Fusionbox News

Fusionbox, the Denver Internet Marketing Company I work for, has recently signed on several new clients.  We have also started new projects for existing clients.

Some of the Internet Marketing we are doing now includes working with a B2B company to ensure it does not lose organic search engine ranking at the time of relaunch.  We did not do the site design and the client came to us only after having a bad experience with their current web design company.  They brought Fusionbox in to do SEO but we discovered that the site that was under development was not ideal at all because it lacked any lead generation program.  Fusionbox also found out that the current vendor had not put any plans in place at all to manage page redirects, load times, or even properly optimized meta data.

We were glad we could step in and prevent a disaster at launch time.  We managed to get the new site launched without losing any organic rank and by actually increasing rank dramatically for many of the client's targeted keywords.

How to Get High Google Rank

Fusionbox, the Denver web design company has a rule of thumb for getting high organic rank for our clients through search engine marketing. We believe that if it is good for the user, it's good for your search engine ranking.

Many Denver SEO companies make search engine marketing sound difficult and mysterious. It's not. Getting to the top of Google comes down to three key things: content, links and code.

Content - When you add useful, relevant content that includes your keywords, you are adding value to your user. Google will reward you by bringing you up in the search engines. Content is the most important aspect of SEO.

Links - The more relevant sites that are linking to you, the higher the rank. Inbound links from quality, relevant sites shows authority.

Code - The more standard and accessible your code is, the easier it is for Google to spider it. Create code that uses structural CSS and is W3C-compliant.

Fusionbox has worked with many Denver search engine marketing clients to help them increase their leads, sales, and donations by using the above best practices.

Fusionbox Process

Seth Godin's blog today talked about Algorithms. When strict Algorithms or formulas drive business, success is not always forthcoming. Ideas, methods, and products that warp, evolve, and expand win.

At Fusionbox, a Denver web design and agile software development agency where I work, our process has always been to define, design, measure and refine. Then, we complete the entire process over again. This means we embrace change, but only change when the data backs it up.

So, if we launched a search engine marketing campaign, based on what we thought was a good strategy, we would then look at analytics to see if the numbers backed up our thinking. If the numbers don't show success, we move in a different direction. If the numbers show success, we focus more resources on that strategy with slight variations to test success.

Twitter Bandwagon

Begin rant:

Six months ago, everyone wanted a Facebook page. Six months before that, everyone wanted a corporate blog. Now, everyone wants a Twitter account for their business. Before you take the time/energy=money, step back and ask yourself whether Twitter will bring you more sales, leads, brand awareness or relationships with your clients.

A blog is a great way to add keyword-heavy content. Who cares if anyone ever reads that content? A Facebook page is easy to set up and manage. Twitter is a commitment and does not have any search engine marketing benefit.

If done well, however, it's a great way to touch your clients and keep your brand top-of-mind. (Best be posting interesting, relevant information, though. Don't just talk about boring company news. Create some thought leadership.)

End rant.

This rant brought to you by Ivy Hastings, account director at Fusionbox, a Denver web design company.

Yay - We are Hiring

Fusionbox is hiring again. We have two new search engine marketing clients in the fitness industries and we have a complex web development project starting in the next couple months including video uploads, ratings, comments, social networking, ecommerce, etc.

We have 40 hour work weeks so you can have your life back. Enjoy beer in the fridge, foos ball, and decent salaries. Fusionbox has some of the smartest web developers in all of Colorado who work on challenging object oriented projects. (Sick of content management yet?)

Our search engine marketing work is strategic. It's not just cranking out content and linkbuilding. Our guys are creating integrated solutions that include paid, organic, social media, and online pr.

So, if you are a Denver web development badass or a Denver internet marketing pro who thrives on results, hit us up.

