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With thousands of websites competing for our attention, it’s important that those striving to have a great website make it stand out. There are many things you can do to make your website more readable, more interesting and more likely to provide real value to the visitor.

Here are 10 tips for improving your website.

1. Increase the “scanability” of your pages

In general, most of us scan websites. We have short attention spans and we want information quickly. If you want visitors to stay on your website, you want to make it easy to scan. Use numbers, bullets and other design elements that keep the copy easy to read and easy to scan. In general, readers love lists and similar elements that quickly and easily draw the eye across the page.

2. Keep your copy concise

Make the first few words of each page really count, or you can lose readers quickly. Also, use a journalism technique called “inverted pyramid”, which places the most important information at the top of an article and less important information lower in the article.

3. Stress benefits

People head to your website to see what you can do for them. Stress what you offer that is beneficial to them. Do this in an easy-to-read way that is concise and easy to scan and you have a winner of a website!

4. Keep links descriptive

In general, don’t provide a one-word link or a hyperlink on a word that has little meaning to the reader. Readers want to know where they will be taken, so be as descriptive as possible when creating links. There’s no need to be wordy, but be generous enough with the information that the reader knows where he or she is going.

5. Add a search option and always link to home

If your readers don’t know where they are going or how to find what they are looking for, they will look for a search feature. Give them one so they can type in what they are looking for and find it. To that end, have your logo on each page of your website and make sure that it links to home. If readers get confused or off track, they know they can always click on the logo and go “home” to start all over again.

6. Make meaningful page titles

This is no time to be esoteric. Make page names that mean something to you and to the reader. Simple titles like “services” and “about us” are sufficient and will serve your website’s purpose well.

7. Play the “above the fold” game

Newspapers know well the value of putting the most valuable copy “above the fold” of the newspaper. Often people don’t turn the paper over to see what’s below the fold, but they will read everything above the fold. Use this technique by putting your most valuable copy at the top of your pages, or above the point where people will need to scroll to keep reading.

8. Use visual elements strategically

People like graphs, pictures and other elements that help to add value to content and make it easier to read. Stay away from stock photos, however, as some studies have shown that people place little stock in them. But good photos, graphs and visuals that educate and inform are always welcome and add great value to the readability of your pages.

9. Provide a consistent message

Think about style. That is, do you want to capitalize certain words that tie to your product or industry? If so, create a style that readers can come to expect. They will know that word or phrase will always be capitalized.  It’s important, however, that you consistently do this. As well, read through all copy on your web pages carefully and make sure that the overall message and style is consistent from page to page, even if different writers created different pages.

10. Look at it like a visitor

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own projects that we forget that others are looking at them, too. Leave the backend of your site now and then and look at it the way a visitor sees it. Would you continue reading? Would you want to know more about your product or service? Would you ask for more information, purchase a product or call to make an appointment?

Improving your website is really about simple fixes that add to the overall look and readability of the site. Even without technical knowledge, these are changes that anyone can make. The benefit of making the changes will likely be more than worth the effort.

We all know that blogging is important. Done right, it’s a solid method to brand yourself and bring potential customers to your website while giving them a better understanding of your company and product.

But done wrong, blogging is a just a waste of time.

Consider these five tips for writing blogs that get read, remembered and even shared with others.

1. Use emotion

Many of us tend to approach our readers with logical arguments or with logical reasons why they should read our blog, consider our products, tell others about us. But most of us respond to things emotionally, so approaching readers with an emotional argument rather than a logical one makes good sense.

Let’s say you are blogging about your product and you give rational, logical reasons for why your reader should consider your product. The reader will respond logically and weigh all the pros and cons of buying. But if you approach them with emotional arguments, such as selling them on the benefits of your product or your product’s ability to solve a problem, the reader will provide an emotional response.

2. Brand yourself

While you can have a link on your website to your blog, you want to create a unique presence for that blog; most people won’t click through to your blog from your home page but will instead find your blog in some other fashion (perhaps by Googling your company name). You want to make sure that blog has its own presence. Get a domain name and a solid-looking logo for the blog. Work to make the blog look unique and interesting and not like a prefab blog.

