Magnon International

How to improve the effectiveness of your call to action?

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:05:40 +0000

Call to action is essentially a clickable button which is used to entice the visitors to take immediate action like: ‘Quick Connect’, ‘Contact Us’ etc. Since these buttons urge the visitors to take some kind of an action, it is essential to integrate them on our website. To understand the importance of call to action buttons, you may read one of our previously written articles.

Every website (no matter how small or large it is) has a call to action button but the crux is to improve its effectiveness meet the desired objectives.

Let’s have a look at some of the most important considerations that can help you attain better results:-

1. Size

Choosing an appropriate size for your call to action button is indeed very important. We should neither use very large nor very small font size. Since call to action buttons are also used on newsletters, mailers, online brochures, blogs etc. so the size of these buttons should be in proportion to the dimensions of the page.

The highlighted call to action used in the ‘Quick Connect’ form in the screen shot above, is selected keeping in mind the dimensions of this form.

2. Placement

Your call to action button should not get juxtaposed with an image, a graphic or a text. Your call to action should be positioned where it can draw more attention.

Try using static buttons which remains fixed even when you scroll a web page.

Aimless placement like: in extreme corner or at a place where it is not noticeable can dilute the entire purpose.

The ‘Quick Connect’ button in this screen shot remains static even when we scroll the page.

3. Keep it simple

There is no standard rule for selecting the font style for writing the text on your call to action button. However, it is preferable to choose a style which is simple yet attractive. Using very jazzy or stylish fonts may not appeal to the users. Another factor is that you should know your target audience well.

For example: if you are targeting children between the age group of 5-15, you may select fonts like- Arial Bold.

Take a glance at the screen shot below. The use of simple font style is more readable.

4. Colors

Every color is used to denote a specific meaning. For example: – Red color is used to signify confidence, passion etc. White color denotes truthfulness, purity etc.

Proper analysis is done about the selection of colors while designing a website. (To know about the significance of colors in website designing, you may refer to an already published article on our blog.)

Similarly, we should pay attention to what colors we want to use in our call to action buttons.

Take for an instance: – the color of the text should not get merged with that of the background.

This screen shot explains the importance of colors while designing the call to action button for your website.

5. Use of catchy words

You can use a little pushy keywords like: – “Buy Now!”, “Call Us” etc. or more subtle words like: – “Read more”, “Know more”, “Continue” etc. depending on your requirements.

Please see the screen shot below for reference:

Hope the above mentioned information would prove useful to you. If you want a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of your call to action buttons, our sales representatives would be happy to help you.

-By Neha Gulati

What can we learn from digital marketing?

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:31:37 +0000

All these years we’ve been using words, pictures, gestures, graphics and animations to present ourselves better in front of our clients. A number of mediums of communication like: radio, TV, newspapers, journals, websites, social networking sites- Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. help us endorse our products/services more effectively. Have we ever wondered about the lessons that the online medium can teach us?

Yes, you’ve read it right… The whole process of digital marketing can teach us the art of communication viz. the way we approach our target audience, understand their requirements, listen to their problems and offer them a customized solution.

Let’s understand, how…

1. Enhance your communication

Web marketers invest a lot of time and money to design a website. It entails extensive planning and dedication to place the right elements at the right place but do we really try to learn something from our websites? No, not exactly.

Why? May be because, we never tried to think in that direction.

We all know that a consultative approach is adopted while writing the content for a website. Marketers always try to cater to the needs of their target audience by offering a customized solution in the form of a product, service or a piece of useful information.

If we adopt the similar approach while communicating with our prospects, we can promote our brand better. In essence, become a good listener, take a note of the problem that your prospect is facing and then be ready with a valid solution to the problem. It is not expected that you always have a solution to everyone’s needs but you can at least reach the periphery.

2. Importance of 140 characters

140 characters a.k.a. ‘micro blogging’ has become a common trend nowadays. Twitter, as a social networking website teaches us to learn the value of time.

How? Let’s begin…

A consumer is bombarded with a number of advertisements of different products and services; therefore it often becomes difficult for them to make a wise choice. More than that, it also becomes difficult for the marketers to stay ahead of their competitors.

