Archives for July 2009

Are the leads that you’re harvesting “qualified”, or anywhere near the mark of the “Ideal Client” for you?

July 29, 2009 by Peter Butler 2 Comments

I made a “Post” blunder on Monday on my www.SmarterWebsites.com.au site. I stuffed up.

I needed to narrow the niche that I’m marketing too so I was refining my lead generation “Funnel” on my site. Trouble is I forgot that the auto update was turned “On” so the edit that I did went out automatically to my list.

This would have been the starter of the email you got…

Attention: Self Employed Professionals & Small Business Owners!

Really am sorry about that, it was just an internal site edit and wasn’t supposed to go out.

Anyway, the blessing is that it’s a good subject for a post.

Are the leads that you’re harvesting “qualified”, or anywhere near the mark of the “Ideal Client” for you?

It’s a valid question.

I had people signing up left, right and centre but in running them through my “process” I realized that in building this list some of these leads weren’t after what I was offering. Now, you could argue that it doesn’t matter because it’s all done online that it doesn’t cost me anything.

Well, yes, and the extra traffic to my site can be a good thing for ranking but obviously if we can all refine our process to attract that “Ideal Client” then the faster our business will grow and the quicker we’ll slip into the serious money stream.

Un-qualified traffic can also be a negative too – if they come to your site and leave quickly that will increase your “bounce rate” which is the percentage of single page visits. This is bad if it’s too high, it means they’re not finding what they came for. Google God demerit point!

The point being, always “Test and Measure”.

Check your offer – how many clicks on your offer (Your button or newsletter opt-in) compared to new visitors?
How many people are then following through and filling in their details to get your stuff?
How many “unsubscribes” down the track?
How many convert into a paying client?

Here’s a quick starter check hit list – In Google Analytics (which we install on all our sites – that was subtle “sell” on one of the many sexy things we do) you should be looking to compare – “new visits” to “click throughs to your opt in page” to “actual opt ins”.

Test and measure and refine always. Websites are a work in progress!

Are the leads that you’re harvesting “qualified”, or anywhere near the mark of the “Ideal Client” for you?

July 29, 2009 by Peter Butler Leave a Comment

Sorry about the “Post” blunder on Monday. I stuffed up.

This would have been the starter of the email you got…

Attention: Self Employed Professionals & Small Business Owners!

Really am sorry about that, it was just an internal site edit and wasn’t supposed to go out.

Anyway, the blessing is that it’s a good subject for a post.

Are the leads that you’re harvesting “qualified”, or anywhere near the mark of the “Ideal Client” for you?

It’s a valid question.

The point being, always “Test and Measure”.

Check your offer – how many clicks on your offer (Your button or newsletter opt-in) compared to new visitors?
How many people are then following through and filling in their details to get your stuff?
How many “unsubscribes” down the track?
How many convert into a paying client?

Test and measure and refine always. Websites are a work in progress!

Attention: Self Employed Professionals Post

July 27, 2009 by Peter Butler Leave a Comment

Attention: Self Employed Professionals & Small Business Owners!

Are You Attracting Enough New Clients?

We professionals and small business owners have 3 things in common…

The need for a steady stream of fresh leads and new clients.

We love referrals.

We love qualified leads. (That’s why we love referrals)

Hi, I’m Peter Butler of the Smarter Websites Group of Companies. Why did I create this website?

Out of the sheer frustration I see every day in the eyes of Professionals and Small Business Owners that need more qualified leads and new clients. Also out of my annoyance at designers and websites that aren’t built with a “get me leads and make me money” approach so they just don’t “work” for their money.

Is it a struggle for you to attract enough new clients?

Are some potential clients slipping through your fingers?

Do you notice that you spend too much time and effort on qualifying some of those leads only to not get the deal?

Here’s the Cruncher Question:

Do you wish new clients were phoning YOU as opposed to you chasing THEM?

If you’re like most independent professionals you’re very good at what you do but you probably realize you haven’t got a really good handle on your marketing yet.

Trouble is, you’re not quite sure how to deal with it. Where do you start? You know there are gaps in your marketing systems but it’s not something you’ve ever been trained in. Some of what you’ve tried may have worked but there’s just too long between signing up new clients.

Here’s the thing. The harder we try the harder it seems to be. What is that about?

Look, it’s really not your fault, none of us were trained in marketing. I’m not talking the “normal marketing” model but real marketing, relationship marketing, as in really trying to relate to your prospects which wins their confidence meaning you truly “connect” with them.

If you can help them fix their issue or problem – well, who doesn’t want that? We all want our problems or issues fixed and sorted! BUT, if we approach this problem solving the wrong way it may come across as “a sell” and none of us want to be sold to…

BUT, We Do All Want a Solution To Our Problem!

