How it Starts

You’ve just landed the client. You’re setting up all the tracking. Both parties are excited to get started, and suddenly the client tells you, “I’m sorry, but we can’t grant Google Analytics Administrative Access to your company.” Most of us have been in this scenario, and it can be rather disheartening. There are plenty of reasons to allow an agency admin access, and the few reasons to deny the access are often based out of irrational fear.

What does Admin Access Grant You?

• Goal Creation: This part is so critical. Every new Thank You/Confirmation Page or funnel that needs to be set up helps in determining whether goal metrics are being met. Often, goals are not fully set up or are set up incorrectly. While Advanced Segmentation can frequently help determine this information, and it is retroactive, it is not the be-all-end-all. Goals don’t require any digging to investigate. They can be fed back into Google AdWords as conversions, and ecommerce revenue, products, etc. can be tracked this way.
• Filter Creation: Filters are critical for accurate data. Internal users will constantly hit the website, thereby skewing data.
• Profile Creation & Editing: What if a user wants certain portions of a website tracked separately, like mobile clicks? What if they want to track SEO or PPC separately? Additional profiles, while not retroactive, are perfect for this. Filters would need to be created for each one.
• Tie into Google AdWords: Profiles can be tied into AdWords, but only at the Administrator level of access. Analytics and AdWords count things somewhat differently. When they are tied together, it makes the AdWords data far more accurate and easy to use.
• Ability to Grant Access: This is the obvious one. Users are able to grant their subordinates the access, since most agencies have multiple people that will require access to the data. The permission to grant access should be agreed upon between the two companies.

Reasons for the Fear

Most users who have access to a Google Analytics account don’t really know how to fully use the program to begin with. Often, the control is coming from someone in management who doesn’t understand the implications of Administrative Access. They hear, and quite correctly I’ll admit, that someone is going to be able to take their Google Analytics account away from them. They believe that another company will be able to assume full control of their data, make changes, and basically be able to alter the course of their company.

The Solution

The truth is that they are somewhat correct. Any Administrator may remove others from an account. But, Google is aware of this loophole in the system, and there is a simple process to follow that will rectify the situation.

If your company had its Google Analytics account taken away from it, here are the steps to get it back:

1)      Contact the Google Support Line:  1 (866) 246-6453; be sure to have your Customer or Client ID handy

2)      Google will email the company that has control of the account. They will wait seven business days for that company to respond.

3)      If access has not been given back, they will ask the company that owns the domain to post a .txt file to the website that will verify the owner.

4)      Access will then be granted back.

So, even in a worst case scenario with a very remote chance of occurring, the drawback to giving Admin Access in Analytics to an agency is far outweighed by the benefits.

Why Agencies NEED Admin Access in Google Analytics

On April 26, 2013, I failed to follow tried and true advice that I have given to literally hundreds of CEOs dealing with a reputation crisis. I let my ego, emotion and self-righteousness dictate my actions. I became defensive. I fell in love with my own words and added verbosity to my sins. And while the damage was minimal, I set an example that no one should be proud of – least of all someone like me who knows better.

I hope that this post can help others avoid my mistakes.

What happened? Well, here’s the story. WrightIMC, as we have done in the past, decided to sponsor Pubcon in New Orleans, a great trade show that we attend several times per year. These sponsorships have always been good for us, and they allow us to give back to the search engine marketing community that we love. We usually just sponsor the parties, as I feel that’s the best way for us to give back and help everyone have fun. But this year the sponsorship came with something extra. The conference organizers threw in a “bag insert”. We had to come up with something promoting WrightIMC that would be inserted in all of the attendees’ bags.

We didn’t have much time, so we did some brainstorming. Staying true to our “data driven” roots, we looked at what our most popular blog post was over the last few months. By far, the post that received the most play was Tim Wagner’s “Yo Website So Ugly”  post back in February that created a meme in which people invented 1990s style “Yo Mama” jokes to describe ugly websites.

The decision was made to create a contest where Pubcon attendees could submit ugly websites and our team would judge to determine the ugliest one. The person who submitted the winning site would win $100 cash at the Pubcon show. The plan was, after the “winning” site was announced and we were all back in Dallas, we would reach out to the site and offer a pro bono re-design on the sly. We would use it as a case study, too – a before and after if you will. See, we recently completed a local survey in which 75% of respondents said they were unlikely to do business with a company that has an ugly website. We wanted to test that out by making an ugly site pretty.

We had a lot of fun judging this contest and received quite a few entries. We did contact the owners of the site that won the contest –  who I won’t name here – and never heard back from them, as of today.

The contest seemed to go well. While we received good response, no one on our team thought this was a groundbreaking contest idea. I wasn’t knocked out by the concept. Contests like this are a dime a dozen at conferences – but it was fun for the contestants, and it had a point to prove in the end.

