Search Engine Optimazation Archives

Branding Your Small Business

Friday, October 15th, 2010 at 9:50 pm  
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Branding your business with a consistent look will increase the comfort level of doing business with you from customers and potential buyers. From your website, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, your signage and business interior. All of these factors play a role in branding your business. A consistent look tells customers that you are professional, organized and someone who is safe to spend money with.

Do your brochures and menus represent your business? Or are they not representative of the business you have become?

Have you grown your business into a million dollar brand but your website was made by your nephew for a few hundred bucks?

When was the last time you took a look at all of the elements that make up your brand? If it has been a while, take a step back and look things over.

  • Does the exterior of your business give potential customers who drive by the correct impression? All of these elements cause potential buyers and existing customers to form impressions
  • Does your website design match the design of your business?
  • Are you brochures and marketing material of the same high quality that your business is?

While customer service may make up for some branding flaws, it will not get customers in the door initially. Does your branding and marketing message speak of your business goal? What is your business selling?  Don’t say a product, rather is it a thing of comfort, does it offer  speed or convenience, or speak of professionalism?

An often overlooked but equally import aspect of business branding is you, the business owner. How you portray yourself, communicate with customers and employees all tie into your business image. Do you look the part of someone who would own a business like yours? Take a few minutes to examine your image because this is also how customers view your business.

With all of the different marketing mediums available today there are more places than ever to attract new customers and market to your existing customer base. People should be able to easily recognize your business, not by name alone but also through your branding. If I see a yellow and red signage or restaurant interior I instantly think of McDonalds without seeing a name.
By conveying a high quality image with consistency across marketing platforms, your business signage, interior and exterior, social media sites and yourself, this will brand your business in your customer’s eyes and lead to increased sales, lower customer attrition and higher loyalty. Stand out from your competition today by creating a brand that leads your market in your city.

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Simple Advertising Trick Works in Tough Times

Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 11:33 pm  
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No money to spend on advertising?

The One Advertising Method That Won’t Cost You A Single Penny – As Long As You Follow This Secret Guide!

As business owners we have all been in the “no budget” advertising zone.  I’ve been there and every time I create a new idea I’m in the “no budget” advertising zone. After creating several businesses and websites I have developed a full proof way to get targeted traffic to my site almost instantly.

No, this isn’t any type of SEO trick, or some system that you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to make work.  It’s a simple technique that anyone no matter their marketing experience can do.

This incredible technique has brought literally thousands of targeted visitors to my site each and every time I use, and today I’m going to reveal EXACTLY how to do it in my “Profiting With Press Releases” ebook. This is your one stop guide to getting free exposure using press releases.

I haven’t found anything that works better or faster than this amazing free publicity technique, and I suggest you take advantage of it right now before your competition beats you to it!

The “Profiting With Press Releases” ebook will take you step-by-step through creating your first press release all the way to how to get it published to thousands of targeted visitors.

The 63 page information packed ebook isn’t full of fluff and garbage. It covers in depth techniques for:

  • Writing your press release
  • The proper way to format your press release
  • How to get your press release to your target audience
  • How to make sure your press release gets published
  • Tracking your press releases to make sure you are profiting
  • … and so much more!

The “Profiting With Press Releases” ebook should be in every marketer’s “library”. It’s a vital technique that separates the little guys from the big guys and the winners from the losers.

The “Profiting With Press Releases” ebook will help your business get the targeted traffic it needs to survive and you can get it at the amazingly low price of only 17 bucks.

Isn’t $17 dollars worth the thousands of laser-targeted visitors you’ll be getting to your site or business using this amazing FREE technique?

If you answered yes, you are one of those business people I will see at the top, and to jump start your journey all you have to do is click on the buy now button below to instantly download “Profiting With Press Releases” for only $17.



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Website as Storefronts

Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 1:47 am  
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A customer walks into the store, browses through products and shelves, picks up items, inspects, considers the prices, chooses a product and takes it to the cash register to pay. Now if you want to sell your products online, then your site must be enabled for e-commerce, where you must have the following features:

  • You need to provide plenty of content and product description like sizes, dimensions, colors and comparisons with other similar products. It must allow the customer to choose a product, get a clear pricing and shipping costs on the product, complete the transaction and get an order number, and/or invoice confirmation via email. Allow your customer to choose a shipping method.
  • You must tell the customer if the item is in stock or delivered against order. Ideally, you should have an email contact or live help if the customer has a question. Most importantly you must respond immediately! If you want to provide your own live chat and help desk services on your website, specialized softwares are available for purchase.
  • Be sure your customer service links are large and clearly marked, so your client does not have to dig around to find information.
  • Provide an ‘about us’ section or a section about your policies. If you have privacy statements and customer satisfaction policies, your customer will feel better about shopping in your store.
  • You probably want to have customer quotes and references on the storefront page, as well, to let your prospective client know that others are happy with your service.
  • Provide an FAQ with information about your return-back policies, guarantees, shipping prices and insurance charges if any.
  • If you are so inclined, you can offer a print catalogue if the customer prefers to order one from your storefront and shop in the privacy of their homes.
  • Do not annoy your customers by presenting products that are marked ‘sold’ or pages that say ‘under construction’ or ‘coming soon’.
  • Do add new content frequently, so your returning customers will not be bored by seeing the same products they saw four months ago.
  • If your site has got a date tag or has current references, be careful to change these references frequently so you don’t give the perception that nobody is attending or reading your site.


