SAN MARCOS, CA March 29, 2012 – modMACRO, a web design and internet marketing firm, today announced it has earned admittance to the Google Engage for Agencies program. Membership grants modMACRO access to exclusive Google resources and advertising coupons that can be used for client accounts.

“Membership in the Engage for Agencies program further expands our affiliation with Google and our dedication to our small business clients”, said Matt Smith, Owner of modMACRO. “Engage for Agencies is specifically designed for firms working with small businesses. And small business is our passion. Google’s Engage program with help us to deliver even better advertising results for our clients, which means more customers for them.”

Google Engage provides access to training, exclusive tools and additional guidance and support needed to run more effective AdWords campaigns. Google’s reporting and optimization tools help to maximize a client’s return on their advertising investment.

AdWords is Google’s online advertising program that displays ads in conjunction with Google search results and across the web. Using AdWords, customers can connect with potential customers who are looking for their products and services. Unlike traditional advertising, advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked. This is called pay-per-click, or PPC.

About modMACRO:

modMACRO is an independent web design and internet marketing firm that works with small businesses, start-ups and non-profit organizations in Southern California and across the United States. The company has grown into a full-service web firm providing everything from web design and development and search engine optimization to email marketing, advertising and social media consulting. For more information, visit the modMACRO website at http://www.modmacro.com/.

Press Contact:
Matt Smith
modMACRO
matt@modmacro.com
858-774-4924

© Copyright 2012, modMACRO. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.

We’re excited to announce that Relief Market has launched. We’re working hard to make the website a resource that truly helps our local communities. And the system was designed to quickly scale up as interest and participation grows. Learn more…

The Metrics

For this study, I’ve defined the “ease of access” to a company’s contact information as two components. First, the number of clicks, from the home page, it takes to get to a page where contact info is provided. And second, the amount of time it takes to find the contact info.

The Rules

To normalize the results and make it easy for website-to-website comparisons, I did not include the time it takes for pages to load. In other words, the clock starts once the home page is loaded. From there it’s a matter of scanning the page as a first time visitor, finding contact info, or finding a link to access contact info. Again, the page load times were not included.

The Study

I looked at several websites, both non-profit organizations and for-profit companies, to glean some averages and establish a baseline for future conversations and decision-making. I only tested sites where I really was a first time visitor to avoid skewing the data.

The Results

For the websites tested, the average number of clicks to find contact information is provided in the chart below. The non-profit sites included organization like churches, museums, etc. The for-profit companies were a diverse group from window companies and auto repair shops, to lawyers, web designers, doctors and hobby stores. The non-profit site had a mean average of 0.63 clicks, with the most common (the mode) being 1 click from the home page. The for-profit sites had a mean of only 0.37 clicks, 41% less than the non-profits. Also worth noting, the mode (most common) for the companies was 0 clicks.

For the same websites, the average amount of time, in seconds, to find the contact information is provided in the chart below. The non-profit organizations had a mean time of 5.1 seconds, while the for-profit companies had an average of just 2.7 seconds, 47% faster.

Conclusions

Non-profit organizations do not consider easy access to contact info as much as for-profit companies when they design their site.

Given these results, one might conclude that the time required to find contact info on non-profit sites was longer simply as a result of more clicks. While that is certainly a major factor, another important characteristic was its placement. On for-profit sites it was often much easier to see contact info as it was set apart using color or a graphic, or changes in font size or style. In scanning a page for contact info, it really helps when it stands out right away. In some cases, I had to scan the page more than once before I found it, even when it was on the home page.

Although page load times were omitted in this study, it’s worth mentioning how annoying it is to wait for Flash intros and splash pages to load. It’s also distracting and annoying when videos automatically start playing. Don’t bother a potential customer with extra junk, or make them wait when they just want your phone number or address.

For-profit sites took an average of 2.7 seconds to find the contact info, but with many of them the phone number was at the top of the home page. In other words, it took 0 seconds and 0 clicks to find it. The phone number was often the very first thing that stood out once the page loaded. If being contacted is critically important to your business, you should consider doing something similar.

Take Action

Ask a few friends or family members to visit your website for the first time and see how long it takes them to find your contact info. Then compare it to the averages I’ve provided. Ask them to comment on how well the info stood out and if it was clearly identified. Obviously, the fewer the clicks the better, but I think the total time required is even more important as it also includes the time to find links, plus the time to scan a page and identify the contact info.

The pitch is always the same. First they identify themselves as calling from a generic company name, usually something like “Data Movers” or “Search Performance” (however, upon further investigation I’ve found that this is often not the actual company they’re calling from). Then they mention that their company “works for”, “works with”, or is a “strategic partner of” Google. Sure. Then they continue to explain that there’s a great opportunity right now, for your specific business because they have “some openings on page one” of Google, Bing and Yahoo for “your products or services” in “your specific geographic area”. Really?

They have a well-honed 30 second sales pitch. But if you ask them anything specific they can’t answer. For example: What’s my name? What’s my company name? What services or products do I offer? Where am I located? What is my service area? They don’t know because they’re just playing a numbers game. The more people they call, the more chances they have to sucker someone with a quick pitch.

How can they have “openings” for my specific business if they don’t know what my business is? Answer, they don’t. And that’s not how search engines work anyway. There are no openings. Beware, these guys will sell you anything.

During a recent conversation they offered to provide me a free proposal for one of my sites, www.mymurrieta.com. They were confident my search rankings could improve and they could get my site on page one of Google. However, the conversation ended abruptly when I explained that mymurrieta.com has nearly 4,200 pages and is on page one of Google for hundreds of combinations of searches.

Take a look at BeerVersusBeer.com