Our Blog

For all the online marketing strategies that web designers and business owners employ, it's the results that matter most. That's one reason why so many books, seminars, and web pages are big on the topic of maximizing website conversion ratios – everything you do to bring traffic to your business website is a waste if you can't convince some of those visitors to become customers.

With that in mind, here are seven quick ways to increase the conversion ratios on your website, and improve your online marketing ROI at the same time:

1. Improve your business web design. This is a simple notion, but an effective one. The more credible and professional your business website looks, the more trust people put in your company, and the more likely they are to buy from you. Hint: work with an organization that has professional training and certification in landing page design, such as what they offer in MECLABS/MarketingExperiments curriculum.

2. Opt for a cleaner navigation structure. Just as in a physical retail store, customers who can't find what they're looking for quickly, and can't find help when they need it, are very likely to become frustrated and take their money elsewhere. There’s a reason why minimalist design has become so popular. Use the old “KISS” rule (Keep It Simple)!

3. Start a relationship with the customer. No matter how great your business website is, not everyone is going to be ready to buy on the first visit. For that reason, you should be collecting e-mail addresses and using auto-responders. It's an easy tool to install, and a great way to start a relationship with future customers and to keep in touch.

4. Add strong call to actions on every page. What do you really want people to do while they're on your pages? Figure that out, and then ask them to do it, in a very straightforward way. Asking for what you want isn't exactly an advanced marketing technique, but it can do wonders for your business website.

5. Encourage customers to leave online reviews. How will this help you improve your conversion ratios? The more visitors to your website see that you have been able to make other customers happy – in the form of four- and five-star reviews – the easier it is for them to make the decision to do business with your company. A study has shown that over 88% of all online reviews in the U.S. are positive ones, and 70% of consumers trust the word of other consumers, while only 27% trust the experts.

6. Use click-to-call functionality. Now more than ever, customers will be visiting your website through smart phones and other web-ready devices. By letting them click to call you instantly, you make it faster and more convenient for them to contact you and place an order, schedule an appointment, etc. Remember that a website designed for the mobile platform is very different than the design of your regular website.

7. Put your contact info in places that are easy to find. In a perfect world, visitors to your business website will understand exactly what you want them to do and decide to do it. Should they need assistance, or have a question, however, make it easy for them to reach you quickly. Most people do not feel comfortable doing business with a company whose contact information is difficult to find.

Remember, finding customers online is the name of the game, so use these tips to increase your website conversion ratios.

WSI (We Simplify the Internet) has been providing all size businesses with results-oriented internet and digital marketing strategies since the mid-90's. So don't hesitate to call the best in the business (at least we think so!). 

If you're in the Madison and Mount Horeb Wisconsin area and have been thinking about freshening up your website and start turning more visitors into customers, you should contact WSI or give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!

Best Regards,

Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

 Following is a list of the hot trends going on in the digital marketing industry which business's are subscribing to today. WSI is a full-service provider of digital marketing tools and techniques, and can help businesses of all sizes with any of these opportunities: 

1. Mobile Websites. With the growth of the smart phone technology, all businesses should have a mobile version of their website and it needs to be optimized like a regular website so that it is highly visible to the search engines for your important keywords.


2. Mobile Advertising. Same as paid marketing or pay-per-click, only these textual ads are only displayed when the searcher is using a mobile device, and are linked to specific pages on your mobile website.


3. Mobile Text Messaging. Similar to sending out email newsletters, people are able to “opt-in” to your mobile text messaging campaign to receive information from you about special product promotions, event notifications, coupon downloads, and other opportunities that are only available via their mobile device. You have complete control of your campaigns through the broadcasting tool that we provide.
     
4. 5-star Online Customer Reviews. Putting these on a website and integrating them on to your business Facebook page is a great way to increase conversions. Site visitors are able to visually see how well a company is servicing their customers, and then more quickly make a decision to become a new customer. According to a study, 88% of all online reviews in the U.S. are positive ones, and 70% of consumers trust other consumers opinions, while only 27% trust what the experts have to say.
    
5. Blog posting, article and press release syndication. Integrating a blog with a business’s website does two things. First, it is a great way to communicate with existing or potential customers. Second, the search engines consider it fresh content, and will visit and index more areas of your website because of that. Many of my clients use our professional copywriting service, letting us write the blog posts, post them to the business blog, and then submit them to several online article or press release directories where they will also be picked up by other websites and search engines, and syndicated across the internet. We also hook up the business blog with your Facebook business page if one exists where the post can also syndicate across the social networks.
     
