Posted by Cris Rominger on Fri, Aug 07, 2009
By Cris L. Rominger
What are the 9 must-have qualities of a user-focused B2B website design?
When approaching a re-skin or redesign of your company's website, it's helpful to keep in mind both branding goals and user goals.
For example, consider these questions:
Website branding goals
Do the changes communicate professionalism? Are they appropriate for our industry/market?
Do the changes render error-free on different browsers? At different resolutions? On different operating systems?
Website user goals
- Do the changes help users accomplish their goals on the site quickly and easily?
- Are we communicating a clear value proposition?
- Is our site organized for our visitors? Are the paths to information clear?
- Is the orientation clear? Is the labeling instructive?
- Does our content instill trust and credibility? Is it formatted for online readers?
- Does our writing compel visitors to take action?
- Is our content portable?
Managing design to hit branding goals
While these questions may sound straightforward, they are also very easy to overlook in implementation.
Last October, Forrester Research released its Best and Worst of Brand Building Web Sites, 2008 Report. They looked at 20 top brands through two key questions:
- Does the site cater to user needs? (termed “brand action” in the results)
- Does the site support brand positioning?
The results were shocking: only 4 sites passed test #1 – Does the site cater to user needs? Only 7 sites passed test #2 – Does the site support brand positioning? And only 1 site passed both tests.
Fixing branding problems
According to Forrester principal analyst and report author Ron Rogowski, “Common Brand Action problems included poor text legibility, confusing category names, and missing or buried content. On the Brand Image side, sites were guilty of layouts, imagery, and production values that failed to support brand positioning. To improve the online brand experience, top firms should document their users’ goals, clearly define their brand attributes, and map relevant attributes to the right target users.”
Rogowski goes on to recommend that companies “…should also collect brand positioning statements and conduct Brand Image Reviews to ensure that the site presents the brand’s core attributes in a manner that is consistent with other channels and relevant to target users.”
Self-Check Site Changes
If you need to evaluate your proposed site changes, try going down the free checklist we have posted called The B2B Website ROI Checklist.
Learn More
Learn more about our B2B Website Design Services
Posted by Rebekah Donaldson on Tue, Aug 04, 2009
NOTE: A big thank you to Jep Castelein of LeadSloth on Demand Generation for his contributions to this post.
By Rebekah E. Donaldson
Say you are a CEO paying for search engine marketing services — also known as SEO services or SEM services. What result are you seeking?
Qualified leads, of course.
Today’s article is about the cheapest, most direct route to that result.
In particular, do you really need SEO consulting from people like me, if you can get SEO software for less?
Some savvy business people seem to think ”no.”
For example, a few weeks ago I read Shar VanBoskirk’s post, “Search Marketing Automation Will Compete With Agencies.” In it she describes up and coming Altruik as “SEO automation vendor”.
(She says later that they’re making “technology-enabled” search marketing possible. Which seems a world apart to me. But more on that below.)
SEO consultants wrote in with strong objections. More notably, even Altruik’s CEO, Tom Kwon, distanced himself from the idea that software can automate SEO!
Kwon wrote:
“…I don’t think there will ever be a white hat SEO solution that guarantees rankings….
“Everyone asks me about ranking, ‘how do I improve the ranking of my website?’, I usually respond as follows: Good organic rankings are the result of a comprehensive program that encompasses both on-page and off-page SEO strategies. Successful SEO strategies combine the two to gain and maintain rank power….
“Our goal is to empower all the highly skilled SEOs and SEMs with our platform to make visibility and on-page SEO easier. We will always need these skilled individuals and their services to ensure a well-rounded SEO program overall.”
Your take-away: Makers of SEO software urge you to use of skilled individuals. And it’s not just because SEO services providers are a big channel for them.
Being found versus being successful
The reason SEO must involve people is that being found is a long way from being successful. And to you — the person paying for SEO services — ’success’ doesn’t = getting found in search engine results!
Success means getting found and getting qualified leads. The latter is an order of magnitude harder than the former.
