How to Make Your Website More User Friendly in 3 Easy Steps

web design

There is no arguing that a website is a must for your business.

But if your website isn’t user friendly and is not engaging visitors, you’re wasting your efforts.

Creating and maintaining a site that is pleasing to your visitors will greatly enhance your business by appealing to your existing clients and attracting more business prospects, eventually enhancing your bottom line.

Follow these 3 steps and you should be well on your way to providing a website that is attractive and engaging for your visitors.

1. Keep your content concise, paying close attention to it’s readability.

Content is the biggest influence on visitors to your website. By providing content on a regular basis that is current and easy to read, you are not only making your site more user friendly, but you are also more likely to have your visitors return and share information.

Make sure that your content is easy to peruse. Most internet users scan content rather than reading all of it. Formatting your content by keeping the paragraphs short, using tables or columns will assist in the readability factor. Breaking up text through the use of bullet points, headings and sub-headings will also make it easier for your visitors to find the key points of your message.

Ensuring that your content is provided in a visually pleasing manner will also improve the visitors’ engagement. Watch for things like finding the right contrast between your site and the content. Don’t let the background color overpower the content.

Also pay close attention to white space. Too little, and you risk ‘tiring’ your visitor and they will simply leave your site without reading your message.

Improper font usage is another error that can cause subliminal fatigue in your visitors. Keep your fonts clean and easy to read, and note that san serif fonts are easier to read online, while serif fonts are more appropriate for printed materials. Avoid using more than 2 or 3 fonts per design, using highlighted or bold keywords or links instead.

While we are on the subject of links, be sure to test all your links to ensure that they are working. Broken links are not only confusing but are also unprofessional, making a negative impression and lowering the credibility of the content you worked so hard to provide. Review your links from time to time to make sure that they have not broken and continue to point to the appropriate pages.

2. Make navigating your site simple.

This simple step is one of the easiest and best things you can do to improve the appeal of your site. Creating navigation that is clear and clutter-free makes it easier for your visitors to find information and they are therefore more likely to dig deeper into your site. Limit the number of menu items as much as you can, while still ensuring that visitors can find salient information.

When looking to improve navigation, check your layout first. If the layout is cluttered or confusing, you will lose visitors. You can highlight specific pages to make them more visible, or include a call-to-action at the top of the site.

Also, the placement of the navigation menus are very important, so be strategic. The best place for the menu is either at the top or the left-hand side of your site. Regardless of which of these 2 choices you use, be sure that the navigation is above the fold – keeping in mind the use of mobile devices as well.

3. Be sure your site loads quickly.

The online experience has impacted our attention spans. More and more, visitors are looking to get information quickly, and are impatient with websites with long load times. Don’t risk losing potential business simply because your site takes too long to come up! Your site should ideally load within 4 – 6 seconds. Besides that, long load times also negatively impact search rankings.

Some of the things that slow down your site’s speed are large videos, photos, and flash files. Although multimedia elements can certainly engage a visitor, they take a long time to load, and you risk losing the visitor before they ever get to it. Consider minimizing the use of these elements on your site, and opt to link to them externally from within your site.

When you do use images on your site (and, of course, you should have some visual elements!) compress them for web use and be sure to use the right file type.

Following these pointers will help you keep your site user-friendly and ensure that people come back – as well as share your site with their friends. Your attention to your website is the difference between a ‘so what’ experience for you visitors and a ‘what’s next’ reaction. By taking the time and a little effort, you can achieve great results from your site, turning it into a powerful promoter of your business.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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The Challenge of Time Management: 7 Tips To Help…

time management

Time Management…

In order to be efficient in your business, mastering time management is essential. It can be difficult to establish and follow good time management skills, but by creating few simple habits, you can conquer this challenge and become more proficient and more profitable in your business.

Of course, sometimes disruptions arise that can’t be avoided. But following the tips listed below should help you gain control of your time:

1. Keep Track of Your Time:

Do you know how your time is currently being used? If you don’t know how you are managing your time now, you won’t know where and how to better utilize it. Track your time for about 2 weeks, keeping to your usual routine, including everything you do in your day from start to finish. Read more

Are Your Website Visitors Engaged?

website visitor engagement

Engaging you website visitors.

No, we’re not talking about tying the knot here. Is your website pulling your visitors in and providing them with reasons to explore?

