Category Archives: increase online sales

Business-Centric Marketing vs. Viral Marketing

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Posted by admin on October 7, 2009 – 7:26 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, attract clients, increase online sales, online marketing, web copy

In the above video from WebProNews, Ben Huh, CEO and founder of the Cheezburger Network, describes the essential elements involved in viral marketing. The concept is to focus on your target market, not just your company. Whether you’re using your website to market to prospective customers, a television commercial, or print collatoral, it’s essential you focus on the customer and express the benefits your products / services can provide for them.

Too many times businesses put the spotlight on themselves in their web copy and other marketing materials. Customers don’t really care about how creative you are or how many awards you’ve won. What they care about is what you’re company can do for them and whether or not your products / services will fulfill their needs. When you take the focus off of yourself and shift it to your target audience, you are going to attract the clients you desire.

Do You Know Whom You’re Selling To?

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Posted by admin on September 23, 2009 – 6:00 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, attract clients, increase online sales, online marketing, target market

I’m sure clients, colleagues, and you, Dear Reader, are sick of hearing me harp on how critical it is for companies to really understand their target market.

Call me a broken record. I don’t mind.

Before I take on a new copywriting project, one of the first questions I ask a prospective client is, “Who is your target market and how do you serve them?”

Not having a clear idea of whom you’re selling to or who your prospective clients are is the number one marketing mistake you can make—online or offline. If you don’t know whom you are speaking to, you won’t know the right message to communicate.

Identifying and knowing your target market—inside and out—requires you to look at yourself, at your company, and look into whom you serve and why. Too many companies have a general idea. Some have no idea at all.

Stating a target as “anybody who needs my product” won’t cut it (believe it or not, I hear this answer all the time). Defining your target as “people in the medical field” won’t help much either. Trying to be everything to everyone isn’t going to get you the sales you want.

If you want more customers, you have to know whom you are selling to. And you should know as much about them as you can.

Let’s say you own a high-end clothing boutique. You sell products to women, but identifying your target as “all women” is much too vague because most of your inventory is designed for a younger crowd. Look closely at your clientele, and you may find most of your patrons are between 32 and 45. Look even closer, and you may uncover a majority of your clients are young professionals who make over $80,000 a year.

Keeping with this example, now that you’ve identified your target, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and brainstorm. Make a list of questions you’d like to know about your target, then answer the questions to the best of your ability. You want to define their lifestyle, hobbies, profession, anything you can that will help you speak to their needs and wants.

Be specific. Where do they shop, dine, drink? What do they read? Did they graduate from college, have a bachelor or master’s? Are they active in their community? Do they bike on weekends, or do they spend time with family? Don’t limit yourself. Keep asking questions until you feel you know these people.

It’s important to note that it doesn’t matter if this is business to consumer or business to business, you are still dealing with people at the end of the day. So, if you are business to business and your target is a CEO, you need to know everything about who that CEO is so you can connect.

The more you know, the better you can target the group, speak their language, and give them what they want. And if you know all the above, it will help you further define the business message you want—a message that will attract your target audience to you.

Once you start mining to find out who your target market is, it has been my experience that many businesses find that their message isn’t clear, effective, or targeted to the correct market. It can be extremely difficult for businesses to project an accurate message, one that encompasses a combination of their company’s products, beliefs, mission, and goals if they don’t have a clear vision of their target market.

If you’re uncomfortable with the message you’re sending potential customers online, it’s time to change this message and solidify a strong brand image.

Just remember, speak to everyone, and you’re likely to get no one.

The Power of Twitter Unleashed

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Posted by admin on August 13, 2009 – 10:47 am
Filed under Marketing Tip, SEO copywriter, Twitter, attract clients, increase online sales, increase site traffic, online marketing, social networking

 

The above video taken from WebProNews is a fantastic illustration of just how powerful Twitter is in real-time news. In this video, Brett Tabke founder of WebmasterWorld, shares his expert insight into the world of social media and Twitter, and provides useful Twitter statistics that support the rise in social media marketing.

 
 

 

The Baby Steps to Marketing Your Business Online

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Posted by admin on August 11, 2009 – 9:09 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging for business, increase online sales, increase site traffic, online marketing, social networking

second sumer sg

You know you need to change the way you market your business online, but where on earth do you start? Don’t try to take on the Internet as a whole. The key is to take baby steps.

