About two years ago, Google started penalizing websitesthat are not friendly to mobile visitors, since mobile traffic now comprises the vast majority of all internet traffic.
In August of 2016, Google announced that it would begin penalizing websites that have what Google considers “intrusive” pop-ups. Here’s the official Google Webmasters post that sparked controversy across the web.
According to some recent articles, websites are seeing the effects of this change.
What are the rules?
In order to be considered mobile-friendly by Google and to show up in the search results of those using their cell phones, your website cannot have what Google considers “intrusive” pop-ups on your site.
The most important things to know are:
This only affects the mobile version of your website, and
There are a few quick fixes if your site is in fact being penalized.
These are intrusive pop-ups, as Google has defined them:
Source: Google
How does this affect you?
Any popups you’re using to collect email addresses or opt people into your email list or other offer could be affecting traffic to the mobile version of your website, resulting in drastically reduced traffic.
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on at least 60% of internet traffic, and that number is growing every day.
It’s important to understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable pop-ups to make sure that Google doesn’t penalize your site.
Here’s what’s okay to have on your mobile site, according to Google:
Push notifications
Pop-ups about cookie usage and age verifications
Small app banners
Exit popups
Popups that only appear when someone clicks a button
Find out whether your website traffic is impacted
In order to take action (or determine if you even have to take action), you have to check out whether or not this is actually affecting your website’s traffic.
Step 1: Select a custom date range in Google Analytics.
Sign into your Google Analytics account. In the left-hand sidebar, click Audience → Overview, and then select the option to define a custom date range.
Select the date range of Jan 9, 2017 – Jan 13, 2017 and compare it to the previous week. We choose this date range because this was when the changes first went to effect.
Step 2: Check the mobile traffic specifically.
Under “Audience” on the left hand side, click Mobile > Overview. If you that your site experienced a significant drop (over 20%) in mobile traffic during this period in time, your site is likely being penalized for popups.
Step 3: If you have pop-ups on the mobile version of your site, disable them.
If you did experience a huge drop in traffic during this time, you can’t regain the traffic that you’ve lost, but you can make sure that the mobile version of your site is Google-friendly moving forward.
Remember that you can still have pop-ups on the desktop version of your site, but you should disable them on mobile. You’ll have to find the settings in your specific plugin (if you’re using WordPress) to disable them on mobile.
Or only use exit pop-ups. If you’re using ClickFunnels, your site should be fine. By default, the pop-ups only appear if people ask for them by clicking a button.
—
Are you seeing the effects of this penalty on your site?
Getting new customer leads is exciting, but that enthusiasm can quickly wither when you don’t know how to best convert leads into new clients.
When this becomes the trend for your small business, you immediately ask, “why?” before seeking out solutions to combat your lack of sales from leads, you should be aware of some important sales conversion facts:
Online leads do not automatically translate into sales.
Per Marketo, only 25% of leads ready to buy from you.
1/4 of leads are qualified, meaning approximately 75% aren’t your ideal customer.
Now, don’t let these numbers frighten you. In addition to this, you must understand the psychology behind the lack of leads turning into sales.
The Real Reason Why People Won’t Buy from You
There are four primary reasons why small businesses fail to convert leads online. These sales barriers are as follows:
Trust: People don’t trust themselves, so how do you expect them to trust you immediately upon connecting with your business for the first time? Traffic to your website may not always translate into sales if your leads are reluctant to buy from you. The absence of trust can stem from a lack of proof showing you do what you claim, lack of contact information, a poorly designed website, or non-targeted content.
Authority: If you don’t establish yourself as the authority in your field, through quality content, you will find it quite hard to gain customers, because they may see you as untrustworthy.
Money: If your price doesn’t match the perceived value of your products or services, you are likely to miss out on sales.
Time: If the customers feel that the time is not right, they are likely not to purchase.
Turning Leads into Sales: 4 Key Strategies
There are four solutions for converting online leads, which when used together, can increase your sales conversion rates:
Social Proof
Content Marketing
Sales Qualification Process
Email Marketing Solutions
#1. Develop Trust with Social Proof (Testimonials and Reviews)
Building a reliable brand will ultimately make it easier for you to market your product or services.