Fusionbox Launches New Site for Morris Animal Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Morris Animal Foundation Works with Denver Interactive Agency to Launch Happy Healthy Cat Website

Denver, Colorado, December 02, 2008 - On behalf of the more than 80 million cats in America, Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) embarked on a mission to provide felines with their share of health care and research. The Healthy Happy Cat Campaign, launched Monday, Nov. 17, aims to help stop suffering and premature death in cats. MAF worked with their Denver web design agency, Fusionbox, to complete the new website.

There are more than 82 million cats in U.S. homes, making them America’s No. 1 pet. However, cats get less veterinary care and research than dogs. There’s also too few scientists studying feline health issues, according to the foundation.

The focus of the new campaign is to raise pet-owner awareness of feline health issues and increase funding for research and scientist training. To achieve this goal, MAF created a dedicated online resource with information on feline diseases and symptoms. Additional features include interactive blog entries and quizzes, MAF research success stories and resources for cat owners.

The foundation previously has funded projects in areas of feline health including diabetes, kidney and heart disease, cancer, urinary disorders, hyperthyroidism and infectious diseases.

Patricia Olson, DVM, Ph.D., MAF president and CEO, said that a tremendous amount of cat health research remains to be done. “Our goal is that the Happy Healthy Cat Campaign will give veterinarians the tools they need to dramatically improve the health and well-being of all cats,” she said in a statement.

Hill’s Pet Nutrition donated $1 million to the campaign in addition to a genetic database of research information to help scientists worldwide develop diagnostics and treatments for the most serious feline diseases.

About Morris Animal Foundation: Morris Animal Foundation, established in 1948, is dedicated to funding animal health research that protects, treats and cures companion animals, horses, and wildlife. MAF has been at the forefront of funding breakthrough research studies benefiting animals on all seven continents. MAF has its headquarters in Denver. Charity Navigator ranks MAF as a four-star charity, the highest rating. MAF is a BBB Wise Giving Alliance Charity Seal Holder. For more information, call 800.243.2345 or visit MorrisAnimalFoundation.org.

About Fusionbox: Fusionbox, a Denver web development company, has helped companies create brand awareness, increase sales, and optimize operations through their websites since 2001. Our work results in a direct and measurable financial impact on your business. We were founded and built by a business strategist and a programmer. That combination makes our work technically superior and gives us the expertise needed to solve your business challenges and increase revenues instead of just focusing on design. Fusionbox services include search engine marketing, Denver web development, web design, and RIA development. We have offices in San Francisco, Denver and New Orleans. For more information, call 303-952-7490 or visit the Fusionbox website at www.fusionbox.com.


CONTACT:
Ivy Hastings
Fusionbox
www.fusionbox.com
303-952-7490
ihastings (at) fusionbox.com

From Search Engine Low Down

Couldn't have said it better myself...

From Jeremy at Search Engine Lowdown:

SEL: "Top 8 Most Important Things I’ve Learned About Interactive Marketing

It’s been my honor to follow Andy’s and Garrett’s lead for the last year. These were incredibly large shoes to fill, and moderating this blog is not something that I have taken lightly. My hope was that I’ve done it justice. And unless THK decides to generously give this blog to me, this will be my last post as I leave MSA today.

In the meanwhile, below are what I think are the most important tidbits of information that I’ve picked up about interactive marketing over the years. Some of them are pretty obvious, but then again:

1. Never forget that it is interactive. There is nothing more essential for conversion than a site that responds to the needs of the target market.

2. SEO never ends because it is a mindset, not a project.

3. The best way to have a search engine friendly site is to have clear and concise performance goals before the first line is coded. Your goals should affect the brand, the tone, the products, the pricing and the overall architecture. Retrofitting a site for SEO is almost always second best.

4. If you are not committing yourself to understanding and immersing yourself in your Web site’s analytics, you are in the wrong business.

5. PPC will never get less expensive. Success should be determined by overall conversion"

Fusionbox Web Site Design and Development

Blogging to Create Thought Leadership

With Web 2.0 and new media, many companies embraced blogging. But only a few are doing it right.

When executed correctly with a strategic and credible approach, blogging can build thought leadership online and foster dialog between customers and brands.

