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A no jargon guide to making your website succeed!
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urbanmedia
A Jargon freeguide to whysome websitessell and othersdon’t.
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
The four stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Be seen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Be worth it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Befriend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Become regular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
A clear strategy and focused objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Key phrase (search term) research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Competitor analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Your first milestone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Ethical search engine optimisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Link strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Pay Per Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Usability – allowing users to score your goals . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Accesibility – allowing all users to score your goals . . . . . . . .15
Visitor conversion tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Email marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Measuring return on investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Lifetime Customer Value (LCV) and the snowball effect . . . . .19
Choosing an Internet marketing partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Where do you go from here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Make it tangible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Run the numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Choose a partner checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26/27
Foreward
Elton would like to say thank you to all the clients that have worked withUrban Media to build successful websites. Also to those that haveparticipated in the many training sessions run both in house and at variousseminars. Your feedback and experiences shape our thinking as we pushthe boundaries of internet marketing. Your success is every bit deserved.Thank you.
Make your website succeed’ hits the spot that others simplydo not dare to touch. From the first page to the end, thisguide keeps in mind the number one requirement of almostevery business website on the internet; make profit! That maynot be new, but the direct way in which Elton approaches thesubject certainly is.
Nick Rees, WTTL
This short book is a must read for anyone involved with abusiness website. Elton’s observations are simple and oftenobvious, but they will throw light on problems faced by manypeople trying to make a profit from their website.
Barry Shadbolt, Blue Arrow
Elton has always had a way of demystifying the internet andmaking the subject available to all. This guide has been along time coming. Now everyone can start to understandwhat is quite a simple subject when presented the right way.
John Williams, Interpak
Elton‘s no nonsense attitude to the Internet has the effect ofsaving companies thousands of pounds. This guide providesan excellent starting point for anyone considering a newwebsite project or confused as to why their existing site isnot turning out as they planned. Elton can be very direct andsometimes abrupt! This is part of his unique style and itcomes across in the ‘make your website succeed’ guide.Stick with it, this guide will save you making costly mistakesand show you the way to increased website revenue.
Paul Frost, Best Cruise Deal
IntroductionHi, and thank you for picking up this no jargon guide to creating a
successful website. Whether you are new to internet marketing or a
seasoned pro, you probably realise the significance of the internet and the
value it can bring to your business. You may also be aware of the effect it
is having on your business. This may be good or bad. The problem is, if
you don’t understand internet marketing, it can be quite daunting. More
worryingly, you could be about to spend a lot of your valuable marketing
budget on what could be a huge gamble. Keep reading! I aim to make
your decision less of a gamble and more of an educated choice.
Regardless of where you are in terms of the internet, your business has
been, is being and will continue to be affected by the web. For some, you
will have been an early adopter. You will (I hope) have gained a wealth of
experience and by now, you will be making extra profit as you eat up the
online sales that your not-so-savvy competitors are missing. For others,
you will be the not so savvy competitor. You may not have seen it in this
way before, but the sales enquiries that have gone away have not actually
gone away. They have moved and now come through the internet. For the
majority, you will be somewhere in the middle. Wherever you are, this
guide is for you. It will either be a book of enlightenment or simply back
to basics.
Throughout my 11 years in website development, I have received regular
feedback on how I have simplified the internet for my clients. During this
period, I have only lost one job due to my lack of ‘techie talk’. It’s worth
noting that we went on to recover that job after their ‘techies’ failed
miserably. You see, designers talk about how great the site will look,
techies talk about what it will do and the third more recent group, the
search engine guys talk about getting to page one of Google. Is it just me
or are they all missing the point? Surely your websites main aim is to
generate more business.
That is why I decided to write this guide. I wanted to help strip away the
hype, the jargon, the smoke and mirrors and frankly the confusion. It’s time
to put some common sense back into the internet.
The four stagesI believe that there are four stages to a successful website. These four
stages lead to a long and mutually beneficial relationship. Since I think the
most important thing in business is our client (and supplier) relationships,
I have used the relationship scenario below. Imagine for a minute, 2 single
people looking for their very own, long lasting relationship (stay with me on
this!) if you were one of these individuals, you must go through four stages.
First, you must be seen. When your perfect partner is out there looking for
someone just like you, there is no use hiding.
Second, if you are seen, and you are looking for a long term relationship,
you are going to need a date. To get your dream date, you need to be
worth it. This is where all those first impressions come in.
Third, if you manage to get the date, you will need to spend time
befriending, showing your date that you have some common ground, a
connection that might just benefit you both.
Finally, given that your date was a real success, you need to become
regular to that person, your new relationship. If the relationship is to
prosper, you have to maintain communication.
Over time, you will both profit (benefit) from your relationship.
Take a minute to think about what this could mean for your business.
Next, we will explore the four stages. These are common to all successful
websites.
BE SEENBE WORTH ITBEFRIENDBECOME REGULAR
1 2
Be seen
The first thing we need to do is establish where your potential clients are
looking. As the internet continues to grow, so do the variety of ways in
which you can promote your business online. This is a great sign of how
the internet is growing. However, if we are building a successful website
we need to be careful where we spend our marketing budget to get the
best return.
