In the last eighteen years the internet marketing environment has grown tremendously. We have grown with it and are proud of all the successes our clients have had in utilizing our services. It is our wonderful clients that has made us great. We take great pride in servicing our clients in excellence.

Thank you all!

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The new website for Terminal Steel, a Detroit, Michigan based material handling equipment dealer, specializing in pallet rack, was developed to further enhance user experience with additional product listings and imagery. This is the second website that Keystone Media has developed for Terminal Steel. Terminal Steel has enjoyed increased search engine optimization as the result the new website.

The new website for CPI Data, a Farmington Hills, Michigan based B2B services company was recently launched. CPI Data is an offshore BP services firm, with additional offices in China, India, United Kingdom, and Australia. The site was developed to better leverage search engine optimization tactics.

Is your website traffic like two kids on bikes that ride by every other day, or like a high-speed train packed with inquisitive commuters who have just been paid? Learn how to build a website that will impact your bottom line, whether that be cash, or cachet.

In this hour-long workshop, Annie Wolock will review the first 8-10 websites submitted and answer your real-life website optimization and conversion questions. This is your opportunity to gain insight into what is not working well on your site and exactly how your site can be improved.

Please email Annie with your website link by March 6, along with your specific questions and any relevant information (traffic stats, conversion rates, etc.). You will come away website improvement strategies. Even if you choose not to submit your site for review, this workshop will offer valuable tactics for website improvement.

Register early, the session is capped at 40 people to provide more time for each question.

Annie Wolock has directed and managed over 100 web projects for e-commerce, corporate and educational sites since 1995. She is known for websites that achieve measurable results and increase client ROI.

There is a lot that can be done to make your site more findable when someone googles for your services. In my opinion the number one way to make your site more findable is to have keywords in your content. I am always amazed when I review sites that don’t have any keywords on the home page. My advice is to start the new year off with a critical review of your site’s content to ensure that you are using words that people might search to finds services or products you’re offering. If you’re not sure what those words and phrase are, give us a call at 734.997.3000 and we can help you determine these important phrases. We’re experts at SEO.

I have heard many times that companies fear reviews. I say, don’t fear them. Embrace the idea of reviews and when/if a bad review happens, write a response to it. People respond positively to this. They like that you’re hearing them, are transparent and responsive.

A well known example of this idea, but not exactly regarding reviews is the Domino’s Pizza ‘problem’ a bit back. A couple of employees videotaped some very off behavior in the pizza shop. They then posted it on YouTube. Wouldn’t you know, it went viral and very fast had over million hits. It could have been a PR nightmare for Domino’s. But their CEO Patrick Doyle posted a response and apology on YouTube that also went viral.

Below is Domino’s response as a great example of how a company can really turn a bad situation around.

Here are 5 basic SEO tips:

1. Know your keywords. You may hear a lot about keywords, but what are they really? These are the phrases that folks will type into the search engine to find services like yours. They may, or may not be, industry lingo. Your potential customer may not know the technical terms that, you as an insider, use when speaking about your products or services. To find out how the general public talks about your products/services, speak with them and ask them. Talk to your customer service reps or sales people. You’re sure to get some invaluable information this way.
2. Use your keywords in your content. The search engines use their algorithms to determine sites that use these keywords. If you’re not using the word, you won’t get ranked. But it’s also important to know how to use the keywords in your site. This leads us to number 3.
3. Use your keywords correctly in your code. Make sure that your most important keywords are in your title tags and your description. Google doesn’t use the keyword tag anymore, but Yahoo does. Make sure you use your heading tags, bold and bullets appropriately.
4. Code your site using best practices and today’s web standards. There are lots of companies out there who make sites using templates and frameworks. Make sure that if your site is built with a template system, that the code behind it is valid code.
5. Leverage your internal links. Try to use your keywords to link from one page to another. Instead of using (more) to link to more information, use (additional inkjet printers) as the link.

The EXPO is March 31, 2010 – all day long. Come on down and visit us at Booth #14.

