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Essential Online Marketing Tips All Business Owners Must Know

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You’ve had an excellent idea for a small business and you want to get it off the ground before anyone else can take it off the market. While there are no set rules to establishing your own business, most will agree that getting noticed is the first step towards success.

The internet has made it possible for small business owners to promote their startups at a minimal cost, but this comes with its own set of problems; how do you make your small business stand out from all the other startups out there.

Whether your business is conducted solely online, or you just have a company website, here are some online marketing tips that can help you significantly boost your internet traffic and get your small business noticed by millions of potential customers.

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Build a website

The first thing any startup company should do is build a website to advertise their knowledge and services to potentially interested parties. A website is the most simple way to let your target audience know who you are, what services you are offering, and how to get in touch with you.

Posting blogs on your website on a regular basis (daily, weekly, or fortnightly) will slowly build up a following and allow you to demonstrate your knowledge of your industry. The best use of your blog is to promote yourself as an expert in your field, showing people that you know more than your competition.

You can also use your website to open up a dialogue between yourself and your readers; respond to their comments on your post, or write an article centred around their frequently asked questions.

Optimize your SEO

Since your website is usually the first point of contact for your business, you need to make sure people can easily find it. In fact, most internet marketing companies, such as Excelsior Internet Marketing, would recommend that perfecting your SEO should be your first step.

Submit the URL to popular search engines, such as Google and Bing, to improve your SEO and help you generate more website traffic. Google suggests using keywords in the URL, making the site navigation easy, and avoiding long URLs as much as possible. Google also uses links and backlinks to determine successful websites; if many reputable sites link back to your blog, it is an indication of good quality.

Google Analytics can help you measure your website’s performance so you can adjust your marketing strategy as needed.

Make your website mobile friendly

Smartphones and mobile devices are incredibly convenient, and most people browse the internet when they’re out and about. A successful marketing strategy would take advantage of this; drive up your website traffic by making a mobile friendly version of your site. By doing this, you can ensure that your customers stay updated even on their morning commute, during their lunch break, and on the long bus ride home.

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Choose your social media platform carefully

Truly efficient marketing starts on social media, as it can generate almost double the marketing leads of telemarketing, trade shows, and email correspondence. Social media platforms provide free advertising and are a convenient way to connect with your customers and business contacts, However, you don’t necessarily have to advertise on every platform in existence. If your target audience are mostly entrepreneurs and businesspeople, then LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook likely to be the platforms they use most. On the other hand, if you’re offering visual services, or products like crafts and DIY, then you might find more customers on Pinterest or Instagram instead of LinkedIn.

Social media can be overwhelming, so you’ll be more productive if you’re only posting content to one or two sites. You need to post content frequently, but make sure it’s always relevant to your audience.

Advertise on social media

In addition to promoting your products and services on social media, you should also advertise on these platforms. People spend an average of 35 minutes a day on Facebook; that means there are 35 minutes in each day where you could build a relationship with millions of people by sharing content that is relevant to their needs and interests.

Any advert you place on Facebook will be difficult to ignore because it will appear directly into the newsfeed of any person who has shown an interest in your industry.

Use Email Marketing

Internet marketing is critical since it brings more quality visitors to your website. As a result, you reach a more significant number of prospects interested in your company. In addition, the ability to target certain leads enables you to attract customers interested in your business.

While social media is speedy and widespread, it has not yet rendered emails obsolete. The majority lack the time necessary to read a long blog article. On the other hand, a quick email blast may provide them with all the highlights and allow them to peruse the website at their leisure.

Maintain contact with loyal subscribers by persuading them to join an email list. As long as you do not inundate your clients with emails, this is an efficient method of increasing traffic. Additionally, you may reward subscribers by providing them with an exclusive first peek at company updates or first dibs on limited-time deals.

Email marketing becomes more successful when combined with social media. For instance, you might host a social media platform contest and invite participants to enter by subscribing to your email list. You can Read More on utilizing online marketing, such as Use SMS Text Marketing for your business success.

 

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Encourage word of mouth promotion

Social media and online searches fail in only one aspect; your potential customers have to be looking for your service in order to find it. Imagine how many potential customers out there have no idea that your business exists because they currently don’t know they need your services. That’s where word of mouth comes into play.

Satisfied customers can’t help but rave about good products and services. When the tell their friends and family, you will have more new customers. In turn, these new customers will rave to their friends and family, and so on.

If your business is going to be reliant on word of mouth to get off the ground, then it would greatly benefit you to use this positive feedback by including customer testimonials on your website. Honest words from others help make your products or services more tangible to customers who are visiting you online, and help your potential customers to build trust in you, especially if you are new. More importantly, they help shoppers to confirm whether your product or services meet their needs. You could even encourage positive feedback from your customers by rewarding them with discounts for any new customers they refer to your business.

Make your content easy to share

Sharing content on social media is the digital equivalent of word of mouth promotion. If you make your content easy for other people to share on their social media platforms, you’ll have an increase in web traffic, and possibly more customers.

As with word of mouth, you can reward referrals with discounts and special offers.

