Mosaic Web - Online Marketing Solutions

There are 2 options available with Search Engine Marketing (SEM):

1. Natural Listings (also called Organic Listings)
2. Paid Listings (also called Sponsored Listings or Pay-Per-Click Ads)
3. Local Business Listings

Natural Listings are the results that search engines like Google & Yahoo serve up based on their extensive indexes.  They usually show 10 results per page. The term “Search Engine Optimization” (SEO) refers to optimizing a website to attain higher rankings in search engines.

Paid Listings are ads that can be purchased. They usually appear at the very top of the page before the natural listings or off to the right side of the page.  Every time a visitor clicks on the ad, the advertiser is charged anywhere from $.05 to $5 (or even more!) for the lead.

Local Business Listings are separate from the search engine index, but sometimes appear at the top of the page for a geographical search.

Example: All 3 types of search engine listings in Google:

Search Engine Marketing is a very powerful way to drive traffic to your website and ultimately increase sales.  If you are considering creating or improving your Internet Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Marketing will certainly be a key component.

Mosaic Web offers a Search Engine Assessment Package to get you started with Search Engine Marketing.  Each assessment is customized to your website, business, and goals. We filter through all the confusion surrounding Search Engine Marketing, outline where your website stands today from a search engine perspective, and make recommendations for what steps you can take to improve your search engine presence. Packages start at $199.

Visit our website to learn more about the Search Engine Assessment Package.

A good Website is at the core of an effective Internet Marketing Strategy. What makes a Website Good?

Audience
Know your audience. Define your targeted customer(s) using demographics (gender, age, place of residence, education, income level, marital status, ethnicity…), likes / dislikes, political views, hobbies, etc.  Make sure that everything about your website appeals to your targeted customer.

Everyone is not going to like your website.  That’s okay. Your website only needs to appeal to your target audience.

Content
Content consists of all the elements that make up a web page. Photos and text comprise the bulk of content on most websites.  But things like forms and tools can add interesting, unique content to a site.  Good content is critical to attract users to your website - and to keep them coming back.

• Photos

A picture tells a thousand words.  Use them appropriately within your website. Make sure images are clear and sharp. Be sure to size them for the web.  If photos are too large, it may take visitors awhile to download and they could get tired of waiting and leave.  If you use a photo gallery, make sure it is easy for visitors to get around.

• Text (aka Copy)

Visitors want to read good copy on a website. They want it to be easy to read, grammatically correct, succinct, and informative.  Make sure the titles of your web pages accurately reflect the information contained on that page.  If a sentence is 20 words and you can say it in 15 words, get rid of the extra 5 words of fluff.  Even though your website is intended to sell something, your copy should not be overly sales-ey. Know your audience – what inspires your reader?  Be sure to appeal that emotion.

• Forms

Forms are a useful way to obtain information about your visitor.  Make sure they are appropriate in length – don’t scare away your visitor by asking too many questions.  Only ask for a piece of information if you really need it and are going to use it.  Don’t make people provide extra information unnecessarily.

• Tools

A variety of unique tools ay be incorporated into your website to provide value to visitors.  A calculator, a quiz, what-if scenarios. Does your website include any “tools” that will appeal to your target audience?  Be creative… you’re the expert in your field.  Give website visitors something that will really Wow them!

Design
Design is the way your website looks & feels. What colors are used, how is information laid out on the page, what emotion is evoked, and what type of “image” is portrayed are all aspects of design.  Specific to web design is how the website looks on a variety of browsers, operating systems, and screen resolutions. With such a wide variety of screen sizes (ranging from small mobile phones to 24” flat screens, different browsers (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Safari), as well as different operating systems (PC vs Mac) your website will look different when viewed on a variety of configurations. Be sure to test your website using the configurations most often used by your target audience.

Usability

Usability is defined by five quality components:

• Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks the first time they encounter the design?
• Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly can they perform tasks?
• Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they reestablish proficiency?
• Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are these errors, and how easily can they recover from the errors?
• Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

(Source Jakob Nielsen: Usability 101: Introduction to Usability)

Is your website usable?

So to summarize… What Make a Website Good? Audience, Content, Design, and Usability…

Keep these principles in mind when evaluationg your website and you will achieve a “good” website.  Who Knows?  You may even achieve a “Great” website!

When you first start out trying to put together an Internet marketing Strategy, it can be overwhelming…

• Where do I begin?
• What are my options?
• How much should I spend?
• Am I doing it right?

These are just a few of the questions you may be asking yourself.

In this 8-part series, we will be breaking down an Internet Marketing Strategy into simple, logical components that are easy to understand. A picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s begin with a diagram…

At the heart of your Web marketing Strategy is a Website.  Before you jump in to online marketing, you want to have a website.

Once you are happy with your website, you want to start driving new traffic to your site and give existing visitors reasosn to keep coming back.  You have 4 ways to do this:

• Search Engine Marketing
• Online Advertising
• Email Marketing
• Blogging / Social Media

Each of these 4 categories overlap with one another to form a cohesive strategy. And all of them can be continually improved and expanded based on your goals and results.

At the foundation of your online marketing strategy is Reporting and Analytics. You want to measure the performance of your marketing programs and monitor what site visitors are doing once they reach your website.

In future articles, we will break down each of these 6 components into greater detail so you understand exactly what each one means. And in the final article, we will summarize the information and next steps you can take to enhance your website and online marketing strategy.

Time to do a little “Spring Cleaning.”  On the website, that is.

We’ve freshened up the look of the Mosaic Web Marketing site, as well as added a new blog.  Stay tuned as we add more Online Marketing posts.  As always, feel free to drop an email with any suggestions, comments, questions… whatever.  email: info@mosaicwebmarketing.com

Happy Spring!