Getting leads from your website without spending any more money is a pretty good bargain, wouldn’t you say?
You went to the trouble and expense of getting a website - so why isn’t it generating dozens of qualified leads every week?
If a Tree Falls in the Forest …
If qualified buyers can’t find your site, it’s like it doesn’t exist. You have to get people to visit your site before it can start selling for you.
I’ve consulted and coached a number of catering business owners and they know how important the right ingredients are to a wonderful meal. But so many business owners forget to add four critical ingredients to their web marketing. Without these ingredients your website is just a waste of electrons.
AIDA. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.
Attention! You have to have strategies in place the will drive eyeballs to your website. If you build it, they will not come, unless you have traffic attraction tactics in place. What are you doing to get those local buyers to your site?
Interest. I have seen some terrible websites out there. If you’re a photographer you can’t afford to have an ugly website. An accountant can have an ugly site - but not someone in the creative industries. Is your website design scaring away buyers?
Desire. Does your website create a strong urge in the buyer to pick up the phone and call you right away? Do you use sound psychological principles of persuasion - or did you let your website designer just put up something pretty? Your site has to sell.
Action! Does your website make an irresistible offer that compels people to connect with you right this very minute? It is so tempting for a buyer to click the back-button and leave your site. They may bookmark it but forget all about it - they may really like what they see and decide to keep looking anyway. You must get visitors to take action.
But it all starts with attention. Your site can’t generate leads until it generates traffic and you won’t get much qualified traffic if people can’t find you. Right?
A few weeks back I invited folks to get together and swap links to each other’s sites. The idea here is that more links (popularity) and better links (quality) will drive your site to the top of the search engines.
Just about 40 brave souls emailed me and agreed to swap emails and links with each other. It was a challenge for some, it was frustrating for others but in the end most of us did pretty well.
Here’s some of the feedback so far, with names and businesses withheld for privacy sake …
“Just wanted to tell you that you have moved me from nowhere to the first page on Google. What’s next?”
“I just checked… I went from the middle of page 14 to the bottom of page 1.”
“I just did and I’ve moved from “unfindable” on a basic search (so far down) to PAGE 2!!!!”
“I moved to the top of Google and Bing - and at the bottom of first page of Yahoo.” “I Googled (my category) and I’m nowhere to be found. Am I doing something wrong?”
“Working for me too. We moved from page 3 to page 1 for (our category). Bing and Yahoo still not picking up results though.”
A mixed bag of results… some skyrocketed to number 1 and others didn’t move.
Now, why did some do well and others not so well?
- On Page Factors - your site is not set up correctly. Your content is not being indexed by the search engines because of some fundamental mistakes.
- Off Page Factors - some markets are less competitive than others. If there are few sites competing with you for your keywords it’s easy to place on page one with only a handful of backlinks. In more competitive markets you need to do more.
I’ll show you what to do next to get your site ranked higher and keep it that way. (You may be on page 1 today and vanish unless you follow these instructions).
Next week I’m going to do a free podcast and answer all of your questions on Search Engine Marketing for Event Professional.
Since I have a large number of international readers, a teleconference is tough to schedule. I always end up leaving some folks out - so I will record the podcast and answer all of your tough questions on how to get more leads from your website.
Please use comment button below and send me some topics or questions you’d like to have me cover. As soon as the MP3 recording is done I will send it out via email to everyone. Sound good?
I know the folks who did the link project have some great questions and comments they want me to share with you. Just take a moment and send me a few thoughts now.
What do you need help with the most? Where are you getting stuck?
I look forward to helping us all make more money in the home stretch of 2009. Speak to you soon!
PS. In April I offered a free 30 minute coaching session and a whole bunch of people approached me for business coaching. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who wanted to sign up - but in order to provide real support to my existing clients I had to turn people away.
Well, good news.
I am opening up a few coaching slots this month. This will be a very limited number of slots. I am not opening the door wide - so if you are accepted for a free introductory coaching session that means I will have room for you.
If you are overwhelmed by marketing and sales and you need personal guidance to create and execute a smart plan of action, this may be what you need.
Some people don’t know what they should be doing or how to do it. Others know what they should do - but they’re just not doing it. My job will be to help you overcome procrastination, inertia, fear and confusion and get you booked solid fast.
If you’re interested please let me know right away. I’ll be making a formal announcement next week and if you want to get on the short list get in touch.
OK … so enter your question in the comment area below now!
Tags: catering business, event industry, marketing, selling
