This week, we released some broad improvements across several key areas of Eden.
First, we’ve improved our Google Sitemap feature so that our clients can now register their website’s sitemap with Google in just one click. Eden creates a sitemap for their website automatically and registering the sitemap with Google completes the process. Our clients only have to do this once and from that point on Google will always know when they add new content to their website. Eden customers can register their sitemap with Google from the My Domains interface available from their Eden account dashboard.
With this release we’ve also completed a suite of features that allow web designers to build websites on Eden in standards-compliant XHTML and CSS. Designers and customers can click on the Theme Admin link at the top of any administrative interface to manage their themes and enable FTP access for their web designer. Web designers who are interested in becoming an Authorized Design partner on Eden may contact us.
Finally, when Eden customers log in we’re now automatically checking their web browser to ensure that they have the most recent version of Flash. If their browser is out of date they’re not getting the best Eden experience. Eden will now let our customers know when their version of flash is out of date and will provide them with a link so that they can quickly go get the most recent version of flash (which is free).
Preation has recently won the Interactive Media Award for Outstanding Achievement. As this is our first IMA, we’re extremely excited to share this news!
Oddly, Facebook is changing their rules a little, and I’m going to try and use the word “like” as much as possible in this post without going overboard. Instead of “becoming a fan” of a business, brand, celebrity, group, etc, you’ll now have to click on a “like” link, just as you would for a status update, post, or picture that you like. Simply liking something versus becoming a fan of something seems like less of a commitment, no? Facebook agrees….that’s why their making this change. They feel that people are a little too reluctant to “become a fan” of things they like.
By making this slight change, Facebook is hoping to add more continuity across their platform while increasing the number of connections. This change won’t have any effect on the number of current fans your brand has, as they’ll be automatically converted over to simply “liking” your brand.
Recent research has isolated the most popular words used in email marketing subject lines. In both 2008 and 2009, email marketers attempted to build a bond with their readers by addressing them with “you” and “your.”
The next most popular words were associated with saving money. Trends between 2008 and 2009 show that consumers are more likely to open an email that they feel contain offers to save money at retail store locations.
Emails for special sales events, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday increased by more than 100%.
If your business is running an online marketing campaign with Google or any other company, than you know the importance of well thought out and designed landing pages.
A landing page, which is sometimes known as a lead capture page, is a page that appears when a potential customer clicks on an advertisement or a search-engine result link. The page will usually display content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific keywords or phrases for indexing by search engines.
Now without further adieu, I present you with the 7 Deadly Sins of Landing Page Design. If you avoid these common mistakes, you should expect see an increase in qualified leads coming in through your website:
- Unclear call to action: It is important that you draw the eye of the visitor to the call to action on the landing page, which is usually an online form or a phone number. The call to action should be “above the fold” (should not have to scroll to see it) and there should not be any competing information such as links to other pages or other forms.
- Too many choices: If you offer too many choices on your landing page, it tends to cause paralysis and the visitor will get confused. This will often times lead to the visitor hitting the back button and leaving your site altogether, which you definitely want to avoid!
- Asking for too much information: When you have an online form on your landing page, you want to make sure that you’re not asking for extraneous information. Keep your forms short and sweet and only require the fields that you really need to contact the visitor. Get rid of any unnecessary fields that may prevent the visitor from completing the form.
- Too much text: Do you really expect your visitors to read all of this? Let’s be realistic. Most web browsers make up their mind within milliseconds as to whether or not the page they land on is what they need. Many businesses feel as though they need to gloat about their products and services on their landing pages, which can be a good thing, but know that your visitors do NOT want to read a novel here. Keeping the text focused and concise is key here.
- Not keeping your promises: Make sure that what you offer in your ad corresponds to the content on your landing page. No one likes to click an ad for video games, only to be taken to a landing page for board games. This frustrates the visitor, so make sure there is no disconnect between the ad and the landing page.
- Visual distractions: Leave out any unnecessary visual distractions such as scrolling text marquees, fading photo montages, flash modules, blinking text, pretty much anything that moves. We humans are wired to respond to movement. These enhancements can be useful website tools when implemented properly, but they do not belong on landing pages. Be sure to add specific and relevant images on the landing page to drive the point home.
- Lack of trust: The final deadly sin is not giving your visitors a reason to trust you once they’re on your site. Make sure that you utilize borrowed logos from security companies and other accredited firms to convey a sense of security and remove anxiety.