Conduct a webinar

One of the benefits of a business website is that it allows you to establish yourself as an expert in your industry. You can further cement this image by hosting a webinar on your site.

If you advertise it well enough in advance, a webinar can bring your current customers together, as well as gain the interest of some new clients.

More importantly for you, the webinar is a chance to showcase your business to an interested party, and demonstrate the range of products and services you have on offer. Because a webinar is more interactive, you can answer questions live, provide examples of your services, and maybe even learn who might be open to working with you one day.

If you don’t have the tools to host a webinar, you could also use Facebook live, or host a Twitter Q&A.

Keep an eye on your competition

Obviously, you are not the only one marketing their business online, nor are you the sole provider within your industry.

You cannot do much to stop your competitors from conducting their business, but you can do your research and make sure you’re doing ten times better than they are.

Are they posting as often as you are? Does that seem to be generating more internet traffic? What are they doing right?

There is nothing wrong with some healthy competition, but it can also benefit you to learn from people who are doing well in their own business.

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Regularly update your marketing strategy

A marketing strategy is only good as long as it’s working. After a while, things can get stale and your website traffic can drop as a result. Make sure you regularly review your marketing strategy and update it as needed.

Does your website need a makeover? Are there other ways you could stay in touch with your customers? Can you afford to do a seasonal promotion? By constantly questioning the effectiveness of your company, you can come up with new ideas to keep your business interesting. It also helps to stay on top of industry developments.

If any new technology comes along that could make it easier to reach new customers, be sure to take advantage.

When Business Bites Back

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Sometimes, it can feel like your business is fighting back against you. It’s like struggling to tame a wild beast that keeps pulling on the reins. If you’re not careful, you will lose control completely, and your business will become a disaster zone. To avoid this, we need to think about the issues you could encounter in your company, how to deal with them and what they could mean.

You might think that tech has solved a lot of the dangers in business. But as you’re about to discover it’s really only made matters worse.

Tech Terrors

If you are running a business, you should be storing sensitive and important data files on the computer or the cloud server. This is a smart decision as experts generally agree it’s the securest form of storage on the market. Certainly, it’s a lot better than having hard files that anyone could swipe from your company. Or, that could be lost in an event like a fire.

But tech is not completely foolproof, and it can cause issues of its own. For instance, you might find that the tech in your company breaks down. At that point, you could lose all the important files and data you need to keep your company running. Not to mention any sensitive customer data that could impact your clients.

Luckily, there is an answer to this, and that’s to use a backup server. With a proper IT support and consulting service, you can make sure that you have a complete backup of your computer systems. That means if one system crashes you will be able to rely on the other. This is also useful if your business suffers a hack.

Legal Lows

You may find that the issue in your company is a legal one. It’s possible that your business is hit by a lawsuit and this can be a nasty shock for company owners who weren’t prepared. Lawsuits can come from anywhere but are more often than not a result of action by an employee. Personal injury lawsuits are some of the most common claims. Protecting your business from this is about making sure that you have the right legal info. It’s best to invest in the services of a legal advisor who can tell you everything you need to know.

As well as this, you need to make sure you have the right insurance coverage in place. This will help you deal with the financial issues of a lawsuit against your company.

Killer Clients

Finally, you might have issues with clients and customers. Believe it or not, your customers hold the key to killing your business stone dead. You might have noticed that business owners these days are particularly cautious of complaints on social media. You might think they’re being over cautious, but they’re not. They know that well over eighty percent of customers rely on online reviews when deciding to make a purchase. On top of this, they understand how fast bad word of mouth can spread. That’s why you must always work to keep customers happy and feeling appreciated. If they do have an issue, handle it immediately or risk the wrath they could bring on your business.

The Secrets Of A Productive Business

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In terms of time that you need to organise yourself, your staff and a successful business, it can seem like you barely have any to work with at all. The saying goes that we’ve got the same amount of time in the day as (insert extremely successful person here), yet surely we cannot be doing everything ourselves in order to propel ourselves forwards. So what are the secrets of those who are managing to get everything done? Don’t panic – it’s not all as mysterious and time-consuming as it may seem.

Pssttt … It’s Not Just Them.

There are people in this world who are super-productive. But to truly succeed, they need a firm foundation of people who are willing to help them achieve what they want and need to achieve. It’s a case that is first rooted in education. Those who are given the privilege of succeeding are more likely to go further than those who put the work in. It’s unfair, but unfortunately a fact of life. To truly succeed in the business world, you need to be able to pass your work over to those who are more able.

How Do I Find The More Able?

You think outside of the box. Don’t just look towards humans – look towards technology, too. The computers that are able to process things a thousand times faster than we ourselves are able to. The apps that can help us out with simple things that take way longer for humans to complete. For example, investing in real-time ID scanning and ID authentication rather than having clients visit you or having to take time out of their schedule to go one step further in validating their existence will save not just you the hassle, but your customers too. This is beneficial to the both of you. It’ll keep your customers coming back.

So What Happens After That?

Keep the simplicity coming. Delegate the jobs that need delegating, whether to human or computer. Focus on your own management issues and stylings and think about whether these need working on. This is something that technology definitely can’t help out with. There are resources online to let you know what you should be doing to keep your team happy, if you have one, or what you need to do to increase productivity/effectiveness of your staff, but it’s more a case of trying and testing these theories. Everybody is different, and that goes for not just you but your staff as well.  Especially in terms of project management, certain tactics work well in some situations but not so much in others. It’s a way of being able to move forward and get more stuff done in the time that you have given to it. Setting yourself limits on the time that you have can definitely aid you in regards to getting a set amount of work done in a set amount of time, but it’s more about recognising the impact of said work and how much it positively impacts your business.

Staying Mobile – Advice For Running A Company On The Move

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Many people start online businesses these days. That allows you to stay mobile and travel around the country or the world while you make money. Of course, there are issues that can arise when you don’t work from a fixed address. You’ll find some excellent tips and tricks on this page that should help you to avoid any problems. At the end of the day, you just need to make sure you can access information, accept payments, and converse with customers. Don’t worry too much about the costs involved because prices have come down a lot during the last few years. If you’re smart, you can do all that without spending a fortune or breaking the bank,

Ensure you have mobile payment solutions

There is no getting away from the fact that you will require a mobile payment processor if you plan to travel. You never know when you might meet someone and sell a product or service. So, you need a tool that will facilitate those transactions. Thankfully, there are many solutions available on the market today. So, you just have to research the most popular ones and make an assessment. Also, those packages will enable you to accept payments via the telephone regardless of where you are in the world. In most instances, you will pay a monthly fee for the service. Some providers will also take a commission from your transactions. However, that’s nearly always lower than 2%.

Store all important documents in the cloud

You never know when you will need to access important documents and files. While you can keep some of them on your laptop, you don’t want to clog it up. So, it makes sense to invest in a high-end cloud storage solution. You can then access everything you might require with the click of a button. You just need a WiFi connection and the passwords to gain entry. That should mean you never arrive for a meeting unprepared again. If you forget something, you can get it up on your screen in a matter of seconds. Best of all? Cloud storage providers spend millions on creating the most secure systems possible. That means you don’t have to worry about hackers stealing your information.

Use online live chat to communicate with customers

There will come the point when you need to talk to customers and clients. Perhaps they have a complaint or issue? Maybe they want to ask questions about a new product or service? Either way, online live chat solutions are the answer. There are many different platforms available on the market right now. In most instances, you just need to ask your web developers to add the feature to your website. That way, any visitors can contact you in real time. That should mean you don’t miss out on any sales because they won’t look at alternative sellers. If you can deal with their issue fast, the chances of them spending money will increase.

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You should now have all the information you need to make a success of your mobile business. The internet means anyone can start a company without requiring a physical address. It’s a fantastic revelation for those who enjoy more freedom in their lives. So, make sure you put that information to good use and leave no stone unturned. Good luck with that!

Tech Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself! 3 Reasons To Upgrade Your Systems

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Blink, and you’ll be due another tech upgrade! As time moves on we constantly need to get the latest tech and systems to ensure that our business moves with the times, but do we need to keep updating our machinery? In fact, do we even need to upgrade at all? Well, yes. And here are some reasons your tech is very likely due an upgrade.

Your Customers

If you think that you have a dedicated customer base that won’t waiver, then you have another thing coming! Your customers need to be at the forefront of your mind when you are communicating with them, and if they have moved onto more sophisticated methods of payment, from contactless to bitcoin, and if you haven’t changed with them they are going to leave you behind. Having a dedicated core of customers is what every business thinks it has, but if you can’t keep up with the times, it’s not going to help you retain them. Increase your methods of payment, and how you communicate with your customers, from follow-up emails to customer satisfaction surveys and even courtesy calls. It’s these little touches that will keep you in their mind when they are looking for somewhere to get their next product.

Your Platforms

Every online platform is developing at the speed of light, and if you aren’t covering your standard social media bases, then you have to make sure that your website is as good as it is going to be. The importance of the platforms you need to operate on will get you the most amount of coverage, and if you plan on pushing your company further when it comes to your target markets, you need to make sure your servers and equipment can cope with the strain. Using companies like ATB Technologies can help you to overcome teething issues if you are a small business with big ideas. As the scope of the company increases, the tech should grow to match it.

Your Carbon Footprint   

If you are using tech that has the power of an etch-a-sketch, then it may not be just draining your electric, but it may also be giving you a massive carbon footprint. Upgrading your tech to things like cloud-based operating systems and computers that automatically power down when they are not being used means a cheaper electric bill and a big reduction in the amount of waste your company is generating. If you still have to print out loads of paper, making the switch to tablet devices for every staff member means much less wastage. And connecting tablets to a cloud network means increased connectivity between the staff which will increase things like collaboration, but it can also help staff members to keep in the loop if they work from home.

Your tech impacts your business in so many ways, from the productivity to the marketing, so you owe it to your company to make sure it runs on the best tech you can afford; this especially applies if you are still using dial-up!