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Reasons Why a Business Should Consider Using Pinterest.

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Pinterest is a social networking website that allows you to organize and share ideas to something called virtual pinboarding.

When you find something interesting on the web, you can pin it using Pinterest and then organize your thoughts into individual pinboards based on categories that you select.

People are using Pinterest for all kinds of interesting things, like planning weddings, decorating their homes or even sharing their favorite recipes.

The possibilities literally are endless!

Here are the reasons on why your business should highly consider using Pinterest.

It Helps You Increase Your Brand Authority

To help position yourself as an authority in your field, share from a carefully vetted combination of sources to ensure your boards contain the most accurate and useful information available.

You Will Expand Your Reach

Use Group Boards and collaborate with popular pinners who have a large following to expose your brand and content to more people.

It Helps You Drive Traffic to Your Site

Pinterest users first have to be attracted to your pins and repin them to their boards.

You Will Have Access to a Variety of Pinterest Resources

No other social network offers as many free or low-cost, third-party resources as Pinterest does!

Offers the Ability to Command the Power of Images – and Words

You have the ability to command the power of words. Yet most people are so busy posting beautiful images on Pinterest, they forget that words still carry enormous weight.

Endows the Ability to Pin Related Content from Other Pinners to Your Board

On Pinterest you can use other peoples’ pins to stand with and add value to your own in a highly focused, controlled package.

Offers the Ability to Connect Pinterest to your Facebook Page

If pinning is part of your business strategy, this is an opportunity you shouldn’t ignore!

Pinterest Offers the Opportunity to Sell

E-commerce site such as Sellpin allows you to create a pin-to-pin “shop” for your goods for sale.

You Can Present and Share Video on Pinterest

The ability to share videos on Pinterest extends you many creative uses besides mere entertainment.

You Can Create Highly Targeted Marketing Opportunities

– By using Pinterest, you can create highly targeted marketing opportunities while making strong statements.

Undoubtedly, Pinterest is a great  Social Media tool for your Online Business Success.

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Does Social Media Work? Track It and Find Out!

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Looking back at 2011, it’s easy to see that nothing has business owners more discombobulated than social media. Whether its Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, or any of the hundreds of others that seem to pop up almost daily, the question is the same – does it work?

People take strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Some people say that it absolutely does not work. In fact, they go on to say it’s a fad and will soon fizzle out. Some people even go on to say it’s a total waste of time.

On the other hand, people are claiming to have huge success with social media. They claim to have grown their brand awareness, increased their customer base, and even made significant sales. In many cases, entire companies have been built using only social media. And this isn’t just the big companies. It’s the everyday local small businesses.

Benefits of Social Media

By now, there is no question. The jury is in on whether or not social media works to help grow your business. It does. So many companies have already had so much success that by now, you really have to stick your head in the sand to say it doesn’t work.

But here’s the big caveat – it must be used correctly. Obviously the platform you choose to use must line up with your business and your customers.

The clearly evident benefits of social media include growing your brand awareness and connecting with your customer base where they already hang out. It gives you a way to reach out in a format that they’re comfortable with.

For example, maybe you’re happy as a clam getting on the phone but your customer would rather send you a direct message on Twitter. It’s not what you like, it’s what your customer likes.

Following brand awareness and customer connection leads to increased revenue. By using contests, giveaways, coupons, and generally supplying good information, and more, it’s easy to watch the bottom line get bigger.

Now, for everyone that still wants to ignore the companies already using social media successfully, no amount of talk is going to convince you. There’s a solution for that.

Why Not Track It and Find Out!

Take away any confusion by testing social media in your business by tracking it! Before dismissing it and saying it just won’t work for you, give it a try.

For example, you can implement something as simple as a company YouTube channel. Load up some great videos and start utilizing them to act as sales agents for you. Make sure your videos have a clear call to action and drive traffic to your website.

Now comes the best part for the unbelievers.

Insert your own Google Analytics code on your website and start tracking the results. You can see with your own two eyes where all of your web traffic is coming from. This includes any social media platforms that you’re experimenting with!

It’s obvious, right? If you do even one thing differently and you get increased traffic to your website or your phone starts ringing more, something worked right? Why not take the same scientific approach to social media?

Try It. Test It. Track It.

Tweak what’s working and what isn’t. If your $500 a month in yellow page ads isn’t working anymore, why not try something new? Again, it doesn’t have to be a guessing game. There are very real ways you can track the results of a social media campaign.

It’s simple marketing: in order to grow, you need to place your message in front of the right people at the right time in the right medium. Your customers are online. They’re using social media networks. You need to also be there. And now you can actually track it to see that it’s working!

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Content is King – Why Google Loves Content

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There’s an interesting new infograph that was recently published by Brafton.com showing the relation between content and search. This should be nothing new to anyone who’s trying to market their business online.

Content is what people are searching for. Content is what answers peoples questions. Content is what leads to purchasing decisions.

And now with the added layer of social media, people are sharing that content with their contacts. But there’s a catch – it’s got to be quality content! Search engines and real humans are not going to share bad content.

With that said, take a look at the graph below and think about how you can apply it your online marketing efforts. Of course, if you need to know where to get started, pulling quality content out of you and marketing it online is one of our specialties!

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Brafton's Infographic: Why Content for SEO?

The 7 C’s of Marketing Your Business Online

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There’s no doubt now that regardless of what industry you’re in, you need to market your business online. The barriers to marketing online are low and the upside is huge!

While the benefits are almost never ending, here are 7 powerful reasons to get your business online and fast!

Credibility

Businesses that can be found online have more credibility. Why? Because your customers can get online and check you out.

