A year ago I wrote a post linking to an article by Pantone on the new colors for 2018. Pantone used an image on their blog that I copied and and pasted into my post. I could have easily paid ten dollars for a stock photo that would have been just as good. See recommendations below. Six months later, I was contacted by a company representing the photographer whose copyrighted image was tacked inside the image. (The photo was of a bulletin board and this fashion image was on the board.)

There are companies whose sole purpose is to scan the internet for photos made by their clients. The client photographers pay them for this service and possibly a percent of the collection. When there is a result, a letter is sent out demanding a large payment with the threat of a lawsuit. The amount seems punitive, especially given the resources of a small company. But the law does not specify what is fair. Up to tens of thousands of dollars can be demanded legally.

Recently a client asked me what to do amount a scam he encountered. He writes posts twice a month and sometimes looks for free photos on the internet. A site offering free downloads fined him for not logging in and filling out a form first. A company in California is asking for $3000! He is in the process of working out a deal. These scheming companies “fish” which seems fraudulent to me.  Lawmakers need to address this “out of control” situation as soon as possible.

I admit to wrong doing. It is a bad practice to try to use free photos without permission. Artists deserve to be paid for their good work. The result of my mistake? I negotiated the amount down to something affordable, but by no means cheap. (I found that help from a copyright lawyer was just as high or higher than the fine). Lesson learned… and I was glad to leave the whole experience behind me.

Some fair free photo companies we recommend are Unsplash.com, Pixabay.com and Pexels.com. Stock Photos for reasonable fees are iStock.com and Big Stock.com.

Recently, a client in the whole health and beauty business who provides Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture added massage therapy to her services. She wants to write a new page for her website to introduce this service. There are two options I recommend. 1. Write a blog post introducing the new service and categorize it as “news” and/or “new services.” Any blog category or post can be added to the menu like a page. Or, 2. If you want it to be a page then do both. Use the content from the blog post and insert it into the page. You can link the post and page to each other. Finding new information in more than one place on a website is a good thing!

I can’t emphasize enough how important blog posts are and should be a regular practice. Here are the reasons why:

1. Posts immediately get sent to anyone subscribed to your blog and encourage people to sign up
2. Posting enlivens your website and makes it more attractive to people seeking information
3. Posts get sent out over the internet apart from your website, pulling in new prospects
4. Posting enhances your search engine optimization and should be a part of any SEO plan
5. Posts can be added to your social networking and newsletter as part of your overall marketing strategy

So, When you think about new activity on your website, don’t forget the blog is waiting to work for you more than just a web page can. Need some training? Give me a shout!

1. GET FOUND

Publishing a website is not a “magic bullet.” New customers don’t find us simply because we have a domain name. We want more business. But many website owners are frustrated because they have a website that is not generating new work. Keep in mind that thousands of new websites come online every day; right now, there are over one billion active websites in the world. Whether you are competing in a national or international market, that’s quite a lot of competition.

If someone already knows your name and is aware of your services, they should be able to find you with a Google search. But what if they are looking to hire for the first time? They want to find the best business or person for their needs. If you aren’t sending out leads, you are out of luck.

WordPress is Blogging

You have the power to improve your odds, because you chose WordPress for your website content management system. You can take advantage of its most valuable feature — blogging and easily publish a weekly blog post just writing about WHAT YOU KNOW! Educate your readers on a relevant topic, or bring an industry update to your readers’ attention. After solving a particular website problem that I think would be interesting to others, I write a blog post. Each one of those posts goes out on the internet with a direct link back to me.

Here’s an example: I wrote about malware, because once I clicked on a link that got me into trouble. Months later, I got a call from a local business person who found my post by searching the web and it linked to my website. He called me because he wanted to find out more about what I knew on the subject. I automatically became his local expert on malware! And he said he was sorry he hadn’t found me earlier, having  hired someone else to develop his website.

Blogging directly impacts your success

A client recently told me her company was not bringing in leads. It’s a well-designed site with lots of content so I suspected she was not using the full marketing capability of WordPress. I asked if she was blogging and she said she wasn’t. Another client also said she wasn’t blogging because she could not think of what to write about. Since her company has a weekly meeting, I suggested she ask for topics to write about. Someone may come up with just the right story or idea.

It’s very important to write on a regular basis. There are many posting features, such as scheduling your blog posts to run on a calendar. Write several posts for later and they will publish at just the right day and time. Consistent blogging has a compounding effect so that posts which are many months old can bring in the most traffic. Search for anything on the internet and you will find articles still hanging around that are two or three years old!

