Web & Marketing Info Galore

Friday, September 28  

A Nice Way To Start The Day

James Blunt: 'You’re Beautiful'

Thursday, September 27  

Blogging Unconference In Brisbane, Australia

There's a blogging unconference on tomorrow if anyone here in Queensland is interested. Full details on the web site.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: blogging conference

Wednesday, September 26  

Top 50 Australian Blogs

You're reading one of Australia's top 50 blogs according to Blogpond.com.au.

But Betty Sinclair says this blog is # 1. Then again, mothers are supposed to say that.

Cheers

Brendon

Film Festivals in Australia - What A Story!

One of our clients has one of Australia's newest film festivals that they started just last year.

Toni and Philip's story was featured on Australian Story, a national TV show, in September last year.

It's a wonderfully uplifting story that's one of the best I've ever seen. I'm not sure if that's because I know them or because it is just such a beautiful story.

Warning: You may cry.

Visit their film festival site here.
Click here for the TV show (you can view the story online - click on 'Let There Be Light' on the right) - please note that it goes for 26 minutes.

Brendon

Labels: film festivals australia

Tuesday, September 25  

The Funniest Joke Ever Told......But No One Laughed

Well, that's not entirely true - the bit about no one laughing I mean.

I laughed my head off. But then again I was the one that told the joke, so maybe that's no real indication!

The Local Midwife Would Make Clothes For The Babies

At dinner on Friday night Lyn was telling the story of how her mother used to be the midwife in a small country town and used to ride her bike from patient to patient to deliver babies.

The town was pretty poor and to help out the new mothers, Lyn's mother would get empty flour sacks and cut them up and make clothes out of them for the children.

So I asked, "These children who wore the flour sacks as clothes.....did they raise themselves?"

Boom, boom.

Brendon "Laugh a Minute" Sinclair

Only 93 Shopping Days Till Christmas

There's now only 93 days until Christmas and we all know what that means - that's right, time to start saving for my gift!

But if you have a web site, may I also boldly suggest something else?

Time To Start Is Now

If your site is the sort of site that would benefit from increase sales at Christmas, then right now is the time to be doing some work on your web site to increase its search engine rankings.

Because come Christmas time (or early November preferably) you want to be top of the searches when buyers come a looking.

Here's an example of the trend line of searches done for "gift ideas" on Google:


And you never know who's searching for what you sell. Here's the search trends for "dog gifts"!

Brendon

Labels: search engine promotion

SitePoint Content Wins Out

I've just had someone email me to say this SitePoint forum thread answer I gave (answer # 28) a few days ago was one of the most beneficial he's read there.

Leaving my usual false modesty aside, I'm glad it helped, but the sheer quality of the SitePoint forum guys and the SitePoint team means that SitePoint is a brilliant resource for many web developers.

No wonder the site has been shortlisted in the McFarlane Prize, which rewards excellence in web design by Australian web professionals.

And, as you probably know, SitePoint are also the publishers of the world's greatest book!

Cheers

Brendon

Monday, September 24  

Housekeeping - How To Ban AdSense Ads Off Your Site

I had to send someone a link to a page I wrote earlier this year about my son Jack.

Unfortunately, the Google AdSense ads showing on the page had an ad with the heading "Want to date and screw my wife".

Charming.

You see, how it works is that Google AdSense program reads the page and tries to guess what it's about. It then serves up ads that would be relevant to people reading the page.


As you can see from the page screenshot I've just taken, the 2 ads are for:

1. International Scouts Parts (because I mention Scouts in the post)
2. Unfaithful wife (because Google has seen the mention of the word wife a few times, as well as cry I'd guess, and tried to serve up a relevant ad.

"Unfaithful Wife" Ad Not As Bad As......

This "Unfaithful Wife" ad isn't as bad as the one with the header "Want to date and screw my wife." But still not an ad I really want on that page.

