BIG Customer Network Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions that I wanted to share. I will continue to add to these each month so if you have a specific question about something, please let me know.

How much time should I be spending on my magnet program each month?

It is less about how much time you spend on your magnet program and more about how engaged you are with the program. The more engaged you are with your program and your BCN team, the more successful your program will be. If you can’t answer yes to each of these questions, it is probably a clue you are not engaged enough:

• Are you reviewing your Inbound Marketing Report each month?
• Do you know how many visitors your magnets are attracting, what your average time on site is and your average bounce rate?
• Are you sharing with us what is working on your main site that we can replicate?
• Are you letting us know what is working in your offline marketing efforts that we can learn from?
• Are you reviewing at least 5 or 10 of your magnet sites each month and providing us with ideas on how to continually improve the content to build trust with your visitors?

What should my bounce rate be? How can I improve my bounce rate?

Let’s make sure we all understand what bounce rate is. Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page. A high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by making sure you tailor the content on your entrance pages to what the visitor is expecting to see based on the domain name and tag line. Landing pages should provide the information and services that are promised.

So back to what should your bounce rate be? We use 70% as a guideline. To us, anything above 70% means your content is scaring your visitors away. Our goal is to continually improve content and conversion strategies month after month on your magnet program to achieve average bounce rates below 60%.

What’s the difference between a magnet site, a micro-site and a landing page?

• A Magnet Site uses a domain name that represents how a prospect would be looking for you (i.e. popular logical semantic words). That combined with relevant, authoritative content that relates to that domain name as well as specific conversion opportunities (banners, downloads, lead request) make a magnet site. The goal of a magnet site is to attract visitors that are looking for you using the main criteria that search engines use to index and rank sites (i.e. domain name, content, and relevant links). Magnet sites combine some of the elements of a Microsite and Landing Page.
• A Microsite (sometimes known as a mini-site) generally refers to a small website that is the off-shoot of its parent website. It is considered a separate entity as it may present different information and even have a different URL. This would normally be linked from the home page. Many times the information on a micro site is duplicated from the main site. The url could be a specific brand or event of the parent website company. For instance an art gallery might create a microsite for a specific exhibit they are showcasing.
• A Landing Page is a website page designed to capture a visitor’s information through a lead form. A landing page can be the home page of your website but a good landing page will be targeted to a particular stream of traffic – i.e. from an email campaign advertising a particular white paper or event. Landing pages are very targeted and have an interesting offer which can only be taken advantage of by filling out a lead capture form. The goal of a Landing Page is to convert visitors into leads with which you can follow up.

Hopefully this clears it up for you as well as provides information on the role Magnet Sites, Microsites and Landing Pages play in your overall digital marketing campaign.

What are the different types of magnet sites I can have in my program?

• Generic Magnet Site – A generic Magnet Site does not have your company or brand represented on it. It is a combination of automatic feeds as well as specific unique content on a particular topic. These generic Magnet Sites can be used for a variety of purposes. The simplest purpose is as a test to see if that domain name generates an audience and drives specific actions. It could also be a discussion board where initially you just want to create a conversation without any “advertising” or “sponsors” on the sites. It could also be used to test various content before you associate your company or brand with it (i.e. a new product or service idea, a competitor product that you want to get some feedback on, etc.). It could also be a great survey or polling site. The possibilities are endless.
• Company sponsored Magnet Site – These are our most popular types of magnets, especially at the beginning of a program. These sites are independent information/resource destinations that have your company or brand represented on them as a sponsor but are not viewed as company owned sites by the audience. A comparison would be like going to the http://news.yahoo.com/ where there are all types of news sources with various sponsors represented via links, banner ads, articles, videos, etc.
• Company branded Magnet Site - These sites are branded with your logo and colors. Visitors on these sites assume you own and are responsible for the site and all the content provided on it.

What are the different types of things that I should be doing on my magnet sites?

There are a lot of different things you can do on a magnet site – just not all at once though. Here are the most common elements to include:

• Blogroll – bring in outside, frequently updated content from the blogosphere
• RSS feeds – syndicated content from specific trade or industry sources
• Unique Content – articles, faqs, case studies, tips, how to lists, etc.
• Videos – video channel
• Banner Ads
• Contact Us Button(s)
• Lead Capture Form (Sign up for something, daily deal alert, newsletter, etc.)
• Downloads – carrots, motivators, freebies
• Sign up for Webinars
• Discussion Board
• Ability to post comments/ask questions
• Testimonials
• LivePerson (LiveChat)

How often should I be adding new content to my magnet sites?

We believe you should be testing something new every month on a portion of your magnet sites. We also believe that once we find something that is working, whether it is on your main site or one of your magnet sites, we should replicate it to your other magnet sites. Conversely, if we find that something isn’t working – let’s change it. So the answer is monthly.

I have some magnet sites that are doing really well and are consistently in the top 10 performers for my magnet program. How can I leverage this?

There are many ways to leverage your top performers. One way is to convert your magnet site from a generic or company sponsored magnet site to a company branded magnet site. These sites also are prime candidates to convert to a more robust microsite or in some cases a complete website.

When should I add more sites to my magnet program?

The simple answer is when you want to capture a larger audience. Once you begin having success with conversions and have determined what causes your audience to take desired actions, adding to your magnet program is a cost effective way to leverage that. More magnets = larger audience = more conversion opportunities.

To discuss any of these questions in more detail or to add a question of your own, please contact me at wendy@bigcustomernetwork.com. I hope you found this helpful. Thanks!

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   May 18, 2012 at 1:08 am

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