Internet Marketing Coach

You probably know that I’m Santa Ed, The Internet Marketing Coach, all year around but you may not know that in November and December I’m also Santa, yep, I’m Santa Claus spreading joy and cheer for the holiday season.

I have been Santa locally in and around Ashland, Oregon for several years appearing in many parades, lighting ceremonies and local fundraisers.

Earlier this year I was approached by Microsoft to be a part of their “Picture Perfect Holiday” promotion.  At first I was not sure if I wanted to go from being a “Community Service Santa” to a “Commercial” Santa but when I learned Microsoft was providing FREE pictures with Santa in a very non-commercial way I got excited. I really liked the idea of being able to “spread my Santa joy” in a HUGE way without being part of an overtly commercial offering.

This brings me to the topic of this post- Microsoft’s brilliant PR campaign.  Microsoft brought two “celebrities” together, invited the media and created a ton of exposure for their “Picture Perfect Holiday” promotion. The celebrities were me, Santa, and Dancing with the Stars co-host Brooke Burke.

Brooke and her family visited Santa and the media was invited to take pictures. It was amazing. Dozens of photographers took hundreds (maybe thousands, I have never seen so many flashes)  of pictures. There were several videographers and after the photos with Santa  Brooke was interviewed by several television programs including E!

All of this is being done on the Microsoft set and of course the photos and interviews all included something about her visit with Santa and Brooke talking about Microsoft’s new photo editing software (which is amazing by the way, and I’m NOT being paid to say that).

Now obviously most small businesses can’t bring in big name celebrities and attract national media outlets to their business BUT I bet you can do something that is newsworthy.

This time of the year of course charitable events are very common and they are easy to sponsor and be a part of.

Here’s another idea, one of my clients hosts a “Customer Appreciation Breakfast”. They invite their customers in for a pancake breakfast cooked by the employees and all who attend also get special “customer appreciation discounts” that are only available for those 6 hours- this is newsworthy.

Get creative, the media is a VERY powerful communication tool and they are always looking for stories that will be of interest to their readers or watchers and, with a little thought, you can find a way to attract their attention.

By the way, I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful.

I’ll share more about my Santa experiences over the coming weeks, along with my more typical Internet Marketing Tips.

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The nature of business has changed. We want to know more about the business and the people in the business. We like the story. The “About” pages of websites are often among the most visited pages.

A few years ago I interviewed the owners of a website that offered skis, snow boards and related items. During the interview the mentioned how a change in their About page from what they called “boring corporate” to “edgy personal” was responsible for a nearly 30% increase in sales. The fact is I have heard and read about dozens and dozens of companies that have had similar experiences.

The bottom-line is simply this: Have an “about us” page that is real. Tell your story and let your visitors know who you are. You will personally connect with your visitors by being honest. Use a conversational writing style, and including real testimonials from other customers and be sure to include photos of those on your team, your customers if possible and anything else that will help visitors feel personally connected to you and your business.

Have you had any particular success with visitors “connecting” with your website? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts and experiences!

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Does your website have a GREAT call-to-action?

A call-to-action is the primary reason those of us in business have websites. Sure we want to inform people about our products or services but ultimately we want people to buy what we are offering. Of course the sale doesn’t always occur on the website, often the purpose of a website is to “generate leads”, but still the visitor must fill out a form or call you, both are call-to-action.

Every type of website you can think of has, or should have, a call-to-action.

Calls-to-action , when done well, provides focus and direction to your visitors. It makes it very clear to them just what you would ultimately like them to do.  Examples of a call-to-action include:

• Make a donation
• Request an appointment
• Purchase a product
• Complete an information form
• Register for an event or program
• Subscribe to a newsletter or Blog
• Call the office
• Request a quote

Creating a GREAT call-to-action

While every website and business is different there are some general guidelines you can follow when making your call-to-action Remember you should continually test whether your calls-to-action can be improved. Google has some excellent free tools available that will help. Their analytics tool will tell you what people are looking at on your website, while their website optimizer can help you test different combinations of calls-to-action in order to see which works best.

Writing your call-to-action

Words matter. Some words encourage, motivate and even compel people to take action while others don’t. With that in mind, here are some tips for writing effective calls-to-action:

• Building Desire – Before someone will follow one of your calls-to-action, they first must have a desire for what it is you are offering. By explaining the BENEFITS they will experience by taking that action you are asking them to take you will help give them the motivation to actually do so.
• Use action-oriented words – Words like “click here” are action words they suggest taking and action and while “click here” is a start you may find the that other approaches will work even better. For example- “Enjoy what you see? Click here to subscribe to our blog for free updates!” is ok while “Enjoy what you see? Subscribe to our blog for free updates!”  Notice the difference? The second one has the desired action contained within the link text.
• Every page should have a call-to-action– You should include at least one call-to-action within the content on every page of your website – no page should be a dead-end. Ending your content with a call-to-action tells visitors what the next step is and keeps them moving through your website.
• Avoid confusion –Too many calls-to-action on can be confusing for your visitors. Limit yourself to only a few, and keep them distinct so visitors know what the primary call-to-action is, as well as what you want them to do first.
• Simple and clear – More people fill out clear short form than long tedious forms. Only ask for absolutely essential information on the initial form. You can always request more info in a follow-up email.

