How to Maximize Social Media Traffic to Your Website

Have you ever wondered how to maximize social media traffic to your business’s website? First, let’s look at the facts.

As of 2021, there are 4.66 Billion individual Internet users in the world. Facebook, the social media giant, has 2.80 Billion users. Instagram has 1.074 Billion. YouTube has 2.3 Billion. Twitter has 192 Million. TikTok has 689 Million. 

While Google remains unbeatable at directing visitors to websites, you can’t consider these numbers above without feeling impressed. Many business owners turn to social media, because extra traffic is an undeniably great investment– if they play their cards right.

It’s easier than making an effort to improve rankings in Google since you’ve already done much of your work someplace else– namely, on your own website. That does not mean it’s an absolute walk in the park though, particularly if you aren’t already a big and renowned brand. But if others find success with it, and you want to do it too, why run from it?

So let’s go through the how-tos of having as much social media traffic as humanly conceivable.

Stage 1: Prepare your social media pages

Undoubtedly, you need to “exist” in social media correctly before you can start using it as your traffic machine. Less noticeable are the details of it. These are the factors that will lay down the foundation of your social stronghold:

Your personal pages

Which will you prefer:

1. Speaking with a person;
2. Talking to a brand with a logo for its face?

The majority of people will go for option 1, most of the time. It makes interaction and communications much more personal and infuses trust into the relationship.

Once you’ve selected which social platforms you are going to use, set up your personalized accounts there– with your name and face. (If you already have them set up, great!) Be your own representative. Encourage others on your team to do the same, as well.

Personalized pages are also needed to build and expand your network, but we’ll touch on that later.

Your Business Pages

The personal factor makes it much simpler to propel individuals to your website from your own social pages. Facebook influencers, in particular, often bypass the whole business page part and just post anything under their own personal name. You probably aren’t there yet, so you’ll want to dedicate separate pages for the site you are promoting.

Set them up and fill them out with as much info as you can.

First impressions often last for life. Here’s what your pages need to make your first impression count:

• Unique name
• Unique logo
• URL with your website’s name
• Cover image
• What your website is and what it does (usually in an “About” section).
• Contact information.
• Link to your website.
• Pictures that capture the essence of your website in the gallery.

Keep in mind to share the business pages’ updates on your own pages and ask your colleagues to do the same!

Platforms you’ll be using.

Everyone can name a couple of huge social media platforms without thinking: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora and others. It’s safe to choose any one of them for promoting your website. As a matter of fact, there’s no reason not to pick all of them, so long as your content is a good match.

Some platforms may need a more delicate course of action than others, though. For instance:

• Reddit individuals are wary of advertisements. Brand-promoting threads get down-voted and hidden.
• Twitter is infamous for its character limit.
• Quora is a Q&A platform where sponsored write-ups can be covered up as questions.
• Updates you’ll be posting.

There are billions of individuals around the world viewing social media, but your ideal audience will be only a section of that. Design your updates to click with the individuals you desire to bring to your website.

Do you know your target audience well? What kind of content would they like the most? There will most likely be more than one answer, and it can vary anywhere between “comical” and “professional.” You might wish to experiment with several different moods to see which work the best.

The only two traits that apply universally to all users are what “caters to their interests” and are “attention-grabbing.” Only you will know what the rest are.

Stage 2: Organize your website and content

Let’s remember rule number one of the Internet: Content is King. Excellent content on your site is necessary in social media promotion, too– even if you don’t specifically post it there.

Imagine this scenario. Internet users visit your social media page and click on a link in one of your updates. It takes them to your site, they see your content and … it’s terrible. What do you think happens next? You guessed it: users will bounce and never select another of your links in social media.

And we can’t have that.

Driving traffic is all about both attracting new users and trying to keep your old users. For the latter, it’s even more vital to watch the quality of your content. If it changes, it must only change for the better.

Stage 3: Direct users from social media to your site

Okay, the prep work have been made. Time to start doing what you came here for– bringing in traffic. The more of it, the better.

Post often

Individuals get plenty of updates from dozens of sources in their feed. The more of those updates are yours, the greater your odds of getting more clicks. Post on your page at least a couple of times a week; if you can make multiple updates in a single day, that’s even a better option.

Post different types of content

It’s more intriguing when you can offer a lot more than just text and images. Most platforms support many more formats, such as videos, polls, and slideshows. You can even get creative with the usual “dull” types of content and turn them into something more entertaining, like a game.

Not only will these content writers enjoy what you did, they’ll also gain a notification and be introduced to your brand.

Re-post your own content

This works remarkably well, since users often miss updates in social media. Of course, it’s best not to take any risks and update the re-posted content beforehand, so that the users who’ve seen it before will gain a reason to click on it again.

