Appletree Media

5 Steps to a Great Website

Forbes outlined 5 steps to consider in order to effectively plan out your business’s website.

1. How will you get people to your website? More specifically, what marketing techniques will you be using to attract your target audience? Is it search engine optimization? Pay-per-click advertising? Social media? PR? This step is very important, as it often answers many of the questions below. Tip: Calculate which marketing technique works best for your site, by figuring out which has the lowest cost-per-acquisition (how much you spent on getting a customer).

2. Who will be coming to the site? Your website needs to take all kinds of visitors by the hand and help them find what they are looking for. Within a few seconds of getting to your site, a visitor needs to know what to do next. Do they need to sign up? Should they click a link to learn more? Once you determine what visitors are coming, you’ll be able to determine what they need to do once they get there. Tip: Don’t try to please everyone, but have your site clearly laid out to direct visitors wherever they need to go. If you do too much your website will become busy and difficult to navigate. Focus on a few key features that majority of your visitors will benefit from.

3. What questions will my visitors have? Am I at the right place? How long have you been in business? Can I afford you? How do I know your product or service is any good? How can I learn more about your services and company? How do I contact you? Tip: Try to answer the questions before they are asked. For example, if your visitors come to purchase a specific product that you’re well-known for in the industry, have that product easily located so they know they’re in the right place and can access product details right away. Clear, short messages work great.

4. What do you want your visitors to do? Should they pick up the phone and call you? E-mail? Sign up for something? Buy your product online? A great website will guide your traffic where you want them to end up. If you’re selling a product, convince the visitors to buy and make it easy for them to do so. If you offer a service, let them know how and why they can benefit from it. Tip: Be clear and concise. Don’t make visitors think.

5. How do my visitors like to stay in touch? Keep in mind, that most people who come to your website won’t become a customer. In fact, the average conversion rate on the Internet is around one percent, meaning only 1 out of 100 visitors will end up contacting you, signing up, or buying something. Find out what forms of communication your visitors prefer and give them the means to stay connected: e-mail, a blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, RSS Feeds, and more. Tip: Engaging your customers is important, as most people don’t convert on the first visit. Keep them coming back by identifying your target visitor and catering to the market that best reaches them. If they’re entry-level professionals and they’re constantly engaging in social media, have a social media presence and actively provide them reasons to return to your site. By engaging visitors you’ll give them incentive to return, convert, and hopefully invite their network to do the same.

The Experts At Appletree Mediaworks Know How To Get Your Company Off On The Right Foot.

Monitoring Your Brand Online

No matter how big or small your company, monitoring your brand online is an essential task that must be done on a regular basis.  With the prevalence of social media, it’s far too easy for one person’s bad experience to go viral.  Watching for and correcting these issues is the only way to ensure your brand remains in a positive light.

There are many tools out there to assist you with monitoring your brand, and most of them are free.

The easiest tool to use is Google.  You can set up a Google Alert (sent right to your email) that searches regularly for whatever you want – in this case, your best bet would be your brand name.  You can also refine it to just send you news, video, discussions, blogs, etc.

Another great tool is Twitter – using the Twitter search, you can monitor your name, your company’s name, or even your competitors, and have the results fed into an RSS reader for your convenience.  And since Twitter posts are so rapid, you may want to use TweetDeck or HootSuite to keep a closer eye on things.

While not free, Trackur is an excellent tool for small business to keep tabs on social media.  You can “monitor your reputation, your news mentions, your PR campaigns, your employees, or your competition. Trackur’s social media monitoring tools are easy to use, yet offer a surprising number of features.”  With plans starting at just $27 a month, any small business can easily afford to sign up.

If your business is booming and you’ve got a little more to spend, try out UberVu.  Their dashboard monitors and analyzes mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and more.  You can also perform a “sentiment analysis” to find out what the general feeling is towards your brand, and you can even use UberVu to compare your brand to your competitors.

These are just a few tools that are available for monitoring your brand online – more in-depth research may uncover something perfect for your organization.

Apps

The Union Edge Talk Radio Show Interview on Union Tools for Websites

Union Tools for WebsitesUnion Tools for Websites

Appletree MediaWorks joined Charles Showalter on The Union Edge Talk Radio Show yesterday.  Mentioned were some of the custom-built union tools that both the UWUA and P4A use on their websites.  The full episode can be streamed from the  Appltree Media page. Click “Listen” under the 12/5/2012 heading.  Excerpts from the program can also be found below.

Here are some of the topics they discussed:

  • Affordable, customizable union-made website packages that include social media integration.
    • Social media is an important growth tool for unions – allows you to further your reach and share with other unions.
    • Social media is easily updated and can be rapidly shared – this allows news and information to “go viral” – not only putting pressure on companies to resolve union matters faster, but also allows union members to organize quickly and efficiently when time is of the essence.
  • Custom union tools for websites.
    • Secure Intranets – areas for members and officers to log into, share information, and securely upload and store documents.
    • Expense and Payroll Tracking Programs for Unions – including uploading of receipts for audit purposes.
    • Member Dues Program – track, bill, and accept payments online for members.  This includes custom reports and mail/email ready monthly statements.
    • Certification Tracking System – Power for America Training Trust Fund utilizes this system in order to keep track of apprentice training and schooling.  Also used by Utility Workers Military Assistance Program in Chicago for instructors to track grades.
    • Test Taker Program – new program for P4A and Consumers Energy students to take tests online.  Tests are secure, timed, and instructors get detailed results instantly.
  • Currently in the works.
    • New website for UWUA on WordPress featuring Web 2.0 upgrades.