Before the launch of that new website, have you considered having a second look at the content you’ve implemented? Making sure your website caters to your target audience with the right mix of information and relevance will convert more visitors to customers and keep others coming back for more.

Having a website is great, but it’s not enough.  The spread and extent of your online market is governed by how well your site content matches your visitors’ expectations – also known as usability.  Defining the target audience and their needs is an important factor in usability and in increasing the loyalty on your site.

6 Questions to ask yourself about the target audience of your website:

Who is your target audience?

Everyone, right?  While we’d all love to sell to everyone, there should be a definitive theme of who the ideal customer is – that is your target audience.  Examples of good target audience definitions are “post college health nuts” or “middle income families with small children”.  Defining your target audience helps you answer the next question…

What does your target audience expect to learn from your website?

If you know you your target audience is, you can draw conclusions or better determine what they are looking for.  In keeping with the above examples, the post-college health nut would like to see a calorie breakdown of your new breakfast bar line – let them see it.

Does your customer know how your process works, or how to go about doing business with you?

If I am a middle income family with a small child, how will you help my child learn to read after I send you my hard-earned money?  A customer may believe in your product or service, but if they don’t know enough about your process, they may decide to do business with someone more transparent.

Have you anticipated most of your customers’ questions and answered them?

You want to keep your visitor from going to the competitor’s website to find answers.  It also helps build your credibility with a customer and lets them know you’re the right business for them. Anticipating the questions of your potential customer puts you a step ahead of most of your competition.

Are the features and benefits of doing business with you clear?

If you don’t explain them to me, I might never know.  Try to steer clear of assuming your client has an even basic knowledge of your industry and make very clear the features and benefits of hiring you.

What can you do make your website more “sticky”?

… that is keep your target audience on your site longer in hopes of developing their trust and converting them to a customer.  Do you have a blog or other news outlet with frequently updated content?  Or a cool application / tool that aligns with your business?  (Think mortgage calculator on real estate websites).  These keep people on your site longer and help you develop a report with your visitor.

The ease of navigation and convenience in finding information are key areas of catering to your target audience.  Don’t require your customer to guess or assume anything from your website, spoon feed them in a relevant and engaging way for your small business success.

Let us know some of the target audience strategies you’ve used and how they’ve worked for you.

Search Engine Land recently posted an article on website conversions and search engine optimization (SEO).  While SEO has become a well-known acronym and its meaning widely known, “website conversion” is still somewhat of an inside-industry term largely not used or even ignored by the general public.

Simply put, a website conversion is an action you’d like your website visitor to take.  It could be signing up for a newsletter, leaving a comment on your blog, using the contact form to get more information about you and where possible, an actual sale.

Think of it like this: A “conversion” is something a website visitor does that “converts” them from a simple visitor to a qualified lead or sale.  You can’t afford to ignore this.

What can you do to increase your conversions?  Make your offering very clear.  Explain to your customer what you would like them to do and the features and benefits of taking that action.  Include testimonials, videos and compelling content.  Include a contact form on your website and link to it from every page.  Decrease the amount of clicks it takes for your customer to become a conversion.  Make it easy and intuitive to do so.

Read a more technical article on why Search Engine Land’s Scott Binker thinks Conversion Optimization is the new SEO.

What are the strategies you’ve implemented to compel conversions on your website?

Let’s face it, we’ve all wondered why a customer chose the competition, what they brought to the table that you didn’t.  You represent your product well, you’re good at what you do, you have strong team in your corner and your current customers tell you how great you’ve been to them.

Here are five reasons why that might not be enough…

Relationships Trump Skill

People often choose to do business with organizations they know.  That familiarity breeds trust as well as the notion that the relationship diminishes the possibility of getting “had”.  Don’t believe it?  How many times have you done business with someone you know?  It comes naturally to us.

Online or off, you have to network.  That means creating opportunities to create relationships.  If you’ve ever read this blog, you know we love online networking via social media and business blogging, and you have to network IRL (in real life) too. Shake hands, kiss babies, get to know people and allow your potential customers to get a little closer to you.  Join groups, go to business events.

