All about Marketing

Creating and maintaining an effective presence on the Web has become increasingly complex and challenging as the power of the Internet as a marketing tool becomes more and more necessary to entrepreneurs and emerging businesses.
Creating and maintaining an effective presence on the Web has become increasingly complex and challenging as the power of the Internet as a marketing tool becomes more and more necessary to entrepreneurs and emerging businesses.

The good news is that technologies that were only available to the big guys just a couple of years ago — audio, video, ecommerce, e-mail database management applications — are now affordable for almost everybody. The bad news is that the number of choices and opportunities can be confusing and overwhelming.

Here are my eight favorite tips to help you steer clear of some of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen people make when designing or re-designing their Web projects.


1. You begin without a marketing strategy.

Web sites, like brochures, newsletters, business cards, post cards and the like, are simply part of your marketing mix, not just something you build so you can say you have one.Before you begin, you need to ask yourself important questions about your Web site strategy beginning with why you want a Web site in the first place.

a. What are your objectives? To educate? Motivate? Inform? Attract new business? Serve existing clients? Be perceived a certain way, such as compassionate or trendy?

b. Who is your target audience?

c. What do you want your visitors to discover and/or do when they log on to your site?As the Cheshire cat explained to Alice — if you don't know where you're going, I can't tell you how to get there. So before you do anything else, make an Internet marketing plan for your site.


2. You have no Internet branding or inappropriate branding.

Once you know what your objectives are and have identified your target audience, your site needs to reflect that knowledge. A music site selling hip-hop to teens needs to look and feel a lot different from a health care site for seniors or a motorcycle site for guys that ride Harley Fat Boys.A good brand should repel as strongly as it attracts. Once you get the positioning and Internet branding right, your site will sort out your potential clients from the online crowd.


3. You buy the wrong technology for your goals and objectives.

There are two big, broad categories of Web sites — one that you own and one that you rent. The "rental" model is a site offered by what is called an Application Service Provider or ASP. You usually will pay a set up fee and a monthly fee ranging from $59 way up to hundreds of dollars depending on the sophistication of the Web site application.At the low end, you may see an ad for a "FREE WEB SITE." The company offers to build your site and then you "just pay" $59 per month— forever! With this model the site itself never belongs to you, only your content. If you leave the provider, you can't take the site with you.With the ownership model, you will hire a Web site designer, or do the work yourself, then pay an annual or monthly hosting fee — usually much smaller comparatively — and you own both the site and the content, which you can move to a different service provider if you wish.


4. You have no Internet marketing plan.

“We will build it and they will come,” has not worked for a long, long time. Budget the money necessary to promote your site and meet your objectives, or wait until you can. It doesn't have to be a very expensive plan. But do something! There are way too many "secret Web sites" out there in cyberspace. Start building your email database as soon as possible. Consider an eZine to keep you in front of your prospects on a regular basis. Offer a free report on your site. Put the offer on the back of your business card.If you want to do more, work with a Search Engine Optimizer (SEO), who will make your site attractive to Google and Yahoo and other top search engines. You may also want to consider pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to get you to the top of the search engine listings.


5. You have no way to measure your site's effectiveness.

Remember that old saying: "If it's not broken; don't fix it?" Well you will need a way to know if your site is working for you or not. Make sure that your service provider offers site statistics, to let you know who is visiting, how often and if your traffic is growing.Use an email sign-up form to build your database, and keep an eye on your progress. Track what works and what doesn't, and make changes as you get feedback.


6. Your technology doesn't match the target audience.

We've all had the experience of landing on a Web site, only to get a message saying that we don't have the right plug-in to view it. Sometimes the site designer has a link letting you know that since you are among the "great unwashed" without the "right" browser of technology, you must go download it to view the site. Don't expect that potential visitor to stick around!Research your target audience to make sure your site considers their technology level. Don’t use images that are too large to load in a reasonable amount of time if your users don't have a broadband connection, for example.


7. You let your users get lost in Cyberspace.

Your navigation system needs to be clear, and intuitive. Links should be in the same position on each page. There should always be a "home" button. Confusing navigation drives potential clients and users away.


8. You play hard to get.

Don't make it hard for your clients and prospects to communicate with you. Make sure your contact information is on every page and is easy to access. Let your visitors know what you want them to do, like: “Call me!” or “Sign Up for My E-EZine.”


About the author:
Marcia Torrey-Jay is a Web designer, writer, and Internet marketing professional http://www.visionquest.tv/

Many millions of dollars are being wasted on promoting and sending traffic to ineffective lead generation websites.

Here are top 10 tips to make your site generate more leads for you and your company.


1. Keep it clean

A busy, cluttered website will drive visitors directly to your competitor. Make sure your site is easy to navigate and clutter free. We've all been to websites that are awash with information. While you need to get your message across you don't want to scare your potential customers away. Make sure your site looks tidy, with as few colors as possible. Too many flashing banners and ads will undoubtedly detract your visitors from the actual content on your site. Don't include too much highlighting. If you highlight every word in your text, it isn't highlighted it's simply bold.


2. Make it quick

Studies have shown that the average surfer will give any site only 3 to 4 seconds before they formulate that all important first decision. Don't forget that first impressions last so you need to dispense with graphics that take too long to load, ensure that any necessary pictures are of a minimal file size (picture size is irrelevant here) and definitely do not have an all graphics site; they take an age to load, not to mention the search engines can not do anything with them.


3. It's all about conversion.

Paying for a PPC campaign is a very popular way to get visitors to your site, but you have to be careful that you manage your account for conversion not clicks. Spend money only on those keywords that convert to leads. Use the conversion tracking offered by Google and Yahoo! Search Marketing (formally Overture). Or use some other ad tracking software. The main point here is your ad campaign should be an investment, not an expense and if you are not tracking your conversion rate how will you know which it really is?


