Your website can be a powerful sales tool, but only if you know how to convert your site visitors into paying customers. That’s where conversion optimization techniques come into play - all the steps and “tricks” you can use to motivate casual visitors to become diehard fans of your service or product. While established major brands can rely on word-of-mouth and a long-term market presence to drive a considerable amount of business, SMBs - new or established - need to know how to use CRO techniques to tap into a broader market and to keep sales strong. Here are some of the top techniques that can help you improve your site’s conversion rates:
CRO is not a one-time deal; it’s an ongoing process that demands continual attention and routine action. The “up” side: All that time you spend on your site can yield some major dividends, helping you grow your brand - bottom line. Every SMB owner knows the value of having a great website when it comes to attracting business – not just from online customers, but from local customers as well. Your business website serves as your calling card, demonstrating your authority, reflecting your brand and also building your reputation. But as important as a great website is for growing your business, when it comes to marketing on the internet, your site is just the tip of the iceberg. To really grow your client base (and your bottom line), you need to develop and implement a robust inbound marketing strategy. What is inbound marketing? You may not know what the term inbound marketing means, but you're almost certainly familiar with it. Simply put, inbound marketing includes the collateral you use to draw clients into your site – blogs, social media posts, newsletters, ebooks, podcasts and videos – in short, any type of online marketing content you offer to your customers. Of course, creating content is just one part of the inbound marketing process. You also need to know which type of content will resonate with your customers, where to offer your content, and how often to offer it, among other considerations. You'll need to decide whether offering a broad array of content types is the best approach or if focusing on a couple types – say, a blog and social media posts – is a better strategy. Ideally, you'll develop a detailed profile of your customer base – and prospects - to help you answer all those questions. Building Trust One of the benefits of inbound marketing is its ability to help you build trust with your customers so they feel confident in your product and in your company – and, hopefully, become vocal supporters of your brand. Building that sort of trust takes time, and that means you need to commit to your strategy for the long term in order to reap the rewards. If it sounds like an involved process, well, that's because it is. In fact, many businesses find building a really responsive inbound marketing plan takes a lot of time – sometimes, too much time. If developing and implementing a responsive inbound marketing strategy sounds like it's too much for your business to handle, never fear: hiring an experienced marketing company is a great way to enjoy all the benefits of inbound marketing without taking time away from your business or your customers. To learn more about inbound marketing, or to get started, contact our marketing partner, Clarity Marketing, at 860-658-4361, or visit their website at claritymarketingct.com Few things strike fear into a business owner’s heart quite like navigating Google’s various services. Anyone who has seen the analytics dashboard knows that Google isn’t always for beginners. That said, the services they offer, both free and paid, are priceless for online marketing. One such tool is Google AdWords. What exactly is Google AdWords? The biggest draw to Google AdWords is its ability to adhere to your budget. For small businesses with limited marketing funds, this is essential. Beyond that, Google Adwords works on multiple levels. You’ll start by choosing ad formats and features and deciding where your ads will appear on Google. Next you'll select the right keywords, bid on keywords through a keyword auction, measure your ad's performance, and, only pay for results. Keywords are the primary focus of AdWords. When someone searches a keyword, it triggers your ad to be shown. There are some other intricacies, like the keyword auction, which Google uses a formula for to determine what you’ll pay. It looks something like this: The Ad Rank of the Person Below you /Your Quality Score + $0.01 = Your Price However, the most basic explanation for Google AdWords is this: come up with keywords that get your ads noticed and clicked on while targeting the right audience. Here are the steps you’ll take to get going:
Google AdWords is Good for Business So why is AdWords so good for your business? Number one, its flexible and measurable. As a company, you can see what’s working and what’s not. Plus, you won’t have to pay for things that don’t work at all. AdWords also allows extensions. You can add images, links and contact information. Partner sites gives you wider exposure, and you can learn about and narrow your audience with a slick tool; gather information like time of day you're getting clicks, locations, browsers and devices used. Other key benefits are that Google AdWords often works faster than SEO. It also has proven to be more engaging. Most importantly, as stated before, it lets you set a maximum cost per day for your advertising campaign. Google’s tools may seem daunting, but you can’t reap the rewards if you don’t try. Businesses benefit from using every tool at their disposal, and Google Adwords is a pretty handy one. Are you confused by the term “inbound marketing?” Don’t be. According to Hubspot, Inbound Marketing is “about creating and sharing content with the world. By creating content specifically designed to appeal to your dream customers, inbound attracts qualified prospects to your business and keeps them coming back for more”. Inbound, then, is getting your audience’s attention – and then keeping it, with digital as a primary method. 1. Attract Your Customers Specifically, according to Hubspot, attracting the “right” audiences is the key. Trolling brings in a bit of everything. Spearfishing aims at what you want. So think “spearfishing” and not “trolling”. Blogs, SEO tactics, and even your webpages are important components. Don’t overlook them. 2. Gather Their Data Hubspot calls this “Converting”. We say it’s “collecting”. Regardless, those visitors are leads that you want to be able to get back in touch with. Hubspot says that best practices include: simple forms, definitive “calls to action” (download something, do something!), using specific landing pages, and using a CRM for storing of data and easy retrieval. 3. Close Does your business have a sales funnel – of any kind? Have you sketched out the steps in a prospect’s journey to become your customer? A good CRM system, marketing automation, even email, can be used. Know what stage your prospects are in the funnel, and provide meaningful, relevant content that will persuade them to become a customer. 4. Delight Keeping your customers is critical! Hubspot says using methods like surveys, social monitoring tools, and others helps to ensure that you keep your customers delighted – and potentially make them interested in more of your products and services. Want to learn more? Contact our marketing partner, Clarity Marketing, at 860-658-4361, or visit their website: www.claritymarketingct.com |
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