The conference was great. We had three WrightIMC people speak, and all of our presentation were well received. We were able to help sponsor an event called the “Epic Dinner” that was amazing and we will sponsor again. We made lots of new friends and reconnected with old friends. And best of all, we left the conference with some potential new clients.

As we were headed back to Dallas, the four of us who went to the conference were reflecting on the week over mediocre cajun food at the New Orleans airport. My phone buzzed and it was a note from Sarah Hodge, our social media content specialist at WrightIMC. The subject line said “Website Contest backlash” and linked to our Web page where a person by the name of Dean Peckenpagh had written a comment that said, “Shame on you guys. You suck for picking on a small business with a legacy design. You should be offering help to them, not finders fees to people for singling them out. Unbelievable.”

I was flabbergasted. Our intent had never been to bully anyone. We were going to help these people out! And who was this guy, that I didn’t know, questioning my firm’s motives and intention? Did he know who he was dealing with (I’m ashamed to say I actually may have said this, and I know I thought it). We’re WrightIMC, dammit! We just had a successful Pubcon. We know reputation management. We can bury you (ok, didn’t say that, but might have thought it).

Let’s just say I was hopping mad.

We only had about 10 minutes before our flight boarded, but I felt I had to respond (RED FLAG #1 – never respond when you’re angry). I quickly sent Sarah a message saying, “I got this one,” and proceeded to fire up the iPhone and respond. I meant to respond as myself, but accidentally responded as WrightIMC (RED FLAG #2 – always check to make sure you have the response coming from the right person and with the right message).  I said, or actually WrightIMC said “Dean, how do you know we won’t be helping them? I would encourage you to lighten up and check that judgmental speck in your eye. I’m happy to talk further to you as long as its civil.”

I got on the flight, confident that my tone was carefree and that my masterful prose would end the situation. After all, I counsel people all the time on how to handle their reputations, I’ve been through the wringer with all sorts of clients. I could handle this, no problem (RED FLAG #3 – If you are overconfident enough to send a snarky response, you are probably wrong).

When we landed, the Facebook thread was hopping. Several more comments from those associated with the original poster were questioning our motives. I was exhausted from a week of conference attendance (which included late nights, early mornings, and ample alcohol). Probably not in my best state of mind. And, I got even more mad. (RED FLAG #4 – if you are physically exhausted, it might be best to sleep on it and wait until you are in a better state of mind to decide your strategy).

Well, I let both barrels fly. I fell in love with my words as I wrote them, thinking of the look on this guy’s face when he read my cogent, logical argument mixed with snarky barbs. I won’t put it all in this blog, but if you want to read the whole thing, you can go see the whole thing at www.facebook.com/wrightimc (look for the post on April 26, 2013).But, before you do, you’re going to want to know what stupid thing I did next.

I woke up the next morning, and apparently my judgement had still not recovered from my week in the Big Easy. Peckenpaugh, the original poster, appeared to have enlisted at least one friend to help make his point. Having just come from spending time with some of the top SEOs in the country at Pubcon, my immediate reaction was something to the effect of “My kung-fu is so much stronger than your kung-fu.” I was home by this time, so I fired up the laptop and sent a note to some of my SEO friends asking for support. I told them I had a troll and if they thought it appropriate, they should go comment on the thread. They did.

Not all of them agreed with me, but posts were made in my favor. This probably wasn’t a horrible judgement call, as it did make the thread appear more neutral – but it also increased the visibility of the post. Now people throughout the industry could see the whole little spat. (RED FLAG #5 – when you ask your friends for help with an online reputation management problem, you run the risk of increasing the visibility of that problem. I should have left well enough alone).

I am very grateful to my friends for sticking up for me. I have some really good and loyal friends. But, I’m upset with myself for not thinking of the advice I would give someone from the outside. And, I’m upset I was selfish enough to ask them to get involved.

I got to the office that day, and my team members were all looking at me a little funny. I didn’t know why. I was proud of the fact that I had put this “troll” in his place. He was continuing to comment, and I felt like I was knocking his arguments down with my absolutely dead-on commentary. My head was swelling. In retrospect, it might have already been big from a week of conference speaking where, admittedly, we speakers can be seen as rock stars – nerdy rock stars – but rock stars nonetheless.

My ego was finally deflated when my business partner, John Confer, came into my office and said, “Were you drunk when you responded to that Facebook thread?” He was serious. He knew that what I was doing was against the advice we give our clients. Even though he agreed that we hadn’t done anything wrong and weren’t trying to “bully” anyone, he thought my response was out of character and out of order.

Dean Peckenpaugh posted a blog entry on his site about the incident. I certainly didn’t agree with the entire post, and if you read through the actual Facebook thread, many of the quotes are taken out of context – but there I go getting defensive again. I will say many of the items that Pekenpaugh pointed out were dead on. His advice was good. As he said, I should have just apologized and explained that the intent of our contest was not to bully anyone. I should have stopped responding publicly after that. And I should have made the initial effort to reach out to him – preferably by phone – immediately. Probably even before I responded publicly.

