Almost every person who has ever tried to market online has been told this big fat LIE about the web. And it’s the one lie that, if they believe it, kills their online business before it even opens.

It’s not just people starting out in business who get sucked in by this big fat lie, it’s…highly successful business owners too.

Take my friend Isabela. She’s Italian, married a Peruvian and the common theme of their relationship is food.

They own a handful of Peruvian restaurants, import specialty food items from Peru and wholesale them to big grocery store chains like Stop and Shop.

Isabela and her husband are smart, successful business owners and Isabela has always had this idea she’d like to sell online too.

Given they’re already importing Peruvian coffee and high end food items, selling online would be a natural extension of their business, one that could be the icing on the cake bringing in tens of thousands of dollars each month in additional income.

But here is where the big fat lie about web marketing gets in the way.

Isabela, like most people, thinks web marketing is free or practically free!

And with this in mind, she had one of her office staff, the one who processes orders for her husband’s food import business, design and build a website. Then Isabela herself has been working on trying to get the site to rank in the search engines.

Yes, it’s true, so far, Isabela hasn’t spent more than a couple hundred dollars on her web site and her online marketing, but it’s generated even less in revenue – which is a shame because she has a business that could easily be making over $200,000 a year for her online.

Let’s take a look at some basic facts about starting a business.

Isabela knows that when she opens a new restaurant, it’s a big investment. On average it takes, $494,888 to open a restaurant. Yes almost a half million dollars. Of course, within 18 months the typical restaurant is grossing $1,171,629 a year and making a profit of $91,103 – which isn’t bad at all.

How about Isabela’s online business? How much did she spend to get it up and running? Practically nothing – and no surprise it makes practically nothing.

As I mentioned before, her perception is that it doesn’t cost anything to setup an online store and get all the traffic you want to be successful – which is the same big fat lie most people believe.

Now I’ve been marketing online for 15 years and I can tell you while there are always a couple of examples that people keep talking about where someone made it big without seeming like they did anything, your chances of doing the same are about as good as winning the lottery.

The truth is making money on the web is no different than making money on main street. To generate sales online – takes time, money and expertise.

You need a plan, money to build your store or your lead funnel, and you need to market it the same way you would if you owned a restaurant. Marketing any business doesn’t happen by magic – whether it’s online or off.

The payoff is that, done right, your return for online marketing is typically greater than spending the same amount of money promoting your business with traditional methods.

But before you tell yourself the big lie that online marketing is practically free let me give you some solid numbers, based on 15 years of experience with companies of all sizes.

If you provide services locally and you’re making $300,000, you can easily double your revenue with your web marketing but it’s going to take an annual investment of $36,000.

Now I can hear you saying, “$36,000 – that’s a lot to spend!” But is it?

How else can you get an eight times return on your money every year? Certainly not in the stock market or in real estate.

Or if you market nationally and your company is making ten million a year and you want to bring in another two million a year. What would it take?

The answer is you’d need to spend around $150,000 a year!

And most people who see this number and think web marketing should be free have sticker shock. But a twelve times return on investment – do you have any other way you could get these kind of returns?

Let me repeat this in hopes you get it.

It takes time, money and expertise to open up a profitable restaurant and the same is true for setting up your online presence for growing your business online even if you’re just trying to generate qualified leads.

Just as you’d have a plan for your restaurant, you’d hire a qualified designer, builder and marketer (no you wouldn’t try and do it yourself) to be successful online you need to do the same!

Questions?

Comments?

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. Want help with your online marketing? Let me know how I can help.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Want to grow your business this year?

I noticed a lot of people forgot to use the link below to download their FREE report and discover one of the basic secrets to attracting more business.

Want it? In this report I detail the ‘Simple Secret to Selling More’.

Read it today to get find out how to get inside your buyers’ heads and discover exactly what they want.

How valuable is that?

This exclusive report normally goes for $29, but it’s yours FREE just for answering one simple question.

Use the link below, to tell me what you want help with to grow your business this year. It takes less than 7 seconds.

Give your answer at >>

Why am I giving away a free report just to get you to answer one simple question?

Ever hear of the law of reciprocity. You know how it works. Do something nice for someone and they’ll do something nice for you.

That’s what I’m doing here, giving you a special report and in return simply asking you to answer one question.

Make sense?

Use this link to give your answer and get your free report >>

Thanks in advance for your input.

