Sorry, I don’t speak jargon

Have you ever sat through a work meeting (or a dinner with friends for that matter) and felt at a loss when acronyms or phrases that mean absolutely nothing to you are flung around with abandon?

What about when the words sound familiar, but the context is way off – like when your IT expert talks about hosting something and clusters of clouds. Is she planning a party and worried about the weather?

Ok, that was a bit OTT or, over the top – just in case that’s one of those pesky acronyms that troubles you.

Most of us would follow a conversation that talked about web hosting and a cluster of servers, but could you explain the cloud, flesh our SEO or weigh up the pros and cons of server and hosted email if you were put on the spot?

Meet netspeak

That’s right we’re talking about jargon, or industry specific language. In particular, the jargon that relates to our online world and the marketing that goes along with it.

Netspeak is just one name for the words, phrases and acronyms we use when talking tech. You can also call it blargon, cyberslang, e-lingo or geekspeak.

These are often words you hear all the time – and quite possibly use with confidence – but would be hard pressed to define…well…definitively.

Your go to list of online jargon

Domain name: The name of your website. Usually the same as your business name. It’s important to have full control and ownership of your domain name. Learn more about domain names here

www: World Wide Web. Did you know that most times it’s not necessary to type www before a website name?

 URL: The unique address of a web page, for example: https://onlineinfluence.com.au/penrith-web-designer/

Did you notice? No www.

Web Hosting: A Web Hosting service provides the technologies and services needed for your website to be viewed on the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.

Cloud Web Hosting: When your website uses the resources of several servers to accommodate all the aspects of hosting your site. The load is balanced, security is taken care of, and hardware resources are available “virtually” so they can be accessed wherever you are, so long as you have internet access. The cluster of servers is “the cloud”. Learn more about the cloud here.

SSL Certificate: Secure Socket Layer certificate. A website that has an SSL certificate is one where website traffic between your web server and the user’s browser is secure and cannot be read. When your website has an active SSL certificate the prefix to your URL changes from HTTP to HTTPS. Learn more about SSL here.

Server Email:  Email that is hosted on your own website server. I don’t recommended this as it’s not particularly secure and can fill up your server. It can also be expensive or cause your website to fail. And, if your website goes down, so does your email.

Hosted Email: A service like GSuite (Google) or Office 365 (Microsoft). This option is more secure. It means your email is hosted separately to your website so, if for some reason your website goes down, your email won’t.

Browser: A web browser is a software application for accessing information on the World Wide Web.  The most popular browsers are Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Edge.

Apps: An app is a modern term for a software application. It is most often used when talking about mobile phones and tablets. On a website or a browser, an app is a small piece of software that allows different functions (sometimes called an add-on). App is often used to describe anything that isn’t a fully-fledged software program.

Marketing jargon

Marketing jargon (or should that be margon?) is a special subset of online jargon.

Here’s a few pieces of marketing e-lingo that I’m particularly guilty of trotting out and that are often met with blank stares.

SEM: Or Search Engine Marketing. This refers to paid marketing you may undertake with various providers. In Australia the most popular provider is Google, but elsewhere Bing and Yahoo are also popular. Learn more about Google advertising here.

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation. The practice of improving your chances of ranking well in search engines including Google, Bing, Yahoo etc. Learn more about SEO here

EDM & Email Marketing:  EDM is Electronic Direct Mail. EDM’s is much, much more than email marketing. Email marketing most usually means an electronic marketing campaign in which email send-outs are used to help build an email database or list.  An EDM, on the other hand, is a lengthy process and involves more than just email communication. It utilises multiple forms of communication to relay and reinforce a campaign message.

Content Marketing: A type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that does not explicitly promote your brand, but is intended to stimulate interest in your products or services. Learn more about Content Marketing here.

Blogging: Blog is short for “web-log”. And blogging is the virtual equivalent of writing a regular column in your local paper. Blogging for business is an effective way to boost your online visibility and build relationships with your ideal audience. By consistently adding quality content on your blog, you are able to provide more value for potential customers, which can lead to more conversions, more sales, and better customer retention.  Learn more about blogging here (part one) and here (part two).

Are you confused by online or marketing jargon?

Of course, I’ve only just scratched the surface here. There’s a whole world of industry specific language out there to explore. At Online Influence we live and breathe this jargon and our team is more than happy to turn it into plain English for you and your team.

And, best of all, we don’t just know what it all means, we can harness the power behind the geekspeak to lift your business to another level. Contact us today to find out how our friendly team can help.

