Tactical Execution

Anyone who follows their own website traffic statistics is probably aware of their “bounce rate”, the number of people who land on their website and then promptly bounce right back off again.  That’s NOT what you want.  You want people to stick around for a while.  You want people to browse.  You want people to get to know you and learn to trust you.  That’s the objective.

Let’s back up and look at Internet Marketing in general.  At the highest level, all you’re really trying to do is (1) get people to your website and (2) impress them once they get there.  That’s it.  Two steps.  That’s Internet Marketing in a nutshell. I have a whole model devoted to this concept and you can see it by clicking here.

Breaking it down a bit further, you can take the second step and divide it into two pieces.  First, you have to build trust by providing value.  And then you have to monetize that trust.  Now, I’m assuming you’re building a website as part of your business.  I’m assuming you’re trying to make money.  If you’re not, that’s fine.  But for everyone else, there’s no point having a website unless it’s contributing to your business.

Back to the bounce rate.  If your bounce rate is high and most of your visitors are leaving your website shortly after they arrived, you have no way of building trust.  The only way they’ll learn to trust you is if they find value on your site; things that will make their lives better.  So you want a low bounce rate.  And that’s another way of saying that you want a “sticky” website.

The first thing to understand is that people who visit your website are in the submissive position.  They are in a receiving mode.  They have no control over what they see.  You do.  You have the control.  And that’s a huge opportunity that most webmasters never take advantage of.  You can present whatever reality you want and I have a whole blog post devoted at that topic.  It’s called Expand the Frame so check it out.

If someone is in a submissive mode, do you think he or she is likely to make their own proactive decisions?  No.  No, they’re not.  They’re in the receiving mode.  That means you have to tell them what to do at every turn.  Tell them what to do.  Always tell them what to do!  Every single page on your website needs to have options at the bottom, giving the reader ideas of where to go next.

Picture a large tree in the fall; a tree with no leaves on it.  Your homepage is the thick trunk.  Then, it splits off into 4 or 5 big branches.  These are the pages that your homepage directs visitors to.  From there, each branch splits into further branches and further branches, each becoming more narrow than the last.  These are the pages that link off your secondary pages and beyond.

The job of your homepage is to get people into the bowells of your website; into an area that provides value for them.  The job of the secondary pages is to qualify your visitors further and get them into a page that addresses their needs directly.  So the primary options on these various pages should be designed to quickly and easily funnel your website visitors to the pages that speak to them.

But at the end of the branches, on a typical tree, you end up with all the ends of each branch, hanging out in the middle of the air with nowhere to go.  Problem.  Absolutely none of your pages should hang out in the air with nowhere to go.  None.  Each page needs to circle back around to the bowells of the website again.  Read another article.  Schedule an appointment.  Visit our resource center.  Review advanced products.  What ever it is, it has to give your visitors an obvious direction of where to go next.

Tell your visitors where to go.  Tell them what to do.  Tell them where the path is; the path that you designed to introduce them to your business.  Whether you realize it or not, your website is having a conversation with your visitors and you need to think about that conversation and how you want it to unfold.  Then, at the end of every single page, include a link to something you think would follow logically from what they just read.

At the bottom of this post, you’ll see a link where you can subscribe to our free 1-year e-course.  You’ll also see related posts.  Both are designed to keep you on the site; keep you browsing.  The e-course is a free and content-rich program and most of our subscribers link to the page from a blog post.  And the related posts give you an option to keep reading and learn more.  Either way, you’re getting to know the way we do business and with any luck, learning to trust us too.

Take a look at your website.  See where the loose ends are.  Make sure that each page links to somewhere else and funnels your visitors towards what they are looking for.  Done properly, you’ll see your bounce rate go down and your average time on the site go up.  You’ll also see your pages per visit go up.  And sooner or later, you’ll see your revenue go up as well.

Entrepreneurs are very particular types of people.  They’re creative.  They’re ambitious.  And they see opportunities; not just their own but in every day situations all around them.  Predictably, those characteristics represent their greatest strength and also their greatest weakness.  Why?  Because they often can’t focus on one thing.

