A Website Is Not Enough
Keywords: search engine placement, Search Engine Optimization, SEO Consulting Services, website analysis report,
Your small business needs an appealing and professional website but that is just the beginning. If no one visits your website and — more importantly — if it does not bring in new customers and allows you to sell more to your current customers, then your site is not effective. What do you need to improve your online marketing efforts?
The first step is to decide on a primary goal for your website. Is it to directly sell products or services through e-commerce? Or is the goal to capture leads so you can follow-up and make the sale by email and phone?
For e-commerce you need a website design with a shopping cart system, that encourages people to purchase products using the shopping cart. Both the design and written content should maintain this focus.
If your goal is to capture leads, the key is to have the content that provides initial information about your products and services that interests prospective customers. It should be easy for the prospective customer to fill out a contact form and hit the submit button or call your 800-number. The form should be submitted to a contact management system such as Salesforce or SugarCRM.
Getting it Done
Your business needs a professional website, which can cost between $2,000 — $15,000 to design. This is not only more than most small businesses want to spend but also unnecessary to succeed on the Web.
For small business there is usually little need for an elaborate, expensive website. You can get an appealing and professional website design for as little as $250.
The key to a professional website design is to work with a good designer who takes the time to listen to you and translate your vision into an effective website. Your designer must be as skilled in listening as in design.
Once the site is completed there must be an easy way for you - or someone on your behalf — to maintain the website. The designer should provide you with an easy-to-use content management system (CMS), enabling you to edit your website without having to contact your designer. This saves you money.
Once you have a professional website you have the foundation for marketing online. You can build on that foundation and use the Internet as an effective marketing tool.
Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing can be divided into two main categories: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC).
Please do a Google search right now for something pretty popular (e.g., coffee). The results on the left side of the browser window that reach down to the bottom of the page are the organic search results. The top results are generally the more popular sites. The highest ranking sites are those sites that have the most links from other websites (especially other high ranking sites). In a sense, other people have voted for the high ranking sites by linking to them. Often, the high ranking sites are the most popular but there is also a lot of gaming of the system. You cannot, however, pay Google to increase your site’s ranking.
On the right side of your search results and, sometimes, up at the top of the page are the “Sponsored Links.” These links are paid advertising through a system called Google Adwords. Look for the “Sponsored Links” heading and compare how these links look with the non-sponsored organic links.
Search Engine Optimization
To increase your search rankings in Google (and other search engines), you can do a number of things. We will focus on Google because of its dominant position as a search engine.
The truth is that it is a crowded field out there for most keywords. Your best bet is to find some niche keywords and work on those. It would be very difficult to achieve a high ranking for the keyword “coffee” but if you have a more specific niche you have a better chance of succeeding.
For example - and this is just an example for illustration, not necessarily a good keyword combination - “Guatemalan shade grown coffee” would be an easier space in which to compete. You would have a chance of rising to the top or at least getting on the first page of results.
The primary way to increase your ranking is to have other high ranking sites establish links to your site and have those links associated with specific keywords - such as “Guatemalan shade grown coffee” as in our example. What follows is a few ideas on how to do that in an ethically and effective way. Don’t be tempted by gimmicks because Google and other search engines are becoming more savvy, and can penalize sites that try to game the system too much.
First, submit your site to as many directories and other clearinghouse type sites in your industry as you can. That should probably be your first step in SEO. Again, use the keywords that you are most interested in associating with your site.
Submit your site to general directories that are organized by topic. Some sites charge money for fast consideration of your submission, and are probably worth it. For example, Yahoo Directory charges $300/year for expedited consideration of your submission. For other highly prized directories — such as the Open Directory Project — you just have to submit your site and hope it will be considered reasonably soon.
Next, talk to your vendors and people in related industries and see about arranging for link exchanges or perhaps even success stories that include a link. They link to you and, in exchange, you link to them.
Then start writing articles. The key to articles is to write about something you know and that has information that is genuinely interesting to your audience. Publish your article in publications that are related to your industry. If your article is published in web publications, you will not only get direct sales leads from your article but your article will also help your search engine position.