Ask users to interact with your updates

Even something as basic as “subscribe for more updates” works, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to put more thought into it. YouTubers can get very inventive with the calls-to-action in their videos.

Participate in discussions

The more people are talking about what you post, the better, and you are certainly allowed to voice your opinion. Besides, users may have questions that only you can answer.

Reply to individuals quickly

A quick answer suggests concern. Of course, you can’t be there 24/7 to answer to everyone, so it helps to use a chatbot.

Expand your social network

In social media, who you know matters as much as what you know. Keep getting new friends and followers and never stop. You can find them on your pages, but there will be countless more on others. How many new people have you spoke with today?

Do as your competitors do

Someone is bound to be getting more user engagement in social media than you. And while high engagement isn’t a ranking factor, it often parallels with high rankings in Google. Find those people with the help of WebCEO’s Dangerous Competitors tool.

Check which sites are in the same niche as you, then add the most competitive of them in another platform– Competitor Social Citations.

This will show you which ones get more social media engagement than you.

Now you can check out their pages and figure out what makes them work. Is it the updates they post? Is it how often they post them? Or maybe they gained and built a better network of followers and contacts than you? Only one way to find out.

Design your updates to maximize click-through rates

Users enjoy updates with great graphics and short, but engaging and descriptive texts. Emotion-evoking power words that fit the mood of your content can make a huge difference.

Another thing that catches the individuals’ attention is pretty much possessing likes and shares under the update. They are indicators of quality that motivate individuals to give your content a try. Don’t hesitate to ask your friends and coworkers to engage with your updates as soon as you post them. Their attention will be discovered by others.

Invest in paid promotions

When everything else fails (and even when it doesn’t), appropriate a budget for paid ads.

Afterword

Social media’s objective is communication between people on equal terms. There’s no better place for connecting to your target market. The more users you gain and the better your relationship with them, the more traffic you will get.

So it all boils down to building a rapport with the people you want to invite to your website. Be an active element in your users’ experience with your site– not only through your content, but also through good old human communication.

The Complete Guide to Basic Keyword Research

People Buy and Research Using Keywords

According to Internet Live Stats, Google receives more than 70,000 searches per second. What do you use when you use Google?

Keywords or a word combination called keyphrases.

In doing so, Google will look for the most useful, relevant, and updated information regarding the topic.

Two kinds of keywords exist: one that shows intent to research, and another indicating an intent to buy.

Brands that relate themselves in both arenas enrich their marketing success potential online.

Keywords Are The Core of Any Marketing Strategy

Editors tell their writers to write about a particular topic. In doing so, they give writers some keywords to get ideas popping into their heads.

In the same vein, searchers use keywords to find articles and content they want to read. Content marketing strategies focus on circling content around keywords relevant to their business. In doing so, they gain viewership whenever someone uses those keywords.

True enough, keyword research sounds simple on paper. In reality, it requires great attention to detail, an understanding of keyword and brand relevance, and measuring for your goals. Know more about it below.

How to Start On Keyword Research

Understand Keyword Value to Your Brand

Let’s say you’re a cake-baking company specializing in animals cakes. Therefore, the word “animal cakes” is an extremely valuable keyword for your brand. Then again, so are “cake,” “baked cakes,” “bakeshops,” and other similar terms.

You can choose to target about 3-7 terms for your website pages and content. However, you cannot use all the 100 keywords relevant to your brand. Keyword value is important, and in this example, I would use “animal cakes” because that is my shop’s specialty. More on this later.

Competitive Insight

If you have no idea which keywords to use for your online marketing campaigns, you can refer to your competitors and the keywords they use on their content.

Many online marketing platforms provide a competitor keyword research tool (for a fee or limited use).

One of the most useful ones is Ahref’s tool that helps you find out your competitor’s best practices in using keywords and content in their campaigns. In this way, you can rank against the competition too.

Identifying Your Niche

Going back to the first step, “animal cakes” is a good keyword to use and I will choose it to target content. This is because I have a special niche.

Another example, as a basketball blog, I’m not going to target a general and all-encompassing “basketball.” Rather, I will use “basketball nutrition,” “basketball amateur nutrition,” and other variants because it gives me a specific topic to write about.

Niche is everything in a sea of information because it helps you stand out. Therefore, using “owl cakes” is definitely an excellent keyword to target.

The Buyer Persona

As a cake-baking store, our target is a general number of people. However, because we bake colorful animal cakes, our targets are mostly kiddie parties.

Therefore, our buyer persona focuses on parents who will want to celebrate their children’s first, fifth, or seventh birthday with a wonderful animal cake. Then, our content should be something parents can read, sympathize with, and use to their advantage. Our keywords should be “animal cakes for 5 year olds,” “animal cakes for kids,” “zebra cakes near me,” and more.

