Inbound Marketing Your Business Online Begins With Keywords
Marketing your business online effectively depends, of course, on getting great new customers from the Internet. On the one hand, you must be found on the first page of search results or your chances of being found at all drop precipitously. When was the last time you searched online and actually clicked on a link on page two, ten or one hundred? Yes, I, too, sometimes go beyond page one; but, how often do you do it?
Inbound Marketing Your Business Online Depends On Being Found
On the other hand, you must be found by a large enough population of searchers. Clearly, not even you can sell everybody who crosses your path today, can you? The truth is, some are ready to buy from you today, some later and some, quite frankly, will never buy from you. That they many not buy from anybody any time is no consolation, is it?
Marketing Your Business Online Puts You In Front Of Great Prospects
The trick is putting yourself directly in front of the very best of the best prospects. Quite some trick, indeed! Anticipate eager buyers shopping specifically for what you offer and you can appear before them as if they sought you out. Inbound marketing is all about empowering consumers. Be found by enough of the right people and inbound marketing your business online is profitable.
Keyword Analysis Drives Marketing Your Business Online
Taking a tip from the search engine optimizers (SEO’s) you need to study the key words and phrases those eager shoppers type into the search box before clicking search. For simplicity, let’s call the words or phrase of words people type into the search box a keyword. Keyword analysis then is the study of keywords and how you will be found by people using them.
Answer Four Marketing Your Business Online Questions
There are four questions every business must answer if they are to get great new business from the Internet:
Marketing Your Business Online Seeks Buyers
What are people actually searching for?
Although many start by listing those keywords by which they want people to find them, nobody can control the keywords searched by others. If you want to be found by a specific keyword, but nobody is searching by that keyword, you will not be found. Hence, anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer.
Marketing Your Business Online Demands Buyers
What is the commercial intent of each search?
The history of the Internet is a long story about sharing information between government agencies and educational institutions. Little by little all of this world’s information is finding a home online. Any type of research you can imagine can be conducted over the Internet, including names, addresses and phone numbers; texts of the greatest world literature; and known species of fish near New Zealand. I can’t speak for your business; but, my business needs paying customers. Hence, anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer.
Begin Marketing Your Business Online Simply
How difficult is it for me to be found on the first page of search results?
Even if eager buyers are searching for your keyword and they have every intention of purchasing, there remains the daunting task of being found in search results. Some companies have been at this for many years. Some have earned great authority, credibility and trust from search engines and consumers. Difficulty to reach the first page is a function of passing your competitors on the way from last page to first. Many well searched keywords may be easier for your business than others.
Marketing Your Business Online Demands Your Choice
For which keywords do I want to be found?
Knowing the keywords eager buyers search to find you, knowing which keywords are searched for purchasing purposes and knowing the less difficult keywords on which you can build success demands another decision from you. From this sea of opportune keywords you must sort, prioritize and select a subset on which to build your foundation. Know this, a list of keywords by itself holds little promise for you. Great prospects already know the keywords they are using — it’s the solution to their problem that they seek.
Inbound Marketing Your Business Online Begins With Keywords
Inbound marketing your business online effectively depends on delivering great content to great customers on the Internet. The truth is, some are ready to buy from you because they come to believe that you have the solution to their problem. That they use specific keywords when searching for that solution means that content featuring those keywords will attract their attention. Once you have their attention, then you have the right to call them to action and invite them to interact with you. Nonetheless, inbound marketing your business online begins with thorough keyword analysis.
Call Now Answer Marketing Your Business Online Questions: 612-235-6060
New sales leads, I am told, are the bane of small business today. Or, shall I say, there is a dearth of new sales leads everywhere struggling business looks. To what do we owe this sparsity? I talk with a lot of business owners. Lately, the two biggest problems I hear are too few targeted sales leads and poor return on advertising investments. Do either of these ring true with you?
How Rare Are New Sales Leads?
Was it always this way? Most business owners tell me, “No, in better times customers were plentiful.” Is this only a matter of good times versus bad times? They tell me that not too many years ago, new customers found them in the yellow pages and called for an appointment. New customers read a newspaper ad and came through their door ready to buy. New customers used to answer the telemarketer’s call eager to give up their credit card number. Really?
Did The Internet Destroy New Sales Leads?
Some bemoan the Internet. “The Internet is a scam!” they tell me. “There are so many hooligans out there selling Google salvation.” OK, now we’re getting somewhere. It’s true, Google is not in business to give you customers. Google is in business to make money and lots of money they are making. Their best customers, however, are not you and me, business owners, and not you and me, website owners. Google’s best customers are advertisers who pay Google to place their ads where eager shoppers will find them, click on them and see what they have to offer.
Does Google Eat New Sales Leads?
