Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/6-Quick-and-Easy-Accessibility-Issues-That-Make-Your-Visitors-Happy.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/6-Quick-and-Easy-Accessibility-Issues-That-Make-Your-Visitors-Happy.html As more and more users gain access to the web it becomes increasingly important to ensure that your website is accessible to all, not just a few. Just as businesses must comply with the American Disabilities Act to ensure proper access to customers with disabilities, businesses should do all they can to make their websites accessible to all users regardless of the means in which they access the site. And of course not all accessibility issues involve meeting the needs of the disabled. What must be considered is the growing number of users that now access websites through non-traditional means, whether it be mobile phones or with images turned off. These users can still be your target audience and ensuring your site can be used through alternate avenues is essential to capturing that audience. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/10-Ways-to-Help-Your-Visitors-Trust-You.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/10-Ways-to-Help-Your-Visitors-Trust-You.html Trust is a key usability issue when it comes to running a successful online business. Most people automatically view web businesses with a bias against them compared to their brick and mortar counterparts. Your ability to convince your visitors that yours is a trustworthy business is one of the key components to getting visitors to convert into customers. Creating a website that conveys trust can be tricky. There are rarely any answers that are always "right" for every visitor. There are, however, several factors that have universal appeal to the weary shopper. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/The-Anatomy-of-a-12Month-Link-Baiting-Campaign.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/The-Anatomy-of-a-12Month-Link-Baiting-Campaign.html Last February, I had a diabolical plan to become a household name in the SEO community. Here I was, a guy who has been in SEO for almost ten years and remained a relative unknown. Sure, I made a few friends here and there and have been slowly building my reputation, but who would of thought 12 months ago that I would be able to snag an interview with one of the biggest names in the SEO. And that's not me interviewing the big name, mind you... that's the big name interviewing me! http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/11-Ways-Fill-Your-Shoppers-Cart.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/11-Ways-Fill-Your-Shoppers-Cart.html Since the “purchase” is the ultimate conversion, it is imperative that you remove as many obstacles from the customer's research-to-buy cycle as possible. Providing your visitors the key ingredients in their shopping experience creates a smooth and worry-free transaction process. The easier it is to shop and buy the more customers will overcome the natural hesitations that many feel before they commit by hitting the final "complete order" button. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/Social-Media-Marketing-is-Branding.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/Social-Media-Marketing-is-Branding.html Think of all the ways that companies use branding to build awareness of themselves or to promote their social awareness and customer service values. A few things come to mind such as greeters at the entrance of my favorite store, go-green awareness issues, charity drives that "give back" to the community for every purchase made, TV screens playing music videos or news as you wait in line, and the list goes on. None of these things lead directly to conversions but they do lead to higher company awareness and the good old fashioned fuzzy-feelings we get when we know that that we are valued as a customer. Most times we are probably not even be aware of these things on a conscious level. But the effect shows as we have a tendency to patron these companies more frequently than the other alternatives. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/4-Easy-Ways-to-Dissatisfy-Your-Visitors.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/4-Easy-Ways-to-Dissatisfy-Your-Visitors.html Since creating a website that is "user friendly" is often difficult and time consuming, I thought it would be fun to explore a few ways to create a dissatisfying user experience on your website. Unlike the dozens upon dozens of things that go into creating a website that provides a positive visitor experience, one that creates an atmosphere of trust and is likely to improve conversion rates, creating a dissatisfying experience can be done fairly easily in just a few steps. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/12-Privacy-and-Security-Issues-Your-Customers-Care-About.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/12-Privacy-and-Security-Issues-Your-Customers-Care-About.html Your website's privacy information and security settings can be significant hurdles when it comes to gaining trust with your visitors. Establishing trust is paramount to enticing visitors to make that final commitment, whether that be making a purchase, choosing to provide their info, or simply making initial contact with you. Your job is to make sure your visitors feel confident that their information is kept safe and will not be used for nefarious means, or anything other than what they fully expect. While providing assurances are nice, those assurances only go so far as what actually happens. Be sure that your small print reinforces what your visitors already expect to find in regards to how their information is used. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/5-Engaging-Ways-to-Engage-Your-Audience.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/5-Engaging-Ways-to-Engage-Your-Audience.html How engaged a customer is with your website will determine whether they can be persuaded to buy, comment, download or submit their information for you to follow up on. Customer engagement goes beyond just getting the customer's attention, you must keep their attention. This can be done by providing your visitors near immediate gratification. To do that you have to first know who your audience is, know what they seek and then also know their purpose for being on your site. Knowing all this then lets you work toward meeting the needs of your target audience. But it also means taking things a step further and building a relationship with them. The ability to build a relationship with your visitors can be crucial to driving them through the persuasion process. Relationship building starts the moment the visitor hits the website. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/9-Tips-for-Creating-a-Site-Map-for-Visitors-and-Spiders.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/9-Tips-for-Creating-a-Site-Map-for-Visitors-and-Spiders.html Not every site needs a site map, they can certainly be a good idea. Site maps provide a dual purpose: They provide search engine spiders easy access to all of your site pages and they provide site visitors easy access to all of your site pages. The difference is that search engines and visitors access your site map differently and therefore there are different methods that need to be applied to creating site map(s) that are friendly for both engines and search spiders. http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/How-to-Succeed-at-Everything-that-Matters.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/SEO/1181/How-to-Succeed-at-Everything-that-Matters.html Everybody wants to succeed. Success, though, rarely comes easy. Nor does it happen overnight. We often hear about overnight success stories, certain companies or individuals thrown into the limelight, having made millions from something or another. What we fail to realize, or rather the people calling them an "overnight success" fail to realize, is that there is usually a pretty substantial history building up to that success. Long hours, lots of money invested, family, goals or desires sacrificed, etc.