How To Delete Ads From Display On Your Page

If you use Google AdSense to try and make some money off your web page (like we do on Tailored) and want to ban particular ads it's a pretty simple process.

Step 1: Login in to your Google AdSense account
Step 2: Click on the AdSense Setup tab
Step 3: Click on Competitive Ad Filter
Step 4: Enter the web site address of the ads you don't want to show up
(on this page there is a section advising how to identify the web site address of the ads on your page presently)

Hope that helps.

Brendon

Sunday, September 23  

Boring Amanda Congdon Not Renewed By ABC

Amanda Congdon was the original host of Rocketboom, one of the earlier and more successful video blog shows.

Amanda and her co-founder Andrew Baron had a terrific public fight where Amanda left Rocketboom in a huff.

Amanda was quickly snapped up by ABCNews.com and developed a series of video blogs.

They weren't, to me anyway, as edgy as the Rocketboom stuff so I quickly stopped watching her and Rocketboom (which continued without her).

Anyhow, Amanda and ABC have just parted company with ABC saying:

“It’s been a great year with Amanda — a great experiment for both of us. We thank her for her many contributions and know that she’s about to embark on new endeavors and expect there will be times in the future that we can again work together.”

Maybe ABC is considering a show for insomniacs?

Amanda, on her blog, says she's moving to "a new, innovative project that will take every ounce of my time and energy."

Let's hope it's interesting as well as exhausting.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: amanda congdon

Friday, September 21  

Marketing.....Or Just Eating?

Tonight Mel and I are off for dinner. We have a fairly regular dinner with a couple of old clients - Cath and Col.

By "old" I mean they were clients years ago up until a few months back when they sold their business. Also, Col looks old. Cath looks lovely and young.

I write that mostly because Cath reads this blog and it will give her a laugh. She probably won't tell Col (will you Cath!).

Anyhow, we're also going with another couple (Lyn & Jake) who are friends of Cath and Col. Cath referred these friends over for some work, we've done it, they're delighted and that's it.

Now the question is, are we going out for dinner with Cath and Col, and Lyn and Jake because they're clients? Are we putting up with them just to get more work?

Reading the above, you'd think so.

But we don't. Cath and Col are a great couple and we get on really well together (Cath is much nicer than Col though!).

And Lyn and Jake are great people too. All together it will be a terrific mix of 3 dopey blokes trying to outdo each other and impress their wives.

All we'll actually end up doing in eating, drinking and making idiots of ourselves.

It's not about business. It's about spending time with some lovely people.

I don't think you can fake this stuff. I can't.

I just want a good feed, a beer or 2 and the adoring gaze of a wife who thinks I'm wonderful.

2 out of 3 ain't bad ;o)

Have a good weekend.

Brendon

Want TV Commercials On The Gold Coast....Or Singapore?

A few years back I met David Simpson - David makes TV commercials here on the Gold Coast and is highly regarded as one of the best operators in the business.



I first met David when we were judging TV commercials at a Gold Coast school's Business Week - we sat through some terrific TV commercials put together by the kids (and a couple that weren't so great!).

I was chatting with David today and he was telling me how much things have changed over the years - now, he even gets approaches from Singapore and Vietnam for work.

All because of the web and the ease of transferring digital content.

Remember, your market isn't just a 10km radius around your office anymore. It can easily be worldwide.

Brendon

P.S: Check out David's showreel of TV commercials done for Gold Coast companies.

Labels: tv commercials gold coast

Thursday, September 20  

2Clix Drop Forum Lawsuit

News in that 2Clix, the software company, suing Whirlpool, an online forum, have dropped their case.

Brendon

How To Get Found By Google With 5 Minutes Work

Just going through my stats and saw I get a link from Paul Spencer over at Oikofugic Design.

Paul talks about how he has just finished a web site design for Lynsey Birchall.

Paul mentions how Lynsey's site comes up 1st when you do a Google search for her name.

But not for when you search on what Lynsey wants to be found for - photographic retouching.

