A conversion is when someone looking at your offerings decides to take the action you want them to take, i.e. making a purchase or providing you with their contact information.  On a website, the conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who make a purchase or give you their e-mail address.

When you know what your conversion rate is and what the average value of a conversion is, you can calculate return on investment, ROI, very accurately.  When you know your ROI you can make the most informed and profitable decisions about the allocation of your marketing budget.  The higher your conversion rate the greater your ROI.

Next month I’ll get into measuring conversion rates, and I’ll have a special offer for newsletter subscribers who want some help getting a system in place to provide these metrics.  Now, I want to tell you about how to increase that conversion rate.

The most effective, simple way of conversion optimization is to simply put yourself in the shoes of your customers, clients or donors.  Walk through the process you expect them to use when they do business with you.  This could mean walking into your store and trying to see it as a customer would.  If you do e-commerce then you need to go to your website, browse a bit and make a purchase.

Every business transaction follows this model: Visit, Obstacle, Goal.  You have visitors and you have a goal you want them to perform.  In between is what keeps them from converting, obstacles.

What obstacles do your put between your visitors and them taking your desired action?  Obviously, some obstacles can’t be removed, like having to reach for their wallet.  If they have to fill out a form on your website then too many fields to fill out can be an unnecessary obstacle.  Every click and every keystroke a visitor makes is an obstacle.  Try to make your website require as little clicking and typing as possible to carry out a transaction.

In a store there are many possible obstacles.  The organization of your products might create obstacles.  If people can’t find what they need quickly they’re less likely to follow through with a purchase.  Your employees might seem disinterested, unhelpful, or even rude.  Poor people create obstacles not just to making a purchase, but to feeling comfortable in a store.

Service providers often create a big obstacle with their price tag.  It’s a lot of money to agree to up front.  So, many of us change the goal.  Instead of going for the sale right off the bat we offer a free consultation or free estimate.  This gives us an opportunity to chip away at the price-tag-obstacle before the client has to face that decision.  Plus, a no-risk goal will always convert better than a goal with a price tag.

Improving your conversion rate is the the process of making it easier to do business with you.  There are more rigorous methods of going about it, such as split-testing, but I bet you can figure out some ways to improve just by putting yourself in your customers’ shoes.

The sky's the limit when you expand toward the horizon.

There are two directions to grow your business, vertically and horizontally.  Vertical growth is selling more to your existing market and expanding your share of that market.  Horizontal growth is selling new products or services experiences to your existing market and adapting your offerings to fit new markets.  At least that’s the way I look at it.  An MBA would tell you that horizontal growth is all about acquiring companies in other sectors.  That’s not very useful to most small businesses.

When you start thinking about growing your business horizontally it’s really helpful to properly understand what it is you’re selling.  Don’t get me wrong.  I’m sure you have a masterful understanding of your products and the services you offer.  

That’s not what you’re selling though.  People don’t buy a drill because they want a drill.  They don’t buy cold medicine because they want cold medicine.  People buy drills because they want holes.  They buy cold medicine because they want to stop coughing and be able to breath clearly.

You’re not selling products and services.  You’re selling experiences.  If you happen to sell drills  you’re selling the experience of hole creation.  That experience has real value to a variety of markets.  Drills can be marketed to construction companies, whose work depends on making holes.  They can be marketed to the do-it-yourself enthusiast, who finds great value in the freedom to create holes.  As a final example, drills are valued by arts and crafts types because drills allow them to adapt and create new things that just needed a hole or two.

Each of these groups buys drills, but they respond to different packaging.  The foreman wants commercial grade reliability and power.  The do-it-yourselfer seeks economy and versatility.  The crafts person might desire the ability to make small holes in delicate materials.

OK, enough about drills.  What experience do you sell?

Restaurants sell a dining experience, where someone else does the cooking, cleaning and worrying.  Consultants sell learning experiences that result in some sort of improvement.  Cafes sell a variety of experiences without even thinking about it.  They sell a social experience, a morning caffeine experience, a warm studying experience and more.

So, how do you turn that into horizontal growth?  Package it.

A restaurant could offer a romantic dinner package, with champagne and a private candlelit table.  For lunch they could offer a business lunch package with two lunch dishes, two sides, and two drinks, plus you get to sit at a four-person table even though you only have two.

Give it some thought, and I bet you can think of a way to package what you already sell so that it appeals to a type of person that isn’t already shopping with you as much as you’d like.

Another opportunity for horizontal growth is selling something you already have, but don’t sell.  There may be a byproduct of your operation that has value to someone.  For example, when coffee is decaffeinated the extracted caffeine is sold to make caffeine pills.

