Sharing: Not just for toddlers anymore    08.13.10

Sharing: Not just for toddlers anymoreLast month I talked about adding a search function to your website to help your visitors easily find what they are looking for without sifting through a bunch of pages. Now I’ll talk about making it easy for your visitors to share that information once it’s in their hands (or at their fingertips, as the case may be), potentially scoring you an expanded audience of interested readers.

“No, no, we share our toys [and great internet finds].”

You were paying attention in preschool, right? It’s not nice to keep fun stuff all to yourself. But sharing should not stop at the sandbox. If you find a great pair of shoes that you know your sister would die for, what do you do? You call her up and tell her to rush over to DSW before someone else snags them. And if you come across a newspaper article that mentions your best friend’s start-up, you don’t read it and toss it in the recycle bin, do you? Of course not. You clip the article from several copies and mail them out to everyone you know.

Thanks to a few lines of code, the same type of sharing etiquette can be applied online. With the simple click of a button, your visitors can instantly share specific pages from your website with friends, family and colleagues via email or their favorite social networking sites. The outcome to this sharing frenzy? The original site visitor feels good for having discovered something awesome, and gets props from his friends and colleagues for having shown them the way; the new site visitor is pleasantly surprised at their newfound information; and you sit back and relax while your site visitors do your marketing for you. Now, I call that a win-win-win. 

Sold! Sign me up.

Good news — hopping on the share bandwagon is neither a complicated nor expensive endeavor. There are a bunch of free services out there, so talk with your webmaster about which might work with your site. Many are simple to implement, with custom options for advanced users. You can start by playing around with www.addthis.com, www.sharethis.com and www.addtoany.com to see which features suit you best.

You may choose to have a share button with a dropdown menu that lists many of the popular social sites, or you may decide to select the top two or three that your visitors are more likely to use, and display only those icons. Most services offer some level of tracking so you can see how often the share tool is being used, from which pages, and through which social avenues. (You can always refine your choices later, based on the data.)

Don’t forget to include print and email icons as well. While some people will take the plunge and slap your link right on their Facebook page for all to see, others may want to share your site with a specific person, without broadcasting it to their entire networks. Give those folks the option to use the email feature. And, of course, there are still some people who like to print information and file it away in a real physical folder (or mail it to their grandmother who doesn’t have internet access).

Where to share?

There are a few options to think about when placing your own personal share toolbox. You may wish to have it appear at the bottom of your text so that a visitor can easily click it right after he finishes reading your article. But what if he never gets to the end of the page? Then, though he may have enjoyed the first half (the part he had time to read), he never even saw the option to share it with friends.

With this in mind, another location to think about is at the top of your content, somewhere around the main headline of the page. This gives page-skimmers an up-front opportunity to share the information without having to read or even scroll to the bottom. Just make sure it’s near the top of the content; not necessarily the top of the entire site’s design, which may also include navigation, photos, a logo, and search function. Be sure to keep the share icons near the crux of what will entice someone to share, i.e. the information.

Or, you can opt to have it in both places — and you’d be in good company. CNN.com places their share buttons above and below the content of each article.

Stop being selfish; start sharing now!

Take a look at the top right corner of the content area of this page — you can see my share buttons hard at work. If you found this article helpful, feel free to use them.

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Don’t make your site visitors work to learn about your organization or to give you business.    07.08.10

Not sure where to find that info. Hmmph.Face it. Your website visitors are lazy. As pretty and organized and wonderful as your site may be, they don’t have the time or patience to sift through paragraphs and paragraphs of text, clicking link after link after link, trying to find directions to your store, samples of your work, or the free download you promised your Facebook fans.

Think about it. When you go to a website with a specific purpose in mind, what do you do? Do you click around and marvel at all the interesting information the website has to offer? Do you explore each page and read through until you finally find the one thing you wanted to know? Of course you don’t. And no one else does either. Most people heavily rely on a website’s search function to locate the exact info they are seeking. And your website visitors are no different.

Does size matter?

You may argue that your website is too small to warrant a search function. Perhaps it is. If your visitors can clearly see all the pages available to them through the main navigation, and they can instantly identify what information they will find on each page before they visit it, then you probably don’t need a search function. 

But even if your website is only 10 pages, a search function can still help your visitors immediately find what they are looking for, instead of troubling them to click on three links before they get there on their own. Have you ever been on a website, looking for the most basic information — like hours of operation— but given the options of About Us, Products, News, and Directions, you can’t figure out where that might be? (From my own experience of clicking around with a frustrated look on my face, my guess is that it’s on the Directions page, but you never know.)