The Reasons

The reason Lynsey comes up first for her name is because the title tag of her page says: "Alizarin::Portfolio of Lynsey Birchall"

The name is very unusual and there would be either nil or very few sites that have the name mentioned. The site mentions it in the title tag - it gets # 1 on Google. Simple.

The reason the site doesn't show up for "photographic retouching" on Google is because the site doesn't give Google any hints that it's about photographic retouching.

• Photographic retouching isn't mentioned in the title tag
• Photographic retouching isn't mentioned in the meta description
• Photographic retouching isn't mentioned in the copy of the home page
• Photographic retouching isn't mentioned in any links coming into the site

Remember, Google is just trying to show the most relevant results when people do a search. So you have to make it clear what the site is about.

What To Do

1. Mention photographic retouching early in the title tag of the page you want to be found for someone searching for photographic retouching
2. Mention the phrase in the meta description
3. Mention the phrase on the page
4. Get links to the page using the words photographic retouching as the link text

If Paul does those simple things (1-3 will take 5 minutes, getting links will take longer) then the site should very quickly move up the rankings for "photographic retouching".

Can you do the same stuff for your web site?

Brendon

P.S: Thanks for the links Paul. Appreciate them ;o)

Labels: search engine promotion

How To Make An Extra $25,000 In 5 Months

If you read this blog every day - like you damn well should!! - then you will know of the little case study we did on my Irish mate's web design business - we detailed the actions we took to get Seamus' web site high in the rankings for the term Belfast web design.

• Here's our first blog post about it.
• Here's an overview of what we did.

Anyhow, that was back in March. We made some terrific advances (up to # 7 from about position number 450).

I've just checked today and Seamus's site is now:

# 2 on Google.co.uk for belfast web design
# 3 on Google.co.uk for web design belfast
# 4 on Google.com for belfast web design
# 5 on Google.com for web design belfast

To celebrate, I've got a beautiful Irish girl to pour young Seamus a drink and toast to his success as Belfast's best web designer!

Who Cares About The Rankings!

(Well, me for one!)

But more important than the rankings is the question: Have the rankings resulted in more business for Seamus?

The answer from Seamus:

"The ratings have resulted in some good enquiries. Perhaps 1 good one per week now!

In the 18 months prior to you working with us we never received a single enquiry though the site.

I’m off out this morning to meet a new prospect. She found us through “web design Belfast” search."

Some Assumptions

Let's assume:

• 1 good enquiry per week/4 per month leads to a 25% conversion rate
• Each sale is $5,000 US
• Seamus has been generating these enquiries for 5 months
• (5 months x 4 enquiries) x 25% conversion = 5 sales
• 5 sales x $5,000 US = $25,000 in 5 months
  

We won't factor in referrals from these clients, ongoing work, etc.

Getting to the top of the search engines gets more business. It can be well and truly worth the few bucks and time you need to spend on it.

Regards

Brendon

Labels: search engine promotion

Wednesday, September 19  

How To Increase Your Sales x 210

A fairly regular question we get asked is:

Should I show the price of my product, or
Should I ask the visitor to contact me for more information?

(The correct answer is "Test each way.")

• We have a client who was selling 1 product per month when he showed the price.
• He swapped to "Request a quote" last week.
• Today he made 7 sales.

I've advised him to stick with requesting a quote! Geez I give good advice.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: web site marketing

Giving Your Business The Local Edge

The wonderful folk at Ozzie Offroad wanted to be found for the term camper trailers Brisbane in Google.

We worked our magic and they're now # 1 for camper trailers Brisbane.

It's the ideal term to be found for because they do make and sell camper trailers, and their market is Brisbane.

The bad thing about the Google result, for my client anyway, is that on Google.com, a map displays showing camper trailer businesses near Brisbane.

The next bad thing is that Ozzie Offroad is located at Caboolture, which is about 30 minutes drive from Brisbane - so the business doesn't show on the map that displays - even though the majority of his customers come from Brisbane.

