Coaching For Success
Business Success
Two Kinds Of Internet User
Sep 1st
Two Kind Of Internet Users
There are 2 general types of internet users: those looking for information and those looking to buy. We all wear both of those hats at different times and sometimes something is so compelling we put our buying hat on when we thought we only wanted to wear our research hat. For purposes of most effective optimization you want to make sure you are targeting both groups of people.
You want researchers because catching them early in the process exposes them to your expertise and creates you as a possible future solution for them. You also want buyers because that’s your bread and butter.
Which group you attract is determined by your keywords. You want keywords that call out to researchers and you want keywords that reach out and grab the buyers.
It’s important to consider commercial intent when selecting our keywords. A great tool that can be effective for this is http://adlab.msn.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/
Five Trends That Every Business Should Follow in 2011
Jan 20th
Today we start by looking at looking at 5 internet business trends that are set to have particular significance in the upcoming year.
1. Security
Security is an everyday concern, and 2011 will be no different. This year, it’s predicted that mobile will be a major target, thanks to its startling growth coupled with the inherent fragility of cellular infrastructure and the slowness in implementing encryption strategies.
These threats should be taken very seriously and measures implemented to combat them as soon as possible, making sure users realise they and their security are your number one priority.
2. Mobile
2010 was undoubtedly the Year Of The Mobile Device with users increasingly turning to their mobile phones for their online activities. And the move to mobile will only increase during 2011, so setting up a mobile presence is vital for any online business, no matter how small that may be, be it just having a mobile version of your site, a mobile app or simply advertising.
3. Digital Couponing
Groupon is one of the fastest growing sites on the internet, but offering online coupons isn’t limited to Groupon, with local newspapers and radio stations getting in on the action and small web sites partnering with local businesses to offer deals.
Of course, offering coupons doesn’t mean you need to give everything away; use them as an up-sell tool or as an incentive for spending a specified amount.
Whatever the strategy you use, coupons should be a part of your marketing mix going forward.
4. Search Remains Universal
While not grabbing the headlines like mobile, search remains a massively important feature at all levels, from Google to site-specific search. It’s important for every web site to provide a search option – look at Twitter and Facebook and see how even they provide a search bar. If it’s important to them, it needs to be important to you, so optimise for various keywords and phrases and make sure you’re in the search game.
5. Expanding Business Models
These days, it’s all about diversifying, and the same applies to online business. Look beyond your current offerings to see what kind of different yet complimentary products or services you can offer your customers to add value to their experience with your site.
These are the major trends you should look to incorporate into your internet business.
For help with any of these initiatives, a UK internet business coach can supply all the expertise you need.
Wish You All a Very Prosperous New Year
Jan 1st
As we see in the New Year, The Internet Business Coach would like to send everyone blessings, cheer, joys galore and wish you all a wonderful year in 2011.
Every New Year promises a fresh start and fills all hearts with hopes and aspirations for the coming year this is true of individuals and of business owners.
As the new year takes the flying start, may you achieve the internet business success you deserve in every facets of life and all your heartfelt wishes comes true.
The New Year is a time to unfold new horizons and realise new business dreams, rediscover the strength and faith you have within you for your business endeavours and gear up for the new challenges that 2011 will bring.
Embark on a fresh start for your internet business this New Year. Best wishes for a happy New Year from all at The Internet Business Coach.
Bring Your Web Site Photos To Life
Dec 22nd
It’s hard enough getting visitors to your internet business web site in the first place, but actually engaging them and keeping them there and getting them to interact with the content on your site is another matter altogether. Adding videos to your site certainly helps, but that takes time and planning and you may not be in a position to create videos right now.
If you have photos on your site (and how many sites don’t have at least a few photos on them?), they may engage your visitors but aren’t particularly interactive. However, that can change now, thanks to Phlook (pronounced “flook”), a web site that takes any photo you care to upload and converts it to an interactive version of the same photo.
What’s It All About?
It’s about giving your visitors more opportunities to interact with your site by making the photos on your site interactive, thus allowing your visitors to interact with them, thereby engaging them more and potentially leading them to take the action you desire. It’s a proven fact that when visitors enjoy being at a web site and spend time there, they feel more relaxed and so are more inclined to buy a product or service, supply their e-mail address, recommend the site to friends, etc.
Phlook now provides you with another avenue for you to extend your visitors’ time on your internet business web site and make more of them feel comfortable with your site so you can eventually get the outcome you desire.
How Does It Work?
