gizthebiz

SEO Consultants: Learning to Avoid the Bad Ones

2012-01-15T01:48:00.000-08:00

SEO, or search engine optimisation, refers to the process by which a company can improve the visibility of its website in search engines, leading to more visitors and therefore hopefully increased profits. One of the jobs of an internet marketing company is to understand how search engines work so they can use SEO methods, such as identifying certain keywords and editing the content of your site and its html coding accordingly, to improve your search engine ranking.

However, bringing in a consultant will of course cost you money so it’s not a decision you should take lightly or rush into. You want only the best, as shoddy SEO can do more harm than good to your company.

To help you out, here are some hints on how to avoid the many unreliable SEO consultants operating today:

Where is the money going?: Before you sign anything, a reputable marketing company should be able to provide you with a detailed budget of where all the recommended outlay for the development of your SEO strategy should be allocated. Some companies will claim they are ranking you highly in search engines purely by using SEO methods such as keyword placement, which is free, when actually they are using pay-per-click to increase the visibility of your website, which is a different thing entirely. If a consultancy is not prepared to outlay all the costs then stay away from it.

Beware the unsolicited approach: Any consultancy that has to resort to sending out SPAM emails to drum up customers isn’t worth your time. You ignore all those emails from companies trying to sell you diet pills or ‘genuine’ Rolex watches, and you should treat such messages from marketing companies in the same way. After all, if they use this somewhat unprofessional method to get business for their own company what do you think they will propose to do for yours?

Unrealistic promises: Be wary of any internet marketing company making claims that sound too good to be true: they probably are. For example, don’t go for a company which is happy to guarantee you a number one Google rating very quickly. As any good consultancy knows, done right, SEO takes time to take effect so you have to exercise a certain amount of patience.

Are they above board?: Try to check out the background of a consultancy you are thinking of hiring. Have they previously operated under any other names, or do they have multiple aliases? This could be a sign that they have something to hide, or their past dealings haven’t exactly reflected favourably upon them. Do they own ‘shadow’ domains, which can channel users to a site using deceptive redirects, or have they in the past had any domains removed from Google? These are all things you should check out before you even consider hiring them.

Time to Hire a Marketing Consultant?

2012-01-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

Every company needs a sound online marketing strategy in order to keep pulling in the customers, but it can take time to develop this to a point where you are starting to see results. Many companies panic when success doesn’t come as quickly as they would like, and hire an internet marketing company for the wrong reasons. Bearing in mind that there are always going to be peaks and troughs in business, how do you know when your strategy just isn’t working and it’s time to bring in a marketing expert? Here we look at some signs that your company could perhaps benefit from some outside help.

Lack of perspective: When you try to do such a major job as marketing in-house, the danger can be that you start going round in circles and lose sight of the wider business context. If you feel this is happening then this is the time to bring in an outside perspective. Many companies hire in a consultant for just this reason. Sometimes you can struggle on for months, whereas the reasons you are failing might be immediately apparent to an outsider, who will then be able to help you start afresh with a new outlook. They will also have the vital in-depth knowledge of the latest marketing trends in the business world.

Large project to complete: Some companies, if they have a particularly important project on such as a major new product launch which goes beyond their internal expertise or resources, will hire in an internet marketing company as a temporary measure. Not every company needs or can afford a permanent marketing manager, but there are those times when a project is too important to be left to chance.

Lack of expertise: Many small business owners start off thinking they can do the marketing themselves and then realise it is a great deal more specialised than they had anticipated. You may have some idea how to publicise your products or carry out email marketing, but perhaps find the techniques to analyse website visitor data beyond your comprehension. Bringing in an internet marketing company to help you learn about the various methods and techniques out there will give your marketing strategy a more solid and professional base.

Negative feedback: Another sign that you may need the help of a marketing consultancy is if you are getting negative feedback from customers and the users of your site. This is why it’s important to encourage your customers to communicate with you via your website and offer constructive criticism. It’s an old cliché, but remember that the customer is always right – so if they say that you have to make some serious changes, either in the way your website is laid out of the way in which you are advertising your business, then you probably do.

Many companies hire marketing consultants for the wrong reasons, so it's not something you should rush into. However there are certain signs to look out for which may indicate that you could benefit from some outside help.

Even If You’re Not a Fan Of New Year’s Resolutions, Resolve To Become More Social Media Savvy in 2012!

2012-01-05T02:29:00.000-08:00

With Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube continuing to grow their followings substantially in 2011, and other social networks springing up month on month, it’s clear that social media is far from the ‘passing fad’ some doubters predicted.

For many of us, social media has changed the way we do business – and there is no going back. If you haven’t yet got to grips with social media, then you could seriously be missing out on winning over a new generation of fans for your business. So here are some tips to get you started:

Maintain separate personal and business social media accounts

Unless you’re a celebrity, most people won’t be interested in what you had for breakfast, or where you went on holiday. So be sure to separate ‘personal’ and ‘business’ interests and use dedicated accounts for both functions. Also be aware that if you have a personal account for fun/ leisure purposes, that business acquaintances and colleagues might check out those postings too!

Let people know you’re on social media

Once you’ve signed up to a social media site and begun posting, be sure to let people know about it. The best way of doing this is by adding social media buttons to your website, blog, emails, business cards and snail mail. All your correspondence in fact, both online and off.

Upload a picture

A photo of you in a professional capacity is an absolute must for your social media business pages. If you’ve ever visited a LinkedIn profile page with no photo you’ll know exactly what I mean. An incomplete profile gives the impression that the person isn’t all that bothered – with the result that they are not taken as seriously as they otherwise might be.

Include a link with every posting

If you fail to include a link to your blog or website with each and every posting, then you are missing an opportunity to drive additional traffic to your site. Generally speaking, more traffic means more conversions and more revenue.

Make a video

Did you realise YouTube is world’s 2nd largest search engine and the 3rd most visited website? And YouTube Mobile gets over 3 billion hits a day – that’s massive! So why not make a video about an aspect of your business that will whet potential customers’ appetites. You can then upload your video to YouTube as well as embed it into your website. Better still, produce a series of videos. And remember to include a link to your videos in relevant blog postings and promotional materials.

Start as you mean to go on

If I could include just one tip, it would be this one: you don’t have to be on every social media site to see a difference in your marketing results – so choose wisely. And make sure you allocate enough time in your daily/ weekly schedule for the social media activities you decide to pursue, whether that’s working on a blog, updating your Facebook page, or networking on LinkedIn.

The main point about social media is that it needs to be embraced whole-heartedly, or not at all. Think of it this way: if you happened upon a business blog where the last posting was several months back, you wouldn’t spend too long on that site would you?

Outsource tasks to specialists

Remember, you don’t have to do everything yourself. If, like many people, you don’t find the concept of social media easy to get to grips with, then consider outsourcing your requirements. Outsourcing necessary business tasks or tasks you find difficult, laborious and time-consuming makes perfect economic sense. It means you get the services of a consummate professional who will use his or her expertise to make the most of your social marketing budget, while you get to concentrate on the aspects of your business you do best.

Now that’s time and money well spent.

Happy New Year!

Make Your Blog Content Go Further

2012-01-05T02:26:00.000-08:00

You’ve spent some time researching suitable topics for your blog and producing
valuable content your followers will love. Here are some ideas for making that content go further . . .

SEO/ Keyword Integration

Choosing and using the right keywords in your blog postings can have a major impact on the amount of traffic your blog receives, as well as influencing your web marketing (negatively or positively). Once you have drafted a blog post, scan through your writing and pick out the main topic(s) covered. Then run them through Google AdWords’ Free Keyword Suggestion Tool and make a note of the main search terms and most popular words and phrases that come up. Run through your post content once more and see if you can utilise this keyword knowledge to improve your post title, content, meta description and tags.

Use Syndication to Extend Your Blog Content’s Reach

RSS, dubbed Really Simple Syndication, is a mechanism which allows you to syndicate your blogs content to many different sources at once and is the perfect tool if you’re into social media. If you have a blog, locate your site’s RSS URL and plug it in to your social media pages. For example, with a Facebook Business Page, search for the ‘Social RSS’ application in your applications area and set it to publish your content to your Facebook page wall automatically.

The beauty of using an RSS ‘plug in’ is that normally you will only have to set it up once!

Add Your Latest Blog Post Headline to Your Email Signature

You may be able to do this automatically as many blogging platforms have apps that can assimilate your blog post headlines into your signature, but if not, it’s often worth doing manually. You never know when a post title might strike a chord with an email recipient, thus sparking a conversation that could lead to a business deal or a joint venture.

Use Social Networking Sites to Establish Your Authority

Next time you’re involved in a group discussion on LinkedIn, or helping someone out with a query on a forum or discussion board, don’t forget to include links to any blog posts you have written which are pertinent to your discussion. Most social media and networking sites will allow this, providing the content you are linking to is relevant to the user and not blatant self-promotion.

Interact With Writers Whose Blogs Are Similar To Yours

Just finished a post on a particular topic? Why not do a quick search to see who else is blogging on the same topic or a similar theme. Perhaps you have covered an angle or point they haven’t. In which case, add your comment and preferably leave your URL as well.

It’s a useful exercise to compile an ongoing list of bloggers you would like to connect with, or write a guest post for. Try to aim for one new connection each week – you’ll be amazed how much extra traffic you receive as a result of these interactions. You can also consider the possibility of joint-venturing with like-minded writers/ blog owners.

Start an E-Newsletter and Expand on Some of Your Blog Content

Fair enough, no subscriber likes to see the same old content rehashed over and over again, it’s a real turn off. However there are times when you may want to repeat a particular blog post for a new audience, or when you want to expand on a topic that received a lot of interest first time around. Starting an e-newsletter doesn’t have to be a lot of work, particularly if it’s once a month. And you can always ask contacts and colleagues to help provide fresh content and ideas.

Develop a Winning Social Media Strategy in 6 Easy Steps

2011-12-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

So you have set up a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and you’ve also created your business blog.

Great. What next? What’s the plan of action? What are your marketing strategies?

Hopefully you’ve decided to get into social media for a valid reason – and not just because every business acquaintance you speak to appears to be doing it. So how do you go about reaching new potential clients, whilst establishing your credibility online?

Follow these 6 easy steps and you’ll soon be using social media like a pro:

Identify Your Target Audience.

Take a long hard look at your brand and who you want to appeal to. Write a one-line statement about your ideal target customer. What is his age? Where does he live? What is his favourite media? What are his hobbies? What is unique about the product or service you are offering him? In other words, why should he buy from you?

What Language Does Your Ideal Customer Use?

To engage on a social level with your customers, you need to be speaking their language. That means using the right words and the right ‘conversational’ tone. The essence of social media is that conversations are informal – it’s certainly no place for the hard sell!

What is Your Reader’s Most Pressing Problem?

When thinking about content for your blog, focus on the questions your target customer would most like answers to. Make a list of their most burning questions. Of course you won’t have to have immediate answers to these problems, just some idea where you can find the answers!

As chief blogger, you’ll be acting as a researcher and editor – and in this role making sure you only provide links to the most interesting and timely content for each topic. In doing this on a regular basis, your readers will come to recognise you as an authority on your subject – and importantly – someone who doesn’t waste their valuable time. Like any great editor, you’ll only be using information from the most trusted and reliable sources!

Create Your Action Plan

Okay, so you’ve got some great ideas for potential topics in mind, it’s time to get them into some kind of logical order. One of the best ways of doing this is by using a Mind Mapping tool. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. If you don’t want to use a computer programme, a sheet of paper works fine. If you start with yourself/ your brand in the middle of the page, you can start extending ‘branches’ to your ideal type of customer, their problems ; possible topics and sources of content . . . you get the idea. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole load of possibilities worth exploring further. Just type ‘Mind Mapping’ into your search engine and you’ll find a whole host of resources, some of which are free to use.

Schedule Your Content

Using an editorial calendar to plan your blog content will make the process a whole lot easier. Also check out applications like HootSuite, TweetDeck and SocialOomph, which allow you to post simultaneously to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. You will also have the option of scheduling posts for a later date, which is really handy if you’re not around to do it yourself.

Put Quality Above Quantity

I can’t over-emphasize the importance of posting at regular intervals to your blog. Some people do this daily, but once every three days, or even once a week is fine. The quality of the content is more important than quantity, although don’t leave it too long between posts, otherwise you may find your loyal following dropping off.

Remember that, as an editor, your primary task is to source fresh concepts and topics and turn that information into valuable content that keeps your readers looking forward to the next instalment.

Why Video Conferencing is Beneficial to Businesses

2011-12-23T03:24:00.000-08:00

In order to conduct business on a global scale, it pays to invest in the right types of communication technology. These days, many companies have satellite offices scattered around the world. Important clients and suppliers are often scattered across several different continents. Staying connected is critical, but the need to hop in a plane is increasingly diminishing. While the Internet has played a huge role in this development, video conferencing is making one of the biggest differences of all. Today's successful businesses rely on technology such as 3 way video conferencing to hold meetings, compare notes and to stay in touch when it matters the most.

Save on Transportation Costs

Fuel prices are at all-time highs. It's more expensive to travel by plane than ever, which means that the costs of holding in-person meetings and conferences can be prohibitive. In many cases, there's no pressing need to have every key player in the same room. With video conferencing, a company can still get together on a face-to-face basis without having to spend vast amounts of money to get everyone in the same place. Video conferencing happens in real time, so meetings can be scheduled when they are needed.

Last-Minute Meetings on a Whim

Emergencies crop up from time to time. Discussing such matters by phone can be quite inefficient. With video conferencing technology on hand, a company can hold an emergency meeting on a last-minute basis. Notifying the people who need to attend is easy, and getting the conference started is too. Using video conferencing in this way is akin to calling everyone to the boardroom. In this case, however, the participants can be located in far-flung corners of the earth. It is well worth it for a business to invest in this type of technology because it can keep business moving along no matter where various employees are.

Brilliant Presentations

From keynote addresses to presentations about new products and services, big announcements call for special features. The nice thing about video conferencing is that it allows businesses to hold presentations that include a wide range of cutting-edge features. These presentations can be shared with people across the world, and those people can interact and provide feedback at the same time. New ideas and exciting new strategies can be developed between participants who are located in several different time zones. The possibilities are endless.

Spend Less on Travel Accommodations

Hotel accommodations can be quite costly. In lieu of sending an employee out to participate in a conference, video conferencing is an affordable alternative. More and more companies are turning to this type of technology for this exact reason. Even if video conferencing is only used on special occasions, the amount of money that it saves a business can be considerable. Reducing overhead is an obvious way to enhance profitability, and 3-way video conferencing and related technologies can go a long way towards achieving that goal. In addition to that, it enhances employee productivity by eliminating a lot of wasted travel time.

There's no doubt that video conferencing is one form of technology that isn't going away any time soon. If anything, it will only become more ubiquitous in the months and years to come. By getting on board with it now, today's businesses can start enjoying all of its benefits as early as possible.

Four simple marketing tips for small businesses

2011-12-07T08:27:00.001-08:00

As everyone knows, marketing is a key part of anycompany’s arsenal if it is to succeed in today’s world of instant communicationand fierce competition. But whilst it is certainly essential to have a businessmarketing strategy in place, you don’t have to overcomplicate things –particularly if you are a small or fledgling business with a limited budget forpromotion.

Here are five simple and relatively low-cost tips to get youstarted:

Strategic advertising: Big corporations will often have huge advertising budgets for both television and national newspapers or magazines, not to mention online. But if you are a small company you won’t have the capital for this so you have to think a little more creatively. Place adverts in local papers or on local website and remember that it is more effective to place smaller, cheaper adverts more frequently than to splash out on a big advert that you can only afford to place once a month. Also, design your advertising to help bring in more sales by including some kind of special offer to draw in the customers.
Email marketing: Using the internet is a perfect form of business marketing for small companies because it is cheap and you can use it as often as you like. The crucial thing here is to compile a detailed database on your customers so you really know which products will be suited to them. Then you can work on sending out targeted marketing emails which are specifically tailored to their needs. Send out regular e-newsletters as well as this serves both as a reminder that your company is still out there, and as a way of keeping customers informed of new products or offers.
Professional website: This is so crucial: your website is your biggest marketing tool and yet so many companies neglect it or allow it so look amateurish. It is worth it to hire a really good web designer to put together an eye-catching and simple-to-use site. Yes, it will cost more but every customer visiting your site will be impressed by its professional look. Once you have your website, update it regularly with new content to keep it fresh and current – another thing many companies fail to do.
Joint promotions: Another useful marketing strategy if your budget is small is to team up with other small companies who are not in direct competition with you, but complement your business in some way further up the chain. For example, if you are a catering company, perhaps you might want to contact an events organiser or wedding planner and offer to publicise their services in exchange for them recommending yours. This is a simple and, more importantly, completely free way of generating new business.

If you are a small or medium sized business you may nothave the budget or time to spend a great deal of money on your marketingstrategy. However, every company needs a marketing strategy of some kind andluckily there are many simple and low-cost methods you can use to get youstarted.

Time to bring in the marketing experts?

2011-12-07T08:18:00.001-08:00

Every company, whether small and local or large andmultinational, will find itself going through peaks and troughs. Depending onwhere the problem lies – whether it is the result of external market forces orproblems within the company itself – there are certain times when it may behoveyou to call in the services of a professional marketing company.

These exist tohelp businesses develop methods to keep bringing in new clients and presenttheir goods and services to the world in the best possible way. But how do youknow when your company might benefit from a little help in this department?

Here are some signs to look out for:

Behind the competition?: If your biggest competitors seem to be everywhere you turn, it may well be because they’ve devised a more effective marketing strategy than you have. You don’t want to lose out to them, so this is the time to hire an expert in before you begin to lose customers to them. If you’re less visible than your competitors, who are clients going to choose?
Not enough time: If you’re constantly putting things off, or you and your employees never have enough time in the day, it may well be that you have overextended yourself. If this is the case then there is no way you are going to be able to devote the necessary amount of time to promotion. Hiring in a marketing company will pay two-fold in this situation: Firstly, they will re-invigorate your marketing strategy; and secondly, they should be able to suggest practical ways for you to make better use of your time.
Lack of leads: This is one of the clearest signs that your marketing strategy is failing somewhere. Rather than sitting back and waiting for the customers to come to you, you should be using all means at your disposal – print media, billboards, the internet, word-of-mouth or whatever else you can think of – to get your message out there. If you aren’t getting the leads then you clearly aren’t doing this in the most effective way, or often enough. Time, then, to seek outside advice.
High employee turnover: This can be for many reasons, but employees will often be dissatisfied if they feel there is a lack of direction or structure to their role. A clear marketing strategy gives employees something to focus on, and also creates a more dynamic, positive working atmosphere are the new business begins to come in. Bringing in the services of a marketing company for a limited period of time will set you on the right track and hopefully ensure your staff feel motivated enough to stick around.

Choosing the right consultant for your business

2011-12-07T07:53:00.001-08:00

Once you’ve made the decision to hire a business consultantto boost flagging sales or help set your company on a new path, you may thinkit’s just a simple matter of picking up the phone and calling one in. However,be aware that there are many companies today offering business consultingservices and not all of them are what they seem.

