Author: Mike Turner

I thought I’d cover a subject that isn’t discussed openly and honestly much, but which needs careful consideration when working out a marketing strategy particularly with regards to Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing where getting it wrong is going to cost you big time, and that’s the subject of matching visitor intent with your sales funnel. We’re talking here about delivering the right message at the right time.

When I first got started with running an internet business I found it difficult to script a focused message, mainly because I didn’t consider the visitor’s journey. What I mean by journey is the state of mind the visitor is in when they arrive on a website. Are they just browsing,  researching, or looking to make a purchase? I figured if I could understand where the visitor was psychologically at that very moment, I could fashion a message just for them, and encourage them through the sales funnel without them needing to leave my site. I identified a number of stages, which I found very useful in building a marketing strategy around, and I still use it to this day. These stages include

#1 – Goal orientated search – better to optimise for SEO rather than driving traffic via PPC for this type of search

#2- Category orientated search – better to optimise for SEO rather than driving traffic via PPC for this type of search

#3- Product orientated search – perfect for PPC campaigns

#4- Brand orientated search – perfect for PPC campaigns

#5- Browsing – better to optimise for SEO rather than driving traffic via PPC for this type of search

Lets look at each of these stages in more detail:

#1 – Goal orientated search

An example of a goal orientated search would be “losing weight”, or “Getting fit”, or “making money online”

This is the broadest type of search and is designed to get general knowledge about a particular subject. For instance losing weight could be achieved by going on a diet or exercising, so “losing weight” is a more general search type then a “diet” based search would be.

A person that already knows what they would have to do to lose weight wouldn’t need to carry out a goal search in this instance, instead moving to #2 category search. So although each stage is sequential, not everyone needs to go through every stage, it all depends on their existing knowledge about the subject.

However as a marketer, it might be advisable to cater for each and every one of the stages so that you capture all knowledge levels and potential searches, and move them through the learning process. This will help position you to appear as an expert in the subject and allow the visitor to get to know your brand and build some trust in you because you are providing helpful information.

At this point I’d like to talk about “seeker behaviour” (seeker in this instance is the person carrying out the search)” and promiser behaviour”, which refers to you, the marketer.

Seeker behaviour

The seeker/searcher is researching all possible broad options, with little prior knowledge going into this phase and acting on the data gathered to focus on preferred options thereafter. It is the first stage of their research and data gathering and can vary in length depending on complexity of the subject.

Promiser behaviour

Content

In your role as promiser’s (marketer) you should look to show them a path they can follow (at least 4 steps) and take them through the steps to succeed in their goal.

You should show them the end result and make it believable, so make sure it’s not too fantastic and unbelievable. If the visitor doesn’t believe they can achieve it they will likely leave without trying.

Monetising

You can look to offer them a shortcut alternative that will save them time or effort either through an affiliate product or your own solution.

Traffic source

When acquiring traffic for this type of search you should look to optimise for SEO rather than driving traffic via PPC because this is an early search and is unlikely to yield a paying customer, until they have gathered more information.

#2 – Category orientated search

An example of a category search (if we stay with the “losing weight” example used previously) would be say “diets” or “exercise”. This is a deeper level of research than the “goal search” and uses the findings from that search as its basis.

Seeker behaviour

The seeker performs a broad category search focused on preferred course of action. Has knowledge of other options outside of the category but is more interested in this option i.e. diet preferred to exercise.

Promiser behaviour

Content

Offer the visitor a review article showing them the options and alternatives within category i.e. different types of diet available to the seeker.

Monetise

Have affiliate links to each of the options websites

Traffic source

When acquiring traffic for this type of search you should look to optimise for SEO rather than driving traffic via PPC because this is an early search and is unlikely to yield a paying customer, until they have gathered more information.

#3 – Product orientated search

For example this would be a particular diet such as X plan diet (I made the name up, I think!), or in the case of an exercise, yoga (specific products/actions to carry out the plan)

Seeker behaviour

Very focused search to find more about a single product i.e. X plan diet, and wants reassurance this is best for them

Promiser behaviour

Content

You can provide:

• In-depth single product review
• how to product guide
• demo of products
• opening the box demo video or inner workings demos

Show them why they should listen to what you have to say. Why you’re qualified (you have used and benefited from it, or you’re experienced in that field)

Give them the other options and alternatives open to them and why your solution is better than them. Include free or cheap alternative etc

Monetise

Have affiliate links within the articles taking them to sales page

Traffic source

Using PPC for this type of search is likely to provide a better return on investment than the previous two, simply because the initial research has been carried out and the visitor is closer to making a buying decision.

