The internet has dramatically changed how businesses connect and interact with their customers. The possibilities are growing exponentially. Websites used to be static brochures, now they are often interactive and ever changing. We can now add information more easily than ever before. In addition to the changes to how we can connect through our websites, we now have social media to add to the mix. We can now connect through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and many more.
Businesses can spend untold amounts of money and time building their online presence, but what are they getting for it? What is their ROI? ROI = Return on Investment. It is important that businesses invest in what works, and smart businesses measure to see what is working. They use analytics to track sources of traffic. They use tracking codes for links to see how effective they are. They utilize calls to action and measure how effective they are at converting traffic into leads.
If your business is spending time and money on your internet presence but don’t know what your ROI is, you are missing half of the equation. And, the half you are missing could make a difference between success and failure.
Make sure you have an analytics program in place and that you have set relevant, measurable goals for success. Here are some of the metrics you should be measuring:
Website Grade: How well optimized is your website overall?
Traffic: Overall, how many people are coming to your website?
Leads: How much of this traffic are you converting into leads (e.g. potential customers)?
Customers: How many sales did you close this month?
Customer Acquisition Cost: How much are you investing to draw in each new customer?
New vs. Repeat Visitors: Of your overall traffic, how many visitors are returning to your site, and how many new people are finding you?
Effectiveness by Channel: What promotional channels or referring sources are sending you the most traffic?
Traffic by Keywords: Which keywords are drawing in the most visitors to your site?
Steps for Improvement
The following are some elements of your website you can refine so you can reach your broader goals:
Keywords: Try new keywords or variations of keywords to see if they help you get found better.
On-Page SEO: See if changing a simple on-page factor can help boost visits.
Conversions: Try new things with your conversion forms or landing pages.
Content Strategy: Determine which content is generating the most traffic.
Social Media Promotions: Evaluate which social media channels are generating the most site visitors and leads.
Lead Nurturing: Maybe you’re sending emails too frequently — or not frequently enough.
The key is to always keep experimenting and testing.
There is a lot that goes on with search engines such as Google when you do a search and it delivers your results. Matt Cutts, from Google, published a new video on April 23rd, answering this question:
Hi Matt,
could you please explain how Google’s ranking and website evaluation process works starting with the crawling and analysis of a site, crawling timelines, frequencies, priorities, indexing and filtering processes within the databases etc.
As he explains, he could spend hours answering this question. However, he explains the basics of how search used to work and how search works now.
As marketers, we have to take the time to understand how SEO works and how to reach our target markets organically through search engines. Need more help? Download our SEO 101 eBook for step by step instructions.
You may be wondering, what is a HUG? A HUG is a HubSpot User Group. HubSpot is an all in one inbound marketing software platform. It is also, a highly effective, cutting edge marketing methodology. HubSpot has attracted many investors that include Sequoia Capital who said:
Sequoia Capital has a long history of partnering with founders to help them build long-term, multi-billion dollar companies, including Google, LinkedIn, AdMob, YouTube, Yahoo!, Apple, and Oracle. “We back companies that are transforming their industries,” said Jim Goetz, General Partner at Sequoia Capital.
Another investor, Google Ventures Partner, Rich Miner (co-founder of Android) said,
We agree with HubSpot’s belief that search engines, social media, and mobile devices have fundamentally changed how businesses should market themselves. We’re thrilled to support their efforts to help thousands of small and medium businesses reach potential customers.
We are so excited that HubSpot is coming to New Orleans! This meetup is for users and business owners and entrepreneurs who are interested in kicking up their marketing efforts with inbound marketing.
One of HubSpot’s Product Managers, will be traveling to the event from the company’s Boston headquarters to be on hand to discuss HubSpot and inbound marketing and to answer questions.
SPACE IS LIMITED
Our first meetup will be April 27th from 10 a.m. to noon. This is a great opportunity – don’t miss it! The event is free, but you must register to attend. Space is Limited. Get more information about location, time, etc. and register for the event HERE.
Join the Linkedin HubSpot New Orleans User Group NOLA HUG.
Website design is an important part of internet marketing, but it is just a part. How often, in website design circles, do you think a discussion with a client starts out with questions centered around how the website should “look” or “feel?” Probably, more than you may think. How often do you think that is the wrong place to start? What is your guess? My answer isn’t a guess, it is a statement that how the website “looks” and “feels” is ALWAYS the wrong place to start. Don’t get me wrong, you will need to get to those issues at some point, but it is certainly never the first issue.
