Local Business and SEO: Start an SEO Marketing Campaign With Keyword Research - Marketing Tip no 009

 

Local business owners who succeed with SEO marketing can compete in an ever-changing marketplace, and can keep their businesses operating and thriving, even during challenging times like these.  
If you’re new to SEO, it is understandable that you’ll have a lot of questions.  
When we talk about how SEO works, there is a lot of ground to cover.  Like anything else, you’ve got to have a starting point.  

Keyword research is one of the most important aspects to using SEO within the framework of your business.
Here are three things that will make the process of keyword research geared toward eventual SEO marketing a lot easier.  
Don’t worry – once you get started, you’ll find it’s easier than you may think.
Tools Are Important!
Google’s Adwords for small businesses costs a little money, but is one of the easiest, most comprehensive tools you can use to research keywords.  
If you want to get your SEO marketing campaign up and running quickly, hiring an expert to do the research for you can take the frustration as well as most of the time out of the process.  
While you might feel tempted to do SEO marketing research all on your own using free tools, keep the fact that your time is valuable in mind, and weigh the costs of using that time to do your research versus using your time in a more profitable way.
Get In The Back Door
If your business is in a specific niche – let’s say, restaurants in Washington, DC, then you might have a tough time trying to outrank top competition.  
So, shoot for the back door.  
Use the fact that many consumers use misspelled words, and keep that in mind while you’re looking for the right keywords to use within your SEO marketing plan.  
In addition, think about using words that competitors might not have thought of, and think about using various combinations of keywords to help your local business rank better. 

Be Specific!
Combine keywords so your site is easy for search engines to find.  
Using our DC restaurant example, let’s say you offer sushi.  
Use combinations of the words “sushi”, “Washington”, and “DC” instead of just using the word “sushi” to try to rank.  

Test this out for yourself:  Type “sushi” into your search box, and look at what comes up.  
Next, type “sushi Washington”, and you’ll see some better results.  
Finally, type “sushi Washington DC” and you’ll see a comprehensive list of restaurants that rank for sushi in DC.  

Failing to be specific is a major waste of time and money, so don’t skip this step!
With just a little knowledge of your own, as well as a clear goal in mind and a smattering of professional assistance, you can conduct your research quickly and start optimizing – it’s money well spent, especially when you consider the fact that SEO marketing is one of the best ways to make your business, whatever it may be, better than ever.

 Browse our Digital Marketing Services at https://www.RedCowAdvertising.com/

Is Your Local Business The Right Fit For Facebook Marketing?

 

More people now visit Facebook on a daily basis than Google and business experts often extol the benefits of local businesses having a presence on the site. But for all its massive popularity, does Facebook work for every kind of small business? 

 

Obviously one size doesn’t fit all, so while some types of small businesses may thrive on Facebook, others may be need to rethink their strategy.

Small businesses that are a natural fit for Facebook.

Facebook marketing works well for business that are either very social in nature, thrive on community interaction, or offer entertainment value. This is because Facebook is primarily a social site where people connect with their friends. 

So here are some local businesses or organizations that will find Facebook beneficial:
• Hospitality businesses- coffee shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, vacation homes, food trucks, food and beverage brands
• Entertainment- bands, artists, stand-up comedians, actors, museums, opera houses, cinemas
• Sports- sports teams, sportsmen, sporting clubs
• Leisure- theme parks, social game clubs like bingo, bowling or chess clubs
• Community organizations- churches, religious groups, non-profits
All these type of businesses can easily create a local and national fanpage following and easily gain a lot of online exposure through their dedicated fans. They can create a lot of repeat business as people “like” their page or as fans check-in at their premises

Small businesses that may not be the best fit for Facebook and what they can do about it
Facebook marketing may not work too well for small businesses that deal with products or services that people don’t ordinarily get excited about. Hardly anyone really likes hospital visits or posts about their local plumber. Here are some businesses that fall into this category:
• Medical professions- dentists, hospitals, clinics, chiropractors, vets, funeral homes etc
• Financial- accountants, financial planners, insurance agents etc
• Blue collar professions- plumbers, electricians, builders, cleaners etc
• Legal- lawyers, detectives, police, criminal investigators etc

As you can see most “serious and respectable” professions fall in this category, but this doesn’t mean there is no place for them on Facebook. The greatest asset these small business owners have is their specialized expertise that they can use to become the go-to expert in a niche. They just need to find a creative way to offer their advice. 

For example,
• a tax accountant can create a page –“How to Legally pay less taxes”
•  a plumber can create a page about “The world’s dirtiest jobs”
• A detective can create a page about “How to know if your spouse is cheating on you”

These creative strategies address people’s natural need to know more, their need to do things faster or cheaper and other psychological emotions that are the basis of human social behavior.
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Converting Website Visitors To Customers: Persuasive Copy Counts!

 

When you first built your website, or had someone build it, you probably had high hopes.  After a while, you notice traffic starting to drop, so you decided that it was time to revamp your site and add some fresh content.  

The question is, how do you convert site visitors (traffic) to customers?  The answer, my friend, is with that good old sales trick: 

Persuasion.  
Effective Persuasion 101
Every page of your site, and every element of your site, needs to draw your visitor in.  You want to be intriguing, and you want to offer them something useful.  To do that, you need to do some very specific things.  

First, assume that your visitors are brand new. They don’t know anything about your business. It doesn’t matter if you own the most popular game in town.  You want new customers! 

Second, realize that people don’t read every single word you’ve penned.  They skim.  Make your site easy to navigate, or frustration will set in within seconds, and your visitors will leave.  Make the important stuff attractive.  Give visitors a reason to click, and don’t hide the good stuff beneath layers of fluff. 

Call To Action: Built in Persuasion
“Hard” calls to action tell visitors to do something.  Visitors are urged to click a link, or take action right away.  Avoid flashing red lights, or anything else that might annoy visitors – overkill just doesn’t work. 

“Soft” calls to action, like built in links that simply highlight interesting words, make your visitors curious.  It’s the old “What’s behind door number one?” routine all over again – they want to know, so they click.  

Keep the end goal in sight, all the time.  Your “contact us” form shouldn’t be hidden – it should be accessible from every part of your site.  Visitors won’t go out of their way to contact you if they can’t find it, and they definitely won’t convert if that’s the case. 

