| |
| |
|
Web Development Information |
|
The Internet Road Map
1) Data Capture One easy way to collect e-mail addresses and permission is via a signup box on your website. Place your signup box in a visible place on your homepage, and other appropriate pages, where visitors might choose to opt-in. Don't just do what I suggested, but go one step further. What that means specifically is always giving back to your customers before you expect them to give. Give them an offer with some urgency behind it and a call to action. For example, why not offer a visitor to your website a whitepaper, a free consultation, or a short clip of audio from a recent speaking engagement or seminar. People love when you extend the olive branch. In return, you'll usually see much higher click-thru and e-mail submission rates. Always remember WIIFM. What's in it for me? Think, why would I just assume that anyone stepping into my website would give me their personal mailing address, or e-mail, simply because I placed an empty box that read "join my list." Well, that's a good start, but a lousy finish. It's all about offer, urgency, call to action and then BOOM! You can sit back and watch your click-thru rates soar. 2) Conversational Calls to Action So, how do you give your website the right dose of personality? Think of your website as a one-on-one conversation. Just imagine sitting in a coffee shop talking informally with a customer. That's the starting point for your approach, a more personable and appropriate "human" voice will come naturally. When you picture the coffee shop scenario, you quickly see how inappropriate (not to say ridiculous) some of the more traditional styles of customer communication can sound on a website. Drop the jargon, drop the sales pitch, be as honest as you can, and talk like a human being. Refreshing idea, isn't it? Especially on the navigation bar of your website. For example at www.harpsetc.com, one of only six harp stores in the county, they understand how enticing call to action conversational language can be on many pages of the site. The navigation bar includes, "Test drive a harp." Doesn't that sould like fun? Or "Hear before you buy", and "Is the harp for me? Find out more." The audience loves to read on the web as if you're speaking with them. If you know it's effective with you, then why not give it back to your website visitor. 3) "Read More Here" "Read more here" is an example of what I would call a variable affecting your conversion rate. I call these kinds of variables "micro conversions" because they are all small (microscopic, even) steps toward full conversion. A micro conversion is something that you should test and measure. "Read more here" might not get as high a click-through rate as "Click here to find out how to win a month's supply of vintage wine." So, by improving this click-through, you get the person browsing to take another small step toward your final website goal. By doing this, you improve your overall conversion rate, which in this case is to get someone to register or subscribe to win a month's supply of vintage wine. Micro conversions can be tracked by measuring the click-through of links, or the read time for content, or the bounce rate for headlines and copy. Full conversion means persuading your visitors to do what you want them to do. In my example, it would be registering to win wine. But it could be subscribing to a newsletter, downloading an audio file, buying a product, selling a service, or whatever. It should reflect your website's business objective. If you would like to learn about the top 10 best practices that ensure that you get the most visitor interaction on your website, visit www.hartcreativemarketing.com. Or call 925.705.0372. Jerry Hart is the CEO of Hart Creative Marketing, Inc., an internet marketing corporation dedicated to not just building websites, but building business, specializing in expert email marketing, search engine marketing, and dynamic database driven websites. Hart Creative Marketing aims to give people tools that ignite and excite business decision makers to maximize their success in marketing. Hart is also recognized as a dynamic speaker and prolific writer having been published in various magazines, newspapers, and internet publications. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Blueprint to E-Marketing. (Blueprint Press, Summer 2005). Hart was recently a featured guest of Office Depot's "WebCafe", a series of webinars on Marketing and Business broadcast around the world via the internet. Hart has over 20 years of experience in marketing which includes his time as a radio morning show host for Clear Channel Communications. He currently serves as chairperson for eBig.org, a sales and marketing special interest group in the East Bay.
