I was talking to a prospect the other day about their very well designed website. I asked them how was their traffic doing on their website. They could not answer me. I asked them what pages were most visited? They did not know. I said, “Well what analytics software do you have loaded on your website?” and guess what? They said they did not know.

You can guess how this conversation went. This prospect was converted into a client within about 60 seconds. But that wasn’t my goal. As you well know, my goal is not to turn people into clients who don’t have knowledge, but rather to educate. This is the whole reason for my blog. So I ask you in 2012, how are you measuring your website success? If you have a content management system in place, usually there is free software of some sort that your administrator can install for you that can be super cool; however, there is free analytics software that I have not seen anything beat which is google analytics.

Google Analytics is free, easy to install and has all kinds of tutorials online as to how to install, and even how to get really cool reporting for different management teams within your organization. There is no reason to not know which pages on your website are getting the most hits, which pages are not getting viewed at all, and what pages are being exited from the quickest. Would it not serve you well to know which page your potential buyers were leaving your site from the quickest and most frequently? For instance, if every time everyone got to a page that talks about sparkly beaded hair pins, don’t you think it might be time to take that item down from your page? Maybe you should put a different item up if everyone keeps leaving once they see the sparkly beaded hair pin!

Install the website analytics and then let me know what type of interesting data you find out about your website. I’m sure you will be able to be a better marketer!

I swore I’d never post about any bad customer service I have received on my blog…but after what happened to me at a local pizza restaurant I am so mad I could scream. And who knows, maybe now I’ll have to start a new blog for all the crappy customer service I’ve been experiencing lately…and maybe one for those who have stellar service as well.

THE PROBLEM

A week ago (Black Friday to be exact), I ordered 2 pizza’s and an order of chicken strips for 5 hungry kids at my house. No big deal right? I placed my order at 7:05 and the online software told me it would be at my house in 37 minutes. Since I always use this pizza company and they always get it to my house I knew it would be there in about that amount of time. 45 minutes later I thought maybe my order didn’t take when there was no knock at my door..But I waited until 8:00pm to call them. I was told the pizza was on its way and that they were just busy. 30 minutes later no pizza and 5 crabby kids who kept saying “We’re hungry, We’re hungry.” So I called again. This time I asked to speak with the manager, and was told that the pizza was still on it’s way and was promised that it would indeed be hot. Now at 9:00pm I called only to find out that the online software had a “glitch,” and that is why it wasn’t there but it should be shortly. Of course I cancelled my order and at 9:05pm the doorbell rang with our pizza’s (2 hours late) and I could not believe that the delivery guy didn’t understand why I cancelled.

THE SOLUTION…OR THEIR WAY OF PROVIDING ONE ANYWAY

What I was thinking to myself was “Why isn’t this manager offering me anything for my trouble?” I mean it was a $32 dollar order. I understand that these places get busy, heck I used to deliver pizza’s so I get it, really I do…I understand that mistakes happen..but in my line of work if I make a mistake I offer all types of repairs and extra’s. Why would this restaurant not do it? Well, they’ve permanently lost a customer in me, my neighbors, my friends, my 9-5 job and more. You know you just never know who the person ordering is. Fortunately, I have enough pull at my job, that I can say “Never order from a particular pizza company,” and it will happen. As a company with over 150 employees – that is a big hit when we order pizza all the time. Further, as a customer, and someone who WILL complain to everyone I know and let them know about the poor service, this was a super bad idea. Never did they say “Sorry, can we offer you a free pizza?” Never did they say “Please just take the pizza and we’ll credit your account for 10% off.”

I asked them if they could provide a receipt for my cancellation and was told I’d have to come up to the store to get it. Once I arrived at the store to get my receipt (since they were not going to bring it to me), I was told that they could not generate a receipt, but if I came to the store they would print me one out. So when I got to the store, I walked in and thought I was in a night club from the loud hip hop music playing. I mean, this place was dirty, and full of people (which made me wonder why they were so far behind), that were just “hanging out.” Once I asked for my receipt I got a new answer that they really can’t print one and that I had to call the next day and ask for the manager…I thought I spoke with her on the phone the first time, but apparently, that too was a lie.