Make it Easy On Yourself
Luckily, you’re not in it alone.  There are plenty of excellent internet marketing companies that specialize in helping small businesses optimize their websites to get customers in the door.  So, keep doing what you do best, and let a professional handle the tough stuff.  You’ll be glad you did!

3 more ways Facebook can grow your local business - SEO tip

 

1.  Positions your business as an authority
This is definitely one way to brand your local business by positioning it as an authority in your niche. This especially works well with professionals who run their own businesses because of the specialized and in-depth knowledge you have about a particular industry or niche. 

Examples of such professionals can be accountants, financial planners, engineers, professors, doctors, lawyers, counseling psychologists, therapists, etc. Facebook can provide a great avenue to create a brand around your professional career and a way for people to get your expert advice online.

2. Increases sales leads
Most business owners often don’t understand how Facebook can generate more sales leads to their business, but there are some simple ways to do that.
• First of all you can offer coupons for free deals or knock-off sales. Actually Facebook provides the fastest way to communicate those special deals as you simply post a status update about the offer that shows up on all the news feeds of your fans who then pass it on virally to their friends.
•  Another way to generate more sales is to direct traffic to your online store that you may have on your website. Once again it is as simple as posting status updates with a link to your website page for a specific product.
•  Another way Facebook can increase your sales leads is that you can create events to be held at your local business and get people to register free to attend. You can then make back-end sales at the actual event.
• You can use Facebook Ads and geotarget them to show within the locale of your local business so that you can reach the local population closest to your offline store.


3. Gathers high quality testimonials
All copywriters agree that one of the secrets to high converting sales and marketing campaigns is to have testimonials because it is one of the best ways to convince prospects to do business with you. People prefer to do business with a local business that has many happy customers, so that they don’t feel like they are a guinea pig for your business to test products and services on. As a small business owner, you can easily get client testimonials from your business fanpage by getting in touch with fans who have written about a positive experience with your business on their post. More often than not, these testimonials are real and verifiable because they have the photo and name of the client and the client can be contacted freely by your prospects on Facebook.

4 possible ways Facebook can grow your local business when used correctly

 

1. Generates more traffic to your website
Once you have gathered fans onto your business fanpage, it is easy to direct them to your website. This is done by providing links to content that can only be found on your website such as articles or blog posts, entry forms, video’s, squeeze pages, etc. In addition by using keywords in your Facebook name, status updates and anchor text links, you build more backlinks to your website and improve its ranking on the search engines.

2. Generates more traffic to your offline store
You can drive traffic to your offline store by promoting coupons, sales deals, and events on your Facebook fanpage so that people have to come to your store to redeem those coupons or attend those events. Another way Facebook can bring more foot traffic to your store is through the “check-in” apps. These work in such a way that when a customer comes to your store, they send an update to all their friends on their social media network that they have checked in to your business. This provides free marketing for your business since your store will get free publicity.

3. Improves your repeat business
Facebook allows you to have a database of fans who will buy over and over again from you. Just like email lists have the ability to provide repeat business every time you send out an email, your local business fanpages is also made up people who have experienced interacting with your business either socially or commercially and who are likely to keep doing so.

4. Increases the number of referrals you receive
If your local business provides good quality products and services, then your fans will spread the good word about you to their network of friends. The quickest way they do this is by “liking” your page and this shows up on the newsfeeds of all their friends. This generates curiosity from their friends who want to find out which business their friends have just liked and this creates a ripple effect as more and more people get to know about your business all from one satisfied customer ‘liking’  your page.

5 Places on the Internet to Get New Ideas for Your Local Business: Part 1

 

The internet is a large goldmine of valuable information where you can get new ideas for your local business, but only if you know where to look for it. Here is a list of the top 9 places you can get new ideas to boost your local business.

1. News websites
News websites not only provide up-to-date breaking news, but a whole range of news articles on a wide variety of topics, niches and industries. They cover everything from politics, economics, environment, weather, industry and health to humor, lifestyle and entertainment. Try reading Yahoo.com, Huffington Post, CNN.com, Time.com and other major news sites.

2. Google Trends
This is the one of the most important tools on the internet that tells you what topics are being highly searched on, on any given day. As an astute local business owner, you can easily cash on hot trends that relate to your local business.

3. Google Shopping
If your local business deals mainly in products then this is the resource for you. This free tool gives you information on the most popular products in different categories that people are shopping for on Google. Armed with this knowledge you can modify your physical stock to conform to these demands and alter your online marketing strategy to tap into this market.

4. Business websites
There are many high-quality business websites that serve the needs of small and medium businesses. They have articles, stories, and resources that are tailored for local businesses that will not only educate you but also inspire you. They include sites such as Inc.com, Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com amongst many others.

5. Google insights
This free tool provides search trends across global geographical locations and time ranges. You can filter down the geographical location to the country, state, city and town. You can also discover the specific times within the week, month or year when searches are highest or lowest. You can also filter your results by category (e.g. automotive, food and drink, shopping, social media etc) and by search type (web, image, news and product search type).

5 Ideas To Help You Create Fresh Facebook Content

 

Almost all internet marketers agree that content is king. It’s what keeps people informed, entertained and coming back for more. It’s like food that feeds your fans keeping them happy and satisfied, catering to their peculiar tastes and hitting that sweet spot of need. 

But most local business owners balk at creating content- they either hate writing or can’t seem to generate ideas for content.

Here are some ideas to help you create great content:

Give the Facts
Look for facts that will educate your fans and then try and communicate it in a fascinating way. For example you can create a series of “did you know” articles or “world record” posts. Of course these facts should be relevant to your niche.

Tell A Story
Everybody loves a good story. Nothing rivets our attention like a well told story that’s relevant and entertaining. Look for stories about products and people in your niche. You can draw from current news stories like celebrities or viral YouTube videos or you can retell historical stories that will charm your readers.

What’s New?
People always what to be in the know about the latest gadget, invention, technology or update. So be on the lookout for the latest developments in your industry and use that as material for your content. One way to do this is to sign up to Google Alerts; it’s a service from Google that alerts you via email of the most up-to-date web and news content based on the topic you choose.

Create an Event Diary
This works especially well with the social nature of Facebook. Check the dates and venues for industry events that are happening both online and offline, then create a diary for the week or month and you’ll find your fans eager to receive the latest event list from your local business.

