Website User Needs Can’t Be Presumed

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Site owners often tell me things like, “Users are going to love this feature” or “This tool is perfect for what our visitors should be doing.”  My response is usually, “Is that what testing has shown?”  The reason I ask this question is because many site owners make decisions on gut feel.  After making the gut call, many of them will lament/blame, “Users are really missing the boat with this, here’s all the great things they could be doing . . .”  Your users are not you, so don’t presume they feel just like you.  Do some testing to ensure that a feature or tool you are developing is something users desire.

Doing a short reality check on how well your presumptions match up with user needs is worth the effort.  In a recent conversation with a site owner, he was complaining about an event matrix tool that he had launched for his users to track events of interest related to his site’s content.  He was sure that every user would want to use it.  After spending significant time and energy, he discovered very few users had an interest.  He could have saved some time and/or developed a more desirable tool if he had done a reality check before investing in the tool.

Testing doesn’t have to be a giant undertaking, though for large sites or in depth campaigns it needs to be thoroughly planned.  For smaller sites it is less in depth.  Testing can be a sample of people that visit your site and provide feedback on how they use the site and what they’d like to see.  It can also be a user test session where a person uses the site and the site owner observes how and what they use.  This is sometimes more valuable, as actions will speak louder than words.

Here are the primary things to look for from the tests when deciding  if the feature you feel is great, actually cuts the mustard with users:

  • Navigation – A great tool is worthless if people can’t find it.
  • Usability – Users have to be able to easily use the feature or tool.  Make sure it is intuitive so that users will stick with it and get the maximum benefit.
  • Functionality – The feature or tool better do what you claim it will.  Setting expectations that aren’t met will harbor resentment.
  • Communication – You won’t have a lot of time to highlight your feature or tool using online communications.  Spend some time boiling it down to its most basic benefits so you can concisely generate interest.
Site Conversion, Web Maintenance , , , , ,

Email Marketing Strategy to Promote Events

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Promoting events through email marketing is very popular.  And why not?  It allows for a targeted audience to receive event information and provides a simple and immediate way to register for the event (or at least it should).  However, because it’s an ideal tool doesn’t mean a strategy doesn’t need worked out.  Plan your email marketing event promotion schedule and stick with it.

Here is an outline for a typical plan:

  1. Identify the Audience and Segment – Will there be a single invite or multiple invites for subsections of the audience?  For example can you send the invite to “Marketing Professionals”?  Or do you need subsets with different content for “Print Marketing”, “Online Marketing”, and “Social Marketing”?  Do those need broken into “Professional” and “Executive” categories?
  2. Account for Logistics – Your email marketing plan needs to adhere to logistic guidelines.  If registration closes a week before the event, sending a reminder on that day is pointless.
  3. Set a Schedule – A send schedule broken up into segments is critical. Setting a schedule really depends on the event. Is it a large event needing months of lead time?  If so, a save the date invite might be appropriate, followed by an invite a month away from the event, and a “last chance” invite a week before the event.  Is it a webinar?  An invite 2 weeks beforehand might suffice.
  4.  Craft the Email – Get all the content together.  Make sure it holds true to any other marketing materials (mailed invites, ads, etc.)  It  needs to have a clear next step which for event emails that is likely a link to more info or a registration page.
  5. Send the Emails – Follow the send schedule making sure that each audience segment receives the right information at the set time.
  6. Track the Results – You’re not going to have a perfect plan to promote your event through email right off the bat.  Track the results so you can tweak your strategy and implement it for the next event promotion.

This is general and can fluctuate from event to event.  However, it gives a good checklist.

The most important thing to keep in mind is to follow the plan.  You likely will be asked or be tempted to do an “on the fly” email for events, especially if attendance isn’t what the event coordinator hoped it would be.  These requests are invariably made right before the event.  If you’re forced into it, do the best you can but be aware that it’s rare to have an impromptu email sent have it be well received.  Successful event promotion from email happens when the email marketer is prepared, knows why and when they are sending invitations, and refines that strategy for future events.

Email Marketing , ,

A Marketable Website on a Budget

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I recently read a very funny web post about web designers claiming to know SEO.  I think the points are fairly accurate and it’s an entertaining read.  However, several of the comments are a great summary of why small businesses have difficulty using the model that the blog advocates.  It’s typically not cost effective.

A single source for internet marketing is often critical to having an affordable internet marketing strategy for smaller businesses.  The other advantage that the comments did not cover is a single contact that understands the client’s business.  When a small business works with someone that has a diversified understanding of internet marketing (assuming they actually are knowledgeable), they can make educated suggestions on what makes sense for that business.  That consulting is worth a lot and since the person is already ingrained in the strategy, it’s not an extra cost.