More likely, you have knowledge that you aren’t leveraging.  If you own a plant shop then you should offer weekend gardening classes.  Once you have that down, why not write a book or make an instructional DVD?  It’s insanely easy to self-publish these days.

Whatever you end up discovering and packaging, you’ll need to market it.  Email marketing remains the most cost effective method of reaching out directly to people.  Direct mail still works, but can get very costly, especially if you want to purchase a mailing list based on demographics.  Direct mail is pretty affordable if you just do a standard postcard.  You can send a custom color postcard out to your customer base for about $0.50 per person.  E-mail is more like 2 or 3 cents per person.  Either way, when you launch a new package send out a limited-time discount or coupon to your list to get things rolling.

If you find a package that’s popular you can try repackaging it as a continuity program.  You know, a something-of-the-month club.  You could create a romantic dinner club, with easy monthly billing.  Something-of-the-month clubs have been around a long time.  The first that I know of is the Book Of The Month Club, which started in 1926.  Today, if you google “of the month club” you’ll get 10.2 million results.  Be sure to treat your customers fairly in your continuity programs.  Do that, and it shouldn’t be hard to at least break even, assuming you already have the ’something’ to sell each month.

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.

Twitter’s weird.  It’s a bit hard to wrap your head around it.  My best advice is to worry about that later.  Whatever Twitter is and whatever it does, it’s evolving.  So, don’t worry about understanding it before you use it.  Through using it you’ll come to understand it, and maybe you’ll even figure out new ways to put it to use.

That said, there are some things that are helpful to know.

What is a Tweet?

Let’s get this out of the way:

A tweet is a piece of text no longer than 140 characters. Spaces and punctuation count. Think of it as a blog entry, a bitesized blog entry.

For reference, that definition is 140 characters long.

Timelines

A timeline on Twitter is a collection of tweets in chronological order.  The Public Timeline consists of every public tweet made.  When you tweet, you create your own timeline that people will see when they visit your profile page.  You can see your own timeline by clicking the Profile link in the top menu.

Every user also has their own unique timeline that consists of the tweets from everyone they follow.  This is what you see when you click the Home link in the top menu.  It’s like your own personal news ticker.  You can follow bunches of different people and all their tweets, except messages to other people, will show up here.

Your Twitter Profile

Click the Settings link in the top menu to edit your Twitter profile. One thing to keep in mind is everything in the Account section is publicly visible.  You can put whatever you like as your name if you don’t want your real name to be public.  Using a head shot as your picture is the norm.  It’s also helpful in convincing people to follow you because it shows off your humanity.  If you aren’t comfortable putting your picture out there try for something eye-catching instead.

Further into your profile options you can upload a background image and change your color scheme.  I think it’s good to stand out a bit here, but it’s also easy to look tacky.  Best to leave the color scheme alone at first.

Following & Followers

Following is Twitter’s word for Subscribing or Friending.  Whenever you visit someone’s profile page you’ll see a little Follow button below their picture.  Click on that button and their tweets will show up on your home timeline.  Following is a one-way action on Twitter.  Unless someone has made their updates private, they don’t have to approve your request to follow.  If they haven’t turned the feature off, they will get an e-mail telling them that you are now following them.  They may well check out your tweets, and follow you back if it looks like you put interesting stuff out there.

Some people will automatically follow anyone who follows them.  In fact you can find websites with huge lists of people who will auto-follow you back.  I strongly advise against this tactic for gaining followers.  Quality is definitely better than quantity when it comes to followers.  I’d much rather have 100 followers who actually read what I tweet than 10,000 who could care less.

As you tweet you’ll start getting those e-mails to let you know that someone is following you.  Your first question will probably be, “Why are they following me?”  Often people will discover you and follow after finding a tweet of yours in a search.  Something you posted might also get ReTweeted by one of your followers, leading their followers to check you out.  People might discover you through a link on a website, or some random e-mail newsletter.

Here’s what I do when I get a new follower:

• I click the link in the e-mail to look at their profile.
• I look at their ratio of Following to Followers.  People who follow many, but are followed by few are often a bit spammy in their tweeting.
• I read their little bio, and inspect their tweets.  I ignore any tweet that starts with @somebody because those won’t end up in my timeline unless they’re directed at me or someone else I follow.
• I look at how often they tweet.  If someone’s tweeting 20+ times a day then their tweets have to be pretty good for me to follow back.
• If there’s more than one or two shamelessly self promotional tweets I won’t follow them.
• If they seem to be advertising ways to make money on twitter or gain thousands of followers, I’m gone.
• If they seem genuine, remotely interesting, and I have some interest in common I’ll follow back.

Remember that people will look at your Profile this way before following you.

