Website -> Traffic -> Conversion

What this means is that you first need a website. Most people understand this and set up a website. Unfortunately this is as far as 90% of people go and it’s the reason why so few small businesses see growth after launching their site.

The second phase of Internet Marketing is to let people know that the website (and your business exists). In this phase you drive traffic to your site. Without traffic your site has no value.

Only after you are generating a large amount of traffic does your site start bringing in business by converting some of those visitors to customers. Unless you are converting traffic to customers your site is just another business expense rather than a valuable asset which brings in a steady stream of new clients.

Traditionally Conversion Architecture looked at how we can build a better website with the aim of converting more visitors. Things like layout, navigation, color schemes etc. were all taken into account.

Nowadays marketers need to manage a larger extended web that thrives beyond the borders of the traditional web site. Improving conversion means managing multiple layers and coordination the interaction between these layers. Check out Scott Brinker’s article “The 5 Rings of Conversion Optimization” in which he identifies five layers of web presence that are under your direct control.

These Five layers are:

1. Core web: Online applications
2. Inner web: Your traditional, navigable web site
3. Outer web: Landing pages, blogs, microsites
4. Social web: Outposts on social media sites
5. Advertising networks: Paid media on other sites

By optimizing each layer and managing the dynamics between these layers you will increase your conversions and ultimately the effectiveness of your web presence.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

It just goes to show the importance big players placing on Internet Marketing. Small businesses should also take advantage of Online Marketing. It’s cheaper and more effective than traditional marketing methods!

Read the full article at iMedia Connection:

Added advantages of PPC are that you can target a specific geographic area, advertise only on days or specific times that your target audience are looking for your products and services. You can also limit your daily advertising budget so there’s no surprises at the end of the month.

This is GREAT for testing new products, running promotions or targeting a new customer base.

Handled properly PPC Advertising is probably the most cost effective way to promote your business today. Compared to traditional marketing efforts like the Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, Newspaper Ads etc its cheaper, measurable and can be tweaked in an instant.

If not done right however you can spend a lot of money with limited results.

Check out the following tips on PPC:

Pay Per Click (PPC)

Definition:

Pay Per Click is a marketing system on Web in which the advertiser pays to the site owner when the user clicks on it and it takes to the main source page. This is a more interactive, results-oriented method compared to paying for just the placement of a banner ad on a Web page apart from if anyone clicks on it.

PPC Search engines, such as Yahoo! Google Search and 7Search.com, are search engines that return the results of a search based on how much the advertiser bid for placement. The one that bid the most gets its offering to appear first in the results list; the second-highest appears second, and so on. After all paid advertisers are displayed; all the other results appear just like regular search engines. If the user clicks on a paid advertiser’s offering to go to its Web site, the pay-per-click search engine charges the advertiser’s account for the bid amount.

Tips:

Instead of jumping into a pay-per-click campaign and immediately blowing a ton of cash, keep these pay per click tips in mind:

1. Check your ego at the door! Sometimes it’s tempting to get into a bidding battle, just for the pure competitions…don’t do it! It’s not worth it.
2. Calculate your profit on the items you are advertising. If you only make a dollar or two per sale, it may not be worth starting a pay-per-click campaign.
3. Calculate your conversion rate. Check your website statistics and find out how many clicks it takes to make a sale. This will help you determine how much you can afford to pay per click. Let’s say you have an item that gives you $15 profit. It takes you 100 clicks to get a sale. This means you could bid 15 cents per click to break even. Of course, a targeted pay-per-click campaign will likely give you a better conversion rate, so keep that in mind.
4. Make a budget and stick with it. If you can’t afford more than 7 cents per click, don’t bid higher. There are always more targeted keywords to be found. And remember, even if you aren’t on the first page, you will still get clicks. Perhaps, not as often…but you will still get clicks even if you are 3 pages in, especially on frequently searched phrases.
5. Make or use special landing pages for your campaigns. If you have an online gift shop with a variety of items and you are bidding on “blueberry scented candles”, don’t send them to your home page. They may not be able to find the blueberry scented candles and that’s what they are looking for.
6. Write different ads for different products. If you are bidding on the terms “Spongebob Toy” and “Blue’s Clue’s Toy”, write separate ads that will capture the attention of the searcher. Imagine if you were searching for “SpongeBob toy” yourself and you saw and ad that said: “SpongeBob Discount Toys….” And then you saw another that said: “Nick Toys on Sale” Wouldn’t you more likely click on the SpongeBob ad?
7. Target your keywords. This is so critical. If you don’t target, you’ll waste your money. You want each person who clicks through to do something when they get to your website, right? Whether it be:
   Subscribe to your newsletter, Buy your product, Fill out a lead form, Always keep it in mind. Put yourself in the mind of the searcher.
8. Use the keyword research tools provided. Most pay-per-clicks will show you related phrases that are searched for. You can also do searches with Word Tracker which will give you even more keyword possibilities.
9. Use negative keywords where possible. Google AdWords allows you to specify which word should NOT be included in your campaign. For example, if you are bidding on: Crystal bracelet, Crystal and pearl pin, Flower pins
10. And you sell them at retail. You may want to use the negative keywords of “free” and “wholesale” for example. That way, your ad wouldn’t show up when people are looking for “free crystal bracelet” or “wholesale flower pins”.
11. Use phrase match and exact match, where possible. Google AdWords allows you to ensure that your ads appear only when you want them to. You can specify if you only want your ad to appear when the exact phrase is entered without any extra words (exact match) or the exact phrase with extra words allowed (phrase match).

Source: http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/seo/pay-per-click-tips.html

]]> http://www.raygreyling.com/2008/10/08/ppc-what-is-it/feed/ 1 http://www.raygreyling.com/2008/08/26/dont-waste-your-money-on-a-website/ http://www.raygreyling.com/2008/08/26/dont-waste-your-money-on-a-website/#comments Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:31:04 +0000 Ray http://www.im4sme.com/?p=37 As a business person would you spend your whole budget developing marketing materials and then hide that material and not show it to anyone?

Unfortunately that’s what the majority of business owners do when it comes to the Internet. They spend a great deal of money developing a website but pay no attention to marketing it and getting it in front of their target audience. Unlike “The Field of Dreams” if you build it (a website) they won’t come!

If your idea is to put up a website, and then make no effort to ensure your target audience can find you, you’re wasting your money. The website becomes an expense rather than an asset.

Internet Marketing strategies like SEO, PPC, Email Marketing , Social Networking etc. can all be used to successfully market your business.

When the Internet started maybe 10 years ago it was O.K. to just have a website (unfortunately many people still think that). In today’s market having a website is only the first step. Once you have a website the challenge really begins, you need to start driving traffic to your website and then ensure that you can convert those visitors into customers.

Remember: You can have the best looking website on the Internet, but if your Target Audience can’t find you they’ll find your competition!

It’s a safe bet that if these consumers don’t find you online they’ll find your competition!

So how do you get found online? Can smaller companies compete with the big boys? How does a small business approach Internet Marketing?

These are some of the topics we’ll be covering over the next few month and we’ll focus on how SME’s (Small to Medium sized Enterprises) can leverage the power of the internet to grow their businesses.