Why, then, is Google so large, so dominant and everywhere we look nowadays? They are in our smartphones. They are renting out commercial movies and competing with broadcast media. They are developing a driverless car. But, clearly, they started on the Internet and the Internet is the foundation on which they built this behemoth. Why? The Internet is where consumers have migrated. Yes, those consumers not flipping through yellow pages, those consumers not calling the classified ads, those consumers not answering their phones — those consumers are on the Internet. Eager shoppers are scouring the Internet to buy today’s whim. And they’re telling their friends and family what they found.
New Sales Leads Respond To Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing takes advantage of the Internet and the sea of shoppers there. Anticipate eager shoppers searching for what you offer. Identify the best of these shoppers, identify that most interesting of your offering and place your virtual kiosk directly in their path. Instead of intruding into their lives shrieking “Buy me!” and “Give me money!” demonstrate to them what you have to help them. Offer your visitors some token of your expertise with no strings attached. Show them that, indeed, sometimes lunch is free. New sales leads like that.
Can New Sales Leads Can Find You?
Inbound marketing success is predicated on three things:
Be found! Until you are found there is no chance new sales leads will come to you.
Be found by enough people. It’s truly unlikely that you will sell all of your prospects today. Some will buy, some will not and others may buy another day.
Be found by enough of the right people. At any given instant, some percent of the world is looking to purchase what you have to offer. Regardless the number, these are your prospects — nobody else. How likely are you to persuade a diaper shopper or diner looking for great Chinese food to open their wallets to you?
New Sales Leads Are Looking For You
Are new sales leads the bane of small business today? To what do we owe this sparsity? Many business owners say, “In better times customers were plentiful.” The problem is you are looking in the wrong places. Worse, your best prospects are looking for you and you’re nowhere they are looking. Inbound marketing attracts new sales leads and you can give them what they want.
Call Now Answer New Sales Leads Questions: 612-235-6060
Great Customers Come From Marketing Local Business
It’s no secret. Times are tough, job security is a thing of the past and there’s no free lunch. Never let it be said that you’re outdone and victimized by circumstances, right? You’re at the helm of a viable small business and you’re determined to make this work — er, determined to succeed! But, times have changed and marketing local business is not at all what it used to be. Nobody’s calling from the Sunday Classifieds or yellow pages. Few are answering telemarketing calls. Even you probably don’t open too much direct mail.
Marketing Local Business Is More Than Internet
Top it all with these young techies with their rocket science tales get-rich-quick on the Internet. Do you really believe that an award winning drop-dead beautiful website brings revenues in your door? Can it be true that simply appearing on Google Page One, whether pay-per-click or “free,” guarantees that online visitors will grease your palm? Where is common sense? You’re a consumer, too. Look at your own consumer behavior — do you buy from the first automaton that shows up on your phone or screen?
Marketing Local Business In A Consumer Paradise
What is the secret to marketing local business today? Whereas, ten years ago we still paid attention Sunday football commercials to see the latest features of the 2011 Chevy Malibu, today consumers don’t care to be told what’s available. The world is, indeed, your oyster. When you have a need, fill it. When you crave, seek satisfaction. When you are in pain, relieve yourself. The Internet is for consumers the universal mail order catalog. It is so easy to simply search for what you desire, shop it from thousands of vendors everywhere in the world and buy it when you are ready. This is a buyer’s world, a consumer’s paradise.
Inbound Marketing Local Business Is Not Intrusive
Inbound marketing local business is unlike any intrusion marketing. Render yourself findable and prepare to tell your story just like you do face-to-face:
Anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer. This is the inescapable first and necessary step. Drop that silly idea that your market is everybody in the world. Your very best customer has a specific personality. Before they buy they have a problem. When you fully understand the problems you solve best, then you know very well those best prospects with whom you ought to speak. More to the point, now you know exactly how they are searching for their solution.
Marketing Local Business Offers Solutions
Put your company in front of them everywhere they look. One foot in front of the other — you learned that and toddled. Only after you fully understand how, what, where, when and why they are searching … only then can you know exactly where to stand to be seen. Offer them a sip of water to quench their thirst. Allow them to see for themselves that you have a solution to their problem. Be found by standing directly in front of your best prospects.
Court Prospects While Marketing Local Business
Court them, nurture them and never let them forget you. Once found, they have ample opportunity to get to know you. Marketing local business online makes you a publisher. Carve your best stories into the Internet. They will be there available to be heard forever. Although, you cannot know if you and a prospect met at the right time. You may not be a good fit for each other. They may not appreciate your business model. Respect them and allow them to get to know your company.
Great Customers Come From Marketing Local Business
It’s so easy online to facilitate the gathering of wonderful customers and prospects in your virtual place of business. Honor them and encourage them to openly discuss the solutions to real problems that you offer. When time is right the right prospect will step forward and convert into a great customer. Inbound marketing local business means that they found you, they partook of your hospitality and many of them like what they found enough to ask to buy from you.
