Internet Marketing

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The idea of building a lead generation website that appeals to a “funnel” shape of website visitors is quite simple.

The top of the funnel represents the largest group and includes all those visitors that browse your website. Gradually, as the funnel slims down, this group is reduced to include valid prospects for what you offer. This then reduces down even further to the smallest group at the funnels bottom that needs what you offer exactly when they come across your website.

Ideally we would like all those that arrive at our website to want what we offer – but this is just not realistic. There will always be more visitors that are interested in what we offering but don’t need it now – they’re “just looking” through your pages.

A website properly designed for lead generation offers content to prospects at all stages in the lead generation funnel and by doing so they capture a larger amount of sales leads than those that just focus on those prospects who need the product now.

To appeal to prospects that are “just looking” I always suggest my customers produce different types of content and then to present them in alternative ways.

For instance those “left brained” prospects will like to print out and read white papers or reports you provide. Whereas those who internalize information in a more “right brained” style may prefer to sit back and absorb more visual content presented in an audio-visual style.

So think about the different types of prospects that arrive at your website and are “just looking”. What pieces of content can you produce to appeal to these people?

And do remember the funnel shape – there are more looking than wanting – so put in the time to create valuable content that converts your anonymous “just looking” website visitor and turns them into a strong sales lead for your team.

Unlike employees your web site is best treated as a number.

So forget the nice graphics and the soft comfortable design influence, it’s time take your web site and distil it down to the cold hard facts of a percentage conversion rate. (That is its ability to create prospect leads as a percentage of the total Internet traffic it receives.)

Hard clinical numbers tell you whether all the bright lights and fancy colours of web design are making a difference to convince those itinerant web browsers to start tapping away on their keyboards to become prospects of note.

Here are four points to help you begin to view your web site in this new light.

Firstly the old saying holds true online, you can only manage what you measure, so start to investigate what web tracking tools you have to see if they provide you with the numbers you need. Most will provide visits - hits and top pages. What you really want is a tool that shows you all this plus the ability to track actual visitor actions. If what you have comes up short, don’t worry. There’s no need to invest much to get what you need. Google even provides a tool free of charge in their Google Analytics package that does a basic but solid job of showing you what you need to know.

Second, once you know your stats you need to plan their improvement. You can do this by viewing your web site not as a publisher but as a prospect visitor. (Some tools can help you alter your perspective by showing you in real time the live paths people actually take as they click through your site.)

There will probably be a few different groups of prospects and customers that work through your site. Your task is to map out the characteristics and content demands of each group and then to see how your site performs.

For instance one of your predominant groups could be quite analytical in nature, arriving at your site on a fact finding mission whereas others could be more interested in the “feel” of the business – its owners and customers. Somehow your content will need to appeal to both of these quite different prospect groups.

Thirdly after matching the right content to the correct profile then you need to present it in the correct way. Just like a poorly tied fly can ruin a good day’s trout fishing - web content poorly presented will fail to trigger the registration response you desire.

For example Permission started working with a client’s web site that was converting just 2.5% of its web site traffic into prospect leads. By altering the way the exact same content was presented we managed to increase this to a credible 25%. (The industry conversion rate for offering free content is 10%.)

And finally by taking on the goal of wanting to view your web site as a number you need to know there is no finally. There are always ways to make some incremental improvement on what you have done before.
Even our customer experiencing a solid 25% conversion rate has us working away each month to tweak things further to crack the 30% barrier we have broken with others in different industries.

Your nice new web site is bright, shiny and ready to welcome to receive visitors. But will they come? This brief article overviews how Google is well worth considering when wanting to attract more traffic to your site and provides some suggestions on how your site can be made Google friendly.

But how important is Google?

Well let’s start off with the statement that Google is largest search engine on the planet. In its index are over 8 billion web pages, 900 million images and 850 million usenet messages. Using this resource there are over 18 million unque visitors performing over 200 million searches per day.

That’s a lot of people searching for web sites just like yours.

So how do you make sure your web site is picked up and placed in this gargantuan index?

First off it’s important to know that a web page with no links coming to it will not be placed in the index. You need at least one link to your web site, and ideally the more the better that people can follow from another site to yours. Once you have this set up then Google will take notice when it comes prowling by.

Google uses automated programs called robots or spider to trawl the Internet looking for web sites that fit these basic criteria to add to its index. These programs try to read each and every page of your website started typically with your homepage and then following each link from there on.

Once you are in the Google index your ranking for the terms people search for depends on the level of relevance your site has with the search words used and the Google “credibility level” of what your web site has to say.

Determining credibility on the web is a function of who else “backs up” what you say through the links they have to your web site pointing to the content you are offering. A growing list of links from people in similar content areas to your content helps increase your online credibility. Therefore increasing your virtual “credibility” is something that you cannot alter by changing the content on your web site, whereas relevance is.

