14 Tips From the Pubcon Experts About Landing Page Optimization

I recently had the good fortune to attend a session on landing page optimization atPubCon.com, the annual conference about search, social media, Internet marketing and website operation. I learned a lot, so I thought I’d share the 14 top takeaways from the session with Small Business Trends’ readers.

The experts who shared their knowledge at this session were Joanna Lord, Director of Customer Acquisition forSEO Moz;Kate Morris, SEO Consultant; and Tim Ash, CEO ofSiteTuners.com. Here’s what each of them had to say.

There Are Tons of Tools to Help You—Use Them!

Joanna Lord’spresentation was focused on tools and programs you can use to discover which pages on your website and what types of content are converting well or poorly. I came away with lots of interesting tools I’m going to try.

1) UseGoogle Analyticsto data mine.Google gives you so much information to uncover what parts of your site are working to convert customers and which are not. Everyone should start with this tool.

2) Use heat mapping.(In case you’re not familiar with this term, a “heat map” uses colors to show the areas of a Web page where users most frequently scan.) By seeing where users spend the most time, you can improve your click-through rates and conversions to products/services. Here are some heat mapping tools Joanna suggested trying: Clickheat (this is a free tool); Click Density; and Crazy Egg.Crazy Eggis Joanna’s favorite heat mapping tool. While some heat mapping tools update you on the most popular areas of your site every 24 hours, Crazy Egg provides hourly live reporting.

3. Do user surveys.When people leave your site, do you know why? No one likes a popup box on a website, but if you can get useful information by running a popup or exit survey for a week, a temporary decrease in conversions is worth it for the long-term health of your site. Here are some user testing tools Joanna likes: Assistly.com (free trial), UserTesting.com ($39), Keynote (free trial), Providesupport.com (free trial) and Zendesk (free trial). The tool SEO Moz uses isKISS Insights($29/month). Joanna likes KISS Insights because it has great survey options, including surveys via popup boxes or upon user exit.

4. Test out new options.After you have surveyed your users, make changes and test their effectiveness. Tools Joanna recommends to test different landing pages: Unbounce.com, Google Website Optimizer andOptimizely.com.

Think Like a User

Kate Morrisoffered some great advice as well.

5. Know your product and always keep in mind user intent. What are users trying to do when they are on your site, and can they do it easily? Assess your site from the viewpoint of the user trying to accomplish a goal. Can they check out quickly? Can they navigate back to a prior page? How good is your search function?

6. Identify high-traffic pages that are not converting and make changes.If a page is getting lots of traffic, great! But if that traffic isn’t converting, not so great. Kate suggests using Google Analytics to pinpoint these pages. She used the example of one customer that had a high-traffic page with lots of white space on the right nav. She had them add a form, which helped increase conversions.

7. Look at“top landing pages” in Google Analytics and search for outliers.Are there pages on your site that are receiving zero visitors? Is your internal linking structure poor? Do you need more links to those deep pages?

Image—and Images—Matter

Tim Ash’spresentation was extremely visual. He showed a number of before and after pictures for sites and displayed heat maps for the old and new pages so we could see the comparison. I will mention a few of the sites that he has worked on, so you can check them out for yourself (unfortunately, you won’t be able to see the “before,” but hopefully the “afters” will inspire you!).

8. Create trust.Many sites don’t convert because they lack credibility and fail to establish trust with users. Consider displaying seals (Truste, McAfee, BBB, VeriSign and the like) as well as displaying the logos (he couldn’t stress enough the importance ofimages, not just the names) of large companies that you do business with.

9. Keep it simple.Don’t offer too many choices on the home page. Keep strong images of what you are selling on the site, but don’t clutter things up with unnecessary Flash (especially not fast scrolling Flash shows). Tim showed us the “before” look ofMosquitoCurtains.com(which was very scattered) compared to the new look. Cleaner and simpler is much easier for users.

10. ReadInfluence: The Psychology of Persuasionby Robert Cialdini.

11. Adjust guarantees.Don’t offer 30-day guarantees; offer lifetime guarantees and watch your purchases increase. Lifetime guarantees make the user feel much safer.

