Lynn Jebbia is a Senior Project Manager at ArteWorks SEO, a search engine marketing company. Her focus is SEO Strategy, Keyword Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Web Site Audits, Pay Per Click Management and Client Account Management.
Social Media Marketing for Small Business Entrepreneurs
November 20, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
I was thinking the other day why I have enjoyed consulting with small business owners for so many years. Talk about reality shows. What is more real than talking to the person who created, owns and operates a business? They have made their dream a reality. It’s a whole different conversation and level of engagement from talking to a marketing or business development manager working for a small or mid-size company. I don’t mean to imply that the marketing or business development manager knows less about the company’s business than the owner. It’s about the level of passion for the business. Passion or entrepreneurial zeal, as we know, doesn’t always translate into being able to run a company successfully but I love to hear their story.
I enjoy the initial phase of a search engine optimization or pay per click management campaign for any new client. We call this the discovery phase where we gather quantitative and qualitative information about a business to lay the groundwork for the project. The more we know about what they do, how they do it, who they are trying to reach and what their goals are the better we can develop and implement a successful online marketing strategy for them.
One big difference I notice almost immediately when talking to an entrepreneur is the desire to talk about their business. You never have to worry about keeping the conversation going that’s for sure. Entrepreneurs love to talk about their business. It’s their passion. That’s why they are doing it. Many businesses, if not most, are built based on the personality of the owner and more often than naught these owners have an outgoing, engaging personality. That is why social media marketing can be so powerful for small business owners.
Social media marketing is not just about creating profiles on facebook, myspace, linkedin and other social media networks to try to create buzz and links to your web site. It’s about being actively engaged in the networks. Let people get to know you. Be real. Tell them about your business, why you do it and how you do it. Not from a sales and marketing stand point so it sounds like every other Tom, Dick and Harry selling the same thing but from your personal stand point – your personality – let it shine through. Just a warning here, if you are a real drone with a negative view point on the world this might not work. :>) Find people with the same interests as yours and participate in their discussions. It has to be a two way network for it to work best.
Are you thinking how in the heck am I supposed to find enough time to do this plus run my business? This is a valid point but if done correctly this can reap big benefits for your business. Millions and millions of people are participating in social media networks every day. Instead of actively participating in 4 or 5 determine which one best fits your desired demographic and focus predominantly on that one. Also, you might really enjoy it. Just talk about your favorite topic – your business.
ImageWorks Studio Releases New Small Business Branding and Web Design Package
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
This new package is aimed directly at small businesses and start-ups that are looking for high quality marketing and branding, but only have a limited budget to work with. Enabling payment via interest-free monthly payment plans makes it affordable for small businesses to create impressive brands and drive up sales using leading ROI and best practice strategies and take advantage of cost-effective online marketing services. Chantilly, VA (PRWEB) October 15, 2009 — ImageWorks Studio, a custom web design and branding firm, announces their new Small Business Branding and Web Design Package, designed to provide small businesses with the high quality marketing and branding tools they need, paid for with an affordable interest-free monthly payment plan. Enabling small businesses to build a solid marketing foundation and increase brand equity, this new service allows owners and operators to create impressive brands and drive up sales using leading ROI and best practice strategies. ImageWorks has packaged over $20,000 worth of services, such as Custom web design, logo design, an email marketing template, blog design, sales kit design, and more. Togther, these services have been generously discounted and can be paid for with an affordable interest-free monthly payment plan. “Our goal is to help small businesses succeed in today’s economy. We feel so strongly that a powerful, professionally-produced brand can lead to measurable increase in sales and brand equity, that we are willing to finance our clients’ brand building efforts for 12 months, completely interest-free,” explains Scott C. Margenau, President and Founder of ImageWorks.. Marketing in a Recession: To spend or not to spend? New Small Business Marketing Package from ImageWorks Start at just $895/month. It’s no secret that marketing budgets are shrinking up in this economy. The problems is, cutting back on marketing results in further diminishing sales at a time when sales are most needed. Marketing experts preach that a slow economy is the exact right time for companies to spend on marketing in order to gain market share from their competitors who are pulling back their own spending. For a company to halt their marketing program in a slow economy is like deciding to stop putting gas in your car,” says ImageWorks Founder Scott C. Margenau, “it just doesn’t make any sense. We know that money is tight, but the same as your car needs gas to run, your company needs marketing to succeed. Now is the time to reach your market through new media, which is affordable and it works. We are making it possible for companies to follow this advice.” About ImageWorks’ Small Business Marketing and Web Design Package: Web design company of ImageWorks has selected some of their most popular branding and marketing services and combined them into one unique package. The total cost represents a saving of over 30% and the package can be purchase through an interest-free 12-month monthly payment option. The company hopes to help its customers by allowing them to have a first class brand image reinforced with marketing strategies that work in today’s fast paced online environment — without having to spend a significant amount of money upfront. By taking advantage of the services offer in our Small Business Package, customers will show up on line, in social media, in searches, via email, and through advertisements with a value-oriented customer-centric messaging. Here is a brief overview of some of the services included in the Small Business Marketing & Branding Package: Depending on the package a customer selects, monthly payments start at just $895 per month for 12 months. There are no renewals and no hidden costs.
Scott C. Margenau is president of ImageWorks Studio, an award-winning Custom web design, Web design company specializing in online and off-line media in advertising, web development, brand development and promotion.
Blogging for a Small Business
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Blogs are easy way to communicate with the customers, and employees. From past few years, blogs are continuing as one of the effective channels of communication when compared to other advertising channels. Blogs for business can help to strengthen relationships with targeted audiences. A blog can help in as many ways, from a business perceptive.Reasons why a small business needs bloggingSmall businesses need to be more effective in building a potential and loyal customer base when compared to large businesses. Blogs helps in increasing the consumer base. • Building customer relationships: Blogs are very helpful to increase the brand loyalty in customers by engaging with them through blogging on their favorite topics. Regularly updated blogs can help businesses in making readers to visit the website on regular basis. This may steadily enhance the business opportunities of the organization. Blogs became easy and effective medium to make the customers to join in discussions, providing tips, insights, etc., about the products and services of many businesses.• Blogs at workplace: Employees can write their opinions, views, and recommendations for any developments in the business. Blogs helps small businesses for effective cross-functional communication with employees. Companies can create internal blogs within organizations where project members and employees update project information along with reports without having to waste time for interaction and responses for minor updates.• For brand awareness: Small businesses can easily update their recent achievements in products and services in blogs and can create awareness to the customers about them. With regular reading of blogs, customers can know the latest developments in the business. Blogs help small businesses to create brand awareness for the products or services they offer.• Better communication: Blogging for small businesses facilitate to increase the integrity in the organization with the easy communication process between the employees and the management. Blogs are also created to attract the readers of targeted markets. Companies update their respective blogs frequently with opinions and reviews of customers along with their new achievements in their products and services, and make them visible to almost everyone online. Blogging enables the small businesses to stay in business, to connect with its customers, clients. This can indirectly help to increase their sales. Blogging can make your customers relate better to company on a personal level. Blogging is a great way to set your company apart from the group of small, and home based businesses through Internet.
Richard Nance’s blog has many health and beauty tips. This blog also features society awareness topics in short and simple way.
Iâm A Small Business Owner, How Can Outsourcing Help Me?
