9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 7)

Is Your Website Smart and Sticky?

How does your website strategy measure up so far?  You have a website, you have a plan, your website has several sticky points, your content is concise and focused on your target market and your pictures tell a great story.  What more could you need?

Imagine this.  You get a phone number for your business.  You never put it on your business card, you never share it with anyone and you don’t publicize it.  How many calls would you get?  ZERO.  In fact, you are back on the “prayer program”.  “Oh please, please, let someone guess my phone number and give me a call.”

The same goes with your website.  What we are really talking about is “Marketing”.  And yes, this is our 4th and final ingredient for a successful website.  Many business owners think “If I build it, they will come”.  Unfortunately, the web is not Hollywood, we are not Kevin Costner and we are no longer in Kansas, Toto.  To get results from your website, we have to market the website so we can get visitors.

It is amazing to me how many business professionals don’t properly market their website.  In fact, many don’t market it at all.  In the next few months, I will give you some simple and basic marketing ideas that are FREE or basically free.

Here are some high level ideas to help you market your website.  Again, I will be sharing how to do each of these in the next few months.  (How is that for stickiness? SMILE)

1.  Make sure your email has your website domain name.  Meaning, if you have www.XYZCompany.com as your website.  Make sure your email is YourName@XYZCompany.com .

2.  Outlook is a great way to pull in your email.  Whatever email manager you are using, be sure to set up your email signature.  This should go out with every email.  This makes it easy for people to get a hold of you.  Here is a good format (with an example):

Your Name, Your Title (Sabrina Gibson, CEO)
Your Company Name (Smart and Sticky Marketing)
Your Company’s Tagline (“We build the last website you will ever need”)
2-3 Services You Offer (Smart & Sticky Websites – Membership Websites – Marketing Solutions)
Website #1 (www.SmartAndSticky.com)
Blog/Website #2 (www.SabrinaGibsonBlog.com)
Social Network Info (www.Twitter.com/SabrinaGibson)
Your Direct Phone Number (949-293-6821 Direct Line)
You can include your office address (I would only do this if you have clients frequently coming to your office)

3.  Update all of your social networks (e.g. LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com, Plaxo.com, etc.) with your website address.

4.  Put your website address on your business cards, invoices, checks, letterhead, envelopes, return address labels, all voicemails and all marketing materials.

5.  Register your website with Google Analytics so you can track the traffic and activity on your website.

Tip #9  Write a list of all the ways you think you could marketing your website.  Don’t get caught up with how you do it.  Just make the list.  Once the list is done do the things that are the easiest for you and fits your budget.  Make it a priority to include mentioning your website at every opportunity you can.  I simply say “If you get a chance, please feel free to visit my website at www.SmartAndSticky.com” (sometimes I will mention what page I think they would enjoy)

The more you give people your website and the more you make it part of your daily routine, the more traffic you will receive.  In addition, the more times someone hears your web address, the more familiar it will sound to them.

If you are embarrassed or ashamed of giving out your website, then it might be time to give it an overhaul.  Redoing a website or even just adding on to it creates numerous opportunities to share it with everyone you know.

What marketing techniques have you tried?  Which ones worked? Which ones bombed?

9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 6)

In the last post, we talked about having stickiness in your website.  This means you have some attractive offer that compels a visitor to want to give you their name and email address for the offer.  Before we talk about the 4th and final ingredient of a successful website, let's talk about other ways to make sure people want to stay at our website.

Did you know that you have approximately 7 seconds to capture a visitor's interest once they get to your website?  This means you have to IMMEDIATELY grab them.  How do you do this?

First, you want to make sure your website is tuned into the WIIFM.  Yes, What's In It For Me!  This means you are talking about what you can do for your target market and how you can help them.  If you are talking about how long you have been in business and how many awards you have won, no one cares.  Did you notice that I also said "what you can do for your TARGET MARKET" not any and everyone? 

Tip#7 Go back and review your content.  Can you easily tell who your target market is?  Make it easy to understand who you help and how you help them.  Be specific. 

Second, look at your pictures.  Do they tell a great story?  Pictures are literally worth a thousand words online.  I went to a site where I saw a bunch of dogs.  Figured the site could be about dog grooming, dog adoption, dog walking, etc.  If the website owner would have put a picture of a dog digging up a yard and the owner standing next to the dog with an awful face with a label, "before" and then put a picture of the owner holding up his hand (like a stop signal) and the dog sitting in front of the owner with a label, "after".  I could instantly see this was about dog training or dog obedience. 

Tip #8 Don't use pictures for the sake of using pictures.  Use them to tell a story.  Go through your website and see how you can integrate pictures that tell your target market a great story.

Third, every page should have a clear call to action.  Meaning, you are inviting your visitors to take the next step with you.  This might be "Call today for your no obligation review" or "Email us now to find out how you can qualify for a $300 evaluation for FREE"

Finally, less is more.  This means, find the least amount of words to say what you want to say.  A website is NOT a blog.  You should not be writing novels.  A good rule of thumb – content should not take more than a minute to read.  The idea of a website is to tease a visitor enough so that they want to say "Yes….tell me more" or "Yes…I can see how you might be able to help me, let's talk.

