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When you check your website tracking analytics, you can see the number of unique visits, when they happened, where they came from.  What those analytics don’t tell you if whether it’s a lead or prospect you’ve been cultivating. Google analytics can tell you which pages have been viewed, but not who viewed those pages and whether they’ve come back to a particular page multiple times.  Additionally, you have to log in to your web analytics account to retrieve this information which could have aged several days if not longer.

We all have that list of target accounts that we want to land. These days, we likely have complete contact information, including their emails, phone numbers, etc. We’ve emailed, left follow-up voicemails, maybe even had a couple phone conversations or a meeting over coffee. But, each time, for whatever reason, the timing just isn’t right. And, then…the day comes when they decide it’s time to make a change and they go online to look at all the websites of all the vendors that may potentially fit what they need.

But, the web analytics only give us aggregate information that we see when we log in or when the person who has the responsibility for compiling a report on web analytics distributes it. What if s/he starts to fill out an inquiry form and gets interrupted and doesn’t complete the form?

What if you could get almost instant notification when one of these elusive prospects visits your site? And, what if you knew exactly which pages s/he visited? What if an email is triggered if s/he abandons that inquiry form? What is all this data is automatically added to a profile in your CRM application and is shared between sales and marketing? Would that be valuable to you and your company?

It’s actually easy when you have the right tools. Heh, how many times have you heard that? But, that’s because it’s true. Would it make you really happy to know that you can do all of this easily, cost-effectively, and with one integrated application?  This is just a small part of what Venntive delivers.

Import your target database. Drop a few lines of code into each page of the website. Rank your pages. Set a target score. Enter an email address and check a box to receive alerts. Build a kick-ass email to automatically go out to those that abandon. Oh, that email is, of course, trackable. Done!

If this seems like that elusive missing link in your marketing-sales initiatives, get in touch! We’d love to show you how you can make this happen in just a couple days.

Please note that the Cheezburger Network, the definitive source of all things feline adorable, is blacked out today and could be gone…forever!

Created by: Online University

Neil Patel via CrunchBase

No, I haven’t gone off the deep end. I’m a huge advocate of smart social media marketing. But, I got a great email from Neil Patel of Kissmetrics a few days ago with the subject line, Wasted. These emails are not published anywhere. You have to subscribe to Neil’s personal brand newsletter. So, I asked for permission to share “Wasted” with you. As with most of Neil’s emails, it is jam-packed with information that you can easily and immediately put to use.

Enjoy! And, be sure to use the link at the bottom to subscribe to Neil’s newletter…if you aren’t already a dedicated fan like I am.

Hey Lydia,

Here’s one of the downsides of working in social media like Twitter and Digg and Stumble Upon and Facebook… You sometimes feel like a whirling dervish don’t you?

Like you’re just jumping from one project to another project to another project… and it doesn’t feel like you’re getting anything done.

Well, today we’re going to make that kind of thinking a thing of the past.

You’re going to learn the 2 biggest ways people waste time trying to grow traffic and what you should do instead.

These tips might sound simple… and that’s because they are. But while your competitors are looking for the newest or “most underground” way to build traffic… you’ll be steadily increasing it day after day after day…

And the best part is… a good deal of this can be automated

BIG DARN TIME WASTER #1

By far the biggest time sink people experience (including huge corps — they might be the worst at this) is coming up with new and good blog topics.

Here’s the deal: STOP. Stop wasting time trying to generate ideas on your own.

Instead, create an Excel spreadsheet that lists all your competing blogs. Then list out the blog posts they’ve published in the last few weeks along with how many tweets/facebook likes those posts got. If they don’t have Twitter or Facebook buttons you can find out how well that post did by typing its URL into twitter.

This shows you exactly what your target traffic WANTS.

And then that’s what you give them: once you see which posts did the best, you can write content related to those topics and they’ll typically preform well.

Not only will you avoid wasting time on content your market doesn’t care about… but is also increases your chances of writing a big hit.

If someone just read an article about Topic X, then chances are they’ll be interested in a related article as well (especially if it builds on or goes contrary to the original article they just read). Just think about the dozens and dozens of articles that got written after Steve Jobs passed away.

Let’s say your competitor’s most popular article last week was about “7 Common Headline Strategies.” Clearly your audience is interested in headlines, so you could build on that by promoting your own article on “7 Common Headline Mistakes.”

And that’s all there is to it. Of course, it will take some work to get the relationships that help this… but that will come with time.

