Is Your Website AWESOME?

Is Your Website
AWESOME?
Table of Contents
About the Authors
1
Introduction
2
Awesome CMS Tools
3
Search Engine Optimization
4
Social Media
7
Design & Compatibility
8
Site Maintenance
11
Tracking and Discovery
12
Wrap-Up Checklist
14
What Next
15
Alex
Ryan
Andy
Pete
Brady
About The Authors
Andy Forsberg
Pete Freeberg
Director of Marketing
Marketing Manager
An SEO expert and Web development entrepreneur, Andy
Since 2010, Pete Freeberg has served in various MentorMate
Forsberg is Marketing Director at MentorMate and product
positions, including PM, QA, BA, MC, product manager,
owner of the SaaS product SpyderMate. He has 15 years of
and videographer. He finally settled down as manager of
experience developing profitable web sites. Andy considers
MentorMate’s Marketing department, a role which is pretty
SEO to be as much of an art as it is a science.
much all the previous positions rolled into one.
Brady Swanson
Alex Krasny
Ryan Fortune
Internet Marketing Specialist Creative Marketing Specialist Inbound Marketing Specialist
Originally, Brady served on the front
Alex earned his advertising degree
Ryan joined the MentorMate team in
lines of search engine optimiza-
from the U of M and his web develop-
2012 and quickly began adding his twist
tion, leading an intrepid team of link
ment skills from the streets. He has been
to the company à la written word. A
building ninjas in daring deeds of SEO.
building websites and blogging for over
regular contributor to the MentorMate
Since then he has made a transition
ten years. Alex manages MentorMate’s
blog and website, he is always looking
into a development role, working with
social media and often contributes to
for new ways to swankify company
content management systems.
the blog.
material.
1
Your Guide to an Awesome Website
So, you have a website and you consistently produce engaging
tools available that help automate, simplify, and accelerate
content. You think your website is awesome. Now it’s just a
these tasks.
matter of time before it takes off, right?
We get it. Having a successful website is a full-time job. Web
Well, although it helps, great content is only one piece of this
standards are changing, as are search engine algorithms.
puzzle. You need more than that to make a website awesome.
Mobile devices are quickly reshaping the way we view the
It takes great design, usability, user engagement, social
web. No matter your level of experience, if you have a website,
interaction, search engine optimization, maintenance, data
there are lots of ways you can to make it more awesome.
tracking, and lots more. Lucky for us, there are numerous
Favicon
Domain Canonicalization
Socialization
Mobile-Friendly
Responsive Design
4 Second
Load Time
2
99.9%
Uptime
Awesome CMS Tools
If your website uses a content management system (CMS),
Thanks to a sizable userbase and an active developer com-
there is a good chance it was built with one of these three. A
munity, elements like plugins, modules, components, and
CMS is a great way to build a website while saving cost and
widgets are constantly created and updated to make your
time, especially if you use a well-designed theme.
website easier to build and maintain. Here is our roundup of
the top “must install” extras for each CMS below.
Wordpress
Joomla
Drupal
W3 Total Cache: Use W3 Total cache
RokPad: There comes a time when
Display Suite: Makes it easy to manage
to make your Wordpress site lightning
web developers must graduate from
how your Drupal content is displayed,
fast. W3 can cache and minify every
the WYSIWYG editor and start writing
organized and formatted.
aspect of your site’s code, as well as inte-
content directly in code. The standard
grate with content delivery networks
Joomla code editor leaves a lot to be
Pathauto: Allows you to make search
for even more speed.
desired. RokPad is the solution. Select
engine friendly URLs easily, utiliz-
different formatting styles, colors, use
ing templates for your various unique
shortcuts, and even AJAX save.
content types.
giving you fine grained control over
Modules Anywhere: This has been an
SEO Checklist: A great checklist for
your site’s search optimization. It also
auto-install on every Joomla site since
making sure your Drupal web site is well
includes helpful additions like previews
we discovered it. This plugin allows you
optimized for the search engines.
of how your page will appear in Google’s
to insert a module anywhere on the site
results.
instead of just into a module position.
