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A few days ago Firefox 3.5 became officially available for download. The web browser world is constantly changing to it is important that you constantly check your business website to make sure that it is up-to-date and compatible with the latest web browsers.

That can be very difficult to do since there are so many different operating systems and each operating system has its own browser version. You may have a PC, but that means you are not able to test your browser on a Mac OSX Safari browser.

Well there is a great way to test your website’s compatibility using a free webtool called Browsershots.

Browsershots.org – Check browser compatibility accross multiple browsers from different OS’s.

Here’s two other websites that can help you test your website to make sure it is up-to-date.

Web Page Analyzer – Free website performance tool and web page speed analysis.

CSS Validation Service – Check your CSS and HTML documents with style sheets

If you haven’t downloaded Firefox 3.5 yet, we highly encourage you to do so. It’s a great browser and it will make your web surfing experience much better. Download Firefox here.

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Managing and optimizing your own website is a full time job. There are a lot of different monitoring points that you must keep a close eye on in order to fully understand how your visitors are reacting to your web design.

The most commonly known website analytics are visits and pageviews. These two stats are very different and each play a critical role in the visitor trending on your site.

For example, in the screenshot above, we can see that this website has a moderate number of visitors, but what’s even more important is the ratio of visits to pageviews.

So on average, each visitor typically views multiple pages before they leave the site. This is a great indicator that the information on this website is engaging since each visitor typically clicks several times during each visit.

But that’s just one way of verifying the visitor interaction. Another important metric is bounce rate.

While typically you want to see your charts trending upwards, this is one of the few graphics you want to see as low as possible because it describes the frequency of people leaving your site with no interaction. In other words, if you find that your site has a high bounce rate percentage, then it tells you that your visitors are not finding your site to be relevent, engaging, or it’s just plain confusing.

In the example shown above, you can see that the bounce rate is below 30%, so less than 1/3 of the visitors “bounce.” While each website is different, if you can drop your bounce rate percentage below 50% your business is more likely to see an increase in online conversions.

Do you have any questions about website analytics? Leave a comment below. We’ll answer all your analytical concerns! Or you can ask us on Twitter.

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We listed things every website must have, tips for landing pages, and ways to engage your readers, so now we want mash all of that up into a new idea, integrating your social campaign with your main website.

#1 – Add live streaming content to your website.
Your visitors want to know that what they are looking at is the newest most current information. Give your site a fresh look by adding an RSS feed from a continually updating data source.

For example: Add your Twitter feed to your homepage. Check out the Twitter widgets for an easy way to display your Twitter updates on your website.

BONUS TIP: Try adding an RSS feed from a popular news source that publishes content about your industry. Like Digg or CNN.

#2 – Add social features to your website.
Offer your visitors a way to connect and interact other than just a phone number or a contact form. While you may not want to offer comments on your site a good alternative would be to add a Get Satisfaction profile to your website. It’s a great way to help connect your customers to your business.

#3 – Add social buttons to your website.
A critical component to facilitating an online conversation about your services or products is to offer your visitors a way to easily share your content with others. An easy “email this” button or bookmark button might be the difference between a visitor sending your website to a friend or adding it to their own social bookmarking site. Try addthis.com, it is a clean easy to install button that features all of the major social bookmarking sites.

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1. Privacy Policy
Your visitors need to know that they can trust you. Let them know that their personal information can be trusted with your company. The Direct Marketing Association has a privacy policy generator. http://www.dmaresponsibility.org/PPG

2. Contact Us
This shouldn’t even be on this list, but it’s surprisingly easy for the contact information to be lost in the shuffle. With all of the spambots roaming the web, we recommend that you use a form rather than placing your email directly on your website. Here’s an easy form generator. http://www.bravenet.com/webtools/emailfwd

3. Search Box
If you have a lot of pages on your website you’ll need an easy way for your visitors to find exactly what they are looking for. Make sure that the search box is easy to find and on the home and landing page.

