Online advertising can be a costly affair.
Yet we cannot afford to ignore advertising online, especially those of us whose primary business is on the Internet. Newcomers to doing business online often start with these steps:
- Create a business website
- Pay to have the website submitted to search engines
- Pay to get traffic through pay-per-click ads
- Wonder why their ROI is so low
This article will talk about two techniques, that when used together can boost your website's traffic and increase your sales. The two techniques are search engine optimization and opt-in lists.
Search Engine Optimization
An online business will get the majority of its traffic through search engines. Hundreds of millions of people go to the Internet each day looking for solutions to their problems. Some of those people have problems you can solve, and search engine optimization is the key to getting your website seen by them.
Let's say that a person goes to Google and types in the search phrase, "inexpensive jewelry". Google decides which websites to show in two steps.
First, a pool of matching websites is created from all the websites Google knows about. A website goes into that pool if it contains the words in the search phrase, in any order. When I was writing this article, there were over one million websites in that pool for "inexpensive jewelry".
Second, Google decides which pages in that pool of pages is most relevant to the search phrase. Relevancy is partly determined by the content on the page itself, and partly by links to that page. A page that has the search phrase exactly as the person typed it (e.g. "inexpensive jewelry") is more relevant that one that has the words in a different order (e.g. "jewelry is not inexpensive") or scattered over the page. Links to a page are important, too. Any site that links to the page with the text "inexpensive jewelry" is a vote for that page being highly relevant to that search phrase.
All this plus more goes into Google deciding which website to put first in the search results. And first is where you want to be, if you want to be the one to solve a potential customer's problems.
While some aspects of search engine optimization can be handled by a SEO consultant, there are two steps that are your responsibility. You know your business and your customers better than a consultant. Those two steps are keyword research and writing keyword rich content.
Keyword research is the process of predicting what likely customers will type into Google. Think of this as figuring out what problem they have to solve for which your website is the answer. Writing keyword rich content is ensuring that a page on your site is highly focused on a particular topic that is the answer to one of the problems a prospective customer may have.
By performing search engine optimization, you can start to get some of the traffic from search engines such as Google and Yahoo. This is free traffic, which would certainly boost your ROI if you could convert them into customers.
Opt-in Lists
An opt-in list is where a potential customer fills out a form on your website requesting more information by email. Many websites do not have this step, which is a huge mistake. A potential customer comes to your website because they have a problem to solve, and they think your website will help them solve it.
So why don't they buy? Maybe your website did not answer all the questions they had, or maybe they wanted to think about it, and then found another site to buy at by the time they made up their mind. Making a purchase online is often a big decision, and one prospective customers do not take lightly.
An opt-in list provides a middle ground between buying and leaving. They can request more information without giving any billing information or paying anything. Someone who is on the fence about buying may be willing to sign up for more information.
The opt-in list is your opportunity to start a conversation with the fence sitters. The customers have already bought, and the people who will never buy have already left. The people who sign up for more information want to be convinced, and have given you permission to do so through email. So send them emails that address common concerns and questions. After a few emails offer them an introductory prices. Keep the conversation going, because if you do not they will not be back.
An autoresponder will automate your end of this conversation. The basic idea is that you write a series of three or four email letters to go out to people who request more information. These letters are sent automatically at whatever interval you specify. At any point, the person can reply and the reply goes directly to your email so you can continue the conversation in person. If they have not bought by the end of the automated sequence, they probably will not, but at least you had a chance to convert them into customers.
Properly written autoresponder letters make it seem as if you're taking a personal interest in each potential customer.
The power of combining these techniques is that search engine optimization helps you to get more traffic to your website, and opt-in lists help you to convert the fence sitters to customers. You may still need to pay for online advertising, but your return on that investment can rise dramatically.
Jay Shaffstall writes Online Opportunity, a blog about making money online. To boost your own ROI, see his series on search engine optimization and the benefits of using opt-in lists.
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