As I conclude this series on Destination Search Engine Marketing it’s important to answer the question “why?” Why go through the hassle of of building a Destination Website? Obviously, there are thousands of successful online businesses that don’t operate anything that could be considered a “Destination”. If they are successful, should you really go through the extra effort yourself?

When I was just out of high school we had this saying about Denny’s Restaurant. “Nobody plans on going to Denny’s, they just end up there.” That’s was because Denny’s was the only restaurant in town that was open 24 hours (quick the snickering, I grew up in podunk Oregon!). If you were out past 10PM there were simply no other options.

Many websites are like that. People don’t plan on going there, they just end up there. That’s not to suggest that these sites don’t deserve top rankings. Many of them have earned their place by being the best of the sites available in that area . But they haven’t gone so far as to become a destination point for the industry.

That’s where you and Destination SEM come in. These other sites have the top rankings that you want. How do you displace them? In some cases it’s more difficult than others. Sites that have been firmly entrenched in the “we just end up here” space can still be hard to bump aside. But when you build a Destination Website you build a place that your audience goes to. Deliberately. And once you start becoming that destination you start earning those top positions.

Overcoming the competition

Every year the online competition gets stiffer. Thousands upon thousands of new websites are introduced, some of which will be competing against you. Even if you’re firmly established in your #1 position, if you’re just another Denny’s, you can’t expect to hold your spots forever.

You may have done fine thus far, perhaps even dominating your market for a number of years. But if you’re still not the go-to destination for your industry, then those positions are soon going to become a battleground. All it takes is for the next guy to come along with a better website that does a better job of meeting your audience’s needs and expectations. It just takes one website to do a little bit more in delivering a quality user experience and customer satisfaction.

Your top positions are, essentially, hanging by a thread.

If you’re not growing, you’re falling behind. This is because others, looking for an edge into the market place, are looking for your weaknesses that they can exploit. They are looking for an unfilled need, or another way of capturing a piece of your target audience. They know they can only do that by being better and/or unique.

When you build a Destination Website, you’re not waiting for your competition to get a foot hold. Even if you’re the best today, you need to make sure that there is no room for someone to out flank you.

As competition gets more competitive, search engines also become smarter. They are looking for sites that truly provide the competitive advantage. They don’t want to rank sites that are simply better at adding keywords, they want to rank sites that deliver what the searcher is looking for. The sites that will be at the top of the results are those that will have found a way to establish themselves as the go-to destination.

Destination SEM is about building a website that is unique among its peers. It’s about doing what you do so well that people can’t help but to sit up and take notice. It’s about achieving top search engine rankings because your site offers something that the 10,000 or 1,000,000 other keyword competitors can’t.

You may not be able to compete with every site on every level, but you can compete on delivering customer satisfaction. Build your Destination Website and the rankings will follow. It’s not about just achieving top search engine placement, it’s about deserving it.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

The first six building blocks in creating a Destination Website; expert information, usability, website design, unique value proposition, time and presence, and voice are all things that we, more or less, have direct control over. The exception is time. We don’t control time but we do control how we build up our presence over time.

Trust and credibility are also partly in our control but also two of the most difficult things to achieve. We determine whether we move forward in a trustworthy way, and whether or not to act in a credible manner, but no matter how hard we try, we cannot wish those two things into existence. We cannot force someone else to trust us. We cannot tell someone to find us credible and expect them to do so on our word.

We can go about doing all we can to build both trust and credibility, but, in the end, whether we are trusted or not lies not with our own efforts but other people’s perceptions. If you spend months and years showing you can be trusted and proving that you’re credible, but one one knows or believes it to be true, then you just aren’t. These are not physical things that can be touched, they simply must be understood to be true.

How to build trust and credibility

So while we cannot make a few tweaks here or there and suddenly expect to be deemed as credible, there are things that we an do to help build the perception of trust in the minds of our visitors.

Answer phone calls and return emails

I’m amazed at how often I run across businesses that don’t do this. You would think that this is one of the basic no-brainers of doing business. Heck, if you can’t return a call or reply to an email, what signals are you sending to the potential customer? First question: are you a legitimate business? Second question: if I have a problem, who’s going to be there to help me out?

It’s bad enough that potential customers call and get a voice mail during business hours. Worse when those calls are not returned. Rule of thumb, you have about 24 hours to respond to messages and emails before your credibility is questioned. However, if you really want the customer, you should respond much faster. Twenty-four hours is a long time on the web and if you wait too long, you just might have lost them to a competitor.

Keep information secure

Security is important to conveying trust. Whether you are selling products or just capturing leads, visitors need to know that their information is going to be kept secure and it won’t be used for nefarious purposes. Using trust symbols such as Thawte, Better Business Bureau, and HackerSafe can all provide additional feelings of trust. Linking to privacy and security policies from your forms can help as well.

