Joint ventures can turn your competition into your companion!
What are they and are they profitable?
You can benefit greatly from sharing the costs of your advertising and promotional campaigns, while doubling the size of your target market.
How can that be so? It's simple! just look at it like this, you are in the coffee business, you have identified your major competitor, he/she is currently servicing a good portion of the customers you wish to attract. This competitor has been servicing these clients for many years and has built up a strong following. Do you think it would be easy for you to "take these clients away" from their trusted provider? Of course not.
What if you offered to give your competitor free access to your client base? Do you think he/she would like that? Or if your competitor offered to do the same for you, would you like that?
YES, YES, YES!
A joint venture is simply offering to promote your fellow business persons product or service to your client base and in return they do the same for you.
You can use tracking URLs to determine what sales are made and then split the profits or commissions in whatever way you both agree to.
Another advantage is that if you sell to one of your fellow business persons clients you will be able to add them to your mailing list. We all know how valuable that can be.
So next time you see a competitor, STOP and think of a way you can make him or her into your companion in success!
I sincerely wish you good luck and happiness
Monday, September 5, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
3 Steps to Success in Any Business, Offline and Online!
There are only 3 steps to create a successful business. It applies both offline and online. I suggest that every business owner keeps this in mind in every marketing activity.
1. Know what the market want
You may think it is common sense, but it's not. Much to my surprise that many people do it exactly another way around. Instead of starting to locate demand, they start with supply, i.e. create a product they "think" the market want.
This is the biggest mistake I think a business owner can make. If some of them are successful using this method, chances are they create a better version of product that has been proven in the market.
2. Create a product to satisfy it
The next step is to create a product that offers value and benefits to the market. A crappy product can sell with proper marketing but no one can build a long term business out of the product.
Even if you're not the first to create a product in the market, you can come up with something better, have a unique selling proposition (USP), cheaper, etc.
Now is also the time to really think about and plan your sales funnel.
If you can begin with more affordable product to "steal" customers, you can prove yourself and sell them higher ticket items later.
3. Let the market buy from you
This involves marketing, knowing how to reach the target market through effective message, become establish expert in the topic, be resourceful and helpful.
Knowing how marketing works is the key here. It can be fun if you know how to do it without getting straight into the face with hard selling advertising or marketing messages.
An effective method that I've used again and again is to prove yourself that you're there to help instead of running away with their hard earned money.
This is why an email newsletters, educational white papers, articles, blogs and podcasts work so well.
Another important key is to invest in your education.
I don't mean that you should pile up every book or ebook you can afford to buy. Far from that, being overwhelmed with information may do more harm than good.
However, every once in a while you should find ideas to improve your business and increase bottom line. A really good idea from one book or e-book can make a difference if you take action.
The most expensive ebook or course won't do any good if you let the ideas sit there without implementation.
1. Know what the market want
You may think it is common sense, but it's not. Much to my surprise that many people do it exactly another way around. Instead of starting to locate demand, they start with supply, i.e. create a product they "think" the market want.
This is the biggest mistake I think a business owner can make. If some of them are successful using this method, chances are they create a better version of product that has been proven in the market.
2. Create a product to satisfy it
The next step is to create a product that offers value and benefits to the market. A crappy product can sell with proper marketing but no one can build a long term business out of the product.
Even if you're not the first to create a product in the market, you can come up with something better, have a unique selling proposition (USP), cheaper, etc.
Now is also the time to really think about and plan your sales funnel.
If you can begin with more affordable product to "steal" customers, you can prove yourself and sell them higher ticket items later.
3. Let the market buy from you
This involves marketing, knowing how to reach the target market through effective message, become establish expert in the topic, be resourceful and helpful.
Knowing how marketing works is the key here. It can be fun if you know how to do it without getting straight into the face with hard selling advertising or marketing messages.
An effective method that I've used again and again is to prove yourself that you're there to help instead of running away with their hard earned money.
This is why an email newsletters, educational white papers, articles, blogs and podcasts work so well.
Another important key is to invest in your education.
I don't mean that you should pile up every book or ebook you can afford to buy. Far from that, being overwhelmed with information may do more harm than good.
