Of course, there is another way to try to improve your mass media campaign. We are talking about purchase of links, that we totally oppose. First of all, we don’t believe in white hat stuff. Second, many companies that were selling the links went belly up because they were getting the links from adding meaningless comments to all those media sources we were talking above. So, when these media sources added “no follow” attribute to the links, or simply deleted them, who do you think turned out to be the biggest loser? Customers, of course. We are not here to judge anybody, after all, everybody tries to earn a piece of bread with butter. But, this still looks risky and unstable way to earn visibility with no guaranties. Through our web analytics research we observed small businesses that lost thousands of those kind of links overnight.
And last but not least. Watch for the changes that are going with search engines right now. We are not saying that you, guys, need to sit and try to figure out search engine algorithms. But last offers to Yahoo from Microsoft and re-positioning of ASK.com just make us wonder. Right now, there are sites out there, that already got link recognition from Google and Yahoo but just don’t get noticed by MSN, or the other way around. Those who found themselves in these situation, know what we are talking about.
Monday, October 27, 2008
This is what our web analysts observe
We would not suggest small business guys to get involved with PR companies. Honestly, there is nothing you or your courageous employees can’t do without spending thousands of dollars, paying for outsourcing PR. Just surf the net and pay 10 bucks here and 20 bucks there for participation in PR feeds. Personally, we think that this trend is on its way out and is not as powerful as it used to be. At least, this is what our web analysts observe. Let’s wait and see.
It seems that old search engine preferences for all those .edu, .gov and big non-profit .org sites are still out there. If the main theme of your site somehow is relevant for these sites, then you are in luck. All you have to do is to convince them to add your link on their sites. These powerful sites can drastically change to the better your marketing campaign.
Google Blog Search and other tool that appear swiftly like mushrooms after the rain can help you find influential blogs and bloggers. By using link baiting principles you can start some sort of discussion on these blogs, or find some controversy (but be extremely careful here). The popular blogs never have stale content, they are extremely dynamic and, thus, can bring hundreds of visitors to your site and/or add a lot of relevant links.
Read more ...
It seems that old search engine preferences for all those .edu, .gov and big non-profit .org sites are still out there. If the main theme of your site somehow is relevant for these sites, then you are in luck. All you have to do is to convince them to add your link on their sites. These powerful sites can drastically change to the better your marketing campaign.
Google Blog Search and other tool that appear swiftly like mushrooms after the rain can help you find influential blogs and bloggers. By using link baiting principles you can start some sort of discussion on these blogs, or find some controversy (but be extremely careful here). The popular blogs never have stale content, they are extremely dynamic and, thus, can bring hundreds of visitors to your site and/or add a lot of relevant links.
Read more ...
It is closer to the real world
There is a number of ways to get around massive spendings on your media campaign. Big, rich corporations usually have a huge budget for all kinds of marketing campaigns, so let them be!
It is closer to the real world for small business guys. For 2008 link building opportunities remain mostly the same with some exceptions. Here are observations from our web analytics company.
It is still good to participate in various social networks. Unfortunately, some of them followed Google guidelines and combined every link with “no follow” attribute, which is not gonna help you. Most social networks jealously watch for any type of “commercial” text or other types of data in blog entries. So, beware small business guy, if they catch you, they will throw you out of the network without any mercy. Naturally, they want to get each and every subscriber for themselves and sell him all the stuff without anybody standing on their way.
It is still a good idea to find a way to prestigious sites like Washington Post and the like. The drawback is that you’ve got to be a really talented journalist with a highly interesting topic to offer them. As for the attempt to add your comments to high value media sources, well, it seems that editors watch people who add comments like hawks and clean everything on a regular basis.
Good link-baiting applications are still OK and might help your viral marketing campaign. If your apps are really interesting people can post a link from it on their sites and with each click, you will become more and more visible on the Internet. You will still need to constantly conduct your web analytics tests to see if this strategy is effective and brings you desired Internet traffic.
Read more ...
It is closer to the real world for small business guys. For 2008 link building opportunities remain mostly the same with some exceptions. Here are observations from our web analytics company.
