5 Tips If Your Web Site’s Traffic Slows in Summer Months
Traffic on the Internet slows in the summertime, according to Peter A. Prestipino at Website Magazine. So much so, his article refers to the slowdown as the “Web summer doldrums.” Frankly, I’ve never noticed. But I respect his insights.
From his 10 years experience, he offers five tips for helping your summer Web traffic; they include:
Create 30, 60 and 90-day plans – Mr. Prestipino suggests developing and implementing strategies in 30-day increments.
“The 30-60-90 strategy is ideal as an outline of what you will accomplish, what you want to accomplish, and, finally, what you wish you could accomplish,” he writes.
“In 30 days you will want to have created a media center on your site; in 60 days you will want to have had 10 bloggers written about your website or its products and services, and in 90 days you will want to get coverage from at least one major media news source,” he adds. “There are clearly a lot of steps involved to get there but writing down your plan will get you thinking about how to achieve them. When you plan, you plan to succeed.”
Complete Big Projects – Mr. Prestipino asserts that in the process, you will uncover a challenge that needs to be solved.
“…big projects might be a Website redesign, link building campaigns, conversion testing, etc,” he writes. “When it comes to selecting which big project you want to complete, you’ll need to weigh the potential return against the time commitment and legwork necessary to get the project done.”
He points out the most-complex projects usually don’t provide short-term benefits.
“Decide what would most benefit your business (creating social media campaigns, email marketing campaigns, etc.) and stick with it,” he explains. “When you know what you need and resolve to complete the task, it will make a difference to the bottom line in the near and long term.”
Network until Your Fingers Hurt – He says a good summer-investment of time is working on your connections and contacts.
“If you’ve established a Facebook Fan page, recruit new members,” he writes. “If you’re a LinkedIn user, find colleagues, customers and others in your industry to connect with.”
He believes social media endeavors are vital and it’s important to be uncompromising in your efforts.
“The best place to look might just be in your own customer list and even your own inbox,” he suggests. “Start there and shore up your friend and fan base this summer for long-term Web success.”
Stockpile Information and Ideas – He says even if you want to take easy in the summer, at least start accumulating ideas and information.
“It will undoubtedly be a challenge not to act on the information you encounter on the Web as much of it will probably motivate you to act on the suggestions provided, but doing so will ultimately give you a library of ideas you can leverage in the future,” Mr. Prestipino writes.
He says he always generates about 30 article ideas and another 10 to create revenue for his magazine.
“Stockpiling information and ideas will serve you well when you hit those creative blocks or when you finish one project and want to start another,” he explains. “When you are prepared, your chances of success are that much higher.”
Learn One New Thing – Mr. Prestipino suggests learning at least one new concept.
“Learning is a process,” he philosophizes. “The more you know, the more prepared you are to achieve success — Web success.”
He also invites readers to share their ideas at www.websitemagazine.com.
He deserves a big thumbs-up for his excellent counsel. Actually, his Web site is a must-read if you want timely information.
From the Coach’s Corner, if you haven’t focused on your social-media potential but want to start, why not now?
A personal case study:
Since I learned that search engines incorporate social media to assess Web-site relevance, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Digg, etc., have provided a nice boost to this site’s online presence almost immediately after I implemented the social-media practices, especially on Google and Bing.
My Web site gets as many referrals from social media as it does from Google. It helps with repeat visitors. I don’t bother anyone by tweeting about having a cup of coffee or other trivia…it’s usually a tweet to convey useful information. Further, as soon as I post a headline from my business-coaching Web site, the number of visitors to my site skyrockets. (I also take advantage of the LinkedIn feature to synch my LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. Tweets are automatically posted on my LinkedIn account.) Frequently, they are re-tweeted.
Press releases with pictures have also been beneficial.
Also, I’ve posted articles on a technology-client’s site, and promoted them on Facebook which is synched with Twitter. The client has enjoyed a 50 percent increase in visitors and climbing.
To connect with me:
www.linkedin.com/in/terrycorbell
Startup Toolkit – How to Make a Hit on the Internet
First impressions are critical for entrepreneurs. People will buy depending on what they feel about you emotionally. Just like your bricks and mortar location, your Internet presence will be strong if you always remember why people will buy from you.
It’s important to tap into the psyche of your prospective customers – there are five value perceptions that motivate customers to buy.
