The obvious answer to the question, “Is my blog creating business for me?” is, “You are receiving valid, legitimate leads, right?” Sure. But are you getting the maximum benefit from your lead making machine? Unfortunately, in most cases, you’re not.
Have you ever added something to your blog and sat back, excited about how many people were going to click on it? Maybe it’s a video of you talking about your experience or an e-Newsletter link in your sidebar. (Reality Check: Chances are, neither of these are being clicked on at all!) But how do you know what works and what type of content is the best use of your (above the fold) blog space?
There’s a two-step process to discover how well your blog is functioning. This is where Google comes to the rescue (when don’t they have an answer to our online needs?!).
The first step is to have the Google Analytics tool set up on your blog, which many of you will already have in place. If not, here’s a quick video tutorial on how to do this:
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The second step is to utilize their In-Page Analytics tool, also within their Analytics section. This is best used after your Google Analytics has been set up on your site for a few months, so you can gain a feel for making CONCISE alterations to both your users’ experiences and your site’s functionality.
Below is a video tutorial on how to access your In-Page Analytics and how to use it to its fullest potential.
When studying your In-Page Analytics, no matter which website or business you own, you’ll find a common denominator, which is that the information ‘Above the Fold’ is modified or tweaked on a regularly. Why? Because this is where the vast majority of visitors (about 80%) will scan (and very likely nowhere else) before hopping to another site if nothing stands out or grabs their attention. Remember, we are just talking about content that is above the fold on computers, and NOT mobile devices. That’s a whole other ball of wax…
We all know about the 10 second rule for when your child drops food on the floor. Well, you have just 10 seconds (even less with the younger crowd – possibly as little as 1 second!) to spark their interest- after that, you’ve lost your new prospect and all your hard work has gone out the window (or Mac!). It doesn’t matter how amazing your content is in your latest blog post, if no one ever reads it…
QUICK TIP: Something that I have learned from my mistakes in the past is how your site may look from one browser to the next – they are not all created equally. A great tool to use to see a snapshot of your site on dozens of different browsers is at BrowserShots.org. I highly recommend bookmarking this page to use for your site analysis so that your site looks uniform on all platforms!
There are a handful of points that you want to ensure you have and study on a regular basis via your In-Page Analytics positioned above the fold:
1. What are you selling?
Bottom line, you are a sales person. Does your site reflect without a doubt what it is that you are selling? If not, change it!
2. What do you want them to do now that they’re on you site?
Do you have at least one call to action? Is it enticing? How many leads are you generating from it? Keep on top of it and change it if your results are less than desirable.
3. What carrots are you dangling?
Just because 80% of users stay above the fold, doesn’t mean shouldn’t pull out some punches and dangle a few carrots. Think about having bolded headlines that are well written and draw attention. You will have a higher chance of them diving down below the fold.
4. Do they have a reason to return?
Fresh content, eye-popping images and/or new videos are all aspects of your site that can be added to on a regular (at least once a week) basis and offer the prospect to return again in the future. Research has shown that a user returns to a site 12 times before they actually make a purchase.
The bottom line is, perception and reality are often very different and you need to be consistently educated on how your machine is working and how you can make it work better. Nothing that is left to it’s own devices will live up to its fullest potential – your site is no different. Set goals for your site and ensure that you meet them by making the necessary and well educated changes!
NOTE: If you are going to make changes, try making one change at a time. This way you’ll be better equipped to determine what works versus what doesn’t on your blog when it comes to gaining more leads (read Jay Thompson’s post “Always be Tweaking” for some great advice on the types of recommended alterations).
If these tools are new to you, or you’ve been using them for a long time and have great results to share, we’d love to hear from you in the comments section below! This site is not only here for us to provide information to you, but for you to share with each other, as a united team!
