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Posts Tagged ‘online marketing’
Monday, January 9th, 2012
One tool that has helped many new bloggers and article writers is to create a writing plan. Some people call it a publishing schedule. It doesn’t matter what you call it. It’s a useful tool.
Your writing plan is a pre-scheduled list of blog posts or articles that you plan to write over the next month. It’s best to put them on your calendar so that you don’t push them to the side. Put them on the calendar and mark them off your list as you write them.
So what details should you include in your writing plan?
First, note the date you want your article or blog post to be published. That’s important because if you want to publish it to coincide with a particular event you have planned, then you’ll have to write it a few days before you publish it. If you wait until publication date, your article won’t be as strong and you may find that you don’t have the time to complete it.
Secondly, include your keywords. What keywords will you target for that content? That’s important because this tells you how you will write the article and to an extent how you will publish it.
Next, include a one sentence summary of your article. What do you want it to say? What’s the primary message? If you can summarize the article or blog post in one sentence, then you have clarity. That sentence could go on to be your opening sentence or thesis statement for the article. Then all you have to do is write the article and publish it.
Focus is the name of the game. If you have a writing plan, you’ll be more focused and you’ll be able to produce more content at a faster pace.
Tags: articles, blogging, online marketing, writing
Posted in Business Writing | 2 Comments »
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
Think about commercials on television. Which ones can you just not forget? You know, the ones you catch yourself singing their theme song or repeating verbatim parts of the commercial? Those are the ones that are constantly on the TV. Every time you turn around, they are showing the same commercial again. This is a good market strategy.
Yes, they are annoying to us. However, they are bringing in money for the company by inundating the viewing public. That is what small businesses need to do with their online marketing campaigns.
It’s sort of like brainwashing. For instance, if you are constantly hearing in the background about a certain cold medicine. You are not really listening because you don’t need it. But, when you get sick, your subconscious is going to quickly remember all the commercials you have heard about this certain cold medicine. And, you are sick enough you want to try it.
Online marketing needs to be out there on a regular basis. Not just one ad all the time. Mix it up and have different ads going all the time so that your brand, products and website are getting ingrained in people’s minds. This is one of the oldest forms of advertising and still one of the most effective.
Since you are already thinking of new advertising campaigns for this year, think about how often you can afford to place ads all over the internet and especially social network sites. You just never know where your next customer will come from.
Tags: advertising, facebook, google, internet marketing, online marketing
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 7th, 2012
If you look back just 15 years, you would never have thought that you could do all the things you can do with smart phones. You certainly never thought you could access the Internet from your cell phone, right?
Now, technology allows you to do all kinds of things from smart phones or iPhones. Is your website ready to be accessed? It needs to be because more people today are using their phones to access the Internet and you will be left in the dust as far as users to your site go if you are not mobile web ready.
So, how do you do it? It is really quite simple. Your first step is to see if your site is mobile ready. You can do this with a free service called MobiReady. This will give you a report about how easy it is for your site to be viewed.
Then make sure your site is a clean, easy-to-read site. This in turn will make your site faster, which is what you need for it to be accessible to cell phones. It’s also a good idea to not use Flash on your website. It is not necessary for a site, especially when viewed from a smart phone.
Make sure you use HTML phone numbers instead of making users type in a phone number and use voice search. More users are using their voice option on the phone. This is another step to your marketing strategy.
As you can see, it’s quite simple to make your site mobile ready. You don’t want to be left in the dirt when it comes to users wanting to go to your site but don’t because they can’t get to you on their phone. They are not going to wait till they get home, so you need to get up to speed and become mobile web ready.
Tags: internet marketing, mobile web marketing, online marketing, search engines, website
Posted in Mobile Marketing for Small Business | 1 Comment »
Friday, January 6th, 2012
Just as in the old days, word of mouth was one of the best forms of advertising. It is basically the same today in cyberspace. Online reviews about your business, yourself or your products can and do go a very long way in bringing customers in.
The way it works is that if you put your website on other sites for review, consumers will be able to review your site and make comments. As others come to the site, they will read the reviews and will be influenced by what they read. It’s just like word of mouth.
This is an easy way to market your business and put it in a glowing light with consumers, providing you are providing a good quality product, interact with your customers and are available to your customers.
On the other side of the coin, if you don’t provide good customer service, or your products are always shipped late or your website is just not user friendly, you will get bad reviews. This in turn will keep potentials shoppers from your site which will be bad for business.
Between reviews and social media sites, your on line presence will grow and so will sales. Give the review sites a chance. Try something new. You never know, this strategy may just boost your business better than you ever thought. And, every business needs a boost now and then.
