Adding Ad-Words
Given the dire predictions for traditional businesses, now is the time to revamp your website and implement internet marketing campaigns to reach new customers online.
There is even more good news for businesses that focus on internet growth. Concurrent with the upward trend in online sales, pay-per-click advertising programs offered by companies such as Google and Yahoo are one of the quickest and least expensive methods for advertising. For as little as $50, you can put together a Google Adwords campaign to reach your new customers online. In addition, banner ads, although more costly, are still an excellent way to provide visually compelling messages to reach your market.
Also, don’t overlook ways to acquire new customers online that are free. Make sure that prospects can find your website quickly and easily when they type in either your company name or related keywords as a query in search engines such as Google or Yahoo. Although there are many factors that contribute to a high search engine ranking, one of the first ways to ensure that your site will be visible to prospects when they do a search is to have a search engine-friendly site.
Structure your website so that it adheres to a logical format that includes a site map. This site map, with full path names for pages, can be submitted to search engines such as Google so different levels and types of content can be indexed and retrieved based on specific queries. Links to and from other websites are another excellent way to improve your visibility on the internet. Keep in mind that if your website is new, it normally takes a lot of time for your website to gain favorable status and move up in the organic search rankings — especially if it is a highly competitive space. Consider running one or more online advertising campaigns if your organic search ranking is subpar to boost your visibility.
As you expand your web presence, keep these five steps to success in mind:
– Website home page equals success or failure: Recent usability studies show that you have approximately four seconds to entice someone who arrives at your home page to go deeper into the website. Make sure your home page “speaks” to your prospect about their needs and addresses the reason(s) that he or she is looking at your website in the first place.
– Know your target market: Ignoring this simple rule is the reason most website redesigns and online campaigns fail. Start with the demographics of your target market and apply this information to everything — your overall website design, your content, your advertising copy, the sites you choose for advertising, the type of online advertising (video, static image, text), etc.
– Use calls to action: Help your prospects through the decision making process on your website to reach the desired result. Don’t overwhelm them with too much information. Provide “calls to action” at the appropriate times. Anticipate “anxiety points” such shopping cart checkout or email sign up and respond accordingly. For example, display your privacy policy prominently near email sign-up.
– Measure your results: With the proliferation of internet marketing tools, there is no excuse for not knowing whether your online efforts are reaching fruition. Google offers a free product called Google Analytics that you can set up to track your advertising campaigns and website traffic. As part of the program, you can create goals and funnels to monitor prospects progress in the sales cycle and ultimately, the number of conversions. For more sophisticated metrics, packages such as Web Trends and Omniture are available.
– Learn and revise: The beauty of the internet is that you get immediate and measurable feedback. Use that feedback to refine your advertising campaigns and website design on an ongoing basis. As you get more comfortable with the data, you will be able to make even better use of your advertising dollars along with streamlining the decision making process on your website to maximize the number of prospects that turn into customers.
Article by KATHERINE KITZMILLER - article found on bizjounral.com
