In this Web 2.0 world many marketers are switching to business blogging either instead of, or in addition to eNewsletters. If you are debating whether to launch a great looking HTML eNewsletter or to start a blog; choose the blog.

Blogs are in contrast are less intrusive than email newsletters. They are much faster to produce than a HTML newsletter. History and archiving are automatic. Blogs can be made either private or public. Blogs allow comments and feedback while newsletters do not. eNewsletters are only sent to those on your list, Blogs are published by RSS feed and attract new prospects that you may not have reached.

People are becoming overwhelmed with email spam. HTML newsletters get caught in spam traps. Newsletters take more planning and longer to produce. You must check your links, send test copies and otherwise correctly configure your HTML newsletter.

Remember, the marketing strategy of a business blog is similar to that of an eNewsletter. They both build credibility and an ongoing relationship with your customers and prospects. They keep your product or service first in their mind when they’re ready to buy.

Because blogs allow you to post fresh content almost instantly, they are more up to date and allow you greatly accelerate your marketing effort.

Doug Williams, Business Consultant

Here is the business web design and marketing challenge. The Internet is an impersonal medium. Effective business web marketing means breaking through this barrier in a way that adds the human touch back into the Web. Testimonials are a way of bringing in what others are saying about us. After all, what do people who have actually purchased and used your product or service think about it?

Why testimonials are important
Testimonials are important to customers because they lower the risk of doing business with an unknown company. The first hand testimony of a happy customer is more powerful than pages of facts and figures describing the product or service. These endorsements are important because they tell your prospects and customers how others think of you. Testimonials let visitors that you value your customer opinions and it offers an unbiased recommendation for your product

What makes a good testimonial?
First and foremost they should be genuine and believable. They should be specific and have the person’s full name and if they represent a business, the business name. A link back to their website allows visitors to see who made the comment and it rewards your customer with a valuable link back to their website. Testimonials can be a comment, a review it can be in text, audio or video.

Where to place testimonials?
Should testimonials be on their own page? Or placed around the website? We prefer to put them into a PHP Database program and do both. We will design an area on the home page where testimonial excerpts will rotate every 4-5 seconds and place these onto a testimonials page that is created from this same database. Here are a few examples:

Plastic Injection Molding Company
Software Development Company
Business Networking Groups
Link Popularity Service

Getting Testimonials
Testimonials should convey the biggest result your client achieved by working with you. The more specific you can be… the better. Stay away from vague generalities. They should tell about how a problem was solved, how you made them money or how you made them better.

Make requesting testimonials a part of your quality improvement process. At the end of project or when you ship product, ask for feedback and ask for permission to publish their comments. If the feedback isn’t good, use this as a tool to identify and fix problems. If the feedback is good, then you have a good marketing tool.

3D landscaping software company Idea Spectrum has moved from being a new player to the market leader in just 3 years. We would like to take credit for their success with our web design, PHP web development and search engine optimization work, but the fact is that Idea Spectrum has simply produced a superior product.

Idea Spectrum produces 3D landscape software for both the home owner as well as the landscape designer. They produce 3 versions of their software that ranges in price from $60 to $100. The Pro version, Realtime Landscaping Pro, has an extensive plant library designed to show realistic 3D models of what the finished landscaping will be like.

Jim Napier, President and chief developer, is a former Microsoft animation engineer. Earlier in his career, Jim produced popular home design software such as FloorPlan Plus 3D. Jim started his company with his first landscape design program Watergarden Studio. Since then he has come out with a range of high power yet easy to use home landscaping programs.

Our goal was to produce a professional web presence that would allow them to sell and deliver their software completely online in an automatic ecommerce mode. Web development included a custom order wizard with serial number generation and rotating testimonials on their home page. Graphics required extensive photo galleries to show off their design capabilities.

Search engine optimization was one of the most critical requirements and having a great position on Google for terms such as “landscape design software” and “landscaping software”. They are now #2 for both these terms. They also enjoy number one rankings on Google for terms like home landscaping software, 3d landscape design, and 3d landscape software. More SEO results. This has allowed them to greatly reduce their PPC campaigns while greatly increasing sales.

What’s next? Doug Williams and Associates will be assisting with additional marketing and promotional campaigns as they continue to grow and add more software products.

Business blogs are a powerful search engine optimization tool. They bring benefits at many levels as part of a business marketing program. We use blog marketing in conjunction with normal SEO and we are getting powerful results.

Business blogging opens new markets to a business. It establishes that business as an authority and is a strong branding tool. Blogging is an interactive medium that allows a business to reach out to new customers.

We use blogging as part of our SEO campaigns. The heart of this is that it requires a business be willing to commit to regular blog postings of at least 3 times per week. Other key elements include a blogging plan with the correct keyword phrases being selected, the writing of interesting and original content and following our writing guidelines.