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

/ helping you attract more clients //

P.S. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have in the comment section below.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Everybody needs a delivery system – but most businesses are missing the most important one to their success.

Imagine you owned a bakery, specializing in healthy artisanal breads or double deep fat fried doughnuts, serving the restaurants in your neighboring towns.

You’d be up early… baking and then once your baked goods were done for the day, you’d load them into your trucks and deliver them to the restaurants you work with.

You wouldn’t question the need for a delivery system because you know that without one you’d be out of business. Buying the truck, paying your monthly payments, buying gas, maintenance etc – all just part of the cost of getting your delicious baked goods to your happy customers.

Now, here is where most businesses fall flat.

Most business have a delivery system for their products and services but…

…they are missing a client delivery system. And this defies logic.

Every business owner knows it makes sense to spend whatever money it takes to deliver their products. I never hear a business owner tell me they don’t have money for delivery of their products and services.

It’s just a cost of doing business.

But take the exact same person, (does this describe you?) and ask them to spend the same amount on marketing, on attracting new clients, their client delivery system and typically they choke.

They see marketing as an added expense, instead of as a necessary way of filling their pipeline with more and more new customers.

When I talk to struggling business owners, I hear it over and over. They don’t want to spend money on marketing. Or it’s too expensive.

And here’s the difference between frustrated business owners and the ones I work with who have one to twenty million dollar businesses.

Successful business owners understand that to attract new clients, to bring in new business, they need to spend money on their client delivery system.

They understand that as long as their marketing brings in more revenue than it costs – it’s worth every penny.

Take Sarah – who called me from California yesterday. She sells dental equipment to dentists. Last year she netted $90,000. And this year she wants to make $400,000.

When I asked her how much she had set aside for marketing – the answer was zero, nothing, nada.

Now I’m sure you’re more savvy than that so let me put it to you like this:

How much should you spend to bring in the next $400,000 in income this year?

$10,000, $150,000 or even $250,000?

What’s the right answer?

Any of the above, as long as your marketing system, your client delivery system generates more income than it costs. (Of course the more effective your marketing is, the lower your costs.)

Do the math for your business:

A. How much would you like to generate in additional revenue over the next 2 years?

B. How much would you be willing to spend to build a client delivery system to reach your goals?

Want to join the successful business owners who ring in one million to twenty million in annual sales?

Check your marketing budget and your client delivery system.

To your success,

Charlie

P.S. Questions about your marketing? Ask away.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Every business owner I’ve ever talked to is like an impatient fisherman.

They want to know the best place to catch a fish. Somewhere where you don’t stand around for hours but can drop your line in and haul in a fresh one right away.

If you wanted the best place to catch a fish, you could always… drop your line in at the local fish hatchery, except for the fact that’s illegal.

Fortunately in marketing, there is one completely legal place to fish that is stocked with ideal clients, decision makers, people with money who want to buy.

What I’m talking about is LinkedIn.

With over 135 million members, chances are good that your target customers are there on LinkedIn waiting for you to connect with them. Here are some strategies for getting in touch with the people who could become your customers:

1. LinkedIn’s advance search lets you target people, groups, and companies. Here you can type in a search term [skill, certification, industry, company, etc.]. Then, check the filters [location, company size, seniority, etc.] for a more defined search. You’ll see results that include a photo, title, and connection to you—something you can’t get on any other network.

2. Check out LinkedIn’s skills section. Here you can research skills and search terms. You’ll find related terms, people and groups who best match the skill.

3. Make a list of your target companies, go directly to the company site and locate someone you’d like to connect with. Then check to see what LinkedIn groups they belong to, join one of them and send them an invitation based on your common membership. This commonality will increase the odds of your invitation being accepted.

4. It’s easy for any company to set up a LinkedIn company page, taking only about 15 minutes. Invite customers to leave recommendations on the products and services page on your LinkedIn company page.

5. Add LinkedIn’s blog application to your personal profile to pull in company blog updates. Install the SlideShare application into your personal profile. Upload a PowerPoint about your company’s services and the presentation will appear on your profile.

6. Make a list of people you want to stay in touch with and follow their updates, leaving comments, and engaging in conversation. When you send your invitations, let people know why you want to connect and thank them for their consideration. And when you accept an invitation, offer to answer questions or exchange ideas about your area of expertise. Ask them a question to get a conversation going, just as you would at a networking event.