Call Now Answer Your Marketing Local Business Question: 612-235-6060
Success and survival are not the same thing. Times are truly tough today and small businesses everywhere are scrambling for survival. Online marketing for small business is a success opportunity that Internet publishing platforms offer individuals with something to say. Commit whole-heartedly to communicating with your online audience and this success can be extraordinary. Listening to many of my clients has convinced me that they have compelling stories to tell. Given a targeted audience these small business owners are effective closers and the audience loves them. How, then, can you attract that just right audience?
Tell Online Marketing For Small Business Stories
Regular, honest and compelling content creation is critical to success. Story tellers consistently share their opinions and thoughts online and rise to thought leadership in their particular niche. Thought leadership? What differentiates you from your competition? What is your unique selling proposition? If you want to be different you must lead; otherwise you are a follower lost in the masses. The leader of the pack is interesting because she is out in front of the pack and all eyes are on her. Speak and the pack listens intently. Call them to action and many will convert into the best customers you ever had. The best customers refer others to you and will stand up in public and testify to your leadership.
Build Online Marketing For Small Business Communities
Build a community around your brand, both your personal and your business brands. Perhaps, the most striking thing about online marketing for small business is the simplicity. Allowed yourself to be yourself. Once you stop intruding on people trying to convert them to buyers — you know: “Buy ME!” and “Give ME Money!” — what else is there to do?
One of the greatest features of the Internet is that you can publish your story in your voice, at your pace and it stays available until I need to see it. Give me relevant information in the format I want to receive it. I will pay attention to you. Create curiosity. Build a compelling story. Tell me just enough to get me to come back next week … same time, same place. Nurture me and my interest. Allow me to come to want your service and I will come to you as an eager buyer sooner or later. Inbound marketing brings eager buyers to you at the moment they are ready to buy.
Share Online Marketing For Small Business
Create triggers that encourage people to share. Basically, there are five types of Internet sharing:
* Video; * Image; * Audio; * Text; * or a combination of the four.
Be different. Instead of clubbing prospects over the head and stealing money, give them something to take away from meeting you. Give them something for free. Social media is “social” inasmuch as it shared among its users spheres of influence. We social creatures share valuable information in our social networks, especially information about great deals. If you give me an informative eBook or consultation, in my mind its value increases with its free-ness. I will happily share my find with like-minded friends. How is this different from a referral?
Online Marketing For Small Business Succeeds
Tell your interesting and compelling story to an audience that wants to hear it. We will clamor for it Inbound marketing rules are dead simple. Social media and inbound marketing have leveled the playing field and put in your hands exactly the same tools as the biggest corporations in the world. Sharing your story with the world on a consistent and honest basis you can become a thought leader and create a community of followers around your brand. Online marketing for small business is a success opportunity for those with something interesting to say.
Call Now Answer Your Online Marketing For Small Business Question: 612-235-6060
The first secret of local small business marketing is to not think like a small business. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if your brick and mortar business made you money even if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? Do you sometimes have nightmares of your company shutting down because your referral system dried up and blew away? If you answer yes to either of these questions, then you must consider the benefits of building an inbound marketing system to anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and everywhere they look you are there. Instead of tossing and turning at night, with these cutting edge methods of marketing your local business you’ll sleep like a baby and your company will thrive. If the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” applies to you, you may want to consider a total overhaul. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy.
Imagine for a moment marketing in a way that targets your best customer in her natural environment. Offer her valuable information that she’s already seeking for free. Imagine she’s so delighted by what you’ve given her that she returns time and again to pay you for what you do best. Sounds like a dream does it? Unfortunately for many businesses stuck in their ways, that is all successful business will ever be — a dream. Let’s face it, the profits of traditional marketing tactics — yellow pages, newspaper ads, telemarketing, etc. — are drying up and blowing away. Where did all of the customers go? Yes, the economy is dragging; but, we all know, consumers are still consuming. So, where did they go?
Local Small Business Marketing Prospers Online
The second secret of local small business marketing is to stake your claim on the Internet. Why the Internet you may be wondering? The Internet is where consumers gather to search, to buy and to share their experiences with other consumers. Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. Literally, billions of searches are conducted every singe month by eager buyers looking to purchase locally. More to the point, when was the last time you flipped through your yellow pages?
Diversify Local Small Business Marketing
The third secret of local small business marketing is to diversify your online promotional portfolio. Ten years ago, it was extraordinary simply to publish your online business card. Woo-hoo! You were on the Internet and everybody was so proud and excited and everybody told everybody that your business is on the Internet! Today, your online business card is a fossil. Nobody cares about your company, except you. What have you done for me lately?
Promote your company on interactive social media sites like Facebook and YouTube. It’s no longer enough to trumpet your features and advantages to the world. As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet we respond less and less to intrusive messages. I am a consumer and when I’m in the market for a new thing I will search for it. What’s in it for me? When I find your interesting product or service, I’m going to ask my online brothers and sisters about you. I’m going to check you out on LinkedIn; and then I’m going to do the same for your company. I’m likely to watch your and your competitors’s videos and read all of the articles I can find published online. How many fans Like your fan pages and Like your blog posts?
