Mobile Web Design – Lilliput Here We Come!

If you are starting to hear about mobile marketing then you are not alone – it’s been going strong in Europe and Asia for years already, but the tidal wave is just about to hit here in the US. So get ready!

With many small business owners still puzzled over what to do with their PC based website – how best to promote it and optimize it for the search engines – it’s not too outrageous to say there will be a lot of really confused site owners soon.

Should you go mobile?

Definitely, YES! Be found by your customers wherever they are – not just on their computers.

Think about this: Most users are searching for something when accessing the Internet on a phone. If they are already using their phone or mobile device what do they see at the end of a click? What if they see your website? Will it be hard to navigate, busy-looking, have long pages or Flash elements? If so, they will leave.

And you have lost a potential customer.

The mobile solution

When it comes to mobile web design you need to put yourself in the place of your visitor.
They are likely out and about – they want to know details fast. They don’t want a computer-based website that was built for a much larger screen. They want a site with the equivalent of sound bites or tweets – short, concise blocks of information and clear navigation. They want directions, a menu, hours of operation, specials, your phone number with a ‘click to call’ button.

They don’t want to find a needle in a virtual haystack.

Lilliputian web design

Getting the content formatted for a small screen is the most important element when it comes to mobile web design. If you have a site built on Wordpress you can use plugins to strip out all the pretty stuff. They will display simple navigation links and content stripped of all images. This is OK for smart phone users that have more screen real estate – but still, the navigation is simplified, and the content is not.

Most small business owners have a hard time getting their sites up and running, or staying up-to-date because they are overwhelmed by the task. The feeling is there is so much information to give, and so little time to get it all done. Now we come to another great reason to get a mobile site…

The beauty of mobile web design is that you don’t need to write a lot!

The essence of your business

Use this simple tool to work out how much text you should have on a page – an index card. Put the card in portrait and write on it. You’ll find you can only put a couple of paragraphs on it, some navigation links and a ‘click to call’ link before you run out of room.

That’s about as much information as a cell phone user needs.

Go to your current website and distill it down. Take the essence of what your message is and put that on your mobile site. You don’t need tens or hundreds of pages – just four or five. You are giving your visitors the bare bones. If they need more let them know it’s available on your PC based website.

So, have two ways for visitors to interact with your business – one via a computer-based site, the other a completely new website for your mobile users. Get your .mobi domain name now and get even more exposure for your business.

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The Small Business’ Quick Guide – Nine Tips For Successful Web Copy

With so much very small businesses need to say about their products and services it’s a tough pill to swallow when a Mom and Pop business owner has little to no time to write for their website. Supplying web copy is often a site owner/web editor’s greatest hurdle, so let’s look at some elements that you can use when planning your content to make it easier for you to get your message out and your readers to stay engaged.

1. Keep it simple

Timing is a very scarce resource so keep your text as simple as possible – don’t write a paragraph if a line will do. This saves you time writing and your visitors’ time reading. Remember that your readers might not understand your small business lingo, so keep any technical speak and jargon off your web pages as much as possible.

2. Scan your content

Most people scan web pages for the information that they need. Check that your web content is very scannable – do you have short paragraphs, bolded text, headings and subheadings, bullet points and obvious links? Make sure you do as they break up the page for easy ’scanability.’

3. Refine

Once you have your simple message down, go through and edit. Then go through and edit again. In this age where social media is everywhere, people are used to reading small snippets of information so keep your paragraphs short and your message concise.

4. Tell your visitors what to do

Also known as a call to action – make sure that your web page tells your visitors what it is that you want them to do. You would be surprised how often this simple thing is forgotten! Do you want visitors to buy a product or service, find out more about you, spread the word? Whatever it is you want them to do on that specific page, make it obvious.  And don’t confuse them, have one call to action per page.

5. Lead the way – create flow

Make sure you have links from your content to important pages on your website. Again, keeping it simple, use linking to lead the way for your visitors. If you don’t want them to buy from the home page, but want to take them on a journey so they can get to know your company better, use hyperlinks to lead them through your website to the intended destination [the Buy Now button!]

6. Remove obstacles

Keeping your text simple and leading the way via linking helps remove obstacles. Your visitors might not consciously realize they have obstacles in their way, but they know they’re having a hard time understanding what they are supposed to do, or where they are supposed to go. Downloadable files can be obstacles. Place your content on a web page as much as possible unless you are offering large reports or white papers, which should be available in PDF format for universal accessibility.

7. Keep it human

Remember that above all you are writing for human beings, not search engines, and that your content should be interesting. You can read more on how to use search engine optimization [SEO] on your web content, but keep that as a secondary importance. If your web pages are optimized well but the content is boring, or hard to read, your visitors won’t stay and support your cause online – so write for them and they will remain engaged and come back for more.

8. Don’t leave the best for last

You really have just a second or two to impress your visitors so make sure your web page has a captivating title and first paragraph, because if you don’t they won’t even scan to the bottom of the copy, let alone scroll.

9. Say what you have to say then stop

If you only have nine things to say, like I do, don’t try and stretch it out to a number that sounds ‘good,’ like ten. And this brings us nicely back around to number one and keeping it simple!

Take these nine tips and apply them to your small business web copy and you will have more engagement and interaction on your site. Good luck!

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Small Businesses – Come On, Get A Blog Already

Small businesses need to blog. It’s true. I tried to squeeze the reasons why into a neat sounding five or ten but I ended up with twelve. I’m sure there are even more reasons but let’s take a look at the twelve – why I think blogs are so important for small businesses to use:

1. Blogs are a break from the sales-speak that is the norm on a business website. They are a two way conversation, or at least can be, between a small business and its customers. This type of web format can help build relationships in a way that a regular website never can.

2. Blogs are the perfect platform for being less formal, more chatty, more approachable, and undoubtedly more ‘human’ in content. People like that, so people like blogs and like to follow them.

3. Not only are blogs a way for companies to reach out to their customers, they can be used to show different sides to a business, for example stories behind why a company has decided to support a certain charity. Blogs can be about anything so get creative! (more…)

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Help! My Google Analytics Has Stopped Working!

This little tale of woe is being told so that hopefully, if your Google Analytics has stopped working on your Wordpress blog, you can get it up and running in a jiffy! (more…)

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Where Did The Word Blog Come From Anyway?

Where did the word blog come from anyway? That’s what I was thinking this morning, and then I remembered, “Ah, yes, weblog!” That was a long time ago in Internet years, but then it got me thinking that although the word has been in our lexicon for a good while now, people, especially small business owners, are missing out on the benefits a blog can bring to their online business.

All this thinking on my part came about because I have been working with a client recently who is still, despite my best efforts, resisting setting up a blog. It’s not a financial thing, it’s a mind-block thing.

I get asked questions a lot like, “What exactly is a blog?” or, “Who came up with the word blog?” and “How do I start my own blog?” So let’s look at these questions because they are basic and fundamental, but they are often stumbling points for small business owners who are not blog savvy enough. (more…)

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