Delivering Customers Blog

When it comes to helping your business grow, it is important to understand that social media sharing is the new word of mouth.

If you are a company that prides itself on referral business, applying such marketing tactics online will benefit your business in a big way. Consider these stats and what they could mean to the growth of your business’s online presence:

·       The average Facebook user becomes a fan of two new pages each month

·       The average person has at least 195 friends on his/her social networking sites

The average Facebook user is connected to 80 pages, groups, and events.

Not only does social media sharing help to spread the buzz about your business, but it will also increase traffic to your website, and have a positive impact on your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts!  

Every time a user shares a link to your website, Google and other search engines view it as a vote. The more votes you have, the more authority is afforded to your website, and, in turn, it will receive a higher page ranking.

Now, we know that social media marketing can be intimidating, and sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, but it’s important to realize that these sharing sites are here to stay and they’re having a huge impact on the way that companies are doing business.

For help getting started, check out our social media strategy tips!

As an entrepreneur, you know that having a strong online presence is becoming increasingly important to the success of your business. However, simply having a business website is often not enough in order to collect leads online.

Most of your website visitors are conducting research on a product or service. They’re comparing, considering, and browsing. If they decide to do business with you, they can find all the information they need to contact you on your website.

While this is great, and of course necessary, there are also tactics that can be applied to appeal to the potential customer when they are still in the research phase. In this case, the goal is to find out just who these potential customers are, and to help nudge them along the sales funnel. 

Here are some tips on how to turn website visitors into leads:

1. Use a call to action on your website

A call to action is a button or link that is used to collect online leads by enticing your visitors to perform a certain action. For example, you might place a button on your homepage encouraging readers to ‘click here for a free estimate”. The visitor would then be directed to a ‘lead capture form’, where they would fill in their information for the estimate.

2. Hold a contest or giveaway

Are you a kitchen renovations contractor? Hold a draw for a new kitchen sink. Potential customers will have to supply their information to apply. Bonus: Leverage your social media accounts to help generate some buzz.

3. Create landing pages

Cast a wider net to collect more leads online by creating landing pages for your website. These pages are not accessible via your menu. Instead, they are created specially to respond to specific search terms, leading the potential customer to a page with just some vital information on your product or service and a call to action.

4. Offer valuable information

Your potential customer is on your website looking for information that will help them make a buying decision. Help them out while establishing yourself as an industry leader by offering guides, checklists, or whatever else may be helpful to them. Just make sure they go through a lead capture form before accessing it!

Remember, for your website to generate the most new business possible, it's got to operate not just as a brochure for your company, but as a lead collecting tool!  And once you've got those leads, make sure you implement a proper lead nurturing program to help them on down the funnel!

Social media marketing is all the rage right now, and we’re not surprised. Not only is it an effective way to market your company online, but it can also be fun!

This digital age is very conducive to creative ideas, but if you don’t have any of your own, try out some of our fun ways to leverage social media to market your company:

1) Offer deals on your Facebook page

Offer exciting deals or promotions via your Facebook brand page. New features even allow you to conduct e-commerce straight from your company page, allowing you to offer or sell seasonal, weekly, or even daily deals to your followers.

2) Hold a picture/video contest

Hold a contest via your Facebook page in which potential customers submit videos or pictures for a chance to win. For example, if you offer teeth whitening services, call out for photos of your potential customers’ smiles. This is a great way to create some buzz around your brand.

3) Tweet a question of the day

Use Twitter to interact with past or potential clients by posting a daily question, asking something to do with your industry or product. Choose a winner form the responses and give away a coupon or small prize.

4) Imbed tweets into your website

With Twitter’s new embeddable tweets, you can embed a customer’s tweet right onto your website. What a new and refreshing way to utilize customer testimonials!

Remember, marketing your company online doesn’t have to be dry or boring. With so many different social media outlets to work with, there’s no reason why you can’t have a little fun.

Getting your website to show up on Google’s first page is important in order to attract new customers for your business. To do this, there are many search engine optimization (SEO) tactics you can use, however some practices are frowned upon by the SEO community, and can even get you banned from search engines!

In the industry, these not-so-ethical tactics are known as ‘black hat’ SEO, and they are generally recognized as an attempt to trick Google in order to achieve a higher page ranking.

To get your website to show up on Google the right way, avoid tactics that:

·       Break search engine rules and regulations
·       Result in a poor user experience
·       Use visual tricks or hide extra content from search engine users 

This may include stuffing nothing but long lists of keywords onto your site, creating invisible text by using a coloured font on top of a similar coloured background, creating fake pages that users will never see, and other similar practices.

While black hat SEO will work to get your website to show up on Google, it’s only a matter of time before they are discovered, and the penalty isn’t worth any short term gains these tactics bring.

White hat tactics work too, an they and create a better user experience for the potential customers that visit your website. To learn more about acceptable digital marketing practices, download our Ebook! 

As an entrepreneur, you know that your business website is one of the best tools to attract potential customers.  You may have also heard that link building is an effective way to optimize that website in order to achieve a better page ranking in Google’s search results.

But how do you build links?

Check out these creative link building opportunities that you can implement for your business website today:

1) Set up an RSS feed for your blog

All right, first things first, if you aren’t blogging on your business website, start!  Once you’ve got that down, set up an RSS feed so that potential customers can syndicate your content and then provide attribution links back to your website.

2) Sign up for local review websites

Not only will signing up for local review websites score you a sweet inbound link, it also creates a place where your potential customers can write reviews on your product or service, and you can use those as testimonials on your website!

3) Link up with companies in complementary industries

Are you a landscaping company that specializes in backyard patios?  Try to link up with a company that sells patio furniture. You get the picture.

4) Create case studies

If you have done some exceptional work, or have a client that is especially happy with your product, create a case study! Chances are that if you make that customer look really good, they will link to your website from theirs, if they have one.

5) Use social sharing widgets

Social sharing buttons are a great way to encourage your visitors to share your website content, as well as a super link building trick! 

While link building opportunities to get more potential customers to your website can seen scarce at first, a little creativity goes a long way! Got any link building ideas of your own? Share them with us!

See below for your free guide to digital marketing success!

If you’ve been trying to optimize your website to show up on Google’s search results, you’ve probably been hearing lots about organic search results.

What are organic search results?

When someone conducts a search on Google, there are two types of results that show up on the search engine results page (or SERP); organic search results, which appear because of their relevance to the search term (among other factors), and non-organic search results, which appear because they are paid advertisements, such as pay-per-click. Paid results appear in separate boxes on the top, and sides of the page.

Why should I care about organic search results when I can just pay?

While using pay-per-click is a good idea at times, it’s not the all-encompassing solution to getting your website found. To begin with, 88% of search engine users never click on paid search ads!

Running paid search campaigns can also get to be very costly if you don’t know how to conduct one properly. Your best bet is to master search engine optimization for organic results before investing in PPC.

Why do organic search results matter?

There is significant correlation between where a website shows up in search engine results for relevant keywords, and how many clicks it receives. The higher your page rank, the more people see your website. Period.

Remember, the placement of your website in Google’s organic search results is not just decided by chance. In the end, it comes down to the marketing strategy and planning you put into your SEO efforts!

See below for your free guide to digital marketing success!

As a business owner, you know how important it is to get your website to show up on Google, but that’s not always as easy as it sounds, especially if you’re making simple website mistakes- and don’t even know it!

Look out for these 4 mistakes that may be hindering your efforts to get your website to show up on in Google’s search results.

1) Your page title is too long

Your page title is not just for telling your visitors what the page is about in Google’s search results. The title also shows up in the top of your browser window to help the search engine categorize your page.

If the title is too long, (over 65 characters), it will get cut off in search results, so your potential customers may not get a complete idea of the topic.

More importantly however, long titles dilute the keywords or terms you have used, making it less likely for you to rank in response to specific search queries for those terms. Keep titles concise!

2) There’s not enough text on your website

Search engines routinely scour the web to identify what websites are about, and to which type of searches they are relevant. While pictures and video are great, Google reads text most effectively.

3) You aren’t updating your website  

Search engines like Google grant greater authority to websites that are constantly putting out new content. Try keeping a business blog!

4) You use the exact same keywords on every page

Each page on your website is an opportunity to optimize for a different search term. If you are using the same keywords on every page, you’re limiting yourself to only one search query!

