As I’ve posted in the past, I get daily notifications of my “Daily Challenge” – little snippets, sayings, quotes, ideas that keep me grounded and remind me that it’s not all about me.  Sometimes these little challenges strike a personal note, and sometimes they hit me professionally.  Today’s challenge can apply both personally and professionally.

“Choose to re-frame disappointments as challenges to help you grow.”

We would not be who we are without disappointment and growth, so this is a great reminder or push to learn from our mistakes, both personally and professionally.

If I apply this professionally, it is to take a web site that does not perform well, or has experiences failures in the ways of online sales and/or traffic and turn that around.  The disappointments in online performance are the things that push to dig deeper and find out what is not working and make it better.

I have one particular account that puzzles me – the site traffic grows month over month, the overall site bounce rate is low, the pricing on products is competitive and they are experiencing nice positioning in Google.  They are following all the steps in our marketing plan, yet the site does not perform as well as I’d expect it to.  It is rather disappointing.  BUT, this is now a challenge – to test the waters and look for ways to make it work.  We’ve just rolled out some changes that I hope will be effective, but again we continue to monitor using tools like Google Analytics to watch our changes take hold.

If not, I will continue to push to find the right solution as I attempt to do in all areas of my life.  My passion for my client’s success is what keeps me motivated.  At the end of the day, if their site is performing well and I am helping their business grow, then I’ve overcome just one more challenge.

As Joel Osteen once said  “Every setback is a setup for a great comeback…”

I continue to view failures and disappointments as opportunities for growth in all areas of my life.  It is those things that make us stronger both personally and professionally.

Good Morning my internet friends!   It’s time to stop and talk about the importance of growing your website traffic versus the importance of improving your site content to increase conversions (Yet Again).

If you are the proud owner of a new website – and by new I mean less than 18 months old – then I hope you are working on improving your website and listening to what it’s telling you.  This is an area of internet I am very passionate about, and also very frustrated with why people don’t get it!

During the infancy of your new website – you should be watching your top landing pages and their bounce rates.  You should also be looking for ways to grow your conversions. Depending on your website, a conversion may either be an online sale, or an online quote requested, or even just a contact form or survey submission. Every online business varies in what they are trying to accomplish.   While your website is ‘young’ the traffic will be less, so you’ll want to work on converting more… then as your traffic grows – your conversions should increase accordingly.

Google Analytics does a fantastic job of letting know how people are finding you, where they are entering your site and where they are exiting your site. Your bounce rate can tell you a lot about why people are not buying or converting on your web site. If your top performing keyword and it’s related landing pages have a bounce rate or 90% – you have to take action. This means that 90% of the users visiting under that search term are NOT converting!    Why would not want to try to grab a hold of some of that traffic.

I find that people get wrapped around the axle about meta tags and “SEO”.   Let me again reiterate – search engine optimization is only a SMALL part of effectively marketing your website. STOP! Furthermore the common theme I get from customers is “I just need more traffic”. NO! You need to work on improving your site so you convert your existing traffic – as you make these improvements, your traffic will naturally increase.

You can have all the traffic in the world, if it’s not converting and your web site is not an effective sales toolfor your organization – your traffic is useless.

You gotta work your web site people! You have to listen to it, and be willing to constantly improve it. If you do that – you can reach markets that you might have never otherwise enjoyed.

The internet can and will help you grow your business, if you are willing to grow with your website. This post may sound like a rant, and it is. I just want you to get it! Stop focusing on traffic and seo, and start worrying about what matters!

How many guys are out there searching on Google for cool and unique ways to propose marriage to their girlfriend?   How about this idea?  Plan a dinner or a summer picnic, barbeque – whatever, and order a carved watermelon centerpiece for your table that is hand-carved with the message “Will You Marry Me?” on it.    Add your girlfriend’s name for just a few bucks more!

So why am I blogging about these on an Internet Marketing Blog? Simply because the message is that you need to listen to what your web site is saying to you, and if you listen properly it can take you in directions you may have never thought about – that could grow your online business.

I have a client who has been selling watermelon boats and custom carved watermelon centerpieces – which in itself is a great concept!  Send them your logo and they will carve it on the face of a watermelon for your corporate event or whatever the occaision may be – whatever your message may be.

As we began to watch their traffic trends and site conversions, we found that they were getting quote requests for the custom watermelon carvings – which in truth I must tell you, is an area I did not think would be their primary focus.  But in looking at the numbers, I quickly realized there’s a lot of potential here to grow their website and online product offerings –  they have added some standard watermelon carvings options to their online store.  The Will You Marry Me marriage proposal carved watermelon is just one of those ideas.

We’ve listened to what the website was telling us through Analytics data, and what their visitors were looking for, and we’ve added products that answer that call.  The plan is to now develop a strategy for marekting these products and driving traffic to the website for these hand carved message watermelon centerpieces.  We’ll be posting on other blogs such as party and event planning blogs, engagement blogs, motivational and creative/crafty blogs and getting the message out about these “Message Carved Watermelons.”

As we begin to work the content for these new products, we will again need to listen to the web site and what it’s telling us…  We’ll be watching the bounce rate on these pages, which keyterms are working for which products, how many conversions (sales and/or quote requests), and so on.  Through doing this – we may even come up with more ideas for more products in the future…  We’ll be listening.

This past weekend I watched the movie Rudy, a true story set in the 1960′s about the life of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger and how hardwork and perseverance has it rewards.  This story has been on my mind these past several days.  

Rudy sets off to accomplish the goal of getting into Notre Dame and getting on the football team.  Semester after semester he applies and reapplies only to keep being turned down.  He works his grades, reapplies until one day he’s accepted.  He of course then goes on to make it on the practice team for the Fighting Irish.  

This heartwarming story reminds me that this attitude of hardwork and perseverance should be applied to all we do. I’ve been asking myself if I truly work that hard and push forward to be the best that I can be.

Often times when orienting a new customer on the ins-and-outs of internet marketing and social media there is much education that takes place.  The biggest misconception:  I have a website there for I should instantly be selling my product!   Well not exactly…

Much like “Rudy”, marketing your website takes hard work and perseverance.  As Rudy did, we must work and rework certain techniques to get your website optimized, indexed, and full of relevant content!    True marketing of a website is not a ‘once and done’ thing that you pay someone $500 for and you’re all set.  It’s an ongoing process of proven techniques that are quite effective if you work them properly.

Some of the ingredients of your marketing plan may include things like: search optimization, content development and optimization, social media marketing, online press releases, opt-in email campaigns, sponsored link (or Pay-Per-Click) campaigns.

The few things listed above only scratch the surface of what goes into an effective marketing plan for a website, but those things are worked and reworked some more, eventually those results will pay off – and much like Rudy’s success – your site will begin to convert.

Remember that it won’t happen overnight, and that you need to put the work in.  You get out what you put in.  Get yourself partnered with a seasoned internet marketer who can look at your site from all angles and put together a plan and work WITH you.    

So I leave you with this.  When marketing your online presence – do it with patience & perseverance!  (The Rudy Factor!)

Some recent posts on the ins-and-outs of internet marketing:

• Internet Marketing.  Piece of Cake?
• Define Your Website With Content.
• Does Your Website Have Static Cling?
• And my personal favorite:  Flash Bulb Moments

 How do you apply the Rudy Factor to your professional life?

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.

These are just a few of my thoughts. I’m sure you have your own sticky points to ponder about bounce rate, and I’d love to hear them!