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Cavanaugh Interactive

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Three “Quickie” Ideas to Generate Website Revenue

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Revenue Bar GraphThe goal of a business website is to generate revenue, right? A website shouldn’t just put on a pretty face; there should be strategies behind it to implement ongoing revenue generation.

Once the site is up, what can you do to make more money?

Three Ideas to Generate More Revenue

  • Promote your clients. Remember, they want favorable exposure, too. You can help by using your website to get them greater visibility. You can…
  • Ask for a testimonial. Then place their name and company in a prominent location. Be sure to get their permission and keep in touch about site traffic on the page where their name appears. Who knows? You might get more business from them as a result of your good will.
  • Post their business information on a sidebar and charge a nominal fee for “advertising.” Visitors are already familiar with Google Business page listings and if you want to recommend another company on your own site, what’s stopping you from setting up a sidebar listing? (Likewise, ask them to reciprocate on their website.) Remember, the more external links on your website, the higher your SEO rankings.
  • Build a “quickie” shopping cart. Want to sell products related to your primary business on the side? Then build a low-cost Weebly shopping cart linked to your primary site. You won’t need to spend a lot of time in development, your “flagship” site won’t be disrupted, and the hosting/shopping cart fees are minimal.
  • Offer expert information on relevant topics. It’s hard for your visitors to keep up on timely information. You can offer a real benefit by creating a downloadable pdf file with useful advice. This gives you the chance to shine as an expert in your field and offer a “taste” of how you can help them. On a WordPress site, a plug-in like Easy Digital Downloads can be used to accept payment.

Which of these might work for you? Each can give a real boost to a website that hasn’t been updated lately. Implementing any one of the above will increase your credibility and trust with prospects as well as put a little extra money in your pocket.

What to know more about how to begin? Just call Nancy at 414.771.8906 for a consult or email nancy@cavanaughinteractive.biz.

Changing your worldview

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Webiverse with Google as the hubWhere is the center of your digital universe?

Your website, right? It’s the point around which other entities revolve. Search engines scour your site for keyword phrases. Online directories and Google Business Profiles link to your domain—your sphere of influence. Links from your social networks to your website lend credence to your social influence.

In the early days of the “Wild Web,” business owners believed that “If you build it, they will come.” Google found their websites in 2-3 days. Put a website address on their business card and they’d get traffic.

No longer true! In September 2014 the total number of websites reached 1,000,000,000. In this immeasurable digital universe, your website is now a mere speck.

So how to you attract your target audience?

You begin by altering your worldview. Here’s how a dramatic change of view works: For thousands of years people accepted the idea that the sun and planets orbited around the earth. But Copernicus shattered that worldview by arguing that the sun as the center of our solar system.

What’s this got to do with your website?

Think about your target audience and their worldview. Where do you think the center of their universe lies? Not your website! Accept the new worldview and you begin to understand more about their habits. What websites do they visit on a typical day? From their point of view, your site might be Pluto, barely noticeable on the edge of their universe.

Take a look at our graphic showing the location of your website. I bet most of you guessed that Google is the hub in the new worldview. Absolutely! More people visit Google every day than any other website. Why is it so wildly popular? Because it offers astonishing features that are user friendly and deliver instant gratification.

What other sites are popular with your target audience? Which social networks are most likely to contain their profiles? Where do they hang out? What industry sites? Where do they go for educational resources? Entertainment?

Put yourself in their shoes and you’ll open a pathway of discovery about their behavior. Armed with these new insights, you’ll be ready to plan some strategic moves to get your business noticed.

Start with Google

  • This behemoth has a massive database of information about keyword phrases and their popularity—words used in search queries that can draw people to your website. Use that data to keep your keyword phrases up to date.
  • Google also offers site analytics to help identify your site traffic and how whether it lines up with your prospecting goals.
  • Once Google research and stats identify popular keywords among your target audience, an AdWords campaign will get you noticed in the right sidebar of a search results page.

Though your site won’t become the center of the Web, it will begin to increase the right kind of traffic as its “gravity” attracts your target audience.

