It’s been several years since images started being blocked in the preview pane of your email client, however most email marketers have not yet adapted to the change. Having said that, I’ve put together a gallery of email marketing messages that I have received since we wrote our article on the subject that pass the [...]
Yellow Pages® Online – How can you make platinum ads work?
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Many of our clients use the Yellow Pages® Directory and the Yellow Pages® Online to generate leads for their businesses. Over the last year we’ve had a chance to to try out the Yellow Pages® Online Platinum Ad concept with our clients. As illustrated below, the Platinum Ad is a group of 3 small ad [...]
Web 2.0 Hype Busted by Jakob Nielsen
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Through the haze of excitement about Web 2.0 Jakob Nielsen has articulated what serious web marketing people have been saying for a long time. Get Web 1.0 right before thinking about Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a popular term that refers to things that encourage sharing and community between users. Think Youtube, FaceBook, MySpace, Linked In et al. Think user [...]
Only geeks will laugh at this…
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Okay, this is a little off the conversion rates topic, but it made me laugh. For those who aren’t aware, you will soon have to display a sign like this in your front yard to stop Google from invading your privacy… Go here for more: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/30/google-maps-is-spyin.html Does anyone know if the Google Van is in Australia [...]
Customer to Marketer – I Want a Divorce
I was speaking with Copywriter Meri Harley today about how many business marketers seem to have forgotten the very people who made them big… Their customers. It’s manifest in their website copy that is usually laden with self references (We are the leading, We offer blah blah blah). For example have you ever seen a [...]
Selling on price – Are your customers really price sensitive?
“Our customers are price sensitive.” “Our product is a grudge purchase.” I’ve been hearing this quite a bit in one of the industries that we’ve been working with recently. Now, I’m not going to dispute the fact that price always comes into the sales process. However, it consistently seems that the businesses that say this [...]
Part 1: The Copywriting Formula for Business Websites
“We are the leading provider of …” Would you like a dollar for every time you’ve read that on a business website? On many business websites, copywriting like this is common. Do all these companies suffer from self esteem so low that they need to pump up their tyres? I think and hope that there’s a better answer. I [...]
Part 2: The Copywriting Formula for Business Websites
So what is the formula for writing great website copy for your business website? Well, let’s cover the basics. Good copywriting addresses each of the following five questions. 1. Who is the customer? When a prospective customer lands on your web page, they should be saying, “This is for me!” You help them to this conclusion by [...]
Email Marketers: Ignore the preview pane at your own risk!
I’m really trying hard to look for email marketers who care about what their email looks like in the preview pane. It’s too easy to find bad examples, and I’m caved into the urge to expose them! So here are the three bad examples that I received today. If it wasn’t for my recent [...]
eCommerce Websites – What do you need to maximise conversion rates?
Ever wondered what it takes to get the most out of your eCommerce website conversion rates? Well, let’s start with the basics. You must give your website visitors all of the information that they require to make a purchase. Seem simple? A good eCommerce system and good information are the first steps to maximising your eCommerce website [...]
Email Marketing – Missy keeps it simple
Since I wrote about email marketing and the Outlook preview pane two weeks ago, I’ve been on the lookout for good examples of email marketing. It turns out that Missy Higgins has an email marketing savvy record label. Take a look at the example to the left of the Missy Higgins concert tour email that [...]
It’s NOT the content management system that matters… It IS the content!
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If you’re sick and tired of waiting and paying a fortune for a web designer to update your website, then should you be looking for a content management system? Here’s a scenario that was recently described by Platform Interactive (Makers of a proprietary Content Management System) boss David Barnes of : “The customer gets sick [...]
Pointless Website Polls – Have your say!
Have you ever seen a website poll like this one? I can’t remember where I found it, but it’s a little embarrassing don’t you think? Online polls are often sold as one of the “whiz bang” reasons that you need a content management system. The sales person will say something like, ”An online poll helps build a sense of community.” Intangible concepts [...]