Open communication

Keeping communication open between you and your customers is essential. This is more than just returning calls, but it’s active participation. Both in meeting customers needs but also in anticipating them. It means finding where your audience is and engaging with them in forums, chat rooms, blogs and the like. Keeping communication open gives you opportunity to be honest with your shortfalls, own up to your mistakes, and to present yourself as you truly are, a real person who cares genuinely about the needs of your audience.

Put the customer first

We’ve all heard it said that “the customer is always right.” Now I don’t necessarily believe that’s true in all situations, but the point is, to survive in a customer oriented business, we have to put the customer first. This means going out of your way to ensure the customer is satisfied with their purchase and transaction and if not, finding out what areas they are dissatisfied in and provide a solution to make them satisfied.

Exceed expectations

One of the best ways to build trust and credibility is to simply exceed the expectations of your audience. This can be both easy and difficult. It’s easy to find little ways to go the extra mile. To provide a little extra service or extra benefit. It can be difficult, however, if you over-sell yourself. If you do that then you make it difficult enough just to meet expectations. Look for opportunities to do something your customers or prospects don’t expect. Ways to prove to them that they are special to you.

Of course, all this isn’t just about building perceptions, but proving those perceptions to be true. Creating a perception of trust, only to have it proven false is far worse then never having built the aura of trust to begin with. If you fool visitors into thinking you’re credible, they’ll soon find out you’re not. Both are harder to rebuild than to build in the first place.

Putting them all together

When building a Destination Website, all six other building blocks can be in place, but without this seventh one the first six are meaningless. Usability, voice, design, expert information, etc., all just become part of the ruse. But, if you are truly building up trust that can be trusted and credibility that is credible, the first six building blocks all lend a hand to that end. They all play a role at helping to establish and prove your trustworthiness.

Very successful businesses, both on-and offline have been built on this last building block alone. In fact, only this last one is required for success, though all seven are required to build a Destination Website. Like any good foundation, all seven building blocks provide support for the other six, with trust and credibility being the most crucial piece of the pie.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

One of the easiest ways to set yourself apart from your competitors is by creating a distinct voice through your written content. Whether you realize it or not, every website has a voice. For most businesses, the tone of their online voice is that of whoever wrote their content. Whether written by the site owner, an in-house writer, an SEO, a sub-contracted copywriter, or any such combination, each has contributed to creating the voice of the website.

Unfortunately, this type of collaboration also makes most content virtually indistinguishable from one website to another. Instead of creating a unique voice that is distinct throughout the site, what is created is a voice too diluted to be heard.

That’s not to say that the copy is bad. On the contrary, the copy can be quite effective at educating and engaging the visitor and driving them to the conversion point. Voiceless copy isn’t necessarily bland copy.

Give your website personality

Creating a very distinct voice for your website is really about giving your website a personality. As I said before, you can have great copy that lacks a clear voice that can be heard. But by creating a voice that can be heard clearly and distinctly through each written word on the page you are increasing the level of engagement with your visitor.

No longer is your website just a website that sells something. By giving it a voice you create a unique personality that each visitor is able to identify with. This personality you have developed is then able to do more than just sell your product or service, it becomes one of the main draws that brings visitors back time and time again. The visitor no longer feels like a guest, but instead has become a friend.

This friendship isn’t developed with the people running the website, or the person writing the content, or even with the customer service representatives (though that’s certainly desirable). But, at least initially, the friendship is developed solely with the voice that is speaking through the website. If developed with care, the visitor treats the voice as if it were a living breathing person. It becomes someone they enjoy being with and, depending on the site and the circumstances, someone they can laugh with, cry with, share with, relax with, joke with, be serious with, learn with, and do business with.

Of course all this can only be achieved by creating a voice that truly resonates with your audience. Understanding who your audience is and what type of voice will speak best to them is key to developing an effective voice that goes beyond just engaging your readers with your product or services. To engage them, you must be engaging.

Developing your voice

Before you start developing your web content you first need to determine what kind of voice you want your site to have and how you’ll ultimately deploy it. A voice can really be anything:

• Humorous
• Serious
• Whimsical
• Snarky
• Flowery
• Thoughtful
• Brutally honest
• Down to earth

Chances are good that your mind started speaking to you in each voice as you read the bullet point above. If not, read through it again and let your mind convert the words into examples in your mind.

Just by reading the words you can really see how these voices can really come through with well-written content. You just need to decide what voice it is that will fit best with your company and your audience. You may think that your industry is limited to just one voice, but it all really depends on how well you sell it. Let’s create some quick examples:

Humorous: Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. Your escape from the in-law’s is guaranteed every season of year.

Serious: Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. You’re guaranteed to get power to your vehicle when you need it most.

Whimsical: You want a durable, long-lasting battery? Yeah, we got that. There is no natural force in the world that’ll keep our batteries from doing their job. When you need power, we deliver.

Snarky: When headed to the in-law’s you want to be equipped with one of the most powerful car batteries money can buy. Come hell or high water, you’re getting out of there alive!

Flowery: Our car batteries are designed to withstand whatever forces of nature that heaven above (or you know who below) can throw at it. When you turn that key, you’re vehicle will roar to life without so much as a cough or sputter.

