Leveling the Internet Playing Field

Messaging, Partnerships, SEO, Site navigation, Web Development

Industrial S for SEO

Duped by all the media hype saying that the internet levels your playing field?

Do you recall when it was widely published that the internet levels the playing field for small businesses? Media raved about how small business could not only one up their direct competition but also compete against big companies, which sparked a lot of small businesses to get on the website bandwagon. If you were one of these businesses but have yet to see the promised positive results, you might be feeling duped by all the media hype.

Well, the good news is that it wasn’t just media hype – they were right. However, the bad news is they forgot to tell you that there’s a process that must be followed to gain internet success. Just like developing new products or implementing new processes, if steps are missing, the results are poor performance or outright failure.

So what was the process I should have followed?

Outpacing your competition on the internet is a complicated process, but when broken down into manageable steps, the result is a website that meets company goals and expectations. The three critical steps: goal setting, navigation, messaging, and content, and monthly data monitoring are detailed below. But don’t despair if you didn’t implement these steps when first launching the site; it’s never too late to start.

Step 1: Goal Setting

Asking the simple question, “what do we want our website to do for us (the goal)?” The answer to this question helps drive navigation, content and call-to-action decisions.

Here are some goals that might apply to your business:

  • Grow my business by $900k within 6 months.
  • Establish creditability as one of the best sources for the unique value we offer.
  • Offer our market a one-stop source for equipment and repairs.
  • Acquire viable leads and avoid requests for products/services that don’t fit our business model.
  • Discover new markets for current products.
  • Provide easy to find technical data for my current customers.

Once goals are defined, you can move on to step two.

Step Two: Navigation, Content, and Messaging

Once you have your goals clearly defined, take a critical look at your site and ask, “how well does the site’s navigation, content and messaging help us meet our goals?” If you answered that it doesn’t meet 100% of your goals, then it’s time to get to work and decide what is lacking or missing and then assemble a web team to fix the problem. Depending on your needs, typical web team roles can include:

  • Someone who understands marketing; specifically messaging, brand building, and website optimization.
  • A content expert; someone with a strong understanding of your products and services to help develop a strong story and on-point messaging.
  • A graphics designer to elevate the look and feel of your site.
  • A programmer to implement necessary code that supports website parameters for appearance, functionality and marketing tactics.
  • Sales and service personnel that have direct customer interaction and know what customers expect.

In a small company, this team is often comprised of one or two internal people. Almost always, outside resources are required to fill any lacking skill sets. Your internal team should interview outside resources to confirm qualifications and fit with the team.

With your team in place, it’s time to create a clear project plan outlines activities needed to ensure the site meets its goals, and timelines and assigned resources to execute the activities. A project plan helps the team stay focused, so the project is completed on time and within budget.

Once the project is complete, now it’s time to protect your investment.

Step Three: Data Monitoring

With the goals set in step one, and the activities complete in step two, metrics can now be established that help you know if the site is meeting its goals, and defining the tools needed to track the metrics.

Monthly data monitoring is a must to stay focused on the results. Monitoring also helps to track trends and tackle any site issues proactively.

Examples of essential measurements are:

  • Customer search behavior – how do they find the site.
  • What do visitors do on site and how much time do they spend.
  • Your site’s keyword rankings.
  • Competitor rankings for your relevant and prioritized keywords and phrases.
  • Traffic trends and volume from your market’s region
  • Mentions in published articles.

The internet offers a level playing field, but the devil is in the details. Now you have a better grasp of to achieve website success.

As always, if you need help navigating search optimization best practices or redesigning your website so it meets its goal, give us a call, 1-360-834-2780.

AODD Pump Selection

Keywords, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, Site navigation, Web Development

Industrial S for SEO

What can AODD pump manufacturers do to help end users find the best pump for a challenging application?

The answer is simple; optimize product pages with the features, benefits, and specifications that end users need – let’s explore this further.

Direct Industry lists over 55 manufacturers. Each of these manufacturers’ claim unique benefits in their directory listings, but does this help end users find the best pump for their application? The truth is, not really. Directories are middlemen in the search process. Wouldn’t it be more efficient and cost effective to eliminate the middlemen and drive end users to a page on your site that is the perfect product for their application? By doing so, you will help save the end user time by quickly giving them what they need. You are probably asking, sounds great, but how do I make this happen? Read on.

