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Freelancers, Here’s How To Put Your Website To The Test

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Being a freelancer means relying on your website to bring in customers – it’s your main source of income. For any business, big or small, a website is a vital marketing tool. However, for freelancers it’s more than that – as a freelancer, your website is the heart of your business, which is why it’s so vital to ensure that it’s as effective as possible. The question is, of course, how can you do that – how can you determine how successful your business website is? Use our guide below to determine if your website is as effective and as successful as you think it is…

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
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Utilize objective feedback

A simple way to determine whether your website is as effective as it could be is to utilize objective feedback. There are many options for getting this feedback, with one of the best ones being AB testing – this is where an objective group of people are shown multiple versions of a website or page and choose the one that they like the best. There are several benefits of AB testing, including being able to get a better idea of what you could consider changing and what you should ensure stays the same. The fact is that when it comes to ensuring that your website is as well-designed as possible, objective feedback is key.

Monitor your site’s traffic

The number of visitors that your website gets is a good indication of how effective your website is as a marketing resource. Think of your website like a shop window for your products and services – for your business to be a success, your website needs to be as appealing as possible and get plenty of traffic. Monitor your overall traffic using Google Analytics or another similar tool and take note of when there are dips and spikes in your page views and cross reference them to days, times, and anything else that may be relevant.

Track new vs. returning users

Using monitoring software like Google Analytics, you can track your new vs. returning visitors. Usually, websites tend to have more new visitors than returning ones, which is perfectly fine. However, if your site has predominantly more new users than returning ones, this could indicate that your site isn’t quite right and needs some changes making to it.

Note down conversion rates

A vital part of working as a freelancer is determining the conversion rate of your website. If you allow for your services to be ordered online, you can track how many users made purchases and how many abandoned their shopping carts mid-purchase. This kind of data demonstrates how user-friendly your site is, and whether you need to focus on improving usability. If your site isn’t easy to use and navigate, the fact is that your customers will go elsewhere – it’s as simple as that.

Determining how successful your website is, is no easy task, as there are lots of factors to take into account. Hopefully, however, the advice above will help to make the process of measuring your website’s effectiveness a little easier for you.

Only The Best Will Guarantee Revenue Growth

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Pexels

It doesn’t matter what business you are in or what the size of your business is, if you have an online presence then you have one specific goal in mind: increase your online sales. Of course, the battle lies in the execution, which isn’t as easy to do as you may have first thought, especially with the constant changes in this part of business. It can just be a lot to get your head around and keep up to date with.

That is why we have come up with a list of strategies, platforms and techniques you can start using to seriously increase your online sales performance.

The Best Strategy: Honest Sales Copy

The oldest and most obvious strategies are often the best, and that is certainly the case when it comes to writing your sales copy. Honest is always the best policy. That is why it dumbfounds us just how often companies make promises they simply can’t keep. Please, don’t do this. In today’s economy, reputation and trust are synonymous with success and that is why honesty is one of the things every entrepreneur needs to embrace. There is just too much consumer choice out there for your unsubstantiated claims to have anything but a negative impact on your revenue. So, this afternoon, we urge you to go through all your sales copy – from your email campaigns to your website content – and amend anything that isn’t absolutely true.

The Best Platform: Real-Time Bidding

This is one of those areas where the newer introductions to the market tend to always be better than the last, and that is what makes in app advertising such a must-have weapon in your money-generating arsenal. We already know that consumers prefer apps to websites, but what you may not know is that consumers are on the cusp of using apps more. It is on the rise. That is what makes sophisticated real-time bidding so important. It works by competing with your networks at the impression level in such a way that it ensures your inventory is filled by the highest-paying source, and that guarantees an improvement in your revenue.

The Best Technique: Ad Extensions

Extensions are absolute must-have for any business that is selling something online. It is simple: the bigger the ad, the more places to click and the more chance you will be clicked. The best bit, though, is that it doesn’t cost any extra while drastically improving the click-through rate your advert boasts. What’s more, all the big search engines offer this feature. The reason it works from a consumer’s perspective is that it increases the speed in which they can get to their desired product, making it the experience that much nicer. Let’s say they have searched Google for shoes, and a big advert comes up at the top of the page which says “Designer shoes – Free Shipping & Returns” and then below that has the clickable options of Men’s Shoes and Women’s Shoes, you have made their life easier.