(Editor’s note: you don’t have to whip out your business card immediately upon meeting someone – a person asking for your business card is far more valuable than one to which it was force-fed.  Also less cheesy.)

You’re Non-Existent

Where are your customers looking for you?  If you’re not there, you need to find out how and get there.  Do you have a website?  Can your customers find it?  Are your customers reading industry/news publications or blogs?  Are you in a profession (think plumbers) where people still grab the phone book?  Do you rank high in search engines for your keywords, at least at the local level? Are you a wedding DJ that doesn’t take advantage of bridal shows? The list goes on and you see the point.

Being where your customers are at that exact moment they’re looking for you gives you a distinct advantage over the competition. A simple Google search can answer a lot of these questions: Type in “[Insert Your Service] [Your City, State]” and without limiting yourself to the competition websites that pop up, look at the directories, news, events, blogs, videos etc… Then determine if you need to optimize your website, create a press release, shoot a YouTube video, guest post on a related blog or hire a pro that will do it all for you.

Unanswered Questions

When a customer does find you, have you not only anticipated their questions, but answered them to their fullest?  If you have not gone out of your way to do this, you’re paving the way to a competitor that has. And rest assured that somewhere a competitor has. Once you’ve answered the questions, take it a step further and answer the questions your customer didn’t know they had.

You’ll need help with this.  Not necessarily paid help, have someone – a friend or customer not in your industry – look at your offering (website, brochure, display etc…) and ask them if it hits the mark.  Ask if your website is intuitive.  Don’t try to persuade why you think it is, let the media speak for itself and analyze the response.  Then adjust.  Then do it again.

Uneducated Customers

It is not your customers’ responsibility to be educated about your product.  It is your responsibility to educate your customers. It is further your responsibility to educate them why they need your product, why life is so much better after they purchase it.

Write a how-to article, give a class (record it and put it on YouTube while you’re at it), speak at a seminar, write a blog, do a podcast, request to be interviewed – there are so many ways to educate your customer that the real question becomes… which do you choose?  The answer to that lies with your customer.  Ask one.

You’re Spread Too Thin

Finally, you’ve heard of “niche” businesses.  Niche businesses are largely successful because they’ve specialized in a product or service giving an advantage over the companies that try to be all things to all people.  We are strictly online marketing, for example.  We don’t offer IT support, fix computers, streamline networks, run fiber optic cable or anything else.  Online marketing is the name of our game, it’s all we do – and we refer out all other business to people who know it better than we do.

Trim the fat and offer up your specialty.  You’ll be happier doing it, your customers will be happy with your professional work and here’s a secret: doing something you love and are great at has the potential to make you more money than all that stuff you’re doing halfheartedly and hate.

If your business is guilty of any of these, do something about it.  Much of this can be done DIY, others you choose to enlist a pro.  Either way, take care of it…

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We’ve only scratched the surface on why customers sometimes choose the other guy…  Sometimes YOU are the other guy.  Why has a customer chose the competition over you or why has a customer chosen YOU over the competition?  We’d love to add to this list – let us know in the comments below.

Content Management Systems (CMS) have become increasingly popular among small business website owners.  We have been asked more and more to build them along with a specific website project or to retrofit an existing website.  Offering the means for a non-web programming business owner to make an unlimited number of updates to their web site, it’s easy to see why.

Consider this: You have a shiny new website.  It’s got crisp images, a TON of information and a 10% coupon to encourage conversions.  It might even include a way to <GASP!> contact you.

Things are humming along rather smoothly.  In fact, business is so good, you had to bring someone on to help with day-to-day tasks.  Then you had multiple phone lines installed.  You may have even splurged on a brand new logo.

Almost as an afterthought you realize you haven’t updated your website with all the new changes. Shame on you… A new staff member, a different coupon, new contact info and don’t forget your new logo!

Obviously, you call your web company.  You’re not sure whether they’ll make these changes for free or whether they’ll bill you.  Either way, you need the updates on the website and you need them yesterday.

You could be in a sticky situation.  You can’t make the updates yourself, some web companies bill $75/hour, 1 hour minimum and they add you to the bottom of the stack to get to it by the end of the week.

