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Archive for Marketing Online
How to “Yelp” Successfully
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When it comes to making your business known, there are a lot of ways to establish yourself online and off. Businesses are becoming successful using social networking and blogging, but Yelp is a somewhat less known, but powerful way to make yourself known online and expand your business.
Yelp is a newer website, but the concept behind it has been around as long as businesses have.
Yelp has several different webpages, all for different cities. It’s a listing of businesses, but it also includes the ability to rate and review the businesses.
When it comes down to it, word-of-mouth advertising is generally better than an everyday, average advertising campaign. The reason? Anyone can make a claim about their business. But no matter how good that claim is, there’s no real guarantee that it’s true because the business owner is making it themselves. With word-of-mouth advertising, someone else is telling the consumer that the claim is true.
Whether it’s someone they trust, or simply someone who doesn’t profit from what they’re saying (or even if they do), this is taken as a much more trustworthy source. This way, you’re not only getting your name out there, you’re also getting your reputation out there.
So how can you use Yelp to your advantage? First, make sure your business is in there. That way, even if there are no reviews, at least you’ve got your name out. You can then use your Yelp page to add details, pictures, and even updates, and special offers about your business.
That way, new customers know what to expect, and have some extra incentive to come in along with previous customers’ experiences that assure them they’re getting what you advertise.
Once you’re listed, make sure you’ve got quality reviews. While some people may get family and friends to plant positive reviews, these are often easy to spot to the trained eye. Why not just encourage customers to go online and write a review?
Yelp is not only good for finding new customers, you can also use it to communicate with current customers to keep them coming back. You can talk to them privately, or communicate with them publicly so other customers can not only get answers, but also see that you take care of your customers even after you’re done providing services.
Another advantage of Yelp is that it allows you to recommend other businesses and more importantly, allows them to recommend you. You can offer reciprocal links to local businesses, or provide them some other incentive for promoting you. The more successful the other businesses, the better the links you’ll get from them.
The best part about Yelp is that once you set up your listing, it’s fairly easy to maintain. You’ll need to update when you make business changes and keep up communication, but it only takes a few minutes and is well worth the benefit.
Getting Your Website Up and Promoting Your Business
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Starting a website or blog can be a minefield for many. At times, it can seem as though the World Wide Web is truly just that – a web to maneuver through and make sense out of. However, by using a few simple and effective strategies, you can come out at the other end all the wiser and more successful.
Here are a few things to bear in mind when building your first website or blog:
Forget the bells and whistles – keep it simple
Design on the internet needs to be easy on the eye, user friendly and make sense to the average user. Never assume your customers will be as web savvy as you – many may just be familiarizing themselves with online surfing while others may simply have come to expect traditional navigation on a website.
Simplicity always rules on the net. Let your website stand out by making it easy for the visitor to find what they’re looking for, and most importantly by providing great value and content within your site. Then simply follow a few basic good design rules and you’re set to go. Here are the most important rules to follow:
- Don’t use color for the background. Keep the background of your website or blog white. In some instance a light color will work but avoid dark colors. Black can be especially difficult on the eyes. When in doubt, go with a white background and black text.
- Don’t use too many graphics or flash images. Flash images can make a website slow to load and be downright annoying in some cases. Use images sparingly and make sure you use Alt tags in your images to make them search engine friendly. A few well-placed graphics can make a good impression and add to the actual content of the website – graphics should always enhance your text, not take away from it.
- Don’t use music or audio without controls. An audio welcome can be a great addition to your website but always give visitors the option to click to hear the audio if they choose to. Otherwise, you may startle or annoy your customers when they suddenly hear a message they weren’t expecting. Music in most cases is just not necessary and will distract from the message of your site. If you feel that music is a good addition, again, give your customers the option to click to listen to the music rather than taking that choice away from them.
- Don’t use too many text colors. As with the background and design of a site, text color should be kept simple. At most use three colors within your site, preferably two – one for the standard text and one for headlines. This will make reading easy on the eye and look more professional. Using two colors also means that your headlines will stand out to the reader and draw them into the text.
- Break it up. Text can be very difficult to read online. Make it easy on your visitors’ eyes by breaking up the text into small, manageable sentences. It also helps to add bullet points and sub-headlines throughout the text as many readers on the net skim pages rather than absorb them in full.
Don’t forget the content
Good design is important but great content can make all the difference to your internet success. The best approach is to gel good design with stellar content and you’ll have a sure winner on your hands.
