Attract More Visitors

Are you Clean with that? - Part II

In Part I of "Why Internet Marketing is Like a Disney Cruise - Are you Clean with that?" I mentioned the hand sanitizers used on Disney Cruises in all of their places to eat. Since we went on our cruise a number of supermarkets have also placed moist hand wipes at their front entrances. Now every time you go to the store you have an opportunity to think about your internet marketing techniques / methods / practices and think "Are you clean with that?".

8 Tests for Clean Marketing

1. Can you sleep at night? - "Sleep like a baby"? (soundly, peacefully).
2. Or are you kept up at night worrying?
3. Would you be OK with your marketing methods if your Mother read about them in an exposé on the front page of the New York Times?
4. Do you get a little queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when you think about your marketing techniques?
5. Do your Friends ask you questions like, "What happened to you, you always used to be so (insert any nice wholesome word/concept here)?
6. Could words like bill of goods, cheat, con, deceit, deception, delusion, dishonest, double-dealing, evasion, exaggeration (huge), falsehood, fraud, hype, illusion, lie, misleading, misrepresentation, overstatement (gross), pretense, scam, scheme, shell game, snake oil, snow job, subterfuge, etc. be associated with your internet marketing techniques?
7. Would you use the same marketing methods on your friends or family. (The ones you like, that is).
8. If someone used the same marketing method on you, would you feel tricked or played for a sucker. Again, the "Golden Rule".

Solutions: "Faith, Trust, And Pixie Dust"

1. Clarity and transparency - it's as simple (and clean) as that.
2. If you can explain your internet marketing methods to a child or to the hero of a child (e.g., Mickey Mouse, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty, Lilo [not Stitch!]) and they're ok with them, then you're probably OK.
3. Being open and honest with your visitors and customers will give them a reason to believe in you, and your methods, and your site - a reason to have faith in you and trust you, your business, and your website/blog/podcast.
4. Building trust through the words you use and living up to them with follow-through.
5. Building trust by using trust badges/symbols, etc. where a visitor would want them to be.  E.g., Better Business Bureau, Association logos, Visa/MasterCard badges (when purchasing), etc.
6. Building trust through real Testimonials/Reviews.  People can spot bogus testimonials. Remember what your Mom said, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
7. Using persuasion instead of delusion or confusion. Be conscious of when you begin using internet marketing hype instead of a persuasive argument.
8. Pixie dust: It's ok to have add a little magic - some zing. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) seems like magic, but it works. So a little "white hat" SEO (the good SEO) is fine. Especially since these techniques are no more than what Google recommends so it can serve-up more targeted search results to its customers (searchers). You're just helping Google's customers find what they're truly looking for better.

Bottom Line: Add content and value - true value - and market them as straightforwardly as possible.

Morality Screed versus "What Just Makes Sense" and the Law

You might be thinking that this is just a heavy-handed moral screed, but really it's a plea to consider how your marketing efforts are viewed by those who encounter them, your potential customers.  Then turn it around and think (deep down), "Do I want to be marketed to that way?" and that should be your answer.

But if that's not enough, "It's the Law" as outlined by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC): Advertising and Marketing on the Internet: Rules of the Road:

"The Federal Trade Commission Act allows the FTC to act in the interest of all consumers to prevent deceptive and unfair acts or practices. In interpreting Section 5 of the Act, the Commission has determined that a representation, omission or practice is deceptive if it is likely to:

• mislead consumers and
• affect consumers' behavior or decisions about the product or service."

Also there's a special section on "Testimonials and Endorsements".
See FTC Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Hope this helps!

Take care & hope you're internet marketing is a great success,

Karl

Comments?

Got one?   Think I'm off-track...or not - just let me know below.

But if you like this for whatever reason, then "Tell A Friend" below.

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I'm not sure if you saw my last post on "The Importance of Ethics in Social Media in Marketing and Advertising", but now I'd to discuss what happened from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) standpoint.