What to write about

Here are more ideas for what you can write about in your blog. Don’t forget to set up categories and tags and use them to create an index of your topics. Try to come up with a consistent voice and write about what you know. Remember, you are the expert!

1. News and events: Is your company hosting an event or attending one? Did you just hire a new employee or did someone in your company receive recognition for a job well done?
2. Client Education: Your customers are looking for advice and guidance. If they purchased your product, perhaps there is more information you can give them about it.
   c. Case Studies: Write about a product or business success story. Start with an issue or problem the client brought to you and how you resolved it. There are potential customers looking at your site who may relate. It also establishes trust in your company.
3. Invite guest writers: A great way to attract readers is by inviting someone who already has a following to write a guest post… especially if their service is complementary to yours. You’d be surprised how many people will accept your invitation. It’s a win-win for both parties.

Check out this CoSchedule.com article that outlines how to write successful blog posts. It covers the gamut from writing good headlines to building content that drives traffic.

9 Types Of Blog Posts That Are Proven To Boost Traffic

2. EXPAND YOUR AUDIENCE

You are writing about what you know… but how can you get that out to as many people as possible? Social media is one great way to expand your audience. Most themes have a place for adding your social media links and you can upload a share plug-in (which invites readers of your blog to share on their socials, such as Facebook, Linked In and Twitter.) Two that I have used are AddtoAny and MashShare.

Another nifty tool that can save you time is a Cross Posting Plug-in such as WordPress to Buffer and CoSchedule. Write your post and within an hour it publishes on your social networks, such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. It’s an efficient way to get a lot of mileage with one post. Some writers recommend tailoring the article for different social networks and audiences, known as “Cross Promoting”.

3. CONVERT YOUR VISITORS TO CUSTOMERS

Once you begin to blog, you are only half the way there. Now you have to interest your visitors long enough to make them stay more than eight seconds, the average length of a visit. But how do you achieve this? It’s all about the content and where you place it.

My aha! moment came with an article I read about Purposeful User Flow. It is a content layout system that instructs and informs your potential customers about how you help them, and leads them to a page that describes your services. By adding sections of case studies and testimonials to the mix you can convince them to get in touch. It is also makes for great UX – User experience — because you are giving the reader what he or she needs to know to make an informed decision and takes them on a path that makes sense.

With this structure in place, you can create marketing campaigns that link to Landing Pages within your site. The visitor will inevitably go to your home page, where the User Flow starts the flow of information they are seeking. At the bottom of every page add a Call to Action. The Call to Action is a usually a row with headline text and a button link, making it easier for the reader to get in touch with you. What makes Purposeful User Flow so appealing is it is used by large agencies as well. I love to tell the story that my husband came home one day from working as an editor of publications at a large research hospital. He attended a meeting about their new, very large website. The agency’s representative talked about Purposeful User Flow. For me, that sealed the deal. It is an industry-wide standard.

4. RETAIN CUSTOMERS

Keeping in touch can be difficult in this fast-paced world. If the posts aren’t getting much of a reaction, use these additional methods of getting a response.

For instance, you can add a newsletter service to your WordPress website. Some are free and can be written right in the WordPress dashboard, such as MailPoet. I like to combine several of my blog posts and send them out in one newsletter. My clients are more likely read them and I feel confident that I am keeping them informed. Email opt-ins can be easily set up using JetPack on a web page as a pop-up or embedded in the footer or side bar. With it, you can start collecting new subscribers for your publications.

Another way to add value to your WordPress website is to set up surveys from forms to find out how you are doing. This will give you valuable information to improve your methods as well as collect testimonials. There are many ways to get a response with a form: How about special offers or coupons for filling out the form? Don’t forget you can also collect information on your Facebook page.

5. KEEP YOUR TOOLS SHARP

WordPress makes it easy to update your site to ensure security and better functionality. The good folks at Automattic work hard to improve the components of the software and respond to any bugs or potential threats to the community. All you have to do is review the dashboard after you log in to write your new post and see what needs to be done. You will also update any plugins and your theme if needed. If you manage more than one website check out ManageWP. With ManageWP you can update all the software at the same time. Updating is super important because if you are using your website as your main marketing tool, as you should be, you’ll want it to keep up with the ever-changing and wonderful internet.

Writing
Here is how you do it: Never go to the blog page and start writing. Posts are automatically sent to the blog page after you publish them. Instead, go to “Add New Post”. There will be an area for a title and and area for the writing. The editor should be very familial to anyone who uses Microsoft Word. You can add bold, italic, create links, and add images. Don’t forget to create “categories” for your post. These will create an index for readers to select in subjects they are interested. in.  For this post, I will be selecting, “blogging” or “blogs”.

