In their effort to get better exposure for their company online, many companies will anoint the youngest (and obviously most “techy” staff member…) to set up their social networking/online presence. The amateurs guide to posting your online presence “Playbook” usually developed by those who either have accounts, or know someone that does says that to be a successful online company in 2011 it is essential for your company to have:
Facebook Page
Twitter Account, WITH Tweets
Youtube Channel
Linked In
Blog
and coming soon, the 6th pillar- Google+ (for business)
OK- by that measure you’re successful. Now what? Most companies make the mistake of turning their message and online brand over to someone are young and seem to have played every PS3 / Xbox 360 game in existence- because they think by that virtue they understand how Social Networking works. Well, some of that’s true (about 10% of it). Anyone can set up a Facebook page or upload a YouTube Channel (and become a “viral” celebrity overnight. Watch “Webcam for Seniors 101 below.
To sustain a long-term internet marketing program takes time to establish a strategy that will live past the initial push. Anyone, given the right circumstances can attract a crowd; light yourself on fire and people will come to watch you burn- but after the flames diminish and there’s nothing left, the mob will disburse . Before the first login/password combination are compiled for your company to venture down this path careful consideration needs to be given to:
Study (and possibly rethink) your brand and message
Study your clients then go back to step “1”
Establish and rethink your strategy- is it consistent with “1”
Select the “right” person to establish your presence, not just a logical “able-body”
These are beginning steps to making sure you start off on the right foot for a long-term social networking strategy and not become a flash in the pan. For this series of blog posts on Social Networking strategies I’ll dive more into ideas for developing a strategy based on segmenting your clients and prospective clients into categories and focusing on them, as well as how you can use Social Networking sites to develop your message and help with your SEO rating (with Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc…)- EVEN IF NO ONE EVER VISITS those sites. Next Blog in Series: “What are the essential components of a successful Social Networking Strategy- and using that to drive SEO”
For most businesses the benefits of using social media like twitter, facebook or a blog are very real. These platforms and can yield positive results for not only SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) rankings but for customer engagement and satisfaction as well. The key to using social media in a beneficial way for your business is simply that: using it.
For your business to effectively use Twitter and facebook you must be actively engaging with customers who reach out to you using these platforms. Setting it and forgetting it is a big mistake many company’s make. In fact if you plan to do that you are probably better off not venturing into the social media realm at all. Forgotten facebook pages can fill with spam, steal SERPS ranking (thus visitors). While Forgotten blogs and twitter accounts will not necessarily fill with spam they can steal SERPS and prove to be a hurdle between you in your customers.
On the other side of the spectrum properly using social media platforms can greatly improve your image and customer relationships. They can actively drive traffic to your site and significantly increase the number of loyal returning visitors.
How do you use social media platforms like facebook, twitter or a blog? The short answer is once a day for at least for 15 minutes. Really, that’s all it takes! Of course, the longer you spend the better but 15 minutes is a great start. Respond to questions, post/tweet company news, share interesting industry related articles, share related online pictures and video and more. The key is to do it on a regular basis.
So remember, if your thinking of using social media to drive traffic to your site, increase your customer interaction or satisfaction be sure to be an active user. Doing otherwise will do more harm than good.
Your header tags can be great tools in aiding search engines in their quest to determine what your web site is about. I have seen many sites that completely ignore the placement, structure, content and use of these vital tags to their peril. Using these these tags correctly and effectively can help your on-site SEO efforts dramatically.
The header tags that carry the most weight are the h1, h2 and h3 tags. The h1 carries the most weight and influence with the search engines. As you might suspect the h2 tag comes in second and the h3 in last with as far as influencing the search engines. Using more than these three for on-site SEO is not an effective strategy because the weight the remaining header tags carry after the h3 tag is negligible.
The placement of these three header tags is important. The h1 should always be above the h2 and the h2 above the h3. With the h1 tag I have found success with placing it closer the the upper left hand corner. Search engines studies have determined that this is one of the first places the eye travel naturally. In my own experience I have seen the weight of the h1 tag coupled with the upper left placement drop listings for websites on the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages) by more than a page!
The content of the tags bears a heavy influence on search results. First and foremost you want text not images for content. You also want that text to be short and concise. A standard rule of SEO is to optimize each page for not more 1-3 keywords and this should be reflected in the header tags.
Using your header tags correctly with SEO in mind you can ensure your site is getting the most from its on-site SEO. Together with other SEO best practices this technique can get you the SERPS listings and traffic your site needs to prosper.
A key part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is tracking the performance of keywords. For some sites, a high traffic flow is the goal regardless of who the visitors are and what they want. Other websites, particularly e-commerce sites, focus not only on traffic but conversions as well. In either case tracking keyword performance is necessary.