I can understand Google putting the map there as it is relevant.

Just a bit frustrating for a guy who has his business just outside the locality - even though he services the same locality as everyone else.

Your business should be listed in the Google Local Business Center which helps customers find you on Google Maps.

It's quick and easy and good for business.

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, September 18  

Loving Kym's Work - 1 Simple Line To Increase His Likeability

Yesterday I mentioned a story about likeability and how doing nice things for others naturally increases your likeability.

Here's a likeable chap on the right.

Today I received an email from Kym who has a leading Byron Bay web design business.

Kym's One Easy & Likeable Line

Kym has snaffled a prospect who approached us a few months back for some work and for whom we set up hosting.

In the email Kym asked for the hosting details to be changed and finished with the line:

"P.S Big fan of your Sitepoint newsletter and kit!"

Ooooh, that is smooth! (I write the SitePoint Tribune that goes to 140,000 subscribers and I wrote The Web Design Business Kit.)

With 1 line Kym has eased the pain of us missing out on a client and made it much more likely I'll shoot him through the info he needs quickly and easily.

Easy stuff.

Brendon

The World's Most Perfectly Suited Web Site

I was on the SitePoint forums where I saw a discussion about Warren Buffet's company web site.

It is the simplest web site you'll ever see.

It's perfectly suited to his brand and how he is perceived.

His brand is so strong that his web site style simply makes no difference to his bottom line.

His is about the only business that I can think of like this.

The point is: your web site has to reflect your brand. It has to reflect the expectations your market has.

Brendon

The Web Design Business Kit 2.0 Competition

My wife is so strong!

We've just had delivered 3 of my new Web Design Business Kits and poor Mel had to lug them up the stairs.

Now, as good a read they are (!), I simply can't read 3 of them at once so we're having a competition to give away one. It's valued at $247 (read all about the Kit here) and how you win it is........

......I'm not sure!

Any suggestions on how we should pick a winner? Once we have a clue we'll start the contest (should be by tomorrow morning).

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: web design business kit

Monday, September 17  

The Power of Likeability

On the weekend I went camping with my son Jack (that's him and I - I'm the tall one! - prior to doing the Noosa Triathlon last year as Team Sinclair).

Just before we started cooking the evening meal a ferocious storm hit and put our plans for a sausages in bread for dinner onto the back-burner.

So instead we headed into the nearby small country town and found the local hotel.

A Kind Gift To A Friend

Earlier that day Jack had dropped off a 'Congratulations' card and a box of chocolates to a friend who won his football team's Best & Fairest award (the US equivalent is the MVP I think).

Jack couldn't attend the presentation night because he was off on a Scout hike, and wanted to congratulate his friend who had been particularly encouraging to him during the year.

Before dinner I were discussing with Jack the many benefits of doing something unexpected and nice like that for his friend.

• makes them feel good
• raises their self esteem

I also mentioned how when you do something nice for people, they're way more likely to do something nice for you.

People who you like are much more likely to like you in return.

The Cook Doesn't Make Garlic Bread On The Weekends

Just then we went up and ordered dinner. We both had steaks, Jack had a lemonade and I ordered a beer.

I also asked if we could have a serving or 2 of garlic bread but the waitress told me the cook doesn't make garlic bread on the weekends.

The bill came to $44.70. I paid with a $50 note and said to the waitress, "Thanks, keep the change and buy yourself a drink."

The waitress was very excited by this and said she rarely receives a tip.

(Here in Australia, the custom is to only give a tip for fantastic service. A tip isn't given as a matter of course -the expectation American service personnel have of receiving a tip is one that is alien to Australian visitors to the US.)

Hot, Fresh & Free Garlic Bread

10 minutes later the waitress appeared at our table with fresh, piping hot garlic bread which she delivered with a conspiratorial whisper of "I had the cook make up some specially......there's no charge."

