At most group discussions I am a part of there is at least one comment, usually at the very end, of someone saying “Well don’t you think this is just a generational thing?”

Short answer: Probably, yes but there is more to it than that.

How each generation works is different than the generation before them

A large point for more experienced workers is that they don’t consider participating in social media as “work”. Those who use social media tools don’t consider it “work” either. We consider it a tool for communication, like the phone, fax machine or email. Millennials and Gen Y’s are under the microscope from Boomers because how they are choosing to work is vastly different than those before them. They are using new tools, have new ways of reaching out to customers, work different hours and blur the lines between what is work and what is not.

Redefining what we call work

The Millennials, who are coming right up in the work force, is the only generation that doesn’t cite work ethic as one of its “principal claims to distinctiveness”. The same percent that cited work ethic also cited clothes as a claim to distinctiveness. This will probably change as it did with the stereotypes Gen Xers had to deal with.

What IS true is that what is defined as work is changing. The traditional 9 – 5 is getting stretched to its capacity. First it was 8:30 – 5, then 8:30 – 6 and now many of us are checking our email, preparing content and speaking with clients at all hours of the day.

I spoke with a nice gentleman recently who told me he ‘didn’t know how I did it’, carrying around my phone all the time, making time to tweet and write, checking email at all hours of the evening, etc. I told him the same goes for me to him. The thought of coming into my office and checking the emails that have piled up over night causes me anxiety. If I get 30 emails overnight, my whole morning is ruined with just checking emails. Now I know what is coming in and can plan out my day better. I feel like I hit the morning ground running. That is what works for me and it doesn’t work for him. I am not wrong and he is not wrong.

The term ‘weisure‘, work+leisure, was developed to describe this blurring of the lines of work and leisure time. Are we more willing to work on our free time because work is more fun? Or maybe we just have more work to do then can be done in a traditional work week?

“Social networking as an activity is one of those ambiguous activities. It’s part fun and part instrumental in our knowledge economy.”

Dalton Conley via CNN article Welcome to the ‘weisure’ lifestyle

Blending Work and Pleasure means losing your privacy

As we work more in our leisure time and we participate in social media sites while we work – the lines are getting blurred between the two. Most people have a public version of themselves and then they have a private one seen only by their family and friends. As we use Facebook to connect with business partners or add tidbits about our weekend life on our Twitter stream everyone needs to consider what they and their company are comfortable sharing on social networks and in their personal lives. Younger generations seem more comfortable on social networking sites with countless pictures and videos of them and their friends. At some point that content will be reflected on when they join the workforce in a more professional sector. We work with businesses often about setting social media policies to outline exactly what the business and the employees are comfortable sharing publicly. Whether or not you make a policy, these are important discussions to have with your staff.

New Tools mean new workspaces or lack thereof

With smartphones, online meeting services, social networking sites, real time searches, video phones and web cams does this mean people who are comfortable using these tools still see value in sitting in an office from 9 – 5? Gen Xers and Millenials are more apt to look for businesses that offer a work from home option or more flexible hours.

Work Shifting is the popular term for people who web commute to their jobs often, if not daily, and work from coffee shops, restaurants and hotels. In a recent article from Work Shifting ‘How Millennials Are Shaping the Future of Work‘ the author tackles some of the major things Millennials have contributed to change the way we work. She points out how technology and human interaction go hand in hand, marketing is a two way conversation and change is just part of the way the world works now.

Technology and Social Media keep changing

Millennials seem more able to change than any of the other members of the workforce. This generation grew up with quick advances in technology, unlike the ones before it. Change seems to be a way of life and not an unwanted inconvenience. As we have discussed on this blog before, not all the changes (very few honestly) will have a major impact on your business. If you are going to incorporate technology and take control of your own marketing align yourself with an Internet Marketing Travel Agent or someone you trust who is inline with your company goals to keep you in-the-know about advances in technology that will affect your business. For example I do a weekly recap of internet news that I think may influence the small to medium-sized businesses and B2B businesses that we work with.