For example, if you run a garage door business, one page might be optimized for the terms “garage door repair” and the name of the city you service, while another page might aim to attract searches for “broken garage spring”.

Your website is the hub of your online presence, and if you’re making vital mistakes, there’s a good chance that it’s costing you potential customers! Stay on top of your game though, and it will show up at the top of Google’s search results. Watch the leads come rolling in!

Check out our free guide to digital marketing success below! 

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about digital marketing lately, but maybe you aren’t sure if it will prove profitable for your business. Well it will.  

As YellowPages usage declines and more consumers are using the Internet regularly, digital marketing is not only a good idea to stand out amongst your competitors; it’s a necessity!

Check out these recent stats to find out how digital marketing will prove profitable for your business:

78% of Internet users conduct product research online
Today’s shoppers are Internet savvy, and most of them take the time to check out a product or service before they make a purchase. Digital marketing will help your website to show up in Google’s search results when your potential customers are gathering information.

Companies that blog get 55% more web traffic 
Blogging is, indeed, a form of digital marketing- and an effective one at that! Not only are websites that put out new content given higher authority, more pages means more content for the search engine to scour, and probably more inbound links too!

48% of self-employed and small business owners report improved sales as a direct result of their social media efforts
Social media isn’t just profitable for the big guys! Staying on top of all the different social media sites may seem like a chore, but it’s worth it! 

Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing
Perhaps thereal beauty of digital marketing, including SEO, is that not only does it work better than its traditional print counterpart, it’s less expensive too! While the average outbound lead costs $373, the average inbound lead costs $143.

For your guide to digital marketing success, download our Ebook below!

As an entrepreneur, you know that your business website is a great tool to help you make more sales. But there are many factors, including the average visit time spent on your site, which will determine its overall effectiveness as a marketing tool.

Numerous recent studies have shown that as your website’s average visit time increases, so do your chances of making sales.

To get your potential customers interacting on your website for longer, consider these tips:

1) Use short paragraphs and bullets to make scanning easier for your visitors. Large chunks of text can be overwhelming for potential customers, who are most likely looking for something specific during their visit on your website.

2) Use internal links on your website to direct your visitors to different pages and posts, and encourage them to stick around for a longer period of time.

3) Make sure your website is Smartphone compatible. According to industry statistics, 47% of Smartphone users use their device to find out information about a product or service. If your website can’t be viewed in this way, its average visit time is taking a blow!

4) Keep the design simple. If a potential customer lands on your website and there are too many graphics and colours flashing in their face, they will get a headache leave.

For your guide to digital marketing success, download our Ebook below!

Increasing your page ranking is one of the best online ways to help your business grow, but many entrepreneurs don’t know exactly why this is so, or how page ranking is even decided in the first place.

How does page ranking work?

‘Page ranking’ refers to where your website shows up in Google’s search results, and even the slightest advantage can greatly increase the number of potential customers that visit your website.

Luckily, Google determines the ranking of your website on a number of factors, many of which can be harnessed in order to increase your rank and, ultimately, help your business grow!

How do I increase my page ranking?

The best way to achieve an increased page ranking is by taking advantage of the practices that will help your website gain more online authority. There are many ways you can do this and the more of them you cover, the better!

Give these 4 ideas a shot and watch your page ranking grow!

1. Join an industry forum

A forum is an Internet message board on which ideas and information on a specific topic are exchanged, and joining one is a delightfully sneaky (and smart!) way to work in some link-building for your website.

Be sure to include a link to your website in your forum signature to take advantage of this opportunity, and make sure to link to your website from your social media accounts while you’re at it.

2. Get reviewed

Registering for local review websites is another bonus link-building opportunity.

3. Keep things fresh

Google gives authority to websites that are constantly putting out fresh content. To keep things moving, consider keeping a business blog or including a newsroom.

4. Use keywords

Depending on the type of search query you are trying to rank for, you will want to optimize your company website for certain keywords and phrases. Use tools such as Google’s Adwords to help you choose the proper words to use.

Remember, increasing your page ranking is a great way to get more potential customers visiting your company website. The next step to help your business grow is to turn that traffic into leads!

For your guide to digital marketing success, download our Ebook below!

Using keywords is an effective way to get your website showing up in searches, but many businesses are lost when it comes to knowing how to use keywords properly!

Keywords are used to optimize web content for searches by increasing the probability that the given website or page will show up in response to search queries on Google or other search engines. But if these words aren’t used properly, your business’s website may not rank high enough to create a strong online presence among its competitors.

When using keywords as part of your SEO strategy, keep these considerations in mind:

Think like your target market

Many entrepreneurs forget that their target market may not be familiar with your industry’s jargon. Chances are, your potential customer has a problem or a desire, but they may not be sure of the solution. In other words, they don’t necessarily know that it’s you they’re looking for!

If you want your website to show up in searches when your target market searches for a solution to their problem, you have to use keywords actually that reflect the way they conduct a search.

Use keyword tools

That being said, some keywords are going to be more effective than others. For example, long-tail keywords, which are actually short phrases, will allow you to target more specific searches, which tend to be lower-competition.

A great way that you can identify the kinds of keywords you should be using is with keyword generating tools like Google’s Adwords. The key is to choose long-tail keywords that show a low competition, but a higher number of searches.

For your guide to digital marketing success, download our Ebook below!

As new construction sales weaken for businesses in the garage door industry, having a strong website is becoming increasingly important.

Many of the industry’s entrepreneurs are embracing available sales in the retrofit market, including both commercial and residential service and replacement jobs. But interacting with this target market requires a new marketing plan rooted in a strong website.

Why is a strong website key for sales in the garage door industry?

As the industry evolves in response to the economy, the ways in which garage door businesses find new jobs is changing as well. With more focus on residential repairs and retrofitting, it is important that your business make itself available to potential customers that are looking for these services.

A strong website with a good page ranking will help those potential customers find you instead of your competitors and will ultimately help you to make sales!

What makes a strong website?

The following are some characteristics of a strong website:

·       It instills trust: A strong website instills trust for the company by appearing to be a credible website, and through the use of customer testimonials and empathetic photos.

·       It is informative: A strong website provides a variety of educational content to help the consumer make important decisions during their research process. Ebooks, a helpful blog, or other resources should be included on the site.

·       It collects leads: A strong website is not only a brochure for your garage door business, but it also helps you to collect leads, and make sales. Your website should include a call to action on every page.

While having a strong website for your garage door business is a fantastic start, remember that your site isn’t doing much if your potential customers aren’t seeing it. Getting your website to show up in Google’s search results is a key element of your digital marketing plan.

For your guide to digital marketing success, download our Ebook below!

Many entrepreneurs overlook the fact that customer testimonials are a strong marketing tool, and that they can help you to have a better website!

Research has proven that including customer testimonials on your website validates trust, and helps in the lead generation process.

If you’re not sure how to go about including customer testimonials on your website, here are a few tips to get you started:

·       Don’t fake your testimonials. Your potential customers will be able to tell that something is fishy if an overly enthusiastic testimonial praises your company as the best thing since sliced bread.

·       To collect testimonials, check out what people are saying about your business on Yelp! or other review sites, or include a call out box on your website where existing customers can give you feedback or write a review.

·       Compliment your testimonials with before and after pictures or a case study.

·       If you have a business Twitter account, consider embedding customer tweets on your website.

Remember, your potential customers need to know that they trust you before they purchase your product or service. Customer testimonials will help you have a better website by demonstrating to consumers that you run a business that is tried and trusted by the community it serves. 

Social media marketing is all the buzz lately, but can it actually help your business to make more sales?

While it is indeed difficult to make direct sales to followers, your social media accounts can be used to collect leads, and with a proper lead nurturing program, those leads can be converted to sales!

If a potential customer is following you on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media website, you’ve obviously caught their attention in some way. The next step is to get them into your email database.

Here are a couple of ideas of ways to capture leads from your social media accounts:

Include a lead capture field on your Facebook page

One of the beauties of Facebook is that you are completely free to customize your own content. Why more businesses don’t include or link to a lead capture form from their Facebook page is a mystery.

