The Nine Elements of Effective Web Marketing
Introduction
When it comes to web marketing, it's all about 'conversion' - how many of your website visitors you can convert into a lead or a sale. We submit that companies lacking a well-conceived and well-implemented website conversion strategy are failing to leverage the most important marketing medium of the twenty-first century.
The Nine Elements:
- Identification of website goals
- Clearly defined target audience
- Compelling message
- Website structure and information flow
- Calls to action
- Lead capture mechanism
- Supporting graphic design
- Website promotion
- Testing, measurement, and refinement
1. Website Goals
Identifying goals for website conversion is critical for two reasons; First, goals help you to determine what should or shouldn't be included on your website. Goals should be used as criteria for determining website content, simplifying the design process, and removing the 'political element' that plagues many companies.
Secondly, having specific goals allows you to measure the effectiveness of your website after it's completed and live. This is key because if you can't measure website conversion, then improving it becomes much more problematic. You'll find that measurement and improvement are the keys to getting the ROI you're looking for. The bottom line on goal setting is that if you never identify the target, then you can't expect to hit it.
2. Target Audience
A foundation of effective website conversion is the 'who'. Determining your target audience, their needs, wants, level of knowledge, goals, etc is critical to creating a website that will be effective at either lead generation or e-commerce. Often the process of defining a target audience is the process of elimination. Figuring out who is not your target audience can help substantially in what can otherwise be a difficult task.
Defining a target audience is essential to creating look and feel (graphic design), level of detail (of information), calls to action (what you want them to do next), and site promotion that will effectively communicate on a level that will compel action.
3. Core Message
Flowing directly from who you want to target, is the question of what you want to say to them. Your core message delivers your value proposition in a clear and compelling way that helps lead to conversion. Your core message is not a mission statement, nor an executive summary of your strategic plan, it is essentially a list of the reasons that people do business with you - written from their perspective.
Typically, companies have an idea of their core message, but all too often it is written from their own perspective. It may be filled with so much jargon and technical terms that it is not understood by the target audience. Once it has been developed and refined, your core message document forms the foundation of your specific marketing messages, including that of your website.
4. Website Structure
Many websites are little more than on-line brochures. Visitors are free to click between this page and that, reading a little here and a little there, and little thought is given to conversion. The result is that a site visitor develops very little emotional attachment, and the back-button is increasingly enticing.
Another way to look at a website is more like a sales presentation. It has a beginning, middle, and an end. Sales people intuitively understand that their message must be delivered in the right sequence - A, B, C, then D, which leads to E. A website that is carefully structured can accomplish this same effect, building understanding and buy-in, step-by-step. At the end of that 'presentation' the visitor takes the next step willingly.
5. Calls to Action
Asking a site visitor to take the next step is the call to action. This is the 'contact us', 'join our mailing list', or 'sign up today' option, which informs the site visitor of the correct next step. Most people are grateful to be guided through the process of evaluating a product or service, so if you tell them that the next step is to sign up for a 30 day trial, many of them will convert.
In this age of marketing saturation, a call to action of "call or email us for more information" will generate very little response. Luckily there are a number of more imaginative calls to action that will create a higher percentage of qualified leads.
6. Lead Capture
Actually capturing contact (and qualification) information from leads is relatively easy with today's technology. Some simple web scripts and an effective off the shelf or web-based business database are all that are needed to track conversions. Many companies set up automated responses to track conversions, saving time and energy, and ensuring that their sales people spend personal time with only the most qualified leads.
7. Supporting Graphic Design
Unfortunately, many companies spend 90% of their web budget on graphic design, and only 10% on ?the other stuff?. Graphic design serves two purposes: 1) to establish credibility, and 2) to entice visitors to read your text. Credibility is established when a company uses effective graphic design and 'looks big'. Poor graphic design leads visitors to believe that your company is small. Once credibility is established, visitors will spend some time evaluating your specific message.
We know this is true from our own experience as buyers and consumers. When was the last time you purchased a product because the pictures on the packaging looked good? Maybe in the grocery store, but that's it! Typically, good design compels us to spend more time considering the real message of a product and service. That's why we believe that graphic design SUPPORTS (not replaces) a well-defined and well implemented web marketing strategy.
8. Site Promotion
Once your website has been optimized to maximize conversion rates using the strategies listed above, site promotion activities should be used to drive increased traffic onto your site. Site promotion ranges from listing your website on your business cards, through detailed Search Engine Optimization strategies to increase your ranking on sites like Google.
The area of site promotion can be a minefield to those new to web marketing. Perhaps the three most cost effective strategies to investigate are:
- Pay-per-click advertising
- eNewsletter Sponsorships
- Publishing an eNewsletter
Each of these strategies are relatively inexpensive, and place your prospect just one-click away from your website.
9. Testing, Measurement, and Refinement
One of the basic tenets of marketing is measurement - a never-ending cycle of testing and improvement. However, many web marketers are guilty of failing to test, and have suffered the consequence in the form of low conversion rates and lost revenue. We suggest that each element of your website is tested and refined. Typically, this includes refining both site promotion elements, as well as the website itself.
One testing method that has been used by direct-mailers for decades is split-testing. By creating multiple versions of individual web pages and tracking visitor behavior, you can test the impact of specific page elements. For example, four pages which are identical with the exception of the headline, allows you to identify which headline will provide the best click-through rate. Performed throughout a site, conversion rates can be increased drastically.
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