A must-have list
Every profession or trade has a must-have list of essential resources such as tools, ingredients, must-visit websites and blogs. As a local business owner, you can be creative and write different must-have lists after researching your niche. For example, a restaurant owner can create a table etiquette resource, a wine list or cutlery checklist. 

A gym owner can write on the essential things to have in your gym bag while a doctor can create a medical information check-list to have before going for surgery.

3 Important Tabs Every Local Business Facebook pages Should Have

 

One way of optimizing your local business Facebook page is to create tabs. Although tabs are now known as iFrames and appear on the left side bar instead of the top navigation bar, they still serve the same function. Here are three important tabs or iFrames you ought to create on your page.

1. A Welcome tab

This is the tab where you direct first time visitors to your page from various links such as from your Facebook ads, YouTube Videos or website articles. It is important for new visitors to land on your welcome page so that they have an orderly and positive initial interaction with your page. If they just landed on your wall, they would feel lost amidst all the interaction with your long time fans and not know how to join the flow. By directing them to a welcome page, you can introduce yourself to them and create a simple entry point for them into your page. For example, you can have a call to action that directs them to click the like button to access content or special promotions.


2. Notes tab

The Notes Tab is where you can add lengthy content to your page. Instead of posting a long article to your status update, it is better to post it under the notes tab and your fans can then access this long form content there. So what exactly do people put in the notes tab? They put anything from articles, new stories, press releases, and trainings to detailed instructions, notices, policies, terms and conditions and rules of engagement.

3. About Us Page

Look at the About Us page as a detailed business card that gives information about your company. Apart from basic information about your company physical address, telephone contacts and website address, you can use the opportunity to introduce your local business products or services, to highlight your successes, to explain your business values and ethics and display your accreditations or other professional certifications. Make sure that all your online information is hyperlinked so that people can click through to your website or blog.

How to Create a Google Analytics Account for Your Local Business Website: Part I

 

Web analytics is a key component of your local business website. You may be wondering what exactly web analytics means. In simple terms it means the analysis of your website using both quantitative and qualitative data to measure the performance of your website. 

In other words it gives you vital statistics about your website. There are many web analytics tools available, both free and paid.

One of the most suitable free web analytics tools that a local business owner can use is  
Google Analytics, which is used by around 5,000 of the top websites globally but is simple enough to be used by a local business website. If you would like to find out where your traffic is coming from (social media, Google searches, email marketing, mobile marketing etc), what activities your visitors perform on your site, how much time they spend on your site, how often they come back and other important information, then it would be a wise decision to install this free tool on your local business website.

The first step is to create your Google Analytics account and this article will show you how to do that.


First create your Google Adwords account at www.adwords.google.com
Sign into your Adwords account and go to the Analytics Tab. Click continue
Use the drop down menu to choose which site you wish to track with Google Analytics
Check the box underneath the drop down menu to connect your Adwords and Analytics accounts
Click on “Link Account” button
Set up your website profile
Next to the website you wish to track, click on the “edit” button
The profile settings screen will appear. Click on the “edit” button
Enter your profile information: your profile name, your website url and your website homepage url
If you have e-commerce on your website such as a shopping cart, you will want to enable the E-Commerce Analytics by clicking ‘Yes’
Click ‘Save Changes’

In the next part of this article, we will look at how to grant access to other users and how to get your tracking code.

Converting Lists Into Cash: How To Get People To Click And Take Action - Marketing Tip no 023

 

When I think of ways to get my email list subscribers to click my links and take action that will generate sales, I often remember the saying that goes “you can get a horse to the well, but you can’t force it to drink.” That analogy is so true in email marketing because you can have a list with thousands of people on it, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you’re able to turn that list into hard cash when you need to.

Here are ways to get people to take action

Give them clear cut calls to action. This might seems obvious but unless you tell people to take specific action, they won’t. People often need to be taken by the hand and shown exactly what they need to do. You therefore need to include action sentences such as: Click here, Buy Now, Place your Order Here, Click this link, Here’s how to get your product.

Provide money back guarantees. These put your prospects at ease and give them confidence to whip out their credit cards. Offering a solid and genuine guarantee protects your prospect from bad deals and getting ripped off. You can offer a 30 day guarantee where they can get a full refund if they are not happy with a product or service.

Quality guarantees. This is useful for certain products especially technical gadgets, machinery, automobiles and food products. Assure your clients with warranties, quality certifications etc

Offer to covers extra costs like shipping and handling so that your customer feels your business is covering more risk in the transaction than they are. This will also give you an edge over your competitors who may not be willing to foot these expenses. As you go the extra mile in customer service, customers will choose you over other local businesses.

Offer bonuses such as accessories related to your offer for free. For example, a coffee shop may offer a free mug on all purchases of fresh roasted coffee beans. You can also increase your sales by offering bonus packages where you sell a product package for a discounted price.
For example, the coffee shop could offer a three- pack package of fresh roasted coffee beans in different aromas for a discounted price that results in a $10 saving to the customer. Browse our Digital Marketing Services at https://www.RedCowAdvertising.com/

How Many Friends Do You Have? Facebook Builds Loyalty - Marketing Tip no 004

 

There's a lot of buzz around social media marketing, and for good reason.
Let's take a few minutes to look at how facebook builds loyalty.

If you're like most people, then you probably have a personal facebook account, where you keep track of your friends and family.

You might have located an old high school sweetheart, or found out that your old nemesis from sixth grade is now a preacher in middle America.
Whatever the case may be, facebook is a fun way for people to connect.

It's also extremely addictive – and that makes it a super effective marketing tool – one of the best, least expensive ways to build loyalty.
While you might be one of the few folks who does stay off facebook in your personal life, people like you are few and far between.
Let's take a closer look at why facebook is such an important part of any  social media marketing campaign for small, local business! 

Build Loyalty
Have you ever noticed that the more stake you feel you have in something, and the better relationship you feel you have with an entity, the more likely you are to feel loyal toward it?  Whether your company offers a certain type of service or a certain product, having a presence on facebook and inviting your customers and potential customers to join will help you build a loyal following.

Facebook Accounts Build Themselves
Well, not really – you do have to interact to make the most of facebook.
But, as social media marketing goes, facebook is easy.

Here's an example:
You build a facebook profile with basic information about your business and a few snazzy snapshots.
Now you're up on facebook, but you don't have any friends yet.