Views: Allows for creation of complex,
Its versatility cannot be overstated.
interactive, database-driven web pages.
WordPress SEO (Yoast): Yoast’s SEO
plugin takes Wordpress to the next level,
Gravity Forms: Gravity is, without
It utilizes complex filters, sorting mech-
a doubt, the best way to make forms
J2XML: J2XML is the ultimate migration
in Wordpress. Gravity has numerous
tool. It’s really more of a silver bullet
advanced features, such as conditional
than an auto-install plugin. Upgrading
Administration Menu: The default nav-
logic, a visual form editor, and multi-
a site from Joomla 1.5 to 2.5+ is a major
igation in Drupal is less than ideal. This
page forms. All form submissions are
undertaking. The process is more like
module greatly improves the adminis-
stored in a database for easy retrieval.
building a brand new site than upgrad-
trative interface.
anisms, displays and relationships.
ing an old one. J2XML will migrate all of
your articles and maintain the category
and file structures.
3
Search Engine Optimization
It’s a simple question - if search engines
nature of search is changing and search
can’t find your website, who will?
engines are becoming much better at
determining the web content that users
In addition to designing a visually
want while penalizing websites that try
appealing website
to hoodwink search
with great content,
bots by applying “black
one of the keys to
online success is
ensuring that your
website is easily
found.
One
of
SEO is a valuable
practice that has the
potential to yield
outstanding results.
the most utilized
hat” tactics.
The most tried and
true SEO techniques
involve optimizing the
content of your pages,
techniques for driving traffic is the
placing emphasis on particular keyword
application of search engine optimiza-
phrases, and giving visitors a reason to
tion, or SEO.
land on your website. SEO is as much an
art as it is a science, and takes a lifetime
To keep the search spotlight on your
to master. However, the basics are easy
website, you must constantly and
to learn and implement.
These techniques include:
• optimized page titles
• domain canonicalization
• image alt attributes
• compelling meta descriptions
• optimized URL structures
• streamlined code
SEO is a valuable practice that has the
potential to yield outstanding longterm results.
The following tools will help you get
started with your SEO efforts.
consistently evolve your content. The
White Hat SEO
Grey Hat SEO
Black Hat SEO
Put simply, white hat SEO is the authen-
If you employ SEO techniques that major
Black hat SEO is the spam of search. Those
tic usage of SEO strategies, techniques,
search engines haven’t clearly defined
that have used black hat techniques typi-
and best practices that adhere to search
as a breach of their rules, but that could
cally utilize unethical tactics that Google
engine guidelines and policies. The suc-
be seen as such, chances are good you’re
and Bing haven’t yet caught up with
cessful application of white hat SEO is
doing a bit of grey hat SEO. These tactics
for short-term gain. The major search
what drives the SEO industry forward and
are not intentionally misleading, but
engines actively work toward preventing
keeps it relevant. When search engines
are not clean cut either and can be very
and disabling these tactics and penalize
give results that people actually want to
risky. Historically, websites that have
or blacklist websites that use black hat
click on, it is a win-win in the purest form.
applied grey hat SEO open themselves up
techniques through frequent algorithm
to be punished by future search algorithm
updates. In the end, if you care about your
changes.
online presence, never use black hat SEO.
headers - thorough keyword research -
Examples: Intentional duplicate content -
Examples: Hidden keyword stuffing - link
optimized URL structure - optimized site
shady directory links - irrelevant comment
farming - page cloaking
structure
or forum links
Examples: Creating great, shareable
content - optimized page titles and
4
SpyderMate SEO Tools
spydermate.com
the online visibility and impact of any
Cost: Free trial to $149 per month
domain. This is where you get a bird’s
eye view of a website’s overall SEO
What is the purpose of maintaining
effectiveness. Essentially, the Scorecard
Bing for numerous languages and
a website without discovering how it
provides a great point of reference to see
localizations.
performs, and what steps you can take
how you stack up to your competition.