For example, we can focus on using keywords that teach them how to bake our cake. It sounds counter-intuitive. However, can you find a parent with enough time to try once and accomplish a great feat that is an animal cake? They’d rather have us do it for them.

True enough, this topic falls on the content strategy category. However, it pays to look at the way keyword research has an impact on content marketing and virtually every aspect of digital marketing.

Using Forums to Your Advantage

You’ll find yourself running out of content ideas and keywords to target. If all else fails, you’re free to join communities relevant to your niche. For example, I can join a baking forum to help people and lead them to my site for further information on certain topics.

True enough, you can advertise on forums. However, most shun promotional posts on threads. Instead, helpfulness and contribution is something forum members highly value. In this light, it’s similar to content marketing with a keyword focus except you’re doing it in real time.

Conclusion

Basic keyword research focuses on understanding the value of keywords and their role in content marketing, finding your buyers, understanding their intent, and using it to your digital marketing’s advantage.

Merging Online and Offline Marketing Strategies In 2019

Merging online and offline marketing efforts maximizes your efforts effectively

In this world, both digital and offline worlds combine. Therefore, it makes sense to make the brand’s personality, branding, aesthetics, and other aspects similar in both marketing realms.

True enough, offline marketing budgets take more budget than its digital counterpart. However, both campaigns can supplement each other’s capabilities if marketers execute them effectively.

Customers get a sense of trust and cohesion brand-wise

Today, audiences can see you through your social media page or find out about you through an offline promotion. If your product colors differed online, it will confuse audiences. In fact, they might think there are two brands with the same name.

Therefore, combining both online and offline marketing creates a sense of trust, focus, and overall authority for customers. True enough, cohesion is important if you want to improve your brand.

Maximizing Marketing Efforts Through Online and Offline Means

Online Call to Action for Offline Marketing Efforts

Call to action (CTA) messages encourages audiences to take action. It is a subtle suggestion that may push them to try or purchase a product. If you have an offline event coming up, you can use online marketing to advertise this online. In turn, you might see a higher number of audiences turn up at your offline event.

Similarly, you can use offline campaigns to improve your online presence. You can ask people to meet and greet the heart-wrenching short film your social media account or webpage featured in an offline event on a specific date. Make sure you create only the best CTAs online and offline all the time.

Use Digital Data to Determine Offline Consumer Behavior

People who visit your social media page, website, and other online avenues are the same individuals who will visit your store. Using online tracking tools, you can take note of their online behavior and use it to your advantage to predict their offline behavior if they visit your store.

True enough, you’ll see some similarities between your customers in most cases. In this light, you can create proactive offline employee practices to improve the customers’ experience, which can encourage them to buy.

Encourage User-Generated Content Offline

Online promotions make it easy for huge customer volumes to join. Meanwhile, offline promotions are quite tedious but rewarding if many will join.

How can you encourage more people to do so? Simple: give a prize for the people who take a photo with the product the best way possible. Any creative incentive is vital.

Why do this? User-generated offline content often finds its way online. By using a branded hashtag, you get free promotions and convincing customer-made messages that encourage others to join or even trust your brand in turn.

Track All Data Accurately and Effectively

Every website is an asset you own. These digital possessions provide highly accurate measurements of audience behavior. If you’ve imagined observing every single window shopper, almost-shopper, and actual shopper’s behavior in an offline shop branch you have, websites make it possible.

Data gives you insight on customer behavior, which helps you increase potential for conversions and eventual lead possession. In fact, by using promotions to lead customers to your website for behavior tracking, you can know more about every customer type your shop attracts. So, make sure to track all data offline and online accurately.

Online and Offline Ad Design Consistency

As I mentioned earlier, it pays to have your aesthetics consistent because it breeds trust and authority. Use the same logo you use for online and offline activities. Every aspect of your business offline should reflect in every type of content, promotion, and other elements in your online campaigns.

Ensuring Offline to Online Advertising Transition is Done Properly

Offline to online advertising is a common practice nowadays. Most brands will provide a code snippet as a raffle entry. Then, customers need to log the number into a web page to claim their prize.

Make sure the offline to online advertising or promotional transition flows smoothly. The landing page must be easy to navigate, answer every audiences’ possible question, and never have any downtimes if possible.

Conclusion

Offline and online marketing strategies are vital to each other’s success. Make sure to always keep them in top shape to improve your marketing reach and overall business growth.

The Importance of LinkedIn For Your Business

What is LinkedIn?

If you’re thinking of going digital with your advertising, most marketing strategists will up-front recommend putting your company page on Facebook. Indeed, it makes sense because billions of people view content and spend hours on the gigantic social media network.

However, wise marketers will tell you to put your company profile on professional social network LinkedIn. As its description tells us, LinkedIn is a social network for professionals and businesses to network with each other.

