Category Archives: SageRock

How Do I Know If My Content Marketing Strategy Is Working?

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If you are into Web marketing these days the name of the game is Content.

  • Inbound Marketing
  • Content Marketing
  • Engagement Marketing

These titles all make up what we used to solely consider “SEO.”

Content, we are told, is the holy grail. Write compelling content and you will succeed.

Maybe.

But the fact is, content is not a guarantee. Just writing, videoing or podcasting without careful measurement is not a surefire way to grow your business.

In fact, at best, it will only slowly grow your business.

Content is a long-term, slow and steady process.

Even if you can get your traffic numbers up relatively quickly, my experience is that you won’t see immediate results from that traffic.

Take a look at the SageRock site stats for the last thirty days compared to the same time period last year:

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Our traffic is up 66%. But that number doesn’t really impress me. 

So much of our traffic reads one page and leaves.

The number that interest me the most is the Bounce Rate. It’s slowly coming down. It’s down 9% from last year.

But it’s still too high at 77%. I want it to get to 70% and below.

If you aren’t familiar with that number, the bounce rate in Google Analytics is anyone who has looked at just one page. The amount of time they spend on the page is not taken into account.

You can see that my average time on a page is up 46%. That number encourages me. But again, I’m not looking for people to come to one page and leave… no matter how long they stay on the page.

The number that is most meaningful to me is actually the one that is the smallest: A 9% decrease in bounce rate.

I don’t actually want content. I don’t want “inbound” traffic. I want “engagement.”

I want these people to take the next step with me. I want them to sign up for the Friday Internet Marketing show. I want them to sign up for our newsletter. And the ultimate success: I want people to contact us to talk about how we can help them with their Web marketing.

We track a lot of other things as goals. But none of those things will happen with a high bounce rate. Getting your bounce rate down below 70% and then 60% has to be your first line of tracking.

If my bounce rate is too high I guarantee none of the other things I am looking to achieve will ever happen.

So, if you are seriously working a content marketing strategy, sure, make certain it is increasing your traffic. It most likely will be.

But don’t let that number lull you into a false sense of security. More traffic is meaningless. That traffic has to be engaged with your company in some way.

Ultimately, your goal is to get leads or sales (in an ecommerce site). But that’s a “down the road” goal.

The first goal of determining success is a good bounce rate.

70% is good.

60% is great.

50%… you are a rock star (literally. you probably are a rock star)

 

 

 

My Blogging Thoughts for 2013

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If you are a regular at the SageRock blog, it probably feels a little different than normal.

There are 2 things I’m trying.

First, I’ve switched the theme to the WordPress Twenty Twelve Theme.

I’ve left it mostly in its default setup. It’s a more minimal theme than Twenty Eleven.

But the important part of the theme is that it is “responsive.” That means that it automatically updates the format based on the device the viewer is using.

sagerock-responsive-designYou can see in this picture that on a phone the right-hand navigation is gone. And the top menu is all rolled up into that “Menu” button at the top.

I absolutely believe 2013 is going to be the year of coding your site in a responsive design.

I have yet to see a single web site where the growth of mobile viewers is anything less than explosive.

Mobile is predicted to overtake a traditional computer user by 2016. But the current mobile users of 2013 are massive as well. In many cases, I’m seeing as many mobile users as the most used Internet Explorer browser users.

I might play with bringing back the top graffiti SageRock logo at some point. But right now I’m just relishing in the minimalism of the current design.

The second difference is the focus on site reviews.

One of the things that drives me insane is that it is incredibly difficult to get blog readers to engage with me in any other way than simply reading the post they came in on.

In December my average bounce rate for blog pages was 86.22%. That’s way too high.

From here:
High Bounce Rate – Analytics Help

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that see only one page during a visit to your site.

Now, my average time on page is good: 3 minutes and 19 seconds. But what is happening is that people are coming to the blog article they are reading and then are leaving.

