Your community is about to get a whole lot bigger.
You know there are a lot of things you should be doing.
As a business owner, manager or entrepreneur it can be challenging to identify the actions that will generate the best results. When it comes to digital marketing, there is so much information it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
However, there are 3 very good reasons you should be blogging regularly.
Watch the video to learn more.
Your website could be the hardest working salesperson on your team.
Are you using it to it’s best ability?
Here are 5 simple, yet effective changes you can make to your website design to increase the quality & quantity of the leads it generates.
A call to action is quite simply the action you are requesting your visitor takes.
That request could be to call you, to sign up for the newsletter, to engage in live chat etc.
Typically you want to make the most important call to action the most prominent, and ideally, only have one per page.
You need to make it crystal clear what you want your visitor to do.
Clarity & focus can be generated by using bright colors, big font, eye catching graphics and even multimedia, like videos.
Be sure to showcase case studies, testimonials or even just how many people are part of your mailing list.
This type of social proof acts as an unofficial endorsement of your abilities and trustworthiness.
Trust is hard to build online, so do your best to reassure your website visitors with reviews, formal or otherwise, from others.
Give your website visitors several ways to get in touch with you, so they can adopt the way they’re most comfortable with.
Offer live chat, texting, social media channels, a map to your location, hours of operation and any other information people would need in order to get in touch with you.
Or at least, remove any outdated dates. Nothing destroys credibility faster than a website that appears to have been abandoned.
For best results, add a blog to your website and contribute to it at least monthly.
Make sure you are clearly communicating the benefits of what you offer, what makes you different than your competitors and what problem you solve.
If you communicate your benefits clearly, your target market will respond.
Are there any other elements you feel add to your website’s ability to sell for you?
Please share in the comments below!
Here is what you should and should not be doing, each day at minimum, to maintain your credibility.
When I started, I found myself getting stuck in the three major pitfalls people fall into when it comes to social media marketing:
1. I ended up spending hours a day on social media marketing sites, without generating any tangible results.
2. Feeling the pressure, I set up more profiles than I could keep up with, so I had all these abandoned accounts which were doing more to harm my reputation than anything.
3. No matter what I posted, I wasn’t able to generate much interest or interaction, which was really discouraging.
85% of Internet users have Facebook accounts; 49% are on Twitter. (HubSpot)
Through years of trial and error I’ve been able to identify the key actions that will generate results.
(Tell me! What other frustrations are you having with social media? Share below in the comments.)
More importantly, Â this checklist will show you how to integrate social into your daily life so you can consistently apply these practices in the minimum amount of time per day.
Obtaining results in a short period of time usually requires working smart & being very focused. So, before you start, make sure you’re present where you’re most likely to get new prospects.
It’s important to find out where your target market is on social media . Once you’ve done that, you will need to commit to 17 minutes a day at minimum.
Bookmark this page or print a copy of this sheet for a handy daily social media checklist.
5 days a week: 17 minutes
▢ I’ve checked my newsfeed and engaged (comment, like, etc.) with 3-5 contacts
▢ I’ve shared content from people on my “hit list” or list of influencers, clients, strategic alliances
â–˘ I’ve checked the “people I may know” section and added at least one person
▢ I have added anyone I’ve met in real life on my social media profiles
▢ I’ve replied to comments, answered questions & acknowledged all interactions.
*TIP* Set a timer to keep yourself accountable
One day a week: 17 minutes
▢ Create and schedule at least one post a day through Hootsuite.com these posts should be 90% non sales related.
â–˘ Add, Follow or Friend 3 related or peripheral businesses/market leaders
â–˘ Measure & adjust your content based on what content your audience responds to (I use Google Analytics for this)
Points to remember:
â–˘ Social media is more like networking than marketing. Be personable, not pushy.
â–˘ It is better to be consistently on one platform than absent on many.
â–˘ Give of your knowledge & expertise to generate value
â–˘ I use my smartphone to download the social apps which will make real time engagement easy for me
â–˘ I champion others to build trust & get my network to grow
If you find that you need more background information before you start, check out these related posts:
How to Alleviate Social Media Guilt
3 steps to creating an online sales funnel
The complete guide to blogging for Beginners
If you found this post valuable, then please feel free to share!
If you’re looking for results from your marketing, look no further than here!
I am going to show you 10 ways to use digital marketing to generate a steady stream of leads to your business.
The digital marketing landscape is crowded. It seems there is a new marketing gimmick, tool or software available almost every day, and it can be overwhelming to know where to start.
Like anything though, the basics are always a great place to begin. Here are the 10 digital marketing commandments you will ignore at your peril:
What’s important to them? What problem of theirs do you solve? How do you help them? Focus relentlessly on communicating the unique value you provide and your marketing will succeed in driving new customers to your door.