3. Use video & images

Video is one of the best tools these days for getting people to your blog and keeping them there. Many times people will navigate away from a blog within a few seconds, but when you provide video content, they will click on the video and have a look. In this way, you ensure people stay at your site longer. Images can have the same effect. Pick images that work well with your copy and that make sense.

4. Promote, promote, promote

You can have the best written blog and the one that looks the best, but if you don’t have the traffic, it’s all irrelevant.  Create a blog roll that includes sites that are on your topic or relevant to your topic.  Get to know other bloggers in your topic area and develop a relationship with them by commenting on their posts and offering links to your posts they might find useful. Comment on the comments others leave for you. Engage in that discussion and connect with readers.

5. Provide valuable & meaningful content

At the end of the day, you are advertising, but don’t act like it. Provide good content that customers and potential customers can really use. When you educate, entertain or converse with readers you gain customers.

Writing blogs can be fun and worthwhile, but certain rules of common sense should be followed. Follow these simple steps to ensure that your blog gets read and enjoyed.

Pinterest is a new and interesting way to share photos, ideas and life in general. It’s taken off nearly as quickly as Facebook and Twitter did. Pinterest is not just for people sharing home décor and fashion ideas; it can also be a powerful tool for businesses.

Here are 10 ways to use Pinterest to promote your business

1.  Show off your products

Depending on your product, you can use Pinterest boards to create buzz around your products. Create boards for different seasons or different product offerings. Update them and respond to comments to create even more buzz.

2.  Try to tie your business to a lifestyle

Again, much depends on your business or product but you can tie your business and product offerings to a lifestyle choice. Through your Pinterest boards, you can create “lifestyle” boards and tie your product to this lifestyle-related marketing. Whole Foods does this particularly well on Pinterest.

3.  Give a “private” showing

Through Pinterest, you can show customers and potential customers product offerings before they launch or give customers an in-depth look at offerings and new products. You can do all of this before it launches to the general public.

4.  Create easy maneuverability

If your customers seem to reject the idea of clicking around your website to find products or educate themselves about specific offerings, you can create pin boards that highlight specific products, offer suggestions for combinations of products and that give customers an easier and more accessible way to see and understand products.

 5.  Create a virtual focus group

Through Pinterest you can align yourself with customers in a way you previously could not. You can watch how customers interact with your pin boards and you can see what and when they re-pin and through that movement, you can discover what interests your customers. This gives you the same kind of feedback you might get from a focus group, but you don’t have to actually create and manage the group.

6.  Add a “Pin It” or “Follow” button on your website

 Let customers and clients know about your Pinterest presence by adding a Pinterest button to your website. Go to the Pinterest “goodies” page and choose from several options. Then add the button to your website and encourage customers to look for you on Pinterest. When you add the “Pin it” button, customers can pin your products onto Pinterest from your website.

7.  Use keywords & hashtags

When you create a description for a new pin, you can add keywords and optimize that pin. This helps people find you when they are searching for a product or service that you are promoting.  You can also add hashtags to the end of your description; don’t add too many or it will look like spam.

8.  Give your business a face

Social media in general makes it easier to become more personal with clients and customers. But Pinterest is the best at this. You can create a board that gives customers a look at offices inside your building, that introduces the sales team or that offers pictures of your production line.

 9.  Offer discounts

Your followers will enjoy getting an exclusive discount or coupon that only they can use. You can share the coupon with a QR code or a printable voucher. Do this on a regular basis, such as weekly, so that your followers will continue to come back to your boards.

10.   Invite customers to events

Are you having a grand opening or an event to celebrate a new product launch? Use Pinterest to create interest in your event and invite followers to the event.

Running a business in smart fashion these days is about more than simply setting up shop and hoping customers come. There are a myriad of ways to market to customers these days, with Pinterest quickly becoming one of the best.

