| |
| |
|
Internet Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Identifying Top- and Bottom-Line Growth Strategies for Your Web Business
Defining Top-Line versus Bottom-Line An Internet business improves their "top line" by increasing the number of unique visitors to their website or their "bottom line" by increasing their "visitor-to-sale" or "visitor-to-lead" conversion rates. Let me illustrate. After an online business establishes their performance metrics, it is able to predict with confidence the expected results from their visitor traffic. For example, a business' performance metrics may show that for every 1,000 visitors received, 15 sales are completed - a sales conversion rate of 1.5%. With this understanding, the business can increase its "top line" growth by driving more visitors to its website. For example, if the business invests money in traffic generation efforts to increase their visitor traffic from 1,000 to 10,000, 150 sales will be achieved from the 1.5% sales conversion rate - a ten times growth rate. Top-Line Improvements Focuses on Traffic Generation What are "traffic generation efforts"? In brief, traffic generation efforts are ways a business attracts visitors to their website. They may include online efforts such as search engine optimization, pay-per-click search engines, affiliate marketing, email campaigns, and media or offline ones like direct mail, television, radio, and public relations. On the other hand, the business may decide to spend their money on improving their "bottom line" by concentrating efforts on website conversion strategies. For example, if the above business invests money in website conversion strategies to increase their sales conversion rate from 1.5% to 2%, then for the same 1,000 visitors, sales will increase from 15 to 20 - a 25% increase. Bottom-Line Increases Focus on Website Conversion Strategies So what are website conversion strategies? Website conversion strategies are website design changes that connect with your visitor's wants and persuades them to take action to achieve your goals as well as theirs. There are endless strategies to increase your bottom line although some have greater significance than others. Depending on your type of online business, different strategies may achieve greater results for your website and offer greater relevancy for your visitors. If you manage a consumer or business product website than website conversion strategies that focus on reducing shopping cart abandonment may provide the greatest conversion improvement. While a service business' lead generation website will find improvement from website conversion strategies focused on "contact us" form completion. Implement These Website Conversion Strategies There are website conversion strategies that will improve conversion rates for all online businesses regardless of their individual objectives. These strategies include improvements to? ? Website's sales copy including writing headlines and sub-heads with stronger visitor appeal, defining stronger calls-to-action, using more visitor-relevant and benefit-oriented words and positioning popular visitor keywords in prominent areas connect with visitors and persuade action. ? Graphics and layout design to generate visual relevancy and message consistency for your visitors. ? Guarantees, returns, shipping, privacy, customer support and security policies you present to gain confidence and trust from your visitors. ? Navigational structures to make it easier and more convenient for your visitors to locate the products and services they desire to purchase. ? Buying or contact options to increase the ways in which a visitor can purchase or receive contact from you including alternatives to a shopping cart or online form like phone, mail, fax, online chat, and email. How to Decide Between Top-Line or Bottom-Line Improvements Your decision to pursue "top-line" or "bottom-line" improvements should be evaluated by (1) the objectives you plan to achieve, (2) the amount of money you have to spend, (3) the time-line established to meet your goals, (4) the amount of visitor traffic your website currently receives and (5) the conversion rate your website currently achieves for your calls-to-action. Establishing a plan before you make any decisions is critical. As the old joke goes, "I'm making progress climbing the ladder of success--I just don't know if it's leaning against the right wall." The plan should include measurable goals based on your current performance metrics. Knowing your budget is essential in the selection process. Why, because certain conversion enhancement strategies can be implemented for a small investment of your time and effort. While traffic generation efforts may require greater investments of time, effort or both. Figuring your budget enables you to also forecast the potential return you may receive from improving your top-line versus your bottom-line. Obviously the areas that provide the biggest bang for your buck are the ones to start one first. Understanding your time-line is also essential since many conversion enhancement strategies will offer quick improvement to your conversion rates while traffic generation efforts like search engine optimization have long lag times before delivering ample visitor traffic. Identifying your current visitor traffic volume and conversion rates, especially for new Internet businesses, is also very important when determining top-line or bottom-line improvement. If you currently have low visitor traffic then you will have difficulty in determining if a conversion enhancement strategy had a real effect on improving your conversion rates. For example, if your website receives 100 visitors a month it will take you at least a month or two before any real measurable changes occur to your conversion rates. In this case, you would be better off focusing on top-line (traffic generation efforts) first and then returning to bottom-line improvements for increasing your conversion rates. Likewise, if your website currently has strong visitor traffic, like 15,000 visitors per month yet your current conversion rate produces only 5 sales then obviously you need to improve your bottom-line and focus on conversion enhancement strategies. Take time to review your "top line" versus "bottom line" opportunities and to decide which one offers you the best return for your dollars spent. If you concentrate on improving one of the two areas over the next month you can be confident that measurable sales growth is achievable for your Internet business. Kevin Gold is a Founder of Enhanced Concepts and a published author. If you're interested in increasing your leads or sales, get a free copy of "Understanding Your Conversion Rate" and "12 Surefire Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion" by visiting http://www.enhancedconcepts.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Internet-Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