MORE RESOURCES:
Goal-Setting - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Number 1 Reason Most Websites Fail Failure, just like success, is measured differently by each and every one of us. What one man treats as success another may view as failure. Why Is No-one Buying From My Website? Are you, like many other website owners, frustrated at the amount of time, effort and money you've put into your website, only to see few or no sales?Like most business owners, you probably know your products or services inside out; you know the benefits of them, and what they can give to other businesses or consumers. And you probably paid good money for a website to promote them. Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 3 An interesting eCommerce success factor that isn't precisely overlooked, but which is often thought about more in terms of being a way of feeding the search engine spiders has to do with providing content. In a very real sense the customer's job is to consume. What Does An Ex-Basketball Coach Know About Pulling Web Metrics? In my previous life.. What YOU Should Know Before Getting A Web Site! Everyday thousands of new businesses make the leap and take their business on line, what about yours? If you haven't already, I'll bet you have thought about it and wondered how much more business you could be doing if you just went on line?and right about then, you wonder what it would take to get your business on line?Here are some things to consider:1. What do I expect my web site to do? The question you must ask yourself first and foremost is, "What do I want my website to do?". Where's Your Web Site? This simple question can take on several different forms, but if you have your own web site, all are equally important. Don't worry, this isn't a sales letter, and it's well worth a read. Achieving Differentiation With Your Website Internet Marketing is not a miracle marketing strategy - competition still exists and you need to have a unique approach with regards to:Web DesignJust as in the "real world", where your brand needs to have a unique look and feel about it, so does your website. You won't have much luck finding a web design template that is consistent with your corporate identity. You Need To Treat Your Website Like An Employee - Heres 5 Ways To Do It People often come to me in a state of crisis and say their website isn't working. Usually they're in a cold sweat:"Mike, give me some practical things I can do to get more sales from my website!"You want practical advice? Stop treating your website like an object in your business and start treating it like an employee. Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP Server Side Includes (SSI) with ASP People often have identical sections of code spread throughout many ASP pages, typically code at the top of the page (usually referred to as the header) and the lower part of the page (the footer). Similarly, you may have code that performs a certain set of instructions that you are repeating across multiple pages. You Need a Website! No matter the size of your business, having a web site is a low cost way to market your services and products twenty-four hours a day. Web sites are a constant advertisement for your business and will help you reach your targeted customers effectively. PIM Team Case Study: Creating Text Effects With PHP and GD See how you can create graphic effects on text with PHP and GD - drop shadows, arcs, fonts and colors.ProblemA-tec Signs and Sraphics Inc. Building eCommerce Websites that Work - Part 2 Succeeding with an eCommerce website is a dream for many these days. It may seem nearly impossible at times, but it can be done. Give Your Business a Cash Infusion Whether you have your own business already, or are looking for a way to cash in on the profit potential of reaching millions of internet users - you can't afford NOT to read this??.. Make Your Own Brand! There are millions and millions of websites on the Internet. You NEED to be different in some way from all of them! If you could get a visitor to your website, that means nothing. Five Reasons You Have to Stop Your Web Site That's right. Your method, behavior and strategy you are now using to manage your website may be justifiable reasons to stop it as soon as possible. Benefits Of An Accessible Website: Part 2 - The Business Case The DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) states that service providers must not discriminate against disabled people. A website is regarded as a service and therefore falls under this law, and as such must be made accessible to everyone. Web Site Development Process - The Life-cycle Steps A system development process can follow a number of standard or company specific frameworks, methodologies, modeling tools and languages. Software development life cycle normally comes with some standards which can fulfill the needs of any development team. Bring Your Visitors Back Clamoring for More! Maintain and Improve Your Web Site Weekly - Part 1 80% of your Web site is Maintenance!Once your Web site is up, you must maintain it. That means changes, and each time you make a change, you may make a mistake. Pick Up Your Own Domain Name Think up a name and check if yourname.com is available. Credibility - 10 Ways to Build it on Your Website If you have your own business website and you are trying to sell something, then it is imperative that you are able to establish and maintain credibility. Why is this important? If you are going to ask someone to make a purchase from you, then you need to show them why they should purchase from you rather then your competitor on another site.
|
| home | site map | ArticleGecko | A ClashX Production 2006 |
| © 2006 |
