• Does it attract visitors on its own?
• Does it make those visitors feel comfortable when they arrive on the site?
• Does it make it super-easy for visitors to take the next step in becoming customers?

Unfortunately, many don’t.

Before we talk more about what goes into a successful website, let’s talk about why so many websites fall short on what I’ve mentioned above.

It’s because of lack of knowledge. Let me explain …

Not all websites are created equal. But to those who are outside the industry, there’s no way of knowing what’s good and what’s not good. It’s almost like someone going to buy an automobile who knows absolutely nothing about cars.

If the options are a 1979 Ford Mustang (my first car), and a 2021 Subaru Outback (my current car), and both look good from the outside — it may appear that other than the shape, size and color — there’s no difference between the two. Realistically, how can somebody who knows nothing about cars know the difference? Especially if they don’t know the right questions to ask? They may be thinking. “a car is a car — and they’re all the same. I like the blue one, and it’s also less expensive …”

Same deal with a laptop. If you know nothing about computers, there’s no way of telling which computer is more powerful than another — because you don’t know what to look for, and you don’t know what to ask. So you may judge on color or price, thinking they’re both the same …

These examples may sound far fetched, but this is EXACTLY what happens when most businesses hire a web developer to build them a website. They think that the product is the product, no matter who builds it — and this is not surprising because the business doesn’t know what to ask for, or to look for, in a well-built site. So they trust the web developer to take care of it for them.

Since all websites are not the same, here’s a list of what needs to be baked into your new site. This will equip you with some knowledge — and the ability to ask specific questions — to make sure you’re not paying someone for a clunker of a website.

The following criteria will help you attain a website that functions well, and gives you a good ROI …

1. Custom Web Design: Your site should be customized to your company’s personality, goals and needs. Avoid cookie-cutter sites that make you look like everybody else.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Every nook and cranny of your site needs to be optimized with SEO in an effort to bring more visitors to your site. Ask your potential web design firm IF they do SEO, and HOW they do it. They should tell you they optimize every single title tag, meta description, image name, alt image name, headline, copy and text link. Don’t say this to them, just know they should be saying it to you! I will bet you a cup of coffee they don’t mention most (if any) of these optimization methodologies. Oh, and they should be creating a custom keyword report for you — and meeting with you to review and explain it.

3. User Experience (UX): UX is exactly what is sounds like — the positive, negative or neutral experience a viewer has when they visit your site. This needs to be discussed. If it’s not, you could wind up with a lot of noise and distraction on your site, which is a big turnoff to visitors. Visitors need to immediately feel comfortable when they arrive on your site, and easily understand the lay of the land. Content, imagery and calls-to-action need to be easy to digest — without having to think about it. This adds up to a pleasant experience that helps build trust. Same deal here. Don’t divulge this info to the web design firm you are considering, just ask them what they do to ensure a solid UX and see what they say …

4. Conversion: A solid website conversion strategy ensures that the visitor knows exactly what to do next. Whether it’s filling out a contact form, giving you a call, or downloading some complimentary content, conversion strategies need to be crystal clear. The best way to create a conversion methodology is to focus on the solutions you provide to ease someone’s pain. In other words, provide a benefit. Never use fear tactics, or try to strong arm — or over promise.

5. Desktop & Mobile Design: Your site needs to be responsive, AND be designed for both desktop and mobile so the user experience and conversion methodologies do not suffer because of a different screen size.

There’s more to it than this, but these five items can put the power in your hands to make sure you’re hiring the right web design firm to build your website.

For more information about SEO …
You can download a free chapter from my book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing.

Buy the book …
If you’d like to learn more about the entire web design process, you can buy A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing on Amazon.

Thanks for visiting!

The post What Successful Web Design Looks Like appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

The following is an excerpt from my book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing …

Getting your website to appear at the top of search results can be compared to how a raft works. Let me explain …

Imagine that you’re embarking on a whitewater rafting expedition. You and five fellow adventurers are ready to brave the rapids — and probably get soaking wet!