More than ever, people are researching the internet before making buying decision. If you have a website that explains all of your services or products in detail, you’re more likely to get the sale.

Also, being online gives you a chance to list your qualifications. It provides a place to show off the associations you’re part of like the Better Business Bureau and so forth.

Cheap

Whoops! Did I say cheap? In business we say “cost effective”. For starters, getting a quality website up and running has never been easier. Gone are the days where you need to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on a company website.

It’s as simple as buying a domain, getting some hosting, and setting up a WordPress site – all of which can be done in a few hours.

Also, advertising your business is incredibly cost effective as you can set the exact amount you wish to spend and then see your immediate ROI. In fact, in many cases, you can produce amazing results advertising for free through places like Craigslist and Backpage. It’s a very low entry cost (free) with potential huge returns.

Customers

Your customers are online. Are they going to find you or your competition? Do all you can to get listed in the local search results. Learn to dominate your niche online. Be where your customers are looking for you.

Naturally you need to have a website, do some SEO, produce some great content, and connect through social media. That will put you in place to be found by your customers.

Connections

Once your customers have found you online, be sure to connect with them. With the various social media platforms, it’s never been easier to stay in touch with your customers.

You can increase traffic through your doors by offering specials through Groupon, Living Social, and Google Offers. You can build up customer loyalty by using tools like FourSquare and Facebook Places. You can even give customers “inside information” by connecting with them on Twitter or Facebook.

Close

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a salesperson that never calls in sick, works 24-7, and presents the exact right message to your customers every single time? You can! It’s your website!

Many companies still have “legacy websites”. These are the kind of sites that talk about a dopey mission statement, list hours of operation, and company address. Who cares!

Your customers are searching for a solution to their problems. Let your website (and your social media outlets) save the day! If done right, your website can “close” your customers automatically.

Customer Service

Because you’re a superstar at growing your business online, why not use the same tool to address all of your customer service concerns? One of the easiest ways to slim down customer service issues is to set up a F.A.Q.’s section on your website.

Want to address the concern immediately? Have one of your employees monitoring Twitter and get your customer an answer instantly. By interacting directly, you’ll resolve the problem quickly and your reviews on Yelp will skyrocket!

You can also use your awesome customer service skills to reward your best customers. As mentioned before, you can incentivize your customers by using platforms like Foursquare or Groupon. You can even offer secret deals if they join your mailing list or a special “elite members” closed Facebook page.

Cash

What business wouldn’t love to generate more revenue? Are you a brick and mortar business? What want or need does your business satisfy? Turn that expertise into an information product of some sort!

Let’s say you have a kitchen remodeling contractor. You can take your years of experience and create a series of how-to videos and sell them on your website.

What if you’re a product-based business? Let’s say, for example, you own a clothing boutique. You can create an online store that features your best clothing. You can even direct your in-store traffic to your website for special inside deals.

By creating on online portion of your business, it creates an additional revenue stream. It also takes your business from a local business to a global enterprise with unlimited income potential. In short, you become scalable.

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So there you have it. We’ve covered some of the basics of marketing your business online.

By doing just a little bit to market your business online, you’ll soon pull ahead of your competition. Do what it takes today to make sure you take advantage of the internet – the most powerful marketing tool ever invented.

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7 Ways to Modernize Your Website

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Chances are if your company’s website is over 3 years old, it’s already outdated. In the “olden days” (olden days being late 90’s/early 2000’s) it used to be enough to have a website. For the most part, it acted as a place holder online for your company giving some basic info and maybe a way to contact you.

Nowadays, having a simple website isn’t enough. Your website must engage. It must share your knowledge. It must sell. And it must do it all quickly. To do this, it’s got to have an up-to-date feel or you risk losing your visitor before you ever got a chance to woo them.

So here are 7 ways you can modernize your website:

Add a Blog

There are a number of reasons why adding a blog helps your website. It helps with your SEO and discoverability, demonstrates your expertise, and pre-sells your customer. A blog also helps you to prove to everyone that you’re active on your own website. And being active means increased customer engagement.

Add Social Media

Social media is still relatively new and by adding all of your social media links to your site, you’re showing that you’re on top of the game. It also adds multiple ways for your visitors to get in touch with you and learn more about your business. Add as many social media outlets that you have a strong presence on.

Add Video

Few things are as powerful as having video on your website. It’s one of the best ways for people to consume your content. By having even just a short introductory video on your homepage, you’ll increase the time visitors stay on your site and the likelihood they’ll want to learn more from you.

Add an Email Opt-in

Online there’s a saying that the “money is in the list”. This refers to building your database of potential customers by getting their name and email address. You can offer something of genuine value in exchange for their name and email. Then you can go to work turning a random visitor into a possible customer by setting up a drip marketing campaign.

Change to WordPress

Many of the older websites out there were built using good old fashioned HTML. Not that this is bad, but there are much easier ways now to build (or rebuild) your website. WordPress is one of those ways. You can pick a template (they call them “themes”) and have a new, professional looking site up within a day. And you can do it with little to no web design skills. The result? A modern looking website that’s aesthetically pleasing.

Make it clean

Many of the older websites are jumbled with a bunch of text and photos with poor choice in colors. When you go to upgrade your website, be sure you make sure it’s clean and easy to look at. Use light, pleasing colors, great images, and simple, concise text. Many of the most successful websites are highly minimalistic. Just look at Google or Craigslist. Simple. Effective. Clean.

Make it sell

This is one of the most important aspects of your website. You’ve got to make it work as a sales tool for you. Instead of just listing boring information about your products and services, show your visitors (like through video) the benefits of doing business with you. Then, have a clear call to action placed prominently so visitors know what to do next.

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