Low Hanging Fruit is a keyword optimi-
to improve it? How will you track it’s
success? SpyderMate’s suite of five SEO
The Auditor is a powerful web crawler
zation tool that analyzes either a specific
tools will help you answer these ques-
that delves 100 pages deep into any
URL or an entire domain. The result-
tions and more.
website and reports on any specific SEO
ing report will tell you what keywords
issues found. This tool can be used to
have the most potential traffic growth,
investigate new websites, to guide the
how well each keyword is optimized in
structure of your current website, and
on-page locations, and all the potential
to organize SEO progress in one central
locations where these keywords are not
hub. It scans a website for 25 different
being targeted.
•
•
•
•
•
SEO Scorecard
Website Auditor
SERP Tracker
Low Hanging Fruit
SEMRush
The Scorecard is a website assessment
tool that allows you to quickly identify
types of issues, listing each by category
and severity.
SEMRush is the perfect competitor
analysis tool. It helps you uncover
The SERP Tracker is a search engine
insights into your competitors’ rankings
ranking tool that can accurately track
and keyword value and then uses it to
keyword rankings in Google and
better focus your own campaign.
5
Marketing Grader
Grammarly
CheckDog
marketing.grader.com
grammarly.com
checkdog.com
Cost: Free
Cost: Freemium or $99 per month
Cost: Free Trial to $27+ per month
Is your site a marketing powerhouse?
Great writing might be the most impor-
Use Grammarly to proof your writing
tant part of creating great content. More
while you’re creating new content,
The HubSpot Marketing Grader will
and more companies are implementing
and apply CheckDog to analyze the
scan your website and identify problem
content driven marketing campaigns,
work you’ve already done. CheckDog
areas with your marketing efforts. Are
and with good reason - if done properly,
scans your entire website, looking
you blogging enough? Is your content
it can yield outstanding results.
for typos and broken links. Typos can
being shared on social media channels?
Incidentally, poor writing can harm
make your website appear unprofes-
Is your copy easy to search?
your credibility and online reputation.
sional. Misspelling important keywords
Few things are more distracting than a
can also negatively impact your SEO
glaring typo or ignorant grammar.
efforts.
your competitors) are doing well, and
Grammarly is an automated proof-
CheckDog sniffs around by page, using
where the cracks are in your strategies.
reader designed to instantly find and fix
a master list of misspellings. Each
a wide variety of grammatical errors.
mistake it uncovers can be clicked to
More than that, it aims to improve your
preview and correct.
This free report can be run on any
domain. Use it to discover what you (and
Pro Tip:
Educate
Yourself
6
writing by suggesting context-optimized vocabulary for you to use. It is a
Use CheckDog to make sure your
writer’s best friend (besides a steaming
spelling is awsom. Or rather, awesome.
mug of fresh-brewed coffee).
There are many non-vital, but still beneficial website improvements
• “Website Favicon”
that you should consider. Some of these concepts are complex and
• “about XML Sitemap”
sound technical, but with a little research, you’ll find they’re not as
• “Robots.txt”
over-your-head as it might seem. We recommend googling these
• “Custom 404 page”
phrases for more information. The instructions are easy to follow,
• “Domain Canonicalization”
and the rewards are worth reaping.
• “Search Engine Friendly URLs”
What About this Social Stuff?
One of the greatest indicators of web
growth. If you haven’t yet, familiarize
going to get as many interactions as
success is social buzz. While analyti-
yourself with each of these.
a fashion designer or entertainment
cal numbers indicating you have a lot
brand. It is still a good idea to have a
of visitors are great, it is particularly
Second, you want to make it as easy
basic social presence regardless of what
exciting to hear the flattering things
as possible for visitors to share your
you are offering, so that you are taking
people have to say about your awesome
content on their social profiles. Social
advantage of every avenue to draw
website.
sharing is simply one of the best
traffic to your site.
forms of promotion. It’s free for you,
There are three things to consider as
and the audience it reaches knows it
you begin your social campaign.
is endorsed by the person sharing it.
