Would you like to grow your business by 60% this year? While it sounds incredible, a caterer in Australia did just that.

Did it cost a bunch of money or depend on aggressive sales tactics? No.

Wayne Davis figured out how to get more potential clients to his website – and how to get more of those visitors to take action. And he did it himself.

And now you can too.

I asked Wayne Davis to share a few tips on how he did it.  What follows is absolutely brilliant.

Hi Brian, here are a list of my top ten tips and tricks that I have used to help convert more sales to a point where we have overall growth of 60% on last year, and we are at about capacity without taking on any more staff.

So, a while ago I saw a Matt Cutts video on YouTube talking about conversion optimisation being just as important as search engine optimisation.  This video took me on a huge journey which eventually led me to reduce my bounce rate from 60% to 40% which increased my business as mentioned above.

Part 1 – Search Engine Conversion Tips

At the top of the funnel are the conversion metrics which make client click on you from a Google search engine results page (serp).

1. Title and Description Tags – I know it is an old issue but it is really important!  Trying to optimise for the keyword AND human customers is an art rather than a science.  I have found that it is more beneficial to optimise for conversion rather than SEO.  But, without SEO your page will not have as many displays in the serp’s for the customers to click on.  The trick is to think about the demographic who are typing the keyphrase that you are trying to rank for and consider what would make them click.  Plus if you can add the main keyword and maybe an LSI keyword in there too then that would be awesome.

2. Author Mark-up – I shouldn’t really tell you about the next one, but it might be good karma, lol.  An amazing, yet relatively easy strategy to implement for a lot of trust, both with Google and your potential clients is the “rel=author” mark-up for the serp’s.  By adding the author rich snippet, studies have shown an increased click through rate of 150%.  Think about it, if you were searching for “Internet marketing” and near the top of the serp’s was a picture of Brian’s smiling face, you would be more likely to click on it!

3. Different Technology – The world is connecting to the Internet in so many ways now that it is very important to make provisions for this.  You can either have a mobile site or do what I do and add a redirect in my htaccess file.  Essentially, what I thought is, for businesses with a physical address, catering company, restaurant, café etc, a redirect based on the type of technology, to my Google Local page is more beneficial than a mobile site (and it uses less bandwidth too).  I thought that if people were searching by phone, then a Google Local landing page has everything that they need, one-push phone number, one-push navigation, and so on.  Ok, so the potential customer is not coming through to your website per se, but business is all about getting customers, not just hits!

4. Google Reviews – Reviews on Google are an amazing conversion metric, however there are good points and bad points with having a Google reviews page.  Firstly, the bad point is simply Trolls and spurious idiots writing unfounded bad reviews.  Perhaps your competition using troll techniques out of jealousy or simply Internet idiots being idiots, under a veil of anonymity.  Whatever the reason, rightly or wrongly, a bad Google review or two can have a detrimental effect on your businesses trust.  However, a page of good Google reviews can increase your trust score both with your potential customers, and in my opinion, with the Google serp’s too.  After the completion of a catering function we send out an email to our clients asking for feedback and a testimonial for the website (see Part 2), upon receiving a cracking testimonial we then send a thank you email with a link to our Google Local page asking then if they would please mind writing a Google review.  This does not contravene the Google policy, ensures a natural looking great quality review and helps with off-site trust.  You should weigh the pro’s and con’s and decide for yourselves if it is worth it for your business.

Part 2 – On-page Conversion Tips

Now that you have optimised the conversion metrics and trust metrics for the Google serp’s and off-page metrics, it is time to focus on the next part of the funnel, namely the on-page metrics and what your guests see when they click through to your site.

Firstly, let me tell you a little bit about Bounce Rate.  Bounce Rate as I’m sure you all know is the rate at which people click on your site and either click back, or close the browser without performing any other action.  Google use the Bounce Rate in its algorithm and rightly so, it could be a great indicator of how good a page is for a particular search.  In theory, the lower the bounce rate, the better the page!  There are certain things that can help lower the bounce rate, which is good for a number of reasons, obviously the serp’s but also it means that potential clients and customers are performing another action when getting to your site and therefore catching more leads.

5. Do What You Said You Were Going To Do – I cannot emphasise this enough, if you have a page about ‘catering in Brisbane’ then make it about catering in Brisbane!  If you have a potential client click through to your page under the pretence of catering in Brisbane and it is about marketing in New York then they are going to bounce!  For example, I have some content on my site which I wrote as part of a silo (remember content siloes?  Lol) for “spit roast” but we don’t offer a spit roast option and so those articles have a high Bounce Rate.

6. Clickable Content Above The Fold – This is another no brainer really!  People do not want to scroll anywhere unless they really have to.  If you are going to use conversion metrics and/or trust metrics then it needs to be above the fold!  However, be mindful of designing your website in keeping with your key demographic.  You might sell high end goods and your clients might be high end clients, so a “50% discount” button might not suit.