One of the best and easiest ways to build trust is through social proof, specifically reviews, and testimonials from your current or previous clients. Social proof will not only confirm that you’re talking the talk, but that you’re walking the walk.
When someone encounters your brand for the first time through your website, you need to:
1) show that you’re an authority, and
2) provide social proof.
Let your current customers sing your praises by encouraging them to write a review or testimonial through email, on Yelp, Facebook, or any other relevant review site. For those “special” reviews, showcase them on your website. Do not worry about getting one or two negative reviews.
This might work to your advantage, in that, they persuade leads to believe that your reviews are reputable. If people see that others are buying your products and enjoying them, they can be persuaded to follow suit.
Invest your time in writing well-researched and helpful blog content and eBooks. If your leads find that you are knowledgeable in your industry and in the various products that you’re selling, then they will believe in your ability to provide quality products.
You can hire marketing agencies to write blog posts for you. Or, you can learn simple shortcuts and time saving templates to train you and/or your marketing assistant to turn your knowledge into written blog articles for your business website.
#3. Utilize a Sales Qualification Process
One of the most crucial strategies for converting leads into sales is to have a qualification process. Lead qualification is the evaluation of the ability of a lead to purchase from you.
The qualification process involves gathering the necessary information about your leads to move them through the sales process. There are three types of leads: Information Qualified Leads (IQL), Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). How each is determined varies from business to business. Once your qualification metrics are defined, only then will you be able to take appropriate action that will convert your leads into sales.
Using a sales qualification process prevents you from coming on too strong and putting off potential clients. It also helps your sales team save valuable time and instead focus it on customers who are ready to buy.
For those leads who have not been identified as “ready to buy” or an SQL, you can nurture them through your sales funnel using email marketing solutions.
#4. Leverage Email Nurturing Solutions
Email nurturing is one of the greatest tools that you can use to convert leads into sales.
It’s all about leveraging marketing automation to follow up and remain in contact with any leads that come through your sales funnel. If you follow up with leads within 5 minutes, you are 9 times more likely to get a sale.
Strategically sending your clients or customer regular emails will drill information about your business and your services or products into their minds. The more they hear from you, the more they are likely to buy. You want to send targeted emails, to targeted email lists, based on where they are in your sales funnel and how they interact with your emails.
These emails can be anything from newsletters to content offers. The purpose of this strategy is to guarantee the right lead is receiving the right email at the right time.
The Bottom Line
Today, even though most marketing efforts are online, customers still need to feel that personal touch. By incorporating these few lead conversion ideas into your business strategy will help to ensure that you not only have thousands of people stopping by your website, but you will have them laying down their money!
QUESTION: What is your favorite strategy that’s been working for you in your business when it comes to converting leads into sales? Share your comments and questions below.
Author Bio: ShaDrena Simon is a digital strategist and inbound marketer for Yokel Local Internet Marketing Inc. You can reach her at: shadrena@yokellocalmarketing.com
As a business owner it’s so important to always be seeking business growth advice from people who have already “been there- done that”.
I recently spent a week with the world’s top franchise owners at the International Franchising Association conference held in Las Vegas and wanted to share 2 value bombs with you for your business.
The agenda was jam packed with a massive amount of content and sage business growth advice featuring a panel of CEO’s from some of the world’s biggest franchise brands.
A common question the audience asked these superstar CEO’s in many of the sessions was if they could summarize one or two keys to success to help them grow their own businesses, what would it be?
The audience grew hush as they listened intently to hear the business growth advice from experts like …
Steve Hockett, the President of Great Clips (4,090 locations)
Gordon Logan, the CEO of Sports Clips (1,600 locations) and
Steve White, President of Puroclean (235 locations)
What’s interesting is how many CEO’s responded with the same answers. What’s surprising is how simple their advice was.
And yet, overflowing with pure wisdom. Here are two pieces of business growth advice that many of the top CEO’s shared in the Q&A sessions:
#1. Create SYSTEMS in your business.
I loved their answer because I too love systems! The word SYSTEMSstand for:
Save
Your
Self
Time
Energy
Money and
Sanity!
A system is great because you don’t have to re-invent the wheel every month to create the next windfall of sales and profits. You simply rinse and repeat the same process within your system.
In order for a system to be a SYSTEM it has to first work … (no brainer there, right?)
