I’m Tired, I’m Tapped, I’m Overwhelmed
I hear ‘ya. You work long hours. The bottom line is a predictable disappointment. And you just don’t know which brush fire to put out next. But the frigid reality is that if you run a business of any kind in the US right now, you’re trying to position yourself in the face of long-term financial uncertainty. Only the strong will survive and it’s best to remember that the size of your punch is not always as important as the consistency of your attack.
With this in mind, I’d like to offer you what I consider to be the absolute minimum you should be doing with your website. And I mean, doing repeatedly. Not just once so you can say, “Oh, I’ve tried that and it didn’t work”, but really commit yourself to this effort for at least six months. I guarantee that you will see web traffic improve, online and offline sales increase, and you’ll end up with more money in your pocket. And the best news is that ALL of these essentials require very little cash and very little computer tech ability. What makes them work is the repeated application. Rinse and repeat.
Publish an Electronic Newsletter
I’ve been saying this for years. Some of you have been listening. For those of you already doing this, just make sure you do it at least 4 times a year. For the rest of you who don’t know where to start, may I suggest:
- Sign-up for some newsletters if you haven’t already and read them. Study them. How is the content motivating you to action? How is the content organized? Are there links for further information that take you to the parent website? Was there too much content? Too little? Was it relevant and interesting? Do they send me their newsletter too often?
- Here’s a few newsletters and blogs I receive and enjoy on a regular basis to help get you started:
- Now that you’ve read and analyzed some newsletters, you should have some good ideas about what works and what doesn’t. Try putting together a list of headlines for your newsletter. How many? I suggest from 3 to 6 maximum. But that could mean 3 headlines along with 3 permanent sections like Current Events, Product Spotlight, or About Insert Author Name Here. It’s up to you and you may find you like different formats given certain situations. You will hone your skills with these decisions as you practice. For now, just write down 6 headlines.
- Next, start writing your articles as posts to your blog. Don’t have a blog? You can set one up for free with WordPress or Blogger. There are many other services, but these are good and solid and easy to use. By writing each section of your newsletter as a blog post first, we’re accomplishing two things: (1) You get to write this thing in pieces so you don’t get overwhelmed with the time you’re spending on it, and (2) Your blog posts will be indexed and searchable by the search engines and become permanent content rather than a bit of email that’s easily dumped in the trash.
- Now that you’ve got all your blog posts done, it’s time to piece the newsletter together. There’s lots of methods for doing this and many programs at your disposal, but I’m going to focus on the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to do this. Get an account with Vertical Response if you have a small mailing list and want to pay per email sent. If you have several thousand customer email sign-ups, then consider something more robust with a monthly fee such as Topica or Constant Contact. All of these services offer a wide variety of layout templates, easy methods for inserting links and pictures, tools to track the effectiveness of your campaign, and you can even import your mailing list from another program.
- Your newsletter will start with your logo and/or company name. You can follow that with “In This Issue” or simply compose an opening paragraph describing what’s in the body of the newsletter or your reason for writing at this time (EX: Fall is in the Air, or Holidays Are Coming).
- Next include a headline with the first few sentences or synopsis of your corresponding blog post followed by a link to the post that says “Read the Full Article”. Consider including a thumbnail picture to visually describe the concept of the article. Repeat this process until you have all your headlines and synopses listed with links to the blog posts.
- End your newsletter with an optional “About The Author” short paragraph and picture or “Links to Further Resources” topic with links to pertinent websites. Then wrap it all up with your full contact information including name, address, phone, toll-free number, web address, and email.
- The newsletter services listed above offer the “Forward to a Friend” option, unsubscribe link, and campaign tracking. Take ALL of these options.
- Save, Send a Test Email to yourself for careful proofing, Edit as needed, and Send.
- Repeat this process in 3 months.
- NOTES
- Remember to install a link on your website to your newsletter subscription form. This way you are not having to add/edit/delete your users. Save yourself the time and let them handle this end of the deal.
- Make sure there is a link on your website to your blog.
