build a newsletter but on the contrary, this is not so. There are many writers and sites that are willing to provide free articles as long as they can get their name in on your newsletter. This will also provide free advertising for them as well.

As your newsletter gets pass around, you can widen your public awareness and build an opt-in list that can regularly visit your site.

• Join Online Communities and Forums

This only requires your time and nothing else. You can share your knowledge and expertise with many online communities as well as your website. You can get free advertising when you go to forums that have the same subject or niche with your site.

Share your two cents and let them see how knowledgeable you are with the subject. As you build your reputation, you also build the reputation of your site, making it a reputable and honest business that could be frequented and trusted by many people.

Hope these tips get you a bit more traffic!

-Michael

5 Important Basic Rules in Website Design

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose.  Here are five important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use “Splash Pages”

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like “Welcome” or “Click here to enter”.  In fact, they are just that — pretty vases with no real purpose.  Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the “back” button!  Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate.  Instead, provide more valuable content and weave relevant links into your content, and let your visitors feel compelled to act or buy instead of being pushed.  Think Sherpa not salesperson.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. I have actually employed the help of my kids when testing sites.  Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus.  If your visitors don’t know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment.  Breadcrumbs are an excellent tool for giving a visitor the “You are here!”  That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily.  Don’t confuse your visitors because confusion means “abandon ship”!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they’re not annoyed by some audio looping on and on your website.  If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it — volume or muting controls are certainly suggested.

These rules are just like any others we only find value in them if we apply them.  If you have any you want to add of course pile them on.  I like to think that with enough good practices out there we build a better looking web community.

-Michael