4. Website Analytics
You’ve got to know what your visitors are doing on your site and where they are coming from. There’s no reason not to have some kind of analytics tracking software on your site. http://www.google.com/analytics

5. Newsletter Sign Up
If you’ve got a blog or a newsletter then offer a call-to-action for your visitors to subscribe to your weekly or daily content. Feedburner has an great RSS to email feature. http://www.feedburner.com

6. Search Engine Optimized Copy
If you don’t understand how to optimize your website for search engines it might be best to consult with a professional marketing company.

7. Social Media Share Button
It’s so easy to add these to your website there’s really no reason not to. While some of your visitors may not have any idea what these buttons are for, it’s worth adding these buttons for those visitors that do use them. Try http://www.addthis.com

8. Trust Seals/Testimonials
This is a great way to establish a different kind of trust between your company and your visitors. Take a look at our blog post How to Make Your Website More Trustworthy.

LEVELTWO & LEVELTWO Medical

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According to research from Pew Internet & American Life Project 74% of adults in the U.S. go online and, of those, 80% look for health information online. 29% of all internet users have looked online for information about a particular doctor or hospital.

To effectively harvest all the healthcare prospects that view your website you must stick to some basic best practices. When a patient is browsing your site they are typically looking for these basic components:

1. Your medical specialty
2. Educational background
3. Board certifications
4. Awards and honors
5. Types of insurance accepted
6. Office locations
7. Hours and contact information

If you want to really make your website functional and useful, try adding

1. Copies of standard forms that the patient needs to fill out during their visit
2. A frequently asked questions section
3. An integrated social component (blog, Facebook, YouTube, ect)

For example, take a look at NicholsonClinic.com (screenshot below).

It’s easy to understand Dr. Nick’s medical specialities, board certification, awards, and contact methods. But not only does this website offer lots of key information at a glance, it also offers fully interactive social media campaign complete with videos, a Twitter account, and a daily updated blog.

Use this medical website best practices checklist PDF to see how well your own website stacks up.

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In marketing (online and offline) there are three basic questions that must be addressed when you are trying to sell a product or service. If you don’t address these basic questions, your website will not be successful.

1. What is it?
2. How can I use it?
3. Why do I need it?

Surprisingly, there are many websites and marketing campaigns that don’t answer these three simple questions. No matter how good your product or service might be, no one will buy it unless you present your message in an easy to understand way.

Here are a few tips to help you more effectively broadcast your marketing message through your website.

1. Micro-message
   Learn a lesson from the success of Twitter, keep your messages short and to the point. Explain “who you are”, “what you’re selling”, and “why they need it” as quickly as possible. Save the longwinded descriptions after they click through to the next page.
2. Multimedia
   Hire a marketing firm to create a 30 second video that explains your products. Even better than short micro-message is a short micro-message that I don’t even have to read!
3. Tunnel vision
   If you offer wide variety of products and services then you should compartmentalize each vertical. Present the visitor with a few options and let them determine what they are interested in and then you can provide more detailed information about the product or service.

A website is never finished. As you draw more visitors you should monitor how they react to your web design. Track where they are leaving your website and make changes to try and curb the visitor drop out. A good website can be your best salesman.

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Remember the days of dialup? The internet was on all the local 10 o’clock news channels because it was something new and different. Fast forward to 2009 and things are reversed. Customers now expect companies to have a website and if it doesn’t have dynamic interactive content then it’s nothing special. Everyday the standards are set a little higher.

So it’s a safe bet that generating business online 10 years from now will be phenomenally more difficult than it is today. That’s why it your niche company is primed for success online right now!

If you offer a speciality service or product, you are in a perfect position to dominate the market by identifying your company as the leader in its field.

However, if you offer a service or product that is more common, take the initiative and market yourself in more definitive verticals. Set yourself apart by being a specialist in niche markets rather than an entire industry.