True enough, having your profile on LinkedIn helps improve your campaigns effectively. For example, cloud-based security firm Duo Security increased its qualified leads by 239% by using LinkedIn. How they did this: they offered free content in exchange for contact information from prospects.

However, you can say that anyone can do the same strategy in their website. However, LinkedIn links your company and your personal brand together. Therefore, if your brand is influential, so will your personal professional profile be.

As of August 2018, LinkedIn has over 562 million users with over 106 million unique monthly visitors in each previous year. This proves that having your business in LinkedIn is a huge boon when it comes to gaining better and qualified leads.

Why Should Your Business use LinkedIn?

• Create Real and Important Connections

LinkedIn contains personal profiles of professionals all over the world. If you expected to see resume-style biographies instead of the usual scrapbook-style social media profile, then you’re correct.

True enough, many company HRs from different companies spend time leafing through profiles of local professionals that are suitable for vacancies in their business. In addition, business-to-business (B2B) companies find LinkedIn the best way to approach clients and build their leads.

However, LinkedIn’s secret is its common denominator with Facebook: it can create real and important personal connections. For example, you can send a letter of interest to work with clients. However, on LinkedIn, you can send a message, and both parties can remain casual and professional at the same time.

This “casualness” of online conversation similar to social networks creates a personal and important experience that strengthens bonds between two professionals or two businesses.

• Publish Original ‘Short’ Content

Facebook is a great way to build reach. True enough, a one-week pay-per-click advertising campaign is enough to get hundreds of thousands of impressions and possible leads. However, you get a huge variety of leads who are likely uncertain about converting to your products or services.

Content is the best way to persuade individuals to consider trusting your brand. However, Facebook text content gets limited views. While video goes a long way on Facebook, no company can create videos with in-depth content on a regular basis.

LinkedIn has a special blog-type posting feature that allows you to post content from your company page or your professional profile page. In here, you can post free snippets of your case studies and link them to the full published study on your website (and generate bonus site traffic). Additionally, you can post personal blog posts about your opinions or takes on the industry.

• Host Webinars and Real-Life Authority-Building Seminars

Similar to Facebook, you can publish advertisements about your upcoming webinars or real-life events you’re hosting in various locations. However, on Facebook, you get a huge variety of individuals who are teetering upon going to your event or skipping it.

On LinkedIn, interested professionals will see whether your webinars or real-life seminars have professional value. While it makes the webinar tough to create because you need in-depth content and groundbreaking research, you definitely get qualified leads. In addition, these audiences become strong connections over time too.

• Find Your Ideal Clients

As we mentioned earlier, Facebook has billions of users. However, these also include individuals who are only half-hearted in liking a particular industry. For example, a person might tag “cars” as their interest. However, they’re only interested in seeing car photos rather than having interest in car modifications, which for example your company manufactures and sells as a service.

In LinkedIn, you get tags and demographics that allow you to get ideal clients. Therefore, you can say all your pay-per-click advertising in LinkedIn pays off greatly especially if you have well-researched, value-adding content to advertise to your potential leads.

• Create Value For People Outside Your Social Network

The best thing about LinkedIn is you can post written, video, or audio content. In addition, you can make these content public. Furthermore, you can attract an audience not in LinkedIn and add value to them by providing insider knowledge.

In turn, you increase your potential leads through these public-access content. True enough, LinkedIn is a social network that highly values good content and gives it avenues to shine and gain a good audience volume.

• Get Referrals From Former Clients and Partners

If you gave a client excellent business, then you can encourage them to do a review and post it in famous online listings, such as your Yelp or Bing profiles. In addition, having them do a review in LinkedIn will bolster your professional company reputation immensely.

Many ex-employees who had great relationships with their former companies get great recommendations from former co-workers and superiors in LinkedIn. Therefore, it allows them to convince potential readers about their convincing talents and reliability.

True enough, this gives companies with a LinkedIn profile optimum advantage in potentially meeting clients and building new networks through recommendations, reviews, and referrals.

• Bonus: Use Sponsored Posts for Bigger Outreach

The power of LinkedIn’s sponsored posts is truly undeniable. While companies might spend a bit to use its excellent precision advertising, LinkedIn’s PPC feature returns qualified leads. In fact, it was a cornerstone of Duo Security’s method that increased its qualified leads by 239%.

Try it out once to build site traffic and build your networks thereafter. In fact, you can use it whenever you need to generate leads when organic methods fail to perform adequately.

Time to Join LinkedIn and Generate More Leads!

After seeing all the advantages of the free LinkedIn membership we listed here, it is truly a great time to sign up and create your first LinkedIn professional personal or company profile today. With the site growing steadily and upwards yearly, it is best to use this tool to your marketing advantage.

