Chances are, successful online marketing and lead generation are fairly new concepts for your company.  Unless you are one of the very few that has a sales funnel in place that brings you multiple new leads every day and a website built to capture these leads, then you may have a web presence, but you don’t have an online marketing system.  Here’s something simple that may help you.

Perhaps Seth Godin (arguably the world authority on marketing) states it best…

“In the Mad Men Era, we added marketing last.  We produced a product or a service, and then spent our time figuring out how to promote it.  But today, we’re in the Connection Era.  We need to view our marketing as part of our service.  This is especially true on the internet and those who adapt will thrive while those who resist are failing fast.”

So what does this mean and what should you do?  Here’s a simple strategy that is proven to be effective online.

Start solving problems for your customers- before they become your customers!

Yes, I’m sure that you and your business are wonderful at solving problems and providing solutions for your customers after you’ve been hired or after the client has purchased your product/service.  But consider changing your paradigm.  Ask yourself these questions:

“What is the most challenging issue that most of my clients face?  What is it that they really want to know?”

This is hitting them where it hurts.  Identifying their problem and offering a solution- without needing to get paid for it.  In fact, doing it in a way that simple and easy for your prospect.  They shouldn’t always need to “Schedule a Free Consultation” just to get a few answers.  Yes, sometimes it may be necessary but it should be the exception, not the rule.

Listen, if you’re good at what you do, then you probably know what they are going to ask you before they even ask it!  So use your experience to build some rapport, build some credibility, and build your database at the same time.

How do you do this online?  There are a number of ways- and this does NOT mean simply asking people to “Join Your Email List” or “Sign Up for Your Newsletter”.  Trust me, no one wants your spam, regardless of how great you think it is.

Instead, consider writing a white paper or an eBook and give it away to prospects.  You could shoot a 60 second video which provides a simple solution to a common problem.  You can record a webinar or a slide show presentation and give your web visitors free access to it.

The beauty of this method is that it’s “win-win”.  The internet was built to provide free information to its users and that’s why people are there.  They will voluntarily provide you with their email address so you can send them your free information- as long as it’s what they need.  In addition, they’ll gladly remain on your list as long as you continue to send them useful information.  You’ll be building a bond with someone you’ve never even met.  Eventually they will become your customer, refer you to a friend, or both!  But even if they don’t, your good will and willingness to serve will project a positive image for your company and your service.

When I get to the computer and push the power button, it requires a few minutes to completely boot up-  usually gives me just enough time to refill my coffee mug.  Upon returning to my desk with a hot cup of Jo, I click the envelope icon that launches me into my email server.  I patiently wait for my inbox to refresh and wonder what might be in store for me.  I’ve got my “to do” list glaring at me next to my mouse pad, but first I want to filter through the list of messages to find out which ones might require my immediate attention.

Today was a slow day, only 43 new messages since I shut down last night at 8:00pm.  Sometimes it’s as many as 80.  Not sure who’s out there writing emails at 2:00am but apparently that is someone’s job.  I quickly delete anything that looks like a solicitation along with anything sent to me by someone I don’t know.  If the subject line grabs my attention I might open it or save it, otherwise it’s delete, delete, delete, and so on…  If it takes more than 5-6 seconds to open due to complicated graphics–  delete.  If it’s one of those eNewsletters sent out to hundreds (if not thousands) of people, the top headline better grab my attention otherwise–  delete.  Even if it comes from someone I know, if it’s more than just a few sentences I’ll rarely read it.  More likely I’ll save it and read it later.  I’m trying to get my work day started and my brain is on filter mode, filtering out anything that isn’t vitally important.

We all seem to have our own “spam protection devices” built in to our brains, so with that in mind (no pun intended) is email marketing even worth the hassle or is email marketing dead?  MailChimp (one of the world’s top email servers) reports that on average, only about 20% of marketing emails ever get opened, even fewer actually get read.  But if you want to improve your shot at having your emails reach your target audience, here’s a few rules to follow.

Be Brief

Marketing emails should be no longer than a few sentences- even better if the reader never has to scroll down.  Think of how you feel when you get one of those long email marketing newsletters.  How often do you read it versus deleting it?

