A blog about smart marketing and conversion optimization.

It was Google’s first Panda update in 2011 that got me thinking: the gray area optimization gold rush of this millennium’s first decade will probably end up a blip on the digital marketing timeline.

We’re squarely in the age of: “The best businesses win digital.”

For a long time, companies have thought of digital marketing heterogeneously, a mishmash of siloed channels such as search, email, landing pages, shopping cart abandonment, retargeting, etc. This perspective has been reinforced by marketing technology companies who carve out their value proposition by championing the finer details of a particular channel strategy.

While there is certainly benefit to having specific optimization knowledge when optimizing a marketing channel, increasingly there is a fundamental reality that underlies all online marketing optimization. It all starts with the conversion flow.

Think of the conversion flow as a tentacled organism that thrives on customer action.

The tentacles reach out via search, social media, press, blogging, display advertising, etc. In some cases, the tentacles directly bring visitors to the conversion belly (such as AdWords click-to-call), but more routinely there are a number of intermediary steps. People need to click around a site or app, read, watch, attend events, consume collateral, check out different products …

The conceptual shift is that by focusing on just one or two tentacles, you’re probably missing out on more fundamental organism-level opportunities. Testing and experimentation that is inherently thought of and implemented in artificial silos is bound to produce unimpressive incremental improvements at best.

Once upon a time in the early days of the internet, you could succeed by gaming the system channel-by-channel, but the digital landscape has matured, and increasingly online success is determined by how much value you provide to the customer as a coherent business. Nowhere has this been clearer than recent updates to Google’s algorithm rewarding user experience and genuine relevance.

Outside of product development, the biggest impact a marketer can have is on the conversion path, the series of steps a customer undertakes to fulfill a desire. This path is at the core of most online success: certainly advertising but also search, content marketing, marketing automation and even PR.

I believe that the conversion path starts at the initial point of contact and flows through every referral, repeat purchase and customer service interaction. It matters just as much who a visitor is, where they came from and from what message or targeting as it matters how you continue speaking to and treating that visitor.

When you examine the conversion organism’s tentacles from the perspective of the larger creature, entire new possibilities open up. If you take this argument to its logical conclusion, it may mean you have to abandon such artificial organizational concepts such as retention versus acquisition or outreach versus nurture. This is a blessing to your marketing program because then you can focus on what matters: the entire customer experience.

(This is a guest post by Emily Green)

Ready to increase consumer experience and want to optimize your website for mobile use? If so, there are some things to consider before developing a mobile-friendly site and some of these considerations are directly related to consumer demand.

1. Why Do You Need a Mobile Website?

Before you delve in and find a company or developer to make your website mobile-friendly, what are your goals behind going mobile? Goals will help you determine the features you need most.

Make a list of the most important reasons such as:
• Do you want to offer the ability to sell and allow consumers to pay from their cell phones?
• Is your goal to reach locals, nationwide or global?
• Do you want to drive foot traffic into your retail establishment?
• Do you plan on offering coupons, discounts or promotions to mobile users?
• Are you advertising with QR codes in traditional ad mediums and are seeking more scans?
• Is it your goal to teach, inform or offer a service?

Answering these questions will help you determine the best features to make your mobile site useful to consumers and to keep them coming back.

2. Ensure You Reach All Operating Systems

Because two out of every three people access the Internet every day on their mobile phones, it’s extremely important your site uses the right tools to ensure your mobile site is viewable and works on all operating systems such as iOS, Android, RIM and Windows phones.

Tools to build mobile websites include RWD or responsive web design that allows for optimal website viewing no matter the device—PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. Another tool is CSS or cascading style sheets that offers consistent viewing on a variety of devices. HTML5 or hyper-text markup language makes mobile sites easy to see and use without installing plug-ins.

Make sure you choose a mobile developer that possesses knowledge on all these tools to aid you in building the best mobile website based on needs and goals.

3. Ease of Use and Reliability Are Essential

Since four out of every five mobile users make purchases from their smartphones and the average person spends approximately 13 hours searching and reviewing products on cell phones, your mobile site must be easy to use and possess reliable features.

Those who skip DSL and opt for wireless services such as clear home internet that provides PC, laptop and mobile phone service, also seek out websites that are mobile-friendly making access on-the-go easier and a pleasant experience.
Consider how your mobile site will load and what it will look like based on average Internet speeds.

4. Users Will Be Tapping, Not Clicking

Mashable reminds businesses looking to get a mobile site up and running to remember that people will be “tapping” on their smartphone screens and not “clicking” on a link or using the mouse to click on a shop here or buy now radio button.

This means bigger buttons for easy tapping and be sure to check all of them once your mobile site is live. 57 Percent of users will skip a mobile site with a poor design or one that doesn’t work.

Going mobile with your website is a must-do because today’s consumers don’t just desire these types of websites—they demand them. Making a list of goals and utilizing these tips will ensure your mobile site is a success.

“Emily Green is a freelance writer for copyforbylines.com with more than six years’ experience in blogging, copywriting, content, SEO, and dissertation, technical and thesis writing.”

Confirmation pages (also known as thank you pages) are one of the overlooked of all online marketing assets. Join me June 11-13 at the Chicago Conversion Conference for a session dedicated to making the most of confirmation pages.

Here’s a quick preview of what I’ll be talking about…

Tony Mariotti of FriendBuy, a customer referral program tool, reports that on average 7% of all visitors who make it to a confirmation page share the company on their social networks. Adding related content links to the Clever Zebo webinar confirmation page increased engagement by over 40%!

Talk about low-hanging fruit!

In my Conversion Conference session, I’ll rapid-fire look at a variety of ideas for confirmation page optimization. Ultimately, they break down to a few call to action categories:

Here’s another example to get your imagination going:

I hope to see you in Chicago. If you’ve had any luck with your confirmation pages, I’d love to see them.