Businesspeople possess a unique opportunity to be more than just a cash funnel to their customers. A few steps to improve the company blog can work wonders for customer relations.

The next competitor to you doesn’t have to beat you on price if he or she has the customer’s love. In this century, any illusions you still entertain about controlling the customer relationship need to be pummeled from you forthwith.

Fear not, I have a large club full of ideas and a decent reach. We’re going to improve your company blogging today…

You don’t have one? Please get one. Easy free solutions from Google’s Blogger or from WordPress exist.

Committing time to blogging will be a problem? I’m terribly sorry. I don’t have a tissue handy.

See, the time used to blog shouldn’t be viewed as a consumption, but as an investment. You don’t complain about taking money to the bank, do you?

I’m letting you in on a big secret about human nature, one that few people understand well if they do know it. People want to believe in something. Your customers want to believe in your authoritative voice on the topic of whatever it is you have to place in a virtual shopping cart.

They long to understand that in a world of beeps, boops, and boings, someone listens. You are in a business which I expect you understand at least in a nominal fashion. Share that understanding. Yes, the difference between Product Version 1 and Version 1.1 may be nominal, trivial, and pedantic to discuss.

It’s a piece of information you understand. Conveying it through the company blog says “I know these things, I know them well, and you’re a better consumer for doing business with me.” People want this, conveyed a little more gently, probably. 

The investment you make consists of details, provided through a blog. It’s marketing, brand reinforcement, and an ongoing solicitation to do business with an absolute professional. Provided, naturally, you communicate that way.

Blogging quality ranges from outstanding to “did this person skip grammar and spelling in school” types of bloggers. Spellcheck fixes a multitude of sins, and having a trusted person look at your post to find the stuff spellcheck missed will grab most, if not all, of the rest.

No matter how much work you put into blogging, you’re going to make a mistake somewhere. My personal demon: writing billion for million and vice versa. No idea why, but I’ve done it a couple of times and had it pointed out to me. Sometimes even politely.

This is how you handle a mistake you made, in blogging and I think elsewhere in the business. Acknowledge it, fix it, and move forward to the next issue. People seem to want contrition as much as they want to believe in something. Provide a reason to forgive; fix the problem. Letting a mistake simmer to boiling over the proverbial pot will leave you regretting it.

As for the negative comments you will see at some point, gain what you can from them. The most annoying person in the world may have a valid argument. These days, they expect to be able to express it; worthy complaints merit a decent response.

I can’t tell you how to be interesting, funny, and compelling with your writing. We’re all different, in blogging and elsewhere. Write honestly, authoritatively, and regularly (a post a day, you can manage that), and leave no one the option to claim you aren’t trying to embrace your customers.

About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Unique web content is your most valuable asset, and ensuring search engines can read it is crucial. Text embedded in images or Flash cannot be read, so make sure you use important keywords, headings, and hyperlinks in plain text form. Instead of using images as navigation links, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easy to format those links to look more like ‘buttons’, thus creating powerful anchor text as well as making it visually appealing. Use heading tags properly and don’t try to hide keywords or text by making it the same color as the page background or shrinking it so it can’t be seen. Make sure the keywords you wish to rank high for are used frequently in the page copy but within reason.

Now that you’ve created good content, is it actually being crawled? Copy and paste a page’s URL into a search engine to see if it has been indexed. If you’ve just created the page, it may take a few days to show up. Aside from age, many factors can lead to web pages not being indexed by search engines, such as duplicate content (ie. a printer-friendly version of a page might be indexed and the normal version not, or vice versa); links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML; poor site architecture (ie. using too many sub-directories); lengthy, dynamically generated URLs using special characters; and orphaned pages.

The Author: John Metzler has held executive positions in the search engine marketing industry since 2001. He is the Founder of FreshPromo, a Canadian-based SEO firm and updates his blog regularly.

by Mike Hallaron
MH1 Web Design & Hosting

More small and medium-size companies are discovering that with websites, sometimes “less is more.” In the 1990’s and early part of this century, there was a tendency to create large, sprawling sites packed with a broad array of content. This “everything plus the kitchen sink” approach still can be found all across the Web. But, we find that smaller designs and focused content often leads to better results, e.g. higher website sales, more traffic and better response rates from your company website.

An effective business website begins with a good marketing plan. You must understand your target audience and build the site with them in mind. Smaller, cleaner website design means focusing the site on your highest profit margin products or services or areas of your business that need more attention. There is no need to show the complete catalog of items you sell or services you provide. Narrow it down to specifics and then tailor your content to make sure the site visitor knows instantly what you do, why you are better then the copmpetition and why they should buy from you. Lay it out in clear unmistakeable steps to make the process flow easily and swiftly.

The first rule of great web design is “Don’t make them think.” Visitors to your site should not have to guess or give a second thought when navigating your site. Planning simple, clear navigation layout and link names is vital to site usability. If they get bogged down guessing where they are then you have lost them. They will click off to another website.