Begin by analyzing how your company is currently marketing. If you’re using print and word of mouth as your main means for marketing your company, it’s time to consider the web as a primary marketing tool. Marketing online is one of the greatest ways to attract thousands of potential customers, increase brand exposure, and interact immediately with your target market. And it can be less expensive than print.

So, where do you begin?

After reviewing your company budget, you may find you’re not ready to give your website a complete facelift just yet. If so, Sūmèr’s Life after Launch services are the perfect fit for you. Life after Launch is primarily for those looking to increase online exposure, ramp up online marketing campaigns, and boost brand presence on the web—without spending a ton of money.

Whether you’re using Life after Launch services for blog marketing, social media networking, or social media marketing, you’ll see immediate results thanks to excellent online analytic tools and Sūmèr’s highly experienced online marketing gurus. These analytic tools show you direct results from our online marketing efforts, allowing you to track your progress. Also, you can track the percentage of increased website visitors and determine the exact websites visitors come from.

For example, if you use Life after Launch services to ramp up your exposure on Facebook, you can see how many people visit your business website from inbound links on Facebook. We make this possible through our analytic tools and provide you with a comprehensive breakdown of important analytics.

Once your social media marketing efforts rise, you can use Life after Launch services to maintain your accounts and keep a steady flow of visitors coming to your website from social media sites.

What’s the next step after implementing Life after Launch services?

After increasing your website traffic dramatically with Sūmèr’s Life after Launch services, consider hiring a professional web copywriter to rewrite and optimize your web copy for search engine purposes. The right web content writer can write result-driven and optimized web copy that speaks clearly and effectively to your target market, while projecting an accurate brand image and company message.

Remember, you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get amazing marketing results on the web. Begin with social media marketing and work your way up to having your web copy rewritten and optimized. A steady increase in online marketing efforts over the course of several months will have amazing results and sky-rocket your sales and company exposure online.

Three Ways to Market Your Business Transparently

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Posted by admin on July 16, 2009 – 10:02 am
Filed under Business Communication, Marketing Strategy, SEO copywriter, attract clients, increase online sales, increase site traffic, online marketing

Building a successful business online requires effectively reaching potential clients through strategic and authentic marketing practices. And companies that utilize transparent practices are more successful than companies that shy away from expressing their brand personality and business practices.

Transparent practices are crucial if you want to build trust between potential clients and your brand. If you hide your brand personality, if your message is inflated or muddled in industry jargon, or if the message is too focused on the company, it will be difficult to reach a large range of potential clients and strategic partners.

The key is to get real. Take some time and evaluate your business mission and what your company stands for. Take a look at where you aren’t being as authentic as you could be, then rework your message to reflect the personality and the message you want to communicate.

Here are three result-driven ways to authentically market your business:

Share your brand story and your company’s personality on your website. Don’t make your potential customers feel out of the loop or intimidated when they visit your website. A website that lacks a clear, authentic message and unique company personality will weaken the connection between the visitor and your brand image. A site with a transparent About Us page is a powerful tool that facilitates a strong connection. Not only do potential clients like to see whom they’re doing business with, they also like to see an authentic brand story and the personality of the company.

Become transparent on social media sites. Social media sites are the perfect places to reach a high concentration of potential customers and strategic partners and to integrate your company into the online community. They are an informal way to market your business and places where you can truly let your personality and brand image shine through in a fun and interactive way.Offering behind-the-scenes information, sneak peeks, photos, videos, and recent news about your business on these social media sites provides potential customers with a clear understanding of your brand image and your practices. It also gives prospects a sense of the personalities behind the business.

Share yourself and your company at networking events. A networking event is the perfect place to meet referral partners, strategic partners, and potential clients. Your goal at a networking event is to be remembered–in a positive way—by a handful of people with whom you speak. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through when discussing business. This transparency is the key to showing others that your business practices and brand image are authentic. Allow potential customers and strategic partners to build a strong connection between you as a person and your brand name. When you are remembered, your business will be remembered.

Hulu Hits a Home Run in the Online Video Community

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Posted by admin on May 17, 2009 – 8:13 pm
Filed under SEO copywriter, increase online sales, increase site traffic, marketing trends, online advertising, video marketing

YouTube can easily be considered King of the online-video scene. No force has dethroned YouTube from its number one online-video platform—but it looks as though there may be a challenger. Hulu.

According to comScore, in March 2009, Google sites ranked as the top U.S.-video platform with 5.9 billion videos viewed. YouTube accounted for 99% of views on this video platform.