4. Create trust

You will not generate leads from a website that does not radiate trustworthiness. Use third party trust indicators liberally on your site, for example testimonials, membership organization logos, and endorsements. Also if you state something that may be hard for your visitor to believe, explain to them the details so you build credibility.


5. Copy is the key.

Your website copy needs to be compelling, informative and lead the reader to take your desired action. Do not list facts and features, state benefits. You reader doesn't care if your widget does the quarter mile in 2.5 seconds. They want a widget that "Does the job so fast they can get done and take off early to go fishing"... See the difference?


6. Pre-qualify leads with content not questions

If you need a certain demographic lead, make sure your copy spells it out clearly. Clearly explaining the details about who is qualified for you product or service will keep you from having to screen out unqualified leads with too many questions on your form. Which brings me to my next point...


7. Shorter forms actually make for better leads

Highly qualified and highly educated prospects guard their personal information closely; keep forms short and only ask the minimum number of questions. Long forms with too many personal questions tend to reduce the quality and quantity of your leads. When someone is willing to share all their personal information there is a good chance that person has nothing to lose. You have to consider what information you really need from your leads. If you don't need to know then don't ask. You can always send a follow up email. This will act not only as a good fact finder but also as your next step in creating rapport.


8. Make it easy

Have a form on every page, or at least on every page that it makes sense to have it on. Visitors to your site won't take the time to trawl through 12 pages of website content to find your form and fill it out. I have seen a tremendous increase in leads when I added the form to every page of a site. I would caution you about having a form too prominent on you home page though, it tends to scare some visitors off.


9. Sweeten the deal

Give away free information to entice visitors to fill out your form. Throughout time people have always loved a bargain. The feeling of getting something for nothing is usually enough to help persuade the unsure, and will often lead to extra leads and extra sales. Make sue that you give away something with a high perceived value, no one is enticed with junk.


10. Communicate in the right language and add personality.

Using plain language that communicates the personality of you and your company will build trust and rapport. Don't use technical jargon if you are trying to reach the masses. Very few people are likely to know industry buzz words. Keep it simple and informative and add personality at the same time. Try and answer questions before they are asked.


Use these 10 tips and generating sales leads from your website will become much easier and a lot more profitable.


About the author:
Bryant Jones is a lead generation consultant, S.E.O. expert and the managing partner of http://www.leadssolution.com/

I recently delivered a talk to a small group of budding entrepreneurs. The subject was becoming an online business owner. I worked closely with 5 individuals who were looking to make a living from the Internet. They all had varying interests and varying levels of technological experience. The only thing they had in common was a passion to live a better life.

During our small group discussion I hit on several points. However no one single point was stressed more than keywords and search engine ranking. Before you close out on this article give me a few minutes to explain how I am going to shed some light on this topic- light that will help you deliver hot, targeted traffic to your business for free.

This is not generic information. It is not designed to aggravate you or frustrate you. This article is designed to inspire you to think differently about keywords and search engine rankings. Let's start with some basics and move forward from there.

There are two kinds of keywords- the kind that people search for and the kind that people do not search for. A keyword can be defined as a word or phrase that someone would enter in to a search box at Google or Yahoo. It is the search term or query. This keyword is very important for you to know as an online business owner.

You must know this search term for two reasons.

1) You must have a page that is dedicated to that search term. Choosing search terms is rather easy. Just ask yourself what word or term you would use to find your product or service.

2) You must know if it is possible for you to rank well at search engines for that keyword or search term.

Determining if you can rank well is very difficult. After all, no one knows the exact algorithms Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine uses to rank websites. Let's throw in some examples. I have a website dedicated to strength training for women. I can safely assume that "fitness" is a word that people use as their keyword or query at Google. So I have now picked my keyword. Simple enough. However, I need to rank well for that search term. Otherwise what is the point? If no one is going to see my page on fitness then why create a page using the keyword "fitness"?
I can check out my competition by doing a quick search at the major search engines. If I type the word "fitness" (without the quotes) into the Google search box, it returns 799,000,000 search results. Gulp. How can I ever compete for a position in the first 3 pages of Google? The chances of me ranking well for the keyword "fitness" are very, very slim.

The fact of the matter is that most generic terms are going to be difficult to rank well for. You need to narrow your search terms down. You need to get nichier with your terms. You can spend most of your day picking search terms and then checking the competition numbers. This eats a lot of your valuable time. I built my online business by using a hosting company that completely eliminates this tedious process of keyword and search engine ranking data mining. I simply enter in my site concept and within 20 minutes I have an entire list of related keywords and how much competition there is. Perhaps the biggest plus to having this type of data is that I am now free to build my online business and rank very well for excellent search terms that I would have never thought of. I have an instant blue print of my website and all of its related content.

If you do not have excellent search terms that you can rank well for, you are doomed from the start. No one will ever find your site at the search engines if you do not rank well. That means the only people visiting your site will be friends, family, co-workers and those whom you had to reach by paying additional money for advertising. It's much better to rank well for excellent keywords. This gives you a never-ending stream of hot, targeted leads for free.

My best advice to anyone looking to start a profitable online business is to use the absolute best tools. It makes no sense to spend hours and hours picking search terms and doing half-hearted research. In the end you will lose out on a lot of money and a lot of time. Pick your hosting company wisely and be sure you get the added benefit of the keyword selector and competition analyzer tool as an added bonus for free.


Written by Lynn VanDyke
Courtesy http://www.teawithedge.com