What would happen if you took your un-inflated raft out of your car and threw it in the water? It would sink, right?

Before you get into your raft, you have to pump it up to the optimal number of pounds per square inch (PSI). With every pump of air, your raft comes closer to its optimal PSI, which makes the raft more and more buoyant.

Half pumped, some parts would probably be above water and others below, but the raft would not yet be ready to bear any weight. Once you’ve attained the optimal PSI, the entire raft will sit on the surface of the water — even with six people in it!

Your website, metaphorically speaking, is similar to a raft. It needs to be “pumped up” before it can rise to the top. But instead of air being the catalyst to bring it to the surface, your SEO efforts help your website become more buoyant.

Every well-optimized web page and blog post is like a pump of air into that raft, assisting with your website’s “buoyancy factor.” The same is true for your social media efforts. Every optimized social platform, and every optimized post, is like a pump of air that improves the “PSI” of your website. As mentioned earlier, Google My Business is going to be the most influential channel for SEO value.

Want to learn more about SEO?
Check out A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing, or contact Cuppa SEO Web Design anytime to schedule a complimentary consultation to discuss.

Stay well!

The post SEO & The Raft Analogy appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Optimized images help improve the SEO value of your website and blog. They also make it possible for people to find you through the Google Images tab during an organic search. 

In the example below, I did a search for “SEO Madison WI.” Note how the entire first row of search results in the Google Images tab are Cuppa SEO homepage images …

“Logo.png” or “Image12867.jpg” are meaningless to Google, so the algorithm just moves on and pays these images no mind. Instead, use a phrase that’s rich in one or more keywords that are relevant to each particular page or blog post. In other words, name that image! It will improve your SEO!

How to Implement an Optimized Image Name

1. It’s best to optimize an image name BEFORE you upload it to your website or blog. But if you’re beginning work on optimizing an existing website or blog, you won’t have that luxury. If this is the case, you’ll have to save your current website images to your computer or a cloud account like Dropbox or Box. Now you’re ready to caffeinate each image with some SEO.
2. Take out your keyword report. It’s the foundation for optimizing every image. Don’t have a keyword report? Contact Cuppa SEO Web Design for a consultation — we can create one for you!
3. Assess what your image is about. For this example, let’s say you own a dental office and you’re optimizing an image for your root canal page.
4. The original image name is: “IMG_28651.jpg,” which has neither SEO value nor value to the human eye.
5. You look at your keyword report and determine “Root Canal Madison WI” is a good keyword phrase for this image.
6. So you change the image name to “Root-Canal-Madison-WI.jpeg.” Or even better, maybe you include your business name: “Caffeinated-Dentist-Root-Canal-Madison-WI.jpeg” (fictitious, of course).
7. Notice how I’ve structured the hierarchy of these image names with each word being separated by a dash. There are NO spaces, and NO underscores — both of which would hurt the SEO value of the image.
8. Now, within this one image name, “Caffeinated-Dentist-Root-Canal-Madison-WI.jpeg,” I am actually using ALL of the following keywords: Dentist, Dentist Madison, Dentist Madison WI, Root Canal, Root Canal Madison, Root Canal Madison WI.

As you might have guessed, at first it may be a challenge for you to fit six different keyword phrases into one image name. It’s not something we’re expecting you to be able to do out of the gate, but it’s a good goal to shoot for as you become more and more comfortable with naming images.

Want to learn more about optimizing your image names and your website? Check out A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing by Joey Donovan Guido (our fearless leader over here at Cuppa SEO). Or, contact us anytime to schedule a complimentary consultation — we’re happy to take care of optimizing your website for you!

The post Image Names Matter More Than We Think appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

And they’re still not.

If you are engaging (or thinking of engaging) with people you know — or total strangers — in this way, my advice is to consider a more humanistic option.

NOBODY likes to be cold sold — heck, nobody likes to be sold no matter what the circumstance or the relationship.

Selling is transactional. There’s no humanity in it. And in our pandemic era, it is more unsavory than ever because everyone’s struggle, everyone’s trauma is exacerbated.