Using LivePerson to Boost Conversion Rates
I’ve had two completely opposite experiences this week with LivePerson chats. LivePerson is a software package that allows you to chat with your website visitors (like instant messaging). Used well, as we saw in a recent conversion rate study that we conducted for US based online boot retailer Georgiabootstore.com, LivePerson is an awesome website conversion tool. [...]
Email Marketing: What will it look like in the preview pane?
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Since Microsoft introduced the image blocking feature in Outlook 2003, the question that every email marketer should be asking is, “What will this email look like in the preview pane?” It’s surprising to find that four years on, we’re still seeing emails like the example to the left. I drew a blank when I saw [...]
Banner Blindness – Eyetracking Studies Expose Fancy Formatting
The massive take up of eye-tracking in website usability studies has revealed some interesting information. It’s a phenomenon known as Banner blindness… Well, it’s not a revelation that website visitors have learned to ignore banners and ads. But, a recent article on Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox shows that banner blindness can spill over into your web content! An [...]
Fort Knox expands Melbourne Self Storage
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I recently met with the team at Fort Knox in their Melbourne Self Storage facility. In the last 2 years with Fort Knox we’ve managed to have the website overtake the Yellow Pages® as the number 2 lead source for new customers. It’s now the number two lead source behind word of mouth referral (as it should be [...]
Conversion Killer! Forced shopping cart registration
Number one on my list of eCommerce conversion killers is the shopping cart registration page. It really bothers me that so many online shops ask you to “sign up” or “register” before you enter the purchase process. The topic was discussed in a recent blog entry by Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now in the US, “Why must [...]
48 Hour Google Listings – Know what you are signing up for!
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I received this email today promoting guaranteed listings in Google and Yahoo in 48 hours. I think it’s unfortunate that many people in the search engine marketing industry feel it’s okay to prey on people’s ignorance. I say this because what “getting listed” in Google and Yahoo means in this email is very different to what [...]
Cool flash websites – Impress or Convert?
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Most people who have worked with us know that we’re not a big fan of “cool flash websites” for businesses. Well, we don’t apply this rule to everyone. There are some professions where being cool really is everything. For instance, you’re probably too cool for school (i.e. you need a cool flash website) if you’re a: Rock band or [...]
What’s the big deal about getting into Google?
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Much of the focus of Australian website owners is still on search engine optimisation and getting into Google. Because we haven’t moved past this, Australian businesses risk lagging behind on creating websites that really satisfy their customers. Because our website is well ranked in Google for terms like “web traffic”, we regularly get calls and emails [...]
Check your website before running your Radio Advertising Campaign!
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I met with John Tellis of www.tailor.com.au last week to talk about his website. Since John’s company has recently been running a highly succesful radio advertising campaign on SEN (Melbourne AM Radio Station 1116), we were interested to see how the website had been performing to support the campaign. John takes web marketing seriously, but [...]
Website Rescue – How your Radio Advertising can generate visits to your website and convert them to leads
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I had a number of people call me this week to say, “Have you heard this radio ad for ‘Website Rescue’?” Well, I hadn’t heard the ad, so while I was still on the phone I said, “I’ll go to Google and type in Website Rescue and see what comes up.” I was surprised. There [...]
eCommerce Website Search – 10 rules to better search results and higher eCommerce conversion rates
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A simple way to boost your eCommerce website’s conversion rate is to make sure your visitors can actually find what they’re looking for. It’s highly likely that a visitor to your site will use your website’s search tool to do that. Seems simple right? Well, in researching this topic we found that the simple things sometimes slip through the cracks. A review of [...]
eCommerce Websites – 10 rules to better internal search results
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When you’re running an eCommerce website you spend so much time optimising your site, improving your product descriptions and fussing over your web design that you sometimes don’t notice the little things. After all, you’re the one who’s trying to sell something. You might be looking around at your stock wondering how to sell it [...]
Want an effective website? See your marketing consultant first.
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Hiring a marketing consultant can be a smart move. Particularly if you run a business that doesn’t have a marketing department (i.e. most small businesses). Often B2B and professional services companies are created by people who are very good at what they do, but who are not necessarily good at articulating it. Sometimes they struggle to describe [...]