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Many of our clients have been able to build their businesses successfully as a direct result of outsourcing. One of the most common jobs that they outsource is appointment setting. If your company does any type of outside sales (and most do) having an outsourced telemarketing department is ideal. Think about it, if you tried to hire telemarketers in house, you have to set up office space, get office furniture, get special phone lines installed, get computers, etc. You even have to either manage them yourself or hire someone else to make sure that theyâre showing up on time, working their agreed upon shift, calling properly, reading the scripts properly and performing the way that you want them to.Â
Yet when you outsource your appointment setting, all you do is have your sales force (or yourself) show up to prescheduled appointments and write up deals. Thatâs it! No trouble no hassle no headaches. All of this for an employee that costs around $5 per hour.As a small business owner, you can also use virtual assistants to contact your existing clients and cross sell them on additional products and services (a very successful and profitable strategy). In addition, they can serve as an answering service when youâre out of the office, handle your billing / payments & collections, perform accounting and bookkeeping and more. Some mortgage companies use outsourced workers to call homeowners and sell them mortgages over the phone.Realtors use virtual assistants to help them run their offices. Their reps help them prepare documents, upload listings, answer phones, do internet marketing, send out client newsletters and more. Other businesses have outsourced reps handling some of their marketing functions. These include internet marketing. There are over 50,000 free classified ad sites on the internet other than Craigslist. Some business owners have their outsourced marketing reps posting ads on these sites each month. They also design their print and internet ads, launch their direct mail campaigns, fulfill information request orders, perform E-blasts, perform âLive Chatâ for their website, perform search engine optimization, blogging, writing and posting articles online, updating their website monthly, and much more. Some accounting companies even have outsourced reps doing their clients bookkeeping (unbeknownst to their clients). Other companies have outsourced reps doing actual sales entirely over the phone and internet.
So as you can see, there are a tremendous amount of ways that you as a small business owner can benefit from outsourcing. The ways we mention above are just a few examples yet the possibilities are endless.
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From The Minds Of Wharton
Wharton Business Foundation
www.WhartonBusinessFoundation.com
(888)4-WHARTON
info@whartonbusinessfoundation.com
Get Appointment Setters, Virtual Assistants, Telemarketers, Search Engine Marketing Specialists and more as low as $299 per month! Wharton Business Foundation is one of the foremost respected consulting firms helping companies to grow their business to the next level and beyond. With clients spanning across the nation as well as around the globe, our name has become synonymous with cutting edge expertise and timely intelligence. Though many of our clients know us for our business building experience and marketing and sales training expertise, we are quickly becoming known as the Premier Outsourcing Firm in the continental United States.
The Advantages Of Small Business Blogging
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
A personal online journal related to your business, a blog is a great, informal way of updating customers. Blogging can make your customers relate better to you on a personal level and is a great way to set yourself apart from the group of small and home based businesses crowding the Internet marketing scene. Tracked by search engines, your blogging information can be accessed not only by your current customers, but also by consumers browsing the web for the services or products they need. Like email newsletters, you can use blogging to keep your customers up to date on special sales, promotions, new products or services, major changes within a business, or general news about the industry your business is a part of.
Business owners who use blogging to update information about their company more than double their visibility on large search engines, such as Yahoo and Google. Each word you type in a blog is tracked by the search engine so the more blogs you post, the more traffic your website will get. To make sure youre getting the most value and customer response from your blog, follow these five blogging tips:
1. Be Informative
Showing your customers how much you know about your business and the niche market youre targeting will put them at ease and make them more likely to purchase your products or services. Make sure your blogs are written in a knowledgeable, expert way and double check all of your facts, spelling and grammar. Include detailed and informative information about your business. Initial posts can include information about what your business offers and who could benefit from your service and, further down the line, you could blog about new products or services available. As long as the information is useful to consumers, you can write about it.
2. Keywords
Use keywords wisely and select words you think consumers would use when searching for a company like yours that offers the same products and services. The more common keywords you select, the higher youll rank on search engine pages and the more traffic your site will generate.
3. Quantity
A simple headline or single sentence will not attract a potential customers attention, so make sure you beef up your blogs with a lot of informative content. The more substance to your post, the more youll attract the attention of search engines and interest consumers who click on your link.
4. Frequency
Its important to update your blog frequently, adding new and important information. This will keep your customers interested and search engines will begin indexing your page at regular intervals.