Okay, I’m sold. How do I do this?

There are a number of search service companies who specialize in creating custom search functions. Some are free and others are not. My personal favorite is Google’s Custom Search Engine (a free one!). People are used to viewing a Google search results page, and by using their Custom Search Engine product, you are basically placing their search results page inside your own website’s design, thus giving your visitors the experience they are used to, packaged by your brand. And you can customize the colors and fonts to match your site. Just visit www.google.com/cse to get started (you first need a Google account if you don’t already have one).

Where should the search function go?

Google will generate the code you need to place on your site for both the search function and the results page. You or your webmaster can easily incorporate this code into your site. You can drop the search box anywhere you’d like, but I recommend strategically placing it where visitors are used to finding it, in the upper right corner. Some sites simply have the word “Search” with a link to a page where they can then type in the term, but it is just as easy to paste the search box code right there instead, and save your visitors a step.

Don’t forget to place a copy of the search function on the results page, just above the results . When visitors want to perform a second search after viewing results, their eyes will have to do less work if the search box is right there. And we’re all about giving our visitors the best experience possible!

What if I don’t want Google ads to appear?

Google CSE automatically places ads on your results page — they are giving you a free tool, after all. But good news for non-profits — you can opt out of ad display at no extra cost! If you are a commercial enterprise, you can upgrade to the Google Site Search product for just $100/year to get ad-free results (well worth the small investment to maintain a more professional look and to keep visitors on your site instead of sending them to advertisers).

I have a search function; now what?

Once your search function is tested and running successfully, you can leave it to do its job and never think about it again. OR you can look for ways to make your site better. If you have Google Analytics implemented, you can track what terms your visitors are searching, and then use that data to your advantage (you’ll have to edit the settings to capture this data; just use “q” as your Query Parameter). Try making the sought-after information more easily accessible from the homepage or other pages from which the search originated, and see if those terms continue to come up in your tracking reports.

Do you use Google’s Custom Search Engine? Have any tips? Do you recommend other search tools? Please leave a comment!

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You can’t run with an umbrella, but you can avoid the rain.    06.21.10

I’ve done 5Ks here and there since high school, but I’ve only considered myself a serious runner for the past six or seven years, since I began running more long-distance races. My distance-running reached its peak in 2008 when I completed my first (and possibly only) marathon. Though I have not even considered another full marathon for my future, I am still running these days, religiously signing up (or being forced to sign up by my running family members) for half marathons and 10-mile events.

This past weekend, I ran the Baltimore 10-Miler, which started and ended at the Maryland Zoo. And while I am proud to say that I achieved my 10-mile personal record at this race, there were more than a few moments between 7:30 and 8:58 a.m. on Saturday when I just wanted to call it quits. Of course, I knew that stopping in the middle of an organized race wasn’t an option for me.

For starters, I’d still have to somehow make it to my car (which was at the finish line). Unless I required an ambulance, I’d have to get there on foot. So I figured the faster I ran, the sooner it would be over. Secondly, I was in a crowd of 4,000 people that included my usual race mates — my sisters and brother-in-law — and I knew I would never hear the end of it from this close-knit running group if I had no finishing time to compare to theirs.

So, instead of throwing in the towel (and boy, could I have used a cold, wet towel), I picked up the pace. To get myself out of my running funk, I reverted back to my high school days (when I would only dare enter a 5K, let alone a 10-miler!) and switched on my cheerleading persona. I began cheering for myself, my fellow runners, even for the sedentary spectators, whose unofficial but obvious  job was to root for participants. I’m not talking about a mental in-my-head pep talk, either. I’m talking about “Let’s go runners!” and “One more mile!” and “Hey, you guys are supposed to be cheering for us!” All while I’m running by the Waverly Giant shopping center and some boarded up housing.

And you know what happened? My attitude grew confident, the finish line grew nearer, and my sweat grew out of control (but the race organizers provided the cold, wet towel relief I was looking for; I just had to reach the 10-mile mark to get it).

What does this have to do with business or marketing? If I may, I’d like to present a comparison: Running a race is like running your own business. You can pray for good weather and few hills (or for ideal market conditions and demand for your product). You can prepare yourself by going on training runs (or to business seminars and networking events). You can rely on bystanders to cheer you on (or on friends and loved ones to refer you business). But when it comes down to it, much of the fate of your company lies in your own control.

