Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [31]
However, across the cubicle was an employee who loved his job. He happily made his calls, was extremely cheerful, and felt that he had the greatest job in the world. I finally had to ask him what made this job so wonderful, because I was languishing in misery. He explained that he made $3.50 every time he picked up the phone. Well, that got my attention! I’m making $6.50 an hour, and he is making $3.50 for every call? Why was he getting paid so much? And what kind of payment plan is that? He explained.” If I make 50 calls a night, I know that on average, 10 people will listen. Out of those 10 people, I average 2 people who will make a commitment. If I average those numbers for a week, then I will get a bonus. If I average those numbers for the month, I get another bonus. Add in the top closer bonus, and I average $3.50 for each phone call....” I was stunned. I saw the call as the problem. He saw the call as already-earned value, which contributed directly to his success.
Calculating the value of a lead can provide an amazing insight into measuring success on the website. I find that as soon as marketers place dollar signs next to their website reports, it gets interesting, and people take notice.
Measure According to the Goal
Strangely enough, although most businesses are focused on making money with their websites, they settle for reports that focus on data that does not provide recommendations for improvement. I am generally surprised at the level of data that businesses will settle for.
At this point, I like to paraphrase one of Socrates’ famous sayings as, “The unexamined website is not worth hosting.” Unless a business is reporting business value focused on continual improvements, the site is in a state of stagnation. Problems go unaddressed, and the website underperforms. I’ll address analytics in greater detail later in the book, as well as the dangers of the “typical” reporting cycle. At this point, though, you should write down your goals for your website. Write down the current and potential conversion points, and assign value to them—or, at the very least, a means of developing value in the near future.
Primary Goals
What is the business purpose of your website?
What is the primary action that you want visitors to take?
Secondary Goals
If visitors do not take the primary action, then what do you want them to do?
List supplementary conversion (visitor action) points that contribute to your business, marketing, or building your email list.
Part II: Month 1: Evaluate and Research
In order to know how to improve, you will have to assess your current situation. The conflicting part is that in order to diagnose important parts of your website and marketing strategy, you will have to be exposed to some concepts and terminology that may be unfamiliar. Don’t be intimidated by this. Latter chapters will explain these things more in-depth. So, if you come across content or words that just don’t seem to make sense make a note on the page and come back to it later. You should even come back to this section after completing the book, and after you have made improvements to your website, as the checklists and evaluation methods should always be part of a periodic review of your website.
Chapter 4: Week 1: Evaluate Your Situation
Chapter 5: Week 2: Understand Basic SEO
Chapter 6: Week 3: Jump into Keyword Research
Chapter 7: Week 4: Leverage Principles of Sales and Marketing
Chapter 4
Week 1: Evaluate Your Situation
Once you’ve written your goals, you can work toward achieving them. First you need to diagnose any current problems. Evaluating all the issues will enable a knowledgeable approach, which will result in high-return areas building momentum for low-return changes. Create a standards document based on your business goals to make any new website search-friendly and user-friendly from the start. By clearly