Local Marketing Is Effective
Are you still thinking like a small business? What if none of your employees showed up for work and your door never even opened? What if your nightmares came true and your business dried up and blew away? Inbound marketing anticipates eager buyers shopping for what you offer. Changing your marketing strategy can mean the difference between reaching new record sales highs or shutting down and filing for bankruptcy. Local small business marketing is effective online because it funnels eager buyers through your sales funnel in droves.
Call Now Answer Local Small Business Marketing Question: 612-235-6060
I ignored telling my buddies about this, thinking that they’re already aware, until one day one of my buddies approached me and asked, “How can I increase my sales?” I was stunned. You should have seen my eyes when I heard her question because I always thought every business owner knows that the best way to increase sales is to get in front of eager buyers. I’d so much rather be in front of an eager buyer shopping for what I offer than tire kickers or garage salers. Targeted sales leads are the best gauge of eager buyers I know.
Of course, whenever I generate targeted prospects, I invariably get better customers and better deals at close. You know what I mean … people ready to buy anything you’re selling. During economic crisis, businesses begin the crunch and spiral, too, into financial crisis — even the doctors and lawyers. While most of the successful entrepreneurs that I know are walking away with fat envelopes day after day, they’re all reporting increased sales. How can this be?
Whether you’re a doctor, carpenter, mover, salon manager or whatever business you own online or off, this is not a secret — sales leads are your life blood. The secret is not that you need targeted sales leads; rather, how are you going to target the sales leads you seek? The only secret is finding out the simplest and fastest way to target leads for your business. Even better, find an affordable way to keep your best prospects lining up at your door waiting to be sold!
Targeted Sales Leads Make A Beeline
Imagine inbound marketing is you putting out the honey trap, a special honey appealing only to eager buyers shopping for what you offer, and everywhere they look they see your honey. Is it any wonder that they make a beeline to you? Can you imagine any better customer than those that call you up and ask, “I’ve tasted your honey. Tell me more. What can you do for me?”
I guess I’m one of those successful entrepreneurs. Expert coach and successful businessman for over 10 years now, I figured out 7 years ago how to continuously generate solid buying leads for any kind of business. Right now, I’m working with several local business owners to increase their sales and improve their business by creating a neverending stream of targeted sales leads. And, on top of that, thanks to the Internet and inbound marketing, all of this fits within business budgets that most are already spending:
What’s your return on yellow pages investments?
How many new customers did you get from your last newspaper ad?
What percentage of your website visitors actually paid you money?
Better ROI Than Targeted Sales Leads?
I help business owners who are disturbed about poor return on advertising investments. May I ask you a question? I talk with a lot of business owners. Lately, the two biggest problems I’ve been hearing are too few targeted leads and how to achieve serious business growth in 2011. Do either of these ring true with you?
Why waste sales time on those who are not likely to buy from you? Yea, sure, you’re persuasive and sometimes you close an unwitting prospect. Be truthful, how good a customer has she been? Optimize your conversion rate with cheap targeted sales leads and appreciate how good customers benefit your business.
Connecting with others regardless of proximity is one of the strongest values Social Media brings to the table. My blog may be read in earnest around the world and I appreciate that. LinkedIn has brought business to table with people I’ve not met nor am I likely to meet (e.g., China, India.) Exchanging tweets across the universe is fun and rewarding. So, what is all of this hoopla about Location Based Social Media?
That being said, I do in fact live here, in this specific place, and not only to I reside here, but I shop here, I eat here and I come face-to-face with hundreds of people every week — right here in Minneapolis, MN USA. Most businesses I see do not benefit from ecommerce and shopping carts. Somebody in Afghanistan on the Internet can go to target.com and order a 4-slice toaster; Target will do the currency exchange and ship the toaster to them the next day — everybody wins. On the other hand, my dentist in Plymouth, MN is not likely to benefit from that Afghani shopper. My dentist has a service area outside of which he’s not likely to profit.
Location Based Social Media are the darlings of 2010. New social media platforms, known as Location Based Services, add a contextual layer of movement and proximity to our relationships online and offline. Location Based Services are smartphone applications utilizing GPS to provide information and social networking relevant to our current location. Location Based Social Media are our interfaces to these applications. We are exploring our community online, tracking our friends whereabouts, recent activities, opinions and we shout out to our world where we are and how we want to be found.
What does Location Based Social Media mean to you? ABI Research estimates, “By 2014 global LBS revenues will have surpassed $14 billion.” The more detailed information we have on prospect behavior patterns and social context, the better we find something truly valuable to offer them. We can also provide more specific, directed information based on the location of our best audiences. Location Based Social Media is particularly valuable for brick and mortar store front business who need to drive local traffic to their store, and for anyone promoting an event at a physical venue.
Social Check-in sites enable users to access information about businesses in the local area. At the same time, Social check-in sites encourage users to develop location based relationships with other users, with their other social networks and with local businesses.
Offer incentives to users to check-in and frequent your establishment. Compelling offers bring new customers to your location and build loyalty with your existing customers. Encourage users to check-in on any and all Location Based Social Media. Honor incentives you offer across any Location Based Social Media a user may use.
Listen to your guests! Review sentiment. Comment on posts. Acknowledge Testimonials and Referrals. Most Location Based Social Media have Facebook and Twitter connections that allow your guests to promote your business to their entire social network.
Some Location Based Social Media have search options facilitating keyword and brand term searches. Look for opportunities to promote special offers to users checking in to a nearby locations. Some Location Based Social Media have advertising platforms that enables marketers to purchase advertisements based either on category or location.
Social Review Sites
Social Review sites encourage users to publish online reviews, referrals and Testimonials based on their experiences at restaurants, hotels, shops and wherever you and your business are found in Location Based Social Media. Quality scores can be assigned to each comment based on this user-generated content.
Not all Social Review sites are Location Based Social Media.
Social Review sites are critical for brick-and-mortar business — do not skip your strategy here. Utilize Social Review sites for the free market research they offer — make the changes your customers ask for as appropriate.
Social Review sites enable businesses to publish local business content. Many Social Review sites facilitate offering coupons and discount offers to loyal customers.
Make absolutely certain that your guests remember that you exist on Social Review sites. Ask them for their Testimonial. Acknowledge customers that take time to post the positive reviews. Respond to your negative reviews with tact and consummate professionalism.
Local businesses need to listen closely to what their customers say about you, and respond to their suggestions and complaints.
There is no more effective marketing than Testimonials. Every review, every referral, every comment is a Testimonial to the quality of your business. The more positive Testimonials you accumulate, the greater your authority and credibility in your community.
In real life you cannot please everybody. Everybody cannot be your best customer. Some customers cannot be satisfied. The minority negative review is real life. Occasional dissatisfaction is more believable than saccharin drivel, and builds your online personality.
Social Scheduling Sites
Social Scheduling sites facilitate sharing your “social calendar” with your social networks. Individuals can find out about upcoming events. Networks of people can plan anything from birthday parties to movie dates.
Rather than publishing to the world where you are at at this moment, Social Scheduling sites facilitate sharing where you will be. Like a public calendar, you publish where you’re going, which events you will attend and with whom you are going.
Social Scheduling sites often include comment and review functionality. Other users comment, share information, and they can publish their own intent with a “count-me-in” button.
Social Scheduling sites can facilitate keyword searching, so customers and Location Based Social Media can find out about your events. Any marketing involving conferences, meetups, parties, or other get-togethers will benefit.
Conclusions About Location Based Social Media
Carefully examine the list of Location Based Social Media. Explore the pros and cons. Determine which platforms will best help you communicate with your customers. Marketing Local Business Online demands that you go where your customers are. Be found everywhere they are looking for you.
Listen carefully and learn from your guests. Self-reporting your location has a value in itself. Declaring your current location is more than just a piece of information — your intention is behind it. Suppose you’re in a bar and the name of the place is broadcast to your colleagues. That’s both a statement about where you are and an invitation to others. They can infer about your availability or your willingness to interact socially.
Engage with your guests — communicate — bring something of value to the conversation.
Remember that Location Based Social Media is very new. You are marketing to early adopters with voyeuristic tendencies and enormous digital mouths.
Be genuine. Engage your guests with open arms, a big smile and kind words. Offer them the right incentives at the right time. Your Location Based Social Media community will become your most loyal customers and loudest evangelists. Location Based Social Media is where we’re at.
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses Of Excuses …
Truth be told, all of the excuses listed below I have used myself. Yes, I’m as guilty — perhaps, more guilty because of my vocation — of irregular blog writing as many of you dear readers perusing this post. Writing my Blog is Social Media. For my Blog to be found I must publish. Search Engine Marketing assumes that my online marketing words can be found; therefore, blog writing is essential to my business success.
Knowing that it is human nature to avoid the unknown, those things in life and business that we do not understand, I, too, have procrastinated and equivocated. Today, Labor Day here in the USA, I want to take a few precious minutes to explore the very best, World Class excuses for not sitting down once or twice each week and scribbling to the world why, O why, are we in business?
Without Further Ado, Here Is My Top Ten List Of Blog Writing Excuses:
I don’t have anything to say.
Really? How do you sell anything? What do you want to say to your Best Customer when she’s sitting eyeball-to-eyeball with you? I know that you are passionate about what you offer; and I know that you will have a great deal to say to every eager Prospect ready to buy what you do best. Suppose you said some of this online. Furthermore, suppose somebody new reads your online words. Is it beyond reason that some of them will be influenced by your words, and ask to buy from you? Blog writing is nurturing your relationship with your marketplace.
Nobody wants to read my blog.
Rest assured, everybody is an authority in something — even you. Regardless online or offline, marketing your business requires you to build a relationship with each Prospect, nurture those relationships, and to service those relationships throughout your business life. Every relationship begins with a single conversation. Some will listen, some are not interested — that is the way of business. When you speak to a larger audience, what happens to the number of your listeners? What larger audience opportunity do you have than blog writing?
I don’t like to write.
Do you like to write sales orders? Will you write a proposal for me? How do you feel when you endorse a check? Writing is an extension of what you have to say. When you are comfortable with speaking with great Prospects, the words drip easily from your tongue. Record your best sales presentation. Listen to yourself. How does that story you tell your Customers affect you? Put it down in writing a few hundred words at a time. Tell your story. Your Customers love your story and they’ll read your blog writing.
I don’t have time to write a blog.
OK — time is of the essence. Do you have time to write orders? Do you have time to cash checks? If you find a simple method of attracting eager buyers who come to you to buy what you offer — will you find time to sell to them? Would you rather cold call or be found? I’m betting that when you sharpen your sales tools by honing the persuasive story you tell … I’m betting that blog writing will be well worth your time.
My industry/company does not allow self promotion.
Actually, this can be one of the most challenging hurdles. For example, Financial Services professionals are subject to stringent regulations from the SEC and FINRA, and their broker/dealers and compliance departments may choose to restrict rather than interpret rules. Nonetheless, I find no shortage of commercials advertising one Financial Services provider over another. Find a way to express your personality, your trustworthiness apart from your limited business persona. When was the last time you bought from somebody you didn’t like? Blog writing is telling your story.
I’m afraid I’ll lose my privacy.
Yes, it’s true. Those words you publish online are likely to live forever — and I do mean longer than your human life. You are a professional, and I’m asking you to keep professionalism in mind while writing your blog. Professionalism with personality … this is what makes your business better. This online universe is forcing us to be better businesses. Step up and be the personality for your business. Make your Customers so excited about you that they advocate for you in public, too!
My customers don’t read blogs.
Really? Are you willing to bet your business on this assumption? Yes, it’s true, some people aren’t online often or ever. However, it’s very easy to demonstrate that millions of people are searching online for what your business offers. Google measures over One Billion online searches each month for products and services that the searchers can find locally. When was the last time you sold to a prospect from the Yellow Pages? One person reading your blog might tell ten people about you — but, only after your blog writing …
My business cannot benefit from a blog.
Are you sure? If you want to be successful in this Online Age, you must step up and be a thought leader. The easier it is for Prospects to choose among competitors the better those competitors have to get to keep playing. Practice makes perfect — we’ve been told this forever. Your Blog is a tool. Blogging gives voice to the marketer inside of you. The more stories you tell, the better and more persuasive they become. Your blog writing shall become an influential book about you and your business.
I’m afraid of bad blog comments.
Blog writing is a subset of Social Media, which, by definition, is social and public. Blogs are most effective as discussions. When readers actively participate, you have engendered a conversation — so much more than a one dimensional monologue. As in real life, you will disagree with some, and some will disagree with you. Focus more on gathering Testimonials, and less on trading widgets and widget services for money, utilizing widgets and widget services as a means to Testimonials. Won’t business be more fulfilling and everybody win?
Blogging Return On Investment is too low.
Granted, measuring Blogging ROI is problematic. Measurement is your salvation. If you do not measure, how can you calculate ROI? If you do not know your ROI, how can you evaluate the value proposition? In this online universe, eager Prospects are already searching for what you offer. If they don’t find you, they will buy from somebody else. When you place your story everywhere they are looking for you, qualified Prospects will come to you. What will it take for you to be found everywhere they are looking for you? Writing your blog ensures your visibility.
Whether you agree with items in this list — or you find this all hogwash — I implore you to comment below. Tell us what you do — or don’t — get from blog writing. We want to understand what it is about blogging that does not work for you or your business. Furthermore, we want you to understand what you do not understand. Share with us — we will listen.
… Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Inbound marketing is the surest and simplest means to filling your sales funnel. Marketing local business online works precisely because it puts local business directly in front of eager buyers. A full sales funnel keeps you busy — profitably busy.
Thirty (30) years ago, we had to be told when a new widget or widget service was available. We blithely went about our daily lives mostly unaware of great new things to come. Inbound marketing wasn’t an option, because consumers had woefully less information easily available to them.
Newspapers, billboards, commercials, telemarketers … they intruded into our lives, then we knew what was available for purchase. We allowed these intrusions because, without them, we remained unaware how honest they had been with us. Many companies took advantage of us in many ways, telling us no more than they wanted us to know.
As we learn to search and find what we want on the Internet — when we want it — we respond less and less to offline media. Tivo is popular, especially allowing us to skip those commercials. Caller ID is ubiquitous, allowing us to skip those telemarketers interrupting dinner. Have you checked out the Sunday Tribune Classifieds recently? I see fewer billboards, and read fewer still. When was the last time you flipped through the yellow pages?
Somebody’s Sales Funnel Is Full
Right this minute … Right here in the Twin Cities … Somebody is on the Internet searching for what you offer. If they don’t find you, they will buy from somebody else.
What will it take for you to be found everywhere they are looking for you? Google reports that billions of people every month are filling sales funnels. How many are in your sales funnel?
Admit it. You, too, tune out intrusive outbound marketing. You have at your fingertips the miracle of searching the Internet Universe for whatever you want, whenever you want it. How do you shop? Do you shop before you are ready to buy? Neither do your customers.
Like you, my 80 year old parents go to the Internet when they are curious. They search the Internet to see if what they imagine is available for purchase. When they find it — surprise! — they may also find that it is available for purchase scant miles away. Have you seen the map? The Local Business Results list local businesses immediately adjacent to that map, showing you exactly how to get to what you want to buy.
How Full Do You Want Your Sales Funnel?
What difference will it make in your life when new customers come to you and they ask to buy from your business? When your best customers shop exactly as you shop, they will search for what you offer, go to one of the businesses listed next to that map in the Local Business Results and buy what they want from a local business.
Would you rather cold call or be found?
Inbound marketing is putting your business directly in the line of fire. Learn your customers well, very well. Anticipate what your best customers type into Google and Bing, and you can place a link to your web page on the Search Engine results page that they will read. Marketing local business online requires you place your link right next to that map. Go to where your best customers are looking for you and your best customers will ask to buy from you.
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”
Marketing Local Business online demands a rigorous understanding of how best to be found when people search the Internet for what you offer. To best understand HOW people search for what you offer, it is necessary to understand the tools they are using. As I write this, Web Search Engines stand head-and-shoulders above other search tools; and Google dominates all Search Engines with more than 80% Search Engine marketshare.
Before we can understand Search Engine Marketing (SEM,) we must have a working relationship with Search Engine mechanics. Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is predicated on creating content that people want to find in a way that the Search Engines will notice and catalog and make readily findable by those hungry seekers.
What is a Search Engine?
A search engine is a tool used to find interesting information in a database. In recent times, such search tools are computerized. In its simplest form, the electronic card catalog at your public library is a search engine.
Although search engine is a general class of computer programs, the term is often used to specifically describe systems like Google, Yahoo! and Bing that enable users to search online media, the World Wide Web and Usenet newsgroups.
What is a Web Search Engine?
A Web Search Engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web. Web Search Engines work by storing information from billions of web pages, which they gather from the web page code.
Web page contents are gathered by a Web crawler, or spider — an automated Web browser that reads every line of code in every web page, and follows every link on each page. Contents of each page are analyzed to determine how to index it for later retrieval. The index allows information to be found quickly.
Three essential features of Search Engines are:
crawling,
indexing, and
searching.
Search Engines evolved from Internet Directories
Archie [1990], “archive” without the “v,” was the first tool searching the Internet. Archie downloaded directory listings, not contents, of all files located on public FTP sites.
Gopher [1991] combined document hierarchies with collections of services and gateways to other information systems.
W3Catalog [1993] was the first primitive Search Engine, periodically mirroring numerous specialized catalogues.
World Wide Web Wanderer [1993] was the first web robot and generated an index called ‘Wandex’.
Aliweb [1993] was manually notified by web site administrators of an index file at each site.
JumpStation [1993] used a web robot to find and index web pages, and used a web form interface as its query program.
WebCrawler [1994] allowed users to search for any word in any web page, which is now the Search Engine standard.
Lycos [1994] was one of the first Search Engines with a for-profit business model, followed closely by: Magellan, Excite, Infoseek, Inktomi, Northern Light and AltaVista.
Yahoo! [1994] founders David Filo and Jerry Yang, Ph.D. candidates at Stanford University, started their guide as a way to track their personal interests on the Internet.
Google [1996] began as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, at Stanford working on the Stanford Digital Library Project (SDLP). Google’s first funding was secured in August 1998 in the form of a $100,000 USD contribution given to a corporation which did not yet exist.
Microsoft [2004] began a transition to its own search technology, powered by its own web crawler (called msnbot). Microsoft’s rebranded search engine, Bing, was launched on June 1, 2009.
On July 29, 2009, Yahoo! and Microsoft finalized a deal in which Yahoo! Search would be powered by Microsoft Bing technology.
How do Search Engines make money?
In 1996, Netscape sought a single featured search engine for their innovative web browser. Five Search Engines paid $5 million each to be in a rotation on the Netscape search engine page: Yahoo!, Magellan, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite. Today, most Search Engines are commercial ventures supported by advertising revenue.
Some Search Engines allow advertisers to pay money to have their listings ranked higher in search results.
Other Search Engines seek to categorize and prioritize web pages by measures of intrinsic value and make money by running search related ads alongside regular search engine results. Such Search Engines make money every time someone clicks on one of these ads (Pay-Per-Click.)
How do Search Engines differ from Directories?
Historically, Yahoo! was among the most popular ways for people to find web pages of interest, but it operated on its web directory, contents of which were submitted by web site administrators. Web directories are databases of human-compiled results, also known as human-powered search engines.
Unlike web directories maintained by human editors, Search Engines operate on algorithms, or are a mixture of algorithmic and human input. Search Engines automatically create web page listings by using spiders that “crawl” web pages, index their information, and follow each page’s links to other web pages.
Spiders return to previously crawled sites on a regular basis to update web page changes. Everything that these spiders gather is entered into the Search Engine database.
How do I use a Search Engine?
Major Search Engines include a simple dialog box into which you type a word or phrase, and a Search submit button to begin the search.
A Keyword is this word or phrase of words in this simplest sense.
Most Search Engines support using Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT to further refine search queries. Boolean searching on the Internet may manifest in three ways:
Full Boolean logic with the use of the logical operators (rare)
Implied Boolean logic with keyword searching (typed symbols)
Boolean logic using search form terminology (multiple form entries)
When a user submits a query, the Search Engine compares it to its index and returns a listing of web page information, usually with a short summary containing page title and part of its content. Some Search Engines support natural language queries that allow the user to type a question in the same form you would ask it of a human.
What is a Search Engine Result Page?
A Search Engine results page (SERP), is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The SERP typically lists web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page.
SERP’s of the major Search Engines may include different types of listings: contextual, algorithmic or organic search listings, sponsored listings (PPC,) images, maps, definitions, videos and suggested search refinements. Major Search Engines visually differentiate specific content types, such as images, news, blogs and sponsored links.
Each SERP also includes navigation to subsequent and/or previous SERP’s, possible search suggestions or refinements, suggested similar searches, and back to begin a new search.
How do Search Engines sequence results?
Initially, web site administrators manually submitted their web site information to be included in Web directories, often for a fee. Often as part of their business model, these “search engines” featured these sponsoring web sites according to the amount of fees collected.
By 2000, the Google Search Engine was gaining popularity among searchers because it achieved more relevant results with an innovation called PageRank. Google developed an algorithm to rank web pages based on the number, trust and authority of other web pages that link back to them. Google’s premise is that good and desirable web pages are linked back to more than less desirable web pages.
Now, major Search Engines operate similarly.
How each Search Engine decides which pages match best and in what order varies widely from one engine to another. The methods also change over time as Internet usage changes and new techniques evolve.
What is an algorithm?
An ‘algorithm’ is an effective method for solving a problem expressed as a finite sequence of instructions. Each algorithm is a list of well-defined instructions for completing a task. In computer science, a search algorithm is an algorithm for finding an item with specified properties among a collection of items.
There are also many algorithms designed specifically for retrieval in very large databases, such as bank account records, electronic documents, product catalogs, fingerprint and image databases, and so on.
Each Search Engine uses a proprietary algorithm to index and return only meaningful results for each search query. The index is built from the information stored with the data and the method by which the information is indexed.
While millions of web pages may include a particular keyword, some pages are more relevant, popular, and authoritative than others. Search Engine usefulness depends on the relevance of the results it returns on each search query.
Who are Search Engine customers?
Major Search Engine business models are for-profit.
Each SERP has a clearly defined topic and targeted theme. Money comes from paid advertisements strategically placed on each SERP. Each ad includes a Web link to the advertiser’s web page. Advertisers pay for these ads to attract people searching for particular keywords.
No search engine has control over the content of the universe of web pages. The better a Search Engine responds to each search, the more money that Search Engine is likely to make.
These Web searchers are becoming more sophisticated everyday. Everyday, more and more people search the Internet to find and buy more and more.
It stands to reason that Search Engines will continuously hone their search algorithms to continuously improve profitability.
What is a Search Engine? Perhaps, it is the key to your Local Business prosperity …
It’s no longer enough to sit back and wait for new customers to come to your Local Business. Fact is, in these times, your customers are more sophisticated than ever. Barraged with thousands of Buy-Me messages everyday, they are determined to find for themselves true value. They are not waiting around for your message; but, they are seeking what they want to buy on the Internet.
Therefore, Marketing Local Business online is your new imperative. Now that you understand Search Engines, how they work and who uses them for what, it is time for you to seize the day. Use the Search Engines to market your Local Business. Put yourself in front of your customers. Take the initiative.
Be found!
Eager customers are looking for you in the Search Engine …