The crux is to draft a meaningful message, using as less words as possible. Twitter can certainly help the marketers learn the value of time and yet speak their mind in a clear and crisp manner.
The use of hashtags (#), mentions (@) etc. can help you communicate and promote your brand well on Twitter.

3. Understand whom you are talking to

It is essential to understand the demography, geography and psyche of your target audience. Social media engagement through Facebook teaches us to respect the opinions of your target audience and reach out to your prospects accordingly.

Whether you are organizing an event, updating a status, creating a poll, participating in a discussion; everything should be customized and time-lined as per the age group, interests etc. of your prospects. Facebook also asks for an approval if a person posts something on another person’s wall, mentions someone on their status update, tags a person’s picture etc.

This helps us understand the importance of writing original content, seeking permission of those whose information or image you are about to use, writing the source of information etc.

Don’t end up increasing your ‘likes’ count rather try and monetize it. Same way, don’t end up having a one-way communication; alter your presentation style according to the requirements of your prospects.

4. Seeing is believing

Just try and compare the effectiveness or the result achieved when you interact with your client/s on a video chat or chat through text. I am sure, there would have been more client satisfaction through video chat. This is because human touch still holds more relevance especially if you are located across the borders.

Video optimization too can help you have a humane touch that would aid in building healthy relations with your clients, partners and prospects. This works very well if you are pitching a prospect for the first time; you can introduce your prospect with your team and show your office premises to add a personal touch.

5. Approach in a style

It is observed that logical appeal is more powerful than the emotional appeal. Give some food for thought to your prospects. Entice them to think about you, enquire about your products/services etc. For example: – direct selling through advertisements is paid less attention than approaching your target group differently.

Give your prospects a chance to think and react. Games, engaging status updates, polls, online quiz, thought provoking discussions etc. allows the people to invest some time and take the necessary call.

In other words, if your target audience likes your page and participate in discussions and other activities, they’ll be pleased to spread a positive word around.

If you are really aiming for long term business relations, provide something out-of-the-box to your prospects.

The information mentioned above may not appear anything new to you, but how many times have we tried to learn from the activities we do on the internet? This is just a tribute to the wonderful world of digital marketing..!

Contact our web experts to get more insights about the internet marketing.

-By Neha Gulati

SEO Misnomers – you thought this was always accepted!

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 08:48:39 +0000

We have discussed several things in the past; including good and bad SEO practices. However, there are several things that are usually accepted techniques as part of the “white hat SEO” but, these are major misnomers.

We thought to bring these out more evidently, and prevent you from hampering the search engine rankings of your website through these “SEO misnomers”, or “SEO myths”, or “SEO myths and mistakes”, or “negative SEO techniques”, or “negative SEO tactics”, or sometimes also called “negative SEO factors.”

