You're gonna miss it. . .

When I was a kid, every so often we’d go fishing with Uncle Bill. Uncle Bill would line up five or six cousins on the bank of the lake with cane poles and a coffee can full of worms. Then, he would settle back in his lawn chair with a great big smelly cigar. As soon as he saw the tip of a cane pole start to dip, he would begin a quiet chant: "You're gonna miss it.... you're gonna miss it...."

Of course, we didn't WANT to miss the fish! Even if it was just a tiny sunfish, the more he claimed we'd miss it, the more fiercely we tried to catch it! We'd do anything -- including wading knee-deep into the water to get...that...fish.

I just got off the phone with a customer, who mentioned that in a month or so he's going to his first trade show. He and his staff are printing new business cards and will have plenty of brochures on hand for the people who walk through the show. In this case, the gathering draws people from all over the world. He has absolutely no store front or foot traffic, so he depends on his website and email to communicate with customers. This is a rare opportunity to meet face to face with the people who buy his products.

Trade shows are incredibly labor-intensive – not only the printing, packing and preparation, but the drive, the set-up, the hours of talking, educating, selling and listening. But, so worth it! Especially if it’s your particular audience. So, while he’s at the show, he’ll take advantage of all his hard work and think of various ways he can connect not only AT the show, but into the future. So, before we got off the phone, this customer had plans to collect business cards and/or email addresses from visitors to his booth.

During the past few months, one of our retail customers has been doing a very simple, very inexpensive thing: he has email sign-up sheets on the counters of his stores. He’s collected dozens of email addresses… from people who genuinely WANT to receive emails about his specials. The effort: a few pieces of notebook paper attached to a clipboard. The result: yet another avenue of communication.

Whether it’s in person, by email, or in print, there are tons of opportunities to reach your customers (and those who wish they were your customers).  We all have tons of opportunities to connect with customers. Maybe we all just need an Uncle Bill sitting behind us whispering, “You’re gonna miss it. . . “

How a 4th Grade Lesson Makes your Website More Successful

November 4, 2010

Remember 4th Grade? I don’t remember much. But, for some reason, I DO remember the lesson on Outlines. You know, like this:

I. Oh, c’mon

A. Is this really necessary?
i. Yes, it’s definitely a good way to rank better in searches
ii. Also helps users navigate your website more easily
iii. And find the things they need

B. When I was in 4th Grade, I never thought I’d EVER use this
i. It was boring
ii. And, totally unnecessary, since I was going be a spy

C. But, it appears that Outlines really help websites work better

II. Who says it works?

A. Um, Google, for one
i. A site that’s organized gets indexed faster/better by Google
ii. When related topics on a website are grouped together, Google can use its logic to find things easily
iii. Google works for the SEARCHER, and rewards well-organized sites.
iv. I’m not kidding. It’s true.

B. And, BeeLine. Your friendly neighborhood Website Designer and Optimizer.
i. We work hard on that initial outline before building or re-designing a site
ii. And it pays off in a site that’s more successful. (That means it brings in more customers, who are ready to buy the products you have on your site.)

C. ALL the Web Optimizer Gurus, who write books and blogs and articles
i. Which we read (yawn)
ii. Then when we build or improve sites, we use what we've learned. We optimize them so they’re successful to both Google AND your customer.

Here’s a short quote from one of the gurus:
Your site architecture—how you organize and present your content—will influence your search rankings.*

In 4th Grade, Miss Crenshaw made us do outlines over and over again until we got them right. I thought to myself, “Why do I need to know this? WHEN could I possibly use this in my REAL life?”

But, years later I find myself using the Outline lesson every single day while planning websites.

Because (another quote) ….
Proper planning of how content is organized and then accessed is another crucial yet often overlooked step in SEO [Search Engine Optimization]. Search engine crawlers are designed to emulate the behavior of site visitors as they follow links and index page content. It’s important that you design your site architecture to make navigating as easy as possible for both your visitors and the search engines.*
Search Engine Crawlers are the machines – owned by Google, MSN and Bing -- that collect every word on the Internet (mind boggling) and store them. So when you search on that word, you see all the websites that contain those words. How can you get your site listed first? Organize. Outline. If your site is a mess, Google will hand it back without much of a grade. Just like Miss Crenshaw did in 4th grade.

So, I guess it's time to brush up on your Outlining skills if you want your website to be at the top of the list when people look for your product online. I wonder if Miss Crenshaw is still teaching 4th grade.

*Mike Hudson, SEO Expert

We are committed to helping you thrive!

~ Barb Emerson,  BeeLine Design www.BeeLineDesign.com

If you're a BeeLine customer, you can view this and much more on The Hive. Lost your link? Contact us.

Auto Draft

Hits, visitors, mean profit for you

One of the first questions I hear when discussing websites, is “How can I see the hit count for my site?” Remember back when there was a little counter on the home page of some sites? Although it was all the rage at the time, this is not very useful for gathering information about the success of the site in terms of numbers of visitors and what they are seeking when they’re online.