Instead of praying that customers want what you’re selling, why not look to your customers to see what they want, and sell that? Instead of attending workshops and taking detailed notes that only you will read, why not lead discussions and share your findings on your blog or Facebook page? Instead of depending on your family to spread the word, why not motivate current and past clients to generate leads for you?

You can hope for sunny skies all you want, but if the rain comes falling down on your business, ultimately you are the only one who can run it up the hill. I just hope your legs don’t feel like mine do when you’re done.

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Five steps to more effective client critiques    05.31.10

Clueless about client critiques?As a designer, about half of my job is creating original and imaginative compositions.

The other 50 percent of my time is spent scrapping the first draft and starting anew based on client comments. Are you clueless when it comes to communicating your review notes with your designer? At a loss for words when trying to verbalize the layout in your head?

Here are some tips for you, the client, when providing feedback (from the point of view of me, the designer).

1. Collaborate with all stakeholders.

Of course I like to get positive feedback for my work. But the worst kind of positive feedback is from one client contact (“I absolutely love this full-color brochure!”), which is then quickly followed by opposing feedback from another point person (“Uhhh, we were actually thinking about a black and white flyer…”). Get it together in-house, and then send your company’s collective opinion to the consultant. Better yet, schedule a conference call so all involved parties can discuss the piece together and bounce ideas around.

2. Give both positive and negative comments.

As a client, it’s very easy to focus on what you want to be different in the next draft. But it’s equally valuable for your evaluation to include assessments that touch on the parts of the assignment that impressed you. “Don’t change a thing about the cover; it’s perfect!” This tactic will likely lead to a favorable relationship between you and designer (which means she’ll be happy to go the extra mile for you down the road when you need expedited service or a donated project for your son’s school play). More importantly, it will also ensure that she doesn’t alter the parts of the piece that please you while she’s reworking the rest of the composition.

And while I’m not saying to compliment your designer for the sake of an ego boost (honesty is paramount!), if you truly don’t like anything in a particular draft, try to incorporate at least one favorable remark into the feedback about what needs to be modified. “I can see you spent a great deal of time on the illustration; it’s quite elaborate. However, we were looking for a more simplistic drawing.”

3. Be specific.

“Hmmm, I’m just not sure it’s right.” By far, the most dreadful words to come out of a client’s mouth. Please, oh please, just give us SOMEthing to go on. We might be able to work up a first draft without a previously planned concept, but if you have absolutely no idea what you like or don’t like about what we came up with, then there is no way to move forward.

A better response: “I enjoy the way the words flow off the page, and I like the font. But the stock photos don’t represent the company’s message.” Or: “The soft edges of the graphic elements really capture the feel of the piece, but colors are too bright for the intended audience.” The more specific your feedback, the sooner you will say, “Yep, that’s just what I was looking for!”

4. Be timely.

If your designer sends you a draft on Monday, you don’t have to have your crafted reaction by Tuesday (after all, it takes time to consult with stakeholders and put thought into a detailed critique!). But stick to the project’s timeline (a smart designer or project manager will create a timeline at the beginning to ensure all parties make time for their responsibilities so the final project is finished on time). If there is no set deadline for your feedback, you might ask the designer when she expects a response, or assume that one week is a reasonable time frame. Remember to allow time for multiple rounds of revisions, and keep your project’s target date in mind.

If you know you aren’t going to review the document right away, do your designer a favor and at least acknowledge that you received the link or file, and that you’ll get back to her in a few days. We’re dying in anticipation over here, wondering if you like it — throw us a bone!

5. Provide adequate direction before the initial draft.

One way to avoid a whole lot of feedback drama is to let your designer know what it is you are looking for right off the bat. If there is a certain style you want, you’ll save money (if you’re paying hourly) and aggravation (if you get frustrated when people can’t read your mind) by not playing the “just-use-your-creativity” game. This scheme — where you give your designer complete freedom — only works when you have an open mind and a good relationship with the designer.

And just because you provide a general angle for the piece doesn’t mean the artist won’t squeeze her own creative juices into the composition, so don’t worry about lost opportunity for a unique idea.

