Hello. Hope you had a good weekend.
I’ve copped a bit of flak recently over parts of a newsletter I write for SitePoint.
I wrote in the previous edition about 2 things that have stirred a bit of controversy.
1. Issue 1: I wrote that pop ups on web site aren’t actually bad in themselves. I said that, done right, pop ups can be a useful part of visiting a web site.
2. Issue 2: I mentioned the excellent blog of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons. Some readers took exception to me praising Bob’s blog and/or company on the basis of some controversial ads GoDaddy ran at the Super Bowl.
Broader Issue
The broader issue here is about marketing.
The marketing strategy employed by GoDaddy in respect to the Super Bowl Ads was one of the most brilliant awareness campaigns I’ve seen.
Pop ups on web sites keep getting used because they work.
An important aspect as a marketer is to set aside your personal preferences and, within reason, assess the suitability for your target market of your advertising strategies.
It’s Not What You Think
It’s not what you think, it’s how your advertising and marketing will affect your target market.
* Just because you might find that ads offensive doesn’t mean others will.
* Just because you hate pop ups doesn’t mean others do.
* Just because you might not find something interesting doesn’t mean others will.
Keep that in mind when you develop your marketing strategy – whether that be online or off.
Brendon
One of my favourite writers is a guy called Seth Godin. Seth commented on his web site a few days back regarding his frustration with a reporter who didn’t like his answer to a question.
Didn’t Like His Answer
“The reporter didn’t like the answer I gave her about how to build a email marketing list.
I told her that the first step was to offer something in your email newsletter that people would actually want to read.
That the second step was to promise people exactly what you intended to give them.
And the third step was to create content that was so remarkable that people wanted to share it. I explained that if you take your time and keep your promises, it’ll build if it deserves to build.”
Seth was explaining that there are no shortcuts to quality, but the reporter just wanted to know how to achieve the same result when you have no time or nothing interesting to say.
I See That A Lot
I see that a lot with clients who think they can get a great web site for $500.
It happens something like this:
I’ll have a meeting with a person and assess their web needs, wants and expectations. (Quite often we’ll have 2, 3 or 4 meetings to establish this.)
They’ll ask for a ball-park figure. Now, I never used to give a ball-park figure (rough estimate)because it’s much better to demonstrate the value of what we do rather than just the cost.
But these days I’ll generally provide a ball-park figure because it qualifies the prospect a little for us (it also causes us to lose potential clients because they don’t understand the value we can provide – and that’s because in an initial meeting we wouldn’t have a perfect idea of the value we can provide).
What that means is we don’t spend another 10 hours work developing a web site proposal for a client who has a budget of $200.
Anyway, let’s say the ball-park figure is $5,000. That’s for a fairly small web site. What often happens (and by “often” I’d say 50% of the time) the person will say “Our other quotes are for $300 and $500.”
Perceived Risk
Because one of the biggest choice influences in buying is perceived risk, we’ll get a “No” immediately because the person would prefer to risk $500 than $5,000.
The person buying web services hasn’t adequately assessed the risk/reward because they are too focused on the initial cost.
Here’s How We Developed A Recent Web Site
Had x3 1 hour meetings with the client to establish their market niche, their market positioning and their exact needs and wants from the web site.
Completed 6 hours research on competitor web sites and benchmarked against relevant web sites.
Spent 3 hours developing concepts for the site design.
Spent 3 hours researching appropriate keywords and phrases relevant to the web site market.
Stop Right There
So far that is 15 hours of work.
* Before we’ve even designed a thing.
* Before we’ve written a word of copy.
* Before the client has seen anything.
* They’re the things you have to do to develop a successful site. We know because we’ve done it before and it works.
The Only Shortcut To A Successful Site Is Doing It Right The First Time
The only shortcut to a successful site is doing it right the first time. That is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Find the right web developer. Ask them for testimonials. Ask them for a quality guarantee. Get it done right. And look at the value, not the cost.
Brendon
Because we do so many web sites I’m very aware of overcoming the client’s resistance to buying because of the perceived risk. One way we try and demonstrate our quality and expertise is by providing current client names and numbers to potential clients.
What generally happens is the potential client rings a current client and finds out how we do business in practice (because we all say we’re fantastic in the meeting!).
This Is What One Of Our Clients Did Yesterday
One of our clients (I’ll call him Ross………because that’s his name!) spoke with a business owner we’d been meeting with about a web site. Ross spent 15 minutes on the phone telling this client how we’d performed with him over over the past year or so.
I was very appreciative of Ross taking the time to chat to our potential client.
Yesterday, Ross was driving past our potential client’s business and decided to drop in. So in he went and introduced himself to our potential client in person.
They had another chat about us (Tailored Consulting).
Will We Get The Job?
My mum always told me not to count my chickens before they hatched, but the chances for our success would have increased significantly because of Ross’ efforts.