I know all the right things to do intellectually. The problem is, my emotions and ego blocked my logic and even my years of experience. I screwed up in how I handled this. And I learned some lessons.

Lesson #1: No matter how awesome you think you are, you are not that awesome. Everyone has strong emotions, moments of weakness, and errors in judgement, even when you know the right thing to do. Next time I am faced with a CEO that’s hopping mad and has already caused reputation damage because he responded incorrectly, I’ll have a much better handle on what it’s like to be in his shoes. And hopefully, a more persuasive argument to get him to stop causing more damage.

Lesson #2: While every situation is different – no reputation issues or online attacks should be addressed in anger. If you are angry, have someone not involved in the situation look at your response. When I received the e-mail, I was eating dinner with my team and Christine Churchill of KeyRelevance (one of my favorite people in the SEO industry and someone I truly respect). I could have asked her what she thought. She later told me that she didn’t agree with the contest we did in general – and I respect her opinion even if I still don’t think it’s intent or impact was what has been portrayed. (For the record, I can totally see how some might see it as bullying, but I wouldn’t have stopped the contest because I don’t think it was). So, she probably would have at least tempered my response if I had run it past her first.

Lesson #3: Use empathy. I preach this all the time. We’ve written blog posts on empathy and I’ve given whole lectures to our staff on how we need to “put ourselves in our clients’, audiences’ and prospects’ shoes.” I failed to follow my golden rule of reputation management – do unto others as THEY would have DONE UNTO THEM! Don’t do what you would want someone to do to you in the situation – look at it from their perspective. Have empathy. I should have tried harder to see the point Peckenpaugh was trying to make. I should have worked harder to empathize with his thought process. Instead, I selfishly fed my over-inflated ego and ended up with a much bigger brouhaha than necessary.

Lesson #4: Make sure your ducks are in a row. I actually have mapped out strategies for how we respond to items like this. I didn’t follow them. I didn’t get my team involved. I tried to handle this all by myself. And I did a piss-poor job.

So, where are we now? Well, I’ve since reached out to both Peckenpaugh via e-mail and the other poster, Chris Smith, via Twitter (where we had a lengthy chat and I was defensive, again – but, thankfully my friend Terri Hartley, who knows both of us, brokered a peace). While Peckenpaugh has yet to respond, Smith has agree to let me buy him a drink next time I’m in Houston, where he and Peckenpaugh live. I’m usually in Houston every couple of months, so I’m due to go any week now. My goal is to actually get to know both of these guys and try to see eye-to-eye. And, maybe even see if we can work together to help some people like the folks who won our contest.

Thankfully, the impact on WrightIMC has been minimal. We haven’t received any significant traffic from Peckenpaugh’s post and haven’t heard anyone mention my gaffe besides our friends in the industry who are just giving me a hard time. We haven’t seen a dip in social media presence. And so far, only one search engine results page has been affected – one that receives very few searches. So, I got lucky.

I think the morale of this story is: Even if you know what to do, if you don’t do it, you don’t know what to do. I hope that in the future I will follow my own advice and the advice of those I trust. And next time I get mad, I’m just going to make fun of John Confer. That’s always more productive.

Learning to follow my own reputation management advice – Lessons Learned from The “WrightIMC PR Meltdown”

Late yesterday afternoon I got a tweet from David Higgens that Penguin 2.0 had rolled out.

Matt Cutts confirms #Penguin2.0 rolled out today http://t.co/ONPAqpe0tA #SEO @scottpolk @YoungBloodJoe

— David Higgins (@dhiggins1979) May 23, 2013

I had a been in a dinner meeting pitching one of my side projects, but I got home as quickly as I could to see what the new SERPs looked like. One of my favorite SERPs to watch in the last year or so has been the keyword ‘Payday Loans.’ As my research progressed into the night on this keyword set, I noticed one website that shouldn’t have been ranking at all, but was ranking in nearly every geographic locale I tested for ‘payday loans.’  I tweeted about it in frustration.

My friend and colleague, Steve Hammer, was quick to point out that one of the websites linking to them was a band that was hacked.

@YoungbloodJoe such a snob – you act as if a site that would hack a rock band to get a link might be bad for consumers

— Steve Hammer (@armondhammer) May 23, 2013

A quick Google site search and view of the source code proved this to be true. The code for the hack uses the style tag to hide the link within the website’s design scheme so it’s not visually detectable. This made explaining the hacking situation a little more difficult when I contacted the band.

The band’s website has payday loan terms appearing in a Google search.

the code from fishbone.net

Steve used Majestic SEO to find the hacked website. I went there first to start looking at the data. Majestic showed over 10,000 linking root domains, and all seemingly in the last two weeks. That’s a lot for a payday loan website. I wanted to dig deeper, but I couldn’t create a report, as I’m not on a higher subscription plan or the domain owner. Still the data from Majestic had me curious as to what I would find.

