Web Design is much different than traditional media formats in that your target audience can interact with a website on a much deeper level than say a print or billboard ad. After you have moved past the initial hurdle of getting traffic to your website, the next challenge is getting users to take action. Website’s have evolved from credibility statements to lead capture tools and sophisticated online storefronts. However, nothing will waste your web marketing dollars more than a poorly laid out website or landing page.
Here are some tips for optimizing your website’s design and layout for conversion:
- Keep critical page elements “above the fold”. For a 1024×728 monitor, this means keeping the most important content within the first 550px of page height.
- Highlight “freebies” that visitors must opt-in (submit their contact information) to receive. Such freebies can be a free report, newsletter, software trial, consultation etc.
- Optimize images so they load quickly. Internet users have low attention spans and exit slow loading sites quickly.
- Use multimedia to get your message across faster. According to Internet Retailer “visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not, based on OnlineGolf.com results.”
- Create buy paths that require a maximum of three clicks. If a user cannot find your product quickly, they will leave and go to a competing site.
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“I want to market my product / service online, but I don’t know how to budget for that. Can you please help?” It’s a frequent request, and we are happy to share the same tips that we share with our customers.
Here is How to Get the Most Out of Your Web Marketing Budget
- Invest in your core website – You may end up with multiple web properties which include your core site, social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and landing pages, but your core website will always be the crown jewel. A custom brochure-type website with rich narrative and images will cost $8K+ , depending on how much content and interaction the site contains, while an e-commerce website will run significantly more. Anything less will probably get you a cookie-cutter template site.
- Maximize SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Most website traffic is directed through search engines, so SEO for your site is critical. Here are prices pulled from an SEO guide, courtesy of SEOMoz. While prices have increased since its publication 2 years ago, it still has value in describing the high end of pricing.
| Service |
Low End |
Mid Range |
High End |
| Site Review + Consulting |
$500 |
$2,500 |
$10,000 |
| Hands-On Editing of Pages/Code |
$2,000 |
$10,000 |
$50,000 |
| Manual Link Building Campaign |
$500 |
$5,000 |
$20,000 |
| Keyword Research Package |
$100 |
$500 |
$2,000 |
| Monthly Retainer for Ongoing SEO |
$2,500 |
$7,500 |
$20,000+ |
- Include PPC and Other Search Advertising – PPC (pay per click) Search Engine Advertising such as Google AdWords can help you target your most sought-after prospects and help drive them to your web properties. Efficient use of PPC can deliver immediate results, but PPC campaigns require professional management to continually finetune your ad targeting and conduct cost-effective bidding for keywords against other highly motivated bidders. A serious PPC campaign that will bring in results will require a budget of at least $1000 per month to maintain.
There is no single bullet that will meet all of your marketing needs. Instead, successful online marketing requires the careful implementation of many strategies. But with careful planning, you can stretch your marketing budget and make your marketing campaigns successful.
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The effectiveness of your Social Media marketing efforts is largely based on the amount of time and labor you put into them. That being said, it is important that use your time effectively so you get the most out of your investment.
How to get the most out of Social Media without burning yourself out:
Set Measurable goals
Telling yourself: “I will spend 2hrs a day on Twitter” is not a goal. Instead, commit to something like building 3 new relationships with potential prospects or professionals in your industry. This rule can be applied to any of the networks where you participate, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, etc. Bottom line: get the most out of the time you spend.
Syndicate for Success
With a little planning, you can syndicate your online content and reduce the time it takes you to spread your message across all of your social pipelines.
Here are a few tools that can help you do this:
- Tweet Deck (update Twitter and Facebook simultaneously).
- Word Press Twitter Plugin (Display your Tweets on a Word Press Blog)
- Twitter Feed (Automatically feed your blog posts to Twitter)
- Hoot Suite (for scheduled Tweets and other workflow)
While these programs may take some manual labor off your hands, it is important not to abuse them. Don’t blast your audience with never ending streams of content. Use them ethically and remember to build your audience organically.
