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Online Marketing - The End Of The Beginning

17/9/2021

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The first two steps to successfully marketing online and through your website have little to do with online marketing itself. However, it’s critical to complete them before your campaigns begin. These two steps are Setting your Website Objective and Defining Your Online Target Market
Setting Your Website Objective:
Whenever a client is looking to drive more traffic to their website or is trying to raise their conversion rates, I always take them back to the beginning and ask them what the objective of their site is. This is always more insightful (and entertaining), when I’m meeting with more than one person from the company.
meeting at café
“drive more sales”, “get more leads”, “reduce product support demands”, “gain access to new markets”, are a few of the more common responses. We then take a look at their site. It will often focus on who they are, their history, their commitment to customer service; all noble things, and usually all without a strong call to action that matches their now stated objective.

Setting an overall website objective is not easy but the benefits are huge.

Not easy: Real estate on the web is cheap. Add a page, add 100 pages, there is still plenty of room to expand. So it’s easy to quickly develop multiple objectives for your site.
Additionally, many people in the company will have different views on what the site objective should be. Human resources wants the Career section to stand out. Customer Service wants the Support area to be highlighted. Sales, of course, wants to highlight Product or Solution areas, and so on. 

If you’re ruling by committee you’ll have a well balanced but underperforming site. The winning play is to have one objective that rules all others. 
webdesign planning
If the objective is to drive more sales, then the Home page must be geared towards that. It will need to highlight and focus on information and calls to action (CTAs) to take web visitors down that path.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you won’t still link to support and careers sections. You just won’t focus on them on your Home and other main section pages.

Get Specific: Now if “Drive more sales.”, is your first-cut objective, you need to get a little deeper, more specific. Will you be closing sales over the internet (a la eCommerce), or are you driving the new prospect to call you or email you? What level of knowledge should the prospect have before they contact you? Should they know the part number or should they just know that your company is the one they need to call?

Thus, your objective may evolve to “Drive qualified prospects to contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them.”
So what made them a qualified prospect? Were they qualified before they came to your site (maybe they were driven to your site from a trade show), or did they get to you through a search engine and know very little about what you do.

Your objective may ultimately evolve to “Visitors should find the information to qualify themselves as good potential prospects and contact us to get detailed information on which of our products best suits them.”
table with notepad, coffee, smartphone and wallet
Huge Benefits: Once you’ve set your objective, everything becomes easier. Writing content (often the biggest challenge a company has), becomes clear. The path with which you lead visitors through your website becomes clear (e.g., entice, inform, qualify, call-to-action). Site architecture and layout become clear.

You can now focus your efforts and resources around fulfilling that main objective. The sections that are not directly relevant to your main objective still support that main objective.

Now that you’ve clearly set your website objective, the next step is to know who your target audience is and it may not be who you think.
Identifying Your Target Audience:
Who do you want visiting your site? Are they researchers or decision makers? Are they likely to “convert” on their first visit? Do they know anything about your company already? If so, how much do they know? Are they internet savvy? Are they over 40 and likely would appreciate larger type. Are they visual. Are they detailed. Are they a “people person” or do they prefer dealing with things or words. Are they likely to be highly educated? Do they like to have lots of options or lots of direction? 
meeting at office
All these questions and a lot more need to be asked and answered. Initially, you’ll use this information to help with the design of your overall site. You’ll want the proper balance of images to text. You’ll want to set the text level at the appropriate level of detail. You’ll want to write to their probable education level.

Ultimately, the answers will drive the theme of your site. They’ll drive the type of online advertising you’ll use. They’ll drive the design of advertising landing pages. They’ll drive the keyword phrases you’ll target in search engine optimization. They’ll drive your call-to-action.