Resist the creative compulsion to entertain them with too much flash, music or other bells and whistles. An effective business website should look professional and attrative but don’t let your creative side dictate the entire layout.  The site should reflect your company’s personality but don’t neglect your textual content. In most cases, serious prospects or buyers will want to read the details of your offer and weigh the features and benefits of your product or service, so don’t rely solely on photographs to sell for you. Spend adequate time and effort on your text. Hire a proven web copywriter is need be. There are tricks of the trade unique to writing for the Web.

The  ”less is more” approach  is really all about focus. Focus on who is visiting your website and what you want them to do. Make it very easy for them to use your website and make sure your message is crystal clear in direct, simple English. Don’t be distracted by other sideline products and services and related information. Focus on your content and the point of your message.

by Bryan Eisenberg

Does your site have an “About Us” page? Do you have one simply because everyone else does? What’s the real value of such a page? Do you know how to maximize its value?

The “About Us” Opportunity

Many companies love to talk about themselves. That’s why we developed an online analysis tool several years ago that counts certain words on your site that are key indicators of whether your focus is on the customer or on you.

To buy, customers must hear about themselves and what you can do for them.

When a customer clicks on your “About Us” page, she’s giving you permission to talk to her about your company. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t focus on what she needs. Just because she’s asking about you, doesn’t mean you get to bore her with what you’re excited about or leave her with more questions, or even make her doubt if she should buy from you.

An “About Us” page is a tremendous opportunity to cement a relationship with many prospective customers. It can put a human face on an otherwise technical, dry, and impersonal page. Properly written, it can provide some serious buying resolve to certain customer segments.

Humans want to connect with other humans. That’s easy to forget in a transaction-focused business world. Yet consider MySpace.com’s explosive success. What’s MySpace if not a massive collection of “About Me” pages?

The same power of human attraction can be properly used in a persuasion scenario in which the “About Us” page acts as a waypoint.

Common “About Us” Page Mistakes

• You tell what you do, instead of who you are. LendingTree.com is an incredible online service. Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know a little bit about the company? Who started Lending Tree? Why? What are the company’s values? This page just feels like another sales pitch. It’s the same with Buy.com. Of course, it’s important to tell us what you do, but put that content on another page. When visitors click on “About Us,” they want to know about you.
• The content is thoughtless. Many “About Us” pages seem like a copy-and-paste job. Any old creative will do. E-Trade just seemed to paste its mission statement here, preceded by a thoughtless paragraph.
• Where are the people? Humans are attracted to humans, so why do so few sites include photos of company employees? “PC World” includes pictures of its editors in the magazine, but not here. I can’t even find a link to the editors. At least Dell has a photo of Michael Dell, and Google links to fun pictures of its staff.
• The “About Us” page needs an enema. - The vast majority of “About Us” pages are simply boring, stiff, and tightly clenched pages. There’s example after example after example of this. Your “About Us” page should:
  • Let customers see a more human side of your company. E-Trade’s advertising makes it seem like a fun company, but the “About Us” page displays none of that human personality.
  • Tell your company’s story. McDonalds’s does a nice job with this, as does Dave and Busters. A company history timeline is a great way to highlight achievements without braggadocio.
  • Reflect your company’s passion. Check out Nike.com’s “About Us” page.
  • Reflect your company’s personality. If you’re a fun company, your “About Us” page should be fun.
  • Let the customer inside your company. Bungie, makers of Halo, go so far as to have Webcams online.
  • Reiterate your company’s competence to serve the customers by using all the above tools.

If you’re struggling to find customer-centric content to put on this page, here are some examples of visitor questions you can answer on it:

• Why do you do what you do?
• Who are the people behind the company?
• What kind of people will I be working with/buying from?
• What does your company stand for?
• What does your company stand against?

If you need to know more about what customers are asking about your company, ask the people in your company who interact with customers the most.

Conclusion

So many “About Us” pages are a waste of HTML. Though not every customer wants to know more about you, don’t disappoint those who do. Rethinking and rewriting your “About Us” page could result in higher conversion from those who encounter it.

We can write volumes on what a great job MH1 Web Design can do for you. However, we prefer to let our clients sing our praises when we do a good job. Below are recent comments received this week from an old client (City of Shenandoah Texas) and a new one (Living Patterns Lifestyle Coaching). We appreciate their kind words.

“Thank you for all the hard work.”

Manuel De La Rosa, CPM
Assistant City Administrator and
Economic Development Liaison
City of Shenandoah

“I agree,  that Mike has done an excellent job at break neck speed! You are the best!”

Susan Hensley, City Secretary
City of Shenandoah

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“Getting great feedback from clients! You’ve done a fantastic job!”

Keridon Davis, President
LPlifestylecoaching.com