Add Facebook's "Like" Button in Blogger's Classic Templates

Adding Facebook's "Like" button to your blog is a great way to allow your content out and about for a night on the town. Any users that are logged into Facebook can visit your blog and immediately post your article to their Profile - thus showing up in their friends' News Feeds and (hopefully) increasing your readership base! If you're using a classic template in Blogger, here's how to add the button to each one of your posts.

First, get the HTML code for the "Like" button from Facebook. Depending on how much space you want to allocate, you can adjust width, text, and other settings. For example, here on the BEM Blog, we've specified not to show profile pictures of people who have Liked our content - this saves a bit of space for each post.

You'll be asked to enter your "URL to Like" - just put your blog's URL for right now. In a second, we'll modify this so it references each individual post's permalink. Hit "Get code" and you should see something like:

Go ahead and copy the HTML code under "iframe" - this code doesn't require the use of Facebook's Javascript SDK (that's a whole 'nother blog!) and can be dropped directly into your classic Blogger template.

Log into Blogger and click on the "Template" tab, which should bring up the HTML code running your blog's template. Here, we're looking to insert this iFrame code at the end of each post, so scroll down (or hit CTRL + F to find) and look for something like "$BlogItemBody$, "p class=post-footer", or "PostedByAuthorNickname" - this code typically signifies the end of an individual blog post and tells Blogger to include these common elements every time you post something.

On our blog, we've inserted the button between the author's name & permalink and the comments area. Go ahead and paste your iFrame code within this general location (remembering to insert a few breaks if needed, so it doesn't appear on the same line as your Author name):

Now we've got the button in place, but it's still referencing our blog's homepage, rather than the individual post URL - if we want people to share our content on Facebook, we want them to link to that blog post that they loved so much! So we're going to remove that URL from the iFrame code:

...and replace it with "<$BlogItemPermalinkURL$>" - this is some Blogger code that will automatically fill in the permalink to that particular post. Make sure to leave the rest of the iFrame code untouched!

Now, just one more step! Your button should be squared away now, but we need to add some meta data in the top of your template that tells Facebook what to display in users' News Feeds and Profiles when your content is Liked.

Scroll to the top of your template and look in the head section - you should see some title tags and possibly some additional meta data. We're going to add 3 lines of code before the body of the template:

• <meta property="og:title" content="<$BlogPageTitle$>"/>
• <meta property="og:site_name" content="The Name of Your Blog"/>
• <meta property="og:image" content="URL of your logo or another picture"/>

The first line tells Facebook to use the title of your page to display within Profiles and News Feeds - aka, "John's Blog - What's the Deal With Facebook?" or what have you. The "<$BlogPageTitle$>" code tells Blogger to automatically fill in this area with your page title, so don't change this line.

The second line is the name of your site or blog, which enables Facebook to display "Johnny Social likes "Blog Post" on John's Blog". The third line is any picture you would want displayed alongside your content on Facebook - this should be at least 50x50 and have a maximum aspect ratio of 3:1.

And that should do it! There's lots more information out there on leveraging Facebook's Open Graph system, but this is an easy way to let your readers quickly and easily share your content.

Top 5 Signs You Picked The WRONG Web Design Company

Top 5 Signs You Picked the WRONG Web Design Company

5. The Company’s portfolio is on cocktail napkins – Seriously, when choosing a web designer, be it an individual or company, make sure you see their portfolio. Look for a portfolio that has a wide variety of designs. If the designs look the same, so will your site. Look for fresh examples. Have the sites been built lately as well as over time?

4. The Company ‘also’ does web sites – Graphic design, as it applies to the internet is a unique animal. The elements that make for good graphic print design may or may not apply to your website design. Web design needs to allow for the dynamic nature of Internet viewing across multiple browser types, versions and screen resolutions. Make sure you have chosen someone who is a specialist in graphic design for the web.