Offer something in exchange for ‘liking’ your page, and require your new follower to supply their email address to access it. You may also try encouraging your followers to sign up for your newsletter, or download an ebook containing interesting or valuable information.

Tweet a link to your sign-up page on a regular basis

You use can the same tactic with Twitter. Unlike Facebook however, the link won’t be on your page permanently, so you will have to make sure to re-tweet every so often. Remember to switch it up so you’re not always offering the same thing.

If you own a door business, you’re probably looking for new and fresh ways to market your company. Why not create an email campaign?

Email campaigns continue to be one of the most preferred marketing tactics, because they are fast, efficient, and inexpensive.

But before you jump right in and create an email campaign for your door business, there are a couple of things that must be done:

1. You must compile a contact list

While there are places you can purchase contact information, this is a rather intrusive and usually ineffective way to conduct an email campaign. Recipients probably won’t know who you are or why they should be interested in your product, and the email will probably just end up in the trash.

It takes a lot more time and work, but collecting your own contacts through your business website will ensure a far more successful campaign. Implement a call to action on every page. Make sure to include a good incentive to click. Sometimes a free quote is not enough. Consider offering a coupon too.

2. You must select an email campaign marketing service

Using an email marketing service will allow your door business to create and send email campaigns easily and efficiently. They will usually include:

·       A design interface with templates
·       A contact management system
·       Advanced reporting options
·       Extra features

Here are a few examples of email marketing services. Each has different features, and which service you choose will depend on the specific needs of your business and the size of your contact list.

·       Graphic Mail : $9.95 for 2,000 emails
·       GoDaddy: $9.99 for 1,000 emails
·       Benchmark Email: $9.95 for 600 emails
·       Campaign Monitor: 7.50 for 250 emails 

Email campaigns are a great compliment to any digital marketing plan, and a proven way to get more customers. But if you don’t have the time or energy to do it yourself, or if you feel a little unsure, hiring a web marketing consultant is a smart investment that is sure to pay off!

If you are looking to find more new customers for your business, there are a number of digital marketing tools available. Unfortunately, the most rapidly growing search medium, video, is often underutilized- even by some of the most web savvy companies.

As the population increasingly looks to video for news, entertainment and social sharing, utilizing appealing video content is an important part of your business’s social networking success and overall web presence.

Your potential new customers are viewing video online more than ever, and to ensure that it is your video they are watching, you must apply digital SEO tactics, just like you do for your website!

Just as you title your blogs and web pages carefully to increase the opportunity to get more new customers, you must optimize your video title and title tags with keywords as well.

To get the best results, make sure the title tag of the page matches the title of the video, also use long-tail keywords where you can.

Remember, there are some advantages to using video to attract potential customers. Google can’t determine the content of the video, so you can submit it multiple times with different titles to increase its chances of being found. And unlike web pages, the age of the video has no effect on its authority in searches, so you can compete on a level playing field from the moment you post!

As an entrepreneur, you’re always looking for ways to achieve better sales for your business. It isn’t always simple, but when it comes to using digital marketing to achieve better sales, the process can be broken down into four distinct steps:

Step 1: Apply SEO tactics to your website

First things first- if you don’t have a website for your business, you’re missing out on a great opportunity. And if you do have a website, but it’s lost somewhere amidst your competitors’ sites, there’s still plenty of room to grow.

Your first step towards achieving better sales with online marketing is to get your website out there in the limelight. This can be done using SEO tactics such as:

·       Keywords
·       Link building
·       Landing pages
·       Putting out fresh content on a regular basis (blog, media room, resource center etc)
·       Pay-per-click advertisements

Step 2: Ensure that your website is ready to convert traffic into leads

Once you’re getting traffic on your website, you need to jump on the opportunity to turn that traffic into leads. Make sure to include a call to action on every single page of your website! Make sure they are highly noticeable, and offer some sort of incentive to act!

Step 3: Nurture those leads! 

All that valuable information from your potential customers isn’t doing much for you if it’s just collecting dust in a database. You need to touch base with these interested prospects by implementing an effective lead-nurturing program.

Step 4: Analyze

Track your progress with an analytics program. Keeping tabs on what is working, and what isn’t will help you progress and tailor your digital marketing plan to ultimately achieve better sales!

Is your local business registered with review websites? If not, you may be missing out on a great SEO opportunity!

Not only do review sites offer great link-building opportunity, they help to spread the good news about your company, improve your online authority, and ultimately get more local business.

As these sites grow in popularity, many consumers are checking out reviews before they take the final step to purchase a product or service, or even just go out for dinner!

Your local business may already be getting reviews on some of these websites, but in order to take advantage of special functions, and to engage with your customers, you are usually required to register as the business owner.

Here are a few review websites to consider registering with today:

·       Yelp
·       Google Places
·       Citysearch
·       Urban Spoon
·       Yahoo! Local

So if you’re not registered on review websites, take this easy step to get more local business today! And once you’re registered, make sure to practice good etiquette. Don’t post fake reviews. Instead, you may try requesting to quote a satisfied customer, or ask them to post a review themselves.

Improving your business website content is an easy, efficient way to grow sales. While many entrepreneurs simply view their business website as a brochure for potential customers, web-savvy businesspeople know that it can function as a sales machine!

Putting out fresh content on a regular basis is extremely important to the authority of your business website, and provides ample opportunity to utilize keywords and other SEO tactics. In other words, it’s what helps you get found in Google’s search results! Remember, the more potential customers that find your website, the better opportunity you have to grow your sales.

Consider these ideas to improve content on your business website:

Get Blogging

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Blogging is one of the most effective ways to improve your business’s web presence. Not only does it help your potential customers through the research portion of their purchasing decision, it establishes your business as an industry authority. Unsure of where to start? Check out our blogging tips!

Create a News Room

Show your visitors that you are up-to-date with industry buzz (and show off a little bit too!) by providing them with a newsroom containing any mentions of your company in the media, awards received, updates about products, event information etc. What a great way to squeeze in some more content!

Include Existing Customer Info

Consider including information about/from existing customers that have good things to say about the product or service your business offers. Reviews, testimonials, case studies, and customer portfolios not only make you look good, they make for good content too.

Resource Center

Just because your blog offers useful resources for potential customers doesn’t mean you should dismiss including resources in other forms. Include a resource center!

Remember, your business website is more than just a brochure, it’s a vehicle to grow sales, and one of the best ways this can be done is by including more, SEO optimized content.

As an entrepreneur, you’re always looking for a new way to attract clients. There are many different marketing tactics you can try, but some have a shockingly low return on investment.

In order to get the most out of the money you spend, you need to indentify the cheapest, (but yet still effective!) ways of attracting clients. Before trying out a new tactic, ask yourself these questions:

Is it outdated?  

While many businesses still opt for large ads in the Yellow Pages, the print directory is a dying medium. Consider optimizing your website for online search instead!

Will it help my business position itself as an answer to consumer questions?

When today’s savvy shoppers are looking for a product or service, they put in the time to do some research. Print ads, like those found in a newspaper, aim to interrupt the reader to draw attention to what your company has to offer. Most of the time, consumers will glaze over these ads and continue reading their article.

The key to attracting clients is simply being easy to find when they look for what you have to offer! Make sure your business has a website, and get it ranking up above those belonging to your competitors.

Will it make my business money?

Many entrepreneurs are turning to deal-of-the-day websites with the hopes of attracting new clients. What they don’t realize at first is that Groupon and similar websites will not make your business money, nor do they foster customer loyalty.

For the cheapest, and most effective way to attract clients, consider looking into online marketing. For your guide to digital marketing success, download our ebook by clicking the button below.

Take these considerations into account, and you will deliver a smooth, focused and memorable presentation at the International Door Association Expo!

If you’re finding it difficult to drive in sales for your business, your web presence may not be up to snuff. Do your competitors have a better website than you? When was the last time you scoped out the other guys?

Take some time to check out what other businesses in your industry are up to online. Is there anything you can learn from them to drive in your own sales?

Here are a few things to look for:

Do they rank?

Which of your competitors are showing up on the first page of Google’s search results in response to a query for the product or service you offer? Where do you show up?

Page ranking is extremely important to driving in traffic to your website, so you want to make sure you rank up there with, if not above, your competition.

Do they look professional?

Studies have found that consumers base their opinions about a website’s credibility simply on the aesthetic features of a website.

