More Online Customers For Your Business - Scotland
Content
How To Harness the Power Of the Internet To Grab More Customers and Make MORE Sales!
www.WePromoteYouOnline.com
Publishing & Copyright Information
© Copyright We Pr0mote You Online Ltd
All rights reserved. No copying or reproduction of any type in any media online or offline is permitted unless express permission has been provided in writing by Phil Henderson at We Promote You Online Ltd . The ideas, content and principles in this book are provided on an advisory basis only. Results of application are entirely dependent on the abilities of individual companies or individuals. Results may vary. Many factors will be important in determining your actual results and no guarantees are made that you will achieve any results from the ideas and techniques in this material. While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the authors nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter. The Publisher also stresses that the information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and / or local laws or regulations may apply to the user's particular business. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of this information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, both federal and state and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. The author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Every attempt is made to provide proper credit to the authors and owners of material quoted in this publication whenever possible. We do not claim ownership of any of their original works or products included in this publication. We do not claim ownership or copyright of or in any independent products mentioned or referred to in this publication. Nor do we intentionally infringe on anyone's copyrighted material. © Copyright We Promote You Online Ltd
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Table of Contents
Your Customers Are Looking For You Online, They Just Can’t Find You! Search Engine Marketing “Fast, relevant search results”. Social Media Marketing Here’s some facts to consider: Video Marketing Branding Using existing brand names Creating a new brand Domain names PR Why is Public Relations Important? How Does Public Relations Work? Putting It Into Action Search Engine Marketing – What to do Social Media Marketing – What to do Video Marketing – What to do Branding – What to do PR – What to do 4 5 5 9 9 15 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 23
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Your Customers Are Looking For You Online, They Just Can’t Find You!
L
et’s cut to the chase here…
Its 2011 not 1911, there’s been a lot of developments in the last 100 years; actually there’s been a lot of MAJOR developments in the last year alone. The World is moving at a rapid rate and we as business owners have only two options; move with the times or potentially watch our businesses die. It really is as brutal as that! The Internet is here and it’s here to stay and you better embrace its FULL potential before one or more of your “savvy” competitors comes along and puts your business 6 foot underground. We’re witnessing one of the toughest times in history for businesses; actually let me put that another way… “Businesses who are NOT using the POWER of the Internet to attract and engage with NEW customers are witnessing one of the toughest times in history”. For the many business owners who understand the “NOW”, this is BOOM time and they are rubbing their hands in glee as their customer base is extended, their sales increase, and their Return On Investment is maximised. What’s more they are doing so with less capital risk, shorter times to market, streamlined workforces, increased productivity and better customer retention. You can enjoy the same success! In the following pages we’re going to share a number of proven methods to increase your online exposure, attract targeted customers and forge long-term profitable relationships. These same techniques could be put to work for anyone who is looking to expand their brand, build a hungry hoard of fans or simply showcase their latest masterpieces online. So sit back open your mind and let the fun begin!
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Search Engine Marketing
When we think of “Search Engines”, one name stands head and browsers above the others, Google. Google understood the POWER of the internet from the get-go. They knew what PEOPLE wanted and more importantly they knew exactly how to give it to them.
“Fast, relevant search results”.
That simple phrase above is what has/had kept this giant in the #1 spot for so long. By delivering the “relevant” results in the quickest time possible, Google have been able to dominate the Search Engine Landscape. They knew that people would only return to use their service PROVIDING they could continue to out-gun the competition. This could only be maintained by constant updates and improvements to their algorithms and the “subtle” education of the Search Users themselves. Google realised that although their technical wizards could create the “engine” to deliver the results, they couldn’t control the way “searchers” were beginning to manipulate the search results themselves. So Google set about educating us… They still do! Bring up a “Google” search box page and begin typing and you’ll soon see HOW Google are “training” us to use their search engine. As soon as you start to enter any text in the search box you’ll soon see that it is being automatically being populated with “suggestions” from Google. This is Google trying to second guess what you are searching for and at the same time offering you what they believe will be the “best” results. Google themselves state “Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster”.
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But whose results are they? Let me expand on this for a second. Again we refer to Google themselves: “Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search”. You could say it is their way of ensuring relevancy! But why is it so important that they “educate” us? As mentioned earlier, Google have achieved and maintained (until now) Market Supremacy through that one phrase… “Fast, relevant search results”. Google, however, were not the first to use this method. In fact Yahoo had created this sometime ago and once Google realised that Bing thanks to their impending collaboration with Yahoo were also using this “predictive” search approach they knew they had to do something fast.
(http://www.google.com/instant/)
And all of this plus the on-going algorithm change and the constant search engine tweaking is to ensure when the Search Engine Results Page (SERPS) opens we find only relevant results targeted to OUR search keywords. They know that if they keep us satisfied we’ll keep using their Search Engine and one or more of these “visit” will result in a “click-thru” on their advertisers links (How Google get paid). Let’s have a look at standard Search Engine Result Page and break down the core elements in detail.
