In March 2014, the Baymard Institute, a web research company based in the UK, reported that 67.91% of online shopping carts are abandoned. An abandonment means that a customer has visited a website, browsed around, added one or more products to their cart and then left without completing their purchase. A month later in April 2014, Econsultancy stated that global retailers are losing $3 trillion (USD) in sales every year from abandoned carts.



Clearly, reducing the number of abandoned carts would lead to higher store revenue — the goal of every online retailer. The question then becomes how can we, as designers and developers, help convert these “warm leads” into paying customers for our clients?

Before Cart Abandonment

Let’s begin by looking at recognized improvements we can make to an online store to reduce the number of “before cart” abandonments. These improvements focus on changes that aid the customer’s experience prior to reaching the cart and checkout process, and they include the following:

• Show images of products.
  This reinforces what the customer is buying, especially on the cart page.
• Display security logos and compliance information.
  This can allay fears related to credit-card and payment security.
• Display contact details.
  Showing offline contact details (including a phone number and mailing address) in addition to an email address adds credibility to the website.
• Make editing the cart easier.
  Make it as simple as possible for customers to change their order prior to checking out.
• Offer alternative payment methods.
  Let people check out with their preferred method of payment (such as PayPal and American Express, in addition to Visa and MasterCard).
• Offer support.
  Providing a telephone number and/or online chat functionality on the website and, in particular, on the checkout page will give shoppers confidence and ease any concerns they might have.
• Don’t require registration.
  This one resonates with me personally. I often click away from websites that require lengthy registration forms to be filled out. By allowing customers to “just” check out, friction is reduced.
• Offer free shipping.
  While merchants might include shipping costs in the price, “free shipping” is nevertheless an added enticement to buy.
• Be transparent about shipping costs and time.
  Larger than expected shipping costs and unpublished lead times will add unexpected costs and frustration.
• Show testimonials.
  Showcasing reviews from happy customers will alleviate concerns any people might have about your service.
• Offer price guarantees and refunds.
  Offering a price guarantee gives shoppers the confidence that they have found the best deal. Additionally, a clear refund policy will add peace of mind.
• Optimize for mobile.
  Econsultancy reports that sales from mobile devices increased by 63% in 2013. This represents a real business case to move to a “responsive” approach.
• Display product information.
  Customers shouldn’t have to dig around a website to get the information they need. Complex navigation and/or a lack of product information make for a frustrating experience.

Unfortunately, even if you follow all of these recommendations, the reality is that customers will still abandon their carts — whether through frustration, bad design or any other reason they see fit.

After Cart Abandonment

The second approach is to look at things we can do once a cart has been abandoned. One tactic is to email the customer with a personalized message and a link to a pre-populated cart containing the items they had selected. This is known as an “abandoned cart email.”

The concept is pretty simple. At the right time, a customizable email is sent, complete with a personalized message and a link to the customer’s abandoned cart. Of course, this approach assumes that the customer has submitted their email address — effectively, they’ve done everything but paid. Abandoned cart emails represent one last attempt by the merchant to convince the buyer to check out.

In September 2013, Econsultancy outlined how an online cookie retailer recaptured 29% of its abandoned shopping carts via email. This is a huge figure and one we might naturally be skeptical of.

To get a more realistic perspective, I asked my colleagues at Shopify to share some of their data on this, and they kindly agreed. Shopify introduced “abandoned cart recovery” (ACR) in mid-September 2013 (just over a year ago at the time of writing). Here’s a summary of its effectiveness:

• In the 12 months since launching automatic ACR, $12.9 million have been recovered through ACR emails in Shopify.
• 4,085,592 emails were sent during this period, of which 147,021 carts were completed as a result. This represents a 3.6% recovery rate.
• Shop owners may choose to send an email 6 or 24 hours after abandonment. Between the two, 6-hour emails convert much better: a 4.1% recovery rate for 6 hours versus 3% for 24 hours.

It’s worth noting that the 3.6% recovery rate is from Shopify’s ACR emails. Many merchants use third-party apps instead of Shopify’s native feature. Given that Shopify is unable to collect data on these services, the number of emails sent and the percentage of recovered carts may well be higher.

Given the statistics, abandoned cart emails are clearly an important part of an online retailer’s marketing strategy. Luckily, most leading e-commerce platforms enable merchants to send custom emails, either in plain text or HTML. Knowing how to implement these notifications is a useful skill if you are designing for e-commerce, and they represent added value to your services.

Conclusion

While there are many tactics to persuade customers to buy, inevitably some people will get to the payment screen and decide not to continue. Any tactic that helps to seal the deal is certainly worth considering, and given the small amount of work involved in implementing an email to recover abandoned carts, it’s a great place to start. Designers and developers are in a powerful position to help their clients increase their revenue, and being armed with tactics such as the ones outlined in this article will hopefully enable them to offer a wider range of services.

In the last several years, we’ve seen a rapid shift in software and app interface design, from 3-D and skeuomorphic to flat and minimal. Although this trend has become nearly ubiquitous, let’s take a moment to consider how we got here and what influence it’s having on interface design as a whole.

What Happened?

So, how did the collective consciousness swing from a love of all things textured, beveled and drop-shadowed to a desire for flat colors and simple typography? Many factors have fuelled this transition, but here are a few that stand out.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

As a constantly connected culture, we deal with a nonstop flow of information, some of it important and relevant, most of it not. We are constantly evaluating, filtering and, of course, creating content, and it all gets pretty exhausting. In addition, much of our content consumption has moved to devices with small screens, thus exacerbating that feeling of overload. Becoming overwhelmed is all too easy, and a reduction of clutter in a user interface (UI) can create a little visual zen.

Free of clutter: Geckoboard‘s visualisations are designed to make key data easy to interpret at a glance.

SIMPLICITY IS GOLDEN

In a similar trend, a lot of disruptive Web apps and services are offering highly focused tools with extremely limited feature sets. Whereas traditional software developers tend to load their products with a glut of features to justify the high price tags, this shift towards focused micro-apps favors simplicity over feature set. Simpler apps mean simpler interfaces.

Beautiful and minimal: The Blue weather app by Oak.

CONTENT IS KING, AGAIN

As so often happens when new devices and technologies enter the market, we become fascinated by what they can do and how we can advance interactivity. This interface frenzy is usually followed by a return to a focus on content. Media consumption, whether of text, audio or video, is probably the activity we engage in most on our devices, and for that use case, we just want the interface to get out of the way.

TECHNOLOGICAL LITERACY

As smartphone and tablet adoption has rapidly penetrated all user demographics, concern about the obviousness of controls has reduced. Whereas we once feared that users might miss a button if it didn’t pop off the screen, we are now willing to explore subtler interactions. Windows 8 and Chrome for Android even support touch commands that start off screen, without any visual indicator.

Fitbit’s dashboard is a bright, bold, and easy approachable visual identity.

TECHNOLOGY’S INFLUENCE

Most software will be limited by the platform on which it runs. Screen dimensions and pixel density are the confining factors of hardware. A minimal interface demands a very limited design palette, which means that every element needs to sing. Typographic scale and font weight will largely determine both the aesthetics and usability of a flat design.

If your target devices can’t handle that level of nuance, you’re out of luck. As screen size and pixel density continue to increase on mobile devices, thinner and smaller type can be presented with better clarity. Of course, support for @font-face has also boosted the appeal of minimal typographic-focused designs.