Social Network Users
Consider adding social sharing icons
Jan 2013 Data via expandedramblings.com
Social sharing
is simply
one of the
best forms of
promotion.
First, make sure you are active on as
many social sites as you can manage.
Facebook and Twitter are hands down
the most important platforms, but it
doesn’t hurt to be involved in more.
Google+ activity is considered by Google
when ranking sites. Instagram and
Pinterest are both showing tremendous
to your website, even if you don’t think
anyone will use them. Sometimes they
are useful simply as a reminder.
Third, once you have started active
social engagement, make sure you are
Facebook
1 Billion
Twitter
500 Million
actively participating in the discussion. This is a great way to make your
visitors feel a personal connection to
Google+
400 Million
your brand, and it allows you to address
concerns about your product or service
in an efficient manner while gaining
LinkedIn
200 Million
social exposure.
One caveat to keep in mind: some
Instagram
100 Million
products and services are more likely
to generate social buzz than others. A
financial services company simply isn’t
Pinterest
25 Million
AddThis
addthis.com
Cost: Free
AddThis has the perfect balance of simplicity and functionality, outshining every social share plugin we have seen. It is a
breeze to implement on pretty much any CMS. The bar is totally modular, allowing you to decide which social sites are included,
how the bar is oriented, and what the buttons should look like. Detailed analytics of your social shares and social referrals are
recorded. Best of all, it’s free.
7
Mention
Sprout Social
KnowEm
en.mention.net
sproutsocial.com
knowem.com
Cost: Free to $19.99 per month
Cost: Free Trial to $39+ per month
Cost: Free to $649
Mention is a tool that monitors social
Sprout Social is a social media manage-
KnowEm is a service that will scan a
networks, forums, and web pages
ment service that provides a sleek user
staggering amount of social networks
for your brand, your industry, your
interface for creating brand-related
to check for accounts registered under
company, your competitors, or any
Twitter and Facebook updates.
your brand name.
Sprout provides in-depth analytics of
They also offer a paid service that
The free service includes 500 monthly
your profiles and social interaction,
will claim your brand name on all of
keyword alerts and a task system to
in addition to offering many posting
the social networks. The service will
ensure mentions are followed up with
features. You will find a built-in post
populate each social profile with infor-
by someone in your organization.
scheduler, a link-shortener, and the
mation you provide - bio, picture, URL,
ability to cross-post in multiple profiles.
and a description.
options, as well as advanced statis-
Perhaps the most innovative feature is
KnowEm is a fast way to make sure that
tics and the ability to track a greater
the “Smart-Queue” technology. It stra-
you have claimed your official brand
number of mentions.
tegically auto-posts your content when
name on every viable service out there.
your audience is most active, giving you
It also blocks others from using your
maximum exposure potential.
name.
chosen keyword.
The paid options include data export
In online marketing,
timing is everything.
Get alerted in real-time
to any relevant news.
8
Google+, Linked-In, and
Pinterest implementation
is in the works!
KnowEm maintains an
evolving list of over 550
popular social networks.
You don’t need to be
in all of them, but it
couldn’t hurt to be.
Design & Compatibility
When it comes to impressing visitors, the design and aesthet-
GoMo by Google
ics of your site are almost as important as the quality of your
content. In fact, sometimes the two are interconnected. For
howtogomo.com
example, if your site is not designed to be mobile friendly,
Cost: Free
you will immediately lose the attention of the ever-growing
number of users who choose to browse using their mobile
Use Google’s GoMo tool to see what your website looks like
device. If you fail to consider browser and screen sizes, you
when rendered on a mobile device. You will get recommenda-
are effectively waving goodbye to potential customers.
tions of what you need to do to improve your website’s mobile
friendliness.
