Digital Marketing Consultant

If you were to record a sales call, how do you think the transcript would read?  It probably would not make a great script, would it? There would be lot of "ums" and "ahs," plenty of pauses and repetition, no shortage of topics that did not need to be there and a few things that you wish you would have mentioned but forgot.

It would not look like a record of efficient persuasion.

And that would be a successful call!

When you are talking with a client, mistakes in diction matter little.  It is how conversation works.  If a sentence does not come out right, we can immediately produce another that corrects it, and the person to whom we are talking forgets the mistake that came before.  As long as the point gets across and persuades, the conversation has worked.

Online selling is much less forgiving.  

According to a report by the BBC, a single spelling mistake on a page of Web copy can have the effect of halving conversion rates.

"If you project this across the whole of internet retail, then millions of pounds/dollars worth of business is probably being lost each week due to simple spelling mistakes," said Charles Duncombe, director of the Just Say Please group, a network of online retail stores.

There are a few lessons that can be drawn from that report:

1. The first is the importance of testing.  Duncombe was able to claim that spelling errors halved conversions because he corrected an error and watched sales double.  That might have been a anecdotal study and not particularly scientific, but it does suggest that a great deal can be learned by making changes and measuring the results.  
2. The second is that while online sales copy matters, it is a tool that can only be used once.  You get one shot at persuading a lead to buy.  If a single mistake can kill that shot, then you need to make sure that you have enough traffic flowing through the site to make up the numbers.  
3. The last lesson though is perhaps the most important: social media bridges the gap between the rigidity of a static sales page and the flexibility of a one-to-one chat with a lead.

When you use social media, you are still beating objections, promoting sales points and building a brand in written language.  You still have to pay attention to typos, spelling mistakes and all of the little errors that can kill a page of sales copy.  

But if you do make those mistakes you can correct them.  Facebook comments are filled with clarifications and answers to questions posed by prospects unclear about a post.  Deleting a tweet you wish you had not made is as simple as clicking… twice.

Using social media to communicate with a group of prospects is not as forgiving as a real chat. Mistakes remain visible if you do not remember to delete them but because social media users write like they talk, they do not have the same trust-destroying effect as an error in a page of sales copy.

When you are selling, you want to be as efficient as possible.  But no one is ever 100 percent right all the time.  You want to make sure that your static copy is reviewed and edited to eliminate errors, your sales calls are clear and persuasive — and your social media typing is chatty and conversational.

Everyone should understand the value of effective quality content when it comes to Internet Marketing.  But what defines effective content?  The biggest mistake I see is the lack of understanding by the website owner of how the visitor will preceive the product or service.

Rule Number One: Look at your website from an outsider's viewpoint.

If you are offering quality services and products to your customers, you are doing them a favor.  When you know you are providing this to your customers, it will be reflected in your site content both in words and in tone.

Your content should inform your customers of the following:
•    What products and services you offer in a clear and concise phrase
•    How these products and services will benefit the customer
•    Write a call-to-action from the customer

Most website owners take time to make sure their Home page is perfect for attracting and retaining visitors, but often the internal pages of a website are not given the same attention when building a website.  

This can be a real problem for your marketing.  Not all visitors enter your website through your Home page.  Check your statistics and you may be surprised to learn that a lot of traffic enters your site through the internal pages.  Think about it.  These visitors never even may look at your wonderful Home page.  This makes it important that every page of your website be developed with the same intensity as you provided for your Home page.

Every page of your website should let visitors know what you and your website are about.  This can be accomplished with an opening sentence such as, “My Company offers quality ink cartridges at wholesale prices."  Every visitor to a page with this at the top will know what you are all about.   A concise statement about what you offer the benefits to your visitor will make a difference in your conversion rates.

Your website pages should have a call-to-action even if it is as simple as a purchase button.  To sum it up, look at your text as a prospect would, tell your prospect concisely what you do, and make sure the action they need to take is as simple as possible.

A successful Internet business may be easier than you thought possible, even in challenging times.   More and more people are developing their own online website business because of recent challenges encountered with high unemployment rates.