5. Grammar & Spelling
In only takes one or two spelling errors to turn a customer off to your services, so take the extra time to review your post and correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Try creating your blog in a writing program that offers spell check, such as Microsoft Word, and then copying and pasting it into the blog once youre sure everything is perfect.
James Copper is a writer for http://www.marketinglinx.com where you can find out about small business marketing
How To Get Maximum Search Benefit From Your Small Business Blog!
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
If you have a small business blog, or are thinking of starting one, you should be aware of the ways you can use your blog to drive traffic to your Website. It’s simpler than you think.The first thing to understand about your blog is that each entry is counted as one Web page. Even if you have your blog set to display 10 blog posts on the same page, each of them is counted as a separate Web page by the search engines. That’s why it is important to treat each blog entry as an SEO tool. The following tips should be kept in mind for each blog entry in order to optimize them for the search engines and drive more traffic to your Website from your blog:1. Optimize each blog post around a single keyword2. Make sure your keyword is in your blog post title, preferably at the beginning3. Use subheads with or tags that also use your keyword4. Include 1-3 keyword links (anchor text) in your blog posts5. Sign every blog post with a signature link that uses your keyword6. Use bold and italics effectively to emphasize certain keywords and phrases7. Be sure to ping the directories8. Include tags for all of your blog entries9. Use categories effectively10. Make links appear natural by linking to internal pages of your WebsiteBecause each blog entry is a separate Web page, the search engines will crawl them and index them just as they do your Web pages. Optimize each one heavily around a specific keyword related to your Website and that’s an extra doorway into your Website for each page indexed at the search engines. Also, by adding anchor text to a couple of those keywords and pointing those links to relevant internal Web pages of your Website you are improving the SEO effect of your blog entry. A poll of top SEO experts by SEOmoz revealed that a majority of those SEO experts said these type of keyword links are among the top 10 most important SEO factors for ranking Web pages. Don’t give up on keywords and anchor text.You’ll also want to include keyword tags with each blog entry. Those tags will be used by the search engines to index your pages appropriately for your keywords. Also, social bookmarkers will find it easier to tag your blog entry if they like it and this makes it easier to share among their social group.Your blog category should indicate an important element of interest as well. Unlike tags, you should only choose one category for each blog post. Don’t use “main” or “uncategorized.” Those are too generic. Use a specific keyword-related category as that will make your blog posts more crawlable by the search engines.There are more than 100 blog directories that you can ping to let them know you have updated your blog. I suggest you do this every time you update your blog. With WordPress, and several other blogging software platforms, you can input each directory into a field and the software will send out an automatic ping each time you update your blog. If you are not using WordPress you should go to Ping-o-Matic and use it to ping your blog for free.Finally, if you sign your blog posts with a keyword-rich signature that points to a relevant internal page of your Website, this will make your Website more crawlable and give you another anchor text link. Use something like, “Find Out More About Keyword.” Then add another link that points to your home page.The important thing to remember about keywords and links, whether on your blog or your Website, is to make them appear natural. The benefits are enormous.
Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips and hints, points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques, and insights pertaining to credit card, do please browse for more information at our websites.
http://www.bigblogs.com
Blogging For SEO: How To Get Maximum Search Benefit From Your Small Business Blog
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
If you have a small business blog, or are thinking of starting one, you should be aware of the ways you can use your blog to drive traffic to your Website. It’s simpler than you think.