So, you bought the piece of land, planted your vines and now produce a very nice range of wines.

You went big, so there’s enough to sell through your cellar door and at local markets. In fact, you’re producing so much you could supply a chain liquor store.

The choice here is marketing B2B or B2C.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN B2B AND B2C?

The B2B model involves one business marketing to another. In our scenario, this would be the vineyard
entering a supplier contract with, say, Dan Murphys.

B2C is business to consumer. If the wine maker chooses to forgo the chain store option and instead just open her cellar door and sell wine at markets and online, she’s selling direct to individual customers.

Online Influence has a foot in both camps. We market B2B, but many of our clients operate in the B2C space.

So, while we market ourselves to businesses, the wine we’re selling is strategies that connect our clients to their customers. You could say we’re an example of B2B2C!

ARE THERE DIFFERENT MARKETING RULES FOR B2B AND B2C?

Well, yes and no.

The golden rule for business success is to find and meet your customer’s needs. But there are differences depending on who that “customer” is.

With B2B, the customer or client is another business. Transactions or negotiations are less personal and more about cost, features and data.

B2B marketing also usually involves a longer transaction time. Here’s why.

The vineyard owner would need to prepare a business case, ensure she has every scrap of technical information and be prepared to nut out costs and logistics. Armed with this information, she would make contact with the company and wait for a response.

As you can imagine, it may take several attempts to connect with the company, and once contact is made she may need to work her way through several layers of authority before making a “sale” – or in this case, becoming a supplier to the store.

• With B2B the focus is on lots of data, logic and financial scrutiny.
• Because the B2B market involves more decision makers, the costs can be higher.
• It’s important to know, and be able to communicate, what your product or service does rather than what it means for another business.

With B2C your customer is usually an individual and a sale is based more on emotion and brand appeal.

A visitor to the cellar door will be influenced by their surroundings, the warmth of the host and the label on the bottle as much as what’s in it.

The transaction will be relatively fast – a few minutes at least, or possibly a week or so when they realise they should have bought a case instead of just two bottles.

• Your focus should be on the benefits of the product to the person in front of you – literally or digitally.
• B2C is more emotional and often about convenience – think great communication and a variety of distribution channels, in this case cellar door, markets, online orders and more.
• Keep your marketing short and simple – make it easy for the customer to know why they need your services or your product.

Of course, emotion and brand are key factors when marketing B2B as well. A strong connection is vital for any business success, but in the case of B2B you’ll need to back the emotion with facts.

WHERE DOES ONLINE ADVERTISING FIT?

The good news is, Google ads work well for both B2B and B2C. You just have to remember the golden rule and tailor your campaign to the customer and your specific business needs. As you can imagine, the way you pitch to another company is not the way you’d pitch to an online shopper.

Facebook ads generally work better in the B2C space – it’s a friendly, emotive platform after all – but, they can work well in the B2B space if customised to your ideal client. The Online Influence team can help you design a campaign for effective cut through.

And, whether you’re selling B2B or B2C, your website needs to be designed with user experience in mind. Again, the needs and habits of your potential client or customer are paramount. You can read more about hooking customers through a good online experience here.

NOT SURE WHAT’S RIGHT FOR YOU?

If you’re unsure of how to market your business, or even which business model to focus on, the Online Influence team has the insight and experience to help – we are B2B2C experts after all! Call us today to find out the best solution for you and your business.

So your new website is beautiful and everyone agrees. But how’s the traffic and conversions? Here are six fundamental mistakes of non-converting websites.

Apart from the phone ringing or lots of people filling in your contact form, one of the best ways to see if your website is working is to look at your analytic statistics.

If you don’t have analytics software, check out Google Analytics – it’s one of the best tools for tracking visitors and their behaviour, and best of all, it’s free.

 

What to look for in your analytics account:

• Audience – traffic numbers
• Acquisition – how you got your visitors, their behaviour and conversions
• Behaviour – which pages received the most views
• Bounce Rate – the percentage of single page views (the lower the better)

If your pages or posts are getting a high bounce rate, then these pages are probably not hitting the mark with your visitors, and they are “bouncing” off.

I encourage you to have a dig around in your analytics account – you might glean some very important information.

 

The fundamental mistakes I see on non-converting websites

No clear call to action

This is probably the most common mistake – no clear message and no
call-to-action. Most of us want to be lead or told what to do, particularly on a website.

