Secrets of Internet Marketing For Small Business

Why Is Internet Marketing so Important?

Over the last few years the Internet has become a part of each of our daily lives. People use the web to find just about everything, including local companies and other resources.

With the meteoric rise of smartphones like the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy, the shift to looking for everything online is going to accelerate.

If you don’t make sure your customers and prospects can find you when they are looking for information, you are going to get left in the dust by your competition.

In this ebook, we are going to take a closer look at some of the steps you should take when beginning to market on the web, as well as other ways you can locate new prospects. In the process, you’ll be able to reach your existing customers, and encourage them to spend more money with you more often.

Online Search

According to Google, around 20 percent of every search has a local component. ComScore says that Google delivered almost 11 billion searches in April of 2011—that means more than 2 billion searches were local.

These numbers have been going up every year. For example, back in April 2008, Google delivered “only” 6.5 billion searches, including over one billion local searches. The reality is that significantly more people are using the Internet every year to look for local information, including businesses, services, products and stores.

One advertising medium that is being impacted the most by the move online are Yellow Pages directories. In the past, the Yellow Pages was the first place that many people consulted when they wanted to find a local service. The Internet not only provides this same convenience, speed and access but also presents them with reviews and other data about the different services they are looking for. This isn’t always possible with print media.

The Yellow Pages Question

The Yellow Pages directory publishers realized they needed to make major changes to keep from going out of business completely. One of the ways they’ve done that is to provide an online version of their print product.

The online Yellow Pages directories are similar to the printed version. An ad is placed in the appropriate business category with the hope that people will access the Yellow Pages online to look for local products and services. The truth is that the online versions of print directories have seen little traffic compared to the search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo.

This is a positive thing for local businesses for several reasons:

1. A company has more flexibility in how they show their services in the search engines than is allowed on the Yellow Page directories.

2. It is much cheaper to optimize appearance in the search engines then to pay for ads in the print version of the Yellow Pages, especially the larger ads.

3. Using local search marketing, businesses can change or revise their ads as many times as they want. A print ad in the Yellow Pages can only be changed once every year.

On top of all that, the Internet provides the opportunity for much bigger reach. Yellow Pages directories are only distributed once a year, and only to homes that have landline phones.

That’s unfortunate because a study by the Department of Health and Human Services at the National Center for Health Statistics that was conducted from January through June of 2010 showed that approximately 25 percent of all adults live in households with only wireless phones. In other words, they had given up land lines completely.

That means that a huge chunk of the target market may not even get the Yellow Pages book at all. They rely on the Internet to look for local services.

The statistic is higher when it comes to children—29 percent of children live in a home with no landline phone. That percentage is expected to grow as these children get older and move out on their own.

Connecting with Prospects and Clients

There are several ways you can connect with your prospects and customers on the web. To get the best results you want to use multiple tactics. Because the Internet makes it simple for consumers and businesses to find answers to their questions, companies cannot afford to hope business appears on their doorstep. They need to create content so they are found wherever their customers are searching for their product or service.

The primary place businesses should establish a presence is in the popular search engines, specifically Google, although Bing and Yahoo play an important role. Of the three search engines, Google has by far the largest percentage of search volume, roughly 65% in April of 2011, according to comScore. As such, it is the first place to establish an online identity.

There are various areas in Google where a company can create a presence:

• Google Search
• Google+ Local
• Google Images
• Google News
• Sponsored Ads

Each area is a section of Google; however, they are very independent of each other. We’ll take a closer look at each of them in this ebook. It’s important to consider that each of them is an independent unit from each other, so you want to show up as many times as possible when prospects are searching for your service or product. If you appear in many or all of these services, you create a strong impression in the minds of your customers, making it much more likely they will choose your company over another business.

Yahoo and Bing have many of the same features, and you’ll be able to involve your company in each of those as well. However, for this ebook, we will take a look at Google for the most part because it is the largest. Keep in mind that everything we talk about is applicable to Yahoo and Bing as well. The best strategy is to implement these ideas for Google first, and then move on to the other search engines as time allows.

Google+

Google+ is Google’s social network, the search giant’s answer to Facebook. While not nearly as popular as their rival, Google+ boasts roughly 360 million monthly active users at this writing. It is the second biggest social media site.

With the most recent changes to their algorithms, Google placed a greater importance on social media signals. They use social media activity as a way to gauge how well your website ranks in Google search results, and you can be sure that content on Google+ is considered ahead of competing social networks.

At this point in time, Google+ users are mostly tech-oriented males in the United States. If you have a tech-savvy B2B audience, Google+ should definitely be part of your social activity. If not, still consider adding it to your mix due to the continuing growth of the platform.

