Before you can market your website with tools such as social media marketing and PPC ads you need to make sure your site is doing the best job it can do. Here are 6 tips to ensure that your website is ready to be promoted.
1. Research Keywords
People are searching for your services and you need to find out what words they use. They may not use the proper words to describe your product but their words are the words you need. Put these keywords on your site thus making it easier for the consumer to find you because you'll show up on the search engine results page (SERP).
2. Be an Expert in Your Field
In order to trust you and your services a customer needs to view you as a resource in your field. Include content on your website that can help educate your consumer thus building their trust in a partnership with you.
3. Communicate With Your Target Audience If you have a blog on your website open it up for public comments. Let your community converse with you and each other about products, services, trends and more. Communication builds a relationship on a more personal level.
4. Make Your Website Available A website does not keep office hours. It needs to be open 24 hours a day. If you are an online retailer you need to be able to process orders at any hour, any day of the week.
5. Network If you are an expert in your industry your consumer should see you around. Join professional organizations and participate in your professional community. Get your name and brand on other sites and social media networks.
6. Update, Update, Update
Keep your website new and fresh. Add new content frequently and keep up with current market trends.
If you are trying to increase your website visibility through a PPC campaign or by improving your organic search standings it's time to think about the speed behind your website. When ranking PPC standings Google has added loading time to it's ranking and organic searches will soon take page load time into account as well. There's no reason to allow messy coding to prevent you from getting the best possible search engine rankings.
The goal was once to keep a page load under 100kB per page. Today that can be more difficult but if your site falls between 300kB and 500kB then you need to reduce your page size. You can use Google's Page Speed plug-in for Firebug to get a page speed analysis.
The best place to start evaluating the loading time of your site look to these four areas:
1. (X)HTML: What is Your Code Weight
Make sure your HTML is clean and simple. Avoid unnecessary tables and inline images. HTML should not be over 30kB - 50kB on a single page.
2. CSS Sheets
Keep sheets minimal and well written. Divide the sheets so they are organized within the site structure. Remove any unused classes.
3. JavaScripting
Make sure all JavaScripting files are external and with everything else, keep them lightweight.
4. Images Optimization
Using the correct image files and reducing image size is a common cause of slower page loading. Use JPGs for photos and PNGs for line art. Avoid GIFs when possible as they do not compress as well as PNGs. Make sure image files are compressed correctly to avoid an oversized page.
This information came from today's blog post: Need For Speed: Give Your Web Pages a Nitro Boost by Kristine Schachinger. To read her tips in more detail click here: http://budurl.com/NFSBlogWSI63
You may have a beautiful and user friendly website but that alone will not insure that consumers are finding it. Contrary to some beliefs the best way to increase visitation to your site is not through costly print, radio, TV or online banner ads. The ultimate way to attract more visitors is through content marketing combined with a good SEO strategy.
Filling your site with fresh content that is valuable to your target audience and then promoting that content can have a major effect on your site's exposure in the search engines. The ultimate goal it to write great content that your relevant for your target audience, promote the content on your site and additional content marketing sites/article marketing sites. Promoting on article marketing sites can help drive new links alone will and improve your search engine rankings. Finally promoting your content within social media outlets, YouTube and blogs will complete that extra step to taking your content virally.
The most important factor here is that your content be relevant and of high value to your reader. In order to take the first step towards content marketing is to create a content blueprint. Here are 6 steps to creating a content blueprint:
Step 1: Define your business goals What do you want to achieve in the next 12 months?
Step 2: Identify your ideal website audience
Who exactly do you want to be visiting your website? This is typically the person most likely to be making the decisions about your product or service. As a homebuilder you may want to target housewives for example as they may be the primary decision maker when it comes to building a new home.
Step 3: List the types of information they require
For each target audience what questions will they typically ask and what is the information most requested about your company, product or service?
Step 4: Determine the action you want your target to take
What is their call to action? Watching a video? Signing up for your newsletter? Whatever you direct them to,m that information needs to help your visitor solve their problem and ultimately encourage them to engage with your company.
Step 5: Research search keywords
Use keyword research tools such as Wordtracker or Google's keyword tool. Find out what people are searching for and use the tool to identify niche topics that you can create content for.
Step 6: Create your blueprint
Sort your content by target audience and create a sitemap and navigation plan to channel your content effectively to your visitor. For each piece decide what channels you will use to promote. Consider website, blog, YouTube, Podcast, LinkedIn, Facebook and anywhere else you anticipate your target frequenting.
Create a schedule for when you will create and publish content. Publishing regularly will increase visibility. The best part about content marketing is that the information you create and share is actually increasing the value of your business.