Be Informative

Wait, how can you be brief and informative at the same time?  Put the important information on your blog or website, then hit the highlights in your email with 3-4 sentences and include a link back to your blog.  This will drive more traffic to your site, which is always good, and give you a way to keep your online content fresh, which keeps the search engines happy.

Avoid Fancy Graphics

Fancy graphics may look great, but they scream solicitation.  The minute you get an email loaded with graphics, your brain starts to think “someone is trying to sell me something”.  This sets you on a course for the delete button.  Plus, the majority of emails today are opened on a smartphone over a 3G connection.  Emails packed with html graphics can take 30-60 seconds or longer to fully download.  A download time of anything more than about five seconds will result in quick deletion.

Be Strategic About the Time

I tend to send emails mid-morning.  My favorite time is 9:00am.  By then, people have already deleted all of the spam of the previous evening yet their brains are still fresh.  Don’t send an important email at 4:00 in the afternoon.  Doing so means it will either be seen by tired eyes or get lumped in with the next morning’s pile.

Be Personal

There’s an art to doing this well.  You know you’ve written an excellent email if you can send it out to 1000 people and get responses from recipients who think that you only sent it to them.  This starts with the subject line and carries on down through the entire email.  Write your email as if you are talking to one person, not the 1000.  It may take a bit of practice, but doing it well will skyrocket your open rate and click-through rate.

Track Your Results

Using a contact management system such as GetResponse or Aweber gives you detailed statistics on how many people open your emails, how many were undeliverable, and other useful marketing information that can give you feedback regarding your effectiveness.  If you are not already using this type of program, it is well worth the small cost.

Email marketing is far from dead, but if you want to avoid the graveyard and the delete button, make sure you examine your current practice and make changes as needed.

There are dozens of places online where you can get a blog for free on the internet. The main problem with these blogging websites is that you have absolutely no control over them. I understand that a lot of people starting out in blogging / internet marketing may not have much money to invest in the initial stages, however starting your online business with a free hosted website is a huge mistake!

Here’s why…

Number one, when your blog is hosted with a freebie web service, people may not take you
seriously and may not trust you. With all the scamming going on today in the internet, it’s no surprise that people have their guard up more than ever. The vast majority of people wouldn’t even consider buying a product or service from a free hosted blog.  Internet savvy folks will immediate recognize if your site is built on a free hosting account and it will almost surely cause you to lose credibility.  Sure, it may be nice to set up a free site for friends and family members to share pictures or something, but when it comes to dealing with customers and building a business,  the trust issue is critical. You must make a good first impression!

Number two, with a free-hosted site you have no control regarding what happens with your blog and/or its content. Since you don’t own the server that hosts your site, there is always the possibility that it could be deleted without any explanation at all. There is really no way to back up your full blog with free web hosts either. If something happens where all your content is deleted, you’ll probably never get it back!

Finally, there is the issue of credibility. If you want to have a solid and respectable online presence, using a free blogging service is not a good place to start.  Having a domain such as premiumrealestate.blogspot.com is definitely not as strong as having the domain name PremiumRealtyTeam.com  or something similar, with a nice custom WordPress theme.

A domain name costs less than $10 per year, and you can get a good shared hosting account for only $7 to $10 per month. So why wouldn’t an “expert” have their own website?  People do take notice of things like this.  If you want others to take your online business seriously, then you must also take it seriously by setting it up correctly.  When looking for a paid webhost, it’s best to find one that offers unlimited add-on domains. This way you can host as many new blogs as you want,  on the same hosting account at no extra charge. The only exception is the price of the domain name itself. It simply makes sense to go with paid hosting services if you are even the slightest bit serious about your online business.

I use a service called 1and1.com for my hosting and domains.  Many other online marketing experts do the same.  Hostgator is another popular self-hosting service.  My advice is to find one that works for you and set up an account.  Then, build your site and own it!

This short video will provide more details.

Whether marketing your business locally in Temecula, CA or any other small region across the county, you can give yourself an advantage by following a few easy steps and doing a bit of homework prior to beginning.  All too often, I see small business owners jump into advertising contracts with companies such as the Yellow Pages and pay thousands of dollars when their efforts could be better leveraged and the ROI could be much higher with some basic internet marketing.

