Mary Planding — September 8, 2017 — September 8, 2017
photoshopper24 / Pixabay
With the plethora of marketing strategies out there, you want to know which ones will help your business grow, without taking you to the cleaners.
Yet the variety of choices (also constantly changing), often leads to a sense of overwhelm and frustration for many.
Making your business grow requires more than just educating yourself about the different marketing strategies and techniques. It also means putting together a marketing blueprint, setting marketing goals, testing, tracking and measuring in real time so you learn what’s working and what isn’t.
With more than 62% of the US adult population using the Internet to research their choices before buying anything, no business can afford to ignore their website.
Your site must provide decision makers the type of information they need, when they need it. The information must match where they are in their decision process. TMI too soon, they get overwhelmed or confused. And a confused mind says “no.” Too little information and they don’t see you as credible or trustworthy—so they leave. Too hard to buy something from your site and they go to another site where it’s easier.
Here Are Our 6 Tips for Growing Your Business Online
1. Keep your web pages simple, uncrowded, and easy to understand. Make it clear what your business is and what a visitor can do on that page. Then make it easy for them to do it. This is crucial for your home page.
If you’re a dogwalker and only walk dogs under a certain size and weight, or only certain breeds, say so. If you only offer your services within a 10-mile radius of Anytown, Your State, say so. If the first thing you want a visitor to do is watch a video and observe what her dog will experience under your care, have a big call-to-action button that says “Watch Our Dogwalkers in Action” and make it stand out from everything else on that page. And make sure all of this is visible without a need to scroll the screen.
2. Use Compelling Calls-to-Action and Landing Pages to Capture Leads
The call-to-action button to watch the dogwalking video should take your visitor to a landing page where she can watch the video and get more information in exchange for her email address in exchange (e.g. downloading a checklist, etc.). Whatever the offer is, it needs to be so compelling, your visitor is willing to click on that button. The landing page should have nothing on it other than an explanation of your offer and why it’s so valuable / useful that she can’t wait give you her email address. And a big, obvious, you-can’t-miss-it button she clicks to get the offer after she fills out the form.
3. Always Use Thank You Pages That Have Other Calls to Action
Once your visitor gives you her info, take her to a page that thanks her and delivers the offer (download, video, etc.). And don’t forget to place other call-to-action buttons on the page that offer her still more great information. We recommend no more than one for each part of the sales funnel (top, middle, bottom). Some ideas: eBooks, checklists or even a discount coupon to try your services for a week.
4. Use Lead Nurturing Campaigns and Give More to Get More
Once your visitor has given you her email address, she’s a converted lead. She’s started a relationship with you. Each time you offer her more information for free, you can ask her a little bit more about herself and her dog. Over time you can gather all kinds of information: e.g. name, phone, how many dogs she owns, what breed, how tall/heavy, dog’s name, age and sex, etc. Build trust while getting the information you need to close a dog walking contract with her by sending her a timed series of emails, with links to more free information on your site.
5. Start A Blog and Share It With Your Friends, Family, Colleagues, Customer and Leads
A blog is a place on your website to post articles with useful and relevant content. The more often you publish such content, the more frequently Google and other search engines will crawl your website AND send more traffic to your site. Share your blog on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. And don’t forget to put your blog’s URL on your business cards and in your email signature.
6. Track, Measure and Tweak
Using software such as Google Analytics, HubSpot, HotJar, or others, be sure to set goals, install the tracking codes and monitor your web pages, landing pages, calls-to-action, and lead nurturing emails. See which ones convert more visitors, tweak those that aren’t as good, and get rid of those that aren’t working at all.
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