Yelp.com is a website where customers can search for local businesses and leave reviews of their experiences, and it also offers a number of free tools for small business owners. If you haven’t already, check Yelp to see if your business is listed; if it isn’t, you can list it for free. If it is listed, claim your page to take advantage of all that Yelp.com offers small business owners: communicate with your customers by responding to their reviews, promote discounts and special events, check the amount of traffic your Yelp business page receives, recommend other businesses, and provide detailed information about your business–including your website address. With more than 26 million visitors in December 2009, Yelp.com is a great way to connect with local traffic.

Google’s Local Business Center offers small business owners the opportunity to customize their listing on Google and Google Maps, with options like adding pictures, coupons, business hours, and more. You can also see behind-the-scenes information to find out things like who’s searching for you and what search terms they’re using to find you. You can even see where driving directions requests originate, so you will know where your visitors are coming from and whether you’re targeting local traffic.

The social networking phenomenon Twitter is another way to stay connected with your local customers, and Twitter is beginning to cater to small business owners. It’s a quick and immediate way to communicate with customers, see what people are saying about your business, and build relationships with customers and other businesses. Put a Twitter badge on your website and begin following local individuals and businesses, and before you know it you’ll have followers of your own. One of the really cool things about Twitter is that your conversations with customers are publicly visible and searchable, meaning they often attract attention from other Twitterers in the same locale or with similar interests.

Facebook, which began as a social networking site exclusively for college students, has expanded dramatically and now offers great opportunities for small businesses. When you create a free business page on Facebook, anyone can become a fan of your page and suggest that others do the same. You can provide detailed information on your profile (including your website address), post business updates, make photo albums, and converse with your fans. Facebook users can search business pages by location, and many are thrilled when they can become fans of their favorite local businesses. And since their friends can see what businesses they’re fans of, your local exposure increases exponentially with every fan you acquire.

These are four great websites that offer free ways to connect with local customers. They will help you target local traffic, learn about your customers, and provide your small business with a strong local presence even on the global Internet.

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It may sound counterintuitive, but it’s important to learn as much as you can about how your visitors browse your website. If most of your visitors leave before making a purchase, you can bet that there are competing sites that they find easier to use. ClickTale is a great tool that lets you see exactly how visitors use your site, so you can pinpoint what is working and what is not. Looking at visitor browsing patterns will show you what visitors want and expect to see on your site–not only will this help you make changes to retain your visitors, it will also provide important clues about what competitors’ websites offer.

Analyzing your website’s statistics and the behavior of your visitors is an essential part of staying competitive, but what about the people who aren’t visiting your site? Some of your potential customers are visiting competing sites instead, and services like Compete.com can help you discover why. Compete offers access to multiple ways to analyze your competition. You can learn what keywords your competitors are optimizing for, see their site traffic history and other competitive analytics, compare your search marketing performance, and learn which sites on the Internet excel in ways you’re trying to emulate.

You should also take advantage of services like Google Alerts, which will deliver the latest news on your competitors straight to your email inbox. Set up an alert for any topic you wish to monitor–like the name of your competitor’s business, product, or targeted keywords–and keep up-to-date on the latest Internet buzz.

Checking out your competitors’ social media presence is another way to learn about them and how they’re using this newer marketing tool. Look to see if your competitors have Facebook or Twitter profiles and what they’re doing with them. If they have a lot of followers and good interaction with them, that’s a sign that they’ve found an effective way to attract your target audience. Also try searching for their website’s URL on bookmarking sites like delicious.com and Digg.com–you can find out who’s bookmarking and recommending your competitors sites and what tags they are using to identify them.

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What’s on the top of our list for the best return on investment? A professional business website. These days a website is indispensable for any small business; while potential customers once consulted the Yellow Pages to find you, the Internet is now their first–and often only–stop. Many small business owners attempt a do-it-yourself website without realizing that professionals specializing in small business design are an excellent return on investment. Think of it as the difference between a single-line listing in the phone book and a full-page, color ad. Which business is going to get noticed? The one whose website looks professional, is on the first page of search engine results, and provides useful content. Investing in a professional with expertise in small business design can help you achieve that, and will quickly pay for itself.

But don’t stop at a website–there are other ways to harness the advertising power of the Internet. Word of mouth has always been one of the most cost-effective forms of advertisement, and social networking sites are the new word of mouth. These sites are reaching more people than ever and are usually free to join. Maintaining a business profile on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other sites is an inexpensive way to build an Internet presence and keep your customers up-to-date. You can even create your own television-style ads and post them on Youtube for free. Feature them on your website and your Facebook page and you might be the next viral video phenomenon! In addition to creating your own profile, connect with other people and businesses whose followers are likely to be interested in your product or services. Become visible to their followers by commenting on their profiles or blogs and leaving a link to your website.

