Jul 29, 2010
Posted in Marketing Ideas
I’ve written about the importance of website conversion in the past but a quick review here won’t hurt before I dive into why it is so critical to the success of your websites.
First, conversion is the percentage of your website visitors that take a positive action on your site. For most small business websites that don’t actually sell anything online this means contacting you for further information or signing up for an email list. In other words, generating sales leads.
Conversion is critical because the slightest improvement in conversion will be reflected in a large improvement in website performance… without the need for more traffic.
Now that we’re up-to-date on the importance of conversion, the question becomes, “How do we increase conversion?”
There are a number of ways but I’m going to share the one that I’ve found works the best and is the easiest to implement. Video. Specifically, adding a professional video spokesperson to your site to greet and/or guide visitors.
I recently added a spokesperson to my site at Modern Sales Prospecting. Immediately, I saw a doubling of the sign-ups to my newsletter and a slightly smaller increase in sales leads for my services.
I was so impressed with the ease of implementation and more importantly, the results the video produced that I decided to offer professional actors as a service. Visit ModernSalesProspecting.com and click on the On-site Video link to see how I’ve set this up. Exciting times.
Jun 17, 2010
Posted in Marketing Ideas
In May – as I often do – I awoke in the middle of the night with a crazy idea. I’m sure you get those thoughts that nag at you to the point that you either go insane or do something with them, right?
Well, my idea was to write a book to help local business owners improve the marketing of their Vancouver-based businesses. I immediately knew that the title was going to be Marketing in Vancouver: An Insider Guide to Successful Local Marketing. I checked and sure enough both the dot com and dot ca extensions were available for Marketing in Vancouver so I snagged them both.
Of course, this concept is nothing new but how I planned to promote the book and leverage it to generate sales leads for my various businesses was revolutionary.
Fast forward about six weeks and the Marketing in Vancouver site is ready and the book is about 90% written. The cover looks great and the feedback I’ve received from local business owners so far has been nothing short of awesome. It is really cool.
My point? How is it possible for objects so real and tangible – in this case a website, a book and paying customers – materialize so quickly from little more than a random thought? I guess when push comes to shove everything on this planet began as a thought inside of someone’s head.
I wonder how many more great ideas never come to fruition simply because the thinker isn’t paying attention or more likely, doesn’t think something is possible. I know that I’ve been guilty of both of these conditions on more than one occassion. Not this time though 
May 24, 2010
Posted in Marketing Ideas
Local search is the term we use to describe the action that people take when they turn to the Internet to find information about local businesses. For the first time in history, people are more likely now to search for your business on the Internet than in the Yellow Pages.
What this means to the average business owner is simple. If your website or information about your website shows up on the first page of Google for search terms related to your business, it is very similar to having your business situated in the prime retail area of your town or city. People will find you. (more…)
Feb 3, 2009
Posted in Marketing Ideas
A few years ago this was really cutting edge stuff. Now, it should be an every day practice but I don’t think it is.
I had a client who was a personal trainer and while he was an excellent trainer and a great guy he wasn’t exactly technically savvy. By that I mean he wouldn’t even check his email.
Having said that he did see the value in using the Internet to build his business so we build a very simple site with his phone number so people could cantact him if they were interested in his services. We then set up a pay per click campaign to drive traffic to the page.
After a couple of weeks, the site was getting a lot of traffic but he wasn’t getting a lot of calls. Here is the interesting thing though. When we added a contact form for people to complete (including a phone number where they could be reached), the response rate soared.
Unfortunately, this didn’t do us much good because the trainer wouldn’t check his email. But, we could set up his cell phone to receive text messages. This was a little complicated to do a few years ago but now that you can check your email on your cell, this is super simple to do now.
All you do is have your leads forwarded to your phone and you can follow-up immediately. Often, the first to the punch wins the prize and this is a great way to make sure you’re first to the punch. If a prospect has found your site, he or she would have likely found your competition as well.
Jan 10, 2009
Posted in Marketing Ideas
A few months back I wrote an article about what I was calling funded proposals. You can see that article by visiting funded proposals.
Basically what I talked about was a way of building your prospect list without having to pay for it. It is a very smart concept and I strongly suggest you check it out before going on with this article.
Since then I have expanded this concept and it has been working so well I just have to share it with you. As you know from my free guide my theory on lead generation is simple. Offer something of value for free in exchange for a prospect’s contact information as well as their permission to stay in touch. Follow up with that prospect via email and provide valuable information until he buys something or unsubscribes. (more…)
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