Does your website have static cling?

What is Bounce Rate: It is the percentage of users who are exiting your site upon landing on a single page and not continuing to any other pages during that site visit.  If a user hits your home page and leaves without digging into your site content that is considered a "bounce".  This rule applies to any page on your site a user lands on, whether it's bookmarked or found through search.

Internet marketers use bounce rate to determine whether certain pages of your site are communicating properly.  A higher bounce rate means there is much work to be done in improving the content on your site, whether it be an informational site or an eCommerce site.  There are factors to  look at that on a page by page basis that will affect your bounce rate, and in some situations a higher bounce rate might actually be okay.  A page that is bookmarked on a news site that is updated daily with stories and such may have a higher bounce rate.  eCommerce sites should not apply the same line of thinking.

Static Cling for eCommerce:

We, as internet marketers, need to be passionate about bounce rate.  You want a lower bounce rate on eCommerce sites - mainly because the end-goal would be getting your users to click that magic "add to cart" button and completing the sale.  If this is not ocurring on your product pages and your bounce rate is high you may want to assess the following information:

• Does the user know WHAT you are selling?  It is clear they have landed on a product page and can EASILY purchase?  If you are selling, be sure that you product pages communicate that effectively.

• Does your product's description provide enough information to assist the user in making the decision to purchase.    If you are selling an item that has many applications or uses, this should be spelled out in your description.  For example - if you are selling glue, and this glue can be used on wood, plastic, metal, etc - your product description should reflect that and not leave any unanswered questions the shopper may have.
  

• Can the user/shopper easily figure out HOW to buy this product?  Is there a clear "add to cart" or "buy now" button or link?  In most cases, this should be found above-the-fold (meaning the user does not need to scroll to find it).  This is not always possible, and may not prevent the sale, but it's a good general rule of thumb.

• Is your price point competitive?  People shop around - and the internet is the easiest way to price compare products before making a purchase.  If a user lands on your page and finds your product to be overpriced - the user/shopper will "bounce".

• If you are running AdWords, is your campaign set up properly and effectively optimized?  Be sure if you are paying for site traffic that they are not bouncing quickly.  If you are advertising on specific keywords, be sure the user who has searched on that keyword is finding EXACTLY what they are looking for when they land on your site.  Use negative keywords to increase the value of your click-through-rate (CTR).  If you sell glue that only works on wood and not on plastic - remove the search traffic for "plastic glue" by adding negative keywords.  Also be sure your landing pages for your ads allow your user to find what they have searched for immediately.  Preferrably the user will land on the product page where they can immediately make a purchase.

At home, we use Bounce to get rid of static and stickiness on our clothing.  On the internet, we do not want bounce, we want our search traffic to stick, and we want our users to find what they are looking for.

If your bounce rates are higher - throw away that fabric softener or static guard and start digging into why your traffic is not sticking on your site.  Be sure if it is an eCommerce site you are checking your bounce rate at the product level and start working on improving the shopping experience for your user, by making it easy to make a decision to purchase, and then even easier to actually make that purchase on the spot.

These are just a few of my thoughts.  I'm sure you have your own sticky points to ponder about bounce rate, and I'd love to hear them!

SEO - Search, Experience, Opportunity

SEO back in the day was the latest and greatest thing.  People realized they could improve their search engine ranking through optimization of their site.  Everyone jumped on the SEOwagon.   It started with meta-tags, and people packing their sites full of invisible keywords to get ranking.  You remember - white text on white background that nobody but the search engines could see.  That just doesn't fly anymore.  

SEO is really only a very small part of Internet Marketing - and to do it effectively you have to consider several variables when selecting your keyterms and where you will place them.  You will also need to know the why and the how.  Lets examine the "S" the "E" and the "O" in search engine optimization.  In my example SEO stands for Search, Experience, Opportunity.

S is for Search

Obviously we are optimizing for search so that is one of the key components - what  are people searching for?  To determine your keyterms you need to know the answer to this question to find your baseline.  This comes from knowing your customer and knowing their product or service.  One thing to keep in mind is that if your customer may sell 3 kinds of apples - they may consider "apple a" to be more popular than "apple b" or "apple c".  Does that mean you focus your efforts on "apple a" - Heck no!

There are more questions to ask before you can determine what your keyterms will be, and to take that a step further, to determine your baseline from which you will do your keyterm research.  Ask your client... Which product are you most passionate about and why?  What is your most unique product and why?  Which of your products has the highest profit margin for you or perhaps which is your "loss leader"?  How have your customers typcially found you in the past, and what are they NOT finding, but may be looking for?  As you start to gather these answers, you'll come up with other ideas for your keyterm  research.

E is for Experience

You truly need an experienced marketer to assist with your keyterm research.  When researching keyterms - you dont want to just pick the ones you think are most relevant.  Using the example above, there is far too much competition on the word "apple" - so we look for relevant AND related words that your customers may find you on.

