By Kristin Tomlinson-Web Success Team

With the Winter Olympics and Super Bowl just around the corner and with the World Cup taking center stage this summer, sponsors are taking a new and different approach to advertising their brands. They are scrambling to invest more in social media campaigns and less on expensive TV and print advertisements. Aside from the obvious cost savings, the big question is why social media? The answer is two-fold. Social media is personal and it builds relationships. Advertisers are fast recognizing that to build brand loyalty they need to connect with their consumers in new ways through online direct response marketing. What better way than through sports marketing where fans identify with athletes and their national teams.

Social media is playing a critical part in presenting brands and athletes in a manner that interacts with fans on a worldwide basis. It creates anticipation and excitement for fans that can communicate directly with their favorite athlete and connect with them on a more personal level. Social media is enabling brands to create lasting relationships with people around the globe that isn’t possible with television and print media.

The Crossover to the New Media

NBC, who has exclusive broadcast rights to air the Vancouver Olympics, is making a big play with online marketing as a major part of their promotions to achieve web success. It has partnered with the social media firm The Swarm Collective to produce Olympic Pulse, a place where visitors can look up tweets from athletes, Olympic blogs and top trending stories. The Super Bowl promotions have also been very active in social media on Twitter, Facebook and blogging. Athletes and teams are scrambling to hype the event and gain more followers.

In order to prep for the World Cup in the coming months, the corporate partners of FIFA, football’s world governing body, are moving away from the use of traditional TV and billboard campaigns. Instead they are trying out social networking sites to promote their brands, to sell their pitch and build their business online. Calum MacDougall, director of global marketing partnerships at Sony Ericsson, says 2010 will be the first “social networking World Cup.”

Changing the Way the Game Is Played

What makes social media so attractive to powerhouse companies is the realization that more and more people are resorting to popular social destinations like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to get their daily dose of their favorite brands and athletes. In addition to this, these sites come with major audiences and give brands a huge boost and a way to reach millions of consumers. As an added bonus, these sites give brands the viral, online hype that they’ve been searching for in their audiences and their markets. In addition to this, it’s cheaper than spending millions on TV, billboard and print campaigns, and they can get real-time results in relation to how many people are engaging in these sites and taking advantage of their promotional offers.

The consumer has changed and companies have finally recognized that they need to be where the consumers are most responsive. Is social media the advertising vehicle of the future, replacing more traditional media? Probably not, but it may run an effective second.

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The Web Success Team has scored a touchdown (and a few extra points) in helping promote a premiere event during Super Bowl Week, called Taste of the Game. Our clients, Entertainment & Sports Plus (ESP) and Sports Entertainment Team (SET) are hosting five exclusive events that will benefit charitable causes and educational institutes, as well as entertaining prominent business, sports and celebrity and VIP attendees.

To date, corporate sponsors include: Bacardi, CRN Digital Talk Networks, WealthTV and boingo.

A Website Sporting Good Causes

In collaboration with The Heart Truth®/Red Dress campaign, a portion of the proceeds from The Red Heart Gala and Taste of the Tropics events will benefit Athletes for Life and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease.

In collaboration with our clients, the Web Success Team helped developed the event logo and website to give it a flavor of Miami and give the potential attendees a taste for the game’s activities. Branded to reflect the Super Bowl Miami location with a football themed logo, the site is geared to reflect the 5 exclusive events: Business of Sports Summit, VIP Welcome Reception, Red Heart Charitable Gala, Taste of the Tropics, and End Zone 44 wrap up party.

The site is constructed for ease of use and navigation with events clearly presented with its own page descriptors, sponsorship opportunities with downloadable pdf package, the standard about us and contact us pages, along with celebrity hosts and prominent celebrities and VIP Guests, including actresses Vivica Fox and Kym Whitley, former and current NFL players Willie Gault, DeShaun Foster and Michael Boley.

A Brite Way to Promote Ticket Sales

The lifeblood of any event is ticket sales and the Web Success Team set-up the Eventbrite site to help manage, promote and sell-out the event. The Team branded Taste of the Game on the Eventbrite engine so those going to purchase tickets to the various events will experience the continuity of the branding and event descriptions while making their decision/purchases.

Since Social Media is now an important component in any online marketing plan, Taste of the Game is no exception. The home page has all the social media networking icons so visitors can connect with the clients and spread the word about this exciting star-studded event.