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Local Business

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 11:09 pm  
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You Can’t Afford Not To Be Findable In Today’s Market

Small businesses should understand that the Internet is replacing the Yellow Pages. And just like the good ol’ days of the Yellow Pages, when a customer starts searching they are usually ready to buy.

Will They Be Able To Find You?

If your local business doesn’t have an internet presence as part of your advertising strategy then you probably can’t be found in the place where 80% of potential local customers start their search for your product or service.

Your Customers Expect You To Be On The Internet

Whether you are a real estate agency, plumber, dentist, lawyer,contractor, it doesn’t matter, if you can’t be found on the internet you are losing business. Even if you have a webisite that isn’t being promoted it’s like putting up a billboard in the desert. It still means no customers.

Does Your Current Web Site or Internet Advertising Convert Visitors Into Customers?

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Is Your Business On The Internet?

Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 6:30 pm  
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If you own a business — whether it be small or large, online or offline – then you should know that if your business is not on the internet in some way, shape or form, you are leaving money on the table. And it might be a whole lot more money than you ever thought possible. You see, the internet is the most popular place for people to search for products or services to purchase. That means, if you are a business that sells products or services (of any kind); you better be online otherwise your competitors will beat you to the punch! It’s amazing how a simple little thing like showing up on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, MSN, Etc) can make such a big difference in how much money you make and how much exposure you get.

If you don’t already have a website or an online presence; it’s fairly easy to accomplish. Basically, all you need is a simple one-page website that displays all of the important details of your business including the phone number, address, hours of operation and what makes you different (and better) than your competitor. Try to get your business name as a DOT COM (i.e YourBusinessName.com) so that no one else can buy it and try to sabotage your business or benefit from your company name. It is very affordable to get a simple, basic website up and running and once you have one you will need to start promoting it.

There are many ways to promote a website and drive targeted traffic to it. There are free classified ad websites out there that you can promote your business on for FREE, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, link swapping, email marketing, Pay Per Click advertising and many more internet marketing methods and techniques. There is also the ever so popular “SEO” aka Search Engine Optimization which is becoming an industry standard for many businesses in virtually every niche market.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website to show up on the search engines for keyword phrases that are related to your business. For instance, if you sell boats in Chicago, Illinois… You would want your website to show up any time someone searched Google for “Boats in Chicago” or “Boats for sale in Chicago” am I right? In order to do this you would have to hire a professional search engine optimization specialist or consultant to come give you an analysis of your website and tell you exactly what needs to be done to improve your search engine rankings or get you to show up on them at all (if your not there already)!

Is your business on the internet?

EXPOSURE – Indispensible NEED Of Business

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 6:50 pm  
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Have you ever thought that you have not used your marketing and entrepreneurship capabilities to their fullest capacity?

Let me answer a few questions for you, which you would have definitely asked me if we were to meet in person.

Why do I need a website?

The truth is, everyone in business needs a website today. It doesn’t matter whether or not you sell anything online; your prospects want to learn more about you before investing the time to drive over, or making a call to your place asking for more information. We live in a world that craves information – online research is easiest and information can be acquired way faster than any other means.

Informed customers become good buyers and you are there for them whenever they want you to be. That is called BUSINESS FLOW!

What can a website do for you? And how will it do so? Allow me to rant…

If you’re thinking, “A WEBSITE MIGHT BE USEFUL” let me tell you “HOW IT WILL BE USEFUL”

  1. Instant Access to your customers -you can provide Downloadable forms, price lists, sale sheets and brochures to people researching a purchase. Maintain a forum via email to quickly and easily answer questions about your goods and services.
  2. Reduce Costs- A web presence can eliminate much cost like print advertising and other campaign costs. Even on the most rigorous web campaigns, the advertising cost per customer is far, far less by comparison and beyond expectations.
  3. Give People Exactly What They Look For- More and more people research a company or product online
    before face-to-face interactions. Today people expect to find a web site for a company with at the very least information on services or products.
  4. Always On- Information about your company is available 24/7, locally, nationally, and globally at no extra cost. Imagine the cost of a direct mail piece through the post office to every address in the world with a computer!
  5. Cost Effective- Can easily be the most cost effective advertising and marketing medium of communication to existing and potential customers.

Let People Know Easily What You Do Best: If your product and service is quality and you’re a one person operation, your website can focus on your business and open the door to people who might not be thinking of a smaller business for their needs.

If you have made up your mind to launch a website now, please take care of a very, very important thing.

Please ensure that you have a website and you have a PERFORMING WEBSITE.