1. The internet is a global marketplace, but that doesn’t mean you can’t define your target online audience within a specific geographic radius.
2. The big name industry players might have a strong brand, but you can dominate your market by saturating your region with content to reinforce your expertise.

As a niche company you have a strong advantage by defining your geographically targeted audience and marketing your company as a leader.

As a niche service company it is

1. Easier to distinguish yourself as an expert.
You will have less competition and more opportunity to cover your specific vertical.

2. Easier to convert a highly defined target audience.
Providing services and products specifically tailored to that vertical will result in a higher conversion rate.

3. Easier to replicate the business model for expansion
A taylor made product or service that has proven to be successful in one market is ripe for further development.

Also, take a look at why your small business is made for customer interaction.

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The other day I was explaining to someone why a blog is such a good idea for a business that is trying to optimize their website for search engines. I used the word “refreshing content” and I got a blank stare. They had no idea what I meant.

So if you too are confused by the term “refreshing content”, here’s an explanation.

Refreshing content is NOT

• An article that makes you happy
• Served with chilled, bottled water
• A type of coffee drink
• Good news about the economy
• Edible

Refreshing content is

• Preferred by search engines
• A great way to achieve high rankings in search engines
• Indexed (searched) faster than static content
• More up-to-date than static content

Examples of refreshing content would be a

• Blog that is updated at least 3-5 times a week
• New product page that updates often
• Weekly specials page
• Newsletter page
• Company news page that updates a few times a month
• RSS feed from your Twitter or other social networking site

Refreshing content is not only for preferred by search engines, visitors like to see that your website has been updated recently. People like to know that what they are reading is relevant and current. People don’t Tivo CNN’s headline news. They want to know the latest information and if you provide a steady stream of information not only will the search engines find your site to be more relevant, but your visitors will also find your site to be more useful.

Keep in mind, refreshing content is important for search engine optimization (SEO), however I would not recommend this strategy for search engine marketing (SEM). Best result for SEM would be to use a landing page.

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Tip #5 from our post “Effective Landing Pages, 7 Tips” talks about making your website trustworthy. It’s easy to put a short privacy notice on your contact form that states that you will never share their information with anyone, but to really make your site trustworthy it’s going to take more than just a promise. Even if your customers are purchasing a small dollar item, having a crediable third party verify the security of your website will help increase your conversion rates.

Here is a list of 10 trust building components that will help reinforce the credibility of your website.

McAfee
A household name for online security, your visitors are sure to recognize this logo. They proactively secure systems and networks from known and as yet undiscovered threats worldwide.

TRUSTe
They outfit you with a privacy statement that fits your company’s needs. They also serve as a third party for disputes resolution processes.

VeriSign
Their Extended Validation product triggers new browsers like IE 7 to turn the address bar green when visitors view your site. Now that’s a great way to instill a since of trust!

BizRate
The best marketing campaign still can’t be the power of customer testimonies. BizRate will allow your customers to give store ratings and reviews. It’s a risk, but it could have a very large payoff.

Trustwave
They offer SSL certificates, PCI DSS Compliance validation, and a security seal for businesses.

If you decide to put one or more of these seals on your website or landing page, make sure they are above the fold. In other words, you want this seal to be one of the first things that your customer notices. As for payment security, it might be best to put them beside your payment button.

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Want an easy way to instantly add social features to your website? Try Google Friend Connect. If you have been wondering how social media could enhance your own website this is a great way to try it out for free. I just added it to our blog and it was really easy to do.

After you add the widget, your visitors can engage with your content more deeply and with each other. It doesn’t require them to create an account on your site because they can log in using their existing Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID account. That takes away the extra step of registering for a new account and remembering another password. An added bonus is that with this widget people can easily invite others to come check out your site.

This is an easy way to try out how social media might work in your business website. Give it a try and if you need any help or have any questions we’d be happy to help. And don’t forget to join our site.

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