Why WordPress Updates Are Critical To Your Website

WordPress started life way back in 2003. Back then, this humble Content Management System (CMS) was used primarily by bloggers to create simple and personal websites.

It was in 2008 when WordPress started to expand the repertoire of their program. Custom themes were now adopted and will set the stage for bigger things to come.

Nowadays, WordPress is no longer just for bloggers. The program has grown in sophistication, functionality, and is now known as one of the best customized CMS platforms for websites.

From large corporations, to small businesses, to personal websites, more and more people are choosing WordPress because of the program’s ease of use.

Want to get a gist of how popular WordPress is? According to a source, there are over 75 million websites using the WordPress platform. Which is a huge chunk considering that there are only about 170 million active websites around.

However, there are things you should watch out for especially with such a popular CMS tool like WordPress.

These issues go further beyond security. So, without further ado, let’s find out why you need to keep informed and always do WordPress updates

Why WordPress Updates Are Critical To Your Website

Always Be Secure

Remember when I said that most websites use WordPress? Well, there is a bit of a drawback when you are the most popular belle of the ball, so to speak.

Hackers often target the most used platforms on the Internet and are keen to exploit any weaknesses that WordPress may have.

If you are a small business, you may ask yourself, “Who in the world would want to hack me?” Well, you might be surprised that even small companies get hacked quite often.

Take the case of Ken Taylor from the Sydney Herald, his restaurant system got hacked all because he visited some bogus website.

That simple act will probably cost him thousands of dollars just to hire security experts to help fix his problem.

If you think that this is just an isolated incident, then you might have to think again. According to a study, 43% of hacking attacks target small businesses.

And if you are a large business? Well, it’s pretty much the same. It seems like whenever there is a financial opportunity; hackers are always looking to cash in.

Having WordPress updates is one of the right ways you can ensure that your website will be tough to hack. WordPress has many users and hackers, which is why they always release security patches to fix specific vulnerabilities.

You Need That Speed

Technology is pacing at an incredibly fast rate,and the Internet always comes along with the frenetic ride. Unfortunately, if you fail to do WordPress updates, your site can be left in the dust.

While this may seem like a minor problem, believe me when I say that the consumers won’t agree with you. According to studies, 47% of consumers expect a website to load in two seconds or less.

According to the same source, 79% of consumers won’t buy again from a website that has problems. That’s a significant chunk of customers who could have been regulars if only your site loaded just a measly 4-5 seconds earlier. Ouch!

WordPress updates can have patches that keep your website in tiptop shape and would be better prepared for any new technology out there.

Always Have Compatibility

Plug-ins are one of the greatest things that make WordPress easy to use as well as powerful.

However, sometimes you need to update plug-ins regularly to ensure that new versions will always be compatible. You need to do WordPress updates to avoid freeze-ups and crashes.

Updates Make It Easier For You

One of the biggest things that updates try to address is bug fixes. Bugs are a bit common when it comes to WordPress, this is because a lot of plug-ins are available for download and it can cause you some problems. Best way to avoid this is by updating your WordPress constantly

Another benefit of keeping your WordPress updated is you get to have access to new features.

A lot of new features from WordPress make the interface easier to navigate as well as ease in adding new stuff. Every version gets better and better so you should definitely keep an eye on that.

Woah, hold your horses!

Before you just click that update button, know first some of the things that could happen.

Sometimes updating your WordPress can cause your website to freeze or even worse, crash! Hopefully, you won’t have any critical data that could get lost.

If you need some professional help with updating your WordPress, check out our services. We can update your Website safely with our security and safe back up service.

Do Update Today!

Updating your WordPress is just as important as making your website look good. Your WordPress is your engine that ensures that your site is running smoothly and working for you 24/7. So check if you have the latest version of WordPress right now!

 

 

 

 

Why Not Having A Website Is A Death Sentence For Your Business

Online marketing is becoming a critical tool for businesses to generate sales. Quite interesting, because just a few decades ago, a lot of companies were quite hesitant putting a lot of money online. The view back then was more, “Why would I need to have a business website when I don’t have any plans selling online?” Back then, that was actually a valid question. However, the times have radically changed.

Google forever altered the game with their sophisticated search engine. Amazon just blew up as an online reseller, and social media got more and more people online. Just think about it, the internet reached its 1 billionth active user in 2005 and is now on track to reach 4.5 billion users.

Way before the boom of social media and online retailers, having a website was your best bet to have an online footprint. The number of online sites has grown by leaps and bounds ever since the internet was made public. Can you imagine that in 1992, there were only 10 websites on the internet and now that number has grown to about 2 billion as of today? That is a truly amazing feat!

However, there is a disconcerting trend about websites that we should discuss. While there are billions of sites nowadays, the number of active websites are just north of 170 million. This means that there is a massive chunk of websites that have no activity or are not even built yet.