7. You can also add value by selecting articles to share that match your area of influence. Need help finding them? Check out LinkedIn Today. It presents the top shared news by industry which you can click and share with your connections. It’s that easy.

8. Something else that makes connecting easy is the feature that allows you to ask and answer questions on LinkedIn. This handy section, located under the “more” tab, gives you insights into what people think about the topics you’re interested in. You simply select the category and send a request to people you’d like to hear from. You can use the answers to contribute to a research project, a white paper, or a blog post.

9. Answering questions (also located under the “more” tab) on LinkedIn is a proven strategy for positioning you or your business as the go-to resource in your niche. Like most marketing tactics, the more strategic your answering efforts, the better your results. Just browse the categories and select a few that you want to watch.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Did you know my skiing and marketing strategy are the same?

A few years back I used to go up to Vermont for the occasional weekend and more often than not I missed the good snow. You see the weather in Vermont is fickle…In New England, the weather changes on a dime, and if you waited for reports of good snow to make your plans, you’d probably never go, because more often than not, by the time you got there it could have changed to rain (premature snow) or worse, ice.

This past week was no exception. Monday was sunny and the snow was good, then Tuesday evening it rained. Thursday night it snowed five inches and Friday morning was a fabulous powder day.

Which is why I came up with a simple strategy for skiing. Just go out every morning and give it a try.

This past week, the day after it rained when my brain was saying don’t bother, it turned out the ski area had done a great job of grooming the snow and the skiing was lots of fun.

Then this weekend when the snow was getting thin, my son and I hauled some ten-year old skis out of the closet and went and skied the trails that were now full of rocks, and had a blast.

Having a plan and doing it consistently – works for getting the best days on the ski slopes – and, yes, for marketing too.

The truth is that, having a system that works and applying it consistently is the key to attracting new clients.

I can’t tell you how many business owners I’ve talked to who told me they’d tried this or that marketing strategy and it worked for them but then they never used it again.

Hello!

If a marketing strategy works, use it consistently, once a month, once a week or even once a day.

Some days, you may see little in the way of results. Other days – the phone will ring off the hook.

What’s your daily, weekly and monthly marketing plan?

Which strategies are you using to get results?

Just leave your comments below and let me know.

To your success,

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. Which day is best to market?

Simple. Every day your target market is thinking about your product and services.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

A little over 10 years ago, I started a new chapter in my life.

I sold women’s shoes. Now, it may not seem glamorous, but it taught me an incredible lesson about the buying behavior of people.

You see, I thought it would be easy. But to my surprise, it wasn’t…I turned out to be pretty bad at selling shoes. So bad in fact, I quit the job before they cut my pay.

However, five years later I went back into the shoe selling business. This time, I excelled at the job.

The reason why is because I learned what makes people buy and what doesn’t. I studied many of the masters of selling and applied their information to my craft.

As a result, I was able to earn close to a full time income by working part time.

Whether you’re selling in person or in print, this will work for you.

Ready?

Here it is:

WANT will trump “need” any day of the week…

…and twice on Sunday.

Here’s why:

First, no one buys what they need. If they did, everyone would drive around in SMART cars, wear Casio wristwatches, and every break room water cooler argument about Macs and PCs would cease.

Let’s face facts: People don’t buy things because of what they are…they buy them because of what they DO for them.

To sell more of your product or service, talk about what the product does for the prospect.

And if you really want to hit a home run, talk positively about how it will make the prospect FEEL.

Here, I’ll prove it.

As many of my female readers can attest to, high heels are probably the most uncomfortable shoes in the world. But…they sell like hotcakes.

Why?

Because they give a woman the illusion of being taller and they make their legs look longer. And what happens as a result? They become more attractive.

See the difference?

It’s not about what it is…it’s about what it DOES.

If you want to know precisely what your product does for people, ask your current customers how they “feel” about your product or service.

Their answer will help you bridge the gap between what your product IS…and what it does.

Remember — features tell, but emotional benefits SELL.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

A few months ago I got the distinct impression that people didn’t like me or my business any more. The first sign was way more people were leaving my site, once they found it, than sticking around to read it.

The problem was…My bounce rate had doubled!. If you’re not familiar, the bounce rate is the percent of people who leave your site after only visiting one page. This can happen for a variety of reasons but one of the most common is the design and layout of your website.