Ouch. A ten-minute job for $75 and you have to wait a few days?

With a CMS, you don’t have that problem.  You simply login:

And make changes!

A lot of the CMSs out there are very similar in functionality to other text editors, like Microsoft Word, in that you can adjust font sizes, insert links or images and even create brand new pages.  They’re very user-friendly so you can have your helper make updates for you as well.  Depending on how many updates you need, having a CMS built for your site can pay for itself in a few months.

Whether you use a blogging platform or a traditional website, you will need your web company for high-level programming, but for simple website text and image updates, you can’t beat a CMS.

If you already use a Content Management system, leave us a comment and tell us what you like and dislike about them – we’d love to hear from you.

Don’t forget to subscribe to get more website tips from ODX Fusion!

Paying a website for each visitor they send you, known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, can be very effective marketing.  Your advertisement is displayed on a host page such as Google, a visitor clicks on your ad, the ad brings them to your website, and you pay the host website a few cents in thanks.

However, there is more to an effective PPC campaign then setting keywords and paying the ad host.  That’s not to say you can’t do it or even figure it out, but if you don’t have the time to invest in the campaign and measure the results, you might consider hiring a pro.

But how do you know if PPC advertising is right for you?

The first thing to think about is whether your product or service generate enough search volume to warrant Pay-Per-Clicks.  If you have a very niche market like “Paper Mache Potted Plants”, you might want to take a closer look at how many people are searching for your product or a variation of it.  A nice tool to find out is the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.

Then do a Google Search for your keywords to see if anyone else shows up in the sponsored results section at the top and right panel of the results.  Usually, the presence of others indicates a high enough search volume to make a PPC campaign worthwhile.

If you’re less of a reactive marketer and tend to be more proactive, don’t worry about whether or not the competition is using PPC, think about other keywords that might draw qualified traffic instead.   “Potted plants” or “plant art” are likely to garner a higher search volume for example.

Next, determine if you can afford your keywords.  Use the Google Adwords Traffic Estimator to figure what you might expect to spend per click.  If you can’t afford the monthly budget needed to run a successful campaign, don’t even attempt a half-baked one. That’s a good way to lose what little budget you commit to it.

When you begin a Pay-Per-Click campaign, you’ll need to have the resources to develop relevant landing pages for your ads.  Landing pages are the pages on your website to which your PPC ads link.  These should be very specific to your ad, should tell you customer what you want them to do and enable them to contact you.  If you are running multiple campaigns, very often you will need multiple landing pages.

The next question to ask before running a PPC campaign – will you test different aspects of your campaign and will you measure the results?  Simply because you think your ad is the most compelling doesn’t mean your customer does.  Which are generating the most clicks?  If one is generating more clicks than the other, are they high quality clicks (low bounce rate, decent time on site, conversions etc…)?  Even the most seasoned marketers test their ads to see what delivers the best results.

And if you’re not measuring your Return of Investment (ROI), why bother?  You need to be able to determine your conversion rate, the amount you’ve paid to get those conversions and difference to determine your return.  If you’re paying a lot for a few if any conversions, you’re doing something wrong.  Remember PPC is about generating sales or leads, not just website traffic.

Now you’re primed to decide if Pay-Per-Click advertising is right for you.  There are many resources on the internet that offer advice on running successful Pay-Per-Click advertising and there are many other PPC platforms than Google.  You have to determine what works best for you, then test and measure the results.

If you need help with your PPC campaign, contact us and we’ll help you determine what works best for you.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog – it’s free and you can keep up-to-date with more Internet Marketing techniques for your business.

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ODX Fusion is asked to speak to many businesses and professional groups about how Internet Marketing can help boost a brand and ultimately bring more sales.  It’s fun, we love to do it and further love seeing the “ah-ha!” moments on our audience members’ faces when they begin to realize what we’re saying.

But make no mistake, the one question that’s been asked Every. Single. Time. is… “How do I find the time?”

It’s a good question on the surface, we agree.  It appears that gaining any ground in the social media and online environment takes an inordinate amount of time.  Aside from being untrue, we believe the question is disingenuous even if the asker doesn’t realize how.

