Marketing your Website? Don’t be a Qwitter!

Ashton Kutcher has almost 4 and a half million followers on twitter. That’s equal to more than half the population of New York City. Dude couldn’t find his car, but he found 4,291,162 people that think he’s worth listening to.

How did he do it?

Ashton Kutcher was one of millions and millions of people–famous and not–that flocked to Twitter and started sharing, chatting, an selling to each other.

Of course Twitter, has been the hottest thing on the internet for two years and was an obvious choice for reaching that huge number of potential movie-goers, reality-show watchers, or whatever else he wanted his fan base to become.

But wait…

Studies show that a full 60% of people leave twitter after a month and never come back. Who are these people? For obvious reasons, I like to call them Qwitters. They heard about a fad, decided to follow it, and then for whatever reason, decided it wasn’t worth their time and lost interest.

Which is fine unless…

You’re an internet marketer. As a web marketer, you aren’t allowed to just stop interacting with your customers or selling your product–a web marketer should always have something to say about their service or product.  Tweet about a new offering, blog about your holiday–or comment on a friend’s blog mentioning it, create some fun link bait, or even post a couple of inspirational quotes. Anything is fine as long as you are asserting your existence an letting your customers know you are there and still believe in the message and stand behind your product.

But I don’t like Twitter!

And that’s fine. We’re the first undead marketers to tell you not to blindly follow web marketing trends. But no matter whether your platform is your twitter page, your facebook, your myspace, your blog, or your email newsletter, never stop letting you’re customers know you’re there.

The point is…

Even aplusk started with a big 0 as his follower count, but he tweeted everyday, stayed on target and never quit. Take the same attitude towards your website marketing. Remember to assert your existence and speak to your customers everyday in any way you can and never be a Qwitter.

Web Video Marketing

It’s not a new concept and has been generating money online for a few years now. Marketing via web video sites such as Youtube and Google Video has yielded some great return for some online businesses. How can you make money from web video? There are a few ways. Depending on your business, showcasing your product with video is a good first step in the sales process. Getting your product in front of your customer in a way that shows them exactly what their getting with verbal explanation is a great way to introduce your product. This educates the customer on whether the product is right for them and in turn creates trust with your brand.

Sites such as HSN and QVC know this and sales have been steady to show this model works. They use their network channel as a sales person and their website as their catalog.

What if you don’t have a product but offer a service? This model of web video still works. Getting face to face with a potential customer even if it’s digital will increase your chances of selling your service through credibility and trust. Purely spoken information will increase leads and sales due to the lack of attention span to read on the web. Most people tend to listen better than they read when digesting information, so take advantage of this method of selling.

Video is even better for advertising online since there are so many sites that promote video. Most sites you can submit your video to are free and some can even earn you money. Driving traffic to your site with customers that have already seen your product tends to yield better conversion since a customer has made the choice to visit your site after seeing what you offer. With a small little investment in a video camera and reading a few simple tutorials online, you will have a new arsenal of web marketing tactics ready to go.

Downsize or Just Optimize Everything?

With the major economic downturn, some online businesses find themselves going through another sink or swim moment similar to the dot com bust. One thing thats different and can positively affect your online business is that there are many more strategies you can implement if you’re smart enough. You need to be up to date and educated about the web if you’re running your own online business. You can’t just have a build it and they will come attitude anymore. You need to be cutting edge as much as the agencies out there in order to survive.

Optimization isn’t just a term used for search. You can optimize all facets of your business from yourself to your employee’s to software purchases and web hosting packages. You need to itemize the biggest expenses your company has which is probably advertising and narrow things down from there. I know several large companies with million dollar campaigns running with many inefficiencies where their money can be spent better in other areas.

Look for any and all inefficiencies of your online business. Always stay on top of new marketing techniques, make sure you read current industry blogs within your vertical market and ditch anything that doesn’t convert to sales. Pay close attention when analyzing your site for any holes in the sales conversion process. Getting feedback from customers from a quick multiple choice question form is a great way to find out areas your business may be lacking.

