Online Marketing

Before you review your site optimization report next time, think for a moment about how your tactics are perceived by your audience. Do viewers find answers to their search queries on your page or are they the victim of some clever SEO trick that got them to click? If your bounce rates are high, not only are you wasting time and money, but you’re likely annoying the heck out of a lot of people.

In a recent article in PC Magazine, John Dvorak claimed that the process of search engine optimization (SEO)  “ruins the search experience for users” because “every hit is some commercial site trying to sell you something”. Well guess what John, you just found the secret to the internet…it’s not really free!

While judging from the comments on the site, I don’t think too many other people agreed with him either, but I will concede that over commercialization of any medium, without offering value in return is annoying and frustrating to the viewer.  SEO is a prime example.

Viewers are looking for  specific answers to their query. They deserve to get that answer without being lured to a site that offers some irrelevant sales pitch.

Google seems to do the best job of keeping their focus on the user’s experience. They penalize advertisers for high bounce rates by charging them more for paid search keywords. Google became one of the worlds biggest corporations by giving away the best FREE service. When that service  no longer includes the best user experience—which is returning the most relevant and accurate search results—that’s when Google stops making so much money.

The fact is, I don’t know of anyone that wants to see their favorite free online content restricted to subscription only access. You know there’s no such thing as a free lunch—that goes for online content too. If the content has any real value somebody has to pay to make that information, entertainment, image, video, review or whatever available. And that somebody is either going to be viewer paying for a subscription or the marketer that runs an ad next to it.

The user experience is not limited to what a marketer has on their landing page. It’s the overall connection between their ad or organic meta description, the landing page it connects to, and how they offer and deliver whatever it is they are promoting.

If consumers want to continue to access valuable content — be it network TV shows, online magazines, games or search engine results for free, then marketing including SEO, PPC, display advertising, etc. is a must.

And if marketers want prospects to be receptive to their message, then focusing on the entire user experience is essential.

What do you think?

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While a sale is always the ultimate conversion, generating a lead is the next best thing. By creating an “intermediate conversion” measurable opportunities are created that didn’t exist before.

An “intermediate conversion” is simply offering an opportunity for a prospect to request more info, discounts, membership into a community, survey info, opting-in to a list or in some other method to indicate interest.

Offers must provide real value to the customer and have little or no barrier to entry — which includes the amount of information that prospects must provide in order to receive whatever it is they are requesting. 

It’s a simple step that many forget about or choose to ignore in the rush to closing a deal. Marketers can not only generate more leads, but can also learn a great deal about their prospects and what their interests are. It provides the opportunity to open a conversation with their prospects and find out what’s really on their minds. Understanding why a prospect chooses NOT to become a customer can often be more valuable to a marketer than why they do.

Additionally, allowing prospects to self-select into specific segments and areas of interest they are indicating which topics might interest them for follow up contacts. In short, it provides another opportunity for the marketer to get to know their prospects better, begin a relationship and can potentially fill a pipeline with new prospects that might otherwise have been lost.

Interim conversions are a basic, measurable, knowledge gathering, customer-centric marketing practice that’s a win-win for everyone — but it’s a sometimes overlooked solution. 

Let us know what you think.

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By Rena Bernstein

In a recent article at SmallBizTrends.com, Lisa Barone asked if it was “appropriate to hire outside people to be social for you”. I thought it was a terrific question, but there were several major issues that weren’t addressed so I thought I would discuss them here.

I personally feel that if you’re a small business owner that either doesn’t have time to engage in social media or who, is not familiar enough with the medium, then the best solution is to bring in a consultant that can get you started, help you form a strategy and organize a program as well as execute and or train others in you organization to manage your social media efforts.

Too many small business owners think that starting a Twitter account and having someone tweet the company web site a few times a day, is social marketing. Guess what? It’s neither Social or Marketing!

Very often full time employees either do not have the time or interest to get involved. For many, even if the interest is there, after a short while the novelty wears off and your social presence becomes abandoned — a fate worse than never have begun the process at all.

Honesty is still paramount in SMM if you want to gain trust, however there is no reason at all that you can’t hire someone to represent you authentically. Remember though, there are a few strings attached….

1) The person should be a pro. A professional inbound marketing consultant knows the ropes, will get the businesses complete background before beginning, will understand your market as well as the medium and can represent your company in the best and most authentic possible way.

2) A reputable social media consultant will be honest in terms of their name and will present themselves as a representative of the firm just like any other employee should, and not some made up alias. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a certified inbound marketing consultant so I admit that I am biased.

3) They should be completely familiar with your business, customers, products and any issues before going online. Anything they do should dovetail with all of your other marketing and branding efforts as well.

The biggest mistake that any small business can make is to hand over their social marketing responsibilities to an employee with little available time and no experience or knowledge in the medium. Worse yet, is to give the responsibility to some intern or low level assistant with too much time, insufficient knowledge of the audience, business or medium, and little long term vested interest in the outcome.

At very least, I suggest to clients that they bring in a consultant at least to get them started, organize the program and make sure that everyone involved within the firm is onboard and marching to the same drummer. They can also work with a few designated employees to train them in the appropriate and most effective SMM techniques.

Those are my thoughts. Now tell me what you think.

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