#4 – brand orientated search

For example with would be the actual product search

Seeker behaviour

The seeker has done enough research and is ready to buy a particular product of their choosing.

Promiser behaviour

Content and monetise

Use a direct link to products sales page. Make the sales process as easy as possible and remove friction and risk.

Traffic source

PPC is a good source of traffic for this type of search simply because there is likely to be less resistance at this point of the buying cycle, get in while the irons hots. You could have a jump page in between the advert the final sales page, but think about reducing the amount of friction (obsticles) you put in front of the visitor, as this will only act to discourage them.

#5 – Browsers

Seeker behaviour

The browsing stage isn’t really a final stage, it’s more likely a first stage in reality but in my mind I see it as separated from the other four stages which is why I’ve put it at the end. The seeker is not searching for anything, just killing time or being entertained moving aimlessly through the web.

Promiser behaviour

For this type of search you as a marketer need to grab attention, distract the seeker from there aimless time-wasting, and pull them into your sales funnel. The other 4 stages are about supplying a demand, however this stage is about creating one, so you have to align your message accordingly. Assuming you need to start from the basics, conveying a “lose weight live longer” message over a “enjoy the X plan diet” is more likely to capture their interest.

Final thoughts

Hopefully reading this article has helped you appreciate the value of understanding how aligning your message and content with that of the visitors journey and communicating the right message at the right time to add structure to your marketing strategy.  Always look to help the visitor not manipulate them, add value and make the internet a better place for us all.

P.S. Make sure you do your own research before embarking on any paid traffic activities. If you found the content useful and interesting please sign up for our newsletter and get notification of all our latest posts, as well as exclusive content.

Well I thought I’d do a few articles about setting up websites and online businesses as well as online marketing, as support for my business and marketing guides. Online marketing and online business, isn’t what this website is about specifically, but I do believe it should be covered, as it is becoming increasingly more important to have an online presence, even if your business is predominantly carried out off-line.

Getting Started

So you’re a small business owner looking to move your business online or start a new business from scratch, but not sure where to start. You’ve heard of SEO and PPC, optimisation and opt-in forms but don’t really know what they mean and how to use them to make your business an online success.

You can search Google or Youtube using terms like “make money online” and see what you get, but be warned you will spend hours, weeks, even months wading through the marketing spam and hype to find any nuggets of gold. The information’s out there you just have to know where to find it.

This websites a pretty good place to start as I’ve got a lot of information on the subject, having built up a vast resource over the years, as part of my own research. I am also tapped in to a great network of online experts who provide great insight, as well as keeping abreast of the latest developments, without the BS you usually get. I will digest the best bits and present them for your benefit, as part of my contribution towards marketing and business content for this website. I would also suggest checking out my business and marketing guides for more insight.

Well first off I would suggest you get yourself a website. I use WordPress for my businesses, because it’s free, and easy to use, being a content management system (CMS), which means you don’t need any coding skills to update the content, as you build it up. It’s supported by a large community of designers and coders, so is always improving and evolving, becoming better each year. You can download it here, and all you will need to do is upload it to a server of your choice. I have used a couple of different hosting platforms in the past:

• Bluehost
• Lfchosting

but there are a lot of others available, along with reviews.

If you don’t know, or can’t be bothered to learn it yourself, I will be glad to do it for you with my “done for you service”. Email me if you want more information about that. It’s not that difficult to do for yourself though to be honest. It’s a good idea to get yourself a business Facebook page set up, if you haven’t already done so, and again this is free and really easy to do. If you intend to create videos, a business Youtube channel is also a good idea, you can always embed the videos you create, in your webpages.