Much of the magic involved in a great design comes from the
creativity and experience of the designer who creates your
It is more important than ever to cater to mobile users. It is
page. Unfortunately, no automated tool can measure how
estimated that 1 in 7 searches now originate from a mobile
awesome a website looks.
device and, according to Google, 61% of mobile users will
immediately leave your site if it is not mobile optimized. How
However, the following tools can help ensure your users are
is that for a rude awakening?
seeing your site the way the designer intended, regardless of
the device being used to browse it.
9
Browser Breakdown
ari
f
Sa
BrowserLab
%
13.75
Other - 1.4
8%
9
IE
browser scenarios.
.8 8 %
properly in all of the most common
0-0
BrowserLab (by Adobe) will show you
0%
what any website looks like on all of
3.0
the major desktop browsers - Firefox,
13% of North
American internet
surfers still use
Internet Explorer
8 or lower.
There are many browser and system
variations, some of which may present
your website differently. You need to
make yourself aware of browser compatibility issues before your users
encounter them.
Ch
,6
-1
Safari, Chrome, and multiple versions
of Internet Explorer.
IE 1
Make sure your website renders
Firefox - 1
7.68
%
Cost: Free Registration
8%
4.8
-2
browserlab.adobe.com
ro
m
e-
IE
2 7.7
8,
7
5%
Most modern browsers will get the job done, making your website look as
awesome as you intend. Complex elements of web design, like rounded
corners, drop shadows, gradients, rotation, and most other CSS3 elements,
will work just fine. That is, unless you’re using Internet Explorer...
There is a running gag that the only reason to use Internet Explorer is to
download a different browser. Funny as that may be, the truth is, the latest
version of Internet Explorer is comparable with the best modern browsers.
Older versions of Internet Explorer (IE8, 7 and 6), on the other hand, require
special consideration.
A considerable number of organizations still use Windows XP, which is
limited to legacy versions of Internet Explorer. The cost of upgrading their
computers’ operating systems to a newer version could be prohibitive, and
may introduce compatibility issues. Because of this, a non-trivial percentage of internet users are stuck with IE8 or older. If your target market
includes users at such organizations, IE compatibility is crucial.
10
Site Maintenance
Many businesses fall into the trap of assuming that a well
If your site uses a CMS, the first step is to make sure all updates
built website is set to run smoothly for years to come. In
are applied as soon as possible after their release. This will
reality, this is rarely the case.
keep your system secure from malicious attacks. You should
also be monitoring your website’s performance, addressing
We have already covered the fact that you should keep your
any concerns as they arise. This may include slow load times,
design and copy current, and we highlighted the benefits
hosting issues, or problems caused by numerous users simul-
of sharing unique, engaging content. This next section will
taneously accessing your website. After all, once your site is
explain the importance of regular site maintenance. While
awesome, everyone is going to want to see it!
not a particularly glamorous task, ongoing site maintenance
is crucial if you want your website to continue functioning at
The following tools will ensure your site runs well, no matter
an awesomely high level.
what the internet has in store for it.
GTmetrix
Load Impact
Pingdom
gtmetrix.com
loadimpact.com
pingdom.com
Cost: Free to 149.95 per month
Cost: Free to credit-based pricing
Cost: $9.95-$39.95 per month
Having a fast and responsive site is
Can your website scale properly to
Even the most awesome websites are
important for keeping your users
handle a significant number of users?
worthless if users can’t access them.
happy. Visitors are more likely to
convert on faster sites.
