Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [24]
In Part III, I’ll be providing instructions on copywriting and stressing the importance of this important craft. In my experience, the ability to write well is the most underestimated task in online marketing.
Chapter 3
Rankings or Profit? Establishing Your Business Goals
Many companies believe that the right mix of keywords, technical tricks, and tactics will result in great rankings, which, in turn, will result in good business. Nothing could be further from the truth. High rankings do not equal profits. Nothing replaces a good business plan. Having your business goals in place and a proper understanding of what will create a profitable business is where an online business starts. This chapter focuses on the importance of creating clear business goals. Whether you are an individual business owner, marketing manager, or entrepreneur, you have to start by establishing the goals for your business. Everything falls into place as a result of establishing your priorities.
Chapter Contents
Web Design by Alice
Search Rankings Are Not a Goal
Set Better Goals
Calculate the Value of a Lead
Measure According to the Goal
Web Design by Alice
Many websites are caught up in what I like to call “Alice in Wonderland web design.” I liken the strategy to the exchange in Disney’s famous movie between Alice and the Cheshire Cat:
Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don’t much care where....
Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.
Alice: So long as I get somewhere!
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.
Too many companies continually add pages, products, and press releases to their websites with no thought as to the direction, strategy, or primary purpose of their website. There is no specific business goal or visitor goal. As a result, our visitors wander through the content without a clear direction or goal as to what they should do—all because the business has not defined its purpose.
At the outset of my seminars, I always ask the attendees what their goals are. What is your number-one business goal? And, what is your number-one visitor goal? I’ll never forget that one attendee spoke up and said that her goals were too simple. When asked what the goals were, she answered, “Make money; sell shoes.” I was ecstatic. This is exactly the type of goal that every business owner or marketing manager should have readily in their mind. The simpler it is, the easier it is to communicate throughout the company.
The goals need to be written down, displayed, and advertised throughout the organization. These are the operating principles of your website, and every decision about your online-marketing strategy needs to be evaluated and measured according to those goals.
Every page of the website needs to be evaluated according to those stated goals. If a page does not reflect those goals, then it needs to be changed. If images, content, and design do not reflect those goals, then they need to be changed. If the primary call to action on the page does not reflect the goals, then it needs to be changed.
If the goals are not clear, then the organization of the website, its content, and it design will be fuzzy, and the visitor may never take your intended actions. Getting people to your website is one task, but getting them to do what you want keeps you in business. Too many businesses focus on acquiring visitors to the website but don’t measure the factors that make a business successful.
Lack of Goals Shows in the Design
Being involved in website development projects for