Live sales monitoring with Wallmob: keeping track of the figures from any device that has a browser.

RESPONSIVE DESIGN

With the proliferation of connected devices of various dimensions, UIs have had to become more fluid, and the responsive design movement has responded. While responsive design does not call for a particular aesthetic, one could certainly argue that flat UIs lend themselves to it more easily than many other styles. The other advantage of minimal design is the reduction in page weight and loading time.

To the point and weightless: OnSite.

Best Practices

OK, enough with the theory. Let’s get down to some practical considerations. Creating an effective minimal design is surprisingly challenging. As you strip away common UI tricks (drop shadows, bevels, textures and the like), you quickly realize how important the few remaining elements become. While the following tips are mostly universally applicable, they are especially relevant to flat UIs.

As with any project, the first step is to ensure that your chosen style makes sense. Before diving into a flat design, make sure it aligns with your target users’ sensibilities and your target platform, devices and application type. Following a trend is pointless if it’s the wrong solution for your project.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind when aiming for simplicity:

• The Process you follow is pretty important, no matter what style you are adopting. 
• The Grid plays a crucial role in so much of interface design, and no exception here. 
• The Colors are obviously always a key component of visual design and with minimal interfaces, it is even more critical.
• The Typography is the hero when it comes to flat content-driven websites, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
• Intuitive Interaction in a flat UI is crucial and indicating that an element is interactive can be tricky. 

Wrapping Up

I don’t believe in hard and fast rules in design. Seeing designers so heavily invested in creating extremely clean and simple user interfaces is pretty awesome. Does exploring flat design mean using absolutely no gradients or shadows? Of course not. In fact, some of the most intriguing work I’ve seen recently balances flatness and dimension by presenting content intelligently while keeping the interaction intuitive.

In this highly connected, information-rich and feature-packed digital world we live in, minimal design’s widespread resurgence is refreshing to witness. It is by no means the right solution for everything (no style is), but when applied thoughtfully and appropriately, it makes for a highly usable and enjoyable digital experience.

The secret to successfully building a good website is similar to how the Wright brothers invented the first airplane.

Before the Wright brothers came along the common belief was that the way that you’d be able to get an airplane to fly was to create a large enough and strong enough engine that would be able to propel the plane to fly. And so most adventures focused most of the energy on building more powerful and stronger engines for the plane to get the plate actually take off. But with the Wright brothers did instead was they tried to come up with an airplane design that was as late as possible that was a sensually as close to a glider as they could make it so that all they would need was a very small and light engine and because the glider design was so efficient I would only require a small engine to propellant and posit to fly which as it turns out was the correct way to go about it and that was the reason that they were the first people to effect the airplane.

In many ways that’s the same story as to how many people try to generate traffic to their website.

One of the problems I see quite often is companies and businesses that spend money on Google Adwords, Facebook advertising, Yelp, SEO and other traffic generating mechanisms. They spent all of this money and time and effort getting traffic to their website and then they get upset or confused when they don’t generate that much business from their efforts.

What they might not realize is that the relationship between traffic and the design of the website is very similar to how the wright brothers invented the first airplane.

While many people focus on how do to get people to come to their site, they fail to realize is that the most important thing is having a website that converts. In this analogy your website is the airplane design and the engine is the traffic to your site.

If you do not have a well-designed, well-developed, clearly thought out website then all of that traffic is the same as having a really giant engine strapped to a skateboard.

So the first to successfully generating traffic to your business is creating a website that is well-designed, has a strong call to action that is proven to successfully convert traffic into leads and leads into customers.

Then once you’ve worked out the conversions on your site you can go ahead and pay for Google Adwords, Facebooks Ads, etc…

So the question to ask is, does your current website have liftoff? And if not, why not? It’s the single best thing you can do for your business’ success.

A lot of businesses provide very similar products and services. How do you identify one provider from another? The answer is branding. Branding of products and services is what differentiates a business or even its website from those of its competitors. This may sound elementary but often companies neglect to understand the importance of branding and identity. A brand is the representation of products or services, their characteristics including customer experiences and the values associated with them. When people use a product or service, they remember their experiences whether it be good or bad and these experiences are what get associated with that product or service. This association is what is helped by way of branding.

For this product or service representation as branding to work, it is imperative that websites feature how companies see themselves, what their end customers think about their company, and how companies want future clients to perceive them.

Branding is not Just About Having a Good Looking Logo

A company logo or a product logo is just the tip of the iceberg in branding and identity. Other facets of a well-designed brand experience and brand website include quality imagery, relevant and up to date content, ease of use, consistent colors, relatable emotion and character, consistency, and a memorable user experience.

Quality Imagery – The majority of website visitors are extremely visually focused and nothing can catch their attention better than a well-placed and relevant image of the product or service offered by a website. Quality, relevant and fresh imagery is what helps people associate emotions with brands.

Relevant and Up-to-date Content – Website viewers initially look to find out what a website is all about and if it can answer any of their wants or needs. By providing clear, relevant, and updated content, the proverbial phrase: “beating around the bush” can be avoided.

Ease of Use – It is very irritating to get lost inside a website and not know where to go or what to do next. Clear, familiar, and intuitive navigation makes it easier to promote a product or service or to hopefully close a sale.

Consistent Colors – Color is not just aesthetics, it also serves to trigger subconscious associations and emotions. Blue for example symbolizes trust; green for health, nature or environment; and red for energy and enthusiasm among others.

Relatable Emotion and Character – A website’s character and personality have to be in line with what the company stands for. If a company is all about trust and security then site viewers must be able to relate to this when going through the company’s website.

Consistency –  Setting a consistent look and feel throughout a website and its pages in terms of typography, colors, visuals, and layout not only helps to make a brand memorable but also makes web pages load faster

Memorable User Experience – Website viewers now use a bevy of platforms and devices to browse websites. Mobile compatible websites leave a positive impression on site visitors.

Conclusion 

Branding in web design is so much more than a company’s logo and tag line on a website. Branding is a well thought out strategy to help people associate a product or service with a value – to increase brand equity through a well-designed website. Brand equity adds value to a company’s product or service and thereby allows them to charge more compared to competitors; gain higher market shares; get higher positions on browser search results; or become a leader in their specific niches.

Content is king.
It’s the king of SEO, and it’s the king of every great website, blog, infographic, Twitter account, and Facebook page out there. Excellent content drives traffic to your site. It’s as simple as that. No image, blog post, video, or anything else that has ever gone viral has contained content that is anything less than excellent – be it excellently funny, excellently informative, excellently shocking, excellently entertaining, or excellently silly, they have all had one thing in common: excellence.

So, what makes excellent content?
Well, it depends on the medium, but in this post I am going to be focussing on written content and blog posts in particular. I like to think that I know a thing or two about how to craft together some excellent content for my worldwide audience. I didn’t learn the best practices of the craft overnight, but through years and years of hard work and writing literally hundreds and hundreds of blogs on all manner of subjects.

And so now you can take advantage of my experience as I detail for you some of the very best tips for crafting excellent content that I have picked up along the way, which will hopefully help to make your journey towards excellence a lot shorter than mine was – if only someone had been so kind when I started out.

1. Make It Positive

Positive content is infinitely more shareable than negative content. This may actually seem counter-intuitive – if you read the news, then you may think that negativity was a necessity. But marketing content doesn't work like that. People like to read and to share positive posts from businesses’ websites. Indeed, finding the perfect tone for your content is essential for it to be enjoyed by your following, and for them to feel that other people in their networks might enjoy it too.

