Take a moment and type in your own business or personal name in a search engine. What type of information comes up?

Is it information about how to contact you? Does it include positive testimonials from satisfied customers? Is there anything negative? Is there anything at all?

When it comes to making basic decisions on most purchases, the majority of buyers start their research on the Internet – even if they do not ultimately make the purchase itself online.

As a result, it is vitally important not only that you have an online presence, but that you have control of that presence. After all, your online presence determines your reputation and the reputation of your business.

You can establish a positive online reputation in several ways.

Of course, you need a professional business website or blog to stay in contact with existing customers and showcase your products or services to new prospects.

This will help buyers feel more secure about you and your business. In addition, you’ll have control over your own reviews. Your website should include positive testimonials from happy customers. This is the first step in getting your customers to post positive reviews elsewhere online. This way, you’ll get more feedback and your online reputation, as a good, solid businessperson will grow.

Google has just introduced a new “Google’s Favorite Places” program which started when they sent window stickers to 100,000 local businesses.  The stickers are to be placed in the front windows of the business so customers can scan them with their smart phones and pull up reviews and coupons.  

Wouldn’t you like to be one of the first to have the new Google sticker?

The first step is to claim your listing with Google’s Local Business Center. We can help you through that process – along with verifying that your business information is correct and enhancing your listing with photos, videos, comments and coupons.

This can all be accomplished by creating an email marketing system that utilized a technology called an autoresponder.

An autoresponder gives you the ability to create a series of marketing messages that are sent out at specific intervals to all of the customers and/or prospects that you have on your email list.

This is very similar to direct mail campaigns that have been popular in the past, however this time instead of sending printed materials through the mail, you’ll be sending digital materials over the Internet. Obviously sending digital files over the Internet is going to be a lot more cost effective!

One rule of thumb in direct mail campaigns is to contact your prospect a minimum of seven times. After that, the odds of them purchasing from you go way up. The key here is to provide high quality information that your customers are not getting from anyone else. This builds trust and sets you up as an authority on the subject.

Autoresponder services can totally automate this repetitive contact so once you’ve created at least seven effective marketing messages your work is done. The autoresponder takes over and continues to send your messages out to your customers and prospects.

There are many different autoresponder services available online or your can set up your own private autoresponder that runs on your server.

Let us help you decide which type of autoresponder service will work best for your business.

If you look around any website, you’re sure to find links that you can click on that will take you to another website.  That’s a backlink – a link from one site on the Internet to another.

Backlinks are important to the success of any website for two reasons. The first is that they can bring visitors and traffic to the site.  The second is their importance for search engine rankings.

When one site links to another using a specific term in the link, i.e. “blue widget”, search engines see that link as an indication that the site is an authority in blue widgets.  The more back-links a site has using the same term, the higher their search engine rankings will be.

So if 50 sites all link to your site using the term “Phoenix Attorney”, there’s a good chance that your site will come up on the search engines when someone searches for a Phoenix attorney.

We can put together a backlinking campaign for your website that will get your site ranked in the search engines. We base all our custom linking packages on in-depth keyword research and analysis to get you the best results.

However, just setting the blog up will not be enough to get the dramatic results and profits that everyone ultimately wants.

Here are 3 ways you can use your blog to build and promote your business:

Keep People Informed

Particularly in today’s economy, if you don’t correspond, people will assume you’re gone.

Make sure everyone knows you’re around and ready to leap into action whenever they need you by posting updates, tips and even sales information on your blog.

Develop Rapport

People are more likely to work with people they feel an affinity for. However, you probably don’t have time to develop a meaningful friendship with every potential client.

However, corresponding via a blog – especially if you allow user comments and occasionally respond to them – develops a feeling of trust between you and your readers.

When it’s time for them to find someone to work with in your business arena, you will already be a trusted name for them.

By choosing a web address (URL) for your site that’s easy to remember, optimized to generate “buzz” and attract search engine attention, you’ll be able to turn a practical necessity into a powerful marketing tool.

You can brand your site with your company name, the name of your main product or even your personal moniker. It’s even possible to use several different URLs to create your own web of sites to serve different sections of your clientele.

The key is to make your website address something memorable so your customers will be able to easily locate you online.

Be sure to include your URL on all printed and electronic business materials; it’s the link – both literally and figuratively – that will lead to your online and offline success.

We can create a website that will have the Internet buzzing about your business. Ask us

Let us design a custom “Working Together” package just for you!

Statistics show that YouTube.com videos are viewed more than 100 million times a day.

Even if you don’t know the first thing about video, we can help you to quickly and easily put your message in front of those viewers.