Treat your website like a virtual home
One of my favorite analogies for the web is that it’s exactly like your home – only digital. There is a reason we call the landing page a “home page”. Your home page gives a first impression – it’s what lends digital curb appeal to your site. If your home page doesn’t “look and feel” comfortable people will leave or on other words – bounce.

If you’re not updating your web site every two to three years, you’re going to have all sorts of problems because browsers update and change, plugins and applications update and change and before you know it, your web site is not just ugly – but it repels prospects rather than attract them.

Here are seven mistakes small businesses make when it comes to their web site and how to fix them.

1. Not telling visitors where they are. This is a fundamental rule of web site design. You must tell your visitors where they are and what they can do or get on your site in less than five seconds.

2. Too much MOTION using Flash or moving gifs. It’s not uncommon for cool technological bells and whistles to take over your site. Flash is one of the most common offenders as are using lots of small moving gifs. If you’re currently using flash, stop. Mobile devices ; ipads and iPhones, don’t like flash and won’t show it and since most of your audience is using smart phones, they won’t be able to see and read your site. Upgrade your site and use HTML5, CSS3 instead. HTML5 will give your site an interactive component your visitors will appreciate and won’t interfere with any text or information coming through.

3. Poor contrast between text and background. Don’t make your web site difficult or painful to read. When you have a busy background and then place light colored text on top of it – it makes it extremely difficult to read. Instead use a white, gray or black back background and make sure that the text is big and bold enough to read. You want to have a comfortable contrast between the text and the background so that people can quickly and easily get the information they are looking for.

4. Colors that clash. There really is no reason or excuse to put colors like green and orange together on a web site. Putting colors that don’t work well together on the screen is not only difficult to read, but it’s ugly to look at. There are countless free themes and templates out there that you can use that are professionally designed. If you’re using a WordPress platform check out DIYThemes or simply search google for “Free WordPress Themes” and you are sure to find something that works for you.

5. Hard to read fonts. Although cool typography is a big trend these days – save your cool fonts for headlines and design elements and NOT the text. Stick to traditional, easy to read fonts such as Helvetica or Times. Keep font size to 10 or 12 points.

6. Broken layout. A broken layout is something that happens when browsers or other apps are updates and your site doesn’t follow suit. This is what causes text to jumble together or overlap and makes it impossible to read. To avoid this, be sure to budget time and money for at least an annual update of the back-end of your site and a redesign every couple of years to make sure that your web site is current with standard browsers and apps of the time.

7. Too much text. This is a tough one. In some ways, having lots of keyword rich text is a good thing. But often, too much text – especially on a home page can overwhelm visitors and send them running. Create a large header with large text that clearly states what your site is about and who it’s for. Then you can have more text below the fold.

Treat your web space as you would treat your home. Make updates and conduct preventive maintenance so that it works the way it’s supposed to. Focus on your online marketing objectives and then design for your desired call to action. You’ll see your bounce rate go down and your conversions go UP in 2012.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

“I saved hundreds of dollars doing it myself!”

That’s what Dave told me when he explained how he’d spent his weekend replacing one of the wheel bearings on his aging car.

He filled me in on all the details of how it’d only cost him $60 in parts. Of course it took him and his brother…an experienced mechanic most of a day and the use of a friend’s fully equipped home garage to get the job done.

And if you multiplied the number of hours Dave and his brother spent, equipment used etc, the real cost would have been 2-3 times the cost of paying the local garage to do the job.

The truth is – it wasn’t about the money. Dave and his brother grew up tinkering with trucks and other things mechanical, which is why for him, spending a total of 14 man hours to replace his wheel bearings was not only fun, but yes a money saver.

Dave is a do-it-yourself mechanic – for one reason – he loves getting his hands dirty and fixing machinery, especially because he spends the rest of his work week inside as a physical therapist, well, fixing people – but that’s another story.

Now in business, over the years I’ve discovered there are two types of people. Ones who truly love marketing, writing copy, planning marketing campaigns, understand search engine marketing and more. They love learning about marketing and they are marketing do-it-yourselfers.

Do-it-yourself marketers, will spend weeks on a project and like Dave, they’ll tell their friends how much money they are saving by doing it themselves. But the truth is their marketers, people who like doing it for fun – as well as for profit.

And I have to admit I’m one of these types, though as my business has grown I’ve moved on and don’t do any of my marketing myself anymore other than quick posts like this.

But here is the shocking truth I discovered.

Hardly any business owners really like marketing. (No, I don’t take it personally.)

