7 REASONS WHY YOUR ONLINE

MARKETING IS NOT WORKING

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Are you successfully capturing customers with your online marketing? If not, there may be a specific reason and it’s time to uncover what that reason might be.

In this booklet, we outline seven of the most common mistakes business owners make when it comes to their online marketing. Many of them are easily rectified so make the changes today and power up your marketing tomorrow because you will have all the right components in place for a successful online marketing campaign.

Enjoy!

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Reason #1:

YOUR WEB DESIGN IS NOT MOBILE-FRIENDLY

If your web design is not mobile-friendly, you are not capturing all the customer you could. Here is why.

Its official as of 2015, 50.3% of website traffic for ecommerce sites comes from users on a mobile device, according to Shopify. That means consumers using desktop computers to access the web, have finally been passed up by consumers using mobile devices for access. If your site is not mobile-friendly, you are doing 50% of your visitors a massive disservice.

The fact that users prefer mobile-friendly sites has been proven by studies showing 61% of consumers have an improved opinion of organizations who offer a mobile experience, and 40% will choose another business if your site is not mobile-friendly. Do you want to lose customers, not because your product or service is not right for them, but because they just don’t want to deal with your website? No way!

Implement a mobile-friendly site that is either a mobile version of your PC site, or a responsive design. Google is accepting of both, although a responsive site is more future proof. While it may seem difficult to create a responsive version of your website, there are many companies providing design services to keep up with the trends. Head over to Google to test how mobile-friendly your site is and gain tips on how to improve.

What makes a site mobile-friendly?

• Thebasicrequirementsincludeadjustingthewebsitetobeviewedondifferentsizedscreens.

• Thelayoutmustbewellsuitedforthedestinationdisplaysize,wheremenus,links,andcontentiseasytoreadand navigate.

• Thesitealsomust loadfast.Manysites includemassiveamountsofcontenttoengagetheaudience,but itdoesn’t do any good if the customer doesn’t want to wait for it to load.

Only include what is most important and relevant to users on the go, and ensure it is optimized for viewing on a mobile device. You will then capture the 50% of your customers who are visiting you on the go.

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Reason #2:

YOU DON’T HAVE A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

If you don’t have a content marketing strategy, you are losing customers by not fully utilizing your content.

Content is KING in the online marketing world, which means the content provided on your website must be truly meaningful to your audience. Long gone are the days of keyword stuffing to simply get traffic to your site. We have all learned that traffic means nothing if you aren’t capturing your customers.

Instead, you want the right traffic to come to your site, who you can offer a legitimate solution to. The only way to offerthatqualitycontentwhichattractstherightcustomer,isbyhavingawell-plannedcontentmarketingstrategy.Simply winging it and creating content on a whim is like throwing darts, but with no target in sight. Instead, you need to identify your business goals and main priorities. The content should then be planned to serve that goal.

For example, if you have a website that sells a monthly software subscription service, and you want your traffic to subscribe, your main goal would be getting traffic to click the subscribe button and for them to give their payment details. As a result, all content on the website should work toward that goal. What content are we talking about? Your home page, about us page, blog, product descriptions, etc, are all opportunities to guide visitors through the sales funnel.

By researching the appropriate short, and more importantly long tail, keywords, you will attract the right searchers. Then, on each page, you can provide them with the information they are looking for, with directives on how they can utilize your service or buy your product.

A content marketing strategy must be in place and in alignment with your business goals to effectively capture your customers.

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STARTUSE VI

DEO

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Reason #3:

YOU’RE NOT USING VIDEOIf you are not using video, you are losing the majority of customers who prefer to see it.

Video is an effective tool for capturing the attention of the viewer and delivering a message in a clear, meaningful way. Statistics are showing that users are watching more video now than ever before, with over 100 hours uploaded to YouTube each minute.

As a result, using video as part of your content marketing strategy, is becoming more important than ever. In fact, 52% of consumers are more confident in their purchasing decision when they can watch a product video. Furthermore, 92% of mobile video viewers, share the content with others! When trying to capture customers, increasing the level of confidence in your product and having your viewers do the sharing for you, are definitely moves in the right direction.

We have shown why video is important to a content marketing strategy, now let’s discuss ways to make videos more effective in creating brand awareness and generating online engagement.