6. Search Engine Marketing. Paid search or pay-per-click advertising and organic search engine optimization is still the number one technique for drawing geo-targeted traffic to a business’s website:
   
   
   1. Organic search engine optimization includes on-page and off-page techniques. Detailed documents that explain what is all included will be provided upon request.
   
   
   2. Pay-per-click targeted search engine advertising is the largest advertising mechanism in the world. Advertising can be locally, regionally or nationally targeted.
             
   
   
7. Display Advertising & Remarketing – A “push” form of advertising also known as “banner” advertising. Your banner ad is displayed on other websites who have opted in to Google’s (or other search engine’s) affiliate program. You pay when someone clicks on your ad and visits your website. Remarketing is a technique where your ads are displayed when people who have previously visited your website through your pay per click campaign visit an affiliate’s website. These ads can be static photo images, or include audio and video.


8. Microsites – small 2-3 page websites organically optimized for specific geographical areas. Great method for local targeting. For example, an auto repair shop may want to target people living in Madison, Fitchburg, Middleton, and Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. It is very difficult to optimize the main website for each of those locations, so the best method is to optimize the main site for the primary target area, and then create microsites and optimize those for the other locations.


9. Click to Call – Conversion tactic used successfully to convert website visitors into leads. Visitors simply click on an image displayed on your website, and the system then connects them to your business. Call lists can be set up so that calls follow the list, and then go to a recorded voice mail if nobody answers.


10. Groupon – Discount online selling to specific geographically targeted audiences, Groupon is the fastest growing company in the world. You negotiate a discounted price with Groupon who then sells your product via broadcast emails they send to their subscribers on a daily basis, and then they collect payment, keep their fee, and then write you a check for the balance.
    
    
11. Email Marketing – Monthly or quarterly newsletters, event notifications, special promotions, etc. This is a great way to stay in touch and nurture existing customers, as well as market to potential clients who subscribe to the newsletter through the business’s website. We offer a full-service option through WSI Integrated Ad Solutions (Inbox 360) as well as services through our partnership with Constant Contact.
    
    
12. Social Media Marketing. This is used in two ways. First, it is a great way to stay or get in touch with existing or potential customers, to monitor what they might be saying about your business, and be a part of that conversation. Second, the social media networks are a good place to market to potential customers without trying to sell them on your business. Use of Facebook and LinkedIn ads, additional pay-per-click advertising methods, are growing quickly. We offer social media services including the very basic setup to a fully managed social marketing strategy.
    

Owners of all size businesses should have an online marketing plan that takes advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in the online environment. If you would like to sit down and discuss these opportunities or have us review your existing online plan, you should contact WSI since we have been helping small and medium size businesses grow through professionally developed online strategies for many years. If you're in the Madison Wisconsin area, give us a call today at (608) 523-4255 and let's discuss these opportunities right away!
Best Regards,




Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

Juggling the Three Main Components of Search Engine Optimization

Good search engine optimization (SEO) can make or break your small or medium-size business online, which is why so many businesses are constantly scrambling to make their websites as visible to Google, Yahoo, and Bing as possible. It allows any sized business to compete with any other. A well-optimized site can draw a ton of additional targeted traffic to your website (not just any traffic, but people who are actually searching for your products or services at the time they need them!). But working your way onto the first page of the major search engines takes more than just changing page titles and adding keyword-rich content to your pages.

To make it really work – in other words, not simply increase traffic but also improve your company's bottom line – you need to handle all three of the major components of a successful SEO campaign.

1. First, you have to perform the on-page work. As we mentioned, this is the part of the equation that most companies have down. Still, it's not enough to stop at the basics. Search engine optimization and marketing have gotten to be so competitive that everything on your site, from the opening headline to the last meta-tag, needs to be set up in a way that highlights your most important keywords and phrases. And most importantly, you need to identify what those important keywords and phrases are that your customers are using.

2. Then, you have to create inbound links that bring visitors to your site and a provide better search engine ranking. Given that this step is every bit as important as the first, why don't more companies make an honest effort of building inbound links from quality sites? That's right, because it requires a lot of effort. There are no shortcuts to getting the kind of links that help you improve your Google page rank and bring visitors flocking to your site to see what your company is all about. It takes a lot of time, work, and some creative content to make it happen. See it as two choices: Either let someone else get all the profits, or get started today.