For example, our fictional coffee vendor could write an article on exactly why shade grown coffee is superior to non-shade grown coffee. Or, better yet, why “Guatemalan Shade Grown Coffee” is truly the best. The article would have to include facts to support this claim and not just fluff. Maybe the next article could be on how to make the perfect cup of coffee. I would be first in line to read that one.
The key thing to remember is that SEO is a long process. You rarely get instant results. It can take 8-12 months to see any significant progress. You have to keep at it.
Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising
There are a number of PPC providers but we will focus on Google Adwords as they are currently the dominant PPC system.
First, you decide on the goal (called a conversion) of your Adwords campaign. Is it a direct sign-up? Is it capturing sales leads?
A conversion when the goal is achieved and Google Adwords keeps a running tally of your conversions and the cost per conversion. You can see the cost of obtaining a lead or the cost of getting a customer. You can determine if Adwords is working for you, and whether you should make adjustments or discontinue it completely. Generally, it takes a bit of experimentation to get it right but it can be a steady source of business for you. It is worth some effort as once it is set up well it runs and can bring in a steady stream of business.
You set a daily budget (say $35) and a maximum bid on specific keywords (say $2.75). You only pay when someone clicks on your ad click. So if you are bidding $2.75 you might only pay an average of say $2.60 per click. It depends on the keywords and how much you want to bid. Spend some time choosing good keywords. Google Adwords has tools to help you choose the most powerful keywords. You will also need to embed some special code in your website to enable Google to track conversions.
Google Adwords really works. Try it and see if it will work for you. It does not require a big investment to get started. In fact, some web hosting and design companies offer a coupon so you can get started with Adwords for free. Google Adwords is easier to use than you might think.
Permission-Based E-mail Marketing
Spammers have given Email marketing a bad name in much the same way that unethical salespeople have given sales a bad name. This is unfortunate as a knowledgeable salesperson can be an essential part of making good buying decisions. The same is true of good email marketing.
With permission-based email marketing - as opposed to spam - the receiver of the email has expressed interest. Think of spam as the wily salesman in the polyester suit — and think of permission-based email as the knowledgeable salesperson we respect.
For example, I am on an email list at a bookstore that I frequent. I look forward to the e-newsletters as they often have interesting content and good discounts. I enjoy receiving this e-newsletter and the bookstore gets more business from me as a result. I rarely go anywhere else to buy books. They have retained me as a customer and I buy more often at least in part because of their e-newsletter.
Email marketing can help you increase customer retention and help you earn more revenue from each customer by cross-selling and up-selling to your current customer base. It can also help you expand your client base.
Email marketing is becoming crucial to online marketing and - when done ethically and well — can be extremely effective. Sign up for a free trial with an email marketing service and see if it works for you. If not, try another service. Find a service that meets your needs.
You can grow your own email newsletter list with a sign up form on your website, and by asking for opt-in in your sign-up and lead capture forms.
What to look for in an Email Marketing Provider
At a minimum an email marketing service should make it easy for you to create eye-catching emails, manage multiple email lists, and place newsletter sign-up forms on your website. There should be powerful list management, robust reporting, and reliability. Your provider must also have excellent customer service.
Your email marketing service should include an easy way to track the results of your email campaigns. Who opened your email, how many times, and when? Did they click on the link you provided? Did they purchase anything or submit a lead? The service should enable you to track message reads in real time, and read detailed reports online or export them to a spreadsheet.
In addition, your email marketing service should give you the ability to manage multiple lists and divide lists into multiple segments.
Conclusion
Obtaining a website and marketing your products or services online does not have to be expensive. An economical way to accomplish these goals is to hire a company to design your website and provide you with bundled web hosting and permission-based email marketing services. It would be an added bonus if they can get you started using Google Adwords with a free coupon.
Neil Anuskiewicz is the Marketing Manager for EZ Publishing.Shawn Hickman is a SEO expert. He can take your site to the next level of online marketing and place you at the top of the search engine results. Visit www.4cornersflorida.com for more information.
Previous Articles Highlighter:
Internet Marketing Research Of Search Traffic And Social Traffic (1)
Getting links will lead to more traffic from search engines, and search engine traffic is going to be where you make your money. Court writes the help people learn internet marketing.
7 Highly Effective List Building Secrets For Internet Marketers (2)
What is co-registration you ask? It refers to the practice of referring subscriptions or leads for memberships with another registration process. There are several ways of doing this.