Don't worry – they'll show up.
Once you've gotten your profile up, it's time to start looking for people you know.
Go through your customer list, and look for them on facebook.
Invite these people to be friends or fans!  Once you have some friends or fans, invite them to participate in a special offer – let's say you have a coffeehouse:
Facebook Friday!  Friends and Fans get a latte for $2.

Come in and see our new fireplace!  
You'll be swamped on Friday, and you'll be building brand loyalty through social media marketing.  So, take a look at facebook, see what different companies are offering, and come up with your own plan.  

If you are pressed for time, consider hiring a consultant to help you with this aspect of marketing your business via social media – you'll be thrilled with the results. Browse our Digital Marketing Services at https://www.RedCowAdvertising.com/

Creating Content for Your Local Business Website: Product Reviews

 

Most people often struggle in creating content for their local business website. It often seems that you have written every article possible but have you tried writing product reviews? Product reviews provide an unending source of content because you can write reviews on so many products and services in your niche. 

 

You can write individual reviews about one product or service or write reviews that compare one product or service to another.

Another way to tailor your product reviews is to create them in different formats: you can write articles, create video content, create audio content or convert it into a pdf format. You can then post these different formats on your site or video sharing site, press release sites and get them to contribute to your linking and ranking strategy

Here are a few pointers on how to create a product review:

1. Do your research about the product
• Find out what short and long tail keywords relate to the product. You can use Google Keyword Tool to do this.
• Research the features of the product using information from Amazon, the manufacturer’s website and other people’s reviews about the product.
• Research the testimonials or user experiences about that product, getting both the good and the bad.
• Get some images of the product. Also try and get videos of the product being used or create your own video

2. Write your review
• Create a layout of how your review will flow e.g. introduction of 100 words, list of pros and cons using 300 words etc
• Try not to be technical and keep your language simple and to the point
• When listing advantages, point out the benefits of the product not the features. There is a big difference between the two. For example, a dermatologist reviewing a wrinkle cream should not write that the cream has anti-oxidant ingredients but that the cream has anti-oxidant ingredients that protect the skin from sun damage and prevent the formation of wrinkles.

• Don’t be overly negative- even if the product is questionable, use polite and neutral language that provides an objective and non-biased opinion
• Format your review so that it is easy to read. It should be between 700-1000 words, have headings, subheadings and bulleted points.
• Make it visually appealing through the use of images and videos to help your readers get a better understanding of the product.

Minding Your Email Manners: Tips to Avoid Offending Your Subscribers

 

Email marketing is a very direct way to market your local business but it is also a very direct way to offend your subscribers if you go about it the wrong way.

Here are a few tips to keeping your business in your client’s good graces and out of their spam box.

1. Always send a confirmation email when people sign up through your squeeze page or opt-in page. This will ensure that someone else didn’t sign them up to your list.

2. Always keep the door open for anyone on your list to unsubscribe. Provide them a link to do so in a simple and quick manner and send a confirmation message to verify they are the ones who opted out of your list.

3. Send information that you had originally promised. If you were meant to provide a newsletter on dog training, don’t try and promote real estate.

4. Be prompt in dealing with questions and complaints. Email is a fast method of communication so don’t dilly dally in responding to your list. You will have no excuse for doing so.

5. Don’t bombard your list with a flood of messages on a daily basis. Its best to keep to the frequency stated on the sign-up page. The converse is also true- if your customer expects a monthly newsletter, you will be a distant memory if you send it after six months. It’s always best to just sign up to an auto responder service to help you send out regular emails

6. To avoid your emails ending up in the spam box, ask your customers to add your email address to their address book to allow your emails through to their inbox. You can also regularly remind them to check their spam box if they haven’t heard from you in a while as your emails might have mistakenly been sent there.

7. Give your list a way to reply back to you by always including the email address you would like them to use for replies.

8. Do not sell your subscribers email address to another company without their permission. It is a breach of privacy and offensive to many people, giving them all the more reason to unsubscribe.

Please check 10 Email Marketing Tools for Fresh Leads everyday at https://alterleads.com/

How to Make Your Local Business Copywriting Work

As a small business owner, copywriting is one of the most important tools you have at your disposal to get customers to spend money with you and not your competitor. Why? Well because at the end of the day almost all your marketing communication will fail or succeed because of copywriting.
So how do you make sure your local business copy works? Here are some things to consider:


Emotional Engagement
One of the keys to getting people to buy your products or services is to get them emotionally engaged. How do you do that? You do that by speaking in simple terms about the benefits of your products and services rather than the features. For example, if you sell widescreen TVs, focus on relaying the benefits such as the clear picture and superior viewing in all lighting conditions that will have your friends green with envy, rather than stating the TV has 1080 resolution and a matte screen.  

Keep it brief and interesting
One of the biggest mistakes people make is writing too much copy. In general, your marketing communications should have copy that is short, relevant and to the point.
It’s better to leave customers eager for more provoking them to take action than boring them with endless copy. Make sure the headings and subheadings are catchy and engaging. A plain heading of 'Monthly Special' is easily outclassed by one stating '50% off all curtain rails this week only'.

Distinguish your Local Business
You do this by providing information about key areas about your business which are mainly your products or services, prices and service. Highlight your stellar qualities-maybe you have the best prices in your area, the best quality products, superior service, free delivery, special offers, etc This information will make a great starting point for your copywriting because it's the type of information customers will want to read.

Research suggests we all receive hundreds of marketing messages each day. If your local business marketing message is boring, what is the possibility of it being heard? By using the above 3 tips you will make your copy stand out and if you are still uncertain about developing your own copy, do not hesitate to hire a copywriter.





 

Location –Based Social Media For The Local Business: Tips To Getting Started

 

Here are a few tips to help you get started in placing your local business on the geographic social media map.

Do your research
Before launching your business into location-based social media, its best to test the waters first by doing it on a personal level. Get yourself a smart phone, download apps such as Foursquare and navigate the social media by yourself. Get to know what people are saying about your business and your competition, see what creates a buzz, find out what times of day have the most activity and which demographic forms the largest segment in your target market. You can also look at what your competitors and the big players in your industry are doing too. By collecting this research information, you will understand the best strategy your local business should use.

