small business marketing

Small Business Marketing: It’s Not About You!

October 12, 2009 by Shari Voigt Leave a Comment

It’s so easy and dangerous to get caught up in and pulled into a small, confining box by the thing you sell. Your product, your service, your place. Easy to forget how little anybody cares about that, when you care about it so much.” ~ No B.S. Insider’s Connection, September 2009 Edition

It’s no secret that we no longer do business the same way. Price comparisons are easy on the Internet. It’s where we do our research before making the purchase. Price drives customer choice, making yesteryear’s value proposition irrelevant. Yes, thanks to the Internet and intense competition from previous non-contenders, many products and services have become commodities. This changes everything. [Read more…] about Small Business Marketing: It’s Not About You!

Clean Up Your List

September 30, 2009 by Susan Hamilton Leave a Comment

Clean Up Your List!

How many times have you received the neighbor’s mail, or direct mail advertisements that had absolutely nothing to do with your life? With mail so easy to get wrong, why not make sure your direct mail campaign hits the nail on the head? It’s time to clean up your list.

You may think it doesn’t matter so much, after all, how much direct mail comes to ‘Occupant,’ anyway? Depending on your market, it may not matter at all. But I would be willing to bet you that your campaign would fare much better if you knew that what you were promoting was going to people who could actually use your promotion.

Take a good look at your holiday promotion lists, and start vetting:

Businesses no longer operating

Names and addresses that have not responded in the last 4 promotions

Direct competition (I mean, why bother spending money on them?)

Replace those with:

New businesses in the same area

New addresses that didn’t exist before due to construction

Customers you know you can serve. Ask yourself who you’ve thought about including but have neglected to reach.

Now go forward and let the world know what you do is important to them, and that you’ve got them on your mind this holiday season. Happy Holidays!

How many times have you received the neighbor’s mail, or direct mail advertisements that had absolutely nothing to do with your interests or needs? With mail so easy to get wrong, why not make sure your direct mail campaign hits the nail on the head? It’s time to clean up your list.

[Read more…] about Clean Up Your List

Have You Claimed Your Google Local Business Listing?

September 22, 2009 by Shari Voigt Leave a Comment

Does your business location show up on Google Maps? If so, are you fully taking advantage of it?

First, let’s find out if you have an accurate listing. Go to http://maps.google.com and search using your business name. Not there? Just add your business directly through the Local Business Center.

If you find your business, review your listing. Clicking on the name of your business will bring up a white information bubble with a “Claim your business” link or if you’ve already taken that step, an “edit” link.

Once you’ve claimed your business listing, Google will verify that you’re the business owner by phone (immediately – an automated call) or you can choose to have them mail you a postcard. We’ve done it both ways, but the phone call route allows you to get it done all in one sitting. Once this step is complete, you’ll be able to log-in and optimize your local business listing. [Read more…] about Have You Claimed Your Google Local Business Listing?

Staycation – Have Fun and Boost Your Local Economy

September 15, 2009 by Shari Voigt 1 Comment

This past week my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. We had hoped to “go someplace special” and we did … we did the tourist thing from home. Nearly every day had a new destination within driving distance and every evening we were back in our comfortable bed. Our staycation was inexpensive, educational, quite relaxing and a lot of fun. [Read more…] about Staycation – Have Fun and Boost Your Local Economy

Where Are Keywords Most Effective? PT 5

September 8, 2009 by Susan Hamilton Leave a Comment

I gave away a little of today’s post in my last one when I addressed how to use keywords. Remember, I asked you if you could:

Use them effectively in your H1, or header title.

Use them in your H2, or header for a bullet or numbered list.

Use them in the body of your short, opening paragraph.

That’s a start. Choosing one keyword, and using it like I showed you in my last post is very important. Using too many keywords can often take away from the quality writing you want to share with your readers. That one primary keyword should be used as described above, and it should be used in the opening lines of text under your title.

More Keyword Effectiveness

Another important placement of your primary keyword is in the anchor text of a link. Here’s why:

The anchor text, or the different colored wording used when linking, provided the links connect (and you must always check), adds good authority.

Anchor text used for linking outbound to another, possibly higher ranking site, may naturally turn into an inbound link once a relationship between authors is established. Keyword-rich anchor text coming in on an inbound link is good for authority.

Anchor text using effective keywords for your internal linking between pages of your website is also good for your reader, and by default, you.

Posting comments on relevant blogs and forums will also bring links in from other sites, so you want to include good keyword-rich anchor text when you leave them.

You’re not completely limited to one keyword for all your content. If used too frequently, you can actually hurt your site, not help it. Shoot for using your primary keyword naturally 2-3 times on a page in the places we’ve talked about. Then, go back and see if another word or phrase that you’ve researched can be used as a subordinate, worked into the text of your content. Don’t use it more than a few times.

It’s imperative that you write for your readership; your potential customers, your existing customers, and others, such as information gatherers and peers in your business to business relationships. If you can do this fluidly, and maintain the quality of your content, you’ve got the basics of a recipe for success.

One more thing as I wrap up this series. Be a good steward of your site. Make sure to reply to comments and return links to readers who have helped you link. It’s not going to hurt your company to complement or agree with a competitor’s comments or product lines, and doing so can actually be helpful for more than just linking. Once relationships are built, and that takes some time, you may very well find yourself in a situation where you may be offered extra work. Sometimes a company finds it better to send extra work to someone they trust than to risk turning down work with no alternative for their customer. That could only be possible with effective link strategies.

We’d love to hear from you. Be sure to leave your comments or questions with a link to your company along with your name below. Here’s to your small business success!

I gave away a little of today’s post in my last one, where I addressed how to use keywords. Remember, I asked you if you could:

Use them effectively in your H1, or header title.
Use them in your H2, or header for a bullet or numbered list.
Use them in the body of your short, opening paragraph.

That’s a start. Choosing one keyword, and using it like I showed you in Part 4 is very important. Using too many keywords can often take away from the quality writing you want to share with your readers. That one primary keyword should be used as described above, and it should be used in the opening lines of text under your title. [Read more…] about Where Are Keywords Most Effective? PT 5

How Do We Use Those Keywords? PT4

September 1, 2009 by Susan Hamilton 2 Comments

Now its time to put forth a little effort. I’m going to ask you my favorite question:

What do you have to say to your customers, viewers, and peers?

Notice I never asked you what you had to say to a search engine. Your content is king, and if you ever start filling your web pages, press releases, articles, and blogs with randomly placed keywords, they will no longer be keywords. They will then be useless, lifeless gobbledygook that will only make you look uneducated, and there’s absolutely no authority in that.