3. The Company doesn’t need your creative input – Certainly we need to allow the people we employ to do a specific job – do their job, yet NOBODY knows your business better than you do. A quality web design experience must include input from you throughout the process to ensure creative direction accomplishes your marketing goals. Pick a company that invites you to share in the process from start to finish.

2. The Company doesn’t DO Deadlines – Creative work needs time to develop, true enough. However, the best designer has a process and timeline in place to help you meet your deadlines. The only thing worse than getting handed a website design you didn’t approve (see #3), is getting handed that website a year after it was scheduled to be completed. You deserve to be kept informed on the process and timeline throughout your project. Who needs more surprises?

1. The Company gives family members and friends as references – While it is good to have good working relationships with your kin, having verifiable business references that demonstrate the company’s ability to serve people over time is a must. Look for a variety of industry types and company sizes among the references – which, by the way, you shouldn’t have to ask for.

Web Site Optimizing & SEO Mistakes ('Cause Tonight We're Optimizing Like It's 1996)

It's rare that I see this nowadays, but please avoid doing this (for a variety of very good reasons).

GOOD: providing a link to a non-Flash version of your website:



BAD: This really doesn't work anymore.

Search Engine Marketing & SEO Tips for MSN's Bing

Microsoft's massive marketing engine has brought the world of search into the public eye with the launch of Bing. Bing has been labeled as not a search engine, but rather a "decision engine" - that is, capable of delivering intelligent results, rather than simply aggregated data. It's MSN's latest attempt to take on Google, and Bing is equipped with some pretty fierce weaponry for the job.

Attracting Traffic In A Sea of Options

From a business standpoint, the advent of engines like Bing and Google means a dramatic shift in the amount of information available to customers. Marketers and webmasters will have to adapt to users having a much larger set of options and greater access to detailed information. A great example is Bing's "Related Searches" options displayed on their results page.

Bing provides not only related searches, but provides subsets of similar information. Here, a search for "1966 GTO" yields multiple links to more specific data (click to enlarge).

Case in point: your vintage car dealership may hold the number 1 position on the search results page for the term "1966 GTO." In Google, this is great! Related searches are listed at the bottom of Google's search results page, and anyone looking for anything dealing with a '66 GTO is likely to click through to your site - simply because it's in the first position. But in Bing, the related searches are listed directly alongside the results! Someone looking for "1966 GTO body parts" may see that term displayed directly to the left of your website. Since that's what they're really looking for, they click, and boom - they're off on another, more relevant search, and your #1 position listing goes sadly unclicked. More than ever before, it's important to anticipate (as specifically as possible) what people are truly seeking, and optimize around that.

Learning How Bing Ranks Pages

But for many folks, the big question is still the same: how can I rank highly in Bing search results? Early analysis of Bing shows that when determining ranking, the engine is actually much more strict than MSN's previous incarnation, and perhaps even harsher than Google! One report indicates that Bing places lots of emphasis on domain age - that is, how long your website has been around.

Oddly enough, Bing seems to pay less attention to incoming links (other sites linking to your page). This is contrary to Google's appreciation for a keyword-rich, widely distributed network of incoming links. This ranking technique, among other innovations, made Google into the search juggernaut it is today - it's quite interesting to see Bing taking a different approach.

There's also some evidence that page titles, text-heavy pages, and even lots of outbound links to other sites (a no-no for Google) have much greater importance in Bing than other engines. Of course, this is essentially a brand new engine attempting to topple the search behemoth - expect to see some volatility in Bing's algorithms (as well as Google and Yahoo!) as the dust clears.

Avoiding the Internet Billboard - Incentivizing Your Website

One question that's sure to come up when any website owner is dissatisfied with their traffic numbers/conversion numbers/what have you is The Big One: "How can I draw more traffic?" And, if they're thinking with a bit of strategy behind them, this question will hopefully be, "How can I draw more qualified traffic?"

As any wet-behind-the-ears web marketer knows, it's really not that hard to increase a site's hits. The trick is attracting the right people and incentivizing.

Incentivizing. Offering value to your visitors. You must do it. Your website is not a billboard.