What happened (Sequence of Events)

• First I posted my PowerPoint slides on Slideshare.
• Then I blogged about the slide show and embedded the slides in my blog post: "The Importance of Ethics in Social Media in Marketing and Advertising".
• Within an hour my Slideshare slides were already indexed and findable on Google. A Google search yielded the top search result for: The Importance of Ethics in Social Media in Marketing and Advertising
• I tweeted about the slideshow on Twitter and now those tweets are currently the highest ranked on Twitter Search: slideshare ranking google search.

What Really Happened (SEO-wise)

1) Google indexes Slideshare very quickly

• First, slide shows posted on Slideshare appear to be indexed by Google really quickly.
• This makes sense since Slideshare has very fresh content posted by people who should be authorities/experts regarding their subjects and content. Google loves fresh content and authority sources.
• Conclusion: Slideshare has great Google Juice!

2) Long tail Google searches are really powerful

• Second, long tail Google searches (searches with many keywords) are very powerful, especially when exactly match the title of  Slidehare slide show.
• And yes, this is "gaming" Google a little, since chances would be remote that many people would choose this exact search.
• But that's the power of "The Long Tail", in that some people may actually try that search and find exactly what they were looking for.

3) Long tail Twitter searches are really powerful

• Similarly, doing a strategically-chosen long tail search in with particular keywords in Twitter Search provided the top (and only) results in Twitter Search (see image above).
• Again, that's the power of "The Long Tail".
• Conclusion: Google and Twitter searches with many keywords rock!

4) Slideshare slides are can be organized, shared , and can go viral

• Lastly, within a few days of posting my slideshow on Slideshare, etalbert re-posted it to the Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media groups on Slideshare's site.
• This way the slideshow is given more "organization" by being categorized in a couple of relevant groups.
• Also, people in those groups may find my slide show more easily.
• Conclusion: The slideshow is being found and shared with others who may find it useful, helpful, and/or interesting.

5) Slideshare rocks with Google Juice!

• Overall Conclusion: Slideshare rocks(!) and has great Google Juice (even in you "cheat" a little and use long tail multiple-word keyword searches).

Comments...

Have a comment or a better way to get "Google Juice" using Slideshare or other social media methods? - Please let me know...

Last night I spoke to Mark Stern's Ethics in Marketing & Advertising class at UCLA extension on "The Importance of Ethics in Social Media in Marketing and Advertising" and I just wanted to share the slides with you in Slideshare:

Slideshare

The other thing that's cool about sharing these slides with you via SlideShare is that I can embed them (above) or get a Widget and install it in my sidebar (see the right column under "Technorati Favorites" above the Global Translator flags).

Creative Commons License

What's also great is that you can use a Creative Commons Attribution license to "...let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request."  This way others can use your PowerPoint presentation, or parts of it, but they need to credit/attribute it to you.

Online Marketing & Social Media

Slideshare is another great social media tool for sharing information with others, so they get the info they need and then they can share it with others, who can share it with others...

Descriptive Tags

Not only that, but you can include many tags describing your slideshow when you upload your slides. This way your slides can be found easily on Slideshow, but better than that, they'll be indexed by Google and easily findable in Google searches.

Google Juice

In fact, my slideshow was already #1 in the Google rankings and I only uploaded it 1 hour ago - and I ate lunch in between! See image below...

That's great Google Juice!

Thanks Slideshare!

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Of course this makes sense since Google tries to provide fresh valuable content from reliable sources/authors to it's customers: Web Searchers.

So this is just good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well as using great tools like Slideshare.

And of course I used the "Mother-of-All" long tail Google searches too (see below & image):

The Importance of Ethics in Social Media in Marketing and Advertising

Comments?

Have a Comment? Do you have other great ways to get Google Juice? If so, let me know...

