WSI Blog - Internet Marketing Tips and Strategies

These days website traffic can be increased through numerous methods. Whether you're initiating a PPC campaign, sending targeted emails or adding valuable content to your site you need to keep one constant in place. Your goals!

The ultimate (macro) goal may be to sell a product or gain a customer. Other macro goals may be:
    •    Downloading a whitepaper
    •    Signing up for an e-newsletter
    •    Requesting a quote
    •    Submitting information in return for something of value
    •    Viewing a product, service page or consuming some form of content (article, video, blog, etc.)

These macro goals can take time to achieve. Equally important to success are smaller (micro) goals that help build to your ultimate goals. Micro goals are the steps it takes to complete the macro goal. These may include:
    •    Opening an email
    •    Clicking on a PPC ad
    •    Browsing your website and viewing multiple pages
    •    Putting products into a cart and providing billing information
    
Initiating an analytics package can easily help you track the actions of consumers during a visit to your website. Where did they spend the most time, what actions did they take and what was the bounce rate upon the initial arrival? Understanding the steps taken prior to completing a macro goal can help you better understand your consumer and how to direct them where you want them to end up.

Landing pages are tricky and extremely important tools. Many people believe that success has been reached when someone clicks through to your landing page, however that is only half the battle. You got their attention enough to push them further but it's the landing page that needs to seal the deal and drive your consumer to take action.

Tafadzwa Marapa recently shared 6 rules of creating powerful landing pages:

1. Determine your customer goal - It's up to you to decide what you want your visitor to do upon reaching your landing page. If you don't make it obvious what they should do upon arriving to your landing page then there's a good chance they will leave without taking any further action.

2. Make your landing page consistent with your ad - Using a consistent message from your ad to your landing page will help the visitor to understand the action you are encouraging them to take. It also let's the visitor know they've landed in the right place. This increases the likelihood that the visitor will follow and complete the path you've set out.

3. Present a professional design - Your landing page should meet or exceed the design standard set by your website. The page needs to look professional and be well designed with quality graphics.

4. Don't offer extra links - Keep your landing page to one message goal. Don't throw all kinds of links in there and hope the viewer finds something they like.

5. Call for action - If a consumer has clicked through to your landing page they are interested in your product. Make sure they know what to do upon arriving to the landing page to complete the process.

6. Track your results - Is your PPC campaign cost effective? Make sure you can measure your results. Track your conversion rate & the marketing cost per sale.

Click here to read Murapa's blog post entitled The rules of creating powerful landing pages.

Yes. Does that mean you should? Probably not. And here's why - if you're like most small to medium sized business owners, you most likely already wear a lot of hats within your organization. You may already feel like you do not have enough time in a day to complete everything on your "to-do" list, and if so how much time are you really able to dedicate to managing your pay per click campaign? Unless you are able to spend a couple of hours per day (yes, per day) you may be wasting your clicks.

When pay per click marketing first came out, it was easy for small and medium sized business owners to set up a pay per click campaign, choose a few keywords, and let it run for the month. But as internet marketing practices become more specialized, pay per click becomes more competitive and requires constant attention. How much time are you willing and able to devote to pay per click management? Consider this -

- How much is your time worth, or how much would you have to spend to hire someone in-house? Conservatively, let's say that amount is $50/hr.
- You should spend a minimum of 5-10 hours per week on your PPC campaign, checking keyword performance and ads, which is $250 per week or $13,000 per year! And that's on the low end.
- WSI is working with a $2+ million pay per click management tool that enables us to have access to the latest and greatest in PPC technology far above and beyond a basic Google Adwords account. And we are able to track multiple conversion points (Call Tracking, Email Tracking, Web Form Tracking, Sales, Email Marketing Sign-ups, and a multitude of Web Events). We also optimize our campaigns around the keywords that lead to "conversions." Google Adwords tool can only track conversions from Web Forms and Sales, which means you are probably missing out on tracking 60% of your conversions.

We understand that in current economic times, small and medium sized business owners are looking to shrink their marketing budgets, increase their ROI or both. And while it may be tempting to tackle some of your internet marketing campaigns in house, keep in mind that you get what you pay for. WSI guarantees that we will get you better PPC results than if you manage your campaign yourself. Contact us today to find out how.

Most of our clients are familiar with pay per click marketing campaigns, and many use WSI for this very service. But it is important to understand that running a PPC campaign is really only half as effective as it could be if the ads are not directed to a customized landing page - and the best possible landing page, at that.

If you are running a PPC campaign and seeing great results, you can stop reading here. You either already have the best landing page for your business (bravo!) or are incredibly lucky and don't need one. (WSI still thinks you could do better if you had one.) But if you were expecting more from your PPC advertising, it may be time to ask yourself why you aren't converting the traffic that you're paying for. Most likely, you need to take another look at the landing page, or whatever page your potential customers hit after they click through.

To help you further understand the partnership between PPC and landing pages, we recommend that you contact WSI today or attend our upcoming webinar. Click here to sign up today!

Conversion Architecture™ is based on the principle that every website, regardless of industry, should be targeted to a specific customer profile. Our job as Internet Marketing Consultants is to analyze your customers and come up with these customer profiles, based on consumer behavior and objectives, and integrate them into your website. The goal is for every element of your website to persuade visitors on your site to take the actions you want them to - which will lead to a conversion.

Many business owners have a hard time wrapping their head around the concept that your "average customer" does not, in fact, exist. It is necessary to take a closer look at your customer base and really analyze them using audience profiling, segemented needs analysis, and other tools to increase the number and quality of your sales leads. Otherwise, by focusing on everyone, your site may not appeal to anyone.

