I recently set up yet another Google AdWords account to test a few things out. A few days later I received an email from Google, advertising a new service they’re offering. I won’t bore you with the details, but one of the points Google made about their AdWords service was this:
No risk: with AdWords you only pay for clicks – so you only pay if it works.
“You only pay if it works” means, to Google, that someone clicked on your Ad. After all, that’s how Google gets paid. But does that mean it “worked” for you, as well as Google? Someone clicking through to your site or landing page is great, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll take an action. It doesn’t even mean that they’re an appropriate visitor.
What do you consider success to be?
There are plenty of actions we can try and get a potential customer to take when on your site.
- Signing up for an email newsletter
- Filling out a request for more information
- Making a purchase
Beyond rankings and traffic, these actions tend to be the main things things people focus on when they talk about their internet marketing goals. They are critical.
But they’re also some of the hardest things to get people to do. Getting someone to hand over their email address isn’t always easy. Filling out a request form can be equally daunting. Questions always run through people’s minds, “What are they going to do with my email?” or “Am I going to have to fend off half a dozens sales people if I fill out this form?”.
Sometimes, your website is not the best place to expect the initial connection to be formed.
Think about some of the other actions people can take online, and the other places they can engage with your company.
- Reading reviews about your business on Google Maps or Yelp
- Leaving a review about your business on a variety of sites
- Liking your page on Facebook
- Following you on Twitter or connecting on LinkedIn
- Sharing your content (retweets etc.) with others
These actions are just as important as the others, because they’re often the initial steps people take when engaging with your brand. And, none of them actually occur on your website.
Getting someone to engage with your company could be compared to peeling an onion. (No, not something that causes tears and a lot of crying.) To get people to make larger commitments, you often have to move them through the outer layers first. The outer ones require little risk -like making a comment on a blog post- and they allow people to become comfortable with who you are and how you’ll treat them. After taking these initial steps (provided they have a positive experience) they’re more likely move on to a deeper layer and make a greater commitment, like signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
Getting a customer to engage with your organization in a positive way should be counted as a success. It should also be tracked so that you can measure the impact you outreach efforts are having.
What are your “outer layers” and how are you tracking them?
I agree completely with “layering” when it comes to getting people to take action. I particularly align with the fact that you clearly separate good rankings from what you want the visitor to do.
You can be ranking magnificently and converting horribly!
Great post.
Thanks for your feedback Ryan, we appreciate it. You’re right that ranks aren’t everything.
Have you found that the terms you rank for makes a large difference in your conversion rates across all “layers” of action?