We make time for our books, we make time for our employees.  Let’s make time for our business marketing.

The real question then becomes: “Why am I resisting the internet marketing plunge?”

Read on to see the answers we believe businesses are resisting online marketing.

1. Fear of Change

You’re doing your offline marketing, you’re out there shaking hands and kissing babies and you get a few sales.  You’re comfortable with that.  Internet Marketing / Social Media brings a whole new set of headaches that you just don’t need, right?

Wrong.  Marketing online has given us a forum to engage our customers and put information out to them in real-time.  REAL-TIME! When was the last time your direct mail campaign did that?

Marketing is a necessary evil of doing business and the landscape is always evolving. You need to keep up.

2. Fear of Marketing

If you’re in business, you NEED to market your product!  In some way or another, you need to get the word out.  Too many business owners believe that their product or service speaks for itself.  I’m here to tell you – it’s not speaking to anyone if not a soul knows about it.

As with any other type of marketing, a good strategy is all you need.  Once you have that in place, it’s not so much a fear as much as a project to be treated as such.

3. Fear of Competition

Some folks are not comfortable in dealing with competition.  Marketing online puts you in front of a lot of people, including your competitors.  Be confident in your craft and let your competitors see you.  Ever thought they might fear you?

What you’re doing by not using the internet to your advantage is allowing your competitors to use it to theirs.  You’re letting them speak to your past and present customers.  And forget about future customers. You may not have any (maybe a bit harsh).

4. No Idea Where to Start

This is common and completely understandable. It’s a big online world out there and you have no idea how to get started.  Check out our recent series of posts on Getting Started on Social Media for Beginners.  If you don’t want to hire someone, you’re going to have to look around to determine where to start.  This blog is by no means the only one out there interested in helping you.  Sign up for a social media account.  Buy a book.  Start learning about search engine optimization.  Read about Pay-Per-Click marketing. Start a blog (it’s free!). If you don’t want to do all that leg work, we know someone who would love to help with your internet marketing efforts <wink>!

5. You Hate Your Website

Internet Marketing is really about bringing qualified (primed to purchase) customers to your website. But your neighbor’s 11^th grade son built your website a few years ago and frankly you’re embarrassed to send anyone to it.

When you can’t afford a professionally designed website, it’s an even better argument for using social media. While customizable, your profile can give you a look that’s on par with everyone else.  For the record – a Facebook page does not replace the need for a well-designed website, but it can act as a lead generator in the absence of one or until you can afford one.

6. Fear of Leads

Make no mistake about it, some people have anxiety attacks when it comes to following up on leads. “what do I say to put my company in the best light?” or “what if they ask me a question I can’t answer?” and you might be surprised how scary it is for some people to ask for money.

When your internet marketing efforts are working and generating qualified leads for you, these people WANT to give someone their money, it’s your job to convince them that someone should be you.  They’ve reached out to you, now go shake your money-maker.

Any questions?

This is just the surface of why you’re resisting online marketing and social media.  If we’ve missed the boat then we want to hear from you.  Why ARE you resisting?  If “time” is all you come up with, look deeper and really ask yourself what’s keeping you.  If you can’t answer the question, let us know and we’ll get you there.

Your Comments Welcome

YouTube and other online video services are great platforms for marketing your business, but it’s also a wonderful tool for learning about topics of interest that you know little about.
In keeping with the Internet Marketing theme, I’ve compiled 10 of my favorite YouTube vids for your viewing and learning pleasure.

Interested in podcasting? MobilePhone2003 uploaded the video above and it offers great information for the beginner.

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David Skul from the Skul of Relativity has put together an incredible library of videos to help business owners use Social Media and Blogs to promote their business. Above is just one of the many Blog Marketing vids he’s offered.

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You’re not using Google Alerts to keep up with what’s being said about you or your brand online? Shame on you. Watch this video and learn how.

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If you can get past the Crocodile Dundee accent, here is 10 Things You Can Do For Your Small Business Online. Great beginner video.

