Jerry is on our minds because he’s had to spend some time in the hospital, which we know isn’t a great way to spend your time.  Hopefully there’s nothing too serious going on and he can make a quick recovery, and get back to selling valves, heat trace and all of the other things they have to offer at Wacco.  We’re thinking about you Jerry – we hope you’re fishin’ soon!

Dan, on the other hand, is getting married this week.  We congratulate Dan and Tori on their marriage, and we hope that their sure to be rock star approved wedding doesn’t get too out of hand.  Here’s to a great wedding, exciting honeymoon, and long, happy marriage!

Both Jerry and Dan are not only good customers, but they’re also great people.  We’ve been blessed to work with so many people who go above and beyond for us and their clients, and we’ve enjoyed working with every one of you.  In many cases we’ve become like family (and in some cases we were always family).  We keep everyone in our thoughts and prayers, and we hope Jerry gets well soon, and we wish Dan and Tori congratulations on their marriage.

Here at Loggerhead, you can almost always find Cale (the designer) or myself (the programmer) listening to music while we’re doing our respective jobs. Not only do we appreciate music, but we’ve actually found out that it can help us focus and get in whatever mindset best suites the kind of work we’re doing. Often for Cale, that’s something centered around creativity, and for me, it’s more of getting into “the zone” and blocking out everything else and visualizing the code and functionality in my mind.

Obviously, the kind of music you’re listening to plays a big role in your mood or mindset, although music definitely has a different effect on different people. For me personally, I enjoy listening to faster-paced, heavier rock. Oddly enough, it’s what gets me in the groove, and helps me buckle-down and focus. Many developers I’ve worked with, though, have liked jazz or classical music, for the more calming and relaxing effect.  For a designer, this can play an even bigger role. Smashing Magazine recommends “airy and melodic music” when you’re working on a design that’s to be “light and warm”, heavier music for “dark and industrial” designs, and progressive and electronic music for “futuristic” and more busy designs.

Although I’m using web development as an example, music’s effect on someone working is far from restricted to just that one line of work. I’m sure you’ve noticed the energized feeling you can get from a more upbeat song, or how slower and lighter music can calm you. These are both feelings that can have a profound bearing on the work you produce, and both can fit certain situations most people are put in throughout a work day or week.

Also, without music, the human mind is often more prone to wander.  While this isn’t necessarily a bad then when you’re at home, most employers probably aren’t too fond of their employees doing it at their expense. When things are quiet, it’s much easier to be distracted by every little sound, whereas with a steady, constant style of music, it almost becomes part of your environment and doesn’t become a distraction itself. Just like a fan running at night. You may notice the sound for the first few minutes, but after a little bit, it actually helps drown out the other odd noises (at least in my experience).

While music can definitely be a help while working, it can also be counterproductive in certain situations. Some people will find music distracting (especially true when it’s someone else’s music, so be aware of not playing your music too loud if others are near you in your work area), and if the music doesn’t fit the mood you need to be in, it can have undesired effects (such as listening to hard, hate-the-world music if you’re in customer support).  If you’re finding music isn’t having the desired effect, just turn it off, or try a different style.

In conclusion, music isn’t just a form of entertainment. It’s also a tool that can be used to put you in specific mood, help you focus, and even motivate you. All of which are useful things when you’re stuck at your job all day long.

You might ask, why would the sales guy write a blog about search engine optimization? Shouldn’t the programmer or developer talk about SEO? True, Matt D. and Cale know more about optimization than I’ll ever know, but this blog is more about translating some of the information into a language that business owners and managers can understand and relate to. If you want the technical side of things, feel free to contact Matt and/or Cale, and prepare yourself for an avalanche of information that will leave your head spinning.

Let’s start with the Magic of SEO. Many of the people I speak with about optimization seem to think that in order to have a successful business, all that they need to do is achieve that number one ranking in Google. If they’re number one for their main keyword, the orders will fly in the door, and dump trucks will deliver full loads of cash to their front door. SEO, however, is really just advertising. If you owned a retail store, and ran thousands of dollars’ worth of advertising driving people to your store, but the store was unorganized, poorly stocked, and your staff was unfriendly and rude, you wouldn’t do much business. Traffic only matters if you can convert it to sales in any situation – traditional, non-traditional, or through search engine optimization.