That’s the first time a client has ever gone way out of their way like that to help us get a job and I’m thrilled Ross has thought so much about our business to help so much.
And I’d usually end off with a comment about how we can repeat the process, but I really don’t know. It’s not as if we can ask our clients to visit potential clients and praise us up!
Or can we??!
References are good. Testimonials are fantastic. An in-person visit to provide a testimonial is unbelievable. Thanks Ross!
Cheers
Brendon
On one of our web sites we have a 3.2% sales conversion – that is for every 100 visitors 3.2 buy (I’m not sure, but I think the .2 person must be really, really small??).
When we test new things we generally only make one change at a time. If we made more, and the changes impact, we’d never be sure what made the difference.
How we test that site is very basic AB testing. The site converts 3.2%. We try and beat that.
We Try One Thing
We try one thing – if after a set period of time (we measure by visitor numbers rather than time) the conversion rate drops to 2.9% we’ll know to change back to what we had.
But if the site conversion increases to 3.5%, this is our new benchmark page and we’ll keep it as is. Then we’ll try and beat it.
The Aspect That Always Has The Biggest Impact On Sales
The aspect that always has the biggest impact on sales is the headline. The heading. The big, bold words at the top.
Just yesterday I changed the headline on one of the sites we manage. Already the conversion rate looks like it will jump a good 10% (from 4% to 4.4%).
That’s a significant jump.
Keep testing, testing, testing your site so you can gather the information you need to make effective decisions.
Brendon
Howdy.
A few people we meet with seem to think that successfully marketing a business requires us to be struck by a bolt of brilliance from where we craft a fantastic marketing strategy.
Doesn’t Work Like That
It doesn’t work like that. If I could give you a successful marketing strategy in 1 word it would be “Consistency.”
If you graciously allowed me 3 things, they’d be:
1. Word of Mouth/Referrals
2. Advertising
3. Public Relations
Marketing is about getting your message noticed by your target market. And getting noticed has a lot to do with frequency – that is, how often your market sees your message. The more the better.
A well integrated marketing campaign
Combine those 3 tactics together to form a well-integrated marketing campaign and the leads and sales will flow in.
Don’t rely on just 1. (Mostly because it won’t give you the frequency you need for success, but also because by using those 3 people will know about you (advertising), they’ll believe you’re credible (PR) and they’ll trust you (referrals)).
That’s the sort of mix that leads to a sales – the ultimate goal of any marketing.
Brendon
Many people I speak with are afraid to go into business for themselves. “Afraid” is not really the right word….more “anxiety”.
They feel as those they need to have everything planned out to the nth degree.
The hardest thing about getting started is getting started
The hardest thing about getting started is getting started. It has long been a philosophy of mine that it’s more important to do something rather than to analyze extensively, plan, review and only then implement.
Just do it and see what happens!
I was talking with the new team member (Anthony) today about our business. One of the warnings I gave him was to not be surprised if he sees us doing something a particular way that makes him think “Why are these idiots doing it that way?”
Well, usually the answer to that question is “Because we don’t know any better.”
The Reason We Do It That Way
And there’s a reason we do it that way. Much of my business career has been very entrepreneurial where I’ve had to rapidly assess and act on market information.
I often don’t have time for the subtleties that some organisations might have. I have to attack and attack hard to see whether the business is viable. I’ll do whatever works to solve my problems of the time.
Sure, they won’t always be the “best” or “perfect” solution, but the time I save by implementing NOW provides me with so many significant market and competitive advantages as to outweigh the negatives of doing it “wrong”.
It’s About Results
It’s about results. As an entrepreneur I need action now. Not analysis.
(But as my business range has become more focused – now I do business mostly in the web arena – I have acquired more knowledge, experience and expertise along with more highly skilled people around me (like Jo & Anthony) to enable me to pick the best solution sooner (if not immediately).)
Unquestionably, the best article/ebook/manifesto I’ve ever read that has come closest to my personal business philosophy is “The Art of The Start” by Guy Kawasaki.
(It’s 34 pages of easy reading. File size (PDF) is 609 kb.)
A simple and easy read that should be compulsory reading for anyone looking at starting or continuing in business.
66% Of Marketers Have Budgeted for A Web Site Revamp This Year
Just reading MarketingSherpa.com and noticed they say 66% of marketers have budgeted for Web site revamps this year.
A better market for web developer is people who already have web sites. After all, they know the value of a web site better than businesses without.
And here’s an example of a site design that works and works very, very well. I haven’t seen a design similar to that before.
My only change would be a benefit driven heading and a testimonial in place of the second paragraph (or maybe even in place of the 1st paragraph). But then again I’m sure they’ve tested the Home Page to the nth degree 🙂
Brendon
Howdy. Hope your day is going well.
I had a meeting with a client for a redevelopment of his current web site. It’s a site that sells his particular product.
