Chapter II - The Conversion Loop

The Simplicity of Automation

Now that we've covered the fundamentals about how to think about the online economy and you understand how goods are promoted online, let's talk about converting your visitors into customers in terms of the Conversions Loop methodology. To illustrate the conversions process, let's take a look at conversions in terms of planning a glamorous party.

CELEBRATE

Let's say you wanted to throw a party. The process of bringing people together for a celebration is a lot like the process of bringing traffic to your website and converting those casual visitors into customers - what we call the Conversion Loop. Whether we're talking about a grand dinner party for a few friends or a fund-raising dinner, both involve a four-step process to bring people closer and closer to the goal you have in mind. Recently, an ophthalmologist friend of mine organized an informal gathering at his home to tell his friends about an opportunity to invest in a technology start-up for doctors. Guests were greeted at the door of his elegant waterfront home by a Spanish guitarist to set the mood. A serving staff was busy in the kitchen, rolling-out a tantalizing stream of gourmet appetizers to accompany the fine wine served to guests. Mid-party, a group of executives gave a 20-minute overview of the investment opportunity in the company, accompanied by the "call-to-action" of reviewing an investment prospectus. The process of putting together this fund-raiser party is no different than operating a Conversion Marketing campaign. A four-step formula for guiding people through a buying decision closely aligns with the process of planning a party. When it all comes together, everybody wins.

Step 1) The first thing to do when you throw a party is decide whom you want to come. This is similar to identifying the Target audience for your marketing campaigns.

Step 2) Once you send out your invitations, the next step is to see who is interested and get their RSVP.

Step 3) As the date gets closer, you remind the people on your guest list how great your event will be, communicate directions and confirm that they'll be there.

Step 4) Finally the day arrives and so do the folks you invited. Open the door and let them in. That list of people you started out with is converted into a roomful of guests, and everyone has a great time!

Here's how that process breaks out into The Conversion Loop.

Step 1 - Invitation

In the Conversion process, your Announcement Mechanism is like your party invitation. You have to decide on the type of people you want to attract to your website and speak to them in a way that gets their attention. You have to create interest. We live in an age of information overload, and never before have peoples' lives been so hectic and complex. Your invitation has to reach out to the people you care about, and it has to uniquely capture their attention above the din of all the other things going on in their busy lives. This is true with your Announcement Mechanism as well. In order to let people know about your goods and bring traffic to your site, you've got to let people know you have what they need. You have to excite their desire for your product. Here are some of the most effective tools to create AWARENESS for your website:

Website Content - having a compelling and attractive website is a great way to attract visitors. Use of free content or great prices are excellent methods of attracting Visitors to your website.

Search engine marketing strategy

o Provides the most traffic if you are able to get your keywords listed in the top 10-20 listings on the major search engines. Historically the largest and most significant search engines in terms of traffic are Yahoo!, Google and MSN. Also be on the lookout for search engines that are relevant to your industry, as these may be more conducive to your success. Getting top placement of a certain keyword phrase is often quite difficult with keywords commonly searched. What makes a website rank high in search listings tends to change dramatically month to month based on how the search engines determine which websites are relevant.

Public Relations

o Typically in the form of a newsworthy press release published on your website and other websites, this is a more economical form of online marketing. The press release should contain links back to your website for more information. Publishers often pick up a press release with breaking news on an industry and provide valuable exposure and traffic to your website. Recently, I ran a major online promotional campaign for a professional speaker named Keith Harrell, who has an extraordinary story. Years back, Keith was contacted by a reporter doing a story on the life of the professional speaker. The reporter contacted six speakers with a request to be interviewed. Keith was the only speaker who responded to her call, therefore the reporter ran a full-page article on Keith. As it turns out, the reporter was working on a piece for the Wall Street Journal. This speaker went from virtual obscurity to fame overnight. Today, he is a very successful professional speaker on the keynote speaker circuit, all from a spectacular encounter with the press.

Media

o Buying media placement can be a efficient way to drive traffic to your website, but can also prove to be very expensive. To make media buying profitable requires an excellent Conversion strategy. A few popular forms of online media are illustrated below.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Advertising - A company called Overture, which was subsequently purchased by Yahoo!, pioneered this business. Recently, Google has dominated this industry with a product called AdWords by offering a vastly superior experience for customers over other advertising opportunities for large and small business alike. A pay-per-click ad only costs the advertiser when an individual clicks the ad and visits the advertiser's website. It is a very efficient form of advertising, because you only pay for people interested enough to click on your advertisement. The commercialization of this form of advertising has revolutionized the advertising industry as we know it since even small advertisers spending $1.00/day can reach a global audience with their advertisements.

Ad Banners - online advertising started with the simple ad banner, which appears on webpages typically with animated graphics. Ad banners are traditionally sold on a Cost per Thousand basis (CPM). Advertisers pay for the ads whether a consumer clicks on the banner or not.

Email List Rental - web publishers are skilled at getting people to opt-in to receive email. Publishers will rent-out their lists to advertisers who can send long advertisements to subscribers in the form of a solo email or a newsletter ad.

Co-registration - Email publishers will promote an incentive to consumers or businesses in exchange for signing-up for various email newsletters. The email list publisher benefits by grouping their offer to join a newsletter with other newsletter publishers, as the costs to attract Visitors is shared among several Publishers. Incentives typically offered by co-registration companies include free downloads, sweepstakes or free items. The quality of email lists created by co-registration marketing can be a bit suspect as the people signing up are primarily motivated by the free goods or a chance to win a big prize completely unrelated to your product/service.

Incentive Offers - luring Visitors to your website with a compelling and targeted incentive is a proven method for attracting traffic to your website. The incentive serves the dual purpose of also capturing information in exchange for the incentive offer.

Social media sites - user generated content has taken the web by storm, signaled by News Corp's $580 million purchase of MySpace.com, closely followed by Google's $1.6 billion purchase of YouTube.com. Social media sites enable consumers to publish personal information and build communities around special interests. A few leading companies in this space include:

o Facebook.com

o MySpace.com

o YouTube.com

Blogs - coming from the term web log, a blog is a website published using easy self-service tools featuring text, graphics and videos on subject-matter important to the blog creator. Blogs typically include short commentary or news on a particular subject.

Offline Marketing - often a less-expensive form of driving traffic to a website, the traffic is generated by prominently publishing a URL in strategic locations. Traditional retailers have a strong advantage in converting store traffic into online traffic to their websites via signage, register receipts and shopping bags.

Word of Mouth - referrals from friends, colleagues and relatives serve as the single, most-influential source of traffic to a website. Respected referrals are also the most effective method of driving sales conversions.

Step 2 - RSVP

Once people become aware of what you do and the goods you offer on your site, you can confirm their desire - or get their RSVP. In the Conversion Loop, this is called Data Capture and Permission to Engage. People who opt-in to get email from your company have elected to receive information from your company. This is key. In Conversion Marketing, we call these people Interested Visitors. This process weeds out those who aren't interested or aren't able to come to the party. It gives you a pool of resources to...