In this post, I'll discuss some of the ways you can use blogging to reach these business goals. But first, what are most companies doing wrong?

The biggest mistakes I see are corporate blogs created merely for the sake of doing so. "Other companies are blogging, so we should too" (even if we have nothing to say). And then there are the blogs that function as thinly veiled undercover marketing tools, fake blogs or "flogs."

In the blogosphere, there is nothing more important than credibility. What's more, social media communities will turn quickly upon disingenuous and self-serving attempts at blogging. Worse, they won't forgive and they won't forget, so don't shoot your blog in its digital foot.

So how should you blog if you want to create thought leadership? Corporate and executive blogs are communication platforms, and to get noticed and stand out writers need to share provocative ideas. Whether that means new perspectives on industry issues or discussing strategic concerns, thought leadership happens when you post original and relevant ideas.

Still, having great ideas is only half of the equation. With no attention or readers, your ideas will fall on deaf ears no matter how revolutionary they are.

In order to maximize your visibility and reach, start by researching the most popular bloggers in whatever vertical your going to be writing about. Then, comment on their posts and start a conversation. This helps you get your foot in the door and gain credibility by association. Chances are they'll link to your blog too, which is a big help from a what marketers call an "influencer."

As you write, make sure your posts utilize search-engine friendly titles, keywords, and links. A little SEO can go a long way propelling your blog to the top of the rankings, which lends further credibility to your words.

Add video and sound to your blog as well. Studies show that blogs with interactive media, especially video and podcasts, capture more returning visitors and offer a "stickier" user experience.

Don't overlook social media channels either. By adding social bookmarking buttons, readers can digg, del.i.cio.us, Facebook, etc. your content and expose it to their networks. Again, being connected to these key influencers is a proven and effective method to build thought leadership.

None of this will happen overnight, however. It may take months of blogging before you start to build readership and gain recognition. Monitoring your blog with web analytics will provide further insight into your efforts while showing you what content is the most popular with readers.

Remember that a corporate or executive blog must create dialog between management, customers, and readers. Companies and brands can leverage blogs successfully to share information that otherwise would remain internal. Blogs humanize companies by giving a face to an organization, and well-written content can create loyal brand supporters. Always enable comments on your blog to foster conversation.

Allocate the resources for your blog before you start writing. If it's a company blog, make sure you or whomever manages the blog has time to update it frequently, ideally posting new content every two or three days. Nothing looks worse than a blog that hasn't been updated in three months.

Creating thought leadership online is tricky business. As you can see, many companies are prone to the mistakes and mishaps that arise when their blogs are used for the wrong reasons. In the blogosphere, credibility is paramount.

Developing thought leadership is about gaining credibility with readers and establishing yourself as the authority on whatever topic you write about. Do this and you'll become one of the "influencers" I mentioned above. Key influencers are, by definition, thought leaders.

Fusionbox Web Site Design and Development

Fusionbox Web Site Design and Development: "Search Marketing Boosts Brand Awareness"

Fusionbox is going on seven years as a Denver web design, Denver web development and Denver search engine marketing firm. When I tell people where I work, they almost always say they have heard of Fusionbox. This is true despite the fact that we have never done any traditional advertising. I'm convinced this is true because we dominate the organic rank for many of our keywords. And doing this creates brand awareness.

I spend quite a bit of time talking to clients about the tremendous return on investment that organic search engine marketing can bring. Most clients know that seo means getting to the top of Google, but not every client knows that a search engine marketing initiative can have the same benefits as a traditional PR campaign.

Here's a quote from Enquiro that illustrates this point:

"In a first-of-its-kind online study commissioned by Google, researchers discovered a significant correlation between companies in the top organic and sponsored ad placements and consumer brand affinity, brand recall and purchase intent." - Enquiro Research - www.enquiro.com.

Contact Fusionbox to find out how internet marketing can spread your brand awareness and effect your bottom line.

