This blog post was originally featured on BayBusinessHelp.com
All small business owners are told these days that they must get online with a?snazzy website. And they must understand how to use social media to promote?their business.?But is that all there is to it? Hardly.
In?Part 1 of this series,?I explained that there are actually 7 pillars?to a successful online marketing presence.?Pillars 1 and 2 are Website and SEO?respectively. Let?s now move to pillars 3 and 4.
PILLAR THREE: LEAD CAPTURE
All right, you have a decent looking website and you?ve even optimized it properly?so it?s not invisible to the search engines.?What do you do next? You need to seek?permission from those who come to your website looking to solve a problem.
Studies have shown that?it can take 7 touches to convert a prospect in to a?customer. Think of your own experience when it comes to buying things.
Unless?you?re dead set on a purchase you rarely buy a product or service the very first?time you encounter it, do you?
When people?first hit your website they?re most likely just poking around looking?for information. Once they?ve surveyed your site they?re going to move on. In?most cases never to return.
This is why it?s so important for you to have a decent?method of capturing their information.
This isn?t an RSS feed by the way. RSS does provide an effective way for people?to stay in touch with changes to your site, but it doesn?t get you their contact?information. Thus, it?s going to be hard to market to RSS subscribers in a direct?fashion.
What you need is email marketing.
DOING LEAD CAPTURE RIGHT
With email marketing you?ll?set up a simple form on your site to get basic?information from your visitors.
The less you ask for the more likely you are to get it. I just ask for first name and email address.?Now you are going to want to make this very visible. I have looked at plenty of websites where the email sign-up form is buried.
Sometimes it?s not even on the home page! Big mistake.
I recommend you put it on the home page above the fold, which means?clearly?visible on the screen without scrolling. To make this effort even more effective,?offer some type of bonus to visitors.
If you?join my list via my website,?you?ll be sent 5 emails one week apart with my top?tips for success with social media, sales, strategic planning, marketing and public?speaking.
I get this done by using an auto-responder series through Constant?Contact, the email marketing service I use.
I present this bonus offer to people by way of a 30-second animated video. That?makes it a little more attractive in my opinion.?What I plan to do next to further?increase sign-ups is to use a pop-up service called?Pippity.
Yes, pop-ups do annoy some people, but?they work when done tastefully.?For?example, after a person?s been on your site for at least 30 seconds, which believe?it or not is a long time.
Once you have permission to market to someone you can then start sending them?periodic emails to reach that magic number of contacts when they decide to do?business with you.
PILLAR FOUR: EMAIL MARKETING
It?s natural that now that we have a list built of people who want information?from us that we?d actually use it. Seems obvious but there are many who don?t.?Want to know a secret?
Go to the website of any social media guru you can think?of and I?ll bet they ask you for your name and email address?
Why do you think this is? I?ll tell you. It?s because email marketing still works to?make sales. Social media is a great tool but it doesn?t sell as well as email.?When?you?re reading an email you?re engrossed in that content for that moment in?time. This makes you an ideal prospect.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR EMAIL MARKETING MORE EFFECTIVE
They key to making email effective is to honor the deal you made with the person?who joined your list.?If you told them you?d email coupons, then by golly do that.?If you promised helpful articles, then they?d better solve problems by reading?your newsletter.
Lastly, if you told them you?d email them once a week, then?don?t fail to do so.
Email marketing works when you give the value recipients expect when they?expect it.?Stray from this formula and you?ll see unsatisfying results.
Consider?blending in?multimedia?in to your newsletters, too. I like to?embed videos?in my?newsletters. If I created?podcasts, I?d embed them as well.?Adding documents?can?also make your newsletters more interesting. I add?PDF worksheets?from time to?time to give people a helpful resource.
By the way, the time to start gathering information from your site visitors is?now.?Not tomorrow, not next month, but now.?Now you?re up to speed on pillars 1 ?4.
QUESTIONS
Next time we?ll wrap it up. For now please ask whatever questions you have?about the pillars we?ve covered.
Michael Neuendorff is a versatile business coach, trainer and speaker. He helps professionals and small business owners grow personally and professionally through a combination of new knowledge, more purposeful action, and a fresh mindset. Michael specializes in the areas of sales, online marketing, public speaking, and strategic planning. Michael holds an Advertising degree from Arizona State University.
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