Those are just a few of my thoughts on the changes in how we work through generations. So yes, I do think ‘it’ is a generational thing but the ‘it’ isn’t social media, the ‘it’ is how we work. How we work is different and social media is just a new tool to communicate in our workday. How we incorporate it (or don’t) is up to each organization and each person.

With all the wonderful out of season weather we have had lately in Maine (with the exception of today…) I think I am safe to say that summer weather has finally arrived! It is just about time to start hitting the beach and enjoying the sun. With all the vacations and beach days to come are you going to be neglecting your website? Will your content sit there with no updates, to be done “when I get back?” Coming up with a content strategy and sticking to it will help keep your website updated through the summer, and allow you to truly enjoy your days at the beach.

Get your Content Strategy in Order

Ideally, you should create a content strategy before beginning development on a new website. However it is never too late and is always beneficial to create one! Your plan will help you figure out what content you will be updating and who will be making the updates. Here are some things to think about when creating your content strategy:

• What content will be updated?
  Think about what pages you will be updating or adding new content to. Are there certain pages that you will need to edit regularly? Do you have a blog or news feed that you will need to post to? Make a list of what content needs to be updated and what you can leave on the site with little updates.
• How often will content be updated?
  If you have a blog or news feed then your content will need to be updated more often than if you just have informative pages. Keep in mind how often you think your visitors will be returning to view new content.
• Who will be adding/editing content?
  After looking at what you need to update and how often, will you need other people to be involved? Be honest with yourself so that you can keep up with the demands.
• When will content be updated?
  Finally, schedule the times that content will be updated. If you have content that will be updated daily then make time each day to do that. If you will be doing one big update a week then block that time out or just do a little work on the content each day.

Follow Your Plan

Once you have your content plan in place stick to it! Follow your strategy and update your site on a timely basis. If you find that you took on too much, then go back and revise your plan so that it works for you. Always keep your audience in mind and make sure that the content you provide and the frequency at which you provide it is beneficial and keeps people coming back!

Take Your Time off and Don’t Worry About It!

If you know that you will be out often in the summer, keep in mind that not everyone else is on vacation. If you do not have anyone else to assign content writing to, then come up with some blog posts, promotions, or news before hand and schedule them to release while you are out. If this does not work out and people will notice that you are gone then make an announcement on your site. That way a site that is typically updated often will not leave visitors hanging with no excuse why. With a solid strategy in place (that is followed!) you can relax out of the office – worry free, knowing that your website is up to date!

Kinda reminds you of that early 80’s song “Somebody’s Watching Me”, no?

How Do They Know?

OK so it doesn’t exactly watch you (which would be way too weird), but let’s say you’re in the market for a purple widget and you visit a site that is advertising with retargeting.  When you land on the Purple Widgets ‘R Us website, a cookie (small piece of code) is automatically downloaded to your browser.  If you then visit one (or more) of the million ad-supported websites that are out there, the cookie registers and you will see ads for Purple Widgets ‘R Us.

Cool or Creepy?

Would you be more apt to click on an ad for a website you’ve previously visited? The idea behind this strategy stems from the fact that many web visitors don’t convert on their first visit to a website (or at all).  If you can get in front of those visitors again with an ad coupled with a sale or other offer while they are on a different website, they may be likely to click on it.  This will bring them back to your website where they will hopefully make a purchase (or whatever the conversion may be).

Retargeted ads are definitely working for the travel clothing company Scottevest out of Ketchum, Idaho.  In just three months, owner Scott Jordan attributed $38,000 in sales to the $12,000 he spent on retargeted ads – you do the math.  Another benefit of this type of advertising has been the fact that the company seems “larger” than it is, due to the fact that site visitors see their ads on multiple websites.  This can be a positive perception for some would-be buyers.