Interactive Agencies are Getting all the New Business

Interactive agencies in Denver and elsewhere are taking business from traditional agencies because those they continue to struggle with their interactive services. We see it all the time. Many agencies are focused solely on design and don’t consider usability, search engine marketing or even conversion rates.

Case in point. We helped a Denver advertising agency cut up and program their site. I asked them what their goals were as they related to the new website design. They said they wanted to use the site as a lead generation tool. This was ironic since they had placed the “Contact Us” link at the very bottom left of the site in tiny font where no one would see it because they did not like “how it looked” in the top navigation.

Information about Fusionbox

Here's some info on Fusionbox that not everyone knows:

Fusionbox is a Denver interactive agency with offices in Denver, Colorado and New Orleans, Louisiana. We've helped companies create brand awareness, increase sales, and optimize operations through their websites since 2001. Our work results in a direct and measurable financial impact on your business. We are unlike many interactive agencies, because we were founded by a programmer and a business strategist, not a designer. That combination makes our work technically superior and gives us the expertise needed to solve your business challenges and increase revenues. Our list of achievements is long. Here are a couple of highlights from recent years:

- Fusionbox had been ranked as one of the top five fastest -growing small companies in Colorado by the Denver Business Journal two years in a row.
- Fusionbox was ranked as one of the top national interactive agencies by BtoB Magazine.
- Fusionbox has earned numerous local and national awards for its work.
- Fusionbox has been recognized as one of the top Denver interactive agencies by the Denver Business Journal for three years in a row.

Fusionbox is a profitable, debt-free, private organization with over seven years of operation in Denver and New Orleans. Fusionbox was initially incorporated in 2001 and has enjoyed persistent and stable growth since its inception. We employ a dedicated team whom we have hand-picked from among the top talent in the industry.

In addition to working with clients, we firmly believe in giving back to the community. Fusionbox works actively to support Arts Street--a Denver non-profit that helps young people pursue creative careers. Arts Street mostly employs at-risk youth who are talented but may not learn well in a traditional environment. The organization matches youth up with programs where they can cultivate their creative and job skills in an encouraging and safe environment. Arts Street graduates go on to have successful careers in many industries. Arts Streets provides Fusionbox with a steady stream of bright young interns interested in web design and development, many of whom go on to have successful careers in the industry. Ivy Hastings sits on the Board of Directors of this organization.

The Future of Copywriting

It's no secret that the art of copywriting is changing with the evolution of the web. Fueled by a fast-paced desire to digest information, users no longer read, they scan. Many of the old copywriting "rules" no longer make sense in an online atmosphere.

Changing trends are the future of online copywriting. So how can you make sure users read your content instead of ignoring it? Follow these suggestions to increase user engagement and "stickiness."

- Know your audience. The better you understand your target audience, the better you can connect with user motivations. You must emphasize unique advantages about whatever you're offering and convey this message free of fluff.

- Readers will stop reading when they encounter marketing speak, so don't give them a reason to leave. There's a 5 second rule (that's quickly becoming 3 seconds) in which a user must find what they want. If they don't, they'll abandon the page and add to your "bounce rate." Highlight benefits immediately and address a pain point and it's solution.

- Adopt a more conversational tone with less formality. As online advertising shifts to more alternative media, connecting with readers grows more difficult, especially younger audiences. This demographic values honesty and lacks patience, so a conversational tone is much more effective. Rarely are chances in this world given twice. In an online atmosphere, once you lose the trust of a reader, you can't get it back. Instead, offer the promise of action and cater to Web 2.0 readers' desire for immediate results.

- This translates to formatting as well. Don't write in thick verbose paragraphs. Instead, utilize short sentences and bullet points. Always leave a healthy amount of negative space so you don't overwhelm readers with text.

- Test and test some more. Multivariate testing can reveal what type of copy readers respond best to. A quick test can point you in the right direction and boost your site's conversion rate. Use web site analytics to look at the bounce rate and time on site/page before and after reformatting.

