How Well is Your Site Converting?

Business Blogging — A Paradigm Shift: I was working on a CMS development project last week for a company of technically savvy consultants, and so was very surprised when our team received feedback that blog links shouldn’t appear on the front page of their site, and that blogging was just for rambling. Hmmmmm. At first, I thought they didn’t get it — they didn’t understand how social media marketing was such a great opportunity for them to connect with prospects and make sales. Then, I realized I didn’t get it. I’ve been engaged with it for some time, so I assumed clients understood that nowadays, Marketing is Publishing, and Publishing is Sales. Yeah, yeah, I know about the “ass-ume” thing.

“… when I worked in Advertising for a Manufacturing Company, we produced “sales literature” and hired field sales people. Online, your blog is both. It combines the education of good marketing literature, with the entertaining, instructive, and persuasive conversation of good sales people. “

This just goes to show that in a time of rapid change you can’t assume people have caught up with the paradigm shifts. Shifts? Yes. You know, like, “The computer will never replace typesetting machines.” “Art will never be produced on a computer.” “Professionals will never use digital cameras” … Those kinds of shifts. To those we’ll add, “blogging cannot be a very good business tool.” Ready to make the shift?

Anatomy of a Good Business Blog Post: Remember, you are a “Conversion Blogger.” In those two words are the secret of your success. You “blog” to put your personality into it and engage your readers. You make “conversions” (get leads, downloads of whitepapers, make sales), by simply asking for them after your readers get to know you.

Above is a “strategic wireframe” of a good business post. Note, that I have added some SEO tips, since that is still another reason to make regular Business Blogging a primary marketing thrust.

Here are the essential elements of a good Business Blog Post:

1. Write a good headline using the “H1″ tag, and include a primary SEO phrase
2. Write friendly voice blog copy, that educates and entertains, and also include your primary SEO phrase.
3. Include a compelling photo or illustration that helps you put your point across
4. Include a call to action that asks your reader to convert to a prospect (download a whitepaper), a lead (fill out a form), or a customer (make a purchase).

Connect, Engage, Convert… people buy from those they know.

Can You Prove It? Can I prove this works?  Yes. Install Google Analytics. Set up a Sales Funnel from your blog to a conversion page. Assign an ROI figure per conversion. Then, analyze the results.

Some Common Reservations about Business Blogging:

“It Takes Too Much Time”: Yes, it takes time. So, for business purposes monitor your R.O.I. with a good Analytics tool. Done well, it will pay off.

“It Takes Too Much Time”: It takes time, yes, but it’s more efficent than writing individual emails to all your clients and sales leads.

“Our Competition Doesn’t Do It”: Opportunity for you.

“Isn’t a Press Release Good Enough?”: No. Press releases miss the opportunity for you to engage directly with your prospects and customers. Remember, people buy from those they know, and most press releases are cold, corporate statements. Put some personality in your posts. Entertain, Educate, then ask for the sale.

“We Don’t Know Good Writing Techniques.” Here’s a link to a series of articles on copy writing and blog writing.

“Blogging Isn’t Supposed to Be About Sales”: Two thoughts for those that say this. Why not? And, second, “all of communication is an attempt to persuade.” I quote one of my Communication Professors on the last point, and yes — I wanted to argue with him, but it would only have proved his point.

“Blogging is Only for SEO Juice.” Write blather filled with SEO phrases, and you’ll get traffic, until Google penalizes you. And even that short lived traffic will bounce away from your site and you’ll miss the sale. Use SEO phrases cleverly in copy? Yes. But don’t fail to engage and convert.

Remember… it’s not just about sales, because you also use your personality to entertain and provide education for readers. But it can and will definitely lead to sales.

In the 90′s, when I worked in Advertising for a Manufacturing Company, we produced “sales literature” and hired field sales people. Online, your blog is both. It combines the education of good marketing literature, with the entertaining, instructive, and persuasive conversation of good sales people. So… go make the sale.

And remember that the only thing constant is change, and with change comes inevitable paradigm shifts. Resistance is futile (any trekkies out there?).

Give me a call, or contact me and we’ll explore Business Blogging opportunities for your company, and how to make the paradigm shift.

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Optimize, Connect, Convert: These are the most important three words I can say to you about your website.  Your ROI depends on these three simple strategies.  Your business depends on it.  Optimize means best use of your time, and best return from your online business.  Optimize with an automated dynamic website that saves you time.  Optimize your landing pages to produce more conversions (a “conversion” happens when a visitor “converts” to a lead or a customer).  Connect with your propects by engaging them in conversation — on your blog, with your email newsletters, in comments, and in emails.  Do so persuasively with the goal of converting always in mind.  Conversion blogging.  That leads to the last word… but you’re already there — Convert.  How many businesses don’t focus on this?  Too many.  Your opportunity is to blast ahead of the competition by setting up conversion goals (Google Analytics facilitates this), then tracking and optimizing your site to increase conversions.  It’s simple, really, and Google has free tools to help you.  If you have a solid product or service and you focus on these three simple strategies… your business will grow.  Take a look at our “Analytics-MAX Site Goal Service” to help keep you on track.

You can download our new Services Overview PDF with a range of ways to help improve your SEO, your site optimization, and work on the essentials of connecting and converting… Here.

Consult with me for a Buck: I’ve been helping students get going with their BlogMastering over at Global Scholar, and there’s a Fall Special — 1 hour for 1 Dollar.  Save some gas money, and get your WordPress Business Blog and CMS Website solution questions answered.  It works best if you write down 5-7 questions before we meet, then we will go over them together and surf the web so you can lock in your learning.  Ask about SEO, Navigation structure, eNewsletters, Editing your site Stylesheets, etc.  For a Buck.  Not bad.

Free IT Magazines: Are you keeping up with the latest developments in IT?  It’s fast moving out there, and our sister site, WebHelperMagazine.com, has a list of popular IT and Web Development magazines available free:  http://www.webhelpermagazine.com/magazines/

Always be Testing: Here are the words your website designer hates to hear:  We need to test several revisions to our landing pages to see which versions convert better.  In fact, busy marketing managers tend to shy away from that at first… until they learn about how testing time, spent well, improves their conversions from 10% — 140%.  Yup.  That’s right.  And guess what?  Google (go figure) has a free tool to help you automate your testing.  Called the “Google Website Optimizer”, it rotates in different variables that affect conversions — like Headlines, Graphics, and calls to action — then determines the winning combination.  So tell your designer this isn’t print design where everything is frozen in place.  Moving a buy (or download, or contact) button just a few inches on your page can make a lot of difference to your bottom line.  Amazon has become very profitable using thise method.  Develop a culture of testing.  We can help you — contact me.