Practical Internet Marketing Strategies - March 2010

Sometimes you just need to put an old dog down. Check out my new blog on Technology Leadership. 

This past weekend was momentous. It was a fantastic father's day weekend with lakeside and pool side activities all weekend and we received the newest Yellowbook delivered right to our doorstep.

On our way out of the driveway I noticed a yellow bag on our front doorstep. I should have been conditioned to know immediately what it was but we don't have phone service with our local phone company so I was curious why we received one - maybe it was some cool father's day present my wife ordered. Nope, it was definiitely  phone books. And then I sighed. My new yellow pages went straight to the recycle bin and I shed a quick tear for the tree that died to print the book.

Didn't they get my memo? I haven't used the phone book in years. And I'm guessing many others are ditching it as well. In my 20 minutes in the coffee shop this morning, I couldn't find any relevant data for phone book usage this year or even last. One report (from 2008) says that over 95% of homes have a Yellow pages directory and that 77% of US adults say they reference the yellow pages monthly. If by "adult" they mean individuals aged 65 and over then I might believe the numbers.

But I understand. Yellow pages directories sell ad spaced based on distribution, not usage. The actual measurement of usage is some fancy concept left to custom phone numbers and that Internet thingy. Actual usage of the directory is no doubt dwindling, so I guess my question is when will distribution start dropping as well?

In 2001, I paid $144 each month for a small 1inch by 2 inch ad in our local directory. I had to sign a year commitment and in that entire year I received one single phone call that originated from the phone book. And that guy was looking for an Internet service provider - not a web developer. Lesson learned.

My last blog entry was June 12, 2009 - over nine months ago. Wow! Shame on me because I have a lot to write about and a lot to share.

One of the reasons I haven't written much is because I've planned to change the topic of my blog. I want to move from "Practical Internet Marketing Strategies" to something more general about technology leadership. I want to move towards a blog topic that covers the ups and downs of leading a technology company. Not because I am a phenomenal leader (I have a lot of evidence to the contrary) but because I learn a lot and would love it if others could learn from my mistakes. More about that later....

So, here's my new post about Keeping up with the Joneses. A fantastic spectacle to me is the enormous number of  people staying completely in tune with our new Internet-based social infrastructure. Writing blog entries, tweeting, and posting status updates on Facebook and LinkedIn. They are online nearly 24/7 and always have something to say (some of it is even informative!). These people make me feel tired and weary because by day I manage a software company and by night I have an incredible family with whom I love spending as much time as possible. There's just not enough time in the day, right?

Cheers to those who can do it!  And then there are the rest of us....

Recently, Josh Bernoff (co-author of Groundswell) posted that only 24% of online users actually create content. I believe this is up from a couple years ago when I read his book (unfortunately, I can't look that up right now because one of my former colleagues, Colin Clark of tribeswell, still has my book). So 1 of every 4 people create content. That means about 75% of us are simply consumers or readers. That makes me feel a little better, I guess. Yet, I still can't get away from the fact that it's been over nine months since my last post.

A lot has happened in those nine months, though. We went from a company who's outlook was somehwat bland to one who has enormous potential and a very solid, admirable customer base. Since then, we've nearly doubled the number of websites using our web content management system, added new product lines and features, and we've drastically improved the way we serve and support all of our customers - all while retaining over 95% customer retention in a crappy economy! Yet, even with all of that I'm sure I could have written more blog posts. I guess sometimes we want to keep up with the Joneses and sometimes we just need to step back and do a little reading and planning. Consider that my last nine months.

OK, back to the fact that I want to create a new blog about technology leadership and just discuss learning from my mistakes. One of my favorite books, still in my posession and dogeared in just the right places, is Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. There is a scene where the fireman, who no longer puts out fires but burns books instead because they are banned, meets a former librarian. The librarian utters one of my favorite quotes and one by which I live my life every single day:

"Listen. Easy now," said the old man gently. "I know, I know. You're afraid of making mistakes. Don't be. Mistakes can be profited by. Man, when I was younger I shoved my ignorance in people's faces. They beat me with sticks. By the time I was forty my blunt instrument had been honed to a fine cutting point for me. If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn. ...."

Basic website marketing consists of three core parts: visibility, engagement, and conversion.