Follow these copywriting guidelines and your words will get noticed in a Web 2.0 atmosphere.

contributed by Nick Yorchak

What is Digital PR?

• “In a first-of-its-kind online study commissioned by Google , researchers discovered a significant correlation between companies in the top organic and sponsored ad placements and consumer brand affinity, brand recall and purchase intent. “ - Enquiro Research – www.enquiro.com

Online PR allows brands to:

• Control their online message by engaging in online conversations

• Build brand awareness by coming up higher in more and varied searches
  

• Online PR allows companies to position themselves as Thought Leaders in designated areas. This increases brand awareness, traffic, awareness, and loyalty

The list of benefits goes on and on. Here are some of the tactics we employ:

• Creating keyword-heavy content to attract searches of all different types

• Developing links to the site from authority sites

• Getting on directories, lists, blogs, finance discussions and talking about Superior

• Creating and submitting press releases to online press distributors

• Developing content and getting published on online industry sites

For more information on social media and online PR, visit our Denver Internet Marketing site at: http://seo.fusionbox.com.

Fusionbox Launches SEO Site

Since we are getting so much Internet Marketing business, we launched a site to share some of the success stories and resources about our services. Our Denver Internet Marketing clients have told me how valuable this information is because it describes search engine marketing techniques in laymen's terms.

Take a look at our SEO website and let us know what you think.

Fire Your SEO

Next month I'm teaching a seminar on search engine marketing at the Chamber of Commerce and how small businesses can take advantage of many free tools (including Blogger) to help boost their search engine ranking.

Many SEOs make search engine marketing seem technical, difficult, and ever-changing. It's really not so. It takes time, and some knowhow, but anyone can do at least part of it. You might not be able to optimize your code, but you can effect your ranking.

If you are interested in this Denver search engine marketing seminar, you can sign up here.

Denver Web Design

Working for a Denver Web Design company is so rewarding. I get the chance to share my knowledge with marketing people in all kinds of industries, from Construction to Software to Restaurants and beyond. And I get to learn about their companies' internet marketing challenges. Sometimes when I meet with potential clients, they want to know if Fusionbox has experience in their vertical. Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don't; it doesn't matter either way. The principals of user centered design, usability, and search engine friendliness are the same across all kinds of businesses.

If you agree with our design sensibility (not everyone does), and our skill sets match your needs, we can create an effective web presence or service for you. Sometimes we aren't a good fit for a client and we tell them so and try to match them with a company that will fill their particular needs. There are quite a few companies out there doing good work. If you are looking for clean, search engine-friendly design, and solid open source software solutions, we're a good fit for you.

Organic Postioning Takes Work

We'ver been really busy at the Denver web design firm Fusionbox that I work for. I haven't been doing much search engine work and it shows. We've gone down from position 5 on organic search engine results to 8 or 10 in the last couple of weeks.

I always tell clients that search engine marketing takes work and maintenance. Now, I just need to follow my own advice. The Denver search engine marketing landscape is a competitive one. In order to stay at the top of our game, we need to work at not only adding content to our site, but by following the other techniques that we teach our own clients.

Writing for the Web

Many of our clients want to write their own copy which is fine if they know that writing for the web is much different from writing a brochure, sales letter, or print ad.

Here are the basics to look for when writing for the web:

Rule #1 - Users don't read, they scan.

Use:
Bolded Items
Short Sentences
Bulleted Lists
Short Paragraphs
Use Headings and Subheadings

Rule #2 - The longer the line of text is horizontally on the page, the harder it is to read and comprehend.

Use:
Narrow column widths (there is a reason newspapers are they way they are
Left aligned text (never right or center align it)

Rule #3 - The good stuff should be above the fold.

Use:
Calls-to-action and offers above the fold
Linked keywords above the fold

Rule #4 - Your content makes or breaks your search engine ranking.