Now, I understand this is dead simple. But hopefully you understand it’s also a systematic method for building content your audience showed it WANTS. You’ll know exactly what your market wants. You’ll consistently delight them with content that satisfies those desires. And you’ll be able to do it quickly with no stress.

People often ask me how I come up with my blog ideas… how I can keep writing for as long as I have… and how my articles get so popular.

Well, now you know. I consistently give my audience content I know they want. And I can do it quickly and stress-free, so I never burn out. This is exactly how I grew my blog. It got me far. It’ll probably do the same for you

BIG DARN TIME WASTER #2

Another way people waste loads of time is link building.

(In case you’re new: link building is important because it’s a huge factor in search engine optimization.)

Your competitors are probably trying to build links by emailing websites they think should be linking to them. And they’re doing this with absolutely no way of knowing how likely they are to get it.

Here’s a better way: why not search for websites who LIKE linking to other sites and email them a link request?

For example if I am looking to build links to my Las Vegas website I would search for websites that talk about “Las Vegas” and have a links page.

Here’s the search command I would use on Google:

intitle:”las vegas” inurl:”links”

For each result I found, I’d send a custom email to see if they would be interested in linking to my website.

I know this sounds like a tedious task, but you can get ~ 10-15% of the websites you email to link back to your website. And on average you can typically hire a college student for 10 dollars an hour and have them send out at least 100 emails in an 8-hour period.

That means I roughly pay $6.67 to $10 a link, which is a GREAT deal for links of that quality.

Again, that’s all there is to it.

Don’t let the simplicity disappoint or fool you. The key to traffic victory doesn’t lie in doing things that are hard or take a long time. It’s about following a straightforward plan.

Now you have one.

Last thought.

You can generally tell how much of an expert someone is by how well they distill their methods.

If someone teaches you something and it sounds really complex, they probably haven’t taken the time to think through how to boil it down. Be careful with folks like that. There’s a difference between being good at something and being good at teaching it.

I am doing my darndest to make this easy for you to learn… and the biggest reward is seeing my readers get results. So take action right now… and then hit reply to let me know what happened so we can celebrate together.

Talk soon,
Neil

Image by For Inspiration Only via Flickr

Craigslist and Monster.com were early leaders in revolutionizing the job search and hiring process with online tools.

And, we’ve all read the horror stories about jobs lost, futures dashed, and momentary notoriety resulting from sharing too much information and images via Facebook or Twitter.

But, the more you use social networks, the more likely you are to find that next position. In fact, ‘super social job seekers’ are 25% more likely to land a new job through Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.  A big advantage is that a warm referral or recommendation helps  to smooth the way  for a positive outcome. There’s the perception that you are already viewed as someone who will fit into the corporate culture and be an asset.

Keeping up with all the social media efforts, emails, resumes sent, phone and in-person interviews, next steps can be a challenge! That’s where Venntive comes in! No, really! For a nominal investment, you can manage all your contacts and everything associated with this major “project” all in one place.

In the meantime, here’s an infographic that details the advantages of being social online!

Created by: MBA Online

Related articles

• Job search is a social exercise (slideshare.net)
• Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin: where did you get your job? – Job search on social networks (nextlevelofnews.com)
• 18.4 Million In U.S. Found Jobs On Facebook This Year (allfacebook.com)
• An Innovative Job Search Strategy That Can Set You Apart and Land You Your Dream Job (prweb.com)

As Neil Patel (and countless others, but I really love Neil Patel’s advice!) says in “17 things I wish I’d known when starting my first business”, Emotions Rule. I realized the other day that has more than one application.

So, the first morning at the workshop when someone would ask me what I do, my answer was, “Venntive provides all the applications, all the tools in one place, on one platform, to implement everything you’re going to learn this weekend.” The thinking was that they’d get really excited there’s a simple, all-in-one application that would let them get to work immediately putting into practice all they’d learn.

Pretty good, huh? I thought so, too! Until I met a very tall man who rejected at least four different iterations in turn, but never offered anything constructive. Even when I switched gears and talked about how it ends the frustration and overwhelm people are experiencing these days with business technology or how it saves thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours, nothing was good enough for him. Needless to say, having virtual cold water poured over my head before I had any coffee was not a wonderful start to the day!

Sometimes, people just don’t want to *hear* what you’re saying or simply don’t want to buy what you’re selling.

Even though Neil is talking about tapping into deep emotions that motivate people to buy, there’s other emotions we sales professionals also manage and those are ours. Sales is a tough job and an emotional roller-coaster.

Don’t waste time. Don’t browbeat yourself. Don’t agonize over it!

