Doug Carter of Carter International Training & Development, Inc. is one of those rare people that pretty much everyone he comes in contact with walks away thinking, “Wow!  That guy’s the real deal.”  In fact, he’s known as one of the most powerful interactive trainers around, with corporations such as Allstate, Fidelity and Americomm, and powerful entities such as Tony Robbins, Bill Bachrach and Michael Gerber raving about him.

So why did Doug come to Prime Concepts Group?  Well, his marketing brand  – particularly his website — wasn’t aligned with his high level of expertise.  In fact, there was no way anyone visiting his website would have any idea that Doug has so much to offer individuals and corporations looking to increase sales, efficiency and profitability.

That’s where we came in.

The first step was restructuring the navigation of Doug’s website for better usability, including creating several funnels to the most important information.  Next, we revamped Doug’s content (the written portions of his website), which was accomplished through a few conversations with Doug (he pretty much wrote all the content himself!)

Third, our creative design team gave Doug’s website a completely new look, capturing the profound impact Doug makes on his clients through powerful imagery.  Finally, our web development team put it all together, resulting in what you now see at www.DougCarter.com.

Check out Doug’s website and let us know what you think!  Is there something you could do to better align your marketing brand with your level of expertise?  If you’d like a complimentary critique, give us a call directly at (316) 942-1111 and mention this blog post.

Below are five simple tips for protecting yourself online against identity theft, costly data breaches and legal liabilities:

1. Use a Unique Password for Everything

Chances are you’ve done some online shopping recently, which means your personal information is now in more online databases than before. It also means your personal information is at more of a risk of falling into the hands of people you’d rather it not. When you’re shopping online, most retailers ask you to create a free account that you can use when you return to shop again. The problem is, most people use the same passwords for all of their online accounts – whether it is sites they shop on, community sites, social media sites, email, etc. Hackers know this, and they love it. If your personal information is leaked anywhere, they can match your email address and password everywhere online – not just the place it was leaked from.

2. Change Your Passwords for 2012

Make it a point to change your passwords before the end of the year. You should have a different password for everything you use – but definitely your email, online banking, mobile service providers, blog, social media. If you use a unique password for all of your online accounts, you can limit the risk you face if (and when) your personal information is leaked online.

3. Make Your Passwords Longer

When you create an account online, you’re probably assuming that the password you’re entering is being kept secure by the company you’re giving it to. Most likely it is (or they think it is), but even encrypted passwords can be cracked using a rainbow table. Words from the dictionary can easily be cracked, and even using passwords with punctuation isn’t that secure.

But if you use a unique passphrase instead of a common word, then the chance of the password being cracked is much more unlikely. An example of this would be “remember to clean up list of to-dos by end of day Friday.” I could put that phrase on a sticky note on my computer or in a Word document so I’d know what my password is, but to somebody else it just looks like a reminder I’ve made for myself.

4. Make Sure Your Webite is Updated

If you have a website or blog, you need to be sure it’s updated. There are thousands of websites using old scripts that have huge security vulnerabilities in them. Hackers will go from site to site quickly testing vulnerabilities with scripts (like SQL injection), and Google makes it easy to find them.

If your website is using an old script, check to see if there is an update available. WordPress is an incredibly popular tool for running blogs and websites, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve logged into a WordPress installation only to find it’s been over a year (sometimes years) since it was updated. WordPress and other scripts release updates for a reason – usually because there are security flaws that have been fixed! If you’re not sure what you’re dealing with, shoot us an email and we can take a look.

If you do end up in a situation when your site has been hacked, make sure you find out how it happened and fix it immediately. Actually, we had a situation where a website had been hacked and we found out who did it – so we reached out to the hacker and worked with him to resolve the vulnerability.

5. Use Terms of Use & Privacy Policy

If you’re collecting information from visitors to your website, it’s important to have these documents available. In the event a hacker is able to steal personal information you’re storing, your Terms of Use and Privacy Policy documents can save you from too much liability. The bottom line, though, is to protect yourself by making sure information is collected in a secure manner.

Do you have any tips or suggestions for staying safe online? Have you ever had your personal information stolen or been a victim of identity theft? Share your comments below, and please pass this information along. Suggest to your relatives and friends over the holidays that they should spend a few minutes updating their passwords heading into 2012 and why.

Here are a couple of other resources to help prevent identity theft and your business network.  We’ve worked with both of them and they are the best. John Silo, Identity Theft Expert www.ThinkLikeaSpy.com and Mike Foster, Network Security Specialist www.FosterInstitute.com

Do Your Marketing Materials, Website and Social Media Match Your Brand’s Promise?

I was talking to a prospect today raving about how he’s built his business through mainly referrals… but now his business has slowed and he wants help.

One look at his website and social media profiles and it was clear why referrals are what has driven his business… because his other promotional efforts lack his brand’s promise.

By that, I mean., they are old, outdated, confusing, lack style, have poor marketing messages and simply don’t communicate the quality or value that his business truly offers.

In short, they are “sales prevention tools” getting in the way of attracting and converting prospects into long-term clients and customers.  They are certainly costing him thousands of dollars in lost sales.

Does that scenario sound familiar? Want to know how to solve these problems?

Here’s your action step:

1. Go look at your website through the eyes of your prospects and ask yourself, “Would I do business with this company?”  Can you easily understand what problems your organization helps to solve or what desires your business fulfills?

2. Next, look at your social media profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube and see if there is a communication disconnect.  Do you have keyword-rich, benefit-driven descriptions that will engage your target prospects to connect with you?  Here is a link to a free replay of webinar on Social Influence. Watch the Video now.