So, what is the right tone for your blog?
Well, it’s all about finding the right balance between formality and informality. You, of course, want your content to be useful and informative for your readers, but ideally it should also be entertaining to a certain degree as well. In a sense, the perfect tone for your blog will probably reflect the tone and the style of your favourite teachers at school. Do you remember them? They somehow made what might otherwise have been some very dry information come alive, didn’t they. You may well even remember some of the things that they taught you even now. They did this by inserting a sense of fun and enjoyment into their content, and that’s exactly what you should be doing, too, no matter how serious or informative your post may be. Which brings me onto my next point.

2. Make It Practical

Aside from being positive, excellent content is almost invariably practical for the user to some degree. This of course makes sense when you think about it, and perhaps goes some way to distinguishing why the news we read seem to make its success out of being negative, whilst blogging is all about positivity. The news are simply there to spread the word of current events and affairs, whereas a blog post should have real, useable value for the reader.

Quite often you will find that posts will take the form of this one, where some practical and actionable tips are being offered for those that discover them. Indeed, this clean and clear simple style can be a great place for you to start out when getting to grips with crafting some excellent content for your blog. Think about your audience in relation to your product or service – what sort of thing do you think that they all have in common? Can you come up with a list of some great tips that might be useful to them all?

What’s so great about this is that your readers will have something of genuine worth that they can take away with them after they’ve finished reading your post. They can apply it in their work or lives, will see some great results in return, and will remember you and your blog for it.

3. Evoke Emotions

If you can hit on an emotion in the reader then you’re onto a serious winner, and the chances of your content going viral significantly increase. High arousal emotions are the best ones to target, and in fact sometimes the odd negative emotion can actually be of benefit here if used well. So, what are the high arousal emotions and how do you tailor your content to target them?

• Awe: If you can inspire awe in your readership, then they won’t be able to resist hitting that share button or leaving a comment or reply. Awe can be inspired by of a story, a real event, or even from an impressive list of tips or links.
• Surprise/Shock: Try and find something to write about that goes against people’s expectations in a manner that surprises or even shocks them, and they’ll just have to read on. Find new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking about things, challenge assumptions in your writing and prove those notions wrong – indeed this last point leads me onto to a negative emotion that inspires engagement…
• Anger: If you manage to mount a serious challenge against some common assumptions, then you’re almost certain to tick a few people off, and what you’ll find is that they’ll start tweeting about you, sharing your post on Facebook, leaving lots of comments and perhaps even a few blog posts will be written in reply. This of course is great for generating traffic to your website, but you must of course be careful with it. Don’t just be contrary for the sake of it. Remember, you must still be writing positively even if you are inspiring a negative emotion, and you of course must still be practical. So, inspiring anger works, and there’s nothing wrong with igniting a healthy debate about something, but don’t make yourself unpopular, and always check your facts before challenging established conventions.

Some Final Thoughts and Tips

Creating excellent content is a matter of practice and experience, but hopefully the tips I have provided for you above should save you some time when trying to find the right path that will work for you. Experiment a little, find what sort of posts arouse the most engagement from your following, take note, and recreate those sorts of posts again.

When it comes to formatting your posts, it also pays to follow a few conventions of style. Firstly, give your post a very ‘clickable’ title, something short that shows the reader instantly that what you’ve written has value for them. And then, once you’ve done that, do the same with your subheadings. You want to format your posts so that the content is easily scannable for readers, so lots of subheadings, lots of paragraph breaks, and a few bullet points are always good as well.

Finally, when you sign off on your post, make sure that the last thing that you do is ask for your readers to take some sort of action.

Follow these tips to help you create clear, concise, lively writing that captures your e-mail readers' attention.

E-mail marketers use many strategies to improve the effectiveness of their campaigns, but one area often overlooked is what fills the page--the copy you write.

Whether you're a seasoned writer or a novice, it's always important to strengthen your editorial skills and make sure your e-mail marketing communications contain valuable information. Good copy helps your readers understand your offer--and how to respond. The following copywriting tips are ones that pros know well. Keeping these "commandments" in front of you when you write will help you create compelling copy that engages your readers, conveys your business message and creates effective calls for action.

Commandment #1: Know your audience. 

Who is this e-mail going to? Picture the average person on your list. Give them a name, even. Think about what their day is like. Think about what's important to them. What are they passionate about? How old are they? What products or services have they purchased from you in the past and why? The more you know about the audience you're writing for, the more targeted and relevant your copy will be.

Commandment #2: Determine your value proposition. 

Know the answers to these questions: Why should your customer buy your product or service? What's in it for them? Why is your product better than the one down the street? What are your key differentiators?

Commandment #3: Find a unique selling proposition. 

The more your offer stands out from the competition, the better your chances of getting a response. Rosser Reeves, author of Reality in Advertising, defines the unique selling proposition as a promotion that offers "something that competitors do not, or will not, offer." He also says, "The proposition must be strong enough to pull new customers to the product."

Commandment #4: Establish an objective. 

What's the purpose of this e-mail? What action are you trying to get the reader to take? You need to be clear on this before you start writing. If the answer isn't clear to you, it certainly won't be clear to your reader.

Commandment #5: Use a compelling subject line. 

The subject line is what gets your e-mail opened, so don't write something quickly just before sending. You have to convince your readers that they really need to open your e-mail. The best word you can use to get the reader's attention is you. The word you says that the message is about them. Other great words for subject lines (and headlines) include new, exciting, exclusive and introducing. Also, try to keep your subject line to 50 characters or less, including spaces.

Commandment #6: Write a great headline. 

If the subject line gets your reader to open the e-mail, then the headline gets them to read further. Consider using some of the buzzwords mentioned in commandment #5 in the headline so it'll grab readers with an obvious "What's in it for me?" message. Here's a question to ask yourself: What if my customers only read the headline? Will they know enough about you and what you offer?

Tip: Write five to 10 different subject lines and five to 10 different headlines to see what works best. Also, you may find that it's easier to write a subject line and headline after you've written the body copy.

Commandment #7: Avoid weasel words. 

When writing headlines, subheads and body copy, don't use words that avoid a direct command, aka weasel words. These include may, maybe, hope, wish, try, but, could, perhaps and strive. Instead, use words like will and can to describe what your product or service will or can do for your reader.

Commandment #8: Don't use passive voice--write in the present tense. 

Passive voice weakens your message. It's best to avoid it. Here are a few examples to help you see the difference:

"Our company was chosen to receive an award" vs. "Our company received an award."
"We have had 15 new products arrive" vs. "Fifteen new products arrived."
"Ten new designs were created" vs. "We created 10 new designs."

Commandment #9: Include a customer quote. 

Do you have a great customer quote that you can include in your e-mail? A brief and convincing quote can add credibility to your campaign. The more real you can make the person to your readers, the better. Including their name, what city or state they live in and even a photo, if it fits your campaign, is a great way to communicate the value of your service.

Commandment #10: Keep your copy clean and concise. 

After you write your first round of copy, read it out loud. Also, have someone else read it to see if they understand the message and the call to action. As you edit, cut unnecessary words and consolidate ideas. See if you can get your text down to 30 to 50 percent of what you started with. Also, include bullet points and possibly subtitles to make it easy to read-and, more important, easy to scan--as most readers scan a page before deciding whether or not to read all the details.