Think back to our example on the previous page. There are many places
where a single person might find a partner; through friends, at the gym, in
church, on a dating website, down the pub etc. Each one of these could
provide a ‘lead’, but I would suggest that one would outperform the others
every time; the dating website. It’s simple, this is a place where people go
to find a date and be found for a date.
Our options as a business are equally as wide. We could use web
directories, banner ads, natural search listings, Pay Per Click etc. These
can all bring ‘leads’, but we need return on our marketing spend. Which
one do you think would bring more people to your site? Hands down
almost every time, a top of first page listing in Google will outperform any
other method of delivering visitors to your site. Despite this, many
otherwise intelligent marketers waste money in many wrong areas of
internet spending. My advice is as always very simple. Put your efforts into
being seen where your potential customer will be looking.
Over 87% of all online transactions start with a user searching for a specific
product/service. In the UK, over 80% of searches are carried out in Google.
Less than a third of users go beyond the first page of results (they simply
enter a different search term). Putting it into context, 90% of your internet
marketing efforts should be put into securing a first page listing in Google.
First, you must be seen. When your perfect partner is out therelooking for someone just like you, it is no use hiding.
Be worth it
Just as in the physical world you can not underestimate the importance of
a first impression, so is the same with your website. The first impression
a visitor to your website should experience is one that provides them with
confidence and a desire to continue their journey into finding out more
about you.
Quite often people interpret this to mean the visual look of the site. Whilst
the graphic design is important, the interface design is what provides the
necessary experience. So what is the ‘interface’ design? It simply refers to
where and how things are placed. Are things obvious or awkward?
Consistent or random? Etc. Put yourself in your visitors shoes for a minute.
If a page looks fantastic, but you can’t find what you need, how will your
visitor feel? If the site lacks the polished look, but everything is obvious to
use, how will they feel?
If you actually placed yourself in their shoes, chances are you drew upon
your own experiences in those situations to understand how a visitor may
feel. Which site would you prefer to use? You have just experienced one
of the keys to a successful website. I want to clarify my position at this
point. I believe that it is possible and indeed important for a site to look
great and work great. My observation above simply shows which
requirement should always take priority.
Remember, you need to look at each page individually. If a visitor landed on
that page as the first time they had ever come across you, does it tell them
all they need to continue the journey? They are looking for a specific
product/service, not your company name/history. What do they currently see?
Cutting corners here will cost you in the long run. Be strict on yourself.
Secondly, if you are seen, and you are looking for a long termrelationship, you are going to need a date. To get your dream date,you need to be worth it. This is where all those first impressionscome in.
3 4
Befriend
Stage three is when a visitor has found your site, clicked on to it and
decided to stay and see what you have to offer. You have a date with your
potential client. You have started the relationship. It is now vital that you
make the connection. To do this you need to understand what your
customer wants. This is not necessarily what you currently sell. It may be
that what you sell can solve the problem or requirement that your potential
customer has, but look at the emphasis. At all times, view your website
from the visitor perspective. Let me give an example.
Think of an accountant. Why do we use them? Personally, I want 2 things.
I want peace of mind and I want to keep more of the profits.
If an accountant tries to tell me about P11D’s and corporation tax, I will go
blank. These are the services they offer, but they are not my ‘wants’.
In the same way, Urban Media offer various programming languages,
design, search engine optimisation and a myriad of other things.
Fortunately I realise that these are not things that our clients care about.
Our clients want to generate more business through their website.
Effectively, they want more sales. They also want to feel informed. This is
why we avoid the tech talk. It is one of the languages that we understand
and use in the right environment, but not with our clients.
Take some time to think about what your clients really get from you.
Remember, no one ever wants a 12mm drill bit; they want a 12mm hole.
Once you have a list, think about how you could offer this to a new visitor
to your site. Be their friend, add value to your new relationship, sales will
come. If you force visitors to read about your wonderful products/services,
without addressing their needs, you will fail to establish profitable customer
relationships.
Thirdly, if you manage to get the date, you will need to spend thistime befriending, Showing your date that you have some commonground, a connection that might just benefit you both.
Become regular
It is common knowledge that selling to existing customers is far less
expensive than finding new customers to sell to. The internet makes it easy
for us to maintain customer relationships with lots of customers.
Surprisingly, this is the point where the majority of companies fail. They put
in all the hard work and achieve that all important first sale. Not only did
the potential customer find them, they considered them worth a click (visit).
Once on the site they were so pleased that they stuck around and made
a purchase as a sign of their commitment to the relationship. Then, sadly,
you decided not to stay in touch. The usual reasons are time, cost and not
knowing how. Hopefully, this guide will help to show why staying in touch
is worth the time, money and the finding out how.
If you can add ongoing value to your customers, why wouldn’t you? Aren’t
these customer relationships really important to you?
What ‘added value’ content could you provide free of charge on a regular
basis? This is often the most difficult activity to justify until you have started
to receive regular repeat business from it. However, that can work to your
advantage. If your competitors can’t justify it and choose to ignore the
potential profits of providing regular free ‘added value’ content to existing
clients, you will stand out even more. Since you have already created the
content, why not let the potential client who is stood on the edge, still
considering their buying choices, have a copy too. It might just sway them.
