by KevinPosted on Posted in Content, Marketing, Mobile Advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Video, Web Statistics — No Comments ↓

monitor-1307227_960_720Did you just launch a new website? Is your business looking for ways to increase website traffic? Is your website traffic down? Does your website make your business money?

If you have a website, your business is ahead of the game. According to Clutch, 46 percent of U.S. small businesses still don’t have a website for their company.

Now that you have a website, it is time to increase the website traffic. Look at your website analytics, this will give your business a baseline of the current traffic. Website traffic plays an import role on whether your business can survive. More traffic to your website provides more opportunities for your business to turn visitors into paying customers. Below are successful ways to increase the amount of traffic that you are getting to your website.

1. Content is key in increasing traffic. Create interesting, informative, as well as engaging content. By developing well written content, your business organically can attract customers to your website. Utilize videos,podcasts and ebooks,create opportunities for your business to capture new audiences.
2. Develop a blog. Search engines love fresh content.
3. Make sure your website is responsive. This will ensure that your website is accessible across a range of devices, including smaller smartphones.
4. Share your blog content using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google +,Instagram, Linkedin and Pinterest. Aim to share your content the right way so that you get the highest increase in traffic.
5. Incorporate webinars in your marketing. People love to learn, and webinars are an excellent way to share your wisdom to your eagerly waiting audience.
6. Implement a SEO program. Get listed in directories.
7. Develop digital ads
8. Email marketing campaigns
9. Use a reputation management platform
10.Review the analytics on your website to identify the content that works and the content that needs improvement.

Therefore, follow the suggestions that I provided to increase traffic to your website.

Tagged with:

by KevinPosted on Posted in Marketing — No Comments ↓

google-76517_960_720As we mentioned in our blog entries, online reputation plays an integral role in whether consumers do business with you. Consumers tend to assume that the content is fake when all reviews are postiive. Google reviews can have a significant impact on the average small business owner’s online reputation and overall business. All reviews must be unbiased. Negative reviews provide insights into problems with your products. Pay attention to customer feedback. It offers an opportunity to respond and fix problems from your dissatisfied customers.

There are some reviews that are questionable that need to be flagged. A negative review does not automatically qualify the review as fake. Having questionable reviews that do not accurately reflect the business removed is essential. Questionable reviews on Google my Business can be removed if the removed if in violation of Google’s Policy. Content that violates their policies can be removed from Maps listings on Google. Below are examples of content that violates the policy of Google:

1. Advertising: Reviews that directly advertise something else (adding links to other websites or phone numbers).
2. Spam: Promotional/Commercial content, reviewers posting the same content multiple times.
3. Off-Topic Reviews: Posts based of someone else’s experience, or that aren’t about the specific place being reviewed.
4. Keeping it Clean: Obscene, profane or otherwise offensive language. Personal attacks on others can also be considered in violation of this policy.
5. Conflict of Interest: Anyone accepting money to leave a review or a review written by a competitor.
6. Hate Speech: Reviews that advocate against people based on their race, religion, disability, gender, age, sexual orientation, veteran status or gender identity.

To flag a questionable review, you need the gmail address and password used to set up the Google My Business Page. Once logged in, find the review, click the flag icon and click submit. This will lead to Google reviewing it. In conclusion, the process can take several days for Google to review it. Furthermore, this is significant in maintaining a strong reputation.

Tagged with: , , ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Marketing — No Comments ↓

office-3295556_960_720Because of having access to so much choice, customer satisfaction is more integral than ever before. Customer retention is significant for online business. Customers become loyal to your brand because of them loving your product. According to Invesp Consulting, existing customers are 50% more likely to try new products. In addition, existing customers spend 31 percent more compared to new customers.

Loyalty program is integral for repeat business. Make your loyal customers feel appreciated with a loyalty program. It encourages them to buy from your business and become a repeat buyers. A Wunderman study reported that 56% of respondents said they feel more loyal to brands who get me and show a deep understanding of their priorities and preferences. Also, 89% are loyal to brands that share their values. Customers remember their experience with a brand.

Companies develop customer loyalty by making customers’ lives easier by solving customers’ problems and soothing the pain. In addition, make sure the experience is valuable. In developing a loyalty program, make sure that the website or mobile app has a consistent experience for the customer. Furthermore, implement technology to customize and enhance the loyalty experience. Moreover, continue to provide the specific products and services that you know your customers love.

Tagged with:

by KevinPosted on Posted in Marketing — No Comments ↓

education-1651259_960_720 Businesses who decide to invest in the buyer’s journey are the most successful. Focus on the decision journey where they can be most successful in influencing those decision makers.

Become a trusted source of information. By being a trusted advisor, visitors will come to your business and turn to your business when it comes time to buy. By establishing yourself as an expert in the field, you become a trusted advisor. That is where the buyer’s journey comes into play. Customer journey is a process in which customers learn, encounter, and interact with your brand. The buyer’s journey involves the active research process a buyer goes through when purchasing a product or service. Engage customers with compelling content. Build your business by using an effective marketing strategy.

There are various stages that a buyer will take before purchasing. As a business, your goal is to help the buyer identify their problem. The first one is learning. The buyer recognizes they are experiencing pain that needs to be solved so they begin to search for a solution. Visitors start out needing to learn more about what your business sells before the visitor considers a purchase. At this stage, the visitors learn about your products. Educate the user and create content that solves their problem. You can have white papers and educational blog posts at the learning stage.

This will move them into the next stage the shop stage. In the shop stages users know precisely what kind of product they want to buy. The buyer explores different solutions. Provide content that highlights the different products or services your company offers. Use customer testimonials, videos highlighting your products or services.

The important money stage is the buy stage. The buyer looks at the solution that they have identified and justifies a purchase decision. Content offers at this stage could include product comparisons, and case studies. Your website needs to convert the most valuable searchers. The visitors that are searching with phrases which indicate they are ready to buy.

The use stage comes next. Create a video show how easy it is to use the product. You can also write an article about the easiness of your product. Furthermore, keep these tips in mind and develop a strategy that leads to high conversions.

Tagged with: , ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Marketing — No Comments ↓

woman-1169324_960_720 A report by US Bank states that 82 percent of small businesses fail because of poor cash flow management. Businesses need the right pricing strategy to not become a failure statistic. In order to set a price for your product, you have to know the costs of running your business. To figure out the costs to run your business, include property,rent, equipment leases, loan repayments, inventory, utilities, financing costs, salaries,wages,commissions and so on. If your expenses exceed your cash, then you have a cash flow problem.

A business should have a revenue target. The profit you want your business to make. For the revenue target, factor in your costs for producing, marketing, and selling your product. Also, you can determine the price per product that you want to charge.

Pricing is crucial to your business. Know your value based on experience that produced results for your clients. Figure out what the competition charges. Know the market. Come up with a unique value proposition. Price segmentation also comes in play in determining pricing. A company estimates a buyer’s willingness to pay and does its best to charge as close to that as possible. Price segmention examples include: price by region, time, buying patterns, a job’s turn-around time and specific customer needs. Have a product portfolio. Develop multiple versions of your product. This strategy will increase revenue from your market. Otherwise, you become a commodity and your product is based on price. Furthermore, learn how to price or your business will have cash flow problems.

Tagged with:

by KevinPosted on Posted in Marketing — No Comments ↓

tv-channel-3413659_960_720

Are you struggling to generate leads? Do you have a leads strategy? Are your sales down?

Business growth can be challenging and is a long-term process. Sales are the key of every business staying in business. Knowing how to generate and track sales is significant for a growing company. According to Hubspot, 74 percent of companies that weren’t exceeding revenue goals did not know their visitor, lead or sales opportunities. To survive, businesses constantly need to come up with new revenue streams. Acquiring clients and generating new leads is vital to the growth and stability of any business. Generating high-quality leads that convert to customers is integral.

Strategies to generate leads include:

1. Develop a website. The key is to attract visitors to your website and encourage the visitors to provide personal information. By providing the solution to a problem that the prospect has, it will lead to the prospect becoming a potential customer.
2. Develop a landing page. Landing pages are an effective lead generating and marketing tool.
3. Improve the search engine optimization of your website.
4. Utilize a blog. Search engines love new content and a blog brands your business.
5. Social media is becoming essential to building relationships with prospects and customers.
6. Mobile friendly website. A study by Pew Research Center reports that over three-quarters of all Americans 18 and older now own a smartphone.
7. Digital Ads has a visual appeal that grabs attention and increases exposure.
8. Video can boost your conversions. Forbes states that 59% of executives say they prefer video to text.
9. Video ads can be used to generate traffic to your website.
10. Create a lead magnet. A lead magnet provides a website visitor some relevant value in exchange for their contact information.
11 Email Newsletters
12. Use a reputation management platform. Reviews influence buyers decisions. Visitors read testimonials.
13. Develop a Mobile App. A Gallup poll reports that almost 90 percent of mobile phone time is devoted to using apps.

Furthermore, every company needs to drive leads. Therefore, using the proven strategies that I referenced can drive leads and generate more customers.