Now you’re ready to start your marketing. Knowing what you want to accomplish and whom you want to accomplish it with, you’ll be able to structure the right ads, emails, keyword phrase targeting, etc. You’ll be able to focus resources on the proper additional web media (e.g., blogs, podcasts, more web pages, flash demonstrations, etc.).
​To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this will be the end of the beginning of your online marketing strategy, and you'll be ready to begin a productive and effective online marketing campaign.
dartboard with darts
Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now or schedule a talk.
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5 Common Mistakes That Drive Visitors Away From a Website

4/12/2020

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The way your website is designed and presented influences your opportunities to make money online.
A professionally designed and well presented website will bring you a lot of customers and sales.
So, what common mistakes drive visitors away from a website?
1. A template that is similar to other websites.
​There are a lot of website templates which although they make things easy for you since you get a ready-to-go website for your online business; they are not good for your business in the long term. It is not good for your business if your website is similar to hundreds and thousands others. Online customers do not want to see precisely the same website layout. Have your own original website designed, or if you buy the ready made website template, it is highly recommended that you hire someone to adjust your template to personalize it and make it your own.
agency and client discussing services
Laptop with website open
2. Confusing websites.
​These are the websites whose layout is not efficient, and you can not easily navigate the site. For some websites, the website name, URL and blog names do not seem related the websiteís focus. These websites can also have a lot of products and services on offer that are not related. Make sure that your website, as well as services and products you offer are focused.
3. Too many graphics.
​Too many graphics simply make your website slow to load. For many people websites with too many graphics can be annoying and unprofessional. These graphics do not add much to your website in terms of search engine rankings or user-friendliness, and are not therefore helpful for your online business. What is important to have on your website is distinctive, relevant and high quality content.
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4. Ineffective use of keywords and phrases.
​This is essential for your visibility on search engines. Make sure that your website is well optimized.
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5. A website that lacks any "benefits" to prospects.
​Although you are selling your online businessí services or products mainly, your website must also offer the reader high quality unique information. Also, if you offer an e-zine or e-course on your website, it must also offer some useful information. It is also a good idea that you get creative and offer many other ëstuffí that relates to your website. The idea is to make visitors want to come back again.
​If you want to succeed online, it is important that you avoid these common website mistakes. A professional and informative website will make your visitors want to come back again, which is good for your business.
target with darts
Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
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3 Proven Techniques For Improving Your Website's Usability

16/10/2020

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The number one factor that makes or breaks your website is whether or not people can use it. This is typically referred to as your website's usability. It seems simple: if people can't do what you want them to do (buy things, subscribe to things, request a call, etc.), they won't do it. Yet, because websites are so easy to change, several companies just create websites, web applications, e-newsletters, etc., and hope that the changes will help their business.  
Website build considering user experience
What further confuses this is typically a lack of clear insight into your website's performance. For example, how well does your website convert visitors into buyers? What are the key decisions that visitors must make on your website?  Do you give them the information and tools necessary to make those decisions?
woman building website
This article will help you focus on 3 proven techniques for improving your website's performance: website analytics, usability testing, and personas. Exactly how you choose to implement these techniques is obviously up to you. However, one thing is guaranteed: all three techniques help you get closer to the people who visit your website: their needs, their desires, and their behaviors. This information is critical if you plan to optimize your websiteís usability to achieve your goals.
Measure Progress with Website Analytics
Many companies mistakenly install a standard "website statistics" program and only get a group of standard reports. Typically, these reports do very little to help you judge the true effectiveness of your website.  ​Want to get a jumpstart on creating your own website analytics? Just follow these 3 simple steps:
1. Start with the end in mind: your objectives 
Define your website marketing strategy objectives (i.e. "Increase the number of qualified prospects coming from web search engines"), and what you want your website visitors to do to reach those objectives (i.e. "See our listing in the top 10 in Google and click on it"). It is very important to identify each objective and attach a "call to action" to it. The effort now has clear, measurable and trackable events.
Website analytics on computer
2. Get in touch with your visitors' behavior on your website
​Track how many unique visitors you get, and how long they stay on your site (including how many pages they view). You want all of these numbers to be going up, since that means youíre getting more visitors who are staying on the site longer. You are maximizing the odds that they will do what you want them to.
client and agency discussion over website analytics
3. Develop your conversion rate 
Track how many visitors do the key action you want them to do and compare this number to your total visitors. This will help you determine your conversion rate. For example, if 15 out of 100 visitors have requested more information from you (and that is one of your objectives), then your conversion rate for information requests is 15%. Once you have these key website analytics in place, you can start to evolve your tracking and look for trends to optimize for
Here are two examples:
  • Let's say you notice higher conversion rates on weekends. Then you might want to spend more on online advertising on weekends and reduce your spending during the week.  
  • Let's say you need more visitors and embark on a search engine optimization project to improve your rankings. Then you can track the increase or decrease in visitor flow from your project's activities.