Set up your infrastructure
The next step is to get your social media infrastructure set up to serve as a strong backbone for your marketing. You definitely need to set up your local business Twitter account and Facebook Fanpage. Get yourself on the digital map by claiming your location on Google Maps  and check-in companies like Foursquare, Yelp, Brightkite and Gowalla. Above all, make sure your websites vital landing pages are mobile optimized since almost all location-based social media interaction takes place on mobile phones

Start engaging
Once you have implemented the first two steps, its time to start engaging by responding to your customers’ comments, questions, and complaints. You can also put into action your marketing plans that will drive people from the digital world to the doors of your physical business. Post messages about coupons and special offers to people who are located near to your business. You can also create contests where the first number of people who check-in at your business get a free reward related to your business like a free meal or hair cut or free tickets.

Location-based Social Media and what is means to your local business

 

When you combine social media networks with geographical mapping applications, what do you get? The answer is location-based social media and local businesses that understand what this new phenomenon is all about, will find it one of the greatest ways to drive more visitors to their store.

 

 If you find social media befuddling and wonder what location-based social media can do for your local business, then read on.

An illustration
Picture this scenario. Assume you’re the owner of a local bakery. It’s about 7am and a young lady walks in to grab a cup of coffee and your freshly baked muffins. As she waits in line to place her order, you see her busily engaged on her iPhone. She comes up to the register, places her order and takes a seat at the far corner of the bakery to enjoy her breakfast. All this time she is still clicking away on her iPhone. You really wonder what she is doing and approach her to ask if everything is alright. 

She answers, ‘Oh everything is great. I was just checking-in’
You ask her, “What do you mean by checking- in?”
She gives you a blank stare wondering which planet you live on and says “I was telling my friends on Twitter I ordered a mocha latté and a raspberry muffin from your bakery”

Well that in a nutshell is what location-based social media is all about. People are now using social media and mobile phone applications to share with others about physical places they frequent. They use platforms like Foursquare, Twitter or Facebook to share with others when they have checked-in to a bar, restaurant, barber shop, hair salon, museum or any brick and mortar store.

Why do people check in?

People check-in to share their life experiences with others- what they eat, where they shop, where they go. They also want to get recommendations from friends about what’s interesting to do in their current location. They wonder whether anyone else they know is in the same vicinity so they can connect physically.

What does this mean for your local business?
Location-based social media provides the highest converting marketing method for your business, which is social endorsement. Nobody would tweet about a business they didn’t like. By ‘checking-in’ at your business, your visitors are saying “I like this business. This is one of my favorite places to be at when I’m out and about. You should come here too. If I come here, so can you.’

Can you see what this means for your local business?

How to Sign Up For a Google Adwords Account in 3 Easy Steps- Tip #030

 

If you have ever wanted to advertise your local business using the Google Adwords program, this article will show you how to create an Adwords account in three easy steps. It should take you not more than ten minutes to set up a new account. Go to google.com/Adwords and follow these three steps

Step 1 Create an account
Create Google account: this is where you create a new account. Google asks you if
you have an email account and password that you use with its other services like Adsense, Gmail, Orkut or iGoogle  or
you do not use these services

 Chose the second option b) to create a new account.
Choose an email address name
Type in a password
Re-enter your password
Fill in the captcha section
Click ‘Create account’

Step 2 Set Time Zone and Currency
Note that you cannot change your time zone and currency and they remain permanent so think carefully as you choose them
Choose your time zone by selecting your preferred country and the right time zone for your location in the country
Choose the currency you would like to use to pay Google and the one Google will use to display all money values in your account
Click ‘Create’
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Step 3 Verify Account
Google congratulates you on opening your new Adwords account and requests you to open your email to click on the confirmation link they have sent you. They do this to make sure that the email address you provided is correct.
Go to your email account, open your inbox and click on the verification link sent by Google
Google confirms that your email address is correct and that your Adwords account is now active.


Please check our 10 Email Marketing Tools for Fresh Leads everyday at https://alterleads.com/

How Your Facebook Fans Can Advertise Your Local Business For Free.

 

One of the secrets to growing your local business Facebook page for free is through the existing fans. Using the following strategies you can turn them from passive followers into raving ambassadors, providing free advertising for your business

1. Engage with your Fans
Having a fan page isn’t all about numbers but about relationship and community. Remembering Facebook is a social site will help you keep things in perspective and treat your fans with respect, attention and care. Always take time to read through as many comments on your page and personally reply to them. It shows your fans that you are actively involved in the page and that you acknowledge their presence. If people feel you are paying attention to them, they in turn will pay attention to you. They will feel that they know you and your business like a personal friend, and from this close relationship you will be able to leverage more results.

2. Once you have solidified a relationship with your fans, you can ask them to promote your business in different ways such as
Clicking the like button
Clicking the share button
Purchasing products and services from you
Getting them to become friends with one another so that a greater network of camaraderie is developed

Introducing them to people of influence in your niche that they greatly respect and can offer them valuable content. This will increase your social network. For example if you run a gym and you manage to get a contact with a leading bodybuilder or fitness guru, your fans will appreciate you linking them up to this person and you’ll become known as a gym owner who knows the ‘who’s who’ in the business.

Ask them to publicize your local business events to their network of friends. These events could be online (webinars, auctions etc) or offline (store opening, fun day) but make sure there’s something in it for them too such as really fantastic prizes. The more entertaining the event and the rewards the more excited your fans will be and the faster they will spread the word virally across social media.

You can also grow your network of fans by encouraging them to become friends with one another and adding each other to their friends lists. This fosters more interaction and increases the viral speed at which your content is viewed. Also you generate more benefit to your fans who gain more exposure for their businesses or interests.

How To Use Local Business Solo Ads To Generate More Email Opt-Ins

 

Did you know you could rent someone else’s email list and promote your free offer that would result in a surge of new email opt-ins for your local business? Well, that is the theory behind how solo ads work. It simply allows you to leverage the existing list of another business to send out one email about your business.

Here are a few tips to put in place to ensure a successful solo ad:

Ensure the list is within your target market demographics.
This will help you avoid targeting the wrong group of people. For example, if your local business provides healthcare to senior citizens, it would not help to rent a list filled with 20-30year olds from a beauty consultant. A better match would be financial planner for retirees.

Ask for proof before renting someone’s list.
The person providing you the list should provide proof of the size of his list and its click through rate. i.e. how many emails get a response. This will help you avoid marketers who promise you high response rates but in the end let you down.

Set up a tracking system.
This will help you determine the overall effectiveness of the solo ad. It will show you how many clicks you got and help you calculate the return on your investment. For example, if you rented a list of 5000 members for $100 and got 170 sign-ups then your click through rate would be 3.4% and each subscriber cost $0.58. Having these statistics from your tracking system will help you compare the solo ad with other solo ads or other forms of list building.

Create a win-win situation
Apart from just renting the list for a fixed amount, you could create an affiliate program with the owner of the list so that he can promote products and services from your local business to his list on a regular basis. The commissions generated for him will motivate his marketing efforts. Of course, every person he sends to your local business will be directed to an opt-in form within the sales process.

You can use our software for fresh email leads every day at https://alterleads.com/

How to Manage Your Local Business Amazon Seller Account

 

Once you have set up your local business Amazon seller account, there are a number of ways to keep track of your business activities on the site. Amazon provides a wide range of tools to give you up to date, detailed information so that you are always aware of how well your local business is performing.

1. Inventory management.
This allows you to the view the entire list of your current inventory and to make any necessary changes. You can edit the price, shipping options and quantity of each listed item. If you would like to see if other Amazon sellers have lower priced similar items, you can also do this. Another way to view your inventory is to relist your closed items. Closed items are those products that have either been sold, didn’t sell in the past 60 days, were removed because they violated Amazon’s terms or were personally removed by you.

2. Order management.
On a daily basis you can view all of your sales orders. By clicking on the order ID, you can see the particular details about that order, directly print a packaging label for that order and also contact the buyer of the product if you need to. You can also examine any refunded orders.

3. Payment management.
Through your payments account, you can access financial information such as your money balance, the Amazon fees deducted, any refund amounts and your bank transfer details. This provides you a detailed financial account for all your transactions.

4. Reports.
   Amazon can provide you with detailed reports on your sales orders, customer feedback and ratings, refunds and buyer claims amongst other important information.

5. Notifications.
  To keep you up to date with any news going on in your local business Amazon seller account, you can set up email notifications about your product listing and sales orders. Make sure that your Amazon notifications aren’t getting sent to your spam box or else you could be ignorant about what’s happening in your account.

All this business tracking information is freely available using Amazon's seller tools.

How to List Your Local Business Products on Amazon

 

In a previous article we outlined the six steps required to set up your local business Amazon seller account. Once you have set up your account, you are ready to set up your product listings so that they can be displayed on the Amazon catalog for viewing by buyers.

Follow these steps to create your listing:

1. On your seller account page, click on ‘manage your inventory listing’ link and then click on listings to create your product listing.

2. Search the Amazon database for the item you want to sell. Once you have found it click on the ‘sell yours here’ button.

3. Describe the condition of your local business item. For example, describe if its new, used, scratched etc

4. Set the price of your product and register to collect payment through Marketplace Payment by Amazon. As you set your price, take into consideration the Amazon commission fees and the shipping rates.

5. Set the quantity that you have of the item you want to sell and assign a code to the product to help you track it when it’s sold. Something to note is that if you have multiple copies of the same product, but they are not in identical condition or are of different editions, then you need to create a separate listing for each product. However, if you have multiple copies of the same product and all of them are in the same condition then you only need to create one listing.

6. Confirm that all the information you have entered is correct. You can always edit the data later if you want although you can’t change the ‘condition’ field unless you close that product listing and create another one.

Having completed these six steps your product will now be listed in the Amazon catalog ready for sale.

How To Link Your YouTube Account With Facebook

 

One of the important things to do to promote your local business is to link different aspects of your online presence so that they become a networked system. For example, you can link you’re website or blog to your Facebook or Twitter accounts so that new blog posts or new content is automatically shared with your social media fans. 

This article shows you how to link your YouTube account with your Facebook account.

When you link your local business YouTube account with your business’s Facebook account it means that every time you upload a new video onto YouTube it is automatically shared with your Facebook fans. Setting this up, saves you time and effort as you don’t have to manually upload videos to Facebook each time you produce one.

Steps to link the two accounts

Sign into your local business YouTube account
At the top right hand corner, click on ‘account’
Click on ‘sharing’ on the panel to the left of your screen
You will be given 3 options: Activity feed, Autoshare Options and Notifications
In the Autoshare Options section, select Facebook
A new window will appear where you will need to enter your Facebook account details

Click ‘save settings’. Now your YouTube and Facebook accounts are connected.

Selecting YouTube activities

You can also decide exactly which activities you perform on your YouTube account that you would like to share with your Facebook followers. Here is how to set up that option:

Sign into your YouTube account
Click on ‘account’
Click on ‘sharing’
The Activity Feed sections gives you the following options-
upload a new video
comment on a video
favorite a video
rate a video
post a bulletin
subscribe to a channel
become friends with someone

Check which of the above options you want to be part of your autoshare
Click ‘save settings.’ Now only those activities you have selected will be shared with your Facebook fans.

How to Link Your Mobile Phone to Your Facebook Account

In this busy world where you have to juggle a dozen things at the same time, being able to update your Facebook account from your mobile phone is a real time-saver that every local business owner would appreciate. 

Whether you’re on the road a lot or would like a more convenient way than logging into your personal computer to update your Facebook status, linking your mobile phone and your Facebook account is a definite must-do.

First of all, it’s important to note that you will be only able to access the full Facebook site on certain phones with full browsers (smart phones) such as
iPhone
Nokia N series
Blackberry
Android
Palm
Advanced Sony Ericsson models

It is therefore important to check what functions your mobile phone can perform on the site.
So what exactly can you do from your mobile phone to your Facebook account?
You can send and receive Facebook Mobile Texts. 

You can send mobile texts to update your status, send a message to a friend search for phone numbers, add friends by name or phone number, post wall messages, or upload photos and videos from your phone and post events.

Likewise you can receive text messages to your phone about notifications for friend requests, messages, wall posts, and status updates from your friends.
However you will need to first register your phone to activate this function. You can do this by clicking on the Mobile tab in your Account Settings and following the prompts.

