What Is Search Engine Optimization?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art of manipulating the elements on your web site to increase it's ability to rank high for specific keyword phrases.

For example: Say you sell real estate in Concord, North Carolina. When a person types "house concord nc" into Google search, you want your website link to be one of the first five pulled up on the search results page. If you're on the first page of the results generated by the search engine, your website has achieved search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization is all about making sure your web site comes up at the top of the list when a person initiates a search. Most web users won't click beyond the first page of search results, so you want your web site to appear at the top of the page.

Since users all think differently, the words and word phrases they use to initiate a search will be different. That's why it's important that your site be rich in a variety of key words and key word phrases to ensure that no matter what words the user types into the search screen, your web site will pop up on the results page.

How Do I Use My Web Site to Generate Leads?

The purpose of lead generation is to turn web site and blog visitors into clients. It's tricky these days. The threat of identity theft has made people paranoid about giving out personal information on the internet. On average, only 4% of site visitors will provide information that generates a lead. The trick is "to pick up leads, not deter response by over-stepping the visitor's comfort zone," says Jim Cronin on The Real Estate Tomato, a marketing blog for the real estate industry.

You walk a fine line between enticing visitors with promises of greater value and alienating them by being too pushy. The soft sell approach is often more effective. Try these proven methods for generating leads from site visitors:

• Short forms. Use an online form that asks for as little personal information as possible. The more you ask for, the less likely a site visitor is to fill out your form. Name and email required is all you need to produce an effective email marketing program.
• Offer value. Offer value in exchange for information. Visitors won't provide contact information unless you offer something they want in exchange. A subscription to a monthly email newsletter is a typical offering. Pump it up by promising subscription-only coupons and discounts to make the offer more enticing to visitors.
• Blog blast. On your blog, offer sign up for an email blog blast which sends out a RSS feed to subscribers each time a new blog article is posted. If your blog is well-written, informative or entertaining, readers won't want to miss new postings. Providing their email address to read your newest nuggets of wisdom is considered a fair trade.
• Expert advice. Downloadable articles, white papers and eBooks appeal to visitors and increase their confidence in you as an authority in the field. Reorganize archived blog articles into short hints, tips and how-to eBooks. Focus each booklet on a single topic to encourage repeat visitors and make each download email required.

What Is the F Pattern?

No, we're not trying to be rude. The F pattern refers to the way internet users navigate their way around a web site, blog, online data or search engine. A recent study by Jakob Nielsen tracked the eye movements of 232 internet users as they read thousands of different web pages and discovered that the most used reading pattern was F-shaped. (Click the link to read more about the study.)

Three common attributes characterize the F pattern:

• First, users read horizontally across the top of a web page. This is where you grab their attention with a dynamite headline.
• Next, users skip down the page a bit and read horizontally across the page a second time, but they only read about halfway across the page this time. This is where you put your most important content.
• Lastly, users scan the left side of a site in a vertical movement. Pack in your key words here to lure them deeper into your site.

How can you use this knowledge to improve your web site?

• As much as you might hate to admit it, visitors to your web site won't read every carefully crafted pearl of wisdom you write. They scan for something that catches their attention, then move on. If you don't snag them in the first line or two, they've clicked away and are gone.
• You need to get your most important points into the first paragraph or two of your text.
• Use keywords at the start of the header and opening paragraph. If the user doesn't see what he came for right away, he'll click away. Use keywords in major divisions, subheads, bullet points and in bold sentences. Pop keywords into the left column of your site to catch the user's final scan.

When you design your web site or web page, keep the F pattern in mind and you stand a better chance of catching the visitor's attention and keeping them on your site.

How Can I Improve My Web Site's Stickiness?

How can you make your web site sticky? Put another way, what can you do to make visitors want to stay (stick) on your web site instead of clicking away. (See our May 31 blog post for a definition of stickiness and why it's important.)

A sticky website immediately attracts the attention of the visitor and entices him to stay. Incorporating the following elements in your web site will improve its stickiness:

• Content. Interesting and creative content that immediately addresses the user's reason for visiting the site and encourages him to explore further is the key to creating a sticky web site. Know and write for your target audience.


• Organization. A well organized and uncluttered site that allows the user to immediately find what he's looking for and go there easily will encourage the user to explore further. Be guided by the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!).


• Navigation. Make navigation to other parts of the site easy by using intuitive navigation and extensive hypertext cross-references.


• Interaction. The ability to interact both with the site and other users will help the user to develop a relationship with your site and keep him coming back to find out what's new. Try adding some of these elements to make your site interactive: personalization, discussion groups, user feedback, message board, games.


• Expertise. Become the go-to expert in your field. Post articles and white papers and link to other sites and articles to increase your exposure. Offer a free email newsletter. It will help build your relationship with site visitors and get them to return for new info.


• Sharing. Make it easy for visitors to let friends know about your site. Add an "email this page to a friend" link.


• Inventory. If you sell a product, provide an online inventory with pictures so users can see what you're selling.


• Forms. Use online forms to make it easy for the user to order a product or request a contact.


• Updates. Update your site regularly (at least monthly) so there's always something new when the user visits. He'll keep coming back to find out what's new. Newsletters, inventory, special offers, interactive features are all easy ways to create new content.


• Structure. Make sure any visitor can view and navigate around your site by designing the site in pure HTML with no obscure plug-ins. Use only the most common plug-ins for audio and video. Users who can't see or use all of the elements on your site will become frustrated and click away.


• Search engines. Optimize your site for search engines to help more users find it. Don't bother to list your site with every minor search engine, stick to the top ten as these are the ones most visitors use.


• Don'ts. Don't spam and don't sell user information. After all, you want your relationship with site users to be positive, not negative.

Want to check out some excellent examples of sticky sites? Try these: Amazon, Yahoo, Excite.