For more information regarding landing page design and search engine optimization, please contact us!
….for a couple days! Lately, I’ve enjoyed featuring posts about spamming and zombie computer networks. So, recently, a Kazakhstani ISP, known as AS Troyak was mysteriously taken down. As soon as it was removed from the internet, worldwide spam volumes dropped by fifty percent.
AS Troyak gave power to a nefarious botnet known to promote the Zeus Trojan. Like many other Trojans, Zeus seeks to uncover and steal banking information. It also gives its controllers the ability to perform DDoS attacks. The disruption in service was caught by the Swiss firm, ZeusTracker.
What’s especially strange about this case is that the identity of the agency and the people responsible for bringing AS Troyak down is unknown. Some sources claim that the action was taken by law enforcement officials, but other evidence indicates that the controllers of the botnet were the ones responsible.
Within a few hours, the networks started to reconnect itself to the internet. A person claiming to be the spokesperson for AS Troyak is quoted as saying, “Don’t worry, it is up and running again, we fixed our weakness and now it will become concrete stable.”
Experts are unclear as to whether AS Troyak will remain online. Some feel the service will remain online only temporarily….just long enough for their users to migrate their data and set up shop elsewhere!
Last night, Google launched their new Apps Marketplace, which gives Google users the opportunity to shop for various different software applications and professional services. Most of the applications are already integrated with Google’s most popular Apps. With so many complementary applications, Google is trying to both increase their user base and their customer retention. Most of the Apps are strategic B2B tools.
Developers can offer up their applications for only $100, plus they must pay a 20% commission back to Google on most business they receive. When compared to other application market places, this seems like a very sweet deal for the developers. For example, the Andriod Marketplace demands a 30% commission. Google also boasts 25 million users 2 million of which are business of all sizes.
Your website’s Page Rank is a numerical value between 0 and 10 assigned by Google. It is essentially representation of how important Google thinks your website is. At its core, Page Rank represents how well your website is connected to the rest of the internet.
Without getting highly technical, its is safe to say that the Page Rank scoreis based on the number and quality of the incoming links that your website has. A website with more, high quality incoming links is going to receive a better Page Rank score. The link’s quality is based on the referring website’s own page rank score. Thus, an incoming link from a site with a Page rank of 3 is more important than an incoming link from a site with a page rank of 2.
It is important to understand that Page Rank is not the only thing that Google uses to determine a website’s rank in search engine results. An outdated search engine optimization technique of building incoming links can even get you penalized by Google. When building a website’s connectivity to the rest of the internet, you need to make sure that you’re only attracting links from other website’s within your own industry.
Autoresponders, also known as drip campaigns, can be powerful web marketing tools. They work by automatically sending out a precisely timed string of email communications. Whenever a person is added to an autoresponder, they receive these email messages in order. The autoresponder campaign starts the moment a person is added to the list, so they are truly automated. As the administrator of an autoresponder campaign, you have the ability to control the number of messages, their content, and their schedule.
Autoresponders are frequently used as the means to distribute educational programs. For example, a student can be sent a chapter to review each week. Unlike a traditional class, students aren’t required to sign up for the educational campaign at the same time. The frequency of the messages can help prevent students from reading ahead.
You can also use autoresponders to help convert leads during the sales process. By adding leads to an autoresponder, you can ensure that they will receive regular messages. As the administrator of the campaign, you can adjust the timing and content of these messages in order to optimize your conversion rate.
Your autoresponder recipients typically have the opportunity to remove themselves from your list; just like with a traditional email marketing campaign.
So, last week, I wrote a post about the motivations that drive spammers. In that post, I revealed the basic principles behind establishing a zombie network of computers, which is commonly referred to as a botnet. The word botnet, is derived from the combination of two apprevaiations; bot and net……meaning…. a robot network. These bots are simply computer programs designed to perform automated tasks.
Today, I learned some exciting news! Yes, the pun was totally intended….but I doubt anyone will get it!
As it turns out, the Spanish government just busted a truly massive botnet that was being controlled by three young Spaniards. The network controlled nearly 13 million computers! These computers were found to be operating on computers in over half of the Fortune 1,000 companies, and in more than 40 major banks.
Unfortunately, the suspects that were apprehended are not the evil geniuses who wrote the botnet. They actually purchased the botnet software over the black market! I find it highly unlikely that our team of international investigators will be able to bring down the true mastermind behind this particular zombie network’s design. My guess is that the mastermind his hiding out in his parents basement.
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