The better websites are laid out in a grid-like fashion, are easy to navigate, are legible, and don’t go overboard with colours or graphics.

Do they offer useful information to consumers?

In today’s digital age, consumers like to research a product or service before they are ready to buy. By providing useful information about your product/service/industry on your website, you not only help your potential customer with their buying decision (and help to drive up your sales!), but you establish yourself as an industry leader.

Unlike the old days where the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages meant driving in the most customers, today it comes down to who has the better website.

If you would like a complete, free evaluation of your website, and how it measures up to one of your local competitors’, click here!

One of the most efficient, and cost effective ways to get customers is with your website. If your business doesn’t have a website, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to grow your business!

The fact is, your company’s website is the most important marketing tool you will ever have. Not only can it attract potential customers, it can establish your business as a thought leader, and collects leads all at once!

In order to ensure that your website is getting you the most new customers it possibly can, it needs to be optimized in these three areas.

Attracting potential customers

Unlike ads in a newspaper, which attempt to interrupt potential customers and hopefully capture their attention, a website functions as a response to consumers that are already looking for the product or service you provide.

In order to ensure that your website is showing up in Google’s search results, you will have to implement Search Engine Optimization tactics. If used properly, these digital marketing tricks can help your website to stand out amongst those of your competitors.

Establishing your business as an industry thought leader

Consumers like to do research on a product or service before they purchase it. Your website should provide helpful information to guide them along their decision process. If potential customers see your site as a valuable learning source, they’ll be more likely to purchase from you. One of the best ways to share your expertise is with a business blog.

Collecting leads

Perhaps your potential customers are still researching, and they’re not quite ready to purchase yet. You want to make sure you have the means to remind them that you are a viable option once they decide it’s time to buy. By offering useful information in exchange for an email address, you can collect contact information from your visitors in order to implement a lead nurturing process later on.

How is your website doing in these three areas? Is it getting you new customers? If you’re interested in finding out how your website measures up to that of one of your local competitors, sign up here for a free website evaluation!

As an entrepreneur, you’ve been hearing a lot about selling with deal of the day websites, such as Groupon. You may even be getting phone calls from these businesses encouraging you to sell your product or service at a highly discounted rate. There are many reasons, however, that your business should not sell with groupon.

You’ll try whatever it takes to help your business grow, but before you get sucked into the hype, take your time to think about it carefully.  For most businesses, selling with Groupon simply does not make sense.  Allow me to explain why:

1. Businesses rarely make money by selling Groupon vouchers

These websites often require that you discount your offering by at least 50%. Groupon then makes its money by taking a 30-60% cut of the amount it collects for the merchant. This means that most merchants end up collecting only 25% of the original price.

Depending on your profit margins, you’re probably just breaking even, if not losing money on every voucher.

2. Groupon vouchers do not build customer loyalty

If you’re considering offering Groupon vouchers because you think they will bring you new customers that will return again in the future, think again!  The types of consumers that frequent these sites are bargain shoppers.  They’ll simply go with whoever is offering a Groupon next, or wait until you offer another one. Of course, this is assuming you are not simply selling to existing customers!

3. Offering such dramatic discounts dilutes your brand

When these new or existing customers see that you can offer your product or service for over 50% off the original price, they may begin to question its value, and wonder why it doesn’t cost less to begin with.

4. Groupon traffic can put unwanted stress on small businesses

We’ve all heard horror stories about businesses that simply could not handle all of the sudden, short-term traffic brought on by Groupon.  Many small businesses are not set up to handle a large influx of customers at once, and consumers leave dissatisfied with the service they receive.  Employee moral can also suffer, especially in restaurants, as consumers often tip on discounted prices.

While selling Groupon vouchers may seem like a good idea, be sure to do the math and consider the risks before you take part in this trend.  Representatives may try to sell you on offering a voucher as an advertising technique.  If you are looking for ways to effectively market your company, consider looking into web tactics, which are far more efficient and cost effective!

As an entrepreneur, the growth of your business is important to you. But just because you own your own business, or are thinking about it, doesn’t mean that you don’t need a little help sometimes, and it's not always easy to know where you should turn for ideas to help grow your business. 

This book outlines 6 strategies to grow any business, and discusses how to implement them simply. With the prime focus on management, this book is a guide that you can put to action successfully, no matter what type of business you run.

If you have a growing business, there is much you can learn from the marketing efforts of Canadian quick service restaurant chain Tim Horton’s.

For years, Tim Horton’s has remained one of Canada’s strongest and well-loved brands. Twice named best managed brand by Canadian Business Magazine, the franchise has also been touted as having the best corporate reputation in the country.

So by now you’re dying to know what about Tim Horton’s branding makes it so successful, and how you can apply this tactic to your growing business…

The answer is that Tim Horton’s brand is not defined by its product, logo, or name. Its focus is not the problem that it aims to solve for its customers. Instead, the essence of the brand revolves around the franchise’s emotional connection and communication with its customers.

The chain has successfully and consistently marketed itself as a benchmark of Canadian nationalistic pride. Consumers view Tim Horton’s not simply as a place to go when they need a caffeine fix or a donut, but rather as an integral part of Canadian culture.

Also keep in mind that the essence of the Tim Horton’s brand is successful because not only is it individual and different from what other quick service restaurant chains are doing, it is also designed for longevity.

In a popular marketing campaign, Tim Horton’s encouraged consumers to submit personal narratives about what makes the brand special to them as Canadians. In response, the franchise selected a handful of winners, and based television advertisements on these personal stories. This demonstrated strong communication as well as an emotional bond between the chain and its customers.

So what lessons can you take away for your business? As you build a marketing strategy, it is important to consider and respond not only to your potential customer’s needs, but their emotions as well. 

If you’re in the garage door business, one of the most important components of creating an effective marketing plan is understanding the garage door market.

In order to appeal to your target market, you first need to have an idea of who they are.

Here are some things to consider when you’re thinking about marketing for your garage door business:

Focus- Begin with identifying a broad focus. Are you going after the commercial or residential market? Do you specialize in a particular area?

Demographics- What is the age, gender, and income level of your target market? What would someone from this demographic be drawn to in a product or service? Maybe they would be most concerned with quality, or perhaps they’re looking for convenience and affordability. It is important that you identify these factors and incorporate them into your marketing message.

Industry buzz- While you’re an expert on the products and services you provide, it’s a good idea to know what’s going on in the industry as a whole. Your customers expect to be kept up to date about any new designs etc. that are available. Also, try to keep tabs on what your competition is doing, so you can offer an attractive alternative!

Once you feel that you have a good understanding of what your target market is looking for, you can devise a marketing campaign that will appeal to this particular target.

And make sure to do your homework to ensure that you are implementing the most effective and affordable marketing strategies possible!

Have you heard all about the benefits of email newsletters as an effective digital marketing tool, but you’re unsure about how to create one that is successful?

If so, here are 5 tips to help you create a sucessful e-mail newsletter:

Don’t send your email newsletter without permission

Businesses often make the mistake of sending their email newsletter to recipients that haven’t exactly signed up for it. Remember, just because you have a contact’s email address, or because they signed up for something else on your business website, does not necessarily mean they’re going to be happy to find your newsletter in their inbox.

Offer some sort of incentive to sign up

Since you’re only sending the newsletter to those that sign up for it, you need to offer some sort of incentive for visitors to hop on board. Maybe they’re signing up for a contest and the newsletter at the same time.

It’s also important not to underestimate the demand for interesting and useful information. Play up the newsletter as a resource for insider info.

Find a good frequency

Sending your email newsletter too often can not only be irritating for recipients, but it can diminish its perceived value. Most business’s find once a month to be an ideal frequency. 

Provide the option to unsubscribe

If a recipient decides that your newsletter is not for them, they should be able to simply unsubscribe. Don’t make them jump through hoops to remove themselves from your mailing list. That’s simply bad etiquette.

Make sure your newsletter is smartphone compatible

Research has shown that up to 64% of key decision makers open email on their smartphones. It is essential that your email newsletter is compatible for viewing with these devices.

The page ranking of your business website can play a large part in the growth of your company. If your potential customers can’t find you on the web, it means they’re finding one of your competitors!

What does page ranking mean?

