There seems to be general confusion about what small businesses really need to do to get ahead with their online traffic-building and marketing (e.g. Twitter, keywords, tags, inbound links, cross links, paying for directory listings to gain traffic, Adwords, ad infinitum). Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and try to jump the horse before making him trot. I’ve done my searches on empty titles {Page Title} and found so many websites built by newbies and small businesses on a shoestring. Yes, I have seen pink text on a BRIGHT blue background and grey text on a black background, but what I’m interested in is how focussed you are on yourselves. Shame on you.

The boys over at FutureNow Inc have more tools, webinars, and reports than the average marketer, and they also don’t mind giving them away. One great tool I’ve found is the ‘We We tool’ - it interprets how many we’s you are using compared to how many you’s. Is your spiel all about yourself, or is it client/customer focussed? Try it out here… if you dare.

Another fascinating read to help cut the crud from your SEO and marketing is Copyblogger.com. The latest blog is ‘How to Write Copy for Short Attention Spans‘. You will notice several different writers’ advice on copyblogger, all of excellent quality… hence their popularity.

But What About Social Media — the New Phenomenon?
At every second turn someone is promoting an event to help businesses learn social media networking. Just here in Brisbane we have had two lately, and another on 27 May with Interactive Minds about Using Twitter. Then there is the Social Media Success Summit (all online), which kicks off 26 May.

You might have considered using Twitter yourself. Find out if it is really valuable in this article. Some very localised businesses would not suit that style of marketing, especially one where you do everything yourself! Remember, you can only do so much. And with that advice, off I go to enjoy the rest of my day as a Mum instead of a SEO copywriter with ADD.

Technorati Tags: copywriting, SEO, social media, traffic building

Some Small Business Entrepreneurs find it tough in this economy…

In a 2008 Micro Business survey by Flying Solo, 44% of participants said the biggest challenge they faced was finding enough clients/customers. Wouldn’t it be good if that was made a little easier and less expensive?  Business people need marketing that gets results, and that is what I have been studying for years.

While 85% of respondents found clients through word-of-mouth, 31.9% found customers through their website, 32.8% through other business partnerships, and 27.4% through social networking and forums. Cold calling ranked way down at 15%…  eye-opening figures for sure. Perhaps we should not be afraid to try new marketing mediums, especially low cost ones.

Many advertising salespeople out there are getting desperate… because things are changing. Businesses of all sizes are taking some budget away from traditional print, radio, and TV, and focussing more online, with the aim of creating ‘touch-points’ with customers. This means the organisation is visible and even interacts with the customer where they are having fun, sharing and communicating – like in a virtual community or social network.

Most of us know how important it is to make our websites search engine optimised. Amazingly, only 18% of the 1411 participants had their website SEO working satisfactorily, with a large proportion having done no SEO at all. Search Engine Optimisation is one of those things that can be done with zero budget if you have the right knowledge, and I explain how in my new guide. It is befuddling to me that something that can attract customers naturally is not even being done by the majority. 

How hard is it to be exceptional on the internet in 2009? It’s not hard, if you have a roadmap.

In the Small Business/Entrepreneur’s Guide to Digital Marketing on a Shoestring, you will be given the knowledge to market and test it all yourself, or get the help should you need it, all online. Over the past 15 years, I have witnessed all the hoopla surrounding new marketing methods. So I know that what every business person needs is a PRACTICAL and SIMPLE guide – with links to further training for the advanced players. Go over to Power of Words to download.

 

Technorati Tags: internet marketing, small business marketing, social networking

From the dawn of time mankind has been telling and hearing stories. Greek epics are thought to be among the earliest lengthy stories written.  Incidentally, the movie “Troy” was based loosely on Homer’s “The Iliad” narrative. Similarly, art and music are also ancient cultural pastimes of man. Stories, art and music uplift the soul and expand the imagination. Nothing much as changed in that regard.

 

Why are digital cameras so popular?  So we can record our friends, family’s and our own smiling faces and places, and share the stories later.  With DV cameras and editing software we can record our own mini-stories. 

 

And the one that always baffles my man, why are daytime soaps so popular?  Perhaps because they are a never-ending story about characters which viewers come to know intimately. In this imaginary world relationships are at the epicenter (and not work and money).

 

Everyone likes stories. With blogging or journaling, we can write our own daily stories, to express ourselves or to share. Or for the more serious set, a good ‘doco’ will take you on a path that is one perspective of a subject, with a storyteller, and is usually a story in itself.  Fictional narrative, however, remains the most common form of visual entertainment today.

 

So, why do so many marketers and business managers decide that their product or service will sell with mere facts!  Figures and features do not get our blood pumping and our minds expanding, unless we already know the direct relevance that has to our lives.  The mind is a fast converter of information and the reader is constantly assessing, “blah blah, but what does all this mean to me?”

 

What if you bypassed this critical assessment with a good story?  How many times have you started reading a column about someone’s weight loss/sob story/rags to riches, only to find out halfway through it was an advertorial?  They had you till you saw the reply coupon or advertisement caption right?  What if there was no obvious selling message on the page at all to jar you… yes, yes, but how does this sell the product?

 

Stories help to sell. Useful information helps to sell. Imagery (pretty pictures) helps to sell. So why not use all three aspects?  The compelling story and picture of a person who has had their life changed by this new something draws the reader in. You list a number to call or a URL. Then once they go to your website, sign up for your newsletter or get on the phone, you can give them some useful ideas as to how your product/service can benefit their lives, and list its many applications.  Infomercials have been doing it successfully for years.

 

What about all this talk of media convergence?  There is technology available now where you can record all of your favorite TV programs on a hard drive and the ads will be edited out. Scary for TV advertisers?  I hope so. Except for fast-moving consumer goods, you need to have a two-way interaction, at the consumer’s convenience, in order to make a sale. Brand recognition only goes so far. 

 

Making the most of changes to media usage doesn’t just mean advertising in a different medium (e.g. putting banner ads on the web). It means realizing that people are searching for entertainment, for the story, so give ’em the story! 

 

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing, media

Making Money through the Internet

Thoughts by Matt Freedman, Edited by Jennifer Lancaster

 

To be a successful netrepreneur, you need a solid business idea – and use business principles. Get rich quick schemes don’t stay around for long.

 

Ideas come from innovation – a new way to look at things or a useful solution for a common problem.

 

Ways to generate income online:

 

-          Website as a marketing lead of your offline product/service

-          Subscription-based model. Getting people to join your website and pay annual or monthly subscription.

-          Advertising model. People pay to list advertise on your website.

-          Transaction model – Paypal or Ebay. It takes a small proportion of every transaction.

 

With subscription, you need a large number of people, and you need to offer up to ten times the value for your monthly rate. Market hard and email a lot to get off the ground.

 

With the transaction model there is a smaller entry and so it is easier to gain business. You need to provide something useful on the site. Sticky Tickets, ebay or Paypal make a very small amount on thousands of transactions.

 

Google and Myspace and smaller organisations use the advertising model. The more traffic to your site, the more people will take up an offer and generate more income for you.

 

The subscription model is the hardest of these three paths to go down.

 

Determine which business model will fit your idea. Then you need to develop and further plan your idea. How will you make the model work? What are you going to charge? What clients will advertise? What menu items would appeal?

 

When you have determined your clear direction for your website, you’ll probably need to hire people, unless you’re quite technical. Then you will need a website designer, a business analyst to help with work flow, and a business to process orders/fulfilment of product, and coders (developers) to build the backend of the website. You need to determine their success, testimonials, follow through, and have shared belief about your own vision.

 

Most people fail in online business because they think it is going to happen overnight. Explosive growth from the get-go is very rare. It is going to take time to build up business. It could take anywhere from 3 months to three years of trial and error to gain the momentum for success.

 

(Edited from an audio of Matt Freedman, a successful Internet Entrepreneur who founded Sticky Tickets). 

www.mattfreedman.com.au

Technorati Tags: entrepreneurs, internet marketing, making money online, netrepreneurs

First of all, let’s look at why people purchase:

 

1)                    They have a problem or need, and the product meets their needs

2)                    They have trust in you, your brand or offering

3)                    The timing is right – they want it now

 

Delivering quality content will ensure that your readers begin to trust you for your niche expertise, and this trust eventually leads to SALES.  You are overcoming their understandable doubts over dealing with an unknown business, by developing this ongoing relationship. Offering free and helpful advice is also key to developing trust in the reader.

 

Your clients receiving this regular reminder of your services will also bring in more sales - and more profits, since you didn’t have to pay again to acquire them.

 

Your regular ezine creates a long-term communication channel between your business and the prospect/client. As long as they have given their permission to be emailed (opted in or past client), and you provide an unsubscribe link at the foot of the email, this mailing is not considered “spam”.

 

Then, when the time is right for them, the person or brand who comes to mind will be the one that provided the best information and fulfillment of that particular need.

 

Marketing your ezine is a low-cost way to grow your business. To your subscribers, your business is only a click or a call away, and curiosity may soon overwhelm them to contact you.

 

Ezines are an interactive process.  You can easily conduct surveys and also test which articles are more popular. A survey allows you to collect some demographics for more targeted marketing, and you could provide a small prize or discount offer in return. 

 

Ezines can easily drive traffic to your website, and links can zero into what you want to show them. These clicks can be tracked.

 

Instead of gambling a lot of marketing dollars on advertising a new product, you can market test an ad for a new widget or new idea for service in your regular ezine, and check response rates.  Email is free, whereas mailouts and print advertising are most definitely not.

 

Once established, you can if you wish include third-party advertisements in your ezine, and advertisers will pay you for this. 

 

 

But How Do I Create an Ezine?

 

To create a successful ezine, it must be unique, targeted, relevant and concise. To grow your reputation, it must also be well written. Since ezines are now freely available for people to pick and choose, yours must convey original content. 

 

You are probably way too busy doing what you do best to compile a well-researched newsletter every month.  That’s where using a professional writer comes in. It is my job to make the ezine sound like it has come straight from you (the publisher) as an expert in your field.  Other industry experts can also be called on to lend credibility. So write a brief and get a few quotes from copywriters, such as Power of Words. We offer affordable copywriting from a home office. 

 

Then you just need to choose your automated email provider, which I can recommend, try the free monthly trial, and then you are on your way. After the first month it costs from around $31 per month depending on subscriber numbers.

 

Once the setup has been completed, by using outsourcers, managing an ezine can totally be taken out of your hands, leaving you more time to talk to your customers, friends, or dog.

 

 

By Jennifer Lancaster

Power of Words

 

P.S. Have you Sacked Your Financial Planner?

Technorati Tags: email marketing, ezines, newsletters