Web Development and Internet Marketing Strategies

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Getting in front of the big market

Ethical strategies for getting top search engine ranking:

1. Choose your keywords - Use the most profitable keywords from your Stage 1 test.
2. Optimize your page - You can only optimize for 3-5 keywords.
3. Include your top 2 keywords in your <title> tag.
4. Include your top keywords in your URL - Example: GetTheBestWebSite.com
5. Use keywords in header tags - Use <h1> once with your #1 keyword, use <h2> 2-3 times on the page and use <h3> for every subheading.
6. Use keywords in image alt tags.
7. Keyword-rich navigation - Example: http://GetTheBestWebSite.com/search_engine_optimization.htm
8. Format keywords/phrases so they stand out using bold and italics.
9. Meta tags - they aren’t so important anymore, but the description is used by some search engines when results are returned. Put misspelled versions of keywords in the meta keywords tag.

Popularity: 91% [?]

The importance of testing can’t be over-emphasized, and you want to test everything: your copy, forms, offer, and even price. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to talk about launching a new or revamped web site. Testing is just as important for direct mail, email, print or new media advertising, and sales presentations.

So, let’s begin by getting your site online. We’ll call it Stage 1.

• Test response with 1,000 visitors.
• Make one change to your copy, form, or offer.
• Test with another 1,000 visitors.
• Which ever version makes the most money, wins. That version becomes the new baseline for testing.

In an ideal world, you would keep the testing cycle going until you got the best response possible. In the real world, what works today may not work tomorrow, so you need to stay on top of your traffic and response rates.

It’s a brand new site. Getting 1,000 visitors will take forever!

You need traffic to test, and the fastest way to get targeted traffic to a new site is to use Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

• Use highly targeted keywords to keep your costs down
• Bid high enough to get into the top 4 positions

How many keywords/phrases? 50-100!

The #1 mistake is not using enough keywords.

How much to pay per click?

Total Net Income ÷Total Unique Visitors = Total Visitor Value

1. ROI should be 2-3 times what you pay per click.
2. Periodically re-evaluate.
3. Track performance of keywords.
4. Never tell anyone the keywords that make you money!
5. Place different ads for each product you sell.
6. Link each ad to the page where the product is actually sold.
7. Pre-qualify people with ad copy.

How is your PPC ad ranked?

Cost per Click × Click-through Rate + Quality Score

Split test your PPC ads (Google Adwrods makes it easy) to determine what works best. Once you’re satisfied with the response you’re getting, you’ll be ready for Stage 2, the Rollout.

Popularity: 95% [?]

The term “salesletter” covers more than just letters; it can be the copy on a web page, the script you use when telemarketing, or the presentation you make when meeting prospects.

The basic elements include:

1. USP - Your unique selling proposition - what makes you stand out from your competition.
2. Headline and sub-headline - This must catch the reader’s attention. If it doesn’t, chances are they won’t read the rest of the piece.
3. Establish credibility - What is it that makes you qualified to solve the problem?
4. Benefits, not features - Talk about how the product or service you provide will directly benefit your prospect.
5. Risk reversal - Accept the burden of ensuring customer satisfaction and success. The more you stand behind what you sell, the more likely someone will be to trust you with their money.
6. Free bonus items - Add additional value to your offer.
7. Create urgency and encourage immediate sales.
8. Ask for the order - Don’t forget this important step!
9. Make it easy for customers to contact you.

Track Your Results

In a typical campaign, you should expect 2-4% conversion if the product you are selling costs under $50. It’s about 1% for products costing $50-200, and about 0.2% for products selling for over $250.

Email conversion (emailed to your own list) is higher than PPC (pay per click) and search engine traffic.

And speaking of email, at least 11% of your site’s visitors should join your email list.

Popularity: 94% [?]

Salescopy is the most important part of your web site. If your copy’s effectiveness is maximized, you’ll see your profits soar even if your traffic doesn’t substantially increase.

Remember, your web site should be thought of as a commissioned salesperson. If a salesperson has a compelling message, sales will be through the roof. Unfortunately, most web sites lack that compelling message. Those sites are like a salesperson who rings your doorbell, holds up a shoe and says, “It’s blue” — no matter what question you ask.

Long copy vs. short

Use long copy if:
- You sell one product or service with few, if any, variations

Use short copy if:
- You sell a variety of products or services

Anatomy of a sales letter

1. USP (unique selling proposition)
2. Headline and sub-headline
3. Establish credibility
4. Benefits, not features
5. Transfer ownership of the problem (understand their pain)
6. Risk reversal
7. Free bonus items
8. Create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate sales
9. Ask for order
10. Make it easy for customer to contact you.

How long is too long?

There’s no concrete answer, but one very successful site I know of has a 55-page sales letter (when printed — they display it all on a single web page!)

Popularity: 92% [?]

The previous post covered four elements that are crucial to have “above the fold”. Now we’ll cover additional elements that help your site to be a success.

6. Testimonials and credibility

- Why/how are you qualified to help solve the problem
- Show you are just like them
- Tell a story about why you started the business, what experience you have, and how your product or service came into being.
- Include testimonials with specific, measurable results (”John Smith made $37,000 in 6 months using our system”)

7. Simple and effective order page

- No links to other pages. Once someone makes a decision to order, don’t do anything that encourages them to abort the ordering process!
- Restate the main benefits
- Explain the order process clearly
- Try to get everything on one page. The more pages required to checkout, the more likely it is people will abandon the process.
- Don’t ask for more personal information than you need to fill the order.