The first thing to understand about your blog is that each entry is counted as one Web page. Even if you have your blog set to display 10 blog posts on the same page, each of them is counted as a separate Web page by the search engines. That’s why it is important to treat each blog entry as an SEO tool. The following tips should be kept in mind for each blog entry in order to optimize them for the search engines and drive more traffic to your Website from your blog:
1. Optimize each blog post around a single keyword
2. Make sure your keyword is in your blog post title, preferably at the beginning
3. Use subheads with or tags that also use your keyword
4. Include 1-3 keyword links (anchor text) in your blog posts
5. Sign every blog post with a signature link that uses your keyword
6. Use bold and italics effectively to emphasize certain keywords and phrases
7. Be sure to ping the directories
8. Include tags for all of your blog entries
9. Use categories effectively
10. Make links appear natural by linking to internal pages of your Website
Because each blog entry is a separate Web page, the search engines will crawl them and index them just as they do your Web pages. Optimize each one heavily around a specific keyword related to your Website and that’s an extra doorway into your Website for each page indexed at the search engines. Also, by adding anchor text to a couple of those keywords and pointing those links to relevant internal Web pages of your Website you are improving the SEO effect of your blog entry. A poll of top SEO experts by SEOmoz revealed that a majority of those SEO experts said these type of keyword links are among the top 10 most important SEO factors for ranking Web pages. Don’t give up on keywords and anchor text.
You’ll also want to include keyword tags with each blog entry. Those tags will be used by the search engines to index your pages appropriately for your keywords. Also, social bookmarkers will find it easier to tag your blog entry if they like it and this makes it easier to share among their social group.
Your blog category should indicate an important element of interest as well. Unlike tags, you should only choose one category for each blog post. Don’t use “main” or “uncategorized.” Those are too generic. Use a specific keyword-related category as that will make your blog posts more crawlable by the search engines.
There are more than 100 blog directories that you can ping to let them know you have updated your blog. I suggest you do this every time you update your blog. With WordPress, and several other blogging software platforms, you can input each directory into a field and the software will send out an automatic ping each time you update your blog. If you are not using WordPress you should go to Ping-o-Matic and use it to ping your blog for free.
Finally, if you sign your blog posts with a keyword-rich signature that points to a relevant internal page of your Website, this will make your Website more crawlable and give you another anchor text link. Use something like, “Find Out More About Keyword.” Then add another link that points to your home page.
The important thing to remember about keywords and links, whether on your blog or your Website, is to make them appear natural. The benefits are enormous.
Caroline Melberg is President and CEO of Melberg Marketing. She has over 20 years of experience creating exciting marketing campaigns for some of the most successful companies in the world. She publishes the popular eZine, “Blue Chip Tips: The Secrets of Blue Chip Marketing…Revealed!” Learn more today at www.melberg.com.
Small Business Blog Marketing: What Does it Entail?
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Blog marketing can be quite complicated for anyone that has never even blogged before. If you are considering getting into small business blog marketing, you will want to first have a blog and see what that is like before you get into something more. Blogging requires dedication and patience. You have to update your blog on a regular basis in order to keep your readers happy. Doing so will keep them coming back for more and to see what you have new to say.
Small business blog marketing consists of blogging about your business. It definitely is a great tool that you should use to get your business out there and known by others. However, you will need to be patient because it is a long process that will require much of your attention. Just because you have a blog does not mean that someone is going to find it and read it. You are going to have to make it known. If you have a website for your business, you can link your blog to it and that will let the ones that know about your business and business website know about your blog as well.
Small business blog marketing is something that anyone can do. Having a blog and keeping it up to date with the latest information is not hard. All you need to have is a plan and you will be set to market any type of business from your blog. Whether you are selling a product or a service, it does not matter. A blog that is marketed the right way will be beneficial to any business whatever it might be.
So you are probably wondering how you are going to accomplish this small business blog marketing. When you are marketing a blog, you pretty much do it the same way that you would market a website. It is going to need keywords, and content. You can write the content yourself, or pay someone else to write it for you. That part is totally up to you. However you will want to be sure that the content is decent and something that your readers will want to read. This will keep them coming back. Make sure that the content is written from special keywords that you choose. You will also want to become familiar with SEO which is Search Engine Optimization. SEO will help you to optimize your blog to get a better ranking with the search engines.