3. Finally, you need to create content that turns visitors into buyers. Having tens of thousands of new visitors to your company's website won’t mean a thing if you can't convince any of them to buy from you, now or in the future. With that in mind, it's a good idea to pay more attention to optimizing your site, but not just for search engine spiders. You need to be absolutely sure that your pages, images, and other content is helping you to make more sales – otherwise, all the work you've put into having your site rank on the major search engines is wasted.

Once they've got an idea of how Google, Yahoo, and Bing work, a lot of smaller businesses find themselves in a rush to alter their pages and make them more search engine friendly. That's not a bad idea, but remember that it's only a good first step. And usually you are going to want to hire professional services to put the big picture plan together for you, and get the work done right!

Best Regards,




Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

Internet marketing, also referred to as as  online marketing, digital marketing, i-marketing, web marketing, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet. Internet marketing is used by businesses to create leads, improve brand recognition, and increase sales. In today’s digital world, a complete and professionally developed Internet marketing strategy is a must.

Ever since the early to mid-60’s when the Internet first began, the global network known as the World Wide Web has brought various forms of online media to a global audience in light-speed fashion. Because of the ability to interact in real or near real-time, Internet marketing is very unique and different than traditional marketing channels such as print, direct mail, radio, TV and billboard advertising. In the Internet marketing environment, you are able to monitor your customers’ inquiries in real-time mode and respond to them with immediate responses that are customized for each of your customer’s online transactions.

Four Reasons Every Business Needs an Internet Marketing Strategy

1. Build an ongoing stream of profitable and targeted traffic to your website
2. Connect with customers at the very instant that they're making a buying decision
3. Maximize ad spending by targeting only relevant prospects through specific keyword phrases   
4. Expand your market more cost effectively compared to traditional marketing

Internet marketing is segmented to support various phases of your customer’s decision-making and buying lifecycle as well as after-the-fact customer service. Different Internet marketing programs are applied at the right times for you to acquire new leads, convert them into paying customers, and to nurture and to retain them as your long time customers. These Internet marketing programs allow you to listen to what your customers are saying about your products and services when they are talking about you, and to leverage or respond to their positive and sometimes negative feedback.

A Comprehensive Internet Marketing Program Is an On-Going Process

Your Internet marketing plan is not a one-time program, but rather a long-term strategy. To keep targeted traffic flowing to your website and new customers coming in to your front door through your online channels, your Internet Marketing program should consider the following:
    

1. Interactive Website Design based on conversion architecture principles that will keep your site visitors coming back and taking the necessary call-to-action that you want them to take, such as placing a phone call to your place of business, downloading a brochure or whitepaper, or submittinga form. A website that doesn't convert is basically a poor investment, so this part is essential.
2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) consists of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Marketing or pay-per-click ads (PPC) such as those delivered by Google Adwords or Microsoft's adCenter to bring extremely targeted traffic to your website. SEO provides the "organic" or "natural, un-paid listings you see in the search engine results pages, and involves on-page and inbound link building techniques. PPC campaigns can be targeted to specific geographic locations, so it is perfect for targeting people in the local vicinity of your business, and charges only occur when someone actually clicks on an ad and visits a specific landing page on your website.
   
   Online re-marketing is a PPC technique that allows you to display your ads to people who have previously visited your website but left without buying ... an opportunity where special offers such as free shipping might be in order, for example.
3. Social Media Marketing (SMM) involves leveraging the social networks for achieving word-of-mouth referrals and endorsements, keeping in touch with what your customers are saying about your brand, responding to negative comments, as well as being used as another channel to keep your existing customers and prospects aware of what is happening at your business through special promotions, event notifications and customer loyalty programs.
   
   Usually a good SMM strategy will include the setup of branded pages on the Social Networks, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and the creation of a blog that is integrated with your website, a process to get your customers and prospects to find you and become a fan or follower on those networks, and a process to syndicate your digital assets such as articles, press releases and blog posts across the internet and through each of these social networks. By properly syndicating your digital assets, your message can easily go viral and quickly grow your online presence through these new channels.
   