MY DECISION GOING FORWARD

As a marketer, I wish there were more companies that put a focus on lifetime customers and retention as opposed to just getting the order. Truly, they have lost one of their lifetime customers. Although this was their first mistake with me, the poor customer service and failure to fix the wrong is completely unacceptable.

Therefore, no thanks to your poor customer service I will no longer order anything from you again. This was a pizza delivery #FAIL!
Signed,
Hungry for Pizza…but not yours.

P.S. We ended up going to Little Caesars and got 4 pizza’s for your price along with all the fixin’s. And their pizza was tasty with superb service as soon as we walked in the door. And yes, I did indeed get the charge off of my account…but you can bet your bottom dollar I will not order from them again. I’ll give you three guesses as to who this ridiculous pizzeria is..They are a nation-wide chain that should be ashamed of themselves.

December 2, 2012

Recently, Syl Wilson Marketing, a St. Louis based web design company, designed the Hazelwood School District PTA Council’s website. Syl Wilson launched the site 1 day early on November 30, 2011. To view the site click here or you can see screen shots below. The site was created with a wordpress platform allowing teachers and staff to make their own updates.

About Syl Wilson

Syl Wilson Marketing is a web design business located in Missouri that serves clients all over the world. We specialize in creating attractive and effective yet affordable websites. Syl Wilson, owner, is a marketing professional & web developer with 14 years of experience. She is a proven team leader with the ability to develop and fully execute strategic branding and marketing coordination and offers a precise mixture of expertise, know how, and precision work that assists her in delivering strong marketing, advertising, and copywriting skills. She has experience with keeping a consistent message of internal and external communications, including website content and media relations for the purpose of enhancing brand identity and sales potential of a growing company.

I was recently looking through many of the non-profit industries websites online. Just a random google search of about 200 sites. What I found was pretty disturbing. Of the roughly 200 sites I viewed I found only two that were designed well and had content that even applied to the services they were intending to push out. So what’s up with that? Do they not notice…that big elephant? If your in the non-profit industry and your website isn’t bringing in donors, then what is the point?

When you think about what type of content to put on a non-profit website, first consider this:

1. Who is your target audience

2. What is the main purpose of your organization

3. If you were going to a website – how would you want to find the information

Knowing your audience

The focal point of your non-profit site needs to be centered around those who can benefit from your service and those who can help volunteer or donate to your organization. When I was looking around, a good majority of people were seeming to target all sorts of people. If you want to let people know that you can assist with their utility bills for instance, SAY THAT! Don’t give information about schools in the area that will assist people with transportation to a voting booth (especially when there isn’t even an election going on). Remember to consider that if your target audience is not wealthy or well off, that they may be viewing your website on a library computer. You want to get to the point quickly on the home page so that a reader can qualify if they are on the correct site.

What is the main purpose of your organizataion

When I say this, I am referring to your organizations purpose on the web. Are you trying to get more clients to know who you are? Are you hoping to get resources to individuals? Are you looking for sponsorship? Do you expect people to “do something,” once they reach your site? Is it clear what they should do “next?”

If you were going to a website – how would you want to find the information

When developing your content for your website, remember to CALL THINGS WHAT THEY ARE! If you are distributing bikes to those who do not have transportation, rather than having that content hidden behind a button that says “Investing in the communities future,” Why not have a simple button that says, “Wheels for the Boston community,” or even more simple, “Need a Bike for free? Click here.”

Really, none of this is rocket science. But sometimes when we create websites, we get caught up in the “Glitz and Glam,” of our competition. I challenge you as you design and redesign your website to consider the average user and those who does not know you. Think about it from their standpoint. How would you want to find information if you had no idea who a company was? If you are talking about your company, PUT THE INFORMATION UNDER THE ABOUT TAB! If you are wanting a donation, PUT A BUTTON ON EVERY PAGE THAT SAYS DONATE NOW with a link back to what the donor will receive and why they will feel good about becoming a sponsor.