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The above shows the “Paid Ads” where advertisers bid on “Pay Per Click” to have their advert shown high in the search results. This means the advertiser is charged every time someone clicks on their ad whether they go onto buy or not. The results also show Google Places (geo targeted results) and “Organic” search results in the centre of the page. This is where YOU want your business to be on the Search Engines as 75% of the searchers “click through” to the websites shown in this area. Other considerations are the Images, Videos, Maps, Maps, News, and Shopping etc (we’ll cover videos later in this report). It also shows the actual time taken to return the results in this case 0.21 seconds. The main opportunities for the forward thinking business to promote themselves include: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Google Places (maps) Organic Search Results Video Results Images Results Paid Ads (Pay Per Click also known as PPC)
I’ve put these in what are widely considered the “order of importance”; however, these depend on your market and customer preferences etc.
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For example, someone looking for a Wedding Photographer they may pay more attention to the “image” results than the main “Web” results. Likewise someone who is looking for a “band” to play at their party may check out “video” results. Saying that; I can’t stress strongly the importance of utilising “images” and “videos” in your overall online marketing approach regardless of your market. The important factor across all of the above is to ensure you have chosen your “keywords” carefully and you have “optimised” each one to ensure the Search Engines know how to find you. These basic guidelines apply for all of the Search Engines and other factors to consider would be to ensure “quality” backlinks back to your main website. These act as “social proof” to the Search Engines and add weight to their factors when ranking your site. The main Search Engines are: www.google.com www.bing.com www.yahoo.com www.ask.com There are over 290 more search engines; however, we would recommend only concentrating your efforts on the ones above initially. If you optimise for these there is a very good chance the other sites will pick up your information anyway. The image to the left shows the results of a study carried out by Google themselves. This “heat map” clearly shows the concentration of “clicks” from the users. 0ver 75% respond to the free or “organic” results than the “paid” results. So it’s important to have your site ranking high on page one within the organic listings, otherwise you’re losing out to your competitors who are!
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Social Media Marketing
Once only considerd as a “distraction” for students and school kids, Facebook is now the second most popular site in the World. (Alexa.com) Which is great for them; however, its even better news for us!
Here’s some facts to consider:
More than 500 million active users 50% of their active users log on to Facebook in any given day Average user has 130 friends People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages) Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month. Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites Once over the Internet belonged to Google; however, NOT anymore! Facebook have changed how we interact on the Internet, how people engage not only with their friends but also the companies that they either currently buy from or may be looking to buy from in the future. Because of the “metrics” and analytics provided by Facebook, we can laser beam our target market based on age, geography, likes, interests, education, hobbies etc.
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This means our marketing dollars are used efficiently and the “wastage” minimised.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half”. John Wanamaker
You only have to look at the Major brands who are now switching their attention to this incredible site. We are also seeing more and more “brands” directing people from TV adverts, billboards, radio advertising etc to their Facebook “pages” rather than their websites. Through careful branding, engagement and inbound marketing strategies these Pages can become extremely popular and grow into a Massive fan base.
Nearly 23 Million People “like” the page above.
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2.6 Million “fans” to the NFL page above. Now you may not have the resources or marketing budget to achieve the results like this initially; however, creating a solid “fan base” is achievable in a relatively short space of time. The main advantages of using Facebook and the “pages” as above include: 1) Strong company branding 2) Ability to engage with your customers and potential customers 3) The “viral” nature of the “updates” 4) “Everyone” checks and reads their updates, not everyone opens their emails 5) Very inexpensive way to implement Of course there are even more benefits to using Facebook to build your online brand and to create the Social Media buzz. It’s not all about Facebook though as there are other sites that we simply MUST consider ensuring our online dominance of our markets.
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Linked in© is considered by some as the “Facebook” for the business person. There are some similarities between Facebook and Linkedin and we are seeing many aspects crossing over onto both platforms. The “like” feature for example has found its way over to Linkedin now, as have the “comment” and “share” elements too. One of the main and quite refreshing differences you’ll discover between Facebook and Linkedin is you will rarely see anyone posting about what they had for breakfast on linkedin! The posts and comments are 90%+ business related. Facts to consider: LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 90 million members in over 200 countries and territories. More than half of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States. There were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010. LinkedIn is currently available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Worldwide Membership 90m+ professionals around the world as of January 2011 As of January 2011, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2010 Fortune 500 companies as members; its hiring solutions were used by 69 of the Fortune 100 companies as of December 31, 2010. More than one million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages (formerly known as company profiles) LinkedIn represents a valuable demographic for marketers with an affluent & influential membership
One of the MAJOR advantages of Linkedin (there are numerous) is the ability to leverage your “six degrees of separation”; basically you can connect to a potential business partner, customer etc through the power of your own “network”.
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This is a fantastic way to getting an “in” to a prospective client or to sealing a major deal. Networking has been the backbone of business since business began; now we get to do it virtually as well as face to face.
The above is the “profile” for Bill Gates; on the right you will see how my own “network” connects me to him. Now I’m not saying this would add any weight in my business activities, nor would I expect him to pick up the phone to take my call; however, it demonstrates how powerful Linkedin can be when forging profitable business relationships.
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With ALL social media there is a right way and a definite WRONG way of doing things. Many people simply jump straight in and start promoting their business, products and services. WRONG, this is “Relationship Selling”… In fact I’d personally go as far to say it I NOT selling at all. The most successful brands using Social Media do so in a “certain” way. So how do you USE Linkedin? Well, here are some guidelines:
For: Connecting with other professionals/businesses you know or would like to be connected with It is not for: Personal socializing or SPAMING (posting unsolicited offers via updates etc) As always, keep it professional and honest. Misrepresenting yourself or your business/brand mentioning negative things about any of your previous clients or competitors etc can cause MASSIVE damage. For: Working on your personal AND business brand through a polished profile, professional recommendations and engaging in group discussions Not for: Creating an account that just sits there and expecting customers to come knocking on your door. “Build it and they will come” works great in the movies NOT on Linkedin For: Sharing professional and relevant information, resources, contacts, business related news, job postings, etc. In essence “treat others as you would like to be treat yourself” There are other Social Media sites that you can and should utilise to fully empower your online success with this medium. It’s important that you establish a strategy and implement this in a carefully controlled manner.
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Video Marketing
YouTube has become much more than simply a place to upload movies of pets, parents and grandparents doing weird stuff. YouTube has come of age! Now owned by Google; YouTube has become a Search Engine in its own right. More than this YouTube has become a MUST have tool for any company who are serious about building a SOLID online presence, creating massive BUZZ for a new product or service and once again, engaging with their prospective clients and current customer base. Major corporations are using the power of YouTube to create mass following, product and brand awareness and at the same time making a TON of sales. One very recent campaign become extremely famous and drove a ton of NEW sales for what was a flagging brand/product.
They then added another twist NEVER before seen on YouTube
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The main character in the video actually comes out of the video and grabs the TippEx “pocket mouse” and corrects where it says “shoots” and then asks the viewer to choose what “the hunter should do” with the bear!
This interaction made the video stand out and had viewers sending the video link around the World in minutes. Here’s the link so you can have “fun” yourself. Note: there are a few swear words so please be careful where you watch this (funny enough Tipp-Ex seemed to add the swear words on purpose; could this be because of their target audience?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M It’s not all about the video itself however, it’s also about creating the RIGHT vehicle to get your message and brand in front of your target audience.
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This is where a GOOD YouTube channel really makes a difference.
Above is the “official” channel for Virgin America. As you can see it is WELL branded with their colours; the layout even gives the impression you are sitting in one of their seats. This “channel” helps to reinforce the companies branding and also provides a “platform” in which to promote and engage with their audience. This is EXTREMELY powerful! You simply MUST add video to your online marketing mix, if you don’t your competitors will. Again there are a multitude of video sharing sites online and some are even targeted to specific niches/markets etc. Please make sure YOU incorporate video if you are not already doing so!
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Branding
The brand and image of a business are vital to its success. Strong brands can generate customer trust, which is particularly important in e-commerce. There are many branding options. Closely linked to these decisions is the choice of domain name (URL) for your website.
Using existing brand names
Using an existing brand name can make sense if the brand is well known and has a strong reputation.
Creating a new brand
If you want to create a new e-commerce brand then a good name is extremely important. The following will help you to establish your online brand
suggest something about the product be short and memorable be easy to spell translate well into other languages have an available domain name
Domain names
Whatever e-commerce brand name you choose, it is essential that the domain name is available to support this. A strong domain name can help customers to find your site. You should also consider the demographic of your target audience so the “brand” sits comfortably with their perception of the products and services your company promote. Your online branding should compliment your offline branding and they should both send out a “common” message. Your branding MUST be carried across everything you do online.
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PR
Why is Public Relations Important?
At a basic level; public relations revolves around a common trait: people act based upon their perception of facts. By managing, controlling, or influencing people's perceptions, public relations campaigns hope to initiate a sequence of behaviours that will lead to the achievement of an organization's objectives. When carried out correctly, public relations successfully create, change, or reinforce opinion through persuasion, and the primary objective is accomplished.
How Does Public Relations Work?
Following a set of principles, most campaigns begin with the identification of the problem or challenge, then move on to setting the campaign goal (s). In order to achieve the goal, the public relations team crafts persuasive messages and implements key communication tactics while monitoring progress and fine tuning as necessary. While some companies keep the function of public relations entirely in house, others opt to outsource all public relations functions. Others strike a balance in which inhouse public relations efforts are complemented by the work of an outside agency. PR online utilises all of the possible media to ensure a common message is shared with the target audience. PR also encapsulates Press Releases, these are extremely powerful to “announce the birth” of a new website, Facebook page, YouTube Channel, product or service.
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Putting It Into Action
Now we have identified the “core” areas where we as business owners simply MUST be promoting, creating and building our brand, lets break down each area into workable chunks that we can implement today!