Great copywriting is within your reach. Keeping these tips in mind when you write will greatly improve your copy, making it easier for readers to understand and respond to your e-mail campaign. Good, thoughtful writing will ultimately improve your success as an e-mail marketer.

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

A well optimized landing page is perhaps the first funnel point and one of the most important aspects that decides whether a user becomes a prospective client or a lost opportunity. Hence the headline, the line that catches the eyes first becomes the primary part of that landing page.
When a visitor lands on a landing page, the window for him to convert or sway to another website is very small. Hence, when you are planning a landing page, spend a good amount of time deciding the headline, because you also have a small window in which you have to grab the readers attention.

Keep it short, simple and sweet

Keep the landing page headline simple and to the point. This will take the readers’ attention off the bat in an instant and will deliver what the content has on offer. This again depends from business to business and campaign to campaign.
Your headlines can also be funny and inventive, but do so only if you have expert copywriters to do the job for you. In order to be funny, make sure you do not loose the essence of your content. There is a thin line that draws between being offensive and funny.

Give a Glimpse of what you are trying to offer

By looking at the headline, the visitor must get a glimpse of what exactly it is that you are trying to offer. An ideal headline should provide just enough information to the user, but not disclose all details. It should give away just a small glimpse of the benefits and should entice and urge the user to further read the contents of the landing page.
As an example, a landing page states…
What’s on offer - ‘Earn your degree online’. Any user who wants to enrol or get more details will have to fill up the form.
Solves a problem - A user will not have to run around colleges to enrol, attend classes and then attain a degree. All he will have to do is, fill the form and register to enrol…problem solved?

Add numbers to your headline

Yes, they do help. (Well this is also another reason why you are reading this blog, isn’t it?).
Providing numbers in a headline means that the reader will not be reading just a lump of information, but a specific list of insights into the said details. In some blogs, numbers also connote hierarchy of events and are easy to point out details that are otherwise difficult to mention in paragraphs.
That said, sometimes adding obscure number like 19 or 37 can really catch people’s attention. Numbers leave a mark on the readers mind which makes him think that this message is important. Marketing experts have analysed over the years that figure numbers (1,2,3,4) work a lot better than numbers that are spelled words (one, two. three, four).

Adding Questions is also a go getter

I find that adding questions in an easy and a very powerful way to grab people’s attention. When used effectively, questions rope readers into a story no matter how busy they are. A well formatted question headline has several viewpoints which makes the readers curious.
Now, asking a question in a headline can also be a risk. Most questions by default have a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ answer. If we take an example, there are three instances that can occur:
YES: Someone who wants to study abroad will fill the form immediately.
YES, but NOT at the moment: Someone who is not willing to study at the moment, but wants to give it a thought later may also fill the form.
NO: Someone who does not want to study abroad will move to another page the very instant he/she reads the headline.
Like you can see above, the ratio of people filling the form to not filling is much higher. This way question headlines also ensure that relevant leads (students who really want to study abroad) are much more than junk leads (students who fill the form without any reason).
Though writing a question headline is a gamble, it is a necessary one.

Trigger negative emotions

Negative headlines if used well can work as very powerful motivators.
Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs? He had stated that in order to survive, we thrive on safety, affection, attention and our need to outdo ourselves. So with a headline, when you play upon man’s basic need, that of survival, and offer to help him out of that situation, it leaves a positive impact on their mind.
In an example, the headline and the image play on the negative emotion of ‘Hate’. The headline communicates a problem – something that most people don’t like – bugs. Now, a user who hates bugs will want to read further or sign up to get the solution.
But at the same time, if negative headlines are used in the wrong context, they can kill the message.

Make the headline believable

Only 10 seats left – Study with us for 1 week, get an MBA seat at Harvard  
If this was the case, everyone would have been a alumni of the Harvard, rated the best MBA college in the world! This headline will put anyone on guard. Forget about the user reading the content further, he will close your website and move onto another. Your claim may be true…but keep it subtle. However, the headline should not be misleading, because then the reader will hit the back button and never come back.
By going overboard, you may lose trust with your users. Instead write…
Only 10 seats left! Study with us, get a step closer to your dream – Harvard

Add USP to the headline

In your landing page headline, try words that help sell a product – free, discover, secret, results, quick, guaranteed, off etc. If you know what pain points your potential customer is facing, it should help you write the correct headline and offer him the right deal.
The words ‘Limited’, ‘Off’ and ‘Discount’ are mentioned in the landing page headline and grabs the user’s attention immediately.

Do not use too may keywords in the headline

Yes, putting keywords in the headline makes sure that it ranks well in SEO searches, but stuffing the headline with too many keywords overwhelms the reader and makes it look pushy. Use just the right amount of keywords in a landing page headline which will give you an advantage during web search, search through social networking sites etc.

Landing page headline aesthetics

The less complicated your headline, page and its design, the more likely it is to convert. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. The headlines should ideally be 2 sizes larger than the content.
2. Do not colour them black, instead colour them a dark shade of grey or ivory white if using the headline against a black/dark background.
3. Use Title Case – Capitalize The First Letter Of Each Word.
4. Font size is really important considering that we live in a world where the internet is mostly accessed over Smartphone's.
5. Don’t use a period at the end of the headline. A period or what is also known as a full stop is a mental note for a user to stop reading there. Remember, a period in a headline is a major mistake!
6. Don’t keep the main headline very long. If you have a lot to say, break it down into bits. But again, the sub-headline should not be of the same size as that of the main headline as this will kill the essence of the main headline.
7. Quotations at times can work for headlines.

Use A/B Testing

Make sure you do A/B tests for your headlines to check which version of your landing page and its headline is working best. You can also use free A/B testing tools like Lander A/B and Google Website Optimizer. Over time, A/B testing will also help you analyse your visitors behaviour and what is it that is helping you connect with them.
Then again, when A/B testing, do not make a lot of changes in your headlines or landing pages. This way, when you analyse which landing page is faring better, it will be easy for you to gauge, adding or removing which part did the trick.
Example: When testing a landing page headline, change either the colour or the text or the words. Do not change everything at once. You will not be able to analyse which headline is faring better.
While there are many ways to create headlines, the above mentioned ones are most compelling.

When it comes to online marketing – good copywriting is essential. Flashy websites are great, but copy is what ultimately sells. But, good copy isn’t as easy as slapping a few words on a page. It takes fineness. These 10 copywriting tips will help you take your copywriting to the next level.

Copywriting Tips That’ll Make Your Online Copy Shine

1 – Write your copy first

Often the hardest step is the first one. This can be especially true for copywriting. Get your thoughts down on paper. Don’t worry about making them perfect. Just say what you want to say.

2 – Let it sit for five (or more)

Nothing will kill your credibility like typos. While it’s best to have a fresh set of eyes review your work, even the best of the best have editors, sometimes that’s just not possible. But, there is rarely a time your copy can’t sit for at least five minutes.

2 – Edit. Edit. EDIT

Similar to letting your piece sit, editing is critical. From the simple typo and punctuation mistake to the misspelled and misused word – it can be easy to publish copy littered with mistakes. The end results not only make you and your business look bad, but also can deliver a message you didn’t intend.

3 – Optimise your text

While spending the time to optimise your text with search engine optimisation (SEO) rich keywords may not seem like actual copywriting, in the online marketing world it is. And, it is essential to your success. Why? Because it doesn’t matter how good your copywriting is if no one reads it.

