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Do You Know These 5 Marketing Trends for 2015?

January 30, 2015 Beth Devine

It’s important to look back over the previous year and reflect on what you did that was successful, significant, or slipshod. Thinking backwards has its uses, but thinking forwards is a good opportunity to see how you fit into what’s expected.

Here are five marketing trends gleaned from the web that make the most sense for small businesses in 2015.

Content Marketing That Matters

The amount of free online content continues to overwhelm us. Your customers are probably growing bored, overstimulated, and underwhelmed. The answer is not to create more content to try and win attention.

The answer to today’s online content overload is marketing with a content strategy. Whereas the old mantra was “always be closing,” today’s could be “always be publishing,” but publishing with a focus.

Give your customers and prospects content that they can’t get elsewhere, is targeted to meet their interests, and is well-planned and well-written. Look to other industries for inspiration, including their social media pages. Check out their Pinterest, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter accounts to fuel your ideas for quality content.

Go Social or Bust

The social media landscape is continually changing. Small businesses must stay tuned to what platforms are the most relevant to your brand.

Where your brand should focus its presence is based on one simple fact: where your customers are. Knowing which platforms to avoid and which to engage in is even more critical as changes in Facebook and Twitter limit the reach of your pages and push business users to use paid advertisements.

Know the emerging technologies and where to look for your customers. Trends include messaging services like Snapchat, growing in popularity with 1 billion Snapchat stories viewed every day. The new social media darling is Instagram, the mobile photo-sharing site that is attracting users and investors by the truckload.

Watch for analytics to become available to marketers through more social platforms. As with Facebook, which offers Page Insights after you receive thirty likes, expect to see Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr do something similar.

Measure With Analytics

As the wave of social media analytics grows, it is important to take advantage of the digital data that is available. If it’s digital, it’s measurable, giving you critical understanding of product-market fit, user experience, customer behavior, and more.

Getting the right focus is the challenge. Using metrics to help you make the best decisions involves measuring many different things, including open rates, number of followers, and traffic. Focusing on what variables connect to revenue and growth is key.

Facebook recently added conversion lift to its analytics platform, allowing advertisers to measure conversion rates from digital ads. This tool is one example of how data can be used to help you focus your online efforts and your advertising dollars.

Less Words, More Visuals

Using less words and more visuals continues to be the trend for 2015. As non-professionals increasingly use smartphone cameras to shoot videos and photos with instant results, the potential for marketing also grows.

Visual storytelling is growing, and social media is quick to jump on board. Facebook was first to push video, with Instagram’s 15-second video quick to follow. Now Twitter is launching native video, giving users application-ready viewing and playing of videos as a way to add to the conversation.

Twitter already figured out how short our attention span is: 2.8 seconds to be exact, or how long it takes us to read approximtely 140 characters. 90% of information that your brain receives is visual, with visuals processed 60,000 times faster than text.

If you haven’t already, begin adding more visuals to your website and social media. Your content is being consumed by people who favor images, so that’s what you have to give them.

The IoT (Internet of Things)

Mobile data is continuing to expand with user-friendly options that will include wearable devices. The technology being used to transfer data over a network in devices such as heart monitors and automobile sensors is surfacing in smart watches and exercise bands, and is expected to become more popular as new solutions develop.

The IoT is a vast communication network of more than 25 billion objects, all online and gathering information, and using sensors to correspond with each other. Collecting data and sending it has never been easier.

It’s not always about knowing how this will affect your marketing. Sometimes it’s just about being aware of the newest breed of online connection and understanding what consumers are interested in. Anticipating marketing trends will help you move towards a more connected future where you’re prepared to address challenges as early as you can.

What Your Profile Picture Says About You

January 22, 2015 Beth Devine

worth a thousand words — “Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, The First Council,” by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, modified version, public domain photo.

It’s believed that Napoleon first said, “Un bon croquis vaut mieux qu’un long discours,” which loosely translated is, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” (“A good sketch is better than a long speech” also works.)

There’s no better place to begin with this philosophy than social media. Social media is a large part of our lives, and our online presence is much more than just a personal statement.

How you represent yourself online professionally is an important piece to your overall appearance on social media. Your LinkedIn profile picture, or any image meant for professional use, should make a good first impression.

What does your social media picture say about you? These tips will help you decide.