The best format to provide this regular content is through an email
newsletter. Note the title, newsletter, not sales letter. By helping our clients
to understand more about internet marketing, they are in a better position
to make the correct buying decisions. They make the decision on their
terms, not ours. In this way, we both win which leads to many ongoing
sales without the need for selling.
Finally, given that your date was a real success, you need tobecome regular to that person, your new relationship. If therelationship is to prosper, you have to maintain communication.
5 6
Clear strategy and focusedobjectivesSo far we have discussed the four stages of a successful website. Now I
would like to take a step back before proceeding into the next sections.
Think of someone you know (could be you) that has failed to achieve
success from their website. Now focus on what they failed to achieve.
Finally, what did they write down as their stated objectives when
they began?
Although there are web developers that can take a good plan and destroy
its chances of success (we will discuss this later), it is more common for
website owners to have such vague plans that it is impossible to succeed.
‘Make sales’ is not a focussed objective. How many sales constitute
success? How will you get the sales? What will it cost?
In my mind, a clear strategy involves research and a very specific plan
with measurable targets. It includes knowing what your site will cost, what
a sale is worth to you in gross profit and a clear understanding of how
many sales you will need to break even and move into profit. You will need
a motivation to keep moving the project forward in the initial stages. What
is it? Take a minute to create a picture of what your success will bring you.
Remember, if you have no idea of how many sales you need, you can’t
measure success. If you can’t measure your success, how will know when you
have achieved it and how will you increase your target when you reach it.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Take time out to write down your plan.
Use the worksheets at the back of this guide. Run them past your web
developer. They will know whether you have unrealistic expectations, but
ultimately it is your time and money that is at stake. Take realistic advice,
don’t allow yourself to believe that something will happen just because you
would like it to. Your web developer should help by challenging your plans
in order to strengthen them.
Key phrase researchYour online success could swing either way based simply on your choice
of key phrases. It is vital that you carry out key phrase research. This is
research into what key phrases your potential clients will use.
Think of this from your user’s perspective. Let’s imagine that our user is
looking for a leaking tap to be fixed. On the other end is our extremely
professional, national property maintenance company.
The user may try key phrases (search terms) such as ‘plumber’, local
plumber’, ‘handyman’, ‘fix leaking tap’, etc.
Our property maintenance company are the perfect company to help. To
show just how professional they are, they have optimised their pages for
terms such as ‘reliable property maintenance’, ‘all areas covered’, ‘reliable
friendly staff’, etc.
Now that I have written it down, it’s obvious. Think about how frustrating it
is though when you can’t find what you need easily.
Take a minute to look at your own site. Read the text with this new
perspective. The words that keep cropping up, are they really the terms
that your potential client would use to find you?
Thankfully there are tools to see which phrases are more popular. Again,
don’t cut corners here. Carry out key phrase research. Ask clients what
they would have used to find you. Ask non clients the same question. Then
use the tools to find out the actual popularity of the list of search terms. The
software tools will also show similar terms that you may not have
discovered.
7 8
Competitor analysisArmed with your key phrase research, you should check out your
competition. Your online competition are often different to your off line
competitors. The good news is that they are easier to find and compare
yourself against.
To find your competition, simply enter your key phrases into Google and
write a list of all the sites that come up in the top 3 pages. I suggest Google
as it has the majority of the market share. You need to be on the front
page of Google. The top three pages change over time and any of the
results from the first 3 pages are close enough to be competing with you
for the first page listing. This doesn’t even take into account the people who
are currently trying to get to the top and don’t yet appear in the first 3
pages of results. Using all 3 pages of results will give you a wider
comparison.
What are your competitors doing? Who are they? Can you match/beat
their offer/attractiveness? What makes you different?
It would be a good idea to get some outside feedback on this. Write out
the various offers. Print out the various website ‘screens’. Create a few
direct questions and ask independent people who they would buy from
and why? The answers should be enlightening. You may have been about
to create a website offering something that was great in unimportant areas
and lacking in more crucial areas. This research can be used in a wider
context than just your website.
This all sounds obvious and not a mistake you would have made. Good
news! Your research will confirm your existing belief. Given the number of
companies that get it wrong, I would still advise that you do not miss this
exercise. Even large companies like Coca Cola get it wrong when they fail
to carry out enough research. Think back to ‘new recipe Coca Cola’. It was
a disaster and had to be retracted after a very expensive roll out.
Your first milestoneWell done for staying with me! You have now reached your first milestone.
We have learnt that all successful websites have four distinct stages. We
know that we must have a clear strategy and focused objectives. To
support our ideas, we have researched both our key phrases (what clients
will use to find us) and our online competitors (those that clients will
compare us to).
S Sit down
T Test the
O Opportunity before
P ProceedingTo get this far, we have essentially carried out a feasibility study. If you
can’t genuinely offer a better product or service, profitably, than is already
easily found online, your chances of success are limited. This is very direct,
but I am in the business of generating internet success stories, not failures.
This guide has been created to help you, not flatter you.