Google+ Local

One aspect of Google+ that you should be involved in is Google+ Local. This service allows businesses to create a profile where they can showcase several things such as:

• Special promotions
• Offers
• Photos and videos

Google+ Local lets your clients post reviews about your company. You can answer the reviews with your own response, therefore creating a dialogue.

Your Google+ Local listing will appear when a web searcher looks for products and services offered in your region, as well as those of other firms providing the same service.

Picture how this can work for you. When a prospect searches online for a firm that provides the products and services you do, they will see several items in Google+ Local. What will make them choose you over your competitor?

Your ranking in Google+ Local will be a major influence. The very top three search engine results get most of the attention, with the overwhelming majority going to the top entry itself. Your goal is to be listed in the top three, if not the top spot. (Later we will look at some tactics for making this happen.)

Another influence is how much data is shared. If your firm has a complete profile with reviews, photos, special promotions and other great information, it’s much more likely to get the attention of the prospect than other listings that have little or no information. Since this is often your prospects first impression of your company, put your best foot forward.

There are other great ways to connect with your clients beyond Google+ Local, however. Some we’ve already talked about–other Google divisions–which we will also look at in more detail later on. For now, let’s look at a fairly new way to get closer to your clients– social media.

Social Media Sites

Social media is one of the fastest-growing areas of the Internet. Two of the most commonly known social media sites are Facebook and Twitter.

It’s becoming more and more important to have a Facebook page for your company, because many customers expect it. There are over 1 billion users on Facebook as of this writing, and if you don’t have a presence on the site you are missing not only a lot of potential business, but a great way to interact with your customers.

Facebook has become the Internet for many people. If you were to look over their shoulder when they are online, more than likely you’ll see the Facebook logo as they interact with their friends and family. If you’re not reaching them on Facebook, you may not reach them at all.

Facebook began as a way to interact on a one-on-one level, but over the last few years they added so many features targeted at businesses, they began to take on a different flavor. Everywhere you go online you see the words “Find us on Facebook.” It is everywhere, from websites to in-store signage.

This can work great for local companies. Since Facebook is a social media site, it fits in with local services much better than national corporations that don’t have a local personality. Creating a Facebook page provides you an excellent way to interact with your clients “virtually” and allows you to create a wonderful sense of community.

Twitter is another good social site where you want to have a presence. It’s a little bit different, because the messages are very short, only 140 characters, so you can only share so much information on every post.

It’s great for sending out updates about special offers, company news, and fast breaking specials. Even more important, it’s a great way for your customers to get in contact with your firm.

New customers can send you a Tweet at any time, so in many ways it’s like email. Shorter messages are actually an advantage as it forces both parties to create focused communication that can be consumed and answered quickly.

Apart from reaching your potential clients, there’s another great reason you should be on Facebook and Twitter – taking control of your brand. The fact is that people are going to talk about your company on these sites whether you take part in the conversation or not. It’s important that you are part of the dialogue.

Managing Your Brand

One of the biggest challenges for many business owners when it comes to the Web is understanding that customers will be discussing how they feel about your company whether you like it or not.

That includes both good and bad commentary. Mistakes and problems are sure to happen in any company, but these days there is a very good chance that your customer will talk about it online where anyone searching for your business can read it. If you don’t have an effective presence on the web, you’re going to have problems.

The poor review could end up appearing very high in the search engine result pages, so that whenever somebody looks for your company, it might be one of the first things they encounter. The review may be accurate if they truly encountered a problem with your firm, or it may be completely wrong, but the web searcher has no way of knowing what is true (and is likely to accept what they read as fact.) The business owner won’t have an opportunity to explain what happened and take steps to remedy the problem.

The answer is to be part of the conversation on the Internet in the first place. You should engage your clients where these conversations are taking place online so that you can try to remedy any mistakes, or provide accurate information to counter complete fabrications or inaccurate comments.

Before, we looked at two places where you can engage in these types of conversations – Twitter and Facebook. It’s important to be a part of both sites, if only as an easy way to stay in touch with your current customers already using them.

Picture this…

An employee on your staff has been handling a customer who is unhappy with the service they have received. Instead of asking to talk to you so that you have a chance to fix it, they go straight online and post a diatribe about how they were wronged and how unhappy they are with your firm.

If you don’t have a presence on Twitter or Facebook, you may never know they posted. But anyone looking for information about your company would likely find that bad review.

Now picture this alternative scenario…

If you are actively participating on these sites, you can immediately take control and try to remedy the situation. This not only gives you a great opportunity to turn an unhappy client into a satisfied one (who might then become one of your biggest customers), it’s also going to create a permanent record of how you handled the situation.

Now when someone looks for information about your product or service and see that complaint, they will also see your constructive response. They will be impressed with the fact that you took steps to fix the problem for an unsatisfied client.