The rank of your website refers to where it shows up in response to a search engine query. If your business website ranks well, it will show up on the first page of Google’s results.

How is page rank decided?

There are a number of considerations that determine the order in which Google’s search results appear. Using a process called ‘indexing’, search engine software routinely scours the web, checking out all of the web pages, and following links to other websites.

During this information-collecting process, the authority of each website is evaluated. Google can then respond to search engine queries by presenting the most relevant, reliable options, ranked in order of their authority.

Why is it important that my website rank well?

Statistics have shown that consumers give up their search completely if they havn’t found what they’re looking for on the first or second page of results.

Numerous recent studies on the behaviors of search engine users have also indicated that as page ranking declines, click-through rates also decrease drastically.

As this graph indicates, the website that ranks first in search engine results receives double the amount of clicks than the site in second place. The difference between the click-through rate of the first ranked page and the third is 22.94%!

What this tells us is that even a slight advantage in page ranking can mean a huge difference in the number of potential customers that are visiting your website.

In order to get your business website ranking on the first page, use SEO tactics such as keywords, landing pages, internal links, blogging and more!

If you’re after ways to achieve business growth online, blogging is one of the best tools available to jumpstart that process.

Blogging for business with the goal to achieve growth, however, is often misunderstood. When we think of blogging, often what comes to mind is the stay at home mom who shares her delicious recipes and kitchen tips. She’s generated a wide following, and has managed to make a living off of her hobby!

When it comes to writing for your company, this stigma that you must have a large following of dedicated readers in order to have a successful blog is simply not true. The fact is, the goals of your business blog and that of the stay at home mom are completely different.

While our stay at home mom aims to make money off of the blog itself by selling advertising space, your goal is to use the blog as a tool to drive traffic to your company website, were you can collect leads and ultimately sell your product or service.

The idea is to write content that your target market is looking for, or will find useful. When a potential customer stumbles upon your blog, they’ve found your company along with it, and you’ve successfully established yourself as an industry leader!

Not only does blogging make your company more accessible to potential customers that show an interest in your industry, constantly putting out fresh content also helps your business website to rank higher in organic local search results. 

How does this translate into business growth? Well, the better you rank, the more traffic your website gets, and the more traffic you get, the more leads you can collect. Follow up on those leads with an effective lead nurturing process, and you’re making sales!

Is your local business showing up in Google’s search results?

In today’s technological age, consumers have come to expect to be able to find the information they want when the want it, in a quick and efficient way. And since an overwhelming majority of the population is turning to online search engines to research a product or service, it is essential that your local business is showing up on the first page of Google’s search results.

Chances are that your potential customers aren’t going to go shifting through pages and pages of results, so if you’re not showing up near the top, you’re not getting noticed. The following search engine optimization (SEO) tactics will help your local business start making its way to the surface!

1. Utilize Keywords

When indexing your website, one of the things that search engines consider is language. Based on the words that appear on each page, Google decides what the content is about, and whether or not it is relevant to specific searches.

To make your website more relevant to searches conducted by your target market, use tools such as Google’s Adwords to select low competition keywords with a high number of local searches.

2. Include Inbound Links

Having lots of inbound links is another great way to establish authority and attract a little extra attention from Google’s algorithm. Each time a search engine indexes and detects a link to your site, it considers that a vote, and the more votes you have, the higher you can rank in search results! 

3. Keep a Blog

A recent study has shown that websites with blogs get 55% more visitors.  Why? Because not only does blogging give you added opportunity to attract visitors to your site with keywords, but search engines give authority to websites that are constantly putting out fresh content.

4. Create Landing Pages

Another way you can increase your search engine ranking and bring traffic to your website is by creating specific landing pages in response to specific searches. In the same way that you use a special kind of bait to catch a certain kind of fish, you can create content aimed at a particular market, and cast out numerous lines at once!

For example, if you own a local painting company, you may create a page about bathroom painting, a page about kitchen painting, or a page responding to searches for painters in the west end of the city, or the east end of the city. 

Utilize these tactics properly, and your site will start to see more traffic, so make sure that your website is up to par to turn that traffic into customers!

There is no point in working hard to collect leads if you don’t take the proper measures to convert them into sales. Without a proper lead nurturing program, your database isn’t doing much for you.

 But maybe you are a little confused or overwhelmed by the follow-up process, and unsure where to start. Well we’re here to help!

Lead nurturing is a system involving sending out a series of correlated emails to early-stage leads in order to prepare them to purchase your product or service. This tactic is a great way to maintain interaction and keep your prospective customers from forgetting about your business.

There are a number of different kinds of emails that you may send as part of this program, but each will provide the reader with content (in the form of an ebook, whitepaper, video etc) that is valuable to them in some way. Choosing what kind of emails to employ, and when to send them depends largely on the stage of the lead.

Here’s a look at a few different types of emails you may choose to send in your endeavor to convert leads into sales:

·       Educational emails offer the reader an opportunity to learn more about your area of expertise.

·       Promotional emails inform the reader of any exciting sales, specials, or promotions you are currently offering. 

·       Best practices emails are like educational emails, in that they teach your prospective customers something new. For example, if you own a bicycle shop, you might choose to educate your customers about the best practices for bike safety or maintenance.

·       Demo/ product emails may offer a free demonstration or product to the reader. For example, an in-store demonstration of how to properly install a child seat on a bicycle.

·       List of resources emails provide a list of industry related resources that the reader may find helpful, such as a list of websites that will help them to find popular biking destinations or trails.

Sounds good doesn’t it? You’re probably wondering how to fire up one of these programs, but there are a few things to consider before you jump right into it. Kick start your program by asking yourself these questions:

·       Are you implementing adequate lead collecting tools, such as calls to action on your webpage to insure you are collecting new leads, and not just recycling a stale list of contacts?

·       What problem are you helping these potential customers to solve? The answer to this question will greatly affect they type of content you send in your emails.

·       Are you going to purchase software to create an automated system yourself, or do you plan on hiring a digital marketing consultant to manage the project for you?

Remember, establishing contact with your leads quickly is key. Studies have shown that 35-50% of the time consumers choose to purchase from the first vendor that responds to an inquiry.

Time is ticking! Get started on nurturing those leads now!

Do you have a business website? If so, has your online presence been landing you more customers? It should be!

The reason your company has a website is to allow potential customers to find you, collect information, and contact you if they decide to use your products or services, right? Well yes, but what about all of those visitors that aren’t quite sure they’re ready to buy yet, the ones that are just browsing or shopping around?

If you aren’t doing anything to collect leads from these prospective customers, then you’re missing out on great potential! It is essential that your website implement a ‘call to action’ on every single page.  

What is a call to action and why is it important?

A call to action is a button or link that is used to entice your visitors to perform a certain action. Often, this will involve providing some sort of personal or contact information. For example, you might place a button on your homepage encouraging readers to ‘click here for a free estimate”. The visitor would then be directed to a ‘lead capture form’, where they would fill in their information for the estimate.

These calls to action are your primary online lead-collecting vehicle. When combined with an effective lead nurturing program, this trick can score you loads more customers than just a webpage alone.

What makes a good call to action?

There are a number of factors that can impact the effectiveness of your calls to action.

Language- Actionable and direct language is the most effective in order to persuade your readers to click through.  The words you choose should communicate how quick and easy the action will be. For example, “Click here for your free estimate today or “get your free estimate now” will be more effective than simply “free estimate”.

Positioning- The location of your call to action will also have a great influence on click through rates. Make sure that your button is positioned above the page fold so visitors can see it without scrolling down. It should also be placed where it is easily visible and stands out among everything else on the web page.

Aesthetics- Studies have shown that using contrasting colors can make your call to action more noticeable and enticing. If your website uses a green theme, create a red button. Using images has also proven to be an effective technique. Consider including an image of a person looking directly at the call to action.

If you’re looking to reel in more customers with your website, then implementing calls to action into your digital marketing strategy is a must! Take these considerations into account and start collecting leads!

If you are trying to grow your business, 2011 studies have uncovered some great news for you! A social media marketing report conducted by the Social Media Examiner has stated that small business owners saw the greatest results from social media marketing!

