Google has been making many updates.  Have you heard?  Don't worry; the search engine optimization world closely tracks the search giant's moves.  We must.  There's too much invested in the process.  Our consumers depend on us to do a good job for them.  Your consumers depend on you too.

One of my jobs as an online marketer is suggesting best practices.  Obviously, I follow the evolution of Google closely; it's both interesting and warranted to intelligently address cohorts and readers.  One of the best suggestions I can give (after being in marketing for a while) is minding your target…which is not Google rankings (rank is a means to an end).  Rank is only one piece of the puzzle.  As far as revenue, nothing's happening unless consumers do something.  The Google rank is just an ad after all.

It's Sunday; hopefully you have some time to think of the forest through the trees before the busy workweek begins tomorrow.  I would like business owners to invest the time in thinking about the following.

About Us
Imagine you just met a potential business partner.  You would want to know more about them, wouldn't you?  I would.  I do.  Can consumers get all desired information from your about us page?  I've seen a number of business sites with sad about us pages, offering no information about executives, brand missions, and employees.  That's a big red flag for me.  Why is your brand hiding?  Do you have something to hide?  Competition is fierce.  Why should consumers partner with your brand when you don't indicate 'who' your brand is?

Take time with your about us page.  People like to know about executives, employees, and their thoughts on business practices.  Consumers want to know more about the brand.  More transparency by businesses facilitates feelings of comfort and familiarity for consumers.

Examples of good about us pages:

http://www.distilled.net/about/

Notice the About Us experience is multi-faceted.  There are pictures, personality exhibited, people smiling and described, etc.  You get a clear picture of the business and team members.  Get your about us page there.

Page Bounce Rates
It's quite simple to throw up Web pages.  However, each page should have a definitive purpose.  I understand all businesses want to make money from the Web; yet, understand the purpose of Web sites.  A good Web site is a resource for interested parties.  It should be a place of information and ongoing interaction.  What are the bounce rates of your pages?  Check pages where people spend little time.  Why could this be?  What orchestration decisions were made that could be bettered, perpetuating a visit?  What site pages are most sticky?  Why?  Would it be wise to engineer pages like that more often?

High bounce rates tell me that a Web property is highly optimized for engines but offer little value or embrace for consumers, as if browsers were captivated by rank or meta tags, heading toward a Web property only to find it ineffectively 'walking the talk,' not 'living up to its preliminary advertisement.'

This bounce rate post offers a ton of resources on the topic.

Please be mindful of best practices.  Aligning your search engine optimization campaign with best practices eliminates the worry of Google updates.  Do be concerned (always) with customer updates; constantly think about improving your Web site and digital communications for your customers.

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