It’s crucial that you takeyour time when choosing the right person for you, or you could just be throwinggood money after bad. Here is how to go about making your selection:

Get references: Look on internet forums or speak to other local companies to listen to the experiences of others who have recently hired consultants. What kinds of problems did they encounter, and what did they wish they had done differently? Find out which consultants have helped achieve good results on more than one occasion and which ones have been less than effective. This will give you a good initial idea of who to consider and who to avoid at all possible costs.
Thorough vetting: It may seem tedious, but when you have selected a short list of consultants you think may work for you, you need to set up meetings to talk to them about what they might offer you. These conversations should be able to tell you a lot: Did they listen to what you wanted, or did they just fire off some ‘quick’ solutions right away? Did they seem to understand the issues you presented them with and ask thoughtful questions, or did they just ramble on with stories of past clients? If the former in both cases, they may be legitimate, if the latter – hire them at your peril.
Billing: Find out how you will be charged for these business consulting services. Don’t automatically go for the cheapest service, as there may well be a reason why they need to charge so little. Instead, look at the payment structure. Are you able to agree a fixed amount upfront, or are they proposing to leave things open for additional costs later on? If the latter, beware, as many less reputable consultants will attempt to maximise their profits by bringing other ‘advisers’ into the project, for which they will charge extra, or charging for unspecified additional services. Generally, I would say it’s always best to agree from the outset exactly how much you are going in for.

Above all, don’t be put off by the potential pitfalls as agood consultant really can bring enormous benefits. As long as you are carefuland follow recommendations from trustworthy sources, you should soon see yourbusiness change for the better.

Internet Marketing Companies – Not All Are Created Equal

2011-12-07T07:29:00.001-08:00

If you’vehad experience with online Internet marketing companies you’ll know that someare quite excellent in that they deliver a great service that produces firstclass results . . . while others can be unreliable.

The bestInternet marketing companies will use ethical Search Engine Optimisationtechniques to drive targeted traffic to your website. By using ‘White Hat’processes, you are assured of getting more relevant visitors to your websiteand not just any old body – relevant or not!

There areliterally hundreds of Internet marketing companies vying for your businessonline, and new ones seem to be springing up every week. When choosing amarketing consultancy, it’s vital to check out their credentials to ensure youare making a wise investment.

Yourappointed Internet marketing company should be working hard to ensure that yoursite ranks highly in all the major search engines’ organic listings. After all,the better targeted your traffic and the more relevant your visitors, the morelikely those visitors are to want to do business with you.

Having onlyhighly-targeted traffic improves your company’s profile and reputation which inturn means you get a better Return on Investment too. Using SEO tools to drivetargeted visitors to your website can dramatically impact on your conversionrates, increasing sales revenues and boosting your customer base.

And you knowit’s around eight times easier to sell to someone you’ve previously sold to,over someone you haven’t, right?

An effective marketing campaign is vital to thesuccess of any business that has an Internet presence.

More than that, having agreat marketing strategy in place can be the difference between realising yourpotential and going out of business due to lack of trade. It’s a sad fact thatthousands of businesses every year go into liquidation or are declaredbankrupt. And in some cases, there is only a miniscule difference between thosebusinesses that make the grade and those that go under.

Taking action to improve the website experience foryour visitors can make the difference between having a profitable business andone which is losing you money. Inertia is not an option here. If you do nothave the skills to optimise your website so it attracts the right kind ofvisitors, then it’s really worth considering having an expert do this for you.

Utilising the services of a top Internet marketing company to help you define your keyword strategy and work towards a higherlisting makes perfect business sense.

How Web Marketing Companies Can Make Your Business Boom!

2011-12-07T05:58:00.001-08:00

Web marketing is a time-consuming activity, particularly if you’re notentirely sure what you are doing. And it’s not something you can dabble ineither, unfortunately. Effective web marketing requires know-how andcommitment. That’s why many businesses are realising the substantial benefitsof having someone else manage their web marketing for them, rather than doingit themselves.

Employing the services of a web marketing company means you can use yourtime more productively, focusing on the stuff you’re good at, rather thanwasting hours churning out content that might or might not work for you.

Your web marketing company should be able to create a bespoke packageaccording to your exact requirements, but here is a taster of some of the thingsthey can help with:

Web Development

How clean is your website? Is it easy to navigate? Is the copy engaging?Does it convert? Is it ‘all bells and whistles’ but no substance?

The aesthetic appeal of your website should not be underestimated. Yourappointed design expert will be able to create an attractive, yet functional,web space, that is simplicity itself for you to manage.

Pay Per Click

Having the right PPC campaign in place can generate amazing results foryour business relatively quickly. Make sure your web marketing company isqualified to the highest industry standards and that they can produce a bespokeprogramme that meets your needs perfectly.

Search EngineOptimisation

The best web marketing companies will employ a range of SEO techniquesto achieve positive search results organically. Check whether your consultancyhas a portfolio of impressive results across the major search engines – for example,have they managed to get clients on to page one of Google? If so, over whatperiod?

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is pretty much an essential requirement forbusinesses these days. It’s a great way to communicate with your targetaudience and drive more traffic to your website. Your consultant or advisorwill be able to create a social media presence or campaign for you across themajor sites including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Copywriting &Content

The ability to create dynamic and engaging content is vital forincreasing your online brand visibility and building your reputation. Ifwriting persuasive and lead-converting copy isn’t your thing, it’s well worthemploying someone to do it for you.

Mobile Users

Right now there is a fantastic opportunity for companies to promotetheir websites to users of mobile and remote devices. This is currently a huge,though largely untapped market, which savvy business owners would be wise totake advantage of.

Search Marketing Companies that Will Add Value to Your Business’s Bottom Line

2011-12-07T05:52:00.001-08:00

Ever beentempted to stump up $99 to have your website submitted to 1000+ search engines?

If so, youprobably don’t need me to point out what a waste of money it was. You’ve almostcertainly discovered that for yourself already.

Seeing asthe vast majority of traffic is derived from three well-known search engines,namely Google, Yahoo and Bing, plus a handful of other minor ones, there islittle point submitting your website URL to the remaining thousand or so thatwill not bring you any relevant visitors whatsoever.

So, ifbuying your way into a thousand search engines isn’t generally a good idea,when might it be useful to hire the services of a search marketing company?

Qualitysearch marketing companies can help your business grow exponentially in arelatively short period of time using three main channels:

Search Engine Optimisation, SocialMedia Optimisationand Online PR.

Let’s lookat each of these key elements in turn:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Your chosenmarketing specialists will use a combination of content writing, link buildingand metadata optimisation to ‘feed’ the search engines, which in turn, willsend you a ton of high quality traffic for you to convert into profitableleads.

Social Media Optimisation

If you’re not currently using social mediato engage with your target audience, you could be missing out big time. As wellas attracting more potential customers to your site, social media isincreasingly being used to build reputation and source joint venture partners, manufacturersand suppliers, and even investors.

It therefore makes sense to have your socialmedia operations fully optimised by a social media marketing expert.

Online PR

If you’ve been in business a while, then youhave almost certainly used press releases as a way of promoting your business.But have you used web-based press releases? They are the latest way to increaseawareness of your brand and promote your products and services to a widertarget audience.

Of course, you could submit online pressreleases yourself, but an experienced marketing professional will add value –not only by structuring your press release to industry standards – but byknowing precisely where to submit it, giving your business maximum exposure.

Using anexperienced search marketing company to create and execute a well thought-out marketingcampaign for you, means you will achieve optimum results in the shortest timepossible.

There aremany such experts and consultancies online and the top consultants will includecase studies and testimonials on their website, so you can check out theircredentials before hiring them.

What is Website Optimisation? and How Can It Help My Business?

2011-12-07T05:45:00.001-08:00

You know there are still some people in business whothink all they need to do is build a website and sit back and wait for hordesof visitors to appear – as if by magic.

If only it were thateasy.

Building a website for your business is a soundinvestment. Yet if no-one knows you exist, it could be a huge waste of yourtime and money. No-one wants a ‘White Elephant’ website!

So what exactly is search engine optimisation? And howcan it help you attract more customers or clients?

Quite simply, optimisation is a way of improving yourwebsite rankings organically. The other option is paid advertising – or Pay PerClick – for instance the Google AdWords programme.

When you enter your search term in the search engine youwill get a split-screen of results. Listings found on the left-hand side ofyour screen are those that have achieved their ranking ‘organically’, whilethose on the right are paid for ads.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing will rankyour website according to various criteria, including content and relevancy.

Not unsurprisingly, consumer surveys consistently showthat more people trust those companies that rank highly in the organiclistings, over those who rely on ‘sponsored’ results. Indeed, it is not unusualto find smaller companies ranking higher than their larger rivals for particularsearch terms. While there’s nothing wrong with using paid advertising to drivetraffic to your website, ultimately better click through rates will be achievedthrough organic listings.

You will know from your own experience that if yourwebsite does not appear on the first few pages of a search listing, you willnot be found. When you do searches yourself, how many pages do you view beforeyou give up? All the ‘experts’ are on page one, aren’t they? Whether or not youbelieve that’s the case, this is how we tend to perceive things.

So how might your business’s website improve its currentposition?

Let’s start with keywords. Considerwhat keywords are relevant to your website and the products and services youoffer and build or tweak your web pages accordingly, bearing in mind what eachof the major search engines’ requirements are to obtain maximum visibility. Tuneyour pages to meet search engine requirements and watch your traffic andrankings grow.

Search Engine Optimisation is anincreasingly competitive field, so it’s important to choose your keywords andkey phrases well. And if your budget permits, ideally it’s advisable to use acombination of SEO and paid for advertising – that way you get the best of bothworlds.

Optimisation is the key to effectiveonline marketing – numerous studies consistently confirm that it’s the perfectvehicle for almost every type of business.

Why outsource your marketing?

2011-12-07T05:37:00.001-08:00

To run a successfulbusiness in today’s increasingly technologically advanced and globalised marketplaceit is essential to develop an effective marketing strategy. Recognising this,many companies are outsourcing their marketing to ensure this is carried out byprofessionals using the most efficient and up-to-date methods in a rapidlychanging world.

But what does outsourcedmarketing involve? Basically, this is when you decide that the best way topresent your company to the wider world and bring in new customers is to bringin a marketing expert for a certain period of time in order to define astrategy and set you off on the right path. So why is this a good option totake?

Less overheads: Outsourced marketing is particularly suited to small-to-medium sized businesses which maynot as yet be able to afford a permanent marketing department. This way, youcan get the best of both worlds by bringing in a highly experienced marketingexpert to identify how you might best present your company to the world, whilsttightly budgeting for how much you are able to spend on this.

A new perspective: Sometimesan organisation’s employees can be so immersed in their own little niche andcompany culture that they forget to see the bigger picture. An independentmarketing consultant can come in with a fresh outlook on how you can achieveyour goals.

The latest know-how: Whenyou are running a company there are so many things to consider and marketing isreally just a part of this. It would, therefore, be almost impossible for youto keep up with all the latest trends as well as the newest software and thestrategies your competitors are using. But with a marketing consultant, theirentire job consists of staying abreast of these developments, so when you hireone in you will be benefitting from the very latest methodologies out there.

Defining objectives: Particularly if your company is very young,you may be lacking clearly defined goals and objectives with which to developyour future direction. Many business owners opt for outsourced marketing forthis reason alone, as one of the jobs of a good consultant is to help you workout what it is you want from your marketing strategy and how you will achievethis. They will also help you identify the needs of your customers, and onceyou have done this you are a long way towards working out what it is you needto do.

Time control: Lastly, ifyou have a dedicated in-house marketing department, some tasks can drag on andon as they are re-defined, honed or discussed. Meanwhile your competition isalready out there winning customers. By outsourcing, you are bringing somebodyin for a previously specified length of time who can act decisively andefficiently to bring your marketing efforts in line with the current marketcondition.

Want More Leads at No Cost Extra to You? Enter Google Places

2011-12-07T04:24:00.000-08:00

It used to be that when we wanted to buy something from our friendly local shop owner or dealer we’d automatically reach for the Yellow Pages or Thomson Local.

Now we Google it!

In fact, a recent survey of business owners by print company Vistaprint, revealed that only 11% of respondents would consider future advertising with Yellow Pages. How times have changed. A decade ago local directories were the first port of call for call for ready-to-buy consumers, now they’ve practically dropped off the radar.
On the other hand, if you’re in business, why would you pay for a pricey directory ad, when you can advertise your business to your local community for FREE? Because that’s exactly what you get with Google Places.
But my business currently appears on page eight of Google. How can Google Places help me?

It’s a well known fact that when searching for a national or international service or product, 80 per cent of us rarely venture past page one of Google’s search listings. In which case, if you’re listed on page eight, all your competitors more highly ranked than you are liable to gobble the lion’s share of the business.

However, it’s an entirely different outlook when people are searching for a local business. These ‘hot prospects’ are likely to be a whole lot more specific about what they are looking for and where. Say for example you run an Italian deli in the centre of town. The sheer nature of your business: fresh, seasonal produce, means in all likelihood you’d prefer your customers to be local.

Google Places is where your local customer base will find you easily. And your Google Places listing will be so much more effective than any ‘dry ad,’ because you can upload graphics, photos, videos, even animations, to provide your potential customers with all the essential information they need to make an informed decision on whether to trade with you. You’ll be able to upload pictures of your products, details of price ranges, customer reviews and testimonials and so much more. You will be giving your visitors the experience of a virtual visit to your premises – or in the case of our deli – a flavour of your business if you like!

Just over 97 per cent of all people with Internet access regularly use search engines and Google is the most popular search engine by far. As well as uploading your promotional tools, Google Places encourages the use of keyword-friendly tags that drive more business to your website, thus increasing its ranking. If you are unsure you can always ask the help of an internet marketing consultant.

The beauty of Google Places is that it’s for business customers only, therefore your business search listing doesn’t get tangled up with all the normal ‘junk’ delivered in standard search results.
Google Places is still relatively new, so why not jump aboard now and gain a competitive edge, before your local rivals find it for themselves!

Tips for Budding Marketing Consultants

2011-12-07T04:11:00.001-08:00

If you want to be amarketing consultant, bear in mind that the competition for this kind of roleis fierce. Marketing has always been a key part of any company’s businessstrategy, but this is even more the case today in a world where globalcommunication is pretty well instant and we are constantly bombarded withadvertising of every kind. To give yourself any chance of success, you shouldtake certain steps from the very start of your career, whilst you are still training,to help differentiate you from the many others like you out there.

For example:

Networking: Let’s face it,if you’re not the kind of person who is happy working a room full of peoplethen marketing may not be the job for you. Marketing consultants have to beprepared to attend conferences, participate in web forums, go toindustry-specific meet-ups and generally do everything they can to constantlyrenew their contacts and get their name out there. You’re aiming to become ago-to person for anybody in need of a marketing expert, so start making thoseimportant connections right away.

Specialise: If there is onesector in which you have particular interest or expertise, it may be a goodidea to focus on winning clients there. Marketing consultants are far moreeffective if they have a deep knowledge of the kind of product or service theyare helping to promote, and if you are more effective you will have satisfiedclients who will be more likely to recommend you to others. Before you plungein head-first, then, have a think about where you might like to specialise.

Personal SEO: Marketingconsultants need to become adept at the various methods of using SEO to boosttheir clients’ website ranking, so why not start with your own name? This willhone your expertise in this area as well as getting your name out there as aconsultant early on.

Get experience: Whilst somelike to strike out on their own right away, most find it is better to begintheir career by getting experience at a respected marketing firm. This way, ifyou do come to set up your own company you will already know which methods workand will be aware of the potential pitfalls to avoid. It will also give you theopportunity to gain valuable insight and industry advice from the managers orsenior partners of the company.

Stay at the cutting edge: Technologyand communication trends change so fast these days, so you should get into thehabit early on of keeping informed of any new methodologies or tools. Ideally,you want to be in the know before your competitors, so read the trade press,subscribe to newsletters or read relevant blogs to keep you updated.

How To Make a Success Of a Small Business

2011-12-06T00:40:00.001-08:00

Small businesses are in many ways more vulnerable to market fluctuations than the larger players. Sadly, it is the case today that less than 45 per cent of small businesses stay open after four years of operating, and with the current global financial situation these numbers are not likely to improve anytime soon.

Because of this, if you are thinking about establishing a small business yourself you really need to be aware of the best measures to take to give you a fighting chance. There is no reason why you can’t be one of the group who succeeds, but it takes organisation, a strong sense of the realities of the marketplace and a great deal of dedication. Here are some steps you can take to maximise your chances of staying afloat:

Don’t over-extend yourself: From the outset, many small business owners make the fundamental mistake of fondly imagining they can do everything themselves in order to cut their costs as much as possible. All I can say is: don’t! Nobody can be an expert in every area, and there are certain aspects of a business, such as sales or marketing, that need to be run by someone with experience if you are to have any chance in this competitive marketplace.

Get advice: If you really can’t afford to bring in many full-time staff to begin with, you might at least consider bringing in the temporary services of a small business consultant. It may seem like an unnecessary expense, but a consultant specialising in this area can be invaluable for setting new companies on the right path and advising on how to avoid those common early mistakes. They will also help you to set up a realistic and effective business plan – something without which no new company can function. Consider hiring a small business consultant as a necessary start-up cost, or a wise investment in your future.

Know your competition: Before you enter a certain market, take the time to thoroughly research your key competitors. Small, local businesses will often be up against a lot of similar companies in the area so you have to know what products and services they offer so you can find a way to differentiate yourself as a brand to give you the edge. Once you have identified your competition, keep a constant eye on them and be prepared to make changes and update according to the latest trends.

Offers and promotions: Small companies need to keep customers interested with promotions or special offers. You probably won’t have a large advertising budget to begin with so doing this is one way of ensuring your company name is out there. Email marketing, for example, is an effective way of getting special offers out there, or if you are a very small local business it can be something as simple as having an eye-catching billboard outside your shop.

Make online marketing work for you

2011-11-23T07:51:00.001-08:00

With the rise and rise of the Internet, many traditional forms of business marketing and advertising are falling by the wayside as companies are opening up their eyes to the opportunities available to them from email and online marketing.

By using the Internet to advertise your products you are able to tap into a potentially global market faster than we ever would have thought possible just a few years ago.

However, whilst this is undoubtedly a very effective form of marketing, you have to be aware of the pitfalls in order to get the best possible results from your hard work. Here are just a few things to bear in mind:

Targeted email marketing: It is a good idea to send out carefully crafted emails with information on your latest products or special offers. However, before you do this you really need to have taken the time to build up a detailed database of clients, cross-referenced according to their specific priorities. This way you will only send out relevant emails and won’t risk putting people off. For example, there is not point sending out emails about female beauty products to men.
Send newsletters: Rather than bombarding all the people on your mailing list with junk mail every time you have any news, save it for a regular newsletter. This way all the important information is encapsulated in one single message and you won’t annoy your clients. At the same time, you will be issuing them with a regular reminder that you are out there and continuing to work to keep up with their needs.
E-commerce: Make sure your website is optimised for mobile devices. The use of Smartphones is increasing fast, and indeed it is highly likely that the future of business marketing may lie to a large extent in handheld devices. With more and more people downloading information to their phones, make sure you are tapping into this lucrative market.
Invest in SEO: Many businesses are still not recognising the importance of search engine optimisation (SEO) in order to keep their website at the top of search engine results. It is all very well having a striking and professional website, but if you have not maximised your online presence by using the relevant keywords or using social media then this will count for nothing. Doing this properly is necessary but can be time consuming, so it is worth hiring in a specialist to do the job for you.

Shouldn’t You Be Using Google+ Hangouts to Connect With More Customers?

2011-11-23T03:32:00.001-08:00

What do the Black Eyed Peas, The Muppets and the technology giant Dell have in common?

They are all using Google+ Hangouts to connect with their fan bases.

Before you protest, not another social media site! I’m currently on Facebook and Twitter and they take up too much of my time already, let me explain . . .

At the moment, Google+ has an estimated 40 million users compared with Facebook’s 800 million. But please don’t think of it as “a smaller Facebook,” because it isn’t.

First of all, Google+ Business Pages are easy to create and edit – easier than Facebook in fact. Google+ allows you to interact with your fan base through a mixture of comments, tags, sharing and the soon-to-be legendary, Hangouts.