“Apart from being a major online marketing faux pas, it’s frustrating when you have to dig to find a phone number.”

If I was to land on your website, would it be obvious what you want me to do? That is, call you on the phone, fill in your contact form, download your free report, join your mailing list? There are many options, but you need to pick just one or two to focus on.

Confusing your readers

Another big mistake is too many choices . You need to decide what action you most want you reader to take, and focus on that one thing. Don’t give them too many choices – confuse your reader and they will leave.

Too many distractions

There are several big distractions that will hinder your conversions:

• Ads. It might seem like a good idea to monetise your website with Google ads, but they can be very distracting to visitors. If you really want ads, make sure they are not taking up the best real estate (more on this later).
• Social Media icons. Yes, I think we should all have them, but not in a prominent position. When a visitor comes to your website, don’t invite them to leave! Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn get enough traffic, they don’t need yours too.
• Too many different fonts and flashy images. Try to stick to two or three fonts, you can mix it up by using bold and italic for variety. Flashy images are often annoying.

 

Not maximising the real estate

The best real estate on your website is the top right corner. This is where your call-to-action should be, whether that is your phone number, join here, contact us, or even your location map – whatever your call-to-action is, put it in the top right.

Hard to find contact details

Apart from being a major online marketing faux pas, it’s frustrating when you have to dig to find a phone number. Just put it in a prominent spot on the front page (and make sure it’s clickable for mobile phones), unless of course you don’t want people to call you, and if that’s the case you should consider getting a number that goes directly to an answer service or recorded message.

Ineffective ‘about’ page

The about page is one of the most visited pages on any website. Why? Because people do business with people they know, like and trust. How can they trust you if your about page has:

• No photo of you
• No real information about you
• No personality

Many small business owners think they have to pretend they are a big company, so they write boring, clinical information about themselves and their business. Please don’t do this – be proud of you and your business and “get real”.

The overall design of your website is very important, but always choose elements that convert clicks into customers, rather than simply make your website pretty or stunning.

What are your thoughts on these mistakes? Can you list anymore website conversion tips?

Originally published on Flying Solo

What should you prioritise on your website, website branding and presentation, or generating leads and sales? Well, here’s my two cents, and you might not like it.

Many small business owners have been given bad advice. Many have been told to focus their time, money and efforts on branding their website rather than building a website that generates leads and sales.

I disagree with this.

Prioritising sales generation over branding is about focussing your efforts wisely to get the most out of your business website, and not wasting time on things that are not initially profitable. It’s about promoting a clear call to action that will increase your sales and ultimately your profits.

Richard Branson and Coca Cola

Many in favour of branding will use the argument that people like Richard Branson put most of his time and budget into branding, or that Coca-Cola focuses entirely on branding. Well, of course that’s how it looks now, but let’s look back to their beginning.

Richard Branson started his first record shop in London in 1971 and worked hard building and publicising his businesses to increase sales and turnover. He put massive amounts of time and money into each and every business. What we see today is the result of his PR machine at work. Yes, he focuses on branding now, but that’s because his sales were taken care of in the early days.

John Pemberton who started Coca-Cola put his first advertisement in the Atlanta Journal in May 1886 and regularly advertised his product after that. His initial focus was marketing and sales.

Can you begin to imagine the billions of dollars these two well-known brands have spent on promotions and advertising over the past decades?

So what does this mean for you and your business?

Well, branding is nice, but it doesn’t pay the bills. Focusing on sales does! It’s as simple as that. When your business grows to a decent size and you actually have a marketing budget, then you might focus on branding over sales.

Initially you must focus on building your leads and sales. In this way you will naturally build your brand, for no effort or money. Your brand will grow as a by-product of good sales and referrals.

I regularly see business owners falling into the trap of prioritising website branding over sales, but there is no competition. Sales consistently produce results.

Prioritising sales over branding is about focussing your efforts wisely to get the most out of your business website, and not wasting time on things that are not initially profitable. It’s about defining what you want your business website to do for you, and promoting a clear call to action that will increase your sales and ultimately your profits.

So, take a look at your Google Analytics and ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you getting reasonable traffic but no conversions?
• What’s your bounce rate like? The lower the better.
• How many people fill in your contact form?

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, make it a priority to find out. Knowing these things is the first step toward working out how to get more leads and sales from your website.

What’s your priority? Website branding or website sales? 

Originally published on Flying Solo

You can do many things to improve your online presence. Here are seven that can have the biggest impact, and they’re free!