Add an Image
To an image, make sure that it is optimized, that is, not too large. Images should probably be no larger than 600 pixels wide and less than 200k in size. Find the “Add Featured Image” link in the bottom right of your post page and upload or drag the image from your desktop when prompted. Once you add the image, save or update the post. If your blog is featured o your home page, the latest post will show up automatically there, as well as on your blog page. The image size will adjust itself. Also, keep in mind, the image will be placed in your media library, available for future use. No need to upload it more than once.

Add a Link
I’m sure I’ve written about this before, but it’s always a good idea t refresh your blog with content that new client’s will find easily. To link a word or words, first select them with your cursor. Then, go up to the tool bar in your editor and select the chain link icon. A box will pop up and you paste the link into the area and click the arrow that says “apply”. Save. Now, to keep your link from driving visitors away form your site you must edit the link. Select the words again and click the gear icon in the box. This will edit your link. A box will pop up and you should check the box that says “open link in a new tab”. Then save again. Always test your link. (I just discovered that instead of the arrow, you can open the gear and do both jobs at once, the link and the open in new tab…)

Publishing
After you are satisfied with your text, you can save it as a draft to publish later or publish it right away. People who are subscribed to your blog will receive email notification that you have a new post. An email opt-in, or sign up form can be placed on your website, to attract new subscribers.

Business owners in Massachusetts might know a little about the internet and may have heard of the popular CMS – WordPress. But, they don’t know enough to start a site by themselves, don’t have the time to spend learning the software, or don’t have enough digital design and marketing experience to make their business successful. Believe me, with thousands of new websites launching every day around the world, you need to be highly visible to stand out and capture your share of the market.

I have a long and broad art and design background: ten years experience at the Boston Globe as an information graphics designer and a over a dozen years of web site design and development. It’s a mix that is rare in the internet business. But I admit I can’t do it all, so I use relationships with experienced WordPress developers and shopping cart experts all over New England and the United States to call on.

I can not only handle all your requirements in developing a sound and attractive website, but also build it with attention to bringing you new customers. If you are not receiving email or calls based on your website at least several times a week, then you definitely need to make some changes.

Here is what I do to get a steady stream of interest:

1. Write and post a blog on subjects relating to your field every week if possible or at least once a month. Even a news release or a related article you can mention is worth posting. These posts go out on Google as a second, third or fourth link to your site.
2. Decide on two social networks you can link to in your side bar or footer. YouTube, Facebook or LinkedIn are several to consider. Try to keep up with the two you choose and direct those pages back to your website.
3. Start a newsletter and combine your latest posts and send out to your subscribers and clients by email. You can also capture new email recipients on the site with a Call to Action button and an Opt-In.
4. Include an easy to fill out form on your site with a message area, so you get some information up front.
5. Offer deals and discounts through Facebook or  other social media. Always add a link to the website. Don’t forget to include it on your signature of your email!
6. Make sure your site is mobile ready (responsive) so that phones and tablets can view it clearly.

if you aren’t doing many of the items listed above, you are losing in this marketplace. Your site should not just be a brochure but a marketing magnet!

I explain that  publishing blog posts, paying attention to website content key words and reorganizing their website for good user flow is a much better way to get new customers. It takes a bit of work, but it pays off.

I came across this article today and I find it very helpful in explaining this topic more thoroughly. So, if you are looking into ad words, read this first.

The article is by Holly Fong —— NEWFANGLED.COM

“It pains us to see money lost to misguided online marketing efforts. Unfortunately, this is fairly common for marketers that invest in online advertising without taking the necessary precautions. Almost all platforms with paid promotion options default to spending your budget as fast as possible. If you start a campaign without taking the proper initial steps, you can blow your budget in less than a week and have nothing to show for it.

For the highest return on investment from your online ads, there are important steps we recommend you take before opening your wallet. We’ve developed a four-step process, outlined below to help you reduce waste and get the most from your advertising spend.

1. Understand Your Target Audience

Do not waste money just to get more visitors to your website. You can spend thousands of dollars on pay per click (PPC) campaigns and drastically increase the traffic to your site, but that won’t necessarily impact your bottom-line. It is not just about getting more visitors to your site, it’s about getting the right visitors to find your website. Understanding who you want to target and what their needs are is the first step in establishing an online advertising plan.