This seems to be a staggeringly obvious, "well, DUH" statement, but it can be difficult to move past the idea of the website as a simple, traditional sales tool. It's a brochure on a computer, right? An internet commercial, if you will.

But the problem with not incentivizing your website is this: people don't have to be there. When you're driving, plopped in front of the TV, or otherwise trapped by the advertising powers-that-be, the biggest advantage they have is that really...you can't do much about it! You're a captive audience, and you will watch this commercial for mops and that's that.

And of course, that's not how the internet works. Users are drawn to your site because they need something - information, a product or service, entertainment. They're actively seeking out what you've got!

This is the big advantage that a lot of internet-based advertising has over the traditional, shotgun-style mass market approach: pay-per-click ads and search engine optimization, when done properly, will ensure that the right audience finds your site on their own. And therein, simultaneously, a huge weakness - the user is in control! They're not in front of the TV and the remote is on the other couch, or stuck in traffic and staring at a billboard; all they need to do is click the "Back" button.

Here's where incentivizing comes in - you've got an interested, qualified prospect hitting your page. Chances are, you've got some competitors that offer a similar product, service, or content. Providing visitors with an incentive to do what you want them to do will immediately give you a step up over other sites that just say, "Well, here's our stuff. NOW GIVE ME SOME MONEY."

So what are some incentives? Well, that depends on what you're looking for from your website.

1. Lead Generation. What services you provide, site design, how you present the company, etc - all these things are very basic and certainly affect the number of leads you get. However, between 2 similar companies, all things being equal, the one that provides an incentive for filling out a "Contact Us" form will probably get more leads. These incentives can be coupons, white papers, 50% off first month's service, etc - it really doesn't have to be much! The idea of getting something for free is a pretty big draw in itself.
2. Lots of traffic. As always, nothing pulls traffic like quality content. Controversial, informative, entertaining, useful - solid content is, by far, the best way to increase and maintain visitor numbers. And don't assume that just because you sell bumpers for industrial graders that you can't have interesting content! Start a blog and post - show your passion through your writing, and people with similar interests will come.
3. Product Sales. This goes without saying - price and free stuff have a lot of pull here! "Limited Time Reduced Shipping", "Free Widget with Every Gadget Purchased" - again, with all other things being equal, incentivizing the purchase will bring more transactions your way.

In closing - take a serious look at your website. Get into the perspective of a first-time visitor - they've found your site, they're already interested in what you've got. What's the value you're offering the user? Why should they submit their info for your sales team? Why should they spend time browsing your site if all you've got on every page is sales jargon but nothing they can use? Where's the value?

Just as no one would volunteer for more commercials or more billboards along their morning commute, no one will spend time on a website that offers them nothing in return. Delivering solid content or other incentives will show visitors something of value, and keep them coming back.

The One Club

The One Club is a graphic designer's dream! It acknowledges and features awards showcasing the best work in print, radio, television, design, interactive, and new media. This is an interesting site to browse through if you need inspiration on new media campaigns you may have in your future.

Here are last year's winners:

• One Show Winners


• One Show Interactive Winners


• One Show Design Winners

The 2009 First-Cut and Finalists are out! Click here to view them.


Enjoy your stay at The One Club!

Have Fun with Fonts!

Urban Fonts is a hip place to get inspiration for any of your design needs. Whether it's logo design, fashion, or simply a font for use on fun craft projects this summer... this is a great place to find free fonts for designers and/or people of all ages & backgrounds.

Contact page audit

Have you looked at the contact page on your web site lately? Give it a quick audit. Here is a list of things to look for:

• Make sure you have a contact page and it's easy to get to from every page on your web site.
  
• Your contact page should have a form for people to fill out versus just mailto links to specific email accounts. Contact forms are easier for people to fill out, allow you to obtain consistent information from all contacts, and forms work for everyone (mailto links can sometimes cause problems with gmail and other web based email clients).
  
