Critical Care 4 Marketing » Online Business Success http://cc4marketing.com Free Marketing Academy Newsletter and Marketing Information Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:18:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Marketing – How To Add Character To Your Marketing And Bring Your Message Alive http://cc4marketing.com/marketing-how-to-add-character-to-your-marketing-and-bring-your-message-alive http://cc4marketing.com/marketing-how-to-add-character-to-your-marketing-and-bring-your-message-alive#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:41:37 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/marketing-how-to-add-character-to-your-marketing-and-bring-your-message-alive Making a character out of the advertiser brings the message alive. Maxwell Sackheim is most famous for inventing the Book-of-the-Month Club. But before that, he invented some dramatic, and dramatically successful, advertising.

One of his patented techniques was to make a character out of the advertiser, writing ads as if the clients themselves were actually talking. One Sackheim client was Frank E. Davis, “The Gloucester Fisherman”.  This is how Sackheim wrote for him:
“There is no use trying. I’ve tried and tried to tell people about my fish, but I wasn’t rigged out to be an ad writer and I can’t do it. I can close-haul a sail with the best of them. I know how to pick out the best fish of the catch… But I’ll never learn the knack of writing an ad that will tell people why my kind of fish—fresh caught, with the deep sea tang still in it—is lots better than the ordinary store kind.

This copy sold tens of thousands of tubs of fish right across the country. The authentic character of the Gloucester Fisherman brought life, and customers, to the product.

Here’s a snippet of Sumner’s copy: “Out here on the ranch we don’t pretend to know much about advertising, and maybe we’re foolish spending the price of a tractor for this space; but my brother and I got an idea the other night, and we believe you folks who read Fortune are the kind of folks who’d like to know about it. So here’s our story…”

One variation on the character gambit is the open letter. Norman Cousins resigned from The Saturday Review to launch his own World Review Magazine. Showing one heck of a lot of character, he put up $15,711 for three insertions in The New York Times. They were headed, “An Open Letter to the Readers of The New York Times.” He told them what was wrong with the journalism of the day and what they’d get from the World Review. That first round of advertising netted Cousins $54,923.00 in subscriptions.

Every viable enterprise has a character behind it somewhere. When you find it, then you know what’s unique about the company—and that’s at least halfway to great advertising!

Social Networking: Mywolfbook.com - Meet Friends - Meet People - Find a Friend.

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/marketing-how-to-add-character-to-your-marketing-and-bring-your-message-alive/feed 0 Website Content: What Creates Success? http://cc4marketing.com/website-design-content http://cc4marketing.com/website-design-content#comments Fri, 16 Jul 2010 06:01:30 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=32 Website Content: What Creates Success?

Website Content – It’s All About The Why?
By Jerry Bader (c) 2008

Every week I get asked to look at business websites and tell the owners why they’re not getting the results they want. Some of these sites are straightforward brochures, others are e-commerce catalogs, and some are those direct-mail-style pitches reminiscent of old mail-order magazine subscription schemes ported-over to the Web. Some have incorporated do-it-yourself audio and video and some even had this media professionally produced; still the results stink. Why?

‘The Close’ Is Always Found In ‘The Why’

Certainly part of the problem stems from a very narrow definition of what a website is: by casting your site in terms of a brochure, catalog, e-commerce-site, blog, or portal, you are falling into the trap of concentrating on ‘The What’ rather than on ‘The Why’.

This focus on ‘The What’ is exacerbated by some search engine optimization techniques intended to drive traffic, not to brand product, sell services, or convert traffic into customers. Don’t get me wrong, traffic is important, but converting that traffic into paying customers is more important. Even the best and brightest search engine optimizers will tell you that their job is to deliver traffic not orders – closing the deal is your job, and anybody who tells you that closing can be done by means of some automatic never-touched-by-human-hands method is just plain nuts.

What you want to be careful of is search engine tactics and second rate media that actually gets in the way of effectively delivering your marketing message, of telling your business story, of creating a memorable brand image, and above all of generating profitable business clients.

Web-Video is a Presentation Marketing Strategy

If you pay any attention to what’s going on, you must be aware of the shift in Web-thinking and the acceptance of Web-video as a fundamental Web-marketing tool.

But like most things, there is a right way and a whole bunch of wrong ways to do it.