Thoughtful: Let’s face it, batteries only fail at the worst possible time, in the worst possible location. We’ve built reliability into all of our car batteries so they deliver the power you need when you need it to get you to where you would rather be.

Brutally honest: Your boss is a jerk, your wife can be a nag and your friends act like idiots. Everybody needs an escape. Where you escape to is up to you, but how is up to us. Our car batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle any time any where. We’re ready to go when you are.

Down to earth: We know that you can find cheaper car batteries from those other guys. We’re not competing on price, we’re competing on quality. Our batteries are durable, long-lasting and deliver enough power to start any vehicle in the harshest winter environment. Can you really put a price on that kind of reliability?

The one thing you never want in a voice is to be corporate. A corporate voice has zero personality and engages exactly no one but the corporate execs who approve the text. But we also understand that in the world of corporate businesses, sometimes you just can’t get away from it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate one of the voices above. It’s all a matter of how you do it.

If your text has to follow the mundane corporate line, then try to insert a standalone voice. Create an alter ego or use special text boxes that stand out from the corporate drivel on the page. Use these to write short bursts of content in the voice you feel works best. Corporate gets their way with the main content, but the site itself gets a little character. Even a few sentences per page can make a significant difference.

Whatever voice you choose, whichever route you ultimately go with, you want to be consistent throughout the site. This can be a difficult chore as many people often have their hands in the content through years of editing and re-writing. Establish your guidelines up front. If your voice is spelled out and clearly part of the text specifications, then it becomes easier for the voice to be consistent as pages are added and edited over the years.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

If there is one thing that most online businesses need to understand, it’s this: you can’t become an authority overnight. This is especially crucial to come to terms with when you realize that it takes a certain element of “authority” to compete against other websites in the search results.

The whole point of Destination Search Engine Marketing is about achieving rankings because you have earned the right to be there, rather than having outsmarted the search engine algorithm. In non-competitive areas, achieving top rankings often doesn’t take much effort. But when you’re targeting keywords in more competitive fields you’re going up against other websites that have already established themselves in that space. Many of those competitors are are, in fact, the authority for those keywords.

That’s not to say that these sites can’t be uprooted from their firmly established top positions, but to do so you’re going to have to prove that your site is of even higher value to your target audience. And to do that you’ll have to do more than just show up on the playing field.

Building an authority takes time

Almost universally, to become considered as an authority on any topic takes time. People who write topical books that vault to the top of the bestsellers lists often have had years of experience under their belt. Businesses that are known as “the place to go” for certain things have gotten to that point because they have spent years demonstrating to customers what they can achieve.

You can’t set-up a website and expect it to outperform other sites that have been established for a long time. In fact, if anything, it’s much more difficult to do with websites than with brick and mortar stores. Online, it’s not just what people are saying about you now, it’s about what they’ve said about you in the past. Yesterday’s authority can still outperform today’s authority simply because time is working in their favor.

Let’s say Store A was a very popular store for several years. It was the talk of the town. Newspapers wrote reviews and news stories about it, friends told their friends who told their friends. But over time Store A stopped being innovative. They still do what they do well enough, but not exceptionally well. Positive newspapers reviews came to a trickle and friends stopped telling their friends as often.

You see an opportunity here so you open up Store B. You offer something similar as Store A but add the excitement and innovation back into the game. So now people start talking about your store, newspapers start writing reviews and news stories and friends start telling their friends who tell their friends.

Over a few month period you’ve firmly established yourself in the field. Everybody who’s visited your store know you’re better than Store A in all aspects. By all accounts, you would be the store that deserves the better search engine rankings. The problem is, Store A was the go-to destination for several years before you even came along. All the news stories, reviews and word of mouth they achieved over those years is still working hard for them when it comes to the search engine algorithms.

Why is that? Because online, news stories, reviews, word of mouth mentions and the like are all permanent. These are done in the form of links, and as long as those new stories, reviews and word of mouth mentions remain online with active links, they continue to be votes for Site A. In fact, even current mentions of how Store A isn’t as great as it once was can also be seen as favorable to the algorithms.

So how do you surpass this former authority in the search results? You have to continue to get reviews, news stories, and word of mouth mentions. You have to build upon your relevance and hope that the relevance of the other site diminishes. You have to focus on building your site up and let all the goodwill from your visitors accumulate into more and more links.

And that takes time.

Building an authority takes presence

Time alone is not enough to earn search engine rankings, you have to be sure you are building up your presence as an authority. Sure, you can be an authority, you can have great content and provide a fantastic user experience but unless you’re able to establish your presence among your target audience, none of that will make any difference.

In our example above we noted that both Site A and Site B were able to achieve favorable reviews, news stories and excellent word of mouth. Those things were helping those sites establish their presence as an authority. They were crucial.

Let’s look at the above story a different way. Let’s say Store A is still considered the go-to authority. People still love Store A and over years it’s accumulated many favorable reviews, news stories, word of mouth, etc.