This chart shows the massive link volume in just the past few weeks, and it really ramping up just days ago.

Based on Rand Fishkin’s tweet, I decided to use Open Site Explorer’s new ‘Just Discovered’ tab to investigate further.

Reminder: If you're using http://t.co/xgOCtAz6xO to do link research/Penguin investigation, make sure to check the "Just Discovered" tab

— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) May 23, 2013

At first glance, Open Site Explorer (OSE) showed no metrics, no Domain Authority, etc.. so I wasn’t too positive about the data I would get on the Just Discovered links tab. I was surprised to find over 5,000 links. This is nowhere near the 634,000 links that Majestic stated they have, but it should be a good enough sample size to find out how this website is ranking.

Don’t be surprised if OSE shows no metrics, but has tons of links to show.

I spot checked a few pages listed such as a car dealer in Kansas, a marketing firm in Houston, and a culinary website in Atlanta, and they all had the same code inserted in them with the link to the domain in question. They also all were disguised to hide on the page. Most of the websites in the list have the exact match ‘payday loans’ anchor text.

It was obvious that a pretty big hacking had occurred, but I wasn’t sure just how big. After exporting the data, I asked my co-worker Andrey Zavyalov, our resident Excel Ninja, to filter out the duplicate domains in the spreadsheet to see just how many websites had been compromised to link to this website. Out of the more than 5,000 links he found, 884 unique domains had been compromised. What is more shocking is that all of them appear to be on WordPress. That’s 884 unique domains out of more than 5,000 links.

Majestic SEO counted 10,000 linking root domains, which could mean if this website’s Modus Operandi is to hack for links (and that’s very likely), then there is a high probability that there are 10,000 websites out there hacked and providing link juice to this website (and probably a different one in the near future). I am not certain if this hack occurred on the newest version of WordPress, however, some of the websites checked had the Meta Generator tag that showed the latest WordPress version of 3.5.1, which is a good indicator to me that this is a new exploit. Hopefully, WordPress gets it plugged up soon.

Side Note: We’ve checked our clients WordPress websites and have not found evidence of hacking, so you’re all good.

Sadly, this is a story that will play out time and time again:  Opportunistic individuals in a vertical abusing and hacking other websites for immediate rankings with a throw away website. Matt Cutts announced in a video a few days ago that some verticals like payday loans would end up getting some special treatment from Google, which hopefully will lead to future solutions for these kinds of issues.

Here is an alphabetized list of the 884 domains that we found to be compromised. I’ll probably take this list down in time, but I wanted to provide it in case your website was hacked or you know someone who was affected. Please help me get the word out to them to remove the injected code on their site. Note: we do not endorse or condone any of the content on the following websites. Visit them at your own risk.

How Open Site Explorer’s ‘Just Discovered Tab’ Uncovered 884 Hacked Websites

Why does this all matter? Video game sales were more than $13 billion in 2012. Last year’s top selling game was Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, which sold more than 6 million copies. The Call of Duty series has created a brand that can sell based on its name alone, but for other games it can be difficult for them to establish themselves. So, let’s look at a game that had to redefine itself after suffering a serious shake up.

The majority of video game players are online. They’re in forums, writing blogs, and sharing their thoughts on Twitter. In some shape, they are talking about their experiences while playing games. In fact, many consumers are doing this for all of their products, not just games. They’re talking about how well {insert product here} works, or how horrible it is. When it comes to the actual marketing of video games and the entertainment industry in general, in the past decade we’ve seen a shift from the passive “release a trailer and press release” to a more involved, social experience. Major releases are no longer just a “release” but have become events in their own right.

A prime example of this, and the example this post will draw from is the campaign that Microsoft ran for Halo 4. Halo 4 was the first game in the series that wasn’t made by the original creators, Bungie Studios, so Microsoft needed a way to throw all of their support behind their new team. So, they released a movie. Well it started as a 5 part weekly, live-action series called “Forward Unto Dawn,” which was used to set up the Halo 4 story. They then combined the parts and released it as a full length movie.

The “Forward Unto Dawn” series got fans and even non-fans talking. I was one of those, “I don’t play Halo, but these videos have been pretty cool,” people. So, how well did this campaign fare? On release day in November, global sales for Halo 4 reached more than $200 million, and to date, it has sold more than 8 million units worldwide.

What exactly did Microsoft do right, and how can we, as marketers, apply this to our campaigns?

1. Know Your Audience

Microsoft wanted to reaffirm that their Halo franchise was still in good hands with the new studio, 343Industries. In order to do that, Microsoft used the years of data they had collected on their fan base from previous Halo games. In an interview with Direct Marketing News, group manager at Microsoft, Brian Coles, talked about how Microsoft used this data, “We’ve been able to precisely target customer segments with content and offers they care about, based on their usage history. We were able to create very relevant direct marketing communications that struck an emotional chord with our very loyal Halo customer base.”