Conversation

Direct Messages are private.  Only the sender and recipient can see them.  You can only send them to people following you.  In my experience, Direct Messages are not a good way of communicating.  They are often ignored and often used to spam.  You’re much better off with e-mail or Google Wave for private conversation.

You can see tweets mentioning you by clicking the @YourName link on the right side of the Twitter page.  To direct a tweet at someone specific begin it with @ followed by their username.  For instance, after reading this you might want to tweet:

@PGrandstaff Wow, that newsletter was great! I’m going to tell all my friends about it.

Or, maybe you’ll want to tell me where to shove this tutorial.  Either way, you can be sure I’ll get the message because you directed it at me.  The rest of your followers won’t see that tweet, but it would be publicly visible on your Profile page.

To let your followers get the tweet in their timeline, and direct it at someone just include the @username someplace other than the beginning.  For instance:

I just finished learning all kinds of stuff from @PGrandstaff’s newsletter. You should check it out!

I bet I’d even ReTweet that one.

ReTweets (RT)

ReTweeting is when someone repeats someone else’s tweet, so their own followers can see the original message.  This is now a full fledged feature of Twitter, but it started organically.  People wanted to pass on tweets, so they ReTweeted.  Twitter listened, and now tweets in a timeline have a ReTweet button.

The traditional way of ReTweeting follows a formula:

RT @OriginalAuthor Content of original tweet [ReTweeter's comment]

It varies of course, some people credit the author at the end with “via @OriginalAuthor.”  The nice thing about this method is you can add your own thoughts.  However, problems arise with the 140 character limit per tweet.  In order to credit the author or add a comment tweets can be edited for length when ReTweeting.  There is a risk of altering the original meaning, though.

So, the new, official ReTweet feature lets you send someone’s tweet to all your followers with a click.  Your followers will see the tweet as if they were following the original author, with their picture and name.  Your name will appear underneath as the person relaying the tweet.

The Official ReTweet function probably won’t replace the original.  So, for optimal ReTweetability leave room in your tweets for people to add “RT @YourName ” — that’s 5 characters plus the length of your user name.

Hashtags: #hashtag

Hashtags let you add categories or keywords to your tweet.  Using hashtags allows people to aggregate all the tweets on a subject.  They consist of the hash sign, #, and a keyword with no spaces.  This is another feature created by Twitter users that is now official.  Hashtags are now automatically turned into links to Twitter searches.

You’ll see hashtags being used for conferences and events a lot.  You can follow live coverage of all sorts of things by searching for the associated hashtag.  You can track what’s going on in a city or state, or you can tune in to a topic.

A couple of examples for you, #NaNoWriMo #NC #SmallBiz.  It isn’t always easy to tell what a hashtag is about just by looking at it.  A Google search should tell you if clicking on the hashtag doesn’t.

See also, How to Tweet Well.

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.

• Aweber – No footer ads, ever.
• MailChimp – Footer ads can be disabled easily in your account if you’re a paying customer.
• Vertical Response – You’ll have to contact support to get the ad removed.
• Constant Contact – Same, you’ll have to put in a support request… adding your logo costs extra.
• iContact – Pay 10% extra per month (minimum $4.95) to remove the ad.  In their defense, iContact does have the least intrusive footer ad, plus they’re based right here in Raleigh, NC.

While I’m at it, I have to tell you why I hate Constant Contact.  It’s the name.  Sure, you want to be in constant contact with your list, but I’ll wager you’re readers would rather not hear from you constantly.  Years ago, I actually unsubscribed from a local company’s newsletter because of that Constant Contact logo at the bottom.  “Constant Contact?  I don’t want that.  My in-box if full enough already!”

Got a tip or something I missed? Share it in the comments below!

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.

image credit

How To Tweet Well

Well, Twitter became even more important this month.  Deals were announced with both Google and Microsoft to include Twitter posts — tweets — in search results.  So, before long, when someone searches for your company they might also see what people are saying about you on Twitter.  In my book, everything in search engine results matters big time, period.  Twitter also matters because it gives you another outlet to stay connected with your clients, donors, peers, etc. as well as to attract new ones.

Tweeting seems really simple.  Twitter seems really simple in general, at first.  It is a simple concept: write little messages no longer than 140 characters.  In theory each tweet should answer the question: What are you doing?  Dead simple.  But, actually doing this well gets complicated.  You’ll need to balance the amount you want to communicate with the amount of room you have, and still write something readable.  You’ll also need to stand out — catch people’s eyes.  You’ll want to elicit a response from the reader as well, e.g. click your link, reply to you, or just empathize with you.  Finally, you have to provide actual value in your tweets.  A few examples should help.