If you do believe that after your research, you can take on the competition,
you are probably in a good position to do so. The following pages will help
to explain the route you will need to take to success. We will explore the
individual components of the four stages and more.
Each page simply skims the surface of a specific area. It will be enough
to help you to gain a basic understanding of what will be required to create
your web success. I have tried to keep it simple at the same time without
discussing too much unnecessary detail at this stage.
9 10
Ethical search engine optimisationBy far the most profitable way to promote your website will be through thenatural (organic) search engine listings. As previously mentioned, Googlehas a huge market share and although you should appear across allsearch engines, Google will account for the majority of your visitors.
The natural listings receive a lot more clicks than the paid listings (PayPer Click, Adwords). You will typically pay an internet marketer for theirwork (expect to pay around £400/month) and there are no ‘per click’charges as with Pay Per Click. At the same time, the number of clicks thatyou can receive is unlimited.
Search engines are basically software programs that use large algorithmsto decide the order of millions of pages in relation to a search term enteredby a search engine user. An internet marketer should know what criteriathe search engines are using for their algorithm and therefore be able tomake your pages fit the bill from a mathematical viewpoint. This in turn willprovide you with the first page listing that you desire.
Look out for cheating in this area. Due to the value of a first page listing,it is tempting to ‘cheat’ the system. This method is quick, but short lived.The danger is that should a search engine pick up on the method, it islikely to blacklist your site and exclude it totally from their listingspermanently. You should insist on ethical search engine optimisation. Theterms white hat and black hat are used to describe ethical or non ethicalsearch optimisation techniques.
It is not particularly useful to know all of the details of page optimisation, butyou should look for changes made to the pages that you can see. Your keyphrases need to be prominent and at least 4% of the total words should beyour key terms. When your mouse (cursor) moves over images on the page,your key phrases should appear in a text box (alt tag). When you look at thetop of the browser window (the blue band on Internet Explorer) you shouldalso see your key phrases. You should only use 2 related key phrases perpage, you will gain spin offs from these phrases but you cannot expect toappear for two completely different subjects with 1 page.
Ask your web developer/internet marketer to show you examplesites/references and ask them how they intend to optimise your site. Thekey words to look out for are H1 tags, bold tags, alt tags, key word densityand frequency, key word prominence and on page optimisation. This is avery specialist area and we are scratching the surface, but you haveenough to evaluate whether an internet marketer knows their stuff.
Link strategyWe have already discovered that the search engine creates its results by
analysing your pages via a large algorithm. However a quite often overlooked
area is the ‘off page’ score given to your pages. This is called the ‘Page
Rank’. A very complex part of the search engine algorithm assesses the
pages that link to you. Each of these pages has their own value (Page Rank).
Based on this rank, you receive a ‘vote’ from each page that links to one of
your pages. The higher the score of the page that links to you, the higher the
vote you receive. The more pages that link to you, the more votes you
receive. This adds up to make your own score. I have simplified the
explanation somewhat, but the basic message is that gaining links from other
high page rank pages is vital to boosting your own Page Rank.
There are 3 areas to look at.
The Yahoo and DMOZ directories have a huge impact on your listings.
Because they are manually edited, not automatic, they can be very difficult
to get into. Do not let this put you off. You may benefit from using an
internet marketer who is also an editor for either of these directories.
DMOZ editors have a unique insight into how the listings work from behind
the scenes.
The bulk of the link strategy works by searching out relevant directories or
sites and requesting links from them. This sometimes means offering a
link back. It is far more effective however if a reciprocal link is not required.
There is no direct benefit to your own search listings by adding links to
other sites on your pages. Link strategy work is purely about getting high
value relevant links from others to your site.
Another very effective way of building first page listings through external
means is social networking. There are various sites where you can build
‘social networking’ profiles. These profiles become web pages that are
indexed and rank well in the search engine listings. Not only do they bring
their own string of visitors to your main site, they have a huge effect on
your own natural listings. The main sites that are used for this activity are
Stumble Upon, Squidoo, Facebook, Ecademy etc.
Whichever methods you use, obviously, the more you can commit to, the
better. Link Strategy has a very important role to play in gaining first page
listings for your website.
11 12
Pay Per ClickPay Per Click is the quickest way to gain ‘clicks’ (visitors) to your website.All of the search engines carry paid for listings alongside the unpaid(natural) listings that dominate their pages. From the moment a site is live,you can build an advertising campaign for paid listings and make thecampaign live. This means that you can effectively get high volumes ofvisitors to your site within hours of the site being launched.
As with all of the other areas, there is a lot to learn about Pay Per Click toreally maximise your expenditure. There are some basics to understandand these are the things I would like to discuss here.There are 3 mainthings to look at with any Pay Per Click campaign.
How much are you willing to pay to receive 1 new visitor to your site? Thisisn’t too difficult. If you need 100 visitors before you make 1 sale of £200at 50% GP (leaving £100 profit), you break even at £1.00 per click. Pay anyless and you make, any more and you lose! There are scenarios whereyou may choose to lose on the first sale. This is discussed later in ‘LifetimeCustomer Value’.