Word of Warning

Now, if you have yourself a Facebook page or Youtube channel you might not bother about getting yourself a website, instead using Facebook or Youtube as your internet home, but be wary about building your business based on a third party platform, because you are relying on them either not going away or changing the rules and taking your business from under your feet. Having your own website gives you control and makes you look more serious in the eyes of visitors, but they will cost that little bit more, in terms of hosting fees and domain name registration etc.

Primary Strategy

Now there are 2 major considerations at this point

• Getting visitors to you website – otherwise known as getting TRAFFIC
• Getting visitors to buy from you – converting visitors

Getting TRAFFIC

Your site is not much good to anyone, if nobody can find it. So getting visitors, or traffic as it’s better known, is key to your success and you have three main options:

SEO – (search engine optimisation) is a number of activities you can undertake to get your site listed on the major search engines like Google and Bing. The idea is to optimise your site so it gets indexed and ranked, hopefully on the first page of these major search engines. If you’re only listed on page 10 of search results, its very unlikely that anyone will search through 10 pages to find your site. So if you’re not on the first page you are going to get limited traffic volumes to your site. It’s free but takes time to get ranked, even with a well optimised site, it can still take a few months, if not more.

PPC – (pay per click advertising ). This is where you pay to have your website advertised on search engines advertising sections. Paying for traffic is faster than the free options, in fact you can have a presence on the first page of Google within 10 minutes of starting a campaign, which means you can be found by searchers almost immediately, but you are paying for this privaledge, so is costlier than free methods obviously. Costs per click can range from 20p to £10 and more depending on your niche or market, but generally speaking a click cost of £10 infers that there is more money to be made in such a niche, after all advertisers wouldn’t be prepared to pay so much if they weren’t making money out of it.

Social Media Channels – Using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Linkedin, to bring people to your website is the third major option open to you. It does mean learning the best practices for doing so, which is beyond the scope of this article, we will however cover it in more detail in future posts.

Converting visitors

Converting visitors refers to converting them from being just visitors to customers, who are going to buy your product/service. I would recommend you get your site search engine friendly first then work on conversions as soon as possible. Simply because if your site converts visitors well you don’t need as much traffic for it to make money. Here’s an example to illustrate the point

• If you get 100 visitors and make one sale at £100 that’s a 1% conversion rate
• However if your site converts at 10% you would only need 10 people to make the same about of money.

Now I’m not saying you will ever get a 10% conversion rate, (in fact if you do please tell me how you did it) I am just using these figures as an easy-to-see illustration of the power of increasing your conversion rates.

Tools needed to get the job done

Now, how do we increase conversions? Well first, you need to have a focused squeeze landing page that is designed to get people to opt-in to your email list. The strategy here is based on the fact that it’s easier to get a person to give you their email address than it is to get them to buy from you, without them having heard of your brand before. It is often referred to as “selling the click”.

Once you have their email address, via your landing page, you need to send them a number of emails, providing useful information related to your product/business offering, such as tips and tricks, insight or a free sample for instance. This is aimed at building your prospects trust in you, without which, you’re unlikely to get them to buy anything.  At the end of the process, you will eventually pitch them an offer, which should be aimed at helping them in some way. Gary Vaynerchuk calls this process “jab jab jab, right hook”, meaning provide value (jab), provide value (jab), provide value (jab), then ask for a sale (right hook).

At the end of the email sequence a second landing page, a sales landing page should be used so that the prospect is encouraged to purchase your product.

There are a number of landing page software providers who offer WordPress plugins, which add functionality to your WordPress website. I have used Thrive Landing page plugin for many campaigns I have run in the past, simply because it does everything I needed to do. With a simple drag and drop interface, you don’t need any coding skills to build effective layouts. It was less than $49 to buy, with no on going subscription charges, and also came with lots of educational videos to help you succeed, so is well worth the investment.

There are a number of email providers available, MailChimp offer a free service for smaller mailing lists and leads onto paid services as your list increases. It’s a great service, from my experience. Also check out Mailpoet, which is a free WordPress plugin, and works well.

I use Paypal to take payments over the internet and this is relatively easy to set up and insert the code within landing pages.

Summary

I’ve tried to outline the steps needed to get your website presence up and running, shying away from going in-depth too much and scaring you into thinking it’s just too hard.