Optimize for the search savvy

Search engine technologies have reached the point of providing excellent matches for user search terms. For search engines to rank your products well, they must clearly understand what your products have to offer. Web pages must concisely communicate product specifications, features, and benefits, and they must be easily navigable – no crazy, illogical URL structures.

Like search engines, end users have become more search savvy; they now typically use long tail searches (keyword phrases) to help narrow down their search instead of a single keyword search. Long tail searches that contain application challenges or required product features help produce the ideal pump in a search result. It’s much like dating sites where couples seek the perfect partner. The best match is out there, but if your website doesn’t illustrate user solutions in the way people search, results fall short.

It sounds so simple, and you are probably thinking, “I do a good job with that so why are my company and products not ranking high on a search results page?” But if your product navigation is complicated and your product pages don’t clearly communicate specifications, features, and benefits, search engines will not understand your site structure and products, and you won’t be able to outrank the competition.

Let’s see what we are talking about

Let’s demonstrate how it works. Try entering the following into a search bar or click on the following link, AODD, ½” ports, 20 psi, 5 GPM, Polypropylene, PTFE, stall proof, efficient, food grade. Notice that the search engine struggles to find the perfect match, but offers some good results. What got these pages top ranking? What can you do to outrank the competition and make the end user happy by providing them with an ideal match? Easy, make product pages relevant to the phrases people search for and simplify site structure, especially if you have many product categories. Do a thorough job of describing the value your products offer so search engines can make accurate matches and present the searcher with ideal results.

How does your site stack up?

Search engines are doing their part, now if you do your part as an AODD manufacturer, everyone wins (you, customer and search engine). Who is going to be the first manufacturer to take the lead by communicating properly with search engines, win new business and give customers a delightful search experience?

As always, if you need help navigating search optimization best practices, give us a call, 360.834.2780.

What the Search Engine Said to the Website

Search Engine Marketing, Uncategorized, Web Development

Website Conversation

Ever wonder what the search engine said to the website?

Wonder no more and learn what you can do to make the search engine find your site.

Website: Are you looking at me?

Search engine: Please give me your full attention. It’s in the best interest of your customers and your company to get this right. My job to help people looking for your type of product or service find you, but I’m confused by the information you provide me.

Website: no response, just a puzzled stare

Search engine: For me to match your site’s content with the search terms people are using to find your products and services, I need to understand the relevancy of your site’s content to their search term. I also want to know just how credible you are.

Currently, I am at a loss when I visit your site. I have a protocol that I follow to determine site relevance and credibility to rank your pages well on my search engine results pages. Your site is riddled with illogical navigation, few internal links, and your content is very light. Additionally, it seems that few other industry sites are linking to your site, and the visitors that do land on your site don’t spend much time there. All of these issues affect my ability to rank your pages well.

Website: What are you talking about? Are you saying you have a hard time finding information on my site? My information is in plain site — I think it is detailed and easy to locate.

bubbles115Search engine: Well, I can see you, but I need to see more than your pretty face to determine who you are. I want to learn more about the friends you keep; are relevant industry sites linking to your content? And all those images, you don’t tell me what they are or how they relate to your content. Speaking of content, I need more of it on each page to help me determine what you do and the products and services your offer. There also needs to be better internal linking, which helps me navigate through the site and ensures each page on the site is properly indexed. A good site structure also helps site visitors locate the information they need, which in turn can improve the amount of time they spend on your site exploring and researching what you do.

Website: I still don’t understand.

Search Engine: I’m not human, but I am learning human behavior, and I do my best to match the information on your site with what people search for. For me to do this with your best interest at heart, I need certain elements placed on the back-end of your site in computer talk; this is called metadata or code. I also need you to help me understand the flow of your content and how it all relates. If I don’t have these things, I get lost and have to leave your site immediately because I have millions of other sites to tend to. When I leave before my indexing job is complete, I won’t be able to give your site a good search page ranking. I need you to tell me about yourself in ways that I understand, and I’m not good at guessing.

