Internet Marketing
Want More Customers?
If you are like ninety-nine percent of other businesses, you have missed the boat when it comes to Internet marketing. Almost all businesses have a website, but few know how to use it to attract more customers. Some of the basics are shown below.
First—Tracking visitors to your website is essential. A few critical statistics include the total number of visitors (including first-time and repeat visitors), web pages accessed, and how your site was found. If your visitors came from a Google search, what words were typed to find your website? Even if you have very few prospects accessing your website, tracking your traffic must come first. This allows you to establish a baseline to determine how well your future Internet marketing campaigns perform and to calculate the return on your investment from the money you spend to increase traffic to your website.
To assist you in tracking this vital information, Google offers Google Analytics, a FREE program that will send you a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly email report that summarizes these important statistics. Sign up below for Getting Started with Google Analytics. This report includes instructions for setting up Google Analytics and explains some of the statistics shown in the email summary. The simplest way to get started is to read the free report and then ask Personal Computer Consultants or your website developer to set up Google Analytics and have a statistical report emailed to you.
Click Here to get your free report Getting Started with Google Analytics.
Second—Very few websites are effective at capturing visitor information, and because of this inefficiency, the average business will never again hear from the seventy percent of people who visit their website. To capture a visitor’s contact information, you must present them with an irresistible offer that compels them to give you their email address, phone number, or mailing address. Your offer may include special reports, newsletters, eBooks, videos, or audios that provide the information the prospect is looking for when they search the Internet. Follow-up is essential to turning a prospect into a customer. Establishing a list of prospects who are interested in your products and services and staying in contact with them is where a marketing campaign is won or lost.
Third—Once you have prepared your website to capture visitor information and are ready to disseminate this information, you are ready to drive traffic to your website. Many options are available to increase the number of visitors to your site, and all should be considered before making a selection.
AdWords—This service offered by Google lets you create ads that appear in the search results when someone types the keywords you purchased when setting up an AdWords campaign. Keywords are the words and phrases someone types when doing an Internet search. Someone looking for a local plumber, for example, may search Google for “plumbers in Richmond, VA.” Google only charges you when someone clicks your ad. Placement in search results depends upon the amount you bid for each keyword and a Google rating system called Quality Score. The higher your Quality Score, the better price for the keyword purchases and the better position your ad has in the search results.
The Quality Score of the keywords tied to your ad is calculated every time someone searches Google for the keywords you have purchased. Two major factors used to determine your Quality Score are the number of times people have clicked on your ad in the past and the relevance the purchased keyword has to the text in your ad and to the text on the web page where the ad links. Only Google knows exactly how a Quality Score is calculated, but other factors include the originality of the content on the web page referenced in your ad, how clear the nature of your business is defined on the linked web page, and how well your site interacts with visitors.
AdWords campaigns are simple to set up and can be activated and deactivated at will. This simplicity can be deceptive, however, and a thorough understanding of Internet marketing and AdWords is required to set up a successful, cost-effective campaign.
AdWords ads appear to the right and sometimes above the free search results (watch the short video below).
SEO—This terms stands for Search Engine Optimization, a technique that involves crafting your web pages so that they are displayed in a good position in the search results when someone does a search on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, or some other search engine. Unlike AdWords, you are not charged when someone clicks your ad, and the link to your web page is shown in the free listing as opposed to Adwords ads that sometimes appear on the top and to the right of the free search results (watch video above).
Many techniques are used to improve the position of your website’s listing in the free search results. It is important that the web page you wish displayed includes variations of the keywords someone types when doing a search. If you want to rank “plumbers in Richmond Virginia,” for example, you would include this term on the web page you would like to rank, as well as variations of the term, such as “plumbing repairs.” Placement of these words is also very important.
Linking from other well-ranked websites is extremely effective in improving positioning in search results. If you offer local services, your web pages must emphasize your location and be listed in local online directories. Many other techniques are also used, and your approach will vary, depending on your goals and the nature of your website.
Mailings—Your types of mailings, such as postcards and newsletters, is a proven strategy for generating traffic. The marketing piece should direct the recipient to your website, where you will request their contact information in exchange for a report, a newsletter, or an eBook that contains the valuable information highlighted in the mailing.
Videos—These can be distributed to such websites as YouTube and will have a link to your website. Your video could range from a product demonstration to an interview in which a subject relevant to your industry is discussed. Videos can be a very cost-effective traffic generator for your website.
This is by no means an exhaustive list of alternatives. Deciding on the best way to generate traffic depends upon the nature of your website and your marketing strategy. It needs to be one part of your entire marketing plan.
Fourth—Calculate the value of each visitor to your website and continue to refine your marketing plan. Once the essential elements are in place to capture leads and stay in contact with those leads, the tracking information we mentioned in step one will allow you to invest your marketing dollars more wisely. The goal is to make your investment in marketing achieve the highest possible return on your investment. This is an investment you control. Your returns should far exceed those you could achieve anywhere else!
Internet marketing and developing websites are distinct disciplines. If you are happy with your web designer but need help in promoting your website, we will happily work with you to do either one or both. Fortunately, it is easy to measure the return you are receiving on the money you are investing by marketing your website using Google Analytics or a similar program. The first step is to track these statistics to see how well your existing Internet marketing efforts are performing. CLICK HERE to get your free report Getting Started with Google Analytics.
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