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Steal the secrets of building high converting websites from codebreakers

By Bhaskar Sarma 1 Comment

Say codes and encryption and you probably think of invisible ink,James Bond and hackers.

But leave governments and militaries aside. Without encryption, even your bank account and inbox won’t be secure.

Throughout history major world events have been shaped by the deviousness of a cryptographer in designing codes or the ingenuity of a codebreaker in deciphering secret messages.

The neutral US entered the WWI not because of German U boat attacks that drowned hundreds of American citizens or strenuous British diplomacy but because of a single decrypted German message.

And the WWII could have gone on till 1948 and millions more would have died had Polish and British codebreakers failed to crack the Enigma code used by the Nazis.

If the code is the case of the Hound of Baskervilles, think of a codebreaker as Sherlock Holmes. [Read more…] about Steal the secrets of building high converting websites from codebreakers

How Tom Clancy can help B2B marketers work with Google Hummingbird

By Bhaskar Sarma Leave a Comment

Tom Clancy died last month ,and like any other fan of techno political military thriller novels I was heartbroken.

The man practically invented the sub-genre.

But that’s not why I am invoking Clancy.

My reasons are a little less literary.

Clancy: the consummate connector of dots

Anyone who has read Clancy will be struck by how detailed his descriptions were especially when it came to weapon systems.

When the “The Hunt for Red October” was published in 1984 authorities were spooked when they found out that Clancy was bang on when he wrote that Soviet submarines spent only 15 percent of their time out at sea. Other classified information that was scarily accurate included the number of SS-N-20 Seahawk missiles a Soviet sub carried.

How to write a whitepaper without getting Force choked by a Sith Lord

By Bhaskar Sarma 2 Comments

On a gloomy day in Coruscant, Darth Vader sat in his office block, breathing more deeply than usual.

The Empire was building a second Death Star and the Emperor wanted him to monitor every phase of the construction.

He was particularly interested in the shield generator for the Death Star which was to be built on the forest moon of Endor.

It was the Death Star’s first line of defence and Darth Vader’s responsibility to make sure that it would do the job.

Knowing the reader

When the news got out about the shield generator trade federations all over the galaxy were excited. The talk went something like this-

Alien #1(manager) – A lot of Imperial credits are riding on this project. Can we bag the contract, team?

Alien #2 (engineering head)- Yes. We have the technology to build this generator and we can whip up the prototype in no time. We are the perfect vendor.

Alien #3 (salesman)- Then get me in touch with the Sith Lord’s office. I am bagging this one. I need to buy that artificial asteroid for my wife.

Alien #1- Brilliant. Prepare a holographic presentation and list out the specs. I will send it to Coruscant.

A Tolkienian formula to writing bewitching case studies that converts like crazy

By Bhaskar Sarma 11 Comments

This post is second in the series of posts dealing with content marketing collaterals and conversion. This first post about landing pages is here . Updated on 20 Jan 2017.

Love a good yarn? Of course you do. You are human.

Stories are the best way to grab people’s attention, whether they are your neighbors or enterprise technology buyers.

And when it comes to stories, JRR Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings ranks up there amongst the best.

When you are using content marketing to reach out to your ideal clients, no collateral can match the effectiveness of a crisply written story, also known as case study, in persuading them to begin the sales conversation with you.

That’s why a good case study (or a customer success story) is worth its weight in gold. The Eccolo Media 2015 B2B Technology Collateral Survey Report found out that 31% of the respondents- the third highest- considered case studies to be extremely influential in providing purchase information.

Why (B2B Landing Page) conversion is like the TARDIS

By Bhaskar Sarma 8 Comments

This is a first in a series of posts about improving conversion rates for different types of content on a typical website. Check out the post about case studies.

The TARDIS is a ship used by Doctor Who, an alien, to travel through time and space. From the outside the TARDIS looks like a phone box, while on the inside it has the square area of a mansion.

What does it have to do with website conversion?

Conversion rate optimization, on the surface is about increasing the click through on call to actions on a site. But dive deeper and the whole subject starts looking like a tapestry with strands of marketing psychology, design, copywriting and other stuff woven in.

Let’s talk about conversion rate optimization for landing pages today. [Read more…] about Why (B2B Landing Page) conversion is like the TARDIS

Site audits- just what the Doctor ordered for an underperforming website

By Bhaskar Sarma 7 Comments

Audit.

That’s a pretty un-sexy word, and it reminds you of accountants, the tax department, endless paperwork and plenty of hassle.

Relax!

I am talking about an entirely different kind of audit that you will actually look forward to.

This one does not involve a government department or accountants.

You don’t need to get involved in it, save for answering some highly targeted questions about your business goals.

And best of all, you get a solid plan that can improve your site and help you properly sell yourself.

I am talking about a site audit. [Read more…] about Site audits- just what the Doctor ordered for an underperforming website

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