It's the Power of Likeability and the Law of Reciprocity.

And a great example for a little kid.

Cheers

Brendon

The Power of Expectation

My son Harry (that's him in the red on the left, the other fellow is his brother (my other son) Jack) is 13 years old and ran the 10km at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon this year in 1 hr 2 minutes and 4 seconds.

He has another race coming up in October in which he was hoping to break 1 hour.

That was until last week.

You see, late last week I found an old certificate from May, 1980. I was 13 years of age and ran a 10km race in 43 minutes and 7 seconds.

Because of that, Harry now understands that if he trains and pushes himself a bit he could beat that time. Because if his dad can do it, he can do it (he's basically a mini-me in terms of looks and build.....poor kid!).

His expectation now is to beat 53 minutes in October and then to beat 43 minutes for 10 km in May next year.

Because he expects to beat those times he's started to train to meet those expectations. There is now no doubt in his mind that he'll beat 43 minutes for 10km.

That's 17 minutes faster than his expectation a week ago - all because I found an old certificate. Amazing thing the human mind.

What you can believe you can achieve.

Brendon

Friday, September 14  

Why I Sincerely Hope Whirlpool Loses.....if what 2Clix say is true

One thing I haven't done is commented on what I think about the case.

I reckon Whirlpool should lose. I hope they lose......... if what 2Clix contends is correct.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald (let's assume what they report is correct) 2Clix contacted the founder Simon Wright and:

• claimed the statements made in the forum about them were both false and malicious,
• told them the posts were causing them to lose sales

So if those 2 things are true - especially that the claim by the posters is false - then 2Clix should win.

So it's an easy lawsuit to win. See comments from the thread.

If the statements in the thread are true (or even an exaggeration) then no problem. But if they're completely false statements by (let's just assume for a minute) a competitor, then 2Clix have a deserved case.

Am I Really Just A Marketing Bore?

I received a terrific boost on this site yesterday and today in terms of visitor numbers because of a link on the Whirlpool forums (down the bottom) - they're the guys being sued by a software company called 2Clix.


A guy in a forum discuss the action by 2Clix links over to this post below and says "It seems this site is using the lawsuit as a marketing tool!"

I mentioned the link and the boost in traffic from the links (we also get mentioned on the Whirlpool Wiki) at lunch with Mel and Anthony and how I didn't really do it as a marketing strategy.

I just wrote about it because it's interesting......or so I thought.

Why I Write This Blog

After a bit of a discussion though, we decided (by that I mean Mel and Anthony!) that I write this blog to get read.

• Getting read increases our profile.
• Increasing our profile gets attention.
• Getting attention gets us clients, so yes, I guess it was marketing.

Later in the forum a guy suggests that the previous poster remove the link because "then it won't be surfing on the high ranking this thread would potentially earn it otherwise."

What the guy who suggests getting rid of the link is showing is his poor understanding of why the web is a valuable resource.

Linking Makes The Web Useful

You see, it's the linking that makes the web useful. The guy who linked to this site found the info interesting. Interesting enough to link to.

After all, my posts below probably provided a different perspective for a few people.

And he's wrong in thinking that the link is of any value to me - forums like this usually use what's called a "no follow" attribute on links.

Which means it's saying to the search engine, "this link should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index."

Basically, my site gets absolutely no benefit from the link.

(If Whirlpool didn't have this "no follow" policy then they'd get a heap of spam posts. This is why Whirlpool is a hugely valuable resource for many people and one of the best forums in its niche.)

Whirlpool Gets The Benefit Of My Links

On the other hand, both Whirlpool and 2Clix get a ranking boost because of my links from this site to them (not that Whirlpool needs it).

This is because this site is old, trusted and frequently updated - so if you get a link from this site the search engines see that and think "Heh, that's valuable because:

• Brendon's site doesn't do anything dodgy,
• doesn't spam,
• gives good info,
• has been on the net for years, and
• he's extremely good looking."

