Internet Marketing Strategy

Your Website is Probably Failing this Test

By Christian

Testimonials. Testimonials. Testimonials!

Your website doesn’t have enough of them. I promise.

If you’re a small business owner, it’s crucial to understand there are two different types of content. Analytical content and emotional content. Do you know the difference?

Both are crucial. I’ll talk more about this over the next few posts if you like. Just shoot me an email if it’s a topic that interests you, and I’ll use your questions to develop the articles on this subject. For now, please understand that VERY FEW people are going to take action to help you, contact you or buy from you just because you have cool content on your blog. If someone is going to do BUSINESS with you, they need to feel comfortable with you, and they need to feel compelled to take action.

These two factors cannot be skipped. If you skip them, your website will not get the results you want. Period.

And no amount of education or information is going to make this happen. Know this:

People don’t take action because they’ve learned everything they need to learn.
People don’t take action because the time is right.
People don’t take action because they’re “in the market”.

So why do people take action? What causes us to make buying decisions? We make buying decisions emotionally. We say we don’t. And we’ll flat out deny it if you ask us directly. But we do. It’s just how it works. We make buying decisions emotionally, and then we back those decisions up with logic and data. We justify our emotional decisions with logic. Every buying decision is a logic sandwich. Yummy (high carb btw) logic on the top and bottom…but the meat of the decision is emotion.

The test most small business websites fail

The most crucial test for any small business website is to be emotionally compelling. And interestingly…this is usually the last thing any of us thinks about when it comes to putting content on our site. We want to load our website up with all the most helpful information possible. And that’s important. But it’s not the whole story. If you want your site to generate leads and business for you consistently (the ongoing topic of this blog), it needs to be emotionally compelling…not just informative.

The topic of engaging your readers emotionally is a huge topic, and it’s one I’m happy to answer any questions about. Just hit me up with any of your concerns via email, or let’s chat on Twitter. I’m shooting to cover this a lot more in depth in future articles. But for now, let me share a secret weapon with you. One of the most dangerous tactics of all…liberal, strategic and aggressive dispersement of testimonials on your website.

Testimonials are your most powerful opportunity to share what OTHER people are saying about you. Clients, customers, readers. It’s not you talking about yourself for once. Your readers WANT to feel compelled to work with you, and testimonials are a great way to encourage it. Testimonials get read. They get noticed. They make a difference.

After working on hundreds of client websites over the last several years, I can report definitively that very few small business websites out there are fully utilizing this crucial type of content. If I were to point to a single type of content that was more emotionally compelling than any other, it would be a stack of high quality client or customer testimonials. Yet on most websites I see, testimonials are hard to find. In many cases they’re not there at all. Big mistake.

Does Your Website Pass The 10 Point Checklist?

By Christian

Nothing is more frustrating than wasted time. Blowing time away on stuff that doesn’t work. Stuff that produces no result for your business. Nothing grinds my gears worse. How about you?

I’ve never met a small business owner who didn’t value efficiency. You want better results in less time, no? Let’s work on that.

As you know, your website is a crucial part of your marketing strategy. Having a website that doesn’t produce a meaningful result in your business isn’t really something most of us are cool with. Your website should produce results, just like any other part of your marketing strategy, correct?

If we’re on the same page about that, then this article is pretty crucial for you to read. There are so many thousands of web developers and website providers out there, and you likely have questions. For example:

How the heck can I know who is worth working with?
How do I know if my website has what it takes to produce results?
What do I need to do to get my website set up properly?
How do I market my website after it’s set up, so it continues to produce results for me?

Today I’m sharing 10 critical factors for website success with you. After building these sites for years and working with clients all over the world, I have noticed a few essential elements that you really want to make sure you address. Please don’t stop here. This article isn’t the end all and be all of how to be effective online. It’s the bare minimum. This is like your tool belt. You need to have the right tools for the job. After you have the right tools, you still need to put those tools to work for you. But at least you can rest assured knowing you have everything you need to truly produce an impressive result.

