When Is a Website Absolutely Necessary?
May this day find you faring extremely well. Whether you're working an MLM or you are marketing dog grooming ...even say from home, the need for a website is extremely important when you hit these milestones in your campaign development:
- When you have daily visitors
- When you know what more about what they want
- When you are ready to offer what they demand
- When you see an increase in traffic...meaning more eyes are watching your ads
- When you want others to interact with your at your website, contact you, and inquire further into your offerings
- When you are already promoting services/products others already buy
- But most importantly, conducting secure business while also protecting consumers' data properly.
At a rock star level for purposes of this post, what happens when Internet marketing lags and entertainers cannot possibly stay abreast of current changes? The answer will appear as a lag in bottom line sales, as one potential scenario. There would be a need to compare offline sales with online sales, to look at DVD sales, to compare concert tickets sales with all other organizational aspects, noting gaps, trends or patterns, strong or otherwise. I see that when well-known personalities are used to handling business one way, they are experiencing challenges in another way. I would cite a common challenge sometimes witnessed with bands where membership has peaked. Houses are packed, performances are strong, fans appear happy. If there's a lag in DVD sales, what is the real underlying problem? Is it that fan-based interaction lags? Do people forget if they do not consistently see a star's image? Are some stars relying too heavily on older media: radio, t.v.? What about large media channels (i.e., for newest folks, these are the major websites advertising a band's recent performance somewhere as you would see on NBC online...or CBS online)? Are some stars no longer hitting circulation they once did? These are the kinds of Q's you face when you become a business owner ...online...offline..or both.
If we go back to website need and its timed appearance within a campaign, it can take some time to get the website in order, test that content, and test CTR's (click-through rates on specific ads and articles). Does the website work part of the time? If yes...what is the challenge. Is there a dead link appearing in a report (which is a most common first mistake)? Is someone piggy-backing off your website without your knowledge? Is someone stripping your affiliate links (cyber-crime)? Is the website, if functioning well, giving fans the kinds of experiences they want most? What happens to the content on a website? How is it all best protected? In my next post, I talk about cyber-crime (China, Russia). It could be that the layout of the website isn't making sense to on-lookers...but in rock star websites, these are minor to non-existent challenges when fans are absolutely buying repeat concert tickets. I only use an example to show you what can happen...for better or for worse.
BASIC TIP: A website performs as well as it is seen and used by consumers, but it always requires testing. Less popular Images on a website will impact clickthrough rates (CTR's), specific words impact readers, placement of headlines alter how people perceive a website, and so on. Therefore, by blogging, you are testing waters safely as you are readying yourself for website ownership.
As another example, I think of a gal who had a beautiful website..., but it didn't do anything at the time I checked.
this was during 2006. What were the solutions then? The music industry was evolving further online as were many industries. We still have a fair number of companies (both larger and small) that are still transitioning online. Today, best websites will do many things. They will share articles of helpful aid and assist people in finding what they want, but they will build a following while building that following most safely. Safety is a key concern in the U.S. because of growing attacks already happening with major U.S. firms.
BASIC TIP: For every Internet marketing challenge, you will need a challenge you can target, test, rotate, or solve.
Facebook from an interactive standpoint... is wonderful. When you have people coming in, commenting, and you're there to see how it's all unfolding, Facebook is a great way to "get the ball rolling".
However, in cases where a rock "celeb" hits new walls, then it's time to change their direct response method to an approach that would boost the number of leads incoming. For some, it means boosting events. Beyonce Knowles performing at Superbowl (2013) did a great job of branding her name/image further. For many, it means boosting membership so that people see when a new DVD is released. In other cases, by pulling in paid media such as post cards, this approach works as well when an ad message has been first tested on the website.
- In the case of MLM, post cards can work well to move beyond "usually beaten-up, traversed paths".
- In the case of Internet marketing, it is used on the back end usually done so in order to promote an upgrade in a service.
BIGGEST ADVANTAGES OF WEBSITES ARE:
- When you want to be independent
- When you want your content backed up/restored/free from rules faced on larger corporate websites
- When you want to build and interact with your following.
For example, all trademarks/copyrights and creations belong to this band completely:
- http://moodybluestoday.com/
- Sub-site...but another part of their full campaign is --- http://moodiescruise.com/
- You can find them on Facebook until two profiles: Moody Blues and Moody Blues Cruise
- They appear everywhere online
- You can find their articles and press releases anywhere...just Google them
- I urge you to research these websites for full and insightful disclosure
- No intentions are made to profit off of these websites/their products/trademarks/or anything I might have missed here.
I'll have more content posted soon. I am transferring this content over to a Word Press blog in order to keep you informed. The first Word Press blog I made on Internet marketing isn't what I want today.
Toasting Your Success, Absolutely!
Barbara Brinkmeyer, MBA
No comments:
Post a Comment