The first part of tracking keywords is actually selecting the keywords your SEO campaign is focusing on. A simple Google search for “SEO keyword tool” will yield many results. However, two of the best tools I can suggest are Google’s Keyword Traffic Tool and Wordtracker’s GTRends. For each page of your website I would focus on no more than two keywords.
When it’s time to see where you rank for those keywords, purchase a SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) rank checking software or choose from the many free services on the web. The important thing is to run these often and always record the results.
Once you’ve picked your keywords it’s time to set up website tracking software. Again, a simple Google search will provide many options to choose from. Before you try any of the paid services, I highly recommend you try Google Analytics. This tracking software is highly configurable, creates great reports and gives most, if not all, paid services a run for their money.
Now for the hard part, combining your SERPs data, website tracking data and your SEO efforts. This is why most companies pay SEO Agencies the big bucks. You must discard the keywords that rank well but are not converting or bringing traffic in, increase SEO efforts on keywords lagging in SERPS but still bringing performing well and track new keywords that you discover through data analysis. All the while you must continue to collect, analyze, combine and organize all tracking data.
Tracking keywords is an intricate part of a successful internet marketing plan and a must for effective Search Engine Optimization. While it may prove time and resource consuming, the end result is a website that more than pays for itself!
Adding a blog to your Magento store is an excellent way to connect with your customers, increase your SEO efforts, and make your store an authority site on the products and services it offers. With a blog you can constantly add relevant content(for both your customers and search engines) making your store a destination for information relating to your product or service.
A blog allows you to connect with your customers on a never before seen level. You can publish news releases, detailed product reviews, related content, take customer comments/questions/concerns and respond to them in kind. Coupled with the latest social networking platforms you can cultivate this relationship even further. The relationship you establish with your customers is a great way to see market trends and analyze customers wants in needs. Most importantly it will increase conversions, purchases, and create a loyal customer base.
By successfully connecting to your customers through your blog posts your Magento store will become an authority destination on the product or services you sell. Along with this authority status will come an increase of traffic. The increase will come not only from returning readers and customers but those looking for information. As your authority status grows people will link to your site from other websites further increasing traffic flow.
Connecting with your customers and becoming an authority site on subjects concerning the products and services you sell will cause your search engine rankings to improve dramatically. You can further your SEO efforts by providing links to different pages in your Magento store in each individual post. Not only will your customers be lured in by this stream of content but search engines will use it to determine what your site is about. By keeping your posts focused you can manipulate this into better SERPS (Search Engine Results Page) rankings for your site.
A blog for your Magento store is a good idea on many levels. By becoming an exporter of fresh relevant content related to the products you sell, your blog will become an importer of customers and indispensable marketing tool.
Video is now an intricate part of the web. With 24 hours of video being loaded into YouTube every minute, new video friendly platforms like the iPad & Google TV emerging and search results serving up video your internet marketing strategy should include this ever-expanding medium. If its a bottle of wine, hotel room, RV, electronic gadget, or just about anything, video can show your customers what you are selling close up and personal. So how should you go about promoting video on the internet?
Quality Camcorder or Flip Video: No, you don’t have to go spend an arm and a leg, but a clear steady image goes a lot further that a shaky, blurry one.
Upload to Multiple Video Sites: The more sites you share your video with the better. YouTube, Yahoo Video & AOL Video are great to start with. Remember to always provide a link back to your website. The page it links back should have the video along with keywords that describe that video.
Use keywords In Title: The Title of the video is a huge factor with both search engines listing it as a result and users choosing to view it. Make sure you make the title catchy as well as keyword rich. Also provide engaging keyword rich descriptions of the video as well. If you are able to put a link in the description back to your site in the description, by all means do so!
Embed the Video on Your Site: This is a must. When you embed the video on your site make sure it is titled and the content on the page relates to the video.
Using video as part of your internet marketing strategy is a must in this day and age. By implementing these simple rules you can be sure that your video and thus your website and products will be found by interested consumers.
At InteractOne, we hear this question pretty frequently from frustrated business owners who have previously spent thousands of dollars building websites without knowing where their customers are online. Without this knowledge, targeting customers is virtually impossible. Just as you wouldn’t drive to a new vacation spot without your GPS, you shouldn’t develop a website by blundering about and hoping that you get there eventually. Fortunately, knowing how to find customers online is something that InteractOne excels at doing.
“If you build it, he will come.” – Shoeless Joe Jackson, Field of Dreams. While the quote may apply to mystically-inspired baseball fields being constructed in Iowa corn fields, it doesn’t necessarily apply to your website. There are approximately 4.71 billion indexed web pages (worldwidewebsize.com). This doesn’t include the non-indexed pages that the search engines can’t reach. That’s why the professionals at InteractOne specialize in helping companies identify and find their customers and learn about their behavior before building a new website.
