5 Tips If Your Web Site’s Traffic Slows in Summer Months
Updated May 9, 2013
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, this portal’s readership doesn’t drop. 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?
Search engines incorporate social media activity to assess Web-site relevance: So, increase your site’s search-engine prominence by joining LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Business Exchange, etc.
Whenever possible, synch your social media accounts. Press releases with pictures are beneficial, too. Not to be gauche, but I am proud to operate the No. 1 biz coach site on all the search engines. You, too, can become No. 1 in your niche by attracting links from credible sites with a strong Google page rank. You don’t even have to be a specialist in search-engine optimization.
Strategies include:
- Frequent changes (invite search engines to check your site frequently)
- Quality content
- Use most relevant keywords
- Use social media and search engine press releases
For example, my salient links:
Press releases: http://pressroom.prlog.org/CMSAssociatesLLC/
Business Exchange: http://cdn.businessweek.com/profile/terry-orbell/tcorbell573/
Tweet: twitter.com/bizcoachinfo
Facebook: www.facebook.com/terry.corbell
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/terrycorbell
Google+: https://plus.google.com/104128115154433039212#104128115154433039212/posts
More Web strategies:
Is Your Web Site Losing Visitors? Best Practices to Fix the Trend
11 Tips to Make Money on Facebook
Google Insights – 23 Key Questions about Your Web Site
How CRM, SEO Strategies Can Lead to Higher Sales
“Your premium brand had better be delivering something special, or it’s not going to get the business.”
-Warren Buffett
__________
Author Terry Corbell has written innumerable online business-enhancement articles, and is a business-performance consultant and profit professional. Click here to see his management services. For a complimentary chat about your business situation or to schedule him as a speaker, consultant or author, please contact Terry.
Marketing to Women? Study Says More Love Social Media
April 11, 2010
In just three years, a major change has occurred in Internet usage – women under 40 love social media and most men in the same age group love it less, according to a study by the University of Southern California.
A published report, penned by Mike Sachoff at WebProNews, indicates the USC research reveals both genders value social media, but younger men are moving onto other interests.
Sixty-seven percent of females under 40 are as passionate about their social media as they are their offline friendships. This compares to 38 percent of males.
This represents a major swing in preferences since 2007. That’s when 69 percent of males and 35 percent of females were passionate about social media.
The research was conducted by Michael Gilbert. Mr. Gilbert’s a senior fellow at the school’s Annenberg Center for the Digital Future.
“Women have been a bit more cautious with new technologies but they generally catch up and often exceed men in their enthusiasm once they’ve had a chance to look around,” WebProNews quotes Mr. Gilbert. “Men tend to charge in to new technologies and the opportunities they enable.”
His research reveals 48 percent of women under 40 use online contacts to create offline friendships. That compares to 36 percent of the same age group of men. This about the same percentage of women in 2006 but reflects a switch in preferences in young men. In that year, 59 percent of males became in-person friendships after Internet introductions.
It is not surprising that both genders have acknowledged the importance of the Web for making connections.
However, it is surprising that men indicate their Web connections are not as important as in 2007, but now 84 percent of them say they contribute “to their Internet community” vis-à-vis only 69 percent for women.
“The survey also found women of all ages have a wider range of online community interests, putting more emphasis on social, spiritual and relationship aspects,” writes Mr. Sachoff. “Gilbert believes these deeper personal and social interests likely account for the increasing importance women place on their online communities.”
So, the obvious Biz Coach conclusion: Social media is an excellent option for marketing to younger women.
From the Coach’s Corner, WebProNews is a terrific source of information, such as “Social Media May Get Much More Convenient for Businesses.”
Breakthrough Strategies to Land Venture Capital in 2010
If you follow eight tactics suggested by premier financial strategist Joey Tamer, my sense is that you will greatly enhance your odds for landing venture capital.
She shares her expertise in a Wall Street Journal blog, Strategies for Finding Venture Capital in 2010.
Ms. Tamer is an expert consultant for early-stage technology and media companies whom I rely upon as an authoritative source on finance-related matters in my Biz Coach columns.
Whatever Ms. Tamer says, you can take it to the bank with confidence.
Will Social Media Take Driver’s Seat in Search?
A study shows about one in five Internet users now use social media instead of portals and search for their online navigation. That’s the finding of The Nielsen Company, www.nielsen.com, in an online panel survey of 1800 respondents in Aug. 2009.
“While still a smaller percentage than those who use search engines or portals like Yahoo! or MSN, it is a significant figure,” wrote Jon Gibs, VP Media Analytics at Nielsen. “And as social media usage continues to increase (unique visitors to Twitter.com increased 959 percent YOY in August), I can only expect this figure to grow.”
What type of Web sites do the respondents use for search?
- 37 percent - search engines
- 34 percent - portals (e.g. Yahoo, MSN, AOL)
- 11 percent - specific sites
- 9 percent - Wikipedia
- 5 percent - blogs
- 4 percent - Facebook, Myspace, Twitter
(The latter three, totaling 18 percent, are considered social media.)
With vast number of Web sources of information, Gibs indicated Internet users feel the effects of consumer overload.
“Socializers – those who spend 10 percent or more of their online time on social media – feel this effect more than others do,” he wrote. “When asked, 26 percent feel that there is too much information available on the Internet, compared to 18 percent of people who predominantly use portals and just 5 percent of people who primarily use search engines.”
Why this scenario?
“Socializers trust what their friends have to say and social media acts as an information filtration tool,” explained Gibs. “This is key because Socializers gravitate towards and believe what is shared with friends and family. If your friend creates or links to the content, then you are more likely to believe it and like it. And this thought plays out in the data.”
He stated nearly 15 percent of the Socializers trust blogs and 20 percent rely on information posted on message boards.
From the Coach’s Corner, Nielsen reports higher-income urban dwellers tended to be Socializers.
“Nielsen’s online data shows that about half of the U.S. population visited a social networking website in the last year and that number grows every quarter,” said Wils Corrigan, AVP, Research & Development, Nielsen Claritas. “The rising popularity of these sites and the deep engagement consumers have with them has advertisers and marketers asking for more and more detail as to which lifestyles should be targeted for their online advertising and promotions.”
Other findings:
- Facebook users have a largely upscale profile. The top third of lifestyle segments relative to affluence were 25 percent more likely to use Facebook than those in the those in the lower third.
- The bottom third segments related to affluence are 37 percent more likely to use MySpace than those in the top third.
- Users of Facebook were also much more likely to use LinkedIn, a network geared towards business and professional networking, than those who use MySpace.