Utah SEO Marketing Blog

American Fork Court’s Big Mistake That Will Cost Me Thousands

This is a blog post about American Fork Court’s big mistake that will cost me thousands of dollars and I can’t do anything about it.  Ok, this is a rare post that is not related to online marketing, but it sure has got me fired up enough to need to write about it and vent.  This is the story of a corrupt credit system that really has consumers at the mercy of others - even when mistakes have been made.

About a year ago my wife received a speeding ticket, she paid the fine, went to a traffic school class, and didn’t think about it again as should have happened. We are getting ready to buy a new home and had the mortgage officer ran our credit reports and we were surprised that there was a $60 collection account from American Fork Court in Utah. After spending a few hours making phone calls and investigating it we found out it was related to her speeding ticket. Next I go and check our checking account and found the check they cashed for the $60 which they sent to collections. We also never received a notice in the mail or anything about the collection account, it was sent to the Utah department of collections.

We called the Utah American Fork Court - Judge Howard Maetani, who must not be that brilliant if he made a stupid mistake like this. I spoke to Trevor who I asked if how they could fix this, he replied “do you mean how YOU are going to fix it, not US, we are not going to do anything”. He said they never received proof that my wife attended the traffic school from the Utah American Fork police department. Naturally I am pretty ticked off at this point and end up calling the American Fork police department. I speak with the clerk at American Fork police department who I ask if I can find out if my wife attended a traffic school class, she simply responds “she is an adult isn’t she?!?!? where is she?” except she really was extremely sarcastic and rude. So my wife calls and finds out they have proof she did attend the class.

Now all that was bad enough, wasting about 8 hours of time all-in-all over a 3 month period. The worst thing is that my wife’s credit score was lowered by more than a 100 points because of a dumb mistake some stupid clerk (and the worse mistakes between American Fork 4th district court and the American Fork police department) made almost a year ago, which when we buy our new we will literally end up spending thousands of dollars more than we would have in interest over the life of the loan. It frustrates me that consumers are so helpless in situations like these, and I have heard of several other similar horror stories. The system is so corrupt it makes me sick. I am VERY glad I do not live in American Fork city (Utah), I could not even imagine how their other services compare if this experience was this bad.

Popularity: 72% [?]

Posted in Misc. | 4 Comments »

SEO Prices - How I Would Do It Differently Now

I came across an old SEO prices document I created nearly 3 years ago, it amazed me how much SEO has changed over the last few years and how much it has stayed the same as well. Overall I would setup SEO pricing much differently than I did back then though. It seems like the industry may eventually go more towards a pay-per-performance model but I don’t see that happening anytime soon because of some major issues such as contract lengths. I would take out the ‘hours of work’ from pricing today though and focus more on doing what it takes to get certain results for the client, some you will lose out on and some you will win on but if everything equals out in the end its ok. Anyway, here are the contents of that document, I thought it was interestesting anyway:

Basic Internet Marketing - $xx/month
• Approximately 8 hours of work
• Keyword Research – which keywords are best suited for the website
• Individual Page Optimization – meta data, text, headlines, links, useful information, etc.
• Link Building – reciprocal links, one-way links, directories, message boards, etc.
• Other Suggestions – conversion rate, PPC possibility, newsletter, useful information, specials, bonuses, etc.

Intermediate Marketing - $xx/month
• Approximately 16 hours of work
• Same as above with more of an emphasis on link building and other suggestions. Also suitable for very large sites.
• $xx advertising credit for PPC, link buying, site advertising, e-zine advertising, etc.

Advanced Marketing - $xx/month
• Approximately 25 hours of work
• Same as above with more of an emphasis on link building and other suggestions. Also suitable for very large sites.
• $xx advertising credit for PPC, link buying, site advertising, e-zine advertising, etc.

HTML/CSS Hourly Rate
• $xx/hour contract rate or per project as agreed upon.

Popularity: 43% [?]

Posted in Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

Online Marketing and Passwords - America First Credit Union

I have never ever ever ever [and another ‘ever’!] understood why technology security freaks always win this battle: forcing website users to create custom passwords that are virtually impossible to remember. You may wonder what this has to do with internet marketing? well its pretty simple actually - if you force users to create passwords they will not remember they will become very frustrated. If there is anyone who reads this who has never had to request a new password from an online website they have some sort of membership at I would be very surprised! Please post a comment if you fall into this category. In the end you will read how all this came about from an experience with my online banking from America First Credit Union. This IS a website usability issue, and anyone who says otherwise I would welcome the challenging arguments.