The Best Asset: Your Customers

We’re going to keep this short: customer feedback is the most important asset you have when it comes to increasing your revenue. That is because new customers need something to trust before they commit to buying. They want to read that someone before them bought what they wanted and absolutely loved it. No matter how good your sales copy is, it will never be as powerful or effective as a satisfied customer giving you a thumbs up.

Old School Meets New School: How To Mix Marketing Methods For Success

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of CORE-Materials via Wikimedia

Businesses are constantly looking for an answer to the question: ‘Old school or new school marketing?’ The answer is simple, and it is a mixture of both. By merging the two together, you can use the pros of each to reach a wider audience and raise awareness of the brand. Simply put, there is no better way for a firm to cover all of the marketing bases. However, saying that you are going to do it and doing it are two different things. As you can imagine, implementing such a strategy isn’t straightforward or simple, especially if it will make such a big difference.

The good news is that it just got a lot easier thanks to the tips below.

Generate & Nurture

With the help of new age techniques like social media, it is simple to increase lead generation. As long as you are creative and have an eclectic base, there is a lot of scope for leads. Plus, if the social media strategy takes off, it might reach every corner of the globe. Still, generating leads is only one aspect of marketing. The other is to nurture them into something concrete. Once you have them in your pocket, this is where old school methods like meeting face to face come in handy. Speaking and using your charisma is a great way to convince clients and customers to get on board.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article
Photo courtesy of Nick Youngson via The Blue Diamond Gallery (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hire A Specialist Agency

Almost every business has a marketing agency to help them get a foothold in the industry. But, most of them focus on new techniques such as SEO and Pay-Per-Click. Yes, these are two essential tools that you need to exploit, but there are lots more at your disposal. If you have an agency that uses a broad range of techniques, the odds of success are bound to be higher. Or, you can hire a firm like Ruby Digital on the one hand and link them with an offline specialist. As long as they work together, there shouldn’t be many problems, but there should be lots of rewards.

Market Based On Current Position

In the beginning, the newer methods will call out to you. For example, an email blast is a cheap and effective way to reach a broader audience. Plus, it is pretty easy to track the effectiveness of the strategy with analytic software. However, you won’t stay small and young forever. When you do start to grow and expand, the offline methods will come into their own. Think about business cards for a moment. Are they more effective when the brand name is recognizable? Of course they are which is why they work better when the business has a buzz. That doesn’t mean you should stop using SEO because that would be foolish. What it does mean is that you need to know when to bring in offline to maximize results.

And there you have it: the three main tricks of the trade. There are more, but these are the most effective. Hopefully, they will help you create a well-balanced marketing strategy.

So You Created A Product, Now How Do Your Get It To Your Customer?

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article
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When you come up with a great idea for a product, you can often find that you spend so much time putting your all into its creating, to then be left stuck wondering what to do when it’s complete. Well, even though it may not feel like it now, you’ll be glad to know that the hard part is over. You managed to come up with a product that was not only worth creating, but that was actually able to be made – so give yourself a pat on the back. So now, you’re going to need to work out just how you’re going to get it to your ideal customer – and that can involve a few different processes.

During the planning stage of creating your product, you would have identified the ideal audience that would be interested in buying from you. So now it’s all about getting your product in front of them and making those sales. Using a combination of marketing, sales, and operations, that can be easily arranged. As long as you’re ready to put a bit more work in and not aim for retirement just yet, your product will find a bunch of happy homes in no time at all.

Marketing

First up, you’re going to want to work on a proper marketing strategy for your product. This will not only get it in front of your customer but also help to create a brand image for your product and your business overall.

Deciding On A Strategy

Before you start with any kind of activity at all, you need to make sure that you decide on the right marketing strategy for your product. Now, this will entirely depend on what it is that you’ve created. But, it’s not always easy to know what strategy to formulate. As long as you have your intended audience at the center of your decisions, you should stay on the right track.

Creating A Brand

You should also think about your branding. It’s so important for every business to establish the right brand for themselves, but it’s especially important for startups or small businesses. Branding is often a way to assert your mark and differentiate yourself from the competition, so be sure to create a brand that will work for your product.