If your website does a poor job of converting prospects into clients, then don’t spend the money “optimizing” your site. A recent study showed that the average website has about 10 seconds to load before a visitor abandons it. Personally, I think your website has less than 20 seconds to convince someone that you’re who they’re looking for. If your website is number one in Google, but people find it hard to navigate, it takes too long to load, looks unprofessional or unsecure, they’ll hit the back button and try Google’s number two result.
The first thing you should look at when considering hiring a company for their SEO services is the conversion rate of your website. Does the site really work? Is it easy to navigate? What’s the goal of your website (purchase a product, call to speak with a salesperson, etc.), and how quickly does the website get people to that goal?

And what about the mystery surrounding search engine optimization? Many of our customers ask us about optimizing their websites, and I think many of them don’t have a clue what they’re even asking us to do. Our inside joke is that Loggerhead Marketing owns “The Optimizer 3000,” which is a microwave like device that we plug websites into, run it for 3 minutes on high, and number one Google ranks come out of it when the timer dings. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing (yet) as “The Optimizer 3000”.

So what is it that companies who offer optimization services do? Well, without giving away too many of our secrets, we do a lot of research – evaluating your website, your competitors websites, the mindset of your potential customers, your keywords and content, etc. – and we make changes to various elements of your website based on this research. We evaluate and edit your content, meta descriptions, keywords, page names and more. We look at 10-20 (or more) elements of your website, which affect the performance of your website in search engines. We evaluate the back links to your website, and work to increase and improve those backlinks. We also use a pretty sophisticated software package that allows us to analyze this information and run reports at various intervals so that we can evaluate the changes that we make to your website.

A large part of what we do has to do with staying informed about the changes that Google makes to how they rank websites. We generally know what elements of a website they look at, however, they don’t tell us the weight that each of those elements carries, and they make lots of changes to their formula. For us, it’s like trying to bake a cake with just a pile of ingredients. We know the cake needs eggs, but we don’t know if it needs one egg or a dozen.

As always, my advice for purchasing SEO services is the same as purchasing just about anything else. Do your homework, get multiple quotes, ask a lot of questions, compare apples to apples, and make sure that you’re comfortable with the company you select to do business with.

With more and more people owning phones with data plans and internet access (just go to any place with a bunch of people, and take note of how many of them are using their phones), it’s no wonder that website visitor statistics from mobile devices are growing enormously. Just think of how many people you know (possibly including yourself) that have an iPhone, Blackberry, Android phone, or some other “smartphone”. All of these people have the ability to browse the internet right from their phone, and nearly all of them do (and a lot more than you may think).

So, it makes sense to make sure people can find and access your website with their phone, right? I’d tend to think so. The good news is that more than likely, if you have a website, people can already access it on their phone. The browsers on most phones these days are very similar (in terms of rendering the look of a website) to your desktop computer, so if you want the bare-minimum accessibility, you probably already have it.

Does that mean you should stick with the bare-minimum, though? That’s up to you, but I’d like to suggest that you at least read on and learn why it may be a good idea to make your site a little more mobile friendly.

I must point out, before I continue, that one kind of website that won’t work on nearly all phones right now is a Flash website. Mobile phones do not currently support Flash, and some manufacturers, like Apple with their iPhone, have stated they never will. If you have a Flash website, you’re mostly out of luck when it comes to mobile devices right now. There are also many other reasons why you probably shouldn’t have a Flash website, but that will need to be a whole other article.

Like I mentioned before, visitor statistics for websites are showing that people are visiting more and more websites with their mobile devices. According to statcounter.com, people visiting websites with mobile devices has grown nearly 200% in the past year. While that’s a good increase, it’s only going to go higher with more and more smartphones becoming available, and more people renewing their cell phone contracts and getting great deals on these phones.

With these trends rising, there will be more focus placed on mobile websites in the upcoming months and years, and you’ll need to decide whether you want to follow suite, wait for your competitors to do it first, or take advantage of all the people already using mobile devices.

When it comes to presenting a website to a person with one of these mobile devices, there are basically two ways of doing so.