Get your profile picture rated for free.

Find out what others think of your photo with a site that tells you how your picture rates. Photo Feeler bases its results on the votes of other participants. In order to receive feedback, you can either purchase credits, or receive credits by casting your own votes.

For a business photo, the qualities of competent, likable, and influential are rated. For sites geared to social exchange, votes are made on confident, authentic, and fun. There’s even a dating option, in the event you’re interested in casting the net online.

The no-show photo.

According to recent studies, recruiters spend 19% of their time on your profile picture. When you elect to omit your profile picture, professional recruiters will think one of three things: you’re lazy, tech illiterate—you don’t know how to upload one, or you’re hiding something.

You’re also less likely to have your profile viewed by associates. Let’s say you want to connect online after a networking event. It’s much easier to remember who’s who when you have a photo to make the connection to the business card.

Your age is about a decade (or two) off reality.

Imagine walking into an interview looking years older than your profile picture. Not only will your prospective employer think she’s got the wrong person, you’ll look deceptive.

Keep your profile picture an accurate representation of what you currently look like. The best way to convey a positive appearance is with a photo that exudes good energy through good posture, a genuine smile, and a relaxed demeanor.

Casual dress or not?

A professional profile picture should include professional attire. Dress as if you are going to a job interview. For certain industries, however, the dress can be slightly less formal.

Check and see what other people in your industry are wearing for their profile pictures to be sure you’re adopting a similar standard. If you’re unsure, a dark-colored blazer is a safe bet.

Keep the background neutral.

Avoid backgrounds that will distract the viewer from focusing on you. Instead of wondering where you were in the photo or what was going on, the intent of the photo remains central: you and what you have to offer.

I bet you think this photo’s about you, don’t you?

You’re so vain, or you would be if this wasn’t the moment to make it about you and nothing or no one else. In addition to a plain background, don’t include your pets, children, or significant other. Avoid using them as your Facebook profile picture as well, unless you want to convey the various meanings each one communicates.

There are unspoken rules to social media profile pictures. What your profile picture says about you speaks volumes, and you don’t want it to scream clueless.

Saving-the-world photos are good, aren’t they?

Thanks to the site Humanitarians of Tinder, what might appear to be genuine altruism can be misconstrued into less noble attempts of empathy. While there are places and times to demonstrate your involvement in a worthy cause, using photos of yourself posing in developing countries as your professional profile picture won’t necessarily be one of them.

Try using a photo that can’t be mistaken as superficial. If you insist on using third-world selfies, save them for Instagram.

Bad lighting is for a Seinfeld episode.

The lighting in your profile picture can make the difference between your appearing as the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Seinfeld episode “Two Face Girlfriend” depicts this with comic clarity. Each time Seinfeld sees his new date, she bounces between being either pleasantly attractive or a ghastly ghoul depending on the light.

The lighting can be the sole culprit of a really bad profile picture. See these 9 Tips for Taking a Great Profile Photo in Natural Light and take your profile image to the next level of greatness.

You don’t have to guess at which photos are better. Follow these tips to get the right photo and see your online opportunities grow.

How To Be More Likable

January 14, 2015 Beth Devine

liked at work — Flickr photo “Pals” by jeffreyw, modified from the original under CC BY.

“When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion.” — Dale Carnegie

We all want to be liked. Google how to be more likable, and the evidence is there—you’ll come up with plenty of self-help advice to answer your need.

Because the majority of people spend most of their time at work, how to be more likable at work is a popular focus for improvement. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest American Time Use survey, employed adults spend nearly twice as much time working as they do at a leisure activity.

Start by being more likable at work with these 5 areas of self-improvement. Based on the vast amount of internet advice, I’ve distilled it into 5 categories centered on personal characteristics.

1. Be a Better Listener: Be Deferential

Listen without interrupting. It’s annoying when someone butts in or rushes you, or attempt to compete with you in conversations as if they have to top your story or one-up you in some way.

Deferential listening involves more than just being quiet while others speak. It requires conversation reinforcements, questions, and most of all, being present. Make a point of not looking at your phone or letting your mind wander, and place your full focus on the person talking.

By being deferential and listening attentively, you’re creating an authentic bridge that will allow you to connect with others. And eventually they will like you for it.

