So, you have a business and you’ve finally taken it online. Everything is ready to go. The website is up and looking to win a trophy! Forms are working and email, too. You hired an extra hand to answer the phone and greet newcomers in your door. All your best features and advantages are bulleted and bold. You spent a load on all of this, including that SEO guy who said all you’ll ever need is 1st place on Google.
But, where are the new customers? Everybody everywhere promised you, Build it and they will come! Yes, it’s true, you’re really Google numero uno for a keyword you wanted. And, it’s also true that you’re getting a bunch of online visitors showing up on your homepage, at least for a couple seconds. What more can you expect? Darn it! Where are your new customers? Is this Internet marketing thingy all hogwash, only a cruel hoax, a costly scam?
Nobody seems interested in your website or your business or what you have to offer. Sure, you have the gosh darned prettiest website in the world — you shelled out lots to make that happen! You have pages of content full of information about your products and, yet, your website fails to make sales. Where, then, have you gone wrong? Marketing your business online is critical for any business, small or big. Unless you tell the world about it, until you are found, how is anyone supposed to know?
Targeted Leads Come From Marketing Your Business Online
How you market online is key to filling your sales funnel with targeted leads that convert to great new customers. The Internet has not so much changed marketing as it has transformed the way we consume. 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. Therefore, anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer and, when they search, everywhere they look you are there. Ergo, it’s crucial that your business is found on the search engines; but, that’s more a factor of what they type than what you want them to type.
Once you’re found by eager buyers searching for you — what then? Think about your own searches and buying patterns. Suppose you search for a four-slice toaster. Google, for example, presents a search result page with ten “organic” results. Each of these includes a headline of up to 60 bold characters followed by a description of up to 160 characters. Has that ever sold you then and there? Of course not! You start at the top, numero uno, and decide among the ten which to click and follow the link. Follow that link — whither? If it takes you to my homepage and you need to search again for four-slice toasters, how likely are you to continue and buy from me? Rich, rewarding and relevant content remains king. When I give you exactly what you expect after following my link, are you more or less likely to become my customer?
Make Marketing Your Business Online Drop Dead Simple
Once I’ve got you, targeted lead, on my site and you find what you’re looking to buy, how can I make it drop dead simple for you to buy from me? If you are confused, if you don’t instinctively know what to do next, if I don’t simply ask you to take that next step, what’s to keep you from simply slipping away? At this point, marketing your business online draws a play from the age old offline playbook. Conversion is a function of your Call-To-Action, plain and simple. Once you’ve found what you want and I make it simpler to follow my yellow brick road than wander off into the jungle, this is where great new customers are made.
Marketing your business online is about four decisive factors:
Targeted Leads
Relevant Content
Call-To-Action
Conversion
Marketing Your Business Online Is An Opportunity
Once you know your buyer personae, it’s easy to give them what they want. Follow relevant, compelling content with a simple and clear request, whether that be call me, come in for a demonstration or sign-up for our newsletter. If marketing is about relationships and every relationship begins with a single conversation, then conversion is more about continuing a good conversation with a great new customer. Marketing your business online is about the opportunity for unlimited conversations.
Call Now Answer Marketing Your Business Online Question: 612-235-6060
Are you a small business owner? Do you want to see a lot more customers coming to you in 2011? Certainly, every business owner I’ve met answers these in the affirmative! What’s your plan to grow your business with great new customers?
Clearly, every new customer is a function of new leads in your sales funnel — we know this as conversion. And, every new sales lead is a subset of the number of eager buyers shopping for what you offer who are exposed to your business — we know this as marketing. Admit it, the numbers of people exposed to your business depends on marketing strategy, tactics, advertising, etc. Times change and so has effectiveness of traditional marketing tactics and offline advertising. Whereas, telemarketing, yellow pages, newspaper ads and other previously effective tactics are seriously lame today, online marketing for small business produces more targeted sales leads everyday.
Don’t Ignore Online Marketing For Small Business
Most small business owners ignore online marketing, because they don’t understand how the Internet has dramatically changed consumers. Furthermore, many unwary businesses have been duped into costly schemes to fool Google and other search engines. Have you been duped into believing that #1 on Google first page or a million website visitors in a month are ends in themselves? How do they add to your bottom line? Here’s a clue: work both of them into a business plan, pass it on to your banker and ask for a business loan. Point is, show your banker a plan to get more targeted sales leads calling you on the phone and then they’ll talk money. Google itself and random website visitors do absolutely nothing to grow your business.
Fortunately for you, this Internet thingy has totally changed the way we consume! No longer flipping through yellow pages or browsing the Sunday Trib classifieds, eager buyers shopping for what you offer are on the Internet right this second searching for you. Every time they search they receive a search results page. If you’re not on that page, they will buy from somebody else. Online marketing for small business has one goal: everywhere they search they find you there.
Affordable Online Marketing For Small Business
Fact is, effectively marketing your business is now possible with any realistic budget:
Email marketing has long been the favorite of Internet marketers, perhaps because it’s the online equivalent to direct marketing. Done right, instead of intruding in the Inbox, you ask and they grant you permission to nurture them and keep them informed with current and relevant information. Keeping permission marketing foremost in your mind, think of events, specials and successes that you’d appreciate knowing about your favorite vendors. Your customers and prospects will appreciate the same about you.
Online articles are another great way to increase awareness of you, your business and, especially, those special things you do that benefit your customers. Do you remember fondly thumbing through a magazine, reading interesting articles and clipping some articles so you can refer back to them later? The Internet is several magnitudes greater than any paper magazine. This very minute somebody is reading an article about your product and service and today she’ll bookmark it and maybe tell her friends about it. Have you ever tried to find a article in a magazine you threw out a long time ago? That won’t happen online, because it’s always available to be found, 24/7, 365 days a year.
Social media is all about family, friends and vacation pictures — right? No. It, too, can be tremendously effective in putting your business in front of eager buyers. Facebook membership alone is the third largest country in the world: China, India, Facebook, USA … In 2010 it’s been reported that the largest growing Facebook demographic is middle aged women. Again, keep in mind how online marketing for small business is primarily about developing relationships with your marketplace. What better way to start a conversation with a new prospect than at a huge party? Facebook, for example, is a neverending party of friends, family and coworkers, and they’re all talking about what’s on their minds. Strike a positive chord with just one, and they’ll tell somebody about you, and on and on.
Follow Online Marketing For Small Business To Success
Online marketing is about branding. The more people recognize your personal name, your business name and your place in the community, the more likely that one of them converts into a customer. Notice how we haven’t mentioned traditional advertising agencies and TV commercial production crews — the prohibitive prices of traditional marketing simply are not necessary online. It’s more about leaving thousands and thousands of bread crumbs from your business throughout the Internet. Whenever some eager buyer happens on one crumb while shopping for what you offer, Hansel and Gretel will follow the trail to your door. Like all marketing, the only goal of online marketing for small business is to create customers.
Call Now Answer Your Online Marketing For Small Business Question: 612-235-6060
In this world we live in today there are tremendous opportunities to market your business online. It can be very confusing to navigate this online world and make sound decisions that maximize the value of your marketing efforts. To help you solve these struggles, below are several ideas to take away and implement right away to bring you more success.
Social Media Enhances Marketing Your Business Online
Social media is all the rage lately, and for good reason. Today Facebook is the third largest nation in the world with 500 million users: China, India, Facebook then the United States. It’s one of the best places to expose your business. Facebook makes this easy through the creation of Facebook Pages where visitors looking for more information about your business can find you. Setting up your business Page is simple and can be finished in a matter of minutes.
Twitter has created a massive audience that is quickly growing to 200 million users. It’s becoming one of the first sites people visit when they log onto the Internet. Not only are people reading other people’s messages for personal amusement, but they conduct searches to discover new businesses and new products.
These are two of many different online media available for marketing your business online. This interaction with your customers will benefit your company by highlighting concerns where you can respond immediately. You can put out fires when they’re only smoking, before they grow into a real problem.
Understand Your Customer To Solve Their Problems
While ideas of creating the next Chia pet might seem like a good idea, they don’t solve anyone’s problems. The best way to grow your business is to focus on a niche audience and solve their real world problems. Once you have discovered their problems, you deliver products that are truly needed. Through social media in which those niches participate, time spent marketing your business online will return profit.
Marketing Your Business Online Is A Story
Your “story” is more than a buzz word when it comes to marketing your business online. Consumers are quick to ignore pitches and fake product reviews. They will listen intently to a story from a user and how they used a product to solve a problem. You know how good you are eyeball-to-eyeball with prospects — your story should be specific and related to directly to your prospect’s need. Online, too, this builds trust in people for you and your business. Build on your relationships with customers through your social media efforts.
