So does that mean you should steal from the competition?

At Ciplex, our answer would be “no.” The best way to sink the other players in your industry isn’t to copy them, it’s to do something they haven’t thought of yet. That being said, however, there’s nothing wrong with keeping a close eye on them, and even getting an idea now and again.

Here are three tips for deciding when to check up on, or even borrow from, the competitors’ online marketing playbook:

Keep an open eye. No matter what, you should make a point of looking at the other websites in your industry every once in a while. Even if it’s just for a couple of minutes a week, be sure to visit and see what they’re up to. It’s a small activity, but one that can stop you from being blindsided by a major move.

Never actually copy someone else’s design or content. Besides bad karma and numerous copyright laws, stealing from someone else is a bad idea because it just doesn’t work. In almost any marketplace, it’s going to be very easy for customers to figure out who came first, and so copying someone else is going to make you look bad – if you’re even able to stay in business after breaking the law.

Spot good ideas… no matter where they are. If you do see something that looks interesting, however, talk to your web designer online marketing team about adding features or functionality. There’s nothing to say you can’t take a profitable idea you found on someone else’s website and use it on yours.

In fact, while you’re at it, look for ideas on any website you happen to visit. Some of the best marketing innovations have occurred when an owner or manager has taken an idea from a different industry and made it work in their own. Keep your eyes peeled, and you might come up with a similar breakthrough.

But sometimes, by focusing strictly on keywords, you can actually hurt your own progress. Here’s why: because a number of leading search engines still use the titles you put on your webpages as part of search result listings. In other words, what you write isn’t only seen by search engine spiders – it’s seen by actual human beings who have to decide whether to click through to your page or not.

Since attracting visitors, not just reaching the top spots, should be the real goal of your search engine optimization effort, here are three tips for using your page titles to get more visitors:

Strike a balance. By all means, use keywords and phrases in your page headings. Don’t simply settle for stringing a few of them together, though. Instead, try to make them into interesting phrases or ideas that would appeal to your prospective customers.

Experiment. As with all things in marketing and SEO, the best answer rarely comes to you on the first or second try. Experiment with different titles on your pages from time to time, seeing which ones draw in not only the most visitors, but the right ones.

Do some research. You don’t have to rely only on your own instincts, either. Do some searches on popular topics, or even look at your own competitors’ sites. You’ll probably see a few different approaches, and gain some ideas that might work well for your webpage titles.

With that in mind, here are four tips for keeping your web design team on schedule:

Check references and ask the right questions. We are always astounded by the sheer number of clients who don’t bother to check out a prospective vendor beforehand. Why would you write a sizable check to any design company if you hadn’t spoken to a few of their references? Be sure to check with former clients – they should be able to tell you whether your new design team can meet deadlines.

Be clear on the project. If your website isn’t ready to go on your expected launch date, but you’ve changed the layout and site map half a dozen times, then the problem might not be with your web designer. Figure out what you need, and be clear about expressing it, before you get started – it’s a tried and true way to avoid bigger headaches later.

Set reasonable deadlines. In the same way, don’t expect a whole website, especially one with features like a content management system, to be delivered in a week. Talk with your design team to find out what a realistic expectation is, and then set the appropriate deadline.

Get rid of slow designers. If you follow all of these steps, and you’re still having trouble getting finished work from your design team on time, then that’s a good sign you should think about letting them go. Your marketing efforts can make or break your company, and slow work can end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars… and sometimes a lot more.

And they’re right… it really doesn’t.

Even when you’ve grabbed the very best positions on Google, Yahoo, and Bing for your most important keywords and phrases, even if you were to have hundreds of pages of optimized content, and even if you are leading your industry by a virtual mile, there would still be more to do.

The reason is simple: what searchers are looking for is always changing, and so your content and approach need to change as well. It’s a big mistake to ever think of search optimization as a goal, because the reality is that it’s a lot more of a process. Just like the person who takes on a crash diet to lose 15 pounds is almost certain to gain it back again, so too is the company that just wants to reach a good position and give up very likely to slide backwards.