By taking a closer look at what you are saying and who you are saying it to, will help you create clarity with your website.  The more targeted the message, the more results you will get. 

The idea is to "keep 'em coming back again and again" so they eventually buy from you.  If you information overload them right from the beginning, you may lose them forever.  Any online marketing should be done in Sound Bites (Bytes).  Meaning, short and to the point.

In the next post we will talk about how to maximize all the tips so far and you will be given the last tip.  What challenges are you having with your website?  What challenges have you had with other websites?

9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 5)

You have a website. CHECK.  You created a plan, hopefully before you built the website.  CHECK CHECK. Now you want to make it really work for you.  Imagine this, what if you could get 5,000 visitors to your site.  Many companies can easily get that in a month.  For this example, let's say you get 5,000 visitors in a year.  You offer something for free on your home page in exchange for someone's name and email address.  Yes, you have a sticky website.  10% of all the visitors leave their information which gives you 500 people in a list.  Let's say you can convert 2% of the list, or 10 people, into paying clients.  (Don't get caught up in the HOW right now.)  If your average sale was $1000, then you would generate $10,000 per year in sales from your website.  

The benefits of having a sticky website are HUGE.  It is like casting a fishing net with yummy bait.  The fish, your target market, are drawn in and then captured.  Once you have a list, you can market to it for life.  As my friend Eric Lofholm, one of the nation's top sales trainers, says "You market to them until they buy or die".  Now don't take that literally.  It means you keep marketing to them until they become a client or choose not to be on your list.  

The question of the day is…"How can I make my website STICKY?"  Good Question.  Let's explore some ways you can create a sticky website.

Offer a Free Report
Examples:

• Top 7 Deadliest Mistakes Athletes Make
• 3 Ways To Drive Traffic to Your Website
• 5 Secrets to Building Your Dream Home
• How to Get Financing in a Down Market – Simple Tips
• How to Buy a Car for 10% Less Than Sticker Price
• How to Negotiate for Free Stuff

Offer a Free Audio Download
Examples:

• 5 Secrets to Buying a New Home
• Funny Examples on Being a Better Parent
• Five (2) Minute Interviews of Successful CEOs
• How to Make Money on the Hottest Trends on the Internet

Offer a Free Video Download
Examples:

• NEW! Great Corporate Team Building Exercises
• Easy to Learn _________ Instructions (Piano, Computer, Soccer)
• The Funniest Pickup Lines in ACTION!
• How to Talk to Anyone, Any where, Any Time!

Offer a Free Gift
Examples:

• Free Coffee Travel Mug
• Free T-Shirt
• Free Basket of Goodies
• Free Mother's Day Basket
• Free Travel Kit
• Free Book or A Free Chapter from a Book

Offer A Contest
Examples

• Register to win a Free IPOD or Palm.  One giveaway each month.
• Submit the Best Headline and Win $100.
• Submit the Winning _________ and Win ______.

There are so many ways to create stickiness in your website.  It is amazing how many websites are missing this key piece.

Tip #6 Create a freebie or a way to create stickiness in your website. Build stickiness into your website.

You can see the benefits of having stickiness and being able to increase your list and your revenue opportunity.  What are some incredible sticky offers you have seen?

Next post, we will talk about the 4th and final ingredient for a successful website.  Can you guess what it is?

What are you missing? Is this you?

This was published in the Washington Post.
A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it
was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of
people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three
minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He
slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his
schedule.

A minute later, the
violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and
without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later,
someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his
watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention
was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped
to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued
to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other
children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In
the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a
while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He
collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed
it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist
was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the
most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million
dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out
at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the
Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and
priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an
inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we
recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible
conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a
moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the
best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?  We get one chance with each moment, what are you doing with each of your moments?

9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 4)

Do you have a website or are thinking of getting one?  Many times people think getting a website is a matter of choosing which pages to have, what colors it should be, which pictures to include.  Long gone are the days of informational brochure websites.  Websites can do anything you design them to do.  Meaning, they don't have to just sit there and look pretty. 

If you were to treat your website like a sales assistant or a marketing assist, I would guess you would have to fire it!  Can you imagine if you have a sales assistant or marketing assist in your business and the following situation happened:

(Phone Rings)
Sales Asst:  Hello, thank you for calling XYZ Acme Company, how may I assist you?
Prospect:  Oh I am so interested in your ABC Product can you tell me about it.
Sales Asst:  Oh it can do this and do that.  How does that sound to you?
Prospect:  Great!  How much does it cost?
Sales Asst:  It is affordable for any budget.  How many would you like?
Prospect:  I think I will take 8.
Sales Asst:  Great.  When can I ship them to you?
Prospect:  Today. 
Sales Asst:  Would you like to pay with check or credit card?
Prospect:  Credit card….I will call right back with the number. 
Sales Asst:  Great. 
(Click – both hang up)

What is wrong about this picture?  The Sales Assistant never got the person's name, phone number or email.  So what happens now?  What happens now is the Sales Assistant is on the "Prayer Program".  You know, "Please, please – let the prospect call back."