When To Launch

As apart of your marketing process, you’re also going to want to establish a set launch date for the marketing activity that you intend to carry out. This will often depend on the launch date that you also decide for your product to enter the market on. You may wish to coincide the two together or to start your marketing beforehand to work up some buzz around the launch. Either way, you need to have both dates in your mind to work towards.

Packaging

Next up, you’re also going to want to think about just how you’re going to get that brand onto your product and ensure that your customer receives it safely via the packaging you design and produce.

Incorporating Your Branding

One of the first things that you’re going to want to think about during the packaging process is your branding. As we established in the marketing section, you’re going to need to decide on a brand for your product. So, with that on its way to being created, you should also aim to add it into your product or your packing in some way. Again, this will depend on what product it is that you’ve created, but it should give you some food for thought.

Practical Packaging Design

However, at this stage, it is also very important that you think about the logistics of getting your product to your customer. You need to be sure that it is packaged safety and securely, so looking options. You may need a box for your technological device, foam padding for your breakable designs or even specialist intermediate bulk containers for your food product. Either way, be sure to do your research into what will protect and transport your product safely.

Supply Chain

But that’s not all; you’re also going to want to think of the operational ways in which you’re going to physically get your product to the customer. Not only does this involve how your customers will get their hands on it, but also where you will sell it.

Choosing Suppliers

To make sure that your product gets in front of your intended audience, it’s highly likely that you’re going to want to find the right suppliers for the job. Whether you have a B2B product or something for a consumer audience, working with retailers can provide useful to your sales forecast and for your growth. So you need to make sure that you choose the right ones to reach your customers.

Negotiating With Suppliers

With some ideal suppliers in mind, you’re then going to want to approach them. Sometimes, you can find it hard to get on their radar. However, if you’re looking to attend trade shows with your product, you might have better luck at accessing the right people. When you do get in touch, you then will have to work your way through negotiations so that you can get the best deal for your business.

Selling Online

You may also want to think about selling online. Going into ecommerce isn’t going to be for everyone, and it may depend yet again on what exactly your product is as to whether it will be a suitable option for your business. But, it’s often worth looking into. And if you’re not planning on having an operations ecommerce website, then be sure to have an informational site that allows interested customers to contact you.

Delivery Options

Whether you’re shipping to suppliers or directly to your customers, you then also need to think of another side of the supply chain – transportation. To physically get your product for your warehouse or manufacturing unit, you’re going to need some form of haulage, or a consumer delivery service. Or, you may even want to fulfill this yourself. Either way, they are all important decisions to make if you want to get your products out to customers.

Being Serious With Success At Trade Shows

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A business is always going to be hard work, no bones about it. If you’re not working hard to realize your business vision and create a successful business, you’re letting yourself down. All aspects of your business are going to require painstaking hard work, and you know what? If you’re not promoting this hard work, all your efforts might be going to waste. Without marketing your business, it’s going to go unnoticed – you don’t want that, right? Not at all!

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

There have been plenty of advances in marketing theory and promotional tools via technology – and promoting a company via the internet is something that most businesses do – but they don’t exactly stand out without a bit of spice – creativity. Despite the focus on the digital world and all of the tools that it offers, maintaining a physical presence and physically promoting your business are just as important as anything else. To attract funds, to make sales, to generate leads and to find collaborators, you’re going to have to make an impact with physical promotion.

Physical promotion? It’s usually limited to networking, billboards, and leaflets – but it’s what you do with these tools that counts. This is the rule for everything. Your creativity in these areas do not go unnoticed. One of the biggest tools at your disposal is the business event -a trade show, an industry convention or an exhibition. Whatever it’s called, and whatever the purpose behind it is, an event that is attended, or even hosted by your business is a great way to market your business within the real world.

How do you make the most of an event in which your business is involved? Well, it involves more hard work. Running your own stall at a trade show or a convention is tiring – and it’s very physical and can involve a fair bit of manual labor. It’s very hard to enjoy most of the running of stall or platform – as it involves constant work, and even the most ardent workaholic will find it difficult to get to grips with exhibition work. Working a stall is difficult, no matter if it is at a large show, or something smaller for a localized event. You need to stay charismatic and approachable throughout the event, no matter what is going on. You also need to be alert and on your toes. You need to be a worker bee and as helpful as possible. You’ll also need to be incredibly happy and positive towards everyone you speak to, no matter what you’re actually feeling. An exhibition can really test you. Trade shows usually cost a bit of money to attend, but think of it as an investment, because if you make the most of your time at the trade show, it will heavily benefit your business.

