Search Marketing Articles
October 19th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Small business owners in the Dallas area can get free help learning more about marketing their business online at a Web.com Small Business Forum coming up next week. (Register now!)
The interactive forum, to be held from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 25, is led by Web.com’s Jason Teichman and will teach local small businesses the ins and outs of successfully marketing their companies online. In addition to the presentation, the event will feature a Q&A session where you can learn and ask more about:
- What are the elements of a great website?
- How do I increase traffic to my website and to my business?
- Is my website “working” for my business?
- How do I market my business on Google, Facebook and Twitter?
Of course, there’ll also be lots of opportunities to network with other entrepreneurs.
Register now. Know other small business owners who might be interested? Spread the word!
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Tags: online marketing, Search Marketing, small business events, social media
Posted in Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Web Design | No Comments »
October 17th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Do you want to learn more about marketing your small business online? If you’re in or near the Jacksonville, Florida, area, it’s not too late to sign up for this Friday’s Web.com Small Business Forum on online marketing. Register now!
Held from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 19, in Jacksonville, this interactive forum will be Web.com’s Jason Teichman. At the event, small businesses will learn everything they need to know about successfully marketing their companies online. Topics that will be covered include:
- What are the elements of a great website?
- How do I increase traffic to my website and to my business?
- Is my website “working” for my business?
- How do I market my business on Google, Facebook and Twitter?
Along with the informative presentation, the event also includes a Q&A session so you can ask the experts your questions. And, of course, you’ll have plenty of time to network with and learn from other small business owners.
Need more reason to go? As a bonus, each attendee will also receive two free tickets to the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters.
Register now, and if you know other small business owners who might want to attend, please let them know about it too!
Google+
Tags: Email marketing, Events, Marketing, online marketing, Search Marketing, small business, social media
Posted in Business Development, Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »
October 12th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Are you a small business owner in the Dallas area looking for help successfully marketing your business online? Register now to sign up for the free Web.com Small Business Forum and learn how.
The interactive forum, to be held in Dallas from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 25, will focus on helping local small businesses learn how to market their companies online. Web.com’s Jason Teichman will lead a presentation and Q&A session. Here’s some of what you’ll learn:
- What are the elements of a great website?
- How do I increase traffic to my website and to my business?
- Is my website “working” for my business?
- How do I market my business on Google, Facebook and Twitter?
There will also be plenty of time for networking, of course!
Register now, and please spread the word to other small business owners who may be interested.
Google+
Tags: Email marketing, Marketing, online marketing, small business events, social media
Posted in Branding, Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Web Design | No Comments »
October 12th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
For retailers who cater to the Halloween crowd, 2012 looks to be a very good year. More than 7 in 10 Americans, or a record 170 million people, will celebrate Halloween this year, reports NRF’s 2012 Halloween consumer spending survey conducted by BIGinsight. That’s the highest number in the 10 years the NRF has been conducting this survey.
Consumer spending will surge, too. The average American will spend $79.82 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $72.31 last year. Overall, total Halloween spending is projected to reach $8.0 billion.
“There’s certainly pent-up demand for having some fun this year,” said BIGinsight Executive Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, Phil Rist. “Shoppers are planning to spend their hard-earned dollars on items that help them get into the Halloween spirit.”
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said Americans are now spending about two months preparing for the holiday, and that the hottest purchases (besides costumes, of course) are home and yard décor.
More than half of those celebrating Halloween will decorate their home or yard, up from 49.5 percent last year, and 45 percent plan to dress in costume, also up from last year. More than one-third (36.2%) will throw or attend a party and 33.2 percent will take children trick-or-treating.
Halloween costumes aren’t just for kids anymore: Adult costumes are popular as well, and 15.1 percent will dress their pets in a costume.
Even though this Halloween will see record spending, about 25 percent of U.S. consumers say the economy is affecting their Halloween plans and that they’ll be spending less overall.