12. Ask for the sale.Sometimes it’s simply a matter of asking for the close. Tim showed us the “before” for1-800-Flowers. Their order form was so buried and blended in that users never clicked on it. After changing things up, the order form was much more prominent and got a ton more clicks.

13. Check outB.J. Foggfrom Stanford Labs.B.J. helps organizations use technology and new media to influence people. Tim suggests reading through his papers and articles on customer interaction and usability.

14. Remember, you’ve only got an instant to make a good impression.Tim emphasized that customers make up their minds in a fraction of a second whether or not they want to interact with your site. Good, clean design is of paramount importance.

What tips and tactics have worked for your website in improving conversions and click-throughs? Share them in the Comments.

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Awards and Contests for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners

Welcome to this week’s list of contests and competitions.Notethat there are quite a few deadlines coming up in the next few days and weeks!

This list of contests, competitions and awards for small businesses is brought to you every other week as a community service bySmall Business TrendsandSmallbiztechnology.com.

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PC Mall Small Business Network Supreme Office Makeover Contest
Enter by November 30, 2010

The PC Mall Small Business Network Supreme Office Makeover contest is targeted towards small businesses with one to 100 employees and runs until November 30, 2010. Featuring a prize valued up to $17,500 for businesses with 11 to 100 employees and a prize valued up to $7,000 for businesses with one to 10 employees, the Makeover includes PCs, notebooks, printers, small business networking equipment, backup software and more.

Love a Local Business Hiring Grant Competition
Enter through December 2010

Enter by submitting a few sentences about why you love serving your customers and community. Each month between October and December 2010, winners of a $25,000 Intuit Hiring Grant will be chosen by popular vote onhttp://lovealocalbusiness.com. Judges will review the three monthly winners and choose a grand prize winner of an Intuit Hiring Grant worth $50,000.

21st Annual Holiday Spirit Award
Enter by December 1, 2010

Do you know an Orange County business owner who is generous, kind, cheerful and goes the extra mile all year long?
Nominate him or her for the 21st annual Holiday Spirit Award.

The award gives recognition to local business owners who don’t get many accolades for being good to their employees, generous to local charities and always cheerful to their customers.

Send some details of the nominee’s year-round spirit — specific examples help — to me atjnorman@ocregister.comor by snail mail to Jan Norman, Orange County Register, 625 N. Grand Ave., Santa Ana 92701.

Marketing Sherpa Email Awards 2011
Enter by December 3, 2010

MarketingSherpa’s annual Email Marketing Awards are back for another year of inspiration. Nominate your best e-mail-related campaigns from 2010 for your chance to have:

o Your entry published in the MarketingSherpa Email Awards Winners’ Showcase
o Recognition at MarketingSherpa’s 2011 Email Summit in Las Vegas
o Campaign featured in a MarketingSherpa newsletter
o A badge to display on your website

This year’s entry categories:
o Best triggered e-mail or autoresponder series
o Best integration with other channels
o Best e-mail list growth campaign
o Best personalization/segmentation strategy
o Best e-mail newsletter for marketing purposes
o Best innovation

Click herefor the submission form.

Small Business Book Awards– 3rd Annual
Online– vote by December 15, 2010

The 3rd Annual Small Business Book Awards by SmallBizTrends.com are now open. The Book Awards celebrate books for small businesses and entrepreneurs. And since most such books are also written by entrepreneurs and small business owners, the Awards recognize their work. Ten winners will be named in the 2010 Book Awards, based on the number of votes. Vote for your favorites. You may vote once every day,  per IP address. Vote for as many books as you wish. Currently there are 65 books entered in the Awards. If your favorite book is not there and it meets the rules, you can alsosubmit it.

Extreme Payroll Stories
Enter by December 15, 2010

This contest awards participants with free payroll services for sharing their stories about how they’ve processed payroll under extreme circumstances.

To enter the contest, small business owners and small business employees who process payroll can submit their“Extreme Payroll” stories to the official contest site, and encourage family, friends and colleagues to vote for their extraordinary experience. The participant who submits the story that receives the most votes wins free payroll service from SurePayroll for one year. The participant who submitsthe story with the second-highest number of votes will receive free payroll service for three months.