Here are the main reasons why this is a very stupid idea:

1. “Create a password that has at least one lower case letter, one upper case, in between 6 and 8 characters long, has one and only one special character except for ‘*’ and does not contain your name” - well that doesn’t leave much room for creativity does it? I hate it when I read things like this because even after reading it and trying to meet all the requirements it literally takes me about 4 to 5 tries before I get a password that it will accept, and by then its one I am sure I will never remember.

2. The password you end up with is something you would not have normally chosen and contains characters that you will never remember. This creates the issue of you having to write your password down somewhere on a piece of paper with the website it is associated with - far much a greater danger of losing that piece of paper that someone could easily use than a hacker trying to guess your password!

3. “You must reset your password every 30 days” - totally retarded! This simply creates a situation where you have to call support every time you want to login to the website because you never remember the password you chose for that month.

4. “Don’t try to tell me what to do, I’ll do it how I want to!” - Teling users what to do online is a bad idea as it insults their intelligence and makes them very upset. The internet is one aspect of life where most website goers feel totally in control and hate it when they lose that power. In the end it is the website user who loses out if their online access compromised. I am the one that must pay the price if I do chose a password that is easy to guess, let me take that responsibilty of choosing a password that is hard to remember, not forcing me to choose a password that is not only hard for a hacker to guess but hard for ME to remember as well!

So this blog post was spurred this morning because I logged into my bank account, America First Credit Union in Utah, and it forces me to answer special questions I setup about a year ago if I login from another computer other than my home one. Of course I had no idea what answers I had put in so it blocked my access. “who is your best friend?” - well I don’t really have a ‘best’ friend, just lots of ‘equal’ friends, what type of dumb question is that, it may have worked well when I was in elementary school. ‘What was your first car’ - well I know that one, an ‘89 buick skyhawk, or was it a ’skyhawk’ or a ‘buick skyhawk’? no, I think it was ‘Skyhawk’? - idiots, how are you supposed to remember what you typed in even if you know the answer and on top of that I am pretty sure it was case sensitive.

As you can tell I was very upset, but it didn’t end there. In order to restore my access they started asking me my address and such, I tell them my zip code which is ‘84045′ and they say on their system its ‘84043′, so I tell them ‘43′ is for a neighboring city in Utah called ‘Lehi’ and that my city, ‘Saratoga Springs’, just got a new zip code a year ago. They say it won’t accept my new zip code - ok so you are telling me even though I know my own zip code that its wrong and you can’t use it - again the idiots come out!

So by the time I get access I am pretty frustrated already, I am actually thinking of switching from America First Credit Union and moving over to Washington Mutual where my business bank accounts are, they just seem so much more user friendly and technology/online usability friendly as well. I have had far less issues with their online banking system then America First Credit Union.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Posted in User Centered Design | 1 Comment »

Ten Simple Web Design Tips

When developing a new website there are many factors that you should consider before you ever begin coding the website. In order to make best use of your time and talents, you can follow some simple guidelines that will help you make the best site possible.

1. Use wireframes. One of the first things you should develop when you are working on the creation of a website is a wireframe. This is a simple graphical layout that can be quickly sketched with a pencil and paper. In this sketch, you can use simple shapes, such as squares, rectangles, circles and others to represent different parts of the website. For example, you might have a tall rectangle in the middle of the paper to denote where the main content of the page will be, and a short wide rectangle at the top of the page to denote the header of the website. Using a wireframe in this manner will help speed up the design process.

2. Create the content first. Before working on any design work, try to come up with your content first. If you try to do both design and content work at the same time, you may feel overwhelmed and frustrated. By creating the content of the pages before you create the design, you will have a mental picture already prepared for what the website should look like.

3. Code by hand, if at all possible. If you have a choice between a GUI editor and creating the website by hand in a text editor, it can be very beneficial to use the text editor instead of the GUI utility. Coding a website by hand can reduce unnecessary code in the website, and there are some designs that can be difficult to implement in a GUI editor. Additionally, if you find pieces of other websites that you like, you can have an easier time inserting them into your website if you do it by hand, instead of with an editor.