As you know, starting off with the wrong tools can only lead to frustration down the road. Let’s get you started off on the right foot! Here we go:

Use your own domain name – A custom domain name is inexpensive and simply a fundamental part of a professional web presence. If your current website is located on a domain name that you do not have control over, then the truth is…you don’t have your own website. This is step one. Get your own domain name at Name Cheap and get your site developed on that domain name.
Use your own server – After you have a domain name, go set up an account at Bluehost. This is where your website will live, so it’s accessible on the internet. Bluehost is a great web host for small business websites. If you’re a larger business and expect several thousands of visitors a day, then you’ll need a more robust web host that can handle that type of traffic. If you’re in this category, set up an account at MediaTemple.
Use a professional, flexible design – Rule number one when it comes to web design…you should be able to change it yourself quickly and easily. If you have to go through your web developer every time you want to change something, you’re going to get frustrated fast. This is one of the many reasons I recommend Bluehost. After you log in, you can easily install WordPress with a few clicks of your mouse. It’s fast. It’s simple. It’s totally free. And it’s one of the most feature-rich and flexible ways to build a powerful website out there. After it’s installed, WordPress can be made to look and work however you like. Just like anything, there’s a learning curve. But everything worthwhile does. And even if you don’t want to learn how to set it up, just shoot me an email. I’m happy to hook you up with a custom WordPress setup. You’ll be up and running within just a few days. Pretty easy 😉
Update regularly – After you’re up and running, update your site regularly. Let both the search engines and your customers and clients know that your site is active and current. No one visits a website over and over again if it’s never updated. Blogging and social media can all be synced up with your site very easily, so keeping your website updated doesn’t have to be time consuming or complicated. If you’re not sure what to publish to your site to keep it updated, here’s a list of 20 ideas to get you started 🙂
Don’t try to do everything – One thing I see small business owners do so often is trying to add every single widget and feature available to their site. Instead, do something different. Only add the essentials. Be different. The internet is cluttered with websites already that are trying to be everything to everyone. Don’t clutter up your site with so many tools and resources that no one knows where to even start. Let it be simple, clean and easy to navigate. It’s easier for you this way, and your visitors will appreciate not being overloaded.
Leverage media – Don’t shy away from media. Pictures, video, blog posts. Content like this keeps people on your website longer. If you want your website to produce leads consistently for you, then you need your visitors to stay on your website long enough to get to that point. Keeping visitors on your website for a minimum of 2-3 minutes is crucial. After this point, conversions go up considerably. What keeps visitors on your website? Content. So have lots of it 🙂
Implement both analytical and emotional content – Many small business sites focus on analytical content. It’s good stuff. Facts and figures. Data. Market stats. Market updates. Industry news. Product and service descriptions. All that stuff. It’s important. It’s great for search engines. It educates your readers. It’s also fairly dry, and it doesn’t compel action. If you want to educate, inform and help solve problems, then analytical content is crucial. If you want readers to take action, then you need to use emotional content. You need to have calls to action (described in the next section of this list), and you need to have pictures, video and testimonials. These can take many forms, and there’s no fixed formula. But pics, vids and testimonials (this also includes user-generated content like blog comments, etc) engage people on an emotional level. People don’t make decisions because of data. They make decisions emotionally. They don’t admit it, but that’s how it works. If you want your site to generate business, you need to understand this. If you want your website to get leads and sales regularly, you need to engage people emotionally. Use emotional content liberally.
Calls to action – If you want business, you need to ask for it. Sorry. I know you don’t want to be a sleazy salesperson, so I’ve got some awesome news for you. You don’t have to be! If someone reads a post of yours and loves it, what’s the next step? The next step isn’t always to buy something, but let’s face it…sometimes it is. Selling your stuff isn’t sleazy. Being sleazy is sleazy. So…don’t be sleazy. But don’t neglect having calls to action. Go to the About page on this site. Is it sleazy? Is it high pressure? Most people don’t think so. I don’t think so. There are 12 calls to action on that page. Not 1 or 2. There are 12. Can you see them? This page generates new leads for me every day. I end up working with many of them. Many business owners hire me to help them get more business from their site. Very often, I find the entire site has only 1 or 2 calls to action. 1-2…on the entire site. I have 12 on one page. See the difference??
Optimize your About page – The about page is likely the most misunderstood and under-utilized page on your whole website. First off, many small business websites don’t even have one. So…make sure you have one. From here, let’s take note of what role the About page plays in lead generation. Very few people hit your About page right away. But after they’ve been on your site for a while, they inevitably go there. It’s typically the 5th or 6th or 7th page people visit. If you’ve done a good job providing cool content for them, they’ll be at the point where they’re considering subscribing. But they’re not gonna just do it automatically. They need something to put them over the edge. They’re also looking for any reason they can find to NOT subscribe to your site. So we’re on thin ice here. They’re on their way to your About page now. This is your shot. Don’t screw it up 🙂 How do you make an awesome About page? Make 75% of it about them. Who reads this site? What can you find here? Why is this the best website for this particular subject? How is this website different? Where is the best stuff on this website? Who are you and why are you qualified to have a site on this subject? See…there’s a question in there about you. And it’s important. And every other question is about them. Demonstrate to them that you know what they’re struggling with and that you can help them. Then have compelling calls to action. Do that…and your About page will no longer be a wimpy little bio about your company. It will be a page that generates business for you daily.
Have access to great support – The web is constantly changing. Does your website update it’s technology on a regular basis? Do you have access to quick and personal answers for any of your questions? If you want to change or update something on your website, do you have access to training that makes it easy for you to do anything that you want to do? Is your website supported by someone that knows how lead generation works and understands your personal goals? These concerns are a crucial part of the equation. I hear from readers at least a few times per week who bring stories about how they have a great-looking website, but it’s not producing the results they want, and they can’t seem to figure out what’s missing or what to do next. Whatever website you have, it should be built for the purpose of accomplishing the goals you have for it. And the process of achieving those goals shouldn’t be a mystery. You should have access to support that walks you through the whole process, so you can get the results you’re looking for.