Lastly make sure you have a way to measure your success. Install Google Analytics to monitor website visitation and set business goals that you can measure.
These days a mobile phone's main purpose is not to make a phone call. Today people are using their cell phone to listen to music, get driving directions, to retrieve email and to surf the internet.
It is estimated that 1 in 10 consumers are reading their emails on a mobile device and according to Pew Internet, by the year 2020 50% of all web searches will happen from mobile devices.
The majority of mobile searches involve local services such as dining, gas stations, shopping, directions and entertainment. This is great news right? More people visiting your website immediately before visiting your location. Wrong. A traditional website does not always translate to a mobile device. If you have not optimized your site for a mobile device or created a mobile website than these consumers may miss out on your services. This is a targeted audience that is out and about looking for something in particular. Don't miss this business because they are unable to view your website.
What makes a mobile site different? Due to the small screen size of a mobile device the images on your site will probably be too large. Mobile devices are also slower so you need the content on your site to be really small so it loads quickly. Keep in mind that when someone is visiting your site from a mobile device they want the information they need quickly and easily. Make sure your mobile site has short and concise content that is easy to navigate and avoid programs like Flash that may not be available on a mobile device.
Take advantage of this mobile market and tailor your website to meet their immediate needs. Online usage via mobile devices is only growing. Get ahead of this trend and welcome the mobile audience to your website.
In order to grow your dental business you need to market yourself. A radio or print ad can cost you $12,000 and it needs costly design and production before it can run. This day in age our lives are driven by the internet. For most of us it would be a challenge to completely avoid the internet for an entire week. 94,000,000 American adults use the internet every day and 63% of those people are using search engines everyday. Pay Per Click Marketing can give your dental office a cost effective way to easily and quickly bring in new business. Studies have shown that you can aquire a new customer through PPC for a cost of about $8.50 each. Considering a customer is likely to stay with your dental practice for the next 5, 10 or even 50 years that's an amazing return on your investment.
Research your keywords. For example, an estimated 40,500 people are searching Google every month for "Dentist Chicago". Finding additional keywords that are more unique will be inexpensive and enhance your campaign. Make sure your ad is clear and well written and stays true to your keywords. A PPC campaign can ensure that you are high on the paid search results but you also need to be sure your website is appearing under the organic search results as well. This will ensure the most clicks as some people gravitate to organic results. (Adjusting your organic ratings is a project for another day.)
Need more proof of the potential a PPC campaign can have for you. If you spend $2,000/month on PPC marketing and focus on a 10 mile radius you are likely to get 45,000-50,000 ad impressions (how many times your ad shows up in search engines) and from those impressions roughly 500 - 550 people will visit your site. These people need to land on a page of your site that entices them to call, email or fill out a form to take the next step with your business. On average 10% of these 500-550 visitors will act on the landing page. This gives you 50 new leads for your dental practice. If you want to be more conservative say that only 35 leads came from those visits and 30% of those didn't act beyond that initial communication. From those 25 prospects you may book appointments with 20% (on average.) Thus booking 5 new patients for the month. Depending on the dental procedures they book, perhaps a couple cleanings and a couple cosmetic procedures. If 4 out of 5 were happy with your services they could become customers for decades. Think of the return of 4 patients for 10 years. More than worth the small $2,000 initial investment for that month.
Budgets are tight but marketing is more valuable than ever. PPC is a way to market your business without breaking the bank.
Video is a rapidly growing method of communicating with online buyers and engages them with a product. Recent studies have shown that online video grew 124% in 2009 with over 18.9 billion views and the average person in the U.S is watching 187 videos per month.
With facts like that there is no denying that if implemented correctly video can help grow your business. However compelling statistics don't make the creation and marketing of a video any less overwhelming. There is a common misconception that a production company would be necessary to create a powerful video. The reality is that a simple, in-house videos can have a greater impact than professional videos because they are easier for the viewer to identify with. A small and affordable video camera such as the Flip HD is perfect for creating a video.
Once you've decided to make a video and you have the tools to film it you need a plan to make that video benefit your business.
Here are 5 tips for creating a successful video:
1. Creating Your Own Videos
Your first step is to decide on content. Think about what your target audience wants to hear from you. Promote something that is unique about your business that will hold an audience's attention. Consider promoting an upcoming event, a how-to video to explain a product's use or a product review.
2. Increase Website Conversions
A beneficial way to use video is to improve website conversion rates.
Create your video with a "thirty second intro" that really entices visitors to engage further with your video. You need to get their interest immediately.
Include video testimonials to greatly increase credibility and help the viewer to take the next step.
Share tips and advice with your audience. If you give them information they are looking for and share free resources with them they may be more inclined to see the value in the paid for products and services your company offers.
3. Search Engines
Search engines are unable to sort through what is being said in your video. In order to make sure your video is showing up for the appropriate searches you'll need a catchy title with your keywords and lots of comments. A video with more comments can preform better in search engines especially if the comments include your keywords. If you really want to make sure a search engine is finding your content you should consider a transcription service. Preferably one that is double checked by a person rather than a computer.
4. Marketing Your Videos You have to spread the word about your video. Email marketing allows you to share you message with you prospects and clients. YouTube's audience is unbeatable in the video world. Post your video on YouTube and potentially reach 9.1 million unique users monthly. Syndicate your video with the free tool TubeMogul that reaches a dozen or more video websites. Writing press releases and blogging are also great ways to share your video.
5. Create a YouTube Channel YouTube is the largest video network on the internet. Creating your own channel and archiving all of your videos gives users a branded place that represents your business to view your video content.
Don't let video marketing get the best of you. Follow these tips and keep your video in-house and simple and take advantage of the rapidly growing world of video marketing.
Email marketing is a simple and inexpensive way to speak to your client base. However simply having a list of interested contacts does not guarantee you a successful email marketing campaign. Here are 10 tips to make your email campaign more successful.
1. Grow your list
Your list will fluctuate by 25-30% each year. Most of this is attributed to unsubscribes and new email accounts. You want to make sure your list grows at least as much as it decreases. Find out what pages on your website are most visited and put a field on them to newsletter sign-ups. Engage through social media outlets and offer sign up opportunities frequently. Asking people to double opt-in may grow your list more slowly but it will ensure that you are getting addresses who are extremely interested in what you are offering.
2. Clean up your list
Sending to addresses that will bounce is a waste of money. Do an overhaul of your list every 6 months to ensure you are sending to good addresses. Look at who on your list is opening your emails. If they haven't been opened re-evaluate how you can better connect with those people. Give them content they will want to open.
3. Minimize Opt-outs By managing expectations and giving options you can keep contacts happy. When someone opts into your email list give them an idea of how often they'll hear from you and what you'll be sharing with them. Consider offering a preference section where they can set their own guidelines. Such as only receiving one email a month rather than weekly.
4. Divide your list to increase relevance
If a large group of your list is Chicago based while the rest are in the Boston area consider sending two different emails to these groups. Give each group information tailored to their area. You can do the same with retail locations vs. home improvement companies. Speaking directly to these specific groups will make your emails more successful.
5. Design for the inbox Put your company name in the 'From' field rather than your email address. This will help you be quickly recognized by the recipient and free up space in your subject line which needs to be under 50 characters.
6. Test your message
Make sure you know how your email will look in every major email browser. Using fewer images will ensure that your message is received even in emails that don't automatically load images such as gmail. Lyris HQ includes a tool that does all of this for you.
7. Don't forget mobile devices
1 in 10 consumers only read email on their mobile device. Design emails for a small screen or consider including a link to click on if you are viewing on a mobile device. You can also offer contacts the option of communicating with you via text message.
8. Manage your sender reputation Make sure that everything you're sending works. Links, photos etc. This will help keep you out of spam folders.
9. Follow laws and email etiquette
Follow federal spam laws (www.ftc.gov) and check for state and country laws where you are sending emails and make sure your emails include your privacy policy. Double opt-ins are a good practice although not a law. Your list may grow slower with double opt-in but you'll ensure that the names you get really want your information and are likely to stick around longer.
10. Test deliverability Test your message against spam filters. Make sure you do not have "spammy content" such as unnecessary punctuation ***FREE*** You can use the word free but do not capitalize it. Keep it understated.
These simple steps can make a big difference in the success of your email marketing and help grow and maintain a quality list.
Facebook is often thought of as a site where young college students socialize and discuss the latest event and what to wear. For many it is the last place they would think to promote their business using Facebook social media marketing. However InsiderFacebook.com has reported that while two years ago Facebook's demographic was made up of those 35 years and older, today it's made up of woman over 55. In fact, 45% of Facebook's audience is 26 years and older.
Each user spends their time on Facebook in different ways; however the average user is spending 55 minutes a day on the site. Think of that as 55 minutes with a captive audience who is not getting up for a snack during the commercial breaks. Facebook social media marketing has so much information about its users that you can target a marketing campaign to women between the ages of 24-30 years in a specific geographic location and have their relationship status set to 'engaged'. In fact a photography studio called CM Photographic did just this and over the period of 12 months generated $40,000 in revenue directly from the $600 they spent on this Facebook social media marketing campaign.
Not sure how to get Facebook to work for you? "
Follow these four steps to market your business on Facebook:
1. Facebook Advertising - determine your target audience including age, sex, location and lifestyle. While those people may not be searching for your product on Facebook they are in a position to need your services. Use Facebook's business tools to write optimal ads and ensure that your campaign is strong enough to entice your potential customers.
2. Facebook Pages - Facebook requires you to have a personal page before you can have a business page. Due to the nature of Facebook you may have concern that a photo of you asleep on the couch with a magic marker mustache courtesy of your toddler is not how you want your business associates to see you. Facebook's privacy settings allow you to totally separate your personal and business pages while also allowing you to control what information you want users to be able to see. Familiarize yourself with these settings to ensure that you won't have any personal and professional blunders.
3. Get The Word Out - Now that you have a Facebook Page it's time to spread the word.
• Send an email blast to your contacts alerting them of the page.
• Use your website to alert visitors that they can find you on Facebook.
• Encourage people to follow you on Facebook by using a contest or promotion.
• Run a Facebook ad campaign targeting your ideal audience and invite them to join your fan page.
4. Facebook Events - By inviting your audience to events via Facebook you are utilizing the event tool while promoting your company. When someone replies that they will be attending your event it automatically gets posted to their Facebook page thus alerting all of their friends and potentially encouraging them to attend as well or at least find out more about you.
Facebook has proven that it is here to stay. It's time to start using it to your advantage and incorporating this into your social media marketing campaigns.
Watch our webinar on Facebook Social Media Marketing
A recent study by Internet Marketing software provider Hubspot, determined that business blogs with more posts generate more leads. Business blogs with 0-11 posts, on average, generate 3 leads. A considerable jump occurs when a business blog has 12-23 posts, up to 10 leads on average. The biggest leap in lead action takes place when a blog reaches the 52 post mark and generates 23 leads.
Each blog post generates a new content page on your site.
FYI - You need to be blogging from your domain name and not from Wordpress or Blogger (or any of the other blogging sites available). This is really important to understand. You can integrate some of these blogging tools directly onto your server, or use an integrated solution like WSI eFusion with a built in blog module. If you are blogging from your domain name, you are building the overall size and depth of your site. The goal is to become a “resource” site for your domain name (Google designates sites as “Resource Sites” when they reach the 100 page mark).
Each new post is an opportunity to drive traffic and build site depth.
Blog posts can drive new organic traffic direct from the search engines, and fast. Blog posts can get indexed by search engines very quickly, often times quicker then your other content. Even if your post doesn’t generate a lot of search traffic you are still providing your users with relevant information which will position your company in a different light vs. your competitors who offer very little information about their industry. Blogging effectively really can be a great differentiator.
Search engines love content.
and each post will build upon each other. Before you know it, you could potentially have 30, 50, 100 blog posts filled with lots of good information for you and tons of spider able content with keywords for the search engines. Not to mention when using an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication), people can subscribe to your blog and get notified automatically when you update your blog, and easy share your content throughout the internet. Content syndication can help build back-links to your site and improve overall PR (PageRank).
Search engines have finally surpassed the Yellow Pages (print versions). Think about....when was the last time you opened your Yellow Pages? The shift in how we find products and services we want is being dominated by search.
The graph below from webpro news, shows that search engines have finally surpassed the Yellow Pages.
Why have search engines overtaken the Yellow Pages and why are they more effective:
Yellow Page ads often appear next to your competition. (Search engine ads do as well most times, but you can differentiate your business with proper targeting (keywords, location, niche markets), good landing pages, social media, and more).
An optimized, well planned website, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors. It's hard to tell which company is a better fit for you when looking at Yellow Page ads.
It's difficult to determine what business came from your Yellow Page ads vs. your other marketing mediums. Yellow Page ads are costly and provide low measurability.
Using web analytics you are able to track the how, what, where, and when of your online marketing campaigns.
Establishing a content marketing plan, your website will become a resource and asset to your business.
Search engines deliver quicker results and allow you to quickly gather more information about the products and services you are interested in. The Yellow Page process is just that....a process that takes far too much time to gather the information you need to make an informed choice.
Search engines allow us to compete on a level playing with bigger brands. This is not possible with Yellow Pages without having a large marketing budget. Using long tail, niche keywords in your search marketing efforts, you can drive affordable traffic and new leads for your business.
that entices them to call, email or fill out a form to take the next step with your business. On average 10% of these 500-550 visitors will act on the 
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