Posted
on February 23, 2010, 9:02 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
I’ve fielded several Internet marketing related phone calls that have began with the prospect telling me he simply wants more traffic to his web site. For some reason, his web site is not generating enough sales, it’s not converting, so therefore, if you add more visitors, odds are, the sales should go up right?
Wrong.
If your web site is NOT converting, you need to ask yourself the following: WHO are you marketing to? Who is visiting your web site? It really doesn’t matter how many hits your web site got in any given period, it does matter WHO hit your web site during that period. If your web site isn’t attracting the right audience, all the traffic in the world will not improve your bottom line. Yes, there are strength in numbers, but if those numbers are not shopping for what you sell, or don’t fit the demographic, it’s wasted traffic.
I’ll talk about some specific methods of targeting the right audience to your web site in subsequent blogs. Until then, thanks for reading and if you are seeking a true marketing partner to help grow your company, call me: 407-830-4550 or toll free: 866-998-6886.
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Posted
on February 22, 2010, 8:45 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
I think the biggest mistake I see companies make online is that they get wrapped in how great they think that they are internally. They want to brag about their state of the art factory, they brag about the their new CEO, they talk about their new technol0gy they just invested millions on. They take all of their greatness and splatter it all over their web site.
The reality is this: When it comes to Internet Marketing, you need to being putting yourself in your consumer’s shoes. What do they want? Do they care about your new facility? Probably not. Do they care about your new CEO or his/her message? Not really. What they truly care about is what your company WILL do for THEM. Use your Internet marketing budget dollars to connect with your prospects and feed them what they are seeking. Here’s five easy things you can do on your web site to connect with your clients better:
1.) Make it easy for them to contact you.
Sounds like a no-brainer right? So many people hide phone numbers and contact information thinking that the prospect will dig deeper to find it, if you hide it, they will go somewhere else that makes it easy.
2.) Make sure your web site loads fast.
So many businesses have a tendency to have this immense flash ‘intro’ before giving people / prospects what they are really seeking. Your clients don’t have that kind of time or patience. Flash is fine in small easy to digest packages, but don’t make it a focal point.
3.) Lead them through the funnel.
We all have a sales funnel… make sure that your web site truly leads prospects through that funnel. The more consumers get sidetracked, the less focused they become on buying.
4.) Give it away.
Give your prospects a reason to come back and a reason to believe in your product: give them stuff. By giving away information and useful tips, you pull and draw your clients in. Be the authority in your field and your prospects will WANT to buy from you.
5.) Ask them how you did.
One of the biggest mistakes I’ve made in the past is not listening to clients, or even worse, didn’t bother to ask for their input. By engaging your audience, you can learn a tremendous amount about who and why you should be marketing to. Provide a feedback form or reach out to them after the sale to ask how you did.
What makes a company great is the amount of customer loyalty that they have. If you engage and actually interact with your clients and prospects, you are on your way to greatness. To discuss your company and it’s online growth, call me at 407-830-4550 and be sure to visit my web site to learn more about my company and what it can do for YOU. www.ontargetwebsolutions.com
GIve me a call to learn about how your web site can sell and grow your business. Call 407-830-4550 or visit my web site to learn more. www.ontargetwebsolutions.com
Posted
on February 15, 2010, 4:00 pm,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
How will you know when it’s time for a fresh new look for your web site?
Take my simple web site redesign test: if you have answer YES to any of the following, it’s time to redesign.
1.) Does Elvis begin signing Love Me Tender or does ANY other music start playing when your web site loads?
2.) Does your web site take 2 minutes to load because of the super duper gallery of 62 photos you need to display on your home page?
3.) Does it take half a century to scroll down to the bottom of your site to hit the ‘next’ button?
4.) Did you have to go on a virtual expedition to find the phone number or contact method?
5.) Did you happen to see a ‘traffic counter’ at the bottom of the page or an announcement congratulating you for being the 172 visitor?
6.) When you move your mouse on the web site does it have a neato mosquito tail that wiggles behind the cursor?
7.) When you click an image on your web site to see the larger image,does it open a lonesome white page with just a photo on it leaving you feeling all lost inside?
8.) Are there any cute animated thingimibobs or growing sprite flowers on each and every page assuring you that this is indeed a corporate web site, but it’s indeed a CUTE corporate web site?