Search Engine Marketing – What to do
Choose the “right” keywords based on “relevance”, “volume of searches” and “competitor advantage” -Your keyword should be relevant to the search terms your customers and potential customers use when “searching” for your product/service (not your own business name). Analyse the top 10 competitor’s results on the Search Engines to establish how difficult it will be to secure your position on the first page. On-site optimisation – Position your chosen keywords in the page titles, headings, URL and page text. Don’t forget to optimise META, tags and descriptions and also your images. act as online recommendations of your site and contents and let the search engines know the content is of relevance and quality. Build links through the use of “anchor text”; this is the “hyperlinked” text that links back to your site, page or post. This helps the search engines to understand the nature of your site. Don’t forget to use the power of the other resources in this report to link back to your site, these sites are respected by the search engines and seen as highly trusted.
Build your “link-love” with relevant “backlinks” back to your site. These
Side Note: Anchor text Wrong Way: “for your free report click here” Right Way: “Contact We Promote You Online For More Customers Today”
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Social Media Marketing – What to do
Create your social media “Real Estate”, your pages and profiles should match your branding as closely as possible. Make the user experience interesting and informative, don’t just set up and advertise your products/service. Add as much value to the community as you can. Interact with the other members, answer questions and help others. Publish quality content, share and network, that’s what Social Media is all about, share others content too if it is relevant and you feel others will benefit from it. Encourage your friends/followers to engage and post content to your profiles/pages – Social Media is a two way thing. Find out where your customers hang out and go join them. Make friends and network. Measure your results, continue to test and tweak.
Video Marketing – What to do
Create your Video Marketing “Real Estate”, your channel and video branding should match your main branding if possible. Make your videos brief, content rich and informative for the viewer. Mix your videos with short punchy 30 to 60 second “teasers” and also demonstrations or product/service review videos Upload videos of your business, management and staff etc. People like to buy from people, show them you’re human. Encourage your friends/followers to engage and post feedback and comments on your videos, this adds to the “social proof” and builds credibility. Comment on others videos, be positive NEVER negative Make friends and network. Measure your results, continue to test and tweak.
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Branding – What to do
Take your time to decide on the RIGHT brand for your online presence – What will the brand portray, what message, value proposition, recognisable features and how will this be positioned/perceived in the marketplace? Write down what you DO NOT want to be recognised for as well as what YOU DO want to be recognised for. How are your competitors positioning themselves; what is it you like about their choice of logo’s, colours and words used in their branding; how can you improve on these and differentiate your brand from the masses? Once you have decided on your brand action this across everything you do online and offline. Use your logo, strap-line, mission statement; buzz words on your letterheads, invoices and of course business cards and sales materials. Your brand you be instantly recognizable in your marketplace. Begin promoting your brand using the online methods above and also in your offline activities. Monitor all feedback regarding your brand, test and tweak accordingly.
Branding works to cement your position in your market online and offline and it’s not just visual branding such as logo’s and images etc. What’s your strap-line/slogan? See if you can guess these: “Think Different” – “Reach Out and Touch Someone” – “Don’t Leave Home Without It” – “The Ultimate Driving Machine” – “More Customers the SMART Way” –
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PR – What to do
Establish the objectives of each PR campaign. Decide your target audience and choose the RIGHT message to attract them. Press Release sites – They love fresh content and so do the search engines. Create your content ensuring you have optimised your Press Release by including your chosen “keywords” in the title of the Press Release, the H1 tags (if allowed) and throughout the body of the release. Also, where allowed, use “anchor text” with your keywords hyperlinked back to your site, page or post. Create a compelling “author” box and site profile. When you sign up for an online press releases site, take those extra few minutes and complete both the profile and author bio. These two areas can make a massive difference to the success of all your on-going press release campaigns. Make sure you have related content NOT just words. People like to be entertained, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Again ensure your image “alt text” contains your keywords. Research your competition, find out what they are talking about and sharing with your customers and potential customers. Remember this, “facts tell but stories sell”. Keep your releases informative, this is not the place to write detailed product specification document. This is about the “birth of your baby”. Don’t forget your audience, it’s about them and they want to know “what’s in it for me?”
Next Steps… Contact us today [email protected] or submit your details at http://www.wepromoteyouonline.com/contact-us/ and one of our account managers will contact you discuss your own personal requirements and together you can choose the best plan to suit your needs and budget. Thank you
We Promote You Online Ltd.
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Don’t forget to complete our enquiry form at
http://www.wepromoteyouonline.com so we can assist you to finally dominate your marketplace online. The work you have done improving our online/web profile has been invaluable. As a group of musicians, we only just managed to get our act together to organise a functioning website, but with your help, we are clearly visible on the major search engines, and can already see the increase in our bookings and revenue. Many, many thanks! I would sincerely recommend your services to anyone (except maybe our competitors!), so please use any of this as testimonial. We also really do appreciate the work you’ve done for us. David and Allan Apollo String Quartet.
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Get a MASSIVE Advantage Over Your Competitors Today!!