People optimize content
There are two essential tests to run on search-optimized content:
- Test #1 – Does this content help our prospects?
- Test #2 – Does this content help search engines?
A well rounded SEO pro will help its client consistently pass both tests.
Wanted: SEO copywriting skills
I’m hearing Tom Kwon saying in his comment that Altruik is designed to help you pass test #2.
To pass test #1 you need to be a strategic marketer armed with sound competitive analysis and monster business writing skills adapted to following complex online content and conversion optimization rules. (More on this in our recent e-book.)
If software can help us pass test #1, we should call him “Hal” (after the artificial intelligence that takes over in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey).
Technology-enabled SEO, yes
To be fair, Shar also said that SEO is more and more technology-enabled. That is right. But I’m not sure it’s news.
Back in the day, we used WebPosition software to keep track of clients’ rankings and check on-page optimization.
Today one of our tools is Hubspot Marketer, software as a service which has a good UI and is backed by an energetic support team. Among other things, we use it to see rank changes relative to competitors, do keyword research, create landing pages, track what’s helping our lead funnel vs what’s a waste of time, and other modules.
No tool named “Hal”
Even Hubspot is no “Hal” — and it’s not trying to be, either.
Hubspot provides site owners with lots of best practices and ideas to make best use of the system and create high-quality content. If site owners don’t have the time to educate themselves on inbound marketing, Hubspot recommends they get help from qualified agencies.
Because in the real world, you need to impress both human prospects and search engines. That’s how you take your website’s rank to the bank.
Posted by Cris Rominger on Fri, May 29, 2009
If you’re looking for practical, best-practices marketing advice on what works and what doesn’t, you can’t beat MarketingSherpa’s research. Nothing but tried-and-true findings straight from the trenches. The recently released 2009 Ecommerce Benchmark Report is full of new information to help drive sales. Here’s why I’m a fan…
We’re loyal followers and avid readers of their products – and also affiliates. That means you can purchase new reports at a discount from our site. Very cool.
Zero in on what matters to you
I especially like how MarketingSherpa acknowledges that not all organizations are created equal and what works in one industry doesn’t necessary work in another. That’s why they’ve separated out lessons to be learned from “High Knowledge” organizations that are making use of advanced web analytics and automation. And why they’ve broken out data for B2B vs B2C products and B2B vs B2C services.
That means, as a B2B marketer, I can look at products or services data and zero in on:
- Trends, benchmarks, and challenges
- Metrics for cart abandonment, tools and promotions, and shopping cart tests
- Free and paid media tactics and tests
- Email, offline, search, and social media tactics
- Conversion rates
Think beyond pricing
Knowing we’re all coping with lean economic times, the report also highlights tactics and tools that can increase revenues without further chipping away at slim margins, such as:
- Limited time/inventory promotions
- Loyalty programs
- Customer reviews/ratings
- Product videos
Find answers to top questions
Most importantly, the report answers questions that are top of mind for many ecommerce marketers, such as:
- How can I lower shopping cart abandons?
- What percentage of repeat customers should I expect?
- What motivates online shoppers to buy?
- What marketing tactics bring the best ROI?
- What’s the average ecommerce search click conversion?
- How does my site’s search presence stack up against our competitors’ visibility?
We’re conducting a shopping cart audit next week. As an e-retailer, it’s too easy to lose touch with your customer’s experience. Having an objective third party test the waters can help ground you in the user’s perspective and answer questions such as:
- Is it working the way we expect?
- Where are the leaks?
- What is causing friction?
- How can we make it easier?
Help a marketer out
Here’s where you can do your part for the greater good. We’ve likely all had a bad online shopping experience. If there was one thing – or two or three – that you’d change to make a process easier, what would you suggest?
My pet peeves are 1) being asked to enter my shipping address, even if it is the same as my billing address. Couldn’t you just give me a checkbox: “Use billing address as shipping address”; 2) wiping out all my data if I try to submit without filling in a required field; 3) not letting me change the quantity ordered once I’m hit with the grand total.
What are some of your online shopping rants?