A considerable part of this trend could be attributed to the rise of the above mentioned social media and large online resellers. Some companies feel that using these sites kills the purpose of having a business website. So they either stop updating and promoting their websites or not build one at all.

This is a huge mistake as a website is still extremely useful in today’s online market. Let’s explore the various reasons why not having a website can mean a death sentence for your business.

The Dangers of Not Having A Business Website

You Won’t Look Legitimate

Even if you have a social media profile, customers are still going to check if you have a website to just feel comfortable about your brand. This feeling of ease is especially true if you have a great looking site. Customers will just trust you more if you have a fully functioning website complete with updates.

I mean think about it, most consumers would like to know more about your brand before trusting you with their hard earned cash. Without a website, it is going to be difficult for them to check up on you.

You Will Get Left In The Dust When It Comes To Search

Google search is so important when it comes to online marketing. While it is still possible to be seen in Google even if you do not have a website (granted you are part of the local listings) you will really have to ask yourself as to where your customers will go once they click on you?

As I stated above, customers are leery in doing business with you if you do not have a website. Websites act as the main showroom for your business. Without that, your customers might check on your competitors who have a site and looks more credible than you.

Plus, websites with a lot of great content is still the best tool you can have to propel your SEO efforts. If your site has a rich content of blogs, videos, pictures, community, etc. then there is a more significant chance that Google will start ranking you higher. Without a website, it might be a bit tough to get that coveted top page result on Google.

Your Customers Won’t Pay Attention To You

If you have customers going on your website, chances are they are going to stay in there. When it comes to having your own site, other distractions won’t be much of an issue. Compare that to Facebook, where customers might go to your page only to see a paid ad that takes their attention away. Plus with all the games, messages, and updates hovering around, it might be a bit tough for your customer to focus on your brand.

And if you are banking on online retailers, well keep in mind that your competitors are probably there. Customers will see their products right next to yours. They will be able to compare prices, reviews, looks, much more than if they were on your website.

You Will Have A Much Less Effective Email Marketing

So, you do email marketing yet you do not have a website? Well, you better need to rethink that strategy. Because over 50 percent of email campaign responders go to that brand’s website. That’s a massive chunk of wasted customers!

So if you are thinking about doing email marketing, then think about creating a good website first!

You Are Missing a Low-Cost Advertising Opportunity

A website won’t cost you as much as let’s say a billboard or a TV spot. With proper SEO and a treasure trove of site content, having a website is as effective as traditional advertising.

Plus it can be a goldmine of valuable insight on your customers. Just use an analytics tool on your website. Find out what your customer likes, what they don’t, how much they spend on your site, etc.

You Can’t Rely on Social Media That Much

Social media has grown so much that it will be wrong for your brand not to have any presence there. However, relying on social media has its drawbacks. A big one is, what if social media starts changing their algorithms and rules and it directly affects your business? The answer is that there is not much you can do about it.

Remember the website Multiply? Well, it used to be big as an online marketplace. Years ago they shut down and was never seen again. Can you imagine if your whole livelihood was based on that site? You will have to do some massive restructuring, and all your marketing will have to restart somewhere else.

A website protects you from moments like this. When a social media site shuts down or changes some of its policy that affects your page. When that happens, your loyal customers will always have your website to go back to.

Your Online Branding Won’t Be As Effective

Even if you have an presence on all social media platforms, your branding will still seem incomplete without a website. It will be difficult to stand out in the crowd of social media pages as the interface remains the same for everyone.

Standing out is extremely important for businesses. That is why companies like McDonalds and Nike pay a lot to have unique store designs and packaging. A website allows you to show people what your brand is all about.

Don’t Turn Your Back On Your Business Website!

Creating a lasting online footprint for your brand is becoming easier and easier now that there are large platforms like social media and online resellers out there. However, as listed above, having a website is still essential in today’s online marketing landscape.

So don’t forget about your site! Give it some TLC, and fortify your branding on the web!

How to Get Amazing Reviews for Your Business

Nothing can bring a company to its knees than a lot of terrible reviews. Whether you are a small enterprise or a multinational conglomerate, a vast negative reputation will make you fear for your survival. Bad reviews can quickly turn into PR nightmares as well as risk throngs of potential customers turning away from you.

If you need some convincing then here is some food for thought. According to the website Telegraph, one out of every five companies in the UK is losing about 30,000 pounds a year because of bad reviews.

On the flip side, glowing reviews can turn your business into a sales engine. A single good review by the right individual can turn an upstart company into an overnight success. On a more positive note than our last examples, there are a lot of stories out there of great reviews rocketing companies to new heights.

I mean nearly all of us know a story or two about authors getting featured by Oprah, and suddenly their books fly off the shelves the very next day. Or how about those products going on “Shark Tank” and suddenly their websites lock up from all the orders after the episode airs.

Truth be told, old and new businesses strive through great word of mouth. Especially today, where one person’s opinion can be seen throughout the internet. So most companies today are willing to spend a lot just to get generally positive reviews on their websites and other affiliates.

Good reviews are not that hard to achieve if your companies can be consistent on a few things. However, before we go into any of that, it might be a good idea to find out the best places where your company can go to get those great reviews.

The Best Places For Great Business Reviews

Review Buzz– A great reviews resource site where you can post, search, and even get reviews. They also have a tool that allows business to manage their reviews

Yelp– One of the top review sites

Tripadvisor– The top site on reviews about the tourism industry

Amazon– The top site for product reviews

How To Build Amazing Reviews For Your Business

Nothing Beats Great Service

You can do all the tips below, but without great service, there is absolutely no way you will go far. If your customer, both existing and potential, ask you a question or file a complaint, then you should reply as quickly as you can.  Why is this important? Well, a study from the website Dialogtech states that a whopping 59 percent of customers are more likely to buy from a company who answers them in under a minute.

But of course, merely answering quick isn’t the only requirement for excellent service. Your staff should be able to answer questions in a courteous, professional, and complete manner. They should also be trained well to answer all the questions about your product or service in a satisfactory way.

Don’t forget the follow-ups. Customers will be delighted to know that you care about them even after you have answered their questions or after they bought something from you.

Last but obviously not the least, deliver on your brand’s promises whether it is about product quality or timely deliveries.

Appreciate your fans

If you have loyal customers who give you great reviews, then don’t forget to provide them with a shout back. Maybe you can thank them through comments or even private messages. From time to time, you can choose random fans to give a small token from your side.

Here is a little nugget. According to Helpscout, feeling unappreciated is the number one reason customers turn away from a brand. So remember, keep buttering up those who are loyal to you!

Take care of the haters

There are always going to be negative reviews especially if your brand and service start reaching out to more and more people. This is attributed to the fact that customers who had bad experiences on a brand are 91 percent more likely to take some sort of action.

So what can you do? Well, for starters you can own up to your own mistakes and say politely on how you can improve on it next time.

If your negative review comes from an unreasonable customer, then politely tell your side of the story. The customer is not always right, but still, try to be respectful each chance that you get.

Lastly, don’t forget to thank your customers for taking the time to comment on your brand whether it is negative or positive.

Be visible across all platforms

If there is something that people hate, it is when stores are just so hard to reach. While a reply is critical, it is equally essential to be seen across multiple platforms. Customers have different ways to contact you, so you need to give them multiple access to your brand.

Make thriving social media pages since most customers will most likely be there. Have a dedicated hotline where customers can air their queries and complaints. Be ready to quickly answer emails and text messages. Put a chat app on your website so customers can interact with you while browsing on your site.

There are other places to be visible that might fit your brand correctly. Search for online communities or even try to create one.

Give Incentives

If you have a lot of loyal customers, then you might need to think more about giving them incentives to keep being loyal. We touched upon this subject a while back, but I feel like we really need to go in depth about this considering how important this is to creating an exceptional customer service experience. So here are some tips for great incentive ideas.

1. Discounts: This is the best way to reward loyal buyers. Try a cumulative discount for those who buy big or a good loyalty card plan. Nothing makes a consumer feel more special than getting something cheaper compared to others.

2. Give something for free: You know something better than discounts? Free items! Look for non or slow moving stocks from your store and think about giving it for free to loyal customers who buy a lot.

3. Invite customers to product trials or focus groups: Make your customer feel like they are part of your brand’s growth by inviting them to various events like product trials. Make them feel that their opinion matters and how highly you value them. Don’t forget to give them a small token of your appreciation on their way out!

Create Contests

Always strive to make your customers feel the fun! Spice up your brand’s image by making contests for your customers from time to time. Keep a few things in mind though like make the prize a little worthwhile and always tie that prize with your brand. I mean don’t use an iPhone as a prize if your brand deals with sporting goods.

Contests are fun, interactive, and can gain you new customers, while making the old ones feel appreciated.

Create Communities

Brands love it if they can create a cult-like following. I mean have you seen how people camp out of Apple stores every time a new phone comes out? Or how about those Harley motorcycle riders who have festivals and fun runs? Brands like those do well because they have incredibly passionate customers.

These phenomenon started by customers building communities. Nowadays, brands can speed this process up by creating online communities where like-minded customers can find each other. They will share tips and secrets as well as their experiences.

Once it gets bigger, you can start organizing location-based events for your customers. However, you must be involved in all of this. Have someone moderate the boards from your side who can personally interact with the community.

If you want a great example of a thriving brand community, check out the Playstation Gamer Community.

