Of course there are the common sense items to take care of like proper spelling, grammar and punctuation, but here are a few easy little tricks that will help keep your readership interested, informed and excited for more.

Short Sentences

Sentence structure goes hand in hand with punctuation. If you’re trying to make a few different points all at once, break it out into short sentences instead of using a bajillion commas or constantly using the word ‘and’. Remember that readers on the web are used to skimming pages so dissecting larger pieces of information into smaller bite-sized morsels will be easier for them to digest.

Make Proper use of Headlines

Your headline is essentially your selling point on the web so you’d better make it count. For example I could have titled this article “Writing For the Web”. Lame. Every day there’s already a dump truck and a half full of articles about writing being published to the internet. By tailoring the headline to a specific audience you’ve got a much better chance of striking a chord with the reader.

You could be thinking “Well I AM a newbie at writing and I LIKE tips, but I also LOVE Cheetos. WOW! This guy knows 2 of the 3 best things about me! Wait a minute… Are you Criss Angel?”

I just mind-freaked all over you.

In addition to pimping out your own headlines, when linking to another source in your work be sure to include the headline in the link and not just the words “click here.” By incorporating an already existing headline you’ll help your organic search ranking. All this talk about links leads me to the next point:

Use Hyperlinks

Links add extra interactivity to your article but as mentioned they also help with search engine optimization, especially when you’re linking to some of your other works. Perhaps you’re bringing up a point that you’ve talked about in detail previously on your blog. Linking back to that article will also allow your reader to gain more information on the subject if they wish.

Also try to keep in mind that if you’re using obscure references that your readership might not always get the reference. Hyperlinks are a good way to help paint a picture for your readers who may be on the outside looking in. For example:

“Did you hear the new Justin Bieber single? That track is hotter than Canis Majoris. AMIRITE?”

By simply adding a reference link you’ve instantly helped illustrate a point and brought your fellow Bieber fellowships’ IQ up a couple of points with an astronomy lesson.

As you keep developing content for the web you’ll begin to figure out what your audience responds to best and that will help develop the style of your work. These 3 quick tips hopefully gave you a little bit of insight about how users generally process information on the web and how you can learn to put those habits to work for you.

If you’re looking for some more ways to establish or improve your readership, contact Point Click Media.

Myth #4: I have to post every day

Unless your blog is part of a bigger network of authors that post daily news as a sort of media outlet, it’s pretty unrealistic for a single author to devote time to posting daily blog articles, especially if you’re trying to run a business at the same time.

Remember that quality trumps quantity. Focus more on producing quality content than cookie cutting as many topics as you can to get them out the door. Although there’s no need to make your blog a daily news outlet, it is still a good idea to schedule regular updates, so that your readership knows when they can expect to hear from you.

Myth #5: I’ll have time to write that later

On the opposite end of the time spectrum is the procrastinator. If you have multiple tasks at hand to concern yourself with as most business owners or managers do, you’ll find it extremely difficult to regularly schedule time to do some creative writing. Even if you are disciplined enough to set aside time every week or couple of weeks, chances are that when you do get backed up with other work, your blogging time will be among the first items to be sacrificed.

A good solution is instead of taking an hour every week, sit down for an afternoon once a month or so and crank out as many topics as you can to be published over time. Not only will it save you valuable time, but once the creative juices are flowing you’ll find it much easier to get those articles flowing.

Myth #6: I need to be a professional writer

Contrary to what you may believe, most bloggers start writing while having no previous writing experience. Many successful blogs are written simply by people who have extensive knowledge on a certain subject and are willing to share it. A Masters degree in literature certainly isn’t a prerequisite in the blogging world.

Even Mittens is writing his thoughts on the internet

There’s also no shame in having someone else verify and edit your work if it will make the end product better. Also, you’ll begin seeing improvement as you gain experience.

Hopefully we’ve debunked enough of these blogging myths so that you can see the potential that blogging can bring to your brand. Today’s web users are thirsting for information and if you’ve got it sitting atop that delightful little coconut of yours, perhaps it’s time to share some of it and help yourself make a few bucks in the process.

For more tips on how you can improve the content on your blog, contact Point Click Media.

Myth #1:  Blogging is easy money

It’s pretty easy to come across stories of everyday blue-collared folks striking it rich on the Interwebs.  Whether or not they’re fact or fiction, many people just assume that they can slap together a couple of paragraphs once a month and be riding the gravy train to the next Charlie Sheen house party.

