Archives for January 2014

Digital marketing is a very cost-effective tool for small business owners with a high ROI that beats most any of the traditional marketing forms. That’s good news for a small company that has limited resources because it  let them launch effective digital marketing campaigns and, in some ways, gives them an advantage over larger companies. If you’re looking for a number of excellent digital marketing tips then you’ve come to the right blog because we’ve put together a few of them for you today. Enjoy

First and foremost you need to create  excellent digital content. If that sounds easier said than done you may be right. It involves posting to your blog on a regular basis, tweeting interesting stuff out to your Twitter followers and occasionally producing an entertaining and fun video and posting it on video hosting site you to. In most cases this online  digital content should not focus on your business but rather give the viewer something interesting, entertaining or valuable that they can use in order to build an affinity for your company. That affinity will, in the long run, pay off in sales. A smaller business also has the advantage of the “personal touch” as well as being able to position themselves in the local market more strongly.

The next thing to do is engage with your customers and start conversations. If you’ve heard about how great “social media” is for building a business, you’ve heard right. Three of the best places to start your online conversations is the giant of the social media world, Facebook, as well as Twitter, the micro blog website and the up-and-coming Google Plus. Local businesses have the advantage here because they can actually keep up with what their customers are saying, posting and asking and  implement any good suggestions much faster than a bigger company ever can.  For example, if you are the owner of a local restaurant you can find out what your favorite daily special is among your “followers” and put it on your regular menu, or you can find out what customers want you to stock in your boutique clothing store and order it immediately.

Today’s digital marketing also allows you to precisely measure your results. Whether your operation is 1 person or just a couple of guys and gals working together, setting goals and tracking your results is getting much easier. Looking at things like what brings people to your brick-and-mortar location or keep them coming back to your website is not only easy but vital to your success as well as knowing what’s NOT working. The best thing about being a small business is that, good or bad, you can make the changes necessary much more rapidly than a big business can.

The simple fact is that no small business today can really afford to neglect digital marketing. From identifying what social sites are delivering the most customers to your door to what media they prefer and what devices they use to engage your online content,  digital media can be a huge boon to your business and your profit margin. Indeed, if you manage your strategy carefully you can, in time, expect huge returns.

If you use a Landing Page to attract and then send people to your website, and you’re not satisfied with the results that you’re getting, it’s possible that the headline, body copy or your call to action aren’t as persuasive as they should be. If that’s the case, the 5 Steps you’ll find below will help you maximize your conversions and drive much more traffic to your website.

Although some might disagree, writing an effective landing page isn’t a complicated process by any means. The problem lies in the way you lay out your content and the words that you use as anything “wrong” may cause a prospective customer to leave your page and surf on to the next. It’s for that reason that, no matter what you have on your landing page, it must be as tight and focused as possible.

To make your Landing Page copy tight and focused you should…

1. Remove any distractions. The more unneeded copy or buttons that you have on your landing page, the more likely that someone will wander away from it and never make it to your website or make a purchase. For this reason you should remove any navigation to the left or right and leave only the main menu items that are a constant reminder that you are potential customer is still on your site. Also, keep the copy as short as possible. Unless you’re selling a very high end product or service it’s been found that between 100 and 300 words are usually sufficient to get someone to make a choice to keep going and/or make a purchase.
2. Keep all content above the “fold”. If you force your potential customers to scroll, and scroll, and scroll down and endless page of content to get to your offer, you’ll find that your results are poor at best. Better to keep your offer and other important info above the fold to avoid this.
3. Remind people about how great your product or services are. Use all headlines and subheads to emphasize why people clicked on your landing page in the first place. Use bullet points to emphasize your benefits and use a “highlighter” to point out anything vitally important that they should know.

It’s also a great idea to put your best testimonial  in full view as well as your “buy now” button or any other call to action you need to help your customers make the decision to make a purchase. You can also use engaging words on your call to action button like “Get Started Saving” or “Start Learning  Today”, words that will reinforce the benefits that your new customer will immediately get once they make a purchase.

1. Create a simple Order Form. Let’s face it, filling out online forms is really a pain. If you ask for so much information that your prospective customers start getting teary-eyed it means that your order form is much too involved and will cause them to give up in frustration. Simply ask for the most vital information that you need and nothing more.
2. Ask for the sale. Once a potential customer gets finished reading your landing page’s content, you don’t want to shy away from giving them the extra push to commit to a purchase. To that end, tell them exactly what they need to know in order to close the sale. If your offer has a guarantee, is “limited”, is new or comes with an excellent discount, now is the time to tell them.
3. Bonus Step. Create several different Headlines. Prospects will more than likely find their way to your landing page via different marketing channels like email blasts, flyers, online ads and so forth. Your headline should be aligned with those different channels in order to align with the people coming from them. This will help you to give a clear message and have a higher conversion rate.

Hopefully these Steps will help you to create a Landing Page that creates a high level experience. You can use them on practically any landing page with any type of product or service and, if you use them correctly, you’ll find that they work.