Web-video is a presentation marketing strategy thats strength and power comes from its ability to overcome the Web’s natural sterile, isolationist environment, by incorporating verbal and non-verbal human elements that effectively deliver bold, well-crafted memorable messages. Can a Web-video campaign cure everything that’s wrong with your company, or even your sales departments deficiencies? Of course not, but the right message based on ‘The Why’ using appropriate cost effective presentation techniques can position your business, brand your product, and generate sales leads.

Don’t fool yourself: you and your sales staff have to close the sale. Do not expect to sit back and count your profits while your website runs your business by default. Automatic pilot may work for sites that sell commodity items and nationally branded merchandise backed by millions of dollars of advertising, but unless you fall into that category, it’s time to get real.

A New Web Paradigm

Here’s a new way of looking at your website and if you ‘get it’ you will be able to refashion your site and reinvent your business in a way that gets you remembered and initiates action by your target market:

Start thinking of your website as a stage and all the content on it as players you direct in order to deliver your message and tell your story in a memorable manner to a relevant audience.

So let’s breakdown this Web-presentation model and analyze how it meets your marketing needs.

Your Website Is a Stage

Businesses who want to use their websites as a marketing vehicle have to get past thinking of them in terms of merely digital print media.

Just as damaging is the over-reliance on search optimization or IT technical solutions that have little or no relationship to marketing’s primary goal of delivering a memorable message that initiates action on the part of the audience.

Knowing the age, sex and hat size of the last ten thousand visitors to your site may impress some, but reams of statistical information on your visitors doesn’t necessarily mean you know what that data means or how to use it effectively.

In the same vein, tons of traffic generated by the latest SEO manipulation doesn’t necessarily translate into business.

Start thinking of your website as a stage, a presentation and performance platform that allows your company to present your message to your audience in an entertaining, informative, and memorable manner.

Tell Your Story In A Memorable Manner

There are many ways to present what you do and why your audience should care, but the most effective way is to deliver that information in a story format. When people come to your website they are putting you on trial, judging everything thing you present to see if it is relevant, convincing, and if it resonates with their needs.

The article, “Evidence Evaluation in complex decision making,” in the ‘Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,’ by Pennington and Hastie explains when prosecutors tell their version of events to a jury in story-format they are able to achieve a 78% conviction rate, whereas lawyers who do not use a story-format to communicate to juries only get a 31% guilty rate. When visitors come to your website they are putting you on trial for your Web-business life.

Memorable Communication is All About the Performance

Effective communication begins with the campaign concept.  If you don’t have a well-defined, focused concept that deals with ‘the why anybody should care factor’, your communication will be muddy and irrelevant. Far too many marketing campaigns try to do too much, and in an effort to get your money’s worth say everything and anything that comes to mind. Unfortunately, all you’re really doing is confusing people and your core message never gets heard, let alone understood or remembered.

You need professional presenters who know how to use both verbal and non-verbal performance to get your message across, and of course you’ve got to give the presenters a script that is well written, entertaining, and informative.

Professional actors and voice-over talent bring infinite subtlety, nuance, and meaning to cleverly written scripts. Add sound effects, custom signature music and a few post-production enhancements and you have a memorable presentation.

What you don’t need is complicated sets, props, and locations that increase the cost of production. The Web is not television, and there is no need to absorb inflated expenses based on ad agency cost-plus-pricing fees that bare little relation to effectiveness.

Expensive movie-style productions are just not necessary and lose their impact when delivered in relatively small Web-friendly formats that need to be easily integrated with additional collateral material used to present more details and to answer frequently asked questions.

Last But Not Least

We can learn a lot from children, not the least of which is their relentless quest for the answer to ‘The Why’ of things. We often forget that this is the central issue in our lives, and it is only after we’ve been told by parents, teachers, bosses and numerous other authority figures to shut-up and do what we’re told, that we sublimate this need and replace it with the far less meaningful and convincing ‘What.’

But if we as marketers can put our faith in delivering ‘The Why’ using the most people-friendly techniques of verbal and non-verbal digital communication, then we will have learned how to present a convincing memorable Web-marketing presentation.

About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com/ads, www.136words.com and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/website-design-content/feed 0 Defining Your Target Market http://cc4marketing.com/defining-your-target-market http://cc4marketing.com/defining-your-target-market#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2007 06:03:18 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=25 Define Your Target Market in 5 Easy Steps

This report is designed for entrepreneurs, small business owners, independent contractors and anyone who needs to build relationships and develop leads or referrals in order to promote and increase their business.