You'd better bring you own body bag

The truth is that a dedicated, well produced blog takes a lot of work.  Just the same as any other business venture, it’s the hardest workers that often reap the most benefits.  Success doesn’t usually happen by accident, so you can anticipate that the more you put into your blog, the more you’ll be able to get out of it.

Myth #2:  You can’t monetize a blog

A common misconception about web users is that they tune out any and all forms of advertising.  While it’s true that many people either consciously or subconsciously block out many forms of traditional advertising due to being bombarded with it everywhere they go, the fact is that well crafted and highly targeted marketing efforts often produce highly successful results.  This is why traditional advertising is somewhat dying out.  It’s akin to literally throwing a bag of elephant dung at the wall and hoping that something sticks with such a massive untargeted audience.

"Hey, when did they start running Durex condom ads on the Hannah Montana website?"

It’s important not to think only of traditional advertising methods, like covering every last pixel of your blog with banner ads, but to think outside the box.  Can you offer a membership or subscription service?  Can you offer your own products?  Can you promote affiliate or referral programs within your content?  If your blog offers value to the specific demographics of your blog then your monetization efforts will be much better received.

Myth #3:  You need huge traffic numbers to be successful

Your overall volume of traffic is not the be all and end all in determining the success of your blog.  The quality of traffic you receive is what’s key.  Picture this: would you rather have 100 people visit your blog one time and never return, or 10 dedicated followers who return every day?

Also, those returning visits keep coming back for a reason, so you’ve built a trusted relationship with them.  The 80/20 rule is a crucial principle in marketing.  That is to say that 80% of your business is generated by 20% of your customers and blogging is no different.

In part 2 of this topic we’ll examine 3 more common blogging myths.

Vancouver Canucks fans got nothin’ on Twitter.

There are some steps that you can take, however, to ensure that you protect your online reputation, at least in the eyes of search engines.  Although these tips won’t completely troll-proof your online reputation, it will at least help reduce the ability for such issues to spread like wildfire.

Domain Control

Make sure that you own not only your main domain but also register as many variations of the domain as possible.  This includes all of the traditional extensions like .com, .ca and .net and also the more colourful extensions like .me or .tv.  In addition to domain extensions you may want to purchase alternate spellings of your domain that could do some serious PR damage if they fell into the wrong hands.

Branding Social Media

If you ever needed yet another reason to step up to the plate on social media, this is it.  Make sure you gain control of the proper social media user names and brand them as the official feeds and accounts for your business.  Facebook, Twitter and other networking sites are hugely popular and as such often show up at the top of search engine rankings.  There’s no stopping someone from creating a false account for your business and spewing a bunch of garbage, intending to cause mischief.

“They ran out of toilet paper at Arby’s? Facebook needs to know about this immediately. ANARCHY!”

It certainly isn’t easy to deal with criticism or negative press online, but when encountering such problems your ultimate goal should be to let your clients, consumers and overall audience know that things are alright.

A proper strategy for dealing with online criticism is key to avoiding a major PR blunder.  To find out more about what you can do to protect your brand’s search engine rankings, contact Point Click Media.

Of course, frustrating your users is something we all want to avoid, so here are a few quick, easy and cost effective ways to improve your website’s usability:

1. Link your logo

Believe it or not there are truck loads of websites on the internet right now with no home button or link to the home page via logo, etc.  Any navigation performed at all on the website leads you further and further away from where you came with no way back.

Like watching a Ryan Reynolds movie.

Even if your site does not have a home button, make sure that your logo is linked to the home page so that your users have quick and easy access to the main page of your website.  That way, if your users get lost along the way they aren’t required to head back to a Google search to find you again… because they won’t.

2. Provide a 404 page

A 404 error is the error message that your browser displays when you visit a page that can’t be found or doesn’t exist.  It happens.  Sometimes links are changed dynamically or a file is removed from the server and you forget to update the link on the website.  When encountering a broken link, having a useful 404 page allows the user to either go back to the previous page, search for new information or navigate elsewhere on your website rather than leading your users to believe that they’ve destroyed the interwebs with a click of a button.

My gosh Bill, I guess pressing ‘About Us’ just dropped a hydrogen bomb on their server farm."

