An important question to answer when creating or revising a Web site is "What are the goals of this site?" because the answer will drive your site design and marketing decisions. In Part 1 (http://www.webmarketingarticles.com/CustomerDecision.htm), I took a look at understanding your site visitors' decision making process and providing them with the right information, thus converting more visitors to purchasers. Here in Part 2 I will present some tips for attracting the right customers to your site and ideas for profiting through information sites. Breaking Through the Clutter If you are like most of us, getting people to pay attention and understand how you can help them is a daunting task. Repeated exposure is one way to catch your target customers' interest. James Maduk has a unique system for doing just that, without becoming a pest. He has what he calls a search engine "Site Mesh" consisting of a hub and spoke family of Web sites (The hub and spoke concept is explained further in Part 1.). By structuring the sites so they are related, but with each spoke a highly targeted, one-page site selling only a single product, he is able to achieve multiple listings on competitive key words in the search engines. James explains, "What this means is that instead of having one chance of someone finding my site, I now have 55 chances - or as many chances as I have sales pages." As an example, James owns three of the top 15 sites currently listed in the Google search engine under "sell audio ebooks", including the #1 and #2 listed sites. These same results appear in the Yahoo! engine as well, all at no cost. Managing Sales Sites In Part 1, Karon Thackston explained the multi-step buying decision and why many of your visitors may not yet be ready to purchase. If you own a sales site, those early in the decision process are not likely to buy from you. There are ways, however, you can attract visitors to your site who are approaching the purchase stage. One is to have a presence on information sites that attract visitors in your target customer groups. On the information sites, visitors are gathering information and evaluating options. In other words, they are preparing to make a purchase. Michelle Horstman, owner of Choice Promotional Products, www.choicepromotionalproducts.com, says, "I do get hits from advertising on 'informative' sites such as www.barmitzvahfindit.com, where they have a vendor area." For those on a limited budget, Michelle suggests purchasing advertising on sites that participate in pay-per-click programs like Overture or Google AdWords. "When you list with Google and others on your own, you may have to pay more than your ROI would justify." She explains. "However, when you advertise with an informational site, that site can afford to pay more for the clicks, since they are supported by multiple vendors/advertisers. Ask the site if they'll offer a trial period so you can see how much traffic it is producing." Managing an Information Site If you run an information site, the majority of your visitors will be too early in the decision process to purchase. So how can you both attract visitors in the early decision stages *and* earn revenue? You can attract information seekers by structuring each page in your site so it gives information on a specific topic. This expands the list of key words through which searchers can find your site. Other ways to earn revenue from an information site: - Initiate the two step selling process James recommends in Part 1.
- Participate in a few select affiliate programs, which you can promote on topic-specific pages in your Web site.
- Join a targeted advertising network such as Google's AdSense.
- Sell your own advertising space.
In any case, coordinating your Web site marketing to attract visitors in the "right" decision making stage creates a win-win situation. Your visitors find the information they need and you profit - through sales, advertising, or affiliate revenue - by meeting those needs. |