We knew we were getting superior SEO results by using SEO combined with blogging than with SEO alone. We went in and analyzed the results and were amazed at how much better the results were.

We went in and looked at results for stand alone blogs (on a separate website than the main business website), the main business website and websites using our standard SEO process. We measured the number of unique visitors as our key indicator. Our sample was small. We used 3 blog sites, 3 business websites supported by blogs and 6 websites using standard SEO. The time period was 3 months.

Standard SEO showed a 39% increase in unique visitors. Blogs showed an 85% increase in unique visitors. Websites that were the primary recipient of links from the blog showed a whopping 123% increase in unique visitors.

I haven’t been able to find any other similar analysis posted around the Internet and would be very interested to see what others are seeing using blogging for SEO.

Doug Williams, Blog Marketing and SEO Consultant

BeachcombersNW.com is the vacation rental advertising website of choice for beach house rentals in the Pacific Northwest. They have a large database of available vacation rentals that can be searched easily by area, number of bedrooms, price, pet friendly and other options.

They have a large number of number top listings on search engines such as Google for search terms like “beach house Washington” and “beach house Oregon” which brings in large numbers of visitors to shop for beach house rentals. See more #1 search terms

BeachcombersNW serves two groups: vacationers and vacation rental owners. For vacationers they provide a large selection of quality beach properties that can be easily searched, navigated and browsed. Availability checks and questions to owners are easy to do. There are travel resources and area maps to help in planning

For vacation rental owners they allow reasonable advertising rates and exposure to tens of thousands of potential renters. Listings can be done online by the vacation rental owner or for those that want personal service, can be done by beachcombersnw staff.

For traveler resources they supply events calendars with a vast number of local coast events for both Oregon and Washington. For those that like to search visually, there are clickable Oregon and Washington maps where a click will take you to available vacation rentals.

Website design, database design and search engine optimization were done by Doug Williams and Associates. Quality website hosting and website maintenance is also provided by Doug Williams and Associates.

Color is a powerful communicator in website design, advertising and branding. Sometimes a color is selected for the sole purpose of drawing attention to the product or ad. Color will also produce memorable ads for branding. The best colors for advertising are those that make people comfortable or stimulate their senses. Color effects and directs the decision making process of the customer. It identifies a company, its product lines and the quality of the merchandise.

It’s quite well known that the color red inspires impulsive buying. Our eyes are drawn to the color like bees are to honey. A color scheme that incorporates warm colors encourages people to linger, leading restaurants to choose deep burgundy, burnt orange and similar colors. Bright red and yellow are hot colors, indicative of fire, and they stimulate excitement. We talked before about how color communicates in web design

Building Sign Example
Here is a good example about how color communicates in a building sign. Earlier this year we moved to new offices and I asked one of my new designers to create a design for our new sign. When I saw the design, I was less than impressed. It was technically correct, but it lacked the attention getting element.

The designer thought white would make the text stand out. So we decided to give it a try and see what would happen. I went ahead and had his design made into 4 foot by 5 foot street signs. The result… after 3 months we had no drop in traffic and even clients driving to our office would miss our sign. It just blended in too much.

New Signs
I went back to one of my long time designers and asked for a memorable and eye-catching design. I wanted a colorful design that used our branding colors that we use on our website and business cards. She soon came back with a design that I loved. It was full of color and grabbed your attention. We had new signs made up and put up. The result… within the first week we had two walk in prospects and one very promising phone lead. Wow… what a difference color can make.

Colors are more than a combination of red and blue or yellow and black. They are non-verbal communication. Colors create a physical reaction and are a key part of branding for your business

Doug Williams, Internet marketing consultant

Marketing blogging is the art of promoting your business with a blog. Blogs are a bigger power-house than most even realize. Blogs seem to be the magazine of the future and have become a leading presence on the Internet. Blog marketing has also become one of the best ways to learn and transmit industry news.

Business blogging has become a merger between social media and marketing. A big part of this blogging is the activity of finding, sharing and recommending products, services, events and experiences to like-minded people. At the heart of social media is the ability of individuals to interact with other people so that they feel involved and part of a community.

A Business Blog is like setting up a booth in the biggest trade show on earth… everyday. Blog marketing should be a part of a company’s web site marketing strategies. Companies engaging in business blogging have a definite advantage over their competitors because they reach out to the blogosphere. Marketing possibilities are just around the corner with the ability to reach new markets and new customers.

Two important characteristics of blogs are that they are written by someone who is knowledgeable and passionate about their subject and they are written in an every day voice. What is being said is not being filtered and re-written by the marketing, legal and PR departments. This gives blogs an “honesty” that is missing in traditional business communications.

When it comes down to it, blogging can be a great tool to promote your business if used correctly. Remember, the blogging world is immense, so if you are ready to sit down and start a blog, make sure to design a strategy of how to market that blog.