Today's topic is visibility.If your website cannot be found then you can't engage visitors and you certainly can't convert them. So how do you get found? The answer to this question depends on the purpose of your website. Almost every website has an intended goal that may or may not be explicitly obvious, which is to influence users into taking some sort of action. Before you can do that, though, you must first get them to your website.

I like to think of the mechanisms driving visitors to your website as chauffeurs. Chauffeurs act as motivators that direct individuals to your organization's main website, to a landing page, or a microsite. They can be online and offline. Here's a list:

Online Website Chauffeurs

• Search engines
• Email marketing (newsletters, promotions, etc)
• Social networking sites
• Blogs
• Pay-per-click advertisements
• Podcasting
• Video magazines
• Banner Ads
• Backlinks from other websites 
  
  Offline Website Chauffeurs
• Radio ads
• TV ads
• Direct mail
• Trade shows
• Speaking engagements
• Public relations
• Business networking
• Billboards
• Seminars

All of these marketing methods may still provide brand recognition and may drive business directly. But more and more often, individuals who see your ads, see you speak, or read your blogs want to learn more about your organization anonymously. That is, they want to hide behind the cloak of web anonymity to see if you can fulfill their needs or wants before they ever engage in two-way communications - all because they know that if a two-way conversation begins, the hard selling tactics will also begin.

As a web marketer, you need to figure out which chauffeurs will capture the attention of your prospects. Once you have that part figured out, you need to make sure that every single point of contact with prospects involves a link to your website (i.e. front page, landing page, or microsite).

Here are a few steps you should take to boost your visibility:

Step #1 - Initial Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Basic SEO is fairly simple with the right tools. You need to come up with search keywords that your prospects are using. Use Google AdWord's Keyword Tool to help find less competive keywords. If you mostly do business locally you should incorporate local terms. For example, we target "Indianapolis web content management." Another great tool is HubSpot's Website Grader. This will give you a website visibility grade and provide a great amount of information for improving overall ranking.

There are firms that can help you with this. Just don't get suckered into ongoing SEO fees unless there are very clear measurable results tied to your agreement (which most companies won't do). Many companies tout themselves as SEO experts and will charge the ongoing fee for "link building" or "ongoing optimization." Most are snake oil salesman. But some (actually very few) will engage with you and help you craft an SEO strategy that can work. Stay alert, though. If an SEO firm says they will boost your visibility but don't contact you for a month.... well, you should see the writing on the wall.

For most people, SEO is something that they can do with the right tool and a couple hours investment to read on up on the basics. Seriously, it's not rocket science. Type "search engine optimization" on any search engine and you'll find thousands of websites with free information on the subject.

Step #2 - Calls to Action
When you put together marketing pieces, what are your calls to action? To call a phone number? To come to your store? In most cases, you will want to have a very obvious link to your website, landing page, or microsite on all marketing pieces that prospects see. This gives them an opportunity to continue the anonymous engagement and investigate further. What do you put your website link on? Absolutely everything! If you've put out any sort of communication and haven't included a direct link to your website, you may have just lost new customers who may have had interest but aren't yet ready to talk.

Step #3 - Social Media
I'll admit, I haven't completely embraced social media as many in my industry have. The problem with social media is the amount of time it requires to successfully establish yourself and your brand. If you compare apples to apples (online social networking with offline networking) I will argue that offline networking has a more immediate and longer lasting benefit. To me, being able to shake hands with someone and look them in the eye provides a stronger connection than the virtual connections of online social sites.

That shouldn't exlude social media as a driver to your website, though. Becoming active to any extent in social media will help with SEO and brand recognition and can lead to some very interesting connections that weren't possible offline. If you are able to capture the attention of people you've made a connection with online then they are more likely to have interest in learning about you and your organization. Where do you think they go first? That's right, your website. The important thing is to make sure you provide links back to your website when you leave comments, setup profiles, etc.

I'm not going to go over these, but here are a few links to social media sites that may be of interest: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, and del.icio.us.

Step #4 - Stay Active
With the three previous steps, you need to stay active. Complacency will lead to lower visibility from search engines, direct marketing, and social media sites. With SEO, put in place rules that govern keyword use in any new content put on the web. With marketing communications, establish baseline calls-to-action for everything that include links to your website, landing page, or microsite. And for social media, stay in the conversation. Your old content will stay on the site but it's like a busy email inbox - once a day goes by, it's buried.

Keep an eye out for "Website Marketing (part 2 of 3) - Engagement" about how to better engage all those new visitors coming to your site!