Today we are going to look at four successful strategies in developing a successful Internet and Digital business.

1.    Being well informed about your specific market niche is the first thing you need to do to prepare to build your online business.   The best way to accomplish this in short order is to select a product or service about which you are knowledgeable. 

2.    Get organized.  So much can be said about the need to be organized when in business.   The best way to get started with organization is by planning out the steps you will take to build your online business.  Good planning prior to implementation can make the difference between success and failure. 

A business plan is a great organizational tool.  If you are looking to start a new online business do it right by starting with a well thought out business plan. 

3.    Don’t be hesitant to ask for help from an expert if and when needed.   A lot of people make the mistake of procrastinating on getting help as soon as it is needed.  There is an old proverb that says pride comes before a fall.   Don’t make your own personal experience be the teacher when you can avoid the frustrations by simply asking for help when needed.

4.    Don’t try to start everything from scratch.   There is no need to reinvent the wheel.   Take advantage of the expertise of others and use a true and tested Internet marketing plan for success with your online business.

Having a successful online business does not require rocket science knowledge, but it will take dedication, commitment and asking for help from time to time.

Integrating content Into your business website product pages is an art and a science.  Up front, I am telling that, if you would like a free "perfect page" template, contact me.

It may take a little extra effort to load your product pages correctly with content, but it will be worthwhile for both the search engine rankings and the real visitors to your online business. 

It all starts with the title.   You want to do the research needed to make sure you have captured a title that is exactly like what your visitors will be searching for.   You should keep the title as close to what people are searching for as you possibly can.

Images need tags which describe them, both for the search engines and for those who don't allow graphics to show.

You will need to develop text and description content that is both compelling and fun to read to retain the attention of the reader.   The most engaging content is when the content exhibits the personality of the website and your business.

Connecting products according to which products are frequently bought together is a great way to get the attention of your visitor.  Provide trending information about visitors who have purchased a particular product and what other products they may be interested in purchasing.  This process should, in fact, be automated.

Provide content regarding product comparison.  This often provides answers to the questions your visitor may have regarding a product.

Include content that is user generated.   It could consist of product ratings  by customers.  Adding content generated by the end user is a great way to obtain unique content for your site.

Rich content on your product pages will make the page pop out to your customers, doing it right will make the search engines find your page...but there is much more than what I have dared to mention above.

From time to time, no matter how much maintenance is done, things get broken.  When this happens to an essential tool, it is essential that it get the attention it needs and repaired appropriately.  This is also true for your business website and those websites to which you link.

It is not difficult to locate the links that may be broken on your website.  Free tools are available online and can be used right from your computer.

If you are wanting your product or website to link to someone else's webpage, you may want to for broken links in other websites to keep your reputation, but fixing these broken links can be more difficult. 

To find the broken links in other websites, you will have to search through the server logs to locate all 404 errors.  But you cannot fix another person’s website.  You will have to contact the website owners and ask them to correct the problem.  If this does not get fixed by the owner, your only other alternative is to use a 301 to automatically redirect users to the correct page.

The reason this is important is that when users end up on a non-existent page, they frequently jump over to your competitors and make their purchase or sign-up.  The double whammy of this is that, if the search engines find nonexistent pages, they typically lower the ranking of your website.

You have spent way too much time building your website not to keep it in the best of care.  Make your website ownership philosophy: If it is Broke Fix it.  Constant maintenance is a full-time job.  Do you read the owners manual, or do you take your vehicle or your lawn mower to a specialist?  Your website needs a qualified specialist, too.

A lot of individuals (and too many businesses) focus on just the aspect of building a great website.  While that is of importance, businesses should have a business plan and design for internet marketing.   Internet marketing is a unique form of marketing designed to effectively market your business in the digital world of the Internet and Telecoms.

Effective internet marketing tools

A tool to help identify phrases based upon a keyword (or ten) used by people searching the internet for your products and services is one of the most important internet marketing tools you can utilize.   Wordtracker is one of these tools.