2. Be Willing to Get Personal: Be Vulnerable

Know when to take things to a personal level and share what’s really happening in your life. Without being overdone, sharing is a way to communicate trust and break down walls, making emotional connection a possibility.

By being honest about yourself, you’re showing a vulnerability that makes liking you easier than if you always attempt to show how impressive you are.

Admit to mistakes and failings, show the real you. People will gravitate to your honesty.

3. Be a Positive Force: Be Complimentary

One way to practice being more positive is to find something to compliment people on. It’s hard to appear negative when you’re focused on making compliments to people.

Instead of finding what’s wrong with a situation, use the same positive energy to figure out what can be done to make it better. Tell someone every day how fabulous they are and why. Most of us are so fixated inwards that it requires simply being aware of your surroundings to find something to remark positively on. They’ll not only appreciate you for it, they will be more likely to listen to you when you do bring up a negative point.

4. Be Concerned About Others: Be Genuine

Ask questions about others and give them a chance to talk about themselves. By prompting people with honest questions about their lives to further your understanding, you show you’re genuinely interested in them and making a deeper connection.

The other side to revealing your vulnerability is displaying a unique concern for others. By not always settling for small talk and superficial exchange, you’re opening the door to a stronger relationship, one where you’re far more likable.

5. Be Warm and Fuzzy: Be Sincere

Don’t underestimate the power of touch. Social touching on the upper arm, shoulder, or hand can influence how others behave as well as make you appear friendlier and more attractive when done right.

This means it is done casually and sincerely. Touch can break down the perceived barrier of distance and and decrease the natural barrier of emotional resistance.

Out of these 5 personal characteristics, sincerity is the most difficult to adopt with artifice, so don’t bother doing this if you can’t muster up real solicitude. If people can smell a rat, they can sense it even better with a false touch.

Of course there are many ways to show sincerity. All of them will help you be more likable. There is one single thing you can do to influence the practice of all five characteristics listed here and be more likable. It’s very simple.

Smile more.

People will lower their guards when you smile as you greet them with a “good morning,” leave them with a “have a great day!” and take the initiative to acknowledge them.

How to Create a Presentation That Counts

January 10, 2015 Beth Devine

Photo modified from "be bold" by Julie Jordan Scott on Flickr. — Photo modified from “be bold” by Julie Jordan Scott on Flickr under CC BY.

According to Seth Godin, there are, as far as I can tell, three types of presenters. Good Entertainers, Bad Entertainers, and Change-makers.

The Good Entertainers know how to work the crowd. They know how to make them laugh, keep them on the edge of their seats, and maybe even shake their heads with wonder as they leave, thinking how great a show it was.

Bad Entertainers fail to do any of these things. They bore their audience, waste their time, and generally are unremarkable. The attendees are thinking about what they will do after they leave long before they exit the building.

The point to creating a presentation isn’t mere entertainment, although it’s a good idea to keep your audience riveted. Making them laugh on occasion is also a good strategy.

But to make a presentation worth doing, one that doesn’t waste your audience’s time, you need to have just one purpose. Godin is crystal clear on this. You need to make a change happen.

“No change, no point,” Godin says.

In other words, if we take what Godin tells us to heart, we know that the point of making a presentation is no different that the point of getting out of bed every day.

When you get up and face the day, you can choose to live it so you’re just getting by and surviving the ordeal. Or you can seek to do small things that make a difference and have the potential to turn into something better.

Change-makers create presentations that do more than just get by. They make presentations that take risks. The risk is always the same. You might fail. But if you don’t try, if you don’t do more than just get out of bed and ignore the possibilities, you’ll never know if you could succeed.

Pack Your Presentation With Emotion

When you make a presentation, you’re communicating your point of view and trying to get others to agree with you. Just like when you navigate through the day, it’s your emotional appeal that will help you achieve what you’re trying to accomplish.

You won’t get far trying to get others to follow your advice when you behave like an automaton. People want to engage with you. So whether they determine you’re a has-been or a rock star, you need to use emotion to connect with them.

Are You Selling Something?

If you’re an academic discussing an issue related to your work, are you selling something? The question Godin has us ask ourselves before creating a presentation applies to anyone who is presenting an idea. “Who will be changed by this work, and what is the change I seek?”