4 – Address the reader

“You” addresses the reader. It brings the reader inside the story and engages them on a personal level. In short – “you” is one of the most powerful words you have as a copywriter.

5 – Tell your reader a story

Nothing bridges the gap from sleazy car salesmen to personal relationship like stories. By telling your reader a story, you speak to their wants and needs. You can address their problems and eventually present your product and/or service as the solution.

6 – Make your headlines catchy

Most people scan web pages. It’s the unfortunate truth. And, if they aren’t engaged they click away. Engage them immediately with a catchy headline.

7 – Use Calls-to-Action

The reason you’re writing copy is to get your readers to act. Adding calls-to-action in your copy shows them and tells them what that next step is. It makes it easy for them. And if there’s anything we all know about readers, they will not work hard.

8 – Call attention to your important facts and figures

Like headlines, calling attention to the most important parts of your copy helps readers navigate the page. You can do this by:

• Putting important facts in bold
• Breaking up long paragraphs
• Adding bulleted lists
• Using reader friendly text size, font and colour

9 – Enhance your copy with images

The old saying, “A picture’s worth a thousand words,” couldn’t be truer when it comes to online copywriting. Utilise pictures to help tell your story.

10 – Get social

Social Media may seem like a big can of worms you want to keep shut. It’s open. Ignoring it leaves you behind. Share your writing on social media platforms. Add share buttons to your copy to make it easy for readers to also share.

Have you used any of these copywriting tips? Have you used other copywriting tips? What works best for you?

Bring out the value of your product or service with compelling user reviews.

Using customer testimonials in your advertising, marketing materials and on your website is a common practice. If your customers are saying great things about your business, then why not publicize those positive testimonials for the world to see?

Not so fast: There are two main problems with customer testimonials--overuse and legitimacy. Testimonials are used so often that they have lost some of their value. Furthermore, prospective customers don't always trust the truthfulness of testimonials. How do you make your customer testimonials stand out from the crowd and make them more meaningful for your prospects? To create effective, meaningful customer testimonials, they must be:

1. Authentic: One of the main problems with customer testimonials is their believability. Prospective customers need to believe the testimonials you provide are real. Too many companies advertise using customer testimonials written by a copywriter with no involvement from actual customers at all. To make your customer testimonials believable, authenticate them by using pictures of the customers who provide them along with those customers' real names. In other words, prove your customer testimonials are real up front so there is no room for doubt in the minds of your prospects.
2. Quantifiable: Add meaning to your customer testimonials by putting hard numbers in them whenever possible. If customers talk about the amount of money or time they saved by doing business with you, find out exactly how much they saved, and ask them to include those figures in their testimonials. A customer testimonial that says, "I saved $100 at XYZ Store" is far more compelling than, "I saved money at XYZ Store."
3. Specific: Customer testimonials are useless unless they give prospective consumers a reason to care about them. Vague testimonials, such as "It was great to do business with ABC Store," provide nothing of value to prospective consumers. Instead, guide customers who give you testimonials by asking them to provide a specific reason why working with your business benefited them. Effective customer testimonials won't leave a prospective customer saying, "Why should I care what that person thinks?" Instead, effective customer testimonials tell prospects exactly what's in it for them when they choose your business based on another customer's prior experience. In other words, prospective consumers should be able to personalize your customer testimonials and apply them to their own lives.
4. Diverse: Not only is it useful to obtain customer testimonials from a diverse audience who your prospective customers can relate to, but it also helps in terms of keeping your testimonials meaningful. If you use the same testimonial again and again, prospective consumers will wonder if this is the only person who had something good to say about your business. The testimonial will lose meaning because the individual who provided the testimonial becomes more of a spokesperson rather than another satisfied customer in the eyes of prospects. Obtain a varied collection of customer testimonials that prospects will relate to, from a diverse group of people and also about a variety of experiences and benefits.
5. Approved: Always obtain approval and written permission to use any customer's testimonial, name or likeness in your marketing and business materials. Remember Step 1 of creating meaningful customer testimonials is to make them authentic by naming names and using pictures. You shouldn't do that unless you have permission from the source first.

In short, don't leave room for guesswork when it comes to your customer testimonials. Leverage the role of your loyal and best customers by asking them to provide testimonials. Make sure your customer testimonials are verifiable, and specifically tell prospective consumers the benefits of doing business with you. If your customer testimonials are honest and trustworthy, then people will respond to them--which translates to positive results for your bottom line.

We work with a great deal of very talented website designers and developers who create first-rate websites for their clients – aesthetically superb but not always the most search engine friendly they could be. Overall it can make the project more expensive for the client because it means that we as the SEOs have to go back under the hood of their shiny new website to make tweaks for better on-page optimization.

This guide is intended to be a cheat sheet that allows you to really bake SEO into the projects you are working on – saving time and money in the long run as well as making the process much more seamless for them and your life a heck of a lot less stressful, well at least no more SEOs bugging you to make changes!

Website Factors & Site Architecture Factors

URL Structure – the golden rule when it comes to URLs is to keep ‘em short, pretty and include the page level keyword – never ever build on a platform that doesn’t allow for URL rewriting because not only are ugly URLs, well, ugly, they are also a mistake SEO wise. Short, sexy and search friendly URLs make it easy for the user to share with their social networks or link to – not to mention how much easier a logical URL structure makes website management!

Website structure accessibility – inaccessible navigations are a real headache when it comes to SEO. A navigation wrapped in javascript is bad and a menu made from Flash is worse. Now I bet you are thinking “Javascript makes a website more user friendly because it creates things like drop down menus helping the user to make better sense of the page options.” This might be true, but we need to balance usability with search engine friendly. Firstly, we shouldn’t forget that a slick looking menu/navigation bar could render a website unusable on certain devices and in certain browsers (try switching off Javascript or Flash) but from a strictly SEO perspective it could mean that pages deep within your site aren’t being indexed because the only links to them are from a menu wrapped in code that the spiders can’t decipher.

Considered use of Javascript – following on from the point above…whatever Google says, there is clear evidence that the search engine struggles to handle javascript. Reams and reams of unreadable code could mean Googlebot heads somewhere else rather than crawling any deeper into your site. It might also be causing other issues like crawl errors and damaging your website’s crawl rate neither of which are good
things!

Canonical URLs – use the attribute to specify your preferred URL for a page. This is useful in situations where almost identical pages appear at different URLs because of something like a category choice or session ID being added. It is important to tell Google and Bing which page is the one they should index and pass all relevant link juice and authority to. Failure to implement canonical
URLs can mean duplicate content issues but more crucially loss of rankings as search engines divide link juice and page authority between the copies of the page something which could have been avoided if the correct page had been stated in the rel=canonical tag.

Unique meta titles and descriptions – to many, on-page optimization is just about changing a meta title here or there…hopefully this list will show you otherwise. Whilst making Meta title and description changes might feel like SEO from 1997, in my experience it is still a part of the bigger on-page optimization jigsaw. In my mind, it is quite a simple step in the on-page optimization process… a unique title and description for every page front-loading page level keywords in a natural non-spammy way. There are of course other meta tags that you can include, e.g. ‘keywords’ and whilst I am sure some people will disagree with me on this, I only see the use of optimizing the titles and descriptions, tags like the keyword data have been abused to the point of rendering them almost a complete waste of time. Google might not always use the title and description you give a page but at least you’ve told the search engines what the page is about and if Google does decide to use your title and description, you have some influence over encouraging a user to come to your website over the other choices in the SERPs.