Doug Williams, Blog Marketing Consultant

Web Site Navigation
Navigation is the GPS that directs visitors around your website. Design a simple and intuitive navigation system and people can find exactly what they are looking for. This is the single most important element in creating the best website design. Organizing your website’s navigation may seem simple, but it actually requires a great deal of thought.

The flow of your website should follow your natural selling process. Your best sales people know the best way to start from a cold call to clinching the final sale. In designing your website structure, begin by thinking like a customer. The flow should become completely obvious.

Here are 10  navigation design tips for web page design:

1. 3 click rule: Make it easy to move around your website. You should be able to any from any page to another within 3 clicks. There should be fast and easy access to information.
2. Top or left side: Be predictable and make it easy on visitors. Place the navigation system on the left or the top, just below the header.
3. Be consistent: The navigation system should be in the same place on every page and have the same format. Otherwise visitors become confused and frustrated.
4. Use standard wording: Keep category names as simple as you possibly can. Don’t make your visitors guess where a link is going to take them.
5. Home Page: Include a “Home” link in your main navigation system. Visitors may arrive at a secondary page and will want to easily find your main page.
6. Logo links home: Visitors expect that clicking on the logo will take them to the home page. Most sites include their logo in the top left hand corner of each page.
7. Sitemap: Large or complex sites should always have a text-based site map in addition to text links. Every page should contain a text link to the site map. Lost visitors will use it to find their way, while search engines spiders will have reliable access to all your pages.
8. Internal links: One important aspect of navigation is internal linking between the pages. Placing links within body text connects pages in a natural way.
9. Provide Options: individuals have different preferences for finding information. Options can include, sidebar navigation, top navigation, text links and site wide searches.
10. Search box: A search feature helps visitors locate information quickly. Make the search box prominent and be sure that it searches all of your site but only your site. If you use a search the web feature, you can quickly lose your visitors.

Navigation provides the structure, the road map and guides visitors down the path that you want. Designed correctly, navigation is a powerful part of your website’s success.

Doug Williams, Internet marketing consultant 

The web design acronym CLASS highlights the elements of best in class web design. They are Content, Logical flow, Aesthetics, Simplicity and Search engine optimization. Top business website designers uses a balance of these five key elements to produce websites that meet the goals of business owners.

Eye-catching graphics and style will fail miserably if there is an unfocused message or if no visitors end up coming to the website. The right planning combined with these five elements will produce a winning website.

1. Content: Remember visitors arriving are fast paced, click happy and easily bored. Your website content needs to grab your visitor’s attention in order to get results. Content is what tells what you have to offer and creates a “call to action.” If the content does not provide the information needed it will provide little value.
2. Logical flow: The organization and flow should follow the natural selling process. Organizing your website’s navigation may seem simple, but it actually requires a good deal of careful thought. One of the first steps is to establish the call to action. What are your goals and what action do you want visitors to take?
3. Aesthetics: Develop that right first impression through style, color and simplicity. Design draws your visitors to what is important. Blending of color, graphics and design creates an emotional response to make your website memorable. Color communicates powerfully in business web design. Aesthetics bring in the emotional response that is so important in branding.
4. Simplicity: Create a simple and focused message to avoid confusion and gets results. In design you want to capture the visitor’s attention with your message. With search engines, focus and simplicity gets faster and better results. It is important to get the visitor’s attention and understand the purpose of the website in 3 seconds or less.
5. SEO: The perfect website without visitors is utterly worthless. Search engine optimization should be designed into the website. Web designers should chart out their SEO plan before beginning their design. Start with keyword research, create a keyword plan and use these keywords in page names, navigation, linking and headings to dramatically improve the design’s effectiveness.

A well-designed website has many facets, but it hard to beat a website designed with CLASS.

Doug Williams, Internet marketing consultant

Simplicity is best for both great web design and getting results in search engine optimization. Simplicity creates focus, avoids confusion and gets results. In design you want to capture the visitor’s attention with your message. In SEO, focus and simplicity gets faster and better results.

Occam’s razor states all things being equal; the simplest solution tends to be the best one. This is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham.

In web design, simplicity is important to get the visitor’s attention and get them to understand the purpose of the website in 3 seconds or less. The design needs to draw the eye to the important elements with a minimum of noise or distraction. Too much stuff on the screen distracts and causes confusion. Simplicity doesn’t mean having a completely white page, it means using colors and graphics that are pleasing and non-distracting.

In SEO, a website with many varying topics lacks focus and confuses the search engines. Simplicity gives focus. Search engines will give much more importance to web pages that are highly focused around a single keyword phrase or topic. Just as in visual design, the information presented needs to be simple and focused. Simplicity doesn’t mean having just a few words, it means having a focused topic.

Simplicity in visual design, in navigation and in information flow communicates better. This applies not only to the human visitor, but also to the search engines.

Doug Williams, Internet marketing consultant