So what is a “Hangout”?

A Hangout is a video connection between your business and your customers and followers. You can host your own networking sessions, showcase your latest products and services, organize a focus group or a Q&A session – the possibilities are endless.

Many business owners use Hangouts as video conferencing tools, scheduling meetings with suppliers, partners, affiliates or resellers. You can use the Hangout facility to interact with a maximum of 9 other people at any one sitting (10 including yourself). Each Hangout you host will have a specific URL you can use to invite Google+ users to your video session.

Before you host your first official Hangout, I would suggest organizing a ‘dry run’, to ensure you are well prepared and that the sound quality is fully optimized. You might also want to start with fewer people until you get some experience of the facility, as 10 people sharing a conversation is likely to become somewhat chaotic!

I mentioned Dell in the opening of this piece. Dell is the latest big company to announce it plans to use Google+ in its customer service division. It’s quite surprising that many of the larger concerns haven’t yet picked up on the business potential of Hangouts. To be able to connect with your customers face-to-face is a fantastic innovation. Even better – you can then upload videos of those interactions to YouTube. There are huge possibilities for viral marketing here . . .

If you want to ‘hang out’ with more fans of your brand, Google+ Hangouts is well worth a look. You’ll be able to create and share content-rich video productions that spark exciting conversations. Getting more people talking about your brand is what it’s all about. Plus you’ll be in great company.

More people are catching on to the benefits of using Google+ for business. It’s worth signing up to Google+ for the potential of its Hangouts facility alone.

The unwavering popularity of YouTube is testament to the fact that people find the medium of video as a ‘create and share’ tool irresistible. Household names like the Black Eyed Peas, The Muppets and Dell have already come alive to the potential of Google+ as a means of gaining greater visibility and expanding their fan base. Just think what it could do for your brand. If you aren't sure on how this could work for you ask a marketing consultant to give you some ideas.

Use Social Media to Make an ‘Emotional Connection’ that Increases Brand Loyalty

2011-11-23T03:26:00.001-08:00

Take a peek in your wallet. How many brand loyalty cards are you currently carrying?

It’s reckoned that the average UK household is signed up to 12 store/ retail loyalty schemes – everything from collecting points to save money on your supermarket shopping and cash-back on credit card spends, to getting a free cappuccino for every 10 purchases made at your favourite high street coffee shop.
It seems all our favourite brands are leveraging the power of brand loyalty – encouraging customers to shop with them more often.

Many of the top brands like Starbucks and Coca-Cola have long recognized the increasingly important part that social media plays in their customers’ lives and are using it to their competitive advantage.

Using established interactive social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to bring together fans of your brand makes perfect sense, because you will be harnessing the ‘share’ potential of the Internet.

But how do we define brand loyalty? And is it necessary to make the distinction between someone who will buy that 10th coffee from you just to get the freebie, and those who love your Java recipe so much, as well as the ambiance of your café bar, they’d never go anywhere else regardless?

If you belong to a Frequent Flier Programme, ask yourself whether you would still fly with that same airline if a competitor launched a significantly cheaper, but similar service in terms of standard and quality. And if you’re someone who checks price comparison sites regularly, as an increasing number of us do these days, then brand loyalty may not be something you’re driven by, as much as value for money.

As creatures of habit, many of us shop at the same places, at pretty much the same times, week on week, whether the retailers concerned have a loyalty scheme in place or not. These shopping ‘repurchases’ are justified through considerations such as convenience, price, service, or quality. You see, ‘repurchasing’ is not the same as loyalty.

True brand loyalty is achieved when our brand makes an emotional connection with its audience: We love it that Innocent smoothies are 100 per cent fresh fruit and no junk; that Apple computers are cool; that Lego has built a great online community we can be a part of; that Harley-Davidson represents the “adventure of a lifetime.”

And, as fans of brands, we love connecting with those brands via social media, because they reward us with something extra for our loyalty. There’s newsletters, competitions, giveaways, online interaction with fellow enthusiasts – all the extra stuff we get for free, just for signing up to their sites. And here’s the thing, we’re getting an exclusive deal other people are missing out on because they choose not to be a part of that community.

These socially-connected brands have established an emotional rapport with their followers that that goes way beyond ‘repurchasing’ and creates ‘fans for life’.

By using social media to engage and communicate with your target audience – and by offering exclusive deals to those who follow you – your brand could do the same. A recent study found that 37 per cent of Facebook users who have ‘friended’ a brand, cited ‘product discounts and special promotions’ as their main reason for doing so.

Consider how your brand might use Facebook Pages and other forms of social media to connect with more like-minded people who could become valued customers. What emotional message might your brand build its fan base around? And how will you reward your followers for their loyalty and thus create fans for life?

Creating exclusive offers for your online community is a proven way to establish a fan base and encourage more sign-ups. As well as making more sales, you will have a ready-made focus group that will help you with research into your current business, as well as ideas for developing and marketing new products and services.

What does a marketing consultant do? And why would I need one?

2011-11-12T04:20:00.001-08:00

In broad terms, a marketing consultant will analyse the market potential for what your business does and help you develop products and services that satisfy the needs of the end consumer.

They will also work alongside other members of your team within the various departments: sales, operations, marketing, finance, and so on, to determine sales strategies, communications and promotions that will complement the business.

To do this effectively, your marketing consultant will need to fully understand the way your business works and also the buying behaviours of your target customer.

They can also help you launch new products and services and help organize marketing promotions. As well as delivering these ‘hands on’ services, a marketing consultant will track, report on, and review your marketing events and advertising initiatives.

Your marketing expert can also create and deliver professional marketing presentations on behalf of your business, specifically tailored to your target audience. This can be a huge asset to your business, as gaining a reputation for great presentations can do wonders for your image.

Did you also realize that hiring a marketing professional to train your staff can be a really effective way to fire up your employees’ motivation levels and boost productivity. Even if you know a bit about marketing yourself, the consultant will bring a wealth of fresh ideas to the party and ensure that your team is performing as well as it possibly can.

If you’ve ever been on one of those team building weekends (usually somewhere wet, windy and remote, I might add!) you’ll remember that even the most reserved or reluctant participant usually returned with a newly-found sense of enthusiasm and purpose. That’s generally how it works anyhow . . .

A marketing consultant will have exactly the same effect on your team – without the dodgy weather conditions. He or she will instil self-belief into your marketing team and help them perform to the optimum level – both as individuals – and as a unit.

One of the most important attributes of the personnel of a sales and marketing team must surely be passion. It’s easy to become stale when you’re using the same old scripts to sell products in the same old way . . . with the same predictable results. The only way to change that is to inject some new life into your methods and procedures.

If you’ve never considered the benefits of outsourcing your marketing activities to a dedicated professional, now might be a good time to find out how having a consultant on board, could boost your business in so many ways.
A marketing consultant can add real value to your business on a day to day basis. They can work alongside you seamlessly, in conjunction with your team or departments for optimum results. If your marketing efforts aren’t reaping the rewards you’d like, perhaps it’s time to take a look at how the services of a marketing consultant can really help your business take off.

Big Ideas for Small Business Marketing

2011-11-12T04:12:00.001-08:00

In the EU, a small business is generally defined as one having fewer than 50 employees. Small businesses offer so much potential for offering a truly personal service to your customers, often at very little extra cost.

Here are some simple ways to improve your small business marketing:

Make Your Customers Feel Special

Good customer service is essential in these ultra-competitive times. Even something as simple as a hand-written ‘thank you’ note tells your customers you appreciate them. Added extras need cost no more than a few pence extra on top of your service costs, but they can add goodwill to the transaction resulting in repeat business and recommendations.

What Does Your Business Card Say About You?

Does it have a high-remembrance ‘must-keep’ factor? Most business cards are tossed away within a day or so of collecting them. What can you do to make yours stand out? What about a business card with a notepad attached? Or a card with a money-off coupon, or a discount off the next order?

Review Your Core Customer Base

It’s almost certainly a fact that 80 per cent of your business will come from 20 per cent of your customer base. But can you weed out those customers who are not making you money? Do you know what your break-even point is? Continuing to service customers who are unprofitable to your business prevents you utilizing your efforts on finding customers who are and will continue to be in the future.

You Do Have A Mailing List Don’t You?

If you have a web presence you should consider producing a newsletter and encourage your customers to sign up. Don’t think you have to produce an eight-page booklet every two weeks – when more than likely, a one or two-page document will suffice. The key is to start small. The most important thing is that you create your newsletter at regular intervals and tell your prospects when they can expect to hear from you.

Position Yourself As An Expert

The Internet provides a wealth of opportunities for business owners to connect with prospects and like-minded people through online forums and groups. For example LinkedIn currently allows you to sign up to a maximum of 50 groups. It’s not unheard of for business consultants to use these introductions for their prime source of income. Think of ways you might be able to assist others without focusing on the payback and you could be pleasantly surprised at where it leads you.

Befriend Local Media

Editorial coverage in your local newspaper or a trade publication is perceived as more credible than paid for advertising or advertorial features. It is said that the best press releases need to be ‘new-sy’ or ‘now-sy’, so if you have a fresh, interesting story to pitch to the media, either compile a press release yourself, or employ a PR expert to do it for you. If you decide to do it yourself, then split your content into paragraphs for readability and make sure your press release is no longer than one side of A4 paper (double-spaced). And make sure you include your contact details so the journalist can follow up.

There are many simple ideas you can utilize to encourage new and repeat business. Small business marketing can be both creative and cost effective and often you can bring an element of truly personal service to your communications and transactions that the ‘big boys’ struggle to do well.

Marketing Companies – Not All Are Created Equal

2011-11-12T04:09:00.001-08:00

Googling “marketing companies” will yield you 8,910,000 results (as at the time of writing this piece). These range from the one-man or one-woman bands, to those with a dozen or more staff. Some of these companies will have been around for a decade or more, while others will have been operating five minutes.

So how do you know you’re hiring the right people to market your business effectively?

What do you look for in a competent marketing outfit?

You might decide you prefer to deal with a local marketing agency for the added convenience of having them on your doorstep. However in practice, you can rarely nip in and check up on their progress without making an appointment. Plus technological advances such as Skype means you can still conduct meetings whenever and wherever suits.

Initially, it’s a good idea to spend a couple of hours or so researching on the Internet. Most marketing companies’ websites will include case studies of the companies they have worked with and will frequently include testimonials.

From your research, draw up a shortlist of 3-5 agencies to meet with. If you’re requesting that they pitch their services to you, bear in mind some agencies will charge a fee for this. Also establish whether the team pitching will be the same people working on your account should you appoint them. Rapport is all important and you don’t want to appoint an agency only to find someone you haven’t been introduced to is in charge of your account.

When inviting agencies to pitch, it is helpful to give them some background to your business, the key objectives you want to achieve and an idea of your budget. You should also provide them with an outline of the sort of contractual agreement you are seeking.

During the meeting/ pitch you will need to consider:

• Is the agency right for you in terms of size? Bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.

• Which fields are they expert in? Is this compatible with your needs?

• How do they charge? By the hour? Based on results? Are their fees negotiable?

• With regard to fees, how do they measure effectiveness?

• Are they a full-service agency? Or are they limited to traditional advertising elements?

• First impressions (most important) . . . do you like them?

At the end of the pitches, it may become quite apparent who the most suitable marketing company is for you. Either one agency will be obviously better in terms of ‘fit’, or you will have to choose solely on grounds of the likeability factor.

Appointing the right marketing company for your business can be a daunting task. By following the above process you should have a good indication of the agency that would be a good partner for you. Don’t underestimate the power of gut reaction – it has frequently been proven a reliable indicator when determining winning partnerships.

How Marketing Companies Can Boost Your Web Presence

2011-11-12T04:08:00.001-08:00

Marketing companies that specialize in building and maintaining first class websites can be brilliant news for your business. Having a great website that is easy to navigate – and easy on the eye – is an absolute must for every organization or business. Any business without a web presence will not be taken seriously and will probably be viewed with suspicion.

A really effective website can bring so many positives to your business. Having a website that works for you can improve your reputation by telling more people what you do and how well you do it.

Here’s how you can help your chosen website designer create the perfect business website for you:

1. Using your business goals, clearly define what results you want your new website to deliver.

2. Identify which audiences your website will cater for (customers, prospects, researchers, investors) and define what needs and expectations each type of visitor will have when they come to your site.

3. Make sure your website is built from your customers’ point of view. Too much of the ‘what we do’ approach can be a turn off.

4. Flash introductions may have a reputation for being cool, but the majority of your customers hate them (sorry.) I read recently that the second most clicked on words on the Web are ‘Skip Intro.’

5. The same goes for music or audio introductions. Some people will be at work when they land on your site and could be embarrassed by a sudden blast of Katy Perry, or whatever you have as your musical welcome.

6. Include prices where you can. People are automatically wary of sites which don’t include prices. They might be led to think you’re too expensive for them and try one of your competitors instead. If you can’t provide exact prices, aimed at least to offer a ballpark figure.

7. Avoid pop-up windows. Does anyone like them?

8. Make your website easy to navigate and include a call to action on every page. Make sure your website copy is easy to read. Use bite-sized chunks of text or short sentences.

9. Review the success of your website at regular intervals. At worst the content should be revised monthly, at best, daily. Providing fresh, engaging content at regular intervals will keep your visitors coming back for more of the same.

10. Advertise your website (and email address) on all your marketing and promotional materials. Also use it on all online and offline communications such as direct mail, ecommerce and news releases. Now you’ve got a great website, be sure to spread the word!

A successful website requires time and commitment. It’s not enough simply to build a website and leave it to its only devices. It’s like planting a tree and expecting that tree to grow and bear fruit without having any care and attention lavished on it.

So once you have your great website up and running, don’t forget to plan your content, plan your marketing and watch your business grow and ‘bear fruit’.

The Essentials Of A Marketing Plan

2011-11-12T04:02:00.001-08:00

A marketing plan is usually part of your overall business plan, though it can be produced as a stand-alone document.

Effective marketing is crucial to the success of every business venture. Your marketing plan is the road map you will follow to achieve your goals. It lists your objectives and the actions you will take to achieve them.

Your marketing plan should not be a ‘static’ document – rather one you refer to and review on a regular basis.

In order for your marketing plan to be workable, it’s vital that everyone on your team knows what is required of them and when.

You should:

1. Set realistic, clear and measurable targets.

2. Set deadlines for achieving each target.

3. Determine a budget for each marketing activity.

4. Decide who in your team is responsible for each activity.

5. Brief your team/ colleagues on the details of your plan.

6. Set reporting guidelines, so that each member of your team can provide feedback at regular intervals.

It is generally helpful to include a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis in your marketing plan. Most likely you will already have completed one for your business plan, in which case you won’t need to start from scratch. A simple review/ update will normally suffice. A PEST analysis is also helpful for identifying and acting on opportunities and threats within your industry. PEST stands for:

Political and legal changes such as new regulations.

Economic factors such as interest rates, exchange rates and consumer confidence.

Social factors such as changing attitudes and lifestyles, and the ageing population.

Technological factors such as new materials and growing use of the internet.

Every marketing plan begins with an Executive Summary – an overview of the plan – though in practice it’s better to write this last to ensure you don’t leave anything vital out.

Your Business Strategy is also a vital part of your plan. It outlines:

Your Mission Statement.

What your business does/ is about.

Key business objectives.

Strategy for achieving objectives (overview).

Use the SMART acronym for each of your key business objectives and you won’t go far wrong:

Specific: We need to attract 10 new clients this quarter.

Measurable: How will you know when you have achieved your objective?

Achievable: Do you have the right resources in place to reasonably enable you to attain the objective? This usually comes down to people and money.

Realistic: Having a target which is considered unreasonable will only demotivate you and your staff. Great targets will stretch you and your resources and serve as a means of motivation.

Time-constrained: There must be a deadline for achieving each objective and this should be clearly stated in your plan.

Every Business is Potentially a Magnificent Rose Waiting to Bloom

2011-10-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

It’s pretty easy to forget that even the largest companies and organisations operating around the world today, started life as tiny enterprises, the result of the enthusiasm and dedication of a few. At the time they would have had little if any inclination of what the future held.

Take the famous Golden Arches of multinational fast food chain McDonald’s, for instance. The company was founded in 1955 when local entrepreneur Ray Kroc purchased the rights to a small hamburger chain. Nearly 60 years on and spurred on in no small part by the clever concept of franchising, McDonald’s now boasts 33,000 restaurants worldwide and a global staff compliment of an incredible 1.7 million. It is estimated that these numbers help McDonald’s serve some 64 million people every day.

Then there’s computer software and hardware company Microsoft. Paul Allen and Bill Gates officially founded Microsoft in 1975, in the intervening years the firm has grown into one of the pre-eminent lights in IT, becoming a global monster worth some $224 billion (£144 billion). Now, Microsoft’s popular operating system, windows, boasts around 88 per cent of the market place and Bill Gates is one of the richest men on the planet. Mightily impressive stuff indeed.

Now, we’re not saying that working a certain way is a guaranteed route to success for a small company to reach Microsoft-style heights but, it’s worth remembering the humble beginnings of even the biggest names and what patience and hard work can potentially achieve.

Solid, small business marketing, backed-up with comprehensive market research of competitors and consumers, which in turn leads to a clear strategy, really is priceless.

It’s definitely a good idea to personally enquire face-to-face or over the phone, or search online, for an agency you feel not only offers the best service for the best price, but one that you can work with as well. The perfect vision for your company will be implemented before you know it.

Kick Start Your Business With a Comprehensive Marketing Strategy

2011-10-27T03:17:00.000-07:00

A business should always keep a close eye on the very industry it is part of. Becoming complacent or distracted can be commercial suicide.

Take the British motorcycle industry for example. It was considered a world leader during the early decades of the 20th century, with research and development spurred on by the demands of two world wars, producing ever-more powerful and convenient bikes. Indeed, records show that 1959 was a record year for bike sales and exports. Yet it was not long after this that the dismissive nature towards the global competition blinded the British motorcycle industry from the change in attitude and trends.

The early ‘60s saw the dominance of names such as Triumph, BSA and Norton at first threatened and then ultimately smashed, by foreign competitors, particularly by the emerging Japanese manufactures. Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha rode into town with their efficient, cost-effective designs and cheaper retail prices. They were soon doing British-style bikes far better than the British themselves.

British rivals, who were now steadfastly stuck in the past with their thinking, where blown away as the pristine, electric-start Japanese bikes rode off the production line, boasting impeccable reliability, ground-breaking electrics and came pre-fitted with indicator lights as standard. The British had failed to see the changing market and, although they tried to play catch-up, it was way too late.

It’s a stark reminder of what can happen to a business if it doesn’t keep it’s a ear to the ground and continually listen to what its customers want, as well as what its competitors are doing within the marketplace.

To give your company a head start, sound, professional business marketing will allow your company the opportunity to be fully-equipped to fight competitively against your rivals as well as attracting those customers that you are really after.

Get Social-able With Your Online Marketing

2011-10-27T03:08:00.000-07:00

So after all the hype, the concept of ‘web 2.0’ and the promise of a more ‘social’ focus on the internet now has its feet firmly under the table. Social media, driven by the relentless expansion of heavyweights Facebook and Twitter has exploded.

So much so, they, along with platforms such as Youtube, Wikkipedia, Flickr and many others can become the foundational basis of a company’s online drive. It’s no longer just about a good service and functioning website. As a firm, the world expects you to interact with them and, perish the thought, even be interesting.

Just look at the some of the statistics of the growth of social media over the past 4 years. It makes quite astonishing reading.

Facebook for instance, plodded along for a year or so before in early 2007 the uptake of new users positively burst into life turning it into a global phenomenon. Nowadays the social networking giant boasts some 750 million (as of July 2011) active users worldwide. Of which, an impressive percentage log-on to get their fix at least once a day.

