Why Spending on Website Traffic Is Foolish, Unless You First Do These 3 Digital Marketing Strategies
Website traffic is one of the top priorities in digital marketing. Each year entrepreneurs and marketing executives spend thousands of dollars paying for website traffic. Digital advertising through links and display ads on search engines and social media are among the most popular methods for website traffic.
Yet, for the first time, digital ad spending will go down worldwide from the year before. According to a July, 2020 report by eMarketer, experts predict a decline in ad spending of 4.9% worldwide in 2020, compared to 6.3% growth in 2019. The decline is mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Nonetheless, as the economy recovers, digital ad spending will go up again. But should you spend money for website traffic? The answer is no, if you have not first invested in conversion.
You see, it makes no sense to pay for traffic if you do not have a way to capture the lead and convert them into a customer. That’s because without a conversion strategy in place, you will spend money on attracting visitors to your website, only to see they leave without buying.
There are 3 strategies you should invest in first before you invest one penny in website traffic.
Strategy #1: Capture The Lead on a Landing Page
Less than 1 percent of visitors buy the first time they visit a website. Think about that for a second.
That means over 99 percent of visitors to your website will leave your website without buying. Yet each visitor costs you money. If they leave without buying, you lose money. Plus, your acquisition cost per customer will be very high.
That’s why its best that you develop an opt-in campaign focused on capturing the lead. NOT selling your product or service at first. By capturing the lead, you now can develop a relationship with each visitor that opts in. And convert them from lead to customer over time.
The thing is, with digital ad spending, you should NOT send traffic to your home page or product pages. Learn more here.
Instead, it’s best to send traffic to a dedicated landing page with an offer to compel visitors to opt-in and give you permission to message them via email and SMS text. These offers can be a free report, checklist or quiz. Something of value to your audience to establish your credibility.
Strategy #2: Follow-Up With a Series of eMails and SMS Text Messages
Email is the most cost-effective form of media with the highest return on investment, according to the Direct Marketing Association. SMS text messages have open and read rates of over 90%. Together, these two methods of messaging can help you in your follow-up to convert leads into paying customers.
The thing is, the persuasive quality of your content will have a big impact on your results. Plus, the quantity and frequency of your messages. If you only have a few follow-up messages, chances are you won’t close many sales. Some contacts may respond quickly, while others may not be in a hurry. The key is to not stop messaging your opt-in contacts, unless they op-out.
One common myth in digital marketing is to not send too many messages that will cause a contact to opt-out. But if you send too few messages, you’ll never make a sale. The key is to send messages with relevant content to your audience for as long as it takes to close the sale.
Strategy #3: Convert Sales With a Video Sales Letter or Automated Webinar
Digital marketing is a form of direct response marketing. The traditional long copy sales letter is a proven way to convert leads into customers. In a digital marketing campaign, you put the sales letter on a landing page with buttons that take the visitor to your order page.
An even more effective strategy is to create a video sales letter. This can involve a voiceover artist communicating the message of the letter, with either the words showing on the screen or images that bring the words to life. Video is emotional and can boost your response rates.
You can also promote the sale of your products and services with an automated webinar. This a slide presentation with voiceover that you convert to video. Then customize interactive features in the automated webinar platform. You can schedule the webinar to play several times per day to make it easy for your audience to register and attend. You can create a button that appears at a strategic time in the webinar for your audience to click and buy your product or service.
How to Start Your Digital Marketing Campaign
The good news is you can complete a viable marketing campaign with opt-in landing page, email and SMS text messages and a landing page with sales letter, video sales letter or automated webinar with a small investment. Once you complete these, then you’ll have everything in place to help convert website traffic into customers. Hiring a consultant to help you can be a good way to start.