Bad Tweets – I’m making these up, to protect the guilty.

‘Buy our great widgets at http://www.example.com’

This kind of self promotion only works when someone has just said to themselves “Wow, those are some nice widgets, and I do need some new ones.”  On Twitter these types of give-me-your-money tweets are a sure fire way to be ignored — with sort of an exception for non-profits, see below.  If you want to get shoppers through Twitter, you’ll need to talk about benefits and provide useful content.  Really though, traditional selling doesn’t apply here.  Don’t pitch people.  Instead, talk to them, and engage with them.  Join the conversation.

‘I just posted a new article at http://www.example.com’

Unless you’re famous, and everyone just loves to read everything you write, this kind of tweet will do nothing for you.  If you want someone to read what you’ve just posted online tweet it with a strong headline, call to action, and link: ‘Meaning of Life Discovered – Learn the Truth at http://www….’  Okay, that’s a little over the top, but be sure to give people a reason to click.

‘I’m stuck in a meeting.’ or ‘I’m brushing my teeth.’

Okay, everybody brushes their teeth, and everybody goes to meetings.  This is what’s called life-casting, it very literally answers the question: What are you doing?  You might be thinking this kind of tweet has no place in your marketing plan.  Guess what though, when you do it right it shows off your human side and gets people to relate to you at a more personal level.  Just be sure to add some actual personality to the mix, e.g. ‘I’m brushing my teeth and dancing to my new Righteous Brothers CD!’

Good Tweets – These are actual tweets, with links to their tweeters. (The @ sign denotes Twitter user names.  I’m @PGrandstaff.)

‘Sprig Eco Recycling Truck – An Amazon Exclusive in Frustration Free Packaging http://bit.ly/x2aQg‘
– @amazon

It wasn’t easy to find a good example of a tweet used to sell a product.  Most people doing this don’t do it well, and even this one from Amazon isn’t perfect.  This tweet is promoting a toy recycling truck, made from a composite recycled plastic and sawdust material.  They tie the eco-toy theme in with their new Frustration Free Packaging strategy, and give a link.  What’s really excellent here is the link.  It doesn’t take you to a product page on Amazon, it takes you to a page all about this toy, Amazon’s efforts to save the environment, and an interview with the toy’s creators.  Perfect!  You’re not going to make a sale in 140 characters, but you are able to grab the reader’s attention and build some curiosity.  Satisfy the curiosity on the linked page, and build up desire for what you’re selling.  Then, you can try to make a sale or get their contact information.  Whatever you do, keep these types of tweets to a minimum.

‘The Omid e Mehr Foundation. Doing real good work on the ground in Tehran. Save the girls: http://bit.ly/p14Uh #iranelection’
– @oxfordgirl

This tweet came from an Iranian activist, and provides a good example of how non-profits can pull off blatant ’selling’ on twitter.  It’s totally different to come right out and ask for money when it’s being done selflessly.  This example was also particularly powerful in the context of this person’s other tweets, which have detailed countless human rights violations in Iran.  The call to action, ‘Save the girls,’ is awesome, but I think I would have opened with it since not everyone has heard of this organization.

‘Three Ways to Make Your Competitors Irrelevant – http://bit.ly/3a7oYC‘
– @copyblogger

This tweet yielded over 500 clicks.  It has a compelling headline.  It appeals to our need to beat the competition.  It implies easy to digest information (just Three Ways!) Then it links to an article that’s well written, informative, and delivers on the headline’s promise.  The only thing lacking is a call to action.

“My son, 6y/o, asked me for the first time today how my DAY was . . . I about melted. Told him that I had pizza for lunch. Response? No fair!”
– @BrentDPayne

This is a great example of life-casting done right.  It’s personal, but universal enough for anyone to relate to.  It also tells a complete story in 140 characters, impressive.  Mixing a few tweets like this in with your normal strategy will make your humanity shine.  In turn, you’ll really stand out from the crowds of faceless product pushers.

Okay, obviously there’s a lot more to Twitter than just tweeting well.  However, tweeting well is probably the single most important thing to understand if you want to make this social media outlet work for you.

Stay tuned for next month’s conclusion, where I’ll get into more of the nuts and bolts of Twitter.  For now, get on there and start tweeting.  All the knowledge in the world won’t do you a bit of good if you don’t use it.  Don’t worry about getting lots of followers, or knowing all the ins and outs.  Just try to put some quality tweets out there and let the rest grow organically.

Are there any lessons about tweeting well that you’ve learned the hard way?  Share your experiences below.

This post first appeared in my monthly small business newsletter.  Newsletter subscribers will get the next installment weeks before it appears here, on my blog.  So, sign up today to keep ahead of the curve!