Of course, I can’t talk about retargeting without bringing up the issue of privacy which has been getting a lot of attention lately.  Some surfers feel as though it’s too invasive, however there are ways to opt out of being shown retargeted ads by either setting your internet browser to block cookies or opting out with the ad company serving up the ads.  Deleting your browser’s cookies will also have the same effect, but you’d have to do that each time you visit a site that participates in retargeting.

Most folks don’t bother configuring their browsers to block cookies or even know that it’s an option.

If Google’s Doing It…

There are quite a few companies out there offering retargeting services: FetchBack, ReTargeter, AdRoll, and mediaFORGE to name a few.  Google has also recently started offering the service for their content network, which may bring retargeting more mainstream as companies decide to include it in their internet marketing strategies.

With a well-rounded online campaign including SEO, PPC, and a solid website, retargeting could be a welcome addition in a conversion-driven world.  How do you feel about this kind of advertising – cool or creepy?  Let me know what you think.

These are QR (Quick Response) codes. Popular in Japan, they are quickly making an impression in the United States. With your smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry etc.) you can download an application and scan the box and receive more information about a topic or article. Each box brings you to either a website URL, phone number or text. QR codes are not only ‘way super cool’ but they are a neat way to integrate more of your marketing efforts.

How do you scan or read them?

You will need a smartphone with a camera or scanner or a webcam, internet access and a QR code reading software or program. I am currently using the i-nigma app for my iPhone but there are plenty of others like ScanLife, Kaywa and many more. Once you have the reader installed you can just scan the QR code by taking a picture with your camera or scanning app on your smartphone. Once you have scanned it you will be brought right to the text or website included in the code.

What people are using them for

People are using QR codes for lots of marketing efforts. They are easy to create with sites like QR – Generator, Create QR code, QReate and Track and many more.

Here is a list of a few things businesses are using QR codes for:

• Integrating Marketing Efforts – To get a measurable return from print advertising, companies are including QR codes in their print ad to go to specific landing pages on their website to get more information about the products and offers in that particular ad.
• As Business Cards – At a recent conference I attended each attendee had a unique QR code on their conference badge. Instead of swapping business cards you could scan attendees badges and have all of their information at your fingertips.
• Private links to more information – Print magazines, blogs and websites are using QR codes as private links to very targeted entries with more information. If you are reading an article about eating healthy there could be a QR code for 100 items to add to your shopping list for better eating. QR codes are making print more interactive.
• “Secret Messages” – Like in a Christmas Story when Ralphie uses his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring, businesses can use their QR codes for secret planted messages and teasers. In the Lost Finale (in select markets) during a commercial for True Blood, a QR code flashed across the screen. It happened so quickly that only those who had DVRed the show would be able to scan it. The QR code brought you to a secret preview of the next season. This was perfect targeting for these two unique audiences who love solving puzzles.
• To send traffic to their Google Local Listing – As you may or may not know, every business that registers with Google has the option to have a free Google Places listing. In that listing you can add photos of your business, more information and even select online coupons. Google and business are using QR codes to direct traffic to those free listings. Google is sending businesses QR codes to put in their windows and promote the Google Places listing.
• Discounts and Coupons – Businesses can easily add links to coupons and discounts in a QR code.
• Real Estate Listings – See a house or office space you want more information on? Scan the QR code on the For Lease sign or handout and be brought right to the online listing for that piece of property.
• Payment and Event Entry – Companies like Starbucks have been using QR codes as payment, an alternative to swiping customers Starbucks cards. Live Nation has experimented with using QR codes instead of paper tickets to various shows and events.

That is a list of just a few things I have seen QR codes used for. As you can imagine, more ways to incorporate them are being created each day. They are interesting and I enjoy seeing how people are finding a use for them. If you have any interesting examples you would like to share, please do!