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www.WePromoteYouOnline.com
Publishing & Copyright Information
© Copyright We Pr0mote You Online Ltd
All rights reserved. No copying or reproduction of any type in any media online or offline is permitted unless express permission has been provided in writing by Phil Henderson at We Promote You Online Ltd . The ideas, content and principles in this book are provided on an advisory basis only. Results of application are entirely dependent on the abilities of individual companies or individuals. Results may vary. Many factors will be important in determining your actual results and no guarantees are made that you will achieve any results from the ideas and techniques in this material. While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, neither the authors nor the Publisher assumes any responsibility for errors, omissions or contrary interpretation of the subject matter. The Publisher also stresses that the information contained herein may be subject to varying state and/or local laws or regulations. All users are advised to retain competent counsel to determine what state and / or local laws or regulations may apply to the user's particular business. The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes responsibility for the use of this information. Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, both federal and state and local, governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising and all other aspects of doing business in the United States or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader. The author and Publisher assume no responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these materials. Every attempt is made to provide proper credit to the authors and owners of material quoted in this publication whenever possible. We do not claim ownership of any of their original works or products included in this publication. We do not claim ownership or copyright of or in any independent products mentioned or referred to in this publication. Nor do we intentionally infringe on anyone's copyrighted material. © Copyright We Promote You Online Ltd
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Table of Contents
Your Customers Are Looking For You Online, They Just Can’t Find You! Search Engine Marketing “Fast, relevant search results”. Social Media Marketing Here’s some facts to consider: Video Marketing Branding Using existing brand names Creating a new brand Domain names PR Why is Public Relations Important? How Does Public Relations Work? Putting It Into Action Search Engine Marketing – What to do Social Media Marketing – What to do Video Marketing – What to do Branding – What to do PR – What to do 4 5 5 9 9 15 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 21 21 22 23
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Your Customers Are Looking For You Online, They Just Can’t Find You!
L
et’s cut to the chase here…
Its 2011 not 1911, there’s been a lot of developments in the last 100 years; actually there’s been a lot of MAJOR developments in the last year alone. The World is moving at a rapid rate and we as business owners have only two options; move with the times or potentially watch our businesses die. It really is as brutal as that! The Internet is here and it’s here to stay and you better embrace its FULL potential before one or more of your “savvy” competitors comes along and puts your business 6 foot underground. We’re witnessing one of the toughest times in history for businesses; actually let me put that another way… “Businesses who are NOT using the POWER of the Internet to attract and engage with NEW customers are witnessing one of the toughest times in history”. For the many business owners who understand the “NOW”, this is BOOM time and they are rubbing their hands in glee as their customer base is extended, their sales increase, and their Return On Investment is maximised. What’s more they are doing so with less capital risk, shorter times to market, streamlined workforces, increased productivity and better customer retention. You can enjoy the same success! In the following pages we’re going to share a number of proven methods to increase your online exposure, attract targeted customers and forge long-term profitable relationships. These same techniques could be put to work for anyone who is looking to expand their brand, build a hungry hoard of fans or simply showcase their latest masterpieces online. So sit back open your mind and let the fun begin!
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Search Engine Marketing
When we think of “Search Engines”, one name stands head and browsers above the others, Google. Google understood the POWER of the internet from the get-go. They knew what PEOPLE wanted and more importantly they knew exactly how to give it to them.
“Fast, relevant search results”.
That simple phrase above is what has/had kept this giant in the #1 spot for so long. By delivering the “relevant” results in the quickest time possible, Google have been able to dominate the Search Engine Landscape. They knew that people would only return to use their service PROVIDING they could continue to out-gun the competition. This could only be maintained by constant updates and improvements to their algorithms and the “subtle” education of the Search Users themselves. Google realised that although their technical wizards could create the “engine” to deliver the results, they couldn’t control the way “searchers” were beginning to manipulate the search results themselves. So Google set about educating us… They still do! Bring up a “Google” search box page and begin typing and you’ll soon see HOW Google are “training” us to use their search engine. As soon as you start to enter any text in the search box you’ll soon see that it is being automatically being populated with “suggestions” from Google. This is Google trying to second guess what you are searching for and at the same time offering you what they believe will be the “best” results. Google themselves state “Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. We are pushing the limits of our technology and infrastructure to help you get better search results, faster”.
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But whose results are they? Let me expand on this for a second. Again we refer to Google themselves: “Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search”. You could say it is their way of ensuring relevancy! But why is it so important that they “educate” us? As mentioned earlier, Google have achieved and maintained (until now) Market Supremacy through that one phrase… “Fast, relevant search results”. Google, however, were not the first to use this method. In fact Yahoo had created this sometime ago and once Google realised that Bing thanks to their impending collaboration with Yahoo were also using this “predictive” search approach they knew they had to do something fast.
(http://www.google.com/instant/)
And all of this plus the on-going algorithm change and the constant search engine tweaking is to ensure when the Search Engine Results Page (SERPS) opens we find only relevant results targeted to OUR search keywords. They know that if they keep us satisfied we’ll keep using their Search Engine and one or more of these “visit” will result in a “click-thru” on their advertisers links (How Google get paid). Let’s have a look at standard Search Engine Result Page and break down the core elements in detail.