If I look at the bounce rate of pages that aren’t the blog (services pages and that sort of thing) I get: 50.87%. While these people are spending way less time on each page, 1 minute and 25 seconds, they are looking at multiple pages.

I have a goal in Google Analytics of people that have viewed 5 or more pages.

When I look at where people came into the site that achieved that goal these are the top entry pages for December 2012:

  • Home page: 45 visits (who looked at 5 or more pages) with a 11.31% conversion rate.
  • SageRock Live (which is totally happening today at 3:15 Eastern, btw): 15 visits with a 6.47% conversion rate.
  • The Blog home page. 9 visits with a 10.98% conversion rate.

I then got 4 visits that achieved the 5+ pages goal for the blog post Why You Should Never Use Google’s “Free” AdWords Service. But the conversion rate plummets to 2.5%.

This just makes my case. If you come in on a blog article you read it and leave. I get it. I do the exact same thing. But I really want to compel people to look at something else. Or maybe even sign up for something.

But then something interesting happened.

I wrote about a couple local advertising agencies doing some cool pro bono work: Akron Design Agencies – TRIAD/Next Level & 427 Design do Pro Bono for Tuesday Musical.

Only two people that came in on that page looked at 5 or more pages. But it amounted to a 50% conversion rate. That means that only 4 unique people looked at that page. But 2 of them went on to look at 5 or more pages. 

That got me thinking. The volume of people coming to your site is not important. It’s who is coming to the site that matters. And how relevant the content is to them.

So, in the first four days of the year, the blog post An Online Marketing Review of AgieCharmilles by Sage Lewis from SageRock had 3 visitors look at 5+ pages which amounted to a 30% conversion rate.

What’s interesting is I don’t think AgieCharmilles has yet looked at the post. I will probably send them a link to it via Twitter or Facebook next week.

Ultimately, I am trying to get people to look at more of the site than just the post they are reading. And ideally I would like them to try some other parts of SageRock, like The SageRock System.

The risk here is that I’m going to make the SageRock blog so specific that no one will come to it. I’ll have to keep an eye on that. But it might be worth it if I can make the content so interesting for one or two people that they feel extremely compelled to take another step.

I’ll let you know how it all goes.

The end

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I am a fan of seeing things come to an end.

The end is just a beginning for something else.

I was at two funerals this year of men who died too early.

My absurdist optimism just kept asking, “I wonder what their loved ones will do now?” Not in a worried way. But in an excited, full of potential way.

You have a choice of how you look at the unknown: with optimism and hope or with pessimism and fear.

Maybe this is the year you:

  • Lose weight
  • Quit drinking
  • Get married
  • Make more money
  • Spend more time with your family

But I know this about stopping one thing to start another: it’s scary and hard. Oh… and you’ll probably fail.

Did you know you should never bet that an alcoholic will quit drinking? It’s the fool’s bet. Most won’t stop drinking.

But not everyone fails. And just because you failed before does not mean you will fail this time. In fact, your chances of winning go up the more times you fail.

How many times does it take for the average person to quit smoking

Those who actually quit make roughly 6-8 attempts before they succeed.

For me I have one goal for the year: To stop telling myself I’m a bad salesperson and to become a great sales person.

Since the beginning of this company I have told anyone who would listen (including myself) that I’m a terrible sales person.

The person who believes that the most is me.

I’ve never enjoyed sales. I’ve felt it’s too much pressure. I’ve told myself I’m a terrible follow up person.

That’s all ending.

2013 is the year I become an awesome sales person.

I’m not talking one of those cheesy vacuum salesman.

I’m going to be me except with a product I really want you to try.

One of the things I like about me is that I am helpful. To the bottom of my heart, I want you to be successful with your online marketing.

If anything, people at SageRock have told me I should be less helpful. I give a lot of help away for free.

I’m going to go the other direction. I’m going to try to use my desire to be helpful as a sales tool.