Instead of barraging someone with sales speak, we’ve always been proponents of building relationships.

Some of these relationships lead to business, some to friendships, and some just remain acquaintances.

With a focus on relationships and connecting with others, nobody every feels sold because you’re not trying to sell.

The key here is remaining VISIBLE and actively cultivating relationships — which takes more time and effort than a blanket email to 2,000 people. It means adding another Zoom call or two to your week, or actually engaging with your LinkedIn network.

The surprising things is this is the opposite of dreadful — even though I’m extremely busy — because it gives me opportunity to connect, and reconnect with people which has intrinsic value in and of itself, especially in a pandemic …

… these conversations are fruitful on many levels, one of which is the fact that they sometimes lead to business growth in a very humanistic way.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post Pandemic Business Growth appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

You know the way you cringe when you see, “in 2018 we will pursue…” on a website you’re browsing? An annual content audit of your website will minimize a potential client associating that feeling with your business. Here’s how to start a repeatable process you can implement year after year.   

Step 1: Make sure your site map is accurate.

Don’t have one? Get started! A site map is an outline that lists all the pages on your website. There are a number of web tools, like Flowmapp, to help you build an elaborate site map or you can simply set up an outline in a Word or Google document.

Step 2: Determine what you can delegate.

Are you lucky enough to have a team? Great! Start deputizing folks as subject matter experts (SMEs) and assigning them pages on the website to review. I prefer to do this by color coding my site map, creating a key, and sending it to my team for approval. Explain they are receiving this because you think they are the organization’s experts and best suited to confirm if the information on their assigned pages is current and accurate. Everyone loves to feel important, right? Ask to review the list and confirm their assignments are appropriate.

Step 3: Transcribe Away!

While you’re waiting for confirmation you’ve selected the right SMEs, you can get to work transcribing your website. You’ll start with your site map and add in your web copy page-by-page. At Cuppa SEO, we like to use a program like Google Docs for this because it allows for real-time collaboration and visibility. 

Step 4: Your Review

It’s best if you require all changes to be made in “suggesting mode” in the document. If you’re working in Word, you’ll use a feature called “track changes.” This way, you’ll know exactly how much of the content needs updating when it comes time for implementation. If you haven’t finalized your SMEs yet, use this time to do a cursory review of the document for anything you would normally own (grammar, spelling, etc.) and make updates as needed. Still not ready for delegating? Charge ahead and complete the pages you’ve assigned to yourself. It will help your team to understand how to make their edits if they can see how you’ve begun the process. 

Once everyone has confirmed their SME role, share the document with them and clearly explain your timeline, how you would like them to log edits and how they should confirm to you they have completed their review. 

Step 5: Implementation

Get rolling with those website updates! Do this at least once a year to keep your site fresh and current.

The post When Was the Last Time You Did a Proper Website Audit? appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

When it comes to web design, not to mention online marketing as a whole, the world would be a better place if this book, As Little Design as Possible, were required reading for every professional.

Written by Sophie Lovell, the book examines the design sense of a man named Dieter Rams, who ran the design team at Braun for nearly 50 years. And although he created real-world (what I like to call analog-world) products, the concepts Dieter follows work in any medium — even in 2020.

In a nutshell his philosophy is: “less but better.”

When it comes to websites, less distraction, less movement, less confusion, less noise = less, but better design.

Maybe I should rephrase that as mindful design, as there’s still design involved …

Sure, movement on a webpage may look cool to the developers on a web design team — but that doesn’t mean it’s best for the website visitor (in fact, it can be quite nauseating). When we look at the visitor — the potential client or customer — design moves away from what “looks cool,” or what’s on-trend, and becomes more difficult.

Why more difficult? Because it moves into the realm of what’s the best way to design this for the USER so they have an outstanding user experience on a website, in turn making it more likely they will ENGAGE …

In other words, websites need to be designed so they are functional, easy to use — and look good, too.