So, when you’re in the office with your team, use all the data you have about your audience. Know what they like, dislike, what makes them feel good, what they abhor, etc.

2. Create Great Content

With your data in mind – this is the fun part – create great content. The definition of content marketing is described as “any marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of content in order to acquire customers.” Basically, don’t just pitch or sell a product. Your content should be focused on selling without selling. For instance, “Forward Unto Dawn” wasn’t telling people to go out and buy Halo 4. It was giving fans and people, on the outside looking in, a way to travel into the world of Halo without going out and purchasing a Halo game.

Great content doesn’t sell a product, it sells an idea. Don’t be afraid to be original and push boundaries, there’s only so much you can do with words alone. The idea that you’re (not) selling will not only gain you consumers, but also loyal customers because they will connect with and believe in your idea.

3. Interact

You know your audience. They’ve got your content. Now all you have to do is talk with them. Nothing makes a consumer feel better than when a company they know and trust listens to them and responds. A way Microsoft interacted with its Halo fan base was by having an invite-only event for the biggest Halo fans around the world. They brought them to the small European country of Liechtenstein, which was transformed to be a replica of a planet from the Halo universe. Microsoft rewarded their most loyal fans with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it gave the fans a chance to see and meet the people who brought them their fabled Master Chief.

Social networks have the ability to give users an instantaneous connection to people and brands. This can give brands numerous ways to keep the conversation going about their products and services, whether it’s through Twitter updates and trending topics or Facebook posts, or even Q and A sessions via YouTube or with Google Hangouts. All of these avenues give opportunities to directly connect with your audience and find out what exactly they want and need.

Lessons Marketers can Learn from Video Game Advertising & Marketing

The problem is – that’s the wrong way to go about it. Okay, my title isn’t as all-encompassing as it suggested. I really just want to delve into negatives and adding them preemptively. While there is nothing wrong with omitting search queries using negatives, that is being reactive, not proactive. You can stop a great deal of the pain before it occurs. Just sit down and think about your industry for a little while, and some negatives will start to become obvious. However, many are not obvious. These are the deceptive drain on your spend that leads to unprofitability.

It is easy to find possible negatives by navigating to the Dimensions Tab and View Search terms. Some terms must be added very specifically, but some can be added broadly. Look for specific words that appear in a broad number of unprofitable queries, and add a one or two word negative. Watch out how broadly you go though, because certain terms, like the word ‘free,’ may be used differently than as a simple price term.

Click link to view document: Google Docs Negative Keyword List

To help understand how best to use the spreadsheet, it helps to start by breaking down the search users in a more general manner. Remember that every business is different, so what has worked for my accounts may not work for your clients.

Queries Tab                                                                                                                

Adult Terms: Admittedly, most plumbing, software tool, or mortgage loan officer type keywords won’t be eligible to run on most adult terms, but it never hurts to add them. Even if it only happens once per month, I would rather avoid that one time. Imagine the search ‘I got scammed by a f$^$ing remodeling company.’ Appearing on that is not likely to garner you a new lead. Appearing on any pornographically related term may reflect poorly on your company, as well.

Job-Seekers: With unemployment high, users will search for your business looking for a job. Searches would include wages, career, application, salary, job, etc. If you are trying to hire people, you’ll still likely want to segment your potential users into separate campaigns.

Reference and Research: Search engines are wonderful tools for learning information. However, informational queries rarely perform well. Searchers who are looking for how-to, guides, manuals, charts, etc., are probably not in a purchasing mindset. Targeting them with ads is far less likely to bring in immediate results. While there are strategies to cultivate them as a lead source, like email, remarketing, and multi-touch attribution models, a lot of times they are better added as negatives.

Education: Classes, learning, university, etc. are clearly terms where the user is looking to learn to do a profession or perform a skill. In a similar vain to the Reference and Research terms, they are usually best avoided.

Pricing and Quality: Is your product or service cheap? Then consider blocking luxury, hand-made, brand name, etc. Do you display prices on your website? If not, consider blocking price, cost, calculator, estimate, etc.  Consider that terms like cheap, bargain, etc. are different than pricing terms. A website that sells budget items, but does not display the prices, may use one set of negatives but not the other. Some vendors succeed best by blocking pricing terms to avoid price shoppers, but this should be tested thoroughly.

Used: Are your items used? If not, try adding the negatives used, second hand, good condition, refurbished, etc.

Do It Yourself: In the same line as the Education and Reference and Research lists, block do it yourself, diy, kits, create, and queries from additional research related terms.

Negative: Scams, awful, terrible, rip-off, etc. are rarely terms that would generate a profit from your ad. Furthermore, they would likely have a terrible CTR. I suggest adding those negatives, as well.

