Archive for the ‘The Scent’ Category

Turns out we’re an impatient bunch. Eye-tracking research has returned some fascinating results comparing the way people used to search online, to how we search today. These results should make any company with a website start to worry…

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The world of online marketing is full of acronyms, and SEO or Search Engine Optimisation, ranks up there with the best (for those that already know what SEO is, please excuse the pun).

Acronyms save time remembering and pronouncing all those long words, and make experts feel important as they drop capital letters like Liz Taylor drops husbands (for the record, she’s up to number 7, 8 if you count Richard Burton who she married, divorced, married, then divorced again)…

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Every week, every day, potential new customers come sniffing around your site, looking for the scent that gets their tail wagging. If you’d like your site to fetch you more new business, and let’s face it, who wouldn’t? Then here are the 3 things that might be getting in the way of potential leads following their nose to you.

A lot of sites do these 3 simple things wrong, so don’t hit yourself with a rolled-up newspaper if yours is one of them. Just so you don’t leave with your tail between your legs, also included are what you can do to fix the problems…

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I recently attended the Search Engine Room one day conference in Auckland, and was pleased to see such a great turn out for a first time event in New Zealand.  Numerous speakers from varied backgrounds provided their thoughts on where the online space is heading both globally and in New Zealand. The one comment which still rings in my mind was spoken by a representative for an Advertising Agency (who shall remain nameless).  This individual was asked to comment on the positive or negative effects search marketing has on building brands:  a very good question.  The Agency representative stated search marketing has no value in brand building.  Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

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Persuasive links are the “connectors” from one micro event to another in a sales process.  The number of micro events in a sales process will vary; however, what’s more important is the ability to persuade visitors to follow micro events with the hopes of leading to a single macro event i.e. a sale.    If visitors resort to using the navigation or, “Plan B”, it means your sales process is unclear, your sales process does not match the visitors buying process, and/or your links in the body of the website are not persuasive enough.   

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If you were to review the common e-Commerce website in New Zealand it appears that selling online is defined as having poor product images displayed with a price, through in a small “add to cart” button indiscriminately hidden at the bottom of the page, only viewable once visitors scroll a meter down the page.  Hey, who cares, New Zealand is selling online!

The concept of buying vs selling refers to the differences in your visitor’s buying process, and your selling process.  The greater the alignment of the buying and selling processes, the greater the success.   The challenge lies in understanding the dichotomy between the two.   

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We all know the phrase “a picture is worth a thousand words”. We also know that good copywriting gives your website good content, and good content appeals to your visitors and converts visitors into customers. Every visitor who comes to your website has different needs. To appeal to your customer’s needs your content has to instigate a positive emotion, or a strong enough scent, for them to take one step (or click) further. Placing a relevant and emotive image can help to draw interest and quickly communicate your message to your customer.

Good copy, coupled with an effective image, work together to give your web content a magnetic appeal.

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One of the big challenges for Businesses trying to improve performance online is to find out what visitors are thinking when they are on your website.   Funnily enough, there is a very simple cost effective method to learn what is happening on your site that very few properly utilise:  Answer the phone and ask some questions!! 

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If you have been reading our articles (thank you) you have probably seen us mention the term ‘active window‘ on a few occasions.

So what is the active window and why is it so important?

The active window is simply what the visitor sees on a web page without scrolling.

Simple, right?

Well, yes and no…

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When someone clicks on your Pay per Click ad, promotional email or organic search result, they have caught the scent.

Ensuring the message on your landing page or conversion path matches the start of the scent ensures an early gain in momentum.

Message Matching

Once you establish the scent and have the visitor follow it, it becomes all too easy to have the scent dissapear from the nose of your visitor.

Enter message matching…

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