Here are a few tips for local success online:

1.  Identify a Niche Market
Data from Google and the other search engine shows that people who are looking to buy a product or service perform very detailed searches prior to spending their money. For instance, if someone in Temecula is looking to buy a Canon 5D Mark III camera, they are likely to do a search similar to “Canon 5D Mark III Temecula” before they make their purchase.  After all, they probably want to find a local location where they can go to see, feel, and ask questions about the camera.  If you own a store and happen to carry the 5D Mark III, making an effort to optimize your website properly for the camera will result in sales.
Understandably, you may argue that very few people will actually search for that specific term, and you’d be correct with that argument.  However, those who do perform that search have a high “commercial intent”- a term which marketers use to describe a prospect’s readiness to buy.  Ideally, you want prospects to come to your website with a high “commercial intent” because they are buyers and not just lookers.  Honing down on a specific niche market and a small demographic improves your ROI and brings you more conversions- people who “convert” from web surfers to customers.

2.  Optimize for Local Search Terms
One of the biggest mistakes I see small business owners make is that they target search terms which are too broad and have too much competition.  The camera store owner learns that the search “Canon Cameras” gets 1,220,000 searches per month (which it does) and right away he/she wants to rank on page one for that search term.  Unfortunately, there are 117,000,000 other websites who also are trying to rank on page one for “Canon Cameras” and there is only room for 10.  That means Mr. Camera Store Owner has a steep hill to climb.  He’ll have to battle BestBuy, Target, Amazon, and Canon (just to name a few) for rankings on page one.  It’s going to take a significant amount of time, work, and money to get to page one, and it may never happen.  However, optimizing for “Canon Camera Stores in Temecula” will not only bring ranking results faster, but it will bring customers with higher commercial intent.  Even if that term only gets searched 10-20 times per month, it’s 10-20 potential customers that are looking for exactly what Mr. Camera Store Owner has- Canon cameras in Temecula.  Highly targeted marketing converts to new sales!

3.  Get a Domain Name with Local Search Terms in It
Too often, business owners select a domain name based on the name of their business- something like www.bobscamerashop.com.  While this might seem like the logical thing to do, more web traffic would be gathered with a domain such as www.temeculacameras.com.  A domain that has actual search terms in it will typically rank higher and faster than one that doesn’t.  Businesses are starting to catch on to this so if you can find a domain available with search terms in your niche, you’d be smart to grab it asap.  Even if you do not plan on using it for a while, having it will benefit you down the road.

4.  Google Will Often Localize Automatically
Next time you perform a Google search, pay attention to the left margin. You’ll notice that your location pops up.  Google is getting smarter and more complex every day. They are able to use your IP Address and know exactly where you are located and then use that information to customize your search.  This means that if you search for “Cannon Cameras” you are very likely to get a few local results pop up on page one or two, even if you didn’t ask for them.  The person who performs this search in Detroit will get different results than someone in Dallas.  Google is moving more and more towards this type of customization which further supports the case for optimizing your site for local search terms.  That potential camera customer in Temecula is likely to be directed to a site well optimized for “Canon camera stores in Temecula” even if they search only for “Canon camera stores”.

Local online marketing efforts can pay great dividends when done correctly.  Google is putting more emphasis on local, customized results so properly optimizing your site for local terms will put you one step ahead of your competitors.  This may involve making some changes to your existing website or starting a new marketing strategy, but the future of business expansion is the internet.  Developing your strategy now can take your business to the next level.

That word…     CONTENT

In fact, content is so critical that in November, Google altered its algorithms via the “Freshness” update to put a higher emphasis on new, freshly written content.  But in today’s world of high-tech functions, software, graphics, and html coding, capturing rankings, traffic, leads and sales comes down to primarily one thing-  quality content.

Web surfers are looking for information and those that do the best job of providing it capture the gold ring- followers.  The more people that follow you and read your content, the more opportunity you have to market your product or service and earn business.

Gone are the days when you could build a website and then ignore it.  Having fancy graphics and a pretty website might capture someone’s attention, but without quality content that attention is short-lived at best.