Let’s begin…

Keyword stuffing:The name is quite self explanatory – it means putting in more than required number of phrases. But, there is no definitive number of “accepted” key phrases, except a 3-4% component of the total keyword count.
But a lot of people think that since there is no concrete definition to this, you can put in as many key phrases as you like.
While this can lead to an immediate rise in rankings of the site if done in a controlled manner, this usually leads to the site going into a Google blacklist – called the Google Sandbox.
In essence: An absolute avoid, unless you have someone who knows precisely what they are doing – and even the best refrain from key phrase stuffing.
Unrelated keywords:Keywords finalization is not an easy task. Several factors need to be kept in mind while choosing the keywords that would best fit your business. A list of primary and secondary keywords is prepared on the basis of the search pattern, market competition, relevance to the subject etc.
But if you include a keyword that does not match your domain of working/is not related to the context of the page, it would be considered as an unrelated keyword.
For example:- if you use “mobile website design” as a keyword in the page of “search engine optimization”, then “mobile website design” would be taken as an unrelated keyword.
In essence: Primary keyword of your page may lose its page rank due to the use of an unrelated keyword.
Single pixel links:Single pixel links, also called hidden links are used to hide the excessive keywords on a web page. Though there is no standard rule, but text size of the keyword used here may vary from 0-10 pixels (not visible to the human eye).
This technique is used to deceive the search engines, which is against the Google Webmaster Guidelines. As a result your website may get removed from Google index.
In essence: Links should be visible to the search engines and the users; else your website may not appear in the SERPs.
Bad neighborhood:Link exchange is a common SEO activity but it is important to analyze the websites with which you are willing to exchange your link. Link exchange with website/s that do not have a strong online reputation or sites that are penalized by the search engines, or which are not related to your domain of working, are bad neighbors to you.
Again bad neighborhood is against the Google Webmaster Guidelines and equal punishment/penalty is charged on such websites.
In essence: The effect of connecting to a bad company can be observed when both the sites have to face the penalty charged by the search engines.
Outgoing links:Outgoing links are the links of other website/s on our website. Outgoing link exchange is essentially done to get more votes from the websites that place your link on their website.
This implies that both these websites are voting for each other.
Though it is an acceptable technique but too many outgoing links on the link exchange page is uninviting to the search engines and fewer links may not boost your traffic.
In essence: It is believed that that there should not be more than 100 outgoing links on your link exchange page. However, it is better to maintain a balance.
Duplicate content:Duplicate content was a commonly used SEO technique until the changes updated in Google Panda. Duplicate content means using the entire or a portion of content in one or more domains. Though the purpose of using duplicate content may vary from person-to-person but the availability of the same content in different web pages tends to spoil the entire user experience.
In essence: Do let your SEO activities go waste, write an original content instead.
Use of information/images without permission:Although we all know that it is illegal to use an image, text, icon, logo or any other registered trademark of a brand without the permission of its respective owner/s, but I thought it is the most commonly used misnorm.
Even if you want to use the image, logo or any other registered trademark of another website, then it is essential to write a disclaimer that includes the source from where you have used the said information/image.
In essence: Just imagine if someone uses your company’s logo without your permission. So if you are using the logo or a trademark of another company, always mention the source of the information as a disclaimer.
Dynamic URLs:Dynamic URLs are generated from the information already stored in the database. It does not require special HTML coding. Since it depends on the stored information, thus changes are made in the database itself. It contain characters like: %, #,? etc.
For example: – http://www.example.com/forums/thread.php?threadid=45867&sort=date
In essence: Search engines give preference to the static URLs which are short, crisp and easy to retain. Also, include the main keyword of your web page in the URL so that the search engine spiders can give preference to your URL as well.

Hope the aforesaid checklist can help you plan your SEO activities well.

Let our SEO experts optimize your website, contact us now!

-By Neha Gulati

Checklist for a better Search Engine Optimization of your website

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:28:23 +0000

We have discussed about the basic SEO techniques in our last post (http://blog.magnoninternational.com/seo-techniques/), in this article we’ll provide a checklist of various SEO techniques that directly or indirectly affect the search engine rankings of a website:-

Keywords:

1. Title tag

Use the primary keyword of the page as the title tag.
Benefit: It is the title tag of the page that appears in the search results when a user types that keyword in the search bar.

2. Headline

Keyword used in the URL of the page must be included in the headline as well.
Benefit: This is essentially done for the benefit of the users and the search engines.

3. Page URL

It is important to use your primary keyword in the URL of your web page. For example:-
If your primary keyword is web designing, then the URL of your page must be- http://www.magnoninternational.com/website-designing.asp
Benefit: The basic aim of doing this is to catch the attention of the web spiders. If the same keyword is included in the URL, headline, title and the text; this increases the overall keyword density of the web page and thus, increase the chances of earning a good page rank.

4. Keyword density of your web page

Keyword density is the total number of times a keyword appears in a document or a web page. It is important to use the keywords in proportion to the total number of words used; else it would be regarded as keyword stuffing.
Benefit: Search engine crawlers give preference to the keywords when it appears a couple of times in the text. This would help you improve the page rank of your website. However, excessive use of keywords is against the Google webmaster guidelines.

5. Anchor text

Anchor text is essentially a keyword that is hyperlinked with a related URL. It can be used to promote the keyword and the URL of the page with which you link that keyword. For example: – if your primary keyword is- Mobile Website Design, it should be linked to the page where it is used in the URL- http://www.magnoninternational.com/mobile-website-design.asp
Benefit: Anchor text not only improves the page rank of your website by promoting your keyword but it also helps you promote the web page with which you’ve linked your keyword with.

Links:

1. Backlinks

Backlink is a link earned when a website places the link of your site on their website. The website that links your site should have a relatively good page rank.
Benefit: Sites with a higher PR get trusted by the search engines.