You can upload photos, video files and notes
There are two ways to do this:
At the bottom of your home page, look for the bookmarks link
Click ‘photos’ then the ‘upload photos’ link
Pick a photo to upload from your phone by clicking the ‘choose file’ button.
Write some text for the photo in the ‘photo caption’ box
Click ‘upload’
Or
You can email or text the photo or video to your personalized Facebook email address and it will be loaded onto your account.

You can edit your privacy settings: namely Basic Directory Information, Block List, Public Search, and Sharing on Facebook.

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How Joining Online Forums Can Boost Your Local Business Email List

 

Local business owners can grow their email list tremendously by joining online forums related to their niche. So many forums exist on the internet as likeminded people gather together to share and help one another in areas of common interest.

 By joining these forums, your local business can gain a lot of insight into the real needs of your target market and as you actively participate in the discussions you can provide links back to your website.

Here are 3 ways to find online forums

Type in the word “niche forums” into any search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing, where niche represents your local business keywords. For example if you run a school, then you can type in ‘school forums’ or ‘PTA Forums’ (parent-teacher association). If you are a cosmetic surgeon, you would type in ‘cosmetic surgery forums’, ‘beauty forums’ and so on

Go to Google Groups and select the category that relates to your local business. Continue drilling down further in the ensuing windows specifying the size of the groups, their location, the languages used and so on.
Log into your Facebook account and using the search option, type in your local business keywords and press enter. Once the search results appear, click on Pages on the left hand side of the screen and this will filter the search results so that only Fanpages appear. From the list choose fanpages that would benefit from your local business.

Tips to participating in forums

Once you have found a forum, sign up by creating an account or ‘like’ the Facebook Fanpage.

Create your signature link. This is a line of text that always appears at the end of your post. It should have an appealing and relevant headline and text link to your websites squeeze page. For example, if you are a hair stylist , your signature might be “ How to get the perfect hair style”

Always follow forum rules. Contact the forum moderator and find out if you can insert links to your local business website, so that you don’t get suspended from the forum. Usually you need to have been a forum member for some time who has positively contributed to the group before you can start posting links.

Please check our 10 Email Marketing Tools for Fresh Leads everyday at https://alterleads.com/

How to Actively Engage and Interact With Your Local Business Facebook Fans

 

Having a Facebook fanpage has become an absolute necessity for any local business, but people often wonder how to communicate with their fans on a daily basis. Here are a few pointers on how to actively engage with your Facebook fans and have a vibrant fanpage.

1. Provide Valuable Content
Creating and posting valuable content is the first key to pleasing your fans. When you post your status updates, you have a range of content to use to keep reader interest high. For example, you can refer them to your website blog posts, ask them questions, use entertainment and humor, post videos and photos, organize contests and competitions, use quizzes, employ trivia, give links to external content on other websites that are relevant and interesting, use hot topics that are trending at the moment as a point of discussion etc.
   
2. Encourage Interaction
Another tip to having an active fanpage is creating an environment where your fans naturally respond to interacting with one another. Your role as the administrator of the fanpage is to provoke fans to comment and to share their thoughts with one another. This clever tactic will allow you to take a back seat and allow the fans to stir up the activity on the fanpage.

3. Make a Personal Response
A third way to engage your fans is to personally respond to questions and comments. It makes no sense to have a one-way communication where all you do as the local business owner is just post status updates. By replying to your fans on a one-on-one basis shows that you are human and interested and your fans will respect and like you more for that. Too many businesses are spamming their Facebook fans with automated status updates, so a personal touch on your part will put you miles ahead of the competition.

How to Cloak Your Local Business Website Links

 

Sometimes you may need to cloak your local business website links. For those of you who are not familiar with cloaking, it simply means to edit your links so that they are hidden. You may wonder why you may need to hide your links. Here are a few reasons:

• Sometimes your links may be too long and this may put off people from clicking your link. Here is an example of a long link:
   www.jacksplumbingcompany/ plumbing-systems/kitchen/blocked-sink.com

• Your link may just be ugly and look complicated. This is especially true for affiliate links. If people don’t like your link, they will avoid clicking it and this will nose-dive your conversions on sales or opt-ins
e.g. http://plumbingaffiliateprogram.com/its/?e=pwyoung@gmail.com/7hdy830jndni

• If you have signed up to an affiliate program, leaving your affiliate link the way it is can provide an opportunity to hackers to change the link and put in their affiliate names so that they get commissions on all the sales that you make. Cloaking your link will protect you from internet theft.

• Sometimes you have limited space to post your link so a shorter link works better. Think of how much space you have in a Tweet, in a Google Ad, in a forum or group post, an RSS feed or even a mobile text message. Cloaking your links helps you to get around the problem of space

So how do you cloak your local business links?
You can cloak your link using link shorteners- these are sites that take your long and complicated URLs and turn them into shorter, more attractive ones. Examples of link shorteners include Bit.ly, tr.im and TinyURL


1. You can cloak your link with random text up to about 25 characters so your link may look like this- http://bit.ly/gIkl9G

2. You can also cloak your link using a customized text such as http://plumbingreviews. This makes it easy for viewers to remember your links and to identify them with your company amongst all the other links they are clicking on.

The additional advantage of using link shorteners is that they also provide tracking services for your links so that you are able to know how many people clicked on your links, when they clicked on them, the ones they clicked on most and other information that will help you improve your internet marketing.

This Free Facebook Tool Can Tell You If You Have A Market Or Not

 

One of the biggest mistakes local business owners make when marketing on Facebook is overlooking the fact if there really is a market for their products and services within the site. They overlook the eternal business principle of first finding a market of hungry buyers because if it doesn’t exist, there is no way of making sales.

Fortunately Facebook can help you with your market research with an overlooked and little known free tool that is on every Facebook page. It’s the search box located right at the centre top of your Facebook page.

So how can this search box tell you if you have a market for your local business on Facebook? Follow these steps:

1. Type in your keyword into the search box. That keyword could be the niche or industry your local business is in, phrases or words commonly used, product names etc.

2. As you type in your keyword, Facebook will automatically give you the top 4 results as suggestions to refine your search. Pick the suggestion that best matches your keyword or click at the bottom where it reads ‘see more results’

3. A list of Facebook pages about your keyword will appear. These will usually be fan pages created by individuals or businesses or organizations.

4. Look at the number of fans or likes for the top Facebook pages. Those numbers will tell you if there is a large following and interest in your keyword or not. Large numbers show there is a market on Facebook and you can go ahead and create a presence or an ad campaign. Low numbers show few people have interest in the keyword meaning either there is no market or you need to research other keywords that may reveal where the market is.