The blog post does a great job of explaining the workload of different website responsibilities.  Speaking for our firm, we only create web designs by special request and don’t promote the service anymore because staying competent in email marketing, SEO, site and social media maintenance does not make it feasible.  Small businesses certainly need to do their homework before hiring anyone to work on their website, but most simply don’t have the resources or knowledge to coordinate multiple experts into creating a successful internet marketing strategy.

Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

Professional Layout is Not Optional

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I recently had a client call me out on what they felt was a contradiction.  I harp on content being king.  For a successful site they need engaging content that people will want to consume and they need to present it in a way that is friendly for Search engines.

I must have over-harped because I suggest a redesign for a section of their site that was content rich and growing rapidly.  My client said, “But the content is great.  You always tell me to focus on the content.”  While I agree that content is most important, it can’t come at the expense of a professional layout.

Here’s why.  A poorly designed site degrades credibility.  Users have to have faith that the content is coming from a credible source.  If great content is displayed in an amateurish way, users will move on.

A professional layout is the ring to your content’s diamond.  It supports your content while displaying the information in a pleasing way that let’s users appreciate what you are offering.  A poor layout is like burying a diamond in mud.  It’s still a diamond but no one wants to undertake the work and the mess of uncovering it.

Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Site Conversion, Web Maintenance

Link Building – Effective but Not Necessarily Efficient

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A common piece of advice is to build links to other sites to place well in search engines.  While there’s no doubt that quality links to your site will improve your rankings, getting those links can take some significant effort.  Advanced sites looking for slight edges definitely need to build links, however, entry-level sites to SEO likely have more effective uses for their time.

Most site owners receive the automated emails asking for link exchanges.  As you might guess, these tactics are extremely ineffective.  The alternative is segmenting by market or competitors and making inroads into targeted sites.  While that is effective, it takes a lot of time.

There are some automated ways of generating links like directory submissions.  While these are typically not the most relevant sources they will influence your website ranking.

The best tactic for most sites without dedicated SEO resources is link building over time.  Make link building a part of your regular business activity.

  • Talk to current partners about linking to your site.
  • Make sure any chamber or association you belong to has a listing that links to your webpage.
  • Any content or articles created should include a by line link to your site.
  • Link any external listings to individual pages that pertain to the listings topic.

When link building is built into activities that you are already doing, it doesn’t take a lot of extra effort and builds extremely relevant and targeted linking.

Search Engine Optimization

Presumptions Can Kill Online Marketing

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Never assume you know how you achieved success online.  Theories are fine but every theory that we intend to take action on needs backed up with data.  Running online marketing campaigns on presumptions will lead to erratic results and makes it impossible for consistent gradual improvement.

Recently I was working on an ongoing online marketing campaign to promote events.  One event in particular got a surge of registrants.  The owner of the company was thrilled.  He then declared that the success must have come from the new list of email addresses that had been added to the subscriber list.  These new arrivals were 200 (roughly) people that had opted in to receiving promotions at a trade show.  The event had 40 registrants (roughly) so if they all came from the new list that would represent a 40% conversion.  A phenomenal number!

A problem arose when a follow on promotion was developed and sent there was no response.  All 200 people had suddenly lost interest. In fact 10 unsubscribed, a 5% attrition rate.  How had things gone so poorly?

Upon analyzing the initial email only 1 of the 40 registrants came from the new list of email subscribers.  The other was a mix of people who found the event through internet sources and long-standing email subscribers.  The second email did poorly because it was based on a false presumption.

My theory (haven’t proved it with data) is that the new list responded unfavorably because they got an email and then a quick follow on email presuming they were interested.  Immediately getting two emails and assumptive “sales” language led to a distinctly negative response.  They feared they were opting in to a SPAM list.

It turns out that the email subscribers that registered for the event had, on average, been receiving promotional emails from this company for 3 years.  The spike had more to do with the topic and presentation than a fresh list of names.

Don’t take action on presumptions.  It costs time, money, and future opportunities.  It’s what you know for sure, that just ain’t so, that can cause the most problems.  Use your email and web data to confirm your theories before acting on them.

