Which way are the stairs going?

Are you coming or going?

In which direction are more of your opportunities?

Sometimes these can be puzzling questions to answer, especially in thinking about your best marketing strategies.

I wrote an article and put up a video on a demo site that addresses this question. Check it out here:    www.LoisGalloSEO.com

Once you know the distinctions, you can better use each for its intended purpose and achieve better results.

Wondering how to expand your bottom line? Bringing your customers in more frequently and capturing buy-in from interested customers for your special offers can work wonders.

But how do you best go about this so it doesn’t become a time-consuming task? With the right system and a strategic plan, you can easily set up a system to drive your customer wheel automatically.

Wouldn’t it make sense for you to have an effective system to stay more high-touch with your customers & turn them into raving fans and marketing advocates for you?

One way to do this is with some tools and strategies we can help you learn about & implement quickly. For a short video that describes one of the ways you can accomplish this, visit: www.MobileHelpers.com/heart

Then contact us to see how we can get this working for your business success!

Have you seen those funny looking boxes with strange configurations in them that are showing up all over the place?

The picture you see here is called a QR-Code, short for Quick  Response, also called a mobile barcode. It can be read by any smart phone just by holding it up in front of the code. It will then go right to a mobile-optimized page with a message or offer for the reader.

There are increasing uses for this 2-D barcode. It can be a map that shows the business location and is linked to GPS and online mapping services that can give you directions from where you are to their door.

Some businesses have a big QR-Code sign posted in their window for passersby to read a special message from them, usually enticing them to come in. But it can also lead them to their mobile website for more details, where they could get discounts or coupons, find opening hours, press one button to call, get detailed product information,  or even sign up for email & text communications.

Here’s a fun and practical idea for you! Just have your own QR-code made up with your contact information and it can be sent via email through the cellphone to someone. This way it becomes a smart paperless business card that is ready to add instantly to their database of stored contacts. They’ll love you for it, and you’re sure they won’t lose your paper business card.

In fact, the QR-Code above is a map to my office! If you are interested in talking about some special QR-Code uses for growing your business, just contact us for lots of great ideas along with quick and easy implementation. You could be up and running with your codes in 24 hours or less!

With 4.1 billion cell phones in use around the world, that’s double the internet users and more than the number of any other electronic device in history including email (source: guardian.co.uk).

That said, the future of mobile as a primary marketing tool is massive. Through quick messaging, texts & QR-codes, Bluetooth and GPS capabilities, mobile users have a walking office & communication system in their hands practically 24 hours a day. As they surf the net, use maps, get coupons, and review offers, consumers can even order products, services or make reservations on their mobile device. Buying decisions are being made constantly.

Are you getting your piece of the mobile pie?

If you have not yet considered optimizing your site for mobile users or getting a special mobile website (.mobi instead of .com), you may be hurting your sales. The problem cell users have is that the website is so large it won’t fit properly in their screen, so they have to scroll back & forth, up & down, and take a lot longer searching for what they want. Usually they’re in a hurry to find the information – they could be outdoors, in a car, a restaurant or shop, or walking down the street. And they are generally searching on their mobile for a place they want to go or something they want to buy immediately or in the very near term. Or they may be referring a friend to information on your site.

When your beautiful images and flash videos come up that look great on the internet, they make the mobile user wait or don’t show up at all, thus causing them to look elsewhere in frustration.

Convenience and speed are a cell’s best friend!

Make sure your site not only appears in a mobile format and loads instantly, but has easy buttons for them to click for a map & directions and give them a “Call Now” button for one click calling. You can even make it easy for them to sign up with their email for future conversations with them.

How do you know if your website measures up to easy reading by mobile moguls? View a simulated result online at :  iPhone Tester It looks like the real phone and can even rotate to landscape!

If your site doesn’t pass the test, consider using some mobile optimization strategies to keep you from frustrating your potential customers or losing business. And just as you optimized your website for search engine rankings, be sure to optimize your .mobi site for mobile search engine listings, slightly different than normal SEO. Then be sure to have tracking in place to let you know the results.

So Go Mobile! Take action now to get your website mobilized and optimized, with tracking in place to increase your traffic and bottom line results. You’ll be so glad you did!

Contact us today for a consultation and strategies to help you move into the mobile age and stay ahead of your competition!

Have you ever seen a sign that says: “Text ‘go’ to 12345 for a special discount” or some such message?

Or perhaps you were out driving and saw a For Sale sign that read, “Text this code to this number for detailed info on your cell phone.”

If you’ve been looking for ways to increase your bottom line, you already know you can do it in one of 3 ways:

1. Increase the number of customers who buy from you

2. Increase the amount the customers spend with you

3. Increase the frequency of customers who buy from you

Let’s focus for a minute on increasing the frequency your current customers consume your goods or services. What if you had a database of your customers’ cell phone numbers where they had agreed to receive text messages from you in regard to special offers, sales, discounts, coupons, event info, etc.? With the fact that 97% of text messages get opened (85% in the first hour & the rest within 24 hours), wouldn’t you think it highly likely to draw a large response to a special sale, a happy hour tonight from 4-7, a discount good for tomorrow only, and other types of campaigns?

Just one of those text messages a month could way more than pay for your services and bring in a flood of new revenue and probably new customers too.

