Web Design

Determining your website’s unique selling proposition, sometimes called a USP, is one of the most important decisions you can make to ensure your Internet marketing success. If there is nothing to differential your business or your product from the sea of similar businesses and products out there, you will be reduced to competing on price and response time. The margins on that are extremely low, and you can be undercut. The unique selling proposition helps you to compete using a different criteria, one on which your competitors are unable or unwilling to compete.

Choose a game you can win

Take a look at ads for service businesses, and notice how many of them say the identical thing. They’re reliable. They respond quickly. They’ve been in business long enough to know what they’re doing. A service professional would need to be exemplary to surpass the other service professionals in just one of those categories. On the other hand, consider the service professionals whose van proclaims that they are friendlier than any others. As proof, if you wave at them on the road and they don’t wave back, the company promises to pay you for reporting this lack of friendliness. Their friendliness is their unique selling proposition, and will guide everything about how the company does business. It’s a game they can win, because no one else – or very few other companies – is competing for the title of friendliest service professional.

Seek out synergy

An excellent place to find a unique selling proposition for a website is by investigating synergy, or the property that two things combined can be far more powerful than those two things alone. Of course, they need to be the right two things. Rather than selling pet supplies to all pet owners, or even all dog owners, you can be the website that caters to dog owners who are frequent business travellers. Not only will you sell dog supplies, you will sell trip planning to locations that allow you to bring your dog, provide a rating service for dog sitters and dog boarding facilities, and blog about dog toys that you can buy while travelling and how to alleviate your dog’s distress while you are gone. By combining two different things that work together, you create a website that is more powerful than a website that did only one thing.

Narrow is better than broad

Finding the right USP may require moving from a broad market, such as all dog owners, to a more tightly focused market. However, if your market is narrow enough, you can provide products and services that will all appeal to that market, rather than needing a broad array of products and services, each of which will appeal to some portion of your market. You may discover a market that has never been served before, resulting in legions of fans eager to give you their business. Make sure that you do not narrow your focus so tightly that there is no one left in your market.

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: Morguefile)

People associate particular emotional values with different colours. Choosing the right or wrong colours for your website and email branding and calls to action will have a strong impact on your conversion rate and ultimate success as an Internet marketer.

Colour associations

Black calls up strong, accurate associations, and is best for industries that value precision and credibility, such as construction, manufacturing, mining, and service professions. It is also excellent for giving a touch of stability to industries such as fashion or marketing, as well as being associated with luxury. Green is commonly associated with nature and ecology, making it well suited for anything organic, health-oriented, or related to the outdoors, however it is also associated with education. Blue is considered trustworthy and technical, which is why it is used by so many banks, businesses, and hi-tech companies. Yellow is considered optimistic and youthful, and is used to catch attention of people who are glancing at a store front or landing page. Red creates a sense of urgency while orange inspires taking action. Pink is considered romantic and feminine, while purple is associated with beauty and anti-aging.

Colour differences between the sexes

Women and men both react well to the colours blue and green, and dislike the colours orange and brown. Women also like purple and dislike grey, while men like black and dislike purple. The difference regarding perception of purple between the sexes may be due to its association with beauty, rather than a reaction to the nature of the colour itself. Do not feel that a colour should be avoided completely if it is disliked. These colours can make excellent accent colours, especially with calls to action, since the slight discomfort they induce helps to encourage people to take action and move off of the page. Similarly, favourable colours can make a page seem too calm and relaxing, and prevent people from moving off of it.

Call to action colours

Red and orange are both good colours for calls to action because they trigger strong reactions. People who see the colour red actually experience an increased heart rate, which makes them more excited about your offer and about taking action on it. Orange, especially the redder shades of orange, have a similar although slightly lesser physical effect. The fact that orange is disliked as a colour also contributes to people wanting to take action in order to remove the offending colour from their sight. It is notable that merely changing the colour of a call to action button from green, which is calm and restful, to red, which is energising, increases conversion rates by more than 20%!

Before I sign off, here are some more articles on branding and conversion rates that you might be interested in:

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: Morguefile)

Getting a lead is only the first step in the sales process. You still need to convert that lead into a sale. The following secret strategies are used by top Internet marketers to maximise their conversions of leads, by focusing on the behaviour of each individual prospect rather than treating prospects as a mass of identical beings.