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If you’re reading this, landlord, comment on this post with your real phone number.    05.20.10

wrong numberFor the last several weeks, I’ve received dozens of phone calls from interested renters regarding a house in downtown Baltimore. If I were looking to rent a property in downtown Baltimore, I’d be thrilled. However, seeing as how I don’t own or manage any house, condo, apartment or bungalow in downtown Baltimore, or elsewhere for that matter (unless someone is looking to board in my guest room), I pretty much have viewed all the phone activity as wasted time letting people know they have the wrong number. “But isn’t this 4-1-0…?” they all say as they recite the number displayed on the advertisement they clutch in their hands as they wonder with hope if they’ve just found their next home. “Yes, that’s this number,” I tell them. “But that’s still the wrong number.”

Despite my frustration with answering calls for someone who may or may not know his own phone number, I thought I’d take this opportunity to remind all you readers that whether you are placing an ad in the classified section of the newspaper, through a Google AdWords campaign, or on the side of a city bus, proofreading your point of contact is the absolute least you can do to ensure success. One wrong digit of a phone number or one misplaced letter of a URL, and your customers may never find you.

Better yet, after you’ve proofread your own work, enlist help from a friend, colleague or professional editor to make sure you didn’t miss something obvious. After staring at a particular string of text for too long, even your own name can look like there might be a mistake in it, so you can’t always trust yourself.

I’d really like to get in touch with the owner of the Baltimore home, mostly so I can stop screening potential residents for him, but also so that he may actually find someone to rent his space. But, like the others trying to get a hold of him, using the number on his listing would just put me on the line with a slightly annoyed proofreading snob.

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Five cures for blog writer’s block    04.30.10

You have a blog. You’re committed to writing posts. But you have NO IDEA what to write. Now what?!

1. Find your voice

You may have an inkling of the tone of your blog even before you begin writing. But after you have a few posts under your belt, you should be able to identify your own personal writing style. Maybe it’s cool and casual. Maybe it’s professional and serious. Maybe it’s instructive with a different how-to post each week. Knowing your individual technique should help you recognize new and suitable topics when you encounter them in everyday life.

2. Write what you know

You are a wealth of knowledge. Think about various aspects of your business and your expertise. Break them down into topics. If your business sells cork screws, you could blog about different types of cork screws, the history of bottle stoppers, local restaurant corkage fees, corking vs. screw caps, high-end cork screws vs. the ones that come free with a large wine purchase at the liquor store… See? The possibilities are endless! Pick and choose what makes sense for what your blog is trying to accomplish.

3. Look at the world

Take a current event and write your own op-ed piece as it relates to your industry or business. If you are an IT services firm, perhaps you want to write about the slow death of popular browser, Internet Explorer 6. This technique is handy because there will never be a shortage of international, national or local headlines on which to comment.

4. Look around you

You may not have to consult a newspaper to find what you’re looking for. You’d be surprised how incidents in your own life can be turned into blog posts. You just have to be open to recognizing them. Before you go to bed each night, ask yourself: Did I learn any lessons today? Can anything I encountered be related to the variety of subjects that make up my blog? Sometimes, it may not be obvious. Maybe your four-year-old asked you why the sky was blue. If you are a business consultant, you could angle a post on the top ten abstract questions your clients have ever asked you about running a company (and maybe you can even answer them, too!).

5. Read other blogs

The World Wide Web is filled with people giving away free information. Read blogs written by professionals in your own and other industries. You are bound to be inspired. Just remember that while you may link to and reference others’ articles, be sure you don’t copy their exact ideas or content (um, that’s called plagiarism).

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Five ways to make time to blog    04.15.10

So you have a blog. But are you actually posting? Keep reading for tips on following through with your company’s blog.

1. Keep your promises

Determine a posting schedule. It can be daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly… Whatever it is, stick to this timetable so that your readers’ expectations are met. If you are having your hip replaced or going on an extended vacation, consider a guest blogger to fill in so that your readers aren’t disappointed by your blog’s sudden absence.

2. Record ideas as they occur

Whenever an idea for a post comes to you, write it down. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a complete thought.  Even just a word or phrase can be developed into a full article later on. Don’t assume you’ll remember an idea you had in the shower by the time you sit down to compose a blog post next Tuesday. Write it down now! Keep all these ideas on a topics list and refer to it when you are ready to write a post.

3. Write now, publish later

It’s like blogging on credit. During downtime (if you have any) write as many posts as you have ideas for on your topics list. You can assign dates for them to automatically post in your WordPress or Blogger blog, or you can manually publish them when you’re ready.

