To assist this cautious brigade with understanding the process, we have outlined these 3 critical steps for transitioning their business to the powerful medium of online marketing;

1. 3 Simple Steps for Making the
Move to Online Marketing
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2. It’s that crazy time of year when most local businesses seem to notice that their
sales wane away a bit because potential customers are being caught up in the
Christmas holiday frenzy. For some business owners it is a great time to take stock
and reassess the areas of their business which could use some improvement. In
considering what I have mentioned above, it should come as no surprise that here
at camp OD we actually see quite a healthy increase in lead enquires during the
month of December. Typically speaking, most business owners see their online
marketing as an area of their business that requires some much loved attention.
There is still a healthy brigade of local business owners who are still very cautious
about delving too deep into online marketing for their businesses. Based on
hundreds of phone call enquiries each year, I would suggest that most business
owners that fit this category are simply confused about online marketing and feel
they lack the knowledge to jump in
head first and give it a go.
To assist this cautious brigade with
understanding the process, we have
outlined these 3 critical steps for
transitioning their business to the
powerful medium of online marketing;
1. Start with your Website
Your website obviously stands at the forefront of your online marketing. Without a
professional look and feel you can hardly expect a potential customer to take your
business seriously. Make sure that your website is built on a stable platform
(Wordpress is perfect for local businesses) that can grow with your business and is
conducive to search engine marketing. Your website should be more than just an
online brochure; instead it needs to be a lead generating machine.
3 Tips to help you with your website;
Place your Phone Number Loud & Proud in the Header of your Website –
Make it easy for people to contact you at any time during their visit to your
website.
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3. Use Images for Stimulating Emotion – You always want to stimulate people
by showing them images of your products or services. Images stimulate
emotions which keeps them on your website longer.
Include a Blog “Latest News” section on your website – This enables you to
communicate with your customers on a regular basis. Make your business
the authority by writing about things that your customers would like to read
and hear about.
2. Researching Your Opportunities – Critical Step
I cannot emphasise enough how critical this step is to ensuring that your business
enjoys a successful introduction to online marketing that is very rewarding. People
(your potential clients) are using search engines to find your business whether you
like it or not. The problem being is the way that they are searching for your
business may not actually be the way you might expect. The words and phrases
that they are typing in the search engines might not reflect the obvious. You want
to consider the keyword/s that will deliver your website both visitors and enquiries.
3 Tips to help you with your online marketing research;
Run a Micro Pay Per/Click Campaign – Sometimes it can be difficult to
identify exactly what search term will be profitable and targeted for your
business. Run a small, paid advertising campaign with Google and this will
give you the data to aggressively target the best keyword/s for your
business.
Observe your Competitors – If you are a little bit slow on the uptake with your
online marketing, chances are that you should be able to learn a lot from
what your competitors are doing. If they are actively marketing their business
online then their website/s should give you some solid starting points to work
from and improve upon. Important to note however, that their strategies may
not be perfect either.
Use Google’s keyword research tool – Google offers you a simple tool to
help you gather some keyword research data to help you identify what your
customers might be typing into the search engines to find your products or
services. This simple to use tool will offer you data like local search volume
and how competitive your search term/s are.
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4. 3. Rank your Website in Google – Own Your Industry
It is now safe to say that you have a nice looking website that is delivering you
enquiries and you have also conducted the research and identified how your
potential customers are looking for you in the search engines. Ranking your
website in Google is achieved by executing the skill of search engine optimisation.
Search engine optimisation, better known as SEO, is the process of encouraging
Google that your website should be atop of the Google search results for the
keyword/s or phrases that you now know to be important for your business.
Once you achieve these top rankings in the search engines your business
becomes the online authority and can enjoy the rewards of free, targeted visitors to
your website who will make purchasing decisions with your business. No matter
how big or small your business might be, anybody can enjoy number 1 rankings in
Google.
3 Tips to help you rank your website in Google;
Claim and Optimise a Google Places Listing for your Business – Tied into
Google Maps is what they call Google Places. You will notice when you
conduct a search for a local product or service in your area that you will see
a variation of listings on the front page that point you to local businesses
close to the area you have searched for. If you are a local business, you
must claim your Google Places Listing if you want to be eligible for prime
time real estate on top of Google.
Communicate Regularly with your Audience – I mentioned earlier in step one
that you should include a blog “Latest News” section on your website.
Posting regular news or information articles on your website will seriously
improve your chances of making it to the top of Google in record time.
Consult a Professional to conduct your SEO – Search engine optimisation is
no easy task. The process of ranking your website in Google involves a very
complex and well timed set of tasks that should ideally be conducted by a
professional. Taking the wrong turn at the wrong time could end in calamity
for your online marketing.
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