The relevance of your web site to the search terms used is dependant on how these terms are used as text (Google is blind to images) on your site. Web pages that contain lots of content that frequently but appropriately reference the searchers words have a good chance of being found.

There will be, however, a limit to the amount of search words that your web site can be found under. (Padding out your content with lots of possible searched terms makes it look a mess for your prospects and is frowned upon by Google anyway).

Your specialist content area will start to hone in on the terms that your web pages can be found under. The trick though is to use terms that prospects use when searching for the services you provide rather than the product names or technical terms that your business usually describes itself under.

This is a quick article on a very broad and intensive area of online marketing. There is a lot more to cover but the main points are: -

• Google accounts for a massive amount of search traffic on the Internet, estimates have it up to 35% of world wide traffic and around 85% of the New Zealand search traffic.
• Therefore making your web site Google friendly is a wise area to focus on.
• Credibility and relevance are two broad areas to focus on when working in this area
• Start thinking about the terms prospects use when searching rather those you use when selling

Phenomenal

That’s how one of my clients described the result of their recent Smile City lead generation campaign.

Below is a link to an audio of an interview I had with SmileCity last week.

During the 25 mins of the discussion I cover a long list of questions to dig down into how the system works. Here’s just a few we go over: -

The history of SmileCity – how long it has been going – how the list is being built

The types of people are on the list

What are the advertising options companies have with SmileCity

How you can gauge if SmileCity is right for you

The key points to follow when designing a SmileCity campaign.

A formula for people for follow on the best way to use SmileCity.

The biggest mistake people make when using these lists.

And if you get close to the end there’s a special offer for those wanting to get involved - register here if you would like to take it up.

Here’s the audio.

I have this from Serious Magic sitting in my office waiting to take up giga bytes on my laptop. Video is fun to play with and something that I think most could use to some degree and as broadband becomes broader in use then most will have a chance of seeing what you publish.

But why look at this now?

Well I tend to think about how prospects make a decision in choosing products. My bet is that some draw in text and from this make their call. Others may want a bit of sound to help them pick up the differences you offer. Then there’s a few more that want to both see and hear from those they are comparing.

It’s not a one size fits all but it could help some make up their mind.

As an aside I have put my animated people from Site Pal to task on a lead generation page I run – early days yet but so far results are good.

Move your mouse over my next handy helper and let me know if he is up for it.

My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins is probably one of the best books on Internet advertising I have seen in a long time and it was written way before the Internet started its life.

Its one of the books I’m working through at the moment and it’s a compelling read when you start to translate into words and pictures what your product does to what your prospects actually need.

For those wanting to entice more anonymous web site browsers into known leads then this is worth a ponder. (I noticed a copy in Auck City Borders) here is the a link to what Amazon has on offer.

For the last 6 weeks I have received the same email message from the same company selling the same product.

What’s more it arrives on the same day of the week each time.

It’s a bit like Ground Hog Day for email.

It must be working on an auto responder that has gone horribly wrong and someone just hasn’t made the effort to tell them to turn it off.

And the irony is one of the products on offer is email marketing.

I can hardly wait for this Friday for my next thrilling installment

(Update: I didnt have to wait that long. This morning I noticed the same advertising has moved into print. The New Zealand Herald (NZ’s largest daily) is carrying a printed and slightly revised version of the email in the business section.)

Now it doesn’t involve little pieces of paper being transformed into small swans.

It’s all about testing.

Here’s some notes from Vertster in their latest newsletter on the Taguchi method for multi-variate landing page testing.

Due to its size NZ suffers from small internet traffic levels so anything that can help us set up multiple tests with low traffic levels sounds like a plan.

I’m working my way through my latest Amazon purchase, Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results, pondering ways to further increase conversion rates for my customers.

It’s a good read.

Not a fast one though.

You need a cup of something hot and some real quiet to get the most out of the pages.

One concept they discuss is that of your web site being a digital sales person.

In a past life I managed sales people for a living.

There were the stars that drove everyone crazy, the plodders that achieved plan (but only just) and then the rest that soaked most of your time.

It is amusing to think that the web throws this time allocation theory on its head.

I pick the star web sites as taking the most time (finally true reward for all that work), the plodding sites that just perform and the dross that you leave alone to turn sour on you.

Even making small improvements to your landing page conversion rates can have a dramatic affect on your campaign success.

Here’s a Permission ready reckoner to help you see how a one percent change in landing page conversion is well worth the time and effort.

Have a play with your own details and see where your conversion stats fit in. And contact me here if you would like an appriasal of your own forms.

Over the last few weeks I have been running a few lead generation campaigns for clients looking for new customers here in NZ and Australia.

Finding a list of email addresses that is clean and fully permission kosher is always a challenge.

I have used a few and it would seem that Smilecity and the Australian version of Emailcash have come up trumps and seem to be performing well.