4. Put it on your calendar

If you’re like many solopreneurs who take on every role from president to administrative assistant, you may never have downtime! In this case, you must schedule time for writing, as you would for any project or meeting. Whether it’s something you take care of first thing every Monday or last thing every Friday, dedicate one hour to your blog each week (and maybe more if you’re aiming for several posts a week).

5. Don’t waste a moment

Use the time you squander in the waiting room at the doctor’s office or in line at the grocery store to jot down notes that you can later expand into posts. Spending otherwise wasted time wisely will cut down on the actual writing phase and take less time away from your work.

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Five reasons your website needs a blog    04.01.10

You know you should blog. Here’s why.

1. Freshen things up

It’s imperative to keep your website content fresh if you want to give your site visitors a reason to come back. Think about it: would you return to a website that never had anything new to say? Can you imagine going to cnn.com to read news from a year ago? Absurdity.

2. Drive traffic to your site

Oftentimes, small business websites are only a few pages (About Us, Our Services, Contact Us… sound familiar?). Having such modest content makes it hard to compete with bigger companies in your industry when it comes to search engines. One way to overcome this scenario is to build a blog full of keyword-rich posts. This doesn’t mean each post you write should include the word “flip-flops” 30 times (assuming you’re selling flip-flops, that is). But if you write tips of your trade, you will naturally embrace the words people are searching for, and over time, your website’s pages will multiply, attracting new visitors to your site via search engines.

3. Build consumer confidence

Before you hire a contractor to remodel your kitchen, wouldn’t you want to know that he knew a thing or two about cabinets and floors? A simple way to stand out as an expert in your field and earn the trust of prospects is to take some time to express your thoughts and knowledge on issues you are passionate about. Your blog’s sole purpose shouldn’t be focused on gaining new customers, but it certainly can be a bonus.

4. Become an expert (if you’re not already one)

When you have a small business, you may not know everything, especially when you’re starting out. A blog commitment will force you to research and write about relevant topics on a regular basis. Eventually, you’ll be the authority on your subject matter.

5. Interact with readers

The best part about blogs is their two-way communication. Engage your readers by asking questions and encouraging comments. Show them there is a real person behind your company’s website. Be sure to connect with your active readers by responding directly to their comments and writing follow-up posts based on feedback.

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Struggle of the Juggle: how to stay on task while working on your own    03.08.10

As a small-business owner (coincidentally, I’m also a small business-owner; what a difference a hyphen placement can make!), I know how hard it is to do it all alone. I am the sole employee of this operation, which means I’m in charge of getting new business, following up with prospects, coordinating with printers and other vendors, sending invoices, following up on unpaid invoices…the list goes on. Oh, not to mention, actually doing the work that is my business! Sometimes, it can be difficult to keep it all straight, and get it all done.

Below is a list of tips for my fellow solopreneurs. If you have any to add, please comment on this post.

  1. Make to-do lists. This is my absolute favorite thing to do (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). I love the rush of having a long list of tasks, and then individually crossing off each item as the day goes on. Your list doesn’t have to be old-school like mine, on a real piece of paper. Make use of the tasks function in Microsoft Outlook or other online and electronic tools. It’s almost as much fun to check them off with a click of the mouse.
  2. Automate your processes. If there is a task that you do regularly, help yourself by simplifying the process. When I get a new project, there are a number of questions I need answered before I can get started. Instead of having a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants conversation with every new client, and having to call them back because I forgot to ask if they have a color scheme in mind for their new logo, I have developed questionnaires for the most common types of projects that I work on. Need a website? Let’s fill out the new website questionnaire. Need an email newsletter? Let’s complete the email newsletter questionnaire. Get it? Reinventing the wheel every time = bad. Figuring out the most efficient way to do something, and doing it once = good.
  3. Schedule your time. If you know you have deadlines, put them on your calendar. Figure out when you can fit these projects into your busy schedule, and mark that time. When someone calls you to grab lunch for a time when you are supposed to be working to meet a deadline, the blocked out time on your calendar will keep you from being tempted to blow it off and save it for later. Because guess what? Later, you have something else you need to accomplish (just check out your newly filled calendar and all the reminders that keep popping up)! It can also be helpful to schedule tasks that are not time-sensitive, such as networking, reading industry blogs, and taking breaks (yes, you must schedule your breaks or you will forevermore work through them).

I’d write more, but I’m itching to cross through “blog post” from today’s to-do list, and I have a phone call in five minutes for which my calendar just alerted me with its no-nonsense reminder ding. Until next time, stay organized and productive!

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