If you want any specific questions answering please put them in the comments below and/or sign up for my newsletter.

I do provide a “Done for you service” which involves setting up an hosting account and getting WordPress installed, I’ll also add the necessary plugins mentioned above. Alternatively, have a go yourself if you’ve got the time and patience to learn.

Good luck with the new venture and hope I can provide lots of great, actionable information for you over the coming months.

• The yellow writing highlights the traffic sources
• The pink writing highlights the content
• The light blue writing highlights the monetisation methods

The model above, highlights the ways of providing useful free content to your audience while also paying the bills. Having run a number of businesses off-line where you can’t afford to give things away, getting used to this online business model took some adjustment.

In a nut shell the idea is you provide information people want to read, listen to or watch, which genuinely helps them to solve some problem they have, or help them achieve something they want or need. You monetise on the back of this content with advertising banners, PPC adverts or affiliate links, so that when someone clicks through or buys the product, you get paid a commission as a reward for bringing in the traffic.

Getting Traffic

The better the content you provide the more people will want to share your content or talk about it on forums etc and the more people will come to your website. Increased traffic should mean you get more clicks on ads and links and enable you to make more money, at least in principle anyway.

Content considerations

The best method seems to be providing content such as “How to…” information and then having links to tools that help your audience get things done faster or with less hassle. Pat Flynn over at smartpassiveincome.com makes thousands of dollars per month by offering advice on how to make money online and then having an affiliate link to Bluehost so visitors can get a website hosted straight away. He then gets a commission from Bluehost for referring clients, get the idea?

PPC and Adwords

The easiest way to make money online is to get Google Adwords set up on your site and let them manage the ad delivery side of things by showing relevant ads to match your on-page content. Although this is the easiest method to set up you will need a lot of clicks to make any decent amount of money using it.

Affiliate Links

Affiliate links can provide a lucrative income if you can find a product that is relevant to your content. Many website owners build their entire site around a product or range of products with the sole purpose of making money off the affiliate links. Generally the visitor has to buy the product(s) after following the links for you to make any money, but with commissions often as high as 75% of the sale price you can quickly rack up some income if you have the right traffic, content and affiliate product alignment. Check out Clickbank for affiliate products you can sell as an affiliate. I have a number of affiliate accounts set up for products I believe will help my audience to get things done faster, with less hassle, or that will help them make more money.

Develop your own products

Probably the best method of making money is to sell your own products, so you make more, in terms of margin. However you do have to spend more time creating the products in the first place. Products could include digital information products such as Ebooks, and Video Educational systems, or you could hide content behind a pay gate as with membership sites and charge monthly subscriptions for access. If you have the know-how you could provide software solutions, or physical products via Ecommerce and drop shipping sites.

Getting traffic and converting

One of the hardest parts of any business is getting customers to buy from you, with websites it’s about getting as much of the “right” kind of traffic to your site and then getting them to either buy your product or click on the ad links or affiliate links. Paid methods of driving traffic to your site include PPC such as Google Adsense, which is the marketer’s side of the Adwords platform. You can even use affiliates to drive traffic to your site, or paid social media advertising. Free methods include SEO, blog networks, links from article sites, and link wheels although algorithmic changes by Google are rendering some of these methods ineffective or even damaging to your sites search engine ranking so do plenty of research before using any of them.

One thing you should be doing on your website is capturing email addresses using an opt-in form such as the one in the sidebar of this website and at the bottom of the post. This will help you to build a relationship with your visitors and further help them in their search for a solution to their problem. You can find out what they need, what problems they are trying to solve and tailor your products to achieve an effective result for them.

I like to go one further with regards to emails, I like to provide exclusive tailored content via emails, in such a manner that best serves subscribers. I can find out specific needs and add maximum value. Websites are great for general information, but people tend to struggle most when applying acquired knowledge to specific circumstances.

Only by solving problems and providing genuine solutions will you be able to build a sustainable, value-added business. There are many people on the internet looking to make a quick buck and game the system, avoid this and make the internet a better place.

If you would like to keep up-to-date when I publish new content please subscribe to my newsletter below or like my Facebook page (in the sidebar) and thanks for taking the time to read my content.

Check out my Business guide and marketing guide for more information.