How can your business profit from Halloween spending?
- Get creative. The number-one place Americans look for costume ideas is retailers—so feature plenty of visuals in your store windows, marketing materials and website to get their creativity flowing.
- Get social. The survey found 15.2 percent of Halloween celebrants plan to look to Facebook for costume ideas, and 7.1 percent will check out photo-oriented site Pinterest. These can be great ways to promote home décor and party ideas, too.
- Get online. One-third of Halloween celebrants say they get their costume ideas online. Consider purchasing PPC or Facebook ads with popular Halloween-related keywords to attract customers searching for a particular costume or costumes for different demographic groups (kids, women, dogs).
Try these marketing methods, and your Halloween sales will really be something to celebrate.
Image by Flickr user wwarby (Creative Commons)
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Tags: halloween, halloween 2012, Marketing, retail, Search Marketing, small business, social media
Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media | No Comments »
October 11th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
Alicanto
Never tackle your small business marketing alone again. Alicanto is your virtual marketing assistant, ready to help you spend less time marketing, while increasing your customer base. The cloud-based platform provides highly tailored marketing and sales plans, and then lets you execute the plans across email, social media, SEO optimization, printed materials, advertising, direct mail, sales promotions and more—all within minutes of signing up. Alicanto reads your personalized news feed for ideas that will help your business grow, reminds you about promoting upcoming holidays, and sets up new customer and birthday campaigns–to name just a few ways your business will benefit.
Google+
Tags: Email marketing, Marketing, Resources, sales process, small business, social media
Posted in Business Development, Email Marketing, Marketing, Resources, Sales Process, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media | No Comments »
October 11th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
By Maria Valdez Haubrich
Small business owners in the Jacksonville, Florida, area can get free help learning more about marketing their business online at a Web.com Small Business Forum coming up next week. (Register now!)
The interactive forum, to be held from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Friday, October 19, in Jacksonville, is led by Web.com’s Jason Teichman and will teach local small businesses the ins and outs of successfully marketing their companies online. In addition to the presentation, the event will feature a Q&A session where you can learn and ask more about:
- What are the elements of a great website?
- How do I increase traffic to my website and to my business?
- Is my website “working” for my business?
- How do I market my business on Google, Facebook and Twitter?
Of course, there’ll also be lots of opportunities to network with other entrepreneurs. As a bonus, each attendee will also receive two free tickets to the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters.
Register now. Know other small business owners who might be interested? Spread the word!
Google+
Tags: Events, Marketing, online marketing, small business
Posted in Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Web Design | No Comments »
October 5th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich
HowFindableAreYou.com
The name of this website says it all: Can your customers find you (and do they even know you exist)? You hope so, but the odds may not be in your favor. Dex’s free online tool to help small businesses uncover their “findability” rating asks a series of five simple questions about your business’s brand, physical location, advertising, online presence and reputation/community. Business owners give honest answers on how they are doing in each category. Then the online tool will assess your marketing strategy, give you articles to help improve in the areas where you need to get better, and follow up with an email from one of the site’s experts to provide additional help.
Google+
Tags: advertising, Branding, Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, small business, Web Design
Posted in Branding, Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Web Design | No Comments »
October 5th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Are you a small business owner in the Jacksonville, Florida, area looking for help to successfully marketing your business online? Register now to sign up for the free Web.com Small Business Forum, held two weeks from today, and learn how.
There will also be plenty of time for networking. As a bonus, each attendee will also receive two free tickets to the Winn-Dixie Jacksonville Open presented by Planters.
Register now, and please spread the word to other small business owners who may be interested.
Google+
Tags: Events, Marketing, online marketing, small business, social media, Technology
Posted in Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »
September 24th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
Good news on the retail front as we head into the 2012 holiday shopping season: Seventy-five percent of retailers in a Hay Group survey expect their sales to increase compared to 2011. The survey focused on large retailers, but their optimism is a good sign for small business owners, too. Now, how can you grab your share of those extra sales?