If you’re not selling something, then you don’t need to make a presentation. If everyone already agrees with what you have to say, then you don’t need to try to convince them. Go home and think up something else to do.

Godin gives us four rules for presentations:

1. Cue cards – Even if you don’t need to use them, making cue cards to remind you of what to say will help you outline your presentation and trigger talking points. Keep them simple and legible, so if you do need them, you aren’t squinting and stumbling as you try to read them.

2. Illustrate with images – God has a lot to say about Powerpoint, and most of it’s negative. Rather than use this software as a powerful tool to relate ideas, it’s become a crutch.

Don’t rewrite what you’re saying onto the Powerpoint slides. Don’t use images that aren’t professional or that don’t evoke an emotional reaction. Don’t use the music that comes with the system. Instead, find sounds and music that will get a visceral response from your audience. Don’t use more than six words per slide.

3. Hand out proof – The written document that supports what you’re selling should be handed out only after your presentation. Otherwise your audience will be reading instead of listening. Plus, if you tell them they’ll get it all in writing afterwards, they won’t have to distract themselves with note taking.

4. Get an answer – Don’t let them leave without getting a commitment or a signature or some sort of agreement. The whole point to your presentation is to persuade others to adopt your idea, to get them to do something different.

Make It Count

We want to live our lives in a way that makes them count. We don’t do this by never trying to persuade another person. Every day we try to persuade someone to do what we think is best.

We’ve got to give presentations the same way. Make it count for something. Make it worth doing and do it differently than everyone else.

The Year In Review: Top Posts of 2014

December 28, 2014 Beth Devine

For easy ways to stay ahead of hackers, keep your social media presence alive, and be a better writer, we bring you a synopsis of top blog posts for 2014.

Because a recap of the year’s blog posts wouldn’t be complete without a line-up of cat-themed photos, the year in review starts with cats. Whether it’s revamping your email marketing, optimizing your website’s SEO, or getting smart with hashtags, the cats are in the know.

The Year In Cats

Don’t be fooled into thinking email is old school. Why Email Marketing Is Still the Cat’s Meow lays it out for you so you can either rediscover email’s benefits, or reinvigorate your current email marketing.

Take advantage of implementing visuals into your email marketing campaign that you’ve created for social media. Learn how to increase your presence by getting visual and stand out in the crowd in How Your Brand Can Stand Out With Visual Content.

Social media is the perfect platform for spreading your brand’s content with captivating photos, images, and videos. SEO Benefits to Embedding Video outlines the simple benefits you get from your video when you embed it into your website.

It begins with the two-for-one benefit of two listings for the price of one: one for your website and one for your YouTube (or other hosting) channel. Your SEO sees results from both listings.

Your SEO is something the cats don’t want you to fall behind in. Get the five SEO actions you don’t want to botch up when you’re optimizing your WordPress site for search engines with Are You Botching Up Your WordPress Site’s SEO?

No social media lesson would be complete without hashtag directions. Knowing how to implement hashtags into your social media gives your posts maximum oomph—I mean, meow. Find out the finer claw-points in How To Use Hashtags on Social Media and Be a Cool Cat.

Keep Your Site and Password Safe From Hackers

The lurking threat of having your password or website hacked is always a real possibility. Cyber Security Threats: Is This the Digital Wild West? and More Password Hacking Methods and How to Stay Safe outline the top ways hackers attempt to steal your data.

7 Tips for Your Content Management System gives you seven ways to keep your WordPress site safe from hackers. If you’re not doing them, then sign up for a plan with your hosting company and have them do it for you.

6 Ways Your Site Is Hacked and What To Do About It will help keep your site safe by knowing the methods hackers use. Outside of staying offline, the best way to stay safe is to stay informed.

How To Secure Your Accounts With Two-Step Verification shows you how to keep your accounts hacker-proof. Two-step security is free. Follow these simple steps to give your online accounts an extra layer of security.

Writing Is Key to Your Success

Grab this list of tips from the pros in How To Become a Better Writer: Tips from the Pros for your quick consumption; it’s internet-primed to be just the way you like it—fast, free, and fun.

Don’t forget important writing practices for when you automate your social media posts, including the 5-3-2 rule in Don’t Let Jargon Be a Communication Barrier, because it’s never okay to forget your customer in your writing.

