Your Business Wisdom

GOOGLE LOCAL BUSINESS INTRODUCTION

Google Local Business Center Introduction
Just in case you missed this in my previous post.

Good Luck and Happy Marketing, Need Help With Local Search, Contact Us Today

"LOCAL" BUSINESSES, NEED "LOCAL" HELP!

Why?  Consider this vital information. . .

46% of local searchers make in-store visits, according to data released to eMarketer by TMP Directional Marketing and comScore. The number is up 12% over last year. Meanwhile, for "general searches," 34% visited stores, but this was only up 1% over last year. Internet yellow pages searchers also came in at 34%, up from 29% last year. The overall average of searchers ending up in-store was 37%.

What local searchers are looking for are businesses that provide the products and services they're looking for. After they've found that, they look for address and location information and then a phone number.

For most business categories, local searchers used general search engines rather than more specialized local search sites or online yellow pages. Local search engines were biggest for users looking for child care and hotels, while nearly one-half of home services searchers used Internet yellow pages.

Mobile users are taking advantage of ever more sophisticated handsets to get important local info wherever they are. They were significantly more likely to access mobile content in 2009 compared with the prior year, up 40%. That includes a 127% increase in subscribers using mobile apps to get local info, as well as a 27% increase in users looking up local data via SMS.

“Buyers use numerous channels at different times and for different reasons,” said Gregg Stewart, president of TMPDM’s full-service interactive division 15miles. “But the growing demand for local business information across interactive search platforms, especially online and mobile, is creating additional opportunities for national advertisers to reach consumers with more relevance. In order to reach target audiences, marketers must think locally and focus their messages on local marketplaces where consumers shop

Learm more about Local Search

 

Good Luck and Happy Marketing - Need Help With Local Search Contact Us Today.

Reprinted Tables courtesy of EMarketer

  

A PICTURE IS WORTH A 1000 "SEARCH" WORDS!

Checklist for Image Search Optimization

Nowadays, professional search engine optimizers give much greater attention to image search visibility. Image search optimization is especially interesting to website owners or publishers with a particularly visual product (for example, art galleries, clothes designers, or furniture manufacturers). What is more, everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words.

There are a limited number of factors that influence image positioning. Print out the below check list and be sure you've done all you can to have your images well-optimized.

First of all, your image should be an inherent part of a page and share the same theme. I.e. the page's title, headings, body text must tell visitors the same story that the image tells.
Create an Images folder on your server to save all your pictures there. Make sure search engine crawlers are allowed to index it.
Use descriptive keywords in your image files' names. Separate words in the file names with a hyphen, not an underscore.
Provide a small description of an image in the alt attribute of the img tag, but do not fill the alt attribute with tons of keywords, even if they are relevant.
Think of also using a short image title with keywords in them.
Place the keyword-rich text in the body around the image that describes it.
If the image constitutes a link, its anchor text is quite powerful in terms of optimization for high image-search rankings.
On the other hand, if you have other pages of your site linking to the page with important images, create keyword-rich link anchor texts to such pages with images.
Use high resolution images, if available. Provide different resolutions of images.
Avoid putting a 'click to see larger image' link inside of a Java Script link. Scripts may cause difficulties in the link indexing.
Check how your image looks in thumbnail size. Stronger contrast is needed to better discern an image, which might lead to more people clicking on and linking to the image.
Save photos as .JPG files, and other graphic image types as .GIF. Search engines tend to interpret a GIF image as a standard graphic image with 256 colors, while JPGs as photos with millions of colors.
Re-upload your pictures from time to time, since image freshness is a contextual clue for the search engines and might affect relevancy.
As promotional tactics, you may watermark your images with your site address — if they are linked to, people on other sites will learn about yours.

Seeking valuable information on this and other excellent resources visit  SEOMIXTOUR News

A great product for keeping complete track of keywords for both you and your competition is WEBCEO

Good Luck and Happy Marketing - Need Help Contact Us

HOW TO, "YOUR" TUBE!