The first way is to modify a “normal” website (one that’s made for viewing on a computer), and through a few tweaks, make it “mobile-friendly”. This is the method I normally suggest, for a few different reasons; the biggest one being that it’s easier and less time-consuming (thus less expensive). It’s not always the case, but in this situation, modifying something that’s already there is much easier than building another site specifically for mobile devices from scratch. With this method, the site will look very similar on a mobile device to the way it does on a computer screen, but certain elements will be sized differently (so they can be seen more easily on the smaller screen), or removed completely (Flash elements, unnecessary elements that will cause slow page loads on a cell-phones slower internet speed, etc).

The other way is to make a completely different website for mobile devices. Normally in this situation, the design does not look the same, as it is completely optimized for smaller screens and slower internet speeds. These sites normally don’t have a lot of images on them, and look more like phone applications than websites. This method obviously takes more time, as a whole other site needs to be built, but it also gives your site a much better chance of being fully usable on a wide range of mobile devices. Larger sites with lots of data are the biggest beneficiaries of such a setup, but I think this is overkill for most smaller websites.

One thing to keep in mind is that unless a website development company specifically says that they’re going to do one of these two methods, it’s normally not included with the website development for a new site. Here at Loggerhead, we try to build sites that have the widest range of compatibility with browsers, which means the sites are accessible and usable on mobile devices. But, just like any other kind of addition to a website, mobile changes are often something that needs to be specifically asked for.

It’s up to you, the website owner, where you would like to take your website into the “mobile age”. I do know one thing for certain, though, and that is that we’re going to be in this “age” well into the future.

Even though I run the risk of removing bad advertising from my life by writing the following blog, I feel that I owe it to everyone who is a part of these nightmares to tell them the truth about their ads. Below are a few points to avoid being a part of bad advertising.

Sales People, Friends and Family

Bad commercials and ads are often the result of bad sales people. Clients always have these “great” ideas for their commercials, and sales people, eager to spend the commission from the sale, overlook the fact that a bad advertisement can be the downfall of a marketing campaign. What’s worse is the fact that once the ad has been produced, friends and family (who love you very much) jump on the band wagon and love the new commercial. For better advertising results, get the opinion of people who aren’t afraid to tell you that screaming “U S OF A” at the end of the commercial is patriotic and all, but it’s kind of dumb, too.

Get out of your own commercials.

Are you an actor? Playing Si Crowel (the paperboy) in “Our Town” in middle school doesn’t count. I’m more qualified than most of the local business owners who are in their own commercials, yet I stay out of commercials regardless of the fact that I played Si in middle school. You can’t act, and we can all tell that you’re reading a cue card. Sometimes, we can even see it reflecting off of something in the background. This means you, local politicians. If you’re running a professional business, leave acting to the professionals.

Get your families out of the commercials.

In our own minds, we have the cutest kids on the planet. OK, in my case, I have the best dog in the world. But in all reality, your kid isn’t that cute, and they aren’t even as good an actor as you. And what about your nieces and nephews makes me want to buy a car at your dealership? Show me the sports car I can’t afford, show me a truck pulling a big boat, and give me the prices. Your mother-in-law driving a Corvette makes me think twice about buying one for myself, actually.

Quit using bad catch phrases.

“If we can’t beat their price, we’ll just give you the car.” Really? Why would you give me a car when you could just beat the price by a dollar? And who doesn’t offer “great customer service?” Everyone does (or at least everyone says they do), so quit saying that. The days of “family owned” being an important selling factor are over. Current generations mostly care about the price of the item they’re buying. Who they buy it from, or why they are buying it from one place or another rarely goes beyond the price tag. Sadly, that’s the world we live in.

Put your advertisements in appropriate places.

If I’m watching Mythbusters, I’m probably not in the market for a Jaguar. And If I’m watching Jerry Springer at 2 a.m., chances are that I’m not a registered voter. Be smart about your advertising choices. Think a little about your audience before you purchase advertising. Think about what your audience likes, not what you like.

And remember kids, only you can prevent bad advertising (also, stop re-writing famous catch phrases for your own benefit.)

