We often talk to clients about the things they could, and often should, be doing. Before, during, and after the process of building and launching a site, it's ultimately our job to provide continual feedback and be an ongoing partner/resource as the site grows. Brainstorming high level opportunities for growth is a never ending process (and one that we use with our own website/business). If a third party came in and took over your website, what's the first thing they'd be doing that you currently are not? Asking yourself this question is a healthy exercise to complete no matter your role in the business.

So from a high-level perspective, here are five things that you should be doing with your website...RIGHT NOW!:

1. Review Your Analytics

Most marketing professionals don’t spend enough time reviewing their website analytics (or simply don't understand what they're looking at). The proof is in the pudding. Not only can stats reveal hard data about the content on your site, but they also provide an insight on the users getting there.

Analytics are essentially your website's health monitor, and should be checked regularly. That's why we integrated them directly into the Spinternet Dashboard. It displays a 30 day snapshot of select, high level statistics for your website (provided by Google Analytics).

2. Ask For The Sale

Often times, websites forget to do the obvious...ask for the sale! Certainly "the sale" varies site to site, but the ultimate goal is always the same. Your site exists for a particular reason, and users find/browse it for a particular reason, so be clear in reminding them what that reason is. If you sell stuff, tell them to "Buy Now". If you capture leads, tell them to "Sign Up". If you giveaway software, tell them to "Download Here".

Keep it simple. Don't ask for more than you need so as to get the user started down the sales funnel as soon as possible. It sounds elementary, but the most obvious call-to-action is often forgotten about altogether.

3. Run A/B Tests Constantly

Now that you're properly asking for the sale, it's time to use A/B testing to determine how well it's working. A/B tests are a simple way to test modified a version(s) of a page against the current version and determine which produced better results. This takes all the guesswork out of the equation and lets decisions be made with hard data.

Do a search for "A/B Testing" and it's obvious that tools and services are abundant. However, if you're already using Google Analytics, jumping in to A/B Testing is easy using Experiments. Login, find Standard Reporting > Content > Experiments, and the wizard will guide you through setting up your first experiment.

4. Continually Develop Long Tail Keywords

In a previous post entitled, SEO 101: The Long Tail, we defined and explained the benefits of long tail keywords. These descriptive terms only get a few searches per month, but often lead to more "sales" (see above: 2. Ask For The Sale).

Continually developing and refining this list is important as your site and it's content grow over time. If your site is about Soccer, it'll be hard to rank for "World Cup". However, it's slightly easier to rank for "World Cup 2014" or better yet, "World Cup 2014 Countdown Timer".

5. Be Consistent

Be consistent with your site updates, blog posts, social media updates, newsletters...the list goes on and on. Not only do search engines love fresh content, your user base will build up an expectation over time based on the frequency of your updates.

Far too often, clients come out of the gate with plenty of content, but quickly fizzle. Don't be afraid to start small. Updates set for once per week or every couple days is fine. Just be consistent.

---

Sound good? Ready to roll with some of these ideas on your site? Need help? Contact us or comment below...we're happy to help.

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new Union State Bank website. With locations in Madison, Dallas, Polk and the surrounding counties, Union State Bank is a full service, family owned independent bank serving individuals, businesses, and farmers. Union State Bank prides itself on being a community bank seeking to meet all the personal and business needs of the market area they serve.

Tell us what you think, take a closer look at our work, or learn more about the Spinutech process.

Visit Union State Bank

Screenshots courtesy of PlaceIt by Breezi

(Spinternet Insider is a weekly blog series covering the ins and outs of Spinternet...from basic functionality to the most advanced customizations, each Spinternet install is built to serve the needs of it's client. If your Spinternet differs from the example below, give us a call and let us walk you through it. Read. Learn. Enjoy.)

How do I setup a Form Using Form Builder?

The information below is meant as a reminder of each form field's function and how they relate to creating a working form in a matter of minutes.

Form Name
Used in Spinternet for reference only. Using unique names will help prevent confusion down the road when multiple forms have been created.