Designing your call-to-action

There has been a tremendous amount of research done on calls-to-action. Here’s some of the Best Practices :

• Above the fold and in the Eye Path – Your call-to-action must be seen. This means keep it high on the page and prominent enough to not get lost in the surrounding content.
• Images will draw the eye – Images or icons get people’s attention, they get noticed by your eyes before written content does. Buttons do the same thing and are great to use because they stand out against text and imply action by their very nature.
• Stand out –There is no “best color” for buttons. The basic rule to use a button color that stands out from the rest of the site.
• White space – White space around your call-to-action will help it stand out and the eyes of your visitors will naturally be drawn to it. If your call-to-action is squeezed into the surrounding content it will be less effective.
• Bigger is often better – Those who test and study website conversion analytics often find that increasing the size of a button will increase its effectiveness.Here’s an example of different button colors and content form my presentation on Website Conversion Improvement

  

Creating effective calls-to-action can have HUGE impact on the effectiveness of your website and the profitability of your business so I hope you found this information helpful and that you will use it to objectively examine your website and its current calls-to-action. Of course I’m always available if you have any questions or if you would like an objective outside opinion.

Have you had any particular success working with calls-to-action on your website or on a website you’ve done for a client? Leave a comment below to share your thoughts and experiences!

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Advertising on Facebook can be an excellent way to attract high quality visitors to your website.

To get set up, you obviously need a Facebook account. Once you log in, you can get started right away. To set up an ad that will send people to your website, go to- https://www.facebook.com/ads

You will be directed to a design tool to get started on your ad. You will be asked for your website URL, a title for your ad, an image, and some body text. You can even see suggested ideas by clicking the “Suggest an Ad” button during your ad creation.

Once you are happy with the way your ad looks, you will choose a target demographic and see your ad’s estimated reach. You can choose a budget and time period for your ad as well.

Facebook ads are different from Google. With Google, you choose words that people will be searching for.

With Facebook, you choose what type of people you will send your ad to. If you are sending out an ad about dentistry supplies, for example, you can choose to send it to people with “dentist” or “oral surgeon” somewhere in their profile. Facebook Ads are a great way to pinpoint groups or individuals that fit your target market.

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Internet Coach is a fairly competitive keyword and one that I would like to have top Google rankings on. 30 days ago I started a real time demonstration of both my ability to take a term that I had absolutely no rankings on and obtain top rankings, and the SEO process used to get the top rankings.

You can visit the page I optimized at Internet Coach – the preceding link is an example of “optimized link text”. Optimized link text includes the keyword you are optimizing in the link, in lieu of using something like “To see the page I optimized for the keyword Internet Coach click here” which is using the words “click here” as the link text. (Learn more about hiring me to be your Internet Marketing Coach.)

If you would please Google on the keyword – Internet Coach – and see where this site- IMGmembers.com is ranking and add it to the comments below I would really appreciate it. You may be surprised at the differences in the Google rankings people see.

For me, and again we all see slightly different results when we do Google searches, I see the IMGmembers ranking in the #14 spot, the middle of the second page. This is not where I want to be obviously but it is MUCH better than not showing up at all which is where I was 30 days ago.

So far, in the last 30 days, and remember 30 days ago I had not even optimized a single page of this site for the term “Internet Coach” and I was not listed on that term at all, now I have a mid 2nd page Google ranking- 20 people have visited this site as a result of the ranking and these visitors have stayed on the site, on average, over 5:00 minutes each.

I wrote this post both to provide a progress report to you and also and, from an SEO perspective more importantly, to provide inbound links to the optimized Internet Coach page.

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Google Adwords  is the easy to set-up and  often a effective way to get started with PPC advertising.

To set up your account go to www.google.com/adwords.

Essentially you will bid on keywords that are likely to bring well qualified visitors to your website. You will then pay Google a certain amount each time someone clicks on your ad.

Decide an overall budget (the amount you are willing to spend per day) and a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) rate that you are willing to pay for each visitor. Start low and test your results and then increase your spend as results warrant.

For example, if you decide that you would like to spend $40 a day, and you are willing to pay $2.00 for each click, then Google will run your ad until you reach 20 “click-throughs”.

You can easily track the results and test different combinations of keywords, landing pages, etc.

Google has excellent videos or and a beginner’s guide that will make it easy to get started with Adwords.

Another excellent tool for your Adwords campaigns is the Google Ad Planner.

You can access the tool at www.google.com/adplanner.

With the Ad Planner you can research website that except ads and get an learn about their visitors. For example you can see a breakdown of sex, age, education and income. All of this data will help you decide where your ads will bring you the most bang for your buck.

We have also had great success with “Image Ads” on the Google Content Network.

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Imagine… you change the words on the page of your website and 184% more visitors become customers or leads. How much would that be worth to you per month? Per Year? Watch this video very closely (it’s only 2 1/2 minutes) and be sure to visit the link below to learn more.

Be sure to visit WhichTestWon.com to learn more about this test and hundreds of others.

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Do you provide products or services to local customers?

If so adding your business to “Google Places” is a very good idea. This will add your business to the map.

Go to www.google.com/places. Select “Add New Business”. Enter your business address, details, category, photos, and other content that highlights your business. Google will confirm your address with a phone call or a postcard sent to your address. Once confirmed, you’ll begin appearing in local searches.

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Legitimate inbound links (or backlinks) are important to Google and the other search engines and here’s an easy first step.

Add optimized links from all of your own domains to the appropriate pages of your website. This includes your blog, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and any other social media. When you add post on these social sites be sure to include links back to your site, as appropriate.

When possible, try to insert keywords into the anchor text (the text that acts as the link, such as click here or learn more). A keyword-rich link might read “Ashland Mechanic” or “tune-up Ashland Oregon”. This will increase your keyword relevance and boost your rankings.

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If you have multiple Gmail accounts and you have been signing out of one to access the other, or if you have been running them in two separate browsers, here’s an easy way to access multiple accounts from the same browser instantly:

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