Automotive: I personally add car make and models, radiators, engines, etc. to certain industries in which crossover terms might occur, like air conditioning companies and home windows.

Legal: Most industries won’t work with words like law, regulations, fines, etc.

Verticals Tab

There are so many miscellaneous terms that can be added as negatives, like YouTube, Craigslist, pics, videos, etc. that would apply to most accounts. However, each industry has its own set of specific terms that will not perform. Think about where you might not want to appear before going online.

In Summary

Just remember that Pay-per-Click at its core is about adding volume while removing inefficiencies. Just keep carefully stamping out those poor performing searches. Happy hunting!

Your Search Ads Are Losing Money: Stop The Bleeding!

Truth be told, websites are easy to build. They become complicated when we actually want them to look good, function well, and convert visitors to customers – which is what most people don’t realize. Sites are more than just a pretty face, they serve a higher purpose.

This will be my 6th year as a professional (11th year in practice), and I’m still shocked by the lack of knowledge on this subject. That brings me to the topic of this blog post: the Anatomy of an Effective Website Design. A lot of blood, sweat and tears go into making a good website – good being the operative word. If you’re planning to build/redesign/what-have-you, consider all these elements. It’s an undertaking that requires full commitment – unlike my diet.

This will solely focus on the design aspect, since the other parts (development, content, social, etc.) can’t be explained appropriately in the same blog post.

Color Scheme

Colors are powerful elements in your design. They can convey tone and affect how your users feel about your website. They also can contribute to hierarchy and/or make your website feel clean or cluttered. The rule of thumb is to limit your design to 2 or 3 different colors, not including black and white. Your first color will direct hierarchy, second color is for calls to action, and a third – if absolutely necessary – is for subtle highlights.

Effective Typography

Typography is more than just type-face and readability. It also contributes to the flow and style of your website. For example, serif fonts (fonts with ligatures, like Times New Roman) have a classic look that’s often associate with royalty or formalness. Similar to colors, you want to limit yourself to 1 or 2 font families: one for headlines and one for body copy.

Graphics

Graphics include any imagery that should be used to enhance your content. Don’t simply add graphics just because they’re pretty or because you need to fill a space. Every part of your website is valuable real estate! Also, keep your graphics consistent. If you’re using illustrations, keep the style consistent throughout the website.

Layout (UE/UI)

Simply put, this is how your website is laid out. This is very important because it affects how your visitors use your website. For example, how will putting your navigation right below your header instead of in the sidebar affect your users? My rule of thumb is to go with what works and then test, test, test! Just because it works for the time being doesn’t mean you can’t make it better. If moving an element to the left side tests better than when it was on the right side, MOVE IT! Love your data!

Calls to Action

Your website serves a higher purpose, and no I’m not referring to religious callings. Whether you are selling products/services or simply want more readers, “calls to action (CTAs)” are arguably the most important parts of your site. We believe that there should always be a CTA visible, regardless of where a visitor is on the page. For example, there should be one in the header, another in the footer, and one in the middle of the page. This may sound like overkill, but all CTAs do not have to look the same or even be the same. You can have a phone number in one area and a form in another. Do what works for your site!

Anatomy of An Effective Website Design

Step 1: Research Potential Blogs/Decide on Ingredients

There are niches for every single thing you can think of on the Internet. If it exists, it’s on the Internet. So, when finding a potential blog to post on, don’t limit yourself to the same industry that your client is in. Get creative. For example, if you have a financial client, don’t just look at finance blogs. Everybody wants to save money. Look at travel sites, college blogs, etc. When building a taco, you want to formulate a plan. What kind of shell to use? What kind of meat to use? What veggies do I want to use? When searching for blogs, ask yourself these types of questions. What’s the domain authority? How many Twitter followers does the blog have? Once you’ve decided on ingredients/potential blog, time for step 2.

Step 2: Pitch Ideas to Bloggers/Know Your Guest

Now that you found your blogs, don’t get to writing just yet. You should first find out how your potential host feels about your guest post ideas. It’s like cooking some awesome tacos – perhaps the greatest tacos ever – taking them to a dinner party, and then finding out that some of the guests are allergic to one of the toppings in the taco. They’ll never get to experience the epicness of your tacos because you didn’t run your taco plans by the dinner host. Don’t let your epic tacos go uneaten.

Step 3: Write Great Content/Build the Greatest Taco Ever

Here’s the fun part. You have everything mapped out, found a blog, got the idea approved, so now it’s time to write the post. The best way to get traffic and start conversation is to have great content. Bloggers love great content. “How do I write great content?” Well, first you want to research, because we’re not all geniuses and we don’t know everything about everything. With great research comes great content. Ask experts in the category you’re writing about. This is just like creating the filling for the taco. Make sure the meat is properly cooked and seasoned. Throw in some great veggies, but don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Calamari tacos are amazing. You want all the fillings in the taco to complement each other.