TeamWork Brings Web Success

The Web Success Team can help develop, manage and promote your event through the power of online marketing and social media marketing. Our experience and knowledge can be a valuable resource in this new economy to get the most traction out of your business or event and achieve web success. Contact our Team to learn how we can get you wired into your target markets and make an impact on your bottom line.

The Web Success Team has scored a touchdown (and a few extra points) in helping promote a premiere event during Super Bowl Week, called Taste of the Game. Our clients, Entertainment & Sports Plus (ESP) and Sports Entertainment Team (SET) are hosting five exclusive events that will benefit charitable causes and educational institutes, as well as entertaining prominent business, sports and celebrity and VIP attendees.

To date, corporate sponsors include: Bacardi, CRN Digital Talk Networks, WealthTV and boingo.

A Website Sporting Good Causes

In collaboration with The Heart Truth®/Red Dress campaign, a portion of the proceeds from The Red Heart Gala and Taste of the Tropics events will benefit Athletes for Life and WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease.

In collaboration with our clients, the Web Success Team helped developed the event logo and website to give it a flavor of Miami and give the potential attendees a taste for the game’s activities. Branded to reflect the Super Bowl Miami location with a football themed logo, the site is geared to reflect the 5 exclusive events: Business of Sports Summit, VIP Welcome Reception, Red Heart Charitable Gala, Taste of the Tropics, and End Zone 44 wrap up party.

The site is constructed for ease of use and navigation with events clearly presented with its own page descriptors, sponsorship opportunities with downloadable pdf package, the standard about us and contact us pages, along with celebrity hosts and prominent celebrities and VIP Guests, including actresses Vivica Fox and Kym Whitley, former and current NFL players Willie Gault, DeShaun Foster and Michael Boley.

A Brite Way to Promote Ticket Sales

The lifeblood of any event is ticket sales and the Web Success Team set-up the Eventbrite site to help manage, promote and sell-out the event. The Team branded Taste of the Game on the Eventbrite engine so those going to purchase tickets to the various events will experience the continuity of the branding and event descriptions while making their decision/purchases.

Since Social Media is now an important component in any online marketing plan, Taste of the Game is no exception. The home page has all the social media networking icons so visitors can connect with the clients and spread the word about this exciting star-studded event.

TeamWork Brings Web Success

The Web Success Team can help develop, manage and promote your event through the power of online marketing and social media marketing. Our experience and knowledge can be a valuable resource in this new economy to get the most traction out of your business or event and achieve web success. Contact our Team to learn how we can get you wired into your target markets and make an impact on your bottom line.

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Join the Web Success Team for a FREE social media workshop hosted by the L.A. Chamber of Commerce. The workshop is called Latinos and Social Media Strategies for Nonprofits and is on Wednesday, December 16th from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m at Bank of America Room A, B & C on 350 S. Bixel St., Los Angeles 90017. The sponsor is the California Wellness Foundation. The workshop is promoted by VPE, a Hispanic Public Relations firm, whose social media practice area, commUNITY®, is geared to bringing online opportunities to Latinos.

During this one-day workshop, you will learn how to utilize the latest web technology for your organization’s advantage. Presenters will share outreach strategies and how to manage an online presence for your organization in support of your mission. You will get key insights and recommendations to harness the power of new media to maximize your dollars.

Marci Rosenblum – Featured Speaker

Throughout the day there will be guest speakers on a variety of social media topics. Kicking off the morning is Marci Rosenblum, co-founder of the Web Success Team, who will be talking about “Effective Branding in a Social Media World.” Marci will discuss the pros for carrying your brand forward in social networks; and the benefits that it creates for spreading your message to the right demographics.

Other topics include successful social media campaigns. You will learn from nonprofit organizations using social media. This session will focus on successful strategies and challenges in launching social media campaigns including online fundraising, community organizing and civic engagement. The afternoon session will delve into developing social media strategies. You will learn what steps to take before launching a social media effort and strategies to use to engage with your online community.

Take-Aways…

There will be a host of tips, techniques and strategies you will gleam from this one-day workshop. The focus may be on non-profits, but anyone can benefit from the content presented by these social media marketing experts. Some of the workshop take-aways include:

• Learning about the most useful web tools for nonprofits.
• Discovering the latest trends on how to use Social Media to communicate with constituents.
• Conversing with experts on how to develop strategies and manage online presence.
• Discussing with organizations that have successfully used social media for promotion, advocacy and fund raising.

Sign-up and join the team for this FREE.