However, every once in a while you should find ideas to improve your business and increase bottom line. A really good idea from one book or e-book can make a difference if you take action.
The most expensive ebook or course won't do any good if you let the ideas sit there without implementation.
How do you break into a niche with an impact?
Learn how you too can profit from any niche starting today while at the same time build a solid foundation for your six-figure online business
Learn how you too can profit from any niche starting today while at the same time build a solid foundation for your six-figure online business
Online Marketing for the Newcomer
I have seen the best and the worst in offline and online marketing campaigns. As a new arrival or novice marketer there are a few guidelines that will guarantee your continuous online success.
No, its not the magic e-book nor is it the magic course. Do you realise these things are just like marketing books in a book store?
The most important thing to keep in mind is keep testing and improving on what works. Search engine optimization might work for me but it might not work for you. This does not mean that it is junk, it just means it does not work for you.
Let me start with this statement, "There is NOTHING WRONG with YOU!" You have all the makings of a true internet marketing success story. If you can breathe and learn from your mistakes, you are 90% there.
That is nice to hear, but how can you use what you have to become a success? You just knuckle down and learn how others are doing it and copy them. Lets talk about TESTING, today. Testing never lets me down and saves me more money than I can stand to loose.
Online marketing campaigns are designed to offer hourly or daily feedback. It used to take weeks or months to receive feedback from offline marketing campaigns. The funny thing is that internet marketers do not test and follow the feedback results.
The websites we currently use have superior tracking ability. It just takes a little creativity and patience to see if something worked.
Run the campaign, check the raw server logs if you received traffic and who referred the traffic. If your traffic was nonexistent then you can complain and ask for a repeat campaign. Most advertisers will accept raw server logs and not third party traffic counters.
The most important thing I learnt while building my business is to research and test as much as possible. I learned to be as assertive with people and sort out problems and not just change my service to find another hopeless program out there.
Trust me when I state that the internet is never in short supply of marketing programs and strategies. Most are too saturated to work amazingly but most work well enough to build on. Remember building a business is like building a house. Step by step.
The best is to try and work with the current program until they too realise that they can not help you and they should give you compensation.
I prefer to work with smart people who work to find solutions and not waste my time with office clerks who can not think for themselves.
They basically run their company like their 9 to 5 office job.
You should not accept the usual lines like "Read the terms of service" That is a cop out and we all know it. People wish to be dealt with like they matter.
Sending somebody to FAQs defeats them and makes them feel stupid. Anybody who makes you feel stupid does not want your business.
The customer may not be right all the time but he or she has feelings and being made to feel like an idiot does not make them trust you or buy from you.
No, its not the magic e-book nor is it the magic course. Do you realise these things are just like marketing books in a book store?
The most important thing to keep in mind is keep testing and improving on what works. Search engine optimization might work for me but it might not work for you. This does not mean that it is junk, it just means it does not work for you.
Let me start with this statement, "There is NOTHING WRONG with YOU!" You have all the makings of a true internet marketing success story. If you can breathe and learn from your mistakes, you are 90% there.
That is nice to hear, but how can you use what you have to become a success? You just knuckle down and learn how others are doing it and copy them. Lets talk about TESTING, today. Testing never lets me down and saves me more money than I can stand to loose.
Online marketing campaigns are designed to offer hourly or daily feedback. It used to take weeks or months to receive feedback from offline marketing campaigns. The funny thing is that internet marketers do not test and follow the feedback results.
The websites we currently use have superior tracking ability. It just takes a little creativity and patience to see if something worked.
Run the campaign, check the raw server logs if you received traffic and who referred the traffic. If your traffic was nonexistent then you can complain and ask for a repeat campaign. Most advertisers will accept raw server logs and not third party traffic counters.
The most important thing I learnt while building my business is to research and test as much as possible. I learned to be as assertive with people and sort out problems and not just change my service to find another hopeless program out there.
Trust me when I state that the internet is never in short supply of marketing programs and strategies. Most are too saturated to work amazingly but most work well enough to build on. Remember building a business is like building a house. Step by step.