Article Submissions Better Than SEO? (3)
Targeted Audience Not only do article submissions provide you with visibility to thousands of sites, but they also help you to reach your target audience as well. When you write articles and submit them, usually the only people who are going to be reading those articles are people who were looking for information on that topic, which means that they are in your target audience.
Important Sites Of Social Bookmarking (4)
This avoids the blogger to save the bookmarks in the favorite's list of the browser. A number of bloggers maintain a list of social bookmarking sites. Visit such blogs and create an account with the profile matching in detail.
Social Bookmarking Engine (5)
Key in the word of the subject that you are looking for in the search option. It will throw hundreds of web pages relating to the subject. Social bookmarking engines are now an integral component of any popular website.
10 Things You Can Do Today To Boost The Effectiveness Of Your Marketing Program (Part 2, 6-10) (6)
If your database is so equipped, from number 2, and all the departments share that database, then you can flag them as multiples, and at least bundle them into a common envelope and save on materials and postage.
Internet Marketing - What Methods Are The Most Effective? (7)
Search Engine Optimization One of the most well known approaches to internet marketing is search engine optimization. This approach deals with changing and designing your website in ways that will make it rank better on the search engines.
10 Things You Can Do Today To Boost The Effectiveness Of Your Marketing Program (Part 1, 1-5) (8)
. in short, it keeps the media fair and reasonable, and allows you better access to your audience, which consists of both members and prospects. TO DO: Review your media list, and call the Managing Editor, and the Publisher, of the top 10 publications, websites or blogs covering your industry.
Premiums Still An Effective Tool To Spur Publication Subscription Sales (9)
With the exception of funeral plots, even real estate can benefit from a premium to enhance an offer, albeit an expensive one, on a scale with the value of the property.
12 Things Every FSBO Needs And Every Mortgage Professional Can Provide (10)
4. Getting a Mortgage Payoff. Your FSBO needs a little direction and a sample of a "Mortgage Payoff Letter." Here's where your services will shine. 5. Calculating the Net.
Improve Your Success: Leverage And Scalability (11)
All the methods above are good for the scalability but pay attention to Adwords campaign where at the end you can pay a lot. Let also your affiliates perform Adwords campaign including their affiliate URLs.
A Guide To Motivating Affiliates And Exploding Your Infoproduct Sales (12)
Your Affiliate Toolkit At a bare minimum, your affiliates should have access to ready-to-go promotional material including banners, button graphics, classified ads, ezine ads, solo mailing copy, website advertorials, articles and even space ads for print media.
Internet Traffic And SEO Techniques (13)
In other words, it makes website pages to accept the search engine crawler in a friendly way. These techniques will be some of the steps one will have to use to obtain a better position in search engine's pages, when searching for specific keywords, related to services or products offered by a web site.
Do You Know How To Set Up An Affiliate Program? (14)
You'll find it easier to track sales, monitor clicks and stay on the top the masses of sign ups. If you have a small number of affiliates however, you can successfully run your own affiliate software.
3 Myths About Affiliate Marketing (15)
So imagine how a new comer with no marketing skills or business sense is going to struggle. Im not trying to deter anyone from affiliate marketing; if you have a web based business or are looking to make money online affiliate marketing should definitely be undertaken.
9 Secrets To Getting Traffic (16)
2. If your niche isnt a business opportunity you can still offer to teach at a local community college or hold a seminar. Providing free information to people on a face to face basis not only brands you as a leader in your niche but earns peoples trust.
9 Things About SEO That Your Scared To Believe (17)
You got your message across to the search engines but your readers are probably confused and bored. 8. Avoid playing SEO catch up Everyday it seems some tech wiz finds a new way to beat search engine algorithms.
5 Personality Traits Of A Super Affiliate (18)
Discipline All successful affiliate marketers have a strong sense of self-discipline. They are able to get themselves to take action regardless of their emotional state. Thus they are able to accomplish more in a faster period of time.
4 Tips To Avoiding Affiliate Fraud (19)
You can not afford to be lazy. Below are some screening tips. 1. All affiliates must have an active website. A lack of one may mean theyre spammers 2.