Part of our assessment is trying to establish what the web site has achieved in the past. We’ll take a good look at the statistics (if available) and review sales and enquiries generated.
Base from Which To Work
We do that for one very good reason. You see, we have to have a base from which to work.
With this particular client we placed a statistics program on his web site a week ago. In the meeting yesterday we took a look at the statistics with the client. He is receiving an average of 16 visitors a day.
When I asked him how many sales he was making from the web site he said “About 4 sales a day.”
He Wasn’t Actually Sure
Upon further questioning he actually wasn’t sure. He said that figure because that’s what emails he’d seen coming in from the sales page (both him and his wife run the site).
It’s Critical We Get The Exact Sales Figure
It’s critical we get the exact sales figures for the web site in the previous 6-12 months. And it’s critical because we need to show the client what benefit he has received from our work.
From my review of the client’s web site I’d think he’d only be generating 4 sales a week. There’s no way he’d be getting 4 sales a day. That’s a 25% conversion rate – and the site, from my experience, wouldn’t be achieving that.
If we didn’t have the benchmark, things would go along like this:
* We’d do our redevelopment and quadruple his visitor numbers (at least). His sales would go from 4 per week to 16 per week. That would be great.
* But he’d think he’d just spent $x on the redevelopment and gone down from 4 sales a day to just over 2.
In our eyes the site redevelopment would be a great success.
In the client’s eyes the site would be a huge failure.
So the 2 questions to ask when doing a redevelopment are:
1. What has the site achieved previously?
2. What would the site have to do for you to consider it a success?
Then when you’re work pays off you’ll have a well-informed and delighted client.
That’s my hint of the day!
Brendon
My car was in getting some work done last week. Now, it’s a good car. But a little dirty. I’ve never been a car sort of guy and I know next to nothing how they work.
My idea of washing my car is parking it outside and hoping it rains.
Anyway, you hear of these garages that not only fix your car but as an added bonus they’ll detail it whilst it’s in the shop. I was hoping that my garage was such a place.
Nice Clean Car
I would have appreciated a nice clean car being delivered back to me! But, alas, it was not to be. Turns out my garage does what they’re supposed to do and fixes cars. Oh, the outrage.
But I would have been really impressed if they had of cleaned it :o(
And that got me thinking. What can I do that’s the equivalent of cleaning the client’s car?
And thinking………………………..and thinking.
Got it!
How about we wash our client’s cars? Next time a client calls into the office we’ll have a detailer ready to go.
Maybe give the client a massage – there are plenty of massage businesses in my town that go to offices and provide massages.
Perhaps tickets to a show – at the local Casino here on the Gold Coast, dinner and a show costs $62. That’s nothing when you consider the lifetime value of a client.
Imagine This
Imagine you’re the client sitting there and you get this letter:
“Dear John
Hope all is well.
Just a quick note to say thanks for your recent business. We’re delighted to have been of service and thrilled that the web site has been so successful.
As you know, we don’t do things the same as every other business – a fact that has contribute to our success. Part of what we do appreciate the importance of your business to you and how important great clients like you are to our business.
As our way of saying “Thanks for being part of our success” I’ve organised dinner and a show on Saturday night…..blah, blah, blah.”
That’ll impress him. (What would be even more effective is if you invited him – and partner -along with you and your partner. That way you can continue to build the relationship.)
That’s a great way to wash your client’s car.
Brendon
Jason asked the question “How much business do you make by putting “Site by:Tailored – Online Marketing Specialists” on your sites?”
At the bottom of our sites we used to have: “Site by Tailored.” Only recently have we changed that to specifically target “web site marketing” related terms.
Over the 6 or 7 years we’ve been in business we’ve only generated 1, possibly 2 jobs from the “Site by Tailored” link. Pretty lame.
But that link from web sites we’ve developed can be useful.
Difficulty With A Blog
Over the past few months we’ve changed the link to try and generate an effective linking strategy – we link via words such as “web marketing” and “online marketing” to our Home Page.
But the difficulty with having a blog is that the content changes so dramatically each day that targeting a specific keyword or phrase is a little harder than normal (because of the reduced capacity for on-page ranking factors such as key word count, headings, etc).
All a link to “Tailored” does for me is assist us ranking higher for the term “tailored”. As a web firm that’s not much use to us.
Okay, so the bottom line for us is this. The link at the bottom of the web pages we develop doesn’t give us any/many prospects.
Use The Link More Effectively
But if we utilise that link a little more effectively – let’s say you are a “Denver web designer” then my suggestion would be to use those words to link to your Home Page.
And have the term “Denver web designer” in your title, main heading, once in the first paragraph and scattered throughout your page copy – then that link can aid our search engine rankings significantly and assist in generating prospects via having a high ranking when people search for the term “Denver web designer”.
Cheers.
Brendon