The best is to try and work with the current program until they too realise that they can not help you and they should give you compensation.
I prefer to work with smart people who work to find solutions and not waste my time with office clerks who can not think for themselves.
They basically run their company like their 9 to 5 office job.
You should not accept the usual lines like "Read the terms of service" That is a cop out and we all know it. People wish to be dealt with like they matter.
Sending somebody to FAQs defeats them and makes them feel stupid. Anybody who makes you feel stupid does not want your business.
The customer may not be right all the time but he or she has feelings and being made to feel like an idiot does not make them trust you or buy from you.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Why SEO Can Destroy Your Marketing Efforts Online
Believe it or not, an effective search engine optimization strategy can undermine your entire online marketing strategy.
Usually one of the first questions clients ask when I commence working with them is "how can I be on the first page of Google".
How then, can I say that search engine optimization (SEO) is the very LAST thing you need to worry about in the game of internet marketing?
Allow me to provide an illustration.
Imagine that you are opening a new restaurant, and you spend thousands on marketing and advertising - you take out radio and television advertisements, a full page spread in a daily newspaper advertising your new restaurant and the great opening specials you have.
Opening night comes, people respond in the hundreds to your promotions, there's just one problem... you weren't ready to cater for hundreds.
Your new staff are not confident in their training and make mistakes all night, taking orders to wrong tables, and forgetting some all together. You payment system hasn't been tested and it doesn't cope with billing.
People wait more than an hour for their food, if they get it and thousands of dollars walk out the door in unpaid bills.
Worse than all that, all those people you spent money getting in the door walk right out of it, never to return. Each one tells of their terrible experience the next day to their friends at work. The bad publicity spreads like a virus and within weeks you are wondering what went wrong.
What is wrong with this scenario?
Getting a high ranking for popular keywords on search engines is only useful if your website has all of the necessary systems in place to take full advantage of the opportunity being presented.
You have probably experienced this yourself when searching online, a process that can often be frustrating. You may search a topic, and click on the first site that comes up.
If that site is not what you are looking for, or doesn't appeal to you, you are hitting the 'back' button within seconds, moving onto another site.
Further, a day or week later when you try the same search terms, it is likely that all the websites you have already visited are highlighted, your computer has registered that you have already been there.
Will you click on that link again?
Probably not! Because you already know that you have been there and not found what you were looking for.
It is imperative that once you get someone to visit your site, you want them to find it useful and appealing. You need them to stay, check out all of your offerings, and more than that, have some way of collecting their information so that you can continue to communicate with them.
Things you need to implement before commencing an SEO campaign may include:
" A well presented, engaging, professional and functional website.
" Relevant, useful information about your field or industry. Something to hold their attention and show that you are knowledgeable in your industry.
" In depth content to make you stand out from all the other millions of sites in competition with you.
" Detailed information about your company, products and multiple methods of contact.
" A free offer in exchange for a prospects permission to market to them, such as a newsletter, competition, special offer or survey.
" A way for prospects and customers to provide feedback, comments and interact with you on a personal level.
" If relevant to your business, a way for customers to view your products and make secure, automated purchases.
Implementing such strategies on your site will enable to you appeal to prospective customers, hold their attention, and collect their contact details for later promotions and interaction. It is at this level of preparation that effective SEO can turn your traffic into revenue.
Usually one of the first questions clients ask when I commence working with them is "how can I be on the first page of Google".
How then, can I say that search engine optimization (SEO) is the very LAST thing you need to worry about in the game of internet marketing?
Allow me to provide an illustration.
Imagine that you are opening a new restaurant, and you spend thousands on marketing and advertising - you take out radio and television advertisements, a full page spread in a daily newspaper advertising your new restaurant and the great opening specials you have.
Opening night comes, people respond in the hundreds to your promotions, there's just one problem... you weren't ready to cater for hundreds.
Your new staff are not confident in their training and make mistakes all night, taking orders to wrong tables, and forgetting some all together. You payment system hasn't been tested and it doesn't cope with billing.
People wait more than an hour for their food, if they get it and thousands of dollars walk out the door in unpaid bills.