• First,youneedtomakeagoodimpression.Itisestimatedthatmarketershaveabouttensecondstograbtheattention of the viewer, so the beginning of the video must be enticing.

• Thevideolengthmatterstoo,asabout60%oftheuserswillclickawayifthevideolengthexceedstwominutes.Keep the video brief, but important. Engage viewers right from the start.

• Onceyourvideoislive,youcantrackvideoanalyticstogetinsightintouserbehaviorinresponsetoyourvideo.

• Also,considerhowyouaredistributingthevideo.ManycompaniesaretakingintoaccountYouTube’sdecliningmarket share, and are choosing to upload videos directly onto Facebook.

Keep what is best for your customers in mind. While there are many decisions to be made with a video strategy, one thing that is not negotiable is whether or not you should include videos in your marketing strategy. In short, you must.

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CALL TOACTION

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Reason #4:

YOUR CALLS TO ACTION ARE WEAKIf you have weak calls to action, customers aren’t being captured simply because you aren’t telling them to.

A call to action is an instruction to an audience to provoke a specific response. For example, “Download your copy today!” or “Call now!” These types of statements must be strategically placed on your website in order to get the response desired. If you are selling your product, but don’t make it easy for the customer to buy it, they will get frustrated and look for another solution. Don’t let that be the case!

When using calls to action on your website, be direct, create urgency and be specific.

• First,steerclearfromlanguagethatbegsoraskscustomerstodosomething.Effectivecallstoactionshoulddo exactly what they say “call the person to take action”. Start with verbs like buy, shop, order, download or subscribe.

• Second,makeanofferyourcustomerscan’trefuse.Makethecalltoactionexcitingwiththeuseofanexclamationpoint. Create urgency by using words like today and now. State the benefits they will gain such as “Download your new copy today!”

• Third,includeanincentiveinyourcalltoaction.Canyouofferadiscountorfreeconsultation?Thiswillsweetenthe deal and increase conversions. Increase urgency even further by creating a “fear of missing out” statement using a limited time or resource offer.

• Fourth,makesureyouconsidermobileusersinyourcalltoactions.Willpeoplebeabletoclickeasilyandcompletea transaction on your site while on the go? Maybe an instruction to call will be more effective. Keep this in mind.

• Fifth,placementiskey.Readersareinterestedinyourproductastheyarereadingaboutitthroughyourcontentand then BAM! You need a call to action to close the sale. This needs to happen consistently throughout your website by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes. Which places are most effective on your site to capture the customer.

Use these tips to create strong calls to action which will create the opportunity for customers to get their product or service with ease.

Reason #5:

YOU ARE NOT USING A/B TESTINGIf you do not use A/B testing, you are missing out on customers due to your website not being optimized.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, has the potential to improve your website conversion rates. It is a test in which you compare one version of a website, to a second version with one variance. The traffic that visits your site isdividedbetweenthetwoversionsequally,andthecapturerateismeasured.Youcanthenreviewtheresultstosee which version is more profitable, and use that one. This tool can be used continuously to always be improving your website to a higher and higher level. As you can see, if you are not doing A/B testing, you cannot possibly have optimized your website to capture the most customers possible, because you haven’t done any experimentation.

To run an A/B test, you can use one of the many online tools available. You will begin by experimenting with an element on your site like call to action placement, an image, different versions of copy, banners, etc. You will then use the control version “A” and program in the alternate version “B”. Hence the name A/B testing.

Once you have created the two versions, the test can begin. Then all you have to do is wait patiently for the test period to end and review your results in the analytics dashboard. The process is really very simple and most service providers will make results user friendly and even offer easy implementation of the best version.

Watch for a confidence level of at least 95% to determine a winner and know sometimes there is no clear winner between the variables. Should that happen, then go back and choose a new variable to test. Using A/B testing takes the guesswork out of finding what works for your website.

KEYWORD

KEYWORD

KEYWORD

KEYWORD

KEYWORD

KEYWORD

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Reason #6:

YOU ARE NOT PERFORMING KEYWORD RESEARCH

If you are not performing keyword research, you aren’t focusing on the customers who need you most.