Website:  How do I do that?

bubbles115Search Engine: I use about 200 factors in my search engine ranking algorithm, but I’m going to tell you about the 10 most important ones (courtesy of Backlinko).

 

 

 

  1. Your page title. I give you 2 places to put a page title, 1) at the top of your page (H1 Title Tag), and 2) in your metadata (Page Title tag). Best practice for titles is to place your primary page keyword at the beginning of the title; each page on your site needs a unique title. Both titles should tell what the content is about but for your metadata title, I only I give you about 60 characters to describe page content before I cut off the text. Best practice is to put keywords at the front of the title and your company name on the tail end.

  2. I like page content; it helps me know what your site is all about. I consider sites with page content that is at least 1500-2000 words best. But, make sure your content is focused and utilize your primary, secondary, and tertiary keywords strategically and thoughtfully (see 4 below).

  3. Page load speed is a biggy for me. If I have to wait for your page to load, I get bored and leave your site, just like your customers will. I even give you access to a tool  to check the speed of your site; it’s just that important.

  4. You must include your primary keywords in strategic places on your page, specifically in the page URL, within the first 100 words of your content, in your H2 & H3 tags, and front-loaded in the page’s H1 (title) tag.

  5. Have awesome page rank authority, and by awesome, I mean really, really authoritative. You show your authority by having quality inbound links to your site. Quality means links to your site from high authority websites within your industry — this could be industry publication sites, manufacturers, distributors, etc.

  6. You also want domain authority. Domain authority is built by having stellar content — content that is specific, informative and educational.

  7. Link relevancy is critical to me. I mentioned this in #5, but it is worth its own bullet because I pay a lot of attention to this. Make sure your links come from sites with similar topics as your site.

  8. I’m really paying attention these days to what people do on your site and how long they spend on your site. If someone lands on your site and immediately bounces off, that tells me that your site lacks the content the searcher was expecting. Make sure your pages are highly targeted to one subject topic, keep them clutter-free, and the most important information should display above the fold.

  9. You must have a responsive website design, I repeat, must! People use all types of devices to search the web these days. If your site does not display well on smaller screens (think cell phones), then you apparently don’t care much about your customer and I, in turn, don’t care much about your site.

  10. Another must is eliminating thin or duplicate content pages. I want to see robust, original content on your site. So, if you have older pages with thin content, enhance them or get rid of them. Same with duplicate content pages. If I see a lot of duplicate content, I think you are trying to trick me into thinking that you have great content.

Website: I’m beginning to understand. I didn’t realize we needed to pay attention to this stuff. My web developer said they implemented my SEO for best rankings, but you are saying they did not. What do you suggest?

bubbles115Search Engine: Web developers are ideal for making your site function the way you want but typically, they do not address search engine expectations. Now you are better informed. Seek out professionals, those well educated and practiced in internet marketing, with the same care you would for an attorney or CPA. As with other professionals, make sure they have considerable experience in your particular market. They must get every detail right or performance suffers. Hiring experts will yield the best return on your company’s investment.


Search Engine: Let me give you one more tip — have an excellent, unique page description for each page on your site. I don’t use this as a ranking factor, but the page description is what entices searchers to click-through to your site — it is the snippet of text that displays under your page title on my search results pages. I limit you to about 135-160 characters for the page description so choose your words wisely and incorporate your target or primary keywords in the description and have a good call-to-action.

bubbles115Website: Oh, wow. What helpful tips. Guess my company needs to start paying more attention. I will pass this on our marketing manager.

 

 

 

For help with any or all of the above points, give us a call, 360.834.2780 or send us an email, info@pumpmarketingsolutions.com we’d love to help your site satisfy search engine requirements.

 

Web Project Roles

Web Development

Web Project Collaborators

Web Project Roles

What you need to know before starting

Website design, web development, and web marketing require every detail to be as perfect as the design of a machine or electronic device. Success depends on many roles and skills, yet most small firms depend solely on their “web person” to carry the entire load. Even in firms with well-established marketing departments, roles become blurred, and lines are crossed, which can stall any project. But once you understand everyone’s roles and how those roles contribute to the overall design, development, and marketing of the site, your team can complete any web project on-time and within budget.