The information in this report is given based on the assumption that YOU know your product and service inside and out and you have already defined your business goals and have somewhat of a business plan in order.

The next step would be to narrowly and clearly define your target market, your ideal prospect.

Some people believe that their products or services would be perfect for everyone. For example, Mary Kay Cosmetics – no offense to my MK friends or other people in the health industry who say ‘anyone with skin’ needs a facial or ‘anyone who has stress need a massage. Then there are people in the home improvement industry who say, ‘anyone with a house’ needs my landscaping, my windows, my furniture or my loan, etc.

For most small businesses however (1-5 employees or even more), I don’t believe this is the most effective way to try to generate new leads and customers. If you determine the right target market to fit your business, you figure out the best ways to reach them AND if you figure out the best message to reach them with you will be spending your marketing dollars wisely. Business owners who don’t plan ahead to figure out who their target market is before they open their doors end up spending a whole lot more money trying to figure it out by trial and error and that’s expensive.

Would you shell out $200 for a pair of shoes without trying them on? Plunge into a steaming bath without dipping a toe in first? Of course not-but people do the business equivalent every day. Many an entrepreneur has found out too late that nobody wants to buy hand-quilted Christmas stockings at $24.99 a pop, or that wealthy customers won’t schlep to the unfashionable part of town for luxury stationery.

The irony: Conventional market research is expensive (corporations regularly budget tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for it), but no one needs it more than a startup entrepreneur. A couple of marketing blunders won’t put a giant manufacturer out of business, but just one can sink an entrepreneur like a bolt of lightning.

Defining Your Target Market

Your “target customers” are those who are most likely to buy from you. Resist the temptation to be too general in the hopes of getting a larger slice of the market. Try to describe them with as much detail as you can, based on your knowledge of your product or service and how it will benefit them.

Step 1: Ask yourself some questions to get started

1. Are your target customers male or female?
Figure 75-80% of your target customers would be which? If it’s split, narrow it down another way but more than likely you can narrow down the gender.

2. How old are they?
Give an age range of 10-20 years max, otherwise you might have two target markets. Remember, the marketing messages towards different age groups will be quite different most likely depending on your product or service.

3. Where do they live?
Is geography a limiting factor for any reason? Can you narrow it down to specific zip codes or counties? The larger the geographical area you choose, the more people you will find but the less likely you’ll be able to afford to market to all of them so narrow it down and expand out later.

4. What do they do for a living?
You can get a mailing list by industry or profession and specific title for example.

5. What does their specific profession say about their lifestyle?
Is it very busy with little time to shop? Would they be likely to be familiar with the internet for their shopping, researching, news and event information? Would they be commuting more in their car?

6. How much money do they make?
This is most significant if you’re selling relatively expensive or luxury items. Most people can afford a latte. You can’t say the same of custom murals. Narrow this down to a specific range also and high enough that you will weed some people out or again, you’ll have way too many people to afford to market to.

7. Are there kids in the household?
What ages might they be? How many would there likely be? What does this say about their lifestyle – are they carpooling, or soccer parents where they are rarely home? Do they possibly eat out a lot or have less ‘family’ bonding time? Or are they empty nesters where they might spend more time at home watching television or reading?

Step 2: Get specific

What other aspects of their lives matter? Here are some examples to think about, see how your target market compares or how you can get more specific with them.

* If you’re launching a roof-tiling service, your target customers probably own their homes. In addition, they probably own homes with older roofs like shake roofs; you can get a list of homes by their age.

* If you’re a realtor, you might be interested in targeting first time homebuyers in which case you might find them to be likely to live in apartments or rentals of which you can get a list of those too.

* If you’re selling your own individual artwork but you can’t create multiple paintings with the same picture, you may have to sell the unique pieces at local art shows rather than selling them online.

* If you’re planning to open a custom-tailoring shop and need busy executives to come for three fittings, you may need to limit it to your local area.

* If you’re a direct jewelry consultant needing women to gather for parties in someone’s home, you’ll want to go where many women meet like mom’s groups, women’s professional organizations, day cares or grocery stores.

* If you’re a business or life coach and want to coach only over the phone then you’ll most likely want to do more online marketing and make sure to have a really top notch website since that’s mostly what people are going to see for their first impression. You can network locally too but the more ‘known’ you are in person, the more people will want to do business with you in person. Step 3: Keep your mind open to any information

Keep a list of primary research questions handy, such as:

* Who influences your customers and how? Spouses, neighbors, peer groups, professional colleagues, children and the media can all affect buying decisions. Look for hints that one or more of these are a factor for you.

