Better Web Site ROI: Efficient Online Business with SEO, PPC, Split Testing, and Forums

If you're looking for better web site ROI, chances are, the web is only one part of your business, you have a specific budget for your web site, and you want the site to not only carry its own weight, but why can't it make you some extra dough, too?

The corporate situation: budgets need to be closely watched, and tech people can't get carried away with unnecessary frills.

My own experience making money online and becoming and SEO expert was more guerilla than corporate. In 1999, I knew enough web design to get by, and I learned about getting good search rankings and free traffic while flying by the seat of my pants. By early 2005, I'd learned how to get tens of thousands of visitors per month, and had made more than $20,000 two months in a row.

As it turns out, web design itself doesn't bring in or increase profits... at least not the graphic kind most people think of. Ironically, the flashy flash web sites everyone raves about often prevent you from getting free traffic. Search engines index sites based on text- they can?t see flash. If your text is in graphics without alt tags or in flash movies only, you?ll never get free traffic.

There are loads of web designers out there who want to get paid to make you a beautiful web site, but don't know the first thing about helping you make more money. In fact, though independent web designers have to know enough business to survive, corporate designers may never have had to learn anything about running a business or getting good ROI via their web sites.

To get better web site ROI, naturally you have to lower your investment and/or increase your profits.

Where do the profits that lead to better web site ROI come from?

• Traffic (free or paid)
• Converting Prospects
• Selling new products to previous customers

Here are some review questions for your business:

• Are you getting free traffic from good search engine rankings? If not, why not? Maybe your website isn't search engine optimized. Maybe you aren?t adding to and updating your content. Maybe your internal linking and/or navigational structure is suboptimal.
• Are you running multiple pay per click campaigns and meeting your break even figures for most of them? Are you dumping the ones that don't work?
• Are you tweaking your web sales copy and running split tests to see what increases your conversion rates?
• Are you staying in touch with previous customers, offering them helpful tips and resources, and finding out their other needs?
• Are you designing new products and improving services based on that feedback?

Those are just a few questions to help you see which way lies the real road to better web site ROI.

Now here are a few suggestions:

1. Get more free traffic

All traffic can be converted to sales profits. Free traffic means better web site ROI. So search engine optimize your web site. Ever had a keyphrase review for your business sector done? If not, get one. This is one of the three major factors in writing your web site sales copy.

2. Only do profitable pay-per-click advertising

Make sure you have a clear plan in place for every phrase on which you bid. Know what conversion rate you need for each. Send each phrase to specific and different web pages, and monitor your success rate. If you can?t tweak conversion rates high enough to profit on a pay per click phrase, ditch it! What cuts into your web site ROI more than pay per click advertising at a loss? And don?t fool yourself into thinking it?s branding. There are much better ways to do branding, and lots of them are free.

3. Convert more prospects

Hopefully you already have a most wanted response (MWR). Perhaps you?ve developed customer profiles and/or modeled customer acquisition and retention phrases. However you group your prospects, make sure you split test your web copy to develop the most powerful sales pages possible. Your traffic cost for each phrase shouldn?t change much from month to month, so improving your conversion rates will lead to better web site ROI.

4. Encourage Community and Get Feedback

Don?t be afraid to let your customers talk to each other. Use forums to help them and find out what they need. The best way to stay in business, sell more, and increase ROI is to know what they need and give it to them. Remember, it?s easier to keep a customer than to get a new one. Use polls, articles in your e-zine (e newsletter), and free offers to motivate them to answer your specific questions.

Conclusion

That?s obviously not every detail or tactic you could use to work toward better web site ROI, but it?s plenty for most people to start with. If you need help or have any specific questions for me, contact me either via my pulsemed.org website, or through my SEO blog at http://top-ten-search-engine-ranking.blogspot.com/.

Since 1999, Brian Carter, MS, has reached more than a million visitors with his websites. His PulseMed.org ranks in the top 1% of all major websites. He maintains a blog about web marketing at http://top-ten-search-engine-ranking.blogspot.com/. His second book, The Web Site Marketing Success Manual: How One of My Web Sites Made $21,638.49 in a Month, will be available in July, 2005.

More Web Development Articles

Setting Up A CGI Script On Your Web Site
Before you set up any scripts you will need some information about your server. You can get this by e-mailing your web hosting provider.

What ROI You Should Expect From Your Web Site
Is Your Web Site an Expense or an Investment?Why don't you think of your web site as of an investment rather than of an expense? Having a web site is very similar to having an investment property.Let me show you why.

Beware the Software Siren
I?ve heard several prominent web marketers mention in their classes and public forums how easy it is to create your own software. Why, all you have to do is run over to Elance.

Warning: The Truth About Having a Web Site!
If you don't have a web site yet, are thinking of slapping one up or have one that simply isn't producing, this Warning is for you!All too often folks contact me about getting a Web Site when they really have not done their due diligence in determining even if their "idea" is one worth investing in. And although they hate spam and don't believe most of it, they do tend to fall into believing much of the fast, easy and cheap noise online in existence only to line the pockets of shysters and unscrupulous developers.

Autoresponders Make You Look Like A Pro
People like to get immediate responses to requests. Autoresponders are great for letting people know you are on the job and that their requests are being taken care of.

In Business? 10 Reasons Why You Need a Website -- Now!
1) Word of Mouth The single most powerful form of new business creation is word of mouth. Your past customers, friends, acquaintances and staff aren't likely to carry your brochure or even your business card everywhere they go.

Website Value - Whats Your Business Website Worth?
If you were asked to put a value on your website what would it be? Perhaps you paid a small fortune and commissioned a top design agency to build it. It would still be worth at least what you paid for it, right?It's a sad fact that a great number of websites are worthless.

How To Keep Your Website Sticky
Developing a website with content that entices visitors to return over and over again is something that takes time and effort to put together. This checklist can give you a great start on creating a popular website that entices readers to hang around on your site.

Are You Being Scammed By Your Web Design Company?
This is a growing concern amongst many business owners. Does your web design company own you? This may be possible if you've allowed them to host your web site for you and also register your domain name for your company.

Running An Effective Website
Running an effective website is a continuous process. I have compiled five (5) ways of doing it on a regular basis.