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Claim your Business on Google

September 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
google places

If you have a local business, make sure you claim your Google Business Listing. This is the listing that shows up in Google next to the map when you are searching for a local business.

See the example below :

google places

As you can see, the businesses are listed above the regular organic listings.  Often, the links listed here are clicked on first. Since this is a free tool, it is imperative that you take advantage of the listing.

It is very simple to claim your listing. You will need a Google account, but that is free – and if you already have a Gmail account, you can log in with that. It is quick to sign up for a Google account if you don’t have one. Go to www.google.com/places, sign in and then begin to fill out your information.

The more information you include, the better! So make sure to put you address, phone number, website, and email. You can also upload pictures and video. Be sure to choose your categories carefully and take a look at the categories suggested by Google as well!

And you are done! Now when someone is searching for your business category in your local area, they can find all the up to date information for your business – and find you! Your Google business listing is an often overlooked, but very useful tool for customers to find your business online!

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Creating Online Content: Where to Start?

March 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
write

When marketing your business online, there seems to be a never ending need for fresh content.  Especially when you add social media to the mix!  Content is such a key component to internet marketing.   But, it can also be very intimidating and overwhelming.  You have blog posts, Twitter updates, Facebook posts, LinkedIn, forum discussions, free downloads, e-books and information products, email newsletters…and the list goes on!  Ahh!  Where in the world are you going to get all of this content?  It is enough to make you never want to start, right?

The good news is you know your industry, your customers, and your target market.  So you already have tons of information that is useful and helpful in your head!  You may already have some marketing materials that can be repurposed for online content.  It doesn’t have to be scary!  And you don’t have to write a novel (although, you can if you want to).    You just need to translate your experience into bite sized bits of information that your market can use.

Start by setting aside some time to really think about your target market.  Ask yourself:

  • What are their questions?
  • What are their problems?
  • How does my product or service solve them?
  • What are they interested in?
  • How can I help them get the most out of my product or service?
  • How can I make their life easier?

This should give you many topic ideas that you can then turn into blog posts, social networking updates, and more.  Your current and potential customers are turning to the internet to find answers.  They want solutions to a specific problem.  So you want to create content that provides those solutions.  It is as simple as that.

Creating online content really does not have to be intimidating.   Taking some time to brainstorm ideas and look at your business through the eyes of a customer is a great place to start.  You will find you have a nice list of ideas.  Then, as you write more blogs and spend more time using social media, you will start to notice what experiences will make great content!  And you will find yourself thinking – this will make a great blog post!

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Filed Under: Business, Internet Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

If I Could Go Back in Time…

February 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Recently, I was thinking about my last career and if I would have used social media.  (I was actually asked this question not too long ago.)  I was the design center manager for a homebuilder.  I was extremely busy, worked a lot of hours, and went non-stop all day.  We were in the middle of a housing boom!  And I loved it.  But, when I look back and remember how busy I was, the thought of trying something new, like social media, would have been totally overwhelming.  It was only a few years ago, so many of the social media tools were available, but I just didn’t know about them.  I wish I could say, yeah, I absolutely would have embraced all this new media.  But, that isn’t true.  I wouldn’t have even had the time to figure it out!

But, things have changed.  I have learned all about social media and how to market online.  It was due to personal changes in my life that I started to learn, but I soon found a passion and love for it.  I can look back to my previous career and think of so many ways social media would have helped us.  From interacting with our customers, to informing our buyers, to customer service.  This is why I am so passionate about social media now – I can see the potential for so many businesses.  I can see how useful the tools are.  I can see how you can grow your business by using these marketing tools.  And I want to help you learn them.  I want to help you take your business to the next level online.  Just like I want to go back in time and tell the old me to start thinking outside of the box and learn about internet marketing.

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Social Media and Holiday Shopping

October 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment
shopping cart presents sm

shopping cart presents smYes, it is still a little early for holiday shopping talk!  But, this past weekend there was an article in the Sacramento Bee, our local paper, called “Specialty Stores, Boutiques Need Survival Smarts.” The gist of the article is about the need for specialty and niche stores to be prepared for less business this holiday season.  With many people still out of work or cutting back, holiday spending is expected to be down again this year.  Also, many shoppers plan to shop at large discount stores, instead of smaller, specialty stores.  Most of the shop owners in the story have planned, and have less inventory.  But, there was no mention of using the internet or social media to help increase business.  This is not really surprising to me, even with the rapid increase in adaption of social media, there are still plenty of people who don’t believe in it.  But, being a huge fan of social media, my immediate thought after reading the article was that specialty stores should be using the internet and social media!  I think there are many ways specialty boutiques can use social media and the internet to boost business.  But with the holidays quickly approaching, there are a few tools you can start using now!

