Archive for category Internet Marketing / PPC
Small Business Saturday
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC, Social Media Marketing on November 19, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011 is the second annual Small Business Saturday, the day after Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving in the United States).
Most big businesses hope for a Black Friday to bring a lot of shoppers out, for a lot of merchandise sales, to put their business “in the black” (as making a profit, versus “in the red” for taking a loss).
On Small Business Saturday, consumers are encouraged to shop the small, local businesses, to support their community and the economy.
American Express has been building support for Small Business Saturday with a Small Business Saturday website, and a social media and PR campaign.
Enjoy helping other small, local businesses by shopping at their stores in your community, throughout the year.
If you’d like to get some of this attention next year, check out the Small Business Saturday website, they offer:
- in-store signage (if you have a brick and mortar business, or to tell other small, local businesses about this program)
- e-marketing materials
- and they had a deal on $100 of free Facebook ads (but they are gone for this year).
Good for the small businesses!
Did you participate in Small Business Saturday this year?
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How did the support help your business?
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Any suggestions you’d like to share with other small, local businesses?
Please leave a comment.
Advertise your small business on your website
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC on July 18, 2011
If you have a small business, you need to let others know what products or services you have to offer, and you do that by advertising on your website.
Years ago, the best way to advertise was in the newspaper. Then the telephone book and yellow pages became a better way to advertise. Now the internet allows you to share your information with people in your local area (and all over the world, if that is your market).
Your own website gives you a way to let others know about your products or services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; your website is like a tireless representative for your small business.
Word-of-mouth is always good advertising, and more popular websites also offer interesting, helpful information, and ways for your website visitors to interact and get social, like links to social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
Recently, my wife and I were out for our morning walk when we saw a truck picking up scrap metal, driving through the neighborhood. We had an elliptical machine that was beyond repair, and they offered to haul it away for free. Win-win! The truck driver and business owner, Robert Sands, keeps a box of business cards on the dashboard of the truck, for opportunities like this – great idea! Also, re-cycling scrap metal is Robert’s way of being green. Great! Having a website on his business card would be even better, but Robert said the website is still in work.
So if you have scrap metal to re-cycle and want to help the planet, call Robert at Scrap Masters - 904-370-4804, or e-mail him at lwst@live.com.
And if you would like help advertising your small business better on your website, or even if you don’t have a website and want to get one, Contact Jax SEO Works or Key Theory to help you achieve your goals.
Reviews, Evaluations, and Testimonials
Posted by admin in Getting Started, Internet Marketing / PPC on May 19, 2011
When consumers are looking to find a service or product, they often look for reviews, evaluations, and testimonials.
What kind of experience have others had with this business? Are there many good reviews, or mostly complaints?
One way to share the positive evaluations of your business is by adding a page of testimonials or referrals on your business website.
Our family dentist, Dr. Ted Haeussner, has a great domain name for his new website – http://orangeparkdentist.com. Ted has been our family dentist for almost 20 years, and keeps up with technical developments in the dental profession through his active involvement in a number of professional organizations. Ted’s patient’s benefit because he is vigilant to provide the latest in dental care practices, procedures, and treatments for us. Recently, I suggested he add a Testimonials page to his site, to allow his patients to share their stories.
What business couldn’t benefit from a positive review, evaluation, or testimonial? As my wife, Yvonne, and I plan for our future, we appreciate the clear and strategic financial planning advice we have received from our financial advisor, Tom Trotta. Sharing your knowledge and experiences with others is just a helpful thing to do.
In your evaluations, testimonials, and referrals, your website visitors are looking for
- customer thoughts and hesitations,
- a little personality,
- and how the product or service improved the customer’s quality of life,
not hearing what a great product or service your business has, or a sales pitch.
You can also post your evaluations, testimonials, and referrals on your social media platforms, to continue to build trust and credibility, and encourage interaction with your customers.
It’s OK to mention your product or service from time to time, but remember that social media conversations should be mostly human interaction – helpful, interesting and/or fun.
An Internet Press Release for Your Business.
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC, Social Media Marketing on May 17, 2010
Share Big News about your Business with an Internet Press Release.
The term Press Release is a carry-over from newspapers, when big stories would be released to the press by the insiders that knew the details.
You know the most about your business, so you can share interesting, helpful, time-sensitive, insider news about your business in a Press Release.
- Start with “the 5 Ws”; What, Why, Where, When and Who. Think about the people who will be reading the article – which W would be most interesting to them, and start writing your article there.
- Don’t write a Press Release about a sale you are having, or about something you posted on your website previously. Write about News!
Have you released a new product with a unique feature? Press Release! (Then you can post more information about your new product on your website the next day.)
Open a new store? Launch a new website? Hire a new person to start a new project?
Press Release! - Add an interesting, related image or video.
- Add a link to your website in your Press Release, and offer something interesting to come visit your website and sign up for your RSS feed or your Newsletter.
We can help you create and send out your own Press Releases.
Have some other insights to share about Press Releases? Please share your comments.
Improve Yourself and Your Website.
Posted by admin in Getting Started, Internet Marketing / PPC, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Networking on May 7, 2010
Who wouldn’t like to meet new friends with a common interest and learn how to improve their website?