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The above shows the “Paid Ads” where advertisers bid on “Pay Per Click” to have their advert shown high in the search results. This means the advertiser is charged every time someone clicks on their ad whether they go onto buy or not. The results also show Google Places (geo targeted results) and “Organic” search results in the centre of the page. This is where YOU want your business to be on the Search Engines as 75% of the searchers “click through” to the websites shown in this area. Other considerations are the Images, Videos, Maps, Maps, News, and Shopping etc (we’ll cover videos later in this report). It also shows the actual time taken to return the results in this case 0.21 seconds. The main opportunities for the forward thinking business to promote themselves include: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Google Places (maps) Organic Search Results Video Results Images Results Paid Ads (Pay Per Click also known as PPC)
I’ve put these in what are widely considered the “order of importance”; however, these depend on your market and customer preferences etc.
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For example, someone looking for a Wedding Photographer they may pay more attention to the “image” results than the main “Web” results. Likewise someone who is looking for a “band” to play at their party may check out “video” results. Saying that; I can’t stress strongly the importance of utilising “images” and “videos” in your overall online marketing approach regardless of your market. The important factor across all of the above is to ensure you have chosen your “keywords” carefully and you have “optimised” each one to ensure the Search Engines know how to find you. These basic guidelines apply for all of the Search Engines and other factors to consider would be to ensure “quality” backlinks back to your main website. These act as “social proof” to the Search Engines and add weight to their factors when ranking your site. The main Search Engines are: www.google.com www.bing.com www.yahoo.com www.ask.com There are over 290 more search engines; however, we would recommend only concentrating your efforts on the ones above initially. If you optimise for these there is a very good chance the other sites will pick up your information anyway. The image to the left shows the results of a study carried out by Google themselves. This “heat map” clearly shows the concentration of “clicks” from the users. 0ver 75% respond to the free or “organic” results than the “paid” results. So it’s important to have your site ranking high on page one within the organic listings, otherwise you’re losing out to your competitors who are!
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Social Media Marketing
Once only considerd as a “distraction” for students and school kids, Facebook is now the second most popular site in the World. (Alexa.com) Which is great for them; however, its even better news for us!
Here’s some facts to consider:
More than 500 million active users 50% of their active users log on to Facebook in any given day Average user has 130 friends People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook There are over 900 million objects that people interact with (pages, groups, events and community pages) Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events Average user creates 90 pieces of content each month More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month. Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites Since social plugins launched in April 2010, an average of 10,000 new websites integrate with Facebook every day More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including over 80 of comScore's U.S. Top 100 websites and over half of comScore's Global Top 100 websites Once over the Internet belonged to Google; however, NOT anymore! Facebook have changed how we interact on the Internet, how people engage not only with their friends but also the companies that they either currently buy from or may be looking to buy from in the future. Because of the “metrics” and analytics provided by Facebook, we can laser beam our target market based on age, geography, likes, interests, education, hobbies etc.
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This means our marketing dollars are used efficiently and the “wastage” minimised.
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half”. John Wanamaker
You only have to look at the Major brands who are now switching their attention to this incredible site. We are also seeing more and more “brands” directing people from TV adverts, billboards, radio advertising etc to their Facebook “pages” rather than their websites. Through careful branding, engagement and inbound marketing strategies these Pages can become extremely popular and grow into a Massive fan base.
Nearly 23 Million People “like” the page above.
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2.6 Million “fans” to the NFL page above. Now you may not have the resources or marketing budget to achieve the results like this initially; however, creating a solid “fan base” is achievable in a relatively short space of time. The main advantages of using Facebook and the “pages” as above include: 1) Strong company branding 2) Ability to engage with your customers and potential customers 3) The “viral” nature of the “updates” 4) “Everyone” checks and reads their updates, not everyone opens their emails 5) Very inexpensive way to implement Of course there are even more benefits to using Facebook to build your online brand and to create the Social Media buzz. It’s not all about Facebook though as there are other sites that we simply MUST consider ensuring our online dominance of our markets.
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Linked in© is considered by some as the “Facebook” for the business person. There are some similarities between Facebook and Linkedin and we are seeing many aspects crossing over onto both platforms. The “like” feature for example has found its way over to Linkedin now, as have the “comment” and “share” elements too. One of the main and quite refreshing differences you’ll discover between Facebook and Linkedin is you will rarely see anyone posting about what they had for breakfast on linkedin! The posts and comments are 90%+ business related. Facts to consider: LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 90 million members in over 200 countries and territories. More than half of LinkedIn members are located outside of the United States. There were nearly two billion people searches on LinkedIn in 2010. LinkedIn is currently available in six languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Worldwide Membership 90m+ professionals around the world as of January 2011 As of January 2011, LinkedIn counts executives from all 2010 Fortune 500 companies as members; its hiring solutions were used by 69 of the Fortune 100 companies as of December 31, 2010. More than one million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages (formerly known as company profiles) LinkedIn represents a valuable demographic for marketers with an affluent & influential membership
One of the MAJOR advantages of Linkedin (there are numerous) is the ability to leverage your “six degrees of separation”; basically you can connect to a potential business partner, customer etc through the power of your own “network”.