Worse than all that, all those people you spent money getting in the door walk right out of it, never to return. Each one tells of their terrible experience the next day to their friends at work. The bad publicity spreads like a virus and within weeks you are wondering what went wrong.
What is wrong with this scenario?
Getting a high ranking for popular keywords on search engines is only useful if your website has all of the necessary systems in place to take full advantage of the opportunity being presented.
You have probably experienced this yourself when searching online, a process that can often be frustrating. You may search a topic, and click on the first site that comes up.
If that site is not what you are looking for, or doesn't appeal to you, you are hitting the 'back' button within seconds, moving onto another site.
Further, a day or week later when you try the same search terms, it is likely that all the websites you have already visited are highlighted, your computer has registered that you have already been there.
Will you click on that link again?
Probably not! Because you already know that you have been there and not found what you were looking for.
It is imperative that once you get someone to visit your site, you want them to find it useful and appealing. You need them to stay, check out all of your offerings, and more than that, have some way of collecting their information so that you can continue to communicate with them.
Things you need to implement before commencing an SEO campaign may include:
" A well presented, engaging, professional and functional website.
" Relevant, useful information about your field or industry. Something to hold their attention and show that you are knowledgeable in your industry.
" In depth content to make you stand out from all the other millions of sites in competition with you.
" Detailed information about your company, products and multiple methods of contact.
" A free offer in exchange for a prospects permission to market to them, such as a newsletter, competition, special offer or survey.
" A way for prospects and customers to provide feedback, comments and interact with you on a personal level.
" If relevant to your business, a way for customers to view your products and make secure, automated purchases.
Implementing such strategies on your site will enable to you appeal to prospective customers, hold their attention, and collect their contact details for later promotions and interaction. It is at this level of preparation that effective SEO can turn your traffic into revenue.
Five Kinds of Successful Online Businesses
If you're seriously considering starting an online business, it makes sense that you would want to choose something that's going to do well right from the start.
When you're investing time and money in your business, it would help to know if you're setting yourself up for failure or for success. Here are five different kinds of online businesses that have proven to be a hit with customers.
Perhaps you can find your perfect business idea here too.
Health and Weight Loss
Everyone either wants to lose weight or wants to improve their health. We're a society that wants to take care of our bodies and if we look good at the same time, that's all the better.
If you want to start an online business, you might want to focus on ways to help people lose weight or simply to improve their health.
You can do this by offering fitness and health related products on your website or perhaps by offering eBooks that will help them make better health decisions.
Try to find something that relates to a question or a concern a person has about their health - and then you have a viable and profitable business plan.
Beauty
While it used to be that beauty was something that only women talked about, that certainly isn't the case any longer.
That said, women are still the consumer group that is much more likely to invest in makeup and skin care products, though men too are looking to improve their appearance.
With anti aging face products, both genders can begin to reclaim their youthful appearance, which will help them feel more confident in any setting.
Selling high quality makeup products and helping customers with their choices is a great business plan, as it allows customers to have the department store experience from the comfort of their home.
Exercise and Sports
But weight loss isn't the only concern with it comes to health for customers. Exercise and sports are other areas where you can make a profit with your online business.
For example, selling sporting equipment or products related to sports fans is still a big business.
When you work with the team and their product line, you will be able to access thousands of fans who want to support their team with licensed products.
Fashion
Of course, fashion is still a hot seller, no matter where you are.
If you can present high quality fashions on your website, you will attract not only the teenaged sector, but also those in their twenties and thirties - of both genders.
Look to celebrity and gossip magazines to show you what's hot and what's not and then look for a vendor that sells the same or similar items that you can them turn around to sell for a profit.
Low Price Goods
No matter what you choose to add to your website, if you can sell products available on other sites for a much lower price, you are going to do well.
This goes for fashion, beauty, exercise, sports, etc. If you can find high quality products that can be sold at much lower prices, you will draw in many more customers than you could have with higher priced goods.
For example, if you can find a way to sell organic goods and clothing for much cheaper than healthy food specialty stores, you can help those that want to be healthier, but can't afford the higher prices of other stores.