Pay attention to anonymous visitors

Most people do not pay any attention to their site visitors, other than general website analytics to analyse their behaviour, until they have become a lead. The top Internet marketers know that much can be determined about a visitor’s interests and sales readiness by paying attention to which pages are visited and which actions are taken. This information can be tracked and assigned to an anonymous record. Then, when the visitor finally sees an offer that is too good to resist and gives you their lead information, you can tie that lead with all of the website activity that occurred prior to creation of the lead. This is especially valuable in that it tells you which offers the person saw on your website that weren’t compelling enough to act upon, so that you can incorporate more of what was successful into the offers that were not.

Base reactions upon behaviours

Common Internet marketing practices provide similar website experiences to everyone who enters the website through the same landing page. Top Internet marketers, on the other hand, pay close attention to every action a visitor takes while on the website, and deliver a website experience designed to maximise the conversion of a visitor with those behaviours. For example, the person who takes action after reading the headline of your landing page is exhibiting different behaviour from someone who scrolls to the end of the landing page, carefully reading the entire text, before taking action. The second person may have required more information to become convinced, or may be a more cautious person who wants to know all of the available facts before making a decision. Someone who views information on all of your products has a different buying mentality from someone who jumps directly to the product page for a specific product. By studying their behaviours, you will be able to make your sales offer when it is most likely to be accepted.

Recycle leads

Top Internet marketers know that prospects need to complete certain actions on the website before they make a purchase. Someone who downloaded a free ebook may not be ready for a high-ticket sale just yet. Rather than bombarding all leads with offers for all products indiscriminately, top Internet marketers monitor visitor behaviours to determine where they are in the sales funnel and treat them accordingly. Someone who has downloaded free items may be offered more free items, with an option to buy a product, while someone who has already purchased many products may be offered a chance to buy a new product, with a bonus of something free.

Before I sign off, here are some more articles on lead conversion that you might be interested in:

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: Morguefile)

Google has recently released a significant upgrade to its analytics capabilities with Google Universal Analytics. You can take advantage of the new capabilities by upgrading your existing standard analytics to universal analytics.

Create a new web property

In order to take advantage of the new capabilities, you will need to create a new web property. You can create a new web property from the Admin tab of your Google Analytics account by selecting the account name from the list and clicking on New Property. Fill in the information about the web site that you want analysed, and select universal analytics. This will allow you to use the Google Tag Manager to manage all of the tags for your web property with the enhanced information gathering abilities of universal analytics. Your existing analytics will continue running as well, so you can compare the new information you are receiving with your previous information.

Track what is important to your business

Google Analytics has always allowed you to track both page views and events that occur on that page. Universal analytics takes that to an even greater level of granularity, however. Now, you are able to track anything about that page interaction with customised tags. For example, you can track which affiliate referred someone to your page, and all of the actions people took after being referred, not just whether or not they purchased a particular item. That can help you identify affiliate relationships which you want to nurture. If you display multiple versions of your content for A/B testing, you can track which version was displayed for better analysis of customer behaviours. The easiest way to tag A/B testing at the moment is to include a specific graphic element for each variety of content, even a 1-pixel invisible graphic, and tag the graphic element.

Customise experience by platform

One of the foundational realities reflected in the new tracking capabilities of universal analytics is that people who are accessing your site on different platforms have different needs and expectations. The mobile user who is looking at your website on the go has different behaviours and desires than the person who is browsing your website at leisure from the comfort of their desktop computer. Therefore, while it may make sense to track the overall length of time someone spends on your website when they are coming from a desktop computer as a sign of how engaged they are with your business, that might not be the right measurement for a mobile user. For a mobile user, it might be more important to track how quickly they can get to the part of your website they need to access, take care of their business, and go. Universal analytics helps you to determine what works best for different customer segments.

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: Stock Xchange)

More and more people are using mobile phones as their primary means to access the Internet. While once you only needed a mobile website if you were a restaurant or service provider whose number someone might be looking for, virtually all businesses must now be conscious of how their website appears on mobile devices. These seven secrets will help to ensure your mobile website is a success.

