How Content-Driven Websites Increase Sales

Here’s a post by one of our favorite Fairy Godmothers, Sarah Bray of S. Joy Studios: First, let’s clarify something. Sticky is good. We’re not talking grimy, gooey, my-kid-just-stuck-his-peanut-buttered-hands-on-my-keyboard sticky. Sticky websites are sites that people come back to.  Now, let’s talk about “content-driven”. Content-driven is geek-speak for a site that has really useful, constantly updated content on the home page.

Ginny’s story

Ginny has a website. It’s really well designed, and everyone she knows is impressed. Ginny’s business looks successful, but isn’t.

Ginny has a blog attached to her website. It’s also really well designed, and everyone she knows is impressed. She has about 250 subscribers and has a decent little community built up. She spends a lot of time writing good stuff that’s interesting and useful. Her blog is very sticky — people come back time and time again.

Right now, about 25 of Ginny’s visitors click over to her home page in a given week. 2-3 of those visitors buy a product or service in any given month. Ginny figures that all she has to do is get more subscribers, and then more people will click over, and more people will buy.

Sigh. This is hard work.

Ginny’s problem

The problem Ginny doesn’t know she’s dealing with is that her blog is sticky (people come back), but her main home page is not. She doesn’t know that people rarely buy on the first visit. She doesn’t realize that they need to be presented with the solution to their problems a number of times before they finally decide to buy.

This is why the traditional “home page with a blog attached” is so ineffective. The blog is sticky, but the home page is not. Therefore, only a small percentage of visitors are viewing the solution to their problem enough times to move them into action.

Hello, right people

Ginny has a revelation (maybe she read my other post about this topic). Instead of ushering people from her blog to her home page by sheer force of will, she’s going to make it easy for them. She is going to make her home page driven by her content.

Her home page is now her blog. Except she gets rid of all of the cheesy sidebar stuff, and only puts something there if it serves a clear, strategic purpose. She pays attention to what she labels her content pages. She makes it easy for people to find her products and services.

Ginny starts writing for the people she’s serving and creating products for. She becomes an expert in her field. Her community builds up her credibility, and wow. She doesn’t have to move people to her home page anymore. They are already there.

And the floodgates opened

Instead of 25 people visiting Ginny’s homepage every week, there are now 250. Even though her subscriber numbers have not increased. And instead of 2-3 people buying her product and/or service in a month, there are 20. Not only that, but it’s going to be easier to build traffic now, because Ginny is clearly awesome at what she does. Her expertise and confidence shines through her amazing content.

It’s not just a fairy tale

I’ve seen clients increase their sales 200 – 500% by using a content-driven approach on their home page. I personally increased my income 700% the month after making the switch.

I’m clearly passionate about this topic, because it’s such a simple solution to maximizing the traffic that you have. Dang it, it takes hard work to build traffic, and if we’re spending our energy trying to get our people to move from their sticky, comfy seats on our blogs into the stuffy, self-indulgent inner sanctum of our home page, we’re wasting a huge amount of time and opportunity.

Sarah Bray is a web developer and Twitter nut. She and her husband John hang out over at S.Joy Studios, making stuff and talking to people about how to improve their websites. They’re currently jazzed about LiteSites: a unique approach to cost-effective, professionally branded web design.

Meet Lisa Kanouse, Founder of Saurette

A couple months ago I was searching for some new girl brands and ran into Saurette, the beautiful fabrics and sweet details caught my attention. If Anthropologie wants a new kids’ line, they should take a look at Saurette, it’s a great fit for them. Really, any boutique who appreciates unique, modern design and quality in girls fashion should hop on over to the Saurette site and give Lisa Kanouse a holler to learn more about what she has in store. As I’ve learned more about Lisa and reading her responses here, I am confident Saurette will have a great launch. I say this because yes, it’s lovely, but because Lisa didn’t just wake up one day and say, “I want to be a designer”, she has the professional background, connections, and history in this industry which gives her an edge in a very competitive space. Saurette is launching officially in 2009 and already has captured the attention of media and has great representation to distribute her line. You can tell that Lisa has a photo stylist background because not only are her designs stunning, but the photos really “sell it, baby”! Can’t wait to shop Saurette for my two preschool girls. Can’t wait to meet Lisa someday…perhaps in NYC in 2009 for our NYC Startup Princess retreat!?

Enjoy Meeting Startup Princess Lisa Kanouse:

Hometown: Detroit , MI

Current Residence (City, State): New York, NY

Education: BS in Fashion Merchandising

Professional Background: 18 years in the fashion industry, as a freelance Photo Stylist for the Chicago Tribune and Marshall Fields, buying for Montgomery Wards, and Product Development for over 10 years creating & producing women’s collections for Saks Off 5th, Macy’s & May Company.

What you wanted to be when you grew up:an Accountant

What you are: Designer/Creative Director/Business Owner

Brief Summary of your Start Up: Saurette is a Contemporary Collection for girls aged Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

10 and is best defined as petite versions of the modern mom. Simply put, Fashionable clothing for kids with unique style inspired by women’s runway and contemporary design.

Company Website? www.saurette.net

What inspired you? Over the last few years, after having children and shopping the stores for my two little boys, I discovered how few modern pieces were available for kids. I wanted to offer parents such as myself, an opportunity to purchase clothing that was modern, contemporary and more unique than what I was finding in the stores.