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Gary Vaynerchuk is an amazing speaker, especially when it comes to social media and business. And he’s not interested in keeping it Rated G either.

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Perry Belcher on the most common question I receive with regard to using social media and time constraints. This is right on in addition to Perry always sporting an awesome shirt.

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Don’t Be That Guy. No really, please don’t be that guy. Chris Brogan talks about aggressive selling on social media. Oldie, but a goodie – and unfortunately too many people are still that guy.

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Ian Lurie is the grumpy Internet Marketer that knows his stuff and co-author of “Internet Marketing for Dummies”. This is setting up Google Analytics, which is a must have for any business with a website. It’s an older video, but the setup is virtually the same.

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Another of Ian Lurie’s tutorial vids, this one for finding out what you should pay attention to within Google Analytics.

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This is an easy and basic video tutorial for setting up Google Adwords, Google’s Pay-Per-Click service. A great way to get started.

Sometimes Internet Marketing can seem daunting, but these videos are a good way to become familiar. If you have questions about any of the services covered above, contact me and I’ll guide you through.

Launching an ecommerce website is a natural progression when businesses opt to sell their products online.  Realizing a geographical limitation of having a storefront only, small business owners see limitless possibilities of the internet and open their market to a much wider audience. What about the business owner that skips the storefront and goes right to the wider audience?

This is Part 2 of our interview with The Butcher Block Top owners, Christopher and Shirley Keele.  This is also a part of our “Just Doing It” series where we show how small business owners are already using the internet for their business.  If you missed part one, read “Customer Service is Still Alive Online” and see why they are worthy of a two-part post.

Christopher and Shirley Keele began building band-saw jewelry boxes, picnic benches, and patio furniture for friends and family. When they built and sold a cutting board, then another one, and a third one, they realized there was a market for custom wood creations. In October 2007, they filed for a business certificate and started selling their products online.  They listed their cutting boards and end-grain tables and then began receiving requests for butcher block countertops – their most popular product today.

With regard to their made-to-order creations Shirley points out, “we do not buy butcher blocks and cut them down as most of our competitors do. Selling custom sizes and being sure that your product is your own is very important.” It stands to reason as setting your product apart amongst fierce competition is the way to stake a claim online.

Chris and Shirley have maintained their website themselves, having had basic internet experience only. Getting qualified traffic to their website remains a top priority.  Currently, most customers find The Butcher Block Top through search engine results. As of this writing, The Butcher Block Top ranked #1 on Google for butcher block. That’s a pretty impressive standing.

The Keeles also run promotions such as “10% off first purchase” and discounted shipping rates from time to time.  Sometimes it comes down to giving the customer a little more in order for them to choose your products over a competitor’s.

For the Butcher Block Top Company, the best part of selling online is the potential of reaching millions of customers without the overhead of a brick and mortar store.  Selling through their ecommerce site has given them the flexibility they need to build their business while also maintaining a family life.  Many traditional entrepreneurs don’t have that luxury.

But it’s not always easy.  Without a storefront, Shirley says there’s no way for her customers to see and feel the beauty of their butcher blocks. “Senses play an amazing role in what a person does or does not purchase. Consumers are cautious about buying online.” What does this say to the business owner trying to sell their products online?  Cater to the senses you can, the rest relies on visibility, content and trust.

As noted previously, opening your business to the internet also means opening the business to far more competition.  Keeping ahead of the competition plays an important role in any online marketing plan and Chris and Shirley are off to a good start.

So what’s ahead for Chris and Shirley?  They’d like to embrace Social Media, which we at ODX Fusion obviously endorse.  They’d also like to spend more time on their blog, which they use to educate their customers on their butcher blocks. Finally, remaining high in search results for their targeted keywords is an ongoing task.  All these are top-notch strategies for building a successful business by selling online.

To sum it up, Shirley and Chris are very pleased with the progress of their Butcher Block Top ecommerce website.  Through their constant diligence, they stand to increase sales and grow their business.  To the businesses hesitant to sell their products online, Shirley offers this:

“Do not be intimidated by your fears – grit your teeth, knuckle up, and face them. You will be amazed at what you are capable of achieving when the fear of the unknown is not a factor. Just do it!”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Special thanks go to Christopher and Shirley Keele for taking the time to be interviewed for the “Just Doing It” series.  Visit their website @ www.thebutcherblocktop.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to us for more in this series and other Online Marketing topics. It’s free and overwhelmingly informative!