Robots.txt file – a good starting point for robots.txt best practice is this guide from SEOmoz. It is always worthwhile ensuring a robots.txt file doesn’t contain any unwanted directions for the search bots, even if you haven’t added anything, someone or something working on the site before might have.

XML Sitemap – fairly common practice nowadays but still worth a mention. An XML sitemap should always be available. It helps make the search engines aware of all the pages on your website and increases the likelihood of faster inclusion in the index for newer pages.

Website speed – I’m sure this issue is right at the fore of your mind when it comes to building websites because it is a really hot topic right now. Google recently enabled all webmasters to monitor page loading speed directly from their Google Analytics dashboard; if they’ve made it that easy for you, you can bet they are using this data as part of their calculation as to where to rank your website. Google loves to improve user experience and since a fast loading page is definitely a better user experience, I can see this playing an increasing role in SEO of the future, particularly in competitive markets. Also, Amazon.com conducted a study and found that for every 100 millisecond increase in page load time, their sales decreased by 1%. Therefore the reasons for improving page speed go way beyond just SEO! There are multiple ways to improve site speed so I won’t go through them all here but all I will say is code responsibly, choose a good host and setup a CDN (content delivery network) if your client is targeting users worldwide.

Content Factors

I was in two-minds as to whether to include this section in the final guide because as a designer you might have limited control over content factors but there again in my experience; designers certainly have some responsibility for either the content itself or for formatting and publishing so I feel it is worthwhile to mention these factors.

Content language – Google uses the language the text content has been written in as a reference point for the relevance to the user making the search query. If you are targeting an English speaking country then content should be written in English. Obvious really but it does reinforce the need for localized websites if you are helping a client to target other countries that speak different languages.
Content uniqueness – one phrase I am sure you are bored of hearing is ‘create unique content’ if you want to do well in the search results. People keep saying it because it is true. Unique content sends the right kinds of quality signals to Google because more users engage with it and talk about, they share it, it generates more links. Encourage your clients to invest in useful, unique content that offers real value to the reader or if necessary take responsibility for this yourself.

Amount of content – the recent Google Panda algorithm update has had an impact on what could be considered the right ‘amount’ of content. My suggestion is that you encourage clients to consolidate existing content or target new content creation efforts towards smaller but higher quality hubs of content. Help and advise clients to remove pages that are basically just a carbon copy of another page on the site but with a few different keywords.

Unlinked content density – pages that contain a lot of links particularly to external pages never look good in the eyes of Google. It gives off a link farm/poor quality directory/paid link operation type vibe which is not just damaging to the page but also to the website and to the pages it links to. Whilst there isn’t an optimum density, as a rule of thumb the number of links should feel natural and be well balanced with unlinked text or other types of content. If all the links are absolutely necessary, consider breaking them down into smaller categorized pages to improve the unlinked content density.

Is the content well-written? – there isn’t any direct evidence that suggests Google penalizes a website for poor spelling or grammar however that being said, a badly written page is off-putting for the user and will therefore send off the wrong kinds of signals to readers or potential customers and since Google is incorporating user feedback like bounce rate into its algorithm, keeping the user happy is vital.

Expertise and Depth of content – Google is smart and since it is on a mission to organize the world’s information, I would be willing to bet that it has already hit the mark or is close to it when it comes to understanding how deep a piece of content goes and whether the author is an expert or not. Algorithmically it could probably quite easily detect if key topics within the theme have been discussed and whether there are any factual inaccuracies meaning it is more important than ever to really be the expert.

Keyword location and repetition – it is widely accepted that Google places more emphasis on links that appear higher up a page. This is based on the logic that if something is important, it is likely to be included first. My suggestion is always (provided it looks natural) to front load the heading of the page with the keyword being targeted and then to mention the keyword within the first paragraph and then depending on the length of the page at selected intervals throughout the text. The key is to keep it natural, there’s no optimum keyword density but there certainly is such a thing as over optimization and keyword stuffing both of which will see the page and possibly the site subject to a penalty. Interweaving keywords into text so that it is good for both user and search engine can be quite challenging but it is worthwhile.

Spam keyword inclusion – if you run an adult themed website then of course this is unavoidable but be vigilant of quite innocent and accidental inclusion of these keywords on what would ordinarily be a very family friendly website. This will be a real turn off for the search engines because of safe-search filtering and also because it may suspect your website has been violated by hackers who have injected spam keywords and links.

Internal Linking Factors

Number of Internal links – one of the reasons that Wikipedia ranks so well is thanks to its internal linking structure. Of course each of the pages wouldn’t hold so much weight if it weren’t for the overall authority of the website but the online encyclopedia has still mastered internal linking best practices. It adds a link to another page on the site wherever it feels natural and will be useful to the user allowing them to flow through the website. You can take this concept and apply it to your client’s website helping them to increase pages per visit, improve user experience and ultimately improve page rankings through increased link volume. They may ‘only’ be internal links but the will still serve enhance your off-page link building efforts.

Anchor text of internal links – anchor text is still an important factor in link value. It will likely decrease in importance thanks to the abuse of it but for now it is still a case of anchor text rules. Use this with care however, particularly if you are working on a very large website where internal link implementation could potentially result in hundreds if not thousands of links with the same anchor text which would be easily detectable by Google and may result in a penalty. Just as with off-page linkbuilding, internally, it is also important to vary anchor text. Consider making the header navigation a keyword anchor text link, the breadcrumb a variation of this and in-content links something like “learn more about our services” – too many anchor text links can be overkill.

Source of internal links (content, breadcrumbs, navigation) – when it comes to link building campaigns, it is always advisable to encourage links from a variety of sources, the same applies to organizing internal links. Take care to ensure that links to internal pages are balanced. Too heavy reliance on for example breadcrumb navigation could mitigate some of the power of internal links.

Quality Factors

Google is making leaps and bounds towards making truly high-quality websites more visible in the search results. It is important to ensure you are helping clients give off the right kinds of ‘quality signals’: here are some factors worth considering.

A gorgeous design – Google can’t quite grade the looks of your website just yet but it can gauge the reaction of visitors. Good looking websites keep people engaged and stop people clicking away meaning it keeps the bounce rate low. Google utilizes user feedback metrics like bounce rate so anything you can do to improve the user experience is going to be a big win in the SEO arena.

Custom(ised) design – it doesn’t have to be a completely custom design but it is reasonable to assume that Google looks less favorably upon websites that use free or even premium themes but do absolutely nothing to make it their own. I’d imagine that Google takes this stance because it is quite reasonable to say that a webmaster who hasn’t bothered to get the basics of a website right is unlikely to be creating something high-quality in the long run. That might be an over-simplification and a sweeping generalization but Google is trying to crunch vast swathes of data and web pages, it doesn’t have the time to individually review every page out there.

Address, privacy policy, TOS, and other brand signals – Google post-Panda is looking to promote ‘real’ businesses and brands. Adding an address, a privacy policy and other basic housekeeping that reputable online operators would have on their website, can make all the difference with how well a website performs in the search engines. This Google blog post offers some guidance on building high quality websites and one of the rhetorical questions asked is “Would I trust this website with my credit card details?” If the answer is no then it would suggest there are some quality issues that need addressing.