Step 4: Promote Your Post/Humblebrag about Your Tacos

You’ve now created the greatest taco, but what good is it going to do if no one else gets to try it? Just like your taco, if you don’t promote your guest blog post, who will? Tweet about it, share it on Facebook, put it on Google + if you get down like that. Let the world know you just created the greatest taco – I mean blog post – ever!

Guest Blogging and Tacos

Simply put: we’ve been lied to.

If you graduate college with no work experience in your field, no matter how good your grades are, you’re not going to make much money, and you may even have to take on the dreaded unpaid internship.

The best advice I can give to current college students is to take that internship before you graduate, and are saddled with paying off your loans. For those who have already graduated, the best advice is to realize that your first few jobs are not about the money.

Sometimes it’s about learning more.

Before I worked at WrightIMC, I worked as a graphic designer and web developer for the marketing department of a gymnastics company in Dallas. I had been unhappy at my in-house job for a while. The people I worked with were great, but in terms of online marketing, there was really no one there to mentor me, and I was craving an environment where I could learn and grow.

When I was first offered an internship at WrightIMC, it was a really difficult decision for me. In order to take the job, I’d have to accept a 20 percent pay cut from what I was making at my former company, and though it was closer to my house, the money I’d be saving on gas wouldn’t make up for the loss in wages.

I fretted over it for hours, trying to crunch the numbers in my head as I pulled into the parking lot of my girlfriend’s office. I told her about the offer…and about the pay cut. I told her how, financially, we could make it work, but we’d have to eat Ramen Noodles and drink water from the sink for a while.

“Take it,” she said, to my surprise.

She knew that what I had been telling her all along was true – that this job was going to open up new opportunities for me, and that the skills I would learn at WrightIMC would be invaluable, and would give me experience I couldn’t get in the classroom.

So with her approval, I turned in my two weeks, and the first week of January, I plunged into the Search Engine Marketing Industry, where I eventually fell in love with my new passion – PPC.

Taking this job has made me qualified to grow my career in a host of directions including:

• Web Design & Development
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Paid Search
• Search Engine Optimization
• and Account Management

Since updating my LinkedIn profile with these new skills, I get contacted at least once a month by other companies interested in hiring me, all wages I wouldn’t have dreamed of making while I still at my initial in-house position. These were skills I never learned in school, despite (almost) having a degree in Emerging Media & Communication. If I had made it about the money before, instead of about what I could learn, those opportunities would never have been available to me.

Sometimes it’s about building relationships.

Recently, I accepted a new job offer from another agency in the area. Again, the decision to move on to another company was difficult for me. I’ve built working relationships and friendships here that I know will last long after my two weeks are up.

Despite the fact that I’m leaving, I know that if I ever need a reference or even leads for future jobs, I can call my colleagues and friends at WrightIMC

The relationships you build at your first few jobs are the most important. The people you’re working for now probably know everyone who you will ever work for in your career. If you make a poor impression, it will follow you to your future interviews.

So even if you’re making a low salary (or not getting paid at all), work as if you’re making six figures. Otherwise, you might burn your bridges and end up working for peanuts for the rest of your career.

Sometimes it’s about having integrity in your work.

Long before I had even heard of WrightIMC, I had several graphic design jobs where I felt like a glorified crayon. My bosses didn’t care about my input on design and strategy; they just wanted me to be a tool they could use to make stuff in Photoshop.

There’s no integrity in jobs like that, and no matter how much money I made, I wasn’t happy. The experience became so awful that at one point that I felt like nauseous at the thought of going into work.

You have to find a job where you have a voice and your expertise is respected. No amount of money is worth giving up your pride. You may not always love your job, but you should never stay in a position you hate just to a make a few extra bucks. You’ll regret it in the end.

Sometimes it’s about your priorities.

Never accept a job that forces you to compromise your priorities just because of a higher salary. Research shows that you’re going to have about 11 jobs over your lifetime, and when your current job is gone, your priorities will still be there. Find a place that will help you accomplish your goals, and once they’re accomplished, you can make more money later.

There is no doubt in my mind that WrightIMC was the right place for me during my time in college. Not only did they offer an environment where I had endless opportunities to learn new skills, but they were also flexible with my schedule, so that I could work full time while still going to class.

Getting my education is a priority for me. It’s something that I know is going to help me build a better future for myself and for my family in the long term.

During my time at WrightIMC, I had several companies come to me and offer me a job, but all of them would’ve required putting my education on hold or slowing down on my classes. While they may have offered more money in the short term, I know that the longer I put off graduating, the harder it will be to finish. Staying with a company that supported those goals was the right decision in the long run.

The money will come.