Along you come with Store B. You found a weakness in Store A and fill that gap. You feel that you are superior to Store A and you believe that others will too. The problem is, people are not that interested in going to a new store. Store A is comfortable. They know where it is, they understand how it works, they know how to move around and find what they want from it.

You’ve been able to improve upon all the things that people like about Store A, you just got to let people know about it. You invite people to come to your store in hopes of getting some positive reviews, news stories and word of mouth. After a few months you’ve been able to get some of those things happening, but nowhere near the amount of reviews, positive mentions and word of mouth that Store A continues to get.

This is because you have yet to truly establish yourself as a contender in the field. Those that find you find you favorable to the competition, but so far only a few are finding you. You don’t have enough presence yet to draw the people that’ll write the big news stories, publish the reviews that get in front of more eyeballs, and spread the word to the bigger crowds.

You can see where where time and presence go hand in hand. Presence is often a slow build, unless you have an already established name behind you. Why do you think companies try to get celebrity endorsements? The celebrity endorsement helps them build a presence that they wouldn’t otherwise have. They’ve circumvented time by buying the presence.

How to become an authority

There are two ways to become an authority. One way, as I mentioned above, is to buy it. You can’t buy time, but you can buy presence. Online this is done by purchasing links, blog reviews, etc. If you’re making an outright purchase then you really don’t have to establish yourself as an authority, you’re paying other people to do it for you.

The other way to become an authority is to earn it. Earning it, of course, takes time. But over time, do the following:

Establish credibility: The more customers you serve and the better job you do of meeting their needs, the more credible you’ll be. You have to prove yourself as a legitimate business that truly understands the needs and wants of your target audience.

Customer service: It’s not enough to provide a product or service to your customers, you actually have to meet their wants and needs. You have to go out of your way to ensure customer satisfaction.

Build relationships: As you serve your customers, build a relationship with them. You can do this by keeping the doors of communication open, whether through a blog, product reviews, support line, etc. Listen to their needs and work hard to fill any areas that are unmet.

Nurture business ties: You can go a long way doing nothing more than just serving your audience, but you’ll go a lot further if you nurture your relationships with others in the industry. They don’t have to be direct competitors, maybe even distributors or suppliers, but either way, build up those ties as they can be beneficial to you.

Get testimonials: Testimonials and product reviews go a long way to building up your presence and authority. Look for opportunities to get testimonials that can be published on your website and encourage your satisfied customers to write reviews at the appropriate places.

There is also a third way to build authority, and that is a combination of the first two. Attempting to purchase it outright is counter-intuitive to Destination SEM and does nothing to build a Destination Website that visitors flock to. On the other hand, if you are establishing yourself as an authority in the truest sense, purchasing a little exposure never hurts.

I’m not suggesting you go out and buy a bunch of crappy links. Quite the opposite. Just as some companies use celebrity endorsements, you can look for ways to get the word out about your Destination Website. Hire a firm to do some social media marketing, create some link worthy material, optimize your site for targeted keyword phrases, start making industry contacts and establishing links, etc.

The goal here isn’t to circumvent the process of becoming an authority. It’s about becoming an authority and finding ways to reduce the amount of time it takes for others and the search engines to know this. You don’t have to be in business for years to deserve top rankings, but time can be an essential momentum builder.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

In its early years, the Internet was the great leveler of businesses. Anybody could jump online, start a business and hope to make a little money. Today, it’s not so easy as it was, but unfortunately people still have that same mindset. It doesn’t take a lot of money to start a successful business online, but it still does take a plan. And that’s where many online businesses go wrong.

I talk to many website owners who are unable to put to words what it is that distinguishes them from their competitors. They don’t know what makes them unique or have a reason why someone should buy from them rather than somebody else. This is a shame.

Running a business online is really no different than anywhere else. Just because it’s easier to “build your store” doesn’t mean that you’ll be successful. You still need to create a solid business plan and develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) if you really want to succeed online. In fact, this is where building a business online may actually be more difficult than offline.

When building a business off-line, location is everything. In fact, you see business after business after business that are really no different from each other, just in different parts of town. Due to each businesses location, each can survive and even be successful. But generally, that’s only until another similar business sets itself up in close proximity that has established it’s UVP.

You soon find that because this new business has given themselves a unique advantage over the other, they begin to draw business away from the one that’s been around a while. The same thing happens online, but it’s only magnified.

See, where offline businesses can succeed simply by filling a need in a unique location, even in a town with dozens or hundreds of other similar businesses, online there really is no similar geographical limitations. Your business is not just competing with businesses in your area, but quite possibly you’re competing with businesses all over the world. And if you’re not unique or remarkable in any way, if nothing that sets you apart, then you’re just another one of a million other businesses doing the same thing.

No business being in business

On- or offline, if you don’t have a UVP then you really don’t have any business being in business. Your business may be valid, it may be genuine, it may be profitable, it may meet a need, but if there are others out there doing the same as you, you need to find something that sets you apart. Something that gives people a reason to buy from you rather than from “them.”