Finding Your Customers – A Focused Strategy
Just like detectives, the experienced team at InteractOne engages in a fact finding mission before beginning work on a website. We identify the answers to the questions of “Who, What, Where, How, and When” and then we custom build our marketing campaigns around those answers. By leveraging our expertise and the relevant data, we can efficiently target and reach the ideal markets for your products or services. The end result of all this work? We build websites that see a significantly higher return on investment via sales conversions and increased site visits, not to mention increased brand awareness than sites without a targeted audience and strategy. At InteractOne, we know how to find your ideal customers and get them to your site.
Do you have more questions about how to find customers online or developing a new strategy to locate them? Then contact ususing our form or call us today at 513.469.7042 from 8 AM to 6 PM EST for a free consultation.
The secret to internet marketing can be boiled down and concentrated into a couple of phases. Yes, there are important SEO techniques, product placement algorithms, hosting decisions and other endless tactics you will need to implement; however, what really determines your success online is your overall strategy. A solid strategy will keep all your internet marketing efforts inline and focused towards a common goal. A successful strategy for running a business online should include these major phases:
1) A Well-Designed Website. Before you start worrying about traffic or conversions be sure your website design fits well with the genre of the market you are aiming to be a player in. A well-designed website should take in account not only form, but function as well. Navigation, forms, checkout, and any other processes a visitor might go through on your site should be logical, easy to complete and blended seamlessly into the design. Your website should be pleasing to the eye yet easy to navigate. All websites, regardless of which type of market, should have professionally written text, free of grammatical errors and have a unifying theme or focal point.
2) Increase Traffic to Website. Once you have a well-designed website its time to introduce it to the masses! Implement a Search Engine Optimization plan for keywords that are attainable through organic search. For keywords that are beyond your SEO budget use pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is a great tool to get capture traffic that comes with those particular keywords that prove elusive to your SEO efforts. Other online advertising tools you can use to connect to your customer base are banner ads, social media, and e-mail marketing. Remember what works for one business might not work for yours. Be sure to craft the right mix these tools to get the optimal amount of traffic.
3) Increase Conversions on Website. Now that you have your traffic numbers up its time to increase your conversion rate. Whether you are selling items through an eCommerce store, selling ad space on your website or just looking for viewers to fill out a contact form to get leads, the goal of most websites is to increase conversions. This can be accompished by the strategic placement of ads, contact forms or products. Maybe its the call to action or other site text that needs to be tweaked. Increasing conversions on a website requires careful analysis and testing of almost every aspect of your website.
Having a well thought out overarching strategy to success online separates the businesses that succeed from those that fade out into oblivion. Sun Tzu put it best: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat”.
An “abandoned shopping cart” happens when an online shopper adds items to their cart, then decides to just close their browser or go somewhere else. It happens to every site at some time or another for various reasons, most of which are preventable. To help minimize abandonment, there are steps you can take to ensure that your shoppers will see your checkout procedure through to order fulfillment.
Think of your online checkout process like a traditional brick and mortar store. In a physical store, shoppers browse the aisles to locate the products they want to purchase. When they find one it is placed in their metal cart. At this point there is no commitment to actually buy the items in their cart. If they see something they don’t like, they can simply park the cart where it sits and walk out of the store. Most brick and mortar stores have an advantage over e-commerce because the customer is physically in their building. The shoppers had to walk or drive to the building, and most are already certain of the items they want to buy. Online storefront shoppers don’t have to do anything except turn on their computers and type in your store’s website address or find your online shop on a search engine. Abandoning an online cart is very easy to do so your storefront should take extra precautions to make the shopper feel comfortable and safe.
The first thing to do if you haven’t already is purchase an SSL certificate. SSL, or Secure Socket Layering, is a protocol that web browsers use to give the assurance that the data being transmitted from the shopper’s computer is encrypted, making it illegible to anyone who might intercept it. SSL is what gives websites the httpS:// instead of just http://. SSL certificates are relatively inexpensive and can be purchased from vendors like GeoTrust, Verisign, Thawte or GoDaddy. After installing an SSL certificate, most vendors provide a “site seal” which is usually a tag that can be inserted into your website to show that your store is secured. If you have SSL installed but don’t have your seal displayed on every page, then go do that now! It sends a clear message to your customers that you are aware of Internet security and have taken an extra step to protect their private information.
When you need help or have questions while shopping in a physical storefront, it is nice to be able to ask a smiling, friendly employee to guide you to what you are looking for. People that shop online expect a level of customer support comparable to what they would receive in person. If there is no way to contact a representative then how is the customer supposed to know that your store is still accepting orders? There are many eCommerce web sites that were created and then forgotten. At the very least your online presence should not feel like no one is home. Post your 800 number prominently on every page of your site. Have an “About Us” page that details your physical mailing address so the customer knows that they are dealing with a real business. There are also online Help Desk packages available ranging in price from free to a few hundred dollars that gives the customer a direct line straight to you! Using an online chat or help desk, if someone has a question they don’t have to even pick up the phone. A small piece of software on your computer will tell you when someone needs to chat. Having a real person available can make a huge difference if someone is on the fence about their purchase.