I may have made that last point up.

Cheers and have a good weekend.

Brendon

Why Stamp Collecting Is Valuable

I've never really been one for stamp collecting mostly because I've never really understood the value of it.

I was at the Committee meeting last night for the Palm Beach Scouts and got chatting with Glyn who is an avid stamp collecting fan. Glyn has his own stamp collecting site here, from where he buys and sells stamps.

Glyn understands the value of stamps because he understands and knows the industry.

It's the same with domain names.

I never really understood the value of domain names. Until I got some great domains that is.

You see I own eczema.com.au, which is extremely valuable because it's perceived as being the industry site because of it's name.

Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's not valuable/workable/effective/whatever.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: stamp collecting

Thursday, September 13  

The Absolute Best Strategy For 2Clix

Referring to the post below, the absolute best strategy for 2Clix is to produce great software that works wonderfully well, address any issues immediately and provide great support.

Because life's a lot easier if you do good work.

Cheers

Brendon

Wednesday, September 12  

What 2Clix Should Have Done First - Saving Your Reputation

2Clix are the firm suing Whirlpool - mentioned in the post below.

They're suing because of the remarks made in the forum.

The first thing the 2Clix's guys should have done a year ago is manage their online reputation better.

For example, do a search on Google for 2Clix and you get this. The negative forum thread comes up # 3 and 4 on a search for the company name (in fact 4 of the top 10 results are links to negative stuff).

Push Down The Negative Results

2Clix tried to have those threads removed from Whirlpool.

What they should have done is implement search engine optimisation strategies to bury the Whirlpool threads showing in Google down off the first page.

It's an aggressive strategy, but if you feel someone is slandering you and it is causing huge damage to your business then you have to act hard.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: reputation management

Web Forum Gets Sued - My Experience With The Same Forum

Here's an interesting one.

A web site forum (Whirlpool) is being sued because of comments made by users about a piece of accounting software.

It's interesting in terms of reputation management - our reputation has been damaged on the same forum.

In this case it was our reputation being damaged by some clown who doesn't know us.

You see, we'd been suggested on the forum as a company that can meet the needs of a guy who is having trouble finding a web development firm.

The guy looking to get the work done doesn't like the look of this site (I don't care - this design has worked the best at doing what it is supposed to do better than any design we've ever tried).

"....they have hardly any experience...."

And then Dave from Adelaide (nodeADSL2+) comes in and says "If good quality work is what you are after then you are right not to go with them (Tailored), they have hardly any experience in creating complex, visually appealing web portals.

"If you want some one to build you a website as complex as you have listed then avoid tailored like the plague."

Dave From Adelaide Has No Idea About Us!

I don't know Dave from Adelaide (that's him on the left!) but I can guarantee that he doesn't know our client list and he doesn't know what sort of sites we mostly do.

It's pretty clear that Dave's in no position to make a relevant or useful judgment about us. But he does anyway.

You Can't Control What People Say About You

And that's the thing about the web. You can't control what people are saying about you.

And they'll say lots of different things - let's take Dave again. Dave then goes on to say nice things about my kit - so he's not a complete clown :o)

This Post Is An Example Of Brand Management

This post is an example of brand management in action - notice how I've:

1. Made potential clients/customers (visitors to this web site) aware of a negative story about us. It's very effective when you show people the bad stuff about you - shows you're not trying to hide anything.

2. And then I've addressed it in a fairly logical way.

3. And then I've been very slightly aggressive towards Dave (by bagging him) - that's a useful technique to show you're standing up for yourself and to generate some visitors to this site by people who link over from that forum.

Basically, controversy works.

You Can't Control What People Say About You

You can't control what people say about you, and you do have to (like have) weigh up if the damage to your reputation is worth the risk of taking legal action.

In my case I thought it wasn't enough.

But for a company like 2Clix there was obviously a measurable detrimental impact on their business that made it worthwhile to take legal action.