How much can you afford to pay each month? This figure can keepincreasing whilst you are making profit and able to deliver yourproduct/service effectively. To begin though, how much will your monthlybudget be? If you set a daily limit of £500 and pay £1.00 per click, you willget 500 clicks before your campaign is paused automatically until you havemore budget. The budget is spread out across the month. If you set £500and your adverts are not seen after lunchtime, chances are by doublingyour budget, you will be live until the evening.
When and where do you want to be seen? You can set specific timesand/or regions to show your adverts. For example if you are not exporting,you can choose simply ‘England’ or ‘United Kingdom’. If you know that youget a higher conversion later in the day, you can target these times. Acourier company is far more likely to convert a sale during 4.30pm –9.00pm than through the early part of the day. This is because therequirement is a far more urgent one rather than a general enquiry totender for a future account.
There are lots of benefits to Pay Per Click, but remember that you arepaying for every click in an auction against your competition. If they bidmore, they will show up higher. Therefore the cost can only ever go higheras more businesses choose this option.
Usability – allowing users to scoreyour goalsOnce you have got visitors to your site, whether through a lot of hard work
in the natural listings or through spending heavily on Pay Per Click, you
need to make the most of it. The fact that a user has searched for you, tells
you that they want to find what you have and buy your product/service.
Allow your users to score your goals.
Think back to the last time you went to a store to buy something that you
expected them to sell. Try as you might, you couldn’t find the item and
either left to find it somewhere else or gave up and asked an assistant. On
your website, you will rarely get the second option. It is so easy for a user
to go elsewhere. Think about what your visitor may be looking for and give
it to them.
There is only one simple rule for this area of website success.
Keep it simple whilst making it obvious.
This means for your visitor, not you. You know your company, products
and services like the back of your hand. You therefore have very little
chance of being a suitable critic. It is important to view each page and
consider the following;
Is your logo prominent?Do you have a prominent tag line that clearly states what you dofor your clients?Is your menu easy to understand?Do the words speak of what your user will gain or what you do?(This should not be the latter by the way!)Have you pointed out clearly what your visitor should do next?If something looks ‘clickable’, can you click it?If you want something clicked, does it look ‘clickable’?
The specific placement of items such as special offers etc. can also greatly
improve your effectiveness. This should be done over time and the results
monitored. To start though, ensure that the list above is all taken care of.
If you have an ecommerce site, there are some really basic but fantastically
effective methods to use to increase sales. If you would like more
information, email elton@urbanmedia.co.uk.
13 14
Accesibility – allowing all users toscore your goalsA less well known fact about running a website is the legal requirement ofthe Disability Discrimination Act. This is a piece of English Law that statesthat you should make reasonable steps to ensure that your site can beused equally by all.
If you have narration on your website, you should have text to accompanythe narration etc. This is a rare scenario, but one that is common to all sitesis how your pages appear to the visually impaired. This includes your blindvisitors. A blind visitor will be viewing your website through a text to speechdevice. This device will read the content of your site to the visitor.
Depending on your viewpoint and the priority you place on socialresponsibility, this could seem like a good thing to do or it may seem likeunnecessary effort and expense. Because of the range of views, I willapproach this from a position that everyone can understand. Websites thatare DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliant are typically W3Ccompliant (think ISO 9001 for the web). Sites that are W3C compliant arealso better optimised for the search engines. Sites that do well in thesearch engines get more visitors and obviously sites that get more visitorstend to sell more and make greater profits.
It wouldn’t take me long to explain the very convincing argument that sayswebsites that fulfil the social and legal responsibility of the DisabilityDiscrimination Act have more chance of generating long term profits. Thisis whilst at the same time, not risking the fines that could come as a resultof not complying. So, what do you need to do?
The easy ones are items such as your text should be capable of changingsize. From your browser, if you do not have a ‘text size’ function on yourpages, the browser will have a function to change the text betweensmallest, small, normal, large, extra large. If you change the view, doesyour text size change? Including your buttons? When you move yourmouse (cursor) over an image, does a small box of text appear with adescription of the image? How about colours? Subtle colour changes areharder to distinguish between for the visually impaired. The lack of contrastcan make your site difficult for these users to read.
Each site has different challenges, but you can be sure that a site haspassed the ‘test’ when you see the ‘A’, ‘AA’, or ‘AAA’ rated logo. 2 thingsto remember; the law states that you should make ‘reasonable steps’ andtaking these steps will help to increase your profits.
Email marketing There is a lot of misunderstanding about email marketing and different
people hold very different views. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Once again,
bring it back to basics.
If you have a specific product/service for ‘young new dad’s’ let’s say, how
effective would the following be;
A blanket mailshot to any household demonstrating your offer
A mailshot to households that have recently bought from‘Mothercare’, demonstrating your offer
A specific message to your existing customers to help them withyour products and in doing so demonstrate other products thatyou could offer.
It is fairly obvious which one will generate more response or a better
conversion rate. It is the same online. You could buy email addresses very
cheaply (per name) and send out a mass mailing. Even if you send enough
that statistically you reach a large number of recipients that could use you,
your mailing will have only limited success.
If you mailed a specific target audience, you could tie something in to
‘make a connection’ and you would improve your results. However, you will
still receive a far lower response than a ‘news’ letter that aims to help
existing customers. They will not only find a benefit and feel that your
relationship is strengthened but they will also potentially pass it on to other
suitable recipients.