Let’s look at what is important to your customers when they visit your website:
From: HubSpot
76% of people think that finding what they want is the most important factor of design, while only 10% think beauty is most important. Having an attractive website is important, but making sure that people can find what they are looking for is most important. Possibly, the first questions for clients should be centered around things such as:
What is the goal of your website?
What do you want people to do once they are on your website?
What calls to action do you need on your website?
Who is your target audience?
Once you have answered some of these basic questions, the design can fall into place around that. Remember, every element of your website should have a purpose. Making it easy for visitors to discover the information they are looking for in an easy to navigate, simple way is most important. It is what will convert visitors into leads and customers for your business which is, generally, the ultimate purpose of your site.
The actual “design” as in the layout, colors and fonts on your website are the easiest part to put together. Your site should be aesthetically pleasing, but just make sure it does not distract from the information and calls to action that you present. Pretty, elegant and simple are good goals to reach for as far as looks. Just keep it simple. Think about your own experience with websites. Have you ever done business with someone you found online because of the font they used on their website? What about the background color or layout? Has that ever gotten you to pick up the phone? Most likely not. Those are just elements that should contribute to the overall goal of your website.
We are so excited to be hosting the first NOLA HubSpot User Group (HUG) meetup. You may be wondering what in the world that is. HUGs are groups of people that use the HubSpot Inbound Marketing software and strategies to attract more visitors and leads for their businesses.
HUGs usually meet about every other month, getting together for a few fun, social hours to talk about how they use HubSpot. People attend to learn new strategies, share their results, talk about challenges, and become better marketers. It is a great opportunity to network with other people who are working to become marketing superstars for their own businesses.
Joining a HUG is also a great way to brush elbows with a HubSpot employee once in a while. HubSpotters frequently fly across the country to attend HUG meetups whenever they can. Generally, they will come to share new features, answer questions, and collect feedback.
So, what is HubSpot anyway? HubSpot is an All-in-One Marketing Platform that takes all of the best inbound marketing methods and consolidates them into one integrated software package. HubSpot provides tools to help your website get found on the internet, tools to convert website visitors into customers and tools to analyze your internet marketing effectiveness.
With HubSpot’s Marketing Analytics Tools, you can analyze site traffic from first visit to most recent conversion. Their Competitor Tracking compares important site performance metrics to key competitors to help you stay ahead of the game. And HubSpot’s in-depth Blog Analytics make it easy to assess the impact of your blog.
Want to join us for our first NOLA HUG meetup? The meetup will be at our home in New Orleans on April 27th at from 10 am to noon. This is the first day of JazzFest so plan ahead! You can get more details on the registration page. Click HERE to register!
Sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work. It could be that you have the wrong tools or maybe outdated tools. Maybe your technique wasn’t correct. Probably the main reason for failing when it comes to internet marketing is because you didn’t have the right plan or perhaps you didn’t have a plan at all. What makes an internet marketing plan fail?
No clear goals – if you don’t care where you are going, anywhere you end up is fine. Or is it really? Sometimes we don’t get where we want to go because we didn’t have a destination in mind in the first place. Decide on realistic, measurable goals for your business before you start to implement any internet marketing plan. Your goals will help you determine what tools and techniques are correct.
Focusing on things that will not help you achieve your goals. - Let’s take your website as an example. Everything on your website should have a purpose. Perhaps you should have content that is search engine friendly to help you get more organic traffic. If your goal is to convert traffic into leads for your business, you should probably have clear calls to action to help you achieve that goal. If your focus is on having just the right color of blue as your background color or using a particular font, you need to think about how those things will help you achieve your goals. When is the last time you visited a website just to admire their background? When is the last time you filled out a form on a site because of the font they used? Oh, and by the way, that perfect shade of blue that you love so much will look different on my screen than it does on your screen or your customer’s screen.
Adding elements to your marketing without understanding how they fit into an overall plan that will help you achieve your goals. – Perhaps you are told that you have to be on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or Google+. While those are all great marketing tools, you need to be sure that you are using them in a way that fits your overall internet marketing plan. Too often, businesses feel like they have to jump on the latest thing without deciding first how it can be used to help them reach their goals. Without a plan, many businesses end up wasting time and money on efforts that are not moving them to their goal.
