Getting Social
Trying to increase Website Traffic? Use social media, but be in control of your sales funnel. When boosting posts on Social Media, ALWAYS LINK BACK TO YOUR LANDING PAGES! All of those likes and shares DO VERY LITTLE to get visitors into your sales funnel. Linking back to your content is crucial to controlling the environment and promoting a higher conversion rate.
You’ve installed proven conversion elements. You have Strong Calls to Action, and you have Quick Contact Forms on every page. You have tested your site, and you know your conversion rates. Your site is the best place for your customers. You’ve made sure of it. That’s why you need to get prospects to your controlled environment. No reputable expert has ever been able to pin down the value of a Like or a Share. On the flip side, by using simple math, a website can be evaluated for performance.
Pay to Play – Increasing Website Traffic
Facebook is a bold-faced liar. They’ve created a confusing environment for the everyday consumer. They’ve told everyone that they needed to gather Likes and promote business on “pages” instead of promoting one’s personal brand on a “profile.”
Then after going public on the stock market, they drastically reduced the visibility of non-paid posts by up to eighty-five to ninety percent. Introducing “boosting” as the new way to pay to play and promoting it as the only way to connect with your “Likes.”
On the positive side, Facebook did introduce the ability to target strangers. But, this is now done for a price. In a hyper-local networking arena, utilizing your personal profile to promote your personal brand will generate far more reach. Sounds simple, right?
Currently, Facebook is the King of social media and if you do not pay Facebook, they limit how many people see your posts. Even if you have one thousand likes on your Facebook Page, only ten-fifteen percent may ever see your posts unless you boost them. Boosting posts that link back to your content is a wonderful way to fill your Sales Funnel.
Boost Your Way to Increased Website Traffic
Go ahead, click the Boost Post button. Play around with the demographics and targeting. The choices are endless.
Facebook now gives users the ability to not only pick what users are interested in or “like,” but also specific demographics and purchasing habits. You can pick “business owners only,” “homeowners only,” “recent homeowners”, or “Facebook Page Administrators” to highlight a few. The options and combinations seem endless.
You can place your content right in front of the perfect audience and send quality visitors back to your website to convert. Right now, the Facebook ads cost a fraction of Google Adwords.
A Social Media Click vs. A Google Search Click
Like comparing apples to oranges, the mindset and intent of the two different audiences differ greatly. When you’re using social media, the intent is to attract an audience by engaging. Remain present and create an impulse decision. Often direct offers do not convert well in a social media environment. Smart marketing companies are directing social media traffic to landing pages to move prospects further along in the sales funnel.
Traffic from Google is much different. Typically, when someone is searching on Google, they are searching for a solution to a problem. Often, these problems include a wallet waving in the air to fan the flames of that day’s fire. Google organic visitors and Google paid ad visitors have a much more aggressive intent; to attempt to solve the problem themselves or to call in an expert. The number of conversions and the rate of conversion is often a little better, more predictable, and consistent.
Buying Google Ads to Drive Website Traffic
With billions of clicks already recorded across all industries, Google can tell you what to expect. Meaning, you are not the first one in your industry to try Google Ads.
Google has hundreds, if not thousands, of industry examples to use to predict accurate estimations of results. Google uses industry demographics, local demographics, location, and the monthly budget to determine the possible outcomes. With accuracy, Google can estimate how many calls you will get and how much each call will cost. Google Ads have decades of proven success, especially if you are driving the traffic back to a website with a high conversion rate. If the website is out of date and lacks clear calls to action, the cost per conversion can be abnormally high.
The Costs of Buying Google Ads
It is each business owner’s responsibility to understand their numbers and know how much they can afford to pay for client acquisition. It’s important to realize the value of that client over a lifetime and so on.
Here are examples of two catering companies in the same town. Both companies are looking to grow their sales.
First, we took all of the gross revenue from the previous year and divided it by how many jobs they had completed. The average of each catering job for Catering Company A was $3,000.00. Google estimated that it would cost $50 per phone call. When asked, the sales team said they could close half of the calls. Reminding them that these would be colder leads in some cases, they adjusted their estimate to one in five or twenty percent. If each call costs $50, and it takes five calls to complete a sale, then the costs per client acquisition are $250. The client was happy to pay $250 for a $3,000.00 catering job.
On the other hand, Catering Company B has an average gross sale of $750. Suddenly, $250 does not make sense. Giving up thirty-three percent of ad costs is leaving no room for profit. So, make sure you know your cost per client numbers in and out.
Summing it Up! Building or Buying Website Traffic!
Whether you decide to build your traffic through effective content or to buy it through Google or social media, it’s important to remember that these two strategies go hand in hand. If you’re frustrated or disappointed in your current efforts, let’s work together and create a more effective website strategy for you… one that brings more website traffic and conversions to your sales funnel. Contact me at Hawk Marketing Services, and let’s get together for a meeting to get it figured out! Let’s start building your website traffic NOW!