Pretty websites are easy to create. But if the site isn’t engaging visitors, well… is it really worth anything or is it just wasting everyone’s time?

The main purpose for any website that is being used to build and promote a business is to draw visitors in and propel them to interact with the site. Without engagement, your visitors will leave and never come back. You need to give clients and prospects a reason to come back to your site, and the only way to do that is to encourage engagement.

So just how do you get your website visitors to do what you want while they are on your site? By creating a site that encourages engagement. Without engagement, your visitors won’t buy from your site, they won’t share your information about products and services, they won’t sign up for your newsletter, and they certainly won’t come back.

There are lots of ways to increase visitor engagement.

Design and appearance of your site is one important factor. If your site is muddled or too busy, the visual effect will turn visitors away. Clean design is important to make the site welcoming to your clients and prospects.

Be sure to watch your wording. This applies not only to your content, but also to any sign up forms you may have on your site. After all, the best engagement is to capture the names and email addresses of your visitors.  When developing your opt-in’s test the wording. Also, be sure to remove any questions that can be answered ‘no’. Once ‘no’ pops into a prospects head, they will disengage, i.e., leave your website – the exact opposite of your intent.

Another thing you can include on your site to encourage and increase engagement is a blog. Providing interaction with prospects and clients on a regular basis through a blog gives them a reason not only to continue to come back to your site, but also to share your information with their circle of influence. Make sure your blog is relevant, current, and informative.

If your business is such that it necessitates more immediate interaction with clients’ and prospects’ questions, you might want to consider adding live chat. Several platform options exist, and this could give your company an edge over your competition. If live chat isn’t really an option for your business, be sure to give excellent customer service. There is no substitute for great customer service.

And what about video? This means of communication is becoming more and more popular as it engages visitors on a more personal level. Even if you, like most of us, are a bit camera shy and uncomfortable in front of a webcam, consider doing a number of short videos to promote your business and let people get to know you and your team a bit better. And, trust me. I speak from personal experience – it does get easier the more you do it!

Surveys are also a good tool to use for visitor engagement. People love to be asked their opinion, especially if they can respond in a non-threatening environment.  When creating your survey, be sure to include some open-ended questions that will obtain more information than a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response. Consider offering an incentive to your visitors for completing the survey to attain more participants.

Another technique that is gaining popularity is the exit poll. Similar to a survey, they typically ask only one question when a visitor is leaving a website. The most effective exit polls focus on objections that a visitor may have, such as ‘What prevented you from purchasing from us today?’

So what’s the bottom line?

By now you are starting to understand just why visitor engagement is so critical to growing your business online. A boring site that does little or nothing to engage visitors and encourage them to interact is actually detrimental to your bottom line. And, as you have read, it doesn’t really take too much effort to implement techniques and strategies that will improve your visitor engagement. Using the tools described in this article – and there are many others out there as well – will enrich your visitors’ experience, converting more browsers into clients.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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How To Use Your Website To Improve Your Business

website design to improve your business

Yes, your website can improve your business.

Most business people understand that having a website is an essential part of their business. The internet has become the “go-to” place for prospects to search for information to help them decide who they will do business with and you should be using your website to improve your business.

In the earlier days of the internet, a website was seen as a digital brochure, providing certain facts and information about products and services of a company. While a website still should contain these vital elements, visitors expect much more than the basics.

In order to turn your website from a static, non-engaging site to an important and dependable driver for your business, let’s look at how to improve your website and other online communications by making it effortless for your clients to introduce your business to their friends, family and business associates.

Make the Rule of 52 work for you:

Most likely, you have heard of the Rule of 52, which suggests that every person has an inner circle of 52 friends and family members, give or take. To use this to your advantage, create an effective online strategy that provides an effective conduit between your business and those connections of your clients. The resulting lead generation can be substantial. For example, if you have 50 clients, using the rule of 52, you have the opportunity to touch 2600 people.

So how do you reach out to these prospects? Well, a good website can provide the foundation for a relationship through developing a virtual connection with these people on their own terms. The key is to develop this relationship by making your website a vital resource.

How do you do that? Read on…

How to sell by teaching:

How is your website viewed by your clients? Is it merely an online brochure with limited opportunities for engagement, or is it seen as an enlightening source of quality information?
Your website will trigger an emotional response from your visitors, and you will quickly be dismissed if the emotion that is triggered is a “so what’. Additionally, if all your prospects and clients are getting from your site is ‘sell-sell-sell’, they are likely to leave and not return.