But ask yourself:
- Do you like writing weekly articles about your business?
- Do you like working on your web site?
- Do you like coding your website for the search engines?
- Do you really like messing with social media, twitter, linkedin, facebook, youtube etc?

Be honest with yourself.

The truth is most people don’t love marketing, which explains why so few business owners actually have a marketing plan, a marketing strategy and in fact do any regular marketing.

While most people like to think of themselves as do-it-yourselfers —- the real truth is most of us prefer to have things done-for-us including our marketing.

Quick – make a decision here.

Are you someone who loves marketing and if so are you doing-it-yourself? Or are you someone who likes the idea of attracting more clients with your marketing and which you could just have it done-for-you?

If you’re a true marketing do-it-yourselfer – you can find everything you need to do your marketing yourself at www.marketingforsuccess.com/store.

But if you are like 96% of business owners and would prefer to focus on working with clients, and rather have your marketing done for you, go to www.clientsdelivered.com.
One more funny thought.

Imagine you’re eating breakfast, and you feel something go crunch in your mouth – something you know isn’t the cocoa puffs or cereal you’re eating. You investigate and find you’ve cracked a tooth, and part of one your teeth is now in your hand, not in your mouth.

What do you do? (Keep in mind you’re one of those do-it-yourselfers.)

Well you could easily go to the library and look up basic dentistry, or youtube how to repair a broken tooth. And you good order online some basic dentistry tools, Novocain and a mirror. Then you could try and repair your tooth yourself – I mean how hard could it be.

Is that what you would do?

Of course not!

You wouldn’t fix your own teeth or just ignore your broken tooth – you’d have it done-for-you by your local expert in dentistry.

Get my point?

The same applies to your marketing.

Ignoring it or trying to fix it yourself is rarely the best solution.

Find out more about the done-for-you marketing services here >>

Gotta go. My new ACL is working great (no I didn’t do my own knee surgery) and it’s warmed up to a tropical 10 degrees, great for some skiing.

To your success,

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. Actually there are 3 types of people: Do-it-yourselfers, people who prefer done-for-you services and then there are the do-nothing people. I trust you are one of the first two action takers.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Frustrated with your website?

Wondering why it’s not generating as many leads and sales as you’d like?

The simple answer is that it would be easy to blame… the person who built your website. After all, you paid them.

But still, most websites don’t work and they don’t generate significant revenue. But the fact of the matter is, if your website was designed, written and marketed correctly, it could easily double your existing sales.

So let me ask you a question.

When you had your existing website built, what did you ask your webmaster, or web designer?

Obviously, I wasn’t there when you had this conversation and when you agreed to pay them to build your site, but almost every website owner I’ve ever talked to has neglected to ask the 5 key questions to answer before the webmaster or designer builds any site.

And without this information, no matter how smart your web designer is, they won’t be able to create a site that helps you attract clients and profits.

1. How Do You Generate Interest?
The key to getting people to your site is to give your prospects the information they want, not to lead with the sale. Marketing is a sequence and the first step is to get your prospect’s interest.

What’s your strategy for generating interest in your products and services?

2. How Do You Capture Leads and Get Permission To Market to Them??Once you have a prospect at your site, the objective is to get them to give you permission to continue the conversation, to share tips, ideas, and solutions. To do this you need a clear strategy that helps you capture leads so you can follow up by email.

What’s yours?

3. How Do You Educate and Build Trust?
Once a prospect has given you permission to market to them, the next step is to share a bit of your expertise with them, so they see how smart you are and get to know you and trust you. This is the key to creating a competitive advantage over all the other businesses that do the same thing you do.

Think about it. Who are your prospects going to buy from – the person who has already demonstrated an interest in them, provided helpful ideas and has proof of how great their services are, or just someone who has the standard boring web brochure?

You know the answer.

What are you doing on your website to share your expertise, educate your prospects and develop trust?

4. What Are You Doing To Convert Educated Leads Into Customers?
Once you have prospects that know you, like you and trust you – what strategies are you using to push them to make the decision to buy?

No matter how great your services and how great a prospect’s need for them, procrastination is your biggest enemy. Even when I have a filling that I know I need to see the dentist about, I tend to procrastinate.

To counter your prospect’s procrastination and get them to take action, you need a proactive strategy.

What’s yours?

5. What Do you Do to Upsell Customers?
Did you know that most customers only spend less than half of what they’d be happy to spend with you?