Whatever you do, ensure that any email that you send is permission
based. This is not only the law, sending unsolicited email is not good for
your reputation.
I would always suggest sticking to the ‘news’, not’ sales’ letter approach.
Remember this communication is about adding value. The added value
will in turn influence your client’s perception of you and their eagerness to
repeat buy and refer others to you.
15 16
Visitor conversion trackingThe internet offers a unique and powerful way to track, analyse and
improve your visitor conversions. Unlike any other form of marketing and
advertising spend; you can see how your prospects are interacting with
your site.
It is possible to see which key phrases are bringing the sales and which
are not. It is also possible to see which traffic generation methods (banner
ads, natural listings, paid listings etc.) are bringing the actual sales. There
are many website statistic programs. Google Analytics is one of these. It
is free and is a fantastic tool if setup and understood properly. This analysis
software will allow you to monitor every aspect of your website and find
areas to improve or concentrate on.
Your web developer will be able to setup conversion ‘goals’. These may
simply be actions such as downloading a technical spec sheet or going to
the contacts page. A more powerful use would be on an ecommerce site.
Various goals can be set. This allows you to see where visitors are ‘turned
off’ the purchase.
Imagine the scenario where a goal is placed on the ‘view category’ page,
the ‘view item’ page, the ‘add to basket’ page, the ‘checkout’ page and the
‘thank you’ page. You will see detailed information as to where your buyers
leave the sale. This will help you to identify problems such as
incorrect/insufficient product range, pricing issues, problems with the
checkout i.e. payment options, delivery charges etc.
By reviewing the data, it is easy to alter strategies to fix any problem areas
and get your site selling.
Probably the simplest but potentially most critical statistic will be your
bounce rate. Bounce rate tells us how many times a visitor lands on one
of your pages and leaves without venturing further into your website. In
conjunction with another piece of data for the keywords used to find your
site, you will know that either your site is optimised for the wrong keywords
or that you are getting quality (correct) leads into the site, but failing to
show them that you are relevant. Either way, again, you are armed with the
information you need to make amends.
Measuring return on investment As you have seen, there is a lot to think about and do in order to create a
truly successful website. It wouldn’t make sense to put in this effort or
expense without a way to measure what your return is. Your website should
bring profits to your business. It should be an investment, not an expense.
Now it is fair to say that these profits will not be instant and you need to
consider the payback term.
To understand your return on investment, you need to add all of the costs
in producing the site and running the site over a given period. Since we are
used to 3 year plans, I will use that timeframe. After all, a good website
should not need to be totally rebuilt in less time than 3 years. Remember
to add the initial build costs to the cost of maintenance for the whole 3
year period. Then add the cost of promoting the site. This includes Pay Per
Click, internet marketer costs and any management time you will have to
put in. Depending on how good your internet marketing partners are, this
could be minimal or extensive. The figure may well be staggering, but it is
your real cost.
Next, work out what your average gross profit is in percentage terms. Let’s
say your total costs were going to be £80,000 and your gross profit is 50%.
This means that to simply break even you must sell £160,000 over 3 years
or £4,445 per month. You now have a number to work with that means
something. Taking this a step further, if you know that your average sale
is £450, you need to sell 10 items per month.
However you monitor your return on investment, make sure that you do.
Websites have a way of soaking up budget if you don’t. If your web
developer is more interested in the design or the technical aspects, alarm
bells should ring. Your (and their) main priority should always be getting a
return from your expenditure.
If you do not sell in the traditional sense, you should still set performance
targets. This may relate to time saving such as ‘what is the value of a user
downloading your service guide rather than calling tech support’ for
example. This can then be tracked and you can see whether your website
is saving you money.
17 18
Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)and the snowball effectYou should never forget the value of your ongoing relationship with a client.
This can seriously affect the view of your website profitability. This is
termed ‘Lifetime Customer Value’.
This is another simple equation to work out. If we know that our average
product is £450 and that the gross profit is 50%, then the sale value is
£225. It may take a lot of these to break even. What if though, you sell to
the same customer monthly and you keep the customer for three years. In
profit terms, the customer is worth 36 of the £225’s. This is £8,100 just in
profit. There are other knock-on benefits. How many people does he tell
about you and how many of those also spend regularly with you over a
prolonged period and tell others etc.
It is immediately apparent how looking at the lifetime customer value can
significantly improve your return on investment figures. Is this a realistic
way of looking at return on investment though? I think that it is. If you are
in business for the long term, you will generate the profits that you have
predicted through lifetime customer value.
In the early days of our customer relationships, we take it as a given fact
that we will make little profit. This is a massive incentive for us to do a
good job in order to be recommended and also to keep each account long
enough to move into the more profitable ongoing relationship part. Since
our client makes more profit later into the relationship, we are both ‘sharing
the pain’ and benefiting from the long term relationship.
Although it is encouraging to think of the referral business that a web
enquiry will eventually provide, I suggest that you only include the repeat
business from the individual customer. The rest is just a ‘knock-on benefit’.