No matter what you choose, try at first to think of things that you yourself might want to buy online - chances are good that you're not the only one.
When you're investing time and money in your business, it would help to know if you're setting yourself up for failure or for success. Here are five different kinds of online businesses that have proven to be a hit with customers.
Perhaps you can find your perfect business idea here too.
Health and Weight Loss
Everyone either wants to lose weight or wants to improve their health. We're a society that wants to take care of our bodies and if we look good at the same time, that's all the better.
If you want to start an online business, you might want to focus on ways to help people lose weight or simply to improve their health.
You can do this by offering fitness and health related products on your website or perhaps by offering eBooks that will help them make better health decisions.
Try to find something that relates to a question or a concern a person has about their health - and then you have a viable and profitable business plan.
Beauty
While it used to be that beauty was something that only women talked about, that certainly isn't the case any longer.
That said, women are still the consumer group that is much more likely to invest in makeup and skin care products, though men too are looking to improve their appearance.
With anti aging face products, both genders can begin to reclaim their youthful appearance, which will help them feel more confident in any setting.
Selling high quality makeup products and helping customers with their choices is a great business plan, as it allows customers to have the department store experience from the comfort of their home.
Exercise and Sports
But weight loss isn't the only concern with it comes to health for customers. Exercise and sports are other areas where you can make a profit with your online business.
For example, selling sporting equipment or products related to sports fans is still a big business.
When you work with the team and their product line, you will be able to access thousands of fans who want to support their team with licensed products.
Fashion
Of course, fashion is still a hot seller, no matter where you are.
If you can present high quality fashions on your website, you will attract not only the teenaged sector, but also those in their twenties and thirties - of both genders.
Look to celebrity and gossip magazines to show you what's hot and what's not and then look for a vendor that sells the same or similar items that you can them turn around to sell for a profit.
Low Price Goods
No matter what you choose to add to your website, if you can sell products available on other sites for a much lower price, you are going to do well.
This goes for fashion, beauty, exercise, sports, etc. If you can find high quality products that can be sold at much lower prices, you will draw in many more customers than you could have with higher priced goods.
For example, if you can find a way to sell organic goods and clothing for much cheaper than healthy food specialty stores, you can help those that want to be healthier, but can't afford the higher prices of other stores.
No matter what you choose, try at first to think of things that you yourself might want to buy online - chances are good that you're not the only one.
Work From Home Business Success
Many persons are starting their home based business now a days.
Some are able to succeed and others could not.
Here, the question is how many of these people able to continue with the home business they started, how many of them have become success stories.
I have seen many people fail doing their online business, The reason behind this is, people want immediate results without putting required effort. Some people they don't believe that home business is the road to wealth, freedom and happiness.
They start hesitatingly and give up thinking that home business is not right for them.
But the fact is many people are making millions from the business opportunities available right now.
Every month they are earning thousands of dollars of passive income on complete autopilot.
This is because they started with positive attitude and they concentrated on one business opportunity at a time till they succeeded. This is the ultimate secret in achieving success in any business.
One has to give sufficient time to home business to see some results, one must be consistent in their day to day efforts towards reaching that goal. Millions of people use the internet everyday, you can asses yourself the potential of online home business.
Only thing is you just have to know how? Start your home business today and obtain the required knowledge to be successful.
Then think of a daily action plan i.e., what to do everyday to make some progress. Remember you have to be patient till you see some results.
There is no reason you should give up your business. Startup costs in online business are very low when compared to regular business.
You have to decide initially how much you can spend every month on your home business. Accordingly spend some amount on advertising your business.
Advertising your home business is the key to success, without which people will not know about your website on the net.
If you are new to this environment and still thinking of a home business,
I advice you to start immediately without hesitation. Acquire the knowledge by taking help from your business organization. If you decide to take up,
I appreciate your decision to start a home business and being financially independent.
Some are able to succeed and others could not.
Here, the question is how many of these people able to continue with the home business they started, how many of them have become success stories.
I have seen many people fail doing their online business, The reason behind this is, people want immediate results without putting required effort. Some people they don't believe that home business is the road to wealth, freedom and happiness.