Get a free quote on our Small Business Video Marketing Services today

Adding Value with the User Experience

You’ll often hear website designers discussing the importance of a site adding value.  Adding value means providing useful information or services to people. You should think about your customers’ wellbeing.  Ask yourself what you can do to make their life better or easier when they come and visit your website, your virtual store.

Take Amazon.com for example. Their website is clearly designed to sell products. However, it’s also a good experience for the user. Products are grouped into categories, everything is easy to find, there are reviews, and discounts on some products. The creators of the Amazon website obviously took great care to create a good user experience.

Your business may not be as huge as Amazon, but you can follow their example.

Do you own a restaurant? A restaurant should always have an online menu. Many people search online for local restaurants and ratings. This is especially true of people who travel a lot. Visitors to your website will appreciate seeing your menu online, plus a list of locations and phone numbers. You will get more diners than the restaurant without an online menu or website.

Are you a watch repairperson? A watch repair shop website should have a list of services and prices. The address and phone number should also be easy to find. Once again, you’d be surprised at the number of small businesses that aren’t online. And those who are often miss the mark with their website.

Are you a contract manufacturer?  You should have your specialties laid out where they’re easy to find.  Be sure to state your certifications and qualifications.  Having the ability to submit for a quotation online is important, too.  Don’t make the user hunt for this information.  Make it easy to find.  You don’t need it all on the home page, but you need to make it easy to find.

Visitor Experience Tips

Make your website interactive. Let your visitors talk to you!  It could be as simple as having them participate in a survey, adding a comment to your blog or having a user forum so they can connect with other users.  Let them know you value their opinions, let them know you’re a human, too.  You care about them.

Create a subscription list. Offer a monthly newsletter or a free sample, or a book or coupons.  Let users become part of your community.

Keep your website up to date with fresh content. Not only will the search engines reward you with more visibility, but so will your visitors.  It will give them a reason to come back!  You have to think about your website as being similar to a newspaper; we all know where yesterday’s is, and if you don’t provide fresh content, that’s where your website will be, too!

Add video to your site. There’s a reason that YouTube is available on your iPhone.  It’s because people LOVE video.  Online shoppers find it very useful to see the product they are about to buy in action.   Adding video doesn’t have to be a huge project, something simple will do the trick. Take a few of your (best) products, make a video featuring them, add a call to action, and you’re ready to go.

Be social. A great way to connect with your visitors and customers is to let them know you are on Twitter, Facebook or other social networks. Chances are, they are, too.  It’s a great way to take advantage of that connection and build your relationship with them.

Product reviews. Give your customer the opportunity to review your products. This is not only helpful for visitors that may be looking to buy, but the feedback will help you improve your products and services, providing you with an opportunity to build an even tighter bond.

Create an easy navigation structure. Place the cookies on the lower shelf.  Don’t make it hard for visitors to find what they’re looking for.  Put the most important information within easy reach.  You don’t want your visitors to click more than 3 times to find that nugget.  If they can’t find it quickly, they will just leave your site, never to return. Create an easy to navigate website because less clicking means more buying.

By implementing some of those strategies you will be able to interact and appeal to more of your visitors and hopefully turn them into a buyer.

Thanks to website marketing, small businesses can now compete on a global scale. You never know who will visit your website. It could be a tourist from China or a local grandfather desperate to have an old antique watch repaired.

Make things easy for your visitors.  Give them a good website experience so they’ll want to do business with you.

For most companies, there is no need to have both a website and a blog, you can use the blogging software, WordPress, as both.  WordPress uses ‘pages’ for your static content, (like the description of your business) and ‘posts’ for dynamic content and news.  Pages can have pages and subpages, allowing you to create easy site navigation for your visitors.  Categories and tags make it easy for your visitors to move around your site, finding the things they’re most interested in.

Content for Static Pages

Every website should have the following:

• Information about your offer; your services and products
• Benefits; how do you help your customers?  Why should they choose you?
• Examples and testimonials.  Do you have happy customers?  Tell everyone!
• Frequently asked questions – what do most people ask about your product or service?
• Contact information.  Where are you?  How do people reach you?  Maps are always welcome.
• Ordering information.  Don’t make it hard for people to buy.  Can people book appointments?  Can they buy your products?  Don’t bury this, this should be foremost in your planning.
• Satisfaction guarantee.  If people don’t know you, why should they do business with you?

The dynamic pages of your blog can be used for relationship building with your customers and potential customers.  For your blog pages, think about:

• Are you running a special promotion? 
• Has anyone new joined your business?
• Do you have any tips you can share?

The amount of things you can share to build relationships is limitless.  You don’t have to be a great writer, just be yourself.

With WordPress, it’s easy to build a professional website with very little money.  There are thousands of free designs to choose from, you’re sure to find a design that fits you and your business perfectly.  You’ll have your website making money for you in no time.