Just getting found on search engines is often why clients come calling us. I have had several meetings this month with prospective clients that (after our discussions) have gained a very clear understanding of internet marketing and the full impact it can have on a company. Businesses mostly call us to gain better rankings or increase spending limits on the pay per click or email marketing campaign. The real secret to improving your return on investment, however, is improving the conversion rates of your website. By employing a simple 3 step strategy (along with some incredible online intelligence) it is more than easy to improve your online sales generation and/or leads simply by having a well constructed internet marketing plan in place.
Our own strategy works like this:
1) Planning & Analysis – This is almost always the most overlooked portion of an internet marketing plan. Why build a website if you don’t have an indication on who your real visitors are in the first place? Using Google Analytics, it does not have to be a guessing game. Every idea, and every decision can be substantiated by numerical evidence. An effective website conversion audit can ensure the success of your website plan before it even gets constructed. This of it like building your dream home. Before getting it built you first need to have a dream and then a capable architect to put that dream to plan.
2) Creative Development - Once you have the architecture and behavioural analysis of your visitor type, importance then lies on the creative developer of your web site to interpret what they are reading on paper. A creative brief can be filled out a million different ways; an effective brief, however, answers one core question – why is a visitor coming to my website? Next, what elements can we place on the homepage and ‘above the fold’ to satisfy the visitors needs and decrease bounce rate? Even the strongest web designer needs a set of documentation that allows them to be as effective as he/she can be at designing websites.
3) Effective Web Promotion – Since your site is now built properly from the ground up, (using statistical analysis and an effective plan) it is now far easier to release a successful internet marketing campaign. To have an effective marketing campaign, (whether you are launching an organic optimization, pay per click, email marketing or facebook advertising campaign) you need to ensure the company that is constructing this has a strong process built on accountabilities and ethics.
When exploring this area of your online marketing program the most important question you can ask is this; “How will you prove to me after month one, two and/or three that the dollars I spend are spent well?” After all, a company that is responsible for your advertising online is just as capable to show you the return on investment if they have a proven methodology. In the end, there are thousands of internet marketing companies that are working to retain your business.
There are also thousands of companies that build their own campaigns in house. The most important thing when determining what your plan is going to be to bring in the traffic, is to decide who the visitor is you are trying to attract and what functions your demographic perform online to attract their attention. A strong campaign is not simply about turning the ‘search engine marketing’ faucet on; it is about understanding your complete goals and building a plan around them.