1. Divide and conquer

Your website is divided into zones or sections. You have a section of navigation, one or more sections of ads, a header section, and a content section. The more that you can divide your website into these different sections, the more control you have over the order in which those sections appear for your mobile website. If your navigation, ads, and content are all one big section, you will not be able to change their order of appearance to enhance the mobile experience.

2. Respond automatically

Many website templates are designed to be responsive. Responsive websites at a minimum allow the width of the website and the size of the text to be adjusted. WordPress-based websites can use plugins that detect whether the device viewing the website is a mobile device or not, and provide entirely different user interfaces for different devices.

3. Allow freedom of choice

Just because your visitor is using a mobile device, does not necessarily mean they want to be limited to the information available on your streamlined mobile website. Give them the option to view your regular website, and do not automatically send them back to the mobile version if you detect they are using a mobile device.

4. Target your audience

Use your website analytics to determine which devices your target audience uses, as well as which levels of operating system your target audience has installed upon those devices. Develop your mobile website with that operating system and device in mind, then test on all of the major devices, such as iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows phones, with backward compatibility to the operating system versions still in use.

5. Use easily resizable text

Do not develop a Flash website, unless you want to develop a duplicate non-Flash website for mobile users. Avoid popup windows, fixed display widths, and floating images or text boxes. Popups are difficult to close on a mobile device, fixed display widths require scrolling back and forth to see the entire display, and floating images or text boxes that are insignificant on a computer screen can obscure most of the content on a mobile device.

6. Put your phone number in text

Mobile devices will convert any phone number into a click-to-call hot spot. However, this only works for text phone numbers. The mobile devices will not touch phone numbers that appear in graphics, depriving you of an easy way for potential customers to reach you.

7. Keep to one page

Have all of the content in an article available on a single page. That way, website visitors who start reading your content and then pass out of range of a signal will not be frustrated and unable to finish the content.

Looking for more tips of mobile web design? Here is an article that you might be interested in:

Make Your Mobile Presence Amazing

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: MorgueFile)

See the previous posts on Modern Email Marketing and Hot Headlines for the basics on creating compelling email marketing that is targeted and personalised, with an obvious, compelling call to action. The content of your email is not sufficient to make your potential customers take action, however. You also need to design your emails so that they are visually appealing and make it easy for your prospects to understand both the information you’re sending them and what they’re supposed to do about it.

Keep them moving

When someone receives your email, they should be able to immediately grasp the highlights of your offer. The headline and a short list of 3 – 5 bullet points should tell them all they need to know. If the basics of your offer can’t be explained in 3 – 5 bullet points, refine your offer until it can be. The rest of the email and landing page can explain the bullet points in more detail. If the prospect likes the highlight of your offer and needs no more convincing, they should be able to easily see how to progress to getting that offer. Use call to action buttons in easily visible colours, with active verbs. When they click on the button, ensure that they are sent to a targeted offer page that describes exactly what you emailed them about, rather than sending them to a generic web page or catalogue. Make it as easy as possible for the prospect to move forward at every step of the sale.

Simplify delivery

If the prospect follows through on your offer, whether it is to sign up for a mailing list in exchange for a free ebook or report, or to actually purchase a product, continue to make the delivery as easy as possible for them. If they are getting an information product such as an ebook, make the download link clearly visible and obvious in your follow-up email. Save any further offers for smaller print after the download link. If they are getting a physical product, confirm the delivery date, delivery method, and any tracking information they will need to monitor the status of their shipment. Any further offers for additional products should be after the delivery information – or in a follow-up email sent after they have received the product.

Highlight options

If you are emailing existing customers about updates to products or services, or new products or services that may work well with their existing products or services, don’t deluge them with information. Create a list that shows a picture of each product or service, with benefit-driven headlines and a summary of the new features or offers. Your prospects can quickly scan the list to see what they might be interested in, and then click on individual entries in the list to get more information about just that product, service, or feature.