That’s right, customers aren’t even aware of it, but they make a buying decision based on five psychological reasons about value: What they think about your spokespeople, image of your company, product or service utility, convenience, and price.
Yes, there are a lot of people who will only buy at the cheapest price, but ignore them. (For more on this topic, see this column.)
Now that you’ve laid a foundation for sales to make a hit on the Internet, here’s the remainder of your startup toolkit:
Create a credible name. Thanks to the recession, businesspeople and consumers have changed their outlook. The dot-com era of quirky names will not work as well these days. Also, your name has to be relevant and easy-to-remember. That goes for your branding slogan or tagline, and your logo. Product or service utility is important in a slogan and logo – answer the question that all visitors subconsciously ask, “What’s in it for me?”
If you really want to look professional, create a flavicon from your logo, which is also known as a Web site icon.
Establish a strong reputation. Demonstrate your expertise as an authoritative resource. Become known as a leader in your industry. Make informed statements in newspaper articles and other online forums.
Professional image. Your site needs to be low-key, but assertive in telling your story. Include a page that explains what you’re all about. That’s different from being too sales-oriented or ostentatious. Demonstrate you expect to earn your visitors’ business. Make certain your site’s layout capitalizes on the natural movement of the eye, which is to upper left, over to the right and then down the side. So a strong element needs to be on the left, too, such as a great graphic of video.
Professionalism also means an informative blog, which will help guarantee that you will have a higher search-engine placement. Encourage interaction. If you maintain a separate blog, make sure it’s synchronized with your Web site.
Showcase your team. Customers want to feel comfortable dealing with you and your staff. Buyers are impressed if you show pride in your workers. Show their images and bios on your site to point out their expertise.
Get media coverage and showcase it. It’s true more and more people are relying on social media promotions. But publicity in a credible news medium – newspaper, TV or radio – will generate the most respect. Flaunt it.
Testimonials. Become adept at generating testimonials, go for it.
Videos. Relevant videos now play a key role. Suggested topics include your philosophy of doing business or demonstrating the benefits of a key product or service.
Social Media. Your social media – Facebook, Twitter or even LinkedIn – should be coordinated with your site. Again, encourage inter-activity. There are two reasons to insert sharing buttons (i.e. the “add this” tool bar – www.addthis.com). It will enable visitors to share your Web site link with others, and you will be able to share your pages, too.
Proofread all copy. Obviously, errors do not promote professionalism. That means you need to budget time to double-check all spelling and links to pages.
Fresh looks. Update your content as often as possible. Search engines and visitors will take note. But take care not to extremely change your look so you can continue to capitalize on your previous marketing initiatives.
Optimize. Be sure to use search-engine optimization techniques and coordinate your site with your social media.
Contact. Make it easy, very easy for visitors to get contact information – your location, telephone number and e-mail. But include your information in graphics so unwanted bots and spammers can’t pick up the information simply by crawling your site. You’ll avoid countless unwanted e-mail spam, phishers, and telephone calls.
Prevent online threats. Remember British Petroleum’s online nightmare – the fake BP Twitter account? It generates 10 times the number of visitors than BP’s Twitter account. Be sure to take five precautions against threats from Facebook and Twitter.
From the Coach’s Corner, here’s more on online marketing:
5 Strategies to Sell More from Your Web Site
In SEO, Your Site’s Download Speed Matters to Google
E-Mail Marketers Plan to Greatly Increase Use of Videos, New Study
March 2, 2010
You can expect to see a lot more videos in your e-mail. Marketers plan a major expansion in their use of videos in e-mails, according to a report in Website Magazine. The magazine quotes a study by Getresponse.com.
The Getresponse suvey indicates 80 percent of respondents will insert videos in 2010. In 2009, only 15.7 percent used videos.
Sixty-five percent of e-mail marketers feel that such videos are effective. Sixty-four percent of such marketers now using videos say videos result in more sales.
Common uses of videos: Customer testimonials, product demos, product offers, and training courses.
You can see the report at GetResponse.
From the Coach’s Corner, I don’t believe the study by Gertresponse is too self-serving. It’s getting more and more challenging to reach consumers. Note this column: Of Interest to Web Publishers, Videos Continue Surge in Popularity.
For an overview of how to overcome consumer overload, see: Marketing Strategies to Cut Through the Clutter.