This tool will provide assistance in determining the traffic or market for a product or service.  This tool will also help you effectively identify a niche and specific products in a niche that will provide you with the best opportunity of attracting specifically interested customers and of making some real money.

But what about non-English key words?  Or even different cultures in the same language?  There are so many tools that can aid in your battle to optimize your business website that each one of these tools could be an article in itself and would cost you a fortune.  But one tool has great power...article directories.

Article directories are another great Internet marketing tool that can kick start your online business.  Notice we said article directories because there are an incredible number of directories available.

Obtaining free traffic to your website is essential to making your website become a profitable weapon.  One of the most effective ways to attract free traffic is to exchange or trade links with other internet businesses.  It can take some time to build up sufficient links to attract a fair amount of traffic and increase your search engine rankings.  The use of article directories can accomplish link building in a very short amount of time.  

How do the article directories work?

1. You write or have a high quality content article written that is relevant to your website.
2. You submit the article to one of the many article directories.
3. Webmasters worldwide look to these directories for website content.  

As your article is selected for their use, your name associated with the article is then published on their website.  In the author area of the article, you can provide links to your site and these will be published on the website of those using your article.   One article can generate between 50-2000 links for your website. 

Do you think this is much better (with a lot less effort) than what you can obtain by trading links?

Other ideas?  See our Wisdom Book.

All types of Websites exist on the Internet today.  In addition to online businesses, there are millions of personal, business, churches, agencies, and individual personal websites.  With so many boats floating around on the web sea, it is important to get the right keywords with which to represent and market your business.

The search engines of the world produce a list of sites based upon keywords which a user enters in to search for a relevant site. When a user puts in the selected words for which he/she wants to find results, the search engine starts searching across its indexed pages and sites and returns a list to the user of identified sites.  All of this was done in a split second.

This process makes it evident what the right words are for keywords, but maybe not so evident to you.  Simply stated, you want it to be the words that will find the products and services you offer.   There are online keyword tools available to help identify the right keywords for the various products and services. Some cost a pretty penny, but can be well worth it.  Others, like Google's Keyword Tool are quite effective.

Keywords are only a component for search engine optimization (SEO).  Keywords, website design, and content are all about how the user will look for the information they desire.

Once the keywords have been selected, the website content must be created around these keywords in a natural flowing manner.  In order to have your site listed for the user, the search engine must be able to identify your website with the users selected keywords in several levels of your website structure.  The keywords must relate to the text of the page and the website, not as synonyms, but as the same words.  Do not repeat keywords or put commas between them in your website heading.

Selecting words that have a high usage rate among users is best since they offer the most users from which traffic can be generated to your website.  The more popular the keyword is, the more traffic it could potentially generate. But, and this is a big "but," you will never beat out your competitors just by choosing the popular keywords.

It is also important to identify keywords that may not be as competitive as other popular words. And it is important to use multiple keywords in phrases that might distinguish you from all the others.  If you use keywords that are associated with a lot of websites, you will have a harder time being visible to the user. Using keywords that are not used for as many websites can give you the competitive edge, but it really depends on your market, your website structure, your page titles, the age of your website, the growth of your website, and several other factors.

Knowing the right keywords to use for your website is of basic importance in your SEO efforts, but if you wonder why they are not working for you, you need to study the whole picture.  You can check out our Wisdom Book on our website.

I have recently spoken with several companies that are looking for help from SEO’s. As I review the strategies that are proposed to them, the most common item missed, even with all the so-called top SEO firms is a social media campaign. With the value of paid and reciprocal links dropping, social and PR based linking strategies is one of the few venues that still has massive long term value.

Many companies that handle SEO in-house these days are also so focused on the old school practices that they are completely missing the boat changing course. If their senior management knew how much this would cost them, I am sure they would motivate this type of change if they are open-minded enough to have an in-house department in the first place. This observation also clearly opens up the fact that in-house SEO’s are not spending enough time online researching changes and trends in the algorithms. In most cases in-house SEO’s only go online to research after problems arise and the cost of repair is dramatic.

