NH Web Page Promotion Strategies, Tools and Techniques

Web Page Promotion Strategies    *** (For Web Page Promotion SERVICES, click here.)

First things first! -- Ask yourself these questions.

Think of web page promotion in terms of the user experience.

• Is your site attractive, and up to date?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Is it easy to use?
• Is it easy to understand?
• Does it provide complete contact information, name, address, phone number, email address?

Does it hold the user's attention?

• Is it to the point?
• Does it use charts, graphs, or illustrations?
• Does it use an avatar, video or a Flash animation?

Does it gently prompt people to take action?

• Do most of the pages suggest that people call now?

If you had to say 'no' to more than -one- of those questions, start your marketing by improving your site. The only thing worse than not getting sales, is losing more money by bringing people to an ineffective web site!

Second Question -- Does your web site do well in search engines?

If you have a web page that clearly engages users then web page promotion begins with quality search engine optimization. Its importance cannot be overstated!

Try entering 4 key word combinations into Yahoo then Google. Did your web page come up in the top 10 almost all the time and in the top 3 at least half the time (4 of the 8 times)? If not, then begin your marketing program by optimizing the web page. If you are a do-it-yourselfer click here. If you would like our help, click here.

Third Question -- My web site users get a quality experience and my site comes up fairly well in the search engines. Now what?

A lot depends on your web site's bounce rate, stickiness, traffic, response percentage, sales closing ratio and sales markup.

• A bounce rate is the percentage of people who visit a site, then exit almost instantly or don't go any further into the site. This usually means that arriving users didn't see what they expected to find. There could be many possible explanations but a high bounce rate (anything over 25% or so) is absolutely worth remedying. What is your site's 'bounce' rate?
• Many web site's visitors will only remain on the site for a minute and a half to three minutes. There are several tool and techniques enabling you to extend user's visits. What is the average time users spend on your site?
• An average small business web site, serving a general population (read: average people) in just a small state should expect to receive 300-1,000 unique web site visitors a month. Double the number for every 2-3 million people of your state's population. Does your web site have similar or better numbers?
• On average a web site should see about 0.5% to 1.5% of site visitors take action by calling, visiting or emailing you. That is to say, that if 1,000 people visit your site monthly, 5-15 or more should be visiting your business or contacting you from it. If that is not true of your site, then you need to ask yourself if your products are overpriced, poorly explained or if there is another web site deficiency.
• What is your closing ratio? Of the people who contact you or walk through the door, what percentage ultimately buy your product? If you close a sale with 1 in 3 people then you have a 33% average.
• What can you afford for client acquisition? What is the economic value of a new customer? Maybe you make $3 per item sold and the average client buys 25 of them a year. In that instance each new client could be argued to be worth $75/year. How much are you willing to spend to earn that $75? What if each client on average attracts two additional new clients from word of mouth? Then how much is a single new client worth?

The answers to the previous questions help determine the best strategies.

Refined SEO & Site Redesigns
High bounce rates come from unmet expectations. A user enters your site and it doesn't 'feel right', isn't the right company, doesn't provide easy navigation or sometimes the correct navigation, or doesn't look like what they expected the site might look like, etc. A site's SEO sets the expectation and a site's appearance, navigation, clarity and content answers the expectation. The two need to be correctly matched. If unmatched people 'bounce'. The remedy will require changing something. Diagnosing the problem is sometimes an art. Fixing the problem(s) may require improving the search engine optimization (SEO), site 'refreshening' or a complete site redesign.

Making A Site More 'Sticky'
Tempting people to spend more time on your site usually involves adding things: photographs, charts, content, avitars, flash presentations or video. Loyalty programs can sometimes work too. The question is which solution do I need? The answer depends on your product or service, and partly, your competition. Most people make purchases with an 'emotional context' like a romantic getaway, a new dress, a new car. Sites with strong 'emotional buy' connections are best served by video. Other sites usually need photographs or charts. ANY site with a complex story or new concept product introduction would do better with video. Introducing new content, particularly if it's hard to find (new technology, specific to a location, expert testimonies, etc.), can also be a useful tool.

Pay-Per-Click-Advertising
PPC advertising works well when you can afford a moderate to high client acquisition cost, starting around $20 or so. It's fast, relatively easy, and can be initiated in just a few hours. It can also bring fairly quick success. For certain businesses it's a GREAT match. Beware though, you can also burn a ton of money doing it. Most businesses should anticipate spending a minimum of $200/month to run a small but effective campaign. DO NOT buy keywords where your site is already performing well in natural listings, or in substitution for an ineffective web site.

Banner Advertising
Banner advertising is the online equivalent of newspaper display advertising. Banner sizes and shapes vary widely, and so do costs. Banners can be VERY effective, when placed on highly targeted, well-matched-to-your-business-product pages. Good sites can be somewhat hard to find. Radio, TV and newspaper web sites frequently carry banner ads, but because of their non-targeted nature, usually are a poor match. Better matches are typically directory sites: a wedding or bridal mall, a state directory with highly specific pages, or travel directories are good examples. Banner ads are typically sold per impression or per category. Pricing of about $.02 to .10 per impression are common. ALWAYS inquire about the prospective page's monthly or annual page views before buying to insure fair pricing. REMEMBER, the more targeted the page, the better response your banner will usually have. Quality banner placement can sometimes be had for as little as $20/month.

Content Development
Few sites today receive the majority of their site traffic entering via the first or 'home page' of their web sites. Because search engines index every page of a site, well built sites typically find the majority of users landing on 'interior' pages. This creates opportunity for sites with numerous 'interior' pages.

Imagine a lawyer: she can have an 'average' web site announcing that she does family law. Alternatively, she can have a site with a significant library of 'this-is-how-you-handle-this-issue' pages. People researching the problem rather than an attorney, find the lawyer's page. Clearly some will need a lawyer's help, and because they are already there, many will view her 'services offered' pages.

This is an excellent strategy, but labor intensive. You have to custom write the text or hire it to be done. Your professional association may have numerous 'fact pages' or articles and sometimes web designers specializing in real estate, chiropractic sites etc. may have a ready library of pages your site can license for use. However, this is NOT the way to develop your library. Search engines loathe 'duplicate' material online. They tend to elevate the rankings of only the original source, or, devalue all discovered instances of duplicate materials. So ready-made libraries can be useful for an existing client base, but very poor for attracting new traffic.

Content development costs vary. To make a real impact you should develop no fewer than 10 'this-is-how-you-handle-this-issue' pages, and more are better. If you write them yourself, have them professionally search engine optimized. Skilled page optimization should cost in the $20-40 per page range. If you have professional writers create the pages, anticipate between $100-200 per page without research, twice as much if they are gleaning information themselves rather than interviewing you to create the material. Keep in mind though, while the costs seem high, they can bring 1,000's of additional monthly visitors at no additional cost later. It's an investment!

The Multiple Site Strategy
On average, the sites most effective with search engines attempt to communicate only one core idea and then articulate its various facets. Imagine a NH limousine company that also fully services Boston. What would be the core idea that you are trying to communicate to the search engine? NH Limousine Company, right? If this company wanted to aggressively market in the Boston metro area, they would need a second web site.

Think of it this way: If you need to be in more than -1- category or book in the Yellow Pages to be effective, you probably need to own more than one web site to be wholly effective online.

MORE to come soon....