Use:
Keywords and phrases in title, tags, headers
Keywords as far up the page as possible
Often, but not too often
As internal links

Rule #5 - Less is more except when it comes to search engines

Use:
Less than 100 words per page, if possible
Case Studies, Articles, Blogs to add content that everyone may not read but that is important for search engines

Follow these rules and you'll have happy users and high search engine ranking.

Ivy Hastings is a Project Manager at Fusionbox, a Denver Internet Marketing and Web Design Company.

Fusionbox is offering a complimentary review of your site's search engine marketing friendliness.

Contact us to sign up.

Exito Travel Case Study

We recently were contacted by Exito Travel, a company based in Ft. Collins, Colorado that provides travel deals for passengers going to South and Central America. They needed our expertise in design, usability and search engine optimization. Their current site needed some help in these three areas. The goals for the project were to:

• Redesign with a cleaner, more modern look and feel that appeals to their target audience. Use design to drive user actions like performing a flight search, or calling Exito.
• Increase leads by improving the lead generating forms.
• Create a central navigational system that considers key user paths.
• Rewrite the code in order to increase organic search engine ranking.

All of these goals supported increasing site traffic, page views, time spent on the site, and of course leads and bookings.

Here's what we did:

Design
When redesigning a site, Fusionbox always considers the following rules:

• What is the first thing you want a user to do when on your site? How will the design support this critical user action?
• What is the second thing you want a user to do on your site? What are the key user paths and how are we going to make them as efficient and readily available as possible?
• How will we tackle the 30 Second Rule? (Showing users who you are, what you do, and what the user should do next within 30 seconds.)
• How are we going to most effectively use prime real estate - the area of the site above the fold in a user's browser?
• What design look and feel supports the brand and appeals to the target audience?

For Exito Travel, the first thing they wanted users to do was pick up the phone and call them. The second action was to do a flight search. With these key actions in mind, we made the phone number much more visible and placed the flight search tool at the top right of the page where users expect to perform an action (this is according to eyetracking studies).

We tackled the 30 second rule simply by keeping the logo at the top left of the page where the eye goes first, and creating calls-to-action that underscore what Exito does and what the user should do. For example: Book a Flight, Search Group Flights, and Search Flights to Mexico. This way users knew exactly who Exito was, and what option they should use that fit their needs.

In the previous design, important calls-to-action were placed below the fold in 1024x768 meaning most users would completely miss them. This most certainly meant lost leads. We made the most of the real estate above the fold by moving up these important calls-to-action that support key user paths.

The current design had some great elements, and then some that weren't necessarily working toward an end goal. We redesigned to appeal to a young target audience (20-40) by using modern colors, rounded, contemporary, 2.0 looking shapes, and removing stock illustrations.

Here’s the old site:


Here’s the new site:



Usability
Users complained of "getting lost" and not knowing how to get back. To improve usability, we created a central top navigational system that was missing from the previous site so users could navigate around to different sections without getting lost. We also added a breadcrumb trail to help users orient themselves on the site. We developed a left nav that was very clear and also managed to use keywords, i.e., Flights to Mexico, Belize Tours, etc.

We put the all important Booking Tool on every page in the same place so users could take advantage of booking from anywhere on the site. This way, users could be reading about a Tour in Guatemala, and then book that tour immediately on the same page. This increased bookings dramatically.

Before the redesign, the lead generation forms were lengthy and bulking. We recreated the forms and eliminated unnecessary information from the tools. Fields like Mr./Ms./Mrs, Fax Number and auto filling information whenever possible. We also presented the information in the form in steps rather than one long form that is intimidating to users.

Search Engine Improvements
The most dramatic success of redesigning Exito Travel’s site was the boost in site traffic by 50%. This is due to the search improvements we made to the existing code. By optimizing and streamlining the code, Exito Travel’s organic search engine results improved dramatically. We did not launch any other internet marketing strategies, and did not change the content in any way, but Exito still increased unique page views by half.

Fusionbox is a Denver Internet Marketing and web design company.