You've Got Your Leads, Now What? (20)
What could be so hard about that? The truth is that many people never make a dime doing this because they dont know how to approach a cold call.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Web Content Strategy 101 (1)
Free-reprint content that you can publish on your site in exchange for putting a link to the authors' site under the article. The main benefit of this kind of content is that you can build up your site quickly.
Are Search Engines Killing Your Business? (2)
Once you have those details captured, you have many opportunities to connect with that prospect over and over again. Denise O'Berry helps small business owners take action to grow their business.
The Google Toolbar And Search Engine Optimization. (3)
How can this help you with your SEO campaign? If you have optimized your website in hopes of increasing your search engine results in Google, this will indicate whether or not Google has updated their database with the new version of your page.
How To Get A Term Life Insurance Quote (4)
If you're interested in getting multiple quotes without having to fill out multiple applications, this may be the best way to proceed. Before selecting this type of multiple quote website, you may want to find out which insurance agencies that particular website deals with.
How To Build A Database Driven Web Site (5)
PHP - this is a server-side scripting language. With PHP installed, your Web server will be able to read a new file (called a "PHP script") that can retrieve information instantly from a database and insert it into a web page before sending it to the browser that requested it.
Delivering Value In An Online Business (6)
Technology as Value Traditional business is able to get the attention of the customer by projecting a vision of the technology and its possibilities through personal contact. Even a moderate technical improvement is made more visible to visiting customers Online business is heavily dependent on technology.
Get Your Business On The Web (7)
How many times have you come across someone who would be ideal as one of your customers. They have about a minute to talk to you and you don't happen to have a brochure in your back pocket.
The Growing Pains Of Search (8)
Google and Yahoo will have to address the huge amount of time and effort required to manage a large sponsored search campaign. Real money will start to be invested, and made.
Been Banned By Yahoo!? (9)
You may even go so far as to contact them and suggest they perform their own analysis of their site based on the new Yahoo! rules. So what if you think you have already been removed for this reason?
How Are People Making Money Online? (10)
More & more people are realising that they too can work from home & the internet is allowing this to be a reality for any ordinary person. If you are willing to put in the work & learn whats needed to be learnt then you too can succeed.
Getting Inbound Links Is As Easy As 1-2-3 (11)
You are utilizing a network of thousands of other websites. And thats what the internet is, a huge network. Take advantage of the power of networking. There are many link exchanges.
Dramatically Boost Your Exposure With A Press Release (12)
Here are a few things to keep in mind when writing a press release. 1) ALWAYS target your press releases to the appropriate media. Take your time to research the different forms of media available in your particular market niche.
SEO And New Websites (13)
If you follow these easy steps when creating a new site, it will save you a lot of heading later. Trying to change content in a particular lay out can almost be impossible, so do it right the first time.
Your Online Success Depends On Targeted Website Traffic (14)
Randomly luring people is the difference between displaying magazines for people to leaf through or snagging a loyal customer who returns to buy each month. One good way to get targeted website traffic is to use keywords.
Earn Money Online With Email Marketing (15)
Without the need to spend time researching and writing your own content and with an effective email marketing system on your side, you will surely earn more money online and bring in more affiliate commissions.
Make Money From Home By Avoiding Affiliate Marketing RoadBlocks (16)
Here are some of the roadblocks to be aware of as a new affiliate marketer. Get past these and you will be very much on your way to making real money online.
Automated EBay EBook Tips To Success (17)
The main benefit of selling eBooks on eBay and the internet is 100% of the process can be automated, although there is one small headache to the seller. The competition, all trying to claim their share of the $800 million annual market.
Making Money With Articles: How Much Can I Make? (18)
This kind of success come with lots of hard work and persistence. A realistic income to expect from a niche site, after you have worked for 3-6 months to gain traffic and are hooked up with good affiliates, may be $500-$1,000 per month.
Three Tips On Article Marketing (19)
Some affiliate marketing programs give you on topic articles you can use to rewrite and submit to article submission directories for high quality targeted traffic. Your articles should be unique.
Targeted Web Site Traffic Should Be Your Main Focus (20)
If there's no payoff for that site hosting fee every month, then you are simply paying to have a site up for people who don't care and are just browsing around.