   Other methods for marketing through the social networks include integrating online videos with your website and syndicating the optimized videos through various online video directories, which provides both customer service and SEO benefits to the viewer. Also, by integrating online customer reviews into your overall online strategy, you can increase online sales conversions by 20% or more. 70% of consumers trust what other consumers are saying about a product or service, while only 27% trust what the experts have to say.
4. Targeted Lead Marketing, including opt-in Email Marketing for Lead Nurturing, Lead Generation and Customer Retention. eNewsletters, event notifications, special promotions, informative news briefs and customer loyalty programs are just a few techniques of leveraging this marketing strategy. Spam is not considered a proper email marketing technique, so this communication is only distributed to those who either asked to hear from you by "subscribing", or at the very least are given the chance to opt-out on every email message that you send.
5. Mobile Marketing is a good reason why "Internet Marketing" strategies are becoming known as "Digital Marketing" strategies. Rather than only leveraging the channels that the Internet provides, Mobile Marketing leverages cellular technology as well, usually through smartphone or tablet devices such as the iPhone or the iPad from Apple. With today's technology, we now have the ability to market your products and your brand to subscribers to your mobile marketing programs, similar to sending out eNewsletters or special promotions to email subscribers. Why should businesses consider moving into this environment? Here are a few reasons why:
   
   1. Currently 1/3 of the world has mobile internet access, which is twice as many internet-connected PCs.
   2. 60% of the world's population is expected to have access to the internet through a mobile device in 1 year.
   3. Mobile web technologies allow us to provide location-specific resources to users with the help of GPS technology.
   4. 2.1 billion people are actively text messaging today, and 2/3 of mobile phone users subscribe to "SMS text marketing".
   5. There are 2 times as many active SMS users as are active users of email.
   6. And the real kicker ... on average text messages are read within 4 minutes of receipt compared to 48 hours for email. While 65% of all email is SPAM, less than 10% of SMS is SPAM.
6. Display ads (banner advertising) or the equivalent of ads in newspapers and magazines.
7. Web Analytics will allow you to see your return on your marketing investment. Without web analytics, you'll never know what is working and what isn't. A good analytics program is essentail to your online success.

Experienced sellers know that reaching a potential customer during the right phase of their buying cycle is key to converting interest into a sale. Search engines have the unique ability to connect with prospective customers at the exact moment they're researching a product or service; they want to find your business ... so make sure they can or you will lose that business to your competition!

Success with these internet marketing programs, as with any advertising, lies in making sure your ads are being seen by the right group of people at the right time. This means knowing who you're targeting and where they can be found. It sounds simple, and thanks to the Internet it really is. Your WSI Internet Marketing Consultant can sho
Best Regards,




Thomas J. Holzkopf
Certified Internet & Digital Marketing Consultant
Tom@WSIPrositebuilder.com
www.WSIPrositebuilder.com
Office: 608-523-4255

Ready for results?

To discuss a customized internet marketing strategy for your business, contact your WSI Internet Marketing Consultant today!

Unfortunately, with the emergence of Web 2.0 and the wide-open communication available through the social networks, most companies are going to experience a negative online review, whether it is warranted or not. In this open, online world, it is easy for a negative review to go viral and damage your company's brand reputation, and put a dent in your bottom-line figures. The good news is that with the right techniques, a business can effectively combat this negative publicity, and even turn it around into positive sales.

Nowadays internet surfers are able to post just about anything they would like to make a statement about for whatever topic is important to them. This user generated content is everywhere, and since search engines are constantly looking for fresh content to pick up, that information is much more likely to make its way to the search engine results pages. This can then impact your business exponentially because, if someone posts a negative review of your company, whether it be on a blog, your own website reviews, Google or Bing local listings, a social media site or one of the many customer review sites such as Yelp, the review itself can generate comments, which turn into more comments, and so on. This can take place over a period of days, so each time a user posts a new comment, search engine spiders see it as fresh content and pick it up to post on their results pages.

Other related sites and interested parties (including your competitors and consumer review sites) might pick up the negative review since it is already beginning to go viral and create a buzz on the web, and those other sites are also trying to increase their visibility with the major search engines. In fact some companies use programs that look for buzz-worthy content for them to add to their site since everyone wants to make the search engine spiders think they have new content so that they'll get ranked high on a search engine or social bookmarking site.

These are just a few examples showing how a negative review of your company can go viral and reach large numbers of people, possibly convincing those potential new clients to look at other alternatives rather than buying from your company, resulting in large sums of lost sales. However as mentioned earlier, there are effective ways of managing and reducing the impact of a negative review.

To begin with, a business can't ignore these reviews because they aren't going to go away by themselves. You must confront the review head on right on the site where it was posted. You should communicate your side of the story and send a clear message to anyone following the discussion that you stand by your product or service. In that message you should also invite the reviewer to call your company directly so that you have a chance to resolve the dispute, showing readers that your company puts a high level of importance on customer service and takes complaints very seriously.