I just got off a conference call (organized by Edith Yeung with SF Entrepreneur) with Christine Comaford-Lynch (one of the original angel investors for Google) and she said the same thing.  She said most of the entrepreneurs she comes across spread themselves too thin.  They have a bunch of different ideas and try to pursue too many at one time.  The result is that no single idea ever gets traction because the efforts of the founding entrepreneur are diluted.

Of course, there’s something else to consider.  For many entrepreneurs, their original idea doesn’t get anywhere and they usually figure it out pretty quickly.  They do some initial business activities and recognize that their brilliant idea isn’t resonating with their audience.  The beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you can change your strategy on a dime and try a different approach.  So they try something else, and something else, and something else – until they find something that works.

I understand that process because I’ve gone through it myself.  I’ve tested dozens of different ideas and the vast majority of them fell flat.  But every now and again, you stumble on something that actually works.  So my point is that when that finally happens, you need to embrace the success and focus your efforts on that particular revenue model to see if you can scale the success or not.  If so, focus all your energy on that project and start building your business.  If not, move on to the next idea.

Once you’ve seen some success and are in the process of building the business, always look for ways to systemize the business model, allowing it to run itself eventually.  When you get to that point, you once again have the freedom to try other business models.  But if you do it too soon, you risk jeopardizing your first business by pursuing a second.  Stay focused.  Find one revenue model and focus on that until it runs itself.  Only at that point should you get back to the entrepreneurial instincts that you started with.

A past client of mine had a business selling wine jelly.  Yes, that’s right.  Wine jelly.  Apparently, it tastes really good.  But that’s not the point.  Before we met, his website had products ranging in price from $4 to $28.  They included different sized jars and one package deal with 4 large jars.  Now, picture what you might think when you stumble upon his website.

If it were me, I would picture a retail shelf vendor and nothing more.  I would picture a few jars with a particular label sitting there on the shelf, beside dozens of competitive products.  There is absolutely nothing that would jump out at me.  And that’s precisely the problem.  He was a retail shelf vendor and nothing more.

After working together, we introduced a once-annual 3-day retreat up in Napa, including an extensive tour of a winery on one day, an afternoon workshop on a second day (teaching participants how to make wine jelly in their own homes) and three gourmet meals per day, each featuring wine jelly in one fashion or another.  The price for the retreat is $3995 and he featured it on his homepage.  Now, picture yourself once again as you discover this website.

In the first case, you have found a retail shelf vendor selling little jars of jelly.  In the second scenario, you have found a parallel universe that you never knew existed; a world full of romance, passion and good food.  You have discovered a world you have never seen, a potential hobby and a rich addition to your life.  It’s a totally different frame.  It’s a totally different experience.

Keep in mind, nobody needs to buy it!

Listen.  When someone clicks onto your website, they are in the submissive position.  They are in the receiving mode.  They have absolutely no control over what they are about to see.  You do.  You control everything they see.  That’s a huge opportunity that few businesses take advantage of.  You can present a small timid frame with your little product or service available for sale.  Or you can present a huge overwhelming presence full of opportunities to change people’s lives.  Your choice.

I’m not suggesting you be deceptive in any way.  I’m only suggesting you think bigger.  Expand the frame of your business.  Think about the personal objectives of your prospective customers.  They are people.  They have their own passions and goals.  Think of ways to let them pursue their own objectives within the context of your business.  Cater to their inner most desires.  Cater to their human side.  Cater to their emotions.

Don’t ever underestimate the passion of your customers.  They might not all buy what you’re offering and that’s okay.  But some will.  Trust me.  Some will.  You’ll see.  Some will engage and see your business as a way for them to improve their own lives.  Cater to them.  Build your business for them.  They have friends.  And if your business is improving their lives, you can bet they’ll be telling their friends.  And some of your other less-passionate customers might just get a bit jealous and engage more themselves.

Think bigger.  Redefine what you do.  Include your customers’ personal objectives into your business plans.  Present an overwhelming online identity and watch your customer interactions change forever!