How does your current website measure up? If you have any questions, it’s my pleasure to help. You can subscribe to get further info, or contact me. I’m excited to talk with you further!

Blogging for Lead Generation

By Christian

One of the questions I get most often is how to get more leads coming in from your blog posts. This is obviously a pretty huge subject, and it’s something we discuss in consulting sessions quite a bit, but I wanted to take a stab at it here and cover some basic points.

I have some notes to share with you as well as a video today. I also use the words “whilst” and “y’all”, just for fun. Hope you dig it! If you have any questions, please hit me up in the contact form. It’s my pleasure to help however I can 🙂

Here are a few principles to consider:

Consistency
Calls to action
Relevancy and Contribution
Fun (yay!)

Here is a brief outline of each:

Consistency

This is a situation where a lot of us drop the ball. I say “us”, because I’m included 100%. What I’ve found is that best results come from consistency. I work with small business owners. If you’re reading this, you’re most likely a Realtor, a chiropractor, an attorney or other small business owner or professional. As such, we don’t have unlimited time to write a blog. It needs to be efficient, and it needs to produce a result.

One thing that may stress you out is the time commitment of blogging. Don’t sweat it. It doesn’t have to be this huge project that takes all day. An hour or two per week is plenty to get results over time. Share some ideas once per week. Every Wednesday for example. No need to overthink it or turn it into a big project. If you do that, you’ll never do it.

Instead, do something that fits into your schedule. Do it consistently, and before long you’ll notice that people come to expect and look forward to your posts. This is a key element to getting results. Consistent publishing leads to consistent lead gen.

Calls to Action

When clients ask me to critique their site, they’re often looking to get more leads coming in. When I swing out to the site, I find that they’re not asking people to sign up for their email list. There are very few calls to action, and they’re not very compelling at that. This isn’t a very good combo.