Form Action
When users successfully complete a form, there are three options for delivery of the submission:

• Store – form submission is stored in Spinternet under Form Builder > Submissions
• Email – form submissions are sent to email address (see Email Address field)
• Email & Store – confirmation email is sent AND submission is stored
• Note: Multiple email addresses CAN be used for submission notification, simply separate each email address with a comma

Email Address
The email address you'd like the form submission to be sent to. The subject of the email being sent uses the Form Name above. This field is only used when Email or Email & Store have been selected.

Google Event Tracking Code (optional)
Optional code inserted for tracking purposes within Google Analytics (meant for advanced users only). Keep in mind, your submissions will always be sent and/or stored using the Form Action field above, this field is meant specifically for use with Google Analytics.

Confirmation Message
The message you would like displayed on the page after the user has competed the form. Upon completion, the form is hidden and the confirmation message will take it's place.

(The remaining fields below are optional and are only required if Send AutoRespond Email is checked.)

Send AutoRespond Email?
Check this box if you would like a confirmation email to be sent to the user in addition to the confirmation message above. The autorespond email is sent to the email address provided by the user in the Form Fields (setup after form is created) using the details below. When setting up your form to use an autoresponder email, be sure to check "Auto Responder Email?" in the Form Field setting you create for the user to input their email address.

AutoRespond Email Subject
The subject of the autoresponder email being sent after a successful form submission.

AutoRespond Email "From" Address
The email address the autoresponder email is being sent from. Note that this email CAN be different than the email that the form submission is sent to.

AutoRespond Email Message
The message of the autoresponder email being sent after a successful form submission. Note the familiar Spinternet WYSIWYG editor.

Need a little more assistance? Contact us or comment below, we'd be happy to help.

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new TrueNorth Companies website. Headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, True North provides insurance and financial strategies to clients through their main office in Cedar Rapids and satellite offices / advisors nationwide.

Homepage Look and Feel

TrueNorth's unique services match their unique building. That's why imagery was brought front and center in the design of the homepage. Users are also greeted by a simple navigation menu aimed at quickly directing them to their desired location.

Firm Directory

The custom programmed firm directory makes it easy to find an advisor in the area by searching name, division, or location. Each advisor has a dedicated bio page with all relevant information clients need to get in contact including: email, phone, fax, and in some cases vCard download and LinkedIn account.

Social

Testimonials, the latest blog post, and a Twitter feed make up the rest of the homepage and highlight a portion of TrueNorth's overall social presence online, while icons in the footer link to the remaining.

Tell us what you think, take a closer look at our work, or learn more about the Spinutech process.

Visit TrueNorth Companies

Screenshots courtesy of PlaceIt by Breezi

We’re pleased to announce the launch of the new Metro Waste Authority website. Headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, Metro Waste Authority provides answers for safe and smart waste disposal and recycling. Whether it's Garbage, Recycling, Yard Waste or Hazardous Waste or special waste, Metro Waste Authority knows where it should go and has the resources to help.

Responsive Design

A fairly new design approach, Responsive Web Design allows designers and developers to build a single website to be served across all devices. That means the Metro Waste Authority website will automatically adjust itself to fit the device being used and look just as great on the desktop as it will on phones, tablets and more.

Set A Location

Metro Waste Authority services many communities, and each community has specific information for Garbage, Recycling and Yard Waste collection. Users have the ability to set their location and see only the city specific disposal information they care about most.

Recycling Guide and Disposal Guide

The Recycling and Disposal Guide serves as a resource for users to search/learn about proper recycling and disposal options for items in their home or office. Users can browse common items, search for something specific, or click through tags to find exactly what they're looking for.

Tell us what you think, take a closer look at our work, or learn more about the Spinutech process.

Visit Metro Waste Authority

Screenshots courtesy of PlaceIt by Breezi

(Spinternet Insider is a weekly blog series covering the ins and outs of Spinternet...from basic functionality to the most advanced customizations, each Spinternet install is built to serve the needs of it's client. If your Spinternet differs from the example below, give us a call and let us walk you through it. Read. Learn. Enjoy.)

How do I effectively copy/paste into the Spinternet editor?

As we've mentioned before, not all Spinternet installs are created equal. When relying on copy/paste functionality, the buttons you see in your version of Spinternet might differ from the explanations below. 