9.) Does the title tag in the very top of your web site browser say “untitled document” or better yet, “home”?
10.) Does your web site mention any of these words in ANY of the code? Microsoft Front Page?
If you answered yes to ANY of these questions, you need professional help yesterday. Call me at 407-830-4550 or visit my web site to learn more about clean professional web design. If you don’t get help from me, PLEASE, get help somewhere.
Posted
on February 13, 2010, 8:18 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
I met with a great company last week who is trying to re-launch their company after an ugly ‘custody’ battle of ownership. During this battle, the company was beat up, customers were lied to, the brand message became as clear as mud and their market share dropped drastically: essentially, NOW more than ever, they need a social media campaign to recapture what they once had.
During the course of the spirited meeting I kept hearing the same thing over and over from one marketing rep: “We are already blogging. We are already using facebook, We have three hundred fans on Facebook, we made a viral video already…” It kept bothering me. I saw the video, it will never be ‘viral’, I’ve seen the messages they are putting out on Facebook, nothing remarkable about that, I checked out their Twitter page to see they were only talking to themselves, etc.
Before you let any of your employees get social online, consider the following 5 ways to screw up a social media campaign:
1.) Don’t have a clear message or goal.
If your company is just tweeting to tweet or blogging because your SEO guy insists on it, your social media campaign will NOT yield fruit.
2.) Being Mechanical.
If your idea of a successful social media campaign is tweeting twice a day or posting on Facebook 3 or cranking out 4 blogs a week, your social media campaign will not succeed. To truly engage in social media, you must be fluid, you must be you, you must be engaged.
3.) Let the Interns do it.
Sure, they are young, they use facebook, they have to know how to do this stuff and they are cheap labor. There is a huge difference between posting on your facebook wall what you had for breakfast and how many Baileys Irish Cream shots you had the night before to communicating and engaging with customers with a big picture goal in mind.
4.) Create a ‘Viral’ Video.
This one kills me. Your company has decided to create a viral video. The owner thinks it’s hilarious. The janitor even had a hoot helping out. Your whole office was involved and ‘get’s’ it. The truth is this: You made the video because YOU thought it was funny. Your intended audience doesn’t get your internal reality. Stuff becomes or goes viral because your audience Get’s it and LOVES it and HAS to share it with their friends.
5.) Sir SpamALot.
Your audience, customers, followers, prospects don’t want to be spammed. They don’t want special offers every three minutes, they don’t want your latest fliers stuffed in their face, they don’t want to be sold to. The purpose of social media is to ENGAGE, to talk, to encourage healthy dialogue. If you are constantly trying to sell, you WILL lose followers. I always encourage clients to put themselves in the shoes of their clients and / or prospects and ask themselves, ‘Will this annoy me over time?’.
Need some help? Call me. Nationwide: 866-998-5 6886 or in Orlando: 407-830-4550. You can of course also visit my web site to learn more about my company: http://www.ontargetwebsolutions.com
Posted
on February 12, 2010, 4:25 pm,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
A great quick video about blogging from Seth Godin and Tom Peters.
Many people are scared to blog, what should I write? What if I sound stupid? What if no one reads it? From my personal experience, blogging can help train your mind, blogging can help you chart some new paths, blogging can help you and your company grow in many ways.
To learn more about getting a blog started for you or your company, give me a call: 407-830-4550 or visit my company here: http://www.ontargetwebsolutions.com.
Posted
on February 10, 2010, 10:21 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
A friend forwarded this video to me this morning: I think it says it all about the fundamental shift in the way that we communicate in both life and in business: Social media is truly here to stay, businesses that don’t embrace this revolution may not be here for long:
Posted
on February 8, 2010, 6:27 pm,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
I stayed up way later than my usual bedtime on Saturday night to catch Ashton Kutcher on Saturday Night Live. I don’t celebrate Ashton’s entire career or anything, but I am intrigued about his use of social media to help companies grow. As he soared through his opening bit, he dropped the term Social Media Optimization, or SMO. It really got my wheels spinning and I think it’s important to point out exactly what I see Social Media Optimization (SMO) as:
SMO:
Social Media Optimization is the process of utilizing and IMPROVING social media campaigns to grow your online market share. With the web, every campaign is different, every demographic is different, every objective can be different, therefore, it is mission critical to pay attention to what is happening with your own campaign.