If you want more inquiries or people signing up for your email list, you’re gonna have to ask. I’ve had a lot of clients express an expectation for visitors to hunt down their contact page out of appreciation for the awesome content and ideas they share on their blog. Some will. Most won’t.

Here is a video with some notes on how I place calls to action on my site (if you’re reading this in a feed reader, you may need to click here to see the video):

[jwplayer config=”YouTube” mediaid=”2707″]

Relevancy and Contribution

A couple of the frustrations I come across whilst talking with you are lack of leads and low quality leads. In other words, you’re not getting the response rate you want from your blog, and the leads you do get are not responsive or uninterested in what you do professionally. Relevancy and a focus on contribution really go a long way to help here.

By relevancy, I mean your content (both your calls to action and your blog posts) need to speak directly to the most pressing needs of your readers. A small business blog is a different animal than most others. You’re looking to produce a pretty specific result. This is marketing.

I see a LOT of small business blogs miss a lot of opportunities in this area. They spend a lot of time writing for search engines for example. Everything is really optimized and keyword rich. But the content isn’t solving any pressing problem. Your readers could care less how search optimized your site is. SEO is fine, but the one and only thing it will do is bring you visitors. You can have all the visitors in the world, but it means nothing if your blog doesn’t convert. This is why I write for people, not search engines. I know a lot of y’all disagree with me on this point, but I’d rather get less traffic and 40% conversion rates any day of the week, as opposed to a high number of visitors and very little engagement.

What’s funny is that when you write for people instead of search engines, people like your site better. They visit it often and tell their friends. Traffic is never the issue. Relevancy and contribution are what really matters. Follow these steps:

Identify your ideal prospect
Learn their biggest frustrations
Use your blog to solve their problems
Use your blog as a means of “giving back”. Share ideas and solutions with your readers. Give away too much. Give em stuff you could actually be charging for.

If you combine these steps with effective calls to action, it’s a pretty unbeatable combination!

Fun (once again…Yay!)

One of the biggest missed opportunities in the whole small business blogging world is lack of fun. Have some dang fun! Your blog doesn’t have to be perfect. Write short posts, long posts, video, pictures, podcasts…whatever the heck you want. Whatever is simple and fun for you. Yes, you may need to learn a thing or two, but simply pick up some tactics as you go and employ them. Obsessing over whether you’re doing it “right” or not (I come across this mentality all the time) is only going to keep you from taking action.

People know when it’s forced. People know when you’re doing something just because you think you’re supposed to be doing it, not because you really want to. And that’s not fun for anyone. Something funny…people think when you share ideas with them, but they ACT when they’re emotionally engaged. You can have the most badass, super-optimized rock star blog in the world, with half a million visitors every day, but if you’re not having fun and helping people solve their problems, it’s unlikely you’ll see impressive lead generation.

If you’re inclined to think you don’t really want to blog..that the truth is you really ARE doing it just because you think you’re supposed to, then that’s cool. There’s no rule you need to write a blog. It’s just a really effective and leveraged way to share ideas with people.

It really does work. This is my livelihood. It works. But just like any tool, you get out what you put in. Just because you have an office doesn’t mean people are gonna visit. Just because you have a phone doesn’t mean people are gonna call. These are simply the tools of our trade. A blog is a publishing tool. Your prospects are on the web, looking for content. This is your opportunity to get in front of them, be cool to them and get a conversation started.

If you are having fun with your blog, contributing relevant content that solves people’s problems and offering compelling calls to action as I outline in the video above, it’s nearly impossible for you to not start seeing high quality leads come in every day from your site.

It can take a minute to get the pieces put together. That’s true. It’s true that marketing and the internet has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Shoot me an email if you have questions. I’m happy to help!

That was a call to action. Get it? No seriously, send me an email! There’s a contact form right here 🙂

Why Content Isn’t King

By Christian

content-is-not-king — If content is not king, what is?