1. Include Your Business’s Name
As I mentioned, your business’s name is what makes it unique, and often it’s what people will be thinking of when they try to find you online. By using your business’s name in the domain name, search engines will give you much better results if the person searches for your business’s name. When it comes to search engine optimization, having a good domain name is one of the most important aspects to getting good results , so choosing one that is associated with your business’s name plays a big role in peoples’ ability to find your site.

2. Include Keywords
If yourbusinessname.com is taken, consider using a few keywords as your domain name instead. Since search engines place so much importance on the domain name when it matches your site to a person’s search, using keywords that best describe your business can be very beneficial. Sometimes, it’s even more so than going with your business’s name. For example, one of our clients is Fat Matt’s Ice Cream, and they own fatmattsicecream.com. But, since they’re a fairly new business to the area and not many people will know to search for their name, we set them up on myrtlebeachicecream.com, because people will be more likely to be searching for “myrtle beach ice cream” than “fat matt’s ice cream”.

3. Keep It Short/Simple
It might sound like you should just cram as many keywords into a domain name as possible, but you also need to keep in mind that at some point you may want to have your domain name displayed somewhere or used in an advertisement. Having a name that is too long to fit on printed materials, hard to remember, could be confused or misspelled easily, or hard to pronounce or explain to people verbally, can cause issues. Keeping it as short as possible will help alleviate most of these potential issues, and the better someone can remember your domain name, the greater chance you have of them actually checking it out when they get in front of a computer.

4. Use Popular Extensions
Working off of the concept of keeping the domain name easy to remember – try to stick with the popular domain extensions that are .com, .net and .org. You don’t need to use one of these, but they are the ones people are most familiar with. If the person remembers your domain name, but not it’s extension, they’ll most likely assume it was .com, and if that doesn’t work, they’ll try .net, etc. I recommend sticking to .com as the primary domain, and purchasing the .net version and have it redirect to the .com. This way you’re able to cover either scenario.

These are just a few tips that should help you in choosing a domain name. It really comes down to two things: search engines and users, and you want both to be able to find you. If the person isn’t in front of their computer, you also want a domain name they’ll be able to remember. It often helps to try to think like your prospective visitors might. What keywords do you think they’ll be searching for you (or your line of work) with? Would you be able to remember your domain name if you heard it for the first time over the radio, or if someone mentioned it to you in a conversation?

Of course, keep in mind that your “perfect” domain name may already be taken by someone else, so it’s often a good idea to come up with a few that could work for you. Then, see which are available, and make the best choice based on your results. While you can change a domain name of a site once it’s already set up, it’s often a time consuming process (both in changing the actual domain, and the time it takes for the search engines to pick up the change and adjust accordingly), so I’d definitely recommend spending the little extra time beforehand to make sure the domain name you choose is the one you will be happy with for the long run.

There are some old school rules that you should keep in mind when making purchases in this economy. These “rules” are those all too well-known words of wisdom handed down by parents, mentors and teachers that have made sense for generations. Here are a few that I think you should keep in mind:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Matt DeWyer and I hosted a webinar last week about search engine optimization. Clients looking for SEO services need to be aware that there are a lot of companies out there who will guarantee results. Most of these companies, however, employ Black Hat SEO techniques that may get your website black listed by Google. Think the economy’s bad now? Wait until no one can find your business in Google searches.

You can also find website developers all over websites like Craig’s List. These developers offer design services at a fraction of the cost of a professional development company like ours. Will they know what they’re doing? Will they take your money and run? Will they deliver what you asked for? Ask yourself if the deal you’re about to get is too good to be true.

There’s a difference between cheap and inexpensive. Recently, we’ve been providing a number of quotes for clients whose websites are only a year or two old. Many of these websites have compatibility issues, broken links, and other problems related to shortcuts taken by the original developers. In many of these cases, our clients originally selected the developer for their project solely by the price, hiring the company with the lowest quote. Ironically, now they’re spending even more money to replace a website that was a poor investment in their company. When selecting a website developer, you have to look at the situation as an investment in your company. A great website should last most companies 3 to 5 years at least.

You get what you pay for. In high school and college, I owned a DJ service that provided music and emcee services for weddings. At a wedding I was DJ’ing, a young couple approached me and asked me to play a song for them. They told me that they were married a few weeks before, and the DJ they hired didn’t have their first dance song even though they told him what it was before the wedding. I suggested that they should have hired me. They then informed me that they did in fact call about my services, but that they saved nearly $200 by hiring this other DJ. They also admitted that it would have been worth the extra $200 to have the correct song for their first dance.