4. Use CSS. When creating a website that has multiple pages, it may make sense to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to easily control the design and layout of the pages. CSS allows you to define pages styles, formatting, colors and lots more through a single page, called a style sheet. This style sheet is stored on the web server, and each page on the website references it when loading on a user’s computer. This central location for determining the style of a website makes it extremely easy to change things around, and is crucial for websites larger than a few pages.

5. Use HTML. Many web programming standards have been developed since the creation of HTML. ASP, XML and XHTML are all examples of these new, growing programming languages. However, when creating a site, it’s often good to try and use strictly HTML for all of the pages you can, simply because it’s displayed virtually the same on virtually every web browser in use. There are some exceptions, but in general, if you can design a page in pure HTML, then you can reach a broader audience than one that uses a lot of other languages.

6. Look for designs online. Whenever possible, look at the implementation of other peoples’ websites for inspiration for your own. Many mental blocks or problems designing a website can be fixed by looking at what other people have designed, and taking information from those designs and applying it to your own. Obviously, you should not plagiarize code that isn’t your own, but you can use other designs and code for help with yours.

7. Consider using a CMS. A Content Management System, or CMS, is a type of webpage that is easily updated and changed without a lot of code changes required. One of the biggest uses of CMS’s is in the area of blogs, where frequent updates to a website are required. Generally, a CMS takes a short time to set up, and can involve things of a technical nature. Once it’s been set up, however, it is easy to use and can be easily upgraded, changed or otherwise affected however you choose to do it.

8. Avoid standard Frontpage templates. Unless you are designing a website where a standard FrontPage template is required, you should avoid using them. People have routinely used FrontPage and other software programs’ default templates for years, and the designs are not unique in the eyes of site visitors. Try finding other templates online, or create your design from scratch or with the help of an experienced web designer.

9. Test your designs on potential users. The importance of testing designs on users before deploying them cannot be overstated. When designing any type of website, whether it is targeting a large audience or a small one, user feedback is extremely important. Even if you only ask some of your friends or relatives what they think of your website, you can get valuable feedback on design points that you might not have otherwise considered. Testing you designs on potential users will also prevent you from having to redo your designs multiple times to account for things that you might not have caught if you hadn’t tested it.

10. Utilize interface design principles. User interface design principles come from the fields of systems engineering and computer science and are extremely important when designing any user interface, including a website. Color coordination, proper button layout and alignment of content and flow from page to page are all types of interface design principles. If you take the time to do some research in this field and employ some of the principles in your design, you’ll be guaranteed to create a website that is easier and more intuitive for people to use. Many books have been written on the topic, and are available in difficulty levels from novice to expert.

All websites require work and a bit of talent to implement. By following these ten web design tips, you’ll have an easier time creating your websites and they’ll be of a much higher quality than they otherwise would be.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Posted in User Centered Design | No Comments »

Online Shopping Experience - Lessons Learned About Conversion

I just got a book called “Called to Action”. I just finished reading the first few chapters and it has been very helpful so far - I am sure I will write a full review on it when I am finished.

There is one section that starts to talk about the oneline shopping experience most website users have; one filled with disappointments and frustrations. Some very common website obstacles it mentions are:

* Having to use plugins
* Forcing downloads
* Figuring out drop down menus and pop up screens
* Not finding the information you are looking for
* Not obtaining a level of trust and credibility from the website

I started thinking about a online shopping experience I had personally last night and it started hitting home. I didn’t realize the process I was going through but after reading that section in this book it really opened up my mind about my own personal shopping preferences.

Phase 1 - The Value Driver & Background
This experience starts more than a year ago and requires a little background information. My wife, Mindy, was born in Korea and adopted by her parents in the U.S. when she was 6 months old. She has always wanted to go back and visit Korea to ‘find her roots’ so to say. We went there in October of 2006 for a few weeks and had a wonderful time. While we were there she was using some shampoo there that she absolutely fell in love with. I didn’t think much of it until we got back home from our trip.

