1.) Don’t post when no one is listening.

Similar to Twitter, people don’t typically get to use social networking during business hours.  Initially many businesses were posting all the time.  Now, however, they have realized the error in this logic.  If you work 9-5, you aren’t going to notice a dozen posts that a company puts up during that time.  You will only read and respond when you are no longer working.  Statistics show that when a business posts content before or after typical business hours get as much as a 20% increase in responses.  You need your posts to be at the top of newsfeeds and other notable places when people are actually there to read them.  In this save vein, like Twitter, remember that people are more open to socializing – online and offline – on the weekends.  If you have posts you really want people to check out, then post them when they are most likely to be seen – on the weekend.

2.) “Like us.”

Don’t be afraid to come right out and request that people Like your Facebook page.  If they want to, they will.  If not, they won’t.  But when you ask them to you at least put the thought in their mind.  It’s not too bold to ask.  In fact, if you don’t, some people might wonder if you are aware of the Like option or if your business even cares if it is Liked.  People also appreciate the directness.  It shows that you know what you’re talking about what it means to be Liked multiple times.

3.) Skip the business lingo.

Facebook is a social site.  Stress on the social part.  They don’t come to be preached to or told what to buy.  They don’t go to Facebook to be hit with a bunch of advertisements all at once.  Instead, skip out on the company rhetoric and go with a softer sell.  A gentler approach to handling people will make them appreciate your company more.  Likewise, when you use words like “sweepstakes” or “promotion” when you have something going on, people tend to skip right over it.  It sounds too much like you’re trying to sell something.  Instead, use “event,” “win,” or even “free” if you can.

In terms of product recommendation, it depends upon what you sell.  Do you offer services?  What kind?  Is there anything you can really offer to someone after they buy or express interest in another service?  Do you sell various products?  How many?  Do you have enough services or products to make at least more than one recommendation?

Places like Amazon and Google do product recommendations, but one of the issues faced with these systems is item churn speed.  For example, if someone bought a book several years ago from Amazon and they are still offering similar books today, then that would be poor item churn.  Today, Google throws out millions of ideas all the time to millions of users and has excellent item churn.  Each time a person visits they can see fresh ideas and new items that they may express interest in.  If you can offer new ideas at a decent rate, then it may be worth it.

As for other systems, such as Facebook’s Like system or Google’s +1 format, these are the sort of designs that you should definitely implement.  Rather than recommending products, people are recommending things your business posts or offers.  These systems tend to be tied into the social networks, so there’s nothing you have to worry about when it comes to implementing them.  Don’t be afraid to ask people to +1 something or Like a post.  The more this happens, the more people will see your business overall, which is exactly what you want.

If it costs money to craft a new recommendation system into your site, you may want to take some time to think about it.  By using some of the social versions instead, you can earn more customers overall.  It may be more beneficial to take this route and then encourage them to sign up for email alerts, which you can then use to offer them various new products and ideas – complete with a discount or other enticement to bring them back to your business door.

People like recommendations.  They like options.  They love possibilities.  Whether their friend tells them about a new book they read, or a co-worker mentions a product switch they made, people take these notes into account the next time they head out to shop.

The problem with many advertisements and marketers is that they don’t truly take the consumer into consideration.  Instead they go by what they think they know, which is often data and various statistics.  However, people are much more than numbers.  Many companies have realized this and either begun with a different design in mind or changed their selling techniques to better reflect what consumers are looking for.

A few good examples include Method, Moosejaw, and Zappos.com.  Method is a successful eco-friendly cleaning product company.  But instead of trying what everyone else has done, they took a completely different direction with their company.  They aimed to put their products in chic-looking bottles and containers to appeal to people who did cleaning.  They went green to avoid harsh chemicals and noxious fumes.  People flocked to Method and other big name companies like Clorox were forced to take notice – and to change their own designs.  Method doesn’t have any television advertising at all and instead only makes a few fun ads here and there that they use social networking to promote.

Moosejaw focuses on outdoor apparel and supplies.  People are always clamoring for great customer service and Moosejaw delivers it on multiple levels.  You can call, email, or chat online with representatives to get your issues resolved quickly and efficiently.  Moosejaw employees know how to make people happy by not only getting issues fixed, but making sure customers have a positive experience, whether that means joking with them or throwing in a little something extra like free shipping.