On the other hand, providing information and education on your site will heighten engagement as you quickly become a trusted resource, immediately improving your referability.

Assimilation is your friend:

Make sure that you are positioning your website as an information hub. By opting to inform people rather than trying to sell them, you will be providing your clients a ‘safe’ way to refer your business.
Be sure that you develop a habitual approach to providing this information. Consider things such as industry commentary, insights, and updates, newsletters, etc., and feed this information into your site on a regular and consistent basis to develop a following. Integrate these efforts with your social media channels to increase awareness and readership. It might seem like a lot of work but the payoff can be huge – and there are templates and automated processes to make it easier to integrate into your business.

Content is still king:

There is no substitute for content. The businesses that are benefitting the most from their online efforts are those who provide content on a consistent and frequent basis. Adding content sporadically simply doesn’t provide compounding results. By providing regular updates that are predictable, concise, and actionable come to be expected by your clients and prospects. Be sure to ask your readers to share your content to continue to build your following.

Remember that this strategy is one of building, not of selling. By differentiating your business from those who are looking for the ‘one-off’, you will build a solid foundation that will ease the transition from prospect to client.

The art of subliminal marketing:

One of the most powerful tools you can use to build interest in your business is an on-going newsletter. Use this tool judiciously; sending information too often can alienate your prospects and clients, and communicating too seldom can make you fade into the distance.

In some cases, a ‘tip of the week’ has proven effective. Weekly or twice weekly blog posting has proven to be an effective way of maintaining regular communication with your clients and prospects, and can also provide opportunities for dripping.

To be effective be sure to follow the following 3 important components:

1. Be sure to provide content on a consistent basis, and archive all posts on your website
2. Ask your clients and prospects to forward your posts and newsletters to their inner circle
3. Be sure to have an opt-in feature that allows visitors to your site to subscribe

Social media:

Social media can be a double edged sword. Remember that what you post on your social media sites reflects on you and your business. Avoid personal discourse to avoid judgement by potential clients. Don’t risk damaging your brand by posting something that you might regret later.
Use social media to drive traffic back to your website. Announce blog updates, new tips, etc., always pointing them back to your site.

All this will take time, but your efforts will compound. By creating a familiarity, you will gain trust, and your investment into your online presence is an investment in how you are perceived. By employing an integrated and consistent approach, you can ensure that clients and prospects place more trust you more than others who are vying for their business.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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It’s Déjà vu all over again!

oil boom and bust cycle

So says Yogi Berra!

Yogi Berra, a former American baseball player and member of Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame, is well known for his many malapropisms. Even those of us who are too young to have heard them when they first left his lips are familiar with many of these memorable phrases.

And this one is certainly applicable to the cycles of boom and bust in the oil industry.

People are kind of funny; we seem to have a very limited memory of some less-than-pleasant events in our lives, which is probably a good thing. When times are good and things are moving forward, we all get caught up in the momentum and roll with it, never knowing how long it will last but enjoying the ride.

But just like every industry, there comes a time when things cool down. Basic economic theory teaches us that economies can’t exist in an environment of uncontrolled and unending growth. Every economy and every industry will go through a cycle of contraction and control.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. It gives those involved in the industry a chance to catch their breath, regroup and plan for the future.

Those who fear the contraction the most tend to be those who are the least prepared. These are the folks who have overextended themselves and have lost equity, and thus, value, in their business.

Others, who have grown in a more measured fashion are better prepared to weather the storm and come out of it in a position to benefit from the deals that will inevitably appear.

So how do you make sure that you are a survivor? And how do you position yourself to take advantage of the surfacing opportunities?

The following 5 tips will help guide you in the right direction.

1. Take stock of what you have. This includes people, materials, equipment, etc. Are you utilizing all of your assets to their full extent?

2. Continue networking with others in your field. Perhaps there are some items that are bogging you down in your business that you can trade or sell to others who generally need the same items as you do.

3. Do NOT stop marketing. Many businesses fall into the unfortunate trap of pulling back on their marketing efforts when things get tough. Marketing is seen to be an ‘optional’ spending area. But if you stop marketing, you disappear from view and have to pick up from ground zero when the economy improves. Rather than stopping marketing, make more judicious choices, ensuring that you are getting the most out of your reduced marketing budget. This is likely a good time to look at hiring the expertise of a marketing professional who can point you in the right direction.