Online Marketing Demands You Listen Then Engage
Listening to your customers’ conversations about your business and your competitors is extremely important. If customers talk about you in social media, no response to their requests and problems will adversely affect your business popularity. Customers demand to be heard more than ever! Listen carefully to what is said, then develop a sound response. Rushing to conclusion is never a good idea and further confuses the marketplace.
There are many other ways you can market your business online effectively. These tips will help transform your marketing effort into something modern and effective. Interacting with customers has never been easier than online. Marketing online is far cheaper compared to traditional marketing media.
Marketing Your Business Online Is Where Your Customers Are
It is always best to go where the people are. Right now, eager buyers are shopping online for what you offer. They’re all online waiting to hear what your business has to say. They’re listening for your stories and eager to engage with you. What are you waiting for? Start marketing your business online today.
Today the Internet is an excellent resource that you should use to facilitate operating any small and medium size business. As you know consumers have numerous choices when they are shopping online. Need proof? Go to Google.com, type “plumber” in the box and click Search. Right now, at the top of the results on my computer, Google tells me that there are 11,200,000 pages on the Internet about the word plumber.
How do you expect eager buyers shopping for what you offer to find you, to contact you and to buy from you? Out of all those web pages, only one can be ranked number one. Only a small number of links can exist on that first search results page, including organic, paid and local business results.
Effective online marketing results identify targeted sales leads and direct them to your website. Why do you care about the mother looking for Pampers if you’re selling cars? When you don’t know how this works it can end up costing a lot of money and time. How much can you afford?
Continue reading for some tips about how to improve your return on advertising investment. When your sales funnel is full of targeted sales leads you’ll be working full time closing deals with buyers eager to do business with you.
Targeted Sales Leads Cannot Be Bought
Never buy sales leads. There is no way to guarantee that a sales leads list is fresh nor how interested they are in your products. Having bought something similar in the past is no gauge of current interest.
The Internet has certainly changed the way we consume. One thing is certain: when we are eager and preparing to buy, the Internet provides us with a plethora of research information about what we seek to buy. Would you rather try to coax people to buy from you, or stand in front of those seeking to buy what you sell?
Establish a schedule and know your place in the sales cycle. Especially if you’re a sole proprietor, time is of the essence. Wearing too many hats (e.g., marketer, salesman, manufacturer and accountant) is the surest way to get nothing profitable done.
Therefore, set sales objectives and schedule time and resources to achieve them. Where are you most effective in your sales cycle? If you plan to search online daily to find potential sales leads, does it make sense that the chief executive does this? Perhaps, you ought to hire a part time worker to get this done.
Search For Targeted Sales Leads
Search for targeted sales leads in your niche market. Everybody is an authority in something. Isn’t that why you’re in the business you’re in? Your business sells a specific product or specific service. Identify the one or two key buyer personae for each product and service.
Who are they? Why do they want your product? Why do they need your service? What is their specific problem? What do you offer that will benefit them?
Once identified, anticipate where they are and how they will seek you out when they’re eager to buy. Be found there where they’re looking. Ask them to call you, come in your front door or request further information online. Just imagine how easy it will be for them to ask for your help. How easy will that be to earn your profit?
Convert Targeted Sales Leads To Great Customers
Think about purchasing a software application to keep track of your sales cycle. Think about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software as a dutiful assistant whose sole job is to prompt you every step of the way to converting targeted sales leads into satisfied customers. Once your online marketing is filling your sales funnel, you cannot afford to let any slippery leads get away.
Yes, you have to research online to find your target market. CRM software can simplify and reduce this work. The key to getting a great start is know who are already your very best customers. Which of your customers, if you had ten more just like them, would seat you in the lap of luxury for the foreseeable future? Why don’t you have ten more just like that one? What are you afraid of?
Don’t Fear Targeted Sales Leads
Don’t be afraid to talk to you best customers. Ask them, Why did you buy from us? Why do you come back to us and buy more? Answers to these questions will put flesh on the bones of your buyer personae skeletons you sketched earlier. Once you understand who benefits most buying from you, anticipate where they are and where they will shop when they’re eager to buy.
New sales leads are the crème of every business. Knowing the demand for your product is essential to be able to generate sales leads. It is a known fact that businesses survive and flourish on sales. New sales leads are the oxygen business breathes. How do you anticipate those shopping for what you offer?
Market Research Discovers New Sales Leads
Every business irrespective of size and type must conduct thorough market research about your industry. Perceiving the attributes of your market equips you with intricate details about it. Understanding the exact requirements and wants of your customers helps you serve them better. Once you see and know your buyer personae, tell your business story to the right people and new sales leads will come to you.
New Sales Leads Are Also Aware Of Your Competition
Market research also provides competitive analytics. With this information you can understand where to reposition your brand to achieve a competitive edge over your competition that will generate new sales leads. What do you have that benefits your customers more than what your competition offers?
Marketing To New Sales Leads
Communicating your main benefits to your customers is of utmost importance. To explain this better, let’s look closely at the 4 P’s of Marketing:
Product — As explained earlier, knowing about the market dynamics equips you with diverse knowledge and helps you to position your product and service everywhere consumers are shopping for it. Redevelopment and re-engineering of your product in light of consumer demand is necessary to capture new sales leads. Furthermore, to induce repeat sales and referrals, give your customers reason to come back for more.
Price — The price of your offering should reflect its value to your customers. Setting high prices without commensurate value will simply drive customers away. Even selling premium products, keep the high price in line with the perceived benefits. This not only attracts the cream crowd but also substantially increase your revenues. Truth be told, new sales leads are less concerned with price and more with what’s in it for them.
Place — This is the location where you sell your offering, the distribution channel. Again make sure that your business is convenient to your customers and reduce their effort to the minimum. Your distribution system must be devoid of middle men. Proper replenishment of stock is necessary to avoid customer dissatisfaction and keep up with demand. New sales leads benefit from you being at the right time and place.
Promotion — Perhaps, the most important aspect of generating new sales leads is your communication strategy. Based on your audience and product, marketing communications should nurture relationships. Whether you’re advertising or promoting sales, your desired result is to anticipate eager buyers shopping for what you offer. For example, during a sales lull, offering discounts and incentives will continue your revenue stream and keep customers interested in you, your business and your products.
How Do You Benefit New Sales Leads?
Generating new sales leads is a must for every business to survive in today’s cut-throat competitive world. Although it may seem more of an art than a science, knowing the benefits your best customers seek is a sure way to garner new sales leads.
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!
“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 …
“… a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market. Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.”
How have new customers found you in recent months?
Today, people find out about your Local Business in two main ways:
Word-of-Mouth depends on the good will of existing customers. How would you like people publishing Word-of-Mouth recommendations online? Why not spend zero dollars marketing your Local Business?
What is Outbound Marketing?
In traditional outbound marketing companies focus on finding customers through:
Building brand awareness,
Advertising, and
Promotion
Outbound Marketing includes:
Focus on your product / service (advertising & promotions),
Focus on your transaction (sales),
Focus on your business (public & media relations),
Focus on your post-sales support (customer service), and
Focus on your customer after-the-fact (customer satisfaction)
Everyday, a typical consumer is overwhelmed with over 2000 outbound marketing interruptions!
They have become quite creative in blocking these interruptions, including:
Caller id,
Spam filtering,
Tivo, and
Satellite radio
Customers need to find a very good reason to visit your Local Business.
Marketing Local Business online is quite a challenge!
What is Permission Marketing?
Alternatives to intrusive and increasingly ineffective outbound marketing are based on what Seth Godin calls Permission Marketing:
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them …”
“It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.”
For the business to engage the prospect, the prospective customer must grant either:
Explicit Permission (e.g., request email or catalog), or
Implicit Permission (e.g., follow a search engine result link)
Furthermore, Godin says:
“In order to get permission, you make a promise. You say, ‘I will do x, y and z, I hope you will give me permission by listening.’ And then, this is the hard part, that’s all you do. You don’t assume you can do more.”
What is Inbound Marketing?
Google reports more than 1 Billion searches each month for local products and local services.
Fully qualified prospects are already looking for products and services in your industry. Inbound Marketing is when customers call you to:
Make appointments,
Purchase products, or
Gain information
When customers find you and like you, you can get business from them, from their friends and from their family.
“Home delivery is the milkman’s revenge… it’s the essence of permission,”
Godin says.
Online Marketing is starting to make more sense …
What comprises Inbound Marketing?
Rick Burnes suggested an intertwined relationship between three main components of Inbound Marketing:
Inbound Marketing Content
Content is the substance of Inbound Marketing.
Content is the information that attracts prospects to your Local Business.
Content includes the Call To Action that converts prospects into customers.
If people don’t know you exist, how are you going to do business?
SEO makes it possible for potential customers to find your content.
Marketing Local Business online must include both Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and SEO if you want your Local Business found.
Inbound Marketing Social Media
Social Media amplifies the impact of your content.
Widely distributed content will be discussed.
Socialized content taken seriously becomes authentic.
There is more trust when a person has a choice.
Social Media have two sides:
What you say about your business
What others say about your business
Why Inbound Marketing?
Inbound Marketing has high Value
Cost less than buying ads, PPC, mailing lists, print, etc.
Blogs and Twitter accounts are free to start
Higher Return on Investment (ROI)
Inbound Marketing is Effective
Targeting specific markets is easier
Prospects qualify themselves
Pre-sold customers search, find you and ask to buy
Inbound Marketing has great Timing
Prospects search for you
Searching prospects are considering a purchase now
Prospects considering a purchase are more receptive to your message
Godin remarks,
“One of the key drivers of permission marketing, in addition to the scarcity of attention, is the extraordinarily low cost of dripping to people who want to hear from you.”
What are Prerequisites to Inbound Marketing?
You need to do your homework and fully understand those looking to buy what your Local Business offers.
Your Market analysis includes:
What groups of customers exist? (markets)
Which customer groups do you prefer to serve? (target markets)
What do they need?
How do their needs change? (market trends)
How do they use these products and services?
What price are they willing to pay?
How do they want to receive what they buy? (distribution)
What do you offer that meets those needs?
Who are your competitors?
What are your competitors doing about your target market?
Exactly how are your customers searching for what you offer? It’s not enough to know how you describe your offering. What matters most are the exact words prospects use to search for it.
Simply make it easy for potential customers to find your Local Business.
“The Internet means you can treat different people differently, and it demands that you figure out how to let your permission base choose what they hear and in what format,”
instructs Godin.
How is Inbound Marketing Done?
Setup your web site to attract visitors naturally through:
Search Engines,
the Blogosphere, and
Social Media sites
Don’t forget your Call To Action to convert visitors once they arrive on your web page!
The Inbound Marketing process is straightforward:
You provide content of interest to people wanting to learn or know something.
You share similar content from other people who do the same.
Interested readers come to see you as an authority in your field.
When somebody considers a purchase related to your expertise, they will come to you.
Inbound Marketing is like Word-of-Mouth with people passing recommendations online.
Seth Godin sums it up like this:
“Real permission works like this: if you stop showing up, people complain, they ask where you went.”
Marketing Local Business Online Is Inbound Marketing
“Marketing is a system the sole purpose of which is to communicate with the marketplace.”
Marketing, then, is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. The Marketing concept becomes a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all Business activities. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.
Let’s look not only at identifying customer needs, but also to satisfying them and anticipating them in the future. The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price …
In that same spirit, Internet Marketing is a relationship between Business and customers and prospects that takes place in Internet Media, such as Search Engines and Web Pages.
Furthermore, Online Marketing is a relationship between Business and customers and prospects that takes place in Online Media, including Email, Mobile Phones and Internet.
As you recall, a Marketing Relationship is a specific conversation between Business and a market.
Therefore, Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects that take place in the New Media of today, and New Media of the future.
Internet and Online Marketing are relationships between Business and customers and prospects — the only difference between these relationships and other Marketing processes is the Medium!
What, then, is the Opportunity and the Potential offered by this unique Marketing Medium? Let’s compare and contrast:
If a Medium has a continuously shrinking Market, the potential for doing Business in that Medium approaches zero.
If a Medium has a continuously growing Market, the potential for doing Business in that Medium approaches infinity.
This, then, is the crux of everything we have to discuss in this and subsequent conversations.
If you want to grow your Local Business, you must participate in the largest and fastest growing Markets for what you offer.
If Business is not communicating with a continuously growing Market there can be no relationship with that Market and little or no Business comes from that Market.
What Relationships do you want with your Market?
Over 1 Billion Local Searches are performed every month on the Internet …
… if your Customers do not find you, from whom will they buy ???
The Internet is one of the largest and fastest growing markets in the known Universe. Ecommerce and multinational companies have created extraordinary fortunes based solely on Internet Marketing. Local Internet Marketing for small Business is quite a different animal, as we will discuss in subsequent conversations.
To learn more about Internet, Money and your Local Business browse our Web Site and see if our ideas work for you and your Local Business. Look for our further conversations and Brilliant Ideas About Internet and Money !!!
Marketing Local Business Online Is Internet Marketing