The success of your website isn’t entirely about “creating good content”. Let’s be clear. Content is a necessity. It needs to be:

Relevant (something your readers need or want to hear about)
Valuable (helps solve a pressing problem)
Unique (can’t find the exact same thing a million other places)

But let’s be honest. There are a lot of websites out there that possess the holy grail of “great content”. Yet they still have failed to reach their audience. They have failed to engage anyone on a high level. They have failed to generate a significant number of subscribers. They have failed to earn sufficient revenue.

When this happens, the next step is closing up shop. No one can write “great content” forever without any reciprocation. It’s time to move on and try something new.

If you have good content and ideas to share on your blog, but you’ve failed to get the results you’d like so far, there’s a reason for it. That reason might be your blog itself.

If Content isn’t King, What is?

Let’s get it straight. Content isn’t king. You are king. Content is simply your messenger. Content is just one element of your empire. And it’s an important one. Really important. But it doesn’t get the job done by itself. There’s another element I wanted to mention today, and that’s design.

There’s an idea that great ideas will find their own way. An idea with merit and value will surely be welcomed with open arms by it’s ideal audience. If you put out something of extraordinary value, surely people will buy in. Right?

In other words…if you build it, they will come. Isn’t that the way it works?

Well, you know the answer to that don’t you? But just to make sure I’ll let the cat out of the bag. The answer is no. They usually don’t come. People don’t usually see real value even if you try to beat them over the head with it. It’s not how people work.

We’re too busy. We’re too distracted. Our bullshit meter is on high alert 24/7, so even when we hear something great, it takes a real feat to truly get our attention.

What’s the solution?

The role of design

Just like content, design isn’t the end all and be all of marketing success. But just like content, it is an essential part of the equation.

Whether it makes sense or not, whether we’re liable to admit it or not, we respond to packaging. We judge books by their cover. We really, really do. We know instinctively that it may not be fair, but it’s an effective way to filter out some of the noise in our lives. If it doesn’t look awesome, it’s probably not.

Bottom line: value does NOT speak for itself. It’s in dire need of some awesome packaging. *Especially* if it’s a truly awesome product. All the more reason to spend the time and money to really package it well!

When it comes to your website or blog, your design is your packaging. Spend some time on it. Make it yours. Test colors and layouts and ideas. Your design is JUST as important as your content. This doesn’t mean it needs to be over the top. It doesn’t need to be gaudy or even expensive. It just needs to work.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, people respond to aesthetics. It’s just how it is. I’ve noticed a few things in my own business, and I apply these to client projects all the time:

The placement of an opt-in form can make a huge difference in how well it converts. Take an identical opt-in form and put it in a different place on the same page, and watch a completely different result take place.
Changing the color of a headline can change out well an entire page converts. Whether you’re going for clicks, subscribers or whatever, people respond differently to different colors.
Typography matters. Font types and especially font sizes can dramatically affect how long someone stays on your site.

These are just a few examples. Even on very simple-looking sites, a lot of thought and experience goes into an effective design.

I read an article on Copyblogger today and gives some great tips on web design, and I recommend checking that out as well.

Why PageRank is Not Important to Your SEO (and what you SHOULD focus on instead)

By Christian

Careful now...there are a lot of metrics out there to distract you. PageRank and other silliness can cost you hundreds of hours. Let's be careful about how we spend out time!!

Beautiful. I have to share an article I just read with you today, because search engine optimization (SEO) remains a high concern for many of you. How do I know? Because I talk with you by email 😉 I recently asked all my subscribers what they’d like to hear about, and SEO is a big one.

Let’s be clear…SEO is one of the most misunderstood topics out there. A lot of small business owners are spending way too much time on this, instead of running their actual business. So my goal today is to give you a bit of insight into what matters when it comes to SEO…and what really doesn’t matter at all 🙂

What do you REALLY want?

Here’s the thing: even though “improving SEO” and “getting more traffic” are some of the most common requests I get when it comes to optimizing someone’s website or blog, after a short conversation I almost ALWAYS find out that you don’t really care about SEO or driving traffic at all. What you really want is more leads, more sales, better conversions, etc.