I have very specific sales goals for the first quarter of 2013:

  • I am going to invite 100 people to try the SageRock System.
  • I want to get 50 people to actually try it (for free).
  • By the end of the quarter I want 5 to buy it.

As a conversion-metrics-obsessed individual I’m concerned about the first conversion number. Can I get a 50% conversion rate to actually try the System?

But I feel fairly confident about the 10% conversion of actually buying it. It’s affordable. And the people currently in it really like it.

So, maybe I’m going to need to get more than 100 people invited into the System.

To do this, again, I’m going to go back to my strengths. I’m going to try 1-to-1 social media marketing.

I’m going to talk to very specific companies.

I recently made A Directory of Manufacturing Technology Company Web Sites. These are probably companies I’m going to target.

I’ve also made a similar list for the Top 100 U.S. Airports Web sites, Facebook Pages, Twitter Accounts.

I’d like to do this for the top franchises and community colleges in the country as well.

Those are the 4 industries I want to target.

I’m thinking I will do a free online marketing evaluation of each of these companies. Then along-side the evaluation I’ll offer them a form where they can try the System for free.

I’m going to post these evaluations on this blog.

Currently, I don’t have the free trial available to just anyone. I make no mention of the free trial on the site. I only offer it to very specific people. My feeling is that if I don’t have a relationship with the people who want to try it then my chances of getting them to actually buy it are pretty slim.

That said, if you’ve made it this far in this article, here is the link to the SageRock System free trial.

To invite 100 people into the System by the end of March that means I’m going to have to do about 33 free evaluations a month.

To play it safe I think I’m going to do 2 a day. That way if I am out of town or sick I’ll have enough material to keep me going.

While I haven’t considered myself a good sales person up until now, I do consider myself a good marketer.

I know how to reach people. I know how to do lead generation. That’s all I’ve been doing for clients since 1999.

I’m hoping I can take my marketing skills to do lead generation and then add in some new sales-focused follow-up skills.

That last part will be the challenge. I’m a terrible follow-up person. I just have to see follow-up as an extension of the helping. I’m just trying to help people be more successful online.

The SageRock System is all about that goal. It’s my honest solution that is affordable and effective.

So, that’s my focus in 2013.

If you see any errors in this strategy or think I should try something else please don’t hesitate to let me know.

And if you have something you are going to end in 2013, I’d love to know that too.

Akron Addys – Akron Addy Awards 2013

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Addy Awards LogoJust about anyone involved with advertising or marketing on any level is familiar with the Addy Awards (aka Addys). Presented annually by the American Advertising Federation, they are a series of prestigious awards that aim to represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising from media of all types, creative by all sizes and entrants of all levels from anywhere in the world.

As they have grown over the years, local chapters have sprung up to recognize this same level of excellence around many thriving creative communities. Akron is no stranger to this and boasts it’s own successful Akron AAF branch and it’s own set of Akron Addys.

In October of 2012, a handful of eager SageRock employees descended upon a special lunch and learn session put on by the Akron AAF to see a presentation by Paul Kepple, principal and creative director of Headcase Design, talk about the process and experience of designing for large pop-culture properties like the HBO series Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Deadwood, and the Broadway hit Wicked.

It was nothing short of amazing to see the dedication involved in both the creativity and perseverance that went in to their astonishing end products. It gave us a renewed and healthy respect for what is needed to possibly win an Addy Award.

SageRock has never before entered to win one of the Akron Addys but that all might change in 2013. We have several initiatives which are worthy in their own right.  As an Akron, OH based digital marketing firm, we have launched massive advertising campaigns across many online media channels that have brought jaw-dropping results for our clients and those, we feel, deserve recognition beyond just their immediate and ongoing success stories.