Not measuring your results. – If you are not measuring your results, how will you ever know if you meet your goal? How will you know if you are veering off course and need to adjust? Measuring your results is an often overlooked but very important part of internet marketing.
Not working with people who understand the importance of having an overall internet marketing plan with measurable goals.
Don’t fail! Make a plan and do it right. In the long run, you will save money and you will have measurable success.
What’s your website’s purpose? That’s a pretty simple question, but you’d be amazed at the number of people who can’t answer it. By the way, the answer is not to make you more money, but more money may be the result of your website achieving its purpose.
The purpose of your website might be to:
Drive customers to your brick and mortar store- this type of website informs visitors of what’s going on at your physical location (sales, special inventory, etc.) in hopes of enticing them to visit your store.
Generate leads for your sales force- this is where website visitors fill out forms to get additional information, they then become leads in your sales funnel.
Provide a way for customers to shop online- these are ecommerce sites where customers can shop online
Provide contact information to potential customers- these are brochure or yellow page websites that provide information to visitors who may be looking for a phone number or address.
Once you decide what the purpose of your website is, you can start measuring your results to see if your website is achieving its purpose. If you aren’t getting the results you need, then you can modify your website.
One of the best things about internet marketing is that it can be measured. You can actually “see” whether or not you are getting results. So, that begs the question: Are you getting results? Surprisingly, many businesses don’t know if their website is really working for them, they just know that it “looks pretty” and that they get “compliments” on it. This is known as the “spray and pray” marketing method – put something up and pray that it will work.
Often times, what makes a website great and what gets results are the things that you don’t see like:
Well researched keywords placed in the right places on the site
Clear calls to action
Well-made landing pages
If you are basing your marketing on how things look on the surface, you may be missing the point. It is like finding a great looking dress or nice looking suit. It may look great on the hanger but once you try it on, you find that it is poorly made. The fabric is shoddy or the fit isn’t right. Just because it looked great, doesn’t mean it will work.
Don’t spray and pray, do it right and get results – which in the case of most businesses, means more leads and customers.
Setting up your Facebook page is just the first step when you are using Facebook for business. It is essential for you to distribute remarkable content that your fans will want to share so your fans can attract more visitors to you Facebook page.
Action Items:
To increase your Facebook exposure, you need to design offers and content that will motivate people to “like” or share your page. 90% of consumers trust peer recommendations.
Posts with the word “video” in them are shared 30% more on Facebook than posts that do not.
Posts that use buzzwords or business jargon like “optimize” significantly decrease the number of fans for a Facebook page. These pages have 100 fans, as opposed to the average page with 624 fans.
Posts with digits in the title tend to be shared more often.
Lists using words like “top” make tremendously successful Facebook posts.
For your customers and prospects to find your Facebook page engaging, they will need enticing materials and regular posts.
Find out how to really rock it with your social media presence to attract more visitors and convert them into customers with the Social Media Tune-Up Guide.
Think social media is just a place for social interactions and “fun?” Think again! Social media can be a powerful inbound marketing tool for your business. It can have an impact on your traffic, leads and inevitably, sales. Consider this:
US Internet users spend 3x more minutes on blogs and social networks than on email.
93% of US adult Internet users are on Facebook.
1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on Facebook.
49% of people use Facebook to share content.
More than ½ of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks.
79% of US Twitter users are more likely to recommend brands they follow.
67% of US Twitter users are more likely to buy brand they follow.
Pinterest is the fastest growing website – EVER!
Social media amplifies your content, your website and your brand. It allows for you to establish and foster a more personal relationship with your potential customers, and when done correctly, can generate website traffic, inbound links, and leads for you.
Social media has become a major part of consumer culture, and it is time for you to capitalize on it. Get started with our Social Media Tune-Up Guide!
The internet has dramatically changed how businesses connect and interact with their customers. The possibilities are growing exponentially. Websites used to be static brochures, now they are often interactive and ever changing. We can now add information more easily than ever before. In addition to the changes to how we can connect through our websites, we now have social media to add to the mix. We can now connect through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and many more.
From: HubSpot