In Part I we started looking at ways of evaluating and changing your website (or blog) to improve it. Today I'm giving you 10 Quick Questions to help with this process:

10 Quick Questions for Evaluating/Improving your Website




1. Does your website look nice and inviting? (Does it make your visitors "feel" nice, like the landscape on the right?)




2. Is it a site that you'd feel like staying at if you just happened to land on it? (Where you feel like you could lie down in the meadow, enjoy the blue sky, and watch the  clouds - in other words: hang out for awhile, check out the info/resources, and engage at the site.)




3. Can visitors find your "Buy" button? (so they can take the desired action easily, e.g., Buy, Join, Subscribe, Register, etc.).




4. Can prospective buyers (visitors) find what they need easily (information, prices, reviews/testimonials, etc.)?




5. Is it easy and intuitive to navigate around your site? (Or is it a virtual maze or an impossibly dense mishmash of text or links pretending to be organized)?




6. Is it easy to use/access your site? (Are there so many fonts and colors that the content is difficult to see, especially for visually impaired individuals)?




7. Does your site rank highly in search engine results (particularly Google's)?




8. Is your site's search engine result (Title and Description) enticing enough that you'd click on it (versus all of the others)?




9. If you click on your site's search engine result, are you taken to the site you'd expect from the Title and Description?




10. Now loop back to #1 (above) and quickly run through this list again with "fresh" eyes (based on how your site might be found by potential visitors searching the internet).

Bottom Line

IMPORTANT: Please note that "potential visitors" aren't visitors until they visit and "potential buyers" aren't buyers until they buy.

Your task is to re-design your site to create the environment that entices searchers to visit and visitors to buy. This may involve using some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) as well as some E-Marketing techniques and strategy (list building, E-Newsletters, Social Media/Networking, etc.) to promote your site and attract people to it.

If you'd like more ways to evaluate and improve your website (or blog) you might enjoy our free 77 Great Tips of Internet Marketing (at top-right of web page) for a more complete checklist.

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Have any questions, comments, or tips of your own for evaluating websites? If so, please leave a comment...

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Next post (Part III): 11 Quick Questions for Podcasts
Prior post (Part I): How's Your Website Doing? -- Part I - Opportunities for Change Looking Forward

With a New Year and a sense of there being a new outlook in the world, it's a good time to think how your website/blog/podcast is doing. While the Presidential Inaugural parade was today in Washington DC, we can also look at the recent Rose Parade on New Year's day in Pasadena for some guidance on website design and strategy.

Design, Planning, Functionality, and Theme

Looking at the before and after pictures of NAMM's* "Musical Extravaganza" float which was designed to coincide with the Rose Parade's "Hats Off to Entertainment" theme you can see that a lot of work and planning goes into creating a pleasing yet functional float. And it must have been pleasing because it won the President's Trophy.
* National Association of Music Merchants

Before and After

This wasn't just random - the float was entirely conceptualized and planned out before it was built (structurally) and the flowers were glued on. You can see the scaffolding used to build the structure in the Before photo (on the left) and the final flower-decorated float in the After photo (on the right).

Blind Evolution versus a single Objective

But many websites have grown-up (evolved?) from initial ideas/concepts into something which might be quite different from what they originally began as.  These websites (yours?) weren't tightly themed, planned, and constructed with a sole purpose for a particular effect or goal (e.g., winning the President's Trophy).

"Now" is the Time to Step-Back and Evaluate your Site

No matter how your website got to where it is, now is a great time to step-back and evaluate it (or re-evaluate it). One way not to do this is to let your body go all limp, squint your eyes, and stare at your website for x minutes (like a "magic picture").

Ways to Evaluate (and Improve) your Site

Ok, so if that isn't the way to evaluate your site, then what is? One way would be to find a handful of brutally-honest friends and ask them what they think. A variation on this would be to find a handful of strangers and ask them what they think. The difference being that you'd have to reward the strangers in some way (free ____, pay them, etc.). Or you could simply evaluate it yourself by answering some questions or using a checklist.