While Twitter, can boast nearly 100 million tweets per day from its dedicated bank of registered users of some 180 million. Now they’re impressive numbers, and self evidence why social media, and Twitter in particular are invaluable ways to interact with your market/audience and release company information, such as new products, promotions or services.

The next 12 months show every sign of being even bigger in terms of growth. Facebook has recently rolled out the latest iteration of its layout and news feed, while the industry gets excited about the imminent arrival of ‘facebook timeline’ (a direct response to Google’s fledgling Google+ social network service) which promises an all-new way to showcase your personality in cyber space.

One thing’s for sure, your company needs to be part of this revolution. If you don’t have the marketing set-up to develop a sufficient online model in-house, then a search marketing consultant is what you will need to take full advantage. Before you know it, your business will have the Facebookers and Twitterati that matter unable to stop trending about your company.

Lights, Camera, Action...How Movies Are the Perfect Inspiration for Business Success

2011-10-27T03:05:00.000-07:00

For a good example of how the constituent parts of a marketing campaign come together to support the greater good of a much larger entity, you need look no further than that of the movie industry.

The script and story of the movie can be compared to that of a company’s initial ethos, charter and objective, while a film’s teaser trailers, billboard posters and website are similar to those first tentative steps when a company is promoting itself properly for the first time.

A movie, just like a company, is geared towards making as much money as possible and that means exploiting every last revenue stream to its limit – whether it’s box office, merchandising or external funding. That means that films, costing in-excess of 100s of millions of pounds are backed by the studios who have produced them, with equally ambitious promotions, campaigns and events.

That’s the way you have to look at your business.

Marketing companies will give you the necessary resources and expertise so that your ‘brand’ is as strong as it can be in the online stratosphere and really break those box office records, creating a blockbuster of a company.

A good online communications company will be able to put together a marketing strategy tailored specifically for the needs of your business. They’ll research obvious and not so obvious competitors and support you in gaining an edge over them.

Online is key. But it’s not just about having a great-looking and easy to use website. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and dedicated company ‘channels’ on Youtube are the building blocks of communicating to your business to business customers, consumers and staff. A web marketing agency will have the skills to enable your company to fully embrace this.

For an ideal fit when it comes to your company’s online marketing, have a look online for that Oscar-winning combination.

A Bespoke Marketing Drive Can Lead Your Company to the Top of the League

2011-10-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

1992 saw the much-vaunted debut of the Premier League, trumpeted as the new age of English football. It heralded a drastic change for the national game as money flooded into the sport altering it indelibly. With clubs spurred on by the television deals and the desire to attract a worldwide audience, they become more than a football club, they were now companies – global brands competing for market share.

As the seasons progressed, football clubs expanded their communications departments or hired expertise in the form of a third-party marketing consultant to handle a variety of avenues. Activities such as a redesign – or an ‘evolving’ as it was referred to – of the club crest to a subtly different, minimal, more marketable design, spear-headed this shift in momentum.

While at the same time, marketing was working its magic in generally harnessing the money-making potential of a football club taking advantage of the potential.

Looking for opportunities and consolidating your business is very much like a football team. From small businesses with a handful of staff, to multinational firms, a focused, and intelligent marketing drive will reap so many benefits and keep you in the hunt for glory.

For instance, hiring a specialised marketing firm to provide you with the ideal PR and communications weapons will make a huge impact if it’s done correctly, keeping you ahead of the game.

Putting together an intuitive and informative website, to advertise your skills is a sure-fire way to develop a following – as is gaining a foothold within the rankings of search engines such as Google. You can ensure you’re spreading the word online further still, by using social networking, blogging, link building and targeted, email marketing, showcasing the very services and products you provide. Highlight to people why you are the best at what you do.

A quick search online will show you exactly what’s out there to help your company really find its voice so it can go on to score some career-changing goals in the process.

A Business Consultant Can Help Your Firm Reach For The Stars

2011-10-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.”

Of course, it’s open to interpretation, but what we’d like to think he was talking about is that if you keep an open mind and have belief in yourself, there are always opportunities to be a success and reach your goals – no matter the challenge.

And, when you think about it – that sums up perfectly the ideal mantra business mantra, whether it is an upcoming family-run operation, or a long established multinational.

To give your business a fighting chance to meet its goals then hiring a business consultant is an excellent method to get everything from marketing and corporate branding, overall strategy and recruitment within your company working in harmony.

A good consultancy understands that every business, small, medium or large, is different, and because of that, often need a specific set of requirements. Taking the time to understand your business and analyse the industry in which you sit, there is one sole aim – to increase your profits.

Everything from internal structure, staff and customer communication, the product or service and marketing activities are all looked at. If something isn’t working and improvements are required – the logistical and cost implication of such improvements are examined before being put to your company for approval.

In terms of having access to a business consultancy or not, it can be the difference between having a clear goal and pathway to continued growth or just treading water and not really making the kind of impact you want in your field.

Online, there are a raft of companies out there that can help. With the right sort of advice, support and consultation your business will soon be operating in a way that Ralph Waldo Emerson would appreciate –like poetry in motion.

Size Matters When it Comes to Getting Your Marketing Right

2011-10-14T03:26:00.000-07:00

Right now it might feel as though it’s all doom and gloom,what with the current state of the UK and worldwide economy, not to mentionausterity measures biting hard into the public sector. But, it might besurprising to learn that many small to medium-sized businesses are thrivingeven in these difficult times.

Indeed, recent figures suggest that the number ofbusinesses filing insolvency in the UK have fallen by 10 per cent overall fromthe same period last year. In fact, regions such as Yorkshire have shown a 14per cent drop.

This goes to prove that no matter how difficult thingsget generating income and persuading punters to part with their cash, there arerewards for firms that are willing to put in the hard work and strive towards aclear, common goal. After all, it’s much easier to build from solidfoundations.

Of course, this demonstrates perfectly the importance of smallbusiness marketing, the need of ramping up interest in your service andproducts and thus making sure your intended customer base knows exactly who youare and what you do.

A small business may have a smaller budget than largercompanies but it is all relative and, if things are done the right way, thevarious marketing disciplines can create a pretty formidable weapon in growingyour business.

There’s above the line and below the line marketing andadvertising, encompassing all the fundamentals from promotional spots in localnewspapers and magazines, to holding exhibitions and other public events, aswell as mail shots and canvassing.

Add that to a diverse and focused online commitment andyou have a business marketing strategy that can really make a difference. Anexternal business marketing agency will aide your company’s development,pursuing in-depth market research and analysis, creating the ideal marketingsolution.

B2B or B2C – Your Business Needs a Clear Strategy to Become a Genuine Hit

2011-10-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

Back in the day, during the ‘50s and much of the ‘60s, asong's popularity was measured merely by the sales of sheet music. But it wasn’t until February, 1969 that therecord sales from stores across the country were first compiled and recorded –giving birth to the UK’s first official top 40 chart.

Over the decades countless acts, from bands to solosingers have made their mark on the history of the charts – some much more thanothers – as musical styles and popular culture changed.

Some have collectedmultiple number 1s, like Elvis Pressley (21) and The Beatles (17). However somehave managed just the solitary number one, going down into the history books as‘one hit wonders’ such as: Berlin with Take My Breath Away and Edwyn Collins’ AGirl Like you.

But what’s the best way for a company to ensure its ownchart success and to then build upon it so that it doesn’t just become a flashin the pan, one hit wonder, but instead – a sustained hit-making machine?

Well, intelligent business marketing helps immensely withcreating the foundations and forward trajectory of a company.

From the conclusions made from dedicated market research,a marketing initiative can really come to fruition.

As a local operation, whether it’s business to businessor business to consumer – it’s important that you walk before you attempt torun. So, with that in mind, establishing a foothold within your immediate andsurrounding community is paramount.

A marketing agencywill offer your business the know-how and resources to achieve this and helpyou when the time is right to look towards frying bigger fish and casting yournet further afield.

A business specialist will pull online and other mediumsof advertising into one cohesive strategy for your company to truly becomeplatinum-selling.

Do You Need a Business Consultant if You’re a Solopreneur?

2011-10-10T01:54:00.000-07:00

If you’re thinking that only large corporations need a business consultant, think again. You might be surprised to learn that even a one man or one woman business could significantly benefit from business consulting. The reasonable cost and return on investment will probably surprise you!

Small business owners, sometimes referred to as solopreneurs, believe that they need to be able to do it all. If you run your business on your own, you’ll be wearing many hats as an entrepreneur and as a result, you’ll often be in react mode. You’ll motor through each day doing what needs to be done. But how will you plan for the future? How can you proactively plan for growth when you’re flying by the seat of your trousers? A business consultant can help you. Some entrepreneurs that like to work alone are not thrilled with the prospect of someone coming in and telling them what they’re doing wrong. But a business consultant doesn’t work like that. A skilled consultant can help in a non-obtrusive way that doesn’t take over your business --- this can enhance your business according to your own desires and long term goals. An expert adviser can do a lot for a small business owner, on the business owner’s terms.

What do business consultants do?
A business consultant can do various things for you, such as:

• Analyse your existing business infrastructure to help you make positive changes to procedures for productivity and profitability. This can help you find more time and make more money. What could be better than that?

• Marketing and advertising services. A business consultant could help you gain more exposure with your target audience and become your outsourced marketing department.

• Internet marketing services. Want to take advantage of the vast online audience that could be buying from you? A skilled consultant can help you get found online so you can make more sales.

Sure, large companies need consultants but small businesses can benefit form consulting services as well. Working one on one with someone who has accumulated business experience in many areas could help you in a vast way. A consultant will listen to your concerns, find out what’s important to you as an entrepreneur, and come up with a plan that can work for you and do it on your terms.

How do you choose a consultancy firm?

Finding the right people to help you succeed isn’t always easy. There are some red flags that should set off warning bells for you, such as:

• Companies or consultants that promise “the moon” super fast.
• Companies that you can’t find background information about.
• Companies who don’t offer guarantees.

Signs that you’ve found a solid resource include:

• Testimonials
• A background you can investigate yourself (online and perhaps locally)
• A guarantee about satisfaction
• Flexible services that suit your specific needs.

While most entrepreneurs like to keep a tight rein on their business, the possibilities, when you have someone like a skilled business consultant to help you, can result in your achievement of your goals and dreams much sooner.

Tips for Running a Successful Home Business

2011-10-10T01:49:00.000-07:00

Running a successful home business takes hard work and commitment as well as the desire to make it work. This short article will give you some ideas on what you need to consider to get the most out of your home business venture.

Many people may think that running a home business will be easy once you have decided what it is you are going to do. However this is not the case as there is a great deal of time and commitment needed to run a successful home business venture. You will need to factor in how you are going to manage your working day as well as considering your internet marketing and in particular how to get your website to rank well online.

1.Be Committed

For any business to ever be successful you will need to be 100% committed to the task in hand. Failure to do this could ultimately result in the failure of your business which could be an expensive mistake! Before you decide to set up a home business ask yourself if you have the time, money and dedication to really give everything to making it as successful as possible.

2.Plan Your Time

It is vital that you plan your time effectively so that you can fit in all of your work, internet marketing and communication each day. Try to come up with a list of all the tasks you will need to carry out on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. You can then plan your time around these tasks. When working for yourself it may be tempting to work whatever hours you like, but remember that you will need to be available for at least some of the standard 9-5 so that customers can contact you. Time management is one of the most effective tips to running a home business successfully so make sure your timetable is realistic to ensure you stick to it.

3.Advertising

This is key to getting your home business out there so that people know you exist. Setting up a website is a great way for people to find you and you can place the link on business cards, forums, blogs etc. Make sure that your website is unique and professional and provides people with information on what you do and something interesting to read.

4.SEO

One of the most important elements of your internet marketing is search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO. What this essentially means is trying to get your website from the bottom of the search rankings to the top. For this reason it is important that you understand keywords and which words people most commonly search for to find what you are offering. If you still find SEO confusing then there are many companies and freelance writers who can help you with this.

Social Media Marketing . . . Where Failure To Plan Is Most Definitely Planning To Fail . . .

2011-10-10T01:45:00.000-07:00

What do you think is the single biggest mistake businesses make when engaging in social media marketing?

Undoubtedly, it’s a failure to plan. And this ‘lack of planning’ affects businesses of all sizes; from the rawest of start-ups, to the biggest of empires.

So why does this happen? After all, you wouldn’t embark on any new business venture without a solid business plan to hand (I trust).

Possibly because the vast majority of social media is, in effect, a free tool, business owners think social media is something they can dip in and out of.

Huge mistake.

Because the real key to successful social media marketing is having a solid plan you can work through week-on-week, month-on-month, year-on-year.

The stark reality is that the average person on Facebook has 130 connections and belongs to 50-60 online groups. So to really influence audiences on social media sites you will need to break through this already established network.

The only way to do that properly is to devise a social media strategy that’s right for your business.

Here are some proven tips to help you get started:

Define your target audience

Be as specific as possible about who you want to connect with: What is their gender? Age group? Earnings? Hobbies? Relationship status? Build up a picture of your ideal customer – the more detail the better.

The worst case scenario is that you will try to reach everybody, in which case your marketing message will be too bland to make an impact and you will end up reaching no-one.

Decide on the right social media networks for your business

Where does your target audience hang out? LinkedIn? Facebook? Twitter? Create a clear outline of who you want to reach and then determine which of the social media platforms can best help you achieve your goals. Make sure the type of content you intend posting suits the medium you are posting to.

Listen to what your target audience is saying

What is your target audience interested in? What do they talk about online? What worries them? What kind of role might your product or service play in their lives? By listening to discussion groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc, you will gain valuable insights into your potential customers’ lives, which you can then translate into a meaningful action plan.

Call them to action

What do you want to achieve? What are your goals? Once you know what your primary purpose is – what you want to achieve – create a ‘call to action’ that will back up that goal. It could be as simple as asking people to sign up for your newsletter, or phone for a free consultation.

Create a content planner

This is one of the most important, but often overlooked, components of your social media marketing plan. What sort of subjects will you write about? What are the kinds of things that will engage and inspire your target audience? Create a content plan in advance of starting your campaign and you’ll be surprised how much better received your postings are.

Track and measure your success

Tracking your social media marketing campaign in detail will show you what is and what isn’t working as well as proving your ROI. It will also help you identify the best use of your resources such as time and money. Be prepared to refine/ adjust your content in order to achieve the optimum response levels.

Social media is a cheap and easy way to win more fans for your business. The fact that the tools are (mainly) free can create a problem for business owners who are new to social media marketing.

Begin with a well-defined strategy and you won’t go far wrong. In fact, you’ll be streets ahead of those companies who view social media as something you can opt in and out of whenever you feel like it.

You really can’t.

Snoop Dogg Currently Leads The Pack . . . Here’s How Your Business Can Gain More Followers With Twellow

2011-10-10T01:33:00.000-07:00

What is Twellow? And how can it help my business?

Twellow, dubbed the “Yellow Pages of Twitter,” makes it easy for you to find people within a certain niche or location, and allows people searching for your business type, product or service to find you!

How does it work?

Twellow analyses publicly available ‘tweets’ and places the writer of those tweets into several ‘defining’ categories. Of course you will need to have a Twitter account first, but assuming you have one already, here’s how to make the most of Twellow:

Use Your Maximum 10 Categories To Define Your Areas Of Expertise:

Twellow allows you to be listed in a maximum of 10 categories. Initially this is determined by the keywords Twellow ‘grabs’ from your Twitter profile. However you can change the categories assigned to you using the Profile Editor. You can also request a category be considered for addition if it isn’t currently available – new categories are being added all the time.

Created An Extended Biography That “Sells” You Better

Twellow permits you to extend your standard bio by 2000 characters, which is ideal for better explaining what you do and what you have to offer. You can also use links to your website, blog, or social media profiles. For example: “Check out my Top 10 Social Media Tips at my blog.” Using keywords and phrases in this way will boost your search engine rankings. You can also include a call to action: “For one week only, FREE consultation on how to get more traffic to your website!”

Use TwellowHood To Help You Connect With The Right People

Looking to do more business locally? Or within a certain radius of a particular place or city? TwellowHood is the tool you need. This giant map of the world will let you place your screen cursor on a particular continent, then zoom in to the locality you need. TwellowHood then identifies the Twitter users in your selected location. TwellowHood is great for finding business leads and joint venture partners. Or maybe you outsource work and need to find a copywriter or graphic designer in your neighbourhood. TwellowHood will help you identify the right people in the right locations.

Check Out Twellow’s ‘Advanced Search’ Tips

Twellow allows you to narrow or broaden your search criteria using characters such as quotation marks, ampersand and plus/ minus sign, then returns the search results in descending order according to each person’s number of followers. This is a great facility as you don’t need to wade through an entire list of search results to find the people with the biggest audience. The advanced search option is full of shortcuts which will make all your searches simpler and quicker.

Use A Twellow Sticker On Your Website Or Blog

Why wait for people to find you on Twellow? Place a sticker on your website or blog and they’ll know instantly. You can choose from four standard sticker colours, or customise your own.

If you’re on Twitter as part of your internet marketing you really need to be on Twellow too. And if you’re not already a Twitter fan, Twellow might just convert you. There are so many potential benefits to using Twellow for business:- people waiting for you to find them and people searching for you, it really is worth taking a closer look at how Twellow can improve your ‘bottom line.’

Oh and . . . in case you were wondering, Snoop Dogg currently has a whopping 4,293,842 followers on Twellow.

Something to aspire to perhaps?

Overwhelmed By Social Media? How HootSuite Can Help You Get Organized And Save Time!

2011-10-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

If as part of your small business marketing you’ve already decided your business could profit from social media, but the whole thing is frankly so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start, help is at hand. Perhaps you’re already signed up to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare, but other than that you’ve done nothing with your accounts. Maybe you also have a WordPress blog you make the odd posting to every month or so.

The reality is, dabbling in social media doesn’t work . . . particularly if you’re in business. For businesses, social media is a kind of ‘all or nothing’ experience. And it’s extremely time-consuming, right? Particularly if you’re a one-man or one-woman business when there just never seems enough hours in the day generally.

Well now there’s a programme that can help you automate all your social media activity. It’s called HootSuite – and it’s brilliant for updating all your social media platforms at the same time.

Here’s an overview of what you get when you sign up to HootSuite:

The Ability to Manage Multiple Social Networks

With HootSuite, you can integrate all your social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and update them easily via a single manageable location. HootSuite also lets you update a range of other social networks through Ping.fm.

Control Your Team’s Workflow

HootSuite allows you to add multiple remote users and permit them to update feeds and tweets on your behalf.

Manage Twitter Feeds

Once you start following more than a dozen Twitter accounts, keeping up with all the constant feeds can be an almost impossible task. With HootSuite, it’s a doddle. HootSuite enables you to create lists of Twitter followers easily and stay tuned to their updates.

Upload Files and Customize URLs

HootSuite uses its own shortening function “ow.ly” which enables you to customize URL parameters. And when you want to share updates or files with your followers, HootSuite converts your content into a shortened link and embeds it into the file.

Pre-write Your Content and Schedule It For Posting Later

Another great feature of HootSuite is that you can pre-write content in advance and schedule it to be posted on your Twitter site whenever you want. This facility makes it easier to keep up with the demand for fresh content. With HootSuite, if you want to post a tweet a 3am you won’t have to set your alarm to do it!

HootSuite is iPhone and Droid App compatible

Compatible with the latest iPhone and Droid App, your marketing team can perform their social media functions anytime, anywhere.

Tracking Statistics & Data

Want to know how many clicks your tweets are getting and where from? HootSuite’s tracking system provides you with comprehensive data on all this and much more.