3. Distinguishable links and navigation

If a link doesn’t look like a link, how will people know to click on it?  Your links throughout your content should be identified properly.  They could have a simple color change, underlining, bolded font or a combination of things.  Additionally, having rollover states or previously visited states are always a good idea.  It allows your users to quickly identify where they’ve been, where they’re going and how they’re going to get there.

Nothing to see here.

These 3 simple tips can go a long way toward ensuring that your users are able to find the information that they want.  The more usable and accessible your website and information is, the better the chance that your users’ overall experience will leave them satisfied.

To find out more about how you can improve usability on your website, contact Point Click Media.

Well sweetheart, I couldn't get you Milli Vanilli, but here's the collected works of John Denver yodeling in the shower. Happy 16th!

While link building and expanding your social network are great for SEO, those things are really meant to compliment the SEO driven content that you’re pumping into your website.  This article contains 5 easy tricks that you can start doing right now to begin getting better SEO results.

1. Use proper anchor text for links

The first thing you can do to help make your links more relevant is to describe them properly.  While it may be quicker (and lazier) to simply put “Click here” for a link, it is much easier for search engines to index links based on the text being presented.  As you can see above in this article, we’ve linked to our previous posts on SEO mistakes by telling you what you’re getting.  And while we’re on the subject of links…

2. Use internal linking when possible

Once again this is demonstrated by our above links to previous articles.  As you increasingly build up new content in your website, you can begin linking back to older archived material for reference or for new updates.  Not only does this help increase linking for SEO purposes, it’s a great way to help recycle content.

3. Use search engine friendly permalinks

Most Content Management Systems have permalink settings that allow you to choose how you want your page links to be archived and displayed in the browser.  They can show things like the date or the title of the page, or a long string of numbers filled with ampersands, question marks and Batman symbols for security.  While those long cryptogram-like URLs look intimidating, they also make it tougher for search engines to identify what the page is about.

Which one is easier for YOU to read?

4. Use sticky posts

Sticky posts are great for indicating what content is important on your site.  You’ll notice this often on forums.  A sticky post is usually an important topic of discussion that stays at the top of the list of articles.  It can retain importance over even new content.  This means that if you have older content that you feel is still popular or important, you can still keep it at the top of the heap for search engines to see first.

5. Use tags and categories

Tags are essentially a series of keywords that helps describe the content on your page.  Tagging is not only great for metadata but also for your own internal searching.  If someone is using the search function on your website, by having your articles tagged they are much more likely to receive better search results.  In addition, your content can be navigated much easier by having it categorized properly and not just lumped all into “Site News”.

These 5 easy little tricks can help give your web content a serious boost for search engines.  If you’re having problems identifying the capabilities of your CMS, contact Point Click Media.

Dream house and prearranged marriage annulment sold separately. photo credit: BlondeArtist22

YouTube now provides an option that allows users to remove the YouTube logo from embedded videos.  This means that you now have increasing control over the branding of your video content while serving it through the top video content producing site in the world.

If you were previously wary of hosting your video content with YouTube for whatever reason, perhaps due to the branding distraction it may have provided or the association of amateur or raunchy content that sometimes comes with having the YouTube brand associated with your video, you can now rest easy.

Contact Point Click Media today to begin serving video content on your website.

photo credit: billibala

Most people see spam as simply receiving email from someone that is trying to sell them something, regardless of whether they know the sender or not. What this means is that even if you have a loyal customer base that you want to send out a sales pitch to, most of those customers will still consider you a spammer.

But don’t let that scare you away from email newsletter marketing. Opt-in list statistics continue to grow every year and newsletters can be a very cost effective way to reach your customer base en masse, if you can avoid making the common mistake make of not having your subscribers opt-in.

If you want to avoid getting backhanded across the chops with the Can Spam Act, it is imperative that you offer an opt-in list for your subscribers. Every one of your subscribers has to have indicated in some form that “Yes, I want to receive your newsletter”. This can be achieved through an online form or check box, or for example, through a survey sent through the mail. Regardless, you have to have proof that your subscribers have voluntarily signed up for your newsletter.

Don’t assume either. Ensure that your opt-in option is clearly indicated and also make sure to include in your newsletter an option for people to unsubscribe at any time. Once someone has unsubscribed, they need to be removed from your list to avoid potential accusations of abuse.

If you have more than one newsletter it is also a good idea to have separate opt-in lists for each type of newsletter. For example, you may have a newsletter strictly for sales pitches and another for news. Not everyone will necessarily want to receive both items in their inbox, so allowing them to pick and choose not only helps keep your subscribers happy in avoiding unsolicited email, but it also helps define your newsletter demographics.

