August 20, 2007

Beyond Your Google Rank - Part 1

Many of us strive to achieve a number one ranking on Google, but if we accomplish this goal what comes next?

For most organizations, it comes down to the good ol’ bottom line – increasing revenue. Driving traffic to your web site is just the first of many steps. Unfortunately many SEO efforts stop at this point.

In today’s Monday Marketing Minute, we'd like to suggest some ideas on how to take those web site visitors beyond the landing page.

• Create an offer. It might be a percentage off the product or service, free shipping, a free trial, or a free quote. Make it easy for them to contact you about the offer by including a form, 800 number, and email address link.
• Gather contact information. Create a sign-up form and offer a product demo, web event, white paper, case study or monthly e-newsletter.
• Develop a survey or poll. Surveys draw a crowd and can collect good data on prospect’s buying preferences. Be sure you offer to share the data with participants who want to receive it.
• Start a Blog. Blogs make you and your organization “real” to a prospective customer. Make sure your blog provides valuable information and is not a sales pitch, then encourage visitors to subscribe to your feeds.

Don’t abandon visitors to your site on the landing page and leave them guessing what to do next. Doing so will likely cause them to exit your site, then all of your SEO efforts, and your number one Google rank are wasted!