Rising quickly and steadily, Hulu has reached the number three spot on top online-video properties among U.S. internet users and is beginning to take a step into the international realm of online-video.

According to WebProNews, the UK is already beginning to provide full television episodes to viewers, and Bollywood is in negotiations with Hulu, as well.

According to eMarketer.com, comScore reported that Hulu’s total video streams grew 14.3% in March, and the number of unique viewers was up 19.7% in the same period. Although Hulu hasn’t yet reached YouTube’s video-guru status, it’s definitely on the rise and is something YouTube needs to consider as a major competitor. With video spending expected to rise past the $1 billion line by 2011, according to eMarketer.com, competition between the two video platforms could get fierce.

According to eMarketer.com, MAGNA Global stated that approximately $530 million was spent on online videos last year and this number is expected to rise 32%.  

Since there is a significant growth in professional video production, many advertisers are taking the online-video route for their marketing campaigns’, and it’s only a matter of time before online-video properties are advertisers’ main vehicle for advertising.

The Secret to Strategically Placing Online Articles

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Posted by admin on April 22, 2009 – 12:46 pm
Filed under Marketing Strategy, SEO copywriter, article marketing, attract clients, ezines, ghostwriting, grow your business, increase online sales, online articles

The top 5 online article platforms:
1) Article directories

2) Other blogs

3) Publishing sites

4) Social media sites

5) Bookmarking sites 

Once you have an article completed, submit it to a reputable article directory. One great thing about these directories is that your article has the ability to be read by thousands. Usually directories allow people to reprint your article, providing they give you the credit and they help with inbound links.

Most directories have a bio box, which allows you to include your web address and a brief bio about your company or a call to action. A specific call to action with your website link is the most effective way to get the reader to visit your site. As with asking for inbound links, you need to use caution when choosing an online directory.

There are general directories, which allow you to categorize your article topic and add your article keywords. There are also niche directories. Some reputable directories are ezinearticles.com, GoArticles, Article Dashboard, and Buzzle.

Two other article marketing platforms, which go hand in hand, are someone else’s blog or a publishing site.

When approaching popular bloggers and online publications to feature your article on their site, it’s important to strategically craft your pitch. Tell the blogger or online publication editor why your article would be beneficial to readers and, therefore, improve the readership on his / her blog or publication. Provide several article options and illustrate the benefit readers will receive if the blogger or publication were to use your article on his / her site.

The fourth and fifth article marketing platforms go hand in hand, as well. Posting your article on social media sites and bookmarking sites are both excellent ways to increase SEO and online exposure.

Social media websites are an important online vehicle for increasing SEO. There are many social media websites where you can post your article and link it to your company profile. Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, MySpace, and discussion forums are just a few places worth checking out. Facebook for example, allows you to create a company page with your mission statement, basic information, photos, events, video, a place to put your logo, and an area where your blog is fed directly onto the page every time you add a new post. You can also post articles on discussion boards, in the link section, and in recent news sections.

6 MORE Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Website

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Posted by admin on April 15, 2009 – 6:35 am
Filed under Audio Marketing, increase online sales, increase site traffic, marketing in bad economy, online marketing, press releases, video marketing

If you’d like to see the first 6 ways to drive traffic to your website, click here.

7. Record Podcasts: The vocal and interactive aspects of audio podcasts are usually more enticing and entertaining than simply reading articles and information from a computer screen. Podcasts are free and can be used to help people through a step-by-step process, share knowledge fast and effectively, or entertain. According to Pew Internet and American Life Project, about 19% of internet users say they’ve downloaded a podcast.  

8. Host Teleclasses: Signing up for teleclasses benefits customers because the classes are free and provide useful and informative tips. Customers will associate the information they receive from your teleclasses with your company’s success and dedication to the industry. Customers will be more likely to trust your business operations and products / services, making the buying decision a simple one. The benefits from teleclasses are increased sales, more referrals, a rise in customer loyalty, and increased site traffic.

9. Post Video: Placing videos and audio on YouTube is a great way to get your company online exposure and drive traffic to your website. Video provides a personal connection to customers and allows you to show them how certain services are done, how you work, how the company works, how your product works, and so much more. Developing a video for YouTube benefits your company tremendously.

10. Publish Free Reports and Ezines: Sharing free tips and information about your industry through free reports and ezines can benefit consumers’ lives, helping them become better educated, solve a problem, or change their future actions. Providing well-researched and helpful information to consumers builds customers’ trust in your company, making them more likely to purchase your products / services.