* Why do they buy? Distinguish between the features and the benefits your product or service offers. Features describe what it is; benefits are what your customers get out of it. The latter is why your customers pay you. Are they looking for a status symbol, a savings in time or energy, a personal treat or something else?

* Why should customers choose you and not your competition? What can you offer that the competition doesn’t?

* How do your customers prefer to buy? Many businesses benefit from the broader market provided by the Internet and mail order, while others do better with a physical presence. Don’t assume you fall into one category or the other; customers may surprise you.

Step 4: Identify Your Ideal or Favorite Client

Think about your favorite client – who are they, name them, write down everything you know about them, their family status, age, sex, marital status, where they live, where they work, possible income level, their shopping characteristics.

* Do they like to use coupons or shop on certain days? ? Do they call you at the last minute to get something from you?

* Do they value your service/product? ? Is that type of client the most profitable type you have or the most non-profitable and you just like them?

Step 5: Determine their profitability to your business

Which type of clients will make you the most money, bring you joy and refer you tons of business? These are the types of clients you ultimately want, now where are they?

Ask Yourself:

* Who is the most profitable type of client? The one who will make you the most amount of money the fastest and with the least effort – do you like working with them? If not, you won’t be totally happy with only this type of person, maybe you need a combination of the two.

* How often will they be able to buy or consume your product or service? If they can only possibly purchase your services every 10-20 years (getting a new roof for example), do you never market to them again after the sale or do you heavily market to them after the sale by every means possible for at least 1 year to get all the referrals you could possibly get out of them in that time?

* How likely are they to know others like them they can refer to you? Normally, very likely, in which case following up with them before, during and after the sale is huge – and if you don’t ask for referrals in each stage of the sale continuously then shame on you.

* What is really important to them when it comes to your product or service? Not what you think they should know or like, but actually what they care about, like, ask for, thrive on, are passionate about, etc. These are your target market’s “Hot Buttons” and these are what you should be addressing in your headlines, letters and marketing efforts at all times because these are why the client would choose to buy.

Defining your business’ target market is absolutely critical to any small business. Everything you do in your marketing, advertising, design, publicity and networking will depend on who your target market is and what matters to them. Making decisions on your marketing and advertising without fully defining your target market or knowing them in depth could be detrimental to your business and you could be making some costly mistakes!


About the Author: Katrina Sawa, Relationship Marketing Expert, helps entrepreneurs and independent consultants build their database of clients and prospects, determine the best ways to market their business to their target market, teach them how to network, develop follow up systems, marketing and advertising plans and find ways to get free or low cost publicity which all lead to more customers and increased sales! Visit her at http://www.ksawamarketing.com/.

 

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/defining-your-target-market/feed 0 How Can del.icio.us Help Your Business? http://cc4marketing.com/how-can-delicious-help-your-business http://cc4marketing.com/how-can-delicious-help-your-business#comments Sat, 26 May 2007 15:35:00 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=24 Top 10 Ways to Use del.icio.us

del.icio.us

Del.icio.us is an excellent system for archiving your favorite information from across the Net, tracking hot topics, and discovering new and useful sites. The power of del.icio.us comes in the form of it’s “collective intelligence”, which is constantly adding, reviewing, and filtering new information.

The community of del.icio.us allows you to find some of the best resources on the Internet without having to trudge through all of the junk.

It also gives you a centralized management system for organizing information from around the Net. However, many people are unaware of it’s complete list of features and valuable add-ons.

Here are 10 ways that you can use del.icio.us to its full potential.

1. Del.icio.us Firefox Extension
Del.icio.us Firefox Extension should be the number-one del.icio.us tool on your list. It allows you to quickly and easily add sites you like to del.icio.us with a bookmarklet. This tool puts a “My del.icio.us” button at the top of your browser, allowing you to view your save pages at the click of a button.

It also adds a “Tag this” button to the top of your browser, which allows you to bookmark websites while you’re browsing the Web.

If you use Internet Explorer, download this Internet Explorer Extension.

This Firefox Extension has saved me tons of keyboard time.

2. Desktop Shortcut for Delicious

Having to visit the del.icio.us website each time you want to access your bookmarks can be a time-consuming process. Why not plug your bookmarks into your desktop for easy access. You can do this with Delwin for Windows and Delibar for the Mac.