Regardless of what you want to achieve, getting to website usability first starts with solid website analytics. Why? Because website analytics force you to identify those areas that matter most, and identify how well or poorly you are doing in them.  Once you know this, you are armed with key data that can help you focus your efforts and determine where things like usability testing can help the most.
Leverage Usability Testing
Usability testing is where you take people who would use your website, and actually watch them using it.  Typically, you ask the person to do things on the site, and you watch either over their shoulder, behind a one-way mirror, or via a second computer where you can see what's being recorded on the test computer.
It's amazing how many things you can make better on your website just by watching people use it. Yet, as you get into it, you may find that hiring a usability professional for a testing project can be unnecessarily expensive. Usability professionals are helpful, since they typically have substantial expertise in planning and conducting tests, as well as interpreting test results. However, usability testing does not have to be fancy or formal: people are going to give you their opinion whether you're sitting in a research company or at Starbucks.
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​So be careful when hiring a professional that seems to make the testing process complicated or costly.  When someone does this, it's usually only for their own financial gain.
To successfully conduct a usability test, just follow these 5 steps:
1. Define your objectives. Begin with the end in mind
What do you want to accomplish with this usability test? Do you have specific areas of your website that you want to improve? If so, this is a great way to get ideas on how to make those areas better. Are you planning on rolling out a new area of your website? A usability test is a great way to do a "trial run" before the big launch.

2. Recruit the participants
This will take the most time, and can be the most frustrating part of the test process. You have to find people to participate (which can be tough, particularly if you need to match specific demographic profiles), and then you need to schedule them. Then, some will cancel, some wonít show, and some will be great test participants.  The best way to get a feel for the person is to talk to them directly more than once over the phone.  TIP: Be sure to call the person the day of the test to remind them about it.  

3. Script the test 
Youíll want to have an intro script, the test script, and a post-test survey. The intro script serves as a checklist of things you want to be sure to cover with the person before you start the test. TIP: During the part, try to focus on making the person feel comfortable giving their opinion, and reiterate that any feedback is good feedback. The next part, the test script, is a checklist of the actual things you want the person to do.  This is followed by the post-test survey, which allows you to ask the person questions, and later compare those answers to what they said during the test.
Usability test taken by voluntary
4. Conduct the test
This is the fun part! You sit down with the person and walk them through the test scenario. Some tests benefit from close "hand holding", while others benefit from letting the person do whatever they think is right. It completely depends on the objectives, and the information you want to collect. In either case, the best thing to do is to record both the person and what they do on the computer.  TIP: Be sure to compensate the person for their time. 
5. Report the results
The best way to report the results is two-fold: First, do a quick, one-page or less recap of each session immediately after the test. That way, the information is still fresh in your mind. TIP: Include a picture of the user in your recap, since it will help make that person's feedback "come alive". Next, take the information collected during testing, and create 1 to 4 "personas": user profiles that explain the type of person, what they need from the website, what issues they encounter frequently on the site, and what can be changed to help them. This will help you explain the results to others, and you can reuse these personas later when you are adding or updating areas of your website.

How many people should I test?  
For most usability tests, you can learn the maximum amount by only testing ten people. Too many more and youíll start to see too many recurring patterns. If you go less than ten, you might miss things or not see enough of a pattern.
Develop Personas
Let's face it - no one reads a 20-page usability report from cover to cover. It just doesn't happen. Usually, key decision makers ask for "recap" presentations, and then "latch on" to one or two key points from the study, quoting that point over and over again. This presents a great opportunity: why not give those key decision makers something memorable? Enter personas. ​Personas are a way to get everyone involved thinking about the actual people who visit your website.
man with persona mask in usability testing
What Personas are:
  • Fake people based on real data
  • A practical tool to maintain focus on your target customers
  • A way to make your data come alive and be more memorable

