I was having a chat with Brian Meredith of The Marketing Bureau (they are always fun and insightful). We were talking about the low levels of response people have on their websites and it inspired me to these thoughts.

There are plenty of reasons to have a website and there are even more people who are disappointed with the results from their site. The vast majority of people I talk to say they don’t get the results from their site that they hoped for but this is probably because they are looking at the wrong measure.

“I don’t get many enquiries” or I don’t get sales from my site”.  These are all too common but for service providers especially, they are unlikely to get enquiries directly.

Image, if you are considering changing accountant, finding a new business coach or starting a marketing campaign, would you search Google, find a few options and then send them an email?  Probably not because they will bombard you with emails and you are even less likely get on the phone.  If you do call them, then they are going to pitch you and try to sell you their services which is the last thing you want.

More probable is that you would find the top websites in Google, look through the sites to see if there is anything that matches what you want and take some notes.

Life and work get in the way so then you might come back to the project a few days or even weeks later and you create a short-list.

Then for reassurance, you would do a bit more research about those on the list.

And still, you don’t want to call because you don’t want to be sold to or have to arrange a meeting – you are just not ready yet.  It’s human nature – we all hate being sold to.

But you can go back to the website and do some more checks and this is the key.  The website is a non-threatening reference point.  You are free to do as much research as you like without the threat of a sales pitch or any other interaction that would make you feel uncomfortable or have to say the “N-word” “No”. Few of us like to say “No” so we don’t put ourselves in the position of having to say it.

And that is the point that so many service businesses miss. Your website is not there to sell; it is there to provide comfort and reassurance before people have to make anything like a “dangerous” move actually talking to you.

So, give people what they want – information, friendliness and warmth. Only then you can start to measure the right metric and the effectiveness of your site.

Technorati Tags: non-threatening reference point

This week I’ve been working on a client’s website, setting up a blog for them and integrating their social media accounts.

It can be a complex process bringing it all together which is why I was asked to look after the job.

Anyway, one of the most difficult parts is ……..passwords and the number of different accounts you need to run.

At the moment you’ve probably got your on-line banking PW, a couple of email accounts, your Facebook access codes, your work email and probably a few more.

And when you start to use social media which, social book-marking, blogs and a whole array of other modern essential communications tools, it soon mounts up and becomes impossible to remember.

Unless of course you use the same PW for each account or the obvious ones – your name, child’s name, birthday.  Those are very unsafe. They are simple to guess, hack and crack. (Wasn’t that an advertising agency?)

So what can you do?

Here are three simple ideas to save you time looking for the PWs and increase your PC security.

1 The boring sensible approach.
Mix up lower case, capitals and numbers.
Even adding a single capital in an 8 character PW increases the combinations exponentially.

2 The fun and personal growth approach.
What!

How can personal growth increase your PC security?

By using positive affirmations for your security codes.  For example.

IamHealthy, IamHappy, IMustWorkWithAndrew.

You get the idea.

This has three benefits.
•    A less common phrase that’s personal to you.
•    Mixed case letters which increases the combinations.
•    You frequently reinforce your desires or goals.

Cool idea huh,

3 The easy option wherever you are.
You may have your PWs stored on your computer but you may not always be at your own desk.

The answer here is to use a product like www.LastPass.com.  This is a free service that stores your passwords online so you only have to remember one password and can access your PWs from whatever terminal you are working at.

Your responsibility and a disclaimer
These ideas do not guarantee your PC security.
No system is completely safe and you are responsible for the
security you use on your system.  But these ideas are
better than “yourname123” that far too many people use.

Let me know your thoughts or post a comment below.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Small business marketing

As with most business people, the conversation soon turned to business conditions and how each of our businesses are doing.  We both agreed that each was doing significantly better than last year.

Rather than simply saying that the economy was picking up, she said in her case it was because she was doing more marketing, hence her new website. It’s the same for me too – more marketing which may sound odd coming from a marketer.  More on that later.

And then she made the comment “Anyone can sell in good times. In tough times you have to market yourself.”

It was like a breath of fresh air.

I’ve said the same dozens of times but when a client volunteers that thought,  Wow!

Take a look around, see which way the wind blows

When you look around and don’t like what’s happening, you have two choices – do nothing and hope it will all get better or decide to do something about it.

There’s the old saying, “Three types of business; those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that things happen to.”

In any economy but especially in tougher ones, the companies that make things happen (the marketers) grow and that growth comes at the expense of those that watch who eventually become those that (unpleasant) things happen to.

And it’s especially difficult when the media you’ve known for years have stopped working.  Just this week Yellow Pages in NZ was put up for sale by its bankers who want to get some cash out of the fast ailing business.

The proof

McGraw-Hill researched companies in recessions and found that those that continued to market grew by 275% over five years.  Those that cut back or stopped marketing grew on average only 19% over five years.  Hmm, makes you think doesn’t it…. Well not for long.

It’s a no-brainer – your competitors are stuck in fear too, so start or pick up your marketing.  Anything but do something.  And if you know you must start to use the Internet but don’t understand how, ask someone.

Not marketing in a recession creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Oh and why was it odd that a marketer might be doing some marketing?

Well, we are amongst the worst when it comes to marketing ourselves.

I used to think it was me but talking to marketers from San Francisco to London to Auckland, they all said the same.

It’s almost impossible to do your own marketing.

A case in point just two days ago.

A web marketing buddy rang me and said he’d read my newsletter about procrastinating.  “We need to work together on this project” he said and it sparked him into action.