There’s a lot of excitement around the extremely effective ways now available through technology to increase your bottom line. As you create more interactive communication with your customers and stay on the forefront of local and mobile search engines, you can give better customer service, retain customers, attract new ones, give more value and receive more revenue, referrals, and frequency of sales.

This is just one of the platforms we offer to help grow your business. Talk to us today about the right solutions for your business, as we help you come up with a strategic plan & implement it to stay out front and draw customers to you like a magnet!

Lois Gallo, Strategic Marketing Consultant

Call 757-672-6746 or click to Contact Us

Can They Find You? Online Marketing & SEO video

I’ve put up my latest video with some interesting stats.

Do you know the reasons why just having a website online doesn’t mean you will be found?

Do you know how prospective customers are searching to find you?

If you knew how many people are looking to do business with you in your local area, how would that change what you are doing to try to reach them & capture more of that business?

We can help! Watch the video & then contact us for a solid plan customized to YOUR business.

If you prefer, you can view the video on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-yqtJofOMg

For more about our services, click here: Can-they-find-you

I’ve just started a new Group Page on Facebook called Marketing with Heart & Power. You can access it here: http://tinyurl.com/FB-HPM 
 Join up to get more dynamic info about your local marketing needs, ideas, connections, and the like.

You can even extend your influence, as well as have another link back to your website, which in turn will help get more traffic to your site! So it’s a win-win scenario. 

I would LIKE it if you would click to LIKE my Marketing with Heart & Power Group! Thanks!

Recently I gave a group presentation going into more depth on ”Six Strategies to Skyrocket Your Small Business Through Online Marketing.”

I decided it might be helpful to share that with you. So I made a special audio from the presentation that I just uploaded with the Power Point handouts.

Here’s the link to view it:
http://heartandpowermarketing.com/home/can-they-find-you/webinars-training/ 

Feel free to let others know this training is available – and please leave your comments if you find it helpful.

Here are some things you can do that won’t take long to get set up, but once up can really help you get noticed on Google. Most of them are free tools you can use to weave a strong presence for your business niche on the web.

1. Set up your Google Local Profile

Make sure you are on the local maps through Google Places. That way people looking for your products or services can find you whether they’re surfing the net or driving around. With the connections through GPS, they can even find you on their mobile phone or Blackberry!

2. Do your local keyword research and optimize your site

If you want to make it to the first page of Google where most people are looking for you, you’ll want to choose the best words or phrases your potential customers are using to find you online. Do some research with Google’s Keyword Analytics Tool to discover the most often and relevant search terms. You might also want to check out your competition to see what they’re using as well. Then pepper those words in a natural way throughout your text and in the title, tags, header and footer and even in the image and alt tags. But make sure you just focus on one main keyword per page. Otherwise, it could be self-defeating.

3. Capture email from visitors to your site and give them a reason to give it to you

At the top portion of every main page should be what’s called an opt-in form. That’s a place where you’re asking for the visitor’s name and email so you can keep in touch with them and send them future info and offers. By setting up an automatic email capture and response system, you have another marketing system working to bring business to you while you sleep! Make sure to offer them a special incentive that will give them solutions to the problems they’re looking for you to solve. It can be a free report or discount coupon, etc. they either download or will automatically be emailed to them upon sign up.

4. Create Videos to Boost Traffic

Google loves videos! You can set up your own channel on YouTube and upload them there at no charge. Short videos focused on a particular keyword with both text and audio using them in a natural way get great ratings. Embed the link from YouTube on your site on the appropriate page for best results. You can ask customers for testimonials, do a quick onsite video, talk about your latest offer, or give advice about a problem your business can solve. There are lots of free or low cost video programs you can use.

5. Connect through Social Networks

 Not only is it great to have a personal Facebook and Twitter page, but did you know you can build a group or fan page for your business? You can actually get others to “Like” you and spread the word to their friends about your business too! You can put up great information to position yourself as the expert in your business, as well as put occasional coupons and other offers or events on your page.

6. Start blogging for profits

You can set up a free blog at WordPress.com or Blogger.com and get linked in to the network of the blogosphere where people can find you when they’re looking for the information you provide. Google loves blogs, as the information on them usually is dynamic – changing often if you’re committed to keeping it updated. You can post articles you or others write, link to other articles, or find free articles to post on your topic from article directories. You can post videos, audios, and anything else that can drive traffic to your blog or back to your main website. 

Once you have a blog, you can start to build a network of referrals with automatic and viral links back to your site. In the next post, I’ll give you some ideas on some sites and tools to get you there quicker.

Find a business-minded person to brainstorm for marketing ideas with you. Or pull them out of your own observations of other businesses around you. Then choose the top 2 or 3 and plan how you can best implement them.

What would they do for your business if they worked? How much increased volume of business could you handle? Are you ready for it?

What do you consider a success, as far as increase in business goes? Measure by increased revenue per dollar invested.

How does this weigh against other methods you’re currently using to attract business?

How can you fine tune this method for even greater success next time?

Whatever you do, make sure you set up a tracking system to know what is working or not based on how your business is being generated.

For information on how we can be your marketing partner and help more of your customers find you, contact us today for a free consultation.

757-672-6746
Lois Gallo, Consultant