According to the report, the self-employed and small business owners were most likely to strongly agree with the statement that social media is important to their business. These statistics might help to explain their excitement:

               - 59% of small business owners reported that social media helped them to establish new partnerships

                - This group was twice as likely to find qualified leads than any other types of businesses

               - Out of the self-employed and small business owners surveyed, 48% reported improved sales as a direct result of their social media efforts

And if you think you have to be a big player to get noticed on social media, this study is your wake-up call! Almost every participant, regardless of the type or size of their business, found that social media has helped them to stand out in a crowded and noisy marketplace, leading to increased exposure and even increased website traffic and subscriptions.

While this is great news, keep in mind that leveraging social media for your growing business takes time. Most businesses report spending anywhere from 6-11 hours per week on their various accounts. This may sound steep, but put in the work, or hire someone to do it, and you’ll find that it’s worth it!

Whether you are looking to build a website for your business, or simply revamp the one you have, it is extremely important that your visitors view your domain as a credible source for the information they’re after.

But what does this mean? And what kind of criteria does the typical web-surfer use to decide whether or not a website is credible?

According to a large Stanford University Study, the answer may be simpler than you expected. Of course you would think that determining the credibility of a website would depend on a rather rigorous criteria, (privacy policy etc), however the data from this study implies otherwise…It was found that the average consumer measured the credibility of a website by the overall appeal of it’s visual design!

To ensure that your business’s website meets the standards necessary to be viewed as a reliable source in the eyes of it’s visitors, consider these design tips:

Layout- Avoid overwhelming your visitors with confusing or busy layouts:

• Organize the different elements of each page in a grid fashion, as opposed to randomly scattering them
• Make use of white spaces. It’s okay to have some empty space to keep things from looking cluttered!
• Create a clear, simple navigation structure

Colour- Using colour properly involves more than just going with what looks nice:

• Avoid too many colours on your website. Try to stick to a theme involving two main colours
• Use complimentary colours to make certain elements pop. If the theme of your website involves a lot of blue, use yellow for your call to action buttons and other places you want to direct attention. But don’t overdo it! Too much yellow will leave visitors wondering where to look

Graphics and Effects- You want your website to look modern, but don't go overboard:

• Maintain moderate to minimal use of graphics and effects. They have a tendency to make things look too busy

Typography- Your business website should be as legible as possible:

• Avoid fonts, sizes, or colours that are difficult to read
• Try using bullet lists, headers, and short paragraphs to make it easier for readers to scan the page

Remember, first impressions are extremely important. When a visitor lands on your site, you want them to like what they see.

Keep these considerations in mind when you create a website for your business or when reviewing your existing site. These simple design tips will ensure that consumers view your domain as a credible source. 

And now that you’re on your way to making you website look great, make sure that customers are finding it in their search results! Check out this tip to help your customers find you.

Like any other business, what you’re after is more customers.You’re working hard to grow, but are you doing everything you can to ensure that those efforts pay off? So many companies are missing out on the opportunity to attract new customers, and they don’t even know it! Here are some common mistakes that could be keeping you from picking up those new clients.

1. You don’t have calls to action on your website

Even if you have a fairly popular website, traffic means nothing unless you can convert it into leads, leads that will become customers. It is essential that your site has call to action buttons or images on every page. These buttons are put in place to offer some sort of free consultation, trial, demo, entry into a draw etc in exchange for personal information. Now you’re getting some leads!

2. You don’t have a blog

If digital marketing is new to you, you may be shying away from this four-letter word. If so, you’re missing out! Once you realize the enormous benefits that blogging can bring to your website, you will quickly begin to unleash your inner writer. Keeping a business blog is one of the best ways to increase your standing in search engine results and, ultimately, reel in more potential customers. Google’s algorithm is attracted to domains that are constantly putting out fresh, new content, and affords those sites authority over those that don’t.

3. You’re not using anchor text

So now you have a blog. Amazing. Are you utilizing it to its full potential to help you optimize your search engine results? One of the ways you can do this is by embedding hyperlinks with anchor text. Doing this will help you to rate higher in search results for the phrases you anchor.

4. Your client database is collecting dust

If you’ve been collecting information from potential and/or existing customers, you’re on the right track. But if you haven’t done anything with that information, you’re missing out on a fantastic opportunity to promote customer loyalty and convert leads into sales! Make use of that information with a lead nurturing program, including email campaigns.

5. You’re not leveraging social media

If you haven’t taken advantage of the best free digital marketing tools available to business owners today, then you need to begin, asap! Not only can social media accounts effectively optimize your search engine results, they are also a great way to reach a wide audience quickly and efficiency, and build brand awareness.

Take these steps to make sure you stop missing out on the opportunity to acquire more customers. Implement these tips into your action plan, and watch your business grow!

You probably know that your business could use some improvement, but maybe you’re not exactly sure of just what needs to be done to increase your sales.

It’s hard to know just what your company is missing if you haven’t been tracking your progress, or evaluating the performance of all the hard work you’ve put in! The key to knowing what your business needs to improve, and determining the proper ways to achieve this growth, is analytics!

Marketing analytics is a tool used by companies to measure and critically review data in order to make strategic marketing decisions. There are numerous online analytics tools available, the most popular being Google Analytics.

Of the loads of useful ways that you can utilize this tool to help your business grow, here are a few to get you started:  

Measuring how your keywords are working
You can use analytics to measure the effectiveness of the keywords you have chosen for your site. You can then take what you’ve learned to decide on which keywords you may want to try out in order to improve your search rankings in the future.

Deciding what to blog about
If you have a blog, or are planning to start one up, you can use analytics to monitor how your audience is responding to certain topics. The data you collect can be used to inform your future decisions about what to write about in your blog!

Measuring conversion rates
Once your website is all geared up with landing pages, calls to action and lead conversion forms, you’ll want to use analytics to determine how all of your hard work has paid off! How many leads are you collecting?

And if you’ve implemented a lead-nurturing program, how many of those leads have successfully converted into paying customers? If your answer to these questions is ‘not many’, you can use analytics to experiment with the effectiveness of new tactics!

Monitor responses to your social media presence
Learning how to leverage social media for your business can be overwhelming at first. Not only do you have to familiarize yourself with the various tools available, but you will also need to take the time to learn how to use them properly. To make this process easier, there are various social media monitoring tools (including Google Alerts, HootSuite, or TweetDeck) that you can use to track the buzz around your company, brand, or industry.

Remember, you’re putting in lots of work to help your business grow. Make sure that work pays off (in the form of more customers!) by tracking your progress with analytics and identifying room for improvement.

Are you an entrepreneur wondering how to get your business growing?  Are you hoping to make loads more money in 2012?  If so, then read on.

Take a moment to think about how much you are currently spending on marketing, and how you are spending it.  Maybe you have an ad in the yellow pages or the newspaper, or you're thinking about getting one.  Before you do, ask yourself this question: 'is this the smartest use for my business's money?'

Let's take a look at what kind of doe you'll be spending on these ads, and the kind of exposure they will give your business.  If you are a painter here in Ottawa Canada, a full-page colour ad in the yellow pages will run you up $5,622.40....per month!

Maybe you're thinking that an ad in the newspaper is a better option for you.  If you really want to grab a reader's attention, a full-page ad is your best bet.  But in the Ottawa Citizen, posting one of those bad boys on a Saturday will cost you a hefty $18,104.00.  Even the half page isn't much more affordable, at $10,059.50.

Remember, the newspaper ad will only give your company exposure for one day, and the yellow pages are quickly becoming obsolete.  A side-by-side comparison of the return of investment delivered by traditional marketing including print ads, to those delivered by online marketing will have you wondering why you would even bother with print.

Outsourcing a digital marketer will not only save your growing business money, it will help you make more money too!

For less than 1/6 of the price of a one-day full-page ad in Ottawa’s newspaper, you can get your business started up in an online marketing program that includes:

·       Management of your website

·       Search engine optimization

·       Reporting on your website’s monthly activity

·       Pay per click ads

·       Monitoring of web marketing results

·       Implementation of a toll free number for your company

·       Leveraging of social media

·       Implementation of calls to action

While I’m sure this sounds great, you’re probably worrying about the ongoing costs of outsourcing a digital marketer. This of course depends on who you decide to go with, but you’re looking at as little as $500 a month. That’s over 11 times less than the monthly cost of the yellow pages  ad alone!

