Driving Visitors to Your Website
In Part II of our article on lead generation,
I will focus on how to “drive qualified visitors to
your website”, and in future newsletters discuss how
to “convert visitors to leads” and how to “effectively
mine prospect data captured by your website”.
Each of the tactics I will discuss in regards
to driving qualified visitors to your website is large enough
and complex enough to justify an article on their own. In
order to remain focused on lead generation, this article only
provides a brief overview of the options available for driving
visitors to your website. I invite you to
if you would like to discuss any of these tactics in greater detail.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can deliver huge numbers of qualified prospects to your website. When a user types a keyword or phrase into a search engine, two kinds of results are returned — those that have been paid for by advertisers, and those that are natural.
Search Engine Optimization –
Natural Search Engine Optimization, also known as Organic
Search Engine Optimization, is a specialized technique that
involves analyzing your website's underlying code, architecture
and visible content, and making enhancements so your website
is returned prominently in the natural search results of spider-based
search engines (such as Google). When it comes to Natural
Search Engine Optimization, B2B-oriented companies should
focus on Google, the primary search engine used by businesses.
For more on Search Engine Optimization, please refer to one
of our earlier articles - Search
Engine Optimization.
Contextual Keyword Advertising –
Programs such as Google
AdsWords or Google
Adsense, allow advertisers to have their keyword
text ads displayed along with search listing for specific
keywords. As is the case for SEO, keyword advertising works
really well with specialized content. The more specialized
the content, the more relevant the advertising. The key considerations
for Contextual Advertising are as follows:
- Lots of visitors are good. Lots of customers are better, so make sure to choose search terms your customers are likely to use when sourcing the types of products or services your company offers.
- Try and avoid high priced search terms and opt for more specialized industry-related terms. This will significantly reduce your cost per click and generate more targeted visitors.
- Monitor your keywords regularly to see which ones are generating the best cost per click ratio and visitor conversion to your lead system or direct sales.
- Use a tool such as Overture’s
keyword selection tool to help select keywords.
Advertise on popular online
resources for sourcing B2B products or services such as
Global
Spec, Business.com
or Thomas
Register. Advertising on these websites requires
a careful review of the sites’ demographics; most sites
will supply you with this information. While banners are still
the most widely used format, B2B advertisers are increasingly
moving to Rich
Media ad formats. Rich
Media advertising is more engaging, interactive
and can allow for more complex messages. In a study
of online advertising, Dynamic
Logic found that ads including audio and/or video
have a significantly higher impact on brand awareness even
with a much lower exposure rate. In fact, exposure to audio/video
ads increases Brand Awareness by 10.0 percentage points.
According to Neilson
Media Research, B2B-oriented Rich Media advertising
has grown from 10% to 24% over the last year. For static advertising,
skyscraper (160 X 600 pixel) format has proven the best for
B2B-focused advertising. Skyscrapper advertising runs down
the vertical side of the page so it remains viewable as a
user scrolls a web page. Here are 5 simple rules for effective
online advertising.
- Larger formats perform better than smaller formats.
- Banners with larger logos perform better than banners with smaller logos.
- The longer ads or key messages take to appear, the less branding impact they have.
- The amount of time a logo is present is positively related to branding impact.
- Banners with less animation score better on branding metrics than very animated banners.
Email Marketing –
Email marketing has been losing ground to search engine marketing.
The big problem of course with email marketing, is that your
message can so easily get lost in the recipients’ spam
boxes, even if they have given you permission to send them
email. With the CAN-SPAM
laws that are currently in effect, you have to be very
careful when choosing a third party email list
provider.
When it comes to email marketing that focuses on driving new traffic to your website, the focus should be on utilizing reputable emailing lists that consist of recipients that represent your target audience. Rent reputable lists that drive recipients to landing pages and include offerings designed to encourage viewers to provide their contact information. I will talk more about landing pages in Part III of this article.
Falcon-Software offers web tracking that will allow you to track the results of your email campaigns and determine what is working and what is not working. I will discuss this tracking system in greater detail in the Part IV of this article.
Key rules to successful emailing marketing:
- Only send to recipients that have given you permission.
- Purchased mailing lists should only come from reputable
third party sources.
- Manage your sender reputation.
- Clean and analyze mailing lists on a regular basis.
- Establish and build trust.
- Respect recipients' privacy.
- Make sure your message complies with US federal anti-spam laws.
- Give recipients what they want and need.
- Make sure your subject heading is relevant and enticing to your recipients.
- Provide opt-out capabilities in all emails sent.
- Test all emails before sending out to your mailing list.
- Make sure to track your results.
Word of Web, while very effective for B2C-oriented
businesses, is not as effective for B2B-oriented websites.
Typically, viral marketing tactics are employed to create
a buzz around a website. Viral
marketing describes any strategy that encourages
individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating
the potential for exponential growth in the message's exposure
and influence.
Mixed marketing – Utilize your offline marketing strategies to drive visitors to your website. For B2B-oriented companies, the Web offers a much better media for driving prospects through the complex sales process and can provide opportunities for capturing lead contact information. So, creating an integrated marketing strategy that at the end of the process drives visitors to your website can be a very effective way of maximizing the effectiveness of all your marketing channels.
In Part III of this article, I will discuss tactics for converting website visitors to leads.
If you have any questions regarding this article or would like more information on web-based lead generation, please feel free to
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