We have written before that search engine optimization is like starting an exercise program or undergoing a lifestyle change, and that analogy still holds. If you want to enjoy all the profits and benefits that come from having a website that can be found by millions, then you’re going to have get used to doing the daily and weekly work that comes with it.

Just remember – SEO might seem never-ending, but the rewards can be too.

It’s true that things are more convenient, but a better question might be this: are web templates a good value? When you get past the low initial price, and start looking at long-term profitability, they usually aren’t. Here are three reasons why:

They look terrible. The worst thing about web templates is that they look like web templates. Even if visitors don’t know exactly what they’re looking at, most people are online frequently enough to get an eye or quality. Having a generic website that’s indistinguishable from the competition is no way to impress potential customers.

They can’t be upgraded. Because templates are created with an absolute minimum amount of coding, you aren’t going to get any of the features and functionalities you would by using an experienced web design company. That means you’re going to miss out on pages and ideas that could have made your company a lot of money.

They are hard to optimize for search engines. Being left out of Google, Yahoo, and Bing is usually a major blow to most company’s online marketing efforts. Then again, if you are using that template as one of your home pages, that might not be such a bad thing. Still, it’s worth asking why you want to put up any website if buyers aren’t going to be able find you?

Web templates are a false economy. It’s easy for business owners to get sucked in by low prices, but what they usually find out is that they are getting even less than they paid for.

What is twitter you may be asking yourself. Well, Twitter by definition is a micro-blogging service, this means you can keep a group of “followers” updated by posting “tweets” up to 140 characters. All of your followers will be able to see your tweets. Cool, right? It’s almost like being able to send an instant message to all of your followers. Short and sweet is the key.

Lets talk about how to get the most out of those 140 characters. When dealing with a personal twitter, you can post all the nonsense you want, like “Got a sweet hat today!”. When dealing with a twitter pertaining to business this is not exactly what you are shooting for.

First and foremost, keep your followers updated in what your business is achieving at the moment. Got a new shipment of cool products? Let them know. Sales events, discount codes, and specials are probably the most rewarding for those who follow you, give them a reason to follow you. Keep your followers looking forward to what is coming in the future, let them know what is soon to come from your business.

When using twitter, don’t make everyone believe you are a robot. Reach out to people, let your followers know there is a human behind all of the text and links. Start discussions, ask questions, treat twitter like one of your outreach tools between you and your clients and potential clients.

Most likely, if people are following you, they are interested in what you do. Keep them informed on what is going on in your world. If you deal in the fashion industry, link them to an article that caught your attention pertaining to fashion. Do not overwhelm people just by linking everything to your own site, it is good to keep traffic to your site, but give potential clients some insight outside of your business specifically.

Check out Whole Foods on twitter, they are renowned for being a business that knows how to use twitter effectively, check out why!

Follow us on twitter, Ciplex’s twitter, for updates on new blogs, and just basic web design news. [Had to toot my horn a bit...hehe]

Now, get out there and tweet!

Take the case of the Yellow Pages and other printed directories. For decades, these were a staple for any business that wanted to do business locally. But now, search engines have taken away virtually every reason for buyers to rely on them.

Consider the three reasons customers prefer local searches to the Yellow Pages:

They get more specific results. Which would you rather see: twenty pages listing all the auto shops in your area, or the five closest to your house? Dozens and dozens of restaurants, or the one that chosen as having the best pasta four years running? You get the idea, and so have searchers.

They can learn a lot more, a lot faster. It’s one thing to find a list of businesses that match the criteria that you’re looking for, and another to see customer reviews and take a peek at their website. That’s the kind of information you wouldn’t be able to get from a Yellow Pages listing, but can be found within moments online.