3. Finally, look at your other promotional and sales efforts to ensure that they are congruent with the quality and value you offer. They should be in alignment and be tools that help you find, attract and keep your customers.  If you would like a critique or hot seat to evaluate and improve your results, just let us know…

4. Enter your biggest marketing challenge in the comments below for a chance to win an IPAD.  Answers and winners will show up in future posts.

Many business owners know their website could benefit from a website facelift, yet they don’t want to make the same investment a complete website overhaul would entail.  That’s how Prime Concepts can help.

We’ve created a customizable solution designed to give certain clients who qualify the facelift their website needs for a reasonable investment.  A recent example is accountability expert and leadership speaker, Sam Silverstein’s, website.  Sam helps organizations make accountability their competitive edge, creating more effective leaders, selling more, providing greater service and increasing revenue.

The customized solution we provided for Sam included improvements to his website copy, visual design and graphics, navigation and search engine optimization.  As you can tell from www.SamSilverstein.com, the end result speaks for itself!  If you’re interested in getting more targeted traffic, higher search engine rankings and improved conversions, check out Sam’s “refreshed” site, view the rest of our website design portfolio and learn more about our website development solutions.

Along with video, mobile devices make up one of the fastest growing segments of the internet. Mobile phones have become like a remote control for nearly all aspects of our lives, and Cisco predicts that there will be 7.1 billion internet-connected mobile devices just four years from now.  So how can you capitalize on the popularity of mobile phones?  One way is by having a mobile website.

Mobile websites can be developed for just about all mobile devices, including iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Blackberries and Windows devices.

Would you believe, more than half of our clients are requesting mobile websites now.  The reason?  Because they realize the need to make their brand as mobile as their customers and one of our clients has actually reported significantly more traffic on their mobile site than their regular site!

If you’re a company or organization that wants to get targeted traffic, improved conversions and cater to your website visitor, then you need to make your brand as mobile as your customer.  Your website should be designed with today’s multifaceted Internet user in mind.

So go look at your website using an iPhone, iPad or any other mobile device. If you have Flash on your website or if you have a website totally built in Flash, then the millions of iPhone and iPad users can’t see your content. And while your regular website may show up on a mobile phone, the text will be tiny, some elements just won’t work on mobile devices, and the user has to constantly scroll up, down, left right, in and out.

You should definitely consider getting your website’s content produced in a mobile website format.  This means that the navigation, font size, content layout, and graphics are optimized for mobile devices, and more importantly, mobile customers.

For examples of mobile websites, check out our mobile website design portfolio and learn more about our mobile website design solutions.

That’s why I put together some time-tested and proven tips and strategies designed to give you a big boost in growing your business.  I think you’ll find a lot of value from the quick-read ideas presented in “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business,” which are designed for easy implementation.

The practical marketing approach and proven strategies will help you to:

• Create the Marketing Mindset
• Create Explosive Growth in Your Business
• Utilize Marketing Secrets of the Masters
• Measure Marketing Success
• Design Profit-Rich Marketing Materials
• Write Copy Like the Pros
• Build Your Online Money Machine
• Drive Targeted Traffic
• Use Blog Marketing to Build Your Business
• Monetize Your Social Media Marketing Efforts

Get more details on my “Profit-Rich Marketing: Proven Strategies to Help You Grow Your Business” and leave us a comment to let us know some of the ways you’d like to improve your business.

When you have a complicated product or service, usually the best direction to take with the message and design of your website is clear, simple and modern.

That was our advice to one of our recent web development clients, Agadia.

Agadia is a company that offers Prior Authorization and ePrescribing solutions to healthcare management.  We’ll admit– this was a newer area for us, but the problem with their old website is that it didn’t give us a clear idea of all the great solutions Agadia offers.  Which meant that prospective clients weren’t getting a clear idea either.

As you can tell from their dynamic new website, www.Agadia.com, they put their full trust in our Prime Concepts Group team and the end result speaks for itself!  Check out their new site and tell us what you think before you view the rest of our website design portfolio and learn more about our website development solutions.

Well, Jon Petz’s new book website is anything but boring; in fact, it might just be one of the coolest book websites we’ve ever developed!

But don’t take our word for it– check out www.BoringMeetingsSuck.com and learn more about Jon’s new book, “Boring Meetings Suck” because let’s face it– most meetings suck about as much as most book sites.

And remember, we offer customized website development solutions for everything from simple micro-websites, mobile websites, sales letter (micro) websites and WordPress blog-type websites to fully functional, secure membership websites, social media websites, large scale database websites and eCommerce websites… just to name a few.

The key is to remember that it’s not about making a creative or even a “pretty” website… it’s about communication. Communication of value that builds buyer confidence, improves conversions and results.

So check out our website design portfolio and website development solutions after you leave a comment and tell us how awesome Jon’s site is.

Businesses today need to think about how their customers will use their website and respond to their customer’s needs.

No one would argue that their prospects are checking them out online before doing business with them.  The problem (and opportunity)  is they are viewing your website through multiple devices and formats.

You would think that by now there would be more universal standards for website design, but actually it’s grown tougher each year.

For example, have you looked at your website using an iPhone, iPad or smartphone?  What about through different website browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Explorer?  And then there are different versions of the web browsers, plug-ins, add-ons, and widgets.  Let’s explore smartphone website designs and why it’s important for your business…

If you are a company or organization that wants to get targeted traffic, improved conversions and cater to your website visitor, then you need to make your brand as mobile as your customer. You should have your website designed with today’s multifaceted Internet user in mind.

If you have flash on your website or if you have a website totally built in flash, then the millions of iphone and ipad users can’t see your content.  That’s right, all of those pretty graphics or flash movies are going to show a big goose egg, nadda, nothing but blank space.  Hopefully, Apple and Adobe will come to terms with flash in the future.