If you need to hire, do it now. More than a third of the survey respondents plan to hire more seasonal workers than last year. In addition, 43 percent say they plan to add more permanent workers and fewer seasonal ones. That means the competition could get stiff, so start your staff search early.
Test early promotions. Although the majority of big retailers (58 percent) won’t start holiday promotions till November, a sizeable contingent (42 percent) say they will start in October. By doing so, they’ll see which products sell well so they can reorder, and avoid getting stuck with excess inventory when it’s too late in the game to get rid of it.
Get your ecommerce engines ready. Last year’s holiday season had 10 days that each saw online sales of more than $1 billion. This year’s ecommerce outlook is even rosier, so make sure your website is in great working order, your fulfillment is smooth and all online systems are go.
Don’t discount so much. Just 18 percent of brick-and-mortar retailers in the survey say they feel pressure to match the prices at online-only retailers. That’s a significant drop from last year. Overall, 50 percent of respondents (both online and offline) say they will offer fewer discounts than they did in 2011. Consumers are still cost-conscious, but with big retailers dialing down the discounts, your small business will have more breathing room.
Make a mobile move. Big retailers are still pretty cautious about mobile shopping. While they are planning to spend three times as much on mobile initiatives as they did last year, many of them had concerns about lack of mobile knowledge, unclear business objectives for mobile, and insufficient staff or budgets. At the very least, your business should make sure your website is optimized for mobile use and that your retail location is listed on local search directories so customers can find you when they’re searching on mobile phones.
Image by Flickr user myeralan (Creative Commons)
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Tags: holiday retail, Marketing, sales process, small business, social media, Technology, website design
Posted in Customer Service, Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »
September 19th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky
By Rieva Lesonsky
If your small business is a restaurant, retailer, salon or bar—the type of business that relies on local customers and word-of-mouth—you’ve probably had some experience with review and ratings site Yelp!. How much weight do Yelp! reviews carry with consumers? A study by University of California, Berkeley, economists, reported on Mashable.com, found that an improvement of just half a star in a restaurant’s Yelp! ratings can increase business by nearly 20 percent during peak dining hours.
If you haven’t already listed your business on Yelp!, I hope this inspires you to do so. But is fear of negative reviews holding you back? After all, if half a star of improvement can boost business 20 percent, half a star of declining ratings could cut into your business, couldn’t it?
Negative reviews are a reality, on Yelp! or any other ratings and review site. It’s how you deal with them that matters. Here are some tips to help you get a grip—and keep your customers coming back.
First, remain calm. It’s human nature to get defensive when reading a bad review—especially if you feel it’s undeserved or if the reviewer seems to be a little unhinged. However, bashing the reviewer won’t get you anywhere—and in fact, will probably backfire by making you look bad to the other customers and prospective customers reading the exchange.
Talk to your employees about the review to see if you can figure out what happened and if the customer has cause for complaint. You can respond to reviews publicly or privately. Start by posting a brief, public response thanking the person for his or her comments (so other users can see you aren’t ignoring the review). Then respond to the reviewer privately to offer solutions or get more information about the situation.
Often, customers who are upset simply want to be heard and acknowledged, and in most cases, starting a personal dialogue with the person will be enough to defuse the issue. If you find you’re in an escalating situation with an irrational customer who keeps posting about your business, however, the best strategy is to disengage and trust that other readers will draw their own conclusions about the legitimacy of the complaints. You don’t want to get dragged into an online screaming match.
Consider negative Yelp! reviews as a learning opportunity to discover problems with your business and find solutions. No business can please everyone, so if you’ve done all you can to address an issue, it’s time to back off.
Image by Flickr user William Brawley (Creative Commons)
Google+
Tags: Customer Service, sales process, Search Marketing, small business, social media
Posted in Branding, Customer Service, Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