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This is a fantastic way to getting an “in” to a prospective client or to sealing a major deal. Networking has been the backbone of business since business began; now we get to do it virtually as well as face to face.
The above is the “profile” for Bill Gates; on the right you will see how my own “network” connects me to him. Now I’m not saying this would add any weight in my business activities, nor would I expect him to pick up the phone to take my call; however, it demonstrates how powerful Linkedin can be when forging profitable business relationships.
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With ALL social media there is a right way and a definite WRONG way of doing things. Many people simply jump straight in and start promoting their business, products and services. WRONG, this is “Relationship Selling”… In fact I’d personally go as far to say it I NOT selling at all. The most successful brands using Social Media do so in a “certain” way. So how do you USE Linkedin? Well, here are some guidelines:
For: Connecting with other professionals/businesses you know or would like to be connected with It is not for: Personal socializing or SPAMING (posting unsolicited offers via updates etc) As always, keep it professional and honest. Misrepresenting yourself or your business/brand mentioning negative things about any of your previous clients or competitors etc can cause MASSIVE damage. For: Working on your personal AND business brand through a polished profile, professional recommendations and engaging in group discussions Not for: Creating an account that just sits there and expecting customers to come knocking on your door. “Build it and they will come” works great in the movies NOT on Linkedin For: Sharing professional and relevant information, resources, contacts, business related news, job postings, etc. In essence “treat others as you would like to be treat yourself” There are other Social Media sites that you can and should utilise to fully empower your online success with this medium. It’s important that you establish a strategy and implement this in a carefully controlled manner.
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Video Marketing
YouTube has become much more than simply a place to upload movies of pets, parents and grandparents doing weird stuff. YouTube has come of age! Now owned by Google; YouTube has become a Search Engine in its own right. More than this YouTube has become a MUST have tool for any company who are serious about building a SOLID online presence, creating massive BUZZ for a new product or service and once again, engaging with their prospective clients and current customer base. Major corporations are using the power of YouTube to create mass following, product and brand awareness and at the same time making a TON of sales. One very recent campaign become extremely famous and drove a ton of NEW sales for what was a flagging brand/product.
They then added another twist NEVER before seen on YouTube
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The main character in the video actually comes out of the video and grabs the TippEx “pocket mouse” and corrects where it says “shoots” and then asks the viewer to choose what “the hunter should do” with the bear!
This interaction made the video stand out and had viewers sending the video link around the World in minutes. Here’s the link so you can have “fun” yourself. Note: there are a few swear words so please be careful where you watch this (funny enough Tipp-Ex seemed to add the swear words on purpose; could this be because of their target audience?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M It’s not all about the video itself however, it’s also about creating the RIGHT vehicle to get your message and brand in front of your target audience.
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This is where a GOOD YouTube channel really makes a difference.
Above is the “official” channel for Virgin America. As you can see it is WELL branded with their colours; the layout even gives the impression you are sitting in one of their seats. This “channel” helps to reinforce the companies branding and also provides a “platform” in which to promote and engage with their audience. This is EXTREMELY powerful! You simply MUST add video to your online marketing mix, if you don’t your competitors will. Again there are a multitude of video sharing sites online and some are even targeted to specific niches/markets etc. Please make sure YOU incorporate video if you are not already doing so!
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Branding
The brand and image of a business are vital to its success. Strong brands can generate customer trust, which is particularly important in e-commerce. There are many branding options. Closely linked to these decisions is the choice of domain name (URL) for your website.
Using existing brand names
Using an existing brand name can make sense if the brand is well known and has a strong reputation.
Creating a new brand
If you want to create a new e-commerce brand then a good name is extremely important. The following will help you to establish your online brand
suggest something about the product be short and memorable be easy to spell translate well into other languages have an available domain name
Domain names
Whatever e-commerce brand name you choose, it is essential that the domain name is available to support this. A strong domain name can help customers to find your site. You should also consider the demographic of your target audience so the “brand” sits comfortably with their perception of the products and services your company promote. Your online branding should compliment your offline branding and they should both send out a “common” message. Your branding MUST be carried across everything you do online.
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PR
Why is Public Relations Important?
At a basic level; public relations revolves around a common trait: people act based upon their perception of facts. By managing, controlling, or influencing people's perceptions, public relations campaigns hope to initiate a sequence of behaviours that will lead to the achievement of an organization's objectives. When carried out correctly, public relations successfully create, change, or reinforce opinion through persuasion, and the primary objective is accomplished.
How Does Public Relations Work?
Following a set of principles, most campaigns begin with the identification of the problem or challenge, then move on to setting the campaign goal (s). In order to achieve the goal, the public relations team crafts persuasive messages and implements key communication tactics while monitoring progress and fine tuning as necessary. While some companies keep the function of public relations entirely in house, others opt to outsource all public relations functions. Others strike a balance in which inhouse public relations efforts are complemented by the work of an outside agency. PR online utilises all of the possible media to ensure a common message is shared with the target audience. PR also encapsulates Press Releases, these are extremely powerful to “announce the birth” of a new website, Facebook page, YouTube Channel, product or service.