It is still good to participate in various social networks. Unfortunately, some of them followed Google guidelines and combined every link with “no follow” attribute, which is not gonna help you. Most social networks jealously watch for any type of “commercial” text or other types of data in blog entries. So, beware small business guy, if they catch you, they will throw you out of the network without any mercy. Naturally, they want to get each and every subscriber for themselves and sell him all the stuff without anybody standing on their way.
It is still a good idea to find a way to prestigious sites like Washington Post and the like. The drawback is that you’ve got to be a really talented journalist with a highly interesting topic to offer them. As for the attempt to add your comments to high value media sources, well, it seems that editors watch people who add comments like hawks and clean everything on a regular basis.
Good link-baiting applications are still OK and might help your viral marketing campaign. If your apps are really interesting people can post a link from it on their sites and with each click, you will become more and more visible on the Internet. You will still need to constantly conduct your web analytics tests to see if this strategy is effective and brings you desired Internet traffic.
Read more ...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Unreliable Time on Site
So, don’t be surprised, if the visitor went through some 8 web pages on the site before he left it and Google Analytics would show the time spent on the site as two minutes only. This is as much as we can get from this metrics nowadays. We won’t be able to know, if the visitor left the browser and did not shut it down. We would not know, if the visitor left the site by simply typing up new URL in the address text field. It might be that the client spent much more time in reality than the calculated by GA average time on site.
But what if the web site in question is a blog? Then, it is tough luck for you. Mostly, because, everything is happening on the same page of the blog and your visitor does not go deep through several web pages. It may take him a lot of time to write a comment, or to read the latest blog entries located on the same first-level page. So, the average Time on Site metric for blogs is usually extremely unreliable.
But what if the web site in question is a blog? Then, it is tough luck for you. Mostly, because, everything is happening on the same page of the blog and your visitor does not go deep through several web pages. It may take him a lot of time to write a comment, or to read the latest blog entries located on the same first-level page. So, the average Time on Site metric for blogs is usually extremely unreliable.
Time on Site metric
All business owners and CEO constantly worry about the metric that is called Time on Site. They just love this stat and they demand from the web analyst to establish precisely how long visitors hang around their web sites. Just several years ago, old software would give web analysts peculiar and weird results. But as the time went by, technologies for calculating this metric definitely improved.
On the surface, Time on Site metric itself is easy to understand, as well as number of visits and number of unique visitors on the site. Maybe, that’s why business owners like it so much. Yet there are still some certain drawbacks related to this metric that I am aware of.
Usually, web analytics tools, like Google Analytics, log each request of the Internet visitor who navigates to the web site. They apply time stamp to each request for all time that the prospect spends on the web pages until he exits from the site. And in the end of a certain time frame, analytics tools compute the difference between the timestamps on the pages.
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On the surface, Time on Site metric itself is easy to understand, as well as number of visits and number of unique visitors on the site. Maybe, that’s why business owners like it so much. Yet there are still some certain drawbacks related to this metric that I am aware of.
Usually, web analytics tools, like Google Analytics, log each request of the Internet visitor who navigates to the web site. They apply time stamp to each request for all time that the prospect spends on the web pages until he exits from the site. And in the end of a certain time frame, analytics tools compute the difference between the timestamps on the pages.
Read more ...
Customers need to trust site
In order to reach their target audience, website owners have to concentrate their efforts on site’s content, copy and design. Naturally, not by building an excessive amount of Flash applets and freaky animations. Website has to find out exactly what visitors want and provide relevant response to their needs. For example, if an Internet searchers click on the sponsored link, they should land at exactly the right place on the site, not at the home page. The majority of visitors simply will not work their way from the home page to the relevant page and attempt for conversion will fail.
All factors mentioned above are not possible without trust, due to the simple fact that a website will not sell anything if it can not gain trust. Customers need to trust site enough to part with their money. So, it certainly helps if a website is equipped with privacy policy, great SSL encryption, articles and tutorials, true testimonials of other satisfied and happy customers, who already purchased from the website. Conversion rates will increase, if website’s shipping procedure does not cause headaches for the clients, and prospects can easily find contact information and get decent support in case of emergency.
So the question arises, how to verify that all this strategy is working? Or, in other words, how to consistently improve the website conversion? You guessed it right. By measuring, testing and experimenting ...