Sounds pretty good doesn’t it?  Well get a load of this: Here at Delivering Customers, we guarantee that our services will bring you sales.  If they don’t, then you don’t pay. It’s that simple.

Now go ahead and ask yourself that same question again, ‘what’s the smartest use of my businesses money’? 

Whether you are trying to attract new customers or keep your existing ones coming back, offering an email newsletter is a great way to help grow your business.  Wondering why you should implement this tactic into your digital marketing strategy? Here are a few reasons that might help to convince you…

1. Simply offering a newsletter is a great way to collect and nurture leads

Consumers like to receive news and special offers from the businesses that they find interesting. While suggesting that a website visitor sign up for your newsletter functions as a lead collecting tool, simply delivering the letter kick starts the nurturing process. 

2. Newsletters are a fantastic way to maintain communication with your existing customers

Keeping in touch with these people is crucial in your efforts to create customer loyalty for your business. An email newsletter will ensure that you are checking in with previous and existing clients on a regular basis, so they wont forget who you are. Delivering a regular newsletter has proven to increase the lifetime value of clients!

3. Email newsletters are cost effective and efficient

Sending out your newsletter via email will save you printing and mailing costs, and it’s quicker too!

4. Email newsletters can be used to expose pre-existing content

Whether it’s blog posts, articles, or surveys, you can link to them from an email newsletter, encouraging yet more interaction with your readers.

5. Because they are sent to a more receptive audience, these emails tend to generate a higher response rate than direct mail newsletters

Email newsletters are only sent to visitors who sign up for them, so the chances that they will be read and appreciated are much higher than with direct mail letters, which often get thrown directly into the trash.

6. Sending newsletters online is appreciated as a ‘greener’ option than print letters

Not only is email less expensive, it’s better for the environment too. As our society grows more aware of our impact on the planet, consumers are beginning to look for businesses that are environmentally conscious. 

While it is certainly important to take measures that will bring in new customers to grow your business, you don’t want to forget about those clients you have already served, or the ones you take care of on a regular basis. Are you doing anything to ensure that these clients will loyally return to you should they require your product or services again? 

It is crucial to maintain a relationship with previous customers because they are walking talking marketing tools. If you have provided exemplary customer service or products, chances are they will refer you to friends and family or return to you themselves. That is, if you are still fresh on their minds! To ensure that your clients are still thinking of you, consider creating a customer loyalty plan involving these simple steps.

Check in on them

Fire your customers an e-mail to ask how they are enjoying the product or service you provided. Not only is this your chance to make sure they remember your name, it also serves as a great opportunity to collect feedback from your clients. Use this information to ensure that you are delivering the best customer service possible to both new and returning clients.

Stay in touch

You may also want to keep these past clients in the loop about any special deals or promotions you put on, new product releases, or special events. Consider developing a simple rewards program. If they are up to date about the exciting value you have to offer, these customers will be eager to recommend your services or return to buy your product as a gift.

Offer incentives for referrals

Some apartment buildings offer a few hundred bucks off of your next month’s rent if you refer someone to move in. As you can imagine, every existing tenant is probably on a mission to round people in. You can reward loyalty by implementing this kind of program too! Offer a prize, rebate, or service to your existing customers that give you a referral, or send them a “new customers only’ offer that they can give to a friend!

We all know that obtaining new clients is crucial to the growth of a business, but we often forget that our existing customers can play a part in the process. Make a customer loyalty plan like the one described to grow a strong, loyal client base.

For more tips on how to grow your business, click here.

Whether you’re firing up a new business, or you are just unsure about how to use social media for your company, the time has never been better to take advantage of  a Twitter account. Over the past couple of years, Twitter has implemented a number of new features that will prove helpful in your endeavour to promote your company:

1- It can now be used for search engine optimization

Many business owners make the mistake of assuming that social media is simply used for expanding reach and engagement, and promoting brand awareness. While this is indeed true, activity in social media like Twitter can also help your company’s website rank higher in organic search results!

The more links that exist to direct potential viewers to your business page, the higher search engines rank your website in the competition to appear in search results. In an interview last year, both Google and Bing confirmed that tweeted links count towards a search engine’s organic rankings.

In the same interview, these search engine giants noted that your influence on Twitter (ie the more followers you have), the higher your authority. If these considerations alone aren’t reason enough to open a Twitter account for your business and start collecting followers, then what is!?

2- It now features specialized brand pages

Twitter recently introduced brand profile pages with features that create a compelling environment for followers. The new pages include large, customizable headers, which can be used to display a logo or tagline, creating a page that captures the essence of what your company is all about.

The new layout also includes a ‘featured tweet’ option, in which businesses can select a spefic tweet to appear above their timeline with optional images or videos attached. This is a great opportunity to promote particular campaigns or offers, as the featured tweet boasts a much longer shelf-life than a regular Twitter update.

3. They now offer embeddable tweets

Also among this list of useful new features is the ‘embeddable tweet’. This means that you can embed a tweet onto your company webpage, blog, in emails, or anywhere else you like. Visitors can follow, retweet, or click on a link embedded on the tweet without actually going to the Twitter page.  This opens up amazing opportunity for businesses to showcase customer testimonials, get feedback on an issue, or even conduct polls!

Now that you have an idea of the ways that Twitter can help your business grow, check out some simple tips for optimizing your social media strategy.

February 14th is upon us once again. Love is in the air and Cupid is brandishing his bow. Here at DC, Valentines Day means one thing to us.  Hooking up …Using inbound links that is!

Inbound links share the digital love by linking to your website from other locations online. Not only can these links attract more visitors to your site, but they also have a significant effect on your rank in search engine results.

There are a number of considerations that determine the order in which Google’s search results appear.  Having lots of inbound links is a great way to establish authority and attract a little extra attention from Google’s algorithm.  Each time the algorithm detects a link to your site, it considers it a vote, and the more votes you have the higher you can rank in search results.  

The most beautiful thing about using this tactic is that it can foster give-and-take digital relationships with your suppliers, customers, and friends.  Help them out by providing links to their websites on your website or social media accounts, and ask them to do the same for you.

This may sound awkward but using inbound links doesn't necessarily mean just pasting URL onto your webpage.  You can embed hyperlinks right onto the content of your page, blog, etc. by using anchor text.

There are a couple of different ways you can do this. You may choose anchor text that gives some information about the destination page, like this: 

Today I visited the Delivering Customers homepage. 

Or, you may choose to use instructional anchor text:

If you don’t know what to get your wife for Valentines Day, click here.

So if you're thinking you'd like a little more company in your domain this Valentines Day, remember that giving out digital love to your suppliers, customers, or friends can have a bigger pay off than flowers and a box of chocolates!

How do you find customers on the web?  You help them to find you!  One of the most efficient ways you can build additional traffic to your company website and connect with more potential customers, is through a business blog.

Why You Should Blog

Over the last decade, blogging as a form of online marketing has exploded! Businesses are realizing that maintaining a blog is vital to making themselves public and accessible to potential customers, and it provides them with the chance to share their knowledge and expertise with a wide audience.

Besides its ability to establish expertise and optimize web presence, the blog is also attractive to business owners because it is relatively easy and inexpensive. Blogging doesn’t require learning html, and you can do it yourself, if you like.

What to Write About in Your Blog

So you’re ready to blog? Before you start typing away, take a moment to think about the audience you are trying to reach. Maybe you want to form a relationship with your customers, partners, and other players in your industry. What kind of information would be valuable to them? Read other blogs in your field to get a feel for what they are putting out there, and try to take a slightly different or new approach.

Maintaining Your Blog

Keeping a business blog is a commitment. In order to generate a following, and to help potential customers to find you, it is essential that your blog is updated on a regular basis. People will come to expect new material every so often, and if they find that you aren’t delivering, they won't bother with you any more. Maybe you’re thinking, “I’m too busy with other aspects of my business to worry about writing blogs!”  If this is the case, you may want to consider hiring someone to keep a blog for you.  And remember, it may take a while to get things rolling. Just hang in there, and more customers will be finding you before you know it!

So you’ve come to understand the importance that online marketing plays in the accessibility and growth of your business. Great! But delving into the world of SEO, or search engine optimization, requires learning a slew of new terms and industry jargon. But do your homework, get to know these words, and you’ll be talking the talk in no time!