Finding the right keyterms is only half the battle - you have to understand the competition and search volume on each keyterms and how effective you will be in utilizing that keyterm throughout your site.  While "apple" may in fact be the most popular keyterm, you should consider the fact that  if 5,000,000 other sites are competing on that term, the chances of you getting top 10 in Google is frankly slim to none and you'll probably want to enhance it a bit.

Start to look for variations of your keyterms that have high search volume and low competition.  Consider the differences between "apple a", "apple b" and "apple c" and broaden your research.  As you do this, you will start to see some suggested keyterms that may work for you with perhaps less competition but solid daily search volume.  

O is for Opportunity

As noted above - there are opportunities in search optimization and what variations you may use.  Lets for example say that "apple a" is actually a "chocolate apple".   You might want to consider common misspellings of the word "chocolate".  This does not work in all cases, but in certain situations if done properly - you can monetize that common misspelling by capturing those users who perhaps type a bit too quick and search on "chocalate" - believe me - it happens.  You certainly don't want to include these misspellings in your page content, but can strategically place them in your meta-tags.

Another way to look for opporunity is in examining the different products and competition for each.  "Apple a" may be your most popular product, but effective optimization on "apple b" or "apple c" can most definately drive traffic to your site, and the end result is that more than likely you'll sell a bunch of "apple a" as well.

Consider also your customer's expertise - perhaps beyond the products they sell.  But your site content should include keyterm rich content related to your business - there is alot of opportunity in getting ranking on content pages that are informative and useful that will drive traffic to your product or service.

SEO - A small piece of the puzzle.

While SEO is important - there is so much more to it than just loading your site full of keywords.  You have to know where to place them, how to structure your meta-tags and where they belong in your page content.  Be sure when you hire someone for the purpose of SEO, you hire someone who truly understands and has the experience to get you the results.

Add other aspects of Internet Marketing and Social Media to your online marketing and if done effectively can be a recipe for success.  Continue to monitor the success of your keyterms.  Find the areas of weakness and expand on them - your keyterms may still be the right ones, but you may need to reprioritize and develop relevant content to support those keyterms.

Listen to your site and what it's telling you.  Work your site and be proactive in updating content, adding products and getting involved in related online communities.  Always promote your site continuously through the various avenues of online marketing.

Good luck with your SEO - Hope to see you in Google's Top 10!

These are just my thoughts on SEO, I'd love to hear yours!  Leave me a comment or find me Tweeting as @SocialPMChick.

Flash Bulb Moments

As I am Twittering around this morning a thread formed around building trust with clients & showing them the value of internet marketing. This is something I get VERY passionate about because I see the tangible results of internet marketing each any every day and how that relates to my customer - the small business guy who makes a living selling his widget. There are a few parts to this thought so bear with me...

Part 1. The Customer's Perception. "Trust Me," I say.

When kicking off the "internet marketing" phase for a customer's new website - the initial call sets the tone for the rest of your relationship with the customer. The message you need to deliver to your customer is that they need to be patient with you - and with the patience comes the results and with those results comes the trust that is so critical to your long-term partnership. Telling them it could take some time (and we are talking months not weeks) to ramp up - they dont like that. That's where the trust comes in... "Trust me, give it some time and let me do what I do best - you will see..."

Part 2. What Exactly IS Internet Marketing? "Fasten your seatbelt," I say.

A small business owner who is selling his wares has probably spent the last 30 years doing just that... Selling his wares... Now we are telling him - you need to keep selling your wares - AND you need to work your website. Many of these customers are challenged to even set up an email account let alone understand the meaning of a blog, online press (or social media) release, linking strategies, content development, search optimization - let alone the idea of doing online "social marketing". A VERY common thought I hear from customers is that "they are just trying out this online marketing thing - they dont think their customer's shop online" I love to prove that one wrong!

Part 3. The Flash Bulb Affect "See what you've done? Now let's try this..." I say.

Now here's the really cool part, and I get totally passionate about this. A challenging customer who didn't think we could make their online presence successful - starts to see some the sales come in, and starts to see other sites linking to him, his bounce rate is dropping, he's getting repeat business, and reaching audiences he never thought he could reach. These little instances are all little tiny flash bulbs that go off - one after the other. I think of those old camera's with the flash cube insert with the 4 bulbs - remember those?

Once that last flash bulb has gone off - they "get the picture". I had one of these light bulb moments today with a client and it just made my day. THAT is why I do my job with passion - I live for those moments.

Be sure you deserve the trust you are given.

There is no greater satisfacation for me than making my customers successful online (whatever that means for them). More so when that initial trust took a long time to earn, but once earned led to a beautiful working relationship and ultimately a professional friendship.

I am very passionate about the why's and how's of internet marketing and helping my customer realize the meaning of all it all.