Track and Refine
The only way to determine if the time you have invested has been well spent is to measure your goals. If your goals are to build relationships and network, maintain a directory of the new contacts you have obtained and where they came from. If your goals are to increase sales and revenue, use a tool such as Pea Shoot to log your conversions and ROI.
Be Patient
Don’t expect to achieve all of your goals overnight. Just like any other campaign, get ready to test and refine. Do it smartly and you will achieve success while making time for the other business critical tasks.
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If your current online presence is stale, does not reflect your brand or needs to re-engineered so it ranks better in search engines, it is important to have a plan in place. Your online presence is an invaluable business asset. So how do you tackle the project and ensure a return on your investment of time and money?
At Americaneagle.com, we place a high emphasis on planning and following a disciplined approach for each project we take on as demonstrated in our process outline below:
Here are a Few Tips for Planning Your Next Website Overhaul:
- Don’t rush. The worst mistake you can make is to spearhead into the construction phase of your project. Allocate adequate time for planning.
- Research throughly. Take time to research your competitors, review marketing trends and set some tangible business goals your new online presence should help you meet.
- Interview your employees. Ask each department what they think needs to be added to your new website. Modern websites allow employees and departments to make contributions to the site’s content and structure.
- Test for usability. Don’t code your graphic designer’s first mockup before you present it to both your staff and even some of your target audience. A beautiful design is worth nothing unless your target market finds it easy to navigate.
- Integrate with other software – Your organization likely uses many applications to get the job done, such as CRMs or accounting software. Many applications have API’s that allow them to interact with your website. For instance, your web form’s submissions can automatically be posted to your CRM which will save you time and labor costs.
- Test and test again. Make sure you test your new website on a staging server for bugs, server performance issues, missing text, etc. These types of issues can make or break what could be a great website launch.
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The Internet is vast and you want consumers to find your product or service, so targeting your message delivery to key locations is critical. How to find those key locations? Fortunately, there are many tools that can pinpoint those locations.
3 Tools That Can Help You Connect with Your Audience on the Web:
- Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts – Sends an email whenever a key word or phrase is mentioned in online content
- Google Blog Search http://blogsearch.google.com – Searches blogs for keywords or phrases
- Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com – Searches Twitter posts for keywords or phrases
While you are examining your results, look at the content and format of your competitor’s messages and how their message compares to that of your company. Can your message meet the same needs as those supplied your competition? Can you exceed the value provided by your competition?
By using solid research, you can begin laying the foundation for crafting and delivering your message to where it will be most effective and deliver positive results.
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Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and that means Love is in the air. Celebrate the holiday by updating your website with one or more of the following ideas:
Post specials on Valentine’s Day gifts. Gifts of jewelry and other keepsakes are always in style for romance and don’t forget to remind visitors about gifts of the 3 F’s that warm any heart: Food, Flowers, and Fun!
Show some love of your own towards would-be customers with special Valentine’s Day offers just for them.
Any way you look at it, Valentine’s Day is a great holiday to update your website with fresh, new offers and excite your visitors for this great heart-warming holiday!
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More businesses are beginning to realize the need for having a presence on today’s social web. William Baker, a professor of marketing at San Diego State University, surveyed 1,600 executives and discovered that firms that rely heavily on external social networks scored 24 percent higher on a measure of radical innovation than companies that don’t. In addition to getting your company noticed, social networks can serve as a recruiting tool and a resource for learning from like-minded professionals.
With more social sites being unveiled always daily, it may be difficult to decide on which ones you should join. It is important to dedicate your time to social network’s that have an established user base and members that are in your target market.
Here are some of the more prominent social networks your company should consider:
- LinkedIn: Connect with alumni, business associates, recent graduates and other professionals connect online.
- Facebook: Advertising, event promotion and company profiles.
- Twitter: Microblogging site that helps you gain exposore to your target market. It is also useful for staying in touch with customers.
- Ecademy: Ecademy prides itself on “connecting business people” through its online network, blog and message-board chats, as well as its premier BlackStar membership program, which awards exclusive benefits.
- Focus: Provides open, quality information for all businesses that is freely available, easily accessible, and community powered.
