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!

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.

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.

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.

Link it up.

The biggest mistake you can make in your email newsletter is to have beautiful, concisely written articles, with no links back to your website. If not to build loyalty and drive traffic to your website, what is the purpose of your newsletter?

The second biggest mistake I often see is companies and organizations that remember to include links, but make all of them go to the company’s home page. Unless the sentence from which you are linking reads: Check out our website’s home page! you are taking your readers someone they don’t want to go.

If the article is about a new product, link to that product’s specific page where readers can find product prices, consumer reviews, instructions on assembly and use, and everything else they’d ever want to know about that one item. If the article features an employee of the month, send readers to a more complete bio, the top ten reasons that person was chosen, an archive list of previous winners, and anything else related to associate performance.

Notice a trend? It does no good for your potential customers to be captivated by your email newsletter if you are going to land them on your site’s home page, where they will look for more information on the topic at hand for about two seconds before they become frustrated or forget why they clicked to begin with. Take readers where they want to go!

Keep it down.

This isn’t your high school term paper. There are no mandatory word count requirements. You don’t have to increase the margins or up the point-size to make it look longer. You won’t get extra credit for coming up with creative ways to say the same thing over and over again. And again. And again. Keep it short and sweet. Less is more. Good things come in small packages.

Are you annoyed you wasted your time reading the above paragraph when I could have just said “Write less”? So are your email subscribers. These days, people are drowning in emails from friends, colleagues, high school sweethearts who have resurfaced on Facebook, not to mention retailers, charities…the list goes on. Stand out from the crowd by presenting only enough information that a person will likely read while he takes two sips of coffee.

If you truly have more to say, don’t fret. You can always link your reader to a longer article on your website. That is, as long as you take her directly to the page where the unabbreviated version resides, and not to your website’s home page.

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).

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.

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.

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!

It’s not that I don’t love my initials (rather, my former, pre-married initials); everyone who knows me would tell you I love them. And please, if you run into me, feel free to call me LBK and I’ll answer with a smile. It’s just that I’m beginning to realize that although these three letters hold much significance to me, and perhaps to all the people on my family and friends calling plan, they really don’t mean a whole lot to anyone else.

This epiphany has recently come to my attention as my client base expands to include a number of initial- or acronym-based businesses, all of which require me to stop and carefully consider the letters before typing an email or sending a proposal. And if I can’t remember the first letter in each word of your business name (and I’m being paid), then maybe your customers are having a hard time, too.

You may be wondering what kind of right I have telling you how to choose your company name, when I’ve clearly not put as much thought into my own. But you see, my business was named long before I even had my own computer, let alone business cards with my name on them. I’ve been signing off as “LBK Designs” since I was able to write as much at the bottom of my childish doodles or on the back of a program I created for a school assembly. “LBK Designs” is as much a part of me as the chicken pox scar on my left cheek, or my signature attribute: the fact that I’m under five feet tall. So you see, when I made the decision to be a freelance graphic designer, I never really had a choice.

That being said, if you have no compelling reason to use a less than fabulous name for your business, keep reading…

Things to consider when choosing a company name

What does your company do? ABC & Associates could be a law firm, a dentist’s office, a contractor, a therapist, a pet groomer… Don’t make your customers guess what you do. Think about including your service in the name of your business.

However, when including your main service, don’t be too specific. What happens when ABC Pet Groomer decides to offer pet-sitting services as well? Suddenly, the name of the company is too limiting. Consider the growth of your company down the road.

What is your unique selling point? What makes ABC Pet Support (see how that allows room for growth?) different from XYZ Pet Support? If you’re not sure what makes you special, ask your clients why they give you repeat business. Maybe it’s your personalized service. Or your ability to take jobs at the last minute. Maybe it’s the way you send hard copy invoices splashed with The Gap’s grass scent (is that still out there?). Whatever it is, figure out a way to incorporate it into your brand.

Be reasonable. “Personal Service, Last-Minute, Grass-Scented Pet Support” is not going to fit nicely in a logo, and people will never remember your website. Boil it down to a few words, filled with meaning and your message.

So there are my two cents on the topic. I may not have followed my own advice this time, but I’m seriously chewing over a new business endeavor: Grass Roots Pet Services. I’m not totally sure the full variety of services we offer just yet, but I do know the basis of our business is to connect with the people and pets who are our clients. And, of course, all our products come with a complimentary outdoor-scented, pet-safe perfume.