99 Free online marketing tips #98 – Simple navigation - Whatever your website does make sure that the navigation around it easy. Keep you menu items clear and don’t use obscure titles. Links embedded within pages are fine but don’t solely rely on them - make sure your menu has all the pages on it that your website has (unless you have specific pages for measuring PPC landing activities). By Editor
(29/05/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #92 – Getting involved in communities - Many of the social websites allow the creation of special interest groups and it is useful to hook in with these to share you opinion and views. If your views are balanced and transparent then it may result in your business being reflected well. Again care has to be taken that your message isn’t simply an advert it has to contain value to be taken seriously on these site. By Editor
(11/05/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #91 – Social website marketing - There is a plethora of social websites – bebo, linkedin, facebook etc etc. Business has been using these for some time to help spread the word about their business. They are particularly useful for job advertising and recruiting. Care has to be taken when using them as an overtly commercial message can offend the membership and result in the community turning their back on you. By Editor
(08/05/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #90 – Sitemaps - The Search Engines will explore your website with their Bots whether or not you have a sitemap file on it. But if you want to ensure that you emphasise the important parts of the site then a sitemap is important. You can upload the sitemap to the search engines but if you put it in the root of your site then the search engine will find it when it finds your site. By Editor
(05/05/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #89 – Contact via messaging - We are all becoming increasingly comfortable with using products such as Skype and MSN Messenger. Websites that detect a visitor has been on a particular page for a while can make use of Messenger type tools to engage the visitor – “would you like help” – this can convert an interest to a customer. By Editor
(02/05/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #88 – Personalised content - Once you have built up a profile on your visitor either through the use of cookies or through the registration process you may consider changing the content on the site automatically when they arrive. By changing the content to that which is most relevant then you will improve customer retention levels. By Editor
(30/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #87 – Free trials - Time limited free trials are very popular and provide your business with the scope to build a relationship with the customer ahead of the expiry period. Good free trial systems will regularly contact the downloader to seek comment and obviously encourage the user to buy. By Editor
(27/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #86 – Free downloads - Everyone likes something for nothing and if you have information that is important to your visitor then it can be a good idea to offer this for free – though normally in exchange for an email address during registration. By Editor
(24/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #85 – Beware dead emails - In the B2B email world email addresses tend only to change once an individual leaves but in the B2C world email addresses can change frequently so encourage your members to register a second email address so that when they move ISP there is always a back up. Research suggests that the average number of email accounts held by an individual is three. By Editor
(21/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #84 – Newsletter promotion - As a technique to build visitor numbers you may consider cross newsletter promotion with a complimentary business. Normally this can be done at no cost if the businesses and websites are of comparable sizes and membership levels – but in some cases a fee may arise if the third part newsletter has a significant readership. By Editor
(18/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #83 – Personalisation of email and newsletters - Once a registered member has signed up you will want to keep in contact with them via email and newsletters. Depending on the voice of the website you may decide to introduce the email via Hi, Dear Sir, Dear Mr Doe, or Dear John. The choice is yours – but the type of website you have will dictate just how you want that solicitation to appear. By Editor
(15/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #82 – Decide your KPIs up front - It is best to arrive at what results you want from your website – your Key Performance Indicators of KPIs. Be realistic when setting these – for instance a brand new site is unlikely to suddenly start attracting millions of visitors. Instead break your market down into reasonable expectations and ideally figures that you believe that you can have some influence on through online and offline marketing activities. Typical KPIs might be the bounce rate figure, or the conversion rate, or PPC click through rate – these are things that you have more control on that actual visitor numbers. By Editor
(12/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #81 – Keep the email sales message brief - The speed at which we read material online is getting faster and we tend to scan websites and marketing email messages rather than read them. Analysis shows that we will spend even less time reading an email message than the message on the website so it is recommended to keep email sales messages very brief and then only slightly extended on the website. By Editor
(09/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #80 – Don’t email too often - Nobody likes to be pestered so if you are sending out email or newsletter marketing messages it is important to get the frequency right. This will vary depending on what you are doing, in some instances a monthly contact will be fine but in other situations a weekly or even daily mail is perfectly acceptable. For frequent mailings its normal that the recipient has registered for regular news updates whereas the monthly type contact is probably closer to conventional marketing contact activities. By Editor
(06/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #79 – Don’t exclaim or shout! - Email etiquette is a funny thing. We can easily take offence from something is meant to be funny simply because we can’t see the person making the statement. The use of capitals and exclamation marks can offend as it is seen as shouting. So best to avoid humour or mark it :) . And best to avoid SHOUTING!!! By Editor
(03/04/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #78 – Newsletter segmentation - If you have a wide range of services and products then it may become necessary for you to segment your readers to receive differing Newsletter types. These may be extremely different from each other or simply have a different headline article. Nonetheless the scope to deliver custom newsletters depending on the target markets provides a valuable marketing facility. By Editor
(31/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #77 – Newsletter analysis - Once you have sent out your newsletter it is important to analyse the results. Good newsletter systems will show you the delivery level, the open level and the action level. This can help you determine whether or not the Newsletter is being read and more importantly what items in the newsletter are important to your target market. From this information the newsletter can be modified in the future and potentially so can your product offering as well. By Editor
(29/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #76 – Using e-crm - Customer Relationship Management Systems, or e-CRM ,if used diligently can provide fantastic results, The capability to capture visitor behaviour such as frequency of visit, duration of visit and other demographic type information ensures that marketing campaigns can be delivered to the correct audience at the correct time. Although requiring time and effort to set up an effectively used CRM system can produce dividends. By Editor
(26/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #74 – Loyalty scheme - To encourage your visitors to come back and to retain clients loyalty schemes can prove useful. With a well designed shopping cart system being able to record sales and activity is very straightforward. From this data it is a simple matter of discounting the end shopping cart price based on the customers previous shopping habits. By Editor