So how do you leverage articles properly to market your business successfully?

#1  Identify your target audience and what they want.

A properly written article addresses the needs of your potential client/customer base.  Then, rather than throwing them a sales pitch, you provide useful and stimulating content that helps them to solve a problem or answer a question they might have.  Doing this not only earns you the respect of your reader, but also establishes your expertise within your niche and likely leads to a prospect that will return for more information later, and perhaps even buy your service down the road.

#2  Post your article content in as many places as you can.

In addition to posting your articles on your website or blog, you want to syndicate them to as many article directories as possible.  There are hundreds of high ranking websites that will allow you to post your articles for free, as long as they are well written and meet the guidelines of the site.   The more directories you submit to, the more likely your content is to be found.  Obviously this takes time, but unlike traditional advertising, posting an article on a directory is a permanent function.  Your article will likely stay there for years and could be read by thousands of people.  That’s free marketing for you and your business.

#3  Link your articles back to your website

Syndicating your articles to directories is only half of the process.  The other half is making sure that you properly link the articles back to your website.  There are two benefits of linking.  First, a reader can click on your link and find their way back to your website where they can learn more about you and your business.  Second, and perhaps even more importantly, the search engines see all of those links and use those links to rank you.  Typically, the more links you have, the higher your site will rank.  The search engines love one-way links with anchor text (links that use your desired keywords).  Those are the exact type of links that you get from article syndication.  So not only do you make your readers happy, but you make the search engines happy at the same time.

Even if you are not a writer, don’t have time for it, or just flat out dread sitting at the computer and typing, article writing is so key to having success online and improving your search engine rankings that no business can truly expect to gain much from the internet without engaging in article writing at some level.  There are services available that will write and syndicate articles for you and the cost is far less than traditional print advertising in the newspaper, magazines, or yellow pages.  In fact, it is probably one of the least expensive forms of marketing and given its permanence and effectiveness, it is likely one of the most economical form of marketing.

If you haven’t started an article marketing campaign yet, I encourage you to get started.  You can go to one of the most popular article directories, eZine Articles, and set up a free account in just minutes and begin writing today!

Ok, let’s get right down to nuts and bolts…

You own a small business, with a website.  You want that site to produce leads, generate sales, and make you money.  But for some reason it’s just not happening.  You’re not really sure why.  Now what?

Well, you’ve come face-to-face with the dilemma of nearly every entrepreneur when you finally realize cold hard reality:  Simply having a website will not guarantee you of making money or sales!

In fact, having a website only lumps you in with about 14 Billion other people. Yes, I said 14 Billion!

So let’s think about the process that one must go through before they will become your online customer.  Now, before I do this, let me clarify one thing- the visitors I’m talking about are people who do NOT know you, were NOT referred to you, and who have NEVER done business with you.  Here’s what must happen before a complete stranger will ever do business with you.

1. They must first be able to find you, then…
2. You need to quickly capture their attention.
3. You need to offer something they deem valuable to keep them at your site.
4. You need to build rapport so they will trust you.
5. You need to create a compelling reason for them to take action.
6. You need to tell them what to do next.

Think of your website like a huge intersection with cars arriving from all different directions.  Without signs and stoplights, visitors would be confused, no one would know where or when to go, and chaos would erupt.  Most websites resemble this traffic metaphor.  Visitors arrive, see dozens of links and pages, and if they don’t quickly see what they need, they’ll click away and never return.  You succeeded in getting someone to find your site, but all of that effort was wasted because when they got there you had no clear cut and simple plan for them to follow.

Despite common assumptions, there are times when people actually like being told what to do.  One of those times is when they are searching for information (and that’s why 99% of people go online in the first place).  Increasing leads, conversions, and sales online occurs when you clearly tell your web visitors “Here’s what I have and here’s how you can get it!”  If you are doing anything less than this, you are probably wondering why you can’t transform your web traffic into paying customers/clients.

So let me tell you exactly how to accomplish this arduous task and, by the way, this strategy is proven to be the most effective way to convert traffic into sales.  There isn’t a million different ways to market effectively online.  Marketing experts actually agree that this method works far better than simply directing traffic to the home page of your current website.  I’ll divide the information into two sections, “How They Find You” and “How You Convert Them Into Customers”.