Without any major changes, little by little you can save money and potentially save your web business.

Great Customer Service, Why it is Necessary

Customers are not the same. They are all different and have different needs. If there is one recipe for an online businesses success it would certainly be great customer service. Anyone can sell something online, but it’s how the customer interacts with your site and the attention given to a customer which is integral to creating a loyal, satisfied long term customer.

If you’re selling a specific product, you should be knowledgeable about that product if not an expert. One thing that turns off customers is an uneducated seller who is concerned more with unloading a product for profit than actually believing in what they are selling. When you’re knowledgeable about your product it puts the customer at ease. The customer feels confident buying from you because they know if they have a question or issue it will probably be addressed quickly and thoroughly. People like confidence, especially when buying a product.

One example is the use of mobile applications. The market for mobile apps right now is huge. If your online business is thinking of creating a mobile application, the best strategy would be to provide something that benefits your customers. Giving back so to speak is a great way of providing value to your customers and at the same time can be used as a very effective marketing and feedback tool.

When you provide value to customers that goes beyond what you are selling, it creates a positive memorable experience for them. This is crucial for any future marketing or word of mouth buzz you may want to create through your customer base. If you want your customers to promote your site without them knowing, the best way to do that is to ensure they are spreading the word to their friends and family about your service and why it is a pleasure doing business with your company.

Always keep the customer happy.

Link Building and Promoting Your Site Through News Articles

A great and free way of getting some link backs to your site as well as promoting certain products to a wider range of customers is using news article sites such as e-zine articles. Sites like these offer content for use to re-post on other websites. You write an article, and someone in need of web content related to your subject will post it on their site. The benefit to you, they need to include a link to your site to credit you for the content. Pending on how general your topic is, it could be re-used on dozens or hundreds of sites. That means dozens or hundreds of link backs to your site, which in turn can significantly boost your search ranking.

Another simple way of promoting your website is to create a press release. There are many sites online that will publish your news and send to the local news wires. The news should be something significant to warrant having a press release such as a launch of a local web business or new product. This will certainly get temporary traffic to your site. This is great to tie this into a product you may be promoting heavily on your site that you want customers to see.

Strategies to Drive Traffic to Your Site

Sometimes large marketing tactics with a small business marketing budget isn’t possible, this is where you need to get creative, go grass roots and get your guerilla marketing on! Getting quality visitors to convert better is tougher to come by. People are keen on bait and switch and other scams, so integrity and quality on your site is important.

The basics which have been covered many times is to setup simple search engine ads through all the top search engine companies. The cost is determined by the keyword you bid on to have your ad show up. The more you’re willing to spend on one click of your ad with a related keyword, the higher you’re placed in the ad results section of the search engine. A way to stretch your budget out is to do some research with International search engines. Most other markets may be cheaper to bid on highly sought after keywords. Also look for alternate keywords related to your product. Don’t always go for the obvious. Use one of the dozens of keyword tools online to determine what is best for your company. Try simple misspellings of certain keywords also.

Next is to brand everything with your domain name. Business cards, email signature, social networking profile pages. Depending on your business model and product offering, you should post flyers with your domain name and offering. Your goal should be to drive as much traffic as possible to your site for little to no cost for the first few months.

Submit your sites URL to all of the top search engines. There usually is an add URL link on their sites but sometimes you have to search around for it. Submit it to directories such as dmoz.org.

Search for user forums related to your business. Get active with posting on the forums, gain credibility, don’t blatantly promote, but discuss with others and drop light mentions of your business and always have your URL in your profile signature.

Social networking sites are great for promoting your business. Make a profile on a few sites like facebook, linked in and twitter with the name of your business. Keep people informed with new products and ideas not only on your main website but in these areas also. Word of mouth buzz is priceless when looking for traffic to your website.

Small strategies like this can gain momentum and you will see a better return on your investment rather than throwing money away without really knowing what works best, and what quality leads and customers your getting.