On your radar for the future

Rich snippets and page markup – Schema.org is a collaboration between all the major search engines to allow webmasters to markup their pages and provide more information about them. This markup (or at least some of it) will be incorporated in the search results pages more and more in the future. Read the recent Google Webmaster Central blog about this

There may well be other things that you feel are important in the on-page optimization process but the above is simply my 22 point checklist for optimizing websites.

Let’s make a real world comparison: buildings are very much like web sites. So are web designers and developers essentially just architects? When you compare web design with any other major form of art, fine art, print design, music, sculpture, architecture, it almost directly compares itself to architecture. Web design, like architecture, is an art form that has many differing interests. Web sites and buildings have users, clients, companies, products, information, technology, structure and design.

So the question is, can we learn from architecture to make web designs better? Fortunately architecture has been studied for hundreds of years so we have plenty of resources to tap into. One of the great artisans who pioneered engineering and architecture was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman engineer, architect and artist. In his book De Architectura he describes three fundamental principles of what great architecture should accomplish:

Firmatis: It should stand up robustly and remain in good condition — be durable.

Utilitas: It should be useful and function well for the people using it — be functional.

Venustatis: It should delight people and raise their spirits — be beautiful.

These three principles can be directly applied to web design as well. Every really good web site should have these same principles: durability, functionality and beauty. In the beginning web design was just one document of information, a basic text document. As the web progressed, CSS allowed web sites to separate the content so that it could be re-skinned without altering the structure of the site. Today, HTML5 semantics is allowing us to finally separate meaning from structure and style so that web sites can be durable and be ready to embrace new technologies as they come.

These principles are fundamental for web design as much as they are to architecture. We’ve all designed, developed or have used sites that do not follow these principles. Without durability a site loses its ability to grow with the times, without good function a site will never be used and without a pleasing design nobody would even stay on a site let alone revisit it. A website is complicated but I like these principles because it makes the task of designing and developing a site easier to digest. They allow you focus on what is important and not get lost in every little detail of a site.

Building for “Firmatis”

Durability is probably the most overlooked aspect of web design. Most of us never consider the life span of a website when we start to design. But durability is important even to web design because web products are starting to live longer. Some web applications and sites will probably live to be older than most of us. Now, I know what you are thinking — it’s really easy to redesign a web site — and that is true, but what if it could be even easier? If you design and develop for durability your next redesign is going to be so much easier if you don’t have to rewrite every file HTML, CSS and JS file in the structure.

Semantics and a progressive approach to web design are required for durability. Creating semantic markup – markup that describes but not specifies – is important because it allows the site to be updated quickly by any designer or developer. Most designers and developers don’t stay on a web project or even the same company for the life span of it, so by using proper semantic markup you can leave behind a good foundation for others to modify or build on without them having to know everything about the code structure.

Progressive enhancement and responsive design also play a huge part in durability. When you keep in mind that people will view the site differently in whatever browser they prefer and that it’s okay for the site’s design to render a little differently, or adjust to that browser, then your site can stand strong for a long time. If you design a site to look best in one particular browser, you not only isolate users, you also hurt its life span. When a new browser comes out that has better user adoption then the one you designed for, you will lose users, or you will have to completely redesign and rewrite for that new browser. Don’t waste time chasing browsers, flexibility in web design builds durability.

Developing “Utilitas”

Aw, usability. Over hundreds of years of building things we have come to understand that you can have the best invention ever, but if you can’t use it, it doesn’t matter. An architect has to make sure that all the doors open the right direction, that all the light switches have to be close enough to doors so people can reach them, that all doorknobs and elevator buttons must be placed so that all user can access them. Same goes for web design — even though some will argue against usability. A successful web site must be functioning and usable: the navigation needs to be clear, buttons need to have hover states, and all elements need to be accessible to all users.

Proper function and usability are probably the hardest things to develop in a website. So much of it depends on preference and the skill level of your users. Standards and conventions solve most usability problems. Just imagine if buildings didn’t have standards and conventions, if a particular architect put power outlets in the ceiling because he/she liked the way it felt or if he/she decided to go super minimalist and not use outlets at all. Standards are proven concepts, they represent years of bad functionality corrected. As designers we need to understand that the first priority of the site is to be functional to the user, to work in a comfortable, familiar fashion so that the user can accomplish their goals.

Create “Venustatis”

Websites should be easy on the eyes, they should appeal to people and people should be drawn to use them. A great web design should be able to spark some kind of thought or emotion simply by the color scheme, unity or composition alone. Design is a powerful tool and when done correctly can accomplish many things that function and durability can’t. Design has the unique ability to fill something in all of us, whether is be print ads or architecture.

Web design is no different than the design of a great building. A well designed and beautiful web site will attract people for no other reason and when they stop to enjoy the design they will be able to discover what is “inside”.

Social Media Marketing has become central now to business development, irrespective of the product or service you’re offering. Media pundits tell us that customers now interact with companies in a completely different way, and expect their favoured brands to be nimble and responsive to the demands of quick, easily absorbed messages put across in a way that is attention-grabbing and contemporary. The great advantage of embedding exciting new content is that it is accessible to all and easily shared at the touch of a button. Sit back and watch your sphere of influence grow!
It is important to be aware of the extraordinary range of things that can be embedded into your website to create arresting visual images. Here’s a look at some of them:

Fourteen Things You Can Easily Embed into Your Website:

1. Embed High Quality Videos:
   Embed a high resolution video clip into your site. Explain how a product should be used, take visitors on a virtual tour of your hotel, present complex information about medical procedures in a simple way, or sell a holiday destination.
   
2. Embed MP3 Music and other audio files:
   Present a clip of a hit single, a famous speech, a podcast, or an audio guide to assembling a piece of furniture. The possibilities are endless!
   
3. Embed Photos and Slideshows or Web Albums:
   Share pictures of your factory, your stall at an exhibition, or the award your company received. Reassure customers of your credibility with pictures of smiling employees or your imposing office building. You can even embed a whole slideshow sized to fit conveniently into your webpage.
   
4. Embed Your LinkedIn Profile:
   If you wish to embed your LinkedIn profile into your blog and display it in the sidebar, site visitors can read a summary of your LinkedIn profile without leaving the site.
   
5. Embed Google Maps in Web Pages:
   Embedding a Google Map in your website is now almost as easy as adding an image. Show visitors where you’re located – clear directions make a lot of people more likely to want to set out in dense traffic to find your store, art gallery, or restaurant.
   
6. Embed Events from Google Calendar:
   Not only can you embed a Google Calendar into your webpage, but you can even customize it and choose elements that you want to display or hide in the calendar. Alert customers to important events by date.
   
7. Embed Very Large Photographs:
   To embed really large images, you can use programs which break your photographs into small tiles and you can even pan / zoom across these images, very similar to the default interface of Google Maps. Wow visitors with high-res pictures of locations, products, architectural plans, or events.
   
8. Embed Charts and Graphs in Web Pages:
   Illustrate your point clearly, and also make it easy for important information to be shared across a large number of people.
   
9. Embed Word Documents or pdf Files:
   Even Barack Obama is using this feature to upload his public documents and upcoming plans! Case Studies, User Manuals, Patient Guides, Project Specifications, everything can be easily embedded.
   
10. Embed PowerPoint Presentations:
    You can embed presentations that are either large or formatted in the form of magazines or catalogues. Use this format to treat visitors to a high-quality presentation about your business – make them feel they’re sitting in the Boardroom with you!
    