Why I am saying this? What is the difference between a WEBSITE and a PERFORMING WEBSITE?

A business website is just like a shop or a sales office. It’s an online office. People need to know about its presence and what can it do for them. A nice design and a structured set of information is not all it requires to generate business flow.

That can really be only achieved by implementing Search Engine Optimization strategies or (SEO).

What is (SEO)? It’s simple, really:

SEO is the process of promotion of your website and products and services sold in it through search engines or online advertisement campaigns.

Look at it this way. Online presence is only successful after you have visitors on your website and to generate them you need to apply some strategic techniques.When you have visitors – Welcome them – Inform them – Offer them great deals and let them buy whatever they want and whenever they want.

You can be the KING of local business in your field. Web presence always creates opportunities for you – but you need use this willing servant of yours correctly. Trust me, if you do – it will make you a satisfied master at the end of the day!

All the best,

Jim Thorpe

Image/Profit Consultant

What Is SEO & Why Is It So Important?

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 6:26 pm  
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SEO a.k.a. Search Engine Optimization is an important asset to any business and it is something that business owners all over the world are looking into doing for their websites. Not only is it helpful to get more business now during this economy, but it is almost necessary nowadays to have an online presence just to survive as a business!

Although SEO can be a confusing subject at first, it is still crucial to educate yourself about it now and jump on the bandwagon now because it is an asset that no business should ignore.

What is SEO?

SEO is the term used for optimizing a website so that it shows up on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Etc) when someone searches for a keyword phrase that is related to their website. If you have a website that is for a Chinese Restaurant in Chicago, you would certainly want your site to show up when people search for “Chinese restaurants in Chicago” or anything related, right?

If your website isn’t there, then your competitors’ websites will surely be there and then you can lose out on the traffic and therefore lose money. Why leave money on the table when such a HUGE share of the market is searching the internet to find practically everything they need? And why hand over the targeted traffic to your competitor?

There are a couple of ways to show up on the first several pages of Google, Yahoo, etc. One of those ways is to do “Pay Per Click” advertising where the business owner pays Google every time someone clicks on their websites listing. This allows them to show up on the first page (depending on how much they’re willing to spend) but it can be extraordinarily expensive and in many cases not profitable. Also, many people prefer to not click on the results that they know are “paid for” and “sponsored” ads.

The more desirable way to rank in the search engines is to rank “organically” or naturally, without paying for any clicks and without paying a dime anytime someone clicks on your search result. This results in a long term stream of “laser targeted” traffic to your website (since the only people who find your site are searching for something related to it) which will turn into leads and eventually customers. Remember: Traffic = Money!

This is accomplished by optimizing your website for certain keyword phrases that have been proven to have a decent search volume, building incoming links to your website, formulating the proper META tags and making sure you have clean HTML code, etc. It will take hiring an SEO specialist to come and give you a consultation as to what your site needs and what it already has, as well as if there is anything you may be doing wrong that is penalizing you or preventing you from showing up on Google, Yahoo, etc.

SEO is a long term investment with astonishing results and ROI’s. It is also necessary for any business — large or small — to invest in having a presence on the internet as well as other internet marketing services including SEO, article marketing, link building, social media marketing, blogging and more. Simply look up a local SEO person in your town or city and ask them to give you a consultation or a basic rundown of what you need to do to your website to make it work for you and make you more money.

By making your website more search engine friendly you will be ensuring long term success for your business.

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Business Owners – The Biggest Asset That You Already Have!

Monday, September 28th, 2009 at 12:14 am  
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If you have a business, whether it is a small business or a large one, you might not be taking advantage of the biggest asset that you can have. And the craziest part is that you might already have that asset! The asset I am talking about? (hint:  No, it is not a website, although you should have one).

That asset is ‘EXPOSURE’.

Let’s examine some facts: The SBA is undeniably the best source of business information available anywhere. For over 50 years the SBA has looked at millions of small business to determine the factors of success and failure.

Do you think you could learn a thing or two from them?

Here are the most important facts they report.

  1. Over 80% of all small business will fail in the first 3 years, 90% in five years and only 5% percent will make it to their 10th year.
  2. The number 1 reason for those failures:  “Failure to gain enough exposure to stay alive during the learning curve of the first few years.
  3. The number 2 reason: “Paying too much money to gain exposure”

The number one reason why MOST small business fail is due to not getting their message to enough people. This is simply a matter of not making enough money.

The next reason is PAYING TOO MUCH to gain exposure. Talk about adding insult to injury; the only thing worse than not making enough money is spending too much money trying to make money.

Let’s make a connection that most business people never make – or there would be a much higher success rate -

Most business DIE from these two injuries, and that’s pretty obvious. What is less obvious is that these same two problems keep just about EVERY business from reaching their maximum profit potential.

In other words, a business that doesn’t attract enough business or that spends too much money trying to get business will never be as profitable as it  could be!

So, what exactly is the REAL problem?

Find out in my next post, where I’ll give you some more facts from the SBA and let you use your own good common sense…

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