YouTube ranks only behind Google in the number of searches on its site. This is according to comScore. the Internet measurement and analysis firm. That means there are more searches on YouTube than on Yahoo! search, or Bing, or Ask.com. However, the searches are not general searches like you would find on those search engines. They are searches specifically for video.

 
 

 From a marketing perspective, it makes sense for all people looking to drive traffic taking advantage of YouTube’s search traffic. That can be achieved in much the same way you would use traditional natural search engine optimization. Many of the same search marketing rules apply. But, you'll need to market by way of relevant video content. In other words, if you want to capture some portion of YouTube’s vast search traffic, you need to create, upload and optimize video content relevant to your ecommerce offerings.

Six Pointers to Generate Traffic Using YouTube Videos

With that in mind, here are six pointers for creating and uploading videos to YouTube:

Place Your Website Name on the Video. Remember your goal is to drive traffic to your ecommerce site. During production, place the name of your website in the video. A watermark throughout the video or at the beginning and end gives your site credit for the video whether it is viewed at YouTube or embedded in an third-party website.

Watch Your Video Quality. YouTube accepts multiple video-file formats at varying degrees of quality (YouTube will compress and convert the video), but a good standard is 320x240 pixel resolution at 512 kbps (kilobits per second, a data-transfer-rate measurement). Other resolutions will work, but always try to avoid a second-rate video. Do some tests to see how the end-result looks and sounds. Compare it to other videos, such as those of your competitors.

Use Relevant Keywords. Apply keyword research on the title, description, and tags during the video uploading process. Use keywords relevant and focused to your product or service just as you would with a new web page. Be specific for traffic

Be Careful With Tag Fields. Think of the tags field much like the meta keywords tag on a web page. Mirror the keywords used in the tags field in the title and description fields. Be consistent with traffic.

Choose a Category Carefully. Select an accurate video category. It will help point a potential customer to your video. Fish where the fish are looking to feed!

Make The Videos Enjoyable and INFORMATIVE. Remember to have some fun making the videos. If it’s fun for you, it’s more likely to be enjoyable viewing for those you are trying to reach. When was the last time you watched or looked to find a dull, boring TV show?

Beyond Optimization

Utilizing YouTube for your online marketing can go much deeper than this. You can include the use of embedded links, develop a dedicated YouTube channel, and actively participate in the YouTube community to increase positive votes for your video (which affects the results pages when a search is done). None of that will matter much, however, unless these optimization basics are applied.

YouTube search traffic is dependent upon focused keywords that surround the video. Use the same search optimization rules for YouTube that you would use for Google, Yahoo!, and Bing, and you will be on your way to increasing traffic from the world’s number two search engine.

Good Luck and Happy Marketing - Need Help Contact Us.

GET YOUR BUSINESS ON THE GOOGLE MAP- FREE

In this post, we'll show you how to ensure your business locations can be found on Google, and then we'll show you how to go a step further by promoting your locations with AdWords location extensions.

Best of all it is FREE . . .both our advice and you Google account.

 

 

Free promotion

If your business already appears as a search result on Google.com and Google Maps, you can use Local Business Center to claim your listing and add additional information, such as photos, videos, business hours and more. It's completely free. If your business doesn't currently show at all, you can create a new listing, which is also free. Local Business Center recently launched a dashboard that lets you see how many users saw your listing, how many clicked on various links in your listing, and which search queries caused your listing to appear. To get you started with Local Business Center, we've put together some helpful tips on the kind of information you can and should include in your listing.

(Click for larger image)

(Click for larger image)

Drive even more sales with paid promotion

In addition to ensuring your organic listings are up-to-date, you can use AdWords ads for additional promotion. Both location-targeted text ads and location extensions can appear on Google Search and Google Maps result pages. When you create location extensions, you'll be able to show your business addresses within your text ads. If you're a primary business owner, you can link your Local Business Center account with AdWords to ensure the most up-to-date information about your business is appearing within your ad. When you use extensions, you'll also be able to upload a custom icon that will appear when your ads show on Google Maps. This allows you to take a more active role in ensuring your business locations stand out when users look for businesses like yours in your area.