Local searches offer maps and directions. Maybe best of all, from a customer’s point of view, is that search engines can help them find your location from wherever they are right now. Given that more people than ever are using iPhones and other next-generation devices to go online, the ability to get customized directions is a big deal.

Is your site optimized for search engines to find you locally? If not, you’re missing out on one of the biggest changes to the way customers find businesses in a long time.

But, as we always have to remember, it’s only the beginning.

I’m not talking about the coding, search engine optimization, or any other sort of functionality – what I mean is that the design itself, beautiful as it might seem, is only one piece of the marketing puzzle. And at the end of the day, what matters isn’t building the prettiest picture… it’s putting together the most profitable one.

A good design is one that your customers love. Better yet, it’s one that gets them to buy, come into your store, or get them to do whatever furthers the business relationship. Everything else – including the opinions of your staff, colleagues, competitors, and yes, even your designer – is secondary.

Here are a few ways to figure out what buyers think of your site, and to keep the right perspective on your web design.

Test everything. There isn’t any such thing as a static website, at least as far as profitability is concerned. Be sure to constantly test your page layouts, copy, product images, and other elements to find the winning combination… and then keep testing to find a better one.

Don’t forget about usability. Lots of sites are great to look at, but no one is going to care unless that beauty translates into something they can navigate easily. Pay attention to usability, because your customers certainly will – by deciding whether to stay on your site or not.

Don’t get too caught up. In some industries, like advertising and public relations, web design is almost like a kind of arms race: no one wants to get caught lagging behind. If you find yourself changing designs just to keep up with competitors, stop and think whether you’re actually making good, bottom-line improvements, or just moving pixels around? All that matters is what buyers do when they arrive at your pages, so don’t worry as much about impressing the competition.

But what if you could reverse that process? What if you could start out at the front of the search engine optimization line?

In lots of industries, that would be virtually impossible. That’s because there are already dozens of companies that have been working on their SEO plans for quite a while. What you can do, however, is give yourself a head start on the next round…

What we’re really talking about is anticipating search trends before they become a reality. To do so isn’t easy. First, you have to successfully pinpoint what potential customers are going to be searching for in six months or a year’s time; then, you have to start the hard work of building an SEO platform – through links, articles, blog posts, other content – just as you would in any other keyword market.

If that sounds like a lot of work, even as much as you would have had to do anyway, then you might wonder why you would bother in the first place? The answer is that you could give yourself an enormous lead in search engine positioning. That’s because, all the while you are trying to catch up to your competitors, they’re probably continuing to move forward, too. That means it’s going to be twice as hard just to gain ground in the areas where they are already ahead. By getting in front of the trends, you make it possible to gain a lot more quickly and start in front, rather than the back.

If you have a good idea of where your industry, and the accompanying Web traffic, is going to be headed in the future, why not give yourself a head start and optimize your site for the next big wave of searchers?

The answer to that question depends quite a bit on what sort of key words or phrases you’re emphasizing. After all, searchers will go a lot deeper to find new theories on medical treatments than they will the best prices on cell phone cases. Still, there are some general guidelines you can rely upon:

Improvement is usually exponential. Moving from the seventh page of results on a heavily-searched keyword to the fifth will usually bring in a trickle of new hits, but moving from the fifth to the third could easily quadruple the number of visitors to your site. Since most searchers won’t look past the first two or three pages, SEO improvement tends to be exponential – the biggest gains are at the top.

Once you make it to the first page, things get tricky… Studies often show that while the third result on a page might do better than the fifth, for example, the tenth can outperform the seventh. Confused yet? The point is that the way humans scan a page means that getting onto the first page is important, but your results might vary a bit once you are there.

There is no one position that matters. Even though you might be doing well on one of your main keywords or phrases, success in search engine optimization is usually dependent on improvement in several terms, raising your site’s overall number of hits steadily. It might be easier to increase your position and one or two areas , but the real, bottom line gains will be small if searchers change their habits, or if those terms don’t end up being as profitable as you had thought.