Why is it so hard to market yourself?

There are lots of reasons but some common ones are:

• You know too much about your area of expertise.
• You don’t want to toot your horn.  (That’s a biggie).
• You are too close to “your baby.”
• It’s scary to try something new.  (Excitement and scary are the opposite sides of the same emotion, it just depends how you look at it).

Among that list is probably the reason why you aren’t upping your marketing too.

So, don’t feel it’s your fault.

97% of other people feel the same.  It’s just that at any point in time, 3% of people decide to

do something about it.  Others take action later. The majority watch and wonder.

As my client said, “Anyone can sell when times are good.”

So what Internet marketing initiative are you going to take this week?

I’d love to hear from you.

And if you are confused about SEO, Social media, Web2.0 or any other buzz term, drop me a line.

I’m here to help and keep it simple for you.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Marketing, Small business marketing

Or maybe you get one-time customers but little repeat business.

Or worse still, your phone never rings.

Yet you deeply believe your product or service is just what other companies need.

So what went wrong? Where is your steady stream of clients?
Most businesses struggle to thrive or even fail because they don’t conduct market research before they open, to see if there is a demand for two things:-

1.    their service or
2.    their positioning – how they differentiate themselves from everyone else

They rely on their belief rather than fact or testing the market.

Why don’t more people do it?
One reason is that people just don’t think about doing it.

Another is that market research is notoriously difficult to get any meaningful output.  There are many reasons such as:

•    the difficulty of finding willing respondents in the first place.
•    getting “sensible” answers from them.
•    and finally, being able to believe what they say. Often people will say what they think you want to hear.

Simply put, you cannot rely on what your customers say.

The only reliable source of the truth is what people do.

And there’s one place where people freely and consistently tell you what they want by their actions.

Google.

When people type into Google for business services or products, it’s not to while away an idle half hour or, out of curiosity, to see what the local plumbers are up to on their websites. (Well some of us do but we have our own special peculiarities).
No, people go there to find immediate providers or at least to research potential providers.

Even on social media not all people say what they really think.  Certainly a lot tell their truth but for some it’s a game.  For others, they say what they think is cool. And for more, they don’t want to be seen in public.

But Google gives them privacy and information without being hassled by sales people.  Your prospects feel safe using Google.

The only source of your customers’ truth
So, to increase your chances of success, or rather to reduce your chances of failure, redefine yourself and your business based on what people are typing into Google for your broad category.

You can then drill-down to find more detailed data and then use those Search-terms on your website.

And here’s a big tip.

Don’t forget to use those terms in your off-line communications as well.  People will recognise their words and feel more connected to you as a result.

Rename your offering from the bland “Services” that everyone else uses to match the best Search-term you can find.

For example, in the tree-maintenance industry, instead of crown-lifting, use tree pruning.

Treat your business to the best investment you will ever make

Go to Google’s Keyword Research Tool It’s free.

Find out what words people are really using to describe your business.  You’ll find loads of data. And then use those words on your website.

Learning what it all means and how to use it will be the best day’s work you can do.

But then I would say that wouldn’t I, as an SEO guy.

But it really is the best research tool you can find.

Or, if that all sounds too complicated, ask an expert to do it for you to turn all that data into useful information.

Email me at Andrew@gigmarketing.biz for a no obligation, fixed-price quotation to find out what your market is really looking for.

Technorati Tags: local marketing, Search engine optimization, SEO

As an SEO guy, I look at myself as a translator… translating the language of the expert (business owner) into the language of the customer. And then using that language on the web pages. Those pages should be very specific so that searchers can find the answer quickly.

The only way to achieve this is to do a Search-term assessment exercise. I call it the STACA – Search-term, Traffic and Competition Analysis.

This shows the site owner the number of searches for each term but crucially for them, the level of competition that they can expect. That way we can target lower competition Search-terms which will get ranked faster than those with more competing pages.

This STACA has another massive benefit. It becomes the centre point to your whole business and marketing planning.

Why?

Because a good business plan is written around a solid market research exercise.

There are two main problems with any market research project:

•    Response and
•    Bias

Getting people to respond in suitable numbers, especially if your budget is limited, is a real headache.  How can you find people.  Where are they?  How can you get them to participate?  And many other questions too.

And however, well phrased the research questions, there is always an element of bias.  People will feel that you want a particular answer or they feel obliged in someway.  And the results are clear in the number of new products that don’t make the grade, sales profits.

So what better market research than the exact words your customers are typing into Google when they are eager to spend money.

It simply couldn’t be better research material.
You can use those exact terms in all of your marketing messages then – off-line too.

By finding out exactly what people want I’ve helped companies go from the obscurity of Page 4 to over 30 different Page 1 results.

They may be very small search volumes but when added together they come close to the big 600 pound gorilla terms they were failing to rank for previously.
That’s much better business for them and…… far better for the customer too as they can easily find what they want.

In business you will always fail if you don’t find out what your market wants.
Using good keyword tools, the market tells you what they want.

And for the local businesses or local branches of big businesses, t’s important to understand that around 60% of significant local purchases start with a Google search.

Finally, most people get the web process the wrong way round.

They spend hours and $000s agonising over the shade of a colour, the position of an image, what’s on the image. Then tack on keyword research and SEO if there’s any budget left. None of that is relevant to Google. None of that will get you ranked.

What will get you ranked and found is using the right Search-terms in the right places.

And it will help you write your marketing plan too.

Technorati Tags: 5S SEO, Market research, new zealand marketing, SEO