There are a few tricks that Internet marketing firms like us have implemented to automatically detect the device and browser type and replace flash with graphics on the fly, but most website designers don’t understand how to do that yet.  Glad I have a team of smart, innovative web designers at Prime Concepts.

Beyond your regular website, you now should consider getting your website’s content produced into a mobile website format.  This means that the navigation, font size, content layout, and graphics are optimized for the the iphone and smart phone devices.

Take a look at these examples of how one of our websites looks on different devices.

Here’s an example of one of our other websites, ProfitRichResults.com and how it displays in a Firefox web browser:

Same website on the iPad: Looks virtually the same except we replaced the flash header area with a fixed graphic, swapped out the flash video of my speaker demo and replaced it with a version that plays on iPhones and iPads, then added special code to the website to automatically detect the device and show the best version for the visitor’s device.

Here is the same website again, but totally reconfigured as a mobile website “m.profitrichresults.com” for easy viewing and enhanced visitor experience on the iPhone and other smart phones.

This screen capture is just a quick example of one of our mobile enabled websites.

This is the same website content shown above in the web browser and iPad, but configured for the iPhone and other Internet enabled mobile and smartphones.

Every month our Google Analytics show that more and more users are reaching our websites using mobile devices.

Yes, I understand that your regular website may show up on a smart phone, but the text will be tiny, some elements just don’t work on mobile devices, the user has to constantly scroll up, down, left right, in and out…

Why make it so hard for your site visitors to benefit from your website and more importantly to do business with you?

It doesn’t matter if your customers use an iPhone G3 or 4, Motorola Droid, HTC EVO 4G, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung Captivate, Samsung Vibrant, Blackberry Tour or Bold 9700, Palm Pre Plus or other type of smartphone.  Some smartphones have touchscreens or keyboards, some have both, but all of them have small screens and you should enable your website content to fit your prospects and customer’s needs.   We’ve created smartphone websites for a wide variety of industries and applications, from retail, wholesale, distributor and online eCommerce stores.

Providing website design services and mobile website development is an ever-evolving process that we approach from a marketing perspective… not from technology.   We can help you grow your business and make your brand as mobile as your customers.

If you want to get your website enabled for the iPhone, iPad, mobile Internet device or smart phone give us a call.  We have reasonable rates and you’ll get outstanding results.

Tell us what you think. What’s your favorite smartphone or smartphone enabled website?  Post your reply and comments below.

You want results. You want more targeted website traffic. You want better conversions from your landing pages to subscribers and sales.

You hire a website design firm or web designer and pay them hundreds or thousands of dollars and expect them to deliver results. Right? Of course you do and so have millions of others. The problem is that there are so many different kinds of web designers offering a wide variety of services and expertise.

Here are five tips to help you find the perfect web designer.

1. Understand that you, the business leader, marketing director or entrepreneur have to control your marketing messages. Web designers may know how to write the code for the site, but they most likely don’t understand marketing.  Don’t believe me. Look at your web analytics and consider how well your current website is performing.  Many came from either a print design background or a self-taught coding background, but I’ve yet to meet one that came from a business or marketing background. That’s another thing that makes Prime Concepts different; we are business growth and marketing professionals with a team of marketers, writers, SEO specialists, graphic designers and web developers.

2. Decide what your goals are for your website in advance. What action steps do you want visitors to take when they visit your website?  Subscribe, download, view video demo, listen to an audio, take a trial, buy something, fill out a request form.  What sections, focus and theme do you want?  Theme meaning areas of your website, not the design theme… that comes later.  Ask your department managers or staff what questions they get asked repeatedly and that will give you an idea of content that you need and how you want to organize it on your website.

3. Interview prospective Web designers and check their portfolio and testimonials. Keep in mind that portfolios are mostly there to give you a sampling and provide social proof that they can do the work.  You’ll want to take a close look at their company website. Do you like it?  Does it communicate what they do effectively?   Is it easy to follow and find their contact information?  One of the things that we offer is a quick website critique where we help you identify areas that would help you improve your search-engine rankings, conversions and website performance.  This can be extremely helpful in evaluating a new web design firm.

4. Don’t get seduced by the technology. I’m talking about the dark side of the force. You know, all of the bells and whistles that some website designers try to use to impress. Keep in mind that the only reason for your website in the first place is the response that it creates.  Are your webpages communicating the value, branding, information and generating leads and sales?  Your website is a communications tool.  What good is it if you have a full flash website that looks cool on some screens, but doesn’t work on iPhones or iPads, takes a long time to load, or has crazy or confusing navigation?   I love flash and other technologies too, but you have to decide carefully why you’re using them and do so appropriately so they improve the visitors’ experience.

5. Select the right Content Management System (CMS) To clarify this tip, you want to select your web designer carefully because I’ve heard way too many horror stories from clients before they came to us about their CMS.  For example, in the past, they paid thousands of dollars so they could update and manage their website content themselves, but they either didn’t ever learn the complicated CMS system, the person that was trained left the company, no one had the time to do it, or they completely screwed up the pages.  Worse, if they wanted to move to a new host or web design firm, they may not be able to move their website because of proprietary CMS systems, licensing or configuration issues.  There are so many different cms solutions (see wikipedia)  so you want to consider all of your options and get qualified advice in advance.  We suggest that at the very least you have a wordpress enabled blog component on your website. You need fresh content for many reasons and can call it a blog, news updates, ask the expert, or anything else. The WordPress code is open source and once configured on your website it’s yours to modify, move and benefit from now and in the future.

Hope this helps you make your decision to find a web designer easier.  Have questions? Ask them below in the reply/comment area or just give us a ring. We’re here to help!