Unfortunately, there’s still a lot of confusion about website statistics – or analytics, as they’re sometimes called. Although you can still see those small counters on some websites, they really aren’t giving site owners much useful information. With more in-depth statistics programs, we can see not only the number of “hits” received by websites, but we can see where those visitors live, how long they spend on each page and the path by which they found your site.

First, let’s clear up the mistaken notion of hits. While we use the term often and quite loosely, number of “hits” on a website doesn’t tell us the popularity of the site. Technically, the term “hit” refers to the number of files a visitor views while cruising the site. Since there can be dozens files on each of the site’s pages, this is not a valid way to check popularity. Visitor count gives us a much more accurate measure of site performance.

The value of website visitor statistics lies in what we learn about visitors. For example, if you place a radio ad with a station that covers a specific geographical area, you can watch your visitor count to see the effect of the ad. (Of course, you always include your web address in any advertising you do, right?) The idea is to lead visitors to your website where you have nearly unlimited space to educate visitors about your product. The more educated they are about your product, the more likely they are to buy from you.

The goal is not to rack up hits, but to offer valuable and current information to people interested in your service, your product – and your expertise. So, it’s worth your time to keep track of your visitor statistics to find out what’s working on your website.

We are committed to helping you thrive!


~ Barb Emerson,  BeeLine Design - www.BeeLineDesign.com



If you're a BeeLine customer, you can view this and much more on The Hive. Lost your link? Contact us.

How to make a .pdf from your file

I was told that you can convert from .xls to .pdf via Adobe but I’m not sure how to do that.  I’d love to know how if you will share.

~ Randy

Randy --

There are several free programs out there that allow you to create .pdf's out of almost any file. Adobe is one of them, but if you don't have other uses  for the full version of Adobe, you may want to try one of the free ones. My favorite is CutePDF. You can download it from Download.com. Go to download.com and search CutePDF.

After it's installed, it'll show up in your printer list. Open your doc (in this case your Excel file), go to Print, choose Cute PDF from the printer list and it'll make a .pdf, which you can save to your computer.

Presto! A pdf that can be shared with anyone.

Just for the record, I think I'll define .pdf. It's a file extension that stands for Portable Document File. The operative word here is Portable. PDF's have been around since ancient times to bridge the chasm between people with different applications installed on their computers. So, for example, if Randy creates a document in Excel and sends it to Adrienne, she can only open it if she has Microsoft Excel. This problem is solved by Randy translating the Excel file into a .pdf -- it's now Portable. PDF's can be read by Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a free program that's become so universal, it's almost always pre-installed on new computers. If not, you can download it for free from the Adobe website  (adobe.com).

We have to thank Adobe for creating a universal reader that saves us all hours of frustration!

Copy/Paste: Your best friend! Ours, too.

Copy/Paste = Quick & Correct

I’m sure I'm getting about as annoying as a scratched CD, repeating and repeating the fact that sites containing content that’s updated frequently do MUCH better in search results, as well as being more appealing to your visitors. To be blunt, this makes you money, because people can

Well, today I’m here to tell you one SUPER EASY way to send site revisions. This past week, one of our customers, Sue, looked at her site and some of the outdated content made her cringe. So, she emailed us a list of the changes she wanted. They were nicely described in the email and it took very little effort on our part to understand each piece of text she wanted changed. Yay Sue.

But, Sue could have made her revisions even MORE efficiently by using the Best Friend of anyone who’s faced a keyboard in the past 20 years, the Copy/Paste feature. Well, unless you’re still using a Smith-Corona…I could never find the Copy/Paste feature on mine.

Here’s how to get site revisions made QUICKLY and CORRECTLY:

Open your website in any browser…Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.

Select the text you want to change and choose Copy.

Paste it into a Word Processing document (probably Microsoft Word, but you can use almost any word processing software).

Make the revisions right in the doc.
Let us know what page it’s for. Just indicate the page name for each revision. Say something like “On the About Us page, replace the first paragraph with this:
‘Yada and Yada have been in business for 21 years. Even after all that time they’re still speaking to each other….etc, etc.’”

Save the doc and email it to us as an attachment.

When we get that doc, WE use Copy/Paste the changes onto your site. Yikes that’s easy.

This is QUICK because:

- You don’t have to try to describe the place where the revisions belong.

- We don’t have to hunt for the exact spot where they belong.

- We don’t have to type (although we’re all really fast at it :).

The revisions are CORRECT because:

- YOU are the best person to describe your products or services, and the exact details of your offer, sale or other promo.

- Copy/Paste eliminates the need for Spell Checking twice. Once at your computer and once at ours.

But the best reason to use Copy/Paste? It SAVES YOU MONEY. We are very sincere in our goal to keep site maintenance costs as low as possible. And, by sending us content that’s ready to go, we can pop those revisions online MUCH faster, which translates into savings for you.