• Have fields for all the information you want people to provide. However, only require the minimum info you need to collect. Requiring too many fields to be entered can significantly decrease your conversion rate on this page. You can always find out the other info you need when you follow up with them.
  
• Clearly identify the fields you require to be filled out.
  
• Research shows that listing the fields in a one column format is easier for people to fill out and results in higher conversion rates.
  
• Try to keep the form and the submit button "above the fold" so people don't need to scroll to complete it.
  
• Be sure to list your address, phone and other related contact data on the contact us page.
  
• Consider adding directions, links to GoogleMaps or provide users ability to SMS - text message directions to their mobile phone.
  
• Audit the page visitor get once they fill out the form, oftentimes referred to as the "thank you page". It should say thanks and set expectations for when you will be contacting them. Consider adding graphics and links to key pages on your site.
  
• If you are using Google Analytics, set this page up as a goal or funnel (as appropriate). Keep an eye on how many people get to this page and how many complete this page.
  
• Do some A/B testing and make adjustments to layout and content on this page to improve the results. Improvements on this page can deliver big returns.

Mobile Website 101 - Making Your Site (gasp) USEFUL!

It goes without saying that mobile search and data usage is exploding - Comscore reports that in 2008, 20.8 million U.S. subscribers used a search function from their mobile device. "But wait," you might say. "That's only 9.2% of total U.S. cellular service subscribers!" That's true (and strangely accurate!), but it's a whopping 68% more than 2007! Revenues and ad spend are dramatically increasing as well, and as more and more mobile devices ship with full HTML-capable web browsers included, you can expect to see the dividing line between traditional web search and mobile use blur and overlap.

Clearly, this is a venue that any forward-thinking company needs to appear in. But rather than simply throwing their current website's content into a mobile-friendly format, how can businesses take advantage of this new medium in a strategic way? Hmm - the wind is just right for a checklist!

1. The Biggest Mistake. DO NOT DO NOT simply throw your entire website at mobile users. If you own a car dealership, there's no reason to slow down the visitor's site experience by steering them towards a testimonials page. That's great for your traditional website, where visitors will spend more time browsing around, but for mobile pages, you want to keep the focus on fast, easily actionable content. Ask yourself: why would people need to get to your site on a mobile phone? Think of time-sensitive issues - in the above car dealership example, why not offer a form to schedule maintenance? How about an option to sign up for a SMS (text) campaign to remind customers of oil changes and tire rotations? Remember...
2. Your site is not a billboard. This is actually really important to traditional websites as well, but essential to mobile sites. Your site has to actually offer something of perceived value, otherwise...no traffic! No one would voluntarily sign up for longer commercial breaks on TV - why would they go to your site unless it gives them something that they need? Tone down the sales pitch and focus on offering users something that will benefit them more immediately.
3. Functional issues - not everyone has an iPhone! Eventually, mobile web browsers will be powerful enough to navigate every website in the same way your PC's browser does - but it's not there yet. While it's true that most users of smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry, etc.) spend a great deal of time browsing on their device, only designing your site for them is ignoring a huge portion of potential visitors. Some basic functional guidelines:
   -No Javascript, such as in navigation menus; some handsets don't render this correctly.
   -No Flash elements, pop-ups or other graphically-intense objects - remember, you want your site to be FAST.
   -Include numbers by each navigation option for users navigating via their phone's keypad. It's much easier to hit "7" rather than the "down" arrow 6 times.
   -Make sure text is big enough to be read on smaller displays. Keep scrolling (horizontal and vertical) to a minimum.
   
4. Who are you targeting? Google likes to divide mobile users into 3 distinct categories, based on usage patterns. What can you offer these groups? Keep in mind, there is a bit of overlap here - and, as always with mobile, your focus should be on easily accessible, relevant content.
   

• Repetitive Now - these folks are constantly checking the same places for the most recent info. These are things like stocks, sports scores, breaking news, etc.
• Bored Now - users that surf simply because there's nothing else to do. They're on the subway, the bus, the plane, that 3-hour accounting meeting. Games, trivia, and other easily digestible content really appeals to this group
• Urgent Now - the focus for these users is on functionality and efficiency; they need information NOW, with no frills or roadblocks. This can include things like weather, directions, and most local searches.

As always, the focus here is on strategic implementation - without a overall plan of what you want to offer and who you want to target, your mobile initiative could be crippled from the start.

Bounce Rates Primer - Top 7 Common Issues and Solutions

Web marketers really like bounce rate data. And what's not to like? In the massive sea of data that analytics software can provide nowadays, the bounce rate for any given web page is one number that can immediately indicate a problem or a success. It works across all levels of visitor traffic, and can generally be applied to almost any website. As Malinda said in her previous post explaining bounce rates, it really is the golden metric - for a general overview of what constitutes a "bounce" and why it's a solid metric to use, definitely read through that first.

Now, as explained , when a visitor "bounces", they arrive at your website and immediately leave. It's usually a good indicator that whatever they saw, they didn't like. What I'd like to do in this post is go over some common causes of high bounce rates for certain pages, and some actions you can take to reduce these numbers.

Generally, a bounce rate over 40% - 45% is something you definitely want to check out. If people are treating your site like a trampoline, run through this list.

1. Remember your statistics class? Of course you do! Begin by applying a Bayesian inference model - OK, just kidding, but the big takeaway from stats is that you really need actionable, significant data. If you've got a 80% bounce rate on a page with 10 visits, don't freak out! Do some digging if need be, but drawing any sort of conclusion from such a small sample pool won't do you much good. Build up some data first!
   
   
2. Maybe it's NOT so bad. What's being displayed on the page in question? Remember, most analytics programs consider a visit to be a bounce if they don't click through to any other part of the site - it's entirely possible that the visitor got everything they came for without needing to browse deeper. You'll generally see high bounce rates for:
   -pages with an offline call-to-action (IE, a phone number)
   -pages that only link out to another domain (counted as a bounce, since the visitor is leaving www.yoursite.com)
   -pages that many people have set as their browser's homepage
   -blogs (most folks tune in to read the newer entries; for these, it's better to examine returning visitors vs. new visitors).
   
   
3. MAN that's ugly. For designers, this is always hard to take, but look at your site through a visitor's eyes - how attractive is the site? Look at color scheme, graphics, font size and choice, content placement, etc...does the site make you want to hang around? Could you remove maybe one or two of the flashing "CLICK THE BUTTON!" banner ads? Run it by your friends & co-workers to get some fresh eyes on it.
   
   
4. Functional Issues. Closely related to design, site usability is paramount! Some very basic features are still being ignored by some websites - is the navigation easy to use? Do links lead to functioning pages? Is the text size big enough to read? Does the logo at the top of the page lead back to the homepage?
   
   For a great general checklist covering details like these, check out Larisa Thomason's Web Site Usability Checklist over at NetMechanic.
   
   
5. Technical Issues. Perhaps the most basic, but still forgotten often! Does the page work? Find out what links/search engines are driving most of your visitors - then take that route yourself! If the page in question has dynamically-generated content, make sure the page is getting populated with the right information.
   
   And folks...it's 2009. Pop-ups, pop-unders, etc...let's just set aside that ugly chapter in web marketing and move along. Nothing to see here!
   
   
6. CONTENT. Really, after doing the housekeeping of the previous steps, this is what it comes down to. Most analytics software allows you to segment your visitors, so try to narrow down which sources are sending you traffic with the highest bounce rate:
   
   -For PPC traffic, make sure your keywords, ad text, and landing pages all align and are relevant to each other - the more they match, the better. If someone types in "tennis balls", make sure your displayed ad and the landing page are about tennis balls, not tennis rackets.
   -For visitors from organic search results, examine the keywords that visitors came in on. Make sure the page is optimized for the correct keywords. Most search engines are getting better about indexing pages correctly, but on-page content still has a lot to do with it; if folks are coming to your tennis balls page, make sure they're not finding it by typing in "tennis nets."
   -For traffic coming from links on other sites, be sure that your link is surrounded by the appropriate keywords and content. Your bounce rate for the tennis balls page is gonna be pretty high if someone gets there via a baseball equipment site.