Plus, they get the benefit of widespread media exposure and greater market awareness.

Then you have Dave. Will he sue me for portraying him as a clown? Or should I use the term "idiot"?

Maybe "Dave the Idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about, who damages other people's reputations"?

Would he sue for that?

Brand management is critical to any business. Manage your brand very carefully and be aware of what people are saying about you online.

4 Easy Ways To Check Your Online Brand

1. Sign up for Google Alerts
2. Check your web stats regularly and see who is linking to you
3. Do a regular web search on your name and your business name and see what you find
4. Sign up for Distilled Reputation Monitoring Tool

Cheers

Brendon

P.S: Please note that some of this blog post was copied from an earlier one I wrote last year.

Labels: reputation management

Why People Like You

I've spoken about this before, but I've just purchased The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor and Achieve Your Life's Dreams by Tim Sanders and saw it mentioned again.

That is, why do people like you?

A big part why people like you is because you do nice things for them. It's pretty simple - if you do something nice for someone then they're more likely to like you.

Like Me, Like You

If you like someone, they'll usually like you right back.

Ken has a computer repairs business here in Australia and refers me over people every now and then. I know I feel more love toward Ken (no, not in that way.....not that there's anything wrong with that!) because he's helping me out.

David, who's a client with a Gold Coast resort, also recently referred some business my way (and he bought me lunch yesterday!).

Not only am I more likely to like these guys, but I'm also likely to want to help them out.

No Fake Love

The important thing to understand is that you can't fake it.

I'm not going to be nice to Ken or David so I get more business. They've been nice to me so it's only natural to be nice back.

They haven't been nice to me because they want something. They've done it to help me out with no thought for compensation. And because of that I'm nice back. Which makes them nice to me....and on it goes.

Have you been nice to someone today?

Cheers

Brendon

Tuesday, September 11  

"Negotiate On An Individual Basis......"

One of the business Mel and I went to when looking for a new washing machine was The Good Guys (Guys, get some search engine optimisation work done on that site and you'll get x10 more visitors).

Their motto is Pay Less, Pay Cash.

In our conversation with the salesman he was trying to get Mel to come back with the attraction that she'll pay less if she pays cash.

And here's the thing - and I think it's a bad strategy.

Each Price Negotiated Individually

The salesperson started talking about how the cash price is negotiated separately on an individual basis based on "various factors".

I imagine the "various factors" is how much the sales manager can get out of the buyer.

I think with the customer not trained in negotiation that there will always be a sense of:

"They probably sell the washing machines cheaper to others....maybe I could have gotten a better deal. Maybe I got screwed. Maybe I'm a sucker."

And I know this because this is the exact reason Mel gave me when explaining why she wouldn't buy from them.

But Then Again......

But then again the Pay Less, Pay Cash strategy might work effectively because it generates an enquiry that wouldn't have otherwise walked into the store.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: Business Management, business marketing

Monday, September 10  

How To Make More Web Sales - The 2 Keys

Click on the image below to make it bigger.

The image is of the stats on a site we've developed and the list of words I've covered in red are the top 10 keywords the site gets found for in search engines.

# 1 keyword - 3,494 visitors, down to
# 10 keyword - just 87 visitors.

You can also see in the columns, the number of pages per visit and the average time spent on the site.


As you can see, keyword # 10 attracts visitors who look at 11.98 pages (compared to just 2.71 pages per visit for those who find the site via searching on keyword # 1).

Keyword # 10 also attracts people who spend an average of 8 mins 52 seconds on the site (keyword 1 visitors stay for 4 mins 12 seconds).

Despite attracting 1/40th the number of visitors of keyword # 1, keyword # 10 visitors have provided us with the most sales by far. Not on a % or ratio basis either, but just on simple numbers.

And keyword # 1 was, we believed, a brilliant keyword for this site that would attract the exact visitor we needed to have the highest conversion rate.

Looked At The Stats

But then we looked at the stats.

