If you run Google Analytics, one of the metrics you should pay attention to is “Average time on site”. This metric indicates just how sticky your site is. The longer people are on your site, the stickier it is.

The term “sticky” is a great term. Think of a sticky fly strip in which flies land and can’t leave. That’s the kind of site you want to create: One where your audience, prospects, and clients show up and are “stuck” to your site; they can’t leave.

As a website owner, you need to figure out how to make your site sticky. I can’t tell you exactly what to do because it’s different for every website, every industry, and every audience demographic. However, here are some general ideas that tend to work for many situations.

The first thing you’ll want to do is get the baseline. Find out what your visitor’s average time on site has been and write it down somewhere. If you are serious about creating a website that builds a loyal audience, you’ll want to measure this metric. (The maxim “what gets measured gets managed” is very true here).

Next, review how people typically look at your website. You might be able to tell this from Google Analytics or simply from feedback you get from your customers. Do they have a natural progression (i.e. Home > About > Products > Buy Now)? Find out where people are falling off of that pathway and shore it up. For example, if people get to your products page and review your testimonials only to click to client websites, you may want to remove the hyperlinks from those testimonials.

Then, you’ll want to review the rest of your website for “exits”. Exits are where your readers click to another site from a link on your page. If you link generously to outside websites more than you link to other places within your own site, you could be driving people away. It’s not that you shouldn’t have links pointing to external sites, but you should be mindful of their placement and of their potential impact on your business.

After that, increase the number of internal links to your site: Think about using various methods to encourage people to click around your site. Use tags, labels, categories, and other similar labeling in sidebars and in content. When someone reads one piece of content tagged with something interesting, they will be more likely to follow the same tag if it is clearly available to them.

Also, use lists (commonly found in blogs but also quite realistic to use in more conventional sites) that have “latest articles”, “most popular topics”, “if you liked this, you might also like these”, and so on. These help to drive people deeper into your site.

Tune in tomorrow for another post that talks more about stickiness.

photo credit: Kim.Deslandes

In my research into online marketing techniques I’ve noticed (we’ve ALL noticed) that there are two kinds of online articles.

There are the articles which make sense and have a beginning, middle, and end; and, there are articles which seem to have little purpose beyond being keyword stuffed. Their sentences look something like this: “Are you curious about internet marketing? Many people are curious about internet marketing and those who want to know more about internet marketing can find internet marketing sites online simply by searching for ‘internet marketing’.”

I decided to go to the source and ask some contacts in the freelance writing and marketing field about these. They make a strict delineation between what they call “cheap articles” and “normal articles”.

The cheap ones cost “next to nothing: (their words) and are often stuffed with keywords and spelling and grammatical errors. The “normal” articles cost more but the quality is higher. They point out that they get frequent requests for both kinds of articles. The cost ratio is anywhere from $1:$10 to $1:$100. What a gap! So which ones work?

To be fair to both sides: Cheap articles might not read well but you can get a bunch of them online fast which equates to plenty of backlinks. On the other hand, higher priced articles read better but you might get fewer backlinks because there simply are a fewer number of articles. With a cost ratio of $1:$10, you can spend $10 and get 10 articles or one article. On a strictly budgetary level it makes economic sense to get 10 articles.

However, there are other factors to consider: What is the likelihood that each type of article will be (1) picked up by other publishers and (2) read by an audience? With that in mind, the field turns in favor of the higher priced choice.

And to be honest, that’s where I prefer to be in my internet marketing: For me, it comes down to the customer. I might want backlinks – lots of back links – but if I don’t get quality traffic from it, it doesn’t matter. And cheap articles just don’t make the grade here. They may search well in Google but if a customer can’t get through the content, they are not likely going to click through to your site. On the other hand, if my higher quality articles attract interest (and they DO still search well and link back) then customers are more likely to click through to my site.

But in this economy, we’re all definitely mindful of the cost of marketing. I’d like to hear from you on this point.