Yes, Prime Concepts Group is located in Wichita Kansas and we offer custom website design services. While over 90% of our clients are throughout the world, we operate an amazing custom web design and internet marketing services firm.

I’m Ford Saeks, an Interent Marketing Speaker, and way back in 1995 I was presenting seminars and workshops on how to grow your business through innovative sales and marketing campaigns. As soon as I was shown the Internet I immediately recognized it was going to be a revolutionary way to communicate, sell and market.

Over the next few years, I focused on presenting full-day and multi-day Internet Marketing training events to help businesses use the internet effectively.  The thing is, that after all of my Internet Marketing presentations people would say, “Ford, you understand what we need for effective website design so can you build our website?”

So, being the entrepreneur that I am, I went to other Wichita website design firms, interviewed them, and said that I could keep their sales funnel full of new clients if they could produce effective website designs and website solutions.  Sounded good to me, I’d make 10 to 15% off the top, they would provide the solution and everyone would be happy… Right?

Not so fast…  I worked with four other Wichita Website Design companies and in each case, they understood visual and graphic design, but they sucked at Internet marketing and knew virtually nothing about search-engine optimization (SEO), or how to create website landing pages that converted visitors into subscribers and buyers.

One company ripped me off so badly (over $100,000)  by selling me public domain website scripts and claiming them as their own. They were so stupid that they didn’t even remove the other Wichita web designs firm name from the copyright programming code. I’d reveal their name, but my attorney said to leave it out. They know who they are.  Okay, enough venting… back to the point.

I had prospects that wanted website design services so I started hiring web designers from Wichita, then trained them on the strategies and tactics of effective website design, SEO, landing page techniques and internet marketing.   I wish I could say that it was easy, but Wichita Kansas isn’t exactly the source for finding skilled website designers.  I did find a ton of talented graphic designers, but most didn’t understand how to translate their skills to HTML.   Now we have a full staff of a dozen talented website development people, all working in our corporate office in Wichita KS.

If you’re in Wichita, stop by and say hello and meet the web design team. You’ll quickly understand how we can help you with a new website design project or Internet marketing make-over. We’re located at 1807 S. Eisenhower St, Wichita, KS 67209 USA. We’re out near the Wichita Airport on the west side.

Since we started offering customized Website development we’ve created over 500 websites in a variety of shapes, sizes and applications. Everything from simple micro-websites, sales letter websites, wordpress blog type websites to fully functional secure membership websites, social media websites, large scale database and eCommerce websites.

You may notice several professional speakers, best-selling authors and experts websites in the Prime Concepts website design portfolio. That’s because I’m in the National Speakers Association, (now a National Board Member too) and speakers understood that I know how to market and sell information type products, like books, cds, dvds, seminars, workshops, training programs, and keynote presentations. They didn’t have to explain the business to me.  You can learn more about me at my Internet Marketing Speaker website.

It’s important to note that we focus on creating website development solutions that help you grow your business. We’ve designed and developed websites in a wide range of industries, from construction, manufacturing, distributing, real estate, health care, financial management, banking, insurance, and retail stores.

My clients don’t care that we’re located in litte ol’ Wichita Kansas and you shouldn’t either.  With the use of Skype, Gotomeeting, video conferencing and other technologies solutions you don’t need to select a local website design firm.  Of course, if you live in Wichita, Andover, Derby, Valley Center and surrounding Wichita area then by all means… check out what we have to offer.  We’re members of the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce and have an A+ Rating at the Better Business Bureau.

You see, I’ve sold millions in products and services for my own business and helped thousands of others grow their business too.   That’s why my clients selected Prime Concepts.

We understand that your website isn’t just about pretty graphics, it’s about top search engine rankings and a website that provides sales, service, marketing, recruitment and is congruent with your unique brand… all wrapped up to provide an amazing user experience and competitive advantage.

Secret # 7. Your web designer shouldn’t be in control of the marketing process

• Identify your specific outcome for each area and page of your website. What do you want the visitor to do?  Fill out a form, subscribe, call, click a specific link, download something, or make a purchase?
  

• Remember that you’re the marketer, regardless of your formal title.  You need to control the sales processes.  Don’t lose navigation ease for special effects. Please avoid a circus look with too many fonts, sizes and colors. Remember to construct the site with clear and redundant navigation. That means adding the main navigation choices to the top and relevant navigation at the bottom of the page.

• Add a site map for the search engines and visitors.  A site map is a directory listing of your pages listed on a pages for easy access.  Make sure your web designer checks the visual layout and menus on a PC / MAC with different browsers.

• Check your site on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Google’s new browser Chrome.  Also, some new java-type menu programs work great on one type of browser and are all messed up on a different type of browsers.
  

• Before you hire any web design firm, or other vendor for that matter do you do diligence and check out their references.  Review samples of their work too! If you don’t see clear marketing messages and actions steps find someone else.  You can check out my client testimonials here.
  

Secret # 8: Use your Stats!  Set up your analytic tracking methods and calculate your visitor value?

This is also know as Value-Per-Visitor (VPV) Take your sales Sales $ dollars for a given period, usually a month and then divide by the number of visitors to your site = VPV (Example: $1000 / 5000 = .20)

How much is each one of your site visitors worth? This will also help you determine how much you can spend in PPC too.  Not to oversimplify, but if your visitor value is only .30 cents, then you wouldn’t want to bid higher than that or you’d be losing money.

For most of you watching this short clip, the point is for you to identify and calculate your sites performance benchmarks.

Do you know how many people visit your site?