Once you have chosen the keywords, and gotten some content published on your blog, you will be ready to get it out there some more. Link exchanges are wonderful for marketing your small business blog. You want to try and exchange links with sites that are relevant to yours, but not in direct competition. If you try to exchange links with sites in competition with yours, you are going to find that many of them will turn you down in fear of losing business to you.
Paid directories are a big part of small business blog marketing as well. You can pay some directories to list your blog URL in their directory under the specific category that it falls under. However, some of these even have specific qualifications that you must have to get in. Follow all of the application steps, and you should be ok. Just do not try to submit your blog to a directory that it does not qualify for, or fit in.
Another important thing to remember when you are into small business blog marketing is that if anyone leaves you a comment on your blog, you should acknowledge it and respond. You can also comment on other blogs that are relevant to yours, and leave a link to your blog as well. This will help bring in visitors to your blog, and you will begin to see more and more traffic.
Small business blog marketing is not rocket science, however someone that has never marketed a single thing before in their life may have problems. Just be persistent, and don’t give up.
If you want to start blogging for cash, check out Atomic Blogging.
Li Ming Wong is an internet marketing entrepreneur. Visit Making Money Online Blog for tips and guides to starting your own online business. How To Make Money Online – Free Ebooks Download, register for free.
Small Business Blogs
November 19, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Small businesses need big marketing strategies. A small business blog (short for web log) is one way to expose your business. The way it works is that you can write any topic that interests you. It is an online journal where you can express your thoughts and ideas. These blogs are a great way to bring in more people to check out your website if you have one. If you do not have a website you can still have a blog. Not only is it available at a negligible or zero cost, but there is also constant communication with your target market. You get to know how people receive your products or services. The users’ reactions can help you gauge and see how you can improve on your business. There is user friendly blog software that is available. All you have to do is write out your posts, then link it to resources and publish it on the web log. If you need to update your web log it is easy and you do not require the services of a web designer. This will cut down you costs and also save you time. If you have a specific product, a business blog will help you acquire them. Since these people have a common interest, they may eventually become customers. This type of business marketing has various advantages. You get feedback from customers immediately and see what others have written. Web logging can be free depending on the entity you choose. Blogs are usually well organized in various topics so it is easy to access them. You will constantly have web traffic because it is only natural for people to comment on certain issues.
Mercy Maranga writes content on Finance and Small Business Management. Visit her site here for more information on Finance and how to effectively Manage your small business. Small Businesses
Business Blogs – A Solution For Marketing Small Businesses
November 18, 2009 by IBI · Leave a Comment
Small businesses often have trouble promoting themselves, since they lack the big budgets corporations have for advertising. For these companies, the answer is to establish an online presence through a blog. A business blog is an ideal way for marketing small businesses, since blogs don’t cost that much and are easy to learn how to use.
Blog software is user-friendly; you simply write out your posts, link to resources and publish it on the blog, all with a few mouse clicks. You can update the weblog yourself without having to go through a web designer or doing the coding yourself, which saves you time and money.
A business blog also allows a small business to target its niche audience. For example, a business may sell only memorabilia or antiques or other products that appeal only to a limited clientele. A blog allows this business to build a community of people with these interests which might eventually become customers. This blog could also provide updates of new developments in their particular field of interest.
In addition, a blog can also help a small business build a network with other businesses in the same line, but in different states. This network could even set up a new business blog where each of them has a post that introduces them and where they are located, with a link to their individual blogs.
It is also easier for a potential customer to find a small business selling products or services he might be interested if it has a blog. A blogger can easily use techniques such as search engine optimization to boost his search engine rankings.
Tim Yu is a Internet Marketer who owns http://www.InternetBloggingProfits.com – He has helped hundreds of people on Starting Up an Internet Business.
He has recently developed a Free 7-Days Profitable e-course showing you a step by step process for starting your Internet Business . To learn how to start Making Money Fast without wasting your time and losing more money, visit http://www.InternetBloggingProfits.com/BlogSecrets
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