In reality, being a “doer” is perhaps the ultimate character trait of a successful person.  Rather than thinking or wishing, they get out there and make something happen.  In fact…I would probably put myself in the “doer category.”

Although there are amazing benefits in being a “doer type”, I’ve often found myself that, while working in the “doing” mindset, I’ve gotten myself in trouble as I didn’t always think things through thoroughly.  Can any of you out there reading this relate?

That being said, I’ve also witnessed this behavioral pattern in a lot of my small business owner clientele.  They get into trouble “doing” the wrong marketing activities.  Specifically, marketing activities that were programmed into them since birth.

Most people think… well, we need to market the business so let’s put $1,000 per month into Radio, Yellow Pages, or Newspaper Advertising (like most do) and then see if it generates any results.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for testing to see if different marketing tactics will work or not, however the majority of business owners that I run into, seem to follow the pattern of just haphazardly trying to see which marketing might stick in traditional popular marketing channels.  The downside that I see is that this type of business owner does not have any concrete basis or statistics to work from.  If you want to “do” the right marketing activities the right way, you must start with a good marketing plan.

Definition of a Marketing Plan is as follows:

A marketing plan is a written document that is an organized set of activities that is designed to promote your product, service and/or company.  A marketing plan is designed to increase customers and company profits and usually “planned out” between one and five years in the future.

Elements of a Good Marketing Plan

Wisdom: “focus your efforts on a few BIG things”

1. Conduct quality research as the foundation to build your marketing plan
2. Business & Marketing Mission Statements (they should be different but connected)
3. Determine specific goals and time frames to reach these goals
4. Determine what your effective “marketing channels” are
5. Determine your marketing budget (do steps 1-3 first)
6. Delegate responsibility to carry out each segment of your plan
7. Measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaign and re-valuate

Image courtesy of pat138241 and  FreeDigitalPhotos.net

However, business owners are busy actually “running their businesses”… so they have very little time to implement online marketing strategies all on their own.  First, they would have to spend a great deal of time learning the ins and outs of each method.  Then, they would have to thoroughly implement, test, track, and refine those methods on an ongoing basis if they want to get the best results.

As you can imagine, this would be a huge, daunting task for any business owner to take on.  However, it does not mean that internet marketing should be ignored or avoided – that would be a huge mistake.

Instead, business owners must find the appropriate resources and help to get the job done.  But many of them prolong the process because they still haven’t found an Online Marketing Specialist that they know, like, and trust with their marketing efforts.

Here are 5 tips to help you choose an Online Marketing Specialist:

As you can see, there are several factors to consider before choosing an Online Marketing specialist.  But don’t let your own fears stop you from moving forward; instead, choose someone to help you so you can finally get in front of local consumers online.

Image courtesy of KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When people think of web design, they often think of things like graphics, page layout, and attention-grabbing fonts.  While these elements are certainly part of web design, the truth is that web design encompasses much more than just aesthetics.  Are you interested in learning more about what makes a great website design?  Then check out these five must-have website design essentials:

Navigation.

This pertains to how people will get around on your site.  You can’t make them work for it, and you want all of your content to be readily available.  Good navigation is the answer.  Use primary navigation, secondary navigation, text menus, internal links, search boxes and breadcrumbs wisely throughout your site to ensure your site visitors can easily find what they are looking for.

Leading the eye.

In addition to navigating through the site, you must also help visitors determine how to focus their attention on each page.  You must “lead the eye,” so to speak, by strategically applying weighting, placement, positioning, spacing, and highlighting techniques to guide your visitors from areas of primary importance to supporting, or secondary, areas.

Typography.

The type and size of font you use will greatly impact the user experience, and will go a long way in creating the impression you want (or even one you don’t want, if you are not careful).  Additionally, you must consider line spacing, text effects, line length, paragraph size, and emphasis (italics and bold) when placing your typography.

Clarity.

While it may be tempting to pack your website with all the neat graphics and informative content you can, it is more important that your site visitors can easily ascertain what is on your page.  Keep in mind that simplicity is almost always preferable over complexity when it comes to web design, and that too many visuals (and/or too much information) could end up looking like nothing more than a jumbled mess to your site visitors.

Search engine optimization (SEO).

Your site is no good if others can’t find it on the web.  When it comes to website design, good SEO practices include using alt text for images, no-following outbound links that are irrelevant to the site, and labeling page titles and headers effectively.

Don’t skimp when it comes to building your brand.  Your website is the first impression that many of your potential customers will see of your business.

It doesn’t take the most expensive, latest, greatest technological bells and whistles to impress your visitors.  However, making an investment in a well thought out design, by an experienced professional who knows how to incorporate these essentials and more in your website design, will quickly pay for itself, as well as spare you from agonizing over trying to make sure you are doing everything right on your own.

Contact us for an affordable yet effective website design solution for your business.

English: Reputation management graphic that breaks down the elements of reputation management and how they fit together. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a small business owner, you are responsible for marketing your business – and that means identifying your most viable marketing avenues.  Whatever size your business is, there is no denying that it should have an Internet presence, as the Internet is arguably the most powerful marketing arena there is.  A large part of establishing a strong online presence is managing your online reputation.  What is online reputation management for small businesses all about?  Here are some things you should know:

Where your reputation is formed.

There are a number of review sites that exist solely for allowing your customers and clients the opportunity to post their experiences with your business, and these sites are where your online reputation can be made or broken.  Online review sites include Foursquare, Yelp, Bing, and Urban Spoon, among others; even Google Places provides a dedicated space on your Places page for customer reviews.  In addition to the review sites, your online reputation is also affected by comments in industry forums, threads on social media sites, online articles, blog posts, public record documents, and more.

Why you must manage your online reputation.

If you don’t do it, someone else will.  Even if your business is a small mom and pop shop with only a very basic website, you have to keep this statistic in mind: 90 percent of all consumers research the Internet when looking for businesses to deal with.  That means that if you are not proactively managing your own business reputation, then it will be managed by the actions of others.  Taking into account the previously mentioned statistic, consider the implications of even one negative review about your business, especially if that is all people find when searching for you.

How to assess the current state of your online reputation.

Simply search the web for your business name and see what results you get.  (You may also want to search your name, the names of your high-profile employees, your brand, and your product/service.)  You need not look past the first page of search engine results, as 99 percent of your customers will never get past that page.

How to manage your online reputation. 

Once know what is being said about you, you can form a plan for managing your reputation, based on what you know.  You will need to take a multifaceted approach to your reputation management.  For example, if most of what you find is indifferent (or, if you can’t find much at all), then you need to work on building your brand; also, respond to positive and negative items accordingly.

Online reputation management is a complex process, but it is also paramount to your business success.  To make the most of your online reputation, you may want to enlist the help of qualified and competent professionals like us here at Web Marketing RX LLC.  We can be reached by phone, at (480) 304-5502, or by via our handy dandy contact form right here.

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• Foster product development and innovation
• Generate awareness
• Drive preference and differentiation
• Increase traffic and sales
• Build loyalty and deepen relationships
• Amplify recommendation and word of mouth
• Gain insights

Notice that driving sales is not first and foremost. Because Facebook is social by design, you have to come at sales from a different angle rather than head-on. Facebook offers a variety of resources to help you understand how to best use their site to promote your business.

But rather than listen to Facebook – and who understands how Facebook works better than Facebook itself – businesses seem to want to apply age-old marketing techniques to a system that is hi-tech, emerging and constantly evolving.

Here is how Facebook suggests you approach advertising on their social media platform:

• Build a strategy that is social by design
• Create an authentic brand voice
• Make it interactive
• Nurture your relationships
• Keep learning

With print ads, TV ads, Google ads and other traditional advertising channels, you design an ad, put it out there and wait and see how well it works and how many sales it generates. With Facebook though, even by using Facebook ads that closely resemble the format of Google Adwords ads, it is not a direct conduit from advertising to selling, but rather a journey of sorts.

Because Facebook is social in nature, people do not go there looking for a purchase or business transaction and Facebook doesn’t want this to change. As a matter of fact, when GM pulled their $10 million Facebook advertising budget, that was what made the headlines, but it was the subtext that was more important.

There are three main tools that businesses can use on Facebook – small ads, Sponsored Stories and basic Facebook pages. But GM wanted access to full page advertising and when Facebook refused because they felt it would be disruptive and would turn people off, GM took their advertising dollars and left.

CEO of ad agency Deep Focus, Ian Schafer said recently, “Facebook protects its platform at all costs. That’s the Zuckerberg way.” Despite its recent IPO, Facebook will probably continue to ensure that its 900 million enrolled users are happy with the site – which means not being inundated with ads that disrupt their online socializing.

So for any business looking to most effectively leverage Facebook as a promotional tool, they should first and foremost listen to what Facebook is telling them. Your approach to marketing your business on Facebook should be social rather than directly sales-oriented.

You must entice potential customers to become fans and then engage them to consider an offline (out of Facebook) transaction with your company. You must be interactive, you must be constantly reaching out to your fans and encouraging them to share with you and then sharing in return.

Some great ways to interact with and engage fans is to ask questions, post polls or surveys (even fun ones that have little or nothing to do with your business) and respond to their posts on your wall to keep the conversation going.

Finally, Facebook recommends that you keep learning. This may be the best advice of all. Because Facebook is evolving constantly, you must be constantly refining your Facebook marketing strategy.

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You also know that SEO protocols seem to be changing so quickly now, it is becoming more difficult than ever to stay abreast of those changes.

Now you have yet another SEO concept to master: website design and SEO as it relates to mobile websites.

Mobile SEO is a different beast than traditional SEO in a number of ways.

Here are ten keys to effective mobile SEO that you absolutely cannot afford to ignore:

1. The guiding principles.

First of all, it is important that you understand what you are dealing with.

Keep these things in mind: mobile search engines are unique to traditional search engines, mobile users exhibit particular web browsing behaviors, and mobile website design is altogether different from traditional website design.

2. Keyword relevancy.

Mobile users generally don’t have a lot of time or resources for lengthy detailed searches.

Your keywords targets should include short, sometimes sketchy, search terms.

Keep it simple.

3. Keyword usage.

Content on mobile sites is terse and concise.

You must choose short keyword phrases, and very few.

4. Variance.

Keep in mind that your mobile content must read well on a wide variety of mobile devices, and through a number of different possible browsers.

Again, simplicity is key.

5. Predictive search.

This feature is a handy way for search engines to help web searchers fill out their queries, and users are more willing to accept suggestions rather than keep typing on mobile devices.

Research and choose keywords that fall into the most common and highly ranked predictive search results.

6. Content categories.

Decide which category your site best fits into, and optimize its content so that it is most likely to be featured when mobile web users search for that particular category in directory listings.

7. Google standards.

Read up on Google mobile site standards and make sure you comply.

Otherwise, Google will tweak your site for you in order to read it and display it to mobile web viewers (this is called “transcoding”), and you will not be in full control of your site’s presentation.

8. Location.

Mobile web users often use location terms in their searches, and when they do not, the location of most mobile devices is detectable by search engines and they will return local results when it makes sense, even more so because the device is mobile.

Therefore, location needs to be addressed with your site’s SEO in the content and through geotagging metadata.

9. Portals.

Mobile users don’t always use Internet search engines, often they will use operator portals.

Submit your site to every portal, business directory, and listing service that is relevant to your site to increase your mobile website traffic.

10. Target audience.

Because your mobile SEO must be short and concise, you must give a lot of thought as to exactly who you are trying to reach.

Research your target market (keeping the mobile sector in mind), and tailor your site content to that market.

Mobile SEO is a new frontier, and must be approached with new eyes.

To get the most out of your mobile website, don’t be afraid take advantage of competent professionals who will understand how these keys to effective mobile SEO can move your business forward in the 21st century.

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One fast-growing trend in the world of web design is the optimization of sites to make them more easily accessible and viewable on mobile phones and other mobile devices.

But just how important is it that people are able to access your business website from their mobile devices?

Given the statistics, it’s very important.

We are entering the time when people actually access the web from their smart phones much more often than they do their desktops or laptops.

Mobile devices are conveniently available and ready when needed, and in fact, many people now rely solely on their favorite mobile device to browse and search the web.

Therefore, it pays to have a site that caters to those people.

Here are the fundamentals for effective mobile website design:

Simplicity.

There are number of reasons why you must keep a mobile website as simple and minimalist as possible.

First off, people who use mobile devices to access the web must often pay data transfer fees.

The more graphics you use, and the more complex the content, the more it is going to cost mobile users to view your website.

They will not appreciate that.

Additionally, mobile devices feature small screens; therefore, the more you try cramming into your mobile website, the harder it will be to view.

Navigation.

Whereas traditional websites allow viewers to navigate a large page vertically, mobile websites often utilize a more intuitive horizontal page navigation system.

Generally speaking, navigating left should lead back to the home or previous page, and navigating right should lead to the next page.

Content.

Again, due to data transfer fees and viewability, it is important to fine-tune your mobile website’s content.

Avoid flowery language, over-explanation, and anything else that is not absolutely necessary to imparting the ideas you want with your text.

Mobile users tend to have a shorter attention span and want instant gratification.  Make it as easy as possible for them to find what they are looking for, fast.

Your content should be short and concise – just enough to get the point across.

Graphics.

When it comes to graphics, it is important that you keep loading times and clarity in mind.  Complex graphics will not view well on a small screen, nor will they load quickly.

Use graphics sparingly.

A good rule of thumb when it comes to graphics and mobile website design is to avoid the use of purely decorative graphics, and to stick to using only super-simple graphics that are either necessary for branding, illustrating the site’s textual content or navigating through the site.

Thumb friendliness.

Build your mobile website with the touch screen in mind.

Use large navigation devices like buttons and arrows to make it easy for even big thumbs to get from point A to point B on your site.

Building a mobile website is not that much different from building a traditional website, when it comes to the technical aspects.  However, when it comes to the creative design aspects, it’s a whole different ballgame.

Make sure your mobile website design is effective by including these fundamental aspects and keeping the needs of the mobile user clearly in mind.

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I’m sure you already know how extremely important is for you to market your business online.  However, most business owners still are not doing what it takes to create a complete online presence.

Many business owners are confused and frustrated by all of the hype and misconceptions being thrown around, but the principles of small business marketing online are actually very simple.  In this discussion, I will explain four crucial elements of online marketing that can help you learn how to attract more customers as soon as next week.

Part 1 – How to Make Your Small Business Marketing Website More Profitable

New Website (Photo credit: J Garrattley)

In this first section, we will discuss two important elements of a profitable website.

Website Design

Today, there are many ways to get a website designed including doing it yourself.  However, think about how you want to be perceived by your visitors.

Yes, do-it-yourself programs can provide you with a basic, generic-looking website.  Unless you modify these sites in certain ways, however, they tend to have a very low conversion rate and most visitors leave almost immediately.

You should have a professional web designer create a website for you that is not only pleasing to the eye but also one that includes the right lead generation components, like those discussed below for starters.

Website Content

What you put on your website is also very important in order to make it profitable.  For instance, your website header needs to include your company name and your company logo so you can create a brand for your business.

Your home page should have a very strong call-to-action so visitors know exactly what they should do next and how to contact you.  Once they land on your home page, they should not have to search around to find your Contact Us page.

You also should have a lead-capture mechanism on your site to collect the email addresses of interested visitors so you can follow-up with them.

Any other written content on your home page should be geared towards how you can benefit your visitors and how you can help them – not about your business.  Brochure style websites tend to focus on the company and don’t offer any reason for the visitor to stay.  They might look good and you may be proud to show yours off to your friends, family and associates, but they usually aren’t very effective in bringing in new business.

You really only have 5 seconds to catch their attention, so make sure your home page blatantly shows how you can help your visitor and makes them want to know more.

Part 2 – Can Local People Who Are Searching For Your Product Or Service Online Find You?

As we discussed in the last section, it’s extremely important to have a website that is built to turn visitors into customers.

The next step is to make sure your website can be found by those who are searching online for your most profitable products or services.

Search engine optimization is the process of ensuring that your website meets the necessary criteria to gain top search engine rankings.

For instance, let’s say you have an auto repair shop here in town and someone types in “transmission repair scottsdale.”  If your website does not have a page properly optimized for “transmissions”, chances are your site does not come up within the first few pages.

This is critical because most people don’t go past page 1 of the search engines.  The percentage of people who do move on to 2 and 3 is minuscule compared to those who stop at page one.

There are actually three ways to show up on the 1^st page of the search engines when people are looking for the things you offer in your area.  If you really want to dominate your local area, don’t stop at one… claim 2 or 3 spots on the 1^st page!

1. SEO – optimizing your website so that you gain a high rank in the search engines when people search for your product or service locally.
2. Local Maps/Places Listing – this is the area that shows in the middle left of a search engine results page with a map displayed next to it.  Listing your site in the local maps section of Google and the other search engines is a must-have for any business looking to get local customers.
3. Pay-per-click Advertising – this is the area above the local maps listings and on the right hand side of the search engine results page.  These businesses claim their spots by paying for each click they get to their website.

Part 3 – The #1 Way Small Business Marketing Pros Get REPEAT Customers Using The Internet

One important component of a profitable website is to have an automatic list building system in place to capture your visitor’s email address.

This is so you can keep in touch and boost communication with your customers and prospects – all on autopilot.

In order to do this, you need an email autoresponder system.  This email system is designed so that you can add a simple HTML code to your website that will create a box for visitors to sign up to your mailing list.

Once the visitor opts-in to your mailing list from your website, they will receive coupons, discounts, newsletters, tips, or any other communications you want to send to them via email.

With this simple, set-it-and-forget-it solution, you can keep your customers and prospects coming back for a very long time.

You can create multiple campaigns, enter all of your messages ahead of time, and tell the system when to deliver them.

Email marketing allows you to target your customers and prospects directly and the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating powerful REPEAT business.

Now that you understand the most powerful mechanism available to get customers online, take some time to think about your business.

Do you see how an email marketing system can help you bring in more money?

Part 4 – How To Attract Customers, Develop Relationships and Cultivate Brand Loyalty Online

Most of your potential and current customers practically live on the social media networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

These sites are the most popular networking sites on the web and they’re growing stronger every day.

Due to this, many businesses use these platforms to interact with their current and potential customers on a daily basis – including your competitors.

If you do not currently have a profile setup on each of these networks, you need to get them as soon as possible.

Every business should have a Facebook Business Fanpage.  Facebook is the most popular site online today with millions of visitors every single day.

In the last section, we talked about putting an opt-in form on your website to build a list by getting your visitors email addresses.

Well, you can also use a Facebook Fanpage to capture even more email addresses!

After creating a Facebook Fanpage, invite visitors to your page so you can start building a loyal list of followers. These followers can turn into new business for you on a daily basis if you engage on your Fanpage frequently.

Let’s say you offer a coupon for a great deal or an introductory freebie on your Fanpage to get someone to join your email list.  If you continue to offer good information and enticing deals to your fans, they will like you and will think of you first when they need your services.

Not only that, but they will spread the word to all of their friends.  You just have to stay in their faces and your return on investment will be HUGE.

Twitter and LinkedIn are two more great networking sites that can produce a lot of business, and Google+ is growing fast too now.  With the success of social media networks, you should definitely capitalize on the huge number of people you can connect with who can potentially double your profits in a very short amount of time.

Hopefully this information on how to attract customers online has helped you to understand the four core opportunities the internet presents for small business marketing.

As a fellow business owner, I know that it is very easy to get overwhelmed with everything that it takes to be successful in your business.

You are busy actually running your business and don’t have time to spend learning and experimenting with all this internet stuff.  You need results, not another hobby!

However, you know that online marketing is definitely one thing that should not be ignored if you want to build a sustainable income in these tough and competitive economic times.

If you are ready to get started but have a few questions, need a little help, or just want to get it done, feel free to contact us and we’ll help and advise in any way we can.

Before you begin, you should understand certain fundamental concepts of Search Engine Optimization (or SEO).  In order to be prepared to increase your website traffic and attract qualified prospects via the search engines, you need to understand three things:

1. Everything related to SEO starts with an understanding of what a “keyword phrase” is.

Anytime someone conducts a search on Google, or another search engine, they enter some text to start their search.  In SEO terms, the entered text is called a “keyword” or “keyword phrase.”

If you know what keyword phrases your potential customers and leads are entering when searching for the type of information, products or services you offer, you will know what phrases to target when you optimize your web pages.

2. Websites are not indexed or ranked by the search engines… each web page is indexed and ranked independent of any other.

This is commonly misunderstood but so important to understand!  Even though you might have one web page that ranks really well in the search engines, that is no indication that your others are ranking well too.