Of course if you are including lifetime customer value into your equations,
you need to consider the timescale. Can your business afford the outlay
ahead of the return? This is the difference between a ‘cash flow forecast’
and a ‘Profit and Loss’ where the website would be an asset and the cost
shown over the full 36 months.
Choosing an Internet marketing partner This part is crucial. It is very rare for a successful website to be run inhouse. It is a lot to get right and therefore outsourced help is usually theway that this goal is achieved. This presents a problem. Who to choose?
Firstly, and the most obvious one, you have to get on with the team youchoose. It may be worth asking to see the person who will actually carryout the work before commissioning a team. You need to get on with thedeveloper and the internet marketer, not just the account manager. Thisteam should consist of a separate developer and internet marketer. Theroles are very different and it is impossible to be at the top of both. Oneside will suffer if this is the same person. You need a company thatspecialises in providing website/internet services.
A good track record is naturally a big key to your success. If the team havedone it before, they should be able to do it again. If they haven’t, you aretheir test case. If you offer to be that test case for a reduced fee, they don’thave the budget to do the work properly and everyone may lose.Testimonials are a very quick way to find out whether their existing clientswould use them again. Phone their clients if necessary.
Visit them. Not in a hotel lobby or meeting room facility; at their office. Get a feelfor their environment. Working in a pleasant environment makes a difference tothe work and attitude of the team. How long have they been going? The webhas changed and continues to change at a fast pace. Companies that havebeen around longer will have a wealth of experience and a more balancedoutlook. This will help you to avoid fads whilst seizing genuine opportunities.
What training or help do they provide free of charge? If they are good, thisis a tell tale sign. Providing free training means that potential clients cansee them in action before making a decision. Visit their training events.They will typically have existing clients there. Talk to them.
You will find it difficult to tick all of the boxes with all of the web developersyou meet. The most important consideration is that they have currentsatisfied clients who are generating profits from the efforts of the sameindividuals that you will work with.
Finally, don’t jump at the first web team you see. Unless you are absolutelyconvinced by the first team or have gone on recommendation, I recommendgetting a comparison. Also, don’t go overboard. It will make your decisionmaking harder and you will never move forward. See only 2-4 suppliers.
19 20
Where do you go from here?So, you are ready to begin using your website to increase business orkeen to see how much more your website can do. You need to speak tosomeone. If you speak to an internet marketer, you have made acommitment. You now have turned your desire into something concrete.Before you get to this point, it will be very easy to let the project drift.
This is not enough on its own. You have a lot of thinking and planning todo. It doesn’t have to be onerous or take up lots of time, but you do haveto work out the offline bits such as profitability. Work out what you can putaside in terms of budget. Know what your break even points are. Knowwhat cash you need to generate in what time frame.
Your web development/internet marketing team should work with you onthis. Look for a web company that publish their prices. This means if youdo share your budget with them, they won’t simply alter their costing to fityour budget. An ethical company should be always looking at how they canmaximise your budget, not their profits. Expect this to mean as much beingspent on the ongoing marketing as on the initial build unless your site hasto be particularly complex.
Naturally, Urban Media would love to speak to you regarding anynew/existing website project you have. But, this doesn’t mean you shouldonly look at us. You should at least gain 2 viewpoints as a minimum.Whatever you choose and whoever you want to speak to, my final wordwould be to ‘do something’! While you delay, your competitor is taking theadvantage. It’s time to get things back in your favour.
Thank you for reading this guide. I really hope it has helped to stir somethoughts and improved your understanding of what it takes to make awebsite successful. Of course there have been many details missing. Itwas never the idea to get stuck into the detail. You are very welcome toattend our monthly training sessions for a more detailed insight.
I wish you all the best with your internet marketing and I would be reallypleased to have my team help you out along the way.
Elton BoocockManaging DirectorUrban Media (GB) Ltd
P.S. Call Urban Media on 01494 538441 to get the ball rolling.
We would love to hear from you.
Make it tangible What does your business sell?
What do your customers buy from you?
How well is your website currently performing (circle below using 1-10)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Not delivering business Bringing regular business
What are the consequences to you of not having a successful website?
What would it mean to you if your site delivered regular leads/sales?
In 12 months, where would you like to see your website?Brochure site, not really used for new business
New site design representing the company professionally
Sales being generated through the site
Customers using the site to find information, saving time for them and us
moved into e-commerce and selling certain ‘standard’ items online
growing subscriber base to our well received monthly email news letter
I don’t know, but want to find out. I know it can do more!
21 22
Choose a partner checklist
Did you speak to the Web Developer?
Could you work with them?
Did you speak to the Internet Marketer?
Could you work with them?
Are they both Specialists?
Do they have relevant examples?
Does their website display named testimonials?
Can you speak to their existing clients?
Did they understand your requirement?
Did they challenge your ideas?
Did they add anything new to your ideas?
Did they speak in plain English?
Do the team work in a positive environment?
Do they provide free training?
How long have they been established?
Was the price agreeable?
Did you get a good ‘gut feel’?
Which Partner do you prefer?
*Remember, the price relates to what kind of success the partner can bring you. It hasbeen deliberately placed low down the list. Work with your partner to bring about the bestsolution within your budget.