Thanks!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

The Internet Marketing Academy

http://www.internetmarketingacademy.com

(Image: MorgueFile)

One of the big truths about the Internet and what is has done for society is that it has reinforced the NOW. Browsers want everything now, now, now. The accessibility of information and access to instant shopping and conversation has made the Internet all about speed. The biggest hurdle many businesses face with online sales is a slow loading web page. When you design a web page, it must be flawless and fast. Slow load times means that browsers have already closed the page. You have ten seconds or less to engage a customer, and if your page takes longer than that to load, say good bye to the sales opportunity. Businesses definitely don’t want to be the tortoise when it comes to web page load times, the cheetah would be a much better example. Slow and steady may get the job done in the end, but quick and complete is more in keeping with consumer demand. If you are unsure how to create a quick loading page below are some tips to help you get started.

Optimise and Watch the Size of Graphics. There are ways to compress pictures for web display, and you can also chop an image so that it can load in pieces. Either method can improve your load times. Sometimes pictures are an essential part of web design, so good web programmers have created methods to give you quality images in record times. Chopping an image and loading the pieces as part of a table allow you to display the entire image much more quickly, and reducing the size of the image keeps quality high and load time low.
Limit the Number of Graphics Per Page. Images are very slow to load. Even optimised and chopped images can create slow downs on page loading. To keep these delays minimal, it is important to keep the number of graphics displayed per page low.
Avoid Special Effects. Yes, special effects can sometimes draw customer interest, but the fact is that most customers will be more interested in clean design, fast load times and quality content. If you have good content, you don’t need flashy effects.

Give your customers the maximum amount of time to browse your site. Online attention spans are very short, so maximise the time you have by reducing the load times for your pages.

Thanks!

Sean

Internet Marketing Academy

Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog

It’s one thing to have a “pretty” website. However, it’s another thing to have a site that builds trust in the prospect.

Here are 5 elements you should have on your website that builds trust. These tips would work great for a homepage-style website that’s the face of a company.

1) Testimonials

People only buy from vendors they trust. If you have proof that other people have obtained the benefits they are looking for through your product/service. Having plenty of testimonials on your site can boost credibility.

2) Case Studies

These are testimonials that are more involved and go into more detail. Case studies are in general more credible since they include more information regarding how the prospect obtained the desired benefits.

3) A Phone Number

Most websites do not have phone contact information. Just having a phone number people can call builds credibility since most people consider a “real” business to have a phone number. These days, you can get an online phone number for very cheap through Skype and other online services.

4) “About Me” Page

The more you tell about yourself the more you’ll sell. Like I mentioned before, people only buy from people they trust and they want to know if you are qualified to help them with their problem or desire.

5) Links To Your Blog And Social Media Accounts

Having a blog and social media accounts via Twitter and Facebook shows you are active in your niche and aren’t just a “fly-by-night” operation. It also gives people another way to keep up with you as well.

Trust and credibility is extremely important now more than ever–especially in today’s competitive marketplace. These tips could boost your conversions if you implement them on your website!

Live, Love, Laugh!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Internet Marketing Academy

So having a good “about me” page is critical to getting sales!

There are several things you need to have on your website if prospects are going to do business with you. Very often, many marketers leave this off their website or making it confusing to the visitor.

Here are 4 things prospect want to see on your website. If you are missing any of these 4 or you don’t think it’s clear on your site, then you need to make it clear.

1) Social Proof

Words on a website mean nothing if there isn’t any social proof on your site to show potential customers other people have achieved the benefits they are looking for. You need to have testimonials or case studies on your site as proof that you know what you’re talking about.

2) Clear Navigation

You should have clear navigation for the visitor to go wherever she wants on the site without having to hunt around forever to find it. Usually these should go along the top or side of the website. Don’t confuse your visitor, this could lead to them disappearing from your site.

3) Clear Contact Information

People like to see name, address, and phone number on the site at the bottom. Or an obvious “contact” link. They like the fact they can contact you if they have questions about the product or a problem with a purchase.

4) Clear Value Proposition

Why should they buy your widget instead of the other companies? You need to make this clear above the fold on your website. Don’t make your visitor hunt for this, you need to make this prominent because they want to know what’s in it for them.

And do not go on and on about how you’ve been in business for 34 years and how long your company has been open. Customers don’t care about this, they want to know what you’re going to do for them.

If you have these 4 things on your website, you have automatically boosted trust for your site visitor and that increases the chance they will do business with you.

Live, Love, Laugh!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Internet Marketing Academy