Once you’ve optimized your site, you’re done, right?  Shouldn’t you start getting a deluge of emails and calls?  In a perfect world, SEO would be all that you need to have customers banging down your door.  The reality is that a website needs to be approached holistically.  In addition to SEO, your site needs to function properly (solid website development), be appealing to visitors (pleasing website design), be updated frequently with information (content building), and make it clear to visitors what you want them to do (user conversion).  Don’t forget about social media networking and maybe even PPC.

I know this is a lot to digest, so let’s explore a few of these elements a little further.

Solid Website Development

This may sound obvious, but your website needs to work.  First and foremost, it should load quickly.  People are impatient and if your web pages are slow, visitors are very likely to leave – quickly. Google also just started using this as a minor ranking signal which means that slower pages may not rank as high as they could in search engine results.  Speed is key.

Don’t forget that search engines check out sites “under the hood” so to speak.  They crawl through the code of websites to read the text and link to other pages.  Things like nested tables (instead of using CSS), javascript navigation, flash splash pages, or only using images on the pages makes it very difficult for the search engine bots to get through your site and figure out what it’s all about.  Make sure you site’s code is as lean as it possibly can be without a lot of superfluous “stuff”.

Build That Content

People are searching the web for information.  How much does your website have?  Are you offering case studies, whitepapers, demos, videos, a blog, testimonials, etc?  Why not?  Your website is a living and breathing entity and it needs to be constantly nurtured.  The best way to show your website visitors that you are invested in your web presence is by keeping it updated and building content.   I don’t know about you, but I don’t stick around on sites too long that look like they haven’t been updated in awhile.  I imagine that you get a variety of questions from your customers about your products and services; this is a great starting point to building content.  If someone is asking a question, there are bound to be others who have the same questions.  Start adding the answers to your website.

A blog is a great (and easy!) way to add content to your site on a consistent basis.  It also gives you the opportunity to position yourself as an expert in your industry.   Blogs can be very powerful.

User Conversion

The bottom line of every website is to get your visitors to engage.  This could be through submitting a contact form, downloading a PDF, signing up for an email newsletter, reserving a spot in a training workshop, or simply buying a product.  What do you want people to do once they are on your website?  If you’re not sure, it’s imperative for you to come up with a strategy for any of the aforementioned engagement techniques (and there are many others that I didn’t mention).  Then you have to make it easy for your visitors and spell it out for them.  One way of doing this is to have “call to action” elements marked very clearly throughout your site.  Graphics that say “Contact Us” or “Download our Free eBook” made to stand out and be seen above the fold are strategies to let people know that these are the desired actions.

SEO is not a Magic Bullet

SEO is an imperative part of Internet Marketing, but it cannot exist alone in a vacuum.  There are many different pieces of the puzzle that need to be considered when using your website to drive your business’ bottom line.  The effort of optimization is largely in vain if people get to your site and then leave because they didn’t get what they wanted from it and you were not able to engage them.  It’s time to look at your website as a whole and pinpoint opportunities for improvement to finally get those leads you’ve been looking for.

The best thing you can do is to be aware of reviews people are putting out there (google your company every now and then) and make sure you provide effective success stories and testimonials that can be found on your site.

Using client testimonials on your site builds trust and credibility in your business; it shows that others value the service that you provide or the product you sell. A recent blog post, The Secret Life of Testimonials, published by copyblogger, discusses making testimonials more believable by using a “reverse testimonial” method. They suggest that admitting skepticism in the product or service in the beginning may, in fact, make your testimonial more compelling. The article makes some good points about using testimonials in the same manner that we talk to our friends about products we buy or services we use.

After working with a client or selling them a product you should request their feedback and ask for permission to use it on your website. Not only will the feedback help you improve your goods and services, but by putting it on your website you can provide future customers with an idea of what they can expect from your products or what it’s like to work with you.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you put a testimonial on your website:

Use real people.

Include the customer’s  name and location with the testimonial. If it’s in context, add the  business name and a link to the company’s website. This shows that other people back up your work and builds credibility for your business. Be sure to ask for permission before putting this information on your website.