The biggest thing you need to remember is that eventually, the money will come. My girlfriend and I survived our days of Ramen Noodles, and we’ve graduated to real food like home cooked chicken salad. We’re even planning to buy a house this year.

If you work hard to build strong working relationships, learn new skills, and show your talent, no matter what your salary is, employers will recognize that you’re a valuable asset. But first, you have to do your time with grunt work…just like everyone else.

College Students: The Biggest Lie You Ever Believed

Winner determined solely by the staff of WrightIMC and must be an attendant of Pubcon New Orleans 2013.

No limit to number of ugly website entries per contestant.

Click the Tweet button below, add your link, and enter to win! It’s that easy.

Tweet #PubConNOLA

WrightIMC Speaker Schedule:

Tony Wright

Interactive Site Review: Focus on Reputation Management
Tuesday, April 23 – Salon F, 3:10-4:25 pm

Reputation Management
Tuesday, April 23 - Salon C, 4:30-5:45 pm

Proactive Reputation Management
Thursday, April 25 – Salon B, 11:30-12:45 pm

Joe Youngblood

Link Building in a Post Google Penguin Update World
Tuesday, April 23 – Salon D, 1:50-3:05 pm

Interactive Site Review: Focus on Organic
Wednesday, April 24 – Salon F, 10:10-11:25 am

Kevin Adams

Mobile Search &  Marketing
Wednesday, April 24 – Salon A, 12:30-1:30 pm

Enter The #YoWebsiteSoUgly Pubcon NOLA Contest For A Chance To Win $100 Cash!

Meet Fatty, A.K.A Hefty, Sir Fatness, or Count Fat-cula.

You get the point. Fatty hasn’t always shared a distinct likeness to a beached whale, but he has always been a pain in my ass. Anyone who has ever owned a cat knows what I’m talking about. My relationship with my cat has shown me how a relationship that relies on inter-dependency works – and how it doesn’t. My cat probably wouldn’t be able to survive without me, just like link builders can’t survive without bloggers and other potential websites that can provide backlinks. But, cultivating a real working relationship takes time and hustling, attributes that my cat has mastered. Most days he is the master to my grasshopper.

Every night as I’m about to drift off to sleep, Fatty will knock things off my dresser in hopes of annoying me just enough to get me out of bed, but not enough to throw a pillow in his direction*. After I do so, he stares at me in his sphinxlike way as if to say, “What are we doing in here?” That’s when it hits me. If I tried to do this exact thing while building links, then I would be the one getting a pillow in the face.

Reciprocation

Don’t be a cat and expect that, just because you exist, you deserve anything for which you ask. People forgive cats their indiscretions because cats are cute and fluffy. Humans, on the other hand, lack these qualities. Don’t make the mistake of believing that someone is going to listen to you because you are meowing … er screaming in their face.

You need to go out of your way to show that you care about more than just getting a link when you are link building. That means using tools like Open Site Explorer, or my personal favorite Check My Links Chrome extension, to find broken links. Link builders need to participate and comment on articles or blogs, and ask writers for their opinions about new and interesting topics. Don’t be a Fatty and expect these websites to care about your problem when they have problems of their own.

How to Hustle: Persistence is Key

Positive persistence is key, that is. Fatty will paw at my door when he wants something, causing the door to move back and forth within its frame. It sounds like actual knocking. I can often hear it in my dreams. He does this for hours, and it is always effective. It is important to continue to build relationships in a particular niche when link building.  People won’t forget you and you will come off as genuinely interested in their work. Don’t stop commenting and participating in conversations on a blog just because you already received the link.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Cats always try to force themselves into fitting into boxes that are too small for them. Link building often requires writing a guest post, which means you’ll have to link back to your client’s blog through anchor text. Some guest bloggers link back willy-nilly and don’t once stop to make sure that what they are writing about, and what they are linking to, are actually connected. The content you are writing must have a direct relationship to your client’s business. Readers are looking for a particular insight or information when they choose to read an article, so don’t spam them by promising something insightful and instead shoving a product down their throats. We can leave that to product placement.

Pursue the Most Influential

Link building really is about building relationships, and if builders don’t change their mindset about this, then they will starve. As my family’s local “cat whisperer,” I’m the only one who understands the crazy look in Fatty’s eyes when no one else seems to get the hint that he is on the brink of starving to death (even though he has been feed 5 times that day). He comes to me because he understands that he will receive the most attention and understanding from me.

How does this relate to link building? Hone and maintain your relationships, and after establishing yourself as a positive influencer in your client’s niche, then it is time to go after the big wigs. You can outreach to these influencers and tell them how great you are. If you are guest blogging let them know where your previous work is featured and how many people commented / liked / tweeted about it. For other content promotions like infographics, dangle that infographic in front of them like a mouse on a string. Make them think they will be missing out on something great if they say no.

*No cats were harmed in the making of this blog.

What My Cat Taught Me about Link Building: An Educational Rant