Seminar Description:

Discover the Fundamentals of an Effective Website

Sure, you’ve got a website – but is it working for you? Is it doing what it should to help your business grow and prosper? Effective websites not only attract more traffic but they convert that traffic into leads and sales – and they measurably improve customer relations and retention.

This seminar is for business owners who want their websites to work for them and produce results. Whether you need to develop an entirely new site, want to stay abreast of current marketing trends, or just need to make a few minor improvements to your current site, this seminar imparts the principles and strategies you’ll need to know, and the tools and tactics you’ll need to use, including:

• Search engine optimization
• Converting visitors to customers
• Goal setting
• Developing your target market
• Keywords and phrases
• Blogging

As the owner of Keystone Media, Annie Wolock has 15 years experience in strategic planning for websites and online applications. She knows what it takes to create websites that improve online results and in her presentation she explains how to accomplish that goal. Annie invites you to bring your questions.

The best place to start our exploration is with our current good customers. Let’s ask a couple of key questions.

• Which activities are our good customers participating in, on our site?
• What is the length of time between their purchases?

There is a definite need for good data to ensure that we are tracking our customer’s buying habits properly. If your site is an eCommerce site, see if your cart most likely has built in tracking or have a tracking module installed.

One thing that we know is, the best time to contact a customer to increase repeat buying behavior, is quickly after the sale. We also know that first-time customers that have issues and come to customer support for a resolution, can become repeat customers, IF their experience with customer service is good.

Online Activities for Increased Customer Retention

Special Promotions

Special promotions are great for engaged customers. For eCommerce sites it’s a good idea to regularly have email promotions for all customers. You can segment your promotions based on several factors such as demographics, how much time has passed since last purchase, quantity, value, etc.

For illustration purposes, let’s say good customers purchase every 3 weeks. If a new customer has not made a repeat purchase in 3 weeks time, we should have a automatic email, or newsletter template set up, with a special promotion, automatically triggered for this occasion. This is an example of using current customer data (behavior) to assist in achieving better retention rates with new customers.

Wish Lists

If your site is an eCommerce site, set up a members area that your good, repeat customers can sign up and create a wish list that they can send to their friends and family members. This also has the added benefit of having your customers advertise your site for you. This is a win-win.

Product Reviews

Reviews add a lot of value to your customers. It allows them to more fully understand the full capabilities of products, as well as the pros and cons of purchasing. Some companies think that reviews will get out of control and are fearful of someone posting a bad review. Bad reviews are part of the package of customer dialogues. Bad reviews will happen. It is equally important for you to address the situation. This is an excellent opportunity to explain your point of view, and correct the situation, in full view of all other customers. This will have the dual effect of showing all parties involved that your company takes care of their customers, as well letting them know that you are not suppressing reviews and only allowing ‘good’ reviews. This shows transparency and credibility. People will increasingly trust and respect your company, thereby increasing retention. It’s all good.

Blogs

Use your blogs to promote product promotions, conferences that your company will be attending, presentations you’re giving and any company PR. Encourage your customers to comment and offer feedback. Give them tips on how to use your company’s products or services. Offer industry news. All this offers your current customer reasons to come back. Remember (Valuable) ‘Content is King’.

Marketing is a conversation between us (the company) and the customers. This dialogue is highly valuable, but we really need to listen to our customers. Their feedback is invaluable. They will tell you by their actions on your site what they want and need. If you really listen, they will tell you exactly what you can do on your site to improve customer/client retention.

What are you doing on your site to help increase customer retention?

For the last several years, I’ve found the best way to really nail down who customers are, and what they want, is to develop “personas”. They’re perfect tools for ensuring that features added to a website are useful ones. They’re great for establishing effective website copy. I’ve even used them to keep projects on track and in scope. My clients are always tossing great ideas into the hat and we are able to discern whether the scope creep is necessary by bringing in our personas.

Recently I’ve discovered the book, The User is Always Right, by Steve Mulder and Ziv Yaar. The book’s subtitle says it all – A Practical Guide to Creating and Using Personas for the Web. This book is definitely a great guide for really making the most of personas.It goes into depth about conducting qualitative and quantitative user research, as well as segmentation. It’s an interesting read for those of us that are out here creating websites. Check it out!