AN ITINERARY TO DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

AN ITINERARY TO DRIVE MORE TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE

Does this sound a little too familiar: You’ve invested a boatload of cash in your website – and it’s looking good! Now you sit back and wait to see the fruits of your investment. And you wait. And wait.

And wait some more. (Cue sound of crickets chirping.)  

You’re unhappy, to say the least, with the results. Google analytics shows lack-luster traffic growth. Inquiries from your response forms are all but nonexistent. All the emails and phone calls you imagined getting remain just a fantasy. And direct sales? (Cue toilet flushing.) 

You and your colleagues are now asking one another this: Where do we go from here?

LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT A POWERFUL TRAFFIC BUILDING TOOL: SMO

Social Media Optimization (SMO), as Wikipedia puts it, “refers to optimizing a website and its content in terms of sharing across social media and networking sites.” Ah, that sounds simple enough, right? But here’s the reality: If you haphazardly head down the SMO highway with no real plan, you may burn up a lot of gas – and get nowhere.

First, let’s start with the bad news: You probably don’t have the time, staff, or money to do it all, if by all we mean pouring effort into Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+, as well as Pinterest,  Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, and Yahoo. (Alas, that list is by no means exhaustive.)

But actually, the bad news ain’t so bad. Here’s the good news: You don’t need to do it all. Remember, you have a unique target audience. Let me put that another way: your target audience is not “the world”. With thoughtful consideration of who you’re trying to reach and a set of well-defined goals, you can establish which SMO strategies are best for you. Then with some basic calculations, a focused effort on a few carefully selected strategies, and the use of sound analytics and sales tracking, SMO can become a manageable, efficient route with tangible indicators that you’re actually getting somewhere.

One final note on “indicators”: SMO consultant Mason Pelt makes a good point about what he calls “vanity metrics” such as “Likes” and “Followers”. These have their place, but he warns that “You can go broke and lose your identity while sitting at the popular table.”

Here’s the good news: You don’t need to post to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+, as well as Pinterest, Yelp, Google Places, Foursquare, and Yahoo. Remember, you have a unique target audience. Let me put that another way: your target audience is not “the world”.

With thoughtful consideration of who you’re trying to reach and a set of well-defined goals, you can establish which SMO strategies are best for you. Then with some basic calculations, a focused effort on a few carefully selected strategies, and the use of sound analytics and sales tracking, SMO can become a manageable, efficient route with tangible indicators that you’re actually getting somewhere

CONTENT IS KING: DON’T SKIMP ON YOUR WEB WRITING

Having an idea of who you are and what you do but not being able to express yourself well is not so good. For instance, I wrote the preceding sentence, but my copywriter wrote this version: Sure, you have ideas about who you are, what you do, and why someone should care, but can you clearly and compellingly express them on your website? 

See what I mean? Make the effort to work with a professional copywriter who can distill your thoughts into content that’s easy to understand and also motivates the site visitor to take the next step. In case you are wondering, I highly recommend Jason D. Sweet at  http://www.jasondsweet.com/