A UVP answerers the question, “why you?” Every shopper asks this question, whether consciously or unconsciously, before they make a purchase. If they have shopped with you before then it’s easier to answer that question and purchase again. But it’s not an automatic lock. If they find another store that can answer that question more precisely then it’s still possible to lose your customers to that other store. If attracting new customers, this “why you?” question has to be satisfied before they’ll continue through the purchase process.

That question can be answered in many ways, and usually includes many different answers of varying degree of importance. But one of the easiest ways to answer that question is to give your visitors something unique to focus on. Make sure they know what it is about you that makes you different from the next shop.

Before we go any further, let’s take note of what unique doesn’t mean. Two things come to mind off the top of my head: low prices and customer service. Sorry, there just isn’t anything unique about these things unless you can definitively show that you do have the absolute lowest prices and/or the best customer service. And most likely you can’t. Which explains why these points don’t constitute a UVP: almost anybody can claim them for themselves… and most do.

I talked to one business owner that believed that he truly had the best customer service in his industry. He hadn’t really sold anything yet as he was just getting off the ground, but that’s what he wanted to build his business on. That’s certainly a great goal, the problem with this approach as a UVP is that when dealing with transactions online, customer service is almost synonymous with problems that need to be fixed, not necessarily problem avoidance.

In a brick and mortar store, an associate can walk up to a person and help them find what they are looking for. Online, you have to wait to be contacted before you can help someone. And getting contacted usually only occurs when something has gone wrong. Of course there is nothing wrong with fixing people’s problems and helping them find solutions, but you don’t necessarily want to build a business model on that unless you expect there to be a lot of problems.

Online, good customer service is necessary, but it’s not unique. It certainly can help you stand out if and when problems arise, but you want something that will help you stand out long before things get to that point.

What makes you remarkable?

So ask yourself, what is it that makes you truly remarkable? What are you doing that you can claim all for yourself? The possibilities here are virtually limitless. And to find something that you can claim as your own can be as simple as looking at your competitors to find an area where they are either week or absent.

Below are a few examples of some generic UVPs. You can use these to help get your creative juices flowing. As far as Unique Value Propositions go, these are not all that unique, but they can help you start moving in the right direction.

Unlimited customer support: This is one that’s good for industries where customer support is going to be expected or needed, such as computer software or hardware. Buying from you means that I know I can call anytime, for the life of the product, to get assistance. This provides great comfort knowing that I’ll be able to resolve problems without incurring any additional fees.

Similar UVPs: free upgrades, 24/7 customers support, free technical support, free installation assistance, free tutorial DVDs with purchase, etc.

Hassle-free returns: There are some products that are more prone to be returned than others. Making a point to let people know that they can return a product simply and easily for a full refund or store credit can be a great unique selling point.

Similar UVPs: Free-exchanges up to a year, trade the old for discount on the new, etc.

Offer proprietary products: Offering products that are proprietary is a great way to be unique among your competition. Especially if you can keep those products from being duplicated or knocked off, or if your products are demonstratively superior to the competition.

Similar UVPs: Products personally tested for durability, hand selected from the manufacturer, unique designs not offered to other re-sellers, etc.

Free shipping: Many companies offer free shipping so make sure you are truly unique in this… and that another competitor can’t jump in and offer this too. To make this work, not only do you have to ship for free, but your prices must still be as low as the next guys.

Similar UVPs: free re-download of digital products, receive a free hardcopy with your digital version, free overnight shipping, free shipping with x amount purchase, etc.

Every industry has its own possibilities so it will be up to you to find something in your industry that’s not already being done, or a need that’s going unmet. The best UVPs are those that your competitors are unwilling to duplicate or finding a niche that you can be the first to dominate. There will be others that come in to steal your thunder, but you have the advantage having been first.

If you already have an established business but you haven’t given much thought to your UVP, now is the time. You simply need to find a unique way of doing what you are already doing. It’s can be easy for established businesses to find a UVP because you already have a customer base. Now you just need to do something that will surprise them and get them talking. Establishing a UVP can be a great way to get some fresh word of mouth going about your business.

But whether you’re just starting or have been in business for years, building and growing your business online takes a little something special. Find out what it is that you can do to be special. Find a way to stand out from your competitors. Look for gaps that can be filled or ways to do what you do differently. Unless you’re doing something wrong, standing head and shoulders above the competition is never a bad thing.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

Just because you have a well-designed site doesn’t mean that it is sufficiently usable. The web is littered with great looking sites that have a whole mess of usability problems. But it’s also true that just because a website employs effective usability strategies that it’s not necessarily pleasing on the eyes.

We’ve all seen those direct mail-like landing pages, the ones that scroll on forever telling you just how great the product is that you need to buy. Usually they have a big red heading, some pictures, testimonials and a lot of words highlighted to draw your eye to them. As ugly goes, these pages pretty much invented the thing, but you know what, they are extremely effective. And a lot of that is in their simplicity.

