12 TIPS TO KEEP YOUR WEBSITE ON TOP IN 2012

We're guessing you have a lot to say about your business. Don't be shy! Your website is the perfect place to tell everything wonderful and true. And with a dynamic CMS, it's never too early or too late. Below are some tips to ensure it's as striking as can be:

1. We said this last year, and will say it again. Update frequently. In fact, take a minute now to make a change on your site. The blog post will wait for you. 
 
2. Do you have a blog of your own? If not, we recommend you start one immediately, and cross-link with your website. On the Webtreepro site, we incorporated this blog into the menu.
   
   
3. Pull ideas for content from anywhere and everywhere on the web.
 
4. Consider spending more time in SEO-land. Your website will thank you. Check out www.localsevens.com for how to take it all the way.
 
5. Make sure your website is visible on social media profiles. If someone notices you there, either through a link or contact, you better be ready to receive them! Likewise, promote your SM pages on your website with either simple icons or interactive widgets.
   
   
6. Write down inspiration as soon as it hits. This can be on the subway, during a five-course dinner, at 3am in the moonlight, or while running for a touchdown in the Super Bowl. You will be glad you did.
   
   
7. Every now and then, ask for third-party feedback on your website. Sometimes they see things that we're simply too close to realize.
   
   
8. And, if you have the opportunity, ask for expert feeback. Neon orange may not be the best color for your website after all. Or perhaps your navigation could use some tidying up. Be flexible to suggestions.
   
   
9. Consider writing some helpful whitepapers or presentations, and use these as lead-generation tools. Promote them on the appropriate pages of your website to capture visitor information and illustrate your expertise.
   
   
10. Make your calls-to-action stand out. Use complementary colors, active words and clear direction.
    
    
11. Find inspiration in other websites, even those that may be in a compeletly different arena. Beautiful design and engaging content transcends industries.
    
    
12. Read the news. This is just good common sense. 

WHAT WE LEARNED IN 2011

There must be someone nudging the clock hands of life forward, because every year seems to go by quicker than the last. Here's some things the last year has taught us:

• People don't want to buy products, they want to buy solutions.
• Jack may need you for a different solution than Jill. Love them both.
• Working on three sites from four countries in one week is simple with Webtreepro!
• Facebook can frustrate most of its users, who will continue to use it. Most likely for non-work items during their work time.
• There is miles of road between Internet Explorer 7, 8 and 9
• Google Chrome is becoming a household name.
• Backlink, backlink, backlink.
• Netflix validated the most important lesson of business -- if you think you know what your customers want, you better be sure to ask.
• The last Harry Potter movie marked the end of an era for a large percentage of the world.
• Content management systems are becoming ever more popular as people want true control and flexibility.

BENEFITS OF A SOLID CMS (3 OF NUMEROUS)

Looking to easily build and manage the websites for your franchise operation? Look no further. Webtreepro is the ultimate in simplicity, all while featuring a robust offering of functionality. The benefits to the franchises and their franchisees? Let me count the ways! Stay tuned for Volume 4, and see yet another benefit of using Webtreepro.

BENEFIT 3:

SEO is an integral part of your website package. Considering the amount of pride you (rightfully) take in each and every page, isn't it much more rewarding to know that your perfected site can be found by everyone who is looking for it? And maybe some who aren't as well?

Without a CMS, on-site optimization can become a major hassle. Even something as simple as changing a page title means passing the baton to IT or engineering, waiting for them to make the adjustment, and then checking to ensure it was completed accurately. And this is only a singular change.

The best CMSs will allow users to control their SEO effort right from the editor. When using Webtreepro, it's as easy as visiting the built-in SEO Center. Enter met-tag descriptions and page titles, edit body headings, integrate Google Analytics, and incorporate keywords directly into your headers, footers or articles.

And, while you're logged in, don't forget to apply alternative text to those images. Google can do many things, but "reading" a photo isn't one of them ... yet.

Happy Optimizing!

WHAT'S THE FLAVOR OF YOUR BUSINESS?

Last week a co-worker and I had the delicious fortune of attending an annual Taste of Main Street local event. Participating cafés and restaurants set up vendors on the sidewalk outside with small (or large) samples of their best food, and hungry attendees glide from table to table with fork in hand, until they simply cannot stretch their stomachs anymore.

Fundamental to this event is the variety of tidbits available for sampling. They are sizzling, they are alluring, they are delicious. But they are abundant. Although the inexperienced attendee might make the mistake of stopping at every storefront (as I did for three years before finally learning my lesson), it is simply not feasible to taste it all. And the smartest vendors offer something unique that might entice people back for a repeat visit — at full price.