A prospect is not a prospect if s/he’s never going to buy. Save time. Save energy. Save aggravation. Move on and move that “prospect” to your dead file. Maybe s/he can be re-assigned. Discuss it with a colleague. Maybe there’s some reason that isn’t evident that is keeping that person from buying from you, but not someone else in your organization. You’re not going to please all the people all the time. You’re not going to sell every person you contact. And, yes, sometimes we blow the sale, but there are times when losing the sale has nothing to do with what you did or didn’t do. That person is just not a prospect…for you.

By way of an epilogue, when he was asked to tell the group what he is working on, he couldn’t answer the question beyond saying he has four blogs. We’re still waiting to find out what they’re about and what he provides….

Related articles

• 3 Tips to Optimize Your Lead Management System (hubspot.com)
• The Discipline of the Lead Generation Leader (arnoldlozano88.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

A great Marketing Vox article earlier today started out talking about “How to Target Dormant App Users,” but the more important message was simply – Focus on what your business does. Everything you do should be informed by this simple truism. So, if yours is a tool-and-dye machining company, you don’t need to build a social network. But, maybe you need to spend some quality time in communicating clearly with your customers via email and a bombproof website that allows them to request information and estimates.

I’ve frequently had people look at me funny when, in the middle of a high-flying discussion about ‘what is ROI’, I say the only thing that matters at the end of the day is the bottom line. It’s almost as if I’m speaking heresy. But, that *is* the true measurement of ROI. Nothing else matters.

So, don’t be distracted from what it takes to add to the bottom line.

Now, you need to ask some hard questions and get to the answers, develop a strategy, and then, execute that strategy consistently. Monitor metrics. Tweak after 4-6 months, as necessary.

At Venntive, we provide great technology to help make aligning marketing and sales to achieve great Bottom Line results while making it easier to execute campaigns and follow-up. But, we go way beyond technology by bringing more than 15 years experience in online marketing and lead generation to the table. Take advantage of our experience. Email to schedule a call to ask questions, discuss how we might help you be more successful. That’s what our business is and we’re single-minded about it!

Related articles

• How to Target Dormant App Users (marketingvox.com)
• How can social media marketing benefit online marketing? (marketing.yell.com)

The Crazy Ones

It’s also a bit of explanation why we, as an upstart going up against heavily funded competitors, believe that building an insanely sexy solution and providing crazy customer service will prevail.

One of the greatest and, I don’t know why it would be the most unlikely, benefits of total company transparency was the great suggestions for innovative features coming from customers via customer support/service.

Ever since we first launched long, long ago, well, early 2001, we have always actively encouraged suggestions on features and tools to add. Ones that made sense for all or most of our users were added. Others weren’t. We’ve always explained why those suggestions were not acted upon. And, over the years, many of the best feature ideas have come from our customers doing exactly what is cited in Fred’s blogpost, trying to use our technology in new ways. Now, we are again at a point where we’re really looking for feedback.

I could say we love our customers ’cause we do. But, most importantly, we respect our customers and really want your input.

So, tell us what we should include and why. Tell us what just doesn’t do it for you. Every suggestion is appreciated, so you can be sure each will be considered. And, we’ll let you know if you’ll be seeing your idea become a part of Venntive.

So, when start-ups were imploding all around us back in 2000, I got one more pink slip from a soon-to-be-defunct company and turned my attention to figuring out what kind of business I wanted to start, one that would keep me engaged for the long run and that would provide an ongoing, indispensable service to my customers and clients.

The answer was…email marketing, consulting and solution provider.

Fast forward to the latter half of 2011, and despite all the pronouncement by very high profile people whose opinion is colored by the interests of their employers and we find, wonder of wonders, that email continues to be used by exactly the people most of us most want to reach. Pew Research has just released a new study about the behavior of people with email and search that Marketing Charts does a very nice job of summarizing.

“Email is similar to search (and many other online activities) in that the youngest online adults, the college-educated, and those in the highest income categories are more likely than others to engage in the activity.”

The other piece of the study that addresses search reaffirms the importance of optimizing your sites, your web content, posts to social media, comments on blogs for search.

So, although the terrain has definitely become more challenging, it is reassuring to know that you can focus on just one or two strategies and be confident you will reach your audience in a meaningful way. Email still delivers more than $45USD for every $1USD spent.

Just think what the results can be when you gradually integrate a full-fledged online-offline marketing strategy!

Since Venntive is a complete solution for marketing, business communications, lead generation, and customer service, you only have to make one decision when it comes to the technology!