They start hesitatingly and give up thinking that home business is not right for them.
But the fact is many people are making millions from the business opportunities available right now.
Every month they are earning thousands of dollars of passive income on complete autopilot.
This is because they started with positive attitude and they concentrated on one business opportunity at a time till they succeeded. This is the ultimate secret in achieving success in any business.
One has to give sufficient time to home business to see some results, one must be consistent in their day to day efforts towards reaching that goal. Millions of people use the internet everyday, you can asses yourself the potential of online home business.
Only thing is you just have to know how? Start your home business today and obtain the required knowledge to be successful.
Then think of a daily action plan i.e., what to do everyday to make some progress. Remember you have to be patient till you see some results.
There is no reason you should give up your business. Startup costs in online business are very low when compared to regular business.
You have to decide initially how much you can spend every month on your home business. Accordingly spend some amount on advertising your business.
Advertising your home business is the key to success, without which people will not know about your website on the net.
If you are new to this environment and still thinking of a home business,
I advice you to start immediately without hesitation. Acquire the knowledge by taking help from your business organization. If you decide to take up,
I appreciate your decision to start a home business and being financially independent.
Four Steps To Beating The Competition On Google
Everyone with a web site wants to be in the #1 spot of the major search engines.
With the constant changing of the search criteria, how can you avoid getting eaten by the competition?
The answer is to spread out your SEO efforts, or employ what I like to call Gorilla SEO.
There are 4 basic steps I try to keep in mind whenever I am promoting my web sites
Step 1, Work with the search engines,
I don't mean load up your pages with redundant keywords until no one can make heads or tails out of it.
I mean find the keywords that are similar to the main word but slightly different. If "vitamin" is your key word, try words like nutrition, or supplements to build on.
When you Google "vitamin" there are over 95,000,000 results, that is a lot of pages to beat out. On the other hand if you Google Supplements there are only 325,000 results. Much less crowded and much easier to get the search engines to notice you.
Step 2, work with the overall plan in mind for your site.
When developing your traffic strategy, keep keyword optimization in mind. Do keyword research before you do anything else, then build your plan around the openings.
This is gorilla SEO at its finest.
Step 3, Always keep your site fresh by adding content. This is easy if you have a Blog, but even if you have a traditional site, you can add content by adding pages or new products. Most web sites now have blogs for just this reason.
The benefit is that it keeps the web crawlers coming back to update what you have done.
Step 4, develop a link building strategy. In order to increase the site ranking on the search engines you have to develop links to your site.
There is any number of ways to do this. You can spend money buying links on popular sites, or you can employ one of my favorite gorilla SEO techniques.
This is a little known way to build quality links to your web site, just leave relevant comments on public content. Articles (like this), blogs, forums are all excellent places to comment and build links to your site.
Set a goal for your self to comment at one article per day. It will get easier to do the more you do it and the links will start to add up.
Remember to keep your overall strategy in mind, narrow your focus, search for the back door keywords, and you will be a master of gorilla SEO, the predator, not the prey.
With the constant changing of the search criteria, how can you avoid getting eaten by the competition?
The answer is to spread out your SEO efforts, or employ what I like to call Gorilla SEO.
There are 4 basic steps I try to keep in mind whenever I am promoting my web sites
Step 1, Work with the search engines,
I don't mean load up your pages with redundant keywords until no one can make heads or tails out of it.
I mean find the keywords that are similar to the main word but slightly different. If "vitamin" is your key word, try words like nutrition, or supplements to build on.
When you Google "vitamin" there are over 95,000,000 results, that is a lot of pages to beat out. On the other hand if you Google Supplements there are only 325,000 results. Much less crowded and much easier to get the search engines to notice you.
Step 2, work with the overall plan in mind for your site.
When developing your traffic strategy, keep keyword optimization in mind. Do keyword research before you do anything else, then build your plan around the openings.
This is gorilla SEO at its finest.
Step 3, Always keep your site fresh by adding content. This is easy if you have a Blog, but even if you have a traditional site, you can add content by adding pages or new products. Most web sites now have blogs for just this reason.