Note: These numbers are rounded to easily illustrate the point and provide some anonymity

Email Marketing, Internet Marketing, Site Conversion

Graduate to Multimedia

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Increasingly email and conversion experts are advocating multimedia.  They point out how video is engaging and can quickly grab a visitor’s attention.  Metrics also support the claim.  Here’s what’s lost in translation.  Doing multimedia takes more time, money, and/or energy.  So while multimedia is advantageous, you need to decide if it’s worth investing in, or whether it’s something you want to graduate into.

For instance doing a video email campaign will likely show improved open and click through rates over a static one.  However if the email campaign is in its infancy and only has 100 subscribers, the extra cost of producing the videos probably isn’t worthwhile.  The key to making a decision on doing multimedia is factoring in the return on your investment.

For instance if the email campaign above has a 20% open rate and of those opens it has a 5% click through rate, then we know that 1 person takes action on every email (as an average).  Let’s pretend research showed that a video email campaign in the same industry and similar business size resulted in click-through rates tripling.  If the average action results in a $5.00 sale, then the subscriber list likely needs to grow significantly to justify the investment into multimedia campaigns.  However, if the average result is a $20,000 sale, then we’d be foolish not to begin a video campaign.

Multimedia has shown to increase conversions in email and on the web fairly consistently.  However, like most business decisions we need to weigh the pros and cons.  Spend some time with your web and email metrics to see if adding multimedia is a worthwhile endeavor.  It’s very possible that you’ll want to graduate into the technology, just make sure the numbers agree.

Email Marketing, Site Conversion

Three Constants of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

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SEO tactics change quickly.  Learning all the nuances of cutting edge tips and tricks today will likely be outdated in a few months and certainly within a couple of years.  SEO tactics are a moving target and truly takes dedication and diligence to keep up with emerging trends.  That’s not good news for someone that wants to optimize their site but is discouraged by the ever evolving details of SEO.That is why I have three SEO constants that any website should implement.  These three things likely won’t put you at the top of search engines but it will at least get you placed in the rankings.

3 Constants of SEO:

  •  Set Your Title Tags – These title tags appear on the browser window.  Use the tags to say who you are and describe what you do.  Keep it short and set uniquely specific tags for every page on your website.
  • Create Quality Content – It’s critical to have good content on the site.  If users find their way to the site, why should they stay if the content is poor?  They won’t, and neither will the search engines.  Set a method for adding content through things like a blog, article archive, or report library.
  • Update Content – The web is alive.  You can’t set a website and forget it.  Evolving content will provide search engines with richer keywords and keep your information current.

Of course there are many other tactics and nuances to SEO.  However, these three things are a good start for beginners or people that only have resources for the basics.

Search Engine Optimization

Twitter – A Marketing Social Networking Central Communication Hub

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Social networking from a business perspective does not change what is said.  It changes how it is said.  Unfortunately without a social networking strategy it also means how many times is it said.  The biggest drain on time and resources in social networking is repetitive effort.  Twitter is starting to integrate itself with other social networks leveraging itself as a potential social network hub.

Several months ago LinkedIn set up Twitter integration.  This was a valuable extension of the blog linking that was first featured.  Facebook is also integrating with Twitter to allow tweets as status updates.  As more and more social networks interact, it provides a strategy of a single update populating all the social networks that a marketer participates in.  This is a powerful tool in social networking to make one update visible across multiple networks.

Of course the reverse is possible making status updates tweets but the simplicity of Twitter makes it an ideal engine to power social network updates.  It forces marketers to make quick points and move interested parties to a different site.  This link is likely an organizations web page which offers more information as well as conversion opportunities.

Read up on Twitter integration.  It’s an outstanding way to keep all your social networks up to date, without spending inordinate amounts of time doing it.

Social Media

Advanced Email Marketing Tactics #21: Personalize

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This is a bonus tactic.

Personalize your email campaign.  All campaigns should have at least a name (which shouldn’t be a problem if the list is being built and maintained properly).  However personalization shouldn’t stop there.  Advanced personalization increases credibility and conversion rates as it begins to take a personal stake in a recipients interests.

Personalizing can vary greatly from campaign to campaign.  Good personalization is built on segmentation.  Here are some common segments:

  • Topics – Are there subcategories of information people can opt-in for so that they get specific content to an identified topic?
  • Industry – Can the content be customized by industry served so that it has laser specific content?
  • Geography – Is there a location breakdown where people can get only localized information presented in local dialects and sayings?

These are just three examples but start to present how messages can be personalized.  Once subscribers belong to very specific groups, the amount appearance of one-to-one communication starts to be seamless.  When done flawlessly recipients stop viewing emails as a commercial or “group” email and see it as a personal interaction.

Email Marketing
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