Not everyone is on the blogging bandwagon, but they should be. Business owners, in particular, should understand the value of blogging.

Consider these top 10 reasons why blogging is important for a business.

1. Generate traffic

Your business relies on traffic. Foot traffic is good, but driving traffic to a website is even better. When you blog, you are constantly creating new and fresh content, which keeps people coming to your website; those website visitors often turn into paying customers.

2. Keep the audience

Instead of just advertising or using stunts to get attention, a blog offers a low-key way to generate interest in your business and keep that audience coming back. If you create an interesting blog that offers useful information, your audience will return again and again for more information.

3. Rev your audience

Most good blogs will do more than find and keep an audience; they will also motivate that audience to do something with the information they’ve received. Readers might be compelled to make an order, to make an appointment, to give you business.

4. Build trust

It’s important that potential customers feel like they know you; when you blog regularly, you create trust and customers feel as if they know you and they trust you. This familiarity often leads to increased business for you.

5. Build a brand

Nothing is more important to businesses than branding. This is about putting your brand out there in a positive and constructive way. When you are well branded, people remember who you are and are more likely to help you with word-of-mouth advertising, the best kind.

6. Humanize your business

Static websites are great, but a blog speaks to people and makes them feel as if they know you, as if they believe that a human is behind the website, behind the brand and inside the business. This ultimately leads to more business for you.

7. Become an expert

Potential customers like the idea of purchasing or doing business with someone who is an expert. When you create a useful and informative blog, you present yourself as the authority and an expert, which generates trust.

8. Promotion

This is an easy concept to understand. Through your blog, you can offer some self-promotion. Don’t do it all the time, of course, but a little self-promotion mixed with information and education can’t be a bad thing.

9. Linking

A good company blog can become part of an internal linking structure. You can link from the blog to pages on your website, and your website can, in turn, link to the blog. This not only encourages increased traffic, but also helps to develop trust in your product offerings.

10. Recruitment

You can recruit employees, contacts, and other help through your blog. Your blog audience can provide an endless supply of help, advice and contacts.

Creating and keeping a useful blog is one of the most important things a business can do these days. Through a blog, companies create trust, generate business and increase web traffic.

Whether your company has embraced social media or shunned it, the hard-to-ignore reality is that social media is important, relevant and highly useful to individuals and companies of all sizes.

Before you start with cries of not having enough time or energy, consider the top five reasons that social media can help your business.

1. Become an expert. Through social media you can become a trusted resource about your particular niche area. With careful posts and discussions, you can easily create an energy about you and your company that helps to give you an expert voice. This gives potential customers and clients confidence in your skills, knowledge and ability.
2. Increase conversions. What do we mean by ‘conversions’? It’s great if you drive people to your site, but these days more than ever people want to make connections with others. If someone lands on your website via your social media or they direct themselves there because of some social media contact with you, they feel they already know you, know about your company and will be more likely to actually do business with you. Those website visits, then, will more than likely convert into sales.
3. Tell your story. Through your social media efforts, you can tell others the story of your company, not just how it started or what you do, but who you are. One thing we have learned about social media is that people like to do business with companies they know, that they feel comfortable with. Telling your story of who you are, what‘s important to you and why others should be invested in your success is a natural way to share that story and develop a larger customer base.
4. Get help. Don’t operate in a vacuum. Through social media outreach efforts, you can get help when you need it. Trying to create a video to place on Facebook? There’s likely someone who can help you and you can find them through social media. In turn, you might be able to help someone else.
5. Develop your brand. As we all know, branding is critical to the success of our companies. It’s important that we think about who we are and what we do. Once you understand that and the culture of your company, you can work on developing that brand. By participating regularly in social media efforts, you create that brand. Whether your company is all business or a bit quirky, mainstream or counter-culture, you can help others understand your company’s brand before they deal with you directly.

Engaging in social media efforts might seem like a time-consuming thing to do, but a few minutes a day can reap huge rewards, including more business, a clearer business focus and perhaps even a few new friends.