If you get two or more quotes for website development, be sure to ask why one is more “expensive” than the other. Don’t just ask yourself; ask the companies who provided you with the quotes. They should be able to justify their pricing, and give you insight as to whether they’re cheap, or inexpensive. And remember, always go with inexpensive!

I could make a very long list of what’s wrong with IE6, but I’m going to stick to the main points so you can start downloading a newer browser quicker.

It’s Old

Did you know that IE6 is nearing its 9^th year anniversary? IE6 was released in August of 2001. Do you remember what the internet was like almost nine years ago? (Much, much different than it is today, in case you haven’t noticed.) There have been many advances in internet-based and website technologies, and unfortunately, IE6 was built before many of them were created. Nine years is like 90 years when it comes to technology and the internet, and there are so many things your old browser is missing out on!

It’s not secure

Even if you’re not into all the new stuff the internet has to offer, your security has to be important to you, right? Sure, IE6 gets you onto the internet, but in doing so it opens you up to many security threats.

Security tracking website Secunia has been tracking IE6 since 2003, and has found 195 vulnerabilities, and has issued 145 advisories. That’s an average of 2 new vulnerabilities each month! If that’s not scary enough, according to their stats, 24 of them still haven’t been fixed! And that’s not even counting the hundreds of Active-X exploits that have been found over the years, which is so heavily integrated into IE6.

It doesn’t follow web standards

If you’re still using IE6, you’ve undoubtedly come across websites that don’t quite look right. Although there are some bad websites out there, no matter what browser you view them in, chances are that the sites would have looked much better if you had a newer browser. When Microsoft built the first Internet Explorer version in 1994 (and released in 1995), there were really no universally accepted web standards, so Microsoft did what they did best and came up with their own and attempted to force the web to use them. Around the same time, a new group was formed called the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and its goal was to organize and standardize the code on which websites were built. But, by that time Microsoft had already set out in its ways, and by the time IE6 came around, Microsoft was still mostly sticking to its own way of doing things.

Since IE6, almost all browsers have taken to the web standards, which leaves IE6 hanging back not fully supporting everything. Not only does this mean websites won’t always look right in IE6, it also means that website developers are stuck trying to modify a site to look and function as best as possible with IE6’s lack of compatibility. If you think websites sometimes cost a lot to build, you can thank IE6 as being one of the reasons. It takes developers extra time to try to make a website IE6 compatible.

Microsoft says you should upgrade

If this isn’t reason enough, I don’t know what is. When the developers of (free) software say you should upgrade, it’s probably a good idea. It’s free to upgrade to a new version of Internet Explorer, so it’s not like Microsoft is just saying it to make a bunch of money.

Sites are dropping IE6 support

Facebook doesn’t like you using it, YouTube is dropping support and Gmail is as well. These are only a few of the sites that are making an effort to phase IE6 support out. There have been a few campaigns recently to help promote the end of IE6, and many websites and development companies are hopping on board. As the word gets out, expect to see even less sites supporting it by the end of the year.

Upgrading

So, what’s one to do? Just download a new browser! It’s incredibly simple, and only takes a few minutes. If you aren’t sure what version you have, it won’t hurt to download the latest version just to make sure. If you’re really into Internet Explorer and want to stick with it, then just go to the Microsoft website and download it for free.

I would really suggest that you check out some other free browsers, though. Many of them are very popular, much more secure and stable, and have more features. The Browser Upgrade website provides a list of the most popular free browsers, and gives even more information about why you should upgrade. I personally use Firefox, and I love it. But, with there being a variety of choices out there, I’d recommend that you pick the one that you like the best.

Thank you, in advance, for doing yourself and all of us a favor!

In this blog, I plan to cover some of the most common mistakes, offer some helpful tips, and hopefully, put your mind on the right path to successfully marketing your business through trade shows.

I would have to say the most common mistakes that vendors make at trade shows are related to being unprepared.  I always recommend making a list of all of the items that you’re going to need as soon as you register for the trade show.  Your list may include items that you’ll have to have printed or made such as business cards, sales materials, promotional items and signage.