For more information and a schedule of workshop activities and speakers, go to the link: Latinos and Social Media Strategies for Nonprofits. Join the Web Success Team for a day of learning and networking.

TeamWork Builds Web Success

The Web Success Team specializes in building and marketing direct response websites that take full advantage of the latest developments on the Internet. The Team has an arsenal of effective web strategies, online tools and proven techniques to promote your products and services. And we’ll show you ways to increase the amount of qualified traffic to your site through the expanding social media and online marketing strategies.

For more tips, tools and articles of interest, become a fan of the WebSuccessTeam Facebook Page and learn more about online marketing, SEO and social media.

Contact the Team today for a complimentary consultation to your web success!

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By Kristin Tomlinson-Web Success Team

Thanksgiving dates back to 1621, when both the Mayflower Pilgrims and the American Wampanoag Indians shared 3 days of celebration for conquering their harsh environment and feasting with new friends in a new world. Today, Thanksgiving is a time where people come from near and far to reconnect, rejuvenate, reflect and rejoice. Thanksgiving is one of the few times of the year that can be classified as a social holiday. People actually have a reason to get back in sync with someone they’ve lost touch with or possibly repair old ties that have previously been severed.

Like Thanksgiving, social media gives people the tools to reconnect and stay in touch. Instead of a wooden table decorated with lavish decorations and dishes, people gather around electronic devices adorned with various forms of networking sites and portals that enable people to get plugged in and unite. Thanksgiving and social media networking draw similar parallels, bringing people together for practical purposes, whether it be eating or solidifying business deals, cooking meals or cooking up interesting tweets and Facebook chats.

Just as Indians and Pilgrims from distant lands came together on common ground to harvest their bounty, people from various parts of the globe join forces in a “cyberspace” field to prosper for business and networking purposes.

Thanksgiving is also a time for welcoming friends and neighbors into your home to get better acquainted and make existing bonds stronger. Similarly, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter were all designed for people to welcome others to their homepages and websites and get reconnected.

Proclaimed a national holiday by President Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiving has morphed into an international event celebrated by Americans and their friends across the globe. In contrast, social media was founded by a few daring entrepreneurs and has exploded into virtually millions of household and businesses throughout the world wide web, granting a ton of web success.

Thanksgiving only comes around once a year, but by incorporating online marketing into your everyday life, you can have a reason to celebrate daily. You certainly have a reason to give thanks because social media is known for giving back. It can help businesses reach more customers, boost their sales and give them an edge on the competition. Social media can sit at the proverbial head of the table, and allow consumers to feast on success and profits (instead of turkey and yams).

Both Thanksgiving and social media gives us a reason to celebrate and bring us closer together. But unlike our historic ancestors, we hope our brave new social world will lead to better and more understanding between people of all ethnicities and cultures. Happy Thanksgiving.

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By Bob Speyer and Kristin Tomlinson – Web Success Team

The speed of the way we communicate has morphed into an Internet monster. Today we can virtually work in anywhere on the planet. Hotels, planes, cell phones — anywhere we can get our WiFi fix. Yesterday’s news is today’s fish warp. Our gratification is instantaneous, but like anything, be careful what you wish for. There is always a downside to hyper-productivity.

From Tortoise to Virtual Hare.

It’s hard to comprehend that it was only a couple of years ago when present day technology had yet to evolve, and business folks alike carried serious stress about meeting specific deadlines, worried about finishing work on time before departing on vacation, or were hesitant of traveling, not because of the fear of flying, but because of the anxiety that their future destination would not contain the necessary accommodations needed to get work done and lost productivity. Offices were tense, and businesses were limited.

Looking back, it would give any business savvy worker cold sweats to wonder how they could get their present job done efficiently. In America there’s a saying that we “live to work,” and with that accompanies the ideal that we have the divine right to work whenever and wherever we are.

Welcome to the land where those concerns have become extinct, and a new species has staked its claim on planet earth. It’s the virtual office.

Cars, Online Trade Shows and In-Flight WiFi. . . Oh My!

The Internet has indeed become elastic, stretching its reach into various places once deemed impossible, but now a reality. In this day and age, we have wireless Internet in our cars and on our phones; a tool that has acquired so much attention in the past couple of years that it has actually turned into a major problem. The Internet application on cell phones has only added to the controversy of cell phone use while driving, and Congress has created a law banning such use, officially putting that application in “time out” indefinitely.