3. Increase Your Search Powers.
There are a variety of ways to search del.icio.us.

To view bookmarks tagged with a specific keyword, type in:
http://del.icio.us/tag/keyword

To view bookmarks tagged with two or more keywords, type in:
http://del.icio.us/tag/keyword+keyword

So for example, if I wanted to look for sites about organization and GTD, I would type in:
http://del.icio.us/tag/organization+GTD

If I wanted to narrow the search even further, I could include four terms:
http://del.icio.us/tag/organization+GTD+office+tools

If you are looking for the most popular sites in any category, than simply type in:
http://del.icio.us/rss/popular/TAGNAME

So if you are trying to find the most popular sites related to GTD, you would type in:
http://del.icio.us/rss/popular/GTD

4. Bookmark from Google Reader
If you’re a fan of Google Reader, then you’ll definitely want to start using Google Reader + del.icio.us. This is a Greasemonkey script that puts an “add to del.icio.us” button at the bottom of each post in Google Reader. With a single click, you will be able to transfer interesting posts from Google Reader into your del.icio.us bookmark collection.

5. Bundle Your Tags
Does your tag cloud look like a huge, disorganized mess. Bundle those tags into related categories for easy access. To organize your tags into bundles, click on the “Settings” link in the top right-hand corner.

From this page, click on “bundle tags” under the tags heading and start creating your own bundles.

Of course, if you’re not into the whole bundling idea, then you can always just use the search box in the upper right hand corner of del.icio.us.

If you want to limit your search to specific tags, then use the prefix “tag:”. An example for all you productivity junkies might be “tag:gtd”.

6. Newsmasher

Here’s a cool Greasemonkey script called Newsmasher that places a small “del.icio.us” tag on the upper left corner of your browser. When clicked, a small window appears displaying what del.icio.us users are writing about the page you are viewing.

This is a great way to get some quick feedback on any website you’re visiting. Quickly find out if people are giving it a virtual “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”.

7. Use the Inbox

Navigate to http://del.icio.us/inbox. Here you can subscribe to various tags or specific users. This is an excellent way to discover new sites that you may enjoy. It almost reminds me a bit of StumbleUpon. Based on the preferences you submit, you will be given a flow of new items to check out.

8. A variety of del.icio.us Uses
You can use del.icio.us in a number of exciting and interesting ways. Here are a few examples to get you started:

  • Bookmark movies you want to see

  • Travel planning

  • Bookmark books you want to read

  • Bookmark things you want to blog about

  • Research

9. Publish Your del.icio.us Bookmarks on Your Website.

In addition to all that, you can also share your latest del.icio.us bookmarks on your websites for all of your readers to enjoy. You can do this using Linkrolls and Tagrolls.

Linkrolls display your latest del.icio.us bookmarks while tagrolls display all of your del.icio.us tags in a tag cloud.

You can see these unique features in action at this blog . His bookmarks are on the left and his tags are on the right.

10. Creative Tagging
My final tip is based on a bit of creative tagging. For my most important tags, I place an “@” in front of them. This moves them up to the very top of my tag list. So, for example, for books that I want to read in the future, I have a tag labeled @books. This simple trick allows me to place my most important tags at the very top of the tag list.

If you know of any other del.icio.us tips, please add them in the comments.

Kim Roach is a productivity junkie who blogs regularly at The Optimized Life.  Read her articles on 50 EssentialGTD Resources, How to Have a 46 Hour Day, Do You Need a Braindump, What They Don’t Teach You in School, and Free Yourself From the Inbox.

 

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/how-can-delicious-help-your-business/feed 0 Five Steps to Web Success Part 3 http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-3 http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-3#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:10:08 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=15 Five Steps to Web Success
By Drew Barton

As noted above, when you add fresh content to your site, search engines reward you with updated links. Too, your customers learn that you refresh your site – through a blog or otherwise – and therefore may check back with your site for the most up-to-date information.

Prominent Domain

Be sure to add your Website address (domain or URL) to everything you e-mail, fax and mail, as well as including it on any handouts and in all advertising. That sounds simple enough, but, I bet when you conduct a domain inventory of sorts, you’ll find there are a lot more places you need to be touting your URL. By continually exposing existing clients to your domain name, you can generate even more. Too, you are creating even more opportunities for potential clients to learn about and visit you online.

