Before you even think about spending time and money on internet marketing, score yourself on the following:
Your business goals
In order for internet marketing to work, you need to be really clear about your business goals. Know exactly what measurable business outcomes you want. There are basically three: increase revenue, reduce cost, and improve customer satisfaction. Score yourself on the clarity of your business goals here.
Your ideal customer
The internet is all about relevance. Search tools allow internet users to look for and find exactly what they have in mind. So, in order to attract your ideal customer on the internet you need to know exactly what they are looking for, what motivates them, and how to present yourself in terms they understand and to which they will respond. Score yourself on your clarity about your ideal customer here.
Your internet marketing goals
In print, radio, and TV media, you create a message that the viewer either takes or leaves. The internet, on the other hand, is a two-way medium. You create a message, and the viewer leaves behind all kinds of information that tells you how they responded. You can listen to this response if you set up measurable, internet marketing goals.
For example, let’s say your business goal is to increase revenue by $60,000 in 6 months. You have a website that contributes to this revenue by providing leads to new business prospects. On average, each lead produces $1,000 in business. Your goal, then is to improve your website such that it produces 60 leads in a 6 month period.
Design your Contact Us thank you page as a goal page. Whenever a visitor visits that page, you’ll be able to measure and track the success of of your website for this goal. Score yourself on the clarity of your website marketing goals here.
Your task path and calls to action
The internet is all about choice. There are many options for what we seek on the internet. If one option proves slightly difficult, there’s always another just a click or two away.
Think about how to make it easy for someone to choose you instead of the other guy. What do visitors need to know first? What other steps will they likely follow before they are ready to buy from you? This is your task path. Sometimes it’s just a matter of making these tasks easy to accomplish through an intuitive menu system. Sometimes more is required.
Along your task path, use words that motivate visitors to take the next step. Make them calls to action by using action words. For example: instead of passive, descriptive words like Product information, use action words like Get information.
Score yourself on the clarity of your website task path and calls to action here.
Score yourself on your overall internet marketing readiness and current marketing efforts here.