Contact me at chris@permission.co.nz if you would like more details on what’s been going on/

In the last post I talked about the need present content on your Web site that is so valuable it turns your anonymous Web browser into a known sales lead. This post covers some of the types of content people use for this process with some examples for you to consider.

Firstly I always suggest that my customers to produce a number of different types of content presented in alternative ways. Some prospects will like to print out and read what you provide, others just want to sit back and listen or watch what you have to say. By appealing to each different group your chances of success increase.

Here are some examples of different content types and alternative ways of presentation.

To appeal to those that want to print and ponder later a “White Paper” could be produced that talks to the common issues that face prospects when they use your type of product. This type of document is supposed to paint an impartial picture of the issues facing buyers of your type of product. You can register to learn more about writing white papers here.

For those that are more visual in how they digest information a presentation could be created in a “Web cast” form that covers the points you want mentioned in a multi-media type of format.
These styles of presentations are ideal for getting across complex concepts as they allow a multiple mix of media options. Go here to see a recent Permission Web cast as an example of this technology in action.

If your product allows it you could produce a FREE CD Rom that includes a sample product for limited use and demonstration. Prospects would register with their postal address and contact details for you to send them a sample.

Or, if you cannot send your product on a CD Rom why not ask your prospects to register to receive a live Web demonstration of the product in action. Now you can purchase, at a reasonable cost per month, tools that will let you set up these Web demonstrations at a fraction of their previous cost.

Perhaps audio could be worth presenting. You could interview a well known identity in your industry and prospects could register to hear the interview. And last but not least there is the registration to receive an email marketing newsletter.

Each day people come to your Web site unannounced. They arrive, have a look around and then move on. To you they are anonymous Web browsers. Even your Web site tracking system sees them just as “unique visitors”, faceless viewers that remain hidden even to the most technologically advanced systems.

But this needn’t be the case. If through online lead generation we can tempt them to “raise their hand” by registering to receive a piece of content they value then you start to see the types of people that are visiting and begin to tempt them with the content you offer.

The first step in getting this hand raise is to stop thinking as an online lead generation marketer and more as a prospect intent on solving the problem(s) they want by using your product or service.

List out the problems they will be facing (or the jobs they want done), the concerns they will have, the information they need to suppor their decision. Hey even sit down with a few and ask them these same questions!

Then look around at your competitor Web sites and see what they offer your prospects in this same state. Make a list of the content available and that missing. And then start working filling the gaps.

Your lead generation list may include reports, research, buying guides, third party interviews, presentations even client case studies. Make your content rich and unresistable to all the ideal prospects that come your way.

Plus here’s some audio from me on why a Contact Us page is not on its own your idea lead generation device

Any technology company that claims that over 50% of its revenue comes from selling services must have a web site that’s worth a look at. IBM uses a diverse range of content to help you appreciate what they know and how they can help you with your specific problems.

Here’s a link to just one piece, a great use of video to show case some thought leaders.

This post is in both text and as a short video here.

I am working on a few online lead generation projects at the moment. Part of this process is brainstorming out what pieces of content could really help propects with their decision process and therefore provide enough value to become lead generation winners.

These sessions are all about taking away what we know of the product or service we are working on and replacing this with a strong understanding of how the prospect will decide what to buy and what this decision will mean in the grand schemes of what they want to achieve.

A great friend of my recently reminded me that during this process we shouldn’t forget that usually a product or service can be just a small part of the solution a customer is wanting to achieve. And therefore some of the best content pieces are not just to do with how your product can be used but perhaps something that represents part of the whole solution.

For instance, say you sell software to help design furniture. The obvious content area for this is a white paper that lists out what such software needs to include. However designing furniture in the most efficient way using a package like this is just part of the process of producing a winning product. You could offer lead generation content that offers ways to run brain-storming meetings to start the design process off? Or even how to survey your customers to find out what needs to be included in the proposed design makeover?

Each of these two pieces show to your prospect that you understand the full process they need to go through to achieve their ideal result, not just your product piece of the pie. And achieving any emphathy like this goes a long way in online marketing.

I wrote this article a while back to further discuss the problems that browsers bring with them as they arrive on your web site. The other day it was published in the XtraMSN business section.

Here’s an audio post (2.44 mins) on why I think this is worthy of a read

Two bits worth a browse today.

Grokdotcom is out and about and with a great story on how writing is worth more attention (time and money) than it frequently receives.

And yes I have read the copy from the Permission web site and it fits into the “dull” category. Expect a brush through there very soon.

With this in my inbox I have a good article on automated email marketing from Christopher Knight. I have talked before on the power of these types of messages. It seems as though RSS could add a new flavour to this theme.

Simon Young writes for Marketing Magazine, whilst also operating his own business, Simon Young Writers. Last month he wrote an article “Logging On To Blogging”, where for many he introduced it as a channel worth consideration. Earlier on today I called Simon to cover off the base questions people have asked me on blogs and the act of blogging.

These included:

Listen in here. (Audio file should self start and runs for approx 20 mins.)