If you want to improve online business, you should begin with optimizing your site. Study your analytics to see what works, test to see what might work better, and then apply your findings to targeted search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.
1. Build your marketing funnel in Google Analytics.
Google lets you create goals on your account that record when visitors complete certain activities, like signing up for your email list or viewing a product page. If you establish goals that track customer movement through the sales process, you will learn where you lose customers.
Your analytics reports will also show which visitor sources yield the most conversions. This can help you focus your ad spending on those sources likely to convert.
2. Split test your landing and sales pages.
Split testing offers visitors alternate versions of a web page, and then tracks how visitors respond to the different pages. By testing different versions, you can learn the triggers that motivate your customers to complete the sale.
Everything from colors to fonts to copy affects customer behavior, and with each test you will increase your understanding of how to improve conversions on your site.
3. Run a PPC campaign.
Google AdWords offers a bidding system where you bid to have your ads placed on the search engine results page (SERP) for searches on a keyword you choose. You can set a maximum bid and a maximum daily spending limit in order to control costs.
A PPC campaign is a great way to send traffic to your site so you can do the split testing that will improve conversions. Even better, you will be able to track your ad spending to the revenue you are able to generate.
4. Accelerate your SEO efforts.
Confirm that your website has all the right SEO elements that the search engines and users look for when visiting your site. Dynamic sitemaps, RSS functionality and interlinking pages will ensure that your site is more SEO friendly. Make sure that your titles, descriptions and your content is optimized, and that it provides quality information.
Your PPC campaign should inform you about the keywords most likely to lead to sales or leads. Concentrate your SEO efforts on those keywords. If they work for paid leads, they will work for free “organic” searches as well. Create content that contains these keywords, and build inbound links anchored to related keywords.
5. Rinse and Repeat
Improving your online business is a continuing process. Moods and trends shift, and your analytics will help see when things begin to change. Split tests will help you keep pushing your conversion rates higher while allowing you to react to a changing market.
When you have good data driving your PPC campaigns, you will know exactly what you need to spend for a desired conversion result. SEO plays a permanent role in visibility and that means your website will be found for years to come.
Online Business Consultants
All of these processes take time. Many companies are not taking advantage of the 21st century tools at their disposal because they do not have the time to attend to it all. As a consequence, they suffer with lackluster online results and haphazard PPC campaigns that may or may not be contributing to their bottom line.
If you want to improve online business on your company website, contact us for guidance. We can show you how your site is performing and how to make it better. We can help you increase your traffic and conversions by building a customized internet marketing strategy.