Even traveling business people have the Internet in literally every country they travel to, allowing them to stay connected to the office from their “business away from home,” thousands of miles away. Everyone has jumped on the WiFi bandwith. Hotels that aren’t connected lose business. Today it is as essential as in room telephones and bathrooms.

The Web Success Team recently took a business trip to New York. Just before returning to Los Angeles, we had a rush project that “couldn’t wait.” We finished what we could in our room on the laptop, took a cab to Newark; connected to the airport WiFi to “kill 2 hours”; reconnected on the plane via gogoinflight, finished the job; emailed the completed files; then kicked back to relax for the duration of the 6 hour flight. A short time later, the client emailed from her Blackberry that they received the files, reviewed them and thanked us. Just another day at the “office!”

The Internet “Fix”. . . Good or Bad?

The Internet has come along way from the confinements of a cubicle to expanding its power to the farthest borders of the world. Not only has it offered its services to help strengthen and build your business online, but it has also allowed people to stay connected. It’s funny how you can’t imagine a world without it, but yet there was once a time when it didn’t exist at all. Looking back, it must have been an anxious time, not being connected 24/7 – or has this ultimate Internet fix made us more nervous and less laid back with even more stringent deadlines? Makes you wonder.

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By Bob Speyer and Eric Pangburn Web Success Team

You can have the flashiest and most visually impressive website on the Internet, but if no one ever visits it, then your site isn’t really doing you that much good. By the same token, an e-commerce site that pulls in a fair amount of traffic but very little actual sales isn’t living up to its potential either. In both cases, the one factor that can tip the scales in your favor is effective lead generation. And not just any leads, mind you; what you want are leads that are targeted specifically to build your business.

While there was a time when leads were typically gathered by way of telemarketing and e-mail databases, these methods have largely been supplanted by more currently accepted methods using online avenues. E-mail marketing is particularly deemed outdated, since this opens you up to accusations of spamming. In most cases, the customers that you’re targeting may simply be annoyed by your marketing efforts. Worse, they may even get you in trouble with your e-mail provider. For this reason, more and more people are turning towards online means of lead generation as opposed to cold calling, telemarketing and e-mail.

Below are some effective ways by which you could generate leads and achieve web success in the face of today’s changing online world.

1. Locate the Target: Find out where your customers are and how they can be reached. You can’t go after your target market if you don’t know where it is; it’s that simple. If you have written a book on gardening, the obvious places to look for leads are gardening websites and forums.
2. Join Relevant Communities: Once you have figured out where your potential customers hang out online, join in on the community that they are a part of. Resist the temptation to blatantly market your products or services to them, and instead strive to become an active contributor to the online community. This will allow you to build a rapport with your potential market base that can be used as a foundation for a solid marketing campaign effort.
3. Advertising and Link Exchange: Find out what other websites your customers visit regularly and check them out as well. They may prove to be fresh ground for your marketing and/or advertising campaign. Find out if the website in question accepts advertising and what their rates are. They may even accept article submissions in which case you will want to find out what the terms and conditions of use are. You may even be able to exchange links with the website owner. Don’t automatically disregard a site just because you deem it as a competitor. You may be surprised at the number of websites that are willing to work with the competition just as long as they can benefit from the arrangement as well.
4. Build Your Email List with Value: While unsolicited e-mail can definitely hurt your marketing efforts, a mailing list is almost essential for keeping your existing customers in the loop. Make sure that you do have something extra to offer your customers that are on your mailing list, so that they will feel privileged and being a part of it.
5. Paid Search: PPC or pay per click advertising has been around for a number of years now. While it has its fair share of detractors who feel that it is somewhat outdated and ineffective, it is still a pretty viable means of generating leads. Google’s AdWords is still used by many individuals and companies who want to achieve greater visibility on the Internet. The rates for such ads will vary depending on how crowded your particular field is and where on the page your ad will be placed, among other factors. The beauty of AdWords is that they offer you plenty of flexibility with regard to how much you spend on your ads. Furthermore, you only pay a fee when a visitor clicks on your ad.
6. Blogging: Developing and maintaining an active blog is critical to your lead generation efforts. Posting relevant articles, tips and tidbits peppered with keywords will help drive qualified traffic to your website. One of the weaknesses of a site owner is never having enough time to blog post. We cannot stress this strongly enough. If you don’t have the time, hire a freelance writer.
7. Article Marketing: Get published! A good way to generate new leads is by writing articles that your potential customers may be interested in and getting them published on relevant websites. Most of the websites that allow article submission will feature your author bio as well as a link to your website. There are article aggregators (paid and non-paid) that will circulate your articles on directories, newsletters, blogs, websites to save you time. You submit one article and they distribute it to hundreds of relevant sites.
8. Social Media Networking: Finally, don’t neglect the popular social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and even YouTube. Such sites regularly pull in thousands of people every day, so you can imagine just how vast an exploration area that is for your marketing efforts. The field is wide open for you to reap the leads that your online business needs, and you would do well to explore them as a part of a holistic online marketing campaign.