All factors mentioned above are not possible without trust, due to the simple fact that a website will not sell anything if it can not gain trust. Customers need to trust site enough to part with their money. So, it certainly helps if a website is equipped with privacy policy, great SSL encryption, articles and tutorials, true testimonials of other satisfied and happy customers, who already purchased from the website. Conversion rates will increase, if website’s shipping procedure does not cause headaches for the clients, and prospects can easily find contact information and get decent support in case of emergency.
So the question arises, how to verify that all this strategy is working? Or, in other words, how to consistently improve the website conversion? You guessed it right. By measuring, testing and experimenting ...
One of the ways to improve conversion rates
When a website persuades the visitor to take the intended action like submitting the form, subscribing to newsletter or services, downloading your materials or buys some product a full-blown conversion occurs. Most of the websites are looking for prospects who will eventually contact them over the phone, e-mail or through some online form. The visitors hold all the cards. Why? First of all, it is due to the fact that a website needs to get permission from them to obtain information and respect their privacy.
If a website does not provide visitors with some sort of explanation why they need to continue a dialog, an attempt to achieve conversion will fail. A website must have very convincing reason for visitors to get their permission to communicate with them. The percentage of people who are going to continue the dialog with the website will eventually increase its conversion rates.
One of the ways to improve conversion rates is to build the prominence of the website. It all starts with the domain name and continues throughout entire website short-term tactics and long-term strategy. Believe it or not, but Internet visitors notice that certain websites stand out from their competition. They do notice useful sites because so many of them tirelessly browse the Web in search of information. If the website manages to educate potential customers about its offer and even give them back something useful, Internet searchers will choose that web site over the rest of the pack.
Read more ...
If a website does not provide visitors with some sort of explanation why they need to continue a dialog, an attempt to achieve conversion will fail. A website must have very convincing reason for visitors to get their permission to communicate with them. The percentage of people who are going to continue the dialog with the website will eventually increase its conversion rates.
One of the ways to improve conversion rates is to build the prominence of the website. It all starts with the domain name and continues throughout entire website short-term tactics and long-term strategy. Believe it or not, but Internet visitors notice that certain websites stand out from their competition. They do notice useful sites because so many of them tirelessly browse the Web in search of information. If the website manages to educate potential customers about its offer and even give them back something useful, Internet searchers will choose that web site over the rest of the pack.
Read more ...
People often ask our advice
People often ask our advice on how to improve website conversion rates. Unfortunately, there is no short answer to this question. If we try to sum it all up, we would say, that measuring, testing and experimenting are the primary keys to improving online conversion rates. Then we would, probably, have to re-think this answer and add to this list website prominence, its relevance to the potential customers, target marketing and trust.
Over the years Internet marketing is rapidly changing from a mixture of voodoo and educated guesses into science. Web analysts have at their disposal more or less impressive measurement tools and tracking software. They know how to properly track visitors’ behavior with these tools. They constantly analyze and decode the results of the measurements and understand why things happen. Without tracking software web analyst may not realize how effective the website is. Or, the reasons why certain web pages have high bounce rates while others don’t.
When a web analyst measures the conversion of any web site, he, basically, differentiates this process in two ways. There are certain small conversions that should be tested and measured repeatedly and full-blown conversions. Small conversions are steps that web site visitors take on the road to full-blown conversion. They guide visitor to the final website goal and can be anything from a simple call to action, like “click here” to something more valuable like “find out how to download our free eBook”.
Read more ...
Over the years Internet marketing is rapidly changing from a mixture of voodoo and educated guesses into science. Web analysts have at their disposal more or less impressive measurement tools and tracking software. They know how to properly track visitors’ behavior with these tools. They constantly analyze and decode the results of the measurements and understand why things happen. Without tracking software web analyst may not realize how effective the website is. Or, the reasons why certain web pages have high bounce rates while others don’t.
When a web analyst measures the conversion of any web site, he, basically, differentiates this process in two ways. There are certain small conversions that should be tested and measured repeatedly and full-blown conversions. Small conversions are steps that web site visitors take on the road to full-blown conversion. They guide visitor to the final website goal and can be anything from a simple call to action, like “click here” to something more valuable like “find out how to download our free eBook”.
Read more ...
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