Google Maps
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Australians have recently been introduced to Google Maps and Local Business Search in the search results of Google.com.au. If you go to Google.com.au and perform a search on “Self Storage Melbourne” for instance, you will see a section that looks something like this >> Where Google finds a Business and Geographical cross-match for your search, [...]
eCommerce Websites – How to handle eCommerce problems and save your customers
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US company Tealeaf recently released some interesting research related to errors on eCommerce websites. “42% of online consumers abandon or switch after experiencing online transaction issues.” http://www.tealeaf.com/news/press_releases/2007/0917.asp It can be difficult to emulate the problems that your customers experience, so there’s a number of simple actions that you can take to give you a chance [...]
Are long URLs a turn off?
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According to the Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008 long URLs are on the nose. “What we discovered was that long URLs actually work as a deterrent and stop viewers from doing what they’re supposed to do (click!). Instead, viewers spend time trying to decipher what’s in the URL itself. Those viewing the listing [...]
Conversion rate review – Metal finishes website
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We recently conducted a conversion rate review on a website for a company that creates metal finishes for non metal objects such as doors, signs and other building elements. To introduce our readers to how a conversion rate review works, we thought we’d publish a brief summary of our conversion rate review. Client: Metalcote Pty Ltd Website Objectives: [...]
Burn carbs not carbon
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In a push to make Bitemark green we’ve developed the “burn carbs not carbon” program. Basically, this involves encouraging the team to ride their bikes to work rather than driving. So far our super-fit general manager Mark Standeven has joined the cause with me. Between us, we are potentially saving up to 2 tonnes of greenhouse [...]
The search engine keyword challenge – Can your website copy make sense?
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Getting your search engine keywords into the right places in your website copy doesn’t always come easily. We’re working on a website at the moment whose keywords include the terms “life planning” and “life plan.” The trouble with those terms is that they are searched on fairly frequently by the target market of our client. However, [...]
Conversion rates – The basics
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In this article on Clickz, Bryan Eisenberg of Future Now discusses the basics of conversion rates. It’s interesting to note that for all of the technical wizardry that you can use to optimise the conversion rates of your web pages, the basics are still as relevant as ever. Some of the basics that Bryan identified in the [...]
You have to pay to get into Google right?
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“You have to pay to get into Google right?” Too often there is confusion about what’s paid and what’s not in Google. It’s time to set the record straight. Click the image to the left to see which areas of Google are paid and which are non-paid. The listings that appear with a light yellow background at [...]
We’re number one in Google for number one in Google :-)
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Every business that takes web marketing seriously wants to be number one in Google. So we recently published this page – Number one in Google: The Secret Techniques that will get you there! Now we like having a bit of fun at Bitemark and we’re not going to publish anything on this blog that we’re not [...]
Franchise websites – Are franchises missing the web marketing boat?
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We’ve spoken to many franchises about their websites in our travels and have come to the conclusion that franchises are sitting on the biggest opportunity in web marketing today. In the trenches, the potential of the franchise model is the ability to connect the personal interest, service and ownership of local business owners and a big brand [...]
Email Marketing and SPF
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There has always been a clear difference between opt-in email marketing and SPAM. Unfortunately for web marketers, the email SMTP protocol (the language that email servers use to talk to each other) suffers from a complete lack of security. This has made it very difficult for your Internet service provider to tell the difference between 400 messages turning [...]
Content is king in web marketing, but what on earth is it?
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Ask any company that is successful at web marketing and they will confirm the proclamation, “Content is king! All hail the content!” Although it’s specifically written about website video advertising, this post from SiteProNews “How To Make Web-Advertising Worth Watching” contains some important points that relate to all web content. “It has become an article of faith that the [...]
Franchise Web marketing – How do you market your franchise online?
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Are franchises sitting on the biggest opportunity in web marketing today? One of the real advantages of franchised businesses is that you have local people with local knowledge running a big business system under a big brand. Content is king in the current web marketing environment of search engines, lead generation and conversion rates. Franchises [...]
Web marketing – The easy way to select a company to market your business on the web…
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If you’re looking for an easy way to identify a web marketing company that can help you to achieve an effective working website, then take a look at their home page. Do they talk in terms of you, their potential customer? Or do they talk about themselves? The answer to that question will tell you how much [...]