The next step is to ask the website where the negative review is posted to remove it. Also perform a search using the same words in the headline of the review, looking for other locations which may have already picked up the review, allowing you to make a formal request to each one to remove it. Be clear and concise when making these requests, since many sites will not remove the content if they don't believe it was intended to be mean-spirited or it communicates incorrect information. You will need to explain why you feel the negative review is based on incorrect
information, and if mean spirited, why you believe that. Then, you should create new content addressing the complaint (but not necessarily directly) and syndicate it around the web in conspicuous places. This will enable you to control the terms and the tone of the dialogue, by making the correct information readily available to new viewers to be picked up as fresh content by search engines. In addition, this new positive  content will be ranked higher than the older negative review on the search engine result pages.

Finally, another very popular approach is to set up your own customer review program. There are services available such as the ones offered by WSI and our partners at Customer Lobby or LouderVoice. With these services you display your own review system on your website, as well as include links to them in all of your other online media channels such as your social media sites, your blog, your newsletter, etc. Historically you are going to get a much higher number of positive than negative reviews (over 80% of reviews in the U.S. are four or five stars). So the chance of a negative review showing on the front pages of the search engines is drastically minimized. Also, through our system your reviews are also submitted to and picked up by the search engines, increasing your overall visibility and ranking with the search engines.

Here are a few more reasons why your business should consider having your own review system:
       

• Sales - On-site reviews can increase sales conversions by 20% or more.
• SEO - Google loves reviews. All of your reviews are syndicated with links back to your site.
• Customer Feedback - Get direct feedback on your products and services. Deal quickly with customer service issues. Reduce returns by letting customers guide each other.
• Social Media Traffic - Qualified visitors from Facebook and Twitter, guided to you by their friends are the most valuable visitors of all.
•  Validated Reviews - Get reviews from your genuine customers not your competitors. Be in control of your own reviews.
• Best Practices - WSI can guide you on how to make reviews work best for your business.
• Low monthly fee - A low fee provides all of the above with a simple 30 day contract. And you own all of your content.
• Every Sector - All businesses can benefit from reviews. We have clients in hospitality, e-retail, e-commerce, local services and more.
• ROI - Customer reviews are a revenue driver, not a cost.
• Customers Positive - 88% of reviews in the U.S. are four or five stars.
• Customer Opinion - 32% of internet-using Americans have posted reviews.       
• Customers Offline - 51% use the Internet before making a purchase in shops.
• Customer Trust - 70% of consumers trust other users, 27% trust experts.
• Customer Sharing - 7 in 10 who read reviews share them with friends and family.

     
WSI can help you implement any of these strategies to help your business combat a negative review. Contact us today and let us show you how.

In spite of the size of your business, its industry or the nature of your internet marketing strategy, I am sure that we can all agree on one thing:

There is very little point in spending money attracting people to your company’s website if your pages aren’t doing the job properly!

Poorly implemented pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns and ineffective landing pages will give you nothing but a high bounce rate, a nonexistent ROI, and pathetic conversion rates. So rather than wasting precious time and money (for both you and your online customers) here are 3 of my PPC campaign and landing page tips to that will work to boost your conversion rate and turn online visitors into paying customers.

3 PPC & Landing Page Tips to Attract Your Online Customers

1. Actually create a landing page!

It might seem simple enough, but using your site’s home page as your landing page is one of the most common mistakes among business owners on the Internet. Leading a visitors to your home page forces them to have to search through pages and pages (…and pages) of your website to try and find the product or service you’re promoting. And if there’s one characteristic common among all Internet users, it’s that they have very short attention spans. If it’s not convenient and easy, your online visitors will lose patience, get distracted and go elsewhere.

It is much easier and more effective to create a small landing page. It will show your customers exactly what you want them to see; it will hold their attention and, ultimately, will be more likely to bring in the sales.

2. Create the relationship between your landing page and your PPC ad.

Many Madison area business owners make the mistake of creating an extremely generic landing page. Realistically, you should have a specific, distinct landing page for each of your paid ads. The fact of the matter is that someone clicked on your link because they were interested in the specific product or service in your PPC ad. So, correspondingly it’s very important to create a landing page with specific information and messaging pertaining to that product/service.

3. Make it appealing to hold visitors’ attention.

Creating a confusing and unorganized landing page is another very common mistake that many businesses make online. Whether offline or on the Internet, selling a product or service demands that you be as clear and as precise as possible. Keep your landing page simple, organized and professional. Some factors to consider might include clear call-to-actions or buttons, minimal navigation, or easy-to-scan copy.

Visit our site to learn more about creating cost effective pay-per-click campaigns and developing landing pages that will drive an online conversion.