Why?

In most cases, without an understanding of a more comprehensive solution you offer or a bundle of products you’d be willing to sell at a better value, they don’t buy. All it takes is defining your upsell strategy. What’s yours?
——??Do you have answers to each of the above 5 questions?

If you do, you’re way ahead of most people. If not, don’t expect your web master or designer to know the answers either. But do find someone who can help you with coming up with the answers.

To your success,

Charlie
MarketingForSuccess

P.S. If you have an established business here in the U.S. or Canada and are looking to attract more clients this year, contact Lauren about scheduling a free business consultation to put your 2012 profits on track. Just hit reply and include your phone number.

P.P.S. Gotta go. We’ve been getting fresh snow almost every day here in VT and my skis need to be exercised. I’m headed out for a few runs before lunch when I’ll be back sitting in front of the fire and on the phone with clients.

©2012All Rights Reserved by Charlie Cook or Blog Post Author..

Don’t panic!

Hundreds of companies are entering the New Year realizing that many of their old customers did not renew their contracts. Whether you just began starting a small business or had a hectic 2011, it is likely that you’ve lost a few clients along the way. This typically sets business owners into a…panic; especially if they didn’t notice they’d lost these clients until now. Once this happens, most business owners decide that they need to find interested clients—and fast. This then brings up the popular question: Is retargeting the right move?

For those who are unfamiliar, retargeting is a form of marketing that targets users who have already visited your website. This is typically done through banner ads on display networks. In other words, a retargeting campaign drops a “cookie,” or a text string stored by your browser, on website visitors, and then that company can retarget that specific person by showing them ads even after they leave the website. Many experts call these types of clients “window shoppers” because they saw your website, but kept moving. The mentality is that if they see it again, they may think differently. Consider a few of the pros and cons of retargeting:

Retargeting Pros
According to AdRoll, “2 percent of shoppers covert on the first visit to an online store, and retargeting brings back the other 98 percent.” For this reason, the idea of retargeting seems extremely appealing. The Internet can sometimes be overwhelming, and with the fast-paced lives of Americans, it’s easy to get sidetracked. Many genuinely do not get enough time looking at a website, and then quickly forget where it is or why it matters. Retargeting serves as a reminder for these types of shoppers.

Retargeting Cons
However, the statistics aren’t so high when it comes to every individual business. Some may see this type of marketing as a way of stalking a customer. You have no control over where your ads will show up, so customers may see your ads in odd places. This could very well annoy clients and give them a bad image of your company. For this reason, it is important to utilize retargeting correctly, and in some instances this means not retargeting at all.

Consider some retargeting best practices, and then decide whether or not this is a campaign that will work for your company. This will help make sure you fall under the “pros” and not the “cons” of this marketing strategy—you’re walking on a tightrope when retargeting, so make sure you have good balance.

How to Retarget Right in 2012

- Segment Your Audience – If you plan to slap together a retargeting campaign to everyone that’s ever visited your website, you will find yourself dealing with all those cons. It’s important to make sure that you know who you’re retargeting and tailor your ad to that audience. For example, you will not want to retarget people who have already made a purchase or signed up for a service your company offers. You will then want to split up your customers based on where they were searching on your website. If one group was looking for shirts and the other pants, have two separate retargeting campaigns.

- Burn Your Audience – Although the term doesn’t sound very kind, your audience will be thrilled if you “burn” them. This simply means that an audience member will be removed from the campaign if they have made a purchase or have not made a purchase after a certain amount of time. The rule of thumb is generally 30 days. If you continue to send these audience members retargeting ads, you’re sure to annoy people; therefore doing more damage than good.

- Control Your Numbers – It’s important not to be overbearing with the number of ads you put out when retargeting. As I stated before, retargeting is a slippery slope because it’s very easy to annoy people. For this reason, it’s extremely important that you keep your ads to a minimum. Most experts recommend 15 to 20 ads to each visitor throughout the month. This should help give your brand some recognition in a positive way.

In the end, retargeting can be a great campaign if done correctly. Many give it a bad name because so many companies get too excited and overbearing. The goal is not to cold call people via the Internet, but rather to serve as a reminder to people who were previously interested. If you can pull it off correctly, retargeting might be just what your visitors need at the start of the New Year. Visit Front Street to read a step by step guide to setting up a retargeting campaign when you’re ready.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to workers compensation insurance. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including business proposal to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

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