Optimizing your social media campaign should involve some of the following practices:
Are you following the right people? Find out. If they are dead weight or spam masters, make them go away, and enjoy doing it. It’s fun and freeing at the same time.
Are the right people following you? If you find that every self proclaimed life coach in the universe is constantly growing daises on your Twitter home page, make them take their peace, love and joy elsewhere. You’ve got a business to run, not a commune.
Fine tune your message. Who are you? What are you trying to convey? Over time and practice, you can crank out a consistent message without repeating the same words over and over.
Give it away. I’ve said it a million times, people will find what they are looking for online no matter what (for free…..) Use your social media optimization campaign to give stuff away and spread cheer amongst your followers.
Don’t disappear. Social media takes time and attention. You won’t have 12,000 followers overnight, build your tribe selectively and grow over time.
The most important thing I can stress is this: be real, be yourself, have a personality. Your accounting firm doesn’t have to be all about numbers, your mechanic shop doesn’t have to be all about oil changes. How can you set yourself up as an expert in your field and draw people to you seeking your leadership? Social Media.
Have questions about SMO? Give me a call to discuss: In Orlando 407-830-4550 or toll free Nationwide: 866-998-6886. Learn more about social media and Internet marketing at my web site: http://www.ontargetwebsolutions.com
Posted
on February 3, 2010, 9:08 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
The largest mistake I see companies make on the web, in particular in social media marketing is that they remain self centered. They post stuff ALL About themselves, they post stuff all about their products, they post stuff all about their boss and his morning cup of joe. They should be posting comments about the most important people in their organization: their customers.
Social media is all about giving. It’s all about interacting, it’s all about sharing the love. I’m not trying to get all Utopian here, I wasn’t even born in the sixties, but hey man, it’s like totally groovy if you reach out to others, it’s all about the love, it’s all about the peace and harmony. This truly applies to your business: how can you reach out to your customers? How can you show them the love? Consider the following social media ideas and just be like groovy man:
1.) Run a groovy contest and get help from your audience:
Engage your Twitter or Facebook audience and ask for their help: let them come up with the name for your newest work of brilliance.
2.) For Pure Flower Power, give something away man.
A Canadian web design firm recently ran a contest which would build their Twitter following and in return, gave away a shiny new MacBook Pro. The company’s online presence grew exponentially and the contest got them featured in Wired Magazine.
3.) Ask their opinion Man.
Companies spend thousands on focus groups when they could be getting plenty of focus from their existing customers via Twitter.
4.) If It Feels Good, Do It Man: Reach out to them.
Be social with your clients, ask them about THEM. People love to talk about themselves, let them. Ask them the questions, get them involved, engage them about your products, engage them about your customer service.
5.) Don’t Sweat It Man.
If you goof, tell the world you goofed. Use social media to fess up or at least be transparent. Toyota ran a full page in the Orlando sentinel telling all of us that they goofed and that they will be correcting their recall issues ASAP. The truth will set you free, use social media to spread your confessions.
To learn more about how social media can help your company grow, call me: 407-830-4550. We’ll have a groovy conversation and I’ll show you how my company can help you grow your online presence.
Posted
on February 2, 2010, 9:23 am,
by Tom
and received No Comments ».
Everyone talks about creating the wow factor nowadays in business, but many companies fail to translate the wow factor to their web site: here are a few pointers to carry the wow factor into your web site:
1.) If your web site sells products (e-commerce) and people abandon the web site, before they check out, have your web site send them an email offering them a discount if they come back within a certain time frame. Sure, you may lose 10% of a sale, but it’s better then losing 100%.
2.) If folks register at your web site, ask them for their birthday. Have one of your customer service reps call and wish them happy birthday personally.
3.) Surprise them. If you have regular web site visitors, send them an email and offer them a discount on their next purchase.
4.)Keep people guessing. Offer a random weekly special and be sure to let your loyal clients know what it is before it’s public.
5.) Reward them. If folks send your web site a unique visitor who ends up purchasing, reward them both: the referrer for sending you business you wouldn’t have had and the new customer for being a new customer.
There are a million ways to wow people, take some time, look at your web site and ask yourself, how can I keep people coming back? People love to belong, help them belong, bring them into your world and make them feel special.
My company helps you create the WOW factor on your web site…. Call me today and let’s discuss how to make your prospects customers for life. Call 407-830-4550 or toll free: 866-998-6886.