To get started, you can refer to this SEO terms glossary:

Algorithm- this term refers to the program used by search engines to find the most relevant pages for a given query. The algorithm considers a number of factors, including age of the domain, title tag, meta tags, content of the website etc. in order to decide which pages show up, and in what order.

Anchor text- also called ‘link label’ or ‘link text’, the anchor text is the clickable, visible text that makes up a hyperlink. You know, the text that shows up dark blue and underlined, and can be selected to bring you to a new page. The anchor text usually provides some information on the subject of the destination page.

Analytics- this refers to the use of a program to gain statistics and data on the usage of your website, including traffic and conversions. Keeping an eye on these factors is very helpful to monitoring how the changes you make to your site affect the response and behaviors of your visitors. The most commonly used analytics program is Google Analytics.

Blog- this is the area of your website were you post content on a regular basis. Keeping a blog is important to optimizing your search engine results and establishing a web presence for your company. Remember, each new blog is a page on your website that search engines consider for query results!

Conversion form- also known as a ‘lead capture form’, this term refers to the tool through which information is collected from your visitors. These forms help you to convert traffic into leads. Once you collect contact information from your visitors, you can begin your lead nurturing process.

Domain- your domain is the main web address of your site. For example, here at DC our domain is www.deliveringcustomers.com. Keep in mind that the age of your domain will affect your rankings. Search engines also favour websites that have shown commitment by registering for several years of ownership.

Keyword- this is the word or phrase that a user enters into a search engine when they’re looking for something. For example, if my toilet is backing up, I might Google ‘Ottawa plumbing services’.

keywords are also one of the most important considerations in your endeavor to increase the search engine results for your website. Each page on your site should be optimized to draw in visitors based on specific keywords.

Long tail keyword- these are keywords that are uncommon, or infrequently searched. They are often comprised of two or more words, making up a short phrase. You should consider targeting these phrases, as they will help you to achieve a higher search ranking than keywords that are more competitive. One of the tools you can use to generate keywords that will be helpful to use on your website is Google’s Adwords.

Meta description- this is the brief, specific description of the contents of a web page. It’s usually displayed below the page title in search results, and helps the search engine identify the topic or purpose of a given site.

Organic search- these are search engine results that appear naturally based on a number of factors, and are not paid advertisements. In order for your web page to come up on top of organic search results, you must optimize for the specific keywords being searched.

PPC- this stands for pay-per-click, an advertising model used in web marketing that involves the positioning of a small ad on a search results page. These ads appear above or adjacent to the organic search results, and are paid for based on the number of clicks they generate.

RSS feed- often dubbed ‘really simple syndication’, RSS is a format used to deliver subscription-based updates and content from a web source. If you keep a business blog, you should consider setting up an RSS feed to help your followers stay updated.

Spider- also known as ‘web robots’, ‘web crawlers’, ‘bots’ and ‘internet bots’, these are terms that refer to computer programs that are written to browse the internet and collect information about websites.

Traffic- this term refers to the visitors of your site. The goal of your SEO efforts is to increase traffic, providing more opportunity to collect leads.

URL- this stands for ‘uniform resource locator’, and simply refers to the address of a particular web page. For example, the URL for this blog is www.deliveringcustomers.com/blog.

Now that you know a few of the key terms involved in SEO, you can begin learning how to implement some of the optimization tactics yourself!

Do you have a print ad in the Yellow Pages? Is it generating the type of response you hoped it would? Maybe you own a local garage door repair business, you’re reputable, and business isn’t bad. But like any other entrepreneur, what you’re after is growth. You want more business.

Unfortunately, your print ad isn’t going to deliver like they did back in the day. In this digital age, your potential customers are increasingly relying on search engines to find the service they’re after. In fact, studies have led us to expect that Yellow pages usage will decline by almost 40% over the next four years!

That being said, it’s easy to see why your online presence is crucial to the future growth of your business. Whether you already have a website or not, here are a few things you need to know about online marketing:

It’s cost effective

Compared to outdated directory ads, search engine optimization can bring you substantially higher returns on your investments.

It’s efficient

Online marketing reaches a large number of people quickly and efficiently.

It takes more than just slapping up a website

Remember, online marketing requires strategy and planning. Chances are your competitors are online too, and you have to take the steps to ensure that it is you that your potential customers find. Do this right, and you can toss those yellow pages were they belong: in the recycling bin!

What is a landing page and what makes them so sucessful? The landing page is the area of your website where traffic is sent to prompt a certain action or result. These pages play an important part in converting leads and ultimately helping you sell more. There are, however, some things to consider when utilizing these marketing strategy tools.

Keep in mind these 5 characteristics of highly effective landing pages:

They are direct

When a potential customer ends up on your landing page, you want to make sure that they know exactly what to do. Actionable and direct language should be used in titles and body text both to explain the value of what you are offering, and to prompt them towards your call to action button. For example, a link entitled "Click Here for Your Free Estimate Today" will be more effective than simply "Free Estimate".

They are tried and tested

Get in touch with your creative side and experiment with different looks. Do potential customers respond better to a certain size of font or colour combination? Try out a different layout, or a new photo (just make sure that it relates to the offer!). Most importantly, monitor how these changes affect visitor response and lead conversion. You may be suprized what a difference such a simple change can make!

They wont give you a headache

Bad landing pages are full of distracitons. Studies have shown that when we open up a new webpage, we spend the first 3 seconds orienting ourselves and ultimately deciding what acitons we will take on the site. It's vital to let your visitors focus. Get rid of any flashing text or animations, and limit any navigation opportunity to keep them on track with the task at hand.

They don't ask too much of their visitors

While a long, detailed lead capture form may provide a quality lead, to sell more it is important to find a ballance between quality and quantity. If potential customers are asked to fill out too many fields or do a lot of reading, they will start to wonder whether it is worth their time. Try to cap off the number of fields in your form at 11. And remember, always position the link to your lead capture form above the page fold, so visitors don't have to go looking for it.

They redirect to a thank you page

It's more than just a polite gesture! After your visitors fill in your lead capture form, send them directly to a "thank you" page. Make sure to introduce full navigation here, allowing them to look at other areas of your site and connect further with your company or brand.

Remember, a bad landing page wont help you reach your goals to sell more. Keep these considerations in mind and you will discover that if done right, these pages can act as one of your most fruitful marketing strategy tools! 

When it comes to online marketing, social media have quickly become one of the most effective ways to communicate information about your brand and to foster valuable customer relationships. There is much to learn, however, about communicating with a large, diverse audience, and while attempting to leverage social media for your business may be overwhelming at first, your efforts are sure to pay off. Here are a few hints to get you on your way...

Don’t – leave gaps in your profile/page information

It sounds like a no-brainer, but this is probably the simplest step you can take to leverage an organic search presence. When you fire up any social media account, make sure to provide as much information as possible about who you are, what you do, and how you can be contacted. Include a picture. Keep in mind that Google+ profile and page information is consistently incorporated into search results. Brand presence is a must!

Do - get your employees connected

Ask your staff to help generate local business by using their social networks on your behalf. If your employee’s connections know their friend or family member works for a local pet grooming company, chances are they will contact him/her when Fluffy needs a haircut.

Don’t - sound like a broken record

In the same way that Google’s algorithm penalizes websites with duplicate content in search results, Twitter will penalize users who make a misguided attempt to gain visibility by posting the same link or tweet repeatedly. Also avoid posting similar messages to multiple accounts. While a little bit of uniformity is okay, try to cater your content to each individual account to deliver more relevancy.

Do - keep your ear to the ground

Position yourself as a resource for local events in your industry. Whether live or web-based, you want to be on top of, and participating in, everything that is happening. Keep your audience coming to you for the scoop, and you’ll become an indispensable resource.

Don’t - get off topic

As you endeavour to secure a sustainable base of followers, it is important to maintain consistency when publishing your social media updates. Remember, your subscribers follow you for a specific set of reasons, and off-topic posts diminish the value of your account.

Do - monitor social media mentions

When people are talking about your brand, related products and services, or your competitors, you want to be the first to respond. Provide information about your product, answer questions, offer a coupon. Not only will your real-time information generate new leads and keep your existing customers happy, you will establish yourself as a local thought leader. Now that’s something to think about.