The Web in an Economic Downturn
In todays tough economic times its more important than ever to make sure you are getting the most out of your website and the marketing of it. How many times have you said to yourself that “I just can’t afford it this month” or “I need to worry about other things”? Those other things are important don;t get me wrong but here are a few things to keep in mind when deciding where to put your dollars.
1. Evaluate your Landing Page
Simple revisions and/or retooling to your landing page can help raise your conversion rate. It’s always been a well known fact of the short attention span of Internet users. If they cannot find what they are looking for right away most likely they will hit the back button and move on to your competitor. Visitors usually decide whether to stay on any given page within 2-3 seconds so your first impression can be the difference between making money and losing money. Things to think about are:
- Make sure you have clear call to actions
- What to do next? Do not give your visitors too many choices as to confuse them.
- Are you asking for too much information? Only ask for the most necessary information in forms for a better conversion rate.
- Too Much Text… Do you really expect me to read all of this? Large amount of text are a turn off for visitors
- Not keeping your promises: This page is not what I expected. If you promise something in the search ad make sure your landing page matches that promise
- Visual Distractions – Where am I supposed to look? Although flash and animations are great to look at do not let them distract from where you wish to lead your visitors
2. Improve your marketing strategies.
Depending on your current marketing strategies, you may be spending a lot of money by paying for ineffective advertising campaigns on such mediums as radio, print, phone book, mailers. Instead, opt for services such as:
Search Engine Optimization- Search Engine Marketing
- Banner Advertising
- Email Marketing
There are also some free and/or low cost things that can be done by you as well to help keep traffic coming to your website and help your page rank such as:
- Setting up a blog
- Social and Business Networking websites
- Utilizing free press release and web directory websites
- Posting articles on free article websites relevant to your website
- Submit a website feed
- Leave a Trail Wherever You Go
If your website sells a product or service, reevaluate your sales pitch. Try to find ways to make potential customers see why they need what you can offer them and review price comparisons of your competitors to see what they are doing. If your site does not sell a product recent studies have shown that internet sales have actually gone up even in this current economy. One study shows internet sales have gone up 11% in 2009 and will account for 6% of all total retail sales for the year up from 5% last year.
Lastly track all of your marketing campaigns and your website statistics so you can better evaluate what is working and what is not and where to best spend your money and where changes may be needed.
3. Seek out other ways to make a buck.
If necessary, it might be a good idea to research other ways that you can make money from your website. This might be as simple as adding Ad Sense to your website or choosing affiliate programs or banner advertisement programs such as Google Ads.
4. Trim the Fat
Finally, it is also a good idea to see what your biggest website expenses are. Some typical expenses include hosting charges, maintenance costs, and domain registration fees. While it might be difficult to reduce domain and hosting fees, perhaps you can save on your maintenance costs. For example, you can consider opting for a content management system solution either local or web based. There may be a large initial cost, but over time it will save you a considerable amount of money.
A bad economy doesn’t mean that your website will fail. With a bit of work, creativity, and increased marketing efforts, your website can survive along with your business. If you would like to learn more about these options call 888-852-6587 or click www.cyber-construction.com. Because as we like to say:
