Get found, Convert, Analyze - Increase sales, Targeted results.
Website Design is nothing without meaningful Build Quality | Give 
them what they expect
Building content on a webpage is pretty easy stuff. Now building meaningful content that captures the reader’s attention is another feat. Make sure that each page demonstrates ‘what you do’ and ‘why they should read on’.
For example: Tru-Market is for companies that want to ‘get found’….’convert visitors into leads’….’generate sales’. Business owners / people really don’t care about terms like SEO, lead generation, etc. They care about providing their products / services to their target market for a profit.
WIFM:
What is in it for me? Making sure that the message is clear, concise and about ‘stuff’ that is important to the visitor. We would like to think that search, conversions, profit are terms that our visitors are interested in. I know the customers I have are. They depend on us to deliver that every day / week / month.
Be Interesting, show me the way:
Give visitors a path. Now every visitor thinks, reacts, comprehends differently. What works for one will not work for another / all. This is where testing is all important. In order to accommodate the range of potential visitors / leads / customers, landing pages are created to meet the needs of a specific target.
For example: If video is where you like to be regarding inbound marketing, here you go. For others that want to scan the drop down menu for something of interest, we have that as well. It’s all in the testing to see what works. I have blog posts that still get found from two years ago. When I pull up my statistics, I still see that a flowchart and post about a snowmobile trailer company is in the top 10 for search to view page shows up. (The flowchart I understand, but the trailer thing, yeah that amazes).
Answer their questions.
Remember the best way to ‘see’ what is happening for your site (without digging deep into analytics) is to access your own site from the Internet, navigate it and see what questions come to mind as a visitor. This exercise can help you identify information gaps.
Get them to do something.
"What event can they sign up for that relates to their interests?" Albee asks. "What white paper or eBook can they download? Do you have related blog posts they might be interested in?" Invite them to follow you on Twitter.
Bottom Line: Work from the outside in. To build a better B2B/B2C website, build your content from and to your prospects' point of view. I, the visitor will only be interested if you are interesting and provide value to me. Why we use a CMS system like HubSpot? because we can change pages (and you can too!) in minutes, test it, rank it, improve it all within a simple dashboard. Time is money, who wants to waste it having someone else take days/weeks to make changes?
Tru-Market is all about giving your online visitors the information to be educated, nurtured, and motivated to become customers, it's GPS For Business
Get found, Convert, Analyze - Increase sales, Targeted results.
Minneapolis Mobile Marketing is 
here, it is our reality
From a recent study: (presented by Matt Duffy, VP of marketing from Jumptap)
- 90% said they would rather lose their wallet than their smartphone.
- 33% would rather give up sex than their smartphone.
Now that I have your attention, Mobile Marketing is alive and growing at an amazing rate. After attending a great webinar from HubSpot today, I thought I'd share some of the great bits of data that will impact your small business marketing.
Here are some pretty realistic Mobile Marketing stats:
- 82% of people use their smartphones for checking/sending email (social tool)
- 56% read articles on their smartphones
- 69% Look up directions…..
- 63% social networking website…..
So, why are so many companies still in the dark when it comes to adopting mobile technology? Isn't the goal to reach your targeted audience, pull them in and engage them with information, knowledge that elicits engagement + motivation towards a purchase?
Most small business owners will be asking their website designers about mobile apps. This is a very bad move. Mobile adoptability is built into great platforms from the start, not an add-on.
What will you get for a response? Sure, we can build you a mobile app.
What will a mobile app do for your business?
Unless you are going to spend a lot of money to really target your audience with an app that is interactive, probably the answer is that a website designer will take your money and give you a pretty app that isn't connected to actual sales increases.
Here is some bits that need to be developed for a mobile app that actually drives business.
- Reward first time visitors
- Change deals often
- Promote group check-ins, the more in the group, the better the deal
- Interact with customers, make them accomplish a small task. Origami napkin.
- Promote to those checking-in nearby.
Harsh reality, I believe so, plus I've seen it front and center. Spending a lot of money and getting a 'feel good' moment for the business with zero increase in sales.
Mobile Marketing is here to stay, it is here to dominate, use smart information, have a contact management system that automatically alters your site to be mobile friendly when viewed on a mobile device. HubSpot's CMS automatically adapts your website to mobile, everyone should offer this without added costs. 
Tru-Market is all about giving your online visitors the information to be educated, nurtured, and motivated to become customers, it's GPS For Business
Get found, Convert, Analyze - Increase sales, Targeted results.
Are you building online marketing value with your target market?
'You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give it to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.' (Steve Jobs; Apple CEO)
Small business is necessary for our US economy. What makes a successful small business, well we should be paying attention to those leading the way in this fast paced world. Steve Jobs is a good mentor for 'making things happen'.
My point here is that to you business owners, making frequent changes on your website is good business.
Fresh, great content gives visitors something 'new' and 'valuable'. Just make sure that it is meaningful to them. Not what you think, what they think.
Want proof?
Yesterday's blog post on
Minneapolis Small Business | Bad grade for Small Business
-Got more visits than all of last week's blog posts.
Why? Because it offered value, was more interesting and like data with human perspective. Maybe the stuff from last week was boring, either way...
Paying attention to the customer is not always a black / white issue, paying attention to what people search for in solving their problems.
All I am saying is that the title of the article is just as important as the content. Until you get moving forward with fresh content, test variations to find what works for your specific industry, you won't really see the potential.
And the sales revenue, the word of mouth, social media buzz, and overall value of inbound marketing as an investment.
What are you doing to build your online performance?
Have your website designer make the changes you approve of and well, you'll have to change it over and over until you get it right. Or you could use a CMS system that allows rapid changes to get it right before the information gets too old.
Tru-Market is all about giving your online visitors the information to be educated, nurtured, and motivated to become customers, it's GPS For Business
Get found, Convert, Analyze - Increase sales, Targeted results.
Lead generation and nurturing conversions are all the buzz these days, traffic is 
meaningless unless you turn them into great customers.
Follow these four tips for improving conversion rates:
1. Form fields, limit the number of them to increase involvement. Most people are ok with giving out their e-mail address and name, asking for more at the initial stage is really hurting conversion rates, which leads to hurt sales down the road.
Rule of thumb: Ask for the bare minimum at first and as they dig deeper, increase the amount of information you request. A relationship always starts out with a lot of 'unknowns', don't be greedy.
2. Test the 'Submit' button with another version that is more colorful, and has meaning to the offer. 'Send me information', etc. This simple test to see what converts can increase sales exponentially. Don't be afraid to challenge it. This is a
call to action button, it should stand out.
3. Follow-up e-mail: This is an opportunity to further your relationship. Yes, this is simple and often overlooked. Add value to the message 'Check out our
blog for performance tips for your website'.
Rule of thumb: The visitor has taken the risk to gain more knowledge from 'you'. Why not take advantage, they have taken positive action, shown interest, and are in the mood. Strike while its hot! Be careful not to over-do it, the goal is to continue building the relationship.
4. Last tip: One on one follow-up. Having a plan to move prospects through the process is supposed to lead to direct interaction. Assign well qualified leads to sales representatives for a one-on-one follow-up. HubSpot uses quality tools to capture leads, convert visitors, and give website owners the flexibility to make changes quickly, and effectively.
Rule: Wouldn't you like to have qualified motivated buyers ready, than to have poorly developed ones. This is a huge cost savings on cost per lead.
People that still use all lead generation techniques from years past are doomed to only gain modest results. Have your website do the 'weeding out' for you. It is easier to reach 100's / 1000's of potential leads with a well oiled system than to do it one at a time.
It's your call.
flickr photo by smemon87Tru-Market is all about giving your online visitors the information to be educated, nurtured, and motivated to become customers, it's GPS For Business