New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition
Enter by December 20, 2010

The New York Public Library, with its sponsor, Citi Foundation, announces the New York StartUP! 2011 Business Plan Competition for New York-based startup entrepreneurs with cash prizes totaling over $30,000. The second annual New York StartUp! gives aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to bolster their business acumen. Competition is open to those who are 18 years of age or older; live in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island as a legal resident or U.S. citizen; and wish to start a business in Manhattan, The Bronx, or Staten Island.
1st Place Award: $15,000. 2nd Place Award: $ 7,500. 3rd Place Award: $ 5,000. 4th Place Award: $ 1,500. 5th Place Award: $ 1,500.

DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award
Enter by January 7, 2011

The DREAM BIG Small Business of the Year Award, sponsored by Sam’s Club, is designed to honor U.S. job creators and recognize their significant contributions as drivers of economic growth. View the eligibility and criteria at the website to learn more and check out the Application Process FAQs for tips on filling out the application.

Launch Lewiston-Auburn Maine Contest
Enter by January 2011

The Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council (LAEGC) and the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce have launched an entrepreneurial contest that has an ambitious goal of connecting with youth who have roots in the local community, and encouraging them to consider starting a business in Lewiston-Auburn, Maine. The program, called Launch L-A!, features a contest inviting young entrepreneurs to submit a proposal to start a business in L-A.

The winning entrepreneur will receive an equity infusion of $10,000 to $20,000 in seed money, along with a number of in-kind services for a year, including business consulting, accounting services, legal fees, advertising agency services, rent and more— all provided by Chamber members. Runners-up may also receive in-kind services. See website for entry rules.

The CITI Foundation Business Plan Contest
Enter by February 1, 2011

For Start-up and Existing Businesses-Put your ideas on paper to find out if you have a viable business and compete to win cash prizes. Eligible candidates must attend at least one of the following workshops by February 1, 2011: How to Write a Business Plan; Understanding Your Small Business Financial Report Card; or Boot Camp– CORE Four Business Planning Course.

All registration forms and business plans must be received by February 1, 2011. Please review the checklist on the website for all required information. Or call (312) 673-3462 or e-mailsbdcduman@jvschicago.org.

Rhode Island Business Plan Competition 2011
Enter by April 4. 2011

The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, open to everyone, seeks to promote entrepreneurship and development of start-up and early stage companies. Winners and finalists in the 2010 Competition shared more than $195,000 in prizes.

To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit ourSmall Business Events Calendar. In addition, we also have a giveaways page; click to learn more about oursmall business giveawayssection.

If you are putting on a small business contest, award or competition, and want to get the word out to the community, please submit it through ourSmall Business Event and Contests Form. (We do not charge a fee to be included in this listing— it is completely free to submit your award or contest for our review. )

Please note: The descriptions provided here are for convenience only and are NOT the official rules. ALWAYS read official rules carefully at the site holding the competition, contest or award.

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Wheeling and Dealing in the Office

Like any entertainment, cartoons have their own tropes to be revisited and reinterpreted. Psychiatry couches, sales graphs, desert islands, etc…

One of my personal favorites is the In/Out basket. There’s lots of room to play there.

Maybe you remove a basket, maybe you add some more. How much paper is in each and why? Maybe one basket is inside other. For such a simple idea, there’s a world of possibility.

So when one day I saw a local car dealer on TV yelling“We’re wheelin’ and dealin’!”the old In/Out baskets popped into my head for the above cartoon.

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Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane? No, It’s an Entrepreneur

When it comes to the economy, it seems the news hasn’t changed for quite a while: Business spending is down, jobs are nowhere to be had and the housing market’s slump continues.

“Economic activity in the United States has continued to expand at a modest pace, although some areas, including housing, construction and the labor market, remain weak,”the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday, Oct. 20.

This is a sobering reality check for millions of Americans who continue to hope the economy will soon turn around.

What’s to be done?

With Americans becoming increasingly concerned about the economy and the government stepping in with short-term solutions designed to stimulate the economy, the answer is clear: We must support and encourage entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives.

Why? Because it’s entrepreneurs who will create the new jobs millions of Americans sorely need.