Getting to the top of Google takes more than techniques
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There was an interesting article from Dan Skeen in the Age yesterday about Google, Search Engine Optimisation, black hats, white hats and Matt Cutts… If you want to know what any of those things are, read the article here. The following particularly interesting quote from the article highlights the subject of our recent post on [...]
Number one in Google: The Secret Techniques that will get you there!
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OK, so you want your site to go to number one in Google, and you’re looking for the secret techniques to get you there? Well, the thing is, they’re not really that secret. Ten minutes of searching on Google will reveal that the basic technical tricks to ensuring that you get to number one in Google [...]
Online selling and international orders
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One of the fantastic things about the internet is that selling online has enabled many small businesses to access international markets. At the Small Business Expo in Melbourne last weekend I listened to a talk by William Mulholland from McMahons Lawyers regarding some of the legal issues that face small businesses. It got me thinking about the risks [...]
Read this before you accept international orders from your website
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If your business sells online, receiving your first international order can be thrilling. One of the great things about selling online is the ability to reach markets far away for a low cost. But beware, the ease of conducting transactions over the internet belies the potential minefield of international trade. Before you leap into the global marketplace, [...]
Google Listing Guarantee
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I recently wrote a page about guaranteed Google listings that went straight to the top of Google. I’ve been taken aback by the response that it generated. If you are looking for a company that can guarantee to get your website listed in Google and more importantly to get it listed under search terms that will generate [...]
Mag Wheels – New and Used in Victoria
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Canterbury Tyres are specialists in new and used mag wheels. At their 3 retail sites in the Melbourne suburbs they house the largest collection of second hand and rare wheels in Australia. If you’re looking for a rare wheel, a part set or wheels for a classic car, then the chances are that Canterbury Tyres have them in stock. They [...]
Online Video Production and Corporate Video for websites
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Online video is fast becoming a mainstream requirement for website projects. Since we’ve just completed a new website for a video production company, we thought we’d publish our guide to using website video to enhance your online conversion rates. Read more >> If you are looking to include an online video on your website, then [...]
Using online video to increase conversion rates
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Can online video boost your conversion rates? Video is becoming an important feature of many websites. Here are a few examples of websites where we’ve used an online video: Digicast -Video Production and Corporate Videos – http://www.digicast.com.au/ Melbourne Brick Company - http://www.melbournebrick.com.au/aboutus.asp Used discerningly, an online video can increase the chance of a website conversion because it can: [...]
Selling is not telling – Ask questions
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Wayne Berry of Top Gun Business Academy taught me that “selling is not telling.” Over the past 5 years I’ve learnt an enormous amount from Wayne about selling. One of the fundamental keys to professional sales is to be more interested in your customers than yourself. Seems basic right? It still shocks me how many sales [...]
Lead generation – Can you ever have enough leads?
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If you’re not generating leads from your marketing well, then this question is a no brainer. If your marketing is working well, you may be comfortable that you’re generating enough leads. However, if you are getting lots of leads but you’re experiencing problems with customers and profits, then you might want to think about this. There is [...]
Lead generation Funnel – Why generate more leads?
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Generating more leads is a consideration even when you have enough leads. If you had more than enough leads coming in, then you would never have to worry about making a sale to someone that you shouldn’t have. It’s a fact in business that we do catch the genuine interest of people who shouldn’t buy from [...]
Web Marketing = Branding, Design, Web Development, Search Engine Optimisation, Lead Generation?
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So what does it take to create an effective web marketing website? Our experience shows that it takes a range of expertise from fields such as: Branding Web Design Web Development Web Copywriting Sales Strategy Search Engine Optimisation Lead Generation I always wonder why “web designer” became the term that many people associate with creating [...]
Case Study: Mobile Mechanic – Monster Conversion Rates!
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Ace Mobile Mechanics provide mobile car service, mobile auto electrician service and breakdown assistance to Melbourne and surrounding suburbs. Like many businesses, Ace mobile had a website but were not using it as a lead generation tool. In fact, their website didn’t even have their phone number listed (a 13 number – 13 20 42). Challenge: To turn Ace [...]