This is no different with the majority of websites out today.  There is no interactivity.  There is no reason to give your name and email address.  Driving a ton of traffic to your website is only one part of the equation.  The other part is getting people to give their information to you so you can continue to build a relationship with them. 

What we are really talking about is "stickiness".  It is our 3rd ingredient for a successful website.  Stickiness, in my book, is offering something to visitors so they want to give you their name and email address.  They may not be interested right now to buy something but if you keep following up with them you will be there when they are ready to buy. 

If you look at basic principles of sales you can see why this is important.  The average number of contacts it takes to take a prospect to a client is 8.  Most people stop at 2.5 contacts.  Most websites stop at 1 (a person visits the website). 

Tip #5  Think of things your target market might like to have that has value.  Start making a list.  If you don't know what to offer, you can ask your top 10% of your clientele and a few of your prospects.  You can put together a simple survey for them to fill out by using www.SurveyMonkey.com – a free online survey system. 

In the next post, I will give you some great ideas to create stickiness.  What have you gladly given your email address and name for? Meaning, what did you get for giving your information?

9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 3)

Now we are cooking!  We are making successful websites and looking for the 4 main ingredients.  As with any recipe, if you leave out any one ingredient, it doesn't look or taste good.  Same goes for a website.  The next ingredient we are going to talk about really should be our first ingredient.  Unfortunately, most of the people who ask my opinion already have a website. 

Let's see if you can figure the next ingredient out.  You have the opportunity to build a custom home. What is the first thing you would need?  You might say money or land….and yes, those help.  However, what you really need is a PLAN.  Can you imagine if you went right into the building of a custom home without a plan?  You might end up with 10 really small bedrooms, a toilet in the kitchen, a staircase in the middle of the room. The house would not make sense and it wouldn't function.  Gee, what else does that sound like?  If you guessed almost all the websites out there….DING! DING! DING!  You are the winner!

It is amazing to me how many times a developer will ask you what pages do you want, what colors work for you and when do you want the site up?  For me, there are better questions to ask.  Before we even start building a website, we make sure we really answer some key questions.  This brings me to my next tip:

Tip #3:  Answer the following questions about your website.

What are you offering?
Who is your target market? And how does what you offer help them?
What problems do you solve?
What success stories have you had with clients?
What is your sales process?
What makes people buy from you initially?
What brings people back to buy from you again and again?
Where are you now?
Where do you want to go?
When do you want to get there?
Who are your competitors?
What companies compliment yours?
What is missing in your industry?

Tip #4:  Now that you have your answers.  Go back to your website and look at how you can modify your website to make it clear.

The more specific you are about who you help and how you help them, will make it easier for people to want to buy from you.  The goal of a website should not to give them every little detail about your business.  It should be enticing enough to get them to want to call you or take the next step in your sales process.  If you are unclear about any of the above questions, then work on getting clear first.

Our website success recipe is half way there.  In my next post we will talk about one of my favorite ingredients (okay…so all of them are my faves).  Can you guess what the next 2 ingredients are? 

•

9 Smart and Sticky Website Tips (Part 2)

If every website only needed 4 key ingredients to be successful, what would those ingredients be?  The first ingredient is a trick question.  The first key ingredient is having a website.  Don't Laugh!  Only 64% of all businesses have a website according to the US Small Business Administration. 

These days, having a website is like having a business card.  It is a necessity if you want to show you are here to stay and are serious about growing your company.  Besides this, there are 2 main reasons to have a website:

1.  People are using the Internet to research information.  In fact 94% of the Internet users state they do a search to find what they need.  If you aren't online, you are missing out on new business.  So is this really a big deal?  It brings me to my next reason.

2.  The Internet is growing!  Forrester Research, an independent market research firm, indicates there has been a 20% increase in Internet sales since the beginning.  In 2009, it is predicted we will be close to $350 BILLION spent on the Internet.  This means if you are a business that is online, you have an opportunity to be part of these sales. 

What is even more amazing to me is what is happening online.  Each day, people are becoming more and more comfortable shopping online.  I can remember the first time I bought something online….it was FRIGHTENING.  Now, it is the first place I go to shop.  People are buying everything from toilet paper to buildings online. 

Want even more reasons?  Think about this:

• European shoppers will increase from 100 million to 174 million in the next couple of years.
• 25 Million NEW US Households will start shopping online in the next few years.
• Approximately 33% of the world population is currently using the Internet.  Let's say that 33% will never get online (newborns, third world countries, etc.).  This means only 50% of the possible internet users are online.  We are only HALF way there in terms of what is possible. 

Tip #2 – If you don't currently have a website, get one.  Even if you get an expensive template website to start.  Do yourself a favor….get your online presence going now.  If you already have a website, get ready to take it to the next level.  Think of ways you can improve it. 

In my next post, we will talk about the next key ingredient and I will give you a couple more tips.  What would you say the most important part of a website is?