Social media is buzzing, QR codes are all the hype, and e-mail marketing is trendy, but where does that leave good old-fashioned referrals? Unfortunately for many startup companies, taking the time to consider the importance of referrals is the last thing on the “to do” list. After all, if you do a good job and someone wants to refer you, they can—it is out of your hands, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, it is not enough to simply hope someone refers your business to others. Someone may work with your business and say it is the best experience they have ever had, yet this does not guarantee that they will refer your business to someone else. In many cases, your clients and customers will have to seek out someone they know looking for your particular services. This takes some work, so you have to give your customers and clients a reason to do this work. According to activerain.com, a – Read the full article
To build an effective, profitable, and customer-driven site, you need to dedicate more time and effort to information gathering and planning. The following are some guidelines that will help you build a successful website. What are your specific goals? Do you want a brochure site? Do you intend to sell services and/or products? Are you focused on branding and company awareness? Information and content? Social network communities? You need to think through this aspect since it will form the foundation of your overall strategy. Find websites within your industry which you can emulate. It is okay to borrow ideas, as long as you personalize them. Measure of success Usually, businesses succeed when specific goals are imposed on them. By having a clear goal, be it generating online income or attracting a certain number of visitors to your site, you enhance your chances of success. Take time to list down your goals. Remember that this list could change as your site – Read the full article
So, you’ve got a valued product or service, a clean, professional website with a strong domain name, and you’re ready to launch an online marketing campaign. Well, get in line because every day millions of business owners are doing the same. Thanks to the Internet, the old analogy of the little fish in the big pond no longer holds water. Today it’s more about a tiny grain of sand on a very large beach. But don’t get discouraged because when it comes to online marketing, most business owners are doing it badly. And being that all great business owners learn from the mistakes of others, here are 5 surefire ways to kill an online marketing campaign which should be avoided at all costs. 1. Start with a muddled marketing message: You know who you are and what you do. That’s why you started your business, because you recognized needs and realized that you could effectively meet them. The challenge is – Read the full article
Search engine optimization is considered both an art and a science. You can learn it and fine-tune your processes to allow for your own set of SEO best practices. But as a beginner in SEO, you should expect to make a lot of mistakes. But that’s okay: it’s a good way for you to learn. However, you could also learn from the mistakes of others. Here are the top five mistakes that most SEO beginners commit: 1. Not focusing on content. Most site owners and webmasters tend to rely on tricks and so-called SEO techniques to get a better ranking on search engines. Because of that, they neglect the content of the site. This is probably the biggest mistake that anybody doing SEO could commit. Over the years, webmasters have gained artificially high ranking from getting links from link farms, or getting reciprocal links, or spamming DMOZ. There were other black hat and grey hat techniques. But over time, these tactics were found out – Read the full article
With all of the commotion that goes along with a business, sometimes the easiest things are forgotten. Even worse, sometimes the easiest things can become complicated because after all—is anything about your company really easy? As it turns out, creating a logo is one of those rare things about your company that will turn out great results without a ton of work. Just ask Google. A logo is part of your company’s branding, which consists of everything a company does and everything a company is involved with including mission statements, customer guarantees, Internet marketing efforts, and taglines. If you have creative people on your side, you should be able to come up with a logo or tagline that is ready to hit the Internet in successful, viral fashion. I dare you to try and think of a major company that does not have a logo. Everyone is reaping the benefits of logos because they have proven to be potentially very – Read the full article
We have witnessed a dramatic evolution in media in the past few years – the media elite matter less every day, everyone is the media, and everyone matters. Reaching the big media gatekeepers of yesterday is no longer the challenge. Now the challenge is effectively reaching the audience that will be interested in hearing your story and engaging with you. Fortunately this new media environment has had great benefits for small business PR, giving small business owners more power to disseminate their message and reach their target audiences. Here we offer some of our best, cost-effective PR tips for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Create a Press Release There are several cheap and free options these days for issuing a press release. Platforms such as PR Web offer business owners access to a large network of media outlets and bloggers on the cheap, while giving them the ability to target specific and relevant audiences. You may also want to consider submitting your press release to the editors of specific news outlets you are trying – Read the full article
With more than 500 million active users, Facebook is the most popular website in the world. No matter what niche you’re in, it’s highly likely that your target audience is chock full of Facebook users. So, how do you create a Facebook page that’s really going to boost your traffic and sales? By following these 5 tips: 1. Keep it fun For many people, Facebook offers a great way to relax after a long day. If your page offers fun pictures, cool links, and interesting status updates, people will enjoy spending time there. And the more people you have on your page, the more likely they are to come back – or to use your services when it comes time for them to spend money. 2. Turn it into a community If you make your fans feel like they’re a part of the group, they’ll start to think of your less as a “company” and more as “friends”. And let’s face – Read the full article
Increasingly, people are accessing the Web from smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. It’s not just the desktop and laptop anymore. This means that, as a business owner, Internet marketer, or SEO professional, you have to come up with a search engine optimization strategy that’s specific to mobile – a strategy that will help you get found online more easily and quickly. Let smartphone users and mobile consumers find you whenever they search. Here’s a mobile SEO checklist to get you started: Plan for it. Set a strategy, identify your targets, and plan accordingly. Like any other SEO campaign, successful mobile marketing takes plenty of research and preparation. Know the various mobile search engines. There’s Google XHTML, Google Mobile, Bing Mobile, Yahoo! Mobile, AOL Mobile, and abphone – among many others. Familiarize yourself with these by using your own mobile phone or tablet device. “Mobilize” your website. There are plenty of plug-ins and tools for building a mobile version of – Read the full article
