Resistance to Internet Marketing - Rise to the Challenge!

challenge-runner Many small business owners these days are realizing that there is more to life (and their bottom line) than their brick-and-mortar operation. Furthermore, these business owners are starting to realize the value of spending some of their marketing dollars on ehnancing their online service offering through internet marketing and social media efforts.

We, as internet marketers, tend to run into some resistance when trying to educate and guide our small business clients on the proper techniques that can lead to a successfull online business.

Our job as your strategic internet partner is to guide your efforts and lead you down the right path to grow your online product and service offerings, along with helping you to build relevent content for not only your users, but for the search engines as well. In doing this, we tend to get a lot of push-back. By this I mean clients not wanting to do the work because they don’t see the value.

“I know my business better than you.”

I cannot tell you how many times I have heard that line, and yes, that is true. I am not an expert on Nitrogen Oxide Air Scrubbers, nor do I pretend to be a subject matter expert on Multi-Deck Pizza Ovens or Pneumatic Tapping Machines. However, my response to the above statement is this:

“You most certainly know your products and your business, and I know internet marketing. Imagine what we can do with that powerful combination!”

This is not a statement of arrogance, but simply the truth. As we work together to develop a strategy for your site, and as we begin to gather real data from tools like Google Analytics – we can begin to learn from your web site’s traffic patterns, common search terms, AdWords campaign trends, best selling products and so on.

By listening to what your site is telling us – we find areas for improvement, and know specifically where to focus your efforts and what types of content will need to be built.

In the case of a new site that hasn’t gathered much data – I may suggest various things in the way of social marketing campaigns, content development, product enhancement and such. You may not agree. How I overcome this resistance is to show you where it has worked for other customers and how it has worked. The proof is in the results – and if you can back up your suggestions with facts, your customers tend to be more than willing to work with you.

The coolest part of all of this – once you overcome that first hurdle, or overcome their resistance the first time, and your client sees the fruits of their labor… they tend to come looking for more stuff to do to make it even better – and it just snowballs from there.

I’ve had client’s websites sit idle for months and when they finally come around and do some of things I’ve asked them to do, they begin to see their site come alive with activity. It is through this effort they realize the potential, and begin to really value you as a strategic partner who is passionate about growing your business. (see analytical graph below showing real site traffic growth for a client who listens!)

site_traffic_example

So I leave you with this… Don’t be afraid to push your clients into unchartered territory by suggesting things they may not necessarily agree with – However, be prepared to substantiate your suggestion with facts and data. Help them understand who you are making the change for and how it could impact their site overall.

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What is Bounce Rate: It is the percentage of users who are exiting your site upon landing on a single page and not continuing to any other pages during that site visit. If a user hits your home page and leaves without digging into your site content that is considered a “bounce”. This rule applies to any page on your site a user lands on, whether it’s bookmarked or found through search.

Internet marketers use bounce rate to determine whether certain pages of your site are communicating properly. A higher bounce rate means there is much work to be done in improving the content on your site, whether it be an informational site or an eCommerce site. There are factors to look at that on a page by page basis that will affect your bounce rate, and in some situations a higher bounce rate might actually be okay. A page that is bookmarked on a news site that is updated daily with stories and such may have a higher bounce rate. eCommerce sites should not apply the same line of thinking.

Static Cling for eCommerce:

We, as internet marketers, need to be passionate about bounce rate. You want a lower bounce rate on eCommerce sites – mainly because the end-goal would be getting your users to click that magic “add to cart” button and completing the sale. If this is not ocurring on your product pages and your bounce rate is high you may want to assess the following information:

Does the user know WHAT you are selling? It is clear they have landed on a product page and can EASILY purchase? If you are selling, be sure that you product pages communicate that effectively.

Does your product’s description provide enough information to assist the user in making the decision to purchase. If you are selling an item that has many applications or uses, this should be spelled out in your description. For example – if you are selling glue, and this glue can be used on wood, plastic, metal, etc – your product description should reflect that and not leave any unanswered questions the shopper may have.

Can the user/shopper easily figure out HOW to buy this product? Is there a clear “add to cart” or “buy now” button or link? In most cases, this should be found above-the-fold (meaning the user does not need to scroll to find it). This is not always possible, and may not prevent the sale, but it’s a good general rule of thumb.

Is your price point competitive? People shop around – and the internet is the easiest way to price compare products before making a purchase. If a user lands on your page and finds your product to be overpriced – the user/shopper will “bounce”.

If you are running AdWords, is your campaign set up properly and effectively optimized? Be sure if you are paying for site traffic that they are not bouncing quickly. If you are advertising on specific keywords, be sure the user who has searched on that keyword is finding EXACTLY what they are looking for when they land on your site. Use negative keywords to increase the value of your click-through-rate (CTR). If you sell glue that only works on wood and not on plastic – remove the search traffic for “plastic glue” by adding negative keywords. Also be sure your landing pages for your ads allow your user to find what they have searched for immediately. Preferrably the user will land on the product page where they can immediately make a purchase.

At home, we use Bounce to get rid of static and stickiness on our clothing. On the internet, we do not want bounce, we want our search traffic to stick, and we want our users to find what they are looking for.

If your bounce rates are higher – throw away that fabric softener or staticguard and start digging into why your traffic is not sticking on your site. Be sure if it is an eCommerce site you are checking your bounce rate at the product level and start working on improving the shopping experience for your user, by making it easy to make a decision to purchase, and then even easier to actually make that purchase on the spot.