Tags: advertising, Branding, internet marketing, local business, online marketing
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 4 Comments »
Monday, January 2nd, 2012
If you look at several websites, you will see different links that will take you to related content. This is a great way to pull your website into the related content. How do you do it? It’s actually quite simple and you will be amazed at why you have not used links more.
There are a lot of different techniques but the main one is using document sharing sites. On document sharing sites like Scribd, you can upload your documents into a pdf file. They can then be distributed all over the Internet. Create links in the document back to your website. This increases your chances of getting found in the search engines.
At the same time, you can also search for relevant content to add to your website. This is a great way of sharing information and using various ways of getting back to your site.
It’s also important to link to previous content within your own website. You may have written an article or something a couple of years ago. But it is still relevant and will get readers to read that as will.
Link building or link marketing has been around for a while but it is still a very resourceful tool for your online business. You can always visit with consultants to find out which link building technique or sites that are best suited to your needs.
One thing to remember, where you get back links is more important than what you do. Be sure to use multiple sources to get the best exposure.
Tags: content, internet marketing, link building, links, online marketing, small business
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 5 Comments »
Friday, December 30th, 2011
We talk a lot about Search Engine Optimization or SEO. That is one of the most important things a small business website needs. Optimized search engine results. It’s all about content and keywords.
Not only do you need your content about your business on your website, you also need regular content updated often. This means maybe add a blog to your site. Then add articles, or blogs to that section of the site. And, don’t forget back links. Link to other content on your site so that you can keep readers on your site.
Whether you write them or you use content providers (contract writers) it’s important to have content added at least three times a week. Even better if you add content every day. It does need to be something relevant to your business and not something that will make people think you have lost your mind.
Keywords are just as important. Your keywords need to be words that people will use in a search. Use keywords that mean something to your business and your products if you have that for sale on your site. You don’t have to use a ton of keywords for each content article or blog you post, but you do need to mix them up and use about 4-6 for each post. That way you have a few, it doesn’t look like spam and you will get people coming by using different keywords.
It’s a very simple concept and one that anyone can do. It just takes a little time and effort and everyone knows that it takes time and effort to run a small business in the first place.
Tags: blogging, business, content, keywords, online marketing, SEO
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
You have your brand new website up and running. It looks fantastic and you have a lot of great products listed along with article or blogging content. Are you wondering what else you could do to enhance your website?
Consider doing various videos or podcasts about you, your business, what your products are and other ways. The general online public loves short podcasts on just about anything.
For instance, maybe your website business is providing a service. Whatever the service is, you could have short videos on tips and tricks of the trade to help someone do something instead of always hiring to have it done.
You can also have a how-to section for people who like to have do-it-yourself projects. Look at it as giving away freebies. Everyone loves freebies and if you give your customers something, they will be sure to give back by purchasing something from your website.
It’s also a great way for SEO. Podcasts and YouTube videos will get you moved up in the search rankings faster than without them, thats for sure.
If you are not sure how to go about making videos, there are a lot of self-help videos online. See there! You are even using them now! A world of information is right at your fingertips so why not use it to optimize your business presence on the internet.
With a new year upon us, now is the perfect time to try something new. You will be surprised at how effective videos are on your marketing campaign. You can even attach them to your marketing emails for an even bigger response.
Tags: advertising, google, online marketing, small business, YouTube
Posted in Video Marketing | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Anyone who has surfed the internet for several years will remember the early days when you had to search for something with several words separated by + signs. Sometimes you got good results and sometimes you didn’t. It all depended on how you phrased the words. It could cause a migraine to say the least.
With new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics, it has become much easier to find what you are looking for. And now, you can usually find what you are wanting with a very simple term, such as cell phones. The search engines then pull several pages of cell phones.
Google is the most used search engine with 65.3% of users while Yahoo dropped to 15.5% according to SearchEngineWatch. Google even uses auto-complete to finish the search for you. It is not always right, but it’s quite eery to think that a computer can actually finish our sentences as well as it does.
Small businesses can take advantage of this by branding their business. If you have a unique name, brand it so that the search engines will catch it with just one word. For example, say your business is named “Tiny’s,” and you deliver pizza. A search for that one word by someone in your town could pull up your business so that consumers can find you. Of course, a lot of times it’s not that easy to brand your business.
But, if you want to move up in the ranks of the search engines, think along the lines of branding something that will be unique to your business. Between a brand and a logo, you could in essence have your online business grow as you have never imagined it would. If necessary, search for small business consultants who can help you get your name out there.
Tags: Branding, google, internet marketing, online marketing, SEO
Posted in SEO for Small Business | 4 Comments »
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