Search
Related Links
A Website is Not Enough
Your Objective
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.
About the author:
Neil Anuskiewicz is the Marketing Manager for EZ
Publishing. The firm is the creator of the StreamSend
permission-based email
marketing service. Write Neil an email at articles@ezpublishing.com