2. Anchor text used in the backlinks

A lot of importance is given to the links that incorporates a keyword in the anchor text. So try and include a keyword in the anchor text.
Benefit: Even the backlinks should have an anchor text which again attracts the web spiders.

3. Similar sites

Search engines give preference to the links earned from the websites working in the similar domain.
Benefit: This helps you earn more votes as the people doing the similar kind of business recommend or like your site.

4. Links from the most valuable domains

.gov and .edu are regarded as the most trusted and valuable domains by the search engines. Visitors count on these domains is generally high which would certainly benefit the search engine ranking of your website. Though it is difficult to obtain links from such domains but in case you have done it, you’ve surely hit a jackpot.
Benefit: Since these sites are owned by the government of a country so these domains happen to get a lot of direct traffic which certainly improves the page ranks.

Other important factors:

1. Sitemap

An updated sitemap helps the search engine crawlers to index your website well.
Benefit: It becomes simpler for the search engines to index your website.

2. Age of the website

Search engines spiders favor the websites that have been in existence since a long time.
Benefit: Search engines give more weightage to the websites that are not new since have a good online reputation.

3. Theme used

The theme you’ve selected must complement your business which can help you boost your page rank.
Benefit: Colors, designs and the overall structure of your website must match your business aesthetics, values, products, services etc.

4. Specific domains

It is always advisable to have separate domains to target specific regions. For example: – if you want to target the people in the UK, then you should have a separate domain to reach out to your prospects in the UK; like- http://www.magnoninternational.co.uk/
Benefit: There are region specific URLs which helps you target your prospects better as well as get noticed by the search engines with ease. To cite an example:- For the web users in the UK, http://www.google.co.uk/ is a server that opens by default.

5. File location

Files that placed close to the root file obtain better page ranks. Moving further away from level 3 may not work in your favor. For example: http://www.magnoninternational.co.uk/services/web-design
Benefit: Search engines do not index the files that that go beyond 2 or 3 levels.

6. Use of hyphens

It is preferable to use hyphens in the URLs so as to make it readable. For example: – http://blog.magnoninternational.com/customer-swot-analysis/
Benefit: It improves the readability of the URL.

These are some of the most important SEO techniques that can boost your search engine rankings.

For further assistance, contact our SEO experts who would be able to draft a customized SEO plan for your business.

-By Neha Gulati

Reasons for having a mobile friendly website

admin — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:28:32 +0000

We have already discussed about the importance of designing a mobile friendly website in a couple of articles, this post includes latest statistics to give a proof of the concept:-

1. Customers have an inclination towards the mobile web surfing

Number of mobile web users
It is estimated that the mobile web users would surpass the number of internet users on the desktop PCs by 2013.
Mobile web search
Mobile web search has improved by 4X since 2010.
Mobile handset per person
Looking at the current trend, it is also predicted that by 2015, every individual on this planet would at least have one mobile handset which would certainly boost your traffic.

2. Expectation of a better mobile web browsing experience

Website load time
60% of the mobile web users expect the download time of the mobile websites to be 3 seconds or even less.
Faster load time
71% of the mobile web users expect a mobile site to load faster than a website which is compatible with the desktops or laptops.
Number of re-tries
Only 78% of the users would try to load a website as a result of slow downloads.
Analyzing the current web search pattern, it is noticed that the website loading time is extremely essential for the users else they would switch from one website to another which would inherently affect the bounce rate of the website.

3. Word-of-mouth referrals

Bad mobile site
57% of the users would not speak positive about a company that provides an uninviting mobile web experience.
It is important to optimize your mobile friendly website; else you may lose some of your customers. Reputation of a company largely depends on the perceptions of its target audience. It is advisable to make a productive use of every medium of communication that you are using. Mobile sites hence become one area to target your prospects effectively.
Bad mobile web experience
A statistic also states that around 40% of the users would jump to a competitor’s site if they are not satisfied with your mobile web experience.
Frustration of users on their mobile phones due to a slow download
23% of the users got irritated with their mobile handsets when they could not load a mobile site on their mobile handsets.
This is essentially because we all have become so dependent on our mobile devices that it is nearly impossible to imagine a life without our mobile phones and a mobile friendly site helps us gather the required information even on the move.