As I looked at the stylized restaurant names illuminated above the doors, the colorful vinyl booths through the windows, the different faces behind the counters, I was reminded of the importance of distinguishing your business from every other. Of the 20 Italian places lining the street ... what makes one most appealing? Why should anyone make room in their appetite (and wallets) for yours?

There are simply too many options available to sit back and wait for foot (or web) traffic. You must create an attraction, and you must maintain that engagement. Your name should be visible and appealing, your atmosphere should be engaging and memorable, and your plating (or message) should be consistent and unique. Perhaps easier said than done, but you know the value of your service. Everything that touches your audience should reflect this confidence as well. If you were visiting your website for the first time ... would you come back for more?

A palatable site is the best kind of all.

LOST IN TRANSLATION — WEB WRITING DECODED

One of the truly marvelous changes that has occurred with the emergence of the Internet is the worldwide connectivity that is instant and permanent. A phone call once pricey and inconvenient can be conducted over Skype for only a few cents a minute. An ad that used to require exhausting placement research is simple to arrange via Google and can be seen at the same time by someone in Canada and someone in Hong Kong. And the ultimate marketing tool, your website, avails itself 24/7 to the entire planet, not just for an instant but forever. Or so it should be.

The nature of the web necessitates your site is easy to navigate, your language is crisp and your message is universal. How to prepare a page then for friendly reading? Some tips are below!

1. Keep it short, keep it sweet. Interior pages may be comprehensive, but don't scare prospects away from your home page by attempting to express every benefit of your service. Or, if you simply have too much to say, consider incorporating a slide show with different value points highlighted on each image.
    
   
2. Avoid using superfluous flowery language. You might be a fabulous writer with an extensive vocabulary, but visitors who do not speak English as their mother tongue will find it challenging to work through your words. Write well, but write for everyone.
   
   
3. The same can be said for headers and menu items. Save the fancy words for your targeted marketing pieces. Links like "Home," "About," etc. are expected and understood; not everyone will know where "Foyer" or "Family Ties" lead within your website "house."
   *An exception may be if you do creative work and your customers expect a certain level of whimsy reflected on your website.
   
   
4. It's not a good idea to reference local agenda that is meaningless to prospects who don't live nearby. Although some businesses, like hotels and restaurants, can leverage this information, most companies will have too broad of a marketplace to interest visitors with neighborhood news.
   
   
5. Internet browsers like Chrome will prompt to translate text on sites that are not in the user's selected language. Make sure you take advantage of this by avoiding words as images and using a CMS that will cleanly wrap content around graphics.
   
   
6. Maybe it's a balmy 75 degrees at your business headquarters, but any clients below the equator will be experiencing winter during your August barbecue. If you have an international following, consider their feelings.

TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR SEO DESTINY...WITH LOCAL SEVENS 

Local Sevens is the SEO sister to Webtreepro. It's a key component to making your online presence known and your attractively designed website visible! A business that does not show up in search results may as well exist in the furthest reaches of the desert, miles from civilization and certainly absent from the minds of prospective customers. 

You may have spent some time in the Webtreepro SEO center, targeting the optimization capabilities built in your site layout. This robust set of modifiers makes the most of your on-page presence. For a fully comprehensive off-page strategy, Local Sevens takes the reins.

Sit back, relax and let us drive your website to the top of search engine results. Ensure local search success where no one has to trudge through miles of virtual sand to make your acquaintance. 

www.localsevens.com

BENEFITS OF A SOLID CMS (2 OF NUMEROUS)

Looking to easily build and manage the websites for your franchise operation? Look no further. Webtreepro is the ultimate in simplicity, all while featuring a robust offering of functionality. The benefits to the franchises and their franchisees? Let me count the ways! Stay tuned for Volume 3, and see yet another benefit of using Webtreepro.

BENEFIT 2:

A content management system shouldn't have to be accompanied by a user guide that is thicker than Webster's Unabridged. Part of the appeal in acquiring a CMS is that the system does the work FOR YOU, rather than forcing extensive research on how to perform simple tasks and leave you wondering, Oh, where on earth is that highlight function?

The best CMSs will build upon what is familiar and understood. Complex procedures and resources, though attractive in label, offer little if a user cannot compete tasks organically. The goal is to make life easier, not complicate it with yet another set of steps to be filed away in an overworked short-term memory.