Akron Addys 2013

From the Akron AAF:

The prestigious Akron ADDY® Awards event is the first of a three-tiered national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). The ADDY Awards, considered the world’s largest advertising competition, honors creative excellence and cultivates the highest creative standards in the industry. Awards are given in 15 categories, including sales promotion, collateral, direct marketing, interactive and broadcast.

Here is a full list of Rules and Categories for the 2013 Akron Addys:

http://www.addyaddicts.org/final_docs/ADDY_Rules_Categories_2012-13.pdf

The Akron AAF is also sponsoring an upcoming dinner with the 2013 Akron Addy Judges on January 12th, from 7-9:30pm. If you’re interested in learning first hand what this year’s judges’ really think about Akron’s work then this will no doubt be an eye-opening dinner for you. What are the judges looking for? What most impressed them? What surprised the judges the most?

You can RSVP for this Akron Addys event here:

http://www.aafakron.com/events/dinner-with-the-addy-judges

We wish the best to all of the 2013 Akron Addy Awards contestants!

Video: 3 Reasons Why You Should Hire A Web Marketing Agency

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I had a call last week where a person asked me this very question.

I was a bit caught off guard because I hadn’t been asked it in a while.

But it’s a very good question: Why should I hire a Web marketing agency?

It’s a great question.

What is the value a Web marketing agency brings to the table?

I think there are 3 main reasons:

  • Expertise
  • Time Savings
  • Money Savings

I go into each of these in-depth in the video below. But let me say this:

The first two: expertise and time savings are something that almost any agency can offer. Being in the space and working with many different clients in many different industries gives them that ability.

Those two things are very useful. They also should be very apparent.

The Web marketing agency will come to you with ideas and new concepts that you hadn’t anticipated. You should be getting a bunch of “ah-ha” moments with an agency. Your brain should probably be blown, at least initially.

While those kinds of things are cool, they aren’t the holy grail.

In my experience, the best agencies will do the third thing for you: Save you money!

They will help you get more leads for a lower cost than you were able without them.

This is a skill that I don’t believe you can find in most agencies. They want to razzle-dazzle you with expertise. They want to sell you the sizzle and not the steak. I hear agencies talk sizzle constantly:

  • We work with Microsoft and Facebook and IBM. (You have no idea what that means. Did they make a sales pitch to them once? [I've literally seen that count for an agency to have "worked" with a company.])
  • We manage millions of dollars in paid search revenue. (A: Do they do that well? Who knows. B: You could run reports for clients and call that “managing millions of dollars in paid search revenue.”)
  • We have 100 employees and are growing every day. (I hate this the worst. This almost always means there are ton of people with no experience and you are probably going to be the lucky devil who gets to work with them.)
  • We sold our last company and are now focusing on this avenue. (“We sold” usually means “we failed” in this business.)

I’m generalizing here. I know examples where all of those statements are true and mean something.

However, the louder they crow about how smart and brilliant they are the less I believe them.

I can’t tell you how many agency people try to wow me with how big, fancy and amazing they are. It does the opposite for me. 

Can they deliver? That’s the question.

My experience is that most can’t.

The highest and best use of a Web marketing agency is to give you more for less.

The fees of a Web marketing agency should more than pay for themselves.

But you have to know where you started before you can really know where you should be going.

If you don’t have solid measurement in place there’s no way of knowing if they are saving you money or not.

So what’s the moral of this story: Get solid metrics in place. 

If you don’t know how to do that hire an agency to help you with that. Most should be able to help you understand metrics and what are good numbers to track.

Again, many agencies are going to do simple things like tell you your conversion rate on forms or shopping carts. There are more nuanced tracking strategies that you probably should be considering. Nuance is not the specialty of most agencies. (The 100 people under the age of 27 at that big fancy agency aren’t “nuanced.” They are usually just reading the same articles you’ve read.)

But if you have nothing, something is better than nothing. At least start tracking form conversions and shopping cart conversions. Most agencies should be able to help you with that.

Here is the video where I go into detail about these three aspects of why you should consider using a Web marketing agency: