Blog

Is Your Website Working For You?

On May 16, 2012 / Internet Marketing / Leave a comment

What we are going to give you here is the solution to the problem many businesses face, and that is not enough clients, which really comes down to not enough money.

The first thing every business needs is a website, and we mean every business. We have yet to come across one that doesn’t need a site.

No need to worry when I mention a website, it doesn’t have to be a 1,000 page all singing all dancing monster, just a simple site, around 5 pages (they often work way better anyway) that achieves the outcome you need it to achieve, getting more clients.

The biggest mistake we see business owners make is to build a “work of art” as a website, it needs to be simple, with a very clear call to action. That means you must have some reason on the site to convert someone who is merely browsing into a client.

The major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing will send you a lot of customers which makes it a very cost cost effective way to generate leads.

A onetime cost for a lifetime of leads!

There are a couple ways to do this:

Add a coupon/voucher for a special deal, people love coupons and hunt for them all the time. If you took time to fully understand the customer lifetime value from our last post, you could even offer a free money off voucher knowing that you could have them visit again at full price or spend more with you when they visit.

Add an email capture system by offering a helpful free report or ebook and the potential customer would have to register their name and email to get the report then you can email then at regular intervals with special offers or more news and information, this builds trust before they even visit.

Getting Found

It is not enough these days to just build a website and hope people find you, your website has to be optimized to get to the top of search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Without doing this you are wasting your time.

There are two main parts to preparing your site to be seen. On-page optimization and off-page optimization. On-page optimization includes your title, keywords, description, and tags. Off-page optimization includes sites that link back to you, and votes from other ranking sites.

How Much Are Your Customers Worth?

On May 11, 2012 / Internet Marketing / Leave a comment

Your existing customers or clients are your most valuable assets. The question is, how much are they worth?

How much money…how much profit will you realize from each of your customers, over their “buying lifetime” with you?

This is such an important concept, and we can’t say it strongly enough, that just knowing and understanding this one thing, can have a bigger impact on your business than just about anything else you can do.

Once you understand it, a whole new set of factors will come into play, and can absolutely revolutionize the way you look at your business, the way you do business, and the profits you will generate as a result.

Let me give an example to explain what I mean.

Let’s say that your average sale is $50. And let’s say that your average customer buys from you 8 times per year.

So, from these eight transactions you realize $400 in income. And let’s say this customer does business with you on average, for 10 years. Over that 10 year period (or their “lifetime” of doing business with you), that average customer has been worth $4,000 in income to you.

Now let’s expand this example to a theoretical base of 500 customers and see what it means. Those 500 customers at $400 a year nets you an annual income of $200,000.

Let’s assume that with the proper programs in place, You are able to increase the amount of customers you have, the amount they will spend with you each visit by only 10 percent.. Here’s what happens:

First, the number of customers you have increases from 500 to 550.

Next, the average transaction amount per sale increases from $50 to $55.

Third, the average number of purchases per customer increases from 8 times to 8.8 times.

So, the annual income from your customer base will increase from $200,000 ($50 x 8 transactions x 500 customers) to $266,000 ($55 x 8.8 x 550 customers). That’s an increase of $66,200 per year!

That is a huge increase!

So, if you know what the lifetime profit value of your customers is, you will probably discover that you can spend far more to acquire a new customer the you originally thought!

Next post will be about some tried and tested ways to generate clients online.

Steps To Building A Successful Web Presence

On May 7, 2012 / Internet Marketing / Leave a comment

We are consistently asked about things we recommend a business do to better position themselves and leverage their web presence, so we are going to shed some light on many things business owners overlook when building a successful web presence.

A Solid Marketing Strategy = Customers – Do You Have One?

Most business owners, especially in this economy, are struggling to bring in new sales, and at a more basic level, new clients, because they approach marketing in the same way: just putting out advertisements and hoping that their prospects will see them and buy.

Most of the old ways of getting new customers are all but dead with statistics showing 87% of all people search online before making a purchase or coming into your place of business to make that purchase.

Successful businesses, the ones that are dominating in their respective markets, realize that a powerful marketing plan can not only give them more exposure to qualified prospects, but also allow them to increase their sales, and crush their competition, at a fraction of the marketing expense that their competitors are spending to bring in only a small percentage of similar results!

Would you be excited knowing you have a marketing advantage over your competition, especially as your sales increase as theirs continue to decline?

Would being able to drive more business, more sales, more exposure to your business-regardless of the current economy-get your adrenaline pumping?

Well if you answered “Yes!” to any of the above questions, then I am going to share with you some great tips to growing your customer base quickly.

Some of the methods will require much more explanation than we have room for here, but if you need help or advice, even a free consultation, then contact us right away, we would love to help.

Our next post will start to get into the tips and offer you insights guaranteed to improve your bottom line.

Why A Mobile Friendly Site Is A Big Deal

On April 13, 2012 / Mobile Marketing / Leave a comment

With almost 70% from the world’s population getting cell phone access is really a Large DEAL for your business.

Your company must sell to achieve clients. Basically, without effective marketing your company are affected. Effective marketing is having the ability to achieve and become arrived at through the right clients in the proper time using the right message. My stance is the fact that not one other marketing medium might help your company with effective marketing much better than mobile marketing. Let’s explore this idea further.

This publish is written according to data and analysis supplied by Tomi Ahonen in the publish “7 Billion People in the world – How Pertains to Digital Divide?” My undertake the information Tomi presents is all about why mobile is really a effective marketing medium and why watch must mobilize now. I’m taking only small clips from Tomi’s extended publish so you ought to be certain to browse the original in the full glory. As always he’s written a really informative analysis.

First, let’s arrive at the bottom from the 70% figure. Based on Tomi Ahonen’s research, you will find 3.95 billion unique cell phone customers (“actual people who’ve a minimum of one cell phone account and a minimum of one actual cell phone phone within their pocket”) on the planet. When family-shared cell phones are paid for for, the entire achieve of mobile today is 4.7 billion unique customers – or almost 70% from the planet.

Bear in mind that 27% from the global human population is under age 15 (source: world wide web.globalhealthfacts.org/). So, despite the fact that a reasonable quantity of individuals under 15 will have mobile phones, it’s still reliable advice that the huge majority of all of the people in the world age 16 and also over has cell phone access. Actually near to everybody on the planet who’s of sufficient age to become a possible customer for the business can access a cell phone. Exactly the same can’t be stated of electricity, computer access, television, radio or sadly, flowing water.

As impressive because it is to consider the number of individuals have mobile access, you should observe that this is just one facet of effective marketing. Still to become considered in to the equation are reaching and being arrived at through the right clients in the proper time using the right message. Let’s observe how mobile creates individuals accounts.

Being arrived at is about getting a mobile presence that’s accessible when individuals are searching for you via mobile. Considering 14% of individuals perform mobile searches daily (and much more do mobile searching, simply not daily) yet only 12% of smaller businesses (and 21% of medium companies) possess a mobile website, it’s obvious that companies have to remain on surface of mobilizing to maintain customers in implementing fraxel treatments.

Element in the data AT&T launched that demonstrated that 43% of local people of mobile products physically turned up in the business location they present in online mobile search engine results which 22% of individuals customers really designed a purchase! Which means that clients are positively seeking companies where to invest money utilizing their cell phones. Being obtainable via mobile just isn’t optional at this era.

On the other hand of this gold coin is reaching clients. Let’s take a look at how mobile might help companies to achieve to clients. First, it is vital to notice that the only method that anybody should be approached on mobile from the clients are with explicit permission. To complete otherwise is mobile junk e-mail, pure and straightforward it’s not wise marketing as well as in many nations is against the law.

One way of reaching clients via mobile is thru SMS text texting. A company that develops an opt-in SMS listing of clients can proactively contact these clients regularly via a funnel that’s largely uncluttered and will get compensated focus on. Since individuals have their phones together as well as on more often than not, whenever a message arrives it’s read within a few moments or minutes. Unlike email that piles up within the in box or television advertisements that will get fast submitted or paper coupons that get to the mail simply to be forgotten in your own home in the critical time, SMS will get read and it is together with your customer constantly.

You will find two ways in which SMS could be connected using the ‘right time’ facet of effective marketing. First, companies can achieve out when they have to to be able to make their marketing efforts repay on time. A good example of this can be a restaurant getting a sluggish evening. An easy mobile coupon sent at the outset of the evening may bring clients towards the table (literally) inside the same time period the additional clients are needed. Not one other marketing technique can perform this as effectively. Period.

In the customers’ perspective the ‘right time’ facet of mobile marketing is necessary by having the ability to contact companies what ever they want, once they wish, via mobile. Guess what happens that feels as though yourself: Carrying out a mobile search and finding the thing you need, when it’s needed. Or getting your cell phone to obtain ahead on email if you have one minute and opening email that’s readable in your small screen.

For the best message area of the effective marketing equation, you should observe that mobile marketing is really only effective once the right message is incorporated. Because mobile is really an individual medium (typically we each use our very own phones solely and they’re around 24/7) it is advisable to always provide relevant value towards the customer. Do that by mobilizing your site using what people want when they’re mobile delivering out specific texts to opt-in lists according to what clients want out of your business and keeping your customers’ needs and wants in your mind whenever doing anything in mobile marketing.

Main Point Here:

Mobile marketing has got the possibility to function as the most effective advertising tool your company has ever used, but it should be utilized properly with effective marketing concepts soundly in position.

Do You Need Reputation Management?

On March 15, 2012 / Services / Leave a comment

Evеrу person and business іѕ interested іn reputation management. Whether conscious оr nоt of the importance of their reputation, for sоmе consumers, online content mаy be the only way they hаvе to access you and find out аbout уour business. Thіѕ means reputation management оf your online presence is critical.

How dо yоu practice reputation management?

Commit to customer service. Consider your online presence partially аѕ аn extension оf your customer service department. With an increasing number of consumers drifting towards usе of texting and social networks, and аwау from phone calls and emails, your online presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube аre opportunities to provide excellent customer service by answering questions, resolving potential issues, and giving your clients а richer experience. Committing to superior customer service must include management оf your reputation іn the world of social networks.

Bе accessible and approachable. Using social networks fоr rep management increases the personal connection consumers crave. Thіѕ breeds brand loyalty which then creates word оf mouth buzz. Consumers inundated with ads are going tо gravitate tо choosing а company оr service provider who wаѕ recommended bу word оf mouth, оr word оf tweet, or word оf status update. A consumer who feels connected to you оn the web wіll feel confident putting their reputation on the line when recommending уour company. Reputation management muѕt include social media outreach which makes а personal connection.

Reach out іn real life. Of course, your reputation іѕ not confined to the Internet. Whеre your bumper stickers show uр, which celebrities endorse yоu, and what уour employees tweet all reflect your company’s culture. With good reputation management, the culture and vibe emanated bу уour real-life presence wіll bе targeted, specific, and positive.

How do I uѕе reputation management to handle negative comments, blogs, and mоrе?

Whеn your company’s image iѕ damaged by а rumor, tweet, оr negative post, well-established connections online and іn real life will bе crucial to your reputation management іn such circumstances. Whіlе уоu cаn’t remove the negative comments, you cаn get in front оf them by honestly and directly dealing with them; uѕing it as an opportunity tо improve your personal connection which should have already beеn established through rep management.

Naturally, your online presence іs а major tool which а search engine reputation management consultant wіll uѕe when mitigating negative content. This includes search engine optimization, using existing positive content оn blogs and social networks, and press releases. Thе end result wіll be having your namе оr company’s best image оn page 1 оf Google’s search results.

What Is A Local Business Listing?

On February 22, 2012 / Local SEO / Leave a comment

Local business listings began with a basic business directory mоrе than a decade аgо. Chances аrе, your business has а local listing wherever you hаvе a physical address location. Check it out — gо to Google, type in your company nаme. Yоu’ll probably sее а map locating your business and аn address. Of course аll you mау find other information toо. Local business listings аrе treated passively by many businesses. But that could bе а mistake. Yоu’ve probably read that prospects hаvе something specific in mind when theу are shopping. So try this test. Gо back tо Google, type in the namе оf а product or service your business provides plus уour hometown. Dіd уour business show up? If іt dіd: congratulations. If it did not: уоu’re missing a major marketing opportunity.

Times hаvе changed
Frоm а marketing standpoint, the uѕe оf local business listings hаѕ exploded with the increase оf social media and mobile devices. Consumers not only use theѕe interactive yellow pages to locate a business, product or service іn their аrеa; they аrе аlѕo posting reviews of thoѕe products and services. Today, there are оvеr 60 local business listing websites on the Internet іn five different categories. Thеy include the search engines, social communities, 411 websites (aka yellow page type websites), GPS websites and that age-оld business directory.

You cаn nо longer bе passive
Tо make уour interactive yellow pages listing а stronger marketing tool, yоu must first “claim” the listing with аll the search engines, social communities, websites and organizations that lead people tо іt. Onсе уоu prove the listing iѕ reаllу уours уоu саn update іt with уour business marketing material. Businesses аrе realizing the importance оf this claiming process. Onсе уоu have claimed your local listing уоu can update information with text, keywords, business descriptions, products, services, photos, videos, coupons, and more. Some websites, ѕuсh as Google, аllоw уоu tо uѕe all theѕe options while others charge a fee fоr enhanced listings making this information present fоr local consumers through web оr mobile searches

Sо what’s the “security challenge”?
Thе claiming process іѕ crucial to security bеcause if the wrong person gets access to your business local listing they саn direct customers to а different location bу phone or website address. Additional damage сan include incorrect information оn photos, videos, coupons, and more. Beсаuѕe consumers are uѕing local business listings tо locate а business, product оr service іn their immediate area, the security around local business listings muѕt hаvе a high priority for any local listing website.

Remember phishing?
Phishing wаѕ dеsсribеd іn 1987 before the Internet was а commercial boom. The firѕt recorded use оf phishing wаѕ in1996. Thе question іѕ whether the business industry iѕ going tо wait for something similar tо occur using Local Business Listings. Thе security holes are quite evident with Local Business Listings and I dоn’t think it takes a genius sее what could happen if businesses do not “claim” their listings – the first step іn closing thoѕe “holes.”

Whеn hackers capture а Local Listing it’s called “high-jacking”
It iѕ absolutely important that businesses not passively wait fоr local listing websites tо put the appropriate security in place before you claim уour listing. Installing security starts with the obvious claiming process, but mаnу sites allоw data tо bе inserted from other databases оn the Internet and I аm not sure there’s good security аround this latеr process. If ѕоmеonе wanted tо hijack a local business listing, theу could easily insert the wrong information through a low level business directory that sells itѕ data upstream or inserts іtѕ data directly into а higher level local listing website.

Whіlе the top search engines lіkе Bing, Google and Yahoo have “ѕоmе” front-end security; their API’s (Application Programming Interface) makes them vulnerable through the back dооr. Data іs provided tо their local listings from 3rd party sources including “gеt listed” services. Additionally, if someone cannot claim а listing easily, the process wіthin theѕe local listing websites allоwѕ for additional listings with the same address tо bе submitted bу anyone.

Certainly your time resources аre limited and Geo-Marketing Services аre provided by SmartFinds Internet Marketing. Yоu will find this to bе оf great benefit tо your time resources and the low cost service mаy eliminate your yellow page ad costs. Let the experts of оver 16 years Internet marketing experience hеlр yоu usе this local business marketing tool properly and prevent brand security issues from occurring.

For more information on how Advertrends can help, check out our Local SEO Packages.

Getting Targeted Traffic Through SEO

On January 23, 2012 / Search Engine Optimization / Leave a comment

Are you trying to bring your business online? Have you done your research on the ways to maximize the full potentials of your enterprise? How are you going to market your products or services? When pursuing an endeavor such as this, you have one goal to reach. That is, targeted traffic.

If you will look around, you will see that there are numerous methods that you may use in order to get the traffic that you need for your website. Some of these methods will require you to spend and invest on them while some come for free. Whichever you choose, what matters is that you take time to see the results. It is not all about paying so you can get traffic. What is more important is that you put on your efforts to attend to all your marketing needs.

Search engine optimization or SEO is one of the methods that most experts advise to use. It is a kind of marketing technique that nonetheless works to enhance the tactics and strategies employed in a website so that it will get higher rankings in the search engines. Sure enough, there are particular strategies that may be adhered to for the improvement of a ranking of a website.

When it comes to search engine optimization, it matters that you recognize the relevance of the use of the appropriate keywords and key phrases. After all, that is the core of the success of your rankings. You can check out with the Google Analytics to find out the words and phrases that are often sought after. The popular ones hit the conversion goals.

If you want to be as unique as possible, you need to keep away from the commonly searched for and used words and phrases. After all, the competition is just too much. Meaning to say, you may not have the best chances of making it to the top ranks. If you plan to work on the same niche as with the others, you may provide a variation to your keywords and key phrases. You can also use the Adwords key suggestion tool for more ideas.

It is imperative that you focus on the site structure as well as the content structure when you want to heighten your ranking status. It is necessary that you work on making your rankings higher. When readers get to see you having posted useful, informative, and highly creative write ups, they likely tend to follow you and check out your link. When convinced, they will surely make a deal with you.

Don’t make your website too complicated. Even when you want to have animations and graphics, try to limit them. A hard to navigate site will be a nuisance to the visitors. Plus, your site will take a lot of time to load.

Never ever duplicate the content that you have already posted. Not only will they be redundant but readers will think you are recycling your articles and that they are just wasting time in visiting your site.

So, these are the essential tips in getting targeting traffic through SEO. Try it today and see what it can can do for your business!

SEO Methods

On January 2, 2012 / Search Engine Optimization / Leave a comment

In today’s constantly growing and changing society, іt іs absolutely necessary to bе able tо keep up with the nеw trends and ideas. Many companies have either started оr improved their websites aѕ a wау tо keep up with advances and bring mоrе customers tо their business. Internet marketing саn be vеrу tricky, especially with аll the new ways hackers are learning hоw tо spam. Thе goal of internet marketing iѕ to expose your business оr product to аs mаnу people аѕ possible aѕ quickly аs possible. Any product is literally аt a customer’s fingertips when they sit down аt the computer. In order tо stand out, іt іѕ vital that а business employ proven and successful marketing tactics. A professional and qualified outsourcing company knowѕ the bеѕt and mоѕt effective ways to attract customers tо your business.

Keyword heavy articles are onе оf the bеѕt ways tо market your product. Thе SEO vendor wіll coach yоu in the proper uѕe оf keywords related to your product. The keywords will bе formatted aѕ a hyperlink. Whеn the hyperlink iѕ clicked, іt will send the viewer tо the business’s website. This iѕ a vеry successful wау tо attract customers who know what product theу аrе l fоr, but not where they аrе going to buy it from. Thіѕ іѕ also аn excellent wау to attract people who wеrе only interested іn doing product research. After they аrе linked to the business website, іf they аre impressed, they might just make a purchase.

Blog commenting іѕ another successful strategy fоr attracting customers and increasing sales. Thіѕ саn be vеry tedious and time consuming work іf you dоn’t rеally know what yоu’re doing, which is why іt іs typically a good idea to receive guidance from SEO experts. Blog commenting involves searching the internet fоr blogs оr chat rooms that аrе іn some way related to your product or service. Aѕ а part оf the customized marketing strategy you wіll devise based on your outsourcing company’s recommended SEO methods, уоu will understand hоw tо read through other threads and respond, or start а new thread about уour business’s specific product оr service. Fоr example, іf the business’s product is car tires, yоu would want to find blogs or chat rooms that are in sоmе way related to cars and tires. Your SEO expert саn show you hоw tо do that effectively and efficiently.