4. A medium to grow your local business

Local information on Smartphones
95% of the users connect to a mobile site to fetch some local information using their Smartphones.
People prefer to do mobile web search especially to collect important information of a nearly outlet, or restaurant, or real estate agent, or to know the departure time of their flight etc.
Acquire useful information
61% of the users reach a business/company after acquiring useful information about that company on their mobile devices whereas 59% of the users actually visit the location.
Take the desired action
94% of the users take the desired action- enquire about a company, purchase the products/services etc. within 24 hours.
As an entrepreneur, you can expect instant response by your target audience as most the users explore the mobile web when they are on the move. A mobile site can be said to be a good call-to-action tool.

5. Mobile apps are good to explore but can’t undermine the significance of a mobile site

Mobile site better than a mobile app
81% of the users use the mobile sites rather than mobile apps to do price comparisons.
Product reviews
79% of the people use the mobile sites to obtain product reviews.
Favor m-commerce
63% of the users do e-shopping via their mobile devices.

6. Mobile friendly websites can boost your m-commerce business

Mobile web search resulting in sale of a product/service
50% of the users are believed to purchase a product or hire a service using the mobile web.

The above mentioned statistics states the importance of a mobile friendly website. To know more about mobile website design and mobile SEO, please contact our mobile web experts.

-By Neha Gulati

Source of the statistics mentioned above: http://www.howtogomo.com

What kind of SEO techniques do you use?

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 12:35:44 +0000

Are you using the right SEO techniques? Is your website ranking well on Google? If not, what could be the probable reason behind this?

Perhaps your website is not optimized well. It is always recommended to follow the guidelines as laid down by Google so that the search giant can index and rank your website accordingly. Search Engine Optimization techniques are categorized under different colors viz. white and black. However, SEO experts around the globe have also mentioned other colors like: – grey, blue, red, green etc. to distinguish the various practices and SEO techniques.

We shall be discussing about all the techniques under the White Hat and the Black Hat SEO in a series of articles. This article includes the most commonly used White Hat and Black Hat SEO techniques:-

Basis of Comparison

White Hat Techniques

Black Hat Techniques

Meaning

White Hat SEO techniques are the rules and practices as suggested by the search engines.

Black Hat SEO techniques are the practices of deceiving the users and the search engine spiders to gain higher page ranks.

Common Techniques:-

1.	Hidden Text and Hidden Links

Hidden text and links are not a part of White Hat SEO.

Both hidden text and links are used in Black Hat SEO. Search engines do not give credibility to the hidden text. For example: – use of white text and background, use of text as a background of an image, hiding the text with the help of CSS and reducing the font size to 0.

Hidden links are crawled by Googlebot and humans cannot read them. For example: – link consisting of hidden text, use of CSS to create small hyperlinks, use of links in small characters, like a hyphen.

2.	Unique Content

Adding fresh and keyword rich content is important. Also, it is necessary to include the keywords in the required proportion in the meta description, meta tags etc.

Unique content is not used here. Instead similar or same content is used in more than one web page.

3.	Cloaking

The text or content that is visible to the users is also made visible to the search engines.

Display of different text or URLs to the search engines and the users. For example: – presenting Flash or images to the users and HTML text to the search engines.

4.	Keyword used in web content

Relevant keywords are used in proportion to the total number of words in the text. (Ideally it is 2-3% of the total number of words).

Use of keywords in excess in a single web page. It also deteriorates the user experience.

5.	Backlinks

Earn backlinks for your website. For example: – you can tag your website URL along with the comment you’ve posted.

Unrelated links posted on the blogs or forums is not a part of Google guidelines.

Impact/Effect

White Hat techniques involve more time and effort to improve a website’s ranking but it is very beneficial in the long-run.

Black Hat techniques can instantly improve the page rank of a website may not attract the users. Search engines can ban such sites once detected.

These were some of the most basic SEO techniques used. We would be doing a detailed analysis of the positive and negative White Hat and Black Hat SEO techniques.

Want to get your site optimized? Please contact us for further assistance.