(Click for larger image)

So what are you waiting for? Take the first step and get yourself on the (Google) map by claiming or listing your business in Local Business Center.

 

Need Help, contact us today...

GOOD Luck and Happy Marketing

 

Courtesy of Google

IMPROVE YOUR SITE in 3 HOURS or LESS

5 Steps in 3 Hours or Less to Improve Your Website

Simple Steps to Improve Website Usability

 

 

 

 

 

 

#1 Eliminate the "Techno Geek Talk"

Don’t assume that all of your website visitors are going to understand your industry lingo and acronyms. Strive to use easy-to-understand language. No matter what your product or service, let friend or family review your site for both readabiity and understanding what it is you do.

#2 Focus on the YOUR Site Visitor’s Goals "WIIFM" Factor-

Subconsciously ALL visitors want & think . . ."What's In It For Me"

Think of the major objectives of your website visitors. Why are these people on your site? Make it clear right on your home page what they should do next in order to accomplish what they set out to do. People have one purpose, I came to this site to get____________, Give it to me now, fast!

#3 Get Right to the Point

State the most important information at or near the top of each page. Remember that many people do not scroll down web pages.People do not read websites, they do not surf the internet the simply skim text until their "interest button lights up"! Get to THEIR need now and often!

#4 Include Contextual Links & Make Sure All Links Work Properly

Add links to the copy within your website to guide your readers to more detailed information and answers on specific topics found on other pages in your site. Internal, contextual links is a great way to add usability without cluttering the page. There are a variety of tools on the market to automatically check the links on your site.

#5 Give the Site Visitor Options to Contact You

Make sure that you are offering your prospective customers at least three options (e.g., telephone number, email address, on line form, chat functionality, Twitter, etc.) to contact you with questions.People need a sense of comfort, can I contact these people now.  Don't forget to include your telephone # and physical address very predominantly on every page!

These are just a few suggestions to help you quickly crank out a number of usability improvements to your website. Need Help, that is what we do! Contact us today at info@phoenixonesales.com.

Good Luck and Happy Marketing

SEARCH ENGINE INSIGHT, HOW TO IMPROVE POSITION

We are regularly asked how does one improve their site's rankings in search engines. We have written on this subject a number of times but here is another viewpoint.

CANDLES AND SUCH .COM is a website run quite frugally by its two main proprietors. For a site that hasn’t had a lot of professional help with regard to search engine optimization, it possesses some positive SEO attributes. That’s not to say there aren’t issues, but some of the main facets of good SEO are observed and incorporated. Let’s take a closer look.

Home Page Content

The site features good textual content at the top of the page, including keywords that searchers are likely to use (wedding favors, bridal shower favors, bridesmaid gifts, wedding accessories, and more). The left-hand navigation is fairly keyword-rich and offers links to all the site’s major categories. This allows search engine spiders to easily find and crawl those categories through the links, and they also function as quality keywords. The home page also includes links to the internal sitemap and the site’s blog. While there are eye-catching graphics, they are surrounded by good textual content. The Alt attributes for the graphics, however, are all the same and not keyword-rich.

Inbound Links and PageRank

This is where Candles andsuch.com suffers the most. Inbound links create PageRank, and PageRank affects how high a website appears in search engine results pages (SERPs). The site has only two inbound links according to Google. PageRank is a measly 1, which is not indicative of the potential of this site. Yahoo shows almost 500 inbound links, but links recognized by Google must be improved. A link building campaign that includes directory submissions and partner links, link baiting, and social media is in order.

Indexation

The site owners estimate somewhere over 500 pages in the website. It would be advantageous for them to have a more accurate number. Google finds 1,020 pages. Yahoo sees 297 and MSN Windows Live sees 458. There is always variation between the search engines as they crawl quite differently, but these are decent numbers considering the estimated size of the site.

Internal Hierarchical Linking Structure

The structure of the site is logical and well-designed. The navigation is less deep-and-narrow and more wide-and-shallow, which makes it easier for search engines to find and crawl. Links deep into the site are textual and tend to incorporate keywords.