HootSuite is the perfect tool for managing your brand’s social media activity. It allows you to track backlinks and retweets and find out what people are saying about your business. HootSuite encourages greater and more efficient productivity and better interaction with your social media team.

Web Marketing For Business

2011-09-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

If you want to succeed in business on the internet, marketing is vital. There are many facets to internet marketing. Which ones are the most important?

There’s no right answer to that question. This is a subjective topic and because the internet is very open source, there is no right or wrong answer but here is some information from a web marketing company about several vital steps that could help you increase your chances of online success:

Do Your Research

Before you embark on an internet marketing campaign, doing a substantial amount of research is essential. You’ll want to research your market, your competition, your audience, and review information to help you define a search engine marketing and / or pay per click advertising strategy. If you can’t do the research yourself either due to lack of expertise in this area or lack of cycles you could hire an internet research or consultancy firm to help you.

What’s important from a research perspective? Whether you do it yourself or get some help, keyword analysis is important. Analysing your competition will help you as well. Looking at various social media strategies can provide a wealth of info and gathering general business intelligence will pay off in multiple ways --- helping you define, strategise, and execute a campaign that will work.
Analysis

After you’ve defined and executed your web marketing strategy, ongoing analysis will tell you what’s going well and what isn’t going so well. Info gathered for internet marketing campaigns can help you with improvements and can also help you fuel future campaigns as well.

Reputation and Relationship Development & Management

Work to develop a great reputation online. Establish yourself as a professional and establish your company’s presence as one that believes in customer experience, value, and service.

Online success needs more that just development of a reputation and / or a brand. It also requires that you nurture relationships. Social marketing is a two way street. So is blogging. Customers are looking for value and this can help to establish trust. Nurturing online reputation and relationships can equate to trust and success in gathering subscribers and followers to your website. Those subscribers and followers could become future clients and sources of word of mouth referrals.

Again, there are many facets to web marketing and taking a step at a time can help you success. Regardless of whether you’re embarking on a campaign on your own or getting help and whether you’re new to this or not, taking steps toward increasing your online presence is exciting and can pay off huge dividends.

Boost Your Search Engine Ranking

2011-09-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

For any company operating in today’s increasingly digital age, taking steps to improve traffic to their websites is a must if they are going to remain competitive. But it’s not as easy as it may appear, and sometimes reading up on the subject yourself or taking one of the many quick-fix ‘courses’ on offer is not enough to get you the results you want. This is where it may be a good idea to look at bringing in one of the many online and search marketing companies out there to give your business an expert boost. Here are just some of the key services they can provide you with to take you to the next level:

Increasing traffic: You may have identified the keywords potential customers will need to type into the search engine to bring you to your site, but do you know how to convert these to newly generated traffic? Experienced internet marketing companies know exactly how to place these keywords to improve your search engine rankings. Rather than floundering in the sea of other websites all clamouring to rank highest for those particular terms, a paying for a professional, targeted approach will start getting you visitors quickly, and this will lead to...

Higher conversion levels: You have now got the visitors to your site, which is great – but that is only half the battle. Your site needs to be appealing and, above all, easy to use. If a customer is unsure whether to buy from you and the payment process is complicated or difficult to see, you may well lose that sale. Find yourself an expert to provide the full package, from search engine optimisation to a comprehensive website review and your new site traffic will soon start translating to bigger sales and profitability.

Research and analysis: Do you know how to thoroughly research your market and competitors, as well as providing a thorough analysis of your current website performance? Do you know how to find out the most common search enquiries people are making relating to your sector? Don’t worry if not – these are essential elements to any company’s business strategy but it is also part of what the best search marketing companies are there to do.

Paid online marketing: There are times – perhaps during peak sale times – when SEO methods are not enough. At these times it may be advisable to use online advertising methods such as paid placement and pay-per-click to further enhance your ratings. If employed correctly, these methods can provide a real boost, but handled inexpertly and you are spending money to no purpose. If you’re not sure, it’s best to get expert advice from somebody who can advise you on what is appropriate for your website and your market.

Hiring search marketing companies, then, can be a wise medium-term investment. Do choose wisely though, as the quality of service out there does vary. Most importantly, it is worth finding out whether the company you are considering is highly ranked for their keywords themselves, and whether they can provide evidence and testimonials from clients to back up their claims. If not, move on and look for someone else.

Hiring a search engine marketing company to improve your website’s search engine ranking can be looked on as a wise investment. If you hire the right one you can look forward to increased website traffic and much greater visitor conversion levels.

The Pros and Cons of Paid Search Marketing

2011-09-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

Using search engine marketing (SEM) methods such as pay-per-click (PPC) or paid inclusion can be very effective in terms of increasing traffic to your website and widening your customer base. But you have to be aware of the best times to employ these strategies, and if you are considering going down this route it may be a good idea to hire a search engine marketing company to advise you on the latest methods – otherwise you may be spending money with very little reward. So when should you use SEM, and what should you avoid?

On the plus side, paid search marketing is a highly targeted method with corresponding low wastage. Because the traffic driven to your website will be those with the right match types in terms of keywords or Google Adwords, your ads only appear when potential customers are searching for products in your particular area, and therefore have a high purchase intent. Logically, then, if your website has a very specific or niche product to sell, pay-per-click may be the right marketing option for you. Traffic volumes with PPC are also more predictable and easier to manage than with search engine optimisation methods (SEO).

Pay-per-click listings can also give you the advantage of speed, since they can appear within a few hours. Contrast this with SEO, which has a much longer lead time. If you are selling a product within a particular time-frame (perhaps for Halloween, for example), then you will want to make the most of the time you have so in this case PPC could be appropriate in terms of overall cost benefits. On the other hand, if your product is more of a slow-burner then SEO may work just as well, if not better, in building up your brand. Basically, you need to decide which approach will be best for the product or service you have.

One of the major disadvantages of pay-per-click marketing is actually born from its strengths. Because it is such an efficient way for companies to achieve high rankings and drive customers to their websites, there is a correspondingly high level of competition. Pay-per-click is based on competitive bids and for some sectors this can lead to alarming levels of inflation. Basically, this can be a prohibitively expensive business if you don’t know when to employ it effectively, or when the placement costs will begin to outweigh the benefits. If you are at all unsure about this, consult a search marketing company who will be able to give you a realistic idea of your potential return on investment, and whether PPC is right for your company.

Because of the potential for inflated PPC prices, sadly this method can often favour larger brands which have a bigger budget and more effective infrastructure in place for managing competition or bigger campaigns, for example. If you are a start-up, it may be a good idea to build up your brand first before embarking on paid search marketing.

Pay-per-click marketing can be a very effective way of driving traffic to your website and improving your search engine rankings. However, it can also be costly and there is a great deal of competition in certain sectors so you need to think carefully about the right time for your company to employ this approach.

The Benefits of Search Engine Marketing

2011-09-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

Traditional forms of marketing such as magazine advertising, billboards, TV etc are slowly being replaced by search engine marketing (SEM). SEM can allow you to reach your target market in a very effective way, wherever your customers are in the world. It promotes your website by increasing its presence in search engine results pages using paid placement methods such as targeted advertising, paid inclusion. All those ads you see on the right hand side of the search results pages when you type in a key word – chances are these are the result of SEM.

The initial outlay of hiring a search marketing company to optimise your website’s visibility in this way can bring substantial rewards, and here’s why:

Typing keywords into search engines is the number one method people use to find websites. If you have used any of the methods listed above then you are tapping in to a global audience, all potentially getting ready to type in your key words. Furthermore, the majority of people will check a search engine every day – that’s a lot of potential clients that you simply wouldn’t have access to using the more traditional marketing channels.

Your website will appear to an audience who are already actively searching for your keywords. For example, if you are a company making toy prams for children, a person looking for this product will type in your key words and, if you are using paid-for, targeted advertising such as pay-per-click your website will appear to somebody who is already in the market for your products. If you pay enough per click then you are almost certain to increase the visibility of your website to your customer base.

Search engine marketing can also be far more cost-effective than other forms of internet advertising. For example, with pay-per-click you don’t pay until a user clicks on your advert so you are really only paying for those interested in your products. Furthermore, it has been estimated that there are 5-6 times more online purchases made from traffic coming from search engines than from banner adverts, and the cost is lower.
Search engine marketing can allow you to keep up with, or ahead of, your competition.

Really, if you want to maximise your business opportunities these days you need to be thinking about online marketing – because if you aren’t you can be sure that many of your competitors, whatever sector you are working in, are already doing it and reaping the benefits. If you want access to the latest search marketing methods, particularly if you are a start-up and want to hit the ground running, it may be a good idea to seek expert advice from a specialist search marketing company who will be able to develop the best online strategy to fit the particular needs of your market.

Search engine marketing is today one of the most sure-fire ways of increasing the visibility of your website and reaching out to a global customer base. Using a search engine marketing company can allow you to increase your profits at a relatively low outlay – and it should be remembered that online marketing is relatively outstripping the more established channels.

7 Reasons to Look at Cloud-based ERP Solutions

2011-09-09T04:28:00.000-07:00

Businesses have been using cloud-based solutions (also known as SaaS – Software as a Service) for years, especially for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and HCM (Human Capital Management), but many have shied away from implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) as a cloud-based solution. In the past many organizations feared the security implications with deploying a mission-critical solution like ERP to the cloud, however as SaaS ERP becomes more established its apparent that cloud-based ERP can be even more secure than traditional on-premise solutions.

Momentum for cloud-based ERP is growing with worldwide spending on expected to rise by 21 percent a year through 2015, according to Forrester Research. So what are the benefits behind cloud-based ERP and can your organization gain a competitive advantage from looking at this SaaS deployment model?

1. Low Initial and Predictable Ongoing Costs

Because SaaS solutions are provided on a subscription basis, companies with limited budgets can substantially reduce their initial capital costs of investing in an ERP system. Instead, the software becomes a monthly operational expense that allows customers to spread the cost over time in a pay-as-you-go manner. In addition, most SaaS vendors provide assurances that customers will not face large fee increases to continue using the solution once the initial term expires by capping fee increases.

2. Faster Implementations and Time to Value

As SaaS solutions are hosted and managed by the vendor, customers have no hardware to set up or software to install. The implementation is solely focused on configuring the system and, if necessary, importing data. Advanced SaaS ERP systems come preconfigured based on best practices to further simplify and expedite the implementation process. This translates into faster, less complex implementation projects. Because implementation is rapid and customers invest little up-front capital, but receive the benefits from the system as soon as they go live; customers achieve a faster return on their investment.

3. Reduced Cost of Ownership

With a SaaS solution, customers pay only for users that actually use the software. Businesses don’t need to invest in all the peripheral resources and technology to support an on-premise deployment. If the needs of the business expand over time, the customer simply adds users at a pre-specified cost without worrying about investing in additional resources (e.g., hardware). In addition, with a shared, multitenant SaaS model, vendors can pass along lower costs due to the economies of scale achieved through the use of a shared data center, network, and management services.

4. Greater Reliability

SaaS vendors typically offer reliability that exceeds that provided by the IT departments within most job shops and small manufacturers. Due to the economies of scale associated with SaaS solutions, vendors can make significantly greater investments in skilled staff and technology than an individual company. These investments go towards ensuring performance, reliability, and security. In addition, most SaaS vendors offer service level agreements that guarantee uptime, typically 99.5%, assuring customers of system availability.

5. Improved Support

When a customer reports a problem with an on-premise solution, that problem could easily be related to the hardware at the customer site, interactions with other software, the network, or other components that the remote support site has no visibility into, making troubleshooting difficult and time-consuming. However, in a SaaS environment, the vendor’s development and support teams control the entire environment, which gives them a high level of visibility and enables better, faster service.

6. Reduced IT Complexity

The SaaS model transfers the burden of managing and keeping the system up-to-date and running from the customer to the software vendor. The software vendor takes responsibility for maintaining the entire infrastructure including: networks, storage, operating systems, databases, application servers, Web servers, disaster recovery, and backup services. Further, SaaS eliminates the need for customers to upgrade their software to the latest release and to update outdated infrastructure (including hardware) to support major software upgrades. The software vendor takes responsibility for all upgrades, ensuring that the system is always running on up-to-date hardware and the latest software version.

7. Improved Business Focus

Finally, one of the most important benefits of the SaaS model is that it frees the customer from the responsibility of maintaining and managing the hardware, software, and infrastructure associated with ERP systems. Instead they can focus on and devote their time, staff, and resources to their core business and new strategic opportunities.

Why Link Tracking is Important for Successful Internet Marketing

2011-09-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Once you have set up your internet marketing it is vital that you keep track of how it is working and if it is as successful as you require. This is mainly because it is not worth spending out money on certain types of search marketing if they are not generating the sales that you need. Link tracking is the process in which you use software, website logs and other means of tracking to keep an eye on the response that you get.

How does Tracking Work?
These days there are a number of different methods that you can use to track links including services that will actually do the hard work for you; although these will cost you a small fee. However if you wish to do this yourself then services such as Google Analytics may help and can be a great place to get started before spending out money on paid services. In the main you will need to know a few details about the pages you are interested in such as a small piece of tracking code.

You could also try your own version of tracking by creating separate pages that are identical and giving them different names and then linking your various internet marketing pages to these. This is one way to quickly see which pages are being viewed the most and therefore which of your adverts are proving most effective at generating leads.

Why Track Links?
The main reason for tracking your internet marketing is to see how effective your campaigns are and therefore which to continue with and which may need some work. By tracking this information you can create better advertising campaigns in the future and know exactly how to appeal to your niche market. In the long run this can help you save a considerable amount of money on campaigns that are just not working.

So if you want to make your business successful and profitable you must track your internet marketing and find out exactly how many visitors you are getting. It may seem complicated and time consuming to begin with but the results will be worth it! If you aren't sure of how to go about this look up an internet marketing consultant.

Need some more information on marketing then have a look at the website What Is Marketing?

When to hire a SEO agency

2011-09-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

To begin with, it would be a good idea to understand what SEO agencies are designed to do for your company. Basically, they specialise in driving traffic to your company’s website without which, even if you have the most original and beautifully put-together site in the world, you will never be able to command the sales figures necessary to keep your business afloat. It hardly needs saying that a service like this is particularly vital if your company is of the rapidly-increasing number that does most, if not all, of its trade online. So when is the best time to research the SEO agencies out there and select the right one for you; and how should you go about this? Here are a few pointers to bear in mind.

In my personal opinion, the time to hire an SEO agency is very early on, if not from the start, of your company’s activities. Many companies will struggle along with poor visitor ratings before concluding that they need the services of an expert, by which time they will already have lost revenue and will have far more ground to catch up on than if they had budgeted for this in the first place. Think about it: if your business is based online then your website is your main selling tool, so why would you neglect to budget for the service that will bring customers to you?

Let’s assume, then, that however well-established your company is you have now decided to choose one from the burgeoning number of SEO agencies out there. All well and good, but how should you go about this and what should you be looking out for? The thing to bear in mind is that the best SEO service is not necessarily the most expensive one. Instead, you should be looking for those who can lay out every service they will be providing in a business plan so you can see exactly where your money is going. If a company won’t do this because they prefer to keep their mysterious ways to themselves you should probably give them a wide berth. After all, you’re a business person and you want to know what you are paying for.

Secondly, it is very important that you check out the agency’s credentials thoroughly. If possible, use a company that has been recommended by several sources and that has been proven to boost traffic to a number of sites. Of course, most of them will claim to have done this but really the only way to check this conclusively is by sufficient word-of-mouth endorsement. Obviously it will take a little longer to gather this information, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Thirdly, you should be aware of your time-frames if this is an issue for you. For example, if you have a seasonal product and you are hoping to shift large volumes of it then you really need to bring the SEO agency in several months in advance. Remember that driving the required business to your website is not an overnight process. Patience is required and no SEO company, not even the most experienced, can work miracles with search engines which all operate under specific rules of their own.

This is just a short list of points to bear in mind, and there are of course other issues to consider such as budgetary constraints, whether you want the kind of agency which will be on-call 24/7 and so on. But no business which relies heavily on its website for sales can really afford, in these days of fierce online competition, to ignore the need for SEO.

Using effective SEO tactics is a must today for any company that conducts its business online. So when should you bring in SEO agencies and what should you bear in mind when choosing the right one for you?

Marketing a Small Business on a Budget

2011-09-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

Setting up a small business can be expensive and you may not have a huge budget available for your marketing. This article offers help and advice on managing your advertising in a cost effective manner.

Marketing is vital to get a business noticed by its target audience and this is possibly just as important if not more so if your business is on a small scale. With so much competition around you cannot simply sit and hope that people will find you or before you know it your business will be making a loss. Many people assume that marketing is going to be incredibly expensive and never make it past handing out a few leaflets. However this need not be the case and even those on a tight budget can find marketing methods to suit their needs.

Lead Generation and Email Marketing

Setting up a website is incredibly important as this gives you somewhere to refer potential customers to but you need to make sure that you are thinking about every visitor being a possible sale or lead. For this reason you should try and make sure that you entice them into leaving their contact details so that you can contact them with future promotions and offers and generally remind them that you exist. This can be as simple as you make it and many people often just have a short contact form for their name and email address. This is a great way to market your business without being expensive or too time consuming.

Search Engine Optimisation

This type of marketing is something you may have heard of since SEO, or search engine optimisation, is incredibly popular and does not cost much to put in place. It will however take a little time and effort initially to establish important keywords and phrases that people use to search for what you offer and make sure these are placed in all of your web content. In this way you should find that people are able to locate your website quickly as you will rank well in the search engines. If you are in a competitive industry search marketing companies could help you to increase your rankings.

Pay per click advertising

This is another marketing strategy that does not cost much but will take a little time and effort on your part; however the results will be worth it. It is important that you understand how this works before you begin otherwise it could end up costly. For this reason you should take your time to do your research or perhaps consider hiring a marketing consultant of some kind to make sure that you are doing it right.

How Link Building could Increase your Website Rankings

2011-09-04T04:21:00.000-07:00

If you wish your marketing to be a success you will need to make sure that any online content ranks well within the search engines. This short article offers you a brief glimpse into link building and how this may help your business.

Setting up a business can take up a lot of time and requires a great deal of commitment to make it as successful as possible. You will need to focus on your marketing if you wish it to really take off since there is so much competition around that it is easy to get lost in the crowd. For this reason you should make sure that you come up with regular online content and that you keep your website and/or blog ranking highly in the search engines. Perhaps one of the best ways to help improve your internet marketing rankings is by using link building which essentially aids website optimisation.

What is Link Building?

If you have a computer then you will almost have certainly used a search engine to find something online and you will realise that most people only tend to use the results on the first page. Therefore if your website ranks lower then this you will often find it is overlooked; which is of course bad for business. This is where link building can prove to be useful since it allows you to increase and improve the ranking of your website so that it is on the first page of results. This may at first seem like it could be quite time consuming and whilst it will take time and effort initially the results speak for themselves.

Link building basically refers to the quality, quantity and the relevance of links that are focussed on your website. Say a link to your website is included on a number of other websites then it will be seen by the search engine as being of greater importance. Therefore marketing links that point people in the direction of your website tend to increase the popularity of your internet marketing and should increase the ranking of your site.

How Link Building Works

Link building tends to be focused in two different ways as some websites may ask for a reciprocal link, meaning they require you to place a link to their website on yours so that you help each other. Or you may be able to find one way links which will not require help from you. In some cases these sites may charge a small fee so it may be worth looking for other businesses that are perhaps linked in someway with what you do, but are not in direct competition and helping each other out for free. If you go down this route then try to pick sites that already rank well so there is a greater chance of your link being viewed.

Considering a career in PR

2011-09-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Getting a job in public relations can often seem like a glamorous choice – travelling, working with high-profile clients, maybe even celebrities – but it can be stressful and it’s certainly not for everyone. Before you decide to embark on this path, you need to be sure you are the right kind of person to cope with the challenges this sector can throw at you.

