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Are You Measuring the Right Metrics?

measureaussiegallAvinash Kaushik had a great post this morning about the different types of keywords visitors use to reach your site, what their intentions are, and how to measure keyword effectiveness based on where customers are in the sales funnel.  This got me thinking about metrics in general.  I often hear people complain that they are not getting enough hits to their website (which is a very outdated metric in any case).  But when you ask them what goal/objective they are trying to measure, they usually cannot tie the two together.

From both a business and sanity point of view, it is imperative that you use metrics that will give you the information you need.  For example, if you are trying to measure whether or not your website is giving you leads, the number of hits isn’t the right number.  You need a way to collect leads from your website, or some way to tell if people were there (an offer unique to the website) to measure lead generation from your website.

So before you start pouring over your web and advertising statistics, take a moment to figure out exactly what it is that you’re trying to find out.  Then decide what metric will help you answer that question.  Matching up metrics and goals/questions/objectives will give you much more reliable informaton – saving time and resources and allowing you to focus on efforts that are actually working for your business.

(photo by aussiegall @ Flickr CC)

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Marketing isn't just an Advertising Campaign

bullseyeleeroy09481I think a lot of companies get all bound up in the need to advertise, advertise, advertise, which is great, but successful companies understand that marketing is so much more than advertising.  Marketing is intimately tied to business objectives, strategy, and customer relationships – how they inter-relate and how to tie them together to reach the business’ goals.

Take a look inside

The first step to good marketing is to take few minutes for some introspection.  Who are you as a company?  What do you do better than anyone else? What is your goal?  By understanding exactly who you are as a company, you’ll be able to develop marketing that accurately depicts your corporate image and works towards your goal.

How do you want to get there?

There are many different strategies that may help you achieve your goal.  How do you want your company to be perceived?  What is important to you in terms of image and ethics?  Are there certain strategies that you aren’t comfortable with or that don’t fit your ethics or image?  Setting guidelines for what your company stands for will help you avoid missteps along the way.

What are you offering?

What benefits are you offering to your customers?  Why should they choose your products? What type of relationship are you offering to them?  Customers can be very selfish, especially at the beginning of a relationship, so you need to make sure you are accurately representing your product benefits to them.

Use advertising as one of many tools

Advertising can be a vital tool in your aresenal for reaching your business goal, but keep in mind that there are many steps before you start implementing tactics.  Taking the time to work up to advertising will increase your return on investment by more accurately targeting your customers.

(photo by leeroy09481 @ Flickr CC)

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15 Ways to Add Social to Your Business Website

partyfreeparkingMany of us would agree that adding social to your business website is important for connecting and networking with your customers.  But how exactly do you make your business website more social?  Here’s some ideas – some are specific and some are more general:

  1. Add comments to your posts.
  2. Add reviews to your products and services.
  3. Add ratings to your products and services.
  4. Encourage customers to comment on your posts.
  5. Allow customers to create a profile on your website.
  6. Add a discussion board.
  7. Add badges/links to your social network profiles – encourage people to connect there.
  8. Add a twitter RSS feed to your site.
  9. Add a delicious RSS feed to your site.
  10. Encourage customers to link and blog about your posts.
  11. Read customers blogs and add your thoughts.
  12. Write posts about your customers.
  13. Link to posts your customers write.
  14. Add your own social network.
  15. Encourage customers to connect with each other.

How do you add social to your business website? Please share in the comments below.

(photo by freeparking @ Flickr CC)

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