Zappos.com knew about the benefit of free shipping for all before many other companies would ever consider it.  Customers get free shipping, no strings attached, and within 4-5 business days.  They don’t even make you pay for shipping if you have to return something.

Instead of just advertising and telling customers what they should be buying, it’s time to think just like them.  After all, you already are a consumer yourself!  What would you want to see in a company that yours currently does not offer?  What changes can you make that will make people talk about you long after their personal experience with you is over?

1. Participate – Facebook, Twitter, your own company blog. All of these are social media platforms that require participation. You can’t simply throw content at the wall in any of these places and hope it sticks. Instead, you need to make a steady commitment to joining the conversation and stay with it to help make social media effective for your business.
2. Add A Multi-Media Component – It’s not just about words online these days. Images, videos and sound clips play a rich role in adding to a user’s overall experience, and this is true on every platform. You probably already see pictures of your friends’ children on Facebook every day, right? Wouldn’t a quick video clip of your new product line help customers see why they should drop in more frequently?
3. Order the Combo Platter – If you integrate your online advertising with your offline advertising, you have a winning combination. Adding your Facebook page or your blog’s URL to your business cards or your next ad is going to help you create the community you’re looking for, and that means they can join you again and again to help get that conversation flowing.

• Learn which browsers are hitting your site most often. This may not seem like the most helpful aspect, but it can help you understand a bit about your base. If they’re coming from Safari or Internet Explorer, you know you have an audience who needs a simple, easy-to-navigate site. Moreover, if many visitors use a browser that doesn’t work well with your site, you may want to make some updates to help keep them onboard with your company.

• Learn more about what makes people leave. A few clicks through an analytics report can help you understand which parts of your site are sending people somewhere else entirely. Maybe you need to make some updates to a particular page. Alternately, maybe you should scrap some of your stuff and move ahead with new sections of your site.

• Find out if mobile users are visiting you. Mobile technology is fast becoming an essential part of the web landscape, and understanding how many mobile users are hitting your site each day is an essential feature of analytics. If you have a high percentage of mobile users, shifting your site to ensure it’s as friendly to them as it is to other users could be an important sales tactic.

We’re long past the days where throwing a site online was enough. Measuring your efforts is the only way to get more for what you’re doing every day.

• Keep Your Visitors Coming Back For More – Do you really want to visit a site that stays the same absolutely all of the time? It’s like going to see a movie hundreds of times back to back. The chances are good that you aren’t going to see anything you missed after the first few times, and the same can be true of a website. Once a visitor learns everything he or she needs to know, why should they return if you’re not offering anything new.
• Better Content Increases Your Page Rank – If you’re constantly offering updated content, you have a better shot at a good page rank on the major search engines. Google spiders are getting smarter with every update, and continually providing a solid, keyword friendly experience for your viewers is only going to help your efforts.
• Make Your Content Reflect Your Company – If you’re changing your service offerings or your product line or even your location, people need to know. You can’t just stick with the same stuff you had posted when you initially opened. Your business is changing and growing, and your website should be too!

Relying on static content to keep both search engines and visitors interested in your company isn’t going to get you the rave reviews you’re looking for. Your best bet is to continually update with fresh content that will keep everyone happy, search engine spiders included.

Optimize For Customers

While many sites have a fairly narrow focus on certain keywords, keeping your customers in mind at all times is an absolute must. Yep, those keywords are still important, but the keywords aren’t going to pay your bills. Your customers are, so make certain that you write and design for them, not for search engines. Algorithms are going to come and go, but customers are going to stick with you if you focus on their needs again and again.

Mobile Friendly Sites Are a Must

New data indicates that most people spend at least 3 hours a day surfing the web from their phones and tablets, and if your site is difficult to navigate from the mobile platform, you may want to consider doing a bit of repair. Don’t forget that’s mobile friendly sites aren’t just about great design, either. Good content is a part of this package, too. If your content takes too long to reach the point you’re trying to make or you haven’t bothered to include a call to action, you may have a problem with mobile users. They’ll get bored fast and head somewhere else.

Don’t Forget About Social Media

Sure, people have been harping on it for years, but it really is an absolute must these days. From LinkedIn to Twitter to Facebook, people are spending hours on social media sites every day, and participating in that conversation has to be part of your efforts. Don’t forget that this doesn’t just mean throwing a note about a big sale up on your Facebook wall now and then. It means actually becoming part of the conversation if you want to make it work well.