First things first – make sure you have some kind of actual presence at an event that isn’t just posters, stickers and banners. Get there and get your team there. An event, especially one taking place over a number of days is hard work. It could be harder work than you’ve ever known. It’s a full-time role on top of your full-time job. This means that you need to be on hand to answer all sorts of questions throughout the duration of the event. Your stall can never be left unattended either – but naturally, an event will drag you elsewhere. This is why you need to bring a team with you. You cannot make the most of an event alone. If you have a team, you can rotate between operations and actually give yourself a bit of a break. Simply put, do whatever you can to ensure you are not running your stall alone, and to ensure that the stand is never left-attended. This can be a bit tricky if you’re a sole-trader, but you can work it with friends and family. You might even look into hiring professional spokesmodels who can run your stall and work the stand for you. You could just hire part-time assistants as well. Working with others will make the exhibition a little bit easier for you, and anything that can make your exhibition a bit easier is a bonus.

Bringing some sort of a team to the event means that you can actually work the event. Get involved and don’t be afraid to meet other businesses and get talking. Your neighbors are going to be busy, but they can help you out – especially in a pinch. Let them know who you are, find out who they are and see if you can’t work together in the future. Making friends and leads is what these are about. Don’t be afraid to refer people to other stands, because people might just repay your favor. The event is there for you to market, but not just that; you can make relationships to help your business out in the future, beyond the event.

Make sure you track what’s happening though, you might not be scared to say hi, but if you can’t keep track of who you are meeting and what they offer – what happens in Vegas might just stay in Vegas. This is very important if you’ve found leads or prospects to work on in the future. Depending on your goals, this may differ as some business types are suited to one-off there and then deals, while other businesses like suppliers might heavily value repeat business – regardless, you want to remember people who show heavy interest in your business – and you need to capture their details. Collect business cards and jot down details throughout the exhibition. This is where having a team can help, so the stall can keep on running while you work on maintaining contacts and jotting down information.

People come back from conventions with all sorts of tat – caps, hats, shirts, banners, posters and pens. This sort of stuff keeps a lead going because it reminds people of your business. Give this stuff out for free and see what it can do for your business. It’s better to give out something small for free than nothing at all. A phone call might be made off the back of a pen to you in future, so don’t underestimate the impact of the mere freebie,

The hard work doesn’t end when the trade show is over though – you’ve got a lot of catch up to do. The more successful your event was, the more you’ve got to do. It never ends, but don’t be discouraged – this is the important work! When you get to back to work, you’ve still got to follow up on your exhibition in a manner of ways to ensure you’ve made the most of it. Remember all that info that you jotted down? Now’s the time to use it and make good use of it. You’ve made leads and contacts, now’s the time to see if those leads will turn into business and sales. Start calling and emailing – you’ve got a lot of relationships to build.

If you don’t do this, you might have wasted all the time and money spent at the show. You’re going to get back to work after a weekend at show without rest, but if you do not follow up on the leads (and you may have hundreds) you’re not making business off the back of an exhibition. If you’ve got nothing to say to your leads, or nothing to do for your leads – you might have wasted all your hard work. At the very least keep the stove on and ensure that interest is still real and warm. If you lose your leads, you’ve lost all your hard work. A real shame.

StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article

Exhibitions aren’t for free – so wasting your leads will cost you. This experience could put you off attending future events, which isn’t right. Trade shows are a key part of business. However, you must think about costs. If trade shows are not working for you, you’re wasting money until you can find out how to make them work for you. Only head to trade shows if they are worth it for your business. Costly errors at trade shows mean you will only waste money, and that’s not great for business.

There’s not an exact formula to succeeding at trade shows, but it’s not exactly rocket science either. You can succeed with trade shows if you’re willing to put in some seriously hard work. You need to plan hard, look good, meet and greet, take details and follow up. If you don’t do this, you are simply wasting a lot of time and effort – which could be better spent elsewhere than wasting your time at a trade show. If you’re serious about success, you’ll be willing to take on the load at an exhibition and get to work at a trade show. If you aren’t, don’t bother with it – it won’t work out for you. For those prepared, an exhibition could be a great boost to business and could create some long lasting business relationships.