A great example of not changing course fast enough was the BMW debacle a couple years ago that got so much press. It is also fair to note that most of the German SEO’s promote cloaking and shady linking strategies. At least half of the ones I have met tried to convince me that spamming was the only way SEO works, which is sad when you are trying to hire a contractor to help you remotely. If the industry is not capable of moving as fast as the search engines, the industry will tank and a rise of new firms will take over.

The best sign of blindness is the social content sites, which as long as they are optimized correctly typically drive a lot of algorithmic traffic. Imagine not having to generate your own content? This is a huge cost savings! Now that your user bases are such fanatics about your site, they are also going to drive half of the links you could ever need to your sites because of their social networking content through comments and reviews.

Why is it that big business understands this concept, but completely misses the concept of Digg or Reddit?  Because it is not easy to stay on top of the trends and changes.

If you want to stay on top, follow me.  And, in the meantime, check out http://www.squidoo.com/Website_Audit (and look for the free gift) and http://bit.ly/WSIwisdomBook.

If you are a small or medium sized business owner (SME), you intuitively know that you need to use the Internet as a marketing tool.  So, you look in your local telephone directory and pick one of the many Web developers listed.  They meet with you; get your head spinning about Java, HTML, C++, MS SQL databases, and on and on.  They tell you what you need and you pay what they ask.  However, they may not be up-to-date on the latest trends in Internet digital marketing or how to drive profits to your business using the Web.  This is why most websites fail.

 Your website should not cost you anything! 

Your website (more accurately described as your e-business solution) should be a balance sheet item, not an expense to your company, and it should deliver a measurable return on investment (ROI).  Most Web developers build or rebuild sites from scratch with the focus on coding only.  They don’t take advantage of modular development technology that supports a building block approach of functionality that is a reflection of your business needs. 

By deploying a modular development technology approach to building, rebuilding, or enhancing your site, the developer can bring you a high quality solution at a significant cost savings.

Holding the number one position in the search engines doesn’t matter!

Everyone has heard the promise of having their website listed at the top of the search engines.  But, everyone cannot be at the top of the list, and you, as a savvy business person, know it.  Search engines have rules and they change periodically. 

Actually, being the second or third position may be just as effective, since prospects who are genuinely interested in your product or service are more likely to click through to your site than those looking for instant results in the first few listings.  This can generate greater profits for your business, since more of the “click-thru’s” to your website may result in sales, or whatever desired action you wish users to take.  The goal is to generate high visitor levels on all of your pages, not just hits to your home page.  With millions of new sites coming online every month, not all of them will attract the visitors they need to be successful. With this in mind, clever keyword selection strategies based on your competitive business position forms the basis of an effective Internet marketing campaign.  WSI offers some of the most sophisticated tools to drive viewers to your website and to help convert these viewers into customers.  To get a good picture of what is possible, spend some time at http://bit.ly/WSIDigitalMarketing. Pay-Per-Click advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Email Marketing, and the WSI WebScan™ are designed to ensure that an SME’s website works. 

Most sites are left unattended!

Most Web developers are just that: developers.  Once they have finished a site they are off to develop another one. 

You measure your sales activity and channels on a monthly basis, and your website is one of your sales channels.  Knowing the number of visitors, not just the number of hits, is extremely important.  Knowing which pages are being viewed and how long a visitor is on each page is critical information.  What search engine did the visitor come through to visit your site?  Did the visitor reach the site over a link from another site?

As a business owner, you are constantly measuring yourself against your competition.  How your website performs is no different.  You need to know how your site ranks compared to your competitors’ sites as well.  

Working with an Internet solutions provider rather than a website developer will give your business a competitive advantage over your competition.  Your Consultant will be in sync with your unique selling points, core competencies, customer demographics, sales targets, operating costs, and target ROI. 

Your goals will be met if your Internet solutions provider integrates all of your business goals within the design, hosting, and managing of your site.   If not, your website simply will not work.