Tagged with: ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Email — No Comments ↓

hacker-3342696_960_720

Take precautions and be careful with your email account. Install operating system and other software patches as soon as they become available. Only use secure Wi-Fi connections. Use antimalware and antivirius software. Have strong passwords and change regularly. If possible, use two factor authentication. Before downloading a application, be sure it is from a well-known site that you can trust

Hackers are looking to exploit vulnerabilities and human errors. Hackers are searching for ways to steal email addresses, passwords, credit card details, and other sensitive information. Clicking on a link or opening an attachment from an unknown sender can install malware, viruses, spyware, or ransomware, on your device. According to the Best VPN, emails are increasingly used by hackers. The Best VPN report states that one in every 131 emails contain a malware, which is the highest rate in about five years.

In a case that your email account got compromised, immediately change your email password. Make the password stronger by adding capital letters,sprinkle in numbers and punctuation marks. Notify your contacts. Send an email alert message to your contacts that your email has been hacked. Tell them to ignore any suspicious messages coming from you. Warn them about clicking on sent links as well. Tell them that you will let them know when you have resolved the issue. Run malwarebytes and hitmanpro to remove the malware. Review your personal email settings. Check your signature block to make sure the hacker did not put any links. Check your email folders. Moreover, follow these steps to remove malware.

Tagged with: ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Security — No Comments ↓

cloud-3406627_960_720

Companies need to put security on their strategic agendas in conjunction with revenue growth. According to Verizon’s 2015 PCI Compliance Report, nearly 80 percent of all businesses fail their interim PCI compliance assessment, which leaves the businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks. Until executives start listening to their security experts there will continue to be big breaches. Executives need to rank security at the same level as their profit margins. If your company’s data is breached, your customers could be vulnerable and your company could be held liable. The higher ups need budgets to implement PCI compliance.

For those companies that store customer credit cards, it is recommended to be PCI compliant. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure companies accepting, processing, storing and transmitting credit card information maintain security. Companies that accept card payment,store, process and transmit cardholder data need to host with a PCI compliant hosting provider.

Businesses that do not comply with PCI standards are at risk for data breaches, fines, card replacement costs. In addition, costly audits, investigations into your business as well as brand damage. Because of the data breach, banks can terminate their relationship with the merchant or increase per-transaction processing fees. In addition, banks may require the merchant to pay for the replacement of the compromised credit cards. Therefore, do not jeopardize the private information of millions of customers by not being PCI compliant.

Tagged with: , , , ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Search Engine Optimization — No Comments ↓

google-76517_960_720

For the past year, we have been receiving robocalls daily from a recorded message claiming that our Google Business Listing may not be claimed or verified. As a marketer, we immediately knew that the call was a scam. We have set up hundreds of Google my business pages for our customers.

Google will not call your business to verify your listing. These businesses calling you are not from Google. They are unethical marketers trying to sell you marketing plans for verification packages. Hang up the phone. Never give your password and verification code information to anyone who calls you. Google will never need and ask for this information. In addition, Google will not offer to improve your search ranking or manage your business’s online profile. Do not press buttons to talk to a live person. Doing so will lead to more unwanted calls. If you have not signed up for the do not call list, visit www.donotcall.gov and sign up. If you register and after 31 days you still receive telemarketing calls, file a complaint with the FTC at complaints.donotcall.gov.

If you do not have a Google My Business page, your business will need to create one from scratch. When you submit your business information to Google My Business, Google will send your business a postcard in the mail to your business mailing address to complete the verification. To verify your business Google my business page, you will need to login with the gmail address, password used to create your Google My Business page and enter the pincode on the postcard sent from Google. Once you have a valid business and you verified it on Google, your listing will be live in 3 business days. Therefore, be on alert for unethical marketers, do not disclose your password and verification code.

Tagged with: , , ,

by KevinPosted on Posted in Search Engine Optimization — No Comments ↓

search-engine-optimization-1359429_960_720Can your company afford $75,000 per year plus benefits to hire a good SEO person in house totaling $90,000 per year? Does your company have the skilled staff to do SEO? Would your company rather outsource to a SEO company and spend $4,000 to $6,000 per month?

Search engine optimization is a significant part of website marketing strategy. It helps your business get found on the web. SEO involves creating compelling content for the web user. It also involves developing link worthy content and link building strategy. In addition, your company needs the right keyword research strategy.

If hiring in house for SEO is priced out of your budget, the best option is outsourcing the SEO work. Training your staff to become good at SEO is time consuming and costly. If your staff does not have the qualifications, education and expertise to do SEO, outsourcing SEO is the proper channel. The advantage to outsourcing SEO is the skill and expertise that your business receives. Algorithms are continously changing and SEO agencies have the talent to keep up with these changes. Moreover, focus on your core business and outsource your SEO to an expert.

Tagged with: , ,