23 24Run the numbers Using the last full 6 months as your timescale, fill in the following:
A Total Sales Value £
B Number of Sales
C Average Sale Value (A ÷ B) £
D Total Gross Profit £
E Gross Profit Margin ((D ÷ B) x 100) %
F Each sale is worth on average (C x E) £
G How many times do your clients spend per year?
H How many years do you keep each client
J Your Lifetime Customer Value is (F x G x H)
*At this point you may not know the following. In the future, it will drivethe success of your website.
K Number of visits to your website
L Number of sales/enquiries
M Website conversion rate ((L ÷ K) x 100)
N number of enquiries per 1 sale
O Value of a website visitor (J x M x N)
GlossaryAccessibilityThe art of ensuring that, to as largean extent as possible, facilities areavailable to people whether or notthey have impairments of one sortor another.
AdwordsGoogle’s Pay Per Click system(see Pay Per Click).
AnalyticsGoogle’s Web stats programme. Itruns on Google Servers andrequires small peices of code to beinserted on your individual pages.
Bounce RateThe rate at which visitors arrive ona page of your site and leavewithout going further into the site.
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS)A file used to format layout and textof pages to improve the quality andefficiency of the website.
ClickthroughWhen a user moves from one siteto another. The term is mostcommonly used when referring toa user moving from a searchengine to your website.
Clickthrough RatioThe ratio at which usersclickthrough from a site comparedto the total number of users whocould have clicked through.
Content Management System(CMS)A web application that allowswebsite business owners to edittheir own website to a greater orlesser degree without any webprogramming. It is usuallyachieved through a database.
Cost per ClickThe cost per single clickthrough froma Pay Per Click advert to your site.
Database Driven (see CMS)
Disibility Discrimination Act(DDA 1995)UK law governing a guideline ofrules to ensure accessibility.
DMOZThe human edited web directorybelonging to Google. Once a siteis listed in DMOZ, it’s rankingacross various search engines willbe greatly improved.
Email MarketingBulk messages sent via email withthe intention of marketing. Doneprofessionally, data will be recordedin relation to number of emailsopened and links followed. There arestrict laws governing the sending ofmail to unsolicited addresses.
FlashA platform that supports theauthoring and display of multimediacontent (e.g., graphics, audio, and/orstreaming media). Flash content canappear in a web page or be storedin file. Playing Flash content within abrowser is typically done through aBrowser Plug-in that includes theFlash player. The Flash player ispre-installed in several web browsersand on different operating systems.
Internet MarketingThe title given to marketingactivities that specifically relate tothe internet
Key phraseA phrase used by a search engineuser. This term is entered into thesearch box and the search engineuses this term to find relevant pages.
KeywordA word used by a search engineuser. The word is entered into thesearch box and the search engineuses this word to find relevantpages.
Link StrategyThe process of finding high PageRank links for your site. Thisprocess involves finding sites tolink to you, not necessarily fromyou. However, it is sometimesnecessary to offer a reciprocal link.
Natural Search Results(Listings)The natural listings that a searchengine returns based on itsalgorithm and in order of itsestimated relevance.
Organic Search Results (seeNatural Search Results)
Page RankA score given to an individual webpage, by a search engine, basedon the links that link to that page.
Pay Per Click (PPC)Various paid advertising systemsthat display paid for listingsalongside natural search results.These are ordered based on themaximum amount an advertiser iswilling to ‘bid’ in an auction tosecure the top position.
Reciprocal LinkTwo websites that link to oneanother.
Return on InvestmentThe amount of cash received inreturn for the cash outlaid.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)Marketing, both paid for and non-paid for, that is based purelyon search engine result pages.
Search Engine Optimisation(SEO)The process of optimising a webpage to ensure that it is wellreceived by the search engines andranks highly. This is achieved byunderstanding how the searchengine algorithm works andadjusting the page structure to suit.
Search Engine Result Pages(SERPs)The search engine page thatdisplays results based on theuser’s key phrases.
Search Term (see Key phrase)Social Networking
Creating profiles on variouswebsites that are set up as virtual(internet) networks.
UsabilityThe ease in which a site visitor isable to navigate your site and findwhat they need.
W3C (World Wide WebConsortium)A non-profit organisation setup toimprove standards across the web.They are responsible for settingstandards for usability andaccessibility.
Web Conversion RateThe ratio between the numbers ofvisitors that you receive comparedwith those that carry out yourwebsite goals.
Web DirectoryDirectories of businesses,websites, groups or other.Directories work different to searchengines in that you enter yourdetails into categories and userssearch by categories.
Web Stats (Web Statistics)Statistical programme that runs inthe background of a websitegathering information about visitoractivity. This information can thenbe used to report various activitiesin order for the website owner tomake improvements to theirwebsite.
25 26
Notes Notes
© 2008 Urban Media (GB) Ltd, Park House Business Centre,Desborough Park Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP12 3DJ
T 01494 538 441 W www.urbanmedia.co.uk
If you have been inspired to take action as a result of this guide,we would like to help. Go to www.urbanmedia.co.uk/succeed toview further assistance and for a unique special offer to get youstarted on the road to improved web success.
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