A recent article on behavior by Kathleen Doheny (http://bit.ly/cSeUHu) in AAA magazine “Going Places” shared that scientific research has proven that, not only do people tend to associate with other people who are like themselves, but also that there is a direct effect of the behavior of the other people we associate with regularly on our own behavior.
Michelle Chance-Sangthong, talented owner of Redhawk Strategies, and leader of our Jacksonville SEO Meetup brings a group of friendly people together each month, people who also have an interest in improving their websites and in helping others in the group by sharing ideas.
If you live in the Jacksonville, Florida area,
come join us at our next meeting for an evening well spent.
If you live in another area,
just go to the Meetup website and search for a group near you. This is a great way to make new friends in your area with a common interest.
Endorsement Disclosure Statement
Posted by admin in Getting Started, Internet Marketing / PPC, Resources, Website Development on March 21, 2010
On your website, do you endorse products or services provided by other businesses? You website needs an endorsement disclosure statement.
Recently the Federal Trade Commission posted new Guidelines for Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The intent is to make it clear to readers of your website if you are receiving compensation for your endorsements or testimonials. Whether you get money or even free samples in return for your thoughts, you now need to let your readers know.
To help individuals and businesses avoid problems, the Disclosure Policy organization has provided a quick and painless way to draft a simple disclosure policy for your website. Go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org, fill in your information and answer simple questions, and then copy and paste the resulting policy statement on a page on your website. You may need to alter some portions of the policy statement, to make it fit your business and your website better, but they give you a good start. And make your policy easy for your readers to find, in your sitemap or on a navigation tab.
Does your website have an endorsement disclosure statement?
We can help your website market your business better ! Contact Jax SEO Works today !
A competitive business advantage.
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC on February 11, 2010
What makes your business stand out from others that offer the same type of product or provide the same service?
We agree with http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/; you can find the competitive advantage your business has by periodically asking your customers questions like these:
1. What made you decide to hire us/buy from us?
2. What’s one thing we do better than others with whom you do business?
3. Is there something we could do to create a better experience for you?
4. Will you refer us to others, and if so, why?
5. What words would you type into a search engine like Google to find a business like ours?
While it’s always good to hear complimentary answers like “Your company provides superior service.”, you’ll need to ask your customers for specific responses to have the information you need.
Start finding out what your customers think about your business; put questions like this onto a form and ask a few of your customers each month. You can learn a lot from your customers.
Then you can focus your advertising on your competitive advantage, and attract even more customers for what you do best!
Has a survey like this been helpful to your company? Leave a comment and let us know.
Survey image originally posted by codetechnology.wordpress.com/2008/06/
e-coupons for your business ?
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC, Resources, Social Media Marketing on December 26, 2009
Does the thought of your small business’ coupons going into a recycle bin make you cringe ? Maybe it’s time to try a new approach – Groupon.
e-coupons for small businesses ? What an idea !
I just read about the concept in Kunur Patel’s recent article, Groupon Takes Coupons Into the Social-Media Age. Currently offering deals in 39 cities across the United States (including Jacksonville, Florida), “Groupon e-mails a daily deal per city and consumers opt-in to buy a restaurant gift certificate, a health and beauty service, or entertainment offer at typically 50% off face value — say $30 voucher for $60 dinner or $50 for a spa package. Once the deal has hooked a predetermined number of people, everyone who has opted in then “buys” the deal, and the marketer gets the money minus Groupon’s cut, which is usually 30%-50%, according to Groupon founder Andrew Mason. It only works if the deal attracts critical mass, however — if the offer doesn’t reach its threshold, the deal is canceled and no one pays, not even the provider. (The threshold varies by advertiser; some deals require only 50 people to buy in, others need 500.)”
How’s that for environmentally friendly ? Less paper to recycle.
We can help your website market your business better ! Contact Jax SEO Works today !
Make New Business Leads with Discussions, Questions and Answers
Posted by admin in Internet Marketing / PPC, Link Building, Resources, Social Media Marketing on December 26, 2009
Take a look at LinkedIn Discussions and LinkedIn Answers; if you can contribute to a good discussion or help answer even one of the questions, your comment can also introduce you to new, potential customers.
If you are in small business, now is a good time to post your profile on LinkedIn (if you haven’t already).
Next, join a group in your industry on LinkedIn, then look at their current Discussions. If you can add to the discussion, it is a great way to network and meet new people.
And then take a look at LinkedIn Answers. Like Jason Falls says in his recent article How To Drive Business Leads With Question & Answer Forums, “People are driving leads using Question and Answer forums like LinkedIn Answers, Yahoo! Answers and Answers.com. . . . In essence, the best practices (theirs and mine) remind you to be helpful first, don’t go in trumpeting your sales pitch and focus on long-term relationship building and benefits rather than seeing a sudden influx of leads because you clicked a button on a website. Nothing is that easy. It’s like being at an off-line networking event. You work at it a while and you get results.”
And you can use the same principle at other open forums.
Get started by reviewing the questions. Find one that you are interested in and then do a little research, so that you can include some references in your response. (The answer that you provide with references will be much more impressive than sharing your best guess at the answer, and will make a better impression for you and your business.)
Want to help your website market your business better ? Contact Jax SEO Works today !