Each page of your website must be uniquely optimized for a select handful of keyword phrases… keyword phrases that are being searched and likely to attract potential buyers in your target audience.

If you pay close attention to the optimization of each page, you should see a dramatic improvement in terms of search engine placement.

3. Like it or not, you’re competing against others!

Some have a hard time seeing it this way at first but the truth is… in order to get your web page listed on page one of Google, you have to push one of the currently listed web pages down and off the first page, right?

This is valuable information because it will help you understand what you will need to do to achieve the ranking you’re after.

Thorough analysis of the web pages currently listed on the first page of search results for a particular keyword phrase will give you a good idea just how hard it will be to overtake one of them. You need to pay close attention to a number of elements including:

• How well is their page optimized for the keyword phrase?
• How old is their domain? – - older sites have an advantage
• How many links can be found that point to the page? – - more links means more work to beat

While there are other factors involved, these three are of primary concern.  If you find you can outdo your competitor’s web page in at least two of these three areas, there is a good chance you can kick them off the page and take their place.

After ensuring you are optimizing for a keyword phrase or phrases likely to bring you the kind of traffic you want, you will often find, all other things being equal, it is the quantity of backlinks that makes the real difference.

Of course, the quality of the backlinks is important and a subject worthy of deeper discussion, but if you are going to concentrate on one objective, it should be the building of links in general.  Aim for 30% to 50% of your text links to use the keyword phrases you are optimizing for as the “anchor” (or link text) and you’ll find your page  quickly climbs the ranks of the search engines.

Keep in mind, rather than relying on only one traffic generation method, it is best to drive website traffic through several different sources.  This way you can cast a wider net resulting in more traffic, insulate yourself from catastrophic losses when changes diminish one of your traffic sources, and track the efficacy of each source.  So, while SEO should be a major player in getting traffic to your website and your business, do not neglect the many other ways to reach out to potential customers on the internet.

You’re not alone.  With so many different ways to increase your online presence, it’s hard to figure it all out sometimes.

In order to help clear things up a bit for you, here are some frequently asked questions (FAQ’s), when it comes to Google Places:

FAQ #1: Aren’t Google Places and Google Maps the same thing?

No, they are not.  Google Maps is a service from Google that provides map views, driving directions, and contact information about businesses and points of interest.

Google Places is the service that you can use to put your business on Google Maps, with more content.  You can add photos, video, your web address, hours, categories and more to help local customers find you.

Google Places helps people find their desired type of business when searching a specific location.  Google Maps helps people explore a geographic area in many different ways, including street views, business listings, etc.

Google frequently tweaks and adjusts these services.  For instance, Google Places was recently re-named; the previous name was the Google Local Business Center.

FAQ #2: My business already comes up when people search for my business in Google.  Isn’t that enough?

First of all, you want to come up when people search for your product or service – not your business name – if you want to get new customers.  Your goal is to target people who may not even know your business exists, right?

Also, just because your business comes up in Google Maps doesn’t mean that it’s visible or accurate.  Google Maps pulls information on most businesses from the community and other business directories, and aggregates it.

Many times, this information is incorrect and needs to be corrected and verified by the business owner.

FAQ #3: I have some pretty big local competitors and there’s no way my business could ever get to the top of Google, right?

This is not true at all.  Just because you have a popular competitor doesn’t mean you can’t overtake their position in Google.  Your Google ranking doesn’t depend on offline popularity.  By properly optimizing your listing you show Google exactly what your business is about, that you have valuable information (content) available, and that your business is indeed growing in popularity too.

Just by following some basic steps in setting up your listing, you can beat out a lot of your competitors because most of them probably aren’t doing much of anything with their listings.

FAQ #4: Do I have to have my own website in order to be listed in Google Places?

This is incorrect.  Although it is strongly recommended that you have a website if you want to get to the top of Google Places for popular keyword terms, you do not need to have a website to list your business there.  After all, Google would be doing a disservice to their customers (searchers) if they neglected to return information on good local businesses just because they don’t have a website yet.

Google requires a business name, mailing address and phone number.  Start with these, and you can make your business visible on Google Maps and Google Places.

Google is the king of the Internet and is constantly making changes to improve and refine the way search results are given priority.  The best way to stay on top of these changes is with the help of an online marketing consultant who can help guide you.