-By Neha Gulati

SWOT analysis of the web presence of a brand from customers’ point-of-view

admin — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:46:16 +0000

Marketers spend a lot of time and effort in doing the SWOT analysis of their marketing strategy, products/services and their brand as a whole. (To understand the meaning and importance of SWOT analysis, please refer one of our previous posts- http://blog.magnoninternational.com/swot-analysis/). They all think what their customers think and perceive about them. However, customer thought process may change over time and sometimes marketers may lose the track.

Hence it is prudent to do an external SWOT analysis focusing on your customers’ views and revise your strategy accordingly. Various activities are monitored to do the SWOT analysis, however prima facie is to use it in a more structured manner in order to reap more benefits out of it.

Here are some of the most important questions that a customer would consider while doing the online SWOT analysis of your brand:-

A. Is your brand up there on the search results?

Strengths:	Weakness:
It is an established or a known brand.	It may not be a widely known brand, not a trusted brand, may be the products/services are not of good quality.
Opportunities:	Threats:
Better products/services, better shopping experience.	Customers may not be willing to hire or partner with your brand.

B. Why should I hire your brand?
- 1) Prices offered
- 2) Quality of product/service
- 3) Shipping charges
- 4) Variety offered in terms of colors, sizes, material/specifications
- 5) Offers and deals

Answers to all the heads mentioned under question ‘B.’ are listed in the tabular chart stated below:

[For example: point number 1) of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats is the answer to question number 1) under the head ‘B.’ listed above.]

Strengths:	Weakness:
1) Customers would purchase or would consider your company amongst the best ones selected.	1) Not an affordable brand.
2) It showcase that you are an experienced brand and the customers can get full value for the money spent.	2) Not worth spending on your brand.
3) Free shipping attracts more customers/visitors.	3) On an average, customers would rather prefer a website that provides free shipping vis-à-vis a store that demands delivery charges.
4) The rate of flipping to other websites would probably reduce.	4) Since there are numerous websites that offer good deals, it becomes difficult to grab the attention of the customers. And if your e-commerce site does not provide different kinds of products or customized services, customers may not choose you.
5) Attractive offers and schemes.	5) No profitable deals- it affects the brand loyalty.
Opportunities:	Threats:
1) May visit your online store or hire your service in the future as well.	1) The products/services may not fall in your customers’ budget; hence they may not like to hire your company.
2) Customer satisfaction, resulting in positive word-of-mouth publicity.	2) They may try some other brand next time or simply switch to other brands.
3) If you provide a good e-shopping experience, your customers may prefer to visit your store in the future as well.	3) Customers may not visit your store frequently.
4) Customers can save some money by availing the best deals.	4) Low brand awareness.
5) Customers’ loyalty resulting in a strong online reputation.	5) One-time purchase only.

C. How has the brand positioned itself?
- 1) Social media presence
- 2) Reviews and recommendations
- 3) Online advertisements and promotions

Answers to all the heads mentioned under question ‘C.’ are listed in the tabular chart stated below:

[For example: point number 1) of strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats is the answer to question number 1) under the head ‘C.’ listed above.]

Strengths:	Weakness:
1) Customers can get interesting information; participate in online contests, games, polls, discussions etc.	1) Probably a new company, not active on social networks.
2) Positive reviews that a customer hears about a brand.	2) Negative reviews means that a company/brand does not hold a strong market reputation.
3) How innovative creative online ads and promotional mailers you use. From catchy tag lines, to attractive images and graphics, to impactful content, to the proper use of colors- everything makes a difference.	3) No distinguishing features or USPs.
Opportunities:	Threats:
1) Customers can get to know you more through the social networks. They can get a chance to interact, discuss, complaint and praise with the bigwigs of the company and thus develop healthy relations with your firm.	1) Customers who believe in a strong social web presence may not partner with your brand.
2) You can expect more enquiries, recurring customers, new customers and a positive word-of-mouth publicity.	2) Loss of customers’ faith, lenders and other financial institutions turning off, in the most extreme situation- bankruptcy.
3) Customers can get an idea about your market reach.	3) Customers would not be able to know you better; therefore they would not feel connected to your brand.

Please Note: These are some of the most basic parameters that can help a customer do the SWOT analysis of your online presence, however there can be numerous other considerations as well.

SWOT analysis done by a company or a brand should have synergy with the assumptions and opinions of the customers.