4. Look for opportunities to create allegiances with others who provide complementary services. Word of mouth is, and always will be, a huge factor in obtaining business, since there is already a built-in element of trust. Strong allegiances can help ensure that you are getting business that would likely otherwise go to someone else.

5. Stop listening to every analyst and economist offering their two-cents worth on what’s happening. Or at least, take it with a grain of salt. Just a couple of months ago, scores of economists were forecasting a price per barrel free-fall to less than $30 per barrel; in some cases, even as low as $20 per barrel. Well, that didn’t happen, did it? And although we would all like a higher price than we are currently dealing with, relatively stability in the range of $50 is better than what they forecast.

We also all know that it is just a matter of time until this correction has run its course, the political obstacles are behind us, and the industry once again is sailing along. While we are waiting for this to happen, hold your head high, evaluate where you have been and where you want to be when the dust settles, and make sure you are marketing your business so you will be in a position to capitalize on the opportunities when they arise!

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

This article was published in the April 2015 issue of the Oilfield Pulse Newsletter.

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Our New Website Is Now Live!

Agapi website

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans”.

 

New website photo

You may be familiar with that quote from John Lennon, and  many times it has proven to be true.

We had great plans for the launch of our new (and improved) website.  We had a schedule to follow and an intent to do a build up to the announcement.

Alas, you can never be sure things will go exactly according to plan when you are dealing with technology!

But, a week later than planned, we are pleased to announce that our new site is live, a bit obvious, since you are reading this post on the new site.  Perhaps a bit anti-climatic, but we’re happy with the result.  And we hope you will be too.

Our new style allows us to give you even more information that was on the original site, but with less pages to navigate.  We like the look of the new site: more white space, better text and graphic, more interactive, etc.  And we are hoping you will agree.

So take the site for a test drive.  And please be sure to let us know what you think.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 1

video series

Well, we’re here!

The countdown on our video series The Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make has come to its completion with today’s video, Mistake No. 1.

As a business owner, are you guilty of trying to do everything yourself? Do you feel like you are juggling too many things and, as a result, some areas are performing less than expected?

Marketing Mistake Number 1 will identify for you what happens when the small business owner neglects to understand how critical the commitment of specific resources can be when attempting to execute a marketing program.

We hope that you have enjoyed this series and have realized some value from watching it. If you have friends, relatives, or colleagues who might also appreciate the tips presented, please be sure to share the information with them. We are already preparing our next series, so be sure to stay tuned and check back with us! Thanks for watching our series.

For now, watch this video to see the Number 1 Marketing Mistake.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

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Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 2

video series

Budgets.

We continue our countdown on the Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make with Mistake No. 2, which speaks to the issue of budgets.

This video will explain why it is so important to establish – and follow – a realistic marketing budget. Expenses can easily get out of hand if a business owner fails to do this! On the flip side, the failure to budget an appropriate amount of time, money and resources can cause the failure of a campaign, wasting the investment and creating the false belief that the campaign itself was the cause of the failure.

Watch this video and learn just how important it is to avoid making this mistake in your marketing efforts.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 3

video series

Are your campaigns working?

One of the most common issues small business owners have with marketing is that they see it as an expense rather than an investment. And this can be true if the marketing campaign is not properly managed, resulting in little to no ROI.

In our video today, Mistake Number 3 of the Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make series, we look at why it is so important to review and evaluate your results upon the conclusion of your marketing campaigns. Neglect this step at your peril!

Watch this video now to see the importance of avoiding this mistake.

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

Top Ten Marketing Mistakes: No. 4

video series

What does a timeline mean to you?

Is it something that you embrace or do you think it confines you and your creativity? Are you using timelines when you engage in your marketing or do you ‘fly by the seat of your pants’?

Our Top Ten Marketing Mistakes Small Businesses Make video series presents Mistake number 4 today, which talks about developing and following timelines. Much like everything else you do in business, your marketing should also be managed with appropriate timelines.

Watch this video and you will learn just how important it is to create and follow timelines for your marketing campaigns, and how failing to do so can impact negatively on your successes and failures.

 

Watch our video now, or watch on YouTube.

Until next time…

Are you ready to grow your business now? If you’re ready to take the next step and make your business more profitable, contact us today.

If you like the information you are receiving, please consider forwarding this post.

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