What is your average conversion rate? Are people joining or unsubscribing from your lists.  How long are they staying on your site? You can learn a great deal from your site because it tracks everything. Check your site statistics Ask your webmaster. This helps you identify areas for improvement on your site so you can turn more clicks into customers.

We use Google Analytics. Its free and quite powerful. It tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online too.

When you pay attention to your stats and track your results you can then Write better pay-per-click ads (AdWords campaigns), strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. And the best part is that its free!

Lets Review the concepts from this 4-part video series:
(Blog Readers… subscribe to my Youtube Channel at www.Youtube.com/primeconcepts to watch short videos on Internet Marketing.)

1. Get clear on your outcome and purpose for your site (Add value, make a profit)

2. Get more domain names.

3. Design with marketing in mind

4. Create your top 50 Keywords

5. Help the Search Engines find you. SEM / SEO

6. Build your Database

7. Keep the Graphic Designer in check

8. Use your Stats and calculate your value-per-visitor VPV

I hope you’re excited about all the ways you now have to increase your websites performance. Each ONE of the ideas I’ve shared with you today can make you a lot of money if you take the time to implement them.

Remember, whether you’re the an Entrepreneur, CEO, Marketing Director, or Staff Member everyone on the team plays an important role in being sure all of your marketing efforts Add Value and Make a Profit.  Connect with me, Ford Saeks on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/Prime_Concepts

This blog is about both, because when you make your marketing materials more effective — you’ll increase your bottom line.

I’m a big believer in systems, formulas and concepts… anything that’s proven to produce positive results. Here is a basic formula that you probably have heard of… or at least are familiar with if you’ve ever read any good sales material.

It’s called the AIDA Formula.

AIDA is an acronym for the formula used in creating powerful and effective marketing communications, sales letters, and is widely used in advertising too.

A – Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer. Stand out!

I – Interest: raise customer interest by demonstrating features, advantages, and benefits.

D – Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that it will satisfy their needs.

A – Action: lead customers towards taking a specific and measurable action.

Gather up a few samples of your marketing materials or view your website and ask yourself these questions:

1. What’s the PURPOSE for the specific marketing Piece or web page? Again, the AIDA formula applies to your website, print materials and Radio or TV advertising too!
   1. Is it to provide information & support the sale? – Is it to help prospects gain knowledge? Or…
   2. Is it to get the prospect to take immediate action? – For selling & promotion?
2. Is there an attention getting headline? Sub-head?
3. Is there a clear Benefit Message?
4. Who is Your Target Audience?
5. Is it designed with Your Prospect in Mind?
6. How would you score this piece on effectiveness from 1 to 5 stars with 5 being very effective-and 1 being boring and a cure for insomnia?
7. Always ask yourself: “Does this convey the message I want my reader to get?”

Now, make a note of this Action Step: Review all of your materials and see if they follow the AIDA formula, and then identify your super stars! You might be surprised by what you find when you look at your materials through the AIDA formula. This exercise will help you identify which pieces are designed well, and which ones need to be re-designed.

Of course the best measurement for any marketing materials is the response it generates. But when you’re planning your designs you’ll have a head start when you follow the AIDA formula.

Now that you know what to look for, let’s see what you should do when planning new marketing materials? Our goal is to follow the AIDA method. Remember, regardless of your role in the process, if you’re the CEO, Marketing Director or staff member, it’s important for you to understand and use these strategies even if you’re only using desktop publishing or creating more elaborate materials.

Plan ahead by answering the 5 W’s… This is very important.

Get focused on:

Who are you designing to? Who is the target prospect?

What do you want them to know or do?

Why should they care? Why should they pay attention?

Where can they get more info?

When should they respond or take action?

It’s helpful if you actually create a Word Document or template with the 5W’s… Who, What, Why, Where, and When? This will help you and/or your designer understand the purpose of the piece.

Now that you’ve have an understanding of AIDA and the 5W’s, I’d like to explore the two main parts that make up every marketing piece or advertisement… The first part is crafting a compelling message-writing the copy (the words you’re going to use to communicate value). The second part is the layout & design.

Subscribe to this marketing blog’s RSS feed in the upper right hand corner to be notifed of future blog postings where we’ll explore more on how to design effective marketing materials. And of course, post your feedback below!

Whether you’re an actual designer, the CEO, Marketing Director, Entrepreneur or on the team, I’ve got success strategies for every stage in the development process. I am going to assume you already know who you target markets are, and have a clear understanding of your products and services… If not, that’s the first thing to put on your list of action steps.

There is only one reason to create marketing materials… to get your prospects to take action.

This blog posting and video comes with a little warning… because I’m not known for sugar coating my marketing advice. My philosophy is “add value-make a profit” and I want to give you insights that can make a positive impact in all of your marketing efforts… without worrying about your ego or office politics. So if you’re feelings are easily hurt when someone gives you constructive feedback… you may want to read a different blog posting. But if you are ready to get better results-come along as we explore how to improve your results.

I’d like you to make a list of the marketing materials and methods that you’re using now:

Here are a just a few ideas to get your list started:

• Websites
• Ezines
• Banners
• Blogs
• Auto-responders
• Thank you Pages
• Brochures
• Flyers
• Sales letters
• Direct Mail
• Postcards
• Sales letters
• Newsletters
• Catalogs
• Presentation folders
• Media kits
• Signage
• Point-of-Purchase displays
• Product Packaging
• Advertisements in different forms, like radio, tv and print, And so on.

Why do you think most marketing materials don’t get the results you expect?

Well, let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar?

It’s Tuesday morning and you’re gathered around your conference table with your marketing staff, (which might be just you) and your goal is to create a new marketing brochure for one of your new products or services. So you start by spreading out all of your competitors marketing materials to get your ideas flowing.