  • Twitter – would allow you to connect with others in the area, share promotions, and share unique gift ideas.  This article from Mashable has great information on how to find local Twitter users to connect with.  Just spending some time each day to connect with others on Twitter can help get your name out there, and  find those customers searching for your products.  Plus, it is free!  Yes, you have to put some time and effort in, but if you are passionate about your business, then this isn’t hard to do.  You can reach a whole section of the community that spends a lot of time online, who may never know your store exists otherwise.
  • An email newsletter is also a great way to reach customers.  Sending out coupons and promotions reminds your list subscribers of your store.  With the rush of the holiday season, these simple reminders via email are very helpful!  Plus, you can share new products and unique gift ideas.  Participating on Twitter can also generate more subscribers to your list.  People who find you on Twitter, can then sign up to receive your newsletter – giving you another chance to follow up.
  • Creating a Facebook Fan Page is another great option.  Make sure to let all of your current customers know, so they can become a fan.  That will help to spread your business among their friends.  You can start discussions about holiday shopping, finding unique gifts, and the holiday season to get your fans involved.  As well as sharing your promotions and sales.

Being a busy, working mom, who spends a lot of time on the internet for work and play, I feel like joining the social media conversation should be a no brainer.  The opportunity to reach new customers is huge!  With a little time and effort, specialty stores could really increase their business this holiday season.  To get started, grab a free copy of my report “Social Media 101: Top Ten Tips”  using the sign up box on this page.

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Keyword Research is Vital to your Website

September 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment
When you are starting your business there are so many things to consider.  Your business plan, target market, logo, website, prices…and the list goes on.  You may just want to get your website up as soon as possible.  But it is important to stop and consider your keywords before you start your website.  Determining the keywords you want to target will help you with the layout of your site, as well as the content.  You really want to spend some time doing the research, so you do not have to go back and make a bunch of changes down the road.
Keywords are the key (ha, ha, get it?) to SEO.  The whole goal of optimizing your website is for your site to show up when certain targeted keywords are searched for.  So how can you optimize your site if you do not know what words you want to optimize for?  Spend some time brainstorming.  Think about your business, who is your target market?  How does your target market think?  If you were your ideal customer, what would you type into the search engine?  Start making a list of as many keywords as you can think of.
The next step is to do a little research (or have your VA do it) on that list of words.  You can use http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ or https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal, both free services that suggest keywords, as well as show you the search volume and more.  Your best bet is to be as specific as possible.  You want the most targeted visitors as possible.
For example, you have an online candle business.  Now, the keyword candle or candles has 4,090,000 monthly searches.  That is a huge number!  And this search includes people search for everything from candle making to candle safety to decorative candles.  And the competition is very high for this keyword.  So, you want to be more specific, and use say soy candles.  Then go even further and specify soy candle votives or scented soy candles.  Can you see where I am going with this?  You want to find very specific keywords related to your business and target market.  You do not need someone looking for candle making to end up on your site.  You want the person who is searching for soy candle votives, which is exactly what you sell!
Keywords are so important for optimizing your website, and should be researched and considered carefully as you are planning and building your site.  You want to use your keywords in the page titles, the headers, and the content.  Keep in mind, your content must be good, make sense and grab your visitors – but should also include your keywords.  Take the time to do your keyword research at the beginning of your planning and you will be glad you did!

When you are starting your business there are so many things to consider.  Your business plan, target market, logo, website, prices…and the list goes on.  You may just want to get your website up as soon as possible.  But it is important to stop and consider your keywords before you start your website.  Determining the keywords you want to target will help you with the layout of your site, as well as the content.  You really want to spend some time doing the research, so you do not have to go back and make a bunch of changes down the road.

Keywords are the key (ha, ha, get it?) to SEO.  The whole goal of optimizing your website is for your site to show up when certain targeted keywords are searched for.  So how can you optimize your site if you do not know what words you want to optimize for?  Spend some time brainstorming.  Think about your business, who is your target market?  How does your target market think?  If you were your ideal customer, what would you type into the search engine?  Start making a list of as many keywords as you can think of.

The next step is to do a little research (or have your VA do it) on that list of words.  You can use Wortracker or Google Adwords, both free services that suggest keywords, as well as show you the search volume and more.  Your best bet is to be as specific as possible.  You want the most targeted visitors as possible.

For example, you have an online candle business.  Now, the keyword candle or candles has 4,090,000 monthly searches.  That is a huge number!  And this search includes people search for everything from candle making to candle safety to decorative candles.  And the competition is very high for this keyword.  So, you want to be more specific, and use say soy candles.  Then go even further and specify soy candle votives or scented soy candles.  Can you see where I am going with this?  You want to find very specific keywords related to your business and target market.  You do not need someone looking for candle making to end up on your site.  You want the person who is searching for soy candle votives, which is exactly what you sell!

Keywords are so important for optimizing your website, and should be researched and considered carefully as you are planning and building your site.  You want to use your keywords in the page titles, the headers, and the content.  Keep in mind, your content must be good, make sense and grab your visitors – but should also include your keywords.  Take the time to do your keyword research at the beginning of your planning and you will be glad you did!

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