Find out how you stay relevant with appropriate customer communication, when to use jargon and when not to, and why. Content Marketing Buzzwords You Need to Know will help you stay in the know with the most used content marketing buzzwords.

It’s either write or die of unhappiness. At least that’s how I choose to interpret it. The experts weigh in on why you can’t live properly without it in How Writing Makes You Happy.

If writing just isn’t in the stars for you, here are seven reasons content creation is important and how to know if outsourcing content is the right decision for you. Check out Should You Outsource Content for Your Website? to see what the future holds.

Social Media Tips

How do you find time for social media as a small business? Social media automation tools can help you manage your social media presence without investing tons of time. Find them here: You Need These Social Media Automation Tools.

Are you using LinkedIn to market your small business? For B2B marketing, LinkedIn is the preferred social media channel for 26% of respondents in a BtoB survey, and more than 90% of B2B companies in North America use LinkedIn. Learn more about connecting with other people in your industry in 9 Tips for LinkedIn You Didn’t Know.

What’s the best social media platform for your company? See why the new star of social media is Instagram and why brands might want to start paying attention to this platform in 7 Reasons Instagram Tops Twitter.

To learn more about Twitter and how to grow a Twitter following, 9 Easy Ways To Get Followers on Twitter. Improve Your Image and Get Your New Twitter Profile gives you the latest Twitter changes and how to adjust to your brand new Twitter groove.

Finally, find out why Pinterest is a good choice for brands as the online place for window shopping and gathering content. Get These Pinterest Tips for Your Business and Get More Sales shows you how to get your content in the digital hands of Pinterest shoppers and Tell Your Story On Pinterest gives you eight ways to get your company’s story heard in images.

7 Reasons Instagram Tops Twitter

December 12, 2014 Beth Devine

Instagram just topped Twitter as the rising star of social media. With over 300 million monthly users, it’s now bigger than Twitter, who has 284 million. The announcement that verified accounts for brands and public figures are being doled out gives Instagram the added prestige of being a visual platform that’s made it in the social stratosphere.

Why Instagram tops Twitter:

Facebook’s Visual Cousin Is No Fad

Not only is Instagram owned by Facebook, but Instagram is the photo-op cousin to the popular social media platform. Because Instagram focuses on capturing shared images, it offers you the opportunity to send visual messages without a lot of fuss over copy.

It’s captured the delight of image-lovers worldwide, with 70% of its users coming from outside the U.S. and 70 million photos being shared each day. This isn’t looking like a passing fad.

Youthful appeal

If you want to get in on what the upcoming generations and the millennials already know is a good thing, then you won’t want to miss out. The opportunity to communicate with these age groups is through their preferred medium, and it’s not Facebook.

Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, is losing its appeal to youth, the same group who first made Facebook popular. As they say, when in Rome, do as the Instagrammers do.

Advertising for Brands

Static ads have been on Instagram since late 2013 and now video ads are being rolled out. Advertisers are quick to respond to the new mobile-centric ad opportunity, wanting to be seen as innovators in a new market.

Its new 15-second autoplay spots will include Disney’s new movie, Big Hero 6, with video showing animated characters doing what Instagrammers know how to do best: selfies poses.

Verify This

It’s what Twitter users have long coveted and reportedly can’t get without Twitter’s personal invite. A @Verified account has been a mark of digital validation on life’s worth for the Twittersphere.

A simple blue checkmark about a dozen pixels wide, the verification symbol indicates you’re someone who’s done something. Instagram is offering the sought-after, verified badges as a way to make following your favorite brands and public personalities easier.

It’s also another way for the social media site to say it’s now someone too.

No Fakers Wanted

As it works to strengthen authentic accounts with verified badges, Instagram is deleting fake and spammer accounts. Increasing user confidence through boosting trust in its profiles is a move to make it anti-spam friendly and more credible.

Search and Get Found

Instagram’s new Explore tab makes it easier for you to search and find relevant brands and people as well as get found by those who are interested in you. Because the tab uses algorithms personalized to the user, if someone shows interest in factors related to what you post, like, and who you follow, your account could be selected in their search.

This positive feature is in contrast to the drawback of Instagram’s single-feed feature. Snap-happy Instagrammers can easily dominate your feed, making it difficult to find the intermittent posting of a close friend.

Instagram is taking over the social media stratosphere and is fast becoming the go-to image sharing site. But if it doesn’t stay focused on ways to continue to top Twitter and other social sharing sites, it could fall into similar downfall. The unfiltered feed problem tops the list of potential issues.

In the meantime, let’s let Instagram shine. Join the Instagram ascendance into photo-sharing stardom and be a star too.

5 More Marketing No-No’s

December 4, 2014 Beth Devine

In continuation of our previous 5 Online Marketing No-No’s, here are five more marketing mistakes to avoid. Like the wise business person you are, be sure to check this list and revamp any marketing mistakes into nonexistence.

5 More Mistakes for Your Marketing Know-How

1. Your email list is dirty

If you’re email marketing isn’t compliant with spam, you’ll get a high bounce rate, or worse, you could get your email efforts shut down. CAN SPAM carries severe penalties for non-compliant commercial email, but it’s simple to check it and stay within the law. Be sure to email only recipients that have asked to be on your marketing list, which means they’ve freely given you their email information.

It also helps your email marketing performance to separate your email list into groups, including targeting your list based on deliverability. This means paying attention to your email open rates and selecting recipients who open your emails and click on links you’ve embedded in them.

You might target your new email group by sharing only your best offers with these more interested readers, or by mailing the less responsive recipients less often.

2. Your customers need some TLC

Did you forget about those happy customers of yours? Or how about those new clients whom you’ve been ignoring due to other, more seasoned ones?

Sometimes we forget about and neglect our long-time, happy customers and the newbies who’ve just walked through the door. But both are equally valuable and deserve your attention.

It’s easier to sell a solution to an existing problem than it is to sell a positive benefit. So spend some time finding out ways you can help your happy customers to be even happier by learning what problems they continue to struggle with.

As for your new customers, they are often eager to respond to your questions when it comes to determining how you’re doing and how you could improve. If you don’t ask, you won’t know. Ask them to take a survey and give them a free beginner’s guide or offer them a free gift or holiday discount for doing so.

3. Your networking is abysmal

Okay, so you aren’t particularly social. Find someone who is and can network for you, or challenge yourself and get out there and attend one of the many events that are going on, particularly during the holidays.

Take advantage of the opportunities to meet new people, build relationships, and create new business. Better yet, sign up to speak at one of the events and really challenge your social fears. Speaking in public gets easier and the rewards of speaking at public events are like networking on steroids.

Seth Godin talks straight on the fear of public speaking, clarifying that it’s not about you. It’s really about what you have to offer. So make it about your audience and how you can help them. Isn’t that what you are trying to do anyways as you network?

4. You ignore the potential of your referrals

Referrals are your free marketing resource. Imagine getting new business and customers just from recommendations from your already satisfied customers.

Do you have a referral program working for you? Are you emailing customers after you complete a project they’re happy with to ask for a referral? Do you follow them on LinkedIn and ask them for an introduction to a potential client?

It’s that simple. When you ignore the potential of referrals, you’re missing out on an inexpensive way to market your business. So go ahead – do your part and ask.

5. You overlook the obvious: free press

Free press opportunities are an obvious method for marketing your company, but too often they’re overlooked. It’s an incorrect assumption that the press will come looking for you and your awesome product or service. You have to pitch them your grand idea to get their attention.

And they will pay attention because they are always looking for news. They want to know what’s going on with your company. Get their attention and get some press, and that will drive traffic to your website.

When you’re seeking out press options, don’t forget about small time players, such as online bloggers and local, small-town print dailies and weeklies. These formats are all thriving and open for business for your news.

Stop hiding from your marketing mistakes. It’s easy to make them, but it’s nearly as easy to correct them.

5 Online Marketing No-No’s

November 25, 2014 Beth Devine

Online marketing can be a daunting undertaking, especially when you’re a small business that’s used to traditional advertising. You’re also bound to make mistakes as you try to absorb all the information and apply it to your company.

Stepping out into the internet world of online marketing and knowing what not to do can be helpful. The following five online marketing no-no’s are practices you want to avoid when making the transition from traditional marketing into a successful online marketing plan.

1. No Blog

Not having a blog for your business makes it harder for people to find you. Every time you create valuable content, you’re giving Google and other search engines the cue to index your page, which will show up in search results and drive more traffic to your website.