See my next post for "10 Quick Questions for Evaluating your Website", or see free 77 Tip Checklist (77 Great Tips of Internet Marketing) (at top-right of web page) for a more complete checklist.

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Have any questions, comments, or tips of your own for evaluating websites? If so, please leave a comment...

~~~

Next Post: Part II: 10 Quick Questions for Evaluating your Website
Next Next Post: Part III: Quick Questions for Podcasts

Welcome to the Attract More Visitors blog. The mission of this blog is to help you attract more visitors to your web site, blog, or podcast.

How?

• By using evil internet marketing techniques, vacuuming unwilling and unsuspecting innocent bystanders onto your site and holding them hostage until they buy from you?
  • No!

How really?

• By using proven e-Marketing, Social Media/Networking, and traditional marketing techniques.
• Of course any discussion about attracting visitors and increasing traffic wouldn't be complete without some SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), and SMO (Social Media Optimization).
• For more on this, see the About page.

Who reads this blog?

• Anyone who has a site that isn't performing to the level they'd like.
  • Maybe you have a business-card website that you set up years ago and have never done anything with since.
  • Or maybe your business has the obligatory stagnant website that no-one ever updated.
  • Or perhaps your business has a phenomenal web site, but not as many people come to it as you would like, so your chances of convincing them to buy from you are problematic at best.

Why does the Title of this post say "...or Else!"

• That's just a fun and humorous way of titling the post. Life is too dull and serious anyway. The process of attracting people to your web site should be interesting - to you...and them. Nothing says that you can't have a good time during this process. Part of this blog will be using humor, satire, irony, and roasting (there's nothing like "roasted web site"...ummmm!...until you've seen it) to make some points. So stay tuned and see if you can "spot the irony".

While the focus of this blog is to Attract More Visitors, the focus of our sister blog is to Create More Customers. Together these blogs and our upcoming web site are an integrated whole which will help your business achieve the success you desire. Well that is, if you take the techniques we show you and apply them.

Nike has a great slogan: "Just Do It". And you should do it too. We'll show you how - all you need to do...is, well, do it. By applying these techniques consistently you'll find success, which means that more visitors will find your site and choose to do business with you...over and over.

Sound like a plan?

Ok, let's get to it then...

Oh, and by the way, our IncreaseOnlineProfits.com web site will have a lot more techniques (with "how-to" descriptions, videos, etc.) available when it's up and going. If you'd like to keep updated on when these will be available, just subscribe to our eNewsletter and grab our free 77* Point Internet Marketing Checklist while you're at it. See the upper right corner of this page for the opt-in box to subscribe.

* 77 Points as of this post date. With the imminent roll-out of changes to Google's algorithms these points may also change somewhat, but if you continue adding true value and transparent usability of your site for your visitors then you should still be on the right track.

One last thing:

You might wonder why we're making the distinction between "attracting visitors" and "creating customers".

• First you have to get the people in the door, or in our case, in the "virtual door" of your web site. Then you can consider how to "convert" them to a customer or buyer of your products, services, ideas, etc.
• If there's no "there there", visitors will leap (bounce) out of your site and you won't have a chance to sell to them.
• The "creating customers" side of the equation involves everything that would give the visitor an enjoyable and informative time on your site, such that everything they're exposed to eases and smoothes their way to finding what they need (visually pleasing, intuitively organized, with great accessibility and usability) so they can make an informed decision and finally make their purchase(s) seamlessly and without a hitch.
• As my partner, Rick Henkin says, "Your competitors are only a click away." Getting your visitors to stay long enough to buy is critical to this process. Is every aspect of your site designed to lead visitors to this favorable conclusion? That's why the "create customers" part is crucial. For more on this see the Create More Customers blog.

And if you want to know who's behind this nefarious plot to make you successful, just see Rick's Create More Customers About page and my (Karl's) Attract More Visitors About page.

Best success!