How They Find You

Keyword Research

Did you do any research on specific keywords before you built your website?  Most often, the answer here is “No”.  Do you know what other sites are competing for the keywords you want?  Most business owners make the fatal mistake of not understanding the difference between Keyword Competition and Product Competition.  When I say “fatal” mistake, I really mean it.  Not understanding this concept could kill your business.  Here’s how the conversation usually plays out:

Me:  “So what keywords are you trying to rank for?”
Owner:   “Well we want to target blank, blank, and blank.”
Me:   “Ok, have you looked at your competition for blank, blank, and blank?”
Owner:    “Actually, we don’t have any competition because the sites on page one for blank, blank, and blank don’t do what we do or sell what we sell.”

STOP!  This owner has just committed that fatal mistake and confused keywords with products.  You absolutely must understand this concept-  if the ABC Company is on page one for a search term that you want, then ABC Company is your major competitor.  It doesn’t matter what they sell.  They have a spot that you want and you are going to have to fight them for it!  Therefore, you better make sure that you are equipped to take on the ABC Company’s marketing plan.

If you want success online, you absolutely must research your keywords, assess your competition, and plan accordingly.  If you are fighting big boys with high ranking sites, then plan on it taking longer for you to get results with the search engines.  Of course, working with an SEO expert will improve your chances.

Content Updates

The new Google Freshness Update demands that you consistently add fresh and relevant content to your site.  I won’t address it now because you can read my article which clearly explains it.  Suffice it to say that if you aren’t adding new material to your site on a regular basis, you probably will never hit page one and stay there.

Link Building

External links are critical for search engine rankings.  This means potentially thousands of one-way links built on thousands of other websites with your keywords linking back to pages within your website and to your landing page (more on landing pages in a minute).  I promise you that the sites you see on page one of ANY search have these links already.  You must have them too.

Off-Site Content

It isn’t enough to just have good content on your website.  The successful and savvy internet marketer will also publish high-quality content on hundreds of other sites all over the web.  They then link this content back to their site.  The search engines see this content (as do web surfers) and it results in higher rankings and increased traffic.  Leave this step out and you’ll lose out to your competitors who are cranking out the web content.

How To Convert Them Into Customers

Ok, you took all of the measures above and you now have the search engine rankings, but it’s not converting into sales or leads.  Why?  Well, you are likely violating one or all of rules 2-6 that I outlined above and that probably means that any traffic you are getting is being lost rather than converted.  My guess is that you are missing most or probably all of the following elements.

Use a Landing Page

If you haven’t reviewed my site “What is a Landing Page?” then now would be a great time to do so.  The simple truth is that successful online marketers use landing pages to distribute high-value content, capture leads, build their database, and target niche markets.  A landing page is NOT the home page of your website, it does NOT have dozens of links leading to a variety of other pages and topics, it doesn’t even have your phone number or email address, and gives the visitor only 2 options:  opt-in to get the offered information, or go away.  That may sound harsh but this is the beginning of your sales funnel, a funnel specifically designed to net you qualified customers who are interested in your product or service.  The only way to do this is by strategically thinning the herd and identifying your true prospects.

If you are simply directing traffic only to the home page of your current site, you have no sales funnel, no strategy in place, and most likely no results to show for your efforts.  This is a problem you need to fix immediately!

Have a Value-Added Proposition

Do your web visitors get a benefit from your site even if they never buy anything?  Have you given them a reason to bookmark the page, tell a friend, or return later?  Is there something “in it for them” that they can’t find anywhere else?

**Hint**  Offering a free newsletter is NOT good enough.  No one wants your spam and try to remember the last time you actually took the time to read one of those fancy eNewsletters sent to you from a business.

A great Value-Added Proposition would be a recorded webinar presentation that provides specific information that your target audience would be interested in hearing.  For instance, if you are selling car insurance, a great webinar might be something such as “The Top 10 Ways to Lower Your Insurance Premiums”.  Anyone looking for car insurance would want this information and you’ll know that anyone who registers to get it is likely to be shopping for your type of product.