The service couldn’t be any easier to use. First, you register for the site (it’s free) and then you’re ready to start converting your photos. Just follow these simple steps:
- Upload a photo
- Enter a description, select a category and enter tags
- Save the changes
- Copy the code to embed the photo into your site
Once the photo is on your site, your visitors can then interact with it by hovering their mouse over it, at which time several options become available, including adding a note to the photo, voting for the photo as a favourite, zooming in and out and e-mailing the photo to friends.
To Interact, Or Not To Interact?
While this may not be suitable for all internet business web sites (even though the more you can interact with your visitors, the more successful your conversions are likely to be, but that would be a business decision for your company), there’s little denying the benefits it could bring in the form of potential conversions, or at least return visits (how many people aren’t curious to see whether or not their comments spurred any further discussion?). This gives people the chance to be heard, and it could also help generate feedback for your web site design and its content while helping to develop a sense of community for your site and your brand.
Engaging and interacting with web site visitors is becoming more important as the social side of the internet looms larger in people’s daily lives, so taking advantage of tools like this can only be beneficial to your web site and your overall internet marketing strategy.
The Better The Buttons, The Higher The Number Of Clicks
Nov 3rd
As an internet business owner, the most powerful weapon in your arsenal is the “Add to Cart” button. While you may be spending a lot of time and money on your marketing efforts, such as social media, advertising, product development and market research, at the end of the day the thing that will tell you how successful all those efforts have been is the number of clicks on that one button.
It’s All In The Button
It’s vital that the importance of the “Add to Cart” button, or the particular call-to-action button used on your web site, should not be underestimated as a design element.
When designing a call-to-action button, there are 5 fundamental elements that need to be considered, these being colour, placement, text, shape and size, with each one being weighed carefully relative to the others.
There is no right or wrong in the design of the “magic button”, but there are some guidelines that can be followed, even though the specifics that constitute these guidelines are very much up for debate. The only way to really tell what works for any given web site, including yours, is to test all the various options, but here are some suggestions that will help get your buttons set up for success.
1. Colour
Many studies have been conducted regarding how different colours affect internet users, and the results indicate such things as the fact that red causes the heart to beat faster, green brings with it a sense of calm, blue appears to cause indecision and yellow is the quickest to draw the eye. All these colours and more are used for call-to-action buttons throughout the internet, but one colour in particular is known to work especially well for this purpose and that is orange. Orange catches the eye naturally and blends the cheerfulness of yellow with the aggressiveness of red to create a combination that’s a potential winner, but one consideration to bear in mind is that the colour used for the button may not be as important as the way it contrasts with the rest of the colours on the page.
2. Placement
A critical decision is where to place the button, which should stand out from the content surrounding it on the page and means that white space or some other negative type of space should be used liberally. How you use this space around the button is just as important as the colour and size of the buttons, since correctly applied negative space around it will make the button stand out and seem larger than it actually is.
3. Text
The use of text is one of the things that are most often overlooked, but it’s a major part of the overall equation and one that can have a massive impact on conversion rates. For example, “Buy Now” is much more demanding to a user than “Add to Cart”, which is much less direct and so easier on the psyche of the user. These may appear to be subtle differences, but the effect on various consumer groups can be significant and the best way to discover what works best for your web site’s users is to test the way the various options work. Suggestions are to start the call-to-action with an action verb and to keep the text simple and short – just two or three words.
4. Shape
No particular shape has been found to work better than any other. The shapes that are used most for call-to-action buttons are oval, round and rectangular, so many experts suggest using irregular shapes to make your buttons stand out from the crowd. With that in mind, designing a shopping cart that catches the eye or using something like a plus sign might be ideas to put into practice, or creating a shape to identify your brand could make your button stand out even more by making it unique.
5. Size
It’s generally considered good practice to make the button as large as possible in order for it to grab the attention of the user. But, this should be done within reason, as there is a danger of inducing what’s referred to as “banner blindness”, which occurs when the size of the button on a page is so large it causes the user to confuse it for a banner ad. It’s best to try to find a happy medium, wherein the button’s large enough to draw the attention of the user but not so large as to be taken for a banner ad, and not so small as to be indistinguishable from the rest of the content on the page, from which it needs to clearly stand out.
The success of your internet business all comes down to what’s known as “getting the click”, i.e. the user taking the desired action, which, with an e-commerce business, results in the user clicking on the call-to-action button and making a purchase. So, the better the button on your site is designed, the more successful your business may be, which means taking the time to “polish up” your web site’s buttons is a profitable investment of time and effort.
A UK internet business coach can provide you the expertise you need to get your web site’s buttons set up to ensure they stand out and grab your customers’ attention to boost your sales and profits.
