I’ve dabbled in the flipping world, but in a reverse kind of way – I’m flipping my own sites.

I’ve been enamored by the Internet for many years now.  Over time I’ve bought some pretty killer domain names.  Typically I’d buy the domain with some grand plan in my head, execute it, SEO it and then get bored with it.  Or I’d find another domain name and be off on the new site, forgetting the previous one(s).

Renewals are Reminders

At some point, the registration for the domain name comes due and I’d ask myself, do I want to keep this domain name?  The answer is nearly always Yes.  Usually after renewing the domain I’d tell myself that I need to update that site, but rarely if ever did I go further than that.  Until recently.

About a year and a half ago I started a website in a niche with basically no competition.  It was a rare find and I was eager to get something going with it.  At the time I was messing around a lot with Joomla, so I put up a site and spent some time making it pretty.  I pulled in some RSS feeds with topics I liked and thought the site would take off.  It didn’t.

Then recently the domain came up for renewal, and I remembered how this niche had nearly non-existent competition.

From Jan 1-April 15 I had a total of 654 visitors with a bounce rate of 44%.  Not impressive.

What I Did

So I decided to rebuild the website in WordPress and set to the task.

• A week or so later I had the site ready and published it over the old Joomla site.
• I hired two writers and started putting good content on the site twice a week.
• I trolled Yahoo! Answers and Twitter search and found out what people were asking, then wrote up pages that answered those questions.
• I submitted one article to EzineArticles with my major keyword linked in the footer.
• I started a Twitter account and started following everyone who mentioned the niche or related posts
• I replied to those twitter accounts with a link to a relevant article on my site (if there was one)
• I set up twitterfeed to post to twitter every time there was a new blog post
• I started a Facebook Fan Page for the niche in mid-June
• On Facebook, I added the blog feed to the Fan page
• I started a Facebook advertising campaign, spending on average $5/day.

Traffic Results

From site launch, April 20 to the end of June, I had 4,865 visits and pulled my bounce rate down to under 33%.  So far this month, I’m averaging over 200 visitors per day – well on my way to an easy 50,000 visits by the end of the year.

Other Lessons Learned

We SEOs preach it all the time: Content is King.  The articles I’ve had written are pulling in plenty of visitors.  The search engines love the content and I’m climbing the rankings quickly.

Facebook advertising is cheap.  Since starting the ads, I’ve had 989,499 impressions at a cost of $133.82.  I’ve gained 215 fans thus far, and it climbs every day by about 6.  Worth it?  You bet.

The site isn’t currently making money, but will be soon.  I’ll introduce some non-intrusive ads or sell some sponsorships.  Since I own my own hosting company, the only real expense besides my time is the Facebook ads.  I’ll make that back quick, especially if the traffic continues at this pace.  Leveraging that traffic to get advertisers will not be a problem.

So Let Me Ask Ya This

What sites did you build back in the day that still have great potential?  Are there some really cool domain names just lurking in your repository that could turn into nice revenue?  Do you have a site that could use some updating?

The results can be phenomenal if you just take the time to do it.

Soon there will be two types of businesses, those online and those out of business.

While I’m not sure if the quote ever really came from him, the premise of the statement is definitely true.  And even years later, only a staggering 40% of small businesses in the US have websites.

Of that 40%, a good chunk of those websites are stale or dead.  They heard that they needed to be online, and rushed to get online, but had no strategy or planning about why they should be online.  They just knew they had to be there.  And after a few years of their website sitting there doing nothing, they’ve most likely abandoned what little hope they had about the Internet, when actually now is when they should be actively pursuing climbing the rankings and dominating the ever-growing online segment of their industry.

Is this you? Have you tried to get online, but haven’t succeeded?  Traffic is minimal or zero, leads never come, and no one even knows about your website?  Are you embarrassed to put the URL on your business cards? Here’s eight reasons why I think you’re in this boat:

1. Your brother’s best friend’s hairdresser’s cousin isn’t a web guru

Sure, hiring him was a great idea at the time. You’ve got little or no money to put into the “internet thing” and he was willing to do it “for the experience” and add it to his portfolio.

Problem is, those animations are just hideous, the technology he used to build the site back in ’99 wasn’t the best then, and it’s useless now.  There are no meta tags, no heading tags, and overall the site just sucks.

Even worse is that “Under Construction” page that never got updated.  What’s the point?

Fix: It’s time to hire a web designer, bite the bullet, and get a real website that engages customers, shows off your products and grows your business.