Placing ads on the Internet can also be a good investment if you choose their location and style carefully. Choose which websites to advertise on by keeping your target audience in mind–just like with physical signage, you want to place your ads in locations that potential customers frequent. Finding the most effective placement is easy with sites like BuySellAds.com, which will help you find a target website or blog for your ads or offer advertising space on your own website. The best way to maximize your advertising dollars using Internet advertising is to start small and take advantage of the statistics available to you. There are a variety of tools available that will help you determine where your website traffic is coming from, which customers are buying what, and which ads are most effective. A lot of these tools are free, but staying on top of your Internet advertising statistics does require an investment of your time. However, it’s one that’s well worth it–you can learn what advertising methods work for you before you invest significant money.

Finally, advertising to your current customers is always a good idea. Connect with them via social networking sites, send them a monthly newsletter updating them about your business, and keep your website updated with fresh content, deals and information of interest to them. If you haven’t already, start building an email list for email marketing. Your customers are already interested in you and your business, so you know that you’re reaching a receptive audience. Cultivating their interest will encourage them to be repeat customers and make them more likely to recommend you to their friends.

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So for example if your homepage is saved as home.html DON’T link to yourwebsite.com/home.html instead, just link to yourwebsite.com

This helps search engines such as Google to index and rank your pages correctly. When you’re sending some visitors to yourwebsite.com/home.html and others to yourwebsite.com the search engines see that as two separate pages which is not good SEO practice.

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An important element of website creation and website design is to make sure that your website is not just nice-looking, but also SEO friendly. You want search engines, and especially the King of search engines Google, to point searchers to your site when they perform a search that is relevant to your business. For example, if you sell custom wedding invitations on your site, you want people who go online and type the keyword “custom wedding invitations” in the Google search box to land on your site. This is only going to happen if your site appears on the 1-3 first pages of search results.

But how do you make it happen? How do you convince Google to place your site high on the search engine result pages (SERPs)?

There are several ways to get your website better positioned in Google. While there are never any guarantees when it comes to search engine optimization, usually employing all of the following methods WILL eventually result in an improvement in your search engine rankings.

You will need to wait patiently, though. Time is a big factor when it comes to Google because older sites are more trusted by Google while new sites are almost always deemed as suspicious.

On-Page SEO

The first step is quite simple. You need to let search engines know what your site is about. If you sell scented soaps, for example, but your site doesn’t mention the term “scented soaps,” there’s no reason why search engines will position your site high on the SERPs for this term, is there? So make sure your title tags and your site’s content (ideally your URL too) include your main keywords. Don’t worry too much about “keyword density” or how many times you should repeat the keyword – just write naturally, but remember to frequently use your main keywords in your writing.

Blog

Adding a blog to your site is a great way to add fresh, optimized content that includes your main keywords. Adding fresh content encourages Google to crawl and index your site more often, which is obviously a good thing. In addition, a website rich in content enables you to reinforce your main keywords. Most ecommerce websites, for example, have very little content, which makes it difficult for search engines to index them correctly. Adding a blog to such a website can make a real difference in terms of how your site will be positioned by Google.

Off-Page SEO

Off page SEO is the links your site receives from other sites. It is an extremely important component of SEO when it comes to Google, because the Google algorithm places a huge importance on a site’s reputation, and the more links you have pointing at your site, especially links from reputable sites, the more reputable it will be as far as Google is concerned, and the better it will be positioned in the SERPs.

There are several ways to get links to your site, which I discuss in my post about link building. Whatever you do, stay away from spammy sites and from paid links (Google has declared a war on paid links and punishes sites who use them) and place an emphasis on getting links naturally by creating quality content and spreading it in social media.

The combination of creating high quality content for your site and engaging in social media creates natural links overtime because it builds relationships with people who have blogs and websites and who might link to your site if they like your content.

Getting your website better positioned in Google takes time – often several months or even longer if your website is brand new. In the meantime, be patient! If you have a high quality, well-designed website and play by the rules, your efforts will eventually pay off.

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Overall Improvements

• Basically put the focus on your subscription service. Check that your main website content is above the fold. If people can’t see it, they won’t subscribe!