But these pages are meant to do one thing, and one thing only. Get a conversion. They are designed to sell the visitor on something. On the other hand, as we have been discussing over the past couple of weeks, a Destination Website is meant to engage the visitor. Yes, they can also sell products or services, but they go about it in an entirely different way.

The design of a website is an important aspect of building a destination that people want to return to time and time again. But don’t go out and spend all kinds of money for the most current, up-to-date website design with all the whistles and bells. Stop for a second to truly consider what kind of website design you really need.

Evaluate your design

There are many levels of great website design. What works for one industry will absolutely not work for another. What looks good here, won’t look good there. It’s not about having the most advanced website that has all it’s pretty in place, but rather having the website design that meets, and hopefully exceeds, the industry standards.

You need to first do your research. Check out all the sites in your industry. Not just your top competitors, but those further down the food chain. See what kind of functionality they have, what colors they use, read their content and investigate their special offerings (whitepapers, newsletters, etc.)

No, you’re not going to emulate any site exactly, but this will give you an idea of where your industry is in terms of website design and functionality. Take that information and then move forward to ensure that your site is, at the very least, as good as the industry average.

That’s not much of a benchmark, but it’s a starting point. If you find that your site design is below average then you need to do something about it. If your site is at or just above average, well there is no reason to settle for that, there but it’s not critically important that you do something about it right this moment.

Of course, everybody thinks their website is above average. Get a second opinion. Get a third opinion. Have unbiased individuals give you an honest assessment of your site compared to your competitors. That’s the only way to truly know if your site is at, above or below the competitor’s average.

Of course, we’re just talking the bare minimum here. But building a Destination Website isn’t about being minimum, or average, it’s about being exceptional. And to be truly exceptional then your site design should be as good as, or better than, the best in your industry.

Again, best can be subjective so get some unbiased opinions to help you out. Find out what it is about the best site that makes it the best. Is it the colors, the layout, the navigation, the architecture, the content, or the added tools and benefits? Once you know what makes another site’s design exceptional (and it may be more than one thing) you then need to find out where that site’s weaknesses are.

If you just try to emulate another site’s strengths then you’ll find that you’re likely to also emulate all their weaknesses. So you need to find out what those are so you can, at the very least, match their design strengths, but go a step further and excel in areas where they are week. This will not only help you build a better site, but will help you build a Destination Website.

Look for ways to improve

Of course, with websites getting re-designed on a continual basis, it doesn’t make sense to employ a major re-design every time someone else does. There are two things you can do.

First, always be looking for ways to improve. Just because your designers have wrapped up this project and moved on to others doesn’t mean that there are areas of your site design that couldn’t be made better. Most of the time you won’t know until after the site has been functional for a while anyway. But find those areas that you can improve upon visually and functionally and budget those into your marketing costs.

Second, it’s OK to not always be the absolute best. Sooner or later someone is going to design a better site than you. Just keep improving upon yours and wait to implement a major re-design until it’s absolutely necessary, or, until you find yourself getting closer to “average” than “exceptional”. I think every site should go through a significant overhaul every few years anyway. Just keep an eye on your industry and always be improving.

One thing to keep in mind, when your website is poorly designed, or even appears to be compared to others in your industry, you lack credibility. Given the option between you and someone else, most people are going to gravitate to the better looking website as it gives the appearance of being more professional, and therefore, more trustworthy.

The one thing you don’t want to have is a site that is so poorly developed that it looks like a hobby site. Unless, of course, that’s all it really is. Just like an effective brick and mortar business has to consider its location and the appearance of their store, you must do the same with your site design. You’re not some kid selling lemonade on the side of the road, so don’t act like it.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:
Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

In the last installment of this series I defined Destination Search Engine Marketing as the process of creating a desired destination point for anyone looking for the product, services, or information you provide. With that as the starting point I further discussed what it takes for you to become that destination point and the effects that marketing campaigns have on sites that are not “Destination Websites.”

One of the things many businesses struggle with is how to really make their site stand out. Many of us have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of online competitors. Some are serious competition, some not-so serious, and some not yet even on the radar, but will soon become major players for “our” space. The truth is, everybody wants to be #1 and there is only one #1 position.

Why do you really deserve to be #1?

Destination SEM isn’t about getting that #1 position. With more and more space in the “blended” search results being given to video, images, blogs, etc. getting the #1 position isn’t a priority. What is a priority is getting increased visibility for your important keywords. You don’t have to be #1 to be successful, but you do have to stand out from your competition.

Many businesses I talk to want to be #1 but simply cannot tell me why they deserve to be. They don’t know what it is about themselves that truly sets them apart from their other online competitors. What makes them stand out? Why would the search engines give them preference over the dozens, or even hundreds of other competitors looking to gain tracking in the same space?

The simple reason for that should be because you, as a business, provide something that cannot be found anywhere else.

That’s not as far reaching as it sounds, and it certainly isn’t all that difficult. It just takes a lot of time and creativity. There really is no limit to what you can do that will set you apart, but here are four quick points to consider to help you toward your destination:

Offer something unique: It’s not an issue that you do the same thing that dozens of others do. You just want to do it differently. In a marketplace filled with the same products from site to site, you can find products or create a niche that currently isn’t being tapped into. Here you have a chance to become an expert in a very specialized field where there are no other experts.

