Last year Michael Bissett and I gave a series of lectures on how the Internet can work for small business at the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce office. The attached pdf is on how blogging can help your business talk with your customers. I hope it helps.
Tag: web
Internet Marketing: How the pieces fit together
Imagine the pieces of the Internet as a series of gears and cogs in a complex and constantly turning engine. Now imagine that the largest, most powerful gear in the engine is your website. What do we find there?
Imagine the pieces of the Internet as a series of
gears and cogs in a complex and constantly
turning engine.
Now imagine that the largest,
most powerful gear in the engine is your
website.
What do we find there?
What we should find…is Content:
• Information that tells your customer how your product or service helps them solve a problem or fulfill a need
• This is where you sell yourself to the public. This is your message.
• Despite how important your offerings may be to your audience, they won’t be likely to find your content unless you mesh the gears of your website with other channels of communication.
Blogs
• This is where you show off your expertise.
• Show people that you’re the “Subject Matter Expert”.
• Blogging sites include: BlogSpot, blogger & more.
• 250 million bloggers post on-line regularly
Social Media
• Where you create and build relationships
Popular Sites:
• Foursquare
• YouTube
Newsletters
• Where you tell your customers about new things happening within the company
• Provide little tidbits on how to use your product or services,
• Or write anything else you think they want to hear about.
Popular Email sites:
• Vertical Response
• Constant Contact
• Mail Chimp
Articles and PR Releases
• Another great way to let people know that you’re relevant and continue to add value to your offerings.
• Google has new restrictions on re-using content
Article Sites:
• Ezine
• Squidoo
Video
• The next best thing to a personal meeting.
• If a picture is worth a thousand words,
• Then video is far more valuable than static text on a web page.
• Why tell when you can show?
Popular Video hosting sites
• YouTube
• MetaCafe
• Hula
• Daily Motion
SEO
• Search engine optimization
• Makes your website rank more highly for the content your audience is searching for.
• Targeted Keywords your audience will use to find you.
• Backlinks from other relevant websites
• It takes more than keywords to reach page one ranking.
SEM/PPC
• Search Engine Marketing
• Pay-Per-Click is advertising that helps your audience find you quicker.
• PPC helps you control your destiny in an internet crowded with competition.
• You can control how much you spend
CONTENT
• So, it’s all about the message
• Content is King
• Deliver it so that it attracts people to your website.
• Your Internet marketing efforts should answer the question: “Why should I do business with you and not the other guy?”
Internet Map
Part 2 – Why you and not the other guy?
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #10
Online Video – Reach new audiences by posting on video-sharing sites. The best videos tend to be short, about 3 minutes long, and have an offer, such as a free copy of a report or a product discount, to motivate viewers to take action. MobileDemand is one of many small businesses with a YouTube channel to help spread company news and information. Just watching their video made me want to buy one of their tablets.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #9
Affiliate Marketing – Affiliate marketing lets you get other businesses to drive prospects to your website. Some affiliates may allow you to set up a store on their domains, such as companion shopping sites.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #8
Social Networking Sites – Cultivate new business through social networking sites where members share stories and recommend products and services.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #7
Mobile Marketing – Many smartphones and mobile devices provide web browsing, GPS, cameras and video capabilities. This means you can develop creative promotions with text messages and location-based social networks.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #6
Group Buying – Connect with new customers through programs that offer multiple buyers collective purchasing deals. There are many popular group buying sites available to use. But be prepared to offer your products at significant discounts. While you can set the number of buyers required to sell at certain levels, if you don’t sell anything the site could remove you as a vendor.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #5
Geotargeting – Geotargeting simply means advertising to prospects in specific locations – which could be very useful, for example, if you sell dresses only in Dallas. One way to get started is to create a listing on Google Places. Geo targeting in internet marketing is the method of determining the geographic physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on their location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other criteria. The example of the dress shop in Dallas can be extended further to other retailers such as car dealers who only want shoppers from their area to see their web pages.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #4
Display Ads – You’ve probably seen the dancing aliens; that’s a display or banner ad. Do-it-yorself display ad builders, including Google Adwords display ad builder can help design your ad. You can also distribute your display ad via ad networks and ad management systems. While some would deride the dancing aliens saying its similar to the dancing cigarette pack from the 50’s, it still attracts attention.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Business – #3
Contextual Ads – Contextual advertising takes display ads to the next level, by placing them on sites related to your offerings; for example, if you sell sporting goods, your ad may perform better on sports-related sites. Services are available that automatically distribute ads to sites based on the content of those sites.