Keep your checkout process simple. This point can’t be stressed enough! Don’t make your customer fill out a form with so many fields that they feel like they are applying for a bank loan. Filling out a long form online is comparable to waiting in a long line at a physical storefront’s checkout. Get the information you need to fulfill the order and to contact them with confirmation information or if there is a problem. A short checkout process gives the shopper less time to close the browser window. Offer the customer a Guest checkout, or checkout with creating an account. If your customer likes your store then they’ll create one, so don’t make it mandatory.
Showing your customers that you care about their privacy and security is key to stopping shopping cart abandonment. A shopper must trust your online storefront. There are services that can offer your customers some peace of mind when shopping online. McAfee offers a badge that your store can display that shows you have someone on the outside verifying that your store is safe from hackers. They do this by scanning your site every day for vulnerabilities, similar to how a virus scanner checks your local computer for problems. The result of the scan is displayed on your website along with the last date of the scan. It is updated daily which shows that your online shop is safe and secure.
Here are a few more credibility indicator tips that will give your shoppers more confidence while browsing:
Check your grammar and spelling! A poorly worded sales pitch or a simple spelling mistake can give the impression that you don’t care about what you are trying to get the customer to buy.
“If I have a problem, can I return the item?” This question should be answered as soon as someone visits your store. A clearly labeled Return Policy link with clear and concise information will help put the shopper’s mind at ease.
Be sure to have a product review section on each product page. Don’t make the mistake of faking reviews. It might look good to see positive reviews but your customers are no dummies! Authentic positive reviews from real customers will go a long way to building trust in your store. Offer some kind of incentive to get customers to post reviews on products they have purchased. A follow up a few days later is a great way to build trust and open a line of communication.
Keep your website simple. Don’t complicate your site with loads of graphics and animations to get people’s attention. Remember that the shopper is already on your website so you don’t need anything else to bring them in. Instead, make their shopping experience enjoyable by providing a straightforward and easy to navigate website.
Comparing some aspects of physical storefront shopping to online shopping can give a different perspective on what the shopper expects from their online shopping experience. There’s no way to stop all instances of shopping cart abandonment, but it can be reduced by following the advice that we have provided. If you haven’t at least added everything in this article to your eCommerce website then go do it as soon as possible. You may be missing out on sales over a simple mistake that your competitor didn’t make!
Use these Email Marketing tips to remind existing customers about your business and get past those spam filters and into customers’ inboxes.
Email Marketing is a great way to remind existing customers about your business, drive traffic to your site, and to keep customer relationships fresh and healthy. Today’s spam filters getting tougher on incoming email and email marketing services such as Constant Contact® are making guidelines for sending email more strict and less forgiving. Follow these five tips out of trouble and maximize the effectiveness of your email campaigns.
1) Clean Contact list – Only send email to people/customers who you have done business with or have opted into receiving your emails. Failing to do so can get you banned from email marketing providers and hurt your reputation with potential and existing customers.
2) Clear Straight to the Point Subject Line – A email subject line designed to lure the reader into opening the email might actually never reach that intended reader. Subject lines with a dozen exclamation marks, all caps, or content that doesn’t match the body of the email likely won’t pass muster with most ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) and could go straight to the spam/junk folder of the recipient.
3) Relevant Content – Know what your audience wants. Sending them content they have no desire to read or engage in could give them the wrong impression of what your company has to offer them. Find the niche they need and show them why they should choose you albeit a better price, quality, service or all three.
4) Professional Design – A professional designed email template catches the eye but is not overbearing. Like a well designed website it melds functionality with aesthetics. Some of the most effective email designs look just like the website or e-commerce store they are representing. Remember to always make the follow through by the email recipient as easy as possible. This can be done with links to actual products, links to forms, easy to read 800 number, ect.
5) Handle Unsubscribe Requests Quickly – Removing unsubscribers from your email marketing lists promptly will keep you from being labeled a spammer and avoid the hassle of trying to get back into good straights with your email marketing service provider.
Email marketing is a great tool to actively engage customers and draw traffic to your website. These five tips are designed to keep your email marketing campaign efforts in the clear and maximize their effectiveness.
In their effort to get better exposure for their company online, many companies will anoint the youngest (and obviously most “techy” staff member…) to set up their social networking/online presence. The amateurs guide to posting your online presence “Playbook” usually developed by those who either have accounts, or know someone that does says that to be a successful online company in 2011 it is essential for your company to have:
