Low-Budget Online Marketing. Holly Berkley

how those people respond to and feel about your website, company, and product. Spam cheapens your company brand and takes away consumer trust in your business.

      Use your existing email list, no matter how small, and simply suggest that recipients forward your message to friends and family. Or entice them by a message such as, “Give your friends and family 10 percent off by having them sign up to join our list.” These are two quick ways to gain access to a new audience without having to buy a list.

      How to Personalize Your Website

      What if you have no obvious target audience? What if you are selling a general product like soap, toothpaste, pens, or lightbulbs that honestly appeals to everyone no matter what their sex, age, or income level? Even if your company has something to offer everyone, that doesn’t let you off the hook as far as personalizing your website. Unlike television, radio, or print advertising, it is possible for a website to appear personalized, without limiting your audience.

      A big-budget company could spend upwards of a million dollars just on the technology alone that goes into creating a personalized website. The continued success of Amazon.com is a direct result of its extremely efficient use of its personalization technology. Everyone likes books and cds, no matter what their demographic profile is. However, Amazon.com has managed to personalize their online store to fit each new shopper almost perfectly. This is what personalization technology is all about.

      Learn from Amazon.com

      In case you have never purchased a book or cd on Amazon.com, here’s a rundown of how their personalization technology works. When you search for a product on www.Amazon.com, the website records this, then uses that information to target ads and messages to you.

      I recently purchased U2’s newest cd online. At the virtual checkout stand, the website suggested more products related to my purchase and provided a list of cds purchased by other people who like U2. Before my purchase was completed,

      Amazon.com directed me to one last page encouraging me to send a coupon for my same U2 cd to my friends and family. This is a great example of viral marketing. Rather than Amazon.com soliciting new customers, the email coupon (and product endorsement) would come directly from me — a trusted family member or friend.

      A few weeks after my purchase, I received an email telling me about a new cd. The email said, “Hi Holly. As someone who just purchased U2’s latest cd, we thought you’d like 10 percent off these cds.” The message included a list of cds by artists similar to U2, along with direct links for more information about each cd.

      Amazon.com goes so far as to customize its home page based on products a customer has purchased recently. Each time I visit Amazon.com from my home computer, the top of the screen says, “Welcome Back, Holly! Here are some recommended products for you ... ” When I visited the home page of Amazon.com recently, it listed a biography, poster, and other items I might like based on my recent purchase.

      Now this is personalization at its best. From tracking a customer’s movement and purchase patterns, it comes full circle through follow-up emails and a personalized home page. This may be a perfect use of personalization, but it’s also a multimillion-dollar technology.

      On a limited budget, you won’t be able to achieve personalization on the same scale as Amazon.com. However, there are some basic and very effective things you can do with little to no budget that will give your customers the illusion of personalization and ultimately make them think, “This website is for me!”

      Organize and customize content

      Recently a local travel agency asked me to take a look at their website and give them some feedback about how to increase online travel bookings without having to create a whole new site or implement expensive booking technology. The travel site offered hundreds of packages to various cities all over Mexico. The site navigation was broken down by city.

       You can effectively personalize your website by organizing its content and making sure the site’s focus on the customer rather than on your organization.

      I suggested that in addition to categorizing their travel packages by city, they also divide resorts and packages into categories such as “Family Resorts,” “Romantic Getaways,” or “Adventure Travel.” After determining a breakdown that made sense, I suggested they could take the categories a step farther by breaking them down by price. For example, “Luxury Family Resorts” and “Economy Family Resorts.” By aiming each package at a specific audience, they would help their customer make a confident decision.

      When customers have too many choices, they tend to not make a decision at all. This is one of the biggest problems on the Internet: information overload. Organizing information is key. Making information feel as if it is directed to your customer personally is even better.

      In addition to reorganizing and naming their travel packages, I suggested they implement a simple site search engine, so customers can quickly find the exact resorts or condos they are looking for. If you have more than 25 products, a simple search engine is a great feature. It will add to the professionalism and utility of your website without you having to spend money on expensive technology. (See Chapter 11 for more information on cost-effectively working with your web developer.)

      Online marketing shouldn’t stop once a sale is made. The best way to generate new customers is through your existing customer base (just as Amazon.com did when they suggested I email my friends and family a coupon). I suggested that the travel agency give their clients a spot on their website to post photos from their trip. This not only serves as a genuine customer testimonial, but also encourages that customer’s friends and family to visit the site — and, with any luck, book their own trip. Implementing viral marketing concepts and tools such as “Send a postcard,” “Email my trip itinerary,” or “Tell a friend” are great ways to generate quality leads.

      Focus on the customer

      Another company, called Activation Imaging, wanted their website to generate more sales leads. Their website was nicely designed and professional. It featured standard navy blue colors and stock photos of business executives. Yet although the site looked professional, there was nothing on it that felt personalized. Nothing jumped out and said, “This site is for you!”

      I asked them who their top clients were (their target audience), and they quickly listed real estate agencies, biotech companies, and law firms. However, nowhere on their home page did they mention these industries. In fact, all of the text on their home page was about Activation Imaging. Focusing exclusively on self-promotion online is a common mistake of small businesses. Your customers don’t care about you; they care about what you can do for them. You have ten seconds to capture an Internet user’s attention when he or she visits your home page, so you had better tell that person why he or she needs you. Use your home page to tell your customers why your product or service is right for them, personally. In short, put your company information or personal bio in the “about us” section of your website, not on your home page.

      With this in mind, we simply rearranged Activation Imaging’s home page to include three boxes. One had a picture of a lawyer, the next a real estate agent, and the last a biotech student. Each image had a sentence appealing to that target audience, followed by “Click here for more info.” We then developed an entire page dedicated to why Activation Imaging was an expert in creating digital documents for that specific industry. In reality, we only had to change a few sentences on each page, because the company performs essentially the same service for each industry, but the new targeted sentences now made their product appear personalized.

      Testing Your Website’s Appeal to Your Target Audience

      How can you be sure that your website is attracting the right audience? Just ask them. Although Internet users are getting more and more protective of their personal information, if you offer something of value, they will provide you with this information.