What Personas are not:
  • Every possible customer profile
  • "Made up"; they are created from real data, like usability test results
  • A replacement for existing ways we design and build our website
Reporting user tests as personas is a great way to:
  • Get key decision makers on board with the persona concept
  • Communicate web site issues in the context of the people actually using your site 
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Creating personas from usability testing data is time-consuming, but very valuable.  Just look across the data for key trends: what common roles, goals, and actions do you see?  Can you group the feedback along those things?  You'll quickly start to evolve a handful of personas which can be refined over time.  Add a name and a few pictures of that "person" and you'll be on your way to creating a more user-focused website experience.
Again, exactly how you choose to implement these techniques is obviously up to you.  Even small steps can make a big impact.  You don't have to have super-sophisticated website analytics, test your website with 100 users, or develop extremely detailed personas.  Every step you take in these three areas, no matter how big or how small, will help you get more from your website, and your website marketing strategy.
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Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for planting marketing seeds and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
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$60,000 Mugging

25/9/2020

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I was referred to a prospective client recently that had their website redesigned. They paid $60,000 for a site that really does nothing for them. It is a simple brochure site that provides visitors nothing and it certainly does nothing to convert traffic into sales.  Since all their budget went to design, they have no money left over to properly market the site.  Mistake #1, don't pay $60,000 for a branding exercise.
In digital marketing, web design costs can be controlled.
Don't overpay for web designs that don't fulfill previously specified goals.
A corporate website is about supporting the business. The beauty of the Internet is there is no guessing.  You can measure pretty much anything. What are you trying to accomplish? Increase traffic? Generate leads? Increase sales? If it is yes to one of these questions, then a $60,000 investment should have measurable targets tied to it. Can a brochure site deliver a 80-95% ROI?
Digital marketing can be focused on increasing website traffic.
Sales increase is one of the benefits of digital marketing.
Web design is a commodity today. The cost of the design should represent about 25% of your total spend. Design costs are competitive today, so spending more than you have to should be the last thing you do. There are excellent open source Content Management Systems (CMS) that give you the power to manage your own content. The cost of the software is $0 to you.

The value of web design is working with companies that can understand what you do. To properly market the site, you should be investing up to 10-12x on what you invested in design. If you are a small company that is spending $4,000-$8,000 on a basic website, you should plan over 12 months to invest an additional amount in marketing. The dollars spent on marketing brings traffic to the site. Simple rule: more traffic through the front door means more business. 

​Unlike other advertising, you can control your spending and measure your ROI pretty quickly. You can turn your marketing dollars on and off depending on the performance, it is all measurable.
Web design is a commodity today and should not cost more than 25% of your total spend.
The value of web design is working with companies that understand what you do.
Web design platforms nowadays are very easy to use and don't require coding knowledge.
One of our clients went through the redesign process. We built a Search Engine Friendly website that allows them to manage content on the site. Prior to working with us, his website was not listed in the top 100 on Google for popular keywords. Since working with us, his visitors and page views have increased.  But most importantly, he has doubled his bookings from this time last year. And, he did not spend $60,000 on his web design.
Redesign your website to increase traffic and sales.
Rank your website with SEO and make it visible to search engines.
Increased traffic to your website can lead to more sales.
If you need help evaluating a prospective vendor, here are some questions that may help you understand their knowledge:
  • How to capture visitor traffic off the Internet? Can you track their movement through my site? If so, how?
  • How do I manage pay per click advertising dollars to ensure I am maximizing my spending and not wasting money?
  • How do you measure whether my site is friendly to my users?
  • How many page views would you estimate my site would get to determine the right level of hosting?
  • What things will you need to change on my website?  What things can I change on my own?
  • If I want to change the look, does it require changes to the backend scripting on the site?
  • What will it take to add a new page to match the ad we are running to the new site? For instance, I want to advertise a special and build a page specific for it, what will it take for us to do this?
  • What do you anticipate the average cost per lead for the website to be?
  • Who owns the source code for the site?
​So, think about your objectives. Think about what you want to accomplish and spend your money according to the results you want to achieve. A pretty website may not generate the type of results you should and can get using the Internet.  Don't get mugged for $60,000.  It's bad for your business.
Digital Marketing works with measurable targets
Target Practice Pro is your go-to digital marketing solution for website redesign and boosting your business. Call us now for a free quote.
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