Keep it simple.

When you receive a testimonial from a client, you may need to refine it (with their permission, of course). Don’t use industry jargon, use the language you would use when you talk to your friends; in layman’s terms. Steer away from including overenthusiastic praises and overused adjectives. Do you ever watch those infomercials and notice how “passionate” the customers are and you ask yourself, “Real person or actor?” Most people can spot a phony right away, so make sure that the testimonial won’t sound fake to others. An authentic, easy to read testimonial should only include the most necessary information to relay a clear picture of the way the person felt about the product you delivered or the service they received.

Use examples.

Make the testimonial helpful by using examples of how your product or service has benefited them. Explain what their business was like before they bought your service or problems they were having before they purchased your product. You can enhance a testimonial by including hard evidence your client has noticed, like an increase in sales or the ability to provide better customer service.

Short and sweet.

No one likes to read a text-heavy website page, we are skimmers. Keeping your testimonials short and sweet (and to the point) increases the likeliness that people will actually read them. When refining a testimonial provided by the client, you should try to take key points that will demonstrate conclusive evidence.

Sometimes you don’t even have to ask for client feedback to gather a good testimonial for your site. If you get an email from a client you are working with who acknowledges your attention to detail or the timeliness of your responses, ask them if you can display their compliment on your site. Clients may also thank you publicly on Twitter or Facebook by tweeting or posting an appreciative message that you may want to re-purpose as a testimonial for your site.

Ask for permission.

Always, always, always ask for permission before putting someone’s personal information or a testimonial they have written on your site. Always. Nuff said.

Where to put testimonials?

Many websites use a specific page dedicated to testimonials and success stories. You might also want to think about matching a testimonial with the content on the page. For example, put a testimonial about someone’s experience with a product on the product specific page. This benefits the user because while they are obtaining information about the product they can see how it has positively effected someone else.  (Little secret, it might even help increase your website’s goal conversions.)

Using client testimonials will help build trust in your business, but they must be constructed and refined properly to be effective. They don’t have to be filled with fluff; just simple and factual so people will read them, and probably believe them. Then, most importantly, validate those testimonials with the work that you do and the products you provide.

How each business decides to craft that message varies. The images they use, the text, the frequency, the medium all changes from one to the next. One of the best ways to get your message heard is to have your message be something that people want to hear about.

So what DO people want?

People want information more than they want a sales pitch – No one actually wants a sales pitch. So why do companies continue to put out sales pitch after sales pitch? People want information about products, services and your company. Consumers want to know why you are unique and what services you can provide them with to make their lives better.

People want something to solve their problems – The primary reason people purchase products and services is because it makes their life better. How are your products and services going to make someone’s life easier, their work faster, their production increase et al.? Your primary marketing message should be letting people know what their benefit will be.

People want you to show more and tell less – People want you to tell them less about how great you are and they want to see it for themselves. Find away to show your experience, accomplishments and data on the return people will get from choosing your product or service.

People want a deal – Sometimes people know exactly what they want but they want a deal. They compare prices and features and want to feel they paid for a deal. They got their value and then some with their purchase.

People want pie – At the last Social Media Breakfast Maine, Brad Lawwill, general counsel at Pierce Promotions, spoke to the group about Social Media Policies. In his presentation he also touched on types of content companies are putting out versus the content your audience may want. He gave the example of his wife preparing a lovely chicken catetori dish and when it was placed in front of their two children, the children responded with “but I want pie for dinner.” Perhaps the perfectly crafted marketing messages and content are rich with information, images and targeted but perhaps that isn’t what your audience wants at all. So what do you do? Do you change your whole dinner plan and let them have pie? Do you force them to eat the chicken catetori? Or do you try to find a happy middle-of-the-road place?

How do you find out what your target market wants?

Maybe we should spend more time listening to our target demographics, potential and current customers and less time trying to market and sell things to them.