HTML Templates and CSS

The main templates all have a ScanAlert Hacker Safe logo in the upper left-hand corner of the page and code. This bleeds PageRank away from every page, so add NoFollow tags to these links. Also, it is amongst the first pieces of code a search engine spider sees on each page. Moving the logo further down the page would be better. The templates are also somewhat bloated with JavaScript and tables, but Google seems to be making its way through.

Secondary Page Content

All the pages feature focused, textual content. This is a great attribute. That content could be further filled out to reflect more keywords and add density to existing keywords, but overall it’s a good job. Keyword Choices – The keywords chosen for the major pages of the site are focused and relative. Further honing of a keyword list could make for even better content. Try Keyword Discovery’s free service at Keyworddiscovery.com/search.html.

Title Tags

The site uses keywords in the title tags, and for the most part they are unique to each page. Including prices in the titles may not be good use of this SEO real estate, however, as searchers are unlikely to include price along with subject in their queries. Adding the site name at the end of titles may help with branding.

URLs

The URLs are keyword–rich and descriptive, using dashes to separate words. On occasion, the URLs get a little long, but most of the time these are very optimal addresses. The site needs to add a proper 404 error page for pages that have been removed. While there is an error page of sorts, it does not return a 404 status code letting search engine spiders know that the page doesn’t exist. The URL: Candlesandsuch.com properly has a 301 forwarding code to Candles andsuch.com. Minus the 404 issue, excellent work here.

A good link building campaign is what this site needs most! With that and a few technical changes, Candles And Such will have a website that is optimized at an above-average level. Once inbound links begin to build, they should reap the benefits of their search engine optimization program.

SEO Report Card
Candlesandsuch.com

Home Page B Inbound Links D-
Indexation B
Internal Linking Structure B-
HTML Templates C+ Secondary Page Content B
Keyword Choices B
Title Tags B
URLs B+

OVERALL GPA B-

Contact us today for your own site's report card. info@phoenixonesales.com

Good Luck and Happy Marketing

CONSIDERING SOCIAL MEDIA, CONSIDER THIS!

Wondering if "social media" is for you? Check out this video.

The numbers are impressive, and perhaps more so when you consider the challenge of reaching "the next generation" (or, another way of thinking about this is "your kids"). While relationships are an important part of doing business, communicating through multiple medium is critical to success.

Years ago, a Dr. Jeffrey Lantz from Harvard conducted research that showes you needed to communicate to people a minumim of 18 times through different mediums for your message to be heard / remembered (or consider this branding). Social media shoudl be more accurately thought of as social marketing ... how to develop a marketing strategy, using all applicable mediums, to communicate a message, in the form that your audience wants to receive it. To achieve this, a communications strategy needs to be developed to identify the right message to the right audience while understanding the level of interaction you want and that your audience will / can / wants to provide.

 

 

 

WORD OF MOUTH IS NOW CALLED SOCIAL MEDIA

The Long Time Tested & Traveled Concept Of “Word Or Mouth” Marketing Is Now Channeled Within Social Media

Many clients are asking me - "What Should We Be Doing in Social Media". . . ? These are a few of the points I am making the rounds with these days.

With the growing popularity of social media, many businesses(both large and small) feel they need to integrate it into their marketing mix, but most aren't sure where to start or how to develop a plan.  Many do not even understand what Social Media is and as important, “how does one measure results”. But one thing is certain Social Media for business is here  to stay.

Social media is useful for many types of organizations, whether it's a big brand or small business. Using social media correctly helps companies engage audiences in new ways, be more personable, develop new connections, and maintain the ones they have. Social media has taken on traditional marketing and placed it within the hands, grasp, and yes control of the “Social Media World” and Blogsphere.

This is important because, with technology being everywhere and available to all, we've been given the tools to carry on unique and individual conversations and discuss our views and vote for our favorite content (products, services, brands, and even people) online, 24/7. We now form many of our opinions and impressions from others we come in contact with online and companies walk away with unique and sometimes valuable insights into what makes their brands work.  

Understanding this principle is an important factor in building a social media approach Essentially, traditional ways of thinking won't necessarily work. Instead of studying demographics about your audience, you need to get out there and talk with them. Get involved with the conversations that are already happening online.

1.   Examine and Eavesdrop

Determine who your audience is and where they are (“hangout”) online. Blogs are a great place to start looking. Technorati is a good tool to help you find blogs related to your search queries. Review and research who is writing, what they are writing about and of course opinions being offered.

Twitter is another place to gain insight into conversations that are happeningght now. Twitscoop is one of many tools that will monitor and search for trending topics on Twitter.

After you've identified where your audience is, start listening to what they're saying. What are their issues, opinions, and needs? How does this information fit with your value proposition? Understanding this information will help you determine how to best contribute to the conversation and how best to make a contribution.

Next, find out who drives the conversations or who has a strong influence. Some call these people "influentials" because they possess the authority, respect, or experience to shape people's opinions. Look at WeFollow to find influential on Twitter.

2.   Identify Audience Goals and Objectives

In addition to company goals, you must also consider your audience's goals. You'll get much farther with social media marketing if you offer something of value first. Again, as we have always stated you must put yourself in your audience’s clothes and ask “what’s in this for me”?

Giving people something of value earns you the right to plug yourself a little. So draw a line on a piece of paper and write down your goals on one side and your audience's goals on the other. Make sure you give enough before you try to get.

3.   Develop your Plan

Map out your approach to delivering your products or services (BRAND) to satisfy the needs of your audience. Will you reach out and leverage influentials? Will you provide free material or samples? How will it be delivered?

Maybe you have products that are environmentally friendly. Will you moderate and lead a conversation about environmental issues and become a leader? There are many creative ways to approach your audience. Be innovative.

Don’t forget bringing your audience back within the “realm” and influence of your website with dedicated landing pages for that conversation.

4.   A Few Helpful Social Media Tools

There are many social media tools that can help you reach your audience. Will you build a blog or use a forum? How about developing educational material with video and delivering it on YouTube? Will you use Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn as social media tools?

There are many to choose from, and you aren't limited to just one. Make sure, however, that you have solid, relevant content on your main Web site that you can lead visitors to when they want more detailed information. You can easily negate your social media marketing efforts by leading visitors to a Web site that delivers a poor experience.

5.   Measure, Measure... Did I Mention Measure? OK Measure!

After you've done a good job setting goals and defining your objectives, it's time to see if you've met those goals. Defining your metrics for success upfront will make the measuring process go more smoothly.

Maybe you need to provide a regular report to your superiors or your team. Find out what they want and make sure you have a mechanism to measure those variables.

There are many tools to choose from. Paid tools include Scoutlabs, Radian6, Trackur. Free tools include Social Mention, TweetReach, and Google Analytics for seeing where visitors are coming from. These tools can also help with researching and listening. Not to mention you can discover cost vs. benefits in expanding your Social Media Progrms.

Measuring can be a challenge, because the medium is conversational in nature. You can measure the number of your followers, or those who are participating in the conversation. You can measure Web traffic increases due to your social media efforts. You might gauge the tone of the conversation, and what percentage of participants was influenced by your involvement.

Whatever your measuring mechanism, be sure you do it often. Pick a regular time and stick with it.

6.   Access and Always Course Correct

Good metrics will show you what is and isn't working. Don't be afraid to abandon a specific tactic or social media tool if it doesn't work. Try a different one and see if you get better results.

What works for one company might not work for you. Certain tools will emerge as better performers depending on your industry, product, or service. Also, new tools are coming out every day that might be more efficient at getting the job done.

More on this subject will come check back or subscribe now.

Good Luck and Happy Marketing

EMAIL MARKETING - TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER!

Ten Reasons Your Biz Should be Using Email Marketing

1. To Build Trust

Since you'll be sending informational, focused, email communication,  you will begin building trust with those on your list.

They will come to know you as a valuable source of information, and with that trust, they will actually start listening to what you have to say.

This is the most crucial step in the email marketing process. If you have an email list that trust you, you've won the battle, and we'll talk more about how you build trust in an upcoming blog post.

2. To Become Familiar

Email by nature is a *friendly* form of communication. We feel the best about emails from friends and trusted sources. We look forward to these emails, and by using an email list to market your business you will be one of those people we look forward to getting email from. If you do it right, you will become familiar to those on your list, and your emails will be opened, read, and acted upon.

Better yet, you will become the “top of the mind” supplier of what you sell for those on your list. The more familiar you are to your list, the more likely they will be to think of you when they need to product or service you offer. Why buy from a stranger when they can buy from a friend?

3. To Get Repeat Business

When used correctly email marketing is a great way to get repeat business. You'll be communicating with your list consistently, and providing opportunity for those on your list to buy from you time and again.

You'll also be building an email list of current customers, allowing them to not only buy from you the first time in person, but possibly again via an email offer.

4. To Make More Sales

Isn't that the goal of all marketing - more sales?  If you do it right, your email list generate more sales for your business. By doing a combination of everything on this Top 10 list, your email marketing will be a lean, mean, sales getting machine!

5. To Build Your Authority

Many of the emails you send will be informational by nature, and through sharing of information you'll be building your own credibility and authority as an expert on your subject. Guess who people buy from?  That’s right, the experts.

6. To Save Money

It cost next to nothing to set up and maintain a powerful email campaign. You’ll pay $50-100/month for email list management software. After that, the cost of your time to get it set up and write/send emails are your only sunk cost. Compare it against any other form of marketing I think you’ll find it’s very hard to get more for less.

7. To Create an Opt-In Market

The people on your list have asked you to send them information - It doesn't get better than this! Most marketing goes out to the crowd and you hope your message resonates with enough of them you make sales. If you have an email list you're marketing efforts are automatically targeted to a population of people who WANT what you are offering.

8. To Save Time

It doesn't take much time to send a few friendly emails a month to your list. When it comes to calculating a return on your time investment, email marketing is going to be tough to beat with other forms of more traditional ad generation. 

9. To Expand Your Reach

If I see a great commercial on TV the only way I can share it is by retelling the concept to my friends, or hoping they've seen it. With email, that's not the case. Your message can be passed on and shared with the click of a button. This essentially expands your reach beyond those on your list, to potentially everyone on the receivers "list" as well.

10. To Create Multiple Buying Opportunities

When a customer walks into a store, the place of business only has that one chance to sell them something. Once they walk out, you just have to hope they come back giving you another chance to sell.

Email marketing gives your customers multiple opportunities to buy from you. You'll be reminding them how great your products and services are on a regular basis, pulling them back.

In Summary

I think it's easy to see the benefit in building and using an email list as part of your marketing activities. If you’re not currently using email to market your products and services, I think you’re leaving a lot on the table.

GOOGLE FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES FREE SEARCH TOOLS

The Google Local Business Center is a must visit for business in general, but certainly for businesses attempting to attract customer in their local community. As you may know, Google allows you to add your business to a directory and then enhance your profile with all kinds of information about your business, products, and services. This is a free listing and every small business should take advantage of it.

Google shows these listings when someone makes what is obviously a geographic search for a product or service. The results show in what is called the Google 10 box above other listings. When someone clicks on one of these results they are taken to the profile through Google Maps.

Recently Google has added and integrated a couple of useful tools.

Now your Local Business Center account shows you analytics. You can see how many people are clicking on your profile, what search terms got them there and, for folks looking to find your business locally, where they came from based on their requests for driving directions. This is some pretty cool data, particularly for retail locations. It could help inform where you might spend some direct mail focus, for instance, and how you might optimize some of your web pages.

AdWords now allows you to connect your Google Local Profile to your AdWords account and, by doing so, you can ask Google to show your address, based on the location of the ad visitor, when someone views your ad. Google has dubbed this add-on Local Extensions. Once extensions are set up, Google will dynamically match your business locations to a user’s location or search terms and show the address with your text ads.

This could be useful for a business with multiple locations. Now, instead of having to set up multiple local ads you simply assign extensions to all your ads and Google will show the address of the best location based on where the user is located.

Good Luck and Happy Marketing

NOW, GET STATS FOR YOUR YOUTUBE VIDEOS

When you upload a video to YouTube, you get access to YouTube Insight, a FREE powerful analytics tool that shows you a bunch of interesting metrics about your video: who’s watching it, where, its ratings, total number of views and the like.

This info, however, was – until now – hidden from the rest of the general population, but not any more. By switching it on in the the privacy settings for your videos (located under “My Account”) you can now share this data with everyone. It’ll become visible in the “Statistics & Data” section, located under the video.

So, what can the viewers see? Besides the number of total views, comments, ratings and average ratings, one can also find out a list of top ten referrals, gender/age audience distribution, and popularity of the video in various parts of the world. Not bad for a free tool, especially for journalists and analysts who will now be able to gather some more data about a particular video (if the option is switched on, of course).

See an introductory video for YouTube Insight below; and see how it works in practice

Good Luck and Happy Marketing

SUCESSFULLY BEGIN YOUR WEBSITE

Your Core Components to Ensure Website Success
Our Whispers to Grow By, - Ad Marketing Guy

Here are some keys to creating a website that can successfully sell your product or service:

• Easy Navigation. For a visitor intent on buying, there is nothing more frustrating than not being able to find what they want quickly and effortlessly. Don’t dump an endless list of confusing choices on the customer. Make categories clear and logical. Offer a way for buyers to narrow the options to those that fit their needs.
• Details, Details. The internet offers limitless capacity to provide customers with product details. But don’t hit them with all the big guns automatically. Give them the option of clicking to more information if they wish - Do not force the click. Unlike printed sales materials that have limited space, your website can have multiple levels of detail available for the asking.
• Compelling Graphics. Sites featuring the same old tired stock photos of generic people or scenes are a major turnoff. Scrap those in favor of real people and places — you, your staff, your customers, your community or place of business. Hire a local photographer to take digital photos that you can place on your website. This adds personality and reinforces the notion that you exist in the real world.
• It’s All About the Product/Service. Flashy-Whiz-bang technology seldom clinches the sale. Surveys, chat rooms, bulletin boards and blogs may be tempting to add to your site, but make sure theres a clear relationship between the expense and effort of adding them and their ability to help you turn visitors into buyers.
• Speedy Checkout. Anyone who’s ever been stuck in a slow line at your local retail store can attest to the frustration of waiting to hand over your money. Make the checkout process on your website fast and simple. Don’t bombard buyers with last-second choices or pop-up ads.
• Cater to High Expectations . In this age of mega-sites that deliver amazing speed and service, customer expectations are greater than ever before. With a few mouse clicks, they expect an email confirmation instantly and a package at their doorstep next morning. You’ll need to romance the customer and offer stellar service to stand out.
• Coax Customers by Stages. Filling out forms is often necessary, but keep them simple and break them into bite-sized parts. If your business needs to gather specialized customer information for a legitimate purpose, consider a stepped approach. Ask for just a few items first. Once they complete that, ask for a few more items so no single stage is too overwhelming.
• Keep a Customer Focus. Every speck of your website should be created with your customers’ goals and needs in mind, not just the needs of your business. If your site offers or requires a registration process, for example, don’t force buyers to answer endless questions designed to fill your need for marketing demographics. Customers want to know how the information they are providing will help them, not you.

Your Business Wisdom's Bottom Line:

We all have a tendency to be romanced by websites that are fun and that offer pleasing “ web-eye candy.” But as the field of e-commerce matures, the internet marketplace is discovering that the science of creating websites that entice visitors to actually buy requires a very specific focus on fulfilling the customer’s needs. If you design a site with customer website usability as your paramount concern, you will go a long way toward improving your online sales. 

Good Luck and Happy Marketing - the Ad Marketing Guy

TIPS for ONLINE-MARKETING

Consider These for Your Online Business

Below are a few the Ad Marketing Guy's favorite online marketing tips. This is in no way a full and complete list, but just a few you should consider in your quest to be web relevant.

Build Out Social Relationships Gradually - Social media and social networking are not “plunk and chuck” tactics. Relationships need to be built over a long period of time in a venue that enhances the product or service you are promoting, which is when the promoted piece gets the most positive attention. Remember, you want to engage your readers and viewers for a relationship, not a “one night stand”.

• Spell Check or NOT – Nothing ruins online credibility faster than misspellings or incorrect grammar. Check your spelling yourself and have someone else review your work. Don’t depend only on spellcheckers, as they may not catch the appropriate word usage or necessary punctuation. Want to test your audience’s perception, deliberately misspell a few choice words. Those that post and catch these "errs" can be counted on to always create an alternative view point for future posts. Know who they are before it becomes a distraction to your goal. The Whisperer calls this the “Where is Waldo”, audience factor and finder. Find Waldo fast, before your post gets lost.

• Understand How Your KPI’s Tie Back to Your Objectives - Will ranking #1 in Google for “rubber ducks” automatically equate to meeting your sales objectives? Or, will an increased ranking be a trigger to focus your work on how best to nurture these new potential prospects to customer status? Remember if a keyword category is over capacity, it will be more difficult to stand out in the crowd. So consider the less crowded environment, your value propositions will capture your audience. Being # 1 is not always the answer.

• Incorporate Keyword Phrases into Promotions/Content – whether it is press releases, online advertising or social media promotions, using a keyword phrase along with your promo or simply your Product’s unique name can enhance how searchers search for the website in the future. Do your research on keywords with the tools provided in other parts of Your Business Wisdom Site.

• Use a Clear Call To Action - When using a Call to Action, ensure that what you are asking is clear and to the point. Also, ensure that you are indeed asking a person to do something. Nothing bothers us more than a great ad, promotion, webpage, etc. without an outstanding call to action – Simply stated after your readers/viewers digest your copy, “what do you want them to do” , call you, write you, buy ….what??? We see to many people where their call to action is simply “forget us”, not what you want!

• Identify Yourself - Come up with a good handle and avatar so that no matter what net-channel you are engaged in, you are easily recognizable. Example, Ad Marketing Guy, Business Whisperer

• Discover and Identify How Visitors Use Your Website - When customers and prospects visit your site, what type of content are they looking for and where do they click on the page to find it? By knowing what your visitors are looking for, you can provide the content they need and a user experience to keep them coming back for more.

• Understand your End Goals – Online marketing is similar to traditional direct marketing when trying to reach certain inquiry levels. Understand the desired inquiry level, and follow that back through your amount of projected traffic, touch points and the whole universe you need to target.

• Plan & Understand - Be sure to plan ahead when it comes to Online Marketing. There is no shortage of promotion opportunities; however, the promotions you select should deliver the desired results. As an online marketer, be sure and first understand what promotion channels deliver results. Remember the Whisperer's mantra, It is the results that count, be certain they are winning results.

• Tomorrow Counts, so Look to the Future - The online marketing landscape is constantly changing, whether in the form of updated search engine algorithms, new social media outlets or any of the other aspects of marketing that fluctuate. Devote time to keeping yourself educated on what’s new and upcoming in the online world by reading blogs and other industry publications so that you are prepared to meet the new challenges these changes will bring. Don’t sit back and consider your work done at any time, all online activities change on a regular basis, keep on top of this or hire someone to do it for you. Advice from an outsource company can give you time to work in your business not at your business.

• Be Patient – online marketing typically doesn’t work overnight. Once your online marketing program is deployed, be patient and continuously monitor, analyze and refine. The key here is to monitor, analyze and refine, but give your initial campaign time to gain traction. If it is good, your tires will grip the road.

This wraps up just a few pieces of Whisperer wisdom. You may want to consider developing a few of these into your Internet Marketing Plan (Platform). You ask,” What is an Internet Marketing Plan”, check back here shortly or simply subscribe and learn how you can put together your IMP.

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