You read the headline on their brochure, “Full line of Services” so you jot down “Complete line of Services” on your note pad. Next you look at their stock photos and graphics and think, we’ve got something similar to that we can use and away you go! You finish with a nice looking piece… copied after your competitors, with no way of knowing if the competition’s marketing piece was actually effective.

Or maybe, you’re lucky enough to hire an ad agency to help you with the design. Wonderful, they should be experienced to help you create a masterpiece. You give them your objectives and ideas. They create the collateral materials for you. You pay them well for their services. Everyone’s happy. Or are they?

The customer might not be so happy. Why? Because the typical ad agency is in the business of creating “image” type advertising pieces that makes the company look good-often times without effective marketing messages or specific action steps. So they design your piece with a big picture of your building, your logo, or your company president/CEO. Heck, maybe all three.

The problem is that the customer doesn’t really care about your building, logo or even the CEO-they care about what’s in it for them. They want the benefits of your products and services. They want to be informed, entertained and educated. They want solutions to their specific wants and needs.

I heard it all before… “My agency has won several awards”-but awards don’t sell products-marketing messages do. And if the person in charge of the creative hasn’t spent their own money learning the hard way or isn’t experienced in marketing tactics, then you’re doomed to the crap that’s filling up most land fills.

Copycat marketing hurts you and your customer.

Lastly, you cannot measure the performance of your marketing piece or website by how much you spend on it. It’s not what it costs; it’s the response it generates and the profit that it produces that makes it worth it.

So, now that you have your list and materials… go through them through the eyes of the prospect. Ask yourself if you have a compelling headline, sub-headline, attractive offer, social proof, testimonials, and specific measurable action step? Rate them from 1 to 10 with 10 being best. Then strive to improve your results.

Do have examples of great marketing materials or sites? Post a comment below with a link and tell me why you think it worked or didn’t work?

Everyone I talk to as an Internet Marketing Consultant wants to know how to get more site visitors from search engines.  It starts with a basic understanding of how the search engines work-or rather what their responsibility is to their user-the searcher.

The search engine’s job is to provide the best and most relevant results to the person using their search engine to find solutions to their searches. To do that they need to catalog a site’s content and while there are every-changing algorithms for top rankings a critical element for search engine optimization (SEO) is the content, which of course is made of WORDS.

Those words when filled with your “keywords” make up your content.  Knowing which words to use and where to put them on your site is a huge element of SEO to get more traffic.   Keywords and keyword phrases are the same thing.

Here are a few tips for keyword success:

1. Make a list of the main types of prospects you want to attract.

Create a marketing profile for the typical prospect and customer for your business in a word doc. Get as specific as you can so you can put yourself in the “mindset” of the type of people you want to attract.  Ask yourself and evaluate what keywords you think they would type into a search engine to find you, your products or services.

2. Do your research.

Look at your website statistics because that will show you what words people are using now to find you. It doesn’t mean they are the best words, but your stats will show you what keyword phrases they are using now.  We use “Google Analytics” for sites. It’s a free service, easy to implement and offers a ton of benefits.

You want targeted traffic that will convert into customer leads and sales.  Many years ago I optimized my Internet Marketing Speaker website for my name “Ford Saeks” but because my first name Ford is also a major automotive company I was receiving tons of spill over traffic for people looking for Ford cars and Ford car parts, and not my professional services to help people improve their marketing results and profits.  The keywords we use now are related and relevant to what our prospects and customers are searching for to find our solutions.  The research results, our site statistics and usage of the popular keywords research tools all help us optimize our sites for top rankings.

Two of my favortite Keyword tools are:

Google Keyword Tool Sandbox:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

and the WordTracker Free Keyword Tool

There are several other sources for keyword research and they all offer specific advantages and benefits. WordTracker’s Free Keyword Tool and  Google’s Sandbox Tool will keep you busy for a while and help you create a nice list of keywords.

3. Use your Keywords on your website content, blog headlines and postings, articles, media releases, and social media website profiles.

Remember, keywords… sorry scratch that… The right keywords, meaning most relevant keywords that your prospects would type into a search engine are what you want in your content.  This includes the content on your website and any content that you place on other people’s website.

For exampke, if you have your company profile or products listed on directory sites or association listings you want to include relevant keywords.  If you have a blog then your blog headlines and blog postings or comments you place on other people’s blogs should include relevant keywords.  If you are using Social Media Marketing Websites — like FaceBook, Linkedin, YouTube, MySpace, and many others to grow your business — then you need to include your relevant keywords in your profiles and postings.

Make certain that your webmaster understands the proper SEO elements necessary for top rankings so you can take advantage of your keywords.  Or hire an SEO Specialist like me, Ford Saeks, to help you and your organization dramatically improve your search engine rankings and make more money. There are 7 critical places you must place your keywords to get top rankings.  One of the best places on your site is the PAGE TITLE and it must be unique on every page.

I explore over 10 other keyword research and SEO strategies going into much more detail on finding the best keywords, including the seven critical places you must use your keywords to increase your targeted site traffic on Keyword Secrets: 60-Minutes to Simple Keyword Success Audio.

Also, WordTracker offers a 7-day free trial and 7 free keyword videos and a Keyword Basic’s Guide that you and your webmaster will find extremely helpful.  I guarantee it!  

Start Now. Add a comment below on this blog posting with your top keywords and put a link to your website.  This will give you an in-bound link that also helps your site rankings.

Yesterday’s Web looked far different from today’s Web, and tomorrow’s Web will look more different still. Amidst all of this change, however, one aspect of Web use remains the same: The sites that offer the best, easiest, most intuitive experience are the ones people visit again and again.