Do you prefer lower priced articles that give you back links? Do you prefer higher priced articles that might be more “people friendly”?

photo credit: Jamiesrabbits

The key with a free taste is to not sell too hard. Give free information that makes the recipient want more. Build the relationship so that people will become familiar with your style and what they can expect from you. People do business with those they know, like, and trust. The purpose of the free taste is to allow them to get to know you. Take a look at these ideas for inspiration in developing your own free taste.

• An author could offer a free chapter of a book just released

• A musician could offer a free download of a song

• A motivational speaker could offer a complimentary ticket to an event they are speaking at

• A business coach could offer a free invitation to a teleseminar

• A pizza restaurant promoting online ordering could offer a coupon for free appetizer

• A camping store could offer a free checklist of items to take on a camping trip • A software developer could offer a free download to a trial version of software

• A cleaning company could offer a list of “green” cleaning products

• A photographer could offer a free download of a screen saver of their work

• A virtual assistant could offer a free time tracking log

• A business tax accountant could offer a free schedule of all tax payments due

• A wedding planner could offer a timeline for handling all the wedding details

• An insurance company could offer a free home inventory worksheet

• A financial advisor could offer a free retirement savings calculator

• A realtor could offer tips for making your home more attractive to buyers

• A general contractor could offer a home maintenance checklist

What other ideas can you come up with? Leave suggestions in the comments!

photo credit: Vagabond Shutterbug

Whether you are writing articles or blog posts, your goal is to engage the reader and make them want more.

Here are five tips to catch their attention and draw them in.

1. Use a great headline or title. A strong headline is often the difference between the reader clicking through to read more or skipping your article all together.

2. Keep a clear focus of the purpose of your writing. Is your goal to have them click on a link to your site, sign-up for your newsletter, or purchase a product? Even if you’d like the reader to do all of these things, your focus will get lost if you try to persuade them to do more than one thing at a time.

3. Write with the reader in mind. Focus on the benefits to the reader. Don’t waste time telling how great your product is without telling the reader what the product will do for them.

4. Keep it positive. Write when your energy leave is up and you are in a positive frame of mind. It will come through in your writing.

5. Write conversationally. A reader will be drawn in more easily if you write like you talk. Keep sentences short. Avoid lengthy paragraphs and text that is visually hard to follow. In general, make it easy for the reader to consume your information. By piquing their interest with your headline and keeping the content focused on the reader, you’ll maintain their attention longer. This allows you more time to build interest in your product or service.

photo credit: Sam Howzit

Every business has some kind of supplier or vendor. It could be a supplier of raw materials; it could be a supplier of ideas or training. For the purposes of this blog, a supplier or vendor is any company that you buy from in order to do business – home builders need lumber and construction equipment while transcriptionists need a telephone line and email address.

So here’s the conundrum: Do you use one supplier or many? There are advantages and disadvantages to both decisions. In the last blog we talked about using just one supplier. Today, let’s explore the idea of having more than one supplier.

With more than one supplier, you reduce the likelihood that the loss of one will keep you from getting the job done. And, it might be possible that each will provide a higher level of service or a lower price in order to win more of your business.

This is good news for you if the raw materials you buy from your suppliers do not need to be absolutely identical or flawless each time, and if they are simple to build or use. A home builder, mentioned earlier in the blog, might consider getting 2×4′s from more than one supplier because they’ll be generally the same and a little minor variation is okay. And, if they use just one supplier and that supplier suddenly runs out of 2×4′s, it could be extremely costly for the builder to put everything else on hold.

There are disadvantages, too. Using more than one supplier might not earn you a bulk discount, and could even earn you a bad reputation if you try to play one off of the other. And there’s another issue, too, as illustrated by this example: If you get your domain name from one provider and your web host from another, you’ll need to figure out how to connect them and get them to talk to each other. That might be a small thing but it can be time consuming and illustrates the larger issue that you might play more of a liaison or management role between suppliers than if you had just one supplier.

If you have more than one supplier, and you need supplies that can handle a little variance, here is how you can mitigate the risks above: Don’t play one against the other for price. Offer to work with a handful of suppliers and specify what is important to you about the relationship. Determine if maintaining a multiple-supplier relationship is going to be more time-consuming and costly than a single supplier relationship. If necessary (and if possible) get your suppliers together in a room and describe your expectations and how you need them to work together to help you deliver your product or service.