But isn’t SEO an essential component to running an awesome, profitable small business website? Yes, it’s part of the equation, and there are a few simple things you can do to really drive home results when it comes to SEO. But it’s not nearly as complicated as many of us make it out to be! Good news, right?

Why PageRank doesn’t matter

I just read a great article on why pagerank doesn’t matter. This article, from the official Google Webmaster blog, really drives the point home. For years now, everyone has been focusing on PageRank. The idea is that the higher your PageRank, the higher your search rankings.

According to SEOQuake, this blog has a PageRank of 4, which I suppose is respectable for a blog which has only been up for about a year or so. But do you know when I found out I had a PR 4? Just now, when I decided to write an article on PageRank. I suppose this makes me a bad webmaster 😉

Why should we not worry about PageRank? Well, firstly because Google itself describes PageRank this way:

Why bother with a number that’s at best three steps removed from your actual goal, when you could instead directly measure what you want to achieve? Finding metrics that are directly related to your business goals allows you to spend your time furthering those goals.

This is exactly what Dangerous Tactics is about, folks! It’s about nailing down a strategy which produces a direct result for you. Your website can and absolutely SHOULD be a meaningful part of your marketing strategy. And as such, it should have a measurable and predictable impact on your bottom line.

But to make this happen, we need to stop focusing on numbers that don’t mean anything. We need to stop worrying about making Google happy and start focusing on making our customers happy. They’re the ones who pay the bills, not Google.

What DOES matter?

So if trying to improve your PageRank and working endlessly to improve your SEO isn’t the thing, what is? Conversion. Conversion is the key to getting the results you want from your website. I often ask new clients “If your website isn’t making any money, what effect will doubling or tripling your traffic have? Zero times two is zero. Zero times three…still zero.”

Bottom line, first and foremost you need a website that converts. And this is what we do here. You can:

Install Google Analytics – It’s free and easy to use. It shows you exactly where you’re traffic is coming from, what content on your site is performing the best, and it’s a great place to get ideas on how to improve. For example, the fact that my confirmation page is one of the top ten most visited pages on my website tells me that a high percentage of visitors are signing up to talk with me via email, which is exactly the focus of this website. Is YOUR website meeting it’s goals? This is the basis of conversion. Set a goal and track your progress. Google Analytics is a great entry level tool for doing this.
Use Aweber – I’ve recommended Aweber in the past, and it remains a tool I use to this day. There are a million ways to send email, so why use Aweber? Because they let you track things, follow up with clients, customers and prospects in a very personal and highly effective manner. They tell you exactly how well your email forms are converting, how well your emails are converting, and they make changing and optimizing things a piece of cake.

The Future

K, ready? The internet simply is NOT the same place it was 5 years ago. It’s just not. It’s not even the same place it was 2 years ago. This is a good thing. Gaming the search engines, getting massive loads of traffic and making sales to .05% of your subscriber base was how it worked. Not anymore.

Today it’s about conversion. Most web pages are doing well to get 1-2% conversions, while I focus on creating pages that get 20-40% conversions, minimum. As a small business owner you do not need a lot of traffic. You DO need a high conversion website. This is exactly how to make a great living from even a small amount of traffic.

Importantly, focusing on conversion isn’t “the next big thing”. It’s old school. I would argue conversion is a business fundamental, and it always has been. It’s just that when the internet was a little younger, you could fall out of bed and get a thousand visitors a day. Now you have to fight for that. You have to earn people’s attention, and that’s the way it should be.

As a small business owner, you don’t need to worry about PageRank at all. You can learn everything you need to know about SEO in a short amount of time. A single one-on-one consult with me will get you squared away in that department in fact. The point is SEO can be very simple if you let it be. Or you can slide down the rabbit hole, never to be seen or heard from again. If you have a business to run, I recommend the former. Focus on making sure your website is converting a high percentage of your visitors into leads and sales. This is a foundation you can count on.

If you have questions about putting any of the ideas in this article to work in your own business, fire me an email or subscribe. It would be a pleasure to talk with you 🙂