The benefit is that it keeps the web crawlers coming back to update what you have done.
Step 4, develop a link building strategy. In order to increase the site ranking on the search engines you have to develop links to your site.
There is any number of ways to do this. You can spend money buying links on popular sites, or you can employ one of my favorite gorilla SEO techniques.
This is a little known way to build quality links to your web site, just leave relevant comments on public content. Articles (like this), blogs, forums are all excellent places to comment and build links to your site.
Set a goal for your self to comment at one article per day. It will get easier to do the more you do it and the links will start to add up.
Remember to keep your overall strategy in mind, narrow your focus, search for the back door keywords, and you will be a master of gorilla SEO, the predator, not the prey.
The End Of The Beginning
The first two steps to successfully marketing online and through your website have little to do with online marketing itself. However, it's critical to complete them before your campaigns begin. These two steps are Setting your Website Objective and Defining Your Online Target Market
Setting Your Website Objective:
Whenever a client is looking to drive more traffic to their website or is trying to raise their conversion rates, I always take them back to the beginning and ask them what the objective of their site is. This is always more insightful (and entertaining), when I'm meeting with more than one person from the company.
… "drive more sales", "get more leads", "reduce product support demands", "gain access to new markets", are a few of the more common responses. We then take a look at their site. It will often focus on who they are, their history, their commitment to customer service; all noble things, and usually all without a strong call to action that matches their now stated objective.
Setting an overall website objective is not easy but the benefits are huge.
Not easy: Real estate on the web is cheap. Add a page, add 100 pages, there is still plenty of room to expand. So it's easy to quickly develop multiple objectives for your site.
Additionally, many people in the company will have different views on what the site objective should be. Human resources wants the Career section to stand out. Customer Service wants the Support area to be highlighted. Sales, of course, wants to highlight Product or Solution areas, and so on.
If you're ruling by committee you'll have a well balanced, but underperforming site. The winning play is to have one objective that rules all others. If that objective is to drive more sales, then the Home page must be geared to that. It will need to highlight and focus on information and calls to action to take web visitors down that path.
Now, this doesn't mean that you won't still link to support and careers sections. You just won't focus on them on your Home and other main section pages.
Get Specific: Now if "Drive more sales.", is your first-cut objective, you need to get a little deeper, more specific. Will you actually be closing sales over the internet (a la eCommerce), or are you driving the new prospect to call you or email you. What level of knowledge should the prospect have before they contact you. Should they know the part number or should they just know that your company is one they need to call.
Thus, your objective may evolve to "Drive qualified prospects to contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them."
So what made them a qualified prospect. Were they qualified before they came to your site (maybe they were driven to your site from a trade show), or did they get to you through a search engine and know very little about what you do
Your objective may ultimately evolve to "Visitors should find the information to qualify themselves as good potential prospects and contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them."
Huge Benefits: Once you've set your objective, everything becomes easier. Writing content (often the biggest challenge a company has), becomes clear.
The path with which you lead visitors through your website becomes clear (e.g. entice, inform, qualify, call-to-action). Site architecture and layout become clear.
You now focus your efforts and resources around fulfilling that main objective. The sections that are not directly relevant to your main objective still support that main objective.
Now that you've clearly set your website objective, the next step is to know who your target audience is – and it may not be who you think.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Who do you want to visit your site. Are they researchers or decision makers. Are they likely to "convert" on their first visit. Do they know anything about your company already. If yes, how much do they know. Are they internet savvy.
Are they over 40 and likely would appreciate larger type. Are they visual. Are they detailed. Are they a "people person" or do they prefer dealing with things or words.
Are they likely to be highly educated. Do they like to have lots of options or lots of direction.
All these questions and a lot more need to be asked and answered. Initially, you'll use this information to help in the design of your overall site.
You'll want the proper balance of image to text. You'll want to set the text level at the appropriate level of detail. You'll want to write to their probable education level.
Ultimately, the answers will drive the theme of your site.
They'll drive the type of online advertising you'll use. They'll drive the design of advertising landing pages.
They'll drive the keyword phrases you'll target in search engine optimization. They'll drive your call-to-action.