Second, your system has to be easily repeatable and scalable. In my past businesses this was the magic test that allowed me to remove myself from the businesses I owned then, so I could cut back to working only 10-15 hours a week which allowed me to spend more time with my kids when they were little. All while my business doubled in sales four years in a row.
I mention that not to be self promotional, but to impress upon you that the concept of working less while earning more is achievable. That’s what creating SYSTEMS can do for your business and for your life.
Ok, so when these top CEO’s were asked to summarize one or two tips here was the second business growth advice that was repeated over and over again:
#2. Hire a business consultant / business coach.
Wow! This was the second most repeated business growth advice I heard throughout the conference. (But, of course, my reticular activating system is pretty engaged for that too 🙂
These CEO’s went on to share openly about the importance of hiring a business consultant / business coachand the powerful impact that can make on growing your business faster, easier and stronger.
They couldn’t have said it any clearer when they shared, “If you want to succeed faster, hire a business consultant / business coach.”
As the business owner, you’re just too close to your business to be able to see the forest through the trees. You need an outside perspective to give you the guidance, strategy, course correction and coaching.
As an entrepreneur you also don’t have a boss you have to answer to — which is a double edged sword. It’s great and liberating to be your own boss, but it can also be dangerous because it’s easy to let yourself get distracted, dis-focused and take detours that happen with the “shiny object syndrome”.
So, if you’re ready to follow the business growth advice from CEO’s of some of the world’s biggest franchise brands I invite you to a complimentary business coaching discovery call with me.
On the call you get to share your goals — where you’d like your business to be in 1 year and in 3 years.
We can take a look at what systems you have developed so far (if any).
We’ll identify the biggest challenges that are getting in the way of achieving your goal and what the process would look like that will help you hit your sales and business growth goals.
You can also take advantage of the call to ask me any question you want that’s been nagging at you.
By the end of our call we will both know whether you and I are the right fit.
I only work with people I know I can help, so when you click the link above it will ask you to fill out a few questions about you and your business. Once you answer a few question you click the orange button that takes you straight to my calendar.
Pretty easy, right?
Ok, so if you have any questions or comments I invite you to share them in the comment box below:
QUESTION: What advice do you need right now to accelerate your business growth? (include what kind of business you have) Please share your comments and questions below.
How do you know whether or not you created the right action plans that will help you achieve your business goals most effectively? That’s this week’s question submitted by Stacy from Atlanta, GA.
Reality is, if you’re pursuing a new goal that you’ve never achieved before, you just won’t know what you don’t know.
You could certainly move forward on pure intuition while trying to piece together bits of tips from various free content you’ve found. However, I don’t recommend doing that.
Trial and error always ends up being way more time consuming. And for most people, it usually leads to making costly mistakes. It’s an age old truth.
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
The risk of prolonged lack of progress and costly mistakes, for many people leads them to give up which means the death of their dreams.
I don’t want to see “death of a dream” happen to you. So, let’s dive right into this week’s episode to help you:
Create Right Action Plans to Achieve Your Business Goals
January is the best month of the year because it signifies a fresh start, a clean slate — an opportunity to to hit the reset button and have a do-over.
It’s a good time to give yourself permission to daydream and imagine the what if?
January is full of hope and optimism as you set new, exciting goals of what could be.
But, I don’t want to see you slip back into old patterns and find by the end of the month you’re stuck in the same rut, struggling with the same challenges you faced last year.
If you want to get unstuck and make 2017 a breakthrough year, here’s four things you should do to prepare.
1. Define what would make 2017 an epic year for you.
What do you want to achieve this year?
Why does it matter?
What would achieving that goal allow you to do that you can’t do now?
What would achieving that goal allow you to have that you don’t have now?
2. Redefine the meaning of success for you.
As you daydream about what an epic year would look like avoid falling into the comparison trap. We are all at different stages in our business and in different seasons of life.
Author Tim Hiller, says in his book, Strive: Life is Short, Pursue What Matters: “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle, or your middle to someone else’s end.”
[bctt tweet=”Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle or end. @timhiller3 Tim Hiller, Strive: Life is Short, Pursue What Matters” username=”yooncannon”]
Is your of success for your business in alignment with your family goals? Your life goals? Your spiritual goals? Your health and fitness goals?