One note: Don’t spend a lot of time formatting your documents. Websites and Word processing docs don’t speak the same language, so we often need to format manually. You can certainly use formatting like bold, italics, sizes and bullets. But, special characters, text boxes, and other advanced formatting will be lost in translation. We’re glad to insert text to your specifications, but it’s a waste of time for you to format, then have us do so again.

OK, I guess there are two notes: Just so you know, we love to write and are always available to write content for you. And we’re good at it, too. But, for content that only needs a tweak here and there, this is the best method, because it's quick, easy and accurate.

STOP READING right here, if you know how to do the steps above. If you’re unclear about how to use Copy/Paste, attach docs to emails or anything else mentioned above, read on.

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To copy text from your website to a document:

Open a Word Processing document. This’ll be the program you use to type stuff on your computer, like letters, kids’ term papers, posters, flyers, etc. It can be Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works, WordPad or whatever you’re most comfortable with. The overwhelming majority of business computer users have Microsoft Word.

OR, you can find a little text program called WordPad on almost all PC’s. Click on All Programs, choose Accessories and click WordPad.

Go to your website and select the text you want to change. Just swipe it with your mouse.

Click Edit in the top menu of your web browser and choose Copy.

Go back to the doc you just opened. Click Edit in the top menu and choose Paste. Save the document where you know you can find it. (My Documents is a good place).

You can now have change the text to your heart's desire in the doc. It’s MUCH easier to edit than to re-type.

To attach a document to an email:

This process is entirely dependent upon which email program you use. MOST email programs indicate the attachment function with a paper clip icon. Look for the paper clip and click.

This will open a window. Browse to the document you’re attaching and select it.

Questions? That’s why we’re here. For YEARS we’ve been helping businesses sail through their work, so anything we can do to help your relationship with your confuser, er computer, just give us a buzz 262.767.8887. Better yet, ask a question on our blog.

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Speaking of website revisions, are you ready to put your Christmas specials online? Well, get going. How many purchases did you lose during the 2009 season to big, wealthy stores? Does the average Christmas shopper even know you sell gifts? Or potential gifts? Unique gifts? Gift cards? Personalized presents to prove your passion?

We really are committed to helping you thrive!

Can't write? Recycle!

"Find content for your website in your brochures, sell sheets, product lists and other printed material."][/caption]

Last week we talked about updating your website with new
content so it works better in searches and makes visitors want
to stick around. Here are more suggestions for updating website content.

If you’re like most people, the sight of a blank paper or screen gives you sweaty palms and a rapid heart rate. And, writing about yourself or your business puts panic into really high gear. But, I’m willing to bet a month’s hosting that you are literally SURROUNDED by website content that you haven’t thought of yet. So, no worries. The writing is already done.

Look at your printed stuff:

your brochures. Is all the stuff from your brochures and sell sheets on your site? You probably spent a long time writing that stuff, (or paid someone) so put it to good use.

your ads. Do you have ads running in newspapers or magazines? How about the phone book? Are you advertising for new staff? I am honestly amazed when I see ads in the paper for hiring new employees and there’s not a WORD about employment on the company site. You can be absolutely certain that the first thing job seekers do is jump online to check you out.

your list of products or services. You may be advertising tires, but do your customers know you do oil changes? How many times have you heard “I didn’t know you did that!”? Then they admit they’ve been going to your competition for that service. Yipes.

your employee list. Well? You’ve probably got some interesting, talented or skilled people hanging around your business (you wouldn’t hire them if they weren’t) and they may have interesting back stories. There are also lots of reasons people are qualified . . . do your customers know the unique qualifications of you and your staff?

articles. Many of the businesses I visit have a wall dedicated to framed articles about them that have appeared in newspapers and magazines. Are yours on your site? Even better, create a link to the online version of articles! Links are SOOO easy to create.
Here’s a great example: I get newsletters every week from all the Chambers of Commerce to which BeeLine belongs. Every issue features news items about members. If it’s about YOUR business, put it on your website! What are you waiting for? It’s as easy as sending us an email: “Will you post the Chamber article on our site? Put it on the front page and call it ‘Grand Opening’”.

testimonials. Your customers say nice things about you, don’t they? Testimonials are one of the most powerful convincers of all time. People truly believe what other people say. So, put some of those comments on your website! And, add more as they come in. If they come by email, hit Forward and send them to us. It takes a second and it’s SO effective

And, what about photos? So, you went to a trade show and someone snapped your mug while you were in the booth. Did they email it to you? Then forward it and we’ll get it posted. Or, you got a new sign for your building. Snap a picture for your website. Now. Before it gets old.

Remember, Google and the other search engines love new content. Your site will rank higher in searches and remain more appealing to your customers if there’s fresh stuff to see. So, grab all that new content and let’s get it online.

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CHRISTMAS!! Even though temps are still in the 80’s and the grass is green, Christmas is coming up fast! Catch those shoppers before they go off to a distant mall and spend all their money!!

~ Barb Emerson, BeeLine Design - www.BeeLineDesign.com