Because let’s face it, how often do you update the pages of your website? With regular blogging, you are helping more people to discover what you have to offer – not just those who are typing in your business name when searching.

Blogging useful content generates conversation, creates leads, and keeps customers. Give Google something to crawl your website for more often, which will give you better search engine results.

2. No Local Search

Recently, a small business asked me what they could do to improve their search results. Because they were difficult to find when doing a search, they were concerned and wanted to do something to fix this problem.

Turns out, they weren’t listed in local search. If you have a local business, with the majority of your customers in your area, it’s important to be listed in local search, even if you also have a website and an Internet storefront.

To increase your visibility, customers need to be able to find you using search engines, starting with Google. Not only is it free, but it is quick to do.

Go to Google Places for Business, log in using your Google account or create a new one, and enter in the information for your business as prompted. Be sure to add photos and videos to give your business a more personal appeal.

3. No Social Networking

Online networking is an important component to your businesses online marketing. If you think it’s just a never-ending party with nothing work-related getting done, you’re misinformed.

When you build up your profile and build relationships on social media, you are also building traffic, which can lead to new connections and new customers. There is no cost to being active on social media outside of the time you invest, so decide on which networks you want to engage in and begin building a following.

By sharing content on social media, including the blog posts you write, you are creating another way for people to find you and share your content, opening the door to more traffic.

4. No Market Focus or USP

When marketing your product or service, find the problem and focus on the solution. Instead of focusing on the benefits alone, figure out how to solve your customer’s problem.

Spend time asking questions to determine what their problems are and how they can be solved. It’s easier to sell a solution to an existing problem than to sell a positive benefit.

As you go about the process of problem-spotting, be sure to keep your USP, unique selling proposition, in focus as well. As the one single statement that singles you out from your competition, it needs to be used in all of your online marketing.

5. No Data Measurement or Optimization

Online marketing gives you ample opportunity to measure data with analytics. Once you determine where your traffic is coming from, you can decide which sources are producing the most conversions.

Analytics tools will show you detailed performance data, giving you goal-setting information that you should continually update and change as necessary. If you discover there’s a particular source of traffic that’s giving you no leads, then eliminate it. Anything that’s giving you a lot of traffic or a high conversion rate, fine tune it for further improvements.

Data measurement and optimization is your roadmap to your online marketing efforts. Avoid the no’s of online marketing, stay on track, and don’t get lost by ignoring the results of your hard work.

Get Pay Per Click Advertising That Works

November 18, 2014 Beth Devine

“Gaze” by Marina del Castell, used under CC BY / Modified from original

Pay per click advertising is like sending out a sales letter on the internet. Your intention is to get your audience to open the letter and make a targeted response. Instead of opening your letter, the goal of pay per click is to click on your ad.

You pay only when someone clicks on your ad, which then takes them to your website. To get your audience to click on your ad and follow through with a desired action, your pay per click advertising requires focus.

When you’re using pay per click advertising, it’s important to focus on more than just the number of clicks. A conversion happens when someone takes a desired action after they click on the ad. It could be making a purchase or registering to receive something free.

By staying focused on conversions, you can boost your returns while also increasing your subscriber rates. Follow these five ways to get pay per click advertising that works.

1. Build a Landing Page

When your audience clicks on your ad, don’t send them to your homepage. A targeted landing page with focused content and a specific call to action is the key to focusing on the keywords that brought your visitors to you and getting the conversions you want.

Depending on the type of keywords you are paying for, you might need to build more than one landing page. Just be sure to focus on the specific intent of your audience and what they are searching.

Don’t confuse your visitors by confusing them with irrelevant content. Stay focused on ad-related content that teaches your audience about what your product or service offers.

2. Make an Offer

Make the goal of your landing page more than selling your product or service. Your landing page is where your visitors go to receive your free offering, such as an ebook, audio recording, video presentation, or any type of informational resource.

This is the best way to differentiate yourself from your competition. With a compelling call to action such as “Free Download,” “Learn How,” or “Get Yours Free,” you will encourage your audience to act once they get to your landing page.

When you make an offer, you’re working to establish your relationship with the people who clicked. By building your subscriber list, you can continue to boost your conversion rates through your website and blog.

3. Use Negative Keywords

One of the underused yet effective pay per click strategies is to use negative keywords. By choosing keywords that won’t trigger your ad, you are essentially filtering out people who aren’t searching for your ad.

When you use negative keywords correctly, you will whittle down your clickers to only those who are interested in you and what you have to offer, saving you money in clicks. Negative keywords will control the relevancy of clicks without eliminating targeted traffic from broad keyword terms.

4. Location, Location, Location

Be sure to utilize the geo-location features of Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo search engines. This will allow you to target your market based on the IP addresses, focusing your campaign on regions, countries, cities, even zip codes.

Your pay per click advertising campaign might be to test out different locations in order to learn how different areas respond to what you sell. Or you might not ship to certain areas. Or you want to promote a special offer to only a specific region.

As brick and mortar store, you can use geo-location to not only drive traffic to your store, but to promote online sales to geo-targeted locations. It’s a good way to improve your performance in certain places by breaking out of your standard target zones.

5. Test for Results

Your pay per click advertising will give you better results when you test those results. Test multiple ads and gather the data to gauge their conversion rates.

Google AdWords will give you tools to analyze the metrics to determine where, when, and which ads show the highest conversion rates. Don’t just invest ad money and hope everything turns out for the best.

Your pay per click advertising can be a profitable tool to delivering your valuable content to an interested audience. An audience that clicks, signs up for your offer, and keeps on hearing from you through email newsletters, blog posts, and updates.

This is how pay per click advertising will work best – through your ongoing, focused efforts to stay connected.

Why Email Marketing Is Still the Cat’s Meow

November 9, 2014 Beth Devine

old-school marketing — “Caption, anybody?” by Rob, used under CC BY and modified from original

It’s so old school, why would anyone still use it? Hasn’t social media replaced it? Won’t people think you’re just spamming them?

These are valid questions and concerns about email marketing. These objections all hold a grain of truth, but they only apply to email marketing when it’s used incorrectly.

If you want to get results from your email newsletter, then be sure you’re doing a few things right.

Don’t Pussyfoot Around With Old-School Email

The cat is out of the proverbial bag. Yes, it’s the oldest internet marketing technology. But old-school email is also the new e-newsletter that grabs your readers attention with bright colors and compelling visuals.

Today’s email newsletter doesn’t have to look like it did a decade ago. With the aid of email marketing services such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, AWeber, and GetResponse, you can easily whip up a visual prey of delight in your email.

So when it comes to old-school email, don’t pussyfoot around thinking it’s no longer relevant. Commit yourself to a scheduled email newsletter as part of your marketing plan.

Who Needs Email When You Have Social Media?

Social media continues to be a great way to have conversations with your followers and customers. When you want to link to others, explore joint ventures, and meet people who share your interests, social media is the cool cat’s party.

Compare social media to an event where your objective is networking. It’s an ongoing, online event where you can build your name, where you can share your latest news. It’s the ideal platform for taking the information you send to your email recipients and sharing it with a wider audience.

What social media doesn’t do is make direct contact by landing in someone’s inbox. In other words, trying to position yourself as a leader to your social media followers can be like herding cats.

It’s one thing to be an authority on something, but to be a leader, you need to show you’re serious about what you do. The best way to do this is to deliver interesting content directly to the people who need it most.

Your email subscribers are like the audience of a radio talk show. According to Ben Settle, world class email specialist who delivers content to his subscribers daily, it’s the best way to keep a casual conversation going about what you have to offer your customers.

But Email Is So Spammy

The primary purpose of your email marketing is to sell your product or service. But that doesn’t mean your emails need to be spammy.

The essence of your email newsletters is to talk about your common interest or problem. Sometimes you won’t even mention your product in the email. You might just include a link to it.

Wherever it fits in naturally, within the context of the story you are telling in the email, find the right place to add information about what you can do to solve their problem. You are the invited guest in their inbox, and as their guest you are obligated to tell them how you can benefit them.

Always include a reference to how you can meet their need. Make this a clear call to action, and tell them what to click, where to go, or what to do next.

As your readers continue to receive your emails, the bonding process also continues. When they need what you are selling, you will be the one they turn to – the one they always hear from.

Content Marketing That Matters

Go Social or Bust

Measure With Analytics

Less Words, More Visuals

The IoT (Internet of Things)