I guess my first tip should be “Get a website” but I’m going to assume you know how important that is. Don’t just rely on social media – you don’t own your Facebook account, Facebook does. But you do own your website and these tips will get your website found online.

 

1. Know who your ideal customer is.

Take the time to work out who your ideal customer is, and please don’t say, “Everyone is my ideal customer”. If you try to market to everyone you end up selling to no one.

Create an avatar of your ideal customer. Note that I didn’t say your biggest customer – I said your ideal customer – there is a difference.  Are they male or female? Are they young, old or in between? Are they in business? What are their biggest pains/problems?

Once you have a detailed image of who your ideal customer is, make sure your website and social media talk to them and their pain. Note: don’t solve their problem – just make it known you can solve their problem.

“If you bury your head in the sand and ignore the Internet – you will regret it. Your competition will outshine you, outrank you and outsell you.”

 

 2. Get a free Google Places listing.

This is also known as Google My Business, Google Maps and Google+ pages (I know, it’s confusing).

A Google Places listing is free if you have a shopfront or an office location. It will show up in Google whenever someone searches for your type of business and adds your suburb to the search term. It is usually the first thing people see on the first page of Google.

 

 3. Local business directories.

Search Google for “local business directory” and put your business on each of them – I suggest up to twenty directory listings. Make sure you use the exact address that’s on your website, and be sure to add a link to your website too. Mix up the description for each listing and don’t forget to include your keywords.

 

 4. Blog, Blog, Blog.

 I can’t stress how important this is, and it’s also free. When you blog you tell the world about you and your business. It’s important that your blogging provides relevant, unique information. Mix up the media too – video, podcast, infographics, PDF’s, slideshows and so on.

 

 5. Optimise pages, posts and images.

Use keywords on pages, and use categories, tags and keywords in blog posts. Categories are like aisles in the supermarket, for example the cooking aisle; and tags are like items in the aisle such as spices and sauces. Keywords are the specific items in the aisle, such as “Uncle Bob’s sauce”.

Make sure you use alternative tags for all your images, also known as “alt tags”. These are the words Google uses to read your images. Also, rename your images before you upload them – don’t upload images called IMG-3945.png, change them to a name that’s relevant and keyword rich.

 

6. Use social media.

Every time you write a new post or page, share it on all your social media platforms, and if it’s a popular one, don’t be afraid to share it again a few months later. Pick social media platforms that your ideal customers use. There’s no point madly posting pics to Instagram or Pinterest if your customers are never there! Find out where they hang out and be sure to hang out there too – consistently.

 

7. Spread the word.

Get involved with forums like Flying Solo. Help people by giving honest, informative answers to their questions. Find other forums in your industry or niche and get active. Become the go-to person who gives great tips and useful ideas.

The Internet has changed the world, we all know that. Don’t be an ostrich or a shrinking violet. The online world is about giving and helping, and if you bury your head in the sand and ignore it – you will regret it. Your competition will outshine you, outrank you and outsell you. So start with these seven free strategies and improve your online presence.

 

Can you add any other free ways to improve your online presence?

Originally published on Flying Solo

Do you want your website to bring in fresh leads, new customers, and make YOU money? If you already have a website, there’s many simple changes Online Influence can make that will dramatically increase your business.

Hi, my name is Trish Fehon, and I’m an Online Marketing Consultant & Expert.

The reason most small business websites fail is because they aren’t created by designers who understand marketing.

Your website doesn’t need expensive graphics and bells and whistles. In fact, these can actually hurt sales.

Instead, your website needs to appear prominently in the search engines to the customers in your market.

It also must present your services and products in a way that persuades prospects to buy from you.

In less than 30 minutes, I can ask you a few key questions, examine your current website (if you have one), and provide a very revealing analysis of how you can very quickly improve your response rate.

For example:
When you call today I’ll reveal…

• The single most important element (almost nobody uses) of a money-making website.
• How to get the name and email address of nearly everyone that visits your website — then market your products and services to them for free!
• The amazing 3-letter word that makes your customers want to read every word of your website.
• How to get your website listed on the front page of Google, for FREE!
• The incredible 2-word phrase that forces website shoppers to call now and order your products and services.
• Then, after our call you do have options…

You Can Freely Use My Advice To

Improve Your Website

Or, if it’s appropriate, and entirely up to you… Save Yourself Time AND Get Guaranteed Results By Hiring Me!

