Facebook at the office a problem? Get over it!

The economy slowdown has humbled many businesses over the last 6-12 months.  Chances are as a business owner you have experienced shrinking profit margins, and you find yourself stretched thin. Doing more with less is the new mantra. If sales growth in your organization has declined, chances are your marketing department or marketing efforts have also grinded to a halt.  It’s a natural cause and effect.  In fact it’s probably safe to assume these folks are not quite as busy now as the years you were showing 50% year over year sales growth. I would even go as far as to say someone in your marketing department right now is busy updating their status on Facebook.  Grounds for termination right? Well not really, having someone on your staff that is “in-the-know” about social networks can actually help build your business’ online brand and save you money.  Below are some steps you can take to turn this situation into a positive:

• During your next marketing or sales meeeting try to gauge how many people are actively using social networking sites.  Ask them the benefits of using Facebook and Twitter.  You need to first understand how they are using the technology before you put it to work for your organization.
• Tell your team you’d like to conduct a social networking experiment.  Invite them to contribute and encourage staff feedback.  You will be surprised at the level of excitment and the knowledge of your staff.  Chances are a “Facebook pro” will emerge and take a leadership role on this project. 
• Establish clear set goals. For example, maybe you’d like to conduct an online contest run entirely on Facebook, with the goal being to establish 100 new Facebooks friends.  Your team can set up a Facebook account for your business and invite their friends to join or become a fan.  
• Once you have established a base of “friends” on your business’ Facebook account, you can begin to re-engage with these folks on a frequent basis. Your Facebook account will soon become your platform for announcing new product launches and other important business announcements. 

 In prior years you may have placed ads in trade magazines or ran direct mail campaigns to communicate with your customer base. These efforts were considered a fixed cost of doing business.  But the ROI has always been difficult to pin down.  With social networking reaching an engaged niche group of people in a format that encourages dialouge and feedback is the entire purpose.  If managed correctly, social networking can help reduce the cost of traditional marketing efforts and increase customer interaction with your brand.

Residual benefits of starting a social networking marketing campiagn include:

• The time your employees spend on Facebook will now be time spent building your organization’s online identity.
• You can re-energize a department or individual that might otherwise feel lost in this ecomnomic downturn by giving them a new and exciting task. 
• Social networking doesn’t have to cost you anything more than time, so if you fail…you fail cheap.

Please visit www.searchengineconsultants.biz or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/secbiz1

Help! I want my customers back…

During the economic downturn, I have had the opportunity to speak with several small business owners about their current marketing strategies.  Almost every conversation hinges on one critical question:  How much of my business will come back after the economy begins to grow again?  This is a fundamental challenge facing every business owner today. Over-extending on marketing expenses can lead to limited results and a loss of valuable cash.  Sitting on the sideline doing your best to weather the storm can be as equally as damaging, resulting in lost market share and brand recognition. So what is the right move and when should you make it?  This post is designed to give small business owners some pointers on the right time to begin cost effective internet marketing techniques.

It is time to make a change to your marketing strategy when your core customers change their buying habits or spending patterns.

Assume that during any downward economic shift, a certain percentage of your core customers are going to change how they make purchasing decisions.  Is your customer base becoming more cost conscience?  Are your customers now waiting for sales or deals on items that were not previously discounted?  Is your customer base willing to change allegiance to your brand based on price point rather than service or quality?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, chances are that your customers are spending more time online making valuable pre-purchase decisions. They are searching the internet for competitive pricing on products or services you offer.  Now instead of being the only choice, you are standing in a long line trying to win the buisness of customers that used to come to you directly.  If you are able to determine that your customer base is changing they way they interact with your brand, it might be time to re-evaluate how you reach those customers.

The first thing you need to do is ensure that your website is in good working order.  Check for broken links and outdated contact information (you would be surprised at the number of websites that have incorrect information).  If your website is the first impression you are going to make on a potential customer, it is imporant to make sure the information is up-to-date and correct.  Once you have determined your site is in good working order, it’s time to  create and distribute your business profile to a few important internet directories.  This is a simple step that won’t require much time or money.  Several of the best internet directories will allow you to submit a business profile for free.  (Some directories will charge for profile enhancements or paid placement.)  To get you started here is a list of directories that are really well-optimized for search and recieve lots of traffic:  http://www.citysearch.com/, http://www.yelp.com/philadelphia, http://www.superpages.com/, & http://local.yahoo.com/.  Take an hour or so and create a business profile for these directories.  Directory submission will accomplish a couple of important internet marketing goals.  First, it will ensure that your business has a presence online at a destination where many searchers begin their buying process.  Second, many of these directories are well-optimized for search, meaning that your business profile page has a very good chance of returning high in the search results when an online searcher performs a generic search query for your service or product.    

My customers are online, my business is online, what’s next?

Now that your buisness has a presence online in multiple locations, you will need to keep tabs on where your website traffic is coming from.  First, go to Google and sign up for Google Analytics.  Google provides this free online website analytic software and it is a great tracking tool.  In addition to many other features, Google Analytics will allow you to see where, when, how your customers are interacting with your website.  Google Analytic set-up and training is part of the searchengineconsultants.biz SEO Check-up package.  Please follow this link for more details: http://www.searchengineconsultants.biz/seo_pricing.html. 

So remember, if your customers are changing and they are spending more time online, follow them.  The worst thing you can do is wait and assume your customers will find their way back to you.  Times are changing, and you need to work harder to capture and retain new business.  Let us help you plot your Internet strategy.  It’s our passion and our business:  www.searchengineconsultants.biz

#9: Alone in the SEO Wilderness

You have made the decision to improve your search engine page ranking yourself.  That’s a good thing; after all you started your own business and that should count for something, right? Why shouldn’t you take an active role in developing your own internet marketing strategy? It’s in your blood to take the bull by the horns. Leading your own SEO efforts will teach you the ropes, and you will have the opportunity to test different SEO techniques you have learned and deem most benefical to your business.  But remember, nothing comes easy.  SEO can be expensive and time consuming, so just remember there can be a price to pay if you plan on building your own SEO strategy.  Please follow this link to learn how to get the rest of your organization onboard with your SEO plan https://secbiz1.wordpress.com/2009/06/25/10-easy-seosem-steps-for-the-small-to-mid-size-business-owner-step-6/

The remainder of this post will focus on a small business owner who had specific web site traffic challenges (probably similar to your own) and how he developed an internet marketing strategy to grow his online exposure and traffic.  This post will further explore how home-grown SEO efforts can be combined with professional SEO consulting to create a successful sustainable internet marketing strategy. 

TJ’s Take and Bake Pizza is located on the Island of Hilton Head South Carolina.  I have been there and it is exactly what you imagine:  palm trees, sunshine, &  ground zero for vacation-land-usa.  But don’t let the ocean breezes lull you to sleep, the business community here is very keenly aware of  Internet exposure.  And no one is more aware than the owner of TJ’s Take & Bake Pizza:  Jay Conrad.  Conrad had two specific internet traffic challenges:  1. How to reach visitors while they are actively planning their Hilton Head vacation on-line?  2. How to retain exisiting Take and Bake customers that are frequent visitors to the island pizza shop?

In an effort to reach  these out-of-state visitors, Conrad knew that achieving a high page rank for search queries like “Hilton Head Pizza” would be critical.  His website was already established, so the first thing he did was create an account with Google and submitted his site and storefront location to Google maps.  Now when someone in Atlanta, or even Ohio, is thinking about a pizza option on Hilton Head, TJ’s information is correctly indexed in Google.  This is important because it is a very easy first step and will ensure your company’s visibility when people conduct a location based search query. See search results for “Hilton Head Pizza” here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ei=8gtlSrPJDJGeMYaT8Z4M&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=hilton+head+pizza&spell=1

Second, Conrad made a commitment to content.  Conrad knew a few things about website content:  it was time-consuming, but it was also valuable to how search engines and his customers viewed his website.  He needed a marketing tool that would reach his core customers more frequently and for less cost.  Conrad introduced the TJ’s Take & Bake email newsletter.  Asking his customers to sign up while at the TJ’s location, his email database quickly grew to over 400 members.  Conrad sends out his newsletter (about 2-3 times per month) along with an added value coupon in the body of the email.  Conrad claims redemption rates are high for this type of Internet direct marketing, and the investment of time has paid off considerably.  “My email newsletter has given me the opportunity to  stay connected to my customers after the initial transaction.  It keeps my brand top of mind and my repeat business growing.”

These  are two very easy SEO steps that a small business owner can turn on almost overnight.  They do not require an overwhelming amount of time or money to be effective.  However these steps could be reinforced by additional SEO tactics such as keyword research, page tag evaluations, and paid search campaigns to further their effectiveness.  Search Engine Consultants specializes in building SEO plans that are right for your business.  We will help you build a sustainable successful plan that brings new repeat visitors to your business’ website.  Please follow this link for more information: www.searchengineconsultants.biz

#8: How will Mobile Search Effect Your Business

During its first week of sales, Apple sold over 1 million units of its new IPhone 3G S. In fact, when I researched this little tidbit of knowledge there was an online ad above the article telling me to go the I Tunes store and download the latest and greatest IPhone application.  http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090622-710455.html 1 million units sold in one weekend is impressive in any economy.  In fact, over 6 million phones have been sold to date.  As an IPhone owner, I am impressed with the device and its seemingly endless supply of useful applications. However, the one feature that I find myself using more than any other is not something new.  I am using my IPhone most for its mobile search capabilities. 

The IPhone has made mobile search functionality quick and relevant.  Websites download quickly and the search engine interface is similar to desktop search.  So why is mobile search important to you as a small or mid-size busienss owner? 

Mobile search will become an everyday habit for millions…

 The IPhone is a game changer, it now puts the power of a search engine in your pocket at street level. Desktop search on your personal computer is no longer the only way to access a search engine’s endless wealth of knowledge.  Mobile search gives people access to internet information without limits.  Right now most people don’t conduct a search on a mobile phone on a daily basis, but that number will almost certainly increase in  year from now (remember 1 million units in 1 weekend).  More phones will come equipped with fast, clean, search interfaces and the number of mobile searches will increase.  It is important that your business’ website is ahead of the curve.  Understand that millions of these devices are in the hands of your potential customers, and where your site ranks when they conduct a mobile search will become more and more important to your business’  long term success.  As people become more comfortable with smarter phones, search queries will also become more advanced.  Location based zip code search queries will increase, for example “taxi cabs 19102” or “seafood restaurants 08010.”  Getting your web site optimized for the search engines is more important than ever.  In fact I can think of 1 million good reasons to start today. 

Search Engine Consultants is ready to help you understand mobile search.  Please follow this link to contact us today:

 http://www.searchengineconsultants.biz/contact_us.php