Sure, you SAY you can help, but can you really? Show case studies, photos, testimonials and reviews whenever and where ever possible.
Social proof acts as an unofficial endorsement of your business, your products, your services.
Invoke the law of reciprocity.
Share your skills and knowledge with the world. Educate your future customers, by offering up your wisdom through blogging, social media, free quotes, samples, evaluations.
You will reap the rewards tenfold.
Just because Snapchat is the hottest new marketing tool, does not necessarily mean it will work for your business.
Clear away the clutter and focus on the places where your future & current customers are present.
Commit to staying in front of your niche and ignore the rest.
Think like your customers, speak their language and you will profit.
This takes time, customer surveys and listening closely but it’s worth it.
This is what it takes to build trust and rapport with those that pay the bills.
You can tell a stock image or bland corporate speak from a mile away.
More than anything, this invokes suspicion.What are you trying to hide? Be a real person, or appoint a face of your company.
In this globalized world, everyone wants to deal with the small business guy that cares.
Even if you can only update your Facebook status once a month, commit to that and do not falter.
Consistency is key in building trust, especially online. It is better to actually do less than set up all your social media accounts and leave them to stagnate.
A small tweak in direction before you execute can make all the difference.
Spend your time and resources on planning and research and you can double or triple your results.
What is the most effective use of your resources? Don’t start any marketing until you have a plan.
Customers expect a response on social media within an hour.
That’s an incredibly demanding expectation, but one that exists nonetheless. The better you can meet or even just manage expectations in today’s instant gratification society, the more successful you will be.
This also applies to online reviews. Don’t ignore the bad reviews, address them! Respond to all interactions, good and bad and you will earn the respect of your community and future customers.
You can’t ignore social media anymore. It’s here!
Your customers expect you to have a presence on social sites. You need to be present where the majority of consumers spend multiple hours a day.
If you found this post helpful- please share!
Here is how Google Analytics can help you achieve your business objectives.
Google Analytics is a free website traffic analytics program which provides an enormous amount of data on your website traffic and user behaviour.
In fact, it’s likely you’re sitting on a gold mine of information.
There is an entire industry dedicated to customer, consumer and market research.
It’s widely believed that the more you know about your customer and their preferences, the more successful you will be.
10 things Google Analytics can tell you about your website traffic:
Google analytics, when properly added to your website can tell you at least 10 things you didn’t know about your future customers.
1. How long people spend on your website
2. What website they were at before, that sent them to your website
3. What keywords they typed into Google or other search engines to get to your website
4. What pages they spend time on and which ones they leave right away
5. What web sites send the traffic that generate the best leads for you.
7. If this is their first time on your site or if they’re returning visitors
8. What device they are using on your site ie: Smartphone versus Laptop etc.
9. Where most of your visitors are geographically located
10. What age & gender your website visitors are.
This information is of little use on it’s own, but with a little analysis you can use these analytics to help you make smarter, more profitable business decisions.
If you knew this information for certain, you could then make fully informed marketing decisions like:
1. What marketing initiatives are deserving of their high budget.
You can tell what website are sending you high quality web traffic that consists of users that stay interested and spend time on your website, and even contact you.
You’ll also be able to tell what websites are either not sending you enough traffic, or the ones that send low quality traffic that leaves right away.
2. Â What marketing initiatives should be cut
If your email newsletter sends high quality traffic to your website, but that ad on the radio station isn’t, then it makes sense to cut the radio ad.
This way you can use google analytics to make informed marketing decisions, instead of just guessing what is working and what isn’t.
3. What markets have high demand and little competition- and are ripe for the plucking.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve logged into my Google Analytics and been surprised at some small niche that has a high demand, that I am under servicing.
By quickly reacting to the information displayed in Google Analytics, I can quickly provide that market segment with enough information to make a purchasing decision. In this way I use Google Analytics to drive more profits in my business.
4. What content to create.
If you’re blogging, posting to social media properties or creating any kind of educational or marketing type materials you can use the information from your website statistics to determine what people would like to know more about.
Long tail keyword searches like “google website tracking” often show up in my Google Analytics and help me understand exactly what questions my future customers have.
If I can address these questions properly I have a chance to earn their business.
How will you use analytics in your business? Please comment below.
And, if you found this article valuable, please consider sharing it with your network.
Now that you have your new website up and running, you may be wondering how to get more people visiting your site.
There are a number of easy ways you can promote your website, without going broke or spending tons of time.
Here are 7 pro strategies to promote your website.
The easiest and most overlooked method of promoting your new website- update your contact information!
Add your website address, along with a benefit statement to all your off and online points of contact and profiles.
Your Email Signature
All social media accounts: Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, etc.