To ensure that your sites provide the best user experience, you and your web developer need the essential guide from Steve Krug “Don’t Make Me Think; A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability” (2nd Edition)  that distills his years of on-the-job experience into a practical primer on the do’s and don’ts of good Web design. His book is a quick read and while there are a couple of points I don’t agree with for SEO reasons, I agree with his basic concepts outlined below.

The number-one usability rule, most often expressed by users…  

1. Don’t Make Me Think. Basically your website visitor doesn’t want to venture into a site that requires them to figure it out. It should be self-explanatory. Web pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. Buttons should have short text and look ‘clickable.’ The default search for your site should be simple.

2. Design for scanning not reading. By observing users Krug found that people glance, scan some text, and click on the first reasonable option. People scan Web pages, they don’t read them. We don’t make optimal choices, we click on impulse.
 

** In our copywriting courses (Ford Saeks), I express that there are two main types of people reading your copy (text in print or online) and those are “scanners” and “readers.”  You should write your copy for both types of readers. Give enough headlines, subheads, and bullets along with limited use of bold and color to help the scanner get the gist of the main benefits or message, and then enough information for the reader to get the necessary details. Formatting is just as important as the copy. **

Okay, back to Steve Krug’s Book points…

Here are some things you can do to make sure your users understand as much of your site as possible:

a. Create a clear visual hierarchy to show relative importance of content (H1/H2 etc.)
b. Break pages up into clearly defined areas or sections
d. Make it obvious what’s clickable
e. Minimize noise and distractions

3. Users like mindless choices.  We don’t figure out how things work, we muddle through.

4. Omit needless words. Get rid of half of the words on each page, then get rid of half of what’s left. This is especially important on home pages and gateway pages.  

** Now this is the point I would take with a bit of caution. I agree about omitting needless words, but keep in mind that you should be designing your site and writing copy for the VISITOR and the SEARCH ENGINES. Effective use of keywords in headlines, page titles and bullets helps catalog your pages in the search engines. Just make sure you do your best to communicate value and benefits, substantiate your claims with features and credibility, and ensure you have a specific and measurable action step on every page. **

5. Navigation: Use street signs and bread crumbs.  These visual cues help the reader know which page or section they are on and how to get back. They are a navigation element on the page that reflects the structure of the site’s folders and a path back to home along the folder structure. Basically, bread crumbs are where you are at in relation to home, not the pages you’ve visited.

For example, you visit a page and along the top of the main content area are links…

Success Store >> Products >> Books >> Marketing Magic by Ford Saeks

(Yes, I know that underlined text should be linked. This was just an example of bread crumb navigation)

Factoid: The back button accounts for 30 to 40 percent of all Web clicks. Persistent navigation should appear on every page of the site and should include the following five elements:

a. Site ID – headline, logo, name
b. A way home
c. Search features
d. Sections by relevant content, topic, category, or type of visitor
e. Footer Links

Your navigation should answer these questions:

a. What site is this?
b. What page am I on?
c. What are the major sections of this site?
d. What are my options at this level?
e. Where am I in the scheme of things?
f. How can I search?

6. Your home page should convey the big picture

What is the site about? Use a good short tag line and welcome blurb. Rotate site promotions. Remove everything nonessential.

7. Most Web design usability arguments are waste of time

These “religious debates” consist of people expressing strongly held personal beliefs about things that can’t be proven. All Web users are unique. There are no average users. There are no simple “right” answers for most Web design questions. What works is good, integrated design that fills a need, that’s carefully thought out, well executed, and tested.

The antidote for religious debate is to ask specific questions and test with real users. The last three chapters of the book show how to perform testing on the cheap with three or four users. It’s required reading for my design staff and I’m sure it would be helpful for you! 

Have a question… enter it below and I’ll answer it.

Prevent Web Design Disasters

Way too often people focus on the actual “design” steps of web design — the look and feel, colors and so on — and completely miss the mark when it comes to creating an effective design that evokes the proper actions.

Here are a couple of key points to keep in mind the next time you’re planning to create or re-make a website.

First, you need to get clear on what you want the site visitor to do when they visit.

What are the main types of visitors that you want to attract and what information do they need? So often, designers focus on the company or the products and they forget the main point of the site… to communicate something, to get the visitors to take some sort of action, like fill out a form, buy something, interact, read through a series of pages, download something, etc.

My point is that, as a designer, you should get clear on the OUTCOME and PURPOSE of the site and make sure you design the site with that in mind.

Second, before you even design, you should mind map the site either with software like mindjet.com or use 3 x 5 cards, using one card for each page and lay them out on a table or wall so you can determine the best flow and organization for the site. This helps you understand how many sections you’ll need, what type of forms, the navigation scheme and what major graphical elements are needed.

Third, help the client compile the “page titles” and “top keywords – keyword phrases” that you’re going to use when designing the site. That way, you can make sure that each page has the proper page titles to help the search engines properly catalog each page. Sure, there are tons of other SEO stuff that you can do, and as a designer, you need to incorporate that in the process if you’re really going to help your client or for your own website.

Now some designers will tell you that it’s not their responsibility to do the marketing and SEO type stuff and if so, then just make sure that someone is in-charge of the marketing messages on your site, because without the benefits, keywords and action steps, the site won’t produce results. Oh, and if you think that this only applies to sites that sell something… you’re mistaken… because every site has a purpose and if not, why make it?

Keep in mind that colors, photos, graphics and other design elements are there to help you get the visitor to READ the “text” or “copy” (the words) on your site. Text is what sells… Graphics and Photos attract attention. You need to use both of them in balance to make a great site. A great-looking site with the wrong copy is worthless and even the best copy in the world on a poorly designed site won’t be good either.