3 Things for Entrepreneurs to Keep in Mind

1.Don’t indulge in delusional thinking.
In this changing economy where unemployment is stuck at 9.6 percent, it’s a mistake to think that we’re going to return to the way things were anytime soon. And who would want to? Things weren’t all that economically great before the recession began.

Let’s face it folks, we’re not going to see real estate skyrocket any time soon or lost jobs come back overnight. What we are seeing and will continue to see are entrepreneurs stepping to the plate to create new jobs. This is what will save the U.S. economy. Not the government. Not big business. It will be the U.S. small business sector expanding and creating new jobs that will get us out of this recession.

2.Be realistic.
As an entrepreneur myself, I love the concept of dreaming big and going beyond where anyone has gone before. At present, however, if you’re thinking about starting up a business, it’s more important to focus on getting up and going now than it is to get qualified for the future.

For that reason, the one thing I caution my clients against is starting up a new business that is more than two degrees different from anything else they’ve done before in their life or career. That’s because if you extend beyond two degrees it is likely that you’ll end up feeling overwhelmed with all that you’ll need to learn and do just to get up-to-speed.

So, stick close to what you know. Capitalize on your existing skills and experience when starting up. This will not only help you get your business up and going very quickly, it will also save your time and money.

3.Expect more and less from your bank.
While the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act– signed into law by President Obama last month – offers a fresh source of financing for small businesses (including a $30 billion lending fund to be distributed by the Treasury Department to qualified small banks that promise to extend new loans to small business), it’s still extremely difficult for small businesses to get their hands on that cash.

Now, more than ever, you must make sure that when you go ask lenders for money that your business plan isa“cogent, practical document that lays out where the business has been from a historical perspective and where it’s going and why,”so says Christine Reilly, President of CIT Small Business Lending Corporation.

The days when a small business owner could walk into their hometown bank and borrow money to tide over their struggling business are long gone.  Nowadays, banks are askingyouto front them money by asking you put up your personal residence as collateral to secure your loan. Expect this and be prepared with a solid business plan.

While the news on the economy may sound bleak, most economists agree that the economy will turn around. What is needed the most is creation of new jobs. And that’s where entrepreneurship and new entrepreneurial initiatives come in. If you are an entrepreneur, your time has come to do your part in creating new jobs. Start by making sure you keep in mind the above three things and get things rolling in the U.S.

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published atOPENForum.comunder the title:“Entrepreneurs to the Rescue.”It is republished here with permission.

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Small Business Book Awards: Now Open for Voting!

The 3rd Annual Small Business Book Awards are now open for voting through December 15, 2010.  We invite you to head on over andvote on your favorite business books!

The Awards celebrate the best books of 2010 for small business owners, managers, entrepreneurs and the self-employed.This year the Book Awards are bigger and better than ever.  The nomination and voting experience is more engaging and interactive:

• We’ve built a new and improved voting platform
• In case we’ve forgotten your favorite book, this year you are able to submit it online.

We encourage you to vote early and often— one vote per IP address, per book, per day.  So tell your colleagues, friends and followers.  And vote for as many books as you like. Read the Rules for more information.

DEADLINE

Deadline for voting is December 15, 2010, at 11:59 pm Los Angeles time.  Winners will be announced within 7 days  thereafter.

WHAT DOES THE WINNER GET?

The top 10 vote getters at the conclusion of voting, will each be named to the 2010 winners’ list.  Winners get recognition, publicity and the right to display Winner insignias on books, websites, brochures and elsewhere.

HISTORY OF THE BOOK AWARDS

Back in 2007 we noticed that most business books being reviewed or winning awards were books of interest to the enterprise or corporate audience.  No sites consistently reviewed or recognized booksspecificallyfor small business people and entrepreneurs.

Thus began the weekendbusiness book reviewshere atSmall Business Trends. Since starting the book reviews, our book reviewing team under the leadership of Book Editor Ivana Taylor along with the help of Assistant Editors Pierre DeBois and Margie Zable Fisher, has reviewed hundreds of small business books, writing unbiased in-depth reviews.

Then in 2008 we started the Book Awards. After publishing reviews, we frequently are asked for advice about which books to read. Rather than giving our personal favorites, we decided to get more input— from YOU.

