Website Performance Guidelines

First, an apology - last month's newsletter suffered a software glitch that made it unreadable.  Please see now, what I tried to say then, by clicking on the link below:

http://www.web4marketing.co.uk/news_march_2006.htm

Last month, I was pointing out the need for testing rather than just assuming you know how your visitors react.

When you have your test results, though, how do you know how to judge them?  A website may well generate sales or leads; but how do you know when to be satisfied with that performance?

Last month I analysed the web statistics data for a group of my clients.  As a result I would suggest the following guidelines:

1. A website that fails to convert at least 1% of visits into a lead or an order requires immediate redesign.
2. A conversion rate of 10% of visits is very good - to the extent that redesign has a high risk of harming performance.
3. A properly-run Google Cost per Click campaign should result in higher conversion rates than the total web traffic.
4. Free White Papers for download seem a very effective tool for generating B2B enquiries.
5. The more you spend on promoting your site,  the more important it is to ensure the conversion rates are maximised.

Regards

Stephen Orr

SEO made simple

Web marketing rests on simple principles and you must take each step in the correct order:

1. Define your target market
2. Create the relevant website
3. Test the effectiveness of the site
4. Promote

We all want to get to the top of the search listings for our main keywords.  That is where the problems start! All your competitors want the same position.  The search engines are now doing an excellent job in helping searchers find the information they want.  If your site is clearly the best in its particular field - and assuming it has been built to assist search engines to index it - then you can expect to be top of the pile. Since most of us do not have such clear superiority, we have to accept a more mixed result but still ensure it is profitable.

Of the four stages listed above, the third is the most important. Testing can be done in the real world by spending some money on cost per click advertising to attract sufficient visitors quickly. If enough of those visitors convert to leads and sales to cover your costs, then you can promote further in the knowledge of increasing profitability.  If not, then you have to review the earlier stages.

The testing in the real world is vital and may lead to results that surprise you.  I had a classic instance last month where a website was redesigned, everyone involved thought it more 'professional' but it simply failed to bring in the business. We sometimes forget that searchers are looking for information that they see as important and they want to find it quickly and easily.  Complex navigation systems can kill a site.  The best 'experts' are sometimes wrong.

Regards

Stephen Orr