Copywriting – A thousand words is worth a picture
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What’s more important, the copywriting or the design of your website? Don’t get me wrong, web design is very important. A bad web design turns people off and reflects poorly on your brand. However, the more important yet often forgotten part of any web marketing project is the copywriting of your website. Good copywriting includes: Well constructed [...]
Copywriting – Get your message through
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Copywriting is by far the most imporant element of creating your website. People come to your website to find out what you have to offer and what you have to say. And yet strangely, copywriting is often left out of website projects altogether. Why is it that copywriting is so undervalued on the web? I believe that some of [...]
Web Marketing and Business Blogging
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Business Blogging has become a very integral part of the web marketing mix. It’s been a huge trend with companies like Microsoft and Google maintaining company and staff blogs. We’ve also seen many small businesses use blogging to great advantage. After years of sitting watching this trend we’ve finally dived in and we’re already seeing [...]
Business Blogging
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Blogging for business is one of the most interesting trends emerging on the web. Whilst I was initially sceptical, I’ve discovered an order of benefits for business blogging. Business Blogging gives you the ability to: Develop and hone your writing skills and that of your staff – Marketing has truly entered the Information Age and blogging is about [...]
Bitemark going Carbon Neutral
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I’m blogging about going carbon neutral today in the spirit of the Live Earth series of concerts. Caring for our environment is something that I personally am very passionate about. Some of the initiatives that we are implementing to reduce power consumption include: Powering off computers at night Switching to low power consumption servers for our [...]
Case Study: Australian Migration Resource – Why website traffic does not equal website sales…
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Relocations Made Easy is an online information resource for overseas people migrating to Australian cities like Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Shani Alexander has been developing this information resource over the last 3 years. Whilst she has developed a very successful business selling to corporate clients and referrals, her website just wasn’t working. And it wasn’t [...]
Self Storage Success Story
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The thing that has always impressed me most about Fort Knox Self Storage is how well they approach marketing. From our first meeting it was clear that they had a very accurate picture of how effective every part of their marketing was. Because of this, Fort Knox Self Storage has been one of our greatest success [...]
Web Design for Visual Impact or Customer Needs?
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Do you need a website that has visual impact? Hits you right between the eyes? Would you be surprised if I told you that a visual impact website could be driving your customers away? I’ve often found that business people come to the conclusion that they need a “visual impact” website by going through a [...]
Web Design – Visual Impact for SME websites?
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Often the first place that SME businesses go to for a website is a web designer. The question to ask is whether it’s more important that your website is designed: For visual impact, or To demonstrate how you can solve your customers problems? The answer you choose for that question could have a significant impact on your [...]
Silver, Amber and Costume Jewellery
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Tanjable Expressions is an online retailer of Silver, Amber and Costume Jewellery based in Melbourne. To start from scratch with a new online shopping website is a significant challenge. Some of the issues that you’ll face include: Getting a new website indexed by Google and found by potential customers Creating and managing content Building trust with [...]
What is your budget for lead generation?
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I find it interesting how many companies classify their website as an IT expense. What that tells me is that many business owners and CEOs have been let down by web companies who have failed to demonstrate how their website can be a vital lead generation tool. Here’s a scenario. We have several clients who [...]
Can your website generate leads?
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Amongst Australian SME’s, there are 2 sides to the ”generating leads from your website” camp: Those that do Those that don’t. For those that do of course, this is a dumb question… For those that don’t, we find that the reason is often: Lack of understanding about the purpose of a website Fear and confusion about the web Bad [...]
Lead Generation meets the Content Management System
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Our company works exclusively on websites that are designed to generate leads and make sales for B2B and B2C companies. Most often, when we are competing for business we are competing against a company that is offering little more that a content management system and a template. The question that we ask is, “do you need [...]
Do you need a Content Management System?
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Do you want to be able to edit your own website? Is a content management system the answer? You certainly need to be in control of your own website. After all, your website may be the most important tool you have for contact with your customers. When dealing with lead generating websites, many web development companies that [...]