(20/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #73 – Password reminders - With so many websites, logins and passwords it is easy to forget what was entered. Most sites that provide a registration option also provide a “forgot password” button. This sends the password to the registered email address or in some cases takes the member through a re-register process in order to double check their identity. By Editor
(17/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #72 – Online form auto completion - When you are asking a visitor for details then assisting with form completion can be helpful. Entering data repeatedly is one sure way to dissuade visitors from engaging with your website so if you have their info on record then try and help complete the form for them. By Editor
(14/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #71 – Postcode search - Mapping and search techniques can help your visitor find what they are looking for fast. If you have a network of shops or service departments then allowing your visitor to find the nearest by entering their postcode can prove very popular. Systems where a map is presented are attractive but in many cases less useful as they require a bit more effort for a time hungry visitor. By Editor
(11/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #70 – What’s the voice - When you are designing your website and arriving at an editorial style the word to watch for is “voice”. What is the voice for your website – is it serious, courteous, jovial, anarchic – or are there certain areas for certain types of conversation? By Editor
(08/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #68 – Anchor Text - As you develop back links from other websites to help promote your business and build your page rank then take care in the manner in which you link back. If you hyper link the name of you company then that is fine – but it is far more sensible and worthwhile to link back from a site with some anchor text that explains the key service you provide – ie if you sell bananas then linking back with the anchor text “quality bananas” will help the search engines understand what your website is all about. By Editor
(02/03/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #67 – Bounce Rate - Google Analytics are free and continually being enhanced and from them you can see what the bounce rate on your site is. Bounce rate is an easy to read percentage figure which gives you an indication of how long people are hanging around. A bounce rate of 100% basically means they landed on and left from the same page – ie they didn’t hang around. That may be for good reasons but is more likely to be because you haven’t provided anything of relevance for the visitor, or provided a strong enough call to action. Bounce rate is particularly important if the traffic has arrived due to a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign as in those cases you’ll have paid for the Bounce. By Editor
(27/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #66 – SEO and ecommerce - When it comes to ecommerce the rules are simple enough – keep it simple, remember the customer, develop trust and make sure it works! However you also need to think about how best to SEO an ecommerce web site. It seems obvious enough to group products that are similar together to ease the buying process but don’t forget that each product within that group deserves its own SEO’s page. This improves your chances of a very specific search actually finding the exact product on your site. By Editor
(24/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #65 – Page at a time - Search Engine Optimisation or SEO is all about one page at a time. Of course you need to know what the general structure and worthiness of the website is but fundamentally you SEO each page. This is a good discipline to get used to as it forces you to consider whether or not each page has a strong enough focus. If the page in question seems to require a lot of differing keyword phrases with little relationship between them then the Search Engines will get confused as to what the page is all about – and the chances are so will your audience. By Editor
(21/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #64 – Deep linking - As you build back links from other websites to promote your business and increase your PageRank you will typically link back to your home page. However, you should also be thinking about the content deep in your website that you want your visitors to find. It may be on a particular service or product or it may be a news area. By deep linking you will increase the PageRank of the internal page (not just the home page) and by doing that you can further encourage the Search Engines to list you highly. By Editor
(18/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #63 – Dynamic SEO - We use dynamic SEO techniques a lot – most newspaper type websites do the same. In short you have to ensure that the news and articles that are published on your web site are also associated with specific SEO data. Your content database that serves up the content to your page will also change the Title Bar, Description Area and Keywords based either on specific fields in the database or perhaps using some form of software algorithm. By Editor
(15/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #62 – Spam filters - If you are sending out mass email or multiple newsletters to a large audience then you will have come across the problem of spam. The SPAM filters are there for obvious reasons but if you are carrying out legitimate email marketing then they can be a frustration as you might be seen as junk email. The rules are not published so knowing exactly just why your email has been rejected is impossible. However, there are a few rules such as the avoidance of profanity, the overuse of phrases like “free offer” and the inclusion of photographs with a propensity of skin tones. Other problems include the stripping out of CSS styling from the newsletter making it look very poor – in these cases you’ll have to include the styling in the actual html. Before sending out your mass email – its best to check it doesn’t end up in your own junk folder. By Editor
(12/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #61 – PPC and geography - If you are opting to spend on online advertising then you are likely to end up using one of the several Pay Per Click services – we prefer Google Adwords at present. The setting up of PPC is straightforward enough but one area that you might want to spend some time thinking about is the geography of the campaign – location marketing. Adwords allows you to set the area that you would like to target with your Adwords – and it sort of almost works. The limitation currently is that the POP (Point of Presence) for a particular geography doesn’t need to be anywhere near the actual physical location. For the best part its ok – but if you think you are being highly focused you will be wrong, so treat it with some care. By Editor
(09/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #60 – Alerts - Staying in touch with what is happening in any sector is now easier than ever thanks to the Alert services such as those on offer from Google. If you have a Google Account (they are free) then you will be able to set up Alerts to cause Google to send you an email when ever anything comes up that you are interested in. This can help from a number of perspectives not least of which is spotting activity in your industry that could impact your sales story of marketing activities. By Editor
(06/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #59 – Google News - If you publish news or articles of interest online then you might want to try and get Google or the other search engines to pick up on your editorial. The Search Engine News services are hungry for good quality content and if you have something to say then it might be a way to help promote your business. By Editor
(03/02/10) ... more 99 Free online marketing tips #51 – Getting the PPC campaign right - When you are deciding on the words that will trigger your paid for adverts you obviously want to choose words that your customers are looking for. If you use the tools within Adwords and in other systems such as Wordtracker then you can get an indication of what your customers are looking for. By SuperUser Account
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