Ever since that trip she always comments on how great that shampoo was; being as dumb as I am sometimes I didn’t take the time to write it down, although I thought it was called ‘Kyocera’. Being Christmas time she kept dropping hints of how great that shampoo was and how she would like to try using it again to see if it really was that great or she was just imaging things while we were having a fun vacation. I realize now that the most important thing to me is that I find the specific shampoo she used in Korea and am able to have it delivered by Christmas so I can use it as a gift for her. I recognized the sole driving force behind my search was that I find this present for my wife by Christmas; other things were not important; I was not searching for shampoo because I ran out of it, I was not searching to try a new shampoo that would help moisturize my hair, I was not trying to find shampoo cheap online to buy in bulk, etc. This driver is unique to me just as the other ones I just mentioned would be unique to others even though the same website could satisfy all of us. It is also important to keep in mind as soon as I found what I was looking for I had a credit card sitting on the desk and was very ready and even eager to make a puchase now so I could get the product in the mail and on the way.

Phase 2 - The Unfruitful Search
Last night I decide to try and find this product. I start searching for ‘Kyocera Shampoo’ which brought up nothing at all; thinking the name was wrong (it was by the way) I started searching for ‘Korean shampoo’ and ‘Korea shampoo’ hoping I could find a list of Korean made shampoos that would include the specific one I was looking for. Finally, after literally about 30 minutes of searching, I come across a site that just happened to have it in stock; however the name was different than I originally thought. The shampoo was called ‘Kerasys’ but I quickly recognized it when I saw a picture of it. I realized I knew what I was looking for (specific shampoo) but in reality I didn’t know what I was looking for (forgot the brand name). This was very frustrating and time consuming.

Phase 3 - Buying Values Can Change
Once I actually knew what I was looking for (Kerasys Shampoo) I started searching specifically for that in the search engines and started to have many more opportunities open to me immediatley. I quickly realized there were many vendors out there that carried the product and now just finding the product was not my top priority; finding one that met my needs was. I think my values changed at that instance I found the brand name from finding anyone who actually carried the product to finding someone who carried the product that could deliver by Christmas, that was trustworthy, and that had a decent price.

Phase 4 - The Online Buying Decision
I narrowed my search down to three online retailers that offered the shampoo as a product. The first was Amazon, the second a salon specialty store, and the third an ebay seller. Here is a review of each one.

Amazon - Amazon carried the product through an affiliated vendor. I have used Amazon in the past and this built a level of trust I did not have with the other websites; although I was disappointed slightly after finding out it was not actually Amazon who fulfilled the order but a 3rd party affiliated salon instead. The price was $24 for shampoo and conditioner with about $7 in shipping. It did have some text on there saying if I wanted it by Christmas I would have to order it by Dec. 15th which was only a few days away. This made me lead to believe the fastest I could get the product delivered would be just a few days before Christmas. One thing that was frustrating is I could not find out how big the bottle was, 8oz or 14oz, as it appeared there were different sizes available.

Specialty Salon Store - This website offered the product for $20 with $6 shipping. It was a 8oz. bottle. They did not have any information about shipping costs; my biggest concern was when I added the product to the shopping cart several website graphics on the page failed to load which made me lose trust in the company that they would have the ability to process my order online if they can’t even get simple graphics to work. I immediatley left after that.

Ebay Seller - There was a ebay seller with the product for $19 with $6 shipping plus they offered a free ‘treatment forumula’ bottle as well which was a ‘bonus’. The bottles were 14 oz. and the shipping time was ‘2-5 days’ which was well before Christmas. The seller also had 99% feedback on over 700 sales which built credibility and I have had previous positive experiences buying items from ebay sellers with good reputations. I ended up going with the ebay seller because they had the best price, even a ‘bonus’, shipping was fairly cheap, and they could get it to me the quickest.

Whats There to Learn About Online Buying Decisions?
Overall it was very interesting all the thoughts that were going through my head when I didn’t even realize it until I reflected back on the experience and understood why I did what I did. The winner in the end was the website that provided the information I wanted (size, price, shipping times, shipping cost, etc.), established credibility (over 700 previous positive transactions), and could get it to me on time (within 2-5 days of shipping).

Next time I shop online for something I think I am going to try to vocalize my thoughts and see if it helps me understand my own buying patterns and behaviors to help myself understand consumers in general better.

Popularity: 24% [?]

Posted in Landing Page Optimization, User Centered Design | 2 Comments »