Lastly, remember to put google analytics or some other brand of analytic software on your website so you can measure each page on your site and know where people are exiting. If everyone is going to the contact page, but no one is contacting you…well, maybe you should re-evaluate the number of fields on your contact form. Or perhaps you are finding that everyone leaves once they read your about page. Maybe it’s time to freshen up that data so that people continue moving through each page of your site.

You can do it – Good luck!

I just read a mildly disturbing article from  Chris Matyszczyk with CNET about Facebook. Once again, they are tracking us based on “likes” on other websites even when we have not logged into our Facebook accounts in ages. How? Well a little thing called script and cookies.

Should you be concerned? Well, in the grand scheme of things I say “yes and no,” because what are you the average reader doing on the internet that you should not be doing? If they are selling this information to the government as so many think, who really cares? Unless you’re planning something you shouldn’t be.

On the other hand, if they are selling the data to insurance companies, credit card agencies, or the like….well…that just ain’t right. Want to read the article for yourself? Keep reading.

There are those for whom Facebook is a way of life.

They commit themselves to it because it’s automatic and just so self-empowering.

Many would not have been concerned when, this weekend, a hacker called Nik Cubrilovic offered the interesting information that Facebook seemed to be sucking in data from even those users who have actually logged out.
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-20111936-71/facebook-we-do-track-logged-out-users-but-trust-us/#ixzz1Z9qZHOhL

Well..had to put something about marketing into this. Really there is no real Marketing plot. Just know that if you make this, you’ll feel like you just had the best…well…ya know.

White Bean Chicken Chili

Prep: 20 Minutes
Cook: 38 Minutes – serves 10

1 Pound boneless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch pieces

8 slices of turkey bacon, each cut crosswise into 1/4 inch pieces

2 medium green and or red bell peppers diced (about 2 cups)

1 medium ionion, diced (about 1 cup)

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder

1 1/2 tablespoons crushed oregeno

2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 cans northern beans, rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes

1 3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

Sour cream and cilantro for garnish

1. In large saucepot, cook chicken and bacon (I added beef polish sausage at this point) over medium-high heat 4 -5 minutes or until chicken begins to brown, stirring frequently. Add bell peppers and onion and cook 3 – 4 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in flour, chili powder, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, salt, and pepper and cook 1 minute.

2. Stir in beans, tomatoes with their juice and broth and heat to boiling over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 20 minutes to blend flavors, stirring occasionally. Makes about 10 cups.

3. Ladle chili into deep soup bowls. Garnish with sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Each serving about 274 calories, 3 g total fat 1 g saturated), 41 mg cholesterol, 528 mg sodium, 36 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 26 g protein

I was tooling through some of my old notes from seminars and classes I took on Search Engine Optimization and thought to myself, “Man, things sure do change from month to month about SEO.” And really it does. I have notes that say do use Meta Tags, Don’t use Meta Tags, Use Submission Services, don’t use them, content vs. context, and MORE! So, I thought I would give my personal experience on how I’m improving my own SEO and my clients. I always say, if you want information…google it! You’d be surprised how much of this stuff is out there.

Much of my experience came from trial and error. I do subscribe to the belief that google analytics are the BOMB, however, I also pay for a service or two that allow me to get more detailed information on each of the websites I’ve designed and maintain. SEOMOZ has a ton of good information on how to get the keywords and meta detail that will help you improve your site.

Now, when you go to SEOMOZ my suggestion is do the free method for about 3 months and then decide if you need to pay or not. They’ve got so much good information for free, you may not need the paid subscription.

LINKS

A lot of people say you need to “link” to other people’s websites and get a “link” back. I’ve even got it in a bunch of my notes from class. But what my experience tells me is that you need more than that. You need “Back Links.” I may not be calling them the term that the industry uses, but that is what I call them and I know this improves SEO for a fact. So how do “back links” work? Read on kids.

