You can’t see the Great Wall of China from space, Napoleon Bonaparte was above average height and chameleons don’t change colour to blend in with their surroundings.
Contrary to popular belief.
Sometimes it’s hard to separate fact from fiction and the same is definitely true of online marketing – there are plenty of tall tales flying around.
Hence the thoughtful boys and girls at UWP figured it might help to explode a few myths and misapprehensions.
If you fancy having a stab, just answer true or false to each of the ten questions below. We’ve written the answers underneath – along with a few stats to make it look like we know what we’re talking about. Off we go then…
1 Most people leave your website if they can’t get what they want in three clicks – TRUE OR FALSE?
2 Most people don’t read web pages if they have more than a few hundred words on them – TRUE OR FALSE?
3 Web pages with bullet points or pictures are proven to do better – TRUE OR FALSE?
4 You need to blog every two or three days to make an impact – TRUE OR FALSE?
5 Google is more popular than all other search engines put together – TRUE OR FALSE?
6 Most people only click on results on the first page of Google – TRUE OR FALSE?
7 Online marketing usually takes months to really bear fruit – TRUE OR FALSE?
8 Online marketing only works for big companies who are willing to spend thousands of pounds – TRUE OR FALSE?
9 Cold calling is a better way to generate leads than online marketing – TRUE OR FALSE?
Those UWP guys are so sharp, when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone they’d already given him three missed calls
And last but not least…
10 Search engines’ organic results are far more important to users than paid results – TRUE OR FALSE?
OK guys, drum roll please – here’s the answers…
1 Most people leave your website if they can’t get what they want in three clicks – TRUE OR FALSE?
FALSE. As regular fans of this blog will tell you, various studies have disproved the so-called ‘three-click rule’. Joshua Porter’s study, for example, suggested there is no more likelihood of a user quitting after three clicks than 12
2 Most people don’t read web pages if they have more than a few hundred words on them – TRUE OR FALSE?
3 Web pages with bullet points or pictures are proven to do better – TRUE OR FALSE?
TRUE. Readers typically only take in about 20% of the words on a web page. But mixing things up with bullet points, pictures or video helps keep their attention and Moz argue, for example, that posts with bullet points and images get 333% more links than posts without
4 You need to blog every two or three days to make an impact – TRUE OR FALSE?
FALSE. Within reason, the more often you blog the better – but don’t panic. Hubspot claim the average company will see 45% growth in traffic when increasing their total amount of blog articles from 11-20 to 21-50. That figure ties in with our own experiences so just, say, one blog every fortnight should start to make a huge difference inside a year or less
5 Google is more popular than all other search engines put together – TRUE OR FALSE?
TRUE. Google accounts for two thirds of all searches worldwide, including just over 89% of all UK searches. That’s roughly eight times more than all the others put together. Do the maths. Actually, we just did – so don’t bother
6 Most people only click on results on the first page of Google – TRUE OR FALSE?
TRUE. Depending on which survey you trust, roughly 95% of people click on a listing on the first page of Google without bothering to go to page two. Over a third go to the very first result
7 Online marketing usually takes months to really bear fruit – TRUE OR FALSE?
TRUE (largely). Certain tactics – such as a website redesign or an AdWords campaign – might bring you rewards overnight. Give or take. However, a sustained marketing campaign where you begin to dominate your rivals online and are consistently seen by more and more potential customers generally takes months – and a lot of TLC
8 Online marketing only works for big companies who are willing to spend thousands of pounds – TRUE OR FALSE?
FALSE. Obviously the more you spend the more options you have but many of our clients see increasing traffic to their site – and more importantly an increased client base – after spending just a few hundred pounds. If you carefully pick the right battles, targeted SEO or blogging will not break the bank and can pay for itself many times over
9 Cold calling is a better way to generate leads than online marketing – TRUE OR FALSE?
FALSE. This survey calculates that cold calling costs 60% more per lead than online marketing such as blogging, SEO, pay-per-click ads and social media – stats that are backed up by the Harvard Business Review
10 Search engines’ organic results are far more important to users than paid results – TRUE OR FALSE?
Mmm – TRUE. Or is it? We always thought so but now we’re not so sure. For example, a UK study last year showed organic listings gained 94% of all clicks. This backs up all our other knowledge. But a more recent rival study showed 81% of customers clicking on the paid ads on Google – with 40% unaware that’s what they were doing. So we are left scratching our heads again. At a push we’d still answer true to the question but feel free to award yourself a congratulatory lollipop either way
And while you are still reeling from that bombshell, have a bit of this: If you swallow chewing gum it does not stay in your body for years, Londoners spend plenty of their time more than six feet away from a rat and there is no God. Sorry.
If you’d like to discuss any of the issues above, give us a call on 020 7100 4562 or email hello@uwpgroup.co.uk. Thanks for reading.