As you can see, lead generation is a multi-faceted discipline that involves several different methods. The key to success is pinpointing which of these methods actually deliver results and focusing your efforts on them. Not all methods will work the same way for your site as it does for another, so you should carefully consider all your options.

The Web Success Team

SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
The Web Success Team’s Solopreneur Package includes a 5-page custom direct response website fully branded and optimized for Search Engines with 6-months of online marketing, social networking, blogging, article marketing and much more. Lock in your special pricing now before the rate goes up! Contact the Web Success Team at 818-222-5643 or email bob@websuccessteam.com. To your web success!

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By Bob Speyer, President – Web Success Team

On the face of it, more than you think when you consider raising children and obtaining a mortgage as two of the most important and difficult challenges parents face in these modern and uncertain economic times. But that is not really the main thrust of this article; nor is it just an attention grab.

The Web Success Team has just launched two direct response websites with very different yet distinct marketing focuses:

Be Informed. Make the Right Mortgage Decision.

NuCapital.ca, one of Canada’s premier mortgage brokers, contracted the Web Success Team to build their business online and market their outstanding services. They purchased Team’s complete online marketing solution, the Solopreneur Marketing Package, which includes a direct response website and 6 months of online marketing and promotion.

The first assessment we made was to position them as an authority on the mortgage industry with the message to the consumer to be better informed in order to make the right mortgage decision. Then we wanted to show the benefits in using NuCapital to find them the best loan for their unique financial situation. We added the tagline: “A Fresh Nu Approach to Mortgage Lending” to reinforce their online positioning and branding as working for their interest, not the banks.

NuCapital wanted to attract more clients and engage them. Our approach was two-fold. First was to build a direct response marketing website, including an opt-in to capture name and email with a downloadable free report, along with an online application to “know their mortgage options.” The color palette is especially important in that we wanted the visitor to feel “safe.” We selected a lighter and darker shade of cool blue and a complimentary cream. The home page is of course the main focus of any website and we segmented it so the visitor could see the immediate benefits of using NuCapital for all their mortgage needs. The copy was written to give them a quick advantages comparison on their promise of a “nu approach to mortgage lending.”

Having just completed the site, we are now in Phase II — Online Marketing and Promotion. Because the client has a local geographic target area, greater Toronto, we focused on placing NuCapital on several local directories. In addition to fully optimizing the website for the search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN, we created a WordPress blog. Keyword rich articles are being written, blogged and submitted to article aggregators to further increase the company’s Internet footprint. We are also using Social Media Network Marketing to broaden their reach through the use of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and achieve web success.

Offline, the client is doing staged postcard mailings to draw visitors to the site and further market their services to the local geo areas.

Helping Parents Raise Extraordinary Children

Great Parenting Academy is the brainchild of Terri Khonsari, a noted author, coach, consultant and successful parent. She created the Academy to assist and educate parents in developing skills on how to raise an exceptional child. She has brought together acclaimed experts in the field of child psychology and child development, including best-selling “Chicken Soup” author Jack Canfield, child psychologist Dr Brenda Wade and Janet Attwood, educator and best selling author of The Passion Test.

The Web Success Team was asked to develop a website to promote their inaugural one-day live event. We branded the site to depict the growth and learning phases of child development and gave it an informational resource feel. The site is easy to navigate where prospective attendees can delve deeper to find topics, speakers and activities that will interest and engage them. There is also an early bird registration request and blog for additional up-to-date information and resources. Again, colors were selected to elicit positive reaction from the target group of young parents. Eggshell yellow is the predominant background color with red accents. Finally, there is a bookmark tag so the site can be shared through social media.

The Web Success Team

SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
The Web Success Team’s Solopreneur Package includes a 5-page custom direct response website fully branded and optimized for Search Engines with 6-months of online marketing, social networking, blogging, article marketing and much more. Lock in your special pricing now before the rate goes up! Contact the Web Success Team at 818-222-5643 or email bob@websuccessteam.com. To your web success!