For example, I can provide:

• A custom made website (or re-design your current site) that…
• Gets you listed on Google, Yahoo & MSN and brings in plenty of targeted traffic.
• Gets you more calls, more customers, and more profit.
• Gets you a lower cost per lead than any other advertising you are currently doing.
• A domain name for your business. (For example, YourCompany.com) — You’ll also have company email, like you@YourCompany.com
• Secure “hacker-proof” website hosting to keep your files (and customer data) safe from prying eyes.
• Web-based software that captures the name and email address of your customers, then automatically sends them information about your company while you sleep.
• Tracking software that shows you exactly which pages of your website your customers visit… how long they stay… which products they’re interested in… and where they go afterwards!
• And too much to list!

After our brief discussion you’ll undoubtedly get more value from your website than ever before.

 

One of the biggest challenges faced by local businesses is promoting their products or services to a targeted group of people within a specific area. In an effort to reach potential customers, most business owners usually resort to traditional advertising, such as print, radio, and word of mouth. However, the internet presents a better alternative for promoting a local business, and it is through search engine optimization. Sydney based businesses can now create their own company website and then optimize it for search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

Through search engine optimization, Sydney residents and potential customers can easily be targeted in a marketing campaign. This provides more opportunities for local offline businesses to penetrate the market within their nearby vicinity, without paying for expensive advertising and marketing campaigns.

Here are some of the top reasons why search engine optimization is more cost-effective and convenient compared to the more traditional advertising methods:

• Wider Reach. Businesses with search engine optimized websites have the potential to reach more customers in their market, compared to those who still rely on outdated marketing tactics and advertising practices.

• Easier Customer Access To Business Information. Buyers and shoppers tend to compare prices and quality of products by “shopping” around and looking for possible items to buy. Instead of physically going to malls and stores to compare brands and prices, a consumer can instead browse the web and type search phrases like “best jewellery store in Sydney”. If there is a business website optimized for that search phrase, it will appear in search results and will easily be accessed by the consumer.

• Long-Term Results. Traditional advertising usually offers a fixed timeframe for promotion. But with search engine optimization, Sydney based business websites can receive a regular stream of traffic for many months and years to come. SEO is a “set and forget” strategy which allows business owners to leverage the power of search engines in order to attract more customers.

Through effective implementation of search engine optimization, Sydney business owners can increase the number of people who are familiar with their products or services.

There are two ways by which a local business owner can start implementing SEO campaigns.

The first is to personally learn search engine marketing techniques. This can be time consuming because of the learning curve involved; the second way is to hire the services of an SEO consultant to professionally and immediately implement search engine optimization strategies for an offline business.

Just because a business is “offline” doesn’t necessarily mean that it cannot promote its products and services on the internet. In fact, many traditional businesses like restaurants, coffee shops, accounting firms, dental clinics, manufacturing firms and countless others are using online marketing tactics to reach their target customers.

Here are the most effective online marketing techniques that anyone can use to generate an ongoing stream of leads, prospects and customers from the internet:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is a process, or a set of targeted activities, which aim to increase the search engine rankings of a website in a given niche or industry. The higher the rankings of a website, the more online visitors it will receive (which eventually leads to more sales and profit). There are various aspects of SEO that online business owners should understand in order to succeed in this particular strategy:

• Keyword research. This is the act or process of discovering which keyword phrases are being searched for by a target market on Google or Yahoo. In SEO, a business owner pays attention to popular search phrases with a high amount of traffic stats per month. SEO campaigns are based on main keyword phrases (and other related keywords) in a given niche or industry.

• On-Page optimization. This refers to optimizing a particular website for higher search engine rankings by tweaking or adjusting certain elements within the website itself. Putting main keywords on the title, description, meta tags, and body of the webpage content is an example of on-page optimization.

• Off-page Optimization. This refers to SEO activities which are done outside a business website. Activities such as increasing the number of external links to a website (also called backlinks), and blasting SEO content in key internet channels, are prime examples of off-page optimization.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)

Aside from SEO, another effective online marketing strategy is pay-per-click advertising (PPC). This is a form of advertising where the business owners create short ads which will be shown and served in various content networks all over the web. Google Adwords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are examples of online platforms who offer pay-per-click programs. Basically, this form of advertising is cost-effective because advertisers will only pay for each click that they receive from their ads.

Just like SEO, PPC requires the business owner to perform keyword research before starting any online marketing campaign because all PPC ads are keyword based. Generally, popular keywords in a given niche or industry will entail a higher cost for the advertiser, while not so popular keywords will cost less per click.