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Putting It Into Action
Now we have identified the “core” areas where we as business owners simply MUST be promoting, creating and building our brand, lets break down each area into workable chunks that we can implement today!
Search Engine Marketing – What to do
Choose the “right” keywords based on “relevance”, “volume of searches” and “competitor advantage” -Your keyword should be relevant to the search terms your customers and potential customers use when “searching” for your product/service (not your own business name). Analyse the top 10 competitor’s results on the Search Engines to establish how difficult it will be to secure your position on the first page. On-site optimisation – Position your chosen keywords in the page titles, headings, URL and page text. Don’t forget to optimise META, tags and descriptions and also your images. act as online recommendations of your site and contents and let the search engines know the content is of relevance and quality. Build links through the use of “anchor text”; this is the “hyperlinked” text that links back to your site, page or post. This helps the search engines to understand the nature of your site. Don’t forget to use the power of the other resources in this report to link back to your site, these sites are respected by the search engines and seen as highly trusted.
Build your “link-love” with relevant “backlinks” back to your site. These
Side Note: Anchor text Wrong Way: “for your free report click here” Right Way: “Contact We Promote You Online For More Customers Today”
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Social Media Marketing – What to do
Create your social media “Real Estate”, your pages and profiles should match your branding as closely as possible. Make the user experience interesting and informative, don’t just set up and advertise your products/service. Add as much value to the community as you can. Interact with the other members, answer questions and help others. Publish quality content, share and network, that’s what Social Media is all about, share others content too if it is relevant and you feel others will benefit from it. Encourage your friends/followers to engage and post content to your profiles/pages – Social Media is a two way thing. Find out where your customers hang out and go join them. Make friends and network. Measure your results, continue to test and tweak.
Video Marketing – What to do
Create your Video Marketing “Real Estate”, your channel and video branding should match your main branding if possible. Make your videos brief, content rich and informative for the viewer. Mix your videos with short punchy 30 to 60 second “teasers” and also demonstrations or product/service review videos Upload videos of your business, management and staff etc. People like to buy from people, show them you’re human. Encourage your friends/followers to engage and post feedback and comments on your videos, this adds to the “social proof” and builds credibility. Comment on others videos, be positive NEVER negative Make friends and network. Measure your results, continue to test and tweak.
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Branding – What to do
Take your time to decide on the RIGHT brand for your online presence – What will the brand portray, what message, value proposition, recognisable features and how will this be positioned/perceived in the marketplace? Write down what you DO NOT want to be recognised for as well as what YOU DO want to be recognised for. How are your competitors positioning themselves; what is it you like about their choice of logo’s, colours and words used in their branding; how can you improve on these and differentiate your brand from the masses? Once you have decided on your brand action this across everything you do online and offline. Use your logo, strap-line, mission statement; buzz words on your letterheads, invoices and of course business cards and sales materials. Your brand you be instantly recognizable in your marketplace. Begin promoting your brand using the online methods above and also in your offline activities. Monitor all feedback regarding your brand, test and tweak accordingly.
Branding works to cement your position in your market online and offline and it’s not just visual branding such as logo’s and images etc. What’s your strap-line/slogan? See if you can guess these: “Think Different” – “Reach Out and Touch Someone” – “Don’t Leave Home Without It” – “The Ultimate Driving Machine” – “More Customers the SMART Way” –
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PR – What to do
Establish the objectives of each PR campaign. Decide your target audience and choose the RIGHT message to attract them. Press Release sites – They love fresh content and so do the search engines. Create your content ensuring you have optimised your Press Release by including your chosen “keywords” in the title of the Press Release, the H1 tags (if allowed) and throughout the body of the release. Also, where allowed, use “anchor text” with your keywords hyperlinked back to your site, page or post. Create a compelling “author” box and site profile. When you sign up for an online press releases site, take those extra few minutes and complete both the profile and author bio. These two areas can make a massive difference to the success of all your on-going press release campaigns. Make sure you have related content NOT just words. People like to be entertained, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. Again ensure your image “alt text” contains your keywords. Research your competition, find out what they are talking about and sharing with your customers and potential customers. Remember this, “facts tell but stories sell”. Keep your releases informative, this is not the place to write detailed product specification document. This is about the “birth of your baby”. Don’t forget your audience, it’s about them and they want to know “what’s in it for me?”
Next Steps… Contact us today [email protected] or submit your details at http://www.wepromoteyouonline.com/contact-us/ and one of our account managers will contact you discuss your own personal requirements and together you can choose the best plan to suit your needs and budget. Thank you
We Promote You Online Ltd.
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Don’t forget to complete our enquiry form at
http://www.wepromoteyouonline.com so we can assist you to finally dominate your marketplace online. The work you have done improving our online/web profile has been invaluable. As a group of musicians, we only just managed to get our act together to organise a functioning website, but with your help, we are clearly visible on the major search engines, and can already see the increase in our bookings and revenue. Many, many thanks! I would sincerely recommend your services to anyone (except maybe our competitors!), so please use any of this as testimonial. We also really do appreciate the work you’ve done for us. David and Allan Apollo String Quartet.
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