August 2007

5 tips for beefing up online marketing response

Dear GetMoreCustomers reader:

Okay, you have a presence online, and the website is looking good. But you're hoping to get a little more action from it. What can you do? Here are a few tips:

1. Give visitors a couple of options for interacting with you. If your main hope is that visitors convert to buyers, remember people seldom take action the first time they see/read/hear a message. It takes an average of 6 to 7 exposures to the same or very similar message for most people to decide to make a move--like open their wallet, or even just give you their phone number. Signups drop dramatically when forms require phone numbers in addition to emails.


2. Examine the way you describe things on your website. If you offer a "Product Overview," which sounds like a marketing brochure, but your material is actually more interesting--like an interactive tutorial or a virtual tour--you'll increase visitor interaction by calling it what it is.


3. Test your registration form. See how much information most of your visitors are willing to give--the more they give, the better qualified they are as a lead. But you don't want to lose the chance to capture other visitors--you never know when they will become interested enough to turn into a hotter lead. So experiment with a couple of different forms. See which one gets the best returns.
   
4. Make sure you have a search box on your site. Visitors love to be able to type in what they're most interested in and see what your site has to say. If their search turns up information that rings a bell with them, they'll generally start browsing the rest of the site. There's a f*r*ee one available at ATOMZ.


5. Mention your website URL in everything else you do--television, radio, print, in sales, promotional and instructional materials--everything you do. If you've done your homework and you know where you appear high in the search engines, you can include your keyphrase in your collateral, too. State plainly "search keyword: Chevrolet parts" or "Google: guitar lessons."

Marketing--online and otherwise--is a process that must be reviewed, revised and revamped on a continuing basis to lead towards the desired events: sales. But keep in mind, marketing works best when it makes things easy and it appeals to the minds and, especially, the hearts of the individual persons who make up that amorphous "target audience."

Sincerely,
Barbara

P.S. Still debating about a company blog? Check out Blog for Business:

* Can a manufacturer blog? Would Sears?
* Law of attraction works for corporate blogs
* What the heck is Web 2.0 and why should you care?

Give me a call if you have any questions about corporate blogs. 773.292.3294 or 216.472.8502