Back Links

In order to get your back links picked you will want to figure out what the most important word or combination of words that you want to be found on the internet is. For me, it’s currently “web design,” as I want to get people to know I can design websites at an affordable rate. I do also offer the full gammet of marketing, but I am a pro (and I know it) at designing and coding websites. So what I’ve done is link the word “Web Design” on all of the websites that I’ve designed and linked them “back” to the page that talks most about “Web Design” on my website. Makes sense right? So if you visit www.justincrouch.com and look at the bottom of the page, it will say Web Design by Syl Wilson Marketing right? Now click on it and it doesn’t take you to my home page, it takes you to the page where my “Web Designs” are on my page. So I have done about 50 websites since last August and been linking with this method. Guess what happened? Ahhh, I don’t need to rub it in – LOL!

So if you want to increase your SEO, that’s a free tip for ya! Trust me…it’s gonna make your google analytics go through the roof. You are also going to want to figure out what the “right” keywords are to be using. Here is the perfect place to get them: http://www.seomoz.org/keyword-difficulty Now, you’ll want to go “Pro” to use this, but just get the free trial and they’ll let you use it. You can find out what the right keywords that you should target based on your current content. Lets say you are trying to get more folks to your site about your school…but the keyword density says the main word throughout your site that you should use is store..Well now you know that you’ve got to do some rewording on your site. It’s not going to lie to you trust me.

You might also hear that there is something called “Static websites” and “Dynamic Websites”. So what I say that means in simple terms is if you have a site that when you click off the home page to another does this:

www.website.com/?phpid=5462&=awdehnawkd786&sessid=98723nhr7334h24&trp=7y332b788777&stp=211k24bnnqpn

then you’ve got a Dynamic Website. But if you have a Static website you would see this:

www.website.com/page1.html or www.website.com/aboutus

So think of it this way…the Dynamic website is hard to understand as a human being right? So the search engines (really they are called spiders or crawlers) too will have a problem understanding that long string and just pass you right on up. There are plenty of other sites they need to look at and read in a short period of time, so why would they try to decipher that?

Keep your site STATIC please!

Okay, last tid bit as this post is getting too long and you’re probably wanting to get back to your own site. Flash…best way to describe this is to say it’s fairly BAD to use, but I’ve tested some uses of Flash recently and had GOOD LUCK. If you embed the Flash into a iframe on a section on your site, but not the entire site, and use CSS and HTML surrounding it with content, you’ll be safe. Do not put flash on more than one page however. I had bad luck ranking when I did that. An example of a site using flash and actually ranking well is http://www.timpersonandassociates.com/. This is a clean site with just a tad of flash.

Remember, iPhones and Mac OS’ don’t read flash. Search engines don’t either right? Well, just surround it with content, put your keyword and meta tag detail in the header and be sure that you are putting relavant content about all of it on the pages. You’ll be fine.

So let me know if you find yourself suddenly ranking in the next couple of months. I normally see a spike within 2 weeks. People think I’m a genius, but really, it’s just experience. Once you know how to do it, you’ll be a “pro,” as they call it too.

P.S. I am in no way a pro, just speaking about what I’ve found that works. Feel free to pay someone thousands of dollars though if you prefer!

Did that title scare you? I know when I first found out this I was very worried. I mean…who doesn’t post photo’s online to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other social media outlet? I know I do. I love sharing my day with friends. Well I got an email last week that had this little newsclip in it, watch it by clicking here..In the clip they say uploading photo’s to the internet can be a ROADMAP to your location. My first thought was this is a hoax…So I investigated further by contacting someone who I deem as the expert in everything technical…My sister! Guess what she had to say?

Get ready for a total buzz kill. Here’s the skinny on “geotagging,”  as it’s been explained to me. Geotagging embeds the location of where the photo was taken within 15 feet. Still wondering how? Well do you have a smart phone? How about a fairly new digital camera? Well if you do, and you post your photo’s online…you are probably in danger of this new technology.