These are some problems we look for right off the bat when we spot a high bounce rate. Run through this checklist thoroughly and hopefully you'll see that bounce rate drop!

The Supermarket Approach to Web Design

It doesn't matter which supermarket you shop in: From Ohio to South Carolina (and probably every state in the East), every supermarket chain is laid out in a logical order so, no matter what city or State you're in, you can quickly find what you came for. Whether the store is laid out from left-to-right or right-to-left the most common order is produce, canned goods, dry goods, toiletries and medicines, paper goods, frozen foods with the dairy section and beer last and meat along the back wall. Yet each supermarket is decorated in a way that distinguishes it's interior from the competitor down the street. What sets them apart? Service, price, convenience and quality selections.

Although you probably never thought of your website in this way before, you probably should consider it now. Shoppers, whether they walk into a department store, a supermarket, or surf into a website, usually don't want to have to hunt for what they came in for: The advertised products or services. If you make your visitors dig through page after page trying to find your shipping info or return policy or the product or service they specifically entered your site for, chances are they'll leave and never come back.

You don't have to settle for a vanilla or chocolate flavored cookie-cutter website but you should insist that it be structured in such a way that visitors to your site can see what you offer in about 3 seconds: That's the average time it takes for a visitor to make a decision to stay or go. Make sure your site is easily navigable, not overwhelmingly busy, and simple to check out of with your shipping info, contact information and return policy obvious. If you have a contact form for gathering leads, let the visitor know exactly what you intend to do with their information on the contact page itself and how soon you intend to get back in touch. Don't make your visitors have to leave the page they're on to find information pertinent to the sale or submitting contact information.

Convenience, great service, and an uncomplicated shopping experience will put your shoppers at ease and set your site apart from others offering the same or nearly the same product or service at the same price. You'll have visitors who stay longer, buy from you and return for more purchases in the future. Better yet, they may tell their friends and co-workers about your site and everyone knows that word-of-mouth advertising is the best advertisement.

BEM Web Design Team and North Carolina 2011

Last Monday afternoon the BEM web design team learned that the US Figure Skating Organization had selected Greensboro, North Carolina as the official site of the 2011 US Figure Skating Championships. As exciting as that news is, we were also thrilled that BEM Interactive was selected as the Interactive Agency for the event.


The new web site needed to be designed, created and published in 2 days ... in time for the Wednesday press conference. The team on this project did a fabulous job. A digital shoutout goes to Patrice, Kathryn, Julie and Morris for jumping in and delivering a great site in an unbelievable timeframe.

Be sure to check it out! The official page for the 2011 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

This event is a wonderful win for North Carolina and Greensboro. Many people have been working a long time to bring this event to NC. Among those that have lead this effort are Hill Carrow and Faryn Driscoll. Greensboro and North Carolina thank you !

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him submit a "Contact Us" form

...namely because they lack opposable thumbs and the capacity for higher thought. But in the realm of website contact forms, this is a problem many people face at some point. You've got the site, you've got the marketing campaigns, and you're seeing the traffic - so why aren't folks filling out your HTML forms? Where are the leads?

Google Analytics gives us any number of powerful tools to observe visitor behavior while they're browsing a website. If you're getting low bounce rates (hmm? Bounce rates explained by Malinda) and high average page views and time spent on your site, there may be something that's turning people off before they get around to providing their info. Here's a quick checklist to run through before you decide to abandon user-submitted lead generation forms ("Contact Us", "Request More Info", and so on).

Does it actually work?

Try and try again! A smart web designer already tests across multiple browsers and in multiple screen resolutions, but this applies to HTML form submissions as well. Run a few test submissions to make sure there's not a breakdown somewhere between the user's input and that data showing up in the right place.