Another great benefit is this…  Your webinar, while it provides great information to a potential customer, builds credibility and rapport simultaneously.  Think about it.  Without ever meeting the prospect, you have just generated a potential lead who is now fully aware of your expertise in the field AND they have willingly given you their contact information.  This is the power of a well organized and strategic online marketing program.

Video

If you are not incorporating video into your landing pages and websites, you WILL lose potential customers and decrease your results.  YouTube is the #2 used search engine, behind only Google.  The reason is clear.  People love video!  A well scripted and professionally produced video is likely to convert visitors into followers far more often than text only.  Your video must be informative (not a commercial) and tell your viewer “what’s in it for them”.  It then needs to end with a specific call to action explaining the next step to take.  Remember, it’s not about you or your business, it’s about the viewer and the benefit they can receive simply by going through an informational process with you.

Summary

Having success with online marketing requires that you not only do certain things, but that you also do things a certain way.  Google and the other search engines are becoming more demanding and more fickle in their rankings.  As a result, you’ll need to spend a significant amount of time learning the rules, creating content, researching keywords, and providing consistent value to your online visitors.  More often than not, leaving these tasks to the experts will get you better results, improve your sales conversions, save you time, and reduce your stress.

If you are a small business owner, you most likely have a website.  It may be a project that required thousands of dollars or it could be something rather simple such as a do-it-yourself blog.  Either way, building and maintaining a well designed website involves the investment of both time and money.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of business owners never recoup their investment as their sites get very little traffic and fail to generate business.  Here are some SEO content tips and strategies that can help you avoid wasting money and turn your website into an asset rather than a liability.

Proper Keyword Research

This is arguably the most important factor in building a successful business online.  Most site owners will say things like “I want to be on page one of Google”.  Well, yes, everyone wants page one rankings but to accomplish this, you must identify proper keywords within your niche, evaluate the competition for those keywords, and then integrate them into your website and your entire online marketing strategy.  If you fail to do any of these tasks, getting high search engine rankings can be difficult, if not impossible.  Ideally, these are steps considered when you first build your site.  If your site is already built and you are just now doing keyword research, you will probably need changes.

Proper Titles, Tags, and Descriptions

Most sites have improperly written titles, tags, and descriptions within their source making it harder for the search engines to find them.  These spots occupy valuable real estate on your web pages and if you do not take the time to write them correctly, you are putting your site at a disadvantage.  Keywords should be incorporated into each of these areas and here’s a big hint…  If your business name appears in the source code title, then these sections have probably been written poorly.

Proper “Off-Page” SEO Content

Unfortunately, making on-page changes is a great start, but you can not stop there. Obtaining and keeping high search engine rankings requires you to have an online marketing strategy that builds links to your website from other high authority sites.  These means you need valuable content posted on sites deemed important by search engines deem and this content must be linked with anchor text back to your website.  As a business owner, you can learn how to do this yourself or you can hire someone to do it but it must be done.  Google has recently changed its algorithms and demands this content and linking.  Gone are the days where you could simply trade links with other sites and expect page one status.  The search engines want content that is worthwhile, recent, and relevant linked back to your site.  Yes, this is going to cost you either an investment of time or money, but remember that Google wants to provide its customers with the newest, high-authority information online.  If you want to be on page one, then you need to be the one providing it.

Landing on page one isn’t a mystery or a secret.  It requires specific work done in an exact manner over an extended time. There are no shortcuts.  Follow the steps outlined above, make the proper investment into your site, and transform it into a life-long business asset.

To coin a familiar phrase, the world has gone viral. The winners in today’s economy are those that master the art of blogging, social media, and attracting followers. Many have termed this form of marketing “attraction marketing” where the content that you develop attracts people to you that are wanting the product, service, or information that you have. It is interesting to note that the new millionaires are the generation of twenty-somethings that seem to have figured out that monetizing a marketing plan has less to do with telling folks who you are and what you do and more to do with providing educational resources to your target audience that encourage them to follow you and wait on your every word. These savvy marketers have been blogging their way to the bank for the last few years while the dinosaurs of the old economy are struggling to find their place. While the “newbies” are amassing huge mailing lists, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers, the “veterans” fighting the urge to change might be stuck looking at their Outlook database wondering how they can get it to grow faster. Their answer usually revolves around the old “out-spend” technique where advertising dollars got soaked up by marketing departments and the answer was always centered around buzz words like “low rates”, “customer service”, “new and improved”, and “sale”. These strategies, although they still have their place, have become cliche and the consumers (and their dollars) today follow those with a long-term “out-teach” philosophy.