11. Embed Flash or Flash Video:
    Embedding Flash content improves the overall user experience and with the newer methods it also becomes more searchable.
    
12. Embed Spreadsheet Data:
    Embed a range of cells from a spreadsheet into a web page to capture important data in a visually appealing and organized way.
    
13. Embed Chat in your Blog:
    If you like to chat with visitors who are currently on your site, embed a widget and place it in the sidebar of your website. Visitors show up in your buddy list so you can strike up a conversation, answer questions, or just keep tabs on guests.
    
14. Embed Another Webpage into your Blog:
    If you would like to embed another website into your web page, you can do that too. Maybe you’re recommending another company or product, maybe you’re alerting visitors to a launch, or the completion of a project. Either way, the content can be shared easily, and your Search Engine rankings improve.
    

So clearly, you can embed almost anything into your HTML pages now – from Flash videos to Spreadsheets to high resolution photographs to static images from Google Maps and more. Allowing your visitors access to high-quality content that can be easily shared has never been easier!

A lot of visitors don’t bother to check more than one page of a website. Depending on the landing page 20 to 80% leaves immediately. If visitors don’t spend time browsing and taking the action you want, all the time and money spent to create the website will be lost. A small improvement can 'earn' you a lot of money!

Getting people to your page is just the first part of having a successful site. Making them stay there, is another matter. One of those important metrics in web marketing that measures the effectiveness of your site is Bounce Rate. Google’s definition of bounce rate is as follows:

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page.

So the lower the bounce rate the better, as this means more of your visitors are clicking through to other pages on your website. Though bounce rates vary wildly based on industry and type of site, in general websites have a bounce rate between 20 – 40%.

So how can I get to know what my Bounce Rate is?

If you really want to know your bounce rate, the easiest thing to do is to set up a Google Analytics account. Google Analytics is a free website statistics program where you can measure all kind of statistics, including your Bounce Rate.

Why is Bounce Rate important?

Bounce Rate can help webmasters to get insights from the data, for determining how landing pages perform as compared to visitor expectations.

Example 1: – if you run paid search campaigns, then you know the importance of testing a landing page (SEO, A/B Testing, etc.). I find that bounce rate at the aggregate level doesn’t tell you very much (site level bounce rate), but the bounce rate per page is extremely useful.

Example 2: - if you are driving paid search visitors to your landing page and you have a 80% Bounce Rate on that page, then you’ve got a problem. Why are that many visitors bouncing after clicking through your paid search ad and landing on a page that theoretically should be highly targeted?

But the impact of a high bounce rate goes even further. Google uses bounce rate as an indicator of the quality of the website (design, layout, content, etc.) and therefore can effect your search engine rankings – A low(er) bounce rate ensures a better ranking in the search engines.

What is a ‘Normal’ Bounce Rate?

As mentioned earlier, an average page from a webshop or website with good keyword optimalized content will have a 20 – 40% bounce rate. Direct response entry pages sometimes can generate a 90% bounce rate, but that’s because you either subscribe or you leave the page. But single-page websites also have a very high bounce rate, because the websites consists of only one single page, so the entry-page is the same as the exit-page!

Blogging sites in general have a 60-80% bounce rate because, e.g. visitors from your RSS Feed are only interested in your latest article, or visitors from search engines only want to read that single article matching there search keyword or phrase, etc.

How to decrease Bounce Rate?

Or how do you keep visitors from bouncing off your website? We will mention the most important factors which can determine the height of your bounce rate and keep your audience engaged.

1. Load time

No one likes to be kept waiting, your page should take no more than about 4 to 6 seconds to load if possible. Optimise your images and code, and cut out any clutter. Check your website for HTML code errors by running it through an HTML validator. HTML errors can cause web pages to render incorrectly in some browsers like Internet Explorer or FireFox and increase their loading time.

2. Relevant and High-Quality Content

Most online viewers spend less than 60 seconds at an average site. The challenge now is how to attract readers and keep them longer on your site? By giving them what they need, of course, through relevant content. Boring content or content that is overloaded with certain words or phrases that are intended to help your search engine ranking will turn people off quickly. You know the old saying, .. bla bla Content is King, bla!

Tip: Along these lines, it’s often best to include posts that are part of a series that pushes someone who is interested to come back sometime in the near future.

3. Clear and Intuitive Navigation

Websites also need an easy navigation structure with common names people expect to see. A visible navigation, labeled accordingly and no broken links are essential to keep visitors on your site.

It has become common practice to have the main company logo link to the site homepage, so if all else fails and the visitor hasn’t found what they want, at least make it easy for them to find their way home to start again.

4. Target Group or Audience

If your advertising reaches the wrong audience, it will result in a higher bounce rate. For example, young girls are not attracted by a site that only sells anti-wrinkle solutions for 35+ women. One of the main aspects of having a high bounce rate probably means you’re not getting your message across to your target audience.

5. Technical restrictions

If your page relies on a Flash movie to demonstrate your product, are you certain that your visitors will be able to see it? Quite often corporate networks are restricted and block this kind of content, not to mention some iOS devices. If users see a blank box, or error message they will probably find the 'back' button faster than light.

6. Audio and Video

Sounds and hard music do irritate people, especially if they didn’t ask for it. Many users will exit your site immediately if they start hearing something they don’t like. Use this kind of media at a minimum in your website and if you really need it, let the visitor choose whether he/she wants to start the video or that groovy song.

7. Advertisement and other Distractions

Advertisement, for an external advertiser it maybe could mean success, but for most common people it’s an enormous annoyance factor. Remove automatic popup windows, modal boxes, scrolling text, spinning logos and floating ads where possible. It’s all about the content ..!

8. Design and Usability

Your website needs to instantly portray an image of quality. If the overall design of the website/page is visually appealing to your average visitors, the lower will be your bounce rate. But what is a commonly accepted visually appealing website? That depends on your target audience, your product, message or purpose of your website.

.. It is daunting to be presented with 100 line paragraphs. Break it down into bite size chunks with clear headings above each one. That way they can scan down and pick out what’s relevant to them. A simple and clean layout, a great web usability, simple navigation, .. you know the works. A well chosen image/picture, such as a screenshot of your product can give an instant idea of what it is about, what it looks like and some of its features. And I could go on and on and ..

Tip: The best way to find out if your design is working for your business? Test, measure and improve your website step by step.

9. Commenting and Sharing

If possible, offer RSS subscriptions, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and email newsletter along with anything else that might be relevant.

Give stuff away to your visitors, allow readers to comment on the topic of the article, mingle freely with your visitors and answer their questions. People are also much more likely to subscribe (extra returning visitor) if they get a free e-book, white paper, set of icons, quality content, etc.

Encourage readers to write guest posts, once readers have left their 'mark' on your site, they are less likely to forget or ignore your site.

10. Forms

If the required action is for the user to fill in a form, make it as short as possible. If they are requesting a downloadable product, do you really need to require they enter their post/zip code and force them to do so using form validation? I know it myself, too long contact forms scare me away .. don’t want to fill in the history of my life to order a damn pizza!

Conclusion

Realistically, you can’t make your site sticky for every single visitor, some will leave and never come back. But if you can grasp even a smaller percentage more of those new visitors, it can have a huge impact on your site’s growth. This is why it’s important not to focus on perfection, but rather, .. focus on improvement! Website statistics just isn’t about driving traffic to your site, but it’s about making people want to stay there and come back over and over again.