Now you're ready to start your marketing. Knowing what you want to accomplish and to whom you want to accomplish it with, you'll be able to structure the right ads, emails, keyword phrase targeting, etc.
You'll be able to focus resources on the proper additional web media (e.g. blogs, podcasts, more web pages, Flash demonstrations, etc.).
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this will be the end of the beginning of your online marketing strategy, and you'll be ready to begin a productive and effective online marketing campaign.
Setting Your Website Objective:
Whenever a client is looking to drive more traffic to their website or is trying to raise their conversion rates, I always take them back to the beginning and ask them what the objective of their site is. This is always more insightful (and entertaining), when I'm meeting with more than one person from the company.
… "drive more sales", "get more leads", "reduce product support demands", "gain access to new markets", are a few of the more common responses. We then take a look at their site. It will often focus on who they are, their history, their commitment to customer service; all noble things, and usually all without a strong call to action that matches their now stated objective.
Setting an overall website objective is not easy but the benefits are huge.
Not easy: Real estate on the web is cheap. Add a page, add 100 pages, there is still plenty of room to expand. So it's easy to quickly develop multiple objectives for your site.
Additionally, many people in the company will have different views on what the site objective should be. Human resources wants the Career section to stand out. Customer Service wants the Support area to be highlighted. Sales, of course, wants to highlight Product or Solution areas, and so on.
If you're ruling by committee you'll have a well balanced, but underperforming site. The winning play is to have one objective that rules all others. If that objective is to drive more sales, then the Home page must be geared to that. It will need to highlight and focus on information and calls to action to take web visitors down that path.
Now, this doesn't mean that you won't still link to support and careers sections. You just won't focus on them on your Home and other main section pages.
Get Specific: Now if "Drive more sales.", is your first-cut objective, you need to get a little deeper, more specific. Will you actually be closing sales over the internet (a la eCommerce), or are you driving the new prospect to call you or email you. What level of knowledge should the prospect have before they contact you. Should they know the part number or should they just know that your company is one they need to call.
Thus, your objective may evolve to "Drive qualified prospects to contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them."
So what made them a qualified prospect. Were they qualified before they came to your site (maybe they were driven to your site from a trade show), or did they get to you through a search engine and know very little about what you do
Your objective may ultimately evolve to "Visitors should find the information to qualify themselves as good potential prospects and contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them."
Huge Benefits: Once you've set your objective, everything becomes easier. Writing content (often the biggest challenge a company has), becomes clear.
The path with which you lead visitors through your website becomes clear (e.g. entice, inform, qualify, call-to-action). Site architecture and layout become clear.
You now focus your efforts and resources around fulfilling that main objective. The sections that are not directly relevant to your main objective still support that main objective.
Now that you've clearly set your website objective, the next step is to know who your target audience is – and it may not be who you think.
Identifying Your Target Audience
Who do you want to visit your site. Are they researchers or decision makers. Are they likely to "convert" on their first visit. Do they know anything about your company already. If yes, how much do they know. Are they internet savvy.
Are they over 40 and likely would appreciate larger type. Are they visual. Are they detailed. Are they a "people person" or do they prefer dealing with things or words.
Are they likely to be highly educated. Do they like to have lots of options or lots of direction.
All these questions and a lot more need to be asked and answered. Initially, you'll use this information to help in the design of your overall site.
You'll want the proper balance of image to text. You'll want to set the text level at the appropriate level of detail. You'll want to write to their probable education level.
Ultimately, the answers will drive the theme of your site.
They'll drive the type of online advertising you'll use. They'll drive the design of advertising landing pages.
They'll drive the keyword phrases you'll target in search engine optimization. They'll drive your call-to-action.
Now you're ready to start your marketing. Knowing what you want to accomplish and to whom you want to accomplish it with, you'll be able to structure the right ads, emails, keyword phrase targeting, etc.
You'll be able to focus resources on the proper additional web media (e.g. blogs, podcasts, more web pages, Flash demonstrations, etc.).
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this will be the end of the beginning of your online marketing strategy, and you'll be ready to begin a productive and effective online marketing campaign.
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