A career in public relations involves a lot more than you might think: It is not just about marketing a person or brand. To succeed in this industry, you need communication skills and the confidence to talk convincingly to a wide range of people. You will almost certainly have to give presentations to clients, as well as liaising with journalists or other groups, so if you are the shy retiring type you may find it difficult. It also helps to have strong writing skills as you may well be called upon to put together press releases, newsletters and other promotional material.

Creativity is also an essential attribute. Many a UK PR agency is involved in the building of a brand from the outset – including aspects such as product development, packaging, in-store placement - not just the marketing side of things. This being the case, do you think you would be able to contribute effectively to brainstorming sessions to come up with original ideas? Above all, this requires the confidence to put your ideas across and not be embarrassed if they seem a little ‘out-there’.

Organisational skills and the ability to work under pressure are also a must. PR work doesn’t come in a steady stream like some jobs. You may have periods of relative calm followed by a frantic few days trying to organise an event or product launch, etc. This means you must be prepared to work flexibly – even staying late at weekends and during the evening if the project in hand demands it.

Still interested? Then you will benefit enormously from some kind of business qualification. Whilst it isn’t an absolute essential, a UK PR agency will tend to prefer its employees to have a bachelor’s degree in communications, English language, journalism or public relations. Of course, nothing can compare to on-the-job experience but with the increasing competition in this market today you may find yourself at a disadvantage alongside other candidates if you have no formal training.
You should also research the kinds of roles that appeal to you: Do you see yourself as a media analyst? A marketing executive? Try to speak to people already working in the industry to get a feel for the pleasures and pitfalls of such positions.

Whilst there is fierce competition for such roles, trying to land yourself an internship at a PR company is a great way of getting a feel for the industry, and is also a good way of establishing contacts or finding a mentor – an invaluable asset when you’re starting out.

If variety is important to you when making a career choice then public relations could be the right path for you. There are certain skills you need your foot in the door there are wide and exciting range of roles to choose from.

Tips for Successful Online Business Marketing

2011-08-20T03:15:00.000-07:00

In order to successfully run a business you need to give careful consideration to internet marketing. This article will advise you on the areas you need to think about.

It is important to understand what internet marketing is and how it works if you wish to make a success of your advertising. In the main, marketing online is about providing your potential customers with information on what it is you do or sell and offering them answers to any questions that you may have.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization or SEO is something that is often talked about but many do not realise how important it really is. Knowing what your target audience will search for is vital if you wish to gain their attention. Often the best way to do this is using a tool that will tell you what terms people are searching for when they visit sites such as Google. You can then include these keywords and any other variations within your text.

Blogs

Many businesses believe that blogs are no longer really used or read and that this is not an effective method of internet marketing. Blogs can take many different forms and they are in fact a really useful way to provide readers with clear information on what you do, as well as offering them advice.
It is also important to remember that blogs still rank well with search engines as they are generally updated regularly as well as containing high quality content. Therefore by having a blog linked to your website you are greatly increasing your internet marketing and the chance for potential customers to find you.

Can your Customers find you?

Having a website is vital and once you have one set up and have made sure that it is search engine optimized it is all too easy to forget about it and assume it will run itself. However it is important to keep trying to generate traffic by other means of internet marketing. Try to make sure that your website is featured on social media websites and perhaps consider taking out adverts as well.

It is also worth bearing in mind that once customers have found your website they need to be able to contact you. To make it easy for people to do this try posting this information on the footer of each page.

What to Consider when Using an Internet Marketing Company

2011-08-20T02:50:00.000-07:00

If you decide that you need some help carrying out advertising for your business then you may wish to consider finding an internet marketing company. This article explains what you should look out for.

The invention of the internet has meant that the way people spend money and buy items has completely changed. These days if people wish to buy a product or service from a business they will conduct their research online. For this reason internet marketing is vital if you wish to capture as much of the market as possible.

No matter how big or small your business is you need to focus on advertising and creating an attractive and appealing website. However this may not always be easy, especially if you have little or no experience of running a business or advertising. If this is the case then you may wish to find an internet marketing agency to help you achieve your goals and advise you on how best to approach your advertising.

Why Advertise Online?

If you fail to conduct sufficient advertising online then you are not only losing out on potential prospects but also a platform that can reach out to your target audience all over the world. Internet marketing also has the bonus of being affordable for every business as there is a method of advertising to suit all budgets. This then gives you greater control over your business marketing as well as your brand.

Finding an Internet Marketing Company

If you are unsure of internet marketing and how best to approach this you could choose to find an internet marketing company to assist you. However it is vital that you run checks on the agency first and read as many reviews to ensure that you have chosen a reputable company. Be sure to select the best internet marketing company if you wish to help preserve and grow your company brand in the online world, as the wrong agency could actually damage your reputation. It is advisable to request for proof of their past results as well as asking for references if possible.
One thing you should be clear of before you decide to find an internet marketing company to help you is what your goals are and what you would like to achieve.

The Characteristics Required to Run a Successful Business

2011-08-16T02:39:00.001-07:00

If you wish to run a successful business it is not simply enough to have a good idea these days. With so much competition around you need to make sure you know exactly how to run your business to get the most out of it and make a profit. There are a number of characteristics that are essential for running and marketing that you will need to possess; although having the motivation and willingness to work hard are essential from the beginning.

Have Confidence in your Business

Running a business is hard work so it is important that whichever area you choose to go into it is one that you enjoy! This will mean that you are more likely to be motivated to work hard and spend the time needed to get everything up and running. You will no doubt find that in the beginning you have to spend a lot of time and effort drawing up business plans, visiting the bank and suppliers and also drafting out marketing plans so if you do not believe in what it is you are doing you will find this much harder.

Planning

This may not sound incredibly interesting but planning is vital if you wish to meet your goals and make your business as profitable as it can be. Even with a great business idea many people have failed due to a lack of preparation as they are unsure of which direction to go in to make sure their business grows. It is also a good idea to have an idea of how your days will be spent to ensure that you meet all of your deadlines and that you get everything done within the necessary time frame. This is vital in the beginning since you will want to get your business up and running as soon as possible so that you can begin making money. If this is not an area that you feel you can manage alone then ask a friend or family member or perhaps consider hiring a business consultant for help.

Helping your Business Grow

All of the most successful businesses need to constantly think about what they can do to make sure their business grows. One of the easiest ways to do this is to think about your marketing and new and exciting ways to promote your business. Try to keep up to date with what your competition may be doing so that you do not get left behind and try to come up with new ideas and products. You may find that subscribing to newsletters and publications can help you to develop your business and marketing skills and keep you up to date.

What to Avoid when Choosing a Marketing Consultant

2011-08-16T02:08:00.000-07:00

Running a business can be hard work so you may feel at some point that you need help. A marketing consultant could be just the person but it is a good idea to understand the traits you should avoid when looking to hire someone.

If you feel that your business needs some help then you may be wondering what you need to look for when hiring a good marketing consultant. In some cases it may actually be simpler to highlight the traits that should be avoided to make finding the right person for you that much simpler. In this was you should be able to find someone who understands what it will take to make a success of your business and who can help you find your niche market.

Overly Aggressive Marketing

To run a successful business you need to think carefully about your marketing, however if you come across as too aggressive this can often have a detrimental effect. Your marketing consultant should understand everything regarding your sales but they need to consider other areas as well and should not spend all of their time attempting to sell you an idea if you do not feel it is right. For this reason a good marketing consultant should take everything in steps to ensure that it is what you want and that you are happy with the level of progress that is being made.

You may come across some marketing consultants who are overly aggressive with the way they carry out their marketing which could result in you having a plan that you are not happy with. Therefore if you feel this may be the case or they fail to listen to what you want you should walk away and look somewhere else.

Not up-to-date

These days there are so many different types of marketing that you could pursue and if you want to stay one step above the competition you need to be using the most up to date methods. For this reason it is vital that the marketing consultant you choose knows all about the most modern marketing methods and how they work. If you feel they are not up to speed then look elsewhere.

Lacking Experience

For peace of mind it is a good idea to choose a marketing consultant with plenty of experience so that you know they can achieve what they say. Be sure to check their CV as well as reading client testimonials to be sure that they have done a good job for past clients. Try to choose someone who has lots of experience within your line of business so that they understand the market.

Why Link Tracking is Important for Successful Internet Marketing

2011-07-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

Once you have set up your internet marketing it is vital that you keep track of how it is working and if it is as successful as you require. This is mainly because it is not worth spending out money on certain types of internet marketing if they are not generating the sales that you need. Link tracking is the process in which you use software, website logs and other means of tracking to keep an eye on the response that you get.

How does Tracking Work?

These days there are a number of different methods that you can use to track links including services that will actually do the hard work for you; although these will cost you a small fee. However if you wish to do this yourself then services such as Google Analytics may help and can be a great place to get started before spending out money on paid services. In the main you will need to know a few details about the pages you are interested in such as a small piece of tracking code.

You could also try your own version of tracking by creating separate pages that are identical and giving them different names and then linking your various internet marketing pages to these. This is one way to quickly see which pages are being viewed the most and therefore which of your adverts are proving most effective at generating leads.

Why Track Links?

The main reason for tracking your internet marketing is to see how effective your campaigns are and therefore which to continue with and which may need some work. By tracking this information you can create better advertising campaigns in the future and know exactly how to appeal to your niche market. In the long run this can help you save a considerable amount of money on campaigns that are just not working.

So if you want to make your business successful and profitable you must track your internet marketing and find out exactly how many visitors you are getting. It may seem complicated and time consuming to begin with but the results will be worth it!
Or if you aren't sure then try speaking to an internet marketing consultant, they should be able to help.

Search Engine Optimization and Internet Marketing

2011-07-29T08:36:00.000-07:00

If you have come across internet marketing before then you will no doubt have heard many people talking about search engine optimization, or SEO, but what exactly does this mean and how can it work for you? Essentially it is a way of being aware of what your potential customers look for online and the way in which they search for similar companies. It is important to understand that SEO is crucial if you want to make a success of your online marketing and make your business profitable.

How to Get Started

Firstly you will need to make sure that you have a website in place for your business and that it looks good and functions well. SEO is a way in which you will set up the internal structure of your website so that it can be easily found in the search engines and by those who want what it is you offer.

This may sound complicated but it need not be. It is important that you pay attention to the keywords and phrases that you use within your site and search marketing as it is by using these that the search engines will rank your website. By ranking as high as possible you have a much better chance of being found since people tend to only click on the first few results that come up when they search. If you aren't sure then contacting a good B2B Marketing Agency should help you.

It is also vital to be sure that the content that you place on your site is interesting, informative and above all of high quality. This is because anything that looks or sounds unprofessional or is not interesting to read will put people off investigating your site further and returning.

Targeting Your Niche Market

When you are thinking about SEO as part of your internet marketing you need to always keep in mind your niche market and who exactly you are targeting. This is important as obviously you wish to attract the people that want your services or products to come and visit you and they will find you much quicker if you know the kind of words and phrases they will search with.

In this way your internet marketing should really take off and you should notice a marked improvement in the number of visitors to your website.

What to Look for in a Business Consultant

2011-07-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Setting up and running a business can be a difficult task, especially if you are unsure of what you are doing. Hiring a business consultant can be a great way to ensure that everything runs smoothly and your business is as successful as it can be.

If you are thinking of setting up a new business but have little experience in this area then hiring a business consultant could be a great way to get help and guidance. They can provide you with invaluable expertise with the aim of helping your business to become as successful as possible. Even if your business is a little more established you could still find that a business consultant is incredibly useful, especially if you are expanding or going through a transition period.

Finding a Business Consultant

Choosing the right business consultant for you needs careful consideration as you are placing some of the success of your business in their hands. For this reason be sure to ask plenty of questions, check examples of past work and see if you can talk to past or present clients to see if they come recommended. Check to see if they have delivered the work on time and that it has been of a high quality. Their reputation as well as their work ethics and ability to deliver what the task has required of them is a crucial factor. It is also important that when choosing a business consultant you find someone that you feel has an interest in your business and that you can relate to on a more personal level.

Working with your Business Consultant

Once you have found a business consultant that you think is suitable it is important that you determine the scope of the work you have and discuss a time frame for this to be completed. It is important that you select someone who can be flexible in accommodating your needs.

Hiring a business consultant allows you to stay up to date with the some of the newest marketing techniques around and will hopefully keep you one step ahead of the competition. Without one you would need to spend a lot of time and effort researching and carrying out your own marketing which is not just time consuming but could work out more costly in the long run. Above all, make sure that the business consultant you select is dedicated to your business to ensure its success in the long run.

Why you Should Consider Hiring a Marketing Expert

2011-07-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

Running a successful marketing campaign is vital to attract new customers and increase your profits; however it can sometimes be a little confusing. Hiring a marketing expert can be a great way of ensuring that your advertising runs smoothly.

Marketing and advertising your business is absolutely vital if you want to generate sales and therefore make your business as successful as possible. If you are new to this area then you may find that hiring a marketing expert is a great way to ensure you are making the most of your advertising. No matter if you are a large or small business you can always benefit from the help of a marketing expert to keep you ahead of your competitors and gain plenty of traffic to your website.

How can they Help?

Search marketing companies will use a variety of search engine marketing tools as well as articles with plenty of relevant keywords and link building campaigns in order to generate as much traffic as possible for your business. They should also be able to look after the on page factors to make sure that your website responds well to all marketing efforts. Ways in which a marketing expert might do this include making sure that the content on the site is keyword specific and creating product tags, titles, relevant content and headers based around certain keywords to help build up your customer base..

By hiring a marketing expert and someone with experience in search engines they can help you to generate and build high quality back links for your business. This is especially important if you do not understand or have the time for search engine optimisation as this can form a key part of your advertising campaign. By approaching a marketing expert you can carefully select and target a niche area for your business to increase your ranking in online search engines.

An online marketing expert will also understand the many different advertising techniques that are available to you and be able to guide you as to which ones are most suitable. For instance creating and running a blog can be a great way to increase the traffic to your website and by updating it regularly and using unique, informative keyword rich content it can really boost your sales!

How Your Business Can Succeed With Email Marketing

2011-07-23T02:57:00.000-07:00

In 2009 the US Direct Marketing Association (DMA) produced a report: ‘The Power of Direct’, which revealed that every $1 invested in email marketing produced a return of $43.08.

Additionally, Forrester Research, an independent IT and business research company, estimates that the Euro
pean email marketing sector will be worth around £2.15 billion by 2012.
Email marketing is far more than a cheap and easy alternative to direct mail. The fact is, anyone can do email marketing – but not everyone can do it well.

Here are 4 proven ways for creating better email campaigns:

Devise a Secure System for Collecting Email Addresses
Every time your business connects with a customer you should seek to capture their email address. You can do this through your website, via a call centre, surveys, exhibitions, point-of-sale, prize draws and so on.
There are strict rules regarding the keeping of personal data and how you use it. The Direct Marketing Association Email Marketing Council produces Best Practice Guidelines that will prevent you falling foul of the regulations. More information is available at: www.dma.org.uk.

Do make it easy for your prospects to opt-in or opt-out of your mailings. People who sign up to receive your emails/ newsletters/ offers need to be reassured they can unsubscribe easily, with one click of the mouse preferably.

Create an Attention-grabbing Subject Line

Internet marketing is all about satisfying your readers’ short attention span. Also bear in mind that some email service providers will display only the first 38-47 characters of your subject line in a recipient’s inbox – and for mobile devices the subject line is shorter still.
Therefore keep your subject lines short and to the point – and test them repeatedly. It’s often helpful to devise your subject line last – after you have finalised your message.

Keep Your Message Content Relevant

‘Irrelevancy’ has been dubbed the new spam, so make sure what you write is both relevant and engaging for your readers. Try not to think of it as blasting out an email to an entire database, try to picture one single customer that encapsulates your target market and write just for him or her. Personalise your communications as much as possible. For greater impact make sure each email focuses on one single message rather than several.

Sending Emails at the Right Time Can make a Huge Difference to Your Response Levels
A UK market research team analysed over 650,000 emails sent by some 34 companies. The results might surprise you.
Here’s what they discovered about the best and worst times to deliver your emails:
• 10pm to 9am – the worst time to send email (the email equivalent of the ‘black hole’).
• 9am-10am – the second best time for email opening, consumers are happy to be distracted by special offers, live events, and deals on consumer goods.
• 10am-noon – your prospects are focussing on work-related matters rather than opening marketing emails.
• Noon-2pm – somewhat surprisingly, the survey found consumers prefer to spend their lunch break checking out news alerts and online magazines rather than catching up on emails.
• 2pm-3pm – the immediate post-lunch period – again with the main focus on work, the only emails that elicited a response were those relating to financial services.
• 3pm-5pm –workers begin winding down, with more of a focus on their personal situation. Another positive time to send emails relating to property and finance.
• 5pm-7pm – a great time for recipients to receive offers about holidays and B2B promotions.
• 7pm-10pm – the best time to engage your customer: all sorts of communications fair well in this time slot, particularly offers on clothing and special interests. Gym, sports and leisure promotions are exceptionally well received during this period.

How to Improve Your Google Ranking . . . Strategies for Achieving Website Success

2011-07-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

You type your business’s name into Google’s search engine and hey presto it appears on your results screen . . . on page 12.

Ouch.

In the mind of your potential customers that might as well be somewhere in outer space because you’re definitely off their radar.
So what can you do about it?

It’s time to consider employing a Search Engine Optimisation (or SEO) strategy.

Search Engine Optimisation might sound technical – the sort of thing only a web developer should be interested in – but in fact it’s based on a simple concept and use of a search engine company such as the Leicester SEO company could be beneficial or using a web marketing company.

Search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN put the most relevant choices per search at the top of their results page, so their users don’t waste time weeding through thousands of entries to find what they’re looking for.

The search engine companies use bots (robots) or spiders to crawl the Internet examining the context of pages and the quality of their content and rank them accordingly.

For sound SEO, keywords are vital. A keyword is simply a word or term someone might type into the search box in order to find your website, or a single page from it. Have a brainstorming session: write down all the possible terms potential customers might use to find your business. You can test your findings using Google’s AdWords keyword tool.

AdWords reveals how popular your search terms are by listing the number of local and global searches during the past month. It will also offer you some alternatives similar to those you have come up with.

Keep the search engine ‘bots’ in mind, but write for humans!
Ever come across a web page or online article that has been stuffed with a particular keyword to the extent it makes you cringe at every sentence, because the word or phrase in question has been so over-used?

It used to be that unscrupulous web developers could saturate their sites with keywords and fool the bots into giving them a higher ranking. Only now the bots have got savvy and refuse to take the bait!

So build your website for your human visitors (not for bots) and make it as engaging and user-friendly as possible. Remember, ultimately it’s the quality of your content that will determine your website’s ranking.

Another thing to bear in mind is that ‘spiders’ are unable to see Flash-based content, JavaScript content and other so-called ‘rich media’, techie people seem to love.

SEO Copy is the Spice of Internet Life

2011-07-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

In these digital times, it's all about the internet – plain and simple. Get your online offering really in gear and you'll reap the benefits when it comes to increasing traffic taking notice of your product or service.

With readable and exciting copy on your website, that also contains the relevant SEO, trending keywords – your 'authority' rating within the Google/search engine stratosphere will quickly begin to grow.

But, before you go any further it's a good idea to compare your business model to the following key points to see if you can really benefit from organic SEO:

1. Think about what your product, service or industry is and research as to whether users/customers actually use a search engine to look for it.
2. Consider the appeal of your website. Customers will be drawn to a well designed site that has good functionality and champions the virtues of the brand.
3. It is a competitive market out there. Double-check that the pricing of your product or service compares favourably with competitors.
4. In terms of a customers’ search engine input, is your site brought to their attention via the relevant phrases and keywords?

Right, so now you've decided SEO is definitely for you we can highlight a few sure-fire tips that will have your online presence really begin to pay dividends. It may take a fair amount of hard work and time but ultimately, organic SEO will prove more self-fulfilling long term than the immediacy of paying for your Google/search engine ranking.

Appeasing the almighty god that is the ranking algorithm, as hinted upon earlier, starts with the quality and regular updating of your content – add sound link building into the equation for good measure too. So ensure you have professionally written and, just as importantly, unique copy with your carefully selected primary keywords and key phrases from Google Adwords. Search engines find it impossible to resist tantalising, natural and fresh content.

Another good trick to consider is to make sure whenever you refer to yourself on your site, you always include your location as often as you can. For example, when you mention your head quarters use "London based office" or "our London store/office". This means you will begin to snare local searches of your product or service.

Of course, this is just the tip of the SEO iceberg and just the beginning of internet marketing – search online for a good SEO consultancy and see what else they can do for you and your business to climb those search engine rankings.

How to Find More Customers and Increase Your Online Business

2011-07-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

If your business has an Internet presence (and let’s face it, for most businesses it’s an essential requirement these days), you should constantly be on the lookout for new and innovative ways to increase your customer base.

Here are some simple ideas for winning new customers:

Discover Your Target Customers’ Other Interests:

If you are selling health-related products, for example, you probably already market via health forums, health blogs and other places where ‘health’ is the main topic of conversation. This is all well and good, but remember this is where your competitors will be concentrating their main marketing efforts too. So this time ask yourself: “What might my ideal customers’ other interests be?”

Although your customers are interested in staying healthy, they could also be avid sports fans, or movie buffs, or pet lovers, or DIY enthusiasts, so it’s worth casting your net further afield so that other potential customers get to hear about you and your products or services. Bear in mind also that people with the same interests tend to group together, whether that’s in the real world or the virtual one!

Vary Your Offering:

You know you provide a great product or service, but getting more people to try it can be a challenge, even for larger companies. Every now and then, a ‘household name’ will change the look of a product’s packaging (even though the product itself hasn’t changed) to appeal to a wider audience, or a different market sector. You could do the same.

If you are selling an ebook, you could turn it into a downloadable podcast for those who would rather listen to the spoken word than read your content. Again if you use video as a marketing tool, you could enable your site visitors to upload it to their MP3s so they can listen to it anywhere they want. By providing these additional options, people can choose how they connect with you.

Offer Free Stuff

Whilst you might not be ready to launch your own Freemium (free premium magazine) as seen on a recent episode of The Apprentice! giving away free content is a time-proven marketing tool for pulling in more customers.

If used correctly, this strategy may be all you need to get people to pick up that phone
and call you, or subscribe to your online newsletter.

If you are an estate agent, you could create a free report about "How to get more value from your home sale."

By creating content around a specific title like in the above example, you will primarily attract people who are considering selling their property. In building a rapport with your target audience, while establishing yourself as an expert in your field, who do you think your followers are going to ask to market their home for them?

Other freebies you could offer depending on the nature of your business:

 Free shipping
 Free sample of your products
 Free trials
 Free estimates
 Free DVD tutorials
 Free personalised stuff (with your company name on, naturally).

Use Social Networking to Attract More Customers:

There’s nothing more tedious than companies banging on about themselves and their achievements all the time. Savvy social networkers on the other hand provide entertainment without the hard sell. Innocent smoothies, with their amusing anecdotes and off-the-wall humour, are a prime example of how to do social networking right.

Think about how powerful these social networks are in spreading news and information. So be the source that influences other people. How do you do it? Look for the "in thing" or the "hottest trends" that could interest your potential customers and share it with them. Use Google Reader to glean this information.

Website

Most importantly you should have a website which matches or over delivers your potential customer's expectations. Using a professional Lutterworth Website Design team could help you to increase your web presence and sales.

Making the Most of Internet Marketing

2011-06-30T09:18:00.000-07:00

To gain as much exposure for your business as possible you will need to consider internet marketing. This article provides you with information on a few key areas that you might like to consider.

Marketing a home business has never been easier, with so many different options for advertising available. Internet marketing has helped many small businesses become successful and profitable in their own right and provides a quick and easy way to speak to your target audience no matter where they live. If you do not have the budget for a more costly, larger marketing campaign such as TV and radio, then you may wish to try internet marketing. There are a number of different options available so pick the one which is most suited to your type of business and budget and that will help you reach your customers.

1.Google AdSense

This is simply a program that will let you generate income by placing text or image ads from other companies onto your website and in turn you advertise on the pages of other sites. Be sure to choose sites that are related to the products or service that you offer. It will also allow you to filter out ads from your competition which could otherwise hinder your success.

AdSense will place your ads over the web and will then generate back links to your site to help improve your search engine ranking. You should be aware that these are not the annoying pop up ads that often appear when you visit a website but are actually placed on the site itself.

2. Banner Ads

This type of internet marketing often takes the form of animated or visually appealing graphics that appear across the top of a web page. These ads will be linked back to your website so that if someone clicks on them they will be taken straight there. Be sure to make them eye catching and offer an incentive for them to click; however be warned that many find these annoying so keep them relatively simple.

3. Online magazines

This type of internet marketing will offer you ad space, normally for a fee but this will depend upon how popular the magazine is and the cost will vary depending on how big your ad is. This can be a great way to advertise since you can find a magazine related to your business area so you know that those reading will have an interest in what it is you do.

How to make Banner Ads work for you!

2011-06-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

Banner ads are a great way to gain attention for your website by attracting people to click on your ad links. This short article will give you some areas to consider in order to get started.

These days advertising your business using internet marketing is not only incredibly popular but is also one of the best ways to find new custom. One method of marketing that has been around for some time and still proves popular is using banner ads or web banners. This type of marketing is still amongst the most efficient ways of advertising when it comes to internet marketing.

You will no doubt have seen the many banner ads at the top of websites and forums that you have visited and you may have even clicked on these yourself. They can really help to catch people’s attention and once they are clicked on they will quickly and simply take you straight to that company’s website. Many businesses add special offers and discounts on their ads to help encourage people to click and visit so this could be worth considering.

1. Areas to Consider

If you want to get the best out of your internet marketing then you need to think carefully about exactly where and how you place you ads and which websites to use. It is vital that the site you choose to place your ad on has a similar target audience so that they will be likely to have an interest in what it is you do or sell.

Make sure that when you work out the budget for your business you also factor in the costs of internet marketing as this is an important consideration. Placing one of your ads in a prime position at the top of a popular website is not going to be cheap, but it may well help you gain a large number of customers which will in turn increase your income. Remember that every time a visitor clicks to your website it greatly improves your chances of a sale.

2. Getting the most from your Banner Ads

By creating and using banner ads effectively you should find that you enhance traffic, sales, and profits from your site. However you will need to make sure that the content of your ad provides the correct information and really helps to encourage visitors to use your business but without being annoying! Be sure to spend your marketing budget wisely and choose sites that attract a lot of visitors already and are likely to be used by your target audience to increase your exposure. Also make sure that your ad fits in with the style and image of the website that you have chosen

Different Methods of Online Marketing

2011-06-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

With so many different options for marketing online it is important that you choose the one that is right for your business. This short article outlines a few of the main types that you may like to consider.

There are a huge number of options available to you regarding the marketing of your business. To begin with you might like to try some of the free methods alongside the paying options to allow you to put your money into other areas of the business. Listed below are just some of the marketing options that are available to you along with a brief explanation of how these will work.

1.Article Marketing

With this method of marketing you need to write and then submit articles to various online web article directories. This allows you to talk about what it is you do and related areas that others may find interesting. Within the article you will often find a box allowing you to write a little about yourself in which you can also include a back link to your website. This allows you to promote your website and drive traffic to it quickly and easily as well as increasing your search engine ranking. The majority of sites are free to use although some may require payment.

2.Forum Marketing

Another great free method of marketing is using forums related to your line of business. These allow you to join in discussions, talk about what it is you do with like minded people and also promote your website. Be sure to integrate yourself into the community first to avoid alienating people. This can be a great way to generate traffic towards your website.

3.Pay Per Click Advertising

This type of marketing is a paid service in which you pay the service provider when your link is clicked. It has proved to be very popular and effective and there are a number of sites to choose from including Google and Yahoo.

4.Viral Marketing

With viral marketing you are required to have something useful or interesting that can be passed onto others via email. This could be something like an e-book or a piece of software; as long as it is something that others will want. By doing this it can help to spread links to your website as well as promoting your business with minimum effort.

5.Press Releases

This is a similar method of marketing to writing articles as you are required to create a press release to promote and inform others of your business. You can then submit them to one or more press release sites online, many of which are free to use. This can be a great way to really explain to potential customers what it is you do as well as promoting any offers you are running and creating back links to your website.

All of these can be time consuming and so it may be something you cold look to outsource to a business consultant to manage for you.

How to get the most out of Forum Marketing

2011-06-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

Forum marketing is a great way to speak directly to those most interested in what it is your offer or sell. However you need to make sure that you approach this type of marketing with care.

Marketing your business is an important consideration if you want it to be as successful and profitable as possible. There are a number of different ways that you can approach this but just one of the more modern methods is using forums as a platform for your marketing. Forum marketing can be an incredibly profitable exercise for those that have just set up their business as they allow you to attract traffic to your website for free! For those just starting out this is a key factor as it means you can invest more money into other areas. Once you begin to make a profit you can then consider other methods of marketing that may require some sort of payment.

1.Making Forum Marketing Work

It is vital that you do adequate research as to which forums you should use as if you target the wrong forums you could be wasting a lot of time and effort. Spend some time trying to find those that are related to what it is you do or sell so that you are attracting the right people who may be interested. Some simple research which could be useful to you can be outsourced to a marketing consultant.

Once you have found several forums it is important that you do not launch straight into marketing yourself and your business. In order to make this type of marketing work for you it is vital to first become an established member and build up your credibility. If you tend to just spam the forum you will either be ignored or deleted so try to post on a regular basis and provide useful information and responses to other members in order to establish a good reputation.

You will no doubt discover that many forums allow you to have a signature of some sort that appears after your posts. This is crucial for your successful marketing as it lets others know about your website and what you do. Spend some time making one that is eye catching and appealing but that will not annoy others or take a long time to load as you may be asked to remove it. Be sure to include a link that will take the person straight to your website as the easier it is for them the more likely they are to visit. By having links on a number of forums you should find that it helps to boost your search engine rankings. Try to post regularly on different forums and you should soon be able to drive targeted visitors to your site!

How to Make Pay Per Click Marketing Work for you

2011-06-20T00:22:00.000-07:00

You may not have considered pay per click marketing before but it can be a great way to get people to your website. Read on to find out how to approach this for maximum success.

If you are looking for a way of marketing your business but want something a little different then you could consider Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. This is said to help to direct large volumes of traffic towards your website to help spread the word about your business. In recent times it has been promoted mainly through the use of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, programs and many businesses will now devote much of their marketing budget to advertising in this way since it can be so profitable.

1.Getting Started

In order to get the most out of PPC marketing you will need to have a good understanding of your client base and the keywords that they will use in order to search for what you offer. Using keywords is the ideal way to optimize your PPC campaign so it is worth considering certain long tailed keywords that are perhaps not as competitive and therefore less costly for your business. Ultimately this will help to generate traffic that is targeted to your business and will therefore hopefully provide you with higher click through rates and sales.

If you would like to make it easier to discover the keywords that your competitors use and how well these work then it is possible to use free PPC web spy software. By doing this you will be able to trace the keywords that are being used by successful businesses which can save you a lot of time and effort in the long run.

2.Managing your PPC Marketing

The overall success of your marketing will of course depend upon how well you manage your PPC campaign and how you keep track of those that visit your site afterwards. If you leave it to just do its own thing you may find that you miss out generating even more traffic, so be sure to make sure it is working effectively.

3.PPC Marketing Programs

There are a range of PPC advertising programs available for you to use but perhaps the most widely used are Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing. Setting up a PPC campaign does need to be carefully undertaken or it can be costly a business consultant should be able to help you with this.
The benefit of PPC marketing is that it reaches the target audience quickly and really helps to generate sales leads. However in some cases it can be costly and its worth does depend upon leads that are converted to sales. For this reason be sure to choose the right keywords and include these in all parts of your PPC ads for maximum effect.

RSS Marketing Explained

2011-06-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

RSS marketing is not particularly well known and many overlook this great way of advertising their business. This short article explains what RSS marketing is and how best to approach it.

If you are looking for a way of marketing your business online for free then you could try Really Simple Syndication, or RSS. Many people these days have blogs of some sort but are not necessarily quick to realize the importance of RSS feeds and just how good they can be for driving traffic to your business website. As with a standard newsletter the person must decide to opt in as a way to receive the feed and will then receive updates as you make them. For many this is a quick and easy way of keeping up to date with sites that interest them and can therefore be a great marketing tool.

1.Why Use RSS?

There are a number of reasons why you should use RSS as part of your marketing, including that it is a simple and free method of advertising. It is an ideal way to make sure that people do not forget about you as once they have subscribed they will always receive your new posts and articles which helps keep your business fresh in their minds. It also means they do not need to subscribe and receive yet more emails in their inbox; although it is a good idea to also offer your feed by email as another option as some may prefer this.

You will also find that using RSS marketing will help to drive more traffic towards your website as well as increasing your ranking with search engines. It can be a great way to build a relationship with potential customers or distributors since they begin to get to know you as a person. RSS feeds can help you to earn the trust of your subscribers who may then decide to buy or use your service later.

2.Setting up your RSS feed

The simplest way to get started is to create a blog dedicated to what it is you do and which provides information on topics related to your business. Once you have done this and activated the feed setup you will need to make sure that the content you post is regular, informative, interesting and well written to make others want to subscribe to you. Remember that the aim of a blog is to interact with others and provide them with information so try to get your readers involved if possible and offer discounts or offers to subscribers as an incentive. There are a number of good blog sites available including blogger and WordPress which will make setting up an RSS marketing feed quick and easy!
If you need assistance on RSS marketing speak to a marketing consultant and they will be able to help you.

Why you should always Consider Niche Marketing for your Business

2011-06-11T02:47:00.000-07:00

Marketing is a vital part of running a successful business but you need to be aware of your niche market. This article will explain the reasons behind this and why you should thoroughly investigate this area before you get started.

When you first start thinking about marketing for your business it is important that you consider the niche that you wish to target so that you can focus your attentions in the right area. There are a number of reasons why niche marketing is so important and it is vital that you plan and prepare well in advance to avoid wasting time and money.

Niche Marketing Explained

As you begin to think about your internet marketing campaign and how best to tackle your advertising you should make sure to choose a specific niche, otherwise you could end up losing sight of your goals. It is absolutely vital that you are aware of who you are targeting and also what proportion of the market is perhaps not currently being sufficiently targeted. Should you select an area of the market that already has considerable competition then you are unlikely to be successful and make the profits that you need to run your business.

Niche marketing is also key when considering search engine optimization, or SEO. This is an important part of internet marketing and it is wise to know the niche that you wish to target so that you can utilise the keywords that they use so they are more likely to find you. Failure to plan your SEO marketing thoroughly will result in an ineffective advertising campaign and will therefore not generate the traffic you need to your website. Perhaps one of the most useful aspects to niche marketing is that it will help you to remain focussed at all times and prevents you from losing sight of your overall target audience.

Overall you will find that niche marketing is vital for a number of different reasons and is an area that every business owner should consider before beginning to advertise. If you are not sure of how to go about this then outsourced marketing could be a choice.By simply carrying out adequate research and then finding out where your target audience visit online you should find that you can attract people to your site and increase your sales!

How Using an Article Directory Could Improve Your Marketing

2011-06-11T02:44:00.000-07:00

Using articles as a way of marketing and helping to generate business and sales is more popular then ever right now, but it is important to know what to do with your articles once they are written. Submitting them to an article directory is one of the most effective ways and this is essentially a website that allows people to publish their articles. You will find that in the main they are free to use but some will require you to pay for a submission so weigh up how worthwhile this is. Try to choose an article directory that has a good reputation and ranks well on searches to improve your marketing.

1. How Article Directories Work

It is vital that the articles you submit are well written and offer something useful to the reader otherwise they will simply not be read. Be sure not to over promote your business or company within the content as people will be immediately put off. Instead opt to include a link to your website offering further information or some kind of incentive for people to visit. You can then submit your article to the directory of your choice, but be aware that many have strict rules and guidelines that you must adhere to in order to have your article published.

2. Advantages of Article Directories

There are a number of reasons why you should consider marketing in this way, including that submitting articles can be a cost effective way of promoting your business. You will also find that when you submit an article you will get back links to your business website which can play an important part in your business marketing campaign. Remember that the more articles you submit, the more back links you can create. Submitting articles is quick and simple to do and they will usually be published within a 48 hour period.

Being able to have your articles published in this way is a fantastic method of reaching a much wider audience as sites are often viewed by people all over the world. With their ease of use and simple formatting your articles can be easily found and read by your target audience making this method of marketing incredibly effective!

How an Internet Marketing Expert could Help your Business

2011-05-28T01:56:00.000-07:00

Marketing your business successfully is vital if you wish it to be as profitable as possible. Hiring an internet marketing expert is an ideal way to ensure that you do this correctly and attract new custom to your site.

If you want to make a real go of your business and to have as much success as possible then online marketing will be necessary. If you have little experience in this area then you may find that contacting an Internet Marketing Expert could be incredibly beneficial to you. Perhaps the main reason for needing to focus so much on internet marketing is that this is how so much of the world functions these days and if you want to get an edge over your competitors you need to follow suit.

1. Why Use an Internet Marketing Expert?

Research shows that these days around a third of the people that have a computer and internet connection will make purchases online, so this is a key way of targeting potential customers. It also means that you can find custom from all over the country and the world rather then just the area that you live. Internet Marketing Experts can help you to connect your website to the people that will be most interested in what it is that you have to offer; therefore helping to give your website the extra edge that may be required.

It is not simply enough to just set up a website or post a few adverts online; you need to make sure that your website ranks well with search engines and really stands out from all the rest. It is for this reason that hiring an Internet Marketing Experts could be a good move since they have the expertise to advise you on how to make the most of your business and advertising and attract the right customers. In order to do this a number of techniques will be employed including SEO, creating eye catching banners, setting up a regular blog and also using something as basic as trading links. By utilising these techniques you can increase the popularity and number of visitors to your website thereby increasing traffic and hopefully sales.

It is important that if you do choose to hire an Internet Marketing Expert that you find one with a good reputation and plenty of experience so that you know you can trust them to do a good job.

Should you Hire a Business Consultant to Help Your Business?

2011-05-28T01:53:00.000-07:00

If you are new to setting up a home business then you may not be aware of the role a business consultant can play in helping to make your business a success. In fact a business consultant will often specialize in dealing with a variety of different company matters. Often their main role is in advising companies, be these large or small, in making the correct decision to help their company be profitable.

1.Why Hire a Business Consultant?

Business consultants are normally hired to see the issues a business may have from a wider perspective. They are often experts in their specific field and can therefore provide sensible, logical advice and guidance to a business that may need a little help. By having a different perspective it can help a business to establish any areas of concern that may have gone unnoticed, allowing them to attain the best solution.

Business consultants tend to specialize in certain specific business fields in order to meet the specialist demands of each business. For example a management consultant can help to advise on the different areas of corporate businesses such as the marketing and finance. There are also technical consultants able to provide more technical advice for those activities considered as non-management. No matter what field of business you are in you will be able to find an experienced and suitable business consultant that can help to advise on the running of your business.

If your business is relatively new then you may consider hiring a business consultant to help you in the early stages so that you can meet your initial targets and stick to your original plan. They can also help to formulate a business plan as well as advise on the best course of marketing.

2. Business Consultants are Available to All

Many people assume that a business consultant will only be of real use to a larger company but this is not true. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this is that it is assumed that hiring a business consultant will be costly and therefore unaffordable for the smaller business, but this is not always true. They can be equally effective in helping a smaller business to get up and running. If you are just starting out or feel that your business needs some help then a business consultant could really help to improve your current situation.

Video Blogging and Internet Marketing

2011-05-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for a new way to advertise your business then why not consider video blogging? This article explains why this method of advertising can be so effective and what you need to get started.

Creating a video blog can be a great way to let people see what it is you do as well as getting to know the person behind the business. This is a relatively new way of internet marketing and not one that is used perhaps as much as it could be. Initially it may require you to make a small outlay for equipment but the benefits often outweigh the cost. Internet marketing with a video blog is a powerful tool and is essentially like creating your own television advert but for free.

1. Why Use Video Blogs?

What makes video blogging such a useful way of advertising is that your potential customers get to see the products that you sell or produce so that they can get a better idea of what is involved. By posting something such as a video blog you are more likely to catch people’s attention as you can do something a little bit different and it is more entertaining for your target audience. Reading through standard blog posts and articles can get a little boring after a while and if what you sell can be demonstrated then this is more appealing to the consumer.

2. Getting Started

In order to get started with this type of internet marketing you will need a web camera, a microphone and some good software in order to edit your video later. You may find it worthwhile investing in a decent web camera in order to give you a better quality picture that will look more professional to those viewing. Make sure that you present whatever it is you sell in the best light to make it more enticing! Once you have created your video you will need to edit and you can find a number of applications that are good, even if you have little or no experience of this.

Although video blogging is a great form of internet marketing there are some drawbacks. If your video requires a certain specification of software to run then some people may not be able to view it, they may also find that it runs slower on their computer if it is very high quality and will therefore switch off. However despite this it is still worth pursuing video blogging as a way to promote your business as it offers a fun way of advertising by showing others the benefits of what you do and therefore can lead to sales. To help you maximise your opportunity a Lutterworth Marketing Company could help you pull this together.

Creating Press Releases to Help Market Your Business

2011-05-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

Marketing your business is incredibly important but to begin with you may not have the funds to advertise as much as you would like. This is why creating free press releases can be a useful way to bring your business to the attention of a wider audience, without having to spend a lot of money.

If you have no experience of writing a press release, or perhaps have not seen one before, then you may be wondering what they are. A press release is simply a way of announcing a product, event or business to the press and other areas of the media. Perhaps what makes them so useful is that they look incredibly professional and are therefore a great way to draw people’s attention to your business.

1. Writing your Press Release
Writing a press release may sound scary if you have no previous writing experience but it need not be. As soon as you have written a couple you will soon become at ease in writing and submitting to various sites. It is important that you keep the tone of your press release professional as they are viewed as being an official statement. To make yours stand out from others that have been submitted it is vital that you create a title that will catch people’s attention and include a summary of the contents.

When it comes to the content it is wise to only include what is relevant and to keep it concise. If it is too long then people may get bored halfway through or be put off from the start and not read it at all. State what it is your do, how long you have been working, the experience you have and any other information relevant to your industry. Be sure to include contact details including a phone number, email address and if you have one your website link as these are key for internet marketing.

2. Placing your Press Release
Once you have written your press release you will then need to make sure you place it on websites that receive a lot of traffic. It is a good idea to submit your press release to a number of different sites to enable you to gain as much marketing exposure for your business as possible. Be sure to complete all of the necessary boxes when submitting your press release and think of ways in which you can make yours stand out to readers. Jenkinson & Associates Ltd provides marketing consultants to companies looking to grow their sales and profits.

Tell More . . . Sell More . . . 10 Timeless Copywriting Tips!

2011-05-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

1. Plan Your Writing
All successful writers think before they write. What are you selling? What are its benefits? Why should people buy from you? What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?

2. Create a Benefit-Laden Headline
Five times as many people read the headline, over the body copy, so if your benefit isn’t in the headline, then 90% of your audience won’t see it. It really is worth spending time crafting a great headline. One copywriter I know of, won’t start focussing on the ‘body copy’ until he has come up with at least 100 potential headlines!

3. Why AIDA Has Become AIDCA
You’ve probably heard of the Copywriter’s Friend, AIDA, which stands for: Attention; Interest; Desire; Action. In these challenging times, maybe we ought to add Credibility as well. So AIDA has become AIDCA. Following on from your headline, your first paragraph needs to address these points in order.

4. Write Simply and Effectively.
This is not the place to show off with fancy or complicated words. Use simple language. Imagine you are telling a friend about your product, service, or business. Write for an audience of one and your copy will speak to everyone in that target group. And use emotional words rather than intellectual words for added impact.

5. People Buy Benefits.
Your audience is ONLY interested in what you can do for them. The fact that your company has been in business 20 years might add something to your standing, but when it comes down to selling, focus on benefits rather than features. A cosmetic dentist, for example, will focus on the benefits an attractive smile brings, rather than the procedures for fixing crooked teeth!

6. Recognise and Address the Five Basic Objections Your Readers Will Have.
1. I don’t believe you.
2. I don’t need it.
3. I don’t have enough time.
4. I don’t have enough money.
5. It won’t work for me.

Your copy should acknowledge and overcome these main objections.

7. Good layout and type will enhance your copy.
Graphics, fonts and the right layout will make your offer more appealing, but don’t use pretty pictures just for the sake of it. Sub-headings and bullet points are also effective for breaking up copy and making it more readable.

8. Offer a Satisfaction Guarantee
Some businesses are afraid of offering ‘no quibble’ guarantees in case customers take advantage. In fact, the opposite is true. Less than 2% of customers will ever ask for their money back and offering a ‘no questions asked’ money-back guarantee will give your customers added confidence about doing business with you.

9. Testimonials are like Gold Dust
Whenever you buy something on a website like Amazon, don’t you find it helpful that the products and the sellers are customer-rated? This means it’s less likely that you will end up with a product that will disappoint and it also means you can buy from reliable vendors, according to the feedback provided.
Wherever possible, ask your customers for testimonials and feature the best on your website and sprinkled in your sales copy.

10. Tell your readers what you want them to do next.
There’s no point in spending hours crafting great copy if you don’t tell potential customers what to do next! Try to offer as many alternative ways to order from you as is practicable: post, phone, website, fax. Wherever possible include a personalised order form as it’s been proven to increase consumer response rates significantly.

Website copy is important for maximising your opportunity on search engines. If you are looking for SEO Leicester try the SEO Expert.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Internet Marketing

2011-05-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

If you are looking at advertising your business then internet marketing is definitely the way forward. However there are a number of factors that you should consider before taking the plunge!

These days nearly all businesses will have some kind if internet marketing as it is fast becoming the most popular way to keep in touch with people. However the truth is that it is not always as simple as people may first think and it requires a lot of planning to make it successful. For example you need to make sure that you have realistic expectations regarding what you wish to achieve and then plan how you can meet these. One of the benefits to internet marketing is that it is a powerful tool and can really help put you on level ground with some of the larger businesses that are around.

1. Advantages

One of the main benefits to internet marketing and being online is that information about your business and any online shop you may have is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. It also means that customers from all over the world and not just locally can see what it is you do.

Internet marketing can be incredibly cost effective as the cost of sending emails is virtually nothing when you consider the quantity you can send. This will work out much cheaper then sending newsletters by post!

Another advantage is that you can update the subscribers that you have immediately via email. Any visitors that click on to your website will also have the most up-to-date news and offers; providing of course that you take the time to update this regularly!

2. Disadvantages

Of course online marketing is not completely free and you will need to factor in the cost of software, hardware, and designing and maintaining your website. The more of this you can do yourself the cheaper it will be.

Not everyone will want to buy online or for that matter will have a computer so you will still need to pay care and attention to other forms of offline marketing.

There is a great deal of competition within the business world and especially during the current economic climate. You will therefore need to make sure that all of your internet marketing such as websites, adverts etc all rank highly in searches. To help you with your internet marketing an internet marketing consultant will be able to provide the resource and assistance you need.

How to Target your Marketing at the Right People

2011-05-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Marketing can be incredibly effective provided that you are targeting the right people. This short article will give you a few ideas on what you should consider before you get started.

When you are considering how to tackle the marketing for your business venture it can be a good idea to take a look at a number of different areas before deciding which is most suitable. You really need to have a good idea what it is you want to achieve as well as working out who exactly your target market will be. Whether you choose to carry out your marketing online or offline the rules in general will remain the same.

Different Marketing areas

Demographics
The first area that you need to consider is your demographic, which could be for example by age or gender. Consider what it is you sell or do and who would most likely need your products or services. For example if you create and sell items for the baby market then most of your marketing will likely be at females of a certain age rather then those who do not fit within the major age group for having children. Similarly you should understand the lifecycle of a person which indicates that consumers will often require different products or services depending on the stage of life they are at.

Interests
One important area to consider depending on your line of business is aiming your marketing at the correct job sector. If for example your line of business involves building or selling items related to a specific trade line of work then you will only need to contact people who are going to have an interest in what you have to offer. Sending out marketing regarding cheap building materials will be of no interest to someone that works in an office for example. It is also worth considering if your area of business could be considered a speciality and if so targeting your marketing just at those who will have an interest in this.

By adhering to these rules it will mean that your marketing is much more effective and gets to those who will be most interested. It can also help to save you time and money that may have been wasted targeting those of the wrong age group etc. Advice can be sort from marketing consultants who will be able to advise you.

Simple Tips to Improve your Organisational Skills

2011-05-08T05:25:00.000-07:00

Running your own business can be time consuming and it can be all too easy to forget commitments. This short article gives you a few tips on the areas you should focus on to make your business a success.

In order to run a successful business it is vital that you are always organised otherwise you could find yourself unsure of what you need to do and missing deadlines. It will also mean that you have greater control of your marketing and advertising to help generate work.

1. Organise your Paperwork

Make sure that your files and your filing system are up to date and where they should be to make finding invoices and job information much simpler. Should you find yourself with a lot of files then you may find that implementing some kind of colour code system may help you to find them easier. Keep all of your marketing paperwork together and updated and make sure that you look through it regularly to make sure that you are offering deals and promotions regularly to attract new custom.

2. Creating Lists

You may not be a big fan of lists but the truth is they can really help to keep you on tract and ensure that all tasks are completed on time. It can be all too easy to forget a task that you needed to do so making a list regularly, be it each morning or each week can help. Be sure to add your marketing onto your list regularly to make sure that you keep on top of adverts etc You might even find that ticking off completed tasks is quite satisfying and that it provides you with the motivation to keep going.

3. Organise your calendar

Having a calendar is vital, especially if you have a lot of commitments or a tendency to forget a deadline or meeting. Make sure that you keep it up to date as soon as you get a new appointment or deadline and set yourself a reminder if you are using your phone or computer. This helps to reduce the chance of being under prepared and allows you to make the best of your business. You could even include updates for marketing to make sure that you keep on top of this important task.

Running Your Own Small Business Franchise

2011-05-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

Running a small franchise can be a great way to have your own business but with a little extra security. However it is worth being aware of some of the pros and cons to this type of business.

For those who have decided that they would like a home business or would just like a new business venture, you may find that setting up a small business franchise could be the answer.

It is however worth bearing in mind that with any type of business there are pros and cons and you need to make sure that you handle your marketing well. Be aware though that not everyone is suited to running a small business and you can never be guaranteed of its success, so choose something that interests you and that you will be good at. You should make sure that you always investigate the market thoroughly first to ensure that there is a demand for what you will be offering and minimal competition.

1 The Positives

Often with a franchise business you will be able to begin trading with a short turnaround time although this will depend upon the nature of the business. You should also find that if you have selected a name that is well known this may give you a good head start. The marketing will in many cases be organised and run by the franchise themselves which may include promotions, discounts etc. If you require a supplier for regular deliveries and good deals then being part of a franchise could help finding someone much easier as you have the reputation of the franchise to rely on.

2 The Negatives

Perhaps one of the main problems with this is that you may not have ultimate control of the business and will often need to meet the rules and regulations given to you by the franchise. It is also worth bearing in mind that you will need to give a percentage amount of your sales over to the franchise which means if you struggle one month you may not make a huge profit.

Should you decide that perhaps the business is not for you and is not as successful as you would have hoped, you could find that you have been tied into an agreement and will need to work this before you are able to leave. As far as marketing is concerned you will not be able to have much say in the types of deals or promotions on offer which can be a problem for some people.Choosing the right franchise business which suits you is key. Help from a business consultant could help define the right choice.
You can also find more information and ideas on my marketing ideas blog.

Working With a UK Marketing Consultancy Firm

2011-05-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

If you've never considered utilising a marketing company in the UK when trying to improve your business, you may be surprised at what you can achieve. Every business sees success when a campaign is utilised to bring in more clients. However, there are a few companies that believe they can create their own marketing campaign without the need for consultation or advice from marketing professionals. And whilst some businesses will have success with a self-made marketing plan and implementation, most businesses would benefit from a little help.

What Can a Marketing Professional Do for Your Business?

This is probably the first question that comes to mind when a company or individual considers investing in professional marketing services. What can it do for me, and will it really work? There is no simple yes or no answer. It all depends on your desired outcomes for your business. The main outcome most companies want is to increase profits and gain more clients. You may also want to increase your online presence or become better known in your local area. No matter what you need, a marketing consultancy firm should be able to help you meet your goals.

Some of the things a marketer can help you achieve are higher rankings in the search engines for your website, a proactive marketing plan and implementation protocol, greater sales and profits from an increase in business, and the building and managing of an online business. A marketer will also advise you on steps you can take to improve your business, if it's already doing well but could use a little tweaking.

How to Choose the Right Marketer

So once you've decided to use a professional marketer, how do you know which one to choose? It's useful to research a handful of professionals rather than just picking one out of the phone book. Get suggestions from business friends who have had success with a specific marketing firm, and perform some online research to find professionals who offer what you believe you need.

Once you choose a few marketing professionals, start by giving each of them a call. You can easily tell if you want to work with someone by the way they handle themselves on the phone. Do they call you back promptly and seem easy to speak with? Are they in a rush to get you off the phone and move on to the next client, or do they take time to listen to your business concerns? After a short phone interview, schedule a time to meet with them and discuss in-depth their suggested strategy for your business.

The marketer should be willing to listen to your ideas and not just press their own. Make sure everything is agreed to formally. Once you have ironed out all the details, allow the marketing consultancy firm to work their magic.

Small Business Marketing - Trends That Can't Be Ignored

2011-05-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

In our current market, changes are being seen everywhere and that includes in small business marketing. Small businesses realize that if they want to be truly competitive they must keep up with the trends and the main aspect of marketing that is getting a lot of attention is social media. Social media has completely changed the way that small businesses relate to their customers. It is becoming more and more obvious that small businesses need to adapt their marketing to become part of their customer's lives instead of intruding on their lives.

Small Business Marketing is Meeting People Where They Gather

Once, marketing meant finding your way into people's lives by intruding into their regular lives - while they were watching televisions, listening to the radio, or even the using the public washroom. It meant finding a way to get in front on them where they couldn't get away. Marketing is changing, though!

Businesses are realizing that there are other ways to get their message in front of people without being intrusive. In order to do that though, businesses have to go where people gather. Today, that means getting involved in social sites. Sites like Twitter and Facebook were created to connect people - old friends, classmates, and family. Businesses have realized that they can interact with people on social sites in a way that is almost like the relationship between friends.

Sharing Information and Giving Advice

Businesses are doing more than just getting a message across on these sites. They are developing relationships with their customers. How? One of the main ways is by sharing information and giving advice. People who interact with businesses on these sites are doing so because the businesses involved have something to offer them.

Businesses are not selling things on social media - instead they are giving away what people really want. They are giving them ways to use their products more effectively, ways to make comparisons, and ways to make decisions. By doing this they are building relationships. By building relationships with customers and with potential customers they are increasing the trust factor, which goes much further than just selling a product.

Small business marketing is taking advantage of every tool at their fingertips and the trends are all pointing at social media. Social media enables businesses to build trust and trust lasts longer than any sales pitch that a company can make. Businesses looking for marketing companies in the UK can find a number of experts to market their business in the UK.

Providing Great Customer Service

2011-05-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

It is vital that you provide each and every client with outstanding customer service so that you can ensure they leave feeling satisfied with your work. This article will give you a few key areas to focus on which could see you needing to do less marketing in the long run.

No matter if you are working for yourself or someone else, one thing that you should always remember is that you must provide your client with good customer service. Failure to do so may mean that they choose to take their business elsewhere and may also result in bad reputation for you. By providing good customer service you also help to improve your own marketing as you will often get repeat custom and recommendations. Make sure that when you take on a job you are sure that you are 100% committed to it and carry out the project to the clients specifications.

1.Communicate

One area that you should always try to maintain is your communication with your clients. By remembering to do this your client will feel that their project is in capable hands and they will be able to keep track of your progress. It is important to remember that good customer service and communication go hand in hand.

You should also make sure that you let your client know the hours that you usually work so that they are able to contact you if needs be. It is important to make sure that the client knows exactly how you work and when they can expect the work. In some cases it may be necessary to explain exactly what you will and will not do and when you expect to be paid etc so that everything is completely clear to the client.

2.Be Amenable

If you want to really make a success of your home business then you have to make sure that you cater for a wide range of clients. This can mean being available to travel to meetings or simply answering phone calls and emails as required. Ultimately it really is about going that extra mile to make sure that you provide excellent customer service and commitment to your client.

3.Always Obtain Feedback

This may seem like an obvious one but you would be surprised just how many people with their own business neglect to obtain feedback. This is one of the most important parts of the service as you need to know if you went wrong anywhere and if the client is completely satisfied with the work. By taking the time to do this your client will realise that you are committed to your job and that you care about making sure that they are happy with the standard of work. If you do find that there are parts of your work they are unhappy with then you can rectify this situation. Often this may encourage repeat business and also means you are more likely to receive additional work through recommendations without costly business marketing

Planning the Budget for your Home Business

2011-04-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Having a budget for your home business is essential to avoid overspending and getting yourself into debt. This article highlights a few key areas to consider to make sure you are prepared financially.

When you first start planning your home business it is important that you make sure you have some sort of budget that you stick to so that you can ensure you will make a profit. It can be all too easy to lose track of your finances and find that you have wildly over spent. Areas that you should think about are mainly the equipment that you need to carry out your job, premises and any extra expenses for marketing.

1. Equipment

The type of equipment that you will require depends mainly on the type of home business that you wish to run. In the main most professions will require you to have a computer, a printer and internet connection as well as any specialist equipment. This is so that you can email clients, carry out marketing and keep on top of your website.

Other professions may also require certain software packages, a fax machine, photo copier or a camera and equipment. It is advisable to have a budget for this and to make sure you stick to it otherwise you could find yourself spending more then you intended.

2. Marketing

This can cost as much or as little as you are prepared to spend. You will find that at some point marketing is an area that you will have to budget for as getting your name out there is incredibly important. Many people decide to have their own website which may cost you some money to set up and maintain. Although creating a website is easy to undertake the hard work begins in then getting your website found by your prospective customers so a samll budget maybe useful to employ an online marketing company.

Others will want to have business cards printed up to hand out to other local businesses and at networking fairs and this will require a budget. It could also be useful to print up leaflets and price lists if your work requires this, so make sure that you factor this and the cost of any postage into your budget too.

It is also worth keeping some money aside for any emergencies that you might find occur. This may be because you are struggling to find work or if you become ill or injured and cannot work for short time.