Archive for March, 2007
Do You Know What Your Conversion Rate Is?
The value of conversion rates is grossly under-estimated in the online industry. The majority of webmasters know how to increase conversion rates. Here are some tips to increase your conversion rate and get more buying customers:
1. Use a 1-800 number.
An 1-800 number significantly raises your reputation because it shows that you are making an effort [...]
The value of conversion rates is grossly under-estimated in the online industry. The majority of webmasters know how to increase conversion rates. Here are some tips to increase your conversion rate and get more buying customers:
1. Use a 1-800 number.
An 1-800 number significantly raises your reputation because it shows that you are making an effort to provide excellent customer service. Statistics say that sales increase by 20-30% if you have an 800 number.
2. Is Your Buying Process Easy?
This alone can increase your conversion rates immensely. A poorly designed website means low conversion rates. Many visitors leave the buying process because they get confused. Make it SIMPLE and EASY to understand. Have 10 people you know go through the buying process on your website. Are they able to navigate and buy easily?
3. Include Detailed Specifications of Products
Include EVERY single detail about the product(s)/service(s) you provide. Again, have 10 people go to your website and ask whether they understand the product(s) or service(s) that you are providing.
4. Add Human touch to your site
Make sure visitors know that there are real people behind your products/services. Add human pictures, list your address, explain something about your company in the “About Us” section. BUILD TRUST WITH YOUR CLIENTS.
5. Testimonials
TESTIMONIALS ARE HUGE! Make sure you have at least a few testimonials of satisfied customers. This shows that you have a proven product.
6. Sales letter
Sales letters are a huge topic in itself. In short, explain to your customers how they can benefit from using your service. Here’s a great example: When you see a pharmaceutical commerical, they will run down a list of 50 problems that the medication can solve. “Do you have headaches, do you have cramps, do you have an upset stomach etc etc.” Make a list of all the problems that your service/product can solve and put this in a sales letter.
Stay tuned for Part 2.
Customer Service Is Crucial To Your Business
First impressions make an immense difference. All you need to do is MAKE A SIMPLE PHONE CALL.
Customer service is a big deal in today’s market place. First impressions can cause a customer to leave or stay. From my experience, customers are very shocked to hear from me. They don’t think an Internet company would actually [...]
First impressions make an immense difference. All you need to do is MAKE A SIMPLE PHONE CALL.
Customer service is a big deal in today’s market place. First impressions can cause a customer to leave or stay. From my experience, customers are very shocked to hear from me. They don’t think an Internet company would actually call them to help or say hello. I would suggest making a simple phone call to new clients to let them know you are available and ready to help. It generates extreme value for your service and helps generate a rapport with your clients so the relationship is not always electronic.
Starting the process with a simple phone call will allow for more opportunities for future business and help push your company over your competition. New customers will feel more comfortable dealing with you and if you do it right, they will refer you to their friends and co-workers.
Improve Your Link Campaign - Create Related Link Phrases
The most important part of a SEO’s job is to create link phrases that describe the focus of your website. Submitting to search engines is a waste of time because search engines locate your site by following inbound links. Concentrate on building your inbound links with strong phrases that relate to your sites’ content and [...]
The most important part of a SEO’s job is to create link phrases that describe the focus of your website. Submitting to search engines is a waste of time because search engines locate your site by following inbound links. Concentrate on building your inbound links with strong phrases that relate to your sites’ content and offering. When building a relationship with a link partner, keep in mind that you’re offering content their users could use. Think about the whole picture when developing your link campaign. Linking relationships should be built based on the content of your site.
For example, if your website is in the pet food genre, have your link partners link with the following anchor text:
dog food
cat food
hamster food
bird treats
etc
Your link partners would link to your main page or a specific page on your website and having the above keywords visible on their webpage.
By developing good content, you are creating value for your link and increasing your chances of search engines spidering your site. Related linking and content is the key to having a successful website.
Google Webmaster Central
This posting is about Google Wembaster Central. Every serious webmaster SHOULD BE signed up with Webmaster Central. Google Webmaster Central shows you the following information:
1. When Googlebot last crawled your pages
2. If your pages are in the Google index or not.
3. All web crawl errors. For example:
- HTTP Errors
- URL’s not [...]
This posting is about Google Wembaster Central. Every serious webmaster SHOULD BE signed up with Webmaster Central. Google Webmaster Central shows you the following information:
1. When Googlebot last crawled your pages
2. If your pages are in the Google index or not.
3. All web crawl errors. For example:
- HTTP Errors
- URL’s not found
- URL’s not followed
- Whats restricted by robots.txt
- etc
4. Crawl Rate
- This measures how many pages are crawled per day
- Number of KB downloaded a day
- You can select how fast you would like Googlebot to crawl your site
5. Query Stats
This is HUGE. Query stats state what terms people are linking to you with. For example, if an external site is linking to you with keywords “Online shopping,” it will state what keyword they are linking to you with. It also states the top search queries that people type into Google to find your site.
6. Links
Shows you how many links are on the web to specific pages of your site.
As you can see, Google Webmaster Central gives you tremendous value, all for free. If you’re in the sandbox, you can try to figure out why you’re in the sandbox, when you were put there, and possibly find out the reasons.
Purchasing Links…Good or Bad?
Will purchasing links hurt your reputation? Will it drive down your rankings? Is it considered black-hat marketing?
In reality, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH PURCHASHING LINKS AS LONG AS THEY ARE RELATED TO YOUR SITES CONTENT.
If you’ve purchased a link on a site, and getting traffic from it, whats the harm??? If you’re purchasing links for [...]
Will purchasing links hurt your reputation? Will it drive down your rankings? Is it considered black-hat marketing?
In reality, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH PURCHASHING LINKS AS LONG AS THEY ARE RELATED TO YOUR SITES CONTENT.
If you’ve purchased a link on a site, and getting traffic from it, whats the harm??? If you’re purchasing links for the sole reason of raising your rankings, your rankings may be negatively affected. For example, let’s say you own a car site, but you’re advertising on a vacuum site with a PR of 7. A search engine can look at that and realize that you’re advertising on a site with unrelated content. Common sense would tell you that your rankings will be negatively affected. This shows an attempt to “hack” the engines. This is just a theory of course. On the other hand, we’ve seen sites that show a SHORT TERM ranking increase, but the keyword is SHORT TERM.
It’s a good idea to set a budget of say $100 / month (depending on your budget size) and purchase links from various websites. You can track (through your stats software) which referrers are sending converting customers. If you notice that a referrer is sending bouncing customers, discountinue your advertising from that site and move it somewhere else. It should typically take 3-7 days to find out if a link will convert. The budget is totally up to you.
Google Webmaster Central - Backlinks Increased
Its been reported that Google Webmaster Central is showing an increase in backlinks. Most webmasters have seen a significant increase in backlinks for some reason, not quite sure why. Google might correct this but it is positively affecting webmasters right now.
Its been reported that Google Webmaster Central is showing an increase in backlinks. Most webmasters have seen a significant increase in backlinks for some reason, not quite sure why. Google might correct this but it is positively affecting webmasters right now.