Homepage

• The Flash animation at the top is not working in your favor. It’s displaying your products, but not showing what could be accomplished using your products. You are not just selling images/clipart so I believe it’s best to show what can be done using your products instead of just displaying them.
• There are so many ways you can use that top banner space, but the most effective way is to create a call-to-action for the subscription. Just take a look at other subscription based stock photo websites and you’ll notice that the subscription information is right there at the top to grab the visitor’s attention.

Screenshot of www.getharvest.com

• Another option is to polish up the look and feel of the 3 categories that you currently have blending into the text. For example take a look at what Harvest did on their homepage to focus on the subscription and below that show the 3 distinct groups that they’re targeting.

More website critiques

If you’re viewing this review and want to add more suggestions, please add your comments below.

Disclaimer

The video website critique and suggestions are for you to review and take what you feel will better your business website. There’s no guarantee that the suggestions mentioned will improve your business. Design Leap is not held responsible for any negative outcome.

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Content

• Catch the web browser’s eye with content that is interesting and unique. If visitors see something that piques their interest, they’ll stick around and check out what else your small business has to offer.
• Make regular updates so people have a reason to return. Provide links to new information from your homepage, or offer email updates–returning visitors will appreciate the ease of seeing what’s new.
• Ensure that the people who find your site are interested in your content by optimizing for the right keywords.

Design

• A professional-looking website inspires confidence in your product or services, encouraging people to trust your website’s content and consider browsing your site worth their time.
• Organize your content in a way that makes it easy to browse. Provide your visitors with a natural path through your website, so they continue moving and checking out new pages.
• Avoid Flash intros and other design choices that will make your website load slowly. People often have limited patience and will move on without waiting for your page to load.

Interactivity

• The Internet is growing increasingly social, and people appreciate websites that provide ways to interact. Comments, ratings, and polls all encourage users to become more invested in your site, and can also help you learn valuable information about their experience.
• Include internal links whenever they’re relevant, so visitors keep discovering new parts of your website. Avoid outbound links on your homepage–you don’t want to direct visitors away before they even have a chance to see your site–and have them open in new tabs or windows so your website stays open.

Keep these principles in mind, and you’ll find that your website visitors will stick around longer (a lower bounce rate) and return often, resulting in higher conversion rates and improved visitor response.

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But how do you build an email list from scratch? Although you can buy or rent email lists, there are several disadvantages to that method: it can be expensive, you can’t be sure the addresses were obtained legitimately, and you have no assurance that you’re reaching your target audience. Instead, use these simple tips to create a more useful opt-in list, composed of people who have asked to be included:

• Take every opportunity to ask. Promote your email list in correspondence with your current customers, on your printed promotional materials (business cards, brochures, etc.), and in person at networking events. Whenever you exchange business cards with someone, ask if you can put them on your email list. Place a “Join Our Email List” link in your email signature, with a brief description of the benefits of doing so.
  

• Make it easy. Provide a simple, interactive form on your website. Place it in a prominent area on the front page, above the fold, and include a form on every page of your site so visitors will be reminded to sign up as they browse. If you have a physical location, offer a way to sign up at the cash register or front desk.

• Offer incentives. People rarely give away their email address for no clear reason, but provide it willingly as a way to enter a contest, receive discounts, and take advantage of Internet-only specials. Giving away a free e-book, white paper, or other useful information in exchange for an email address is another popular method. This is a great opportunity to share some of your personal expertise with your customers by creating your own guide or brief e-book.

• Respect your clients’ privacy. People are wary of spam email, so make it clear that you will not sell or rent your email list to third parties, and you will only send emails that your clients have opted-in to receive. Although it can be tempting to use your sign-up form as an opportunity for market research, don’t ask for personal information like age or phone number. People are much more likely to sign up if they only need to enter their email address.

• Use a professional. Email marketing services can be surprisingly affordable, and their tools and expertise can be well worth the price. Keep in mind that many professional email marketing services require that address lists you provide be confirmed by the email users before you can begin emailing them. The best way to be sure the email user will confirm is if they provided you with their email address themselves, which is another reason to use the above tips to create your own list instead of buying one. This is the case with AWeber, the email marketer I use and one I highly recommend (they have a great autoresponder feature that I love).

• Make it worth it. Use your email list as an opportunity to provide your clients with high-quality information, great deals, and real expertise. Your subscribers will look forward to your communications and forward them on to their friends, keeping your email list – and customer list – growing.

Related articles by outside sources

• “Email Ethics” Or Why My Autoresponders Will Be Changed To Noreply (howtospoter.com)
• Subscription forms: list growth and sign-up language (email-marketing-reports.com)
• Call That Spam (weatherby.net)

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