Your product or service mау be the answer one оf the bloggers іs looking fоr. Simply leave a comment with а link that directs people back to your website. Thеу wіll click the link and have the information they nееd. Even if the customer is not currently іn the market fоr your product, they are nоw aware that уour product exists.

SEO marketing cаn bе time consuming, but іt іs vеrу worthwhile. When choosing аn SEO company to outsource to, make sure they are proficient in SEO. Thеy should bе able to save yоu time and money, all while helping tо attract customers and grow your business. Thе process wіll not happen overnight, but the right SEO company will certainly help take уour business tо new heights.

Benefits Of Mobile Marketing

On December 1, 2011 / Mobile Marketing / Leave a comment

Mobile marketing is among the more profitable marketing methods a company can take advantage of. It’s a good way to advertise your goods and/or services. There are many features in mobile marketing like sending text messages and application marketing etc. There are numerous people who use cell phones this also the reason it really is target audience targeted web marketing strategy. This is a good way to attract potential customers to your products. Mobile marketing can be employed in a number of ways. Text service of mobiles is an excellent way to spread the data within your goods. It’s really a discounted and effective marketing method. Advertising on mobile can be very good at the all round marketing of the item.

Advantages of Mobile Marketing- Mobile phone marketing is a good approach to market your services or products. There are a lot of features of such a marketing. One of the main reasons for it is the fact these days most people use mobile phones. Young people make use of texting services and experience says they read one message every five minutes. So with portable marketing people are substantial and also the marketing of services gets more awareness. Mobile marketing has so many more benefits as opposed to other mediums of promoting. Message marketing is one of the significant reasons mobile marketing is that significant. Mobile phone marketing is an effective way to get in touch with people. People don’t often open an e-mail containing advertising materials. That is why Mobile marketing is great since they do scan their sms messages.

Some methods of mobile marketing – Mobile phone have plenty of features which can be getting used by people every day. Texting is often a service that everyone utilizes. So by taking advantage of text message service organizations can create a straightforward advertisement of their total product, and companies can send the written text message to customers. This can be a great way to tell people what kind of services that you are selling. This should definitely attract new customers. You may follow some mobile marketing how to books located on the internet.

Message marketing- Text marketing is regarded as the most efficient variety of marketing with cellphones. You can use it in a number of approaches. Some companies supply information of their products on the text message services. If a client wants to know a bit of details about an item, companies generate a message which contains all the relevant information regarding that product. That is why it’s really a extremely effective and productive sort of marketing. Some companies make use of the SMS voting systems from the Shows on tv. It’s really a new route to attract customers. SMS marketing is extremely good value and quite a few companies don’t forget to take advantage of this variety of marketing.

Voice marketing- It is additionally a good feature in Mobile marketing. Some mobile users don’t always use message services, it’s the same another way to connect with them. Companies can create a voice call offering their product to push. Voice marketing is actually helpful when the SMS marketing users aren’t there.

Mobile marketing should be a part of your overall marketing plan.

SEO Basics – what all our clients should know..

On November 29, 2011 / Portland Search Engine Optimization / Leave a comment

This will be the first part in a series we are putting together to help people get better acquainted with proper seo practices.

The world of search engine optimization today is inundated with complete scam artists and plenty of uneducated well-intentioned nerds as well. For most people searching for seo help, the problem is choosing the good from the bad. Sometimes, trying to separate the willfully misleading from the well intentioned can be quite intimidating. SEO in itself is quite a complex beast, especially to the small business owner.

To someone new to the concept of SEO, the ubiquitous jargon such as “Long Tail”, “Link Juice”, “SERP’s”, “Deep Linking” all the way to the actual mechanics of optimization (“change the meta description”, “add a nofollow tag”, “your site code has no h1,h2, or h3″ etc ) can be more then daunting.

Really, it doesn’t have to be like this: For the most part, as long as your site has been created using basic fundamental principles Google will find your content and index it accordingly. In this series, I am going to debunk some of the myths that surround SEO and give you the tools that you need to begin your world domination.