Popularity: 95% [?]

“Above the fold” is terminology taken from newspaper layouts. For a web page, the term relates to the part of the page that’s visible without scrolling. If you can’t grab a visitors attention within 5-7 seconds, they probably won’t hang around long enough to see anything else on the page.

Your most important page elements

1. Headline with specific benefits

A good headline can increase sales by as much as 1000%. (Determining what headline is best requires testing various versions. The steps will be covered in a later post)

2. Simple one-click navigation

For every click a visitor must make, expect a 50% drop in sales. Visitors shouldn’t have to click more than 3 times to order, apply, or subscribe.

3. Clear benefits and USP

Make sure your copy focuses on the benefits and not the features of your product or service. Your USP (unique selling proposition) describes what makes your product or service superior to what’s offered by your competitors.

4. Provide a clear call to action

Don’t make people guess what the next step is. Lead them to an action:
- Click here to buy
- Fill out this form to…
- Read on to learn about…

5. Include an opt-in offer

Get people to join your mailing list! Keep it simple by asking only for first name, last name, and email address. Remember to list the benefits they’ll get from providing the information and joining your list.

Popularity: 95% [?]

In this post I continue to share my notes from the Internet Marketing Center’s Internet Wealth-Building Bootcamp.

What is the purpose of your web site?

Is it sticky? In other words, do visitors stick around and read/interact? Do they come back?

Is it a sales funnel? Does it direct visitors through a process that leads to a sale or at least to request information?

When choosing a domain name, always choose a .com.
If your domain name is multiple words, try to register hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions. You can make the hyphenated one redirect to the non-hyphenated one. If your domain is more than three words, don’t hyphenate!

Make sure your site can accepts payments.
A merchant account is the most professional way to go, but it will add cost and complexity to your web site. You may want to start off using a PayPal business account.

Understand the mindset of the average user.
Most people are looking for free information. You have to convince them that whatever you are offering is worth paying for.

In 10 seconds or less, you have to answer, “What’s in it for me?”

Avoid these common mistakes:

• Distracting links that drive traffic away
• Too much color, too many fonts
• Not enough contrast between text and the background, using textured backgrounds behind text
• Too many graphics and images. Pictures often hurt sales!
• Unnecessary or cheesy use of Flash, video, audio
• Slow loading pages
• Hiding critical “call to action” links.

Popularity: 97% [?]

1. Start with something you enjoy doing each day. Make a big list of:

• Interests
• Passions
• Areas of expertise
• Topics people always come to you for advice about
• What you would enjoy learning about

2. Brainstorm “problem statements” — What problems do people have in those areas? Once you have a comprehensive list of problems…

3. Find out how people are already searching for solutions:

• What keywords?
• How often do they type in those keywords/phrases?

You can use WordTracker.com to analyze keywords.

Once you have a group of keywords with a high demand and a clear problem, you must find a solution to the problem and make sure people will pay for the solution.

The #1 fatal mistake is looking for the ultimate product to sell. Instead, look for an easily targeted niche market and find a product that market is hungry for.

4. Who is providing the solution already?

Some competition is good. You don’t need to be the only solution provider to be successful.

5. Develop a solution to the problem

• Create and sell your own product or service
• Drop ship products
• Recommend affiliate products
• Sell ad space
• Joint venture with like-minded businesses
• Sell other people’s products by purchasing reprint rights

The most profitable products to sell are those that can be delivered electronically, such as software, ebooks and memberships.

6. Are people willing to pay?

Want vs. Need — People buy what they want.

Popularity: 93% [?]

The opening section of the Internet Wealth-Building Bootcamp introduced the four steps to online success:

1. Find an easy to reach, focused target market
2. Find a product or service the market wants
3. Develop a great sales process
4. Backend, backend, backend

They went on to describe each of these in detail, beginning with finding a niche market.

It’s important to understand what a niche is NOT. It’s not:

• a demographic group
• a regional group
• a social group

For our purposes, a niche is a group of people already searching the Internet for solutions to a problem and not finding good results.

Popularity: 89% [?]

I spent this past weekend at the Internet Marketing Center’s Internet Wealth-Building Bootcamp in New York City. Even though the seminar was largely a forum for IMC to sell products like Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet, they provided a whole lot of valuable information.

So much information, in fact, that my first series of posts will come from the 30+ pages of notes I took.

But first I’d like to give a little review of the overall seminar.

If you want to learn marketing, study a company that does it well. IMC is definitely one of those companies. They are very skilled at providing information and weaving it into a slick sales presentation. By the end of the second day, they had many participants dropping almost $9,000 for a mentoring program!

The speaker, Jason “Bax” Baxavenidis, clearly knows his stuff. Whether he was presenting off his PowerPoint slides or answering questions from the audience, his tremendous breadth of knowledge and experience came through loud and clear.

I’ve been a web developer for 10 years and I learned many advanced marketing techniques I have already begun to implement on my sites and those of my clients. I’ll be keeping everyone informed of how it affects my business.

Popularity: 100% [?]