Be interesting: Blandness abounds on the web. That gives you an opportunity to create yourself an identity that stands out from the rest. You can do this with your website design, the content on your pages, or how you package your products or services. Don’t be afraid to break the boundaries for your industry.

Be compelling: There are a number of places on the web to get information. But very few places to find current, up to date or little-known nuggest. By providing these tidbits of data you prove to your audience that you keep current with trends and tools that are pertinent to the service or products you sell. Package this information in a way that it easy to find and even easier to digest and you’ll build a very strong customer base.

Provide something valuable: Become the de facto expert and go-to site for your industry. Build a vast resource of information that goes beyond just the products or services you offer specifically. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of competing products or services, add links to other resources, write helpful tutorials and upload how-to articles and videos. By providing value to your visitors you create a site that can be trusted and build a long-term customer base.

Visitors want to love you. Help them!

There are several key areas that you can focus on with your website that will help you create something unique, special and wonderful for your visitors and that will give them something to believe in!

Content: Make your content stand out. Provide information that can’t be found elsewhere in ways that isn’t provided anywhere. Make it fun, enjoyable and educational.

Presentation: Don’t just use words. Use words, graphics, images and anything else you can to help you get your point across in an engaging way.

Interaction: Interact with your audience. Don’t create a one-way communication but find ways to get them participating in the conversation. Use comments, feedback forms, email and general discussion to make them feel a part of the conversation.

Resources: Provide additional resources. Link out to other sites, articles, and items of interest. Build your reputation for knowing where the other experts are.

On-site experience: Overall, you want them to walk away having had a genuine experience on your site. The more involved, engaged and invested they are in your site the better experience they’ll have all together.

The bottom line is if you are just doing what hundreds of others are doing, offering nothing truly unique, then you don’t deserve to be #1. In fact, if you’re no different than anybody else then you deserve no special recognition whatsoever. But if you want top exposure, if you want to stand out from all of your competitors, then you have to make the effort to go beyond what everybody else is doing.

No amount of optimization can make you unique among your peers. That’s something you have to do for yourself.

Read more about Destination Search Engine Marketing:

Part I: Do you Deserve Top Search Rankings?
Part II: What Would Sudden Exposure Get You?
Part III: Standing Out in a Sea of Thousands
Part IV: It’s Not Just Marketing as Usual

Seven Building Blocks of a Destination Website
#1: Expert Information
#1b: Seven Types of Expert Information
#2: Usability
#3: Website Design
#4: Unique Value Proposition
#5: Time and Presence
#6: Voice
#7: Trust and Credibility

Conclusion: Why Destination Search Engine Marketing is So Essential

Performing a complete website review is rarely easy. I’ve found that you can start a site analysis intending to spend just a few minutes looking over it only to find that it quickly spirals into a multi-hour marathon of research. Complete website reviews can be time consuming and often produce many more hours of work beyond that.

One of the problems is that people tend want to skip right to search engine optimization forgetting that users matter. Many people want to rush into the marketing without realizing that the website itself is part of the marketing process. This is a shame.

Investing in SEO and PPC marketing, without having performed a thorough analysis of your website is largely an exercise in vain (and yes, even new websites often need a usability analysis!) You don’t have to have a perfectly usable site in order to rank well in search engines, but it is increasingly difficult to rank a site without a strong usability focus, unless you’re in a very niche industry. And even if you do rank well, without good usability you’re losing more customers than you need or want to be losing.

Where do you start in performing a usability review?

One of the hurdles many people have in performing a usability review of their own site is that they don’t know where to start. Over the past several months I’ve written a number of posts outlining various usability and website architectural elements that should be a part of any detailed review process. But going through each of those can take many hours.
Being able to do a quick-scan through a site can be a very handy skill. It will help you uncover some glaring issues without having to invest hours upon hours of time all at once. After you have performed your quick scan and have fixed the bigger issues, you then have an opportunity to go back and perform a more thorough analysis.

Here is what you need to know in order to do a quickie usability review. I’ve also provided links to my previous posts that provide you with a lot more detail and will help you perform a more thorough analysis as time permits.

19 steps for a quickie usability review

Website navigation

Site wide navigation, including top, bottom and side navigation, should be as user-friendly as possible, ensuring that your visitors find what they expect when they click a navigation link. Check to make sure your navigation shows a logical flow of topics, subtopics and subject matter within the site and it enhances the user’s ability to find key information.

Content

The content of your website is your #1 sales tool. Content weighs heavily both in terms of how users interact with your website as well as how visitors are able to determine what you offer and what each page of your website is about. Always write for your visitors. Give them the information they need in a way that spurs them to action.

Website Design

How the site is developed, along with the underlying coding structure, plays a significant role on whether your site meets the usability requirements of your audience. Check to make sure the overall design looks clean and doesn’t feel cluttered. Colors and fonts should be easy on the eyes and should enhance rather than distract from the visitors experience.