- Double check that Google/MSN/Yahoo have indexed your blog posts. If they haven’t, submit your blog URL once, wait for 30 days, and recheck to see if it’s been included. Repeat if necessary in 30 day intervals. Once you find one page from your blog indexed, the spider bots from these search engines will find the rest. So don’t spam the engines with page submissions!
- Ensure that your blog has links back to your website. This can be a simple link to your homepage, links to critical sections, or links within posts to specific pages on your website. Remember that your website changes, so carefully consider linking to a product that you may no longer stock next year, or a special event page that will be gone in a few months.
Track Your Website with a Google Analytics Account
- What is Google Analytics? In the words of Google itself, “The new Google Analytics makes it easy to improve your results online. Write better ads, strengthen your marketing initiatives, and create higher-converting websites. Google Analytics is free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners.”
- How Does it Work? After you sign-up for an account, you install a bit of code to all the pages on your website that you want to track. Upon installation verification, Google begins to compile data (from their viewpoint) about how your visitors are finding your site, what pages they’re viewing, what links they click, where they are in the world, and if you also have Google Adwords, track conversion rates. But there’s much more too. The data can be overwhelming, so they’ve got an online help section and articles to help you make sense of it all. The graphical nature of the Google Analytics tool makes it easy to understand the data quickly.
- OK. I’ve got Google Analytics(GA) tracking my site. Now what? The fun part begins. Login to your account and start viewing the reports. What can you do with this data and how can it inform your business decisions? Consider this example: You can use the Geo Overlays to see where your site users are located. GA offers you the ability to display this information as deeply as you see fit – country, state, or city level. What this means is that you now have specific information that will allow you to geographically target your online and offline advertising. Want to know more? Read this article by Eric Enge titled “10 Cool Things You Can Do With the New Google Analytics“.
Coordinate Your Printed Materials With Your Website
Whether you sell products, have special events, consult with other businesses, or participate in craft shows, you have printed materials that represent you and your business. These can be print ads in magazines and local papers, flyers, brochures, postcards, and business cards. Trying to figure out which methods give you the most bang for your buck can be difficult, but if you have a website and a Google Analytics account, you’ll find that you can remove much of the guess work.
You already know that you should put your website address (URL) and email address on your business card. That’s a no brainer. But consider having a double-sided business card designed that carries on the back a unique promo code for a “10% Discount” or “1-Hour Free Consultation”. My client, Becca Lane (owner of Nature Baby Online) specializes in organic baby wearing items. She carries her double-sided business cards around with her wherever she goes and hands them out to pregnant mothers-to-be. When the coupon code is used on her retail website, she knows exactly where the sale originated.
Rather than offer a unique promo code, you could try creating a unique web address to a specific page on your website “for further information”. This special page would not be linked to from anywhere else EXCEPT from the printed materials. Then you can use GA to track the page and see how many visitors you received. I’m doing this with the Fiber Fabric Bead Trail brochure that is a coordinated effort by a dozen local retailers who sell related products. The web address listed on the brochure promises a printable map of the FFB Trail and coupons to the participating vendors. This way we can track not only how many people are coming to the website from the brochure, but also how many are making purchases and using the printable coupons.
These methods also work great with print ads in newspapers and magazines. Try using unique promo codes for each ad so you can track them individually. If your ad runs in a local paper, be sure to make it a cut-and-carry coupon for in-store redemption.
CONCLUSION
These three activities described above are what I consider to be the essential efforts every online business person must perform regularly to stay competitive.
- Publish a Newsletter at least four times a year
- Analyze your Google Analytics reports at least once a month and respond to that data appropriately
- Don’t let one piece of printed material go out the door that doesn’t tie back to your website in some measurable and quantifiable way
To my current clients who read this article, please note: I’m talking to you! I want to see each and every one of you successful in your business ventures. So please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email or give me a call if you need help with:
- Setting up your blog and newsletter
- URL Submission and Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Getting Google Analytics installed to your site
- Designing and printing business cards, brochures, and postcards
- Creating special landing pages on your website to help you track your campaigns