Google Guarantee – What to look for with guaranteed listings
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When considering any kind of Google listing guarantee, you should ask, “What will people have to search on to find my website in Google?” Getting your site listed in Google is trivially easy. In most cases, it’s simply a matter of putting the site up and notifying Google that it’s there. You notify Google that your site [...]
Domain Names – How to choose
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Many companies tend to think of their website as a singular entity. As websites continue to become more central to the marketing process, it’s time to thing strategically about having more than one website and more than one domain name. If your company does not have its own portfolio of domain names, then it may [...]
WIIFM: The most important question to ask about your marketing
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Back in 2001, Bryan Eisenberg wrote this interesting article about WIIFM. “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM) is a question that still seems to be forgotten in many web marketing projects. I say that because I’m staggered by the number of websites that I find that start out with a sentence like this on their [...]
What’s in it for me?
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It’s often referred to as your favourite radio station, WIIFM. What’s in it for me is a fundamental question to ask before starting any marketing project. The thing is, whether you like it or not, we are motivated by the personal payoff in whatever we do. It’s fundamental to human behavior, and once you understand it, your [...]
Case study: Melbourne Brick Company – Bricks, Pavers, Retaining Walls, Outdoor Living retailer
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Melbourne Brick Company has four outdoor living centres in Glen Iris, Hallam, Hoppers Crossing and Bayswater. As a longstanding retail business, Melbourne Brick determined that buyers were using the web more and more to find suppliers and to educate themselves before making purchasing decisions. Acknowledging the shift in buyer behaviour, Melbourne Brick engaged Bitemark to implement [...]
Shopping Cart Categories
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We’ve been working on one of our shopping cart sites that’s just not selling. Whilst we are a web marketing company with years of experience in optimising conversion rates, we don’t always get it right the first time! Now the first thing a really good web marketer does to solve a problem like this is [...]
Shopping Carts and Categories – Navigating your way to conversion
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We’ve been working on one of our shopping cart sites that’s just not selling. Whilst we are a web marketing company with years of experience in optimising conversion rates on shopping cart sites, we don’t always get it right the first time! Now the first thing a really good web marketer does to solve a [...]
Supplemental Results – Google’s second division
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If pages of your site have disappeared from searches on Google, chances are they might have been relegated to Google supplemental results index. Why do web pages fall into Google’s supplemental results? Here are the most likely reasons: The content of the page is a close duplicate of another page in Google’s main index There are not [...]
Google’s Supplemental Results
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The chances are that at some time, some of your web pages of your website will be relegated to Google’s supplemental results index. This page discusses: Some of the reasons that your web page might end up in the supplemental results How to check if your any of your website is in the supplemental index What [...]
Web statistics – search for the truth in your website’s statistics
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Web statistics are the cause of a lot of confusion in business. There are questions that arise like: What web statistics package should you use? What are the important statistics to look for? How can you verify that they are accurate? If you’re relying on the web statistics package that your web host provided for you, [...]
Yellow Pages® Ads
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I often find myself discussing how to make Yellow Pages® Ads work better with my customers. Quite a number of our customers invest a lot into their Yellow Pages® Ads, so we have built up quite a bit of experience at generating website leads through Yellow Pages® Ads. I thought I’d share my thoughts on [...]
Choosing a domain name
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How many domain names does your company hold? We find that many companies have wisely registered domain names that ensure their company name and trademarks are protected. With less regulation in the .com.au domain space, it is now possible to hold domain names such as: A generic name for your product or service A term that [...]
Yellow Pages® advertising Vs Google
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Will Google spell the end of the Yellow Pages®? I often hear web techies heralding the end of the Yellow Pages®. The talk is that search engines like Google are going to replace the Yellow Pages® altogether. But before you throw away your Yellow Pages® advertising, consider a few fundamental questions: Is the Yellow Pages® working [...]
Using testimonials on your website
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“Testimonials don’t work” “I never read testimonials” “Testimonials are all made up” We often hear statements like these, however we know that testimonials will continue to be a key element of building trust with your prospects online. The trick is in how they’re used. A good article to read on the subject came from Futrue Now [...]