What if your website goes down and you
Load Impact is a free web service that
are not aware?
runs your domain through a live traffic
GTmetrix will crawl your site and
simulation. It will show you how well
The service will monitor your website’s
identify any loading or speed concerns.
your site handles varying numbers of
uptime, notifying you via email, SMS,
By optimizing your resources, you
visitors, from 0 to 50 simultaneous
Twitter, or a mobile notification if your
reduce the overhead on your servers.
users. Also, you will be given advice on
site ever goes offline unintentionally.
how to better optimize your site for an
even greater load.
11
Tracking and Discovery
If your goal is to continually improve your processes, tracking your results is critical. It’s challenging to determine where to
apply your efforts if you don’t understand what has worked and what has failed. Don’t rely on intuition. Leverage available
data and analyze your content, traffic, and users. Then, reach out and attract new users.
Webmaster Tools
XML Sitemap Submission - You should make sure to generate
google.com/webmasters/tools
an xml sitemap and submit it to Google and Bing webmaster
bing.com/toolbox/webmaster
tools. The sitemap will help the search engines better under-
Cost: Free
stand the structure of your site. Use XML-Sitemaps.com to
generate your sitemap.
Google and Bing both provide services for webmasters to
better understand how their websites are indexed, and to
Demoting Sitelinks from Search - The only way to control
allow them to better guide the search engines’ understand-
which sitelinks Google search presents is to demote non-rele-
ing. Once set up, you will have access to a number of powerful
vant pages within webmaster tools.
features.
View Backlinks - You can see a full list of all sites that curLink Disavowing - Have shady links pointing to your website?
rently host a link back to yours. This allows you to follow up,
Disavow them in webmaster tools and you won’t have to
or potentially disavow...
worry about being penalized.
12
Google Analytics
GetListed.org
google.com/analytics
getlisted.org
Cost: Free
Cost: Free
Google Analytics is one of the best all
For any company with regional loca-
around free web analytics packages.
tions, it is important to optimize your
Analytics are critical for any business
local listings. GetListed is a web service
tracking the ROI of internet marketing.
that identifies listings you haven’t yet
claimed, and uncovers listings that
Google analytics includes advanced
feature inaccurate information.
features and segments for further analyzing your visitor data. Traffic source,
The process couldn’t be easier. Simply
bounce rate, visit duration, pages per
search for your business and you will
visit, page path, and mobile usage are
be shown a number of business listing
just a small sample of the potential
sources. If your listing is not present,
data sets you can analyze.
consider adding it. If it is there, but has
incorrect or missing information, fix it!
13
Wrap-Up
You are now equipped with powerful knowledge! You know what tools to use to make your website the envy of every business
on the block. Now the question is, what to use first? Try our handy-dandy website checklist.
SEO
Social Media
Compatibility
SpyderMate Report [5]
Facebook Company Page [7]
Mobile Compatibility [9]
HubSpot Marketing Grader [6]
Twitter Company Profile [7]
Legacy IE Compatibility [10]
CheckDog Spellcheck [6]
LinkedIn Company Page [7]
Generate XML Sitemap [6]
Google+ Page [7]
Generate Robots.txt file [6]
Social Sharing Enabled [7]
Domain Canonicalization [6]
Set Up Social Tracking [8]
Performance &
Tracking &
Website
Maintenance
Discovery
Awesome?
High GTMetrix Score [11]
Google & Bing Webmaster Tools [12]
Good Heavy Load Performance [11]
Set Up Google Analytics [13]
Uptime Tracking [11]
Optimize Local Listings [13]
YES
If you are feeling overwhelmed and unsure about where to start, focus your efforts in the areas that are most suitable for your
industry. If you are selling a hot new product, build your social presence as soon as possible. If the goal is to pull in leads for
B2B or B2C sales, SEO is a great place to start.
Now when anybody asks you if your website is awesome, you will be able to give an awesome answer.
14
Yes.
What’s Next?
I have an awesome website,
but it isn’t performing
as well as it should.
I don’t have the time
or expertise to make an
awesome website.
My website is awesome,
but I need it to rank higher
in search engines.
Let us be your experts.
(612) 823-4000
15