Bigger isn’t always better. Maybe you want to scale your business this year or maybe it’s time to simplify.
More money doesn’t mean more happy.
Rick Warren, the author of best selling book, The Purpose Driven Life often shares that the secret to happiness is in serving.
I believe serving first is also the foundation of running a purpose driven business.
The only way you can achieve your goals is by helping your customers achieve theirs.
3. Get clear about the impact you want to make.
So, who do you serve and what is the difference you want to make in their lives?
When you don’t have a clear impact statement, going through the motions of running your business week after week can quickly feel like a daily grind.
[bctt tweet=”If you want 2017 to be an epic year, you’ve got to want to make an epic impact.” username=”yooncannon”]
Impact is not measured by what you do, but the difference you’re making.
It doesn’t matter what service you provide, whether it’s auditing, bookkeeping, landscaping, dog walking, consulting, staffing, therapy, etc.
Everyday businesses can be used as a vehicle for making a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
What is the impact, (legacy, difference) you want to make through your business?
To help you write yours, here’s an example of my impact statement. This is why I do what I do:
By helping entrepreneurs grow your business the impact I want to make is:
To give you greater time and financial freedom, so you don’t have to miss out on precious time with your kids.
To help you get your message out, so you can help more people with your gifts.
4. Simplify and shorten your goals.
The surest path to defeat is overwhelm. Set yourself up for success by giving yourself less to focus on.
SIMPLIFY: What are 3 success habits (activities) you can commit to doing every day for the next 21 days?
SHORTEN: What is one outcome result can you pursue as your 30-Day Push Goal?
Finally, don’t just keep your goals to yourself. Share your goals with others. Post your 30-Day Push Goal in the comment box below.
Then print out this blog and write down your answers to the rest of the questions above.
I invite you to decide to make 2017 your epic year!
One of the biggest frustrations I hear all the time from small business owners is how can I generate more leads and sales from my website.
Having a website today is definitely a MUST HAVE. But, if your website isn’t generating steady leads and sales it can easily become a cost center rather than a profit center.
With so many new things going on with digital marketing as the business owner it can be hard to keep up with what’s working the best. So, this week I thought I’d share what is working now from some of the top bloggers today.
You don’t have to be a blogger to benefit from these strategies. These same tips will help your business generate more leads and sales from your website.
#1. Start by considering the end-goal first.
[bctt tweet=”How to Get More Leads from Your Website @sherice says Start with Your End Goal First #leadgeneration” username=”yooncannon”]
In Sherice Jacob’s article on The Ten Commandments of an Awesome Lead-Generating Website
Sherice shares … when it comes to lead generation, begin with the end in mind. What exactly does a “lead” mean to you? Defining this will make your testing and analytics goals even clearer, and help you determine exactly what actions you want the user to take as they progress through each stage of your sales funnel. Is a lead considered someone who fills out a form? Someone who signs up for a newsletter? Requests a callback? Clearly define your starting point and you’ll have a much easier time adjusting your conversion goals accordingly.
#2. Have a dedicated landing page for every marketing campaign.
[bctt tweet=”How to Get More #Leads from Your Website @santisweb says Have a Dedicated #LandingPage for Campaigns” username=”yooncannon”]
Richard Santos shares this tip on How to Generate More Leads from Your Website
Landing pages are a must for lead-generation websites as they provide prospects the opportunity to convert into customers. Most times, they are website pages allowing you to get visitor information through a web form.
Just sending your email or advertising traffic to your homepage is a lot less effective, because you fail to convert traffic into leads. No matter how great your homepage is, it will be just a dead end if you don’t enable your visitors to take action.
Not sure if you should go through the trouble of designing a landing page for your website? Check the most important facts about landing pages and decide for yourself.
#3. Interview influencers in your industry.
[bctt tweet=”How to Get More #Leads from Your Website @jeffbullas says Interview #Influencers #sales” username=”yooncannon”]
One of the tips Jeff Bullas gives in his article on 20 Smart Ways to Generate More Leads for Your Business
Is to reach out to influencers who your customers respect and interview them for your blog or social channels.
Keep it as simple as possible by asking short/sharp questions, and then ask them to share the final product.
Your potential customers will see this as proof of your credibility and increase your chance of attracting new leads.