Always give a little more than other websites and keep your content fresh and up-to-date. Add interesting stories, articles, downloads, videos and information that will help your visitors achieve their goals.
Don’t avoid feedback
Feedback – good or bad – is important to your business. Ask visitors to fill in a poll, reply to your newsletter or give them feedback in general. Use this feedback to improve your site further and to help your visitors achieve their goals. This will pay off nicely for you too in the long run.
Is Your Marketing Getting You Noticed?
Posted by: | CommentsIf your marketing campaign just isn’t working, or you’re just getting started, take a long look at what you’re trying to do. Is it exciting? Is it eye catching? Is it unique? If not, you’re campaign is likely too bland to get anywhere.
It used to be that simply advertising your business could get you more than enough customers, but this is normally no longer the case. Look around you. There are advertisements EVERYWHERE.
There are commercials, print ads, billboards…your mind is overrun with images every day. And if you run the same old marketing campaign, you’re just going to blend in with everyone else. If you want to get business, you need to get noticed, which means you need to stand out from the crowd. And just being good at what you do is probably not enough to get that done.
The trick to getting noticed is being creative. It may be how you advertise, what your ads look like, or the deal or gimmick you’re offering. Whatever it is, something has to stand out if you want to get noticed. Coming up with a great idea doesn’t always happen in an instant. It takes thinking, research, and lots of brainstorming. Whether it’s taking a few days to work on it, or simply setting aside some time at the end of every day, you have to put some oomph behind it if you want to get results.
Believe it or not, while it may take some creativity and crazy thinking, you may find that the crazy thinking has already been done for you.
An example? Instead of sending out a boring old mailer, there are companies that make unique mailers like messages in a bottle and coconuts. Sure, other people have access to buy this stuff and use it too, but if you’re doing a mailing campaign, what are the changes you’re competing in the same market with someone who uses the same product? Slim to none.
Plus, if you get two coconuts in the mail, are you really going to read what’s inside one and ignore the other?
When it comes to marketing, flashy isn’t always better. Sure, you don’t want to be boring and blend in, but the key to standing out isn’t different fonts, bright colors, or making claims you can’t back up or keep.
The real key is being unique and different. Often a simple eye-drawing headline is enough to get people to notice your ad, catching their attention without blinding the customer. People want to do business with someone they can trust, not just someone who can yell the loudest.
While it may take effort and some amount of investment, if you come up with a good marketing campaign, the end results will likely be more than worth the effort.
Creating a Website That Works
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Unlike the traditional business model, an online business gives you 24-hour presence which anyone from around the world can access.
This is an exciting and fantastic opportunity for business owners who know how to make the most of this powerful sales engine.
Here are a few tips to help you create a website that really sells:
#1 – Keep it simple. A great website doesn’t have to include tons of graphics or flash images, in fact, this can work against you. A website with clean lines that’s easy to read and navigate will usually have a better conversion rate. Your visitors aren’t really interested in all the bells and whistles – what really matters most to them are the answers you have to their problems. You can achieve this by offering genuine great information.
Avoid music, flashing images and too many graphics. A few well thought out graphics can enhance the look of your website but anything else may be confusing and look too “busy” to your visitor. If in doubt keep it simple, and let your words shine.
#2 – Content is king. Great content solves problems and offers solutions. When people search on the internet they’re looking for information first and foremost. If your website offers solid information, people are more likely to visit you again and trust your product recommendations too. Quality content will also attract the search engines and you’ll stand a better chance at achieving that all-important top ten ranking for your keyword phrases.
Always concentrate on creating value through quality content, and you’ll build a business that will pay you back for years to come. You really can’t go wrong with providing good content.
#3 – Get their information. Even with a great website it’s likely that your visitors won’t buy from you the first time around. It takes time to build confidence and trust on the internet. This is why it’s important that you have a method of collecting their name and contact information when they first land on your site. You can then communicate with them through emails and start to build a relationship which will bring them back to your website.
To get the highest number of subscribers, place an opt-in box in a prominent position on the home page of your website. But don’t stop there; make sure the opt-in box is prevalent throughout the site so that visitors can access it from any page. Include a catchy headline to draw their attention to the area.
And don’t forget to give your visitors an incentive for signing up. People really don’t give their names and email addresses out as freely as they once did due to the high levels of spam on the internet. Give them an incentive to sign up by offering a free report or other great offer.