How long have you been in business? Less than a year

How did you fund it? Personal funds & bank loan

Do you have a Fairy Godmother (or Mentor)? no

Do you belong to any Business Organization or Networking Groups? http://www.ladieswholaunch.com/, http://twitter.com/saurette, http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisakanouse, http://downtownwomensclub.com/, http://www.mykidsfashion.com/profile/LisaKanouse, http://www.dashinfashion.com/kidsfashionusa/saurette.html, http://www.jamesgirone.com/news/news415.htm,

Current Business Challenge? Getting buyers to take on a new collection/brand in this tough economy

What are you doing about it? Taking stock ownership myself with hopes to sell when things turn around, networking like crazy, donating product to charity events, soliciting reviews on blogs, whatever it takes!

Favorite motivational quote: Dream it, Do it!

Family? A husband and two amazing little boys

If so, how do you balance family and business? I work from home now on my own business and make time when needed.

Favorite book? The Secret

What do you do to relax? I can’t relax right now, I’m a start-up

What do you want to change most about your world? The stress

What are you most proud of? My adorable little boys. They are funny, creative, kind little men.

What advice would you like to offer other Startup Princesses?
Believe in yourself and start living as though you already have achieved your dream.

Favorite Magic Wand (tool/resource)? The internet

If you could design a tiara, what precious stones would you use? Diamonds….I believe in only designing the best!

Welcome Lisa, to Startup Princess. Keep in touch and let us know about your success.

How to Give Your Website Visitors What they Want

As business owners, we have the best of intentions, don’t we? We build our brand, make our product the best it can be, use our time efficiently, and really try to serve our clients and customers. But along the way, sometimes we get caught up in the “next big thing” — the next big marketing fad, the next big design trend — and it sometimes steers our focus away from the people that we are trying to reach. This can especially be the case for website owners (and their designers.) So in order to reach our visitors effectively, we need to step outside of what WE want and really listen to what our visitors want. They DON’T WANT… Read more

10 Tips to Get Your Product Covered in Holiday Gift Guides

By Margie Zable Fisher
Zable Fisher Public Relations

If yours is a product business, most likely the fourth quarter of the year is absolutely crucial to your bottom line.

And one of the most effective sales and publicity strategies for your product is to be included in Holiday Gift Guides that appear in the media (magazines, TV, newspapers, radio, Internet) in November and December.

These Holiday Guides offer recommendations for gifts people should consider buying. Why is this so important? Because these holidays are the time when readers or viewers are READY TO BUY and eager to see what a media outlet recommends.

Best of all, the media usually includes a Web site and/or telephone number where people can buy the recommended gifts (in many publicity articles this information isn’t included).

But you need to get moving on this now. June is the perfect time to submit your product pitches for inclusion in magazine Gift Guides. Many magazines have a 6-month lead time, and have a June deadline for submissions.

As you might imagine, getting into a Holiday Gift Guide is not all that easy. There’s a great deal of competition from hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other companies that are also pitching their products. So, here are 10 tips to help you get your products covered in Holiday Gift Guides:

1. Send your pitches at the right time. Timing is critical. Know the deadline for each Holiday Gift Guide. Here are the typical deadlines for sending in submissions:
• Most magazines (other than News Magazines): Six months prior to issue date
• News magazines: Two to three months prior to issue date
• Newspapers: One to two months prior to issue date
• TV/Web/Blog/Radio: One to two months prior to broadcast or publication date
2. Determine the category of gifts that each media outlet covers. For example, one in-flight magazine may only include technology gifts in their Holiday Gift Guide this year, while another in-flight magazine may only cover upscale items.
3. Pay attention to your packaging and shipping. I‘ve been told many times by media people that products often arrive broken, or with unappealing packaging, and the media people often won’t even consider those products for coverage in the Holiday Gift Guide.
4. Offer inexpensive products. Many media outlets cover gifts under $50, $25 or even lower cost stocking stuffers.
5. Send in your most colorful products. Most media outlets are visual, and color looks better in the pages of a magazine or on TV than drab colors do. If you flip through magazines with Holiday Gift Guides, you’ll notice that most of the items are bright colors. So, make sure that either your product or your packaging has eye-catching color to capture their attention.
6. Donate a portion of your product s sales or profits to charity. Some media outlets ONLY cover products that donate to charity. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it also increases your chances of getting publicity. Be sure to mention this in all of your pitches.
7. Offer something that is brand new to the marketplace. Remember, Gift Guide Editors are just like other media people — they want something new. If you create a new product, you’ll get the media’s attention.
8. Don’t forget products for pets. Pet Holiday Gift Guides are becoming very popular. I’ve seen them in health and women’s magazines. Remember, there are millions of pet lovers out there who consider pets their family and want to buy holiday presents for them. If you have a unique gift for a pet, you may very well get coverage.
9. Mention any celebrity tie-ins. Some entertainment media outlets will only cover your products if celebrities use them. Other media outlets like to know that celebrities use the product, because readers and viewers are fascinated with celebrities, and want to use the same products. So, if your brother-in-law’s cousin knows someone famous who’s willing to tout your product, go for it.
10. If you can get a major retailer to sell your products, include that information in your pitch. Gift Guide Editors feel more comfortable recommending products sold by major retailers.

So start celebrating the holidays this summer, by pitching your products for media coverage in June. By fourth quarter you’ll be reaping the sales from your summer efforts!

Margie Zable Fisher is the president of Zable Fisher Public Relations, the leader in Small Business Public Relations. For more information on her products and services, including how to get free publicity opportunities, visit www.zfpr.com.

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Featured Comment

Thank you so much for sharing your story! Your story reminds me of the fear I have for a big box retailer approching me to sell my changing clutches in their store. It frightens me and at the same time it seems super exciting!

Courtney Velasquez of The Apple of My Eye

From Basement Sewing to Big Box Selling