Monday, September 29, 2008

#11 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

#11 - Online Inquiry Forms Work Better Than Email Links

Online inquiry forms will help you get better leads from your website because you'll get better information, you'll get more information, and it will be easier to qualify your prospective new client and give them the information they're looking for.

If you've done a good job telling a bride what you'll do for her, why you are a better choice than the last five websites she's visited, and why she should hire you, then filling out a form for more information is a no-brainer.

Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.

Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

#10 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

#10 - Follow-Up On All Inquiries By Phone.

A personal follow-up on all of your inquiries by phone will get better results and turn more of your website inquiries into sales.

Email follow-up is almost useless these days and if you use email as your primarily follow-up with the brides who have made inquiries through your website you're probably losing significant sales to competitors who use the phone to follow-up on web inquiries.

I asked one of my new clients to use the phone to follow-up on her web inquiries and she doubled her monthly sales in only 30 days.

Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.

Looking for the latest wedding industry statistics?

Friday, September 19, 2008

WordButler Offer Too Slippery


Word Butler ... hmm
Just a quick note to let you know if you stumble upon this site http://www.wordbutler.com/ or click on one of their Google Adwords ads... watch out of the "Free Test Drive" offer.


All I got was an email and BIG PITCH - no "free test drive."
No trial... just sales pitch (on landing page and via email).

Seems if you buy the offer is risk free, you can get your money back, but my doubts are high when a company offers this type of bait-and-switch.

These folks are new on the playground.
I'll stick to my recommendation to use http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/.
Here's another post about these people and their product: http://www.polepositionmarketing.com/emp/wordbutler-keyword-tool/


#9 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

Follow-Up On All Inquiries Within 24 Hours

The inquiries you get from your website are some of the best leads you can find.

They come from people who have visited your site, read the information, found it interesting enough to seek more information about your products and services by taking the time to fill in an inquiry form requesting additional contact.

In today's world of "I want it now," you'll want to follow-up on your inquiries the same day you receive them, or within 24 hours. Keep in mind, a bride has likely made several inquiries. A prompt follow-up will help you create a great impression and help you close more sales.

Marketing to brides online will become tougher in 2009. Don't let the competition eat-your-lunch, join my ADVANTAGE program today.

Monday, September 15, 2008

#8 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

#8 - Be Aware Of Your Conversion Rate

I have never heard a webmaster discuss conversion and most would rather eat worms than talk about it.

Unfortunately, conversion is what it's all about. Conversion is when a bride finds your website and actually takes action: She might make an online inquiry, she might pick up the phone and call, or maybe she'll download a summary sheet of your services and prices (after giving her contact information first, of course).

Conversion is the #1 way (and frankly, the only way) to calculate the success of your website. If you had 100 qualified visitors to your website and got 20 inquiries your conversion is 20%. If you got 3 inquiries your conversion is 3% and something is probably wrong with your website.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

#7 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

Taking A Casual Approach To Your Online Marketing Is A Big Mistake

Take your website and online marketing seriously and you'll get great results.

Take a casual approach and you'll find your competition taking market-share and sales away from you.

If you don't know how many inquiries a week you're getting from your website, if you don't know where they're coming from, if you don't know where the hottest places to advertise your website online are, if you don't know how many visitor sessions you have daily - on average, if you don't know your conversion ratios, if you don't know the top 10 keywords you're targeting at Google, Yahoo!, and MSN are - you're not taking your online marketing seriously.

Friday, September 05, 2008

#6 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

Your Cheap Web Hosting Isn't Saving You Anything And Is Probably Costing You Thousands Of Dollars In Lost Sales

This one kills me and it's killing your sales too.


Most of you probably tell a bride "you get what you pay for" and have heard horror stories about the couple who hired a $500 wedding photographer. But for some reason when it comes to website hosting people think $5 dollar a month hosting is a bargain and a good idea.

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous.

Poor hosting servers result in lost sales. How?

When a bride can't find your website because it's unavailable, you lose a sale. When your pages are slow to load and a bride gets tired of waiting, she leaves and you lose a sale to your competitor. When your scripts unexpectedly don't work and your inquiry forms freeze up, you lose sales.


Webmasters don't get it, but saving a few dollars a month is not worth it when at stake is hundreds or thousands of dollars in sales. You can get the highest quality website hosting available for between $40.00 and $80.00 month - and not have to worry about lost sales because of hosting.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

#5 - 25 Things Your Webmaster Will Not Tell You

Own Your Own Domain

I hate to see this happen, but unfortunately I still see webmasters who have registered a domain name in their name, or their company name, rather than in the name of the company they are working for.

In other words, you don't actually own or have control over your own domain.

Sometimes this is just an oversight or a result of trying to do things too fast. Whatever the case, you should know who owns your domain, it should be who you think it is, who you want it to be (maybe your formal corporate name?), and it should have a current email address as well as a current regular mailing address associated and registered with it.

And if your domain name is registered through Network Solutions you're paying $20/year more than you have to - I tell all my clients to move their domain registration to Go Daddy at GODADDY. COM.