One area that you cannot afford to overlook is keyword research. Both search engines and users depend on keywords to find your site. Therefore, if you do not have the right keywords, you will direct traffic to you that is not likely to buy anything.

For example, if you sell fold-up tables for parties and events, but use the keyword “tables” throughout your content copy, you are going to get people looking for all kinds of tables. What percentage of people will actually want the fold-up tables you have? Not many. On the other hand, if you use “fold-up tables’ as your keyword, your traffic will be much more targeted. You may get less traffic, but more sales from that traffic.

Using and selecting the right keywords that match your website, will mean that your site is optimized to appear in the search results which are most relevant to your customer’s needs. While it may sound simple, choosing the right keywords can be a refined art. It includes determining what people are searching for.

So how can you do keyword research?

• First, startbymakinga list of all andany relevant keywordson yourwebsite.Compilea list of phrasesandkeywords you think your customers may use to search for your products or services. You can even try Googling a few common keywords that come to your mind. Google will show a list of keywords and phrases relating to your initial keyword. At the bottom of the search page, you will also see related suggestions based on your search.

• Keyword search tools, suchasGoogleKeywordPlanner, canhelp refine your list of keywords. If you enter akeyword using the tool, it will list a wide array of keywords that are related, along with their search volume. You can then narrow it down on the basis of relevancy, competition and volume. Try to pick around 10 to 15 words that you plan to target.

After choosing the keywords you can track how many people they direct to your site and how many of those visitors become customers. With that information, you can decide which are most effective.

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Reason #7:

YOU DON’T HAVE A SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

If you don’t have a social media presence, you aren’t capturing the vast amount of customers using those platforms.

Social media is no longer just for socializing, it is now a place for consumers to follow businesses, make purchases and learn about products and services.

While some have dismissed its power, the statistics have continuously show its value. Hubspot has said that 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that social media was important to their business and 80% of these marketers said that their efforts on social media increased traffic to their websites

Social media can help your business in a myriad of ways.

• Firstly, itcan leadto increasedbrandrecognitionand itdoesn’thurttoutilizeeveryopportunitytosyndicatecontent and increase visibility. Think of social media networks as new channels for your brand’s content and voice.Customerswillhavetheopportunitytobecomebetteracquaintedwithyourbrand.

• Additionally,businesseswhoparticipateonsocialmediaalsohavehigherloyaltyfromtheircustomers.Infact,Convince&Convert recently published a study stating that 53% of Americans are loyal to the brands they follow via social media platforms. When it comes time to buy, they will visit your site.

• Third,socialmediagivesyourcompanymoreopportunitiestoconvertcustomers.Aspeoplestartfollowingyoursocial media accounts, you can interact with them about promotions, new products or anything else you want to share.

When it comes down to it, social media is a new avenue to reach a vast audience of customers on a global level. It presents an opportunity to get more personal with them and maintain an ongoing relationship. Increase loyalty and customer capture rate by creating a presence across multiple platforms including main players like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.

There you have 7 main reasons why websites are not capturing customers. From mobile friendliness, to social media and proper keyword usage, customers now hold businesses to these expectations. Evaluate all seven common reasons to see if any are affecting your website. By identifying and correcting them, you will be able to increase your customer capture rate and ultimately put more money in your pocket.

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ABOUT USToday, anyone can create a video. Just point and shoot with a Smartphone. But if you’re wanting to create an amazing, tailored, bespoke video, then you’ve come to the right place.

VideoBuzzworkinpartnershipwithyoutocreatemagic.Wehaveauniquewayofdrawingouttheessenceof what you are trying to say and turning it into a visually stunning, highly influential message that your customers will understand and love you for!

Unlike our competitors, we come from a strong background in sales, marketing and business communications. We are messaging maestros with a keen eye for creative design that find the heart of what our clients are trying to say and turning that into a compelling story that resonates deeply.

It can be daunting even just thinking about how your video will come together, to get across the message you need to. That’s our job. All we need from you is to know where you want to get to and the message you are trying to convey to solve your problem.

Go on, give us a go, we’re confident you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

7 Key Ingredients of an Engaging Video – ©VideoBuzz & Jules Blundell 12

TALK TO US 1300 820 108

jules@videobuzz.com.auwww.videobuzz.com.au