In this case form follows function, as opposed to form following design sense that’s not grounded in the user’s experience.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post As Little Web Design as Possible appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Of course, as with most businesses, the pandemic put the kibosh on these plans, at least temporarily.

And although it felt natural to be proactive in transforming Cuppa SEO Web Design, I kind of didn’t think too much about my speaking and consulting until recently — when it became clear to me that I was waiting for the right moment to start speaking and consulting again.

The right moment? When will that be? Two months from now? Two years?

In an instant I realized that waiting until conditions were better was akin to waiting for the right moment to have kids or start one’s own business. The “right” moment may never come — all we have is this moment.

The last thing I wanted was for two years to pass and not have grown as a speaker or consultant — let alone to be in the same place professionally in those areas. So, I’ve decided to just start offering online workshops and consulting services until we’re able to safely be around people again.

Why am I telling you all this?

Because I don’t want you to wait around for the “right” moment, either. It’s the businesses that are being proactive during this time that are excelling — or at least surviving. So if you want your business to survive, here’s what I recommend:

1. Assess your business processes and how they can be improved during the pandemic and beyond. There’s an excellent tool for this called MindNode that can help you see your processes visually, determine sticking points, and then discuss solutions with your team. That’s what we did here at Cuppa SEO Web Design, and it’s been SUPER helpful.

2. Talk with your team to see if there are new ways to do business. You might find some low-hanging fruit to get you through the pandemic — or you might find some things that transform your business in the coming years. It’s worth a shot and you won’t know unless you have the discussion.

A good example of this is Lighthouse Healing Massage Therapy (the owner happens to be my wife). Lighthouse, of course, provides massage therapy, but also does a lot of energy work and shamanic work, too. When the lockdown occurred, my wife Kara and I discussed alternatives to in-person sessions and we came up with virtual versions of her energy and shamanic work.

Did all of her clients book virtual appointments? No. But some did, and she was able to help them in a way that didn’t exist for her just days earlier. This kind of thinking has lead the development to even more online programs that are being finalized. In a few years, I can see her business being completely transformed by what we’ve learned over the past few months.

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

The post Are you being proactive with your business during the pandemic? Or simply waiting for it to be over? appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

The post User Experience and Website Navigation appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

Although we’re talking about website design here, I’d like to take a step back and share a real-world experience that shows how choosing form over function can cause a poor user experience — and ultimately make a product unusable, or at the least non-optimal for the end user.

Choosing Design Over Functionality: a Mini Case Study

I recently upgraded my iPhone and purchased a case to protect it.

The design of the case was beautiful, complete with wood inlay art on the back.

Regarding function, the online description of the case promised a “raised bezel” for screen protection. Since protection was an attribute I was looking for, I bought the case.

The Problem

Upon placing the case on my phone, I noticed there was NO raised bezel to protect the phone’s screen, and that putting the phone face down exposed the screen directly to whatever surface it was placed upon.

What’s happened here is two major things …

My expectations weren’t met, and they should have been based on product specs. This raises the issue of delivering what you promise, which we won’t dive deeply into here (maybe in a another post).

The other issue is the fact that the company that makes these cases chose form over function.

In a tech world where Jonny Ive (Apple’s long-time product designer) strives for an ever-slimmer aesthetic, case makers have followed suit to make cases ultra thin. What the fascination with thin is, I don’t personally understand, especially when a slightly thicker iPhone would make the back of the phone FLAT, as opposed to having a camera protrusion, which would be a better design — and a better user experience — for all of us iPhone users.

Regarding the case in question, the problem is the MAIN function of a case is to protect your phone, and removing a protective component to add a few less millimeters of thickness defeats the purpose of the product.

In this case (pun intended) the manufacturer of this case, and many other cases I’ve researched, are all choosing form over function — which means they’ve gotten it all wrong.

Good design is design that holds functionality at the forefront, allowing the design to SUPPORT functionality, and actually make the product more intuitive to use. Think Mac vs. PC (sorry Microsoft, but it’s true).