While the movement is toward selling and marketing online, the underlying premise of business remains the same – you cannot make money, nor be successful unless you convince the customer to buy.  There are a few rules that can help to ensure that the website design assists in accomplishing this goal.

Let the design speak to the product Whether selling a twenty dollar massage or a five hundred thousand dollar car, the layout, color pallet and even font selections should match your product.  The first should be elegant, soft, warm, and inviting, while the latter would be better suited by a hard, crisp, cool color pallet and flashy, hi-tech design elements.

Keep the Product in the Forefront While informative pieces, company biographies, and eye-catching images might be standard on a website, it should always be the product that is highlighted above all else.  If massage is what you are selling, the images, the text, and every other element of the site should showcase massage.

Let the Product Be Seen If you are selling something –even in a catalog of other items – and there is no image, then it isn’t going to sell.  An image alone, even, isn’t enough.  High quality photos that can be zoomed for easy viewing are essential for success.

Keep the Road Map Simple Just because the piece of information a person seeks is on your website somewhere, doesn’t mean that the person is going to hunt to find it.  In most cases if the answer to his or her question is not clearly displayed, the buyer will move on to another site.  This can include a clear path to the shopping cart, a clearly displayed price, or even an easy to use search bar for finding a product quickly.

Make the Path Back Apparent Buyers, once they find a site that they like will commonly search through the various products that are available on it before finally buying whatever it was that they came for in the first place.  This is a good thing for the retailer and should be encouraged.  However, if the initial product cannot be easily found again, then the sale might be lost.  The use of clear categories and menus will help keep that path clear.

Of course, no one believes that these small start-ups will compete with the giants of online networking, but they can serve particular purposes for a specific portion of the population and, in that way, can become quite successful.  The key to making this happen is finding a niche and sticking with it.  Facebook is a very poor example of this.  This giant hit the market when it was very fresh and saw triumph by opening the door to all ages, sexes, races, and ethnicities.

Where to Look If you have a hosting account or server, along with about five hundred dollars, you too can be the proud parent of a social networking start-up.  Even open source has entered the arena, with Joomla CMS releasing the first version of Joomunity, which is entirely free code to be interpreted and reconfigured as users lease.  Freelance programmers are always willing to help with the code and design.  However, with a bubble building and so many massive players already on the field, success isn’t going to come easily.  It takes the ability to think outside the box, develop revolutionary ideas, and, most importantly, to find that niche that has a problem that only your new social networking sight can solve.

Legal Ramifications Perhaps the most exciting news for those armed with an idea, a handful of cash, and a little designated web space, is that experts believe that there is very little Facebook (and other social networking giants) could do legally to copycats.  Without identical coding, the sites would vary enough that the courts would be very inclined to dismiss.

To Begin If you think you have what it takes, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself.  Who are you aiming to serve? What problem do they have that can’t be answered by the existing sites – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.? How do you plan to spread the word about your ingenious solution?  If it does take off, how big can it get?  And, do you have the wherewithal to support it, if it does?

The Palette Color plays a very important part in setting the right tone.   The colors of a website can play a huge role in the first impressions of a potential customer.  A site selling children’s shoes, for instance, might make appropriate use of primary colors.  However, those same flashy reds, yellows, and blues would likely look out of place on a banking site.

Images This is one of the most obvious connections to the intended audience.  Depending on the product or service for sale, many companies will choose images that feature people that resemble their target audiences.  It is also important to remember that the size of images and videos can determine how fast a page loads.  For audiences of an older generation, or others who are less likely to have high speed internet connection, it might be better to use fewer of these fillers.

Keywords and Content This, too, is pretty obviously tied to the intended audience.  A website that sells high end physics lab equipment should be worded in a different way than a site offering high school tutoring services.  Similarly, the targeted population should also help a person create keywords to be used throughout that text.  If selling in a localized area, then use of nearby city names in conjunction with the product or service would be wise, and specialized products for a unique audience should be tied to specific terms that would relate.

These are just a few of the considerations that should be made when designing a website to entice your potential customers or clients.  The use of social media integration, particular font styles, payment methods, and even the level of interaction should be based primarily on how that subsection of the overall market would respond to such things.  Failure to keep the general, beliefs, habits, and tendencies of your audience in mind during the design process is like admitting defeat before the website it ever launched.