Do you one supplier or several? Leave your answer and reasoning in the comments!

photo credit: rachaelvoorhees

Every business has some kind of supplier or vendor. It could be a supplier of raw materials; it could be a supplier of ideas or training. For the purposes of this post, a supplier or vendor is any company that you buy from in order to do business – auto manufacturers will have parts suppliers while coaches might have a “supplier” from whom they bought their domain name and web hosting.

So here’s the conundrum: Do you use one supplier or many? There are advantages and disadvantages to both decisions, and in today’s post (and the one that will follow tomorrow) we’ll explore this question.

Today, let’s explore the idea of having just one supplier.

With just one supplier, you can generally build a fairly solid relationship. Since you give them 100% of your business, they won’t be hounding you for more of your business and instead you can focus on maintaining and improving the relationship. As well, your supplier will probably be open to working with you to improve the production and delivery of the product you’re buying from them. In many cases, you might also have enough buying power by putting all of your eggs in one basket to get lower prices.

Having one supplier is particularly advantageous when you require products or services that are exacting in some way. With multiple providers, you might get some variance but with one provider you are able to minimize the variance. I’ve seen this in graphic designers, writers, painters, shinglers, and numerous manufacturing scenarios. Whenever you have a situation where variance (in quality, style, or design, for example) will become noticeable, you will probably want just one provider.

There is a disadvantage, too: The supplier could go away and then you’d have to start at zero. Sometimes the supplier might disappear simply because they’ve gone out of business, or sometimes they might decide to stop working with you because it’s no longer profitable (which can happen if you work less on improving the relationship and more on negotiating discounts!).

If you have one supplier, and you only need one supplier, here is how you can mitigate the risk: If appropriate, keep a small stockpile on hand just in case the supplier can’t deliver on time for whatever reason. And, work with your supplier and view that relationship as a mutually beneficial, collaborative relationship. In a way, they are not that different than your employees and they require just as much investment in training and “care” that you would give to an employee.

photo credit: stevendepolo

Generating revenue is a big priority for your business, and there are really two basic ways that you can go about it: You can cast a wide net and generate revenue from multiple streams of income or you can focus on one area with laser precision and generate revenue from that. I’ve heard success stories on both sides of this argument.

Robert G. Allen is the multiple streams of income guy and he purports that your income should come from a variety of sources (increasingly passive sources) so that you can work less and make more money. The laser focus concept is akin to Jim Collins’ Hedgehog concept in his book Good to Great. Neither of these authors invented their idea but their book helped to put it into the mainstream.

So which should you choose? Multiple streams of income seems like a great way to build lots of small businesses to diversify but the costs can be higher and you can spread yourself too thin. The laser focus idea seems like a great way to charge a higher rate and keep costs down but you could be putting all of your eggs into one proverbial basket.

I think there is a middle ground here: Multiple streams of income with a laser focus. This is where you create several different revenue streams on a single topic: Let’s say you’re a financial advisor. You focus in like a laser on helping people achieve financial success but within that narrow field you create several streams: On the consumer side, you can offer investment advice, seminars, ebooks, a paid newsletter, and coaching. And don’t forget that you can also help other financial advisors with ebooks, coaching, and more.

You can have the best of both worlds.

photo credit: Dzilam

I never thought of it for myself until just a couple of years ago. I decided to make each year “The Year of [something]“. It became my focus and passion for the year. Of course, it was always tied in to my business and my area of focus, but it served to remind me of the thing that was important for me that year.

So, what will 2011 be YOUR year for? Will it be your Year for Success? Will it be your Year of Finally Starting That Business? Will it be your Year for Cataclysmic Business Growth? Maybe it will be your Year for Getting Out of Debt, or perhaps it will be your Year of Paying Off Your Business Credit Card, or The Year of Recession Recovery.

Whatever you decide it to be, make it a big deal for you and revisit it regularly as your overarching vision for the year. You will find that it will guide you as you make business decisions and, when the going starts to get a little rough, it will re-inspire you to press on.

Hey, why not add a comment in this blog and tell us what this year will be for you!

photo credit: zosoiv71

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Helen