Building a great website is not difficult. Always think about your visitors first and help them by providing a website that’s clean and easy to navigate. Then add great content as a solution to their problems, and finally get their information so that you can keep helping them further in the future. Concentrate on these three basics and you’ll design a website that truly is a 24-hour sales engine.
You will want to check out our Blog Crazy Special going on right now!
Intellectual Property: What You Should Know
Posted by: | CommentsModern technology has made it so much easier to get your materials out there. You can share ideas and pictures with the whole world and connect with the world at large. But just as it’s easier to share, it’s also easier to steal. That’s why it’s important to know the laws and protect yourself.
Before we talk about the laws behind intellectual property, we should probably talk about what intellectual property is. Intellectual property is anything that comes out of your head, whether an idea, writing, art, or a picture.
Just because someone can reproduce what you make doesn’t mean it’s legal for them to do so. Intellectual property can usually be divided into four categories: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
While you’re likely heard all these terms, here’s a quick breakdown of exactly what they mean.
- Copyright. This protects items that are produced by the imagination, but are tangible, like books and songs. To be protected, you must apply for a copyright, which requires you to fill out forms, pay a fee, and provide a copy. You may be protected through the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can learn more about it on Wikipedia or here. A current copyright lasts 78 years after the author’s death. Courts can impose severe financial penalties if a copyright is violated.
- Trademark. This protects names and logos that identify a specific brand. They keep people from getting confused between two products. While many things can be trademarked, general terms and images cannot. You can apply for local trademark protection through your state, but you can get better protection federally.
- Patent. These are used to protect inventions and processes that someone creates. The idea is that they reveal how to make the product, and the government prevents other people from making it in exchange. A patent lasts generally 20 years, but it can also take a long time to get one. The application process is more extensive than the others and should include a detailed description of how to make the item. A patent also gives you the ability to sell the right to produce the item you’ve patented.
- Trade Secrets. These are things a business uses that it needs to keep secret in order to succeed. It might be a secret recipe or how a product is made. Whether or not something can be protected as a trade secret is decided in court and is based on a variety of factors, but most importantly, whether something is public knowledge or not. There isn’t a time limit to this kind of protection, but it can be voided if information is revealed to others.
Just because something fits into one category, doesn’t mean it can’t fit into another. They often overlap, which can make it more difficult to protect yourself.
Just because a law exists, doesn’t mean that there won’t be people out there who will not break them. Unfortunately, the lines can get even more blurred when your business is online. Knowing your rights is the first step and then taking appropriate measures to protect your content will lead you in the right direction.
The Importance of Website Maintenance
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Website maintenance isn’t something a lot of online entrepreneurs think about. In fact it can be quite a mundane task for most. However, it is important to keep your website ticking over smoothly.
Here are a few reasons why maintaining your website is important:
Attracting the search engines – Search engines are important to the livelihood of your online business, but they don’t like “dead” websites. Websites which have been left static without updates or fresh content are a no-no in the online world. Another thing search engines don’t like is broken links.
As you build your web pages it’s easy to miss broken links. A good strategy is to double check every link you add to your website. Inevitably you may miss some or some may become broken with time (as web addresses change and so on). Regular maintenance and “check-ups” for your website will help you spot these broken links and keep your customers and search engines happy in the process.
Updating information may increase your sales – Regularly looking over your website will also help you make changes and adjustments as necessary. For example, you may have started promoting what was a great product two years ago but now that product may be outdated and not so great anymore. By updating your website you may find products and promotions which are a better match for your visitors. This means more money in your pocket and more satisfied visitors.
Look through your old web pages to see if there are any promotions which can be updated or given a little extra “oomph.” Times change and on the internet time moves at a faster speed – keeping up with the times is important and you can do this by simply looking over your pages and tweaking as you go along.
Keeping track of your stats is important – Another part of your basic web maintenance is keeping on top of all your visitor statistics. It makes sense to regularly go through your website and check how many visitors you have on a monthly basis, where they’re coming from, how they’re finding you, what pages they’re accessing and so on.
A running log of these statistics will help you quickly identify any potential problems such as loss of traffic or reduced income from sources such as Google AdSense and so on.
Regular web maintenance for your website is important. It can help you keep up with changing times, help to attract more visitors and ultimately make you more sales. If you find this task difficult to squeeze in, try scheduling it in for a set time each month or every few weeks. It shouldn’t take long and the time investment may make all the difference to your business. And finally, if you don’t have time to do the web maintenance yourself you can always hire a virtual assistant to help you with this task.