Which scenario do you like the best?

Review Sites

Another place that it’s important to maintain an active presence is review sites, including:

• Yelp.com
• Where.com
• Citysearch.com
• Insiderpages.com
• Yahoo Local
• Google Maps

The sites are similar to local business directories, but they let people add ratings and reviews. Similar to the other sites we’ve looked at; you should have a presence on these review sites if you want to properly manage your brand and what is being said about you online.

One of the reasons these sites are so critical it is that they all have apps for smartphones and mobile devices. Many clients use them to research local companies when they were out and about. When they find a listing with poor reviews or less than desirable ratings, they can choose another option with the flick of their finger, and you’ll never know you lost a potential high- revenue prospect.

Similar to Twitter and Facebook, you want to have a chance to fix any problems or add pertinent information when someone posts a lousy review or low rating.

A great feature of the review sites is that they are not just about reviews. Most of them let you offer special promotions such as discounts and giveaways. These special promotions can be a great way to bring in new and potential prospects through their mobile device or smartphone.

If they are looking for a local firm to do business with, seeing a special promotion from you will make it more likely they will stop in for a visit. If you combine special offers with great reviews and plenty of personal interaction, it will make a great impression on them.

Engaging Customers

A critical aspect of managing your presence online is the simple act of engaging with clients. This comes back to having a Facebook page, setting up a Twitter feed, and participating in the other sites we’ve looked at. All of these vehicles give you a chance to connect with customers without the high costs of traditional advertising.

As an example, if you have a Facebook page where your clients can get involved with your company, you can offer special discounts and other promotions. Many people spend a great deal of their time on the Internet using Facebook, so you can reach them any time at little to no cost.

Let’s look at a local bar as an example. Let’s say that it’s a Wednesday afternoon and the bar owner is not happy because the week has been slower than his usual activity. He has an order coming in on Friday but he is still trying to get rid of his stock of a particular beer he ordered from the previous Friday.

He has been aggressive in building up his fans on Facebook by consistently telling his clients and their friends about his place. He can post a special promotion on the Facebook page for that particular brand of beer, and make it good for only the next two days.

Will that bring in business that otherwise would not have come into the bar over the next couple of days? Very likely, and those additional customers will not just buy the special promotion, there is a good chance they will order food as well. So a free promotional push can turn a potential loss into more profit for the bar.

Facebook is just one vehicle for this type of promotion, but there is an even better tool for running “short notice” promotions – mobile marketing.

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing is a giant opportunity for local companies. Every year, more people own smartphones with high-speed Internet connections, and they never leave their side. They constantly use them to research local businesses, services and products.

Unfortunately, very few companies are doing mobile marketing the right way.

They either don’t have a mobile version of their site, or it’s just a tinier version of their main site. It’s a better option, but not very desirable when it comes to engagement and sales.

As far as those companies with no mobile version of their site at all, it makes it highly unlikely that anyone looking for information about them will quickly click off and look for a site that they find it much easier to use.

For instance, consider this website for the city of Boston:

 

This is what a normal Internet website looks like on the average smart phone. It’s very difficult to read, and people end up zooming in and out and scrolling all over. It’s not a pleasant experience.

A proper mobile-friendly version of the main website is a much better idea. Here is what that looks like in contrast to the earlier example:

 

 

A lot better, wouldn’t you agree?

Now this might be fine for a governmental site like the city of Boston, since people going there are simply looking for information. But it isn’t the best idea for a local company. Consider this question: What are people looking for when they bring up a local firm on their smartphone?

The vast majority of time, they’re searching for either an address or a phone number. They don’t want to look through a website–they just want to call or make sure they have the right address for a visit.

Let’s take a look at a much more powerful mobile site:

 

 

If one of your customers is looking for your business on their smart phone, and encounters a page such as this one, wouldn’t you agree there’s a much better chance they’ll call or visit?

And if you want to offer more, most modern smartphones have powerful functions that can be utilized on your mobile site. For example, most smartphones have GPS built in. What if you provided your customers with your GPS coordinates so all a prospect had to do is click a link and it would open their GPS and give them instant directions to your business?

Or what about providing a link that automatically loads all of your contact information right into their address book? Would they be more likely to make another visit to your company if all of your information is already loaded in their smartphone?

These are just a few ideas. But there is another area of mobile marketing that is still underutilized by local companies – text messaging.

Text Messaging

Text messaging, or short message service (SMS), is experiencing rapid growth. You might think that only young people are using it, but more and more older consumers are taking advantage of it.

Local firms can use text messaging to build a relationship with their clients. It works even better than email marketing.

Text messaging has two big advantages:

Most people have their smartphone close by at all times, so a text message will likely reach them whether they are at home, in the car or at work.

Studies show that the majority of text messages are read as soon as they are received. In contrast, email may not be open for several days.

How do these advantages work for you? Let’s look at our example of the local bar again. Instead of Facebook, the bar could use text messaging for special promotions, with the advantage that they can drive traffic even faster.

They could send out a text message at 5:30 PM and expect a response that same night. No other medium can claim that sort of immediacy.

Does that mean you will have to be huddled in the corner of your business tapping on your smart phone, sending out text messages every hour? Not even close.

There are several companies that will broadcast a text message to everyone on your list who has asked to get messages from you. These companies let you select a number, called a Short Code, which is your point of contact. Your clients just send a text to that special number to be added to the list to get regular messages from you.

You can create automatic responses for short codes, providing you the power to create incentives for customers to sign up to receive messages.

As an example, a local diner could offer a coupon for a free drink on the next visit by texting the word “drink” to the short code number. When the client sends their text, they get an instant response with all of the information they need on how to get their free drink. It might say, “show this to your server on your next visit to get your free drink.” The advantage is that when you broadcast a text message, they get it immediately.

Coupon Sites

You may have heard of sites like GroupOn and Living Social as they have been in the news often. These “Deal of the Day” sites are a powerful way to generate traffic through mobile devices. You can create a special promotion that clients access through apps on their smartphones.

The apps create a “push” notification of the promotion. It works very much like a text message. When a new promotion is created, the app displays a message.

Let’s take a closer look at GroupOn, since it’s the biggest of the bunch.

You work out a special promotion with GroupOn, perhaps a highly discounted price, a two-for-one deal or any other offer that you can think of. GroupOn presents the opportunity on their site, sends out emails and pushes messages to every GroupOn follower on their mobile device.

The promotions are geographically centered, so only customers in your immediate area will see it. Coupon users benefit because they get a great deal on your products and services, and you benefit by seeing additional traffic you may not have experienced otherwise.

In addition, people outside of the local area see the promotion, and purchase it as a gift for a loved one or friend that lives in your area. In effect, you can reach people who don’t use GroupOn through the people that do.

Keys To An Effective Website

On top of creating a good mobile version of your site, there are many things that your main website should provide. Your website plays many roles. It is responsible for:

• Educating your prospects and clients.
• Creating an effective brand for your firm.
• Building your reputation as an expert in your field.
• Finding leads and generating sales.
• Establishing strong relationships with your clients.

At the same time, there are several things your site is not responsible for:

• Dragging people in that are looking for the products and services you provide.
• Taking place of old-school personal communication and interaction.

One error that a lot of firms make is trying to add all of the information about their company on the homepage. New visitors get overwhelmed, and they often just click off and look for a simpler, easier to read site.

Think of your homepage as an opportunity to get their attention and direct them to the right information. In a sense, your homepage is like a greeter at the mall. You want the homepage to send people where they want to go within 5 seconds.

Think of your site from the viewpoint of someone who has never heard of your company and may not be aware of what you sell. Build your site so that you visitors can easily find what they’re looking for.

A simple way to do this is to create an “avatar” that acts as a model for your average customer. Think of your typical client. What is their name? How old are they? Is it a man or woman? How much they know about your product? How much money do they make? Are they a homeowner? How many kids do they have? The more detailed you describe your “avatar,” the better you can modify your site to meet their needs.

Once you’ve created this profile, whenever you write copy for your site, email correspondence, articles or blog posts, communicate as though you are talking with them directly. This approach will help make your writing more conversational, succinct and effective.

We will discuss ways to get people to come to your site shortly (when you think about it, it’s actually the end goal of everything we talk about in this book), but the best vehicle for personal interaction on the Internet is good old email.

To use email effectively, you want to create a marketing funnel that captures customer email names and addresses so that you can begin to market to them on a consistent basis.

Email Marketing

“66% of those surveyed said they had made a purchase because of a marketing message received through email.”

– ExactTarget, “2008 Channel Preference Survey”

Every single page on your site should include an opt-in email sign-up form where people can elect to get your emails. While the other methods we have discussed such as Facebook and text messages are important, email is a cornerstone technology on the Internet.

Almost everybody has an email address, and by creating a list of your client’s names and email addresses, you can touch base with them consistently to keep you top of mind.

Email can be used to send a variety of messages:

• Upcoming promotions.
• Coupons.
• Newsletter.
• How-to information.
• Anything else that would be relevant to your customers.

In contrast to flyers and similar types of advertising, email doesn’t cost you on a per-message basis. If you send 50 emails a month, or 10,000, your cost will not very much at all.

This means that you can send email as often as you like, even daily, and you can broadcast an email message any time you think of a new idea. For example, if you have a special event or other promotion that you want to keep in front of your customers, you can dash off a quick email with new information or a fresh update rather than waiting until a few days ahead of the event.

However, email can do much more. You should utilize an “autoresponder,” which allows you to automate much of your email operation. When clients sign up to get your email messages, an autoresponder can automatically deliver a fixed number of messages at certain intervals. This lets you line up premade emails that go out your customers at set times.

This gives you a great opportunity to educate them about products and services you provide, teach them about how to use them, and even send reminders and updates. For instance, a doctor’s office could send a reminder ahead of a patient’s scheduled appointment. A service garage could send a reminder email when it is time for a client to come in for another oil change.

A major advantage of email as it is a two-way communication. You can get feedback from your clients, ask them what their major challenges are with your product, ask them to fill out surveys and learn to tailor your services to their answers.

Get testimonials you can use to market your business. You may only get a few responses, but they represent a gold mine because they tell you information you would not find out otherwise.

There are various ways you can set up for people to receive your emails.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, such as a retail operation or a diner, you can set up a computer or tablet that allows customers to enter their information right in the store.

Or you might opt for a low-tech version–a simple notebook and pen, which is still used by many businesses today. The advantage of the computer or tablet is that you don’t have to rekey information, saving you time and money. One advantage of a tablet like an iPad is that many people will want to “play” with it–it is inviting and encourages them to enter their information.

The most common way of gathering emails is an opt-in box on your website itself. This is a lead capture form with fields for name and email address. A common way of encouraging emails is to offer an incentive. This might be a free report, a white paper or other special offer that incentivizes people to sign up to get your email messages.

The advantage of a report or white paper is that you can use it to tell prospects the features and benefits of your business and why they should shop with you rather than competitors. You should not speak poorly of your competitors–just lay out the unique benefits that you provide. The special report or white paper should not be overly promotional, but should be more educational in nature. However, at the end you can include a short sales pitch to encourage customers to come into your business, or contact you on the phone or via email.

Another option email gives you is the opportunity to employ an “exit pop-up.” This is a small window that is displayed when a web searcher moves to leave your site. It usually presents a similar offer as the original opt-in form that you should have on every page of your site. While they can be annoying, studies show that exit pop-ups are effective at generating more sign-ups to your list. Since they were leaving anyway, it gives you a final opportunity to get them involved with your firm.

Another common method of encouraging people to sign up to get your email messages is to use flyers, Yellow Pages and other media. In all of your advertising, include a call-to-action to sign up to your email list to receive special promotions and company news. You might even put an additional message on every receipt or invoice that goes out the door.

Email is a powerful way to develop long-term relationships with high-value customers. Promote it every chance you get, and treat your messages like gold. It will reward you many times over.

Multiple Ways To Contact Customers

Your site should make it easy for people to contact your firm, offering different methods to get hold of you. Make your contact information highly visible on every page of your site. Include vital information such as:

• Phone number.
• Address.
• Social media links to your Facebook and Twitter profiles.
• A “contact us” form with entry fields to send a message directly from a webpage

The more avenues a customer can contact you, the better chance they will. Since different clients prefer different ways to communicate, give them each an option that fits their personal style.

If you are really aggressive and it fits into your operating style, you can provide a live chat feature on your site that allows visitors to begin a chat with someone from your company directly over the Internet. This is similar to a telephone conversation, but the communication is typed through the keyboard over the chat software.

Although it is becoming more common, it won’t work for every firm. If you or one of your staff is on the computer all day, it may be a workable option. While it might seem somewhat impersonal, there are many people who prefer to use the chat program rather than call a live person.

Promotional Strategies

A major advantage of the Internet is that you can reach new clients at very low cost, and you can rapidly create, test and revise new promotions. There are several promotional tactics you can utilize to improve your search engine rankings.

Press releases are a time-tested way to do this. When you send out a series of pressure releases, they get listed on news websites quickly. Since you can provide a link to your website in the release, it will drive many web visitors to you. At the same time, these links can help improve your ranking in the search engines, which in turn will drive even more traffic.

In addition, your press releases may get picked up by local news media and you might get press coverage. Many local newspapers and other media desperately need interesting stories about companies in your town. If you have something truly newsworthy, they are more than happy to print it. A local angle is a major appeal for these media, and you should take advantage of it any time you can.

On the Internet, there are several press release services that will send your release to traditional media, websites and other outlets. Some of the more well-known sites are:

• PRWeb.com
• Webwire.com
• Marketwire.com
• PR.com
• WirePRNews.com

 

Typically you post your release to their site, and they will then send it to many different media outlets. Each website charges a different amount, depending on the level of service they provide and any other additional features you may want. If you send out regular press releases there is a better chance to get picked up by media, and you get the added benefit of more search engine visibility, allowing you to rank higher and create more traffic.

We’ll take a closer look at search engine optimization later on.

Another highly powerful way to get more visitors to your site is to submit articles, videos, photos, infographics and other content to sites around the web. When you post at sites regularly, you increase the likelihood of new clients seeing your content and visiting your site. In addition, all of this activity helps with your search engine rankings.

Video Distribution

One of the fastest-growing areas of the web is video marketing. We already talked about adding video and images to your Google+ Local page, but that is only one of many places you can post videos. There are literally dozens of video sharing websites. Of course, the king of them all is YouTube. Other high-profile sites include:

• Vimeo.com
• Dailymotion.com
• Veoh.com
• Justin.tv
• Buzznet.com
• Collegehumor.com
• Ustream.tv

 

Each of these sites is slightly different. CollegeHumor.com, for example, wants funny videos. Others accept topics of any kind. Your videos can be similar to commercials, or be more educational in nature. It helps to have a variety of different types of videos. For example, if you own a computer shop, you could create a YouTube channel and post videos that teach prospects and customers how to operate, fix and optimize their computers.

This gives you multiple ways to reach your customers.

First, people looking for a local computer shop will view your videos and see that you are an expert. They will review your collection of videos on how to set up new computers and fix old ones. They will know you are an authority before they even visit your store.

In addition, you can use your videos to create added value for current clients. Provide tutorials about their specific computer, and take questions from the comments or via email, social media and other sources. Create new videos that answer these additional questions, and repeat the cycle.

By providing massive value, you develop strong relationships with your customers. When you submit your video to many sites, you increase the reach of your message, giving more people the chance to learn about your specific value proposition.

Article Distribution

Another great way to reach your customers online is with article distribution. There are a wide variety of article directories all over the web. Some of the more effective websites include:

• Ezinearticles.com
• GoArticles.com
• Articlesbase.com
• WebProNews.com
• ArticleDashboard.com
• Article-buzz.com

 

Similar to video sharing sites, each article distribution site has a different type of focus. For example, WebProNews.com is oriented toward Internet marketing content, while EZineArticles covers all types of information.

Here is how it works.

You submit your articles at the website. You can include a short biography at the end of the article which gives readers more information about your background and what your company offers. Usually you can include a link back to your website in this section.

A link about your site has several benefits.

Anyone reading your article might click your link to your site, where they can elect to fill out your email list opt-in box, get more information about your firm or find other information you have on your site.

The link also provides more opportunity to improve your search engine rankings in Google. As a result, the more articles you submit, the more links to your site will exist on the web. While Google has the minimized the power of these links recently, they still provide plenty of value.

A hidden power of an article site is that they offer your article for syndication. That means that other websites can sign up at the article site and select which articles they want to appear on their site. Within days your work can appear in hundreds of websites around the world, giving you even more opportunity to reach new clients and prospects. At same time, you are getting even more links back to your site, helping you to rank higher in the search engines.

While all this is going on, you build more reputation as an authority in your field. If a person searched for information about your products and services, they will encounter your articles over and over. This creates an impression that you are a high-profile expert in your niche.

Visibility is important. It lends credibility to your expertise, and shows your prospects that you are an important presence in your industry. Wouldn’t you rather deal with an expert than a dilettante?

Images

Photos and other images are another important type of content that can help you get your message in front of new clients. There are several photo sharing sites that allow you to post your images. They include:

• Flickr.com
• Photobucket.com
• Imageshack.com
• Imgur.com
• Picasa.com
• Smugmug.com

You can share photos of almost anything: products, employees, new construction, behind the scenes, and more. One good example is a subcontractor that includes “before and after” photos of his work to give potential customers an idea of the quality and craftsmanship.

In this case, a picture is much more valuable than big blocks of text. Another advantage is that Google and the other search engines have a section just for images. Anyone looking for an image related to your industry may click to your site, further expanding your reach and influence.

While not every business is visually oriented, there are advantages to creating images anyway. One benefit is brand recognition. If someone is looking online for what you provide, and your logo appears in the search results, it helps to create the sense that your brand is important in the industry. When your site is listed in the search engine results, or they find it on a local directory search on their smart phone, they’re more likely to call or visit your shop rather than someone they have never heard of before.

In addition, if you post photos of your place of business, they will feel more comfortable because they recognize it when they visit your physical location. All of these different factors make it more likely your customers will begin to know, like and trust your company.

Paid Advertising

Places you can purchase paid advertising include:

• Pay per click (PPC) ads
• Banner ads
• Direct ad buys with other websites
• Facebook ads

Pay per click ads are very cost-effective. You regularly see them at the side and top of the search engine results pages. You only pay when a web searcher clicks on the ad, not when it is displayed by the search engine. The cost for each click varies widely, depending on your niche and the keywords that you bid on.

Campaigns are built around keywords that you determine your clients use when searching for your products and services. As an example, let’s say you own tool rental business. Keywords in your niche might include:

• <city name> tool rentals
• <city name> power rake rental
• <city name> sump pump rental

…and so on.

You can set up your campaigns so they only are displayed to people who are in your hometown or area. This means that even if someone from far away was looking for your specific keywords, the ads would not be displayed to them.

Since you have so much control over how the ads are displayed, you can accurately target likely prospects. And even though a keyword might be expensive for each click, the local version which includes your hometown or vicinity is much cheaper. However, this varies with the size of your town and the volume of competition also bidding on the same phrases.

Banner Advertising

Perhaps the oldest form of advertising on the Internet is banner ads. You see graphic banners on many sites. They can be purchased a wide number of ways. You can get involved with an ad network that selects relevant sites, cities and other details. Or you can choose to contract directly with sites that purchase ad space.

Another option is to trade banners with other businesses in your area. There are many ways to work a “trade” with noncompeting businesses that appeal to the same demographic.

For instance, let’s say you own a contracting business. You might contact local plumbers, electricians, and related businesses to trade banner ads on each other’s site. Any web searcher looking for an electrician might also need a contractor, and vice versa. The idea is to provide more selection for prospects that may not be familiar with their options, or may have just moved to your town.

The natural extension of this idea is to offer a commission or referral fee for any new business that you get from another business in the cooperative. Systems can be set up that automatically track new clients who click from a specific banner and arrive at the destination site. The business that sells products or services from the banner click give the referring company a finder’s fee. By setting up several of these relationships, everyone benefits without spending any money off the top.

Banner ads can be very powerful, but local companies should make sure they have total control. If you are a contractor in Bend, Oregon there is no real good reason to show your ad to someone from Athens, Georgia.

Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are similar to pay per click marketing in that you pay when a Facebook visitor clicks an ad. Another quality of Facebook ads is that they can be highly targeted. However, instead of ads being displayed on a keyword basis, they are displayed based on the demographics you select.

Facebook marketing gives you an unbelievable amount of control over your ads. You can get very specific with your target market. As an example, if you own an exercise gym, you might create an ad that targets females from 35 to 50 years old that live in your town, are college-educated and interested in staying healthy.

At the same time, you can build a completely different ad that targets men with much of the same characteristics. And possibly another ad with the same demographics except changing the age range to 55 to 65-year-olds. The possibilities are endless, and Facebook makes it simple to run your ad where your best prospects are likely to see them.

Like all marketing, Facebook will need some testing. But keep in mind it is growing faster than any other site including Google. That means that you will benefit by learning the ropes of Facebook’s ad system. To give you an idea of how big Facebook is becoming, considered this chart:

 

Search Engine Optimization

Many things we’ve looked at in this book fall under the topic of search engine optimization, otherwise known as SEO. This is the art and science of optimizing a site so that it ranks higher in the search engine results. Much of the process can be done “on site.” One example is to publish content that includes the right keywords that attract prospects typing those keywords and phrases into the search box.

There are several tools that can make it easier to determine the right keywords. The Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you plan campaigns, keywords and keyword groups for advertising on Google. It is very powerful, and useful for determining what content to create on your site.

You might be surprised at the way people actually search.

Here is an example. This graphic is a search for “Bellingham plumbers.” (Bellingham is a town in the state of Washington. There are 80,000 residents in the city proper with about 200,000 including the surrounding area).

 

This shows just a few of the many keywords that the tool provides. However, it is clear what web searchers are looking for and the number of times each phrase is searched every month.

The phrase “Bellingham plumber” receives 590 searches locally every month. That’s 590 possible prospects looking for that exact phrase on average every month.

The phrase “plumbers in Seattle” does not apply, since the town of Seattle is a couple of hours travel from Bellingham. But as you can see, Google still displays it in the results since it is nearby. You can observe the variety of keywords similar to the main keyword typed into the search box:

• Bellingham plumbers
• Plumber Bellingham
• Plumbers Bellingham
• Plumbers in bellingham wa

Plumbing business owners in Bellingham want to utilize each of these variations in their articles, blog posts and other content to help improve the chances of them ranking higher in the search engine results pages.

Another area that SEO involves is content that you add to other sites. Examples are press releases, photos, videos and other content that give you additional links to your website from around the web. You want to have as many quality links to your site as possible. Google is based on links, and while they have minimized the power of certain types of links, they still play a major role in how well your site will rank.

Maximize the number of high-quality sites you can get to link to your site. A link from Microsoft.com would have more value to Google than a link from JoeThePlumber.com. There are a variety of tactics you can use to get these links. We’ve looked at a few, for example media distribution. Post high-quality content to as many good sites as you can, and make sure you get a link back to your site.

You also have the option of purchasing links on other sites. This is essentially a type of advertising. Instead of purchasing banners on another site, or buying clicks on a search engine, you pay a site to build a link to your site.

Simply getting involved with some of the sites we’ve talked about already can help create more links to your site. If you regularly participate in social media, you can use them to link to your site. Review sites also create links back to your website.

Some aggressive marketers even set up multiple websites, each of them targeted to narrow focus. All of them link back to the main site, helping to improve its rankings. For example, a photography store with a main site might create mini-sites dedicated to wedding photography, portrait photography, camera reviews and more. Each of these mini-sites link back to the main site, creating a network of back links which benefit the web rankings.

Your use of strategies and tactics will evolve over time. As can be seen, they can work alone or together. Providing high-quality content around the Internet helps with your search engine optimization. Regularly participating in social media isn’t just a way of building relationships – it helps raise your rankings in Google and other search engines.

In other words, the more places you market your company on the Internet, the more each of these streams combine to provide you with a rushing river of profit and results.

Search engine optimization is not a one-time effort. While you might back off the amount of high-quality videos and articles you are distributing around the web after a while, you’ll want to continue a certain level of activity. Otherwise, you may lose any ground you gained, and competitors could pass you in the search engine rankings.

Tracking Your Results

One of the major advantages of marketing on the Internet is that you can very accurately track your results. You can see where your clients are coming from, and see which pieces of content they like the most. From there you can determine where your profits are coming from.

The web lets you see the source of every visitor to your site. You can find out which clients are coming from Google, Twitter, YouTube, and any other source. You can even track individual marketing messages.

As an example, you can put a special tracking link on a photo you post on Facebook and see how many people visit your site from that particular image. Off-line marketing such as Yellow Pages and flyers do not have as accurate tracking ability. While there are many tracking services choose from, one of the most powerful is another free Google service – Google Analytics.

Google Analytics lets you track every person coming to your site, no matter where they are coming from. It provides you the keywords they typed into the search box before clicking on your links. This data is incredibly valuable to you because you can use it to tweak your website for improved results.

Let’s go back to our Bellingham plumber example. When you look at the site’s data, you may find that you’re getting many visits from the phrase “Bellingham plumbing and heating.” This might be a phrase you didn’t target.

Now that you know it is a commonly used phrase by web visitors, you can visit Google and determine where you rank for that particular phrase. If you appear at the bottom of the first page, you know that you are ranking but there is room for improvement. Now you can focus your SEO strategies on that phrase. You might create a new video that uses the phrase “Bellingham plumbing and heating,” or write an article with the same goal.

These little tweaks and adjustments over time generate more visitors looking for these terms. This is a good example of why search engine optimization is an ongoing process.

Google Analytics doesn’t stop there, however. Not only can it track visitors, it can tell you what actions they took once they came to your site. Think back to the email lead capture form we discussed earlier. Google Analytics can track a web visitor’s activity from the time they click on your ads to signing up on the email opt-in form.

In addition, you can use tracking codes to find when clients visit your business or contact you. As a result, you can find the exact amount of money it takes to generate a customer by figuring out your cost of advertising compared to the number of people who purchase your product or service.

You can figure out which advertising sources of the most effective, which ones are not pulling their weight, and which creates the most leads. This type of intricate detail is hard to get with some old school media like Yellow Pages and newspaper display ads.

The Bottom Line

So, what is the bottom line? At the end of the day, the Internet provides an exciting opportunity to get better results for less money than traditional advertising media. And we are only at the beginning. It is vital for any local business to get involved and learn how to use the Internet now–failure to do so means that they will fall behind, possibly never to catch up with their competition.

Don’t worry, your competition is hearing the exact same message. They have the same challenges as you. Consider this graphic from a McKinsey survey of business people:

 

 

Note that these results were collected in 2008. These effects will continue to accelerate, not diminish, as each year passes.

Where Should You Start?

We’ve covered quite a few concepts in this book, so you may have many ideas about how to market your business. Where do you begin?

Be honest, is this the kind of stuff you want to be doing?

You might be able to figure out all the technical details, but do you really want to spend your time doing all the activities we discussed? You’ll be more effective by focusing on your core strength.

We specialize in helping local companies get more clients by increasing their visibility on the web. If you would like to learn more about how we can increase your customer base and generate more sales and profit at a lower cost than what you are spending now, call today to schedule a free consultation.