What This Has to Do With Your Website Design

When a visitor arrives on your website, they typically have a specific reason: to attain information, buy a product or service, schedule an appointment, etc.

The function of your website is to make it as easy as possible for a website visitor to take the action YOU WANT THEM TO TAKE NEXT, which means you need to make it as easy as possible for the visitor to understand what you offer and if it solves their problem (what I often refer to as a pain point).

If the design of your website supports this philosophy, that’s great! It’s also following a solid, proven user experience and conversion methodology.

For example, the Cuppa SEO website homepage provides brief descriptive copy that lets you know exactly how we can help, followed by two (and only two) calls-to-action that lead the viewer to where they want to go. No distraction, no confusion.

Here’s another example of a homepage where function is fully supported by design:

On the other hand, if the design of your website looks like this, offering you’re in trouble …

As you can see, it has no less than FIVE navigations (I’ve counted the ad at the top of the page as a navigation element as this is prime real estate, and typically where your navigation should live). This homepage also offers no clear conversion strategy.

The result? I’m left with not really knowing where I am, what I’m looking at or what to do next. The desire to design this website without placing functionality at the forefront has created confusion — which is a bad user experience.

Want more info about this topic and others like it?
Check out my book, A Holistic Guide to Online Marketing.

The post Website Design 101: Never Forsake Function for Design appeared first on Cuppa SEO.

A fellow author, Scott was one of the original reviewers of my book, and since then we’ve become marketing comrades. Scott has a deep knowledge of marketing, and these days his focus is predominantly content strategy, and CRO — which is an acronym for conversion rate optimization — a critical, yet often misunderstood, element of online marketing.

In case you’re not familiar, our spotlight series always highlights an amazing small business that stands out from the crowd for their excellent service, products — and all-around awesomeness.

So, let’s get to know more about Scott and his business …

Who Are You?

I like to call myself “Chief Optimizer” for Webdirexion LLC — a digital marketing agency and custom wordpress site development company. I am a Pacific Northwest native who enjoys coffee, pizza, tai chi, and camping — not necessarily in that order.

I find myself reading mostly technical books these days, but also enjoy reading philosophy, spirituality, science fiction and mystery tomes. I worked closely with Joe Pulizzi, the Godfather of content marketing, for a number of years so it will be interesting to plumb through the content of his forthcoming first fiction title — a mystery. I am the author of the Marketer’s Complete Guide to CRO, and currently am working my way through the AMA certification course for digital marketing.  It is remarkable how much MarTech changes in a short amount of time.

What Do You Do?

Though I love being in all the “trenches” of digital marketing, nowadays I find myself focusing on content strategy, and CRO — conversion rate optimization. Of course, running the agency is another part of my responsibilities.  Those three areas keep me busy nowadays.  I am often the primary client contact for the team, though we look to expand and bring more team options soon.

Why Do You Love Doing It?

My first blogging tool was a manual typewriter and in college I loved working for both the student newspaper and the yearbook.  There is something very satisfying about holding a publication (or viewing a website) that contains the communication you have worked hard to produce.  My Father was a 40-year newspaper man, but on the production end.  I worked in the advertising department of the daily newspaper during college, and later prepared sales materials for printing (writing, design, production) for an international corporation — all pre world wide web.

Then the web came along and everything changed, though at core — smart marketing communications remained the same.  The four P’s of marketing.  The 4, 5, or 6 C’s — depending on how you lay out the concept.  These are the same throughout the tremendous technological innovation we have seen.  Customers. Competitors. Content. Costs. Conversions.  Some Gurus add “Climate”, but I think that is covered in the first two C’s.  Why do I love breaking this down and assisting clients to work their way through it?  It’s the pathway to success.

How Does it Help People?

It helps them focus on a proven sequence of smart communication tactics with the right persuasion built in so they end up with a marketing investment that pays off.

If you’d like to learn more about Scott and his business, feel free to visit Webdirexion.com, or check out his book on Amazon.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, this is what Scott actually looks like …

Want more tips and insights from Cuppa SEO?

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