Here are a few ways to ask and listen to your audience:

1. Online or email surveys
2. Asking them during the sales process what information you could get for them
3. Search realtime conversation website like search.twitter.com and see what people are saying about your industry, company, products
4. Set up Google Alerts to get an email if someone mentions your products or business
5. Measure what marketing messages (blog posts, direct mail pieces, email marketing campaigns) show return or at least a reaction and which ones fall on deaf ears
6. Test different communication mediums to see which ones your audience resonates with the most

Sometimes we try so hard to be heard that we forget that we are trying to fill a need for our customers. Perhaps one of the best things you can do for your marketing is spend more time listening. How do you listen to your customers?

So you’re looking at your website’s stats from Google Analytics (or Coremetrics, or Webtrends, or whichever web analytics program you’re using) and feeling overwhelmed.  What should I look at?  What’s important? What does this mean?  But most importantly, what should I do now?!? Well, my friends, have no fear. I’ve got three easy metrics for you to look at and what you can do to take action and improve your website.

1. Keywords Used to Find Your Site

Over the past 6 months, what are the keywords that people typed into a search engine to get to your website?  Of course you’ll see the obvious variations of your company name, your url, and other strange anomalies.  Hopefully the words you are seeing most often are those that are already a part of your SEO campaign, but the focus here is to look at the words that are most commonly used.

Develop a list of the words that appear most often and look at them in relation to your website.  Clearly these are “hot topics” that people are searching for – are you providing your visitors with enough information on these topics?  Think about ways you can add more content by expanding on these keywords.  If you have a blog, great!  You’ve got some new ideas for blog posts.  If not, outline some possible new pages with content that focuses on these terms.

2. Bounce Rate

Here is a little refresher on what a bounce rate is: the percentage of initial visitors to a site who leave or “bounce” away to a different site, rather than continue on to other pages within the same site.  Each individual page has it’s own bounce rate, since anyone can enter a website from different pages.  A low bounce rate percentage is the goal because it means that people are looking at more than one page rather than just leaving after landing there.

Take a look at each individual page’s bounce rate and organize it so you can see all of the pages that have a BR higher than 60%.  What can you do to improve those pages?  Is the content vague?  Make it more in-depth and specific. Maybe the picture is ugly.  Or maybe it needs a call-to-action.  It could be a number of things, so brainstorm ways to make those pages better and then put your theories to the test.  You’ll know they’re working if you start seeing the bounce rates for them go down over subsequent months.  If not, keep tweaking and testing.

I should note here that it’s typical for blog posts to have a higher bounce rate, as well as landing pages for PPC ads (if you didn’t already filter out paid search when you were looking at the page data).  Focus first on other pages with higher bounce rates.

3. Traffic Sources

It’s important to know how people are finding your website.  Are they coming to you directly by typing your URL in the address bar?  Is all your hard work on Facebook and Twitter paying off in the form of referral traffic?  Did you nail your SEO campaign and people are getting to you through your keywords?  All traffic is a good thing, but I’d like to stress here that you’re looking for a healthy mix of direct, referral, and search traffic.  If all of your traffic is direct traffic, you may have an opportunity to improve your search engine optimization or undertake a PPC campaign.  If all of your traffic is coming from search, maybe you should consider doing more link building and social media interaction.  Make sure that people can get to you through all avenues, whether it’s having your web address on all your offline marketing efforts, stepping up your game in SEO and PPC, or researching which social networks might be right for you.

I find it’s helpful to filter out any traffic that might be coming from you and your coworkers, so you can get a more “true” picture of what people are doing on your site independent of what you might be doing on there.

Looking at web analytics data from your website is a very important part of internet marketing, but just looking at it isn’t enough.  It takes time and effort to analyze the trends and assess what is working and what can be done better. There is never one clear answer, which is what makes the process so fun because you can constantly test out your theories.  The whole purpose of having a web presence is to interact with your visitors and build relationships, so by giving them what they want, you’ve got yourself a win-win situation.