Last year, during the 2009 Awards, over 4,000 votes were cast by the community, resulting in the2009 Readers’ Choice Book Awards.  Our Editors also chose 10 books for the2009 Editor’s Choice version of the Book Awards.

This year, with our new voting platform making it easier to vote, we expect even more voting. Many thanks to the folks atIkon Marketing Groupwhich built the 2010 Book Awards platform in record time.

GO VOTE!

So what are you waiting for? Go vote!

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Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Making Employee Engagement Easy

What do Aretha Franklin and your employees have in common? They both need a littleR-E-S-P-E-C-Tto get the job done.

Come to think of it, handing out a little respect to employees, customers, suppliers, spouses and friends just seems like something that we all should have learned in kindergarten. But apparently, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

That’s where Paul Marciano’sCarrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement With the Principles of RESPECTcomes in.

A word of warning: You’re about to read a rather passionate book review.  Reading the book, I was struck not so much by what the book saystous, but what the book saysaboutus as small business owners and the impressions that we create.

Who This Book Is Written For— and Who Will Read It

I had one major frustration with this book: The people whoneedto read it probably won’t. And the people whowillread it might be mistaken for bobble-head dolls because they will agree with everything it says–but may not be in a position to actuallydoanything about it.

Is that cynical of me?  It might be.  But when you think about the image CEOs have created for themselves recently with the Wall Street and BP debacles, you might also think that the board of any organization large or small should makeCarrots and Sticks Don’t Workrequired reading and a condition of employment.

Did We Really Need All This Research to Find Out That RESPECT Works?

Carrots and Stickswas the result of a couple of defining moments in Paul Marciano’s life (websiteand Twitter@drpaulmarciano).  The first was an early job experience where a fresh-faced, energized and enthusiastic Marciano showed up for his first day and was practically ignored by everyone there.  In fact, the owners who hired him never bothered to show up, the receptionist didn’t know who he was, and when he asked where he should sit, someone said, “The last guy sat over there.”

The second defining moment came when a group of executives asked him to speak about employee motivation.  As Marciano started pulling all the theories and research behind what motivates employees, he found something so obvious and so profound that it had been overlooked –RESPECT!

What Mom Taught Us and We Forgot

One of the great features of this book is that Marciano quickly takes us on a review of all the motivational theories we’ve used and abused over the last hundred or so years.  Reading through “A Brief History of Human Motivation” almost felt like going through my management undergrad and MBA in 15 minutes.  That’s a good thing.  Instead of beating Frederick Taylor’s scientific management or B.F. Skinner’s reinforcement and punishment theories to death, Marciano gives them context.  He explains the ways these well-documented theories contributed to our industrial revolution and ultimately detracted from what we’vealways known as human beings: Motivation is short-lived, but full engagement is everlasting.

About a third of the book is dedicated to getting managers/business owners to review what they learned in school and assumed was true.  At first I found myself wondering why Marciano didn’t just get to the point and talk about his RESPECT  model.  Then I realized that there was a real benefit to Marciano’s method of walking you through the theories, then explaining the reasons motivation doesn’t work in the long term.  By the time I got to page 79, where he finally launches into the RESPECT  model,  I was ready to listen.

The Seven Drivers of the RESPECT  Model

1. Recognition
2. Empowerment
3. Supportive Feedback
4. Partnering
5. Expectation
6. Consideration
7. Trust

I thought about explaining each one– but I think you already know exactly what each one means.   Here is where Marciano digs into the details that many miss.  He includes a self-assessment early in the chapter that gets you thinking about what specifics look like.  Here are just a few examples from the “Empowerment” chapter:

• I regularly ask employees how I can help them be more successful.
• I delegate as much decision-making responsibility as possible to employees.
• I insist that employees receive continued training to expand their skills.
• I actively encourage employees to take educated risks.
• I ask employees for suggestions on eliminating or changing policies they find restrictive.

These are a fantastic barometer of actual behaviors you can practice in your business. You no longer have to treat employee engagement as some mystical, nebulous thing.  You don’t have to wonder how to create a more engaging environment after an employee survey.  It’s all right here inCarrots and Sticks Don’t Work.Get a copy for yourself and your employees and start putting these theories into practice for 2011.

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