11. Send Out Press Releases: Bring your brand name to life with a well-crafted press release. If your business has remained at a steady rate for years now, the right press release can gain your company credibility in the industry, recognition, and overall exposure. These results lead to company growth and incredible success.

12. Place / Swap Ads with Other Ezines in Your Niche: Seek out other ezines in your niche whose publishers might be interested in swapping ads. In addition to, or instead of, swapping ads, you could also purchase ad space in an ezine in your niche that has a large circulation. If you pay to place an ad, for the best results, run it for a minimum of three consecutive issues.

Build Long-Lasting Relationships on LinkedIn

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Posted by admin on April 10, 2009 – 6:14 am
Filed under Marketing Tip, attract clients, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, social networking

LinkedIn has become an extremely popular social media site for promoting your business. It’s an excellent online vehicle for building a massive networking system, a larger online presence, and driving higher targeted traffic to your website. LinkedIn offers a variety of features beneficial to the success of your company. This site allows you to join groups related to your industry or of interest to you personally. Also, the site allows you to build a detailed company profile, request recommendations, and join in on industry discussions. It’s also a great place to search for jobs, people in your industry, and other companies in your industry.

LinkedIn has several areas of information to fill in to create a complete profile. These areas of information include your current position, two past positions, your education, your profile summary, a profile photo, your specialties, and at least three recommendations. You can choose to add certain information while leaving other details out if you prefer. But, according to LinkedIn, “Users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.”

One of LinkedIn’s greatest features allows you to recommend someone or recommend yourself. You can recommend excellent service providers you’ve used, a colleague, or someone you went to school with. You can also ask colleagues, clients, managers, and employees to endorse your work. According to LinkedIn, “users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. Ask your colleagues to speak up for you and get endorsed.”

LinkedIn is the perfect site to join since it’s one of the most elaborate and connected networks on the internet today. Integrated social networks, such as LinkedIn, are so intricate and virtually all connected, that by participating in one, you are bound to get a heavy traffic flow to your business site.

What makes LinkedIn so complex? LinkedIn has different circles of personal connections such as “circle one,” with your very personal contacts and “circle two” with the contacts of your personal contacts. If you only had one contact, you could virtually have 130 contacts in your second circle just from that one person.

It’s important to always remember to stay active on networking sites, such as LinkedIn, and constantly build your network.

Social Media Sites for Business: Which Ones Should You Join?

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Posted by admin on April 8, 2009 – 6:46 am
Filed under Gain Brand Loyalty, increase online sales, market in economic crisis, marketing trends, social networking, website copywriter

No longer are social media sites just being used to interact with friends and meet other people for social and entertainment purposes. These sites are being used by many businesses to promote themselves online, network with others, build company credibility, and express their industry expertise to the online community.

Some of the most popular of the social media sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These sites have recently received a lot of attention in the news because of their popularity among businesses.    

There are dozens of social media sites, and it’s important to choose which types would benefit your company the most. Every company has different needs, and sometimes, your time is better spent on one type of social media site as opposed to another. It’s better to spend a solid three hours a week networking and promoting your business on two or three social media sites instead of joining five or six. Keeping your company present on social media sites takes some time. If you join six, you might compromise quality for quantity. Go for quality every time.

When deciding which social media sites to join, it’s important to take into account the type of business you run. Look at the features of each social media site in order to make your decision on which one would be the most effective.

Below are descriptions of Twitter and Facebook. Although there are several social media sites to choose from, these are two of the most popular.

Twitter works in a way similar to a mass text message. If you’re part of a fast-pace company that does new and exciting things each day, Twitter might be perfect for you. Twitter updates should inform your followers about what you’re doing at that moment during the day, ask a question to followers, ask advice to followers, and send an industry update to followers. If your company is a financial firm, Twitter might not be the way to go. A great example of a company that would benefit from Twitter would be a travel company, where updates are more timely and entertaining.

Facebook is another excellent tool for building your company’s online presence. It’s primarily used to illustrate your company’s overall mission, services, and image. There is room for large amounts of content and media. Facebook has more features than Twitter, but it’s not as timely as Twitter. Two of Facebook’s greatest features for businesses to use are the company page and group page applications. These two features allow you to create a page for your company where you can post company news, events, photos, videos, and industry updates.