Once you change your worldview, your marketing perceptions shift. Your goals become customer-centric—which is where they needed to be all along.

Would you like to learn more about how to use a customer-centric approach to attract more business? Contact Nancy to get a free 30-minute consultation.

Using local search to promote Wauwatosa restaurants

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10 Days in Tosa websiteWauwatosa has a more than 100 restaurants located in a small geographic area. To help promote these businesses, five years ago the Chamber of Commerce created “10 Days in Tosa,” a promotion that encourages diners to visit local restaurants.

In July I was asked by the Chamber to redesign the 10daysintosa.com website. Using the latest “cloud” technology, in just a few hours I energized the look by creating a fresh, contemporary design that includes a revolving slideshow featuring mouth-watering menu dishes as well as a user-friendly map pinpointing restaurant locations and specials.

But site appearance was only half the challenge. After 20 years of building websites, I know that trusting the slogan: “If we build it, they will come” is a huge fallacy.

As I wrote content for the Home page, I identified the target audiences as restaurant owners and their customers/prospects.

How do I attract both of these groups to this website?

As a Wauwatosa resident of almost 40 years, I know that dining at local eateries is a popular activity. My thought was to examine just how popular and then use that information to attract diners to the website as well as sign up restaurants to participate in “10 Days in Tosa.”

The solution: search engine optimization for local search

The best way to increase the site’s visibility and traffic is by using organic search engine optimization (SEO) to identify popular keyword phrases and use them in site content to build visitor traffic via search.

Long-tail marketing graphIf you’re familiar with the concept of “long-tail marketing,” then you understand that a small target audience can be a potential gold mine of new customers. The most receptive prospects are at the narrow end of the tail because their need is very specific and easily converted into a sale.

I researched those keyword phrases that: 1) are niche-oriented; and 2) part of a local search. Think about it: If I can identify a small but active group of prospects, I can use those search phrases they’re using to optimize the website and “pull” those people in to 10daysintosa.com.

That’s exactly what happened. Using Google keyword research, I discovered that on average over the last year, 1,900 people per month are searching for “Wauwatosa restaurants.” That may not seem like a big number, but it really is a lot! By contrast, only 210 searches per month were for “Tosa restaurants.”

Do you see the big difference in search numbers for this a tiny variation? Doing your homework is critical! It’s always best to identify the most popular keyword phrases for use in content development.

Once optimized content is in place, the website “feeds” the search engines with high-volume keyword phrases, resulting in: 1) higher local search engine rankings; and 2) more potential customers finding the website.

How do you think effective site optimization could affect your website traffic? Your sales and profits? Can you imagine what a difference it would make by using two to three sets of popular search phrases to attract customers to your restaurant? How about capturing those customers who often make spur-of-the-moment searches for “Wauwatosa restaurants?”

If you’d like more information, feel free to contact me.

5 tips for creating high-quality content

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What you need to know to keep your audience engaged

1. Understand your audience. Successful marketers connect with their customers. They know the kind of content that instantly engages their desired audience. They also make sure that content is edited for grammar and spell checked. Poor delivery costs credibility.
2. Be concise. Break up articles into short, easy-to-read paragraphs. Show lists using bullet points. People are used to skimming content, and long blocks of text cause loss of interest. Break up text by interspersing relevant images every few paragraphs.
3. Use mixed media. High-quality articles aren’t your only option; keep your audience engaged by using videos, slideshows, and photos to add variety to your messages.
4. Keep it coming. An interested reader naturally wants more. Plan ahead and offer the opportunity to read a whitepaper, sign up for more, give feedback or share what they’ve learned.
5. Provide value—not a sales pitch. Much of the value you can offer is centered around educating by delivering high-value content. Your top priority is your reader—not SEO that doesn’t offer immediate value for a reader. Before you begin to write, ask yourself what’s in it for your audience and how you can engage them and capture their loyalty.

Need more ideas about how to make your content compelling? Call (414) 771-8906 for a one-on-one consultation or fill out the form on the right and send it in with your message.