What Does It Take To Become An Internet Marketer? I have heard many people say all it takes to make it in Internet Marketing is desire.Well desire definitely plays a role in it. Automated Selling and Recruiting - A Simple System Some years ago, on the recommendation of a friend, I visited Amazon.com for the first time. Paris Hilton? Your Online Marketing Fails Because You Market As If You Were Ms Hilton Are you Paris Hilton? Is your name instantly recognizable when mentioned anywhere in the world? Is your name always at the top of search engine's most popular key word lists? Are people bound to react at the mere mention of your name anywhere? Are you Paris Hilton?No?Then why do you market online as if you were Paris Hilton? Why do you use intrusive, annoying pop up ads (even as software to stop pop up ads continues to get so popular.)?In fact I find all online advertisements intrusions of sorts (except those about Paris Hilton), the Internet is just not a medium designed to carry advertising. URLs Everywhere Your URL (www) should be everywhere and more. I know many of you are going to think this is common sense, but how many of these are you using? Your web address should be on every piece of anything your business does, period. Guru... Schmooru... So What! The Internet Gurus Unmasked The word "guru", in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as:1. a personal religious and spiritual teacher in Hinduism 2. Online Advertising Mistakes - 3 Donts For Newbies Are you new to Network Marketing? If you are, then PLEASE avoid these mistakes when you promote your business opportunity!Mistake#1. SpammingSPAM: Sending People Annoying MessagesYes, you got the point! People hate spams simply because they are annoying! They receive emails from someone they don't expect. My Secret To Selling More Big Ticket Items Many aspiring Internet marketers hear all of the talk about earning a six-figure income and assume that it's all hype. Some of it is hype, but earning a six-figure income really isn't difficult. Can You Provide an Internet Advertising Solution? This year, 2005, will see the demise of some well known Network Marketing businesses. Spam laws, spam-traps, filtering and useless leads, will all be a contributing factor. Generating Sales with Lead Generation and Online Marketing Tools One of the best projects to undertake as an online marketer is to master the art of generating sales from your warm market contacts. A warm market is simply people who have already been exposed to your business and marketing plan. The Power Of Giving 1.Why give away what you could sell?That's a fair enough sort of question. Multiple Streams Of Internet Income Make your website pay?in millionsAlthough opportunities were rare and far in between during the pre cyber era, Internet has transformed the entire scenario of making money. All you need is inclination, just like thousands of other smart people across the world. 7 Tips to Help Internet Marketers To make a living online is the dream of many internet marketers.How do you do this? Unfortunately, if you want to expedite the process, you need to spend some money. Have You Got Your Ear To The Ground Or Your Head In The Sand? What happened on your website yesterday? What about last week or last month? How about in the past hour? How many visitors come to your website as a result of using a search engine? How long do people stay on your website for on average? Which pages do your visitors go to?If you don't know the answer to some or all of these questions you are effectively operating a website blind.This is like riding a bike blindfolded and expecting to arrive at the right destination. PPC and SEO - Inhouse Vs. Outsource Any small business owner in a B2B or B2C market has struggled with the decision - should you outsource your internet marketing to a full-service marketing firm, or should you bring employees in-house for your marketing team? First you need to define your marketing goals - are you building a long-term brand or just bringing a new product or service to market? Do you have sufficient capital to support a marketing team? Your budget for advertising (ie, Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing) should be taken into account when considering your marketing budget - for online companies this is the largest single cost.If you just want to get your name out there and you have a clear exit strategy within the next one to three years, I would strongly recommend that you look into outsourcing your internet marketing - a full-service internet marketing company will focus on SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (Pay Per Click management), affiliate marketing, email marketing and link building. How to Communicate with Prospects All Over the World Who Speak a Different Language I discovered a free service online, that allows me to communicate with people and watched my international sales begin to go through the roof. Did you know that over 50% of all Internet traffic is from non-English speaking countries? Companies like Adobe, Baxter Healthcare, EDS, GE, Microsoft, NetGear, PepsiCo, Socratic Technologies, US Government, XE. Successful Marketing Using Websites and Why So Many Businesses Get It Wrong Many great website concepts are developed, launched.. Internet Marketing Strategies The right strategies to win a share of the Internet pieEvery move in life needs a sound strategy to succeed. Now that you are keen on making some serious money on the Internet, what you need is the right strategy to help you attain your goals. The Free Viral Marketing Technique You Cant Afford to Pass Up Have you ever seen the movie "Pay it Forward"? This incredibly simple, yet effective viral method requires doing exactly the opposite; that is, paying it backward. Read on to see exactly what I mean. Kindergarten Dropout Makes A Fortune In Internet Marketing Hyperboles abound in Internet Marketing. Myth has its own area code. Website Sales: 10 Scorching Hot Offers That Sell Like Crazy One of the best ways to increase your sales is to offer your potential customers a special offer.It could be trial offers, discounts, purchase awards, etc.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