Are your tracking codes inserted? Are they correct?

Leads and newsletter sign-ups are great, but they don't mean much if you can't track where they're coming from! If you're using an analytics package or tracking software that requires code to be inserted, make sure it's inserted in the right location in the page, and that all unique IDs are correct. One of the great things we do here at BEM Interactive is track leads from marketing campaign to conversion; for folks accustomed to the vague data provided by traditional advertising campaigns, this is a wonderful insight.

Sooo...what happens next?

There's nothing I hate more than filling out a form requesting more information and being sent...riiiight back to the site's homepage. Tell the user what they can expect - a phone call, an invite to a webinar, a pillow case embroidered with your company logo - whatever it is, let them know (and if possible, create anticipation for it).

Don't overdo it.

I know, I know - it's a lot easier to sell someone a new car if you know what they hate about their current one, but try to resist the temptation to ask visitors for too much information. They're already taking the time to provide you with potential revenue; the last thing you want to do is drive off potential customers once they've come this far. If you simply must have more information, then make sure to explain why you need it, but if possible, get the essential data and save the details for later on in the selling process.

And perhaps most important...

Where's the motivation?

Internet users have come a long way. Sure, people still fall for the deposed Nigerian prince scam e-mails, but most folks can spot a sales pitch from aways off. You wouldn't sign up for extra TV commercials or more billboards on your morning commute, so ask yourself: what am I offering people?

Invariably, the most popular websites are informative or entertaining, not sales pitches. It works the same way with user submission forms. Is there some incentive for people to send me their information? This can be almost anything, so check out what your competition is offering - then offer your visitors something better.

Online lead generation is a cornerstone of web marketing, so make sure you're doing all you can to utilize it. Follow this checklist and you'll show that horse who's boss.

Google Analytics Bounce Rate – The Golden Metric

Google Analytics is one of the best web analytics tools available. It provides so much information about your web site traffic and visitors. This is not only its strength, but can also be a hindrance to new users of Google Analytics.

There are so many really good metrics to look at you can easily get lost in the sea of information. But the Bounce Rate is by far the best metric for validating the content of your site and the relevance of your advertising campaigns.

So what does Google Analytics (GA) define as a “bounce”? If a visitor comes to your site and doesn’t look beyond the page they landed on, it’s considered a bounce. In essence, they took a peek at a single page on the site and decided this is not the place they wanted to be.

The Bounce Rate Percentage is simply a metric that compares the number of single page visits (bounces) to the total visits. GA gives you an overall bounce rate for your site; however, I find that looking at this metric at the page level is best.

What should your bounce rate be? Obviously every site is different and your bounce rate can vary depending on several factors. Generally a bounce rate of less than 30% shouldn’t give too much cause for alarm. Alternatively, a bounce rate in excess of 50% should send you hunting for the culprit. Again, look at your bounce rate at the page level, not the overall site level.

What can cause a high bounce rate?

• Poor content on the landing page
• Technical browser errors on the landing page
• Disconnect between an ad campaign promise and the content on the site
• Poor selection of target audience for an ad campaign

Start improving your bounce rate by picking 3 pages on your site with the highest bounce. Taking 3 or 4 pages at a time can keep this otherwise daunting task a bit less overwhelming.

(To explore bounce rates in more detail, check out Jeremy's blog Bounce Rate Primer: 7 Common Issues or contact us today.)

Get Kuler with Color

As a designer at BEM, I always have my eye out for the latest trends in the web design publishing world. Here is your chance to get you associated with Kuler colors to help enhance your Newsletters, Websites, and print designs!

If you need a great way to color match without going to your graphic designer to ask, or if you are going through a re-branding and trying to brainstorm new colors...try Kuler! Adobe offers users a way of contributing color combinations of any theme you can imagine…from the Beach to Sunsets, you name it - you can color match, too! So, if you are color blind or need a little help making your home or designs “pop,” choose Kuler colors!