Time for a Workout: Trim Down Your Copy

Have you ever skipped a paragraph because it just looked to large? If you're like most people, the sight of a huge block of text is repelling more than inviting—especially in the blazing-fast pace of online navigation.

If you're worried that your site is text heavy, then it probably is. Here is an exercise that can help you trim your text while keeping all the essentials intact.

1) Take the text of the entire page and reduce it it to one (or two if you have to) paragraphs. If it was easy to do, then you probably didn't need so much in the first place. If it was difficult, it was definitely worth it because you just took the power of the whole page of text and packed into a single paragraph.

2) Here's the really hard part: reduce that entire paragraph into one sentence. This can be a painful process, forcing you to eliminate all but the most basic information your visitors should know.

3) Finished? You have just created the most important sentence of your page, possibly your website. This newly crafted, streamlined sentence should be the first thing visitors read on that page or on your website.

4) Use your power-packed paragraph to describe your products/services/purpose in more detail. If you need to go into further detail, direct visitors to the bottom of the page or to another page where they know they will be reading larger amounts of text.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Design Trends In Delivering Your Message

There are a few “hot spots” on a website that are important for a designer, and website owner to utilize to their full potential.

The upper left hand corner is perhaps the most important and most often where the logo is placed on a site. Right below this is often where the site navigation goes and is the second most important spot on the webpage. More and more sites however are beginning to use this area to place important text. This text may be short―only a sentence or two―or could even be a short paragraph.

Web site designers have begun using this space to summarize the purpose of the site or as a short introduction. One example of a site designed by HIT Web Design using this trend is http://pain511.com/. With people spending very little time on a site looking for what they need this is a great way to organize the content on your site.

This block of text should be separated from the main body, it needs to stand out―possibly use a larger font size or different background, and be very concise. This may be the most important piece of text on your site.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Right Keywords Will Set Your Website Apart

When someone begins searching for products and services in your industry, it only makes sense that they should find your website. That's why creating text that revolves around the “key” search words people type into search engines is essential in bring traffic to your site.

But that's easier said than done. In fact, a whole industry has arisen around this technique of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Here are some things to remember when optimizing your text for better search-engine ranking:

• Before you create text for your site, research what words people are using in search engines to find similar products and services as yours. There are many tools for this, including using free reports from Google and other sources, as well as utilizing website tracking tools and paid SEO keyword databases.
• Keywords can range from very broad to very specific, and each has its advantages.
• A broad keyword is one that describes a general aspect of your business or service, like the word “bathroom” would be to someone who remodels bathrooms. The advantage is that because it is such a generalized word, a large base of people will use it in searches, potentially bringing more to your site.
• A specific or targeted keyword appeals to people searching for something specific. So, if someone specifically refinishes bathtubs and showers, then refining your keyword to “bathroom and bathtub refinishing” would correlate with people who are looking for that service specifically. Though fewer people will be as specific in their searches, the advantage is that they are more likely to purchase the service or product when they find it.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Use Free Tools to Optimize Website Copy

Finding the right keywords to enhance your site's rankings in search engines is an essential factor in drawing traffic. But, you don't want to simply shoot in the dark when determining which keywords are best for your site. Fortunately, there are many tools out there to help you find out the words people are really using to search your industry. Here are two tools that can help you determine what keywords to consider when creating effective content for your pages:

Google AdWords: This is a powerful—and free—tool that utilizes Google's vast history of queries made in the last month. You can type in a keyword or phrase, and the tool will generate a list of the relating keywords that others have used. The tool includes data showing how commonly the word is used among competitors and how many queries using the keyword have been made in the past month. Check it out at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

Wordtracker: This subscription service utilizes a database of hundreds of millions of keyword terms. Though you must pay for full access, it does provide a free keyword suggestion tool that lists the top 100 related keywords based on keywords you enter. To get more specific and advanced keyword data, you must subscribe. Check out the free tool at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Quality Content Improves SEO, Search Engine Ranking

A key factor for any website seeking business traffic is visibility. Substantial, well-written copy is one of the most important factors to ensure your website is placed into top search engine results.