It’s as simple as this. In order to beat you, I don’t have to out-spend you if I can effectively out-teach you. Your customers will gladly follow me if I can provide the information they want on a consistent basis. The problem for most business owners, however, is that shifting their paradigm from out-spend to out-teach can appear overwhelming and confusing. In addition, the out-teach strategy is not one that appears overnight. Rather, it is a result of dedicated and persistent action which often goes unrewarded (financially) for quite some time. The out-spend marketer craves that one idea, slogan, or campaign that puts their business over the top almost instantly. They want to run an ad campaign that generates them new customers NOW. Anything less is deemed worthless or a waste of time and effort. The out-teach marketer knows that their strategy builds like a snowball… slow, steady, small at first, then bigger, and finally mammoth. The journey may take weeks, months, or even years but in the end, the out-teach business strategist has the ability to release a new product or service and instantly expose it to hundreds or even thousands of people. The out-spend marketer usually lacks the outlet for this type of mass distribution without spending even more!

Here’s another simple analogy…  SEO content marketing

The Old-School Marketer is like a hunter- hiking through the woods stalking his prey. When he sees his target, he goes in for the kill. The problem now is that he must continue to hunt in order to survive. The day he stops hunting, his family starves. The New-School Marketer resembles a fisherman. He simply figures out what the fish are eating, baits his hook, and waits patiently. He may need to occasionally switch his bait or his pond, but in the end the fish come to him and if he continues to use the right bait, they will continue to come.

Take a look at your current marketing strategy. Are you spending your time telling people about your business and what you do? Or are you attracting people to you by adding value? Are you stuck in the old advertising paradigm, or have you adopted the new philosophy: freely sharing your experience and knowledge and becoming the hunted rather than the hunter.

Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and widely mis-used aspects of online marketing is a landing page.  To try and clear up the confusion and simplify, here is a basic overview of landing pages and how to make them an effective online marketing tool.

Typically, a landing page contains a Call to Action which is created for the purpose of inspiring your visitor to do something specific.  Some examples would be filling out a form, sharing information with a friend, or making a purchase.  A great example of a landing page can be found on my site http://www.whatisalandingpage.info.

Landing page basics:

Easy to navigate: your landing page can not be overly crowded or confusing. Buttons and the call to action need to prominent.  You want your visitor to take action without thinking very hard.

Engage your visitor: The most common way to entice your visitor is via video.  Videos are powerful and can direct your visitor’s focus in a matter of seconds.

Targeted and Relevant: Your landing page needs to be relevant to the information you are marketing. Never have off topic information on your landing page, it will just create confusion and you may lose your visitor.

Simple and Clear:  Visitors need to know the purpose of your landing page quickly once they look at it.  You don’t want to lose visitors because they are lost and don’t understand your page’s purpose.

Improving your landing page:

Use video: While you may be able to create a successful landing page without video, it is rare and will take a very skilled writer using powerful graphic design.  A much more powerful method is a short, personal, and professional video of 2 minutes or less that plays automatically when you hit the page.

Simplify: Really take a step back and determine what you need and don’t need on the page.  This is important to create an environment that’s more user friendly and in the end will keep more visitors engaged.  Links that take the visitor away from the page may decrease your conversion rate.

Add value: Regardless of your niche, you must always add value.  If you have nothing of value on your page/site, visitors will click off and never return.

Properly optimized landing pages can create huge results for your business. You can install analytics on your page to know the exact responses of your visitors which in turn will allow you to measure, monitor, adjust and control. You can really understand what visitors are doing on your page, find out where they came from, what they clicked, and how long they stayed on your site.

For more information and to get started with your own landing page, contact me directly at 949-204-0924 or via email at greg@gregpreite.com.