The next step is to monitor and measure your results. Look at every click on your website as a step towards conversion. You want your visitors to build confidence in your site with every click, until they finally convert into a customer.

Every company uses different Internet marketing methods like pay per click advertising, custom landing pages, social media, and many others. But no matter what your Internet marketing mix looks like, your website is your primary marketing vehicle and your Internet marketing strategy begins and ends there. Conversion Architecture™ is an invaluable step in solidifying this important building block of your marketing plan.

At WSI, we specialize in Conversion Architecture™  to help you reap enhanced Internet profitability.

Get in touch with us today to develop or revisit your Internet Marketing plan.

At WSI, we have been saying this for years....SEO (Search Engine Optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click), and E-mail marketing are the most effective ways to increase company wide "conversions", and now Forbes Media has just completed a study that confirms this.

Forbes Media "Ad Effectiveness Survey" polled 112 marketers online back in February and March to learn more about their attitudes towards digital marketing. Not only were these forms of internet marketing considering most effective at increasing conversions, but also considered most effective in demand fulfillment rather then demand creation. That is the true beauty behind effective internet marketing, your message appears at the exact time the prospect wants it to appear, its not forced, the prospect has the control.

Internet marketing is not a "demand creation" marketing medium like TV or radio. TV, Radio, and even magazines can be effective in creating demand for your product, but we get bombarded everyday with thousands of marketing messages and most people are simply tuning out. A greater ROI can be derived from effective internet marketing campaigns because we are focusing only on those who want to learn more about our products and services, and not wasting our time/money on those who don't. In today's economy, a great website marketed effectively on the internet, can be the difference maker between those companies who survive and those who don't.

The “Big Picture” of internet marketing is the key to staying focused, committed and motivated while cutting out all of the background noise of the internet marketing world. Invest your time and money training and obtaining only the things that will compliment your online business and help you grow it.

Spend the time filling in the pieces of the big picture as it pertains to your online business. The big picture entails four key components:

1. Product
2. Conversion
3. Traffic
4. Follow-up Marketing

When these four components come together, they make up the core foundation of any successful internet business. This is the secret to making money online.

First, we have product. In order to have a successful internet business, you need to have a product to offer people. You can’t make money if you don’t have anything to offer. Despite what many people believe, creating a product isn’t that difficult and there are many types of product you can create to put into the market.

These products could be eBooks, software, video or audio and these are just scratching the surface. These are only a few of many digital products you could sell online. Now, there are many ways to put together a product quickly and simply, whether it be from resale rights, master resale rights or ghost written works.

Your product can be something as straightforward as a website with a subscription form for a newsletter or ezine. If you are focused on affiliate marketing, you could build a landing page to capture prospects before sending the traffic on to the affiliate site. This way you leverage promotions to build your own mailing list and keep the subscribers for yourself. By doing this, you can tap a cash source virtually any time you wish.

By creating a newsletter with new affiliate offers and sending it out to your mailing lists, you have the possibility to make thousands of dollars. You build trust with subscribers and create the ability to generate revenue consistently for years from your target market.

The next part of the big picture is conversion. This measures the rate in which you influence visitors to take the desired action on your website. If you can manage to get half of your visitors to take the desired action, you have a 50% Conversion Rate. Improving your conversion rate is important because it helps you minimize your efforts while maximizing your results.

Conversion is a massive study with many schools of thought. For the beginner internet marketer, there are a few basics that should be followed. The most important one being copywriting. You could have the world’s greatest product for sale, but if you cannot manage to convince your prospect of that and get them to buy, than you’ve failed. Your words are a bridge between you and your prospects, so you need to make
them powerful.

By adding things like graphics, audio and video to your website, you can increase your conversion rate by allowing your prospects to interact with your website. When you add testimonials to the site along with case studies, your conversion rate will also rise. This happens because you are not just making a statement about your product anymore, you are now backing that statement up with hard facts and proof.

Three tips for boosting you conversion rates are:

1. Create safe communication in your copy so your prospects feel comfortable on your website.
2. Create credibility and trust so your prospects believe in your products and want to make a purchase with you.
3. Create a feel of urgency so your prospects are highly motivated to purchase.

The third part of the big picture is Traffic. Here are five keys to successful traffic generation:

1. Not all traffic is created equal. Your focus is only on getting highly targeted and market specific traffic that will convert well to sales.
2. Leverage all the traffic you get. Capture your visitors’ information for follow-up.
3. Master at least one traffic strategy and use it as your main method.
4. Do something everyday to get traffic to your site. Create a traffic generation plan and stick to it.
5. Money ties your traffic by adding different profit streams within your website. You could have a one-time offer, affiliate offers or even Google AdSense

There are many ways to get traffic, but you need to align them to the five keys above. Traffic generation requires some work, be it from press releases, articles, pay-per-click or joint-ventures and affiliate programs.

The final part of the big picture is Follow-up Marketing. This is the most important part in making the bulk of your money. Follow-up Marketing profits are the key to excess revenue. Follow-up Marketing is finding complimentary, higher-end or recurring income products across multiple scenarios.

1. Immediately after the sale or site launch.
2. During the checkout process as an add-on option.
3. A special offer or recommendation through follow-up email.

A huge portion of your profits will be generated by follow-up emails. This is why it is very important to capture the names and email of your site visitors and build your email lists. Affiliate products make great backend recommendations as you don’t need to create your own. You can simply offer affiliate products that give you high commissions, residual income or multi-tier profitability.

Make sure your backend products are complimentary to your market or site topic. This will help you create massive backend profit easily and consistently.