Good Idea

This one comes from Greg Call, who attended one of my webinars. Greg actually works for the Kansas Department of Commerce Trade Development Division and he took the time to give me a call to share what I think is a good idea, usually overlooked!

Here's his good idea: If your toll free number is accessible from Canada, Mexico etc. Let people know you are willing to accept their calls by stating that the number is good in those countries. (unless, of course, you don't want to do biz outside the US)

By giving that additional info it infers you already do business in those countries and it opens up the potential to people who may not have called otherwise.

If you have good ideas, let me know! Call toll free (works in Canada & Mexico) 877-644-3327 or email me.

A Few Tips for Rocky Times

Tough times?

I received an e-news with an article by Brian Eisenberg (author, internet marketing expert) and I thought I would pass along this info and a few tips to help you through the potential storm.

Overall, conversion rates are starting to trend downward.

So what does this mean to you, your company, and your conversion rate? Can you come out of the other end of this with little to no damage? Anyone who has been in business through a recession knows it's absolutely possible to survive and, sometimes, even grow a bit (or a lot as competitors fold under pressure). But it's never easy.

For online marketers wishing to thrive, a down economy brings two big-picture lessons. First, now is the not the time to stop being innovative. Second, efficiencies are not an option.

Remember these tips...

• Remember that people will buy value, in the absence of value they will take the best bargain price.  Be sure you are communicating the value behind your product / service.
• People will still buy what the need and want; they'll just buy slower and more methodically.
• Expect longer sales and lead-generation cycles. Customers won't ask you for more value, they'll just search for it elsewhere.
• Don't be shocked by changing patterns in your metrics. Your customers may behave differently based on new found attitudes. Ask why they are doing what they are doing. Use personas to find ways to persuade them and calm their fears. Test to find the answers.
• Don't cut back on optimizing for conversions.  Add social media to your conversion efforts.
• Consider visiting or revisiting price-point- and shipping-cost-related offers. They are at least worth a test or two.
• Stay focused on your customer first, not on the market.  Even though you can, don't blame the economy. It likely won't hear you, and if it does, it won't do anything about it.
• Don't think you're immune or you may end up in the ash heap

Some people will try anything to get first page listings in the major search engines. Unfortunately there are many companies that promise high search rankings, the vast majority of which are merely spam.

Spam for search engines includes: automatic doorway pages (not to be confused with legitimate landing pages), cloaking and false redirect codes, keyword stuffing, hidden text or links, and automated listing systems. The major search engines, especially Google, will penalize sites by either dropping the ranking of the website or removing the site from the search engine database completely.

While Google may eventually forgive and lift the penalization it is not a quick process to get back to the top. Often that process can take a year or more as Google learns to trust the site once again.

Moral of the story - don't participate in "black" search engine optimization techiques. Ask questions about how the SEO is performed and if you are not comfortable with the methods used, look for another company.