Be personal

Negative reviews won’t seem as bad if customers see a brand is humanized and is trying his/her best to give the best service possible. So always try to be personal in your responses rather than sounding like a robot or a bored customer service representative. If you have the staff to do that for you, train them on how to respond appropriately to queries and how to take care of negative feedback.

Not as Simple as Service With a Smile

Today’s customers are as demanding as ever. Creating a well thought out customer service plan can help build you an excellent reputation for your business. Keep in mind that a lot of customers rely on previous reviews when assessing your brand. But do a lot of things right, and your brand will be glowing with amazing reviews in no time!

Why You Need To Use Google My Business

If you want to do some SEO but is having a hard time with all the technical stuff, then Google My Business might be your best bet to start with. It is an easy way to get more exposure for your business.

Interestingly, a lot of companies overlook this and go ahead with the more popular SEO methods. Which is a shame, because according to Moz, Google My Business ranks number 1 when it comes to local finder ranking factors.

So before we go to more specific details on why your business needs to be in Google My Business, let us first find out how you can harness the marketing power of this tool

How to Create a Google my Business Account

1. Log into your Google Account (Make sure this is the account you want for your business)
2. After you have logged in, type google.com/business and on the top right corner of the page click on Start Now.
3. The next step will be filling in details about your business. You will need to write things like your business name, address, delivery area, business category, phone number, and website.
4. Google will then give you a variety of options on verifying your business. Choose one that suits you
5. After the verification process, go to your Google my Business Account dashboard and start editing the details of your business. Here you can also put your business’ profile photo and other photos and videos you wish to share.

The Best Reasons To Get Into Google My Business

It’s like a calling card on the web

As you can see from above, Google My Business allows your business to have a formal and proper listing on Google. While Facebook and other social media sites are great when it comes to business profiles, Google My Business just gives off a much professional feel compared to those.

It also allows your potential clients to have easier access to your contact numbers, website, and location. It is more of a quick view option rather than searching contact pages on websites and social media profiles. In a nutshell, Google My Business is one of the best and most user-friendly business directories online.

Gets you on the map

Google Maps is fast becoming the go-to database when it comes to finding and navigating through different locations. As technology gets better and the internet gets quicker, the use of GPS and maps is slowly becoming an essential need in today’s world.

Not convinced about this? Then here is some food for thought, according to Statista, Google Maps has over 154.4 million users each month. That figure will almost assuredly keep climbing up over the next few years. Quite rapidly, people are relying on GPS maps to find locations, look where to eat, find services, and locate the best shopping hubs. It is, therefore, ludicrous to skip this when doing online marketing.

Google My Business puts you on the map and allows potential customers to spot you there. Definitely, a winning situation for your online marketing.

Be visible across multiple devices

Google My Business is web optimized for viewing across all devices. Now that is a tough thing to do when it comes to personal websites. Optimization over a broad range of devices is very critical in a highly competitive business landscape.

Did you know that according to ImpactBND, 57 percent of users say they won’t recommend a business without an excellent mobile-optimized website? Also by 2019, internet use with mobile devices will surpass desktop by a significant margin.

Having a great business page with Google My Business already gets you one step closer on having all your profiles optimized for all devices.

Make your customers know you are active (chat and video function)

If you think that Google My Business is just a static profile site for your business, then you might have to think again. Google My Business has a wide array of features that is undoubtedly going to delight a lot of potential customers.

First is the fact that you can do posts that promotes your various offers, products, news, and other updates. This will be seen in Google Maps as a more interactive way for customers to look at what you have to offer. Just imagine your customer looking at your location and seeing what promos and wares are currently in your store? Now that is real-time advertising!

Next exciting feature is the ability to post videos. Keep in mind that people are more engaged when watching video content than seeing a static post. Keep in mind though that videos are kept only at 30 seconds each, so make those very short and impactful for customers to know more about your business.

Another great feature of Google My Business is the ability to chat with customers. Your account has a messenger feature that you need to activate, and your customers can instantly communicate with you for more info about your business.

Lastly, Google My Business has a nifty new feature in store for those in the restaurant business. They have a slot that allows customers to view a restaurant’s menu. This is great as more and more eaters and foodie like to look at menus before deciding on which restaurant to go to.

Best of all it won’t cost a thing

Want to know what the best part of Google My Business is? It’s absolutely free! So if you are a little tight on the budget for your online marketing, then you should definitely put Google My Business on top of your list. The risk and reward favor you, and it will be a big mistake to skip this one.

Take your business to another level

Google My Business is a one-stop and streamlined way for customers to get to know your business. Imagine the customer journey from searching online, to pinpointing your exact location, to knowing more about your store, and even directly communicating with. All this before they have even left their couches.

It is just a great way to promote your business. Oh, and did I mention that this is absolutely free? No doubt about it, sign up now for this fantastic marketing opportunity!