Unsure which button to use? Can't remember what does what? Let's recap...

Paste as Plain Text

Just like it sounds, Paste as Plain Text will only paste text...as text. No styling. No links. No "extra stuff". When in doubt, this is your best option. Just copy the text, paste it in to the editor, and style it yourself as necessary using the Spinternet tools.

Paste

Paste gets a little more complicated and will bring with it any styling that has already been applied from the source it was copied from. What you copy is what you get so to speak...so if you copy a headline that is blue, bold, and links to an article online, when you paste it into Spinternet it will be blue, bold, and contain the link.

Paste from Word

Similar to the above, Paste from Word brings along any styling when pasting content into Spinternet. The one major difference is, Paste from Word should only be used when copying from Microsoft Word.

Need a little more assistance? Contact us or comment below, we'd be happy to help.

By now, having a LinkedIn profile is a must for most business professionals (and some have Company Pages as well) . Whether you've had your profile for a long time or are brand new to LinkedIn, like most, you’ve probably gone through the following stages:

1. Create your profile
2. Look through other profiles
3. Update it with all the finer details to make it look great
4. Try to find as many contacts as you can
5. Connect with them
6. Attempt to find some more
7. Wait for some sort of a response
8. Repeat...

At some point you need to ask yourself, what is the true benefit of being on LinkedIn?...and you know what? That is a great question. More often than not, users think the answer is "because everyone else is". While this is true to an extent, there's much more to it. Every action taken by you and your business should really answer:

How does it ultimately impact the bottom line?
Do your efforts generate leads that turn into sales?
What value are you providing?

LinkedIn is a great platform to highlight your professional self, build your brand, and engage with others. Problem is, many users are still unsure how to really "use it", let alone setup an account.

So with that, here are some quick DOs and DONTs in regards to LinkedIn etiquette:

Do:

Connect with real individuals you have business relationships with.

Don’t:

Connect with people you’ve never met and haven’t built somewhat of an offline relationship with.

While it may be enticing to get your name out there, don’t be that guy/gal who scans the page of “People you may know” and sends invites to ALL of them. Not only does it make you look bad (and potentially desperate), but more often than not it's viewed in the same regard as email spam to the recipient.

Do:

Endorse the skills or expertise of those that you truly believe in.

Don’t:

Endorse others and give false recommendations that stretch the truth.

Endorsing others says, "I'm putting my name on the line, and acknowledge this person's skills and expertise", but in an indirect way it also says, "Will you endorse me?". Asking for and receiving endorsements from your connections is a great way to build your brand, show your strengths and engage your network.

Do:

Send custom messages when requesting a connection or recommendation.

Don’t:

Send a blanket request, especially without personalization.

You're putting your name on the line when you endorse others, and they are putting their name on the line when they endorse you. Adding a custom message is much like drafting a hand written letter, it shows you care because you're taking the time to do so.

Do:

Upload a professional profile picture.

Don’t:

Upload a laid back, “Facebook” style photo as your profile picture.

As the name implies, LinkedIn is the "World's Largest Professional Network" (note the word "Professional") That means no photos of you in a Hawaiian shirt, with a group of people, making a kissie-face. That also means no funny avatar images or photos of your favorite celebrity. It's your profile, use your own professional photo.

Do:

Share relevant information associated with your business or line of work that is beneficial to others.

Don’t:

Share personal thoughts and opinions, especially those that are highly controversial.

LinkedIn users follows businesses or brands for a specific reason. Build yourself as an expert in your field by providing relevant information. Save your highly opinionated posts and comic relief for Twitter or Facebook. Remember, building trust ultimately leads to sales.

Do:

Keep your profile and job experience up to date.

Don’t:

Keep an old job set as your active line of work after you've left.

It's simple, if you switch jobs then update your profile (and do it quickly). While you may have moved on for various reasons, keeping a job you no longer have might appear odd to both your peers and your former employer alike.

In the end what's most important is that you portray yourself in a positive light by stating the facts and acting as a professional. A profile with accurate details and a photo with a smile goes a long way to begin virtual handshakes on the "World's Largest Professional Network".

Find Spinutech on LinkedIn