Most trade shows today do not offer any kind of signage for vendors, so be sure to have a simple sign or banner with your business name, logo, website and phone number made if you don’t already have one.  Loggerhead Marketing likes to use vinyl banners since they can be used over and over again, and they will last for years if taken care of properly.  Be sure to have a way to hang or display your sign.  S-style hooks are the best way to hang banners at shows with pipe & drape.  Business card holders, and baskets or other items to hold & display your sales materials and give-a-ways are important as well.  An unorganized booth space implies an unorganized business in most cases.

Start gathering everything you’ll need no later than a day or two before the expo so that you have plenty of time to organize these items.  We use clear, plastic containers to store and transport many of our trade show items.  Clear containers make it easy to see what’s in them, even if they’re closed, and the plastic is water proof and durable.   Pack your vehicle the day before the show so that you’re ready to go in the morning.  Make sure that you know when and where you’re to unload your vehicle, and be sure to show up on time (if not early) in the correct location.  Unload your vehicle and get everything into your booth space as quickly as possible so that you can allow others into the unloading area.

Once you’ve moved your vehicle, you can start to set up your booth space.  Think about what needs to be done first or in what order things need to be done.  Put the table cloth on the table before you set up your displays for example.  I like to start by hanging our banner.  Be sure to take your time, stay organized and work on one thing at a time.

I know that it may be tempting to set up your table at the front of your booth with your two chairs neatly behind the table, but this can be a huge mistake.  The table will become a barrier between you and your customers, making you less approachable.  Put the table to the side or in the back of your booth, and avoid sitting in the chairs when there are people visiting your booth space.  Leave your books and iPod at home.  No one will interrupt a great book or your favorite song to talk to you.   If you don’t look interested in being there, people will assume that you’re not interested in doing business with them, so be sure to smile and be friendly.

It’s a good idea to have something in your booth that draws people in.  It’s much easier to start a conversation with someone who approaches you (for a free yardstick, for example) as opposed to when you approach them.  Promotional items, candy, and prize registrations are often used to draw people into booth spaces.  You should always have a way of collecting contact information from prospects and customers, and prize registrations accomplish this goal well.  Ask people to fill out a registration form or drop a business card into your fish bowl (add that to your list of items you’ll need for the show) for a chance to win a prize.

After the show, be sure to follow up with everyone who registers for your prize.  Send them an email, give them a call, or send them additional information about your company in the mail.  The idea of being at an expo or trade show is to increase your customer base, so be sure to follow up with your leads as quickly as possible.  Set aside a day shortly after the show to concentrate on these leads before you forget what you spoke to them about.

Remember, being well prepared and having fun, is the best way to turn trade shows into successful marketing campaigns.

While content and keyword density are important factors in search engine optimization, this blog will simply cover the basic information every business should know about website content.  The Loggerhead Marketing team will cover a variety of search engine optimization topics at a later date.

First and foremost, have an outline of the content needed for a particular website.  The home page of a website is the landing page.  The home page should describe the services offered by a particular business.  Potential clients want to learn about your business as quickly as possible.

Also, don’t leave out pertinent information.  For example, retail business should list their hours of operation and location.  Service based businesses should include a list of all of their services.  Restaurants should list menus and delivery areas. Make sure the contact information for your business is easy to find.  I know this may sound like basic information, but I encounter a variety of local websites missing the above information on a daily basis.

Once the content is completed, have several people proofread the content.  Spelling errors reflect poorly on a business; it shows a lack of attention to detail.  I doubt many business owners would pass out business cards that contained misspelled words.  While a website isn’t a piece of print advertising, basic spelling and grammar rules should still be followed.

Finally, businesses need to update their content on a regular basis.  Again, it reflects poorly on a business if a website has outdated material on it.  One example would be retail stores advertising a sale that has already passed.  Another example would be restaurants listing expired coupons.  Businesses need to remember that visitors to their websites are looking for correct and current information about that business.  If your website has a news section, post current news stories about your business.  Having the last news story be dated 2008 shows a lapse of activity with the website.  Visitors may even think your business is no longer open and navigate to another website.

Pay attention to the small details on your website.  I do.