Many people are familiar with the well-known concept of the sales funnel. Conceived over a hundred years ago, it still serves as a useful framework for understanding the decision-making process. The sales funnel is known by the acronym “AIDA” which stands for the stages that a person must pass through before buying something: attention, interest, desire and action. Times have … [Read more...]
What are You “Converting” on Your Website?
Conversion actions are measurable events that move a website visitor toward the mission critical activities that you have identified. Many people view conversions as large-scale or “macro” events, such as product sales or sign-ups for a service. In fact, most conversion actions are incremental micro-events that reduce friction and allow a visitor to continue moving toward your … [Read more...]
Profiling Your Way to Profits
Many of the smartest marketers I have had the pleasure of knowing, agree that building an email list is essential to long-term success.Profiling is a term I use to partition my list into separate sub-lists that can help you identify what products or services are of the greatest interest to your list subscribers. A profile can be any way you want to separate the list members … [Read more...]
Let’s Get Personal
Imagine that you are shopping at a department store and you ask a salesperson for men’s summer sandals and he takes you to the main entrance and drops you off. Your reaction?There’s a good chance you’re frustrated. You probably think less of the store for its poor service. You’re probably going to leave without buying any shoes. You might even tell your … [Read more...]
The Importance of Follow-through
I am not a golfer- but I rented some clubs and hit at a driving range for the first time a few months ago. I had no clue what I was doing, but I happened to be standing next to someone who was in the middle of a lesson. I watched closely and tried to apply what the trainer was telling his student to make my swing better. After a few tries, I was consistently driving that sucker … [Read more...]
Search Marketing Is Direct Marketing
When I say the word "marketing," what do you think of? Probably some kind of advertising - maybe a TV commercial for Coke. That's brand marketing, and it's gotten the lion's share of attention from marketers for decades. Far fewer people are direct marketers - the folks behind the catalogs and mail solicitations that fill our mailboxes. If you know any direct marketers, you may … [Read more...]
Making Over My Own Site
Being "Dr. Makeover" comes with plenty of pressure. There's an expectation that everything I touch will be inherently beautiful and optimized for peak performance. I have a dirty little secret, though: I rarely spend much time working on the design aspect of my own sites. What's that old saying about the cobbler's children? So I've decided to put some shoes on my own kids' feet … [Read more...]
Bringing Your Website Into Focus
What can you do when you've invested in Web initiatives and it looks like the investment isn't paying off? For some industries, embracing the Web as a way to increase business has been a long, slow road. The good news is that every day, companies are pushing the envelope to create online tools and features that move their industry forward in search of the revenue-altering … [Read more...]
Do Your Metrics Measure Up?
Steve DiPietro is amazed at how frequently he listens to prospective clients parroting clickthrough percentages, Web traffic statistics and conversion ratios with great enthusiasm but little-to-no understanding of their value to their organizations. Increasing a conversion rate from 12 to 15 percent can become a goal unto itself as marketers immersed in number crunching can … [Read more...]
Improving Conversions
Kimberly Griffiths knows all too well what it feels like to be drowning in a sea of debt. Like many Americans, she's faced credit card charges totaling tens of thousands of dollars. The difference between Griffiths and the average credit-card-toting American is that she conquered the interest-accruing beasts.Now Griffiths is passionate about helping others conquer it too. She … [Read more...]
Redemption
It all started with Asa Candler, a "prescriptionist" in Atlanta 112 years ago. A modest pharmacist who dealt in tonics and medicines, he bought an unassuming recipe for a patent medicine called Coca-Cola. When he gave out handwritten slips of paper for customers to try the new drink for free, the coupon was born.The simple yet brilliant marketing idea Candler conceived has, of … [Read more...]
You’ve Got Content, Now What?
I find that many website owners are divided into two camps. One camp is very good at developing unique content and garnering tons of search engine traffic, but they have a hard time turning that traffic into dollars. The other camp is great at monetizing traffic, but they can never generate very much traffic. In both cases the individuals involved eventually become discouraged … [Read more...]
Insurance for Conversion Rates
Designing for conversions isn't rocket science. It's just the ability to design a website with particular ideas in mind. For this column we're going to focus on some of the most powerful ways to make a site convert - emotion, unique value proposition and credibility. Master these three basic concepts and you'll be rewarded with soaring conversion rates.The life insurance lead … [Read more...]
Sex Education
You may or may not approve of what they are marketing, but nearly everyone can learn something from the strategies that the adult industry uses to capture consumers online. The thriving adult industry has a history of pioneering many online marketing techniques and continues to provide useful lessons in how to attract and convert an audience.From the creation of the affiliate … [Read more...]
Introducing Dr. Makeover
Not every website needs a complete redesign. Contrary to what most Web designers tell you, designing a website for results, or what I like to call Conversion Design, doesn't require a pretty website. I'm not interested in redesigning websites just for design's sake. So we're shaking things up a bit for this issue of Revenue. Instead of a complete visual overhaul of one site, … [Read more...]