Few things add to the character of your kitchen like butcher block.  A chunky “slab” of wood, you can chop on it, gather round it or serve hors d’oeuvres on it – it’s a fine enhancement to any counter space.  And like a premium wine, butcher block only gets better with age.

As you know, ODX Fusion is not in the business of Butcher Blocks.  We are in the business of helping other small businesses market their products and services online.  So when I purchased a gorgeous piece of block online and was treated with incredible customer service above and beyond what was expected or deserved, I was compelled to begin the “Just Doing it” series with a 2-part post based on the experience.

You see, many small business owners think they’ll put up a website and let it make money for them.  Unfortunately we all know that’s not the case.  It’s hard work, a few sleepless nights and a lot of trying new strategies to find out what works.  Above all, it’s customer service.

Here’s how it all started…. My wife and I decided our kitchen island would look great with butcher block in place of the island countertop.  After searching the internet for Butcher Blocks, we combed through the results and made our selection based on the ability order the exact size, finish and edging.

We contacted the folks at The Butcher Block Top, sent our measurements and after custom building our butcher block, it arrived a few days later.  Excitedly, we unboxed a very solid, quality crafted butcher block and set it atop our island to have a look.

It didn’t fit.  Well, it fit, but only just – no overhang, just a beautiful accent sitting squarely atop our island and not what I had in mind at all. Surely they’d made a mistake and sent me the wrong size.

Frustrated, I checked the measurements I emailed the company only to realize The Butcher Block Top company sent me exactly what I had ordered – in fact a perfect measurement of what I had ordered.

But I had measured wrong.

I was crushed.  When my wife suggested I call the company and ask what our options were I assured her we were stuck because it was a custom piece.

My wife never listens to me, let’s understand that. She called the The Butcher Block Top company anyway and the co-founder Shirley Keele answered the phone.  Yes, you read right, the co-founder answered the phone.  From the beginning, Shirley never made us feel like I had made a silly mistake and instead felt horrible that we’d received product with which we weren’t ecstatic.

Shirley was so determined to make sure that we received the butcher block of our dreams that she took our new and correct measurements and placed the order and then arranged for return shipping of the original block.  That was about 2 weeks prior to this writing.  The new block will be here in a few days!

The point of the Part 1 of this post is that it would have been easy and even understandable for The Butcher Block Top folks to apologize and say there was nothing that could be done – I mean, this was custom built for us.  Easy to tell me my dumb mistake cost me good money and advise that I was out of luck.  After all, they’re in Arizona, I am in New York.  Not likely I would show up and raise a raucous or picket outside their store.

What Shirley Keele and The Butcher Block Top company told me was that whether or not they ever actually meet me, they value me as a customer, appreciate my business and want me to be overjoyed with their product.  Not in words, but in action – and that’s the very definition of customer service.

If you’re looking for butcher block, visit The Butcher Block Top and see Part 2 of this post to find out how they came to be an ecommerce force with their butcher blocks.  Even better, subscribe so you’ll get all the “Just Doing It” Online Marketing posts!

We’re starting something new.

The purpose of this blog is to help small business owners realize the potential of online marketing through their website, search engine marketing and social media.

Sure, we love traffic.  We love getting new clients.  But this blog is mainly here to answer common questions about marketing online, all in one place.
That said, we decided that instead of telling you how to use the Internet to sell your product or service, we would show you how a real live small business is already “Just Doing It”.

How did they get started selling online?  What were their fears about Internet marketing? Who did they turn to for help with their website?  These and many more questions will be answered so that small businesses realize they’re not alone.

We have our first few interviews setup and are excited to present them to you. If you are a small business owner and would like to be considered for this series, send me an email.

The “Just Doing it” series will begin next week, make sure you subscribe now to catch it as soon as we publish.

We know you’ll enjoy it.