The Double Opt-In: If you’re really paranoid about Big Brother following you through an alleyway and giving you a beat down with a sack full of lunch meat, you can protect yourself even further with a double opt-in. After someone signs up for your newsletter through the website for example, an email can be sent to the new subscriber’s e-mail address containing a confirmation link that activates the second opt-in.

Are you sure you want to subscribe to Rainbow Cupcakes and Kittens Weekly?

Double opt-ins help ensure that your subscribers are authentic and genuinely interested in your service. With a single opt-in, any random royal hobo of Nigerian descent can sign up his entire tribe of hobo friends who couldn’t care less about your service. You can see where malicious intent by a third party could easily get you into some hot water. Also, you still have you pay for every address you send to, so those fraudulent subscriptions can add up fast. Not only will a double opt-in keep the haters out, but you also gain highly targeted consumers.

Now that you know how to avoid being squashed by spam laws like George “The Animal” Steele, contact Point Click Media to start accumulating those targeted subscribers properly and pumping out your own newsletters.

"Check it out, Frank, we got a live one... go get the A-1 sauce!" photo credit: MSVG -

Many smaller businesses run into the following problem all of the time:  a customer will argue over the cost of a product, saying that they can get the same item for less at another location.  Of course, this can often be a bargaining chip on behalf of the customer, but more often than not it’s a lack of perception on the value of what is being offered.

"I chopped 3 ounces of onion over March Break, honey. The chili should be ready by the summer solstice." photo credit: vxla

It’s important to educate your customer on what they are getting from you and clearly define the differences between yourself and competing products or services.  If your customer is still skeptical, an encouraging invitation to try the competition shows confidence in your business and also shows that you care more about satisfying their needs than making a quick buck.  Encourage them to shop around and always leave room to welcome the return of the customer if they don’t get their desired results elsewhere.

Rattling off a standard sales pitch in an infomercial of awesomeness is great to get people excited, but beyond the initial impulse buy – once common sense sets in – are your customers ready to return for repeat business or to offer a referral to someone else?  How many people do you know who bought a Slap Chop based on what they saw on TV, then once they opened up the box realized that you can’t chop more than a half a strawberry at a time?  Deception doesn’t lead to return business.

You will obviously get some who don’t return.  If this happens, don’t be discouraged about the loss of a sale.  That customer will still appreciate that you didn’t take them for a ride and that builds consumer loyalty.  Three referrals later can be better than a quick sale now.  Sometimes it pays to refer business to your competition and, at the very least, you’ve fulfilled that one customer’s needs to the best of your ability.

Looking for help in what distinguishes your business from your competition?  Contact Point Click Media.

To get back to the original question, you first need to ask yourself what you want your website to do for you. Do you want it to attract new leads through online searches? Do you want it to act as a landing page that people can visit after seeing your web address on a business card? Do you want to offer sales directly online? If you’re just looking to keep it as simple as possible to keep costs down then a simple one page website with a listing of your services, contact information and map to your location can be a useful stop gap until you can afford to direct more resources into it. At the very least, it allows you to get the necessities taken care of including purchasing a domain and finding a hosting package.

What to expect from a one-pager

It’s important not to expect too much from a one page website. Remember, they’re best used as a temporary solution until you can get a more defined solution under your domain. Search engine traffic will be at a minimum. Chances are your page will be mostly static, meaning that you’ll put up the content once and that’s it. Your temporary site will have a tough time gaining search engine brownie points if there’s nothing being done with the site and it remains stagnant. Your best option for generating traffic to your one-pager is to get your domain name out to people through self promotion. Put your domain in your email signatures, on your business cards, brochures and everywhere else your company name is seen.

If you’re not all that keen on promoting a website that is rather underwhelming, especially when you’ve got bigger plans down the road, then maybe you’d prefer to hold off on all of that flag waving until you’re officially ready to go. A one-pager can be a great little landing page tool for giving people a quick information session on your company with a number to call or an email form for questions. If you’re looking for more of a bang from your website then be prepared to devote some serious time and resources toward it and toward marketing your website.

Even if you have minimal content to work with, a one page website can be developed into more than just a static page without having to map out multiple pages. Contact Point Click Media to find out how your vision best fits into your website.