Some great places to add your domain:

• Fax cover sheets
• Envelopes, stationery and business cards
• E-mail “signatures”
• Window signs
• Binders, reports and proposals
• Promotional items from pens to cups, umbrellas and more
• Business cards

E-mail newsletters can be a huge driver of revenue for your business. With periodic e-mail newsletters you can push visitors to your Website, reinforce your brand and generate sales.

These newsletters need not be lengthy or extravagant. In fact, simple and to-the-point are best. The idea is to just regularly “touch” people, reminding them you are there and ready to serve them.

Even if you are not ready to send an e-mail newsletter, plan for it. Allow visitors to your site to join your e-mail newsletter list. It is important as a business owner that you capitalize on every visitor that swings by your Website; think about how and when you are going to communicate with them in the future.

A Final Word

By asking for the sale, ensuring folks can find you, updating content frequently, promoting your domain and maintaining client contact through periodic newsletters, you’ll find that you can dramatically raise both the quantity – and, especially, quality – of the visitors to your Website.

Most importantly, remember that your Website is never a finished work. It should not be static; it is intended to be dynamic – always evolving to better suit your needs and those of your clients. To that end, be sure to ask for comments from customers, friends and the Internet-savvy people you know.

Technorati Tags: , , ,

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-3/feed 0 Five Steps to Web Success Part 2 http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-2 http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-2#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2007 21:41:53 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=14 By Drew Barton
Southern Web Group

If you are not doing so already, you’ll want to make sure you’re included in the top search engines and directories. Millions of dollars each year are spent to make sure sites are properly indexed and promoted in the many search engines. However, you don’t need to spend anything to appear in the top search engines.

Many search engines will find you anew if fresh content appears on your site; they reward you for this through updated links.

In addition to the search engines, you’ll want to see that your product is part of a larger marketplace. You’ve probably heard of some of these channel marketplaces, like eBay, CraigsList, and Froogle.

If you sell a service, make sure you are listed in service directories and online guides that help people find services. Many of these directories are free.

By increasing the number of sites that link to yours, you can dramatically increase the number of visitors – and hopefully, the number of sales, too.

Publish or Perish

Content is king in the search engine game. Be sure to have great, relevant copy on the pages of your Website. Search engines will reward you greatly.

If you’re wondering why you’re not prominently featured in the search engines for your term(s) of choice, review your Website for that keyword. Your site should be replete with the keywords that are important to your business.

To help facilitate your generation of copy (text), you’ll want to consider adding a blog to your site to add more content to your site frequently. A blog, or Weblog, allows you to add more content to easily add content; you may even want to blog daily. You can use the blog as a business diary of sorts, or provide news and updates about your business or about related items that may interest your clients and potential clients. 

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success-part-2/feed 0 Five Steps to Web Success http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success#comments Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:35:02 +0000 admin http://cc4marketing.com/?p=13 Part 1

By Drew Barton

I hear it all the time: “How can I get more traffic to my Website?” In just five quick steps, I’ll give you easy – and free – ways to bring visitors to your Website, keep them there and bring them back for more.

For many Websites, it’s not the quantity of visitors that’s crucial, but the quality of visitors. Some sites receive hundreds of visitors each day but fail to make a single sale. So, why with all the traffic, there’s no one biting the hook?

A very common failure with most Websites is that they simply don’t ask for the sale. In most sales classes, they teach you not to exit a phone call, client visit or presentation without asking the prospect for the sale. It makes sense, then, that on your Website the text on every page should ask for the sale in clear, declarative language. Check every page of your site to see if it contains at least one ask, such as “Call us now for a free consultation.”

The “ask” or “call to action” is possibly one of the most overlooked components of your Website. The call to action will reinforce to the user to call, e-mail, fax or otherwise inquire with you or buy your product. Without a clear call to action statement – repeated across the site in varying ways – many Website visitors will fail to do what your Website wants them to do.

Here are some common ways to prompt the Website visitor to act:

. “Click here for more information.”
. “For a free consultation, call this number now.”
. “If you’d like to speak more about this product, complete this brief form.”

If a Tree Falls in the Forest.

The World Wide Web, by its very design, is intended to link one site to another. If your site isn’t linked from search engines, directories and other relevant sites, you’re missing out on the Web’s great purpose – and on sales.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

]]> http://cc4marketing.com/five-steps-to-web-success/feed 0