- Xing: “Find experts at the click of a button, market yourself in a professional context and open up new sales channels.”
- Care2: If your business is making efforts to go green, let others know by becoming a presence on this site.
- Gather: Browse categories concerning books, health, money, news and more to ignite discussions on politics, business and entertainment. This will help your company tap into its target audience and find out what they want.
- Ziggs: Join groups and make contacts through your Ziggs account to increase your company’s presence online and further your own personal career.
- Networking For Professionals: Online community that combines the Internet with special events in the real world. Post photos, videos, résumés and clips on your online profile while you meet new business contacts.
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Regularly updating your website content not only helps your site from a Search Engine Ranking standpoint, it helps you connect with your current and potential customers. In today’s information age, Internet surfers are constantly scanning information on PCs, mobile phones, tablets and more. That being said a content strategy is crucial if you want to maintain top-of-mind awareness.
Here are Some Tips for Keeping Your Website Content Fresh and Engaging:
- Implement a CMS. If you do not have a website content management system, consider getting one implemented. It will allow you and your staff to make content updates quickly and efficiently without the need for a web developer.
- Make a Schedule: Put together a content update schedule and commit to it. If you are consistent with your content updates, your audience will check back more often. This will also increase your search engine page rank.
- Have Your Departments Participate: If your staff participates, it will increase the amount of content you push out.
- Start a Blog: A blog will add a personal touch to your company’s online presence and will help you connect with your target audience.
- Syndicate to Social Networks: Use RSS to push your content out to your social network accounts. This will ensure that your content is visible outside of your website as well.
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If you use email marketing to stay in touch with your current or potential clients, it is important to adhere to a few guidelines. A well crafted email is more likely to be opened and read by your recipients instead of being moved to the trash folder.
Here are 5 Tips for Writing Your Email Copy:
- Use a relevant subject. The subject of your email should summarize the contents of your message. A reader will be frustrated if they open an email and find content that they were not expecting.
- Keep it concise. Focus on one idea and ignore the fluff. Your recipient is busy and will likely ignore emails that are scattered and unclear.
- Write with a human tone. A good email message does not have to sound formal to have value. Your readers hear corporate superlatives every day and will find it refreshing to here the “voices” behind the newsletter.
- Provide useful information. If the content of your email is to boast your company’s accomplishments, your audience will tire of them quickly. Be sure to provide information that is relevant to their business and helps solve problems.
- Have a call to action. If the purpose of your email is to evoke an action out of the reader, make sure this is presented clearly. For example use phrases like “click for demo” or “click here to register for our webinar”.
Well written email copy can help can help strengthen brand loyalty and credibility. Your customers are the most valuable part of your company and it is important to reach out to them with interesting and useful information.
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If you are doing your SEO in-house instead of retaining a firm like ours, you will need to allocate time to set some goals and measure your campaign results. If you do not do this, you may spend too much time on tasks that are slowing you down as you try to reach your objective.
Here are Some Ways to Measure Your SEO Results:
- Ranking Reports – There are many web based and desktop tools that provide a report of where your website ranks for numerous keywords. However, keep in mind that this type of software often “scrapes” search engine results, so it is important to not do it in large volume. It is also important to track your long tail keywords. Long tail keywords do not provide as much traffic per term, but it is easier to maintain rankings for them.
- Inbound Links - There is a common misnomer that every inbound link to your website is a good one. Quality over quantity applies here, so make sure that you do not submit your site to link farms, exchange links with a site that has a lower PR than yours or pay questionable firms for a high number of links in a short amount of time.
- Visitor Engagement – Metrics such as time on site, bounce rate and pages per visit will give you insight into the type of traffic you are receiving. If your visitors leave quickly, you are not optimizing for keywords that are relevant to your target audience.
- Conversions – How your traffic is converting into business is perhaps the most important metric. Keep in mind that a conversion is not just a sale, it can be a service request, newsletter sign up or whatever else you consider to be an action that satisfies a business objective.
You can add many other metrics into the mix, but it is important to analyze them correctly and not let them mislead you. Always evaluate your campaign’s performance and look for areas that need improvement.
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