As you read through the descriptions below, keep in mind that roles can be filled by many different employees or vendors; and sometimes, the same person or company can fulfill multiple roles. The most important factor is that you have a solid project plan in place first, and then fill the roles based on skill sets, project requirements, timelines, and budgets.

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Important to note. Scope creep is a common problem with web design and developments projects. It can cause big budget overruns and time delays. A well-developed project plan helps mitigate scope creep by allowing you to evaluate quickly if a new feature fits within the plan. Sometimes it is necessary to stop the project, reevaluate a new feature, make necessary plan adjustments, and then restart the project. 

WEB PROJECT ROLES

The marketer

The website marketer is tasked with marketing the site. Driving new prospects to the site, satisfying customers and prospects needs for information once on the site, and maintaining the brand are their primary goals. The website marketer should understand the scope of search engine optimization (SEO) and be able to provide the necessary information to correctly implement SEO. It makes sense to bring the marketer on first and engage them in managing the overall project. Website marketers should:

  • Be branding experts to ensure every piece of marketing collateral, including the website, clearly and consistently communicates the company’s unique selling proposition (USP), competitive advantage, and tells a compelling business story.
  • Be content experts to make sure content meets customer needs for information.
  • Be messaging experts to ensure overall messaging resonates with clients and offers solutions to solve their application issues. Messaging should also concisely communicate the company’s value and competitive advantage.
  • Understand how SEO contributes to the site’s findability and usability.

The designer

The web designer is the site’s architect. They create the site’s color schemes, imagery, and overall design aesthetics. They are usually right-brained and creative. Ideally, your website designer is a design expert to ensure the look and feel of the site are pleasing to the eye and consistent with company branding standards.

The developer

The web developer is the site’s builder; they make the site work. They are usually the left-brained and analytical. A developer understands coding, is a functional user interface expert, and carries a significant programming role when implementing online shopping sites. An ideal web developer knows various programming languages to ensure the site performs as expected, and they are user interface experts to make certain the site’s navigational layout is expected and easy to understand and use.

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Here’s something worth mentioning. There are thousands of website themes available touting, ‘website development made easy – anybody can build a website.’ While this is true to some extent, you need to understand that functionality that deviates from the standard theme design requires coding, and this is when you will need a good developer or designer with coding skills.

Role combinations

Can someone meet all three role requirements? It’s possible, but success would be along the same lines as an engineer handling marketing, product design, sales and accounting functions.

Sometimes a web designer will know enough code to handle easy theme modifications. And sometimes a web developer will be skilled enough in PhotoShop to create some of the site’s imagery. Likewise, for the internet marketer, they may have some coding and design skills to design and develop a simple site.

How to proceed?

There is no easy, cut and dry answer to this question. How you staff your project should be determined by the requirements called out in your web development plan. The important thing to remember is that the success of any web project, big or small, is dependent upon having a solid project plan and then staffing the project based on requirements, skill sets, budgets, and timelines.

If you need help writing your requirements document or staffing the project, let us know. We’d be happy to help you create a beautifully designed website that is findable and usable.

Web Development Services

Web Development

Web Development Icons

Web Development Services

Enhanced Offering

We are celebrating our 2-year anniversary by adding web development services to our growing portfolio of digital marketing services. This new offering saves our industrial clients time and money when designing or redesigning websites.

After two years of focusing on the marketing side of customers’ websites, we saw the need to expand services to include web development. “We were constantly asked to help customers implement search engine optimization best practices on existing or newly updated websites” commented Keith Gagnier, Pump Marketing Solutions’ president. “This was a natural progression for us. We knew we could help save our customer base time and money by implementing on-page search engine optimization in conjunction with web development and redesign projects.”

On-page search engine optimization includes applying elements to the backend of a website to get the site found by search engines and potential customers, and adding elements to the sites front-end to ensure visitors quickly locate the information they need to make a purchase decision.

At Pump Marketing Solutions, we have long and successful industrial marketing and engineering careers. We started the company because we saw a significant lack of ‘best web marketing practices’ in the industry. We share a combined passion for bringing industrial enterprises into the 21st century of best web marketing solutions.

Learn more about the company’s web development process at www.pumpmarketingsolutions.com/web-development