Creating a baseline

One of the key elements to the testing process that WSI follows when assisting our clients in creating an effective marketing strategy is benchmarking. Benchmarking refers to a way of comparing two elements using one as the standard and the other as the variable.

When you compare three variables to a single standard, you are using that standard as the benchmark to measure the relative performance of each variable.  For internet marketing, that means that you can create one set of data from your standard variable whether that is a color, a format, or a graphic, and then compare other options to that data to determine if they are more effective at driving traffic and improving your conversion rate.

In order to use benchmarking to ensure that your marketing program is functioning as well as possible, there are five steps to follow.  We’ll explain here:

5 Steps to Internet Benchmarking

1.  Carefully choose the question you will investigate. This is often the most difficult step for many of our clients because they are not sure where

2.  Develop the testing procedure that will answer this question.

3.  Decide how you will measure the results of your test. Are you looking at conversion rates? Membership subscriptions? The success of one

4.  Make sure that your results are valid and relevant. At the very least, this means testing with a sufficient sample size.

5.  Interpret your results with care. Do not rush to conclusions about your data because the purpose of testing is to use this data to design the best possible campaign, and that cannot be done based on incorrect interpretations.

With benchmarking, it is possible to get a better idea of what influences customers as they interact with your marketing campaign online. And if you are not setting a benchmark of data for evaluating your progress – how can you really evaluate if you are going forward or backwards?

The online world seems to be getting more complex every day.  It also seems to be getting more intertwined with our offline world as the 2 are becoming increasingly difficult to separate.

Being “in the field” everyday and talking to business owners here are some high level observations of trends in the internet marketing world:

1.    5 pages websites don’t win anymore.  The days of putting up a 5 page “brochure website” and being able to generate meaningful results are over.  In other words just having a website is no longer enough. You have to create a web presence that engages customers and offers them something of value.  Having a friend build you a Yahoo starter site is so “2006″!

2.    A crummy site with good content beats a flashy site with no content. More than ever the search information drives the internet.  And while web awards are given each year for creative designs that continues to be the exception rather than the norm.  Google the word “mortgage advice” and you will find a dated, but very popular website called the Mortgage Professor.  This site ranks #1 for a hugely competitive phrase simply based on the value of it’s content – not design work.

3.    Free tools can make you money. The search engines continue to provide us with free tools that can absolutely make you money.  Local listings, review sites and blog platforms are great tools for attracting web followers and making money even though they are free.

4.    Invest some time, money or both.  The irony is that just about everyone has a phrase they wish they were #1 for but don’t want to commit the time or resources to achieving it.  Gone are the days when you can just put up your website and be rewarded with top rankings.  It takes time (either yours or someone you hire) to build sites into a resource that web users will want to visit.

Let us know if there are high level ideas you think are important.  And for more information on internet marketing in New Orleans, Louisiana please visit our website.

As the events of the last few weeks have reminded us, life in southern Louisiana is never dull.  A few years ago it was Hurricane Katrina and now it’s the oil spill in the Gulf providing stark reminders of the role that technology plays in our lives, especially here locally.

Think about the lessons we’ve learned from these disasters:

1. People are communicating differently – As my neighbor and I like to argue, most people are consuming their news in some form of electronic medium either via television or online.  Fewer and fewer people are “taking the paper” so to speak.  News from these disasters spread almost instantly across the internet including photos, news and video.  However by the time the paper comes the next day that news cycle is almost a full 24 hours old.
2. Communication has never been more important – With so many tools for communicating at our disposal the need to stay in touch is higher than ever, as is the reliance on technology.  If you took away the blackberry’s and iphones of busy people they might actually go into convulsions.
3. Multi media is king - if you look through Google search suggestions for “gulf oil spill” you will see suggestions for things like “gulf oil spill video,” “gulf oil spill photos,” etc.  What that tells you is that people are looking for more than just writing and words – they are looking to experience this story through all the types of media available to us today.
4. Reliable Information is invaluable – Getting accurate and fast information has never been more critical.  Maybe it’s because everyone has a mobile phone bu the truth is that our margins for error have gone way down in recent years.  What used to take days now takes seconds when it comes to distributing information..making it all the more important to become a trusted source of information no matter what you do.

So how does this relate to your business?  Simple really.  If you think that you can get by with a 5 page brochure website and actually claim online success I think you are in for an unpleasant surprise.    The people who are succeeding online have recognized these trends mentioned in this post and are using their websites and online tools to engage their clients and provide them what they are after.

Don’t wait to do something about these changes.  Get yourself engaged online in the discussion.

Today was one of those good days to be in the SEO world. You print up the reports and look at the numbers and everything is up. Site traffic is up, conversions are up and things just seem a little better.

But why isn’t it always like this? I think it has a lot to do with patience and goal setting. Marketing your business online is not altogether different from the offline world in that you have to set goals and time frames to accomplish them. You have to look at the competition level and access the amount of effort needed to get traction for your message.

Building website presence in the real world

In spite of what some “get traffic quick” companies would you have believe it’s not all that easy to just put up a website and expect great things to happen. If you are a dynamic writer or a true “thought leader” in what you do than you can cut down the time frame. Because at the end of the day people who add value to the online world are generally rewarded with traffic and links back to their sites.

But a lot of businesses owners barely have time to see their families much less spend time working on their websites. And so they make look to hire someone to work on it for them. This process does work but you need to have the appropriate partner to work with and realistic expectations.

The end result

Getting your site in front of people who are looking for what you offer is not always easy – but at the end of the day I believe it is worth it. The big picture is that people use the internet much more today than we ever imagined – and that isn’t going to change anytime soon. In fact we can only imagine how it will impact us over the coming years.

So the bottom line is that no matter where you are starting online – never lose site of where you want to finish. Depending on the age of your site and the competition level you may have different time frames and goals – but not matter what they are it’s still sweet when you finally win.