2. The search engines can’t index (or even find) you

You’re proud of your website.  The very cool Flash intro page really shows off your business in a way that no one else does.  Problem is, the search engines can’t see your website because of all that Flash.  They can’t index it, they have no idea what it says, and they have no idea how to categorize it.  So you’ll never rank on the search engines because they have no idea what you do.

Fix: Dump the Flash intro.  If you’re dead set on having some dumb animation on your page, put it in the header or some other small place.  Don’t make it the entire page.  Put real content with real follow-able links that the search engines can use to learn about you.

3. Your contact info isn’t on EVERY PAGE

This is an easy one.  Your phone number, at a minimum, should be on the top of every page of your website.  A lot of people simply look up your business so that they can call and interact with a real human.  If you make it hard for them to contact you, you might as well put up a sign that says “We don’t really want your business”.

I personally won’t click around on a website and strain to find a phone number or address.  If I can’t find it, I’ll hit the BACK button and go to the next result – probably your competitor.

Fix: Put your contact information in a very noticeable place.  Put your phone number at the top of the site, easy to read.  Build a Contact Us page that includes your phone number, address and even a map.  For a bonus, add printable directions or a click-to-call service.

4. Your site isn’t mobile-friendly

Smartphones, Google Maps, and ‘Apps’ aren’t losing popularity.  These things are everywhere, taking over the population.  If someone can’t browse your website in a mobile way, you’re missing a growing segment of searchers.

Fix: Build a mobile version of your website.  This should not be a high priority, particularly if the other things mentioned here apply to you.  Put this on the back burner, but don’t ignore it.

5. Your site isn’t interactive

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  Blogging is one of the best things you can do for your online business efforts.  Blogging used to be defined as “a personal journal that you can publish with ease”.  But small businesses have seen the potential of more traffic by adding a blog to their website. Adding a blog to your website will create new content (which the search engines love), show life to a dead site (which the search engines love) and give you the chance to interact with your audience (which the search engines love – as do customers!).

Fix: Add a blog on your domain.  If you aren’t sure how to do that, contact your web guy and get help.  Don’t sign up for one of those free blogging sites, that won’t help your business at all!

6. Oh – My Eyes!

This is related to #1.  It’s time to stop those crazy animations, the wild colors and scrolling marquees.  Those things were cool back in the day but not any more.  Search engines want content thats easy to understand and digest.  Customers want calming colors that persuade them to hang around on your website a while and read what you’ve got to say.

Fix: Calming blues and greens are the way to go.  Bright oranges and reds are considered ‘alert’ colors and encourage the customer to get off the page.

7. You Took Away My Wallet!

There’s not much worse than writing great content, having a good looking site, getting traffic and then not giving them a way to engage you.  A call to action should be mandatory on every page of your website.

Since only a fraction of the visitors to your website actually land on your home page first, it is imperative that all the pages on your site provide value to your visitor and gives them a place to interact with you – whether it’s by signing up for your newsletter, filling out a form to find out more information, or a BUY button.

8. You’re clueless about those that are visiting your site

Ok so you’re doing all seven of the above things correctly.  Good job.  Traffic is flowing, people are visiting your website.  But do you know what’s happening once they get there?  Are you logging into your analytics each week to find new trends?  How are your visitors finding you? What pages are most popular on your website?  Are there pages you can tweak to make them more interactive?

Analytics borders on nerd territory.  Data is what robots want, not humans.  Unfortunately, you’re running a business, and that business relies on data to function.  Are you missing out on potentially untapped market segments?  Are your pages falling short?  If your bounce rate through the roof?  And if so, why?

Fix: Take some time to read up on analytics.  Find out what you should be looking for, create some custom reports and watch for new keywords that could spring your business into uncharted territory online.

Is your website crap?

I spoke on this subject recently at a Chamber of Commerce meeting.  Some people may have been offended by the pull-no-punches approach I took, and others probably “got it”.  Do you “get it” or will you just continue to wonder why your website isn’t getting any traffic?

During the meeting, he was telling me how he had control over each page footer, how he could build out each footer to be different, link to different pages, etc.  That’s cool, could help with his internal linking.

But then he started telling me how he could build different pages for slightly different terms, and them link them through the footer, thus creating an entire network of pages.  For instance: Mother’s Day

mothers-day.htm
mothers-day-gifts.htm
mothers-day-ideas.htm
personalized-mothers-day-gifts.htm

and so on.

These micropages, in his mind, could each be optimized for their particular keyphrase, and they’d ultimately dump the visitor to the same products.

I think that’s a bad strategy and can explain with one word – dillution.

By creating a network of similar pages, you’re dilluting the domain and potential authority that site may have for “mothers day” terms by spreading them across 5, 10 or whatever amount of pages.

I think building one page that ranks nicely for Mother’s Day is the way to go.

But – you say – if he creates 10 pages with 10 different targeted keyphrases, isn’t he increasing his landing pages by 10?  Sure, but he’s dilluting the chance that any one of those 10 will ever rank for any of those terms.

One Strong Page

The smart way to go is to build one awesomely authoritative page.  Put links to the various product or product categories that Mom would like, and then add some content that reflects mother’s day.  Naturally use a few different keyphrases (don’t go overboard here) and you’ll be ahead of the curve.  Need an example? Check out what Zappos did.

Step two would be to build links back to the Mother’s Day page with various anchor texts, thus ranking that one page for many related terms.

MicroSites

The inspiration for this post came after I read Vanessa Fox’s article today on microsites.  I agree with her that these sites can cause confusion for visitors and search engines alike.  They also spread out your web designer/SEO guy’s time between several domain names.  That time (and money) would be better focused building one kick-ass domain.

Niche Sites – Not to Be Confused

Lastly, I wanted to mention that there’s a definite difference between a microsite that’s created simply for the reason of pushing traffic to a main site and a niche site.

Niche sites are sites created for the purpose of cornering a particular market (for instance bluedoorknobs.com) and selling to that small & tightly focused audience.  These sites can be highly profitable, depending on the audience.  At no time to niche sites “dump” their visitors off to a bigger and better site in order to expand their sales.  They’re there to sell blue door knobs and that’s it.

The Debate Goes On

I know there are those out there who disagree about both the micropage and  microsite strategy.  I’d love to hear what you have to say!

While getting on Twitter, Facebook or any other social media site is a great idea, I think it’s definitely not the right way to get started.  Twitter is simply the flavor of the month right now.  A year ago MySpace was all the rage.  A year from now it’ll probably be something else.

Get Started Offline

I think the best way to get started online is to start offline, just like you are.  Ask customers how they found your business.  Did they search online? Did they look in the phone book?  Did they just drive by and see your sign?

For the ones that saw you online, this means that you have some sort of presence online, even if you don’t have a website yet.  Websites like Yelp, Yahoo Local and Google Maps (along with hundreds of others) probably already list your business, services, products and maybe even some customer reviews.

Do Some Online Investigating

Ask those customers where they saw you.  Did they read about you on one of the sites above, did they find you in an Internet search, or did they get a referral from an online friend?

Then jump online and start looking around.  See what’s mentioned about your business.  Find your business in Google Maps and others and claim those listings.  Add pertinent business information and you’re on your way.  Search for your business name with quotes around it (for example: “Bobs Sink Repair”).

Next, start thinking about what your customers would type into Google to find you.  Would they type some words and a geolocator (like ‘st louis’), or would they just type in your best product (aka ‘bathroom faucets’) or service (aka ‘sink repair’)?

Think like a customer, not like an entrepreneur.  Try your best to avoid acronyms and buzzwords that people in your industry would know, but Joe Average (aka your customer) wouldn’t.

Do a Bit of Keyword Research

Sure, you’re not an SEO, and keyword research doesn’t sound like a lot of fun. But just taking an hour or three to understand some of the variants in keywords that people use to find you will be worth it before you start building a website in your mind.

If you need help, or just really don’t have time, you could find someone to do it for you for a couple bucks.  Problem is, you still won’t get the experience of sitting in front of a PC and typing in various things to see what comes up.  That experience can help you get to your ‘ah-ha’ moment for search.  It can also inspire other ideas, other keyword ideas you didn’t think of originally, and it can also show you what your competition is doing (or not doing if you’re observant).

Find a SEO-Savvy Web Designer

Clueless web designers are everywhere. Your cousin’s dog groomer’s sister does it, so why not hire her? Or better yet, why not do it yourself?

It is my guess that business owners like to save money. I know I do. But I also know when spending money is smart.  Spending money on marketing materials (flyers, signage, website) is a smart move. It’s not smart to go cheap on these things.  If your cousin’s friend’s friend can crank it out, but you can’t find any of her past works in Google, chances are that’s not a good investment.

Take some time and interview a few web designers. Make sure they understand SEO, how to make search-friendly websites, and that they understand the importance of keyword placement, proper HTML coding and title tags.  When looking for an SEO, make sure they can prove their rankings, and that they offer things like call tracking and ranking reports.

Summary

While I think Twitter is probably one of the most awesome business tools out there at the moment, it’s not the core of my business strategy, and it shouldn’t be for you either.  Your strategy needs to be wide and yet focused.  Build a quality website and provide educational information to your clients. Find a good SEO-savvy designer and you’ll be well on the way to better profits.

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