Unsurprisingly, we're now desperately trying to get keyword # 10 to a top position in the search engines (it's currently at # 60 in Google).

Best Indicators For A Sale

The 2 best indicators for a conversion from visitor to buy are:

1. time spent on site (more time spent = more sales)
2. pages viewed (more pages read = more sales)

What are your stats telling you?

BTW, the stats we use on that site are Google Analytics.

Cheers.

Brendon

Labels: web site marketing

What's Your Problem? How To Make A Sale

I went with Mel on the week to search for a new washing machine after our current one died.

We went to 3 different retailers and spoke with 3 different guys. They all made their spiel to Mel on why the washing machine they were recommending was the best.

Mel didn't buy.

Here are some things I observed:

1. Mel hated the pushy salesperson.

The worst thing any of them did was appear desperate. That was an immediate turn-off for Mel and she didn't consider the guy further (this was the guy who I thought, was the best at explaining the advantages of his machine over the others).

2. No-one was credible.

None of the salespeople offered any proof of their expertise in the area. This was particularly relevant when a couple of salespeople contradicted the other.

Which one to believe?? Mel took the easy route and didn't believe either of them.

3. Only 1 Identified Mel's Needs.

Only 1 of the 3 asked her any questions about her needs. (That was also the desperate guy who pleaded "You'll come back Monday won't you....please. Ask for me. If I'm not here come back later.")

None addressed her needs and made an irresistible offer.

No sale was made.

Identify Problems Then Offer A Solution

Being a washing machine salesperson wouldn't be easy.

But if 2 out of 3 don't even ask basic questions - like how many people do you wash for, how often do you wash, etc - then it might be a little harder than it needs to be.

Selling is always about identifying problems and offering solutions. If you don't ask questions you won't know what the problems are.

If you don't know what the problems are you can't offer the right solution.

Cheers

Brendon

Labels: sales

Internet People

A look back at Internet People (I must be a geek - I know just about every person and every context!).

Friday, September 7  

Some Directories Getting Dropped

I'm seeing some information now that various directories are being/have been dropped from Google's index.

What this means is that if you're listed in these directories your site will receive less visitors because:

• people can't find the directories easily anymore
• Google will be discounting the links to your web site from that directory (your own site ranking goes down as a result of this)

This particularly hurts if you've paid to be listed in these directories.

Bummer.

Brendon

Labels: search engine marketing

The One Question You Must Be Able To Answer...

.......in business.

Why should the person do business with you?

That is, what overwhelming advantage is there in buying from you rather than your competition.

Answer that and then make it the cornerstone of your marketing and communicate that message with your target audience.

Cheers

Brendon

Thursday, September 6  

The Web Design Business Kit 2.0 Launched

It's with more than a little pride that I'm writing to say that an updated version of my book - The Web Design Business Kit 2.0 - has been launched today.

The Kit has done amazingly well over the past 4 years and proven incredibly useful to thousands of people.

I've had a ton of positive comments sent direct to me about the Kit and I've very proud that it's been able to help people along in their business and help make their life a little easier.

New Content

The new version comes with:

New Chapters:

* Outsourcing For Great Profits
* Delight Your Clients
* Dealing With Those Pesky Clients
* Business Legalities

New Documents:

* Design Contract
* Hosting Contract
* Support Contract
* Ongoing Marketing Contract
* Confidentiality Contract

Hundreds of Testimonials

Here's just 1 of hundreds of testimonials I've received:

"We purchased your Web Design Business Kit a couple of months into starting and have lived by it ever since. We found it so easy to follow and we were continuously getting compliments for our service as well as our work.

Clients were more than happy to refer us to others and to also provide testimonials. The Proposal in particular has won us many jobs over cheaper competitors.

In May this year we won the Most Outstanding Specialised Business award.....

Expanding The Business

I recently took the Web Design Business Kit Manual off the office shelf again and am reading the section about expanding the business.