Please contact our web experts for further information.

-By Neha Gulati

What is the importance of a consumer purchase funnel in the online domain?

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:17:56 +0000

A consumer is bombarded with a number of advertisements in a single day and with thousands of brands claiming that they are the best, it often becomes a little difficult for the customers to make a wise buying decision.

But thanks to the online medium that provides the consumers an opportunity to do price comparisons, know about the latest schemes and promotional offers, different product line and much more. (For a detailed insight into this topic- please refer Influence of customer advocacy in online marketing)

If the modern consumers hold the ultimate power to dominate the market forces, do you think that the role of marketers has diminished totally?

An obvious answer to this is- NO.

Over the years marketers have been devising innovative techniques to convert an enquiry into an order placement. And in doing so, a proper procedure is adopted to ensure that when a consumer gets in touch with your brand, he/she knows about the brand inside-out i.e. the ideology of the company, products/services, vision, objectives etc.

In marketing terms, we define this procedure as the consumer purchase funnel which essentially includes 5 main stages:-

Awareness:

A sure shot way to boost your sales is to promote yourself as much as you can on all the available mediums. Your product/service may get over shadowed somewhere in the middle of a plethora of brands in the market.

Hence, it is evident that you take a step further and help your consumers to take an informed purchase decision.

Help them to understand you better as a brand.
Just go beyond than what they can read or see on your website.
Think different- organise workshops, webinars, post on your blog, address the customers’ queries online, offer free online samples… to make them understand who you are.

Opinion:

When the consumers are informed about a particular, it is apparent that they would form a certain opinion about your company. Now, our role as the marketers is to ensure that every prospect gets attracted towards your brand and gets an idea to associate with you.

In case you are a start-up, or have entered a new market, or have launched a new product/service; start building healthy relations with your audience. Let your audience think good about your brand.
In case there is a situation where fingers have been pointed out against your reputation, mould the opinions of the customers in your favour- send online mailers, use testimonials and references, highlight the work done as a part of your corporate social responsibility etc.

Consideration:

Give them a reason to consider you as a merchandiser or as a service provider and select you as one of the best on their list. Address the following questions yourself and then present the same to your audience:-

Why would a customer purchase my product/service?
Why my products/service is different from that of my competitors?
How much experience do I have of working in the same domain?
What kind of reputation do I have in the market?
Are my current customers happy with my services?
How many recurring customers do I have on an average?

Preference:

Till this stage your customers have a thorough idea of your business, so now give them a reason to partner with your brand.

Explain them the benefits of your products/services.
How your product/service could improve their business or perhaps make their life better?
What would they be missing in case they don’t do business with you, or do not purchase your product/service?

Purchase:

This is the most awaited stage for every marketer. The success of your consumer purchase cycle is defined when there is a lead conversion and when the end customer finally makes an informed purchase.

Importance of the online domain in the consumer purchase behavior

The above mentioned was the basic explanation of the various stages in the consumer purchase funnel that affects the purchase decision of the customers. But the catch is that with the confluence of different mediums of communication, internet has revived the marketing strategies of several businesses.

Search engines give a lot of preference to the User Generated Content. Reviews and recommendations websites, social networking websites, consumer advocates and social influencers etc. have an important role to play in spreading the positive word around.

Need assistance? Contact our web consultants who would help you better understand the purchase behavior of your customers and thus, assist you to improve your consumer purchase cycle.

-By Neha Gulati

Influence of customer advocacy in online marketing

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:35:21 +0000

Have you ever revamped your products/services to suit your customers’ preference?

Did you re-design your home page to catch the eye of your visitors?

Do you search for innovative ways to communicate with your customers?

If yes, then it will be important to understand why you do so?

Well, the answer is very simple. It is all done to please and engage the customers. Right from designing, packaging, presenting, pricing, to delivering the product or providing a service; everything is done to satisfy the customers, leading to improved sales- a concept known as customer advocacy.

Customer advocacy is essentially an approach wherein all customer centric activities are used to get a positive feedback by converting every customer into a brand ambassador or an advocate of the company.