The more targeted your audience is, and the more specific their needs are, the more money you can potentially save. Don’t waste your time bidding on keywords with high traffic terms, go after lower-traffic long tail keywords that are more specific to your target persona. Avoid reducing your potential ROI by marketing to an unrealistically broad audience. LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to reach your target audience with dynamically generated, personalized display ads. Your marketing initiatives and calendar should all be centered around your potential customers.

2. Get Informed on the Platforms

There are a lot of places where you can buy ads, there are various types of ads you can buy, and the landscape continues to get more crowded and competitive. Each of these various advertising platforms and ad types have strengths and weaknesses.

LinkedIn is a great platform for promoting gated content such as eBooks to drive and convert visitors on your site. You can use LinkedIn’s advertising tools to get your white paper in front of your ideal customers. LinkedIn allows you to target your audience by company size, job function, title, and location. You can buy both ads and sponsored updates to drive readers to your white paper.

Facebook is a terrific tool for retargeting contacts from your email list and promoting sign-ups for a webinar or event.

Wishpond has also outlined How Facebook Ads increased first-time webinar registration by 450%.

Google AdWords can be used to help you reach prospects based on keywords they’re researching online. Google AdWords is the world’s largest and most popular pay-per-click advertising platform, giving you access to potentially the largest audience. This can either lead to the highest or lowest return on investment depending on whether the ad has been set up for optimal efficiency. Google remarketing search ads narrow your audience to help bring visitors back to your site while increasing brand awareness and trust.

Depending on the asset you are marketing and the stage of the prospect you’re marketing to, a different mix of platforms will most effectively help you achieve your goal. However, the platforms should be viewed in a complementary, rather than adversarial, way to promote your content and services. For example, Google AdWords, LinkedIn and Facebook can be utilized within one campaign or to promote an individual landing page. The ad copy and budget will vary among platforms but the each platform provides another avenue of connecting with prospects.

3. Optimize Your Landing Page

The page you direct paid traffic to should be optimized for visitors coming from your online ads. Sending visitors to your home page or services page can be a confusing user experience if there isn’t a strong correlation between the page and the ad they clicked. You will typically see less time spent on the page and a much lower conversion rate when you pay for visits to these types of pages.

Additionally, landing pages should have one call to action, such as registering for a webinar. Your home and services pages typically contain various calls-to-action which distract the visitor and often can cost you a conversion. After a visitor has filled out the form, it is acceptable and encouraged to display the main navigation and allow the visitor to browse your site.

To take it a step further, we advocate for A/B testing the landing page. A/B testing is comparing two versions of a web page to see which one converts visitors at a higher rate. Subtle changes to the page layout can make a huge difference in the conversion rate. It is important that you only test one variable at a time. For example, you could test the call-to-action placement or the page copy, but do not test both at the same time. By testing one variable, you’ll be able to determine what change led to a better conversion rate. A/B testing is an ongoing process. We encourage you to regularly test all the pages that you’re spending money advertising for the highest ROI.

4. Understand How to Track and Review Results

Possibly the largest benefit of online advertising is the ability to track everything. Honestly, if you are unable to measure how your ads are performing, then you probably shouldn’t invest in paid advertising at all. Once you’ve determined you’re going to invest in online advertising, you should get to know Google Analytics Custom Campaigns, learn how to create customized URLs, and make sure you have goals set up for all the conversion points (forms/CTAs) on your site.

Marketers often wonder if their paid ads are performing as they should be. It’s common for marketers to make the mistake of reviewing their results on a daily or even hourly basis. This is a bad idea and can lead to making premature changes. It is better to let your ads run, accumulate data, and make decisions based on the trends you see over time. We recommend using spreadsheets to track the performance of your online ads. It’s important to remember that form submissions and conversion rate are the metrics to focus on. Impressions and clicks are just a waste of money unless they help convert a lead, which can potentially lead to revenue.

Online advertising is not a quick-fix solution. To see an impact, you have to stick with it longer than a few weeks or months. Time and proper analysis are required to drive targeted traffic to your site and convert leads. Observing the struggles our client’s face in effectively running online advertising campaigns has led us to create the Newfangled Online Advertising Program. This is a 12-month program where a Newfangled strategist will work closely with your team to define your advertising goals, then suggest and implement a digital advertising mix on your behalf, and review the results with you on a regular basis. It’s the best way to make sure you’re not wasting your online ad dollars.

If you’re interested in learning more about this program, click on the button below, or contact us, and we can discuss putting together a program to fit your needs and budget.”

(P.S. I am not promoting you hire Newfangled, unless you have a good budget to do so — Deb Perugi)

Our job is to do that heavy work. We create the text that not only optimizes the site with key words for SEO, but is strategized and placed in a way that turns prospects into customers. See the post about Purposeful User Flow published a few weeks ago.

Wikipedia says “Inbound marketing is the promotion of a company or other organization through blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, whitepapers, SEO, physical products, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing which serve to attract customers through the different stages of the purchase funnel.”

I couldn’t have said it better!

So, get to work writing and finding visuals for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like, depending on where your potential customers hang out. It’s worth the time and money to hire someone to help you (and you can track how it’s doing using your analytics). Pick out subjects that you know well that will position you as an expert in your field. Use catchy titles and action verbs. Find a “voice”. You should see increases in traffic and sales in no time!

From the Newfangled article

After reading my favorite blog’s latest post on Purposeful User Flow, I have new tool I am very excited to share. Thanks, Newfangled!

Finally an answer to the problem of conversion
…that is, getting visitors to “convert” by filling a form or make a call to your company. Most visitors stay on a website for less than ten seconds, experts say. It’s quite a challenge to interest your visitor enough to get a desired action. SEO (search engine optimization) is easy compared to this task, IMHO.

Purposeful User Flow is the organizing method that every business can use, Large organizations with hundreds of pages such as Boston hospitals also benefit from large agencies also apply this method.

What is Purposeful User Flow?
Purposeful User Flow is a structure that is used in organizing content in such a way that the visitor, or prospect, learns about the company and understands why they would want to do business with them.

How does it work?
You start with a statement on the top of the home page with a link (1) that points to the Capabilities section (2) of the business. Identify at least three capabilities. It is not the same as services. I’ll give you an example:

The three capabilities of my friend the Real Estate Attorney is:

1. He/she is knowledgeable and has experience
2. He/she solves problems for his clients calmly and reliably
3. He/she goes the extra mile to get the job done efficiently and on time

Several Capabilities text blocks are always found on the Home page of a website that each lead to their own Services (3) page. Each service explains what you do to earn money and are what make your capabilities possible. Our friend the Real Estate Attorney might list his services such as “real estate acquisitions and sales”, “residential mortgage loan closings”, “representing home buyers and sellers”, etc. Feel free to add descriptions of your services if you feel they are needed or can help with SEO. Next, you will want to point the reader to Case Studies and Testimonials (4).

As described by the Kissmetrics Blog, “Case studies are a great way to tell the world how valuable your products or services are. They go beyond simple testimonials by showing real-life examples of how you were able to satisfy your customer’s needs and help them accomplish their goals.” Sometimes they contain data to support goal success. Adding a testimonial along with the case study tells your customer in their own words how satisfied they are in their own words.

Don’t forget to place your Call to Action buttons in strategic places that link to a form or email. Make it easy for your prospects to reach you when they are motivated.

Purposeful User Flow is also beneficial to a first time visitor who enters the site via a web query and lands on an inside page, such as a blog post. The reader will read the post and then want to know more about the company. He or she will circle back to the home page and follow the flow to get all the information they need to make an informed decision and fill out the form. Chances are, they will!

The first one is the “Paste as text button”. Use this when you copied text from another source. The reason you want this: Text that is sourced elsewhere will have style coding in it. This button allows you to paste clean type that you can style to your liking after. Otherwise, you end up with messy styles you can’t fix unless you know how to edit html.

Distraction Free Writing Mode is exactly that. Use this when you want a clean looking editing area without all the wordpress columns and options surrounding it.

At first it was mostly graphics for magazines and other publications, then I did more general graphic design projects such as annual reports, brochures, invitations, logos, etc. Technology was changing and I grasped the ring that came my way and started making html websites.

But as I reflect on the changing technology for design and marketing, I can appreciate what we have now that is so affordable or even FREE! I am a WordPress web designer. I (and my clients) get the WordPress software absolutely free thanks to Matt Mullenweg and his company, Automattic. I also get my favorite 80 themes cheaply, thanks to a special lifetime deal from Elegant Themes which I pass on free to clients. Many plugins that bring amazing functionality to your website are free as well.

Fonts, that we used to spec and order from Type Houses was expensive. And every new line of copy added up. Now, many fonts are free. In addition, clients enjoy free use of my font library. If you want to market your services, all you have to do is Blog (free) or use Social Media (free). Free Newsletters are possible with Mail Poet in your WordPress dashboard.

Are you noticing the word FREE a lot? Does anyone remember the days of news or magazine ads? Yes, you still have to be clever to convert visitors to customers, but the inbound marketing opportunities are there for the taking.

So, no, I don’t mourn for the Good ‘Ol Days. I’m happy for the Good New Days! I just wish they had come sooner!