Webtreepro was created so if we had to boil the entire idea down to one word, it would be intuition. We want every piece to be as easy as riding a bike ... once learned, never forgotten. Our editor is designed to mimic the controls in Microsoft Word, with easy text formatting, image insertion, table set-up and more. The content environment is what we informally refer to as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), meaning your published page will look exactly as it does during the editing process. Could it be any more natural?

We'll let you decide for yourself!

CASTING OUT TO SEO

Your website is finally finished! You think, "This will do the trick! It’s time to sit back and watch the traffic (and profits) roll in!” Well ... not quite yet. Just having a website to promote your company isn’t going to help you rake in the profits or land you a spot in the coveted Google "top seven search” results.  Search engines are evolving everyday to provide you the best and most relevant search results; keeping up with the ever changing search process would benefit you!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a complicated process but not difficult to master. This article will give you an idea of the importance of optimizing your site to increase your chances of appearing on higher ranking search results. That’s a good thing!

11 TIPS TO KEEP YOUR WEBSITE FRESH IN 2011

Everyone loves a website that is current and dynamic – whether a prospect, customer, associate or search engine! Below are some tips that we hope will encourage you to spend a little QT with yours.

1. Create a reminder in your calendar to make at least one small (or large) update per week on your website. Scheduling the time often makes a difference in whether it happens or not.
   
   
2. If content updates too time-consuming during a particular week or month, consider swapping out older photos for new ones. With Webtreepro, this is a quick and painless process that takes no more than a few minutes.
   
   
3. Likewise, on pages where content is static, consider adding flash animation or a slideshow for visual effect. Not only do visitors enjoy the moving element, but it’s a neat way invigorate the page without having to re-work all the content.
   
   
4. Engage the talents of other people in your company or organization. See what inspiration they have for website contributions.
   
   
5. Consider taking turns writing articles for publication on your website. This way the responsibility doesn’t fall on one lonely person.
   
   
6. Make an innocent visit to competitor sites to see what they are doing.
   
   
7. Keep your company or organization up-to-date on industry happenings. This could spur some timely ideas for content, or at least provide a discussion platform.
   
   
8. Use the Webtreepro library to store articles for later use. Or, use the schedule content feature to set up future promotions that appear and expire on selected dates, so you can get back to business without worrying.
   
   
9. Don’t neglect your home page. This is generally the first place visitors land, so even minor updates are appreciated by the highest number of eyes.
   
   
10. Take screen captures of websites you cross that catch your eye, whether business-relevant or not. Refer to these when you’re looking to spice up your own pages.
    
    
11. Have fun! Your tone and attitude will be reflected in the words you write and pictures you showcase. A positive, engaging design experience for you is felt by everyone who visits your site.

WEBTREEPRO ... A LITTLE HISTORY

The Webtreepro franchise website builder is an easy-to-use website content management system that allows for the online management of one, ten, a hundred, or even a thousand websites. This product contains a built-in website content management system, including numerous features ranging from on-page editing (if you can type on a keyboard, you can use the editor) ... to instant or delayed publishing of content (publish your new ad right now, or schedule it to start on Monday, and end on Friday, or Saturday for that matter) ... to search engine friendly page structures ... to search engine optimization tools … to a built-in form builder ... to, okay I could keep going...check us out!

By way of introduction, Webtreepro was designed and built by Primero Systems Inc. We at Primero are dedicated to continually enhancing Webtreepro to provide the most robust, but yet simple-to-use online website builder and website content management solution. 

Since 1994, we have developed and delivered business-critical commercial software solutions to a number of Fortune 500 companies, as well as small and mid-sized businesses. In addition, we are franchise industry veterans who saw an opportunity in the franchise community to solve the problem of how to manage franchise brands online. We saw solutions that cost hundreds of thousand of dollars and were highly labor intensive to implement and maintain, requiring intervention from an IT group to change anything. Others were little more than a handful of static pages with no ability to manage content in anything close to real time. And, still others were chock full of promise, but lacking in delivery.

Our goals for Webtreepro included:

• Build a fully web-based application that requires no locally installed software
• Ensure the instantaneous publishing of content on any number of sites, as desired
• Give users an interface that is familiar and very easy to use…no need for any IT involvement
• Price it so that the customer’s decision is easy

Have we succeeded?  Our customers tell us we have. Come see for yourself what the Webtreepro cms for brand control has to offer you and your organization. Better yet, contact us for a demo. If you can spare 30 minutes, be prepared for us to knock your socks off!

	Your comment is in Moderation Queue and will be revised by a Moderator before publishing it