Your voicemail message
An example of how to add to your website link and benefit statement email signature is: “Click here to learn How to Promote Your Website, the Affordable Way”
The launch of a new website, especially accompanied by the launch of a local business is newsworthy!
Emailing your personal contacts with the announcement that your website is live- don’t forget to include the link!
Send out a similar launch announcement message to your career contacts-clients, contractors, vendors, co workers and peers.
Draft a press release and send it out to any media contacts you may have
Ask influential people in your network to broadcast the message for you
Post an enthusiastic message on all your social networks announcing the launch
3. Maximize Local Listings.
Every city has multiple free listing/review websites. Take full advantage of these and add your business details to the following web properties:
Better Business Bureau
Found Locally
Yelp
If you’re feeling ambitious you could also add your business to free classified sites such as:
Craigslist
Facebook Marketplace
Kijiji
Be sure to add a QR code, or your website address to all printed materials such as posters, brochures, signage or any other advertising you may do.
This applies to radio ads, in person networking and anything else you’re doing that is of a promotional nature.
If you haven’t already, consider search engine marketing. There are thousands of people searching on Google each minute of the day, and a portion of them are looking for what you’re selling.
You can get on google through Pay Per Click Ads, adding yourself and your business to Google Plus and by regularly posting new updates to your website.
Blogging is a common method of updating your website. It’s a great way to satisfy the search engines need for fresh content, and it helps educate your customers as well!
Work the network! Stay top of mind and create a community of prospective customers by being present where your target market hangs out online.
Start using social media networks like LinkedIn, LinkedIn Groups, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, Facebook Pages to promote your website.
Connect with your existing contacts, and their contacts as well as influential people using these networking sites.
You can pay for premium space in all of the sites listed above. Bonus- you can zero in on your target market by selecting very specific demographics to display your ad to.
Consider your budget and audience, and do a trial run to see what kind of results you get.
Summary:With these 7 tips you should create some serious buzz around, and traffic to your new website.
TIP*** Be sure to instal and use Google Analytics to measure the results of your efforts.
What you do need, is to be on the right social media site for your unique business.
I’ll show you how to put forth 20% of the effort to get 80% of your results, by following this one simple rule:
Choose the social media sites your business uses based on where your target customers are active and engaged
Here is an executive summary of the demographic, or user base information on each of the major social networks.
Pick One Social Network and Get Started!
If your business markets to other businesses (B2B)…
Then LinkedIn is the social media website for you! It is specifically targeted towards people who are in business and want to connect with others in business.
Both a personal account and a business page are recommended.
Is your business local based with a physical location?
If you have the ability to accept walk in traffic or by appointment, then you need to be on Google plus local -formerly Google Maps.
Is your target market ladies in their 30’s to 40’s ? If so, then you need to be on Pinterest.
To build credibility, stay up to the minute on industry news and connect with or position yourself as a thought leader then you need to be on Twitter.
If you’re marketing to moms then you absolutely to have a presence on Facebook.
If you want to get traffic from Google and show up on Google’s search engine…then you’ll also need to be on Google plus and Google plus local. These factors are becoming more more important terms where you rank on Google so you actually do have to be on Google plus now.
Instagram is a great social media network for just about everybody who is tech savvy and is a great way to generate more exposure if you’re in an image oriented business.
If you’re in any type of business where you need to build more trust, You Tube is the place to showcase your personality and expertise. (There’s no better way to communicate who you are and build trust online than video marketing.)
Video marketing is great for industries that have a bad reputation or if you’re in any kind of technology industry, Â where things are complicated I require explanation.
If you’re not ready to do a full video, you can use the video capture tool on Vine and Instagram mobile apps which are 7 and 15 seconds each.
And if you’re not sure which social network your customers use, ask them using a free survey software like survey monkey.
The important thing is to pick one social network and start using it regularly. Once you get in the habit of using one, Â you can add on to others.
What social network(s) do you use for your business?
Share in the comments below! And if you’ve found this article valuable, please consider sharing it with your network.
If you’re wondering what digital marketing tools will really make a difference in your bottom line, look no further than this list.
Here is our top 10 list of tech tools for anyone running or marketing a business in 2014.
Whether you film how-to videos on your smart phone or shell out for a professional video- customers expect you to use video in your marketing & communications.
Bonus- it’s proven to increase conversion rates, so it’ll nudge your website visitors to call, click and connect with you.
Social Video Tools such as YouTube, Â Vine, Instagram make capturing & sharing video easier than ever.
You’re probably sick of hearing about social media marketing.
There is a reason why there is so much chatter over it though, and it’s time to start paying attention.
Not just a marketing tool, social media offers incredible low cost opportunities for running your business; providing live customer service or tech support, hire & collaborate with your team.
Social media has gone from a marketing tool, to a must have business tool.
Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn & Google Plus are all social media sites with lively communities and user base.
Now there is no excuse to ignore your customers. Survey them regularly and profit from knowing what they want from you, and what they want less of.
Using existing customer input in marketing to new clients is a highly effective strategy to connect with your customer’s needs & communicate your unique solution.
Free Survey Software is offered by Survey Monkey, Free Online Surveys
The cloud is essentially online web space, or a server where data can sit. This is opposed to having files located on a device, like your computer.
Ensure your sales team always has the latest collateral. Collaborate on the go & protect your data from loss with automatic backups.
Various cloud providers are Dropbox & Google Drive.
From apps, to responsive web sites, to SMS or Text marketing, if you’re not at least considering mobile marketing you’ll be missing out on sales, period.
Research indicates that internet usage over mobile devices will soon surpass the traffic from desktop & laptops.
And if you don’t believe me, consider your own mobile usage…
A fancy name for statistics, Â you’ll want to measure the results of your marketing efforts for effectiveness.
Learn what pages of your website your customers use, where your web traffic comes from and how many web visitors convert to hot leads or customers.
Making decisions based on what internet users/future customers want as opposed to what you think they want will separate the profitable from the bankrupt.
A proven digital marketing method that generates better ranking on search engines and better conversion rates from web traffic, this year is the time to start blogging, even quarterly.
Blogging is as simple as writing a short word article answering your customer’s most frequently asked questions, and posting this article on your website.
As competition increases, blogging also helps establish rapport & build the credibility of your business.
If you’re a local business, you’ll want to look at tools like Google Maps, Yelp, Facebook Places to capitalize on the local search demand.
Tech savvy customers like to search by map and check in when they’ve arrived, and this behaviour is only increasing, so you’ll want to start this year.
Tap into your local marketplace by creating and maintaining a presence on these websites.
Customer’s now expect a response within one hour of them contacting you. This can be tricky to juggle as a small business owner unless you have the right tools.
Sync as many social media & email apps as you can with your smartphone so you can be notified and check in on the go, and consider a live chat app on your website, like ZOPIM,
If you’re not already sending out a newsletter, this year is the time to start. Cultivate and nurture your client relationships & prosper.
Use this to:Â Auto respond to email newsletter sign ups, stay in touch with current and inactive clients.
Mailchimp &  Constant Contact both offer a free to paid email marketing service.
In Summary:
Like many New Year’s lists, the key to success is moving from consideration to action.
If you have specific sales goals you want to achieve this year, start planning how and when you’re going to incorporate these new tools and how you’ll measure their effectiveness.
Do you have a must-have marketing tool? Share it with us below.
As always your comments are encouraged and appreciated.
If you found this article helpful, please consider sharing it.
Here we’ve outlined what the benefits of blogging are, how often you should blog, what to blog about and BONUS what to do if you’re not good at writing.
How often should I blog?I recommend that every professional and business start blogging at least one post a month.
Typically each blog post should be between 300 and 500 words.
It should take about an hour to create a blog post and then maybe another half an hour to edit it.
Be sure to schedule a time in and keep that commitment to yourself.
If you are not very good at writing you can use the various voice recording tools to translate your speech into text– then you can always edit it later. (I use the voice to text tool on my iphone).
The first thing to do when you are starting to blog is to come up with a topic.
Once you created your blog post you can then post it on your website and share it with your existing and future customers through your email newsletter and your social networks
You can then repurpose your blog posts by creating videos and custom images to accompany the blog post.
Be sure to review your website statistics to see what posts got the best response, and ask your friends, family, customers and staff to provide you with feedback and help share your post.
If you found this post beneficial, please consider sharing it with your network.
Connect with me online via any of the networks below!
It used to be that when people were ready to buy they would go to the Yellow Pages.
Businesses could count on generating more exposure to their target market with Outbound Advertising techniques like advertising in the yellow pages.
But lately, it’s become much harder to get the attention of your future customers.
Consumers ignore outbound marketing messages or bypass them entirely with tools like spam filters, paid radio and PVRs.
By positioning your business where customers are looking for what you sell, it’s like standing under a waterfall of regular qualified leads.
But did you know?
There are literally hundreds of people every single month that are searching online for what you sell.
These people are spending hours each day on social media, watching online videos, and searching google
Web marketing is the most effective type of marketing because it allows you to be present where and when customers or actively searching for information on what you sell.
By adopting to this change in consumer behavior and being present where your customers are, you can cost effectively tap into a steady stream of inbound leads.
The most effective ways of being present where your customers are is through Site, Search & Social Marketing.
These are the three pillars of marketing success in the digital age
Employed strategically, consistently and professionally, you could find yourself standing under a waterfall of opportunity.
But don't just take our word for it. Click any of the links below to hear it from our clients.