Home Page

Your home page is the single most crucial page of your site. It is essentially your store front. Your home page should identify your site and direct your visitors to the most important information, the information they are most likely coming to your site for. Keep it clean and focused and drive your visitors quickly to the sections that are more apt for selling.

About Us Page

Visitors that find their way to your About Us page tend to have a higher conversion rate than those that don’t. This is where the visitor gets to know you and your company. Make sure the page contains information on company history, biographies of managers and your mission statement.

Contact Us Page

The Contact Us page could be considered the absolutely most important page on your site. Even if the rest of your site succeeds in the goals, if visitors fail to find the information they need to contact you then you will bring their shopping experience to a screeching halt. Always have multiple contact options and be sure web forms are working properly. Having a phone number listed is also extremely important.

Product Pages

Product pages maintain considerable strategic importance for ecommerce websites. Your visitors enter your product pages not only with an intention to buy something (the most desired end action) but to also learn, research and compare what you have against a competitor. Your product pages must provide enough information to help you visitors make the best decision possible. Be sure that calls to action, such as “add to cart” are readily available along with relevant pricing and shipping info.

Shopping Cart

While shopping car abandonment cannot be completely eliminated, it can be dramatically reduced. It is a failure of the shopping cart page itself that leads visitors to abandon their items which they do, in fact, wish to have. Make sure your shopping cart navigation buttons (update cart, checkout, etc.) are easily found. If you have multiple steps in the check out process, outline those steps and be sure to answer any questions regarding security and shipping.

Forms and Errors

If your web forms don’t function properly or it’s difficult to correct information input errors then you can lose a lot of visitors from frustration alone. Be sure to make inputting data easy by labeling fields properly, keep required information to a minimum and make sure errors are easy to understand and correct.

On -Site Search

Implementing a search function improperly is often a greater source of frustration than not having one altogether. My rule of thumb is if you can’t deliver perfect results 80% of the time then you’re probably better off not having an on-site search. Pay attention to the location of the search bar, place it where it is typically expected, and test, test and test some more to ensure that the results are as expected. Misspell products and search for products you know you don’t carry just to make sure you can deliver relevant results for products you do carry.

Help and FAQ Pages

Building up your Help and FAQ pages can greatly enhance your visitor’s experience with your website, giving them much needed information and possibly saving them a phone call. Keep these pages focused on providing information that isn’t available anywhere else and make sure they are easy to find and easy to read.

Login and My Account Pages

Sites that require users to log in to access certain information and/or purchase products add an additional layer of potential complication to the usability process. Think carefully before requiring visitors to login. Do you really need that? If not, don’t force it. Be sure to provide the benefits of creating an account and link to pages that outline your security assurances.

Privacy and Security Issues

Your website’s privacy information and security settings can be significant hurdles when it comes to gaining trust with your visitors. Be sure you provide links to these pages where best suited and applicable. Be sure to provide as much information you can that gives assurances that their information is safe.

Site Maps

Site maps provide a dual purpose: They provide search engine spiders easy access to all of your site pages and they provide site visitors easy access to all of your site pages. The best advice is to make sure all your site map files stay current and are easy to find.

Audience Engagement

Customer engagement goes beyond just getting the customer’s attention, you must keep their attention. This can be done by providing your visitors near immediate gratification. Your content needs to get their attention, tell them what they need to purchase and link out to other important pages that can help them make the purchase decision.

Customer Satisfaction

Above all things you need to make sure your website provides strong customer satisfaction. You can do this by making sure information is easy to find, eliminate broken links and keep pages and images relatively small so they don’t take long to load.

Point of Purchase

Since the “purchase” is the ultimate conversion, it is imperative that you remove as many obstacles from the customer’s research-to-buy cycle as possible. Make sure your products are available or otherwise noted. Adding product reviews and up-sell opportunities can lend to increased sales.

Visitor Trust

Your ability to convince your visitors that yours is a trustworthy business is one of the key components to getting visitors to convert into customers. Always providing prompt and complete responses to visitor inquiries. It’s also valuable to provide multiple delivery options, discounts and allow your customers to provide feedback.

General Issues

The selling process-from initial interest to the very last checkout page-must be able to grab shopper’s attention and proceed to drive them through to the finalization of the sale. In other words, once you have them, you don’t want to lose them. Keep your content organized and clutter-free, make sure the site looks good across the most popular browsers and make sure that you follow up after the sale.

Overall Accessibility

As more and more users gain access to the web, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that your website is accessible to all, not just a few. Be sure your website is constructed in a way that it is accessible to mobile phones, text based browsers and screen readers.

The one thing to understand about usability is that nothing is set in stone. You can go point by point of any usability guide and still get it wrong. You can overcome that by testing. Whenever a change is made test the results. Make sure it has the intended effect and you get the results you want. If it doesn’t help, change it back and try something else. Over time you’ll incrementally improve overall site usability and find conversion rates climbing as each successful change is implemented.