Design@free-to-enjoy-life.com ~ (732) 773-0685
Business Promotion - Starting with "Today's" Basics
How are you finding your customers? How are they finding you? Take a look at this video put together by a top Internet Marketing company, WebVisible. Listen to Real Stories from Real People and decide where you fit in the spectrum of business owners in the Internet world.
(FYI - Yes, WebVisible is competition and if your budget allows, I would recommend
their internet marketing services.
No, I do not get anything if you choose them. I just know they are a great company.)
Today’s consumer searches online before they do anything else. Their first step towards making a purchase decision often is to "hit the keys" on their computers at work or at home to get information. And with the addition of Smart Phones - people don't even have to wait until they can get to a computer! Using Search Engines to find information is so common that a company name has literally become a verb, as in "Google It!"
Try this Quick Experiment
Actually it's a piece of Critical Research...
Pretend you are a Consumer. You have an extremely busy day. You got a call that your best friends had their baby a week early. You have enough time for a quick visit at the hospital after work before you to go to your son's game. You want to bring flowers but time is pressed. You need to have the flowers ready for you to run in, pay and run out. Also, you don't know what florists are near the hospital. What would you do?
If you were one "today's consumers," this is probably what you would do...
- Go to Google. That's www.google.com for any newbies out there. (Click the link to "play along")
- Enter the word FLORIST and the name of a TOWN and STATE where you really don't know any florists.
- Click the "Search" box. What do you see?
- Now on the left side of the page, near the top, click the word "Places." Are there more business results?
Since you searched using a specific location, the first results (after the pink box) will be listed under a heading that says "Places for Industry near town, state." These results have reddish colored, lettered "map pins" next to them. Those are called Place Listings on Google and every one of them is a business in the area you searched. You will also see a map on the right with "map pins" showing the location of the business.The other top search engines like Yahoo!, Bing and Ask (through CitySearch) have similar features.
You will now have a more focused search. You will probably see a lot more results with "map pins." Again, these are listings for businesses that fit the category "florist" in the town and state you searched.
Okay, you have a list of florists in the area, what would be your next step?
If you are like most people doing online searches, before calling one of the phone numbers you see, you will click on one of the business for more information. But which business do you pick first?
Now it's time for you to decide who's getting your business (and your money).
Which florist would you call? Besides location, what factors influenced your decision?
Most people start by looking at the business listings that include a company website. And it doesn't have to be a big website. When researching local businesses, at the core, people want to know a little bit about the business and want to find basic things like hours, address & phone number.
And for the REAL moment of truth...
Repeat this experiment pretending you are a consumer looking for a service in YOUR industry, town & state.
Were you there? Did you have a website in your listing? What about your competition?
Online Business Promotion Services - Free of Charge!
The top search engines, Google, Yahoo!, Bing
and Ask (through CitySearch) all offer a
business listing service that is free. Yet a large percentage of business owners are completely
unaware that this service exists.
As part of my Web Design Service, I
will help you submit your business listing (with your website
information) to all four of these search engines
no additional cost.
I understand that as a business owner you are busy and your time is limited. So
depending upon what's best for you, I can either do it for you - or we
can do it together.
In addition, I will help you to set up a Free Newsletter with a company called iContact and install the Newsletter sign up form on your website. iContact has made it easy for business owners to start their own newsletters by offering two incredible no-cost options. You can either start with a basic Free Edition* account (no charges at all until you have 500 subscribers) or a you can start with a Free 30 day trial* on their most popular account, which will then only be $10 a month (rate applies for up to 500 subscribers). These options allow you to learn the newsletter process and determine if it is a fit for you WITHOUT having to worry about costs. iContact provides a robust array of tools to create, send and track your email marketing campaigns.
If you need me to design a custom newsletter/email template, I offer this as a low-cost, add-on service.
Coming soon - link to information about the "how's & why's" of
Newsletter/email marketing.
If you want, you can go ahead and create your business listings on your own without a website. For your convenience, here are the links...