A practical example
A local car dealership might want to advertise a certain car model on Facebook. By typing in the car model keywords like Toyota, Subaru, Ford, etc, they will be able to see the number of people who have an interest in those car models on Facebook. The leading page on Subaru has 75000 likes, Ford has over 500,000 likes and Mercedes has 2 million plus fans. This data will help them know where to focus their marketing efforts in a profitable manner.

Tips To Choosing The Right Image For Your Facebook Ad

So you’ve heard that Facebook is the biggest and most popular social media site and you figured that your local business could do well to advertise on this website behemoth and draw traffic to your local business shop or site. So how exactly do you get started? Today we look at choosing the right image for your Facebook ad.

As the old saying goes a picture speaks a thousand words. Well, I say a picture speaks a thousand clicks on Facebook. Your ad picture is by far the absolute number 1 item that will draw eyeballs to your business ad.

Research has shown that the image in a Facebook ad contributes a whooping 70% towards your ad’s success.  Why is that? Well, once again research clearly shows that people take information in better and faster when it’s presented in a visual format (pictures, videos) than in a text format. So your choice of image can be a real deal-maker or deal-breaker.

Here are some tips to choosing the right picture for your Facebook ad

Tip 1    Choose bright colors that contrast well with the Facebook blue and white colors such as red, black and yellow.
Tip 2    Use all the space allocated for your image. Resize your image to measure 110pixels wide by 80 pixels high. You can resize your image free at resizeyourimage.com
Tip 3    Use crazy, funny, humorous, startling images. Look for pictures that display human emotion vividly- joy, anger, panic, fear, laughter, pain, pride etc
Tip 4 Do not put boring pictures of your products or pictures of yourself, unless you have very popular branded products or you are a well –known personality.  Remember you are on a social site so liven up your ad and focus on what your reader would find interesting.
Tip 5 Use up close facial shots- these improve your CTR (click through rates). Make sure the picture zooms in on the face and eyes in particular. Don’t use shots where people are in the background or in positions where you can’t see them clearly.
Tip 6 Use beautiful women in your photos. Whatever your persuasions, it is a proven fact that sex sells. Images of beautiful women always get higher clicks than all other ads. However use images that are proactive but not immoral as those will not be approved by Facebook.

Where to source Images
You might be wondering where you can get images for your Facebook Ads.
There are lots of sites where you can buy images such as shutterstock.com, istockphoto.com etc. Just Google “where to buy photos”. If you’re looking for free images, try morguefile.com or freefoto.com.

 

The Pros And Cons Of Using Twitter To Market Your Local Business

 

This article looks at the advantages and disadvantages of using Twitter to market your local business so that you can be aware of what you are signing up to if you decide to use this social marketing medium.

Pros
Twitter helps you to find your exact target market and those are people who are genuinely interested in what your business is about and its products or services. 

Twitter allows you to connect and engage with your customers on a really personal level. The interaction is casual and continuous and gives your business a real face and voice to people. This is known as conversational marketing
Twitter provides your customers the platform to give you valuable feedback.

 It’s so much easier for them to tweet those 140characters from the comfort of wherever they are than fill in a feedback form. Your local business can get firsthand reviews in real time enabling you to remain nimble so you can give them what they want.

Twitter provides a sales funnel for your local business, enhancing your ecommerce. You can integrate your twitter account into your business operations by using it to take orders, offer exclusive coupons and promote business and social events.

Twitter offers your business a chance to build a community around your brand instead of being a detached entity. This community of followers will become your mini-marketing army through the viral network.


Cons
It takes some time to set up and gain followers. You need to be organized and patient in the initial stages before you see big results.

It can be addictive because you feel chained to your phone all the time, always checking for incoming tweets and then responding to them. It’s hard to separate your business life from your personal life and that can affect you socially with family and friends taking second place.

It is a double-edged sword and you need to be ready to accept the good and down right nasty tweets about your business.
Bad news travels faster than good news so any mistakes or controversies your business has will travel at lightning speed on Twitter. You need to be extremely quick to do damage control if this happens.

 Because people always know what you and your business are up to and in some cases your exact location, it could result in security issues if someone maliciously used that information. It is always wise to err on the side of caution and decide what you shouldn’t tweet about concerning yourself and your business.

Understanding SEO: On Page SEO vs. Off Page SEO - BizTavern.com

As a small business owner, you are very likely barraged with information and various opinions about your website.  Clients might like the photos of you and your dog on the “About Us” page, and various companies might be calling asking if you would like to “buy a top spot” on their search pages. 

The worst thing you can probably hear, besides “Your site crashed,” is “We looked for you online but couldn’t find you!”  

The fact is, you’re basically sunk without SEO.  But, what kind of SEO should you incorporate into your website?  Some say “Content is King”, and believe on page SEO rules the internet, while others declare that off page SEO is more important:  “Links Reign Supreme!”  Who should you listen to? 

What is On Page SEO?
On page Search Engine Optimization includes things like optimizing keywords, tags, and web content.  Search engines love heading tags that emphasize key points, and they grab on to images that include “img alt” tags that include those same keyword phrases. 

Additional strategies for using on page SEO include labeling folders and naming files so that they are keyword rich, since search engines crawl through and index your site using folder and file names. Don’t rely on a snappy title alone, and think that your page is optimized.

What is Off Page SEO?
Off page SEO is the term that refers to any search engine optimization that takes place off your webpage.  Things like article marketing, linking and backlinking, and social media marketing are an important part of off page SEO. 

Which Type of SEO is Better?
It turns out that both camps in the search engine optimization debate have something valuable to offer.  If you want to make the most of your website, include plenty of each type of SEO and you’ll come out ahead.

How To Optimize
All this may have you feeling a bit overwhelmed – and that’s not surprising!  Optimizing a website properly takes research, time, and effort.  As a small business owner, you very likely lack both the time and desire to take all these steps yourself.  If you had a major water main break inside your building you wouldn’t try to fix it yourself – and the same is true for getting your site up to speed.  

Get an SEO expert onboard.  Find someone who can help you with both on page SEO and off page SEO.  Your site will be optimized in just a short amount of time, and you’ll see site traffic as well as your bottom line increase.