Click Here To Find Out That SOLUTION!

8 Years… $18,000 and 5 Websites Later…

July 23, 2009 by Peter Butler 2 Comments

I love it when we get it right… (I knew that anyway, it’s WordPress, WordPress rules) but it’s especially nice when the ‘penny’ drops for our clients.

I’m extremely happy that after 8 years, $18,000 and 5 websites built by supposed ‘web experts’ you achieved what I required in one hit. Thank you so much.

Not only did it get built it record time but you really delivered the goods on my new sites functionality. I finally have a website that the search engines love but even better, people are finding it and I can use it to communicate with them. I can actually build a real list because of the way you’ve set it up. I especially love how easy it is for me to write articles and ‘post’ them as I need to.

I also want to thank you for showing me how to use it so clearly and concisely. I appreciate the detail that you go to.

And a special thanks for keeping me up to speed with all the new web tricks and toys as they come online. I know this will all help me stay ahead of my competition.

David Osborne

Profitable Personnel – www.profitablepersonnel.com

We’re adding a new aspect to David’s site that has the potential to pull about $240,000 a year to his portfolio. Will keep you posted.

New Client Site Goes Live

July 10, 2009 by Peter Butler Leave a Comment

Our newest and pleased client’s site has just gone live.

Ivor’s business Perth Software has been in operation since 1985 so he’s no newbie. Ivor has had 6 website rebuilds in that time, not a happy chappyat times with his website people.

Actually, truth be told, it was going downhill quickly, traffic had fallen and it even lost a digit in page rank. Ivor did get phone calls through his site (not enough though) but the problem was they all asked the same question “How much”.

After all this time, effort and money Ivor still wasn’t able to generate a decent amount of leads from his site and no qualification system.

So why is it going to be any better now?

Here’s the short story version of why!

Dynamic content now and not static internet flotsam
Pinging technology that the Google Gods and search engines love
He can add stuff to his website as easy as writing an email
Built in lead generation system.
Built in qualification process so there is not as much focus on price (that part is behind the scenes)

Here’s the experiment I’m doing.

The old site used to get visited about every 10 days (you can check that with the “cached snapshot of page”)

We’ve only gone live this morning and it’s not due for a revisit until the 15th.

I bet I can get it re-cached within a day or so. It’s a big challenge! I’ll let you know how I go.

Here’s what Ivor had to say

We have been developing our website since 2000.

About 6 different web developers have been involved over that time.

I met Peter recently, and he came over as being first and foremost, a marketer, and then a web developer. This approach was totally different from my previous web site programmers.

We have now started my website rebuild with Peter, and it is looking great. Simple things that used to be buried in the context are now visible on all pages.

All the important information is right there on the front page and I just know because it’s now so clear and simple to follow that my lead conversions will be better.

The site has a clear sense of direction that a visitor can follow. The colours are nice and eye catching as are the images displayed of the front page. I really like the slide show gallery on the main page.

Ivor Kosowitz
Managing Director – Fast Track Computer Solutions.

Fast Track Computer Solutions are Winners of:
•    Australia Post Stirling Small Business Award 2004.
•    Finalists in 2 categories in 2007.
•    Australia Post Stirling Small Business Award 2008.
•    Overall Best Business Finalist 2008.

New Dynamic Headlines In Your Posts

July 9, 2009 by Peter Butler 2 Comments

Feedburner is the service that posts out your web content on Auto Pilot, very sexy. But… it had a limitation!

Until earlier this week, if people subscribed to your blog via the Feedburner (NewsLetter Signup) email service, all the subject lines of your emails would be static, containing either the name of your blog or some other text that you would specify.

Like mine “Peter B Butler on Marketing, Smart Lead Generation…”

This is obviously annoying because subscribers can’t know what the email is about before they open it.

Well, here’s the good news. Your subject line in your email can be the same as your latest post. (Funny thing is they didn’t tell us about the new upgrade but our diligent tech discovered it anyway)

Excellent!!! So your readers will know exactly what each email is about.

What do you have to do to get this new feature?

If you’re a newbie or tech challenged client just go to www.smarterwebsites.com.au and make a comment and we’ll set it all for you as a part of our fanatical service. How easy is that? Just make a comment on any post and we’ll get notified and you’ll be good to go.

If you like playing with techy stuff it really is straightforward and you just go to your Google account, click into your Feedburner section, and you can do this under ‘Publicize’ – ‘Email Subscriptions’ – ‘Email Branding’. The code is there with some examples of how you can use it.

Very Cool stuff.

Here’s a snap shot of what it looks like for the techy types.

Archives for July 2009

So why is it going to be any better now?

Here’s the experiment I’m doing.

Start boosting your business growth & profits today!