The video states that, “New technology in camera’s and cell phone can tell exactly where the photo was taken, and it can be just as dangerous as posting your home address for anyone to see.” What the heck?? How does it work?

New camera’s and smart phones embed some code in your photo’s that will put your exact location. If you however, download some software, from a 3rd party app, you could potentially remove the embedded code on your photo’s. Also, it’s not clear whether or not if you save the photo and edit it in say photoshop, if the code is still there or not.

I did notice on some of my own photo’s that a lot of detail was there when I uploaded some photo’s online such as the camera type, and other numbers…never thought it was a geographic code as to where I was when I took the photo.  If you’d like more information, read the full story on Wikipedia here on Geotagging. Wow! Can you imagine those folks who lie and post photo’s of celebrities doing things they really weren’t? Oh man…this just got really sticky for those gossip magazines. They’ll be caught and held responsible very quickly now!

Recently, I posted a similar story about Facebook with their new “Face Recognition” software. If you don’t know about that one…man…I suppose the bottom line is, don’t put a photo up online without at the very least re-saving it to your computer, and then uploading it….unless you want people to know where you were when you uploaded it of course.

I got to wondering today. “What’s the first thing normal people do in the morning?” I mean..for me, it’s wake up, log into Facebook and see if I have any messages, then see what everyone else is chatting about (there could be some happening news ya know), then check to see if my fan page has any questions or leads. After that I hit up Twitter…This process lasts for about the first half hour of my morning before I ever leave the house. So I started to wonder…Am I the weirdo here or is this fairly normal? I mean…Surely EVERYONE logs in each morning right?

This obsession lasts throughout the day however, as I really do feel it’s normal to hear the buzz on my phone each time I receive a comment or am tagged in a photo (heck who’m I kidding? I LOVE the sound of the buzz!). I regularly pick up my phone to check those messages, and even when I am just sitting randomly in the doctors office..I check my newstream as if there is some super important stuff going on. Sometimes I worry that my newstream is my source of news. Yikes right? Or is it a yikes situation? I mean, if you use Twitter as much as me, then you know that most breaking news happens at least 24 hours earlier on Twitter. It’s becoming the place to go for news.  (Did I really just validate my addiction?)

Well, that’s how I feel anyway, but you tell me…

How many people find themselves as addicted to social media as I am? Please respond in the comments, Facebook me, or Tweet me @sylwilson and let me know if you too are as obnoxious about social media as I am. (sheesh even still, I can’t stay off! LOL!)

While all of this is very true (and a little scary), there is help! You have to think about your brand and how to keep it consistent over many different forms of media without causing alarm on any of those forums. Make a decision early on as to who you want to be known for and how you can be remembered. These are going to be known as your CORE VALUES. You also want to  get creative and innovative by using the newer and mainstream media such as social media. When you consider these forms of branding for your company, remember that you have a broader audience and that your message will need to be adjusted in a manner that you may not be used to. Conservative companies can remain conservative on social media, but there is a way to do it with humor, tact, and style.

It is necessary for businesses to create marketing campaigns that are so unique that they can cross the different platforms of media without losing their core values. Is this truly possible? YES! Take for instance our conservative client that sold bibles. They wanted to break into social media as a way to start marketing their very conservative brand. Their main marketing campaign had been to discuss quality of their product while educating about religion at the same time. Rather than going on social media platforms and simply saying the same old thing, we chose to create a different, yet similar message by changing it to read in big bold letters:

“Got God?” and show a photo of Jesus with his arms crossed, bible in hand, and looking down from heaven at people. At the bottom of the image was a scripture that changed out depending on the social site (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc.)  This image is more fun, yet kept their core values and brand in tact. They didn’t have to go crazy on social media by changing who they are, but they did have to go outside their normal boundaries.

So, how can you expand your branding horizons?