To get out in front of a large online audience, words matter. Poor wording can cause your website to be swallowed up in the vast sea of the World Wide Web. Those that stand out have learned to play by search engine rules, optimizing themselves to include what search engines like best.

Rule No. 1—Use quality content.

Search engines review and classify websites by reading their text. They look for keywords that have relevance to the words people type in to find something on the Internet. If you're a plumber in Phoenix, for example, you will definitely want to include the words “plumber” and “phoenix” on your site.

But, it's not that easy. Search engines have gotten wise to sites that simply use repeated, or spammed, keywords. Search engines now look at the text as a whole, factoring in the relevance and quality of the entire content as it relates to these keywords. So, including “plumber” and “phoenix” is important, but so is ensuring that these keywords, and other relating keywords, are placed strategically within well-written copy.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

More Common Site Design Mistakes and How To Avoid Them

You’ve spent a lot of time designing your site and marketing it. It is hard work to market your site and has probably cost you a lot of time and a lot of money. You are getting visitors now – and no one stays to see what you have to offer/sell/say. There are a lot of reasons this might be so but today I want to go into a common mistake that costs people a lot of visitors – slow loading pages. The number one reason people get annoyed and leave a page is because it takes forever to load. Making them wait for graphics isn’t going to wow them; it is going to irritate them.

Graphics aren’t the only thing that can cause your site to load slowly though, and are also not the only thing that can annoy your visitors to the point where they want to leave. Slow loading and distracting flash banners and entry pages, music that you force them to listen to and slow loading java scripts are all killers and will turn your viewers/buyers away quickly. Unfortunately we have social networking sites these days like MySpace that have made these kinds of things popular – believe me there is a world of difference between a MySpace page and a page you are using for commercial purposes. Under no circumstances should you use annoying animated gifs or bright and flashing Flash banners – nothing screams out “leave here immediately” more.

Don’t mistake me, MySpace can be a great tool and can be a form of marketing for you in itself. You can and should make a MySpace page to network and promote your regular website. I would have it designed so it matches the look of your webpage, but don’t base your website design on the design of a MySpace page! Looking through MySpace pages you can see in any five pages pretty much every violation of good website design. Why spend all that time and money to get people to your site so you can then hold them captive and make them watch something that you think is great but they may or may not is interesting. Just let people get on to the business of buying something from you. Make it easy for your customers to spend money with you.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.

Avoiding Common Mistakes in Marketing Your Website

Today’s topic is something that I’ve been thinking about for a while. Looking around the web at different professional sites and keeping track of trends is sometimes a full time job in itself. I’ve seen a lot of sites out there and many different approaches to marketing them. One thing I see over and over that makes me want to leave a site immediately is obvious misspellings. Nothing turns me off faster and makes me trust someone less. Why would I trust someone to perform a service for me or sell me a product if they can’t even take the time to spell check their website content?

Grammar and punctuation mistakes can be forgiven. Much of the time I don’t even notice them until or unless I’ve read the material several times. However, misspelled words stick out like a sore thumb. They are distracting and unprofessional. Whenever I see them I think to myself how sad it is that the person doesn’t care enough about their reputation or their customers returning to take the time out to use spell check.

Use a spell check in your word process program, hire a professional writer or just take your time and check each word, but whatever you do, avoid misspelled words on your site. There is absolutely no faster way to turn your customers away from you than to have blatant misspellings. At least let someone else look at the text you’ve written and proof read it for you. There’s absolutely no way you can build credibility and a reputation for reliability unless you show you’re willing to go to the work of making sure the text on your site is correct. After all, if you go to a site and the first thing you see is “Welcom too are websid” believe me it says worlds about the care you’ve taken and what a customer can expect from you. Leaving a detail like that unfixed can make someone believe you are trying to run a scam or rip them off. HIT Web Design employs a staff of full time writers who do nothing but spell check our customer’s content and our own website content as well. This is the least I can recommend to someone wishing to look and sound professional to their customers and site viewers.

For more information, please visit http://www.hitwebdesign.com or call 1-866-211-0743.