Of course, as a marketer, I’d tell you to do your research on what your target audience wants and expects to make it congruent with your industry or profession. Then test, test, test and modify elements that aren’t performing, continually tweaking things until you get the best results.

Got any other ideas or suggestions? Post your comments below.

Some of these secrets may seem like common sense, but after reviewing literally hundreds of sites for various companies, I’ve found that way too many businesses are making simple and easily avoidable website mistakes.

Secret # 1: Have a Clear Purpose. Whether you’re just sitting down to map out your site, or you’ve already got your site up and running, stop and take a moment to really look at your site. Ask yourself what the outcome and purpose is for your website.

How does it position you and support your branding? Does it generate leads? Does it just sell automotive products and services or does it also let visitors schedule a sales call, watch a product demo or installation, or download specs? Does your site provide customer service and support? It may be that your site needs to do all of the above.

Sure, you want to make more money, but on top of that, your website must reflect what you want your customers to do. For example, if you want them to buy something, there should be a process in place that guides prospects through the purchase. It should begin with the visitor finding the solution to their need, learning more about it, making the decision to buy the product or service, and then clicking on a button or link to order it.

Maybe the purpose of your site is to build a bigger mailing list, too. To accomplish this, you might want to get visitors to sign up for a monthly ezine. Your process might begin by introducing your newsletter, then outlining its content, providing past issues, and then ending with a subscription box. Make sure you have an automated method of capturing visitor contacts. Get clear on the purpose of your website, then look at it with a fresh perspective.

Secret # 2: Communicate Value and Use Clear Action Steps. You need clear, attention-grabbing headlines and specific action steps on every page. Let me repeat this… you need clear, attention-grabbing headlines and specific action steps on every page.

When I say clear, attention-grabbing headlines, I mean your headlines must ‘hook’ the attention of the reader, and then lead them into your main message. When writing copy, make sure it is benefit driven, and that your benefits are validated with features. Use testimonials, bonuses, special offers, incentives, guarantees, etc. Guide visitors through the entire process so they know exactly where to click whenever they land on a particular page.

Suppose I’m on your site and I’m reading about your aftermarket products or services. When I’ve finished reading about them, does it just leave me hanging to figure out what to do next?

Wouldn’t it make more sense if you had an action step that told me what to do next, such as ‘click here to order’ or ‘to learn more’? Isn’t that the point of your site… to get visitors to read and click on what you want? Too often the action step is left off the page, assuming the visitor will figure it out. Don’t take that chance – every page on your site must include a clear next step.

Secret # 3: Get more domain names. Okay, technically this secret isn’t really about website design, but it is so important, I’m including it anyway. At Prime Concepts Group we have over 500 domains. You probably don’t need that many, but I bet you could benefit from getting a few more great ones.

Have you ever needed to find a company or their phone number and just opened a browser and tried to guess at their domain name?  Maybe you tried three or four spellings, but couldn’t find the site you were looking for. Well having more than one domain name makes it easier for people to find your business.

Keep domain names simple and easy to remember.

Having multiple domain names is an ideal way to track the success of particular promotions. Use them in Pay-Per-Click advertisements—this doesn’t mean you have to change your main domain—it means getting other “keyword” domains. Don’t forget domain names with common misspellings, hyphens and keywords, and other extensions (such as .net, .org, .info. .US. .co or .mobi). With customers using their mobile phones and PDAs to access the Internet these days, now is the time to get a .mobi extension or at least create a sub-domain like m.profitrichresults.com (iPhone/Smartphone enabled website), too.

Search for domains online—a few popular sites are NetworkSolutions.com, GoDaddy.com or DeletedDomains.com.  I like to search on DeletedDomains.com because it’s a site dedicated to listing domains that others have let expire so you can snatch them up.

Secret #4: Use Keywords to Improve Your Search Engine Rankings. Keywords help prospects find you in the search engines. Selecting the right keywords to emphasize on your site is crucial to your online success. Think about what words your prospects might type into a search engine to find you – those are your “keywords.”

When you’re searching for something, sometimes you may search a broad category with only one word… that one word is also a keyword.  Sometimes you search using multiple words at once, such as “website designers in Dallas.” That’s an example of a keyword phrase.

Your task is to think of the keywords that your prospects would use to find your product or service. Use your keywords when writing content, naming the actual html page, like “website designers_dallas.html”.  Use them for links on your site and to help the search engines catalog your site so visitors find you.

Make a list of your Top 50 keywords and keyword phrases (actually, I think you should compile a list of several hundred keywords, but let’s start with getting a good list of the top 50). The number of keywords on your list really is dependent on what you sell. If you offer several hundred items, obviously you’ll need a much bigger list.

Do your keyword research when you’re compiling your list. There are several main research methods.  Here is an audio resource that explains keyword research in more detail.

Use an online tool like the Google’s keyword tool. These are FREE keyword search tools. Another of my favorite keyword search sites is Wordtracker.com. This one’s not free, but it offers tools and training to master keyword research.

• Ask your customers what words they used to find your website.
• Ask your sales team what they think your keywords should be.

Look at your web server’s “referrer” logs and analytics reports. Ask your webmaster (if you’ve got one) – they can help you.

Use your keywords in online articles, specific web pages, and HTML description Meta tags. Create unique page titles for every page on your site (page titles are the words that show up on the top edge of the web browser). Look at your home page – what does it say? Look at other pages on your site. Each one should be unique to the content and purpose of the specific page. (Your webmaster should know how to do this… if not, get a new one!)

These are just four things you can do, but if you truly work on mastering these four, you’ll see a dramatic, positive effect on making your site a money machine. You have the tools you need to turbocharge your sales; now go for it!