#4. Add Share Triggers on Your Blog
[bctt tweet=”How to Get More Leads from Your Website @Backlinko says Make Use of Share Triggers #socialmedia #smm” username=”yooncannon”]
Brian Dean in his article entitled, Want to Increase Website Traffic? Follow These 4 Steps…
In my experience, content largely succeeds or fails based on one factor: Whether or not the content has Share Triggers.
What are Share Triggers?
They’re scientifically-backed psychological principles that — when embedded in your content — encourage people to share and link.
Also, Share Triggers give your content that “WOW!” factor that turns cold traffic into leads and customers.
A lot of these principles were first discovered by behavioral scientists like Dr. Jonah Berger, Dr. Katherine Milkman and Jure Leskovec.
#5. Personalize Your Call to Actions
[bctt tweet=”How to Get More #Leads from Your Website @katboyarsky says Personalize Your #CalltoActions #b2b” username=”yooncannon”]
5 Simple Ways to Hubspot writer, Katherine Boyarsky shares her tip to Optimize Your Website for Lead Generation.
Dynamic content lets you cater the experience of visiting your website to each, unique web visitor. People who land on your site will see images, buttons, and product options that are specifically tailored to their interests, the pages they’ve viewed, or items they’ve purchased before. Better yet, personalized calls-to-action convert 42% more visitors than basic calls-to-action. In other words, dynamic content and on-page personalization helps you generate more leads.
#6. Analyze Your Google Analytics Data.
[bctt tweet=”How to #GetMoreLeads from Your Website @MDMJonathan says Analyze Your #GoogleAnalytics Data” username=”yooncannon”]
In 10 Hacks to Help Your Website Generate More Leads, Sales and Revenue, Jonathan Long shares the importance of analyzing your Google Analytics data.
When you know what traffic sources aren’t producing conversions and what your traffic is doing prior to converting it allows you to make significant changes. Imagine if you were able to identify that the majority of your social media traffic didn’t convert? You could then allocate your social media budget into the channels that were producing results.
Using LinkedIn. “Our customer research showed that traffic from LinkedIn generated the highest visitor to lead conversion rate (2.74 percent), almost three times higher than Twitter (.69 percent) and Facebook (.77 percent),” says Mike Volpe, CMO of HubSpot, a provider of inbound marketing software. So what makes LinkedIn a good source of leads for IT companies and professional services organizations?
#7. Use LinkedIn to Drive More Targeted Traffic to Your Website.
[bctt tweet=”How to #GetMoreLeads from Your Website @JenniferLonoffSchiff says Use #LinkedIn for Targeted Traffic” username=”yooncannon”]
Jennifer Lonoff Schiff explains the benefits of using LinkedIn to generate more leads and sales from your website.
“First and foremost, LinkedIn has a high percentage of professionals, so the likelihood, especially for B2B marketers, that you’re dealing with people in your target audience is higher than some other channels,” he says. “Moreover, LinkedIn Groups are organized around the concerns and challenges faced by many buyers and/or their geographic location and profession, so LinkedIn makes it easy to view and contextualize what your potential buyers are talking about and tailor content on your LinkedIn Company pages accordingly.”
#8. Use SlideShare to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Website.
[bctt tweet=”How to #GetMoreLeads from Your Website @JHaynam says Use #Slideshare to Drive #TargetedTraffic #smm” username=”yooncannon”]
Josh Haynam points out with more than 60 million monthly visitors, you’ve likely heard of (and used) SlideShare. But did you know that with a pro plan you can collect leads right on the platform?
If you’re not willing to pay, SlideShare is still a great way to generate leads. As Ana Hoffman suggests in her epic SlideShare traffic case study, you can link to a landing page in the presentation, description and in your profile.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. You now have 8 favorite ways from top bloggers on how they generate more leads and sales from their websites and how you can to.
Use this is your checklist and start implementing one of these tips each week.
Track your growth over the next 8 weeks and watch how many more visitors and more leads you’re getting to your website.
QUESTION: Where do you get stuck in any of these 8 tips?Share your comments and questions below.
In 
Richard Santos
One of the tips 
Brian Dean
5 Simple Ways to Hubspot writer, 
In 10 Hacks to Help Your Website Generate More Leads, Sales and Revenue, 
Jennifer Lonoff Schiff
Josh Haynam