Several factors such as: – rising market competition, availability of zillions of products/services, globalization of markets.. makes it even difficult for the web marketers to hold the interest of their customers. It is hence very important to give a personalized solution to their problems and create an aura where the customers feel pampered and are encouraged to partner with your brand. A satisfied customer often acts as a referral which inherently means he/she becomes your brand ambassador or an advocate.

It is an age old saying that customer referrals are the best way to promote your brand. In modern context this is referred to as customer advocacy where efforts are made to transform the customers into brand advocates

How do we do that?

We all have been using online marketing platform like: – blogs, discussion forums, review sites, social networking websites comprising of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. to promote ourselves, to establish a strong online reputation and to engage our target audience per say.

Now let’s start using the same medium of communication to have more brand advocates.

Take for an instance:-

You are a leading shoe manufacturer and every time when a customer purchases a shoe from any of your stores, you send a personalized text message or perhaps an e-mail to seek your customer’s feedback. You can also use your Facebook ‘like’ button and share option to let your customers spread a positive word around.

So far we have been using the social media to enhance our web presence and to build healthy relations with our customers and prospects, now it’s the time to capitalize your earnest efforts.

In a nut shell we can say that customer satisfaction is crucial for the smooth functioning of any business. Hence, customer advocacy is one area where businesses must emphasize.

Let our web experts provide you a customized plan to enrich the online marketing of your business.

-By Neha Gulati

SEO or PPC- Which one to go for?

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:32:06 +0000

In the current scenario of cut-throat competition, it is essential to overshadow your competitors, to keep yourself abreast of the latest trends and stay on the top of all search results. Hence, you need to pay a lot of attention while drafting the search engine marketing plan of your website.

A number of website owners often get confused whether to opt for SEO or PPC – which are both techniques of search engine marketing. Though both of these methods help to promote a website, it is essential to understand their impact on businesses.

Here is a quick recap of SEO and PPC:-

What is SEO?

In a layman’s term, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a long term strategy to organically improve the search engine rankings of a website.

What is PPC?

Pay Per Click (PPC) is the online display advertisement that is used to pull instant traffic towards a website. The advertiser is supposed to pay the bid amount to the hosting service against every click on the ad/s.

Let us now understand the basic comparison between SEO and PPC:-

Basis of Comparison	SEO	PPC
Effect on ROI	SEO being an on-going technique of website promotion is likely to attract a higher Return on Investment.	Website traffic through PPC ad campaign lasts only till the time your campaign is functional.
Favourable Time Period	It is important to optimize your website since the time it has been launched. Initially to rank all your keywords and later to sustain your search engine page ranks.	PPC ads can benefit you the most during the peak times. For example:- during festivals, on a grand event etc.
Results	SEO techniques do not assure immediate results. It may take around 3-6 months to make your website keyword rich	Results through PPC ad campaigns are displayed right after your ad campaign is launched.
Effectiveness	SEO provides you more stable results.	PPC ads which offers unstable results, depends on the amount of money an advertiser is willing to invest.
Modifications	It is not easy to obtain instant page ranks in case you change your keywords.	It is easier to customize and modify your PPC ad campaign after analysing the effectiveness of the keywords used, landing page of your advertisement, ad positioning, bids per keyword etc.

Hope the above comparison would help you decide which technique of Search Engine Marketing is useful for your business. However, it is always advisable to establish a synergy between the two. While your PPC campaign is on, you can aggressively promote your website by targeting a certain set of keywords.

Should have any further queries? Please feel free to contact our Internet Marketing Experts.

Magnon International

How to improve the effectiveness of your call to action?

What can we learn from digital marketing?

SEO Misnomers – you thought this was always accepted!

Checklist for a better Search Engine Optimization of your website

Reasons for having a mobile friendly website

What kind of SEO techniques do you use?

SWOT analysis of the web presence of a brand from customers’ point-of-view

A. Is your brand up there on the search results?

Strengths:

Weakness:

Opportunities:

Threats:

B. Why should I hire your brand?

Strengths:

Weakness:

Opportunities:

Threats:

C. How has the brand positioned itself?

Strengths:

Weakness:

Opportunities:

Threats:

What is the importance of a consumer purchase funnel in the online domain?

Influence of customer advocacy in online marketing

SEO or PPC- Which one to go for?

What is SEO?

What is PPC?

-By Neha Gulati