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by Bob Speyer, President, Web Success Team

As the saying goes, “there are lies, damn lies and statistics.” Well, in the worldwide web, statistics are our gold standard, and always tell the truth, but not the whole story. That’s left for savvy marketing interpretation. But stats are our reality gut check. Point of fact, most websites convert visitors into customers at just over  a 2% clip with a few reaching upwards of 9-14%. So how can you increase the conversion rate? This article provides insight into what converts a visitor into a customer and how to increase your percentage to maximize your return on investment.

1. Understand Your Customers, Then Give Them What They Want or Need!

If you want to sell or entice your customers to further inquire or buy, you must get to know their demographic profile: Are they predominately males or females? Males respond more to facts and figures, logically; females respond more emotionally and rely on feelings to influence their decisions. Income, education, age and geographic location also play a part in their decision making. Then of course there are customer goals and objectives — what questions do they ask; what benefits or features are most important; how does your products or services solve their problem or satisfy their need; what are their objections or resistance to buying or signing up; do you have guarantees. By addressing their suspicions or fears, you can bridge the gap. For example, an FAQ section on your website is very helpful in a confronting customer concerns up front.

2. Retool Your Thinking

Stagnation is part of the human condition. We either get too comfortable or too resistant to change. You need to think out of the proverbial box and retool your thinking, reinventing or reinvigorating your thought processes or your company’s personality. In marketing lingo, it’s called a unique selling proposition (USP) and makes you stand above your competition. Often a tagline can help support the branding. The USP should be compelling and benefits-driven. If done right, it will spark a positive imagery in the minds and hopefully hearts and wallets of your potential customers. It can’t be as trivial as “We will save you time and money.” It should state something like, “Our service will free your time to be more productive and improve your bottom line.”

3. Lead Them to Water and Then Let Them Drink

The buying decision is complex. For some it’s emotional, some impulsive, others compulsive, still others information drives them to decide. No website (or psychiatrist) can solve all the complex personalities, but you can help improve your odds. Start with you site navigation and architecture. It’s a step-by-step process to lead site visitors to water and make it so enticing that they not only want taste it but feel good and confident in doing so. If your website is overburdened with information, they will leave. If your website is too flashy, it becomes too distracting and they will be bored and leave. If your website doesn’t make its case in 10-20 seconds, they will leave.

You can persuade people to engage your site and give you a fair chance if you can address their quest for answers. They don’t have to leave a web-page to continue the buying. But if they seek more information, simply provide them with a helpful hyperlink directing them to another page. Once satisfied, they will click back and continue the process. I also highly recommend calls to action and inducements or promotions. People respond favorably if the offers are credible, and not just too good to be true. Sometimes offering them less will get you more play or credibility.

4. First Impressions Are the Only Ones that Count

Your best chance for conversion (whether they choose to buy on contact you on the first visit, or bookmark to return to the conversion process) is with your first time visitor. Hence their first impression is the only one that counts. In redesigning a website it is always best to keep to recognized formats: conservative colors familiar with your industry (i.e. green or blue for medical); keeping your navigation horizontal below your header or either in a left or right column; contact links in the upper corner and on the bottom of the website.

5. Converting Visitors into Customers

If you want to improve your conversion rates, you must study also your metrics. Which pages are being visited most; when do visitors leave the buying cycle; and ask yourself why. You need to analyze the data, then revise, reword, rewrite, test and track. If you have a form that is not converting, maybe it is too long, or too short. Test and track. Another method is A/B testing. You can test an offer or promotion with two similar pages, changing it to suit your test. With two test market webpages, you can see what and which converts higher, then implement the results and continually test and tweak. You can test anything and everything, from colors, layouts, images, offers, calls to action, home pages, and navigation.

Often times, adding a button and repositioning it or writing more direct response call to action copy will give you a boost in conversions. Remember, like your customers, your website is a living and breathing entity and needs to be feed and cared for if it is to grow up to be productive adult websites.

Sources for this article: SeoChat and  ClickZ

The Web Success Team
SPECIAL: Solopreneur Package – Jump Start Your Business
The Web Success Team’s Solopreneur Package includes a 5-page custom direct response website fully branded and optimized for Search Engines with 6-months of online marketing, social networking, blogging, article marketing and much more. Lock in your special pricing now before the rate goes up! Contact the Web Success Team at 818-222-5643 or email bob@websuccessteam.com. To your web success!

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