7. Calls To Action – The difference between a call to action (cta) and what I use is that I use grammar in the first person.  For example, a site might have a “Get A Quote Now” button, which is a perfectly good cta, however I use a “Send Me My Quote Now” button, which I have found converts better than a regular cta.  Think of great quality call’s to action for your own site and then try them in the first person, “give me my discount”, “give me my free ebook” are an example of how you could change your cta to increase click through and decrease Bounce Rate.

8. Social Media Metrics – Social media is getting more and more important when it comes to seo and a good social media campaign can increase the trust that users place in your business or brand.  A Facebook box, a twitter feed, an Instagram feed, Google+ and great YouTube videos embedded on your site will all increase trust.

Ok so I have been talking about trust metrics and conversion metrics above the fold, but what exactly are they?

9. Trust Metrics – There are a lot of people in the world with a lot of websites, some are good and some are bad!  Trust metrics are essentially indicators of trust (obviously) and proof that you are the genuine article.  For example:

• SSL certificate for contact pages or ecommerce sites – this instils trust that the client’s details are going to be safe.
• Reviews and awards – If you say that you are a caterer, then list some awards or accolades that you may have.  Better still, hyperlink those links to the official site.
• Memberships and affiliations – Include and societies or affiliations to governing bodies or industry accreditation, and once again add a target_blank rel=”nofollow” backlink to them for extra trust.
• Testimonials – OMG probably the best metric you can have on your site, a list of testimonials from genuinely happy clients.  A testimonials widget in the sidebar ensures that there are testimonials above the fold on every landing page.
• Trademarks – if you own the trademark on your business name or brand then add the TM or R symbols to your website.  This gives the appearance of a genuine business or brand.
• 1800 or 1300 numbers – if it is not too expensive then consider a toll free number for your business.  Personally, if I see a business with a cell phone number as the only contact then I will not ring!
• Photos – Plenty of real photographs of you, your products, your brand, your shop or premises, interacting with clients.  Better still, embed a stream from a social media photo sharing site for trust + backlinks.

There are countless other trust metrics you can use depending on your product, brand or niche!  Do some research and understand what your clients want to see.

10. Conversion Metrics – You need to convert leads into sales and one of the way to do this is to add conversion metrics above the fold of your site.  These include:\

• BIG phone number or contact details in the header
• Special offers and free downloads – offer them something special.  Make them perform a click through to a special offer page, or insert their email address for a free download.  Ensure that you have the correct permissions in your terms and conditions, and follow the laws regarding spam in your jurisdiction, you can email those specials, newsletters and other marketing tools.  Remember, you might not make a sale today, but the more you put your brand out there, the more you cross your brand in front of people’s eyes, the more chance they have of picking you from their “mental rolodex” in the future.
• Contact form in the sidebar – People want to make the simplest request in the simplest timeframe.  A contact form widget in the sidebar means that clients can read your excellent article and perform an action without making another click!  “What about bounce rate?” I hear you cry!!  Well, instead of serving JS to acknowledge the success or failure of the sending of the form, use a redirect to a thank you page!  Boom, and we’ve saved the bounce rate, lol.  Another thing to note with contact forms is to get the client to input the minimum amount of information needed, for example if you can get away with name and email address for your purposes, then don’t add telephone number, age, address, sex, etc.  The fewer fields, the better, for conversion purposes anyway.
• Pictures – people love pictures, so if you want them to make a click then add clickable pictures.  For example, my main catering menus all have pictures and a call to action which I knocked together in Photoshop.
• BIG BUTTONS – Using big, colourful buttons will catch your lead’s eye and they might be more inclined to perform an action.

There are literally hundreds of conversion tools you can use depending on your niche, business, brand, service or products.  Do the research, visit your competition and adapt a strategy that best suits your needs.

Resource Box

Pure Catering Brisbane organise catering in Brisbane and Catering Sunshine Coast and across the whole of South East Queensland.  With modern menus, the best customer service and an exceptional eye for detail, Pure Catering Brisbane has established a reputation as one of the best caterers in the region.  Pure Catering Brisbane & the Sunshine Coast pride ourselves on trying to be as ethical as possible without inflating the price.  We source our ingredients from local Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Australian suppliers.  All of our meat is free range and we use local shops wherever and whenever we can.

The post How I Got More Clients | Caterer Spills the Beans appeared first on Brian McGovern.

Now before I give you the method I use to get more customers I must beg you to keep an open mind.

This sales strategy revolves around a blog. STOP. I know a whole bunch of people are thinking, “I’ve already tried it, and it doesn’t work.”   Nonsense.

If you’re blog isn’t getting you more clients, it’s because you’re not doing it right.

Now, I get it, you’re probably pretty busy. You may even feel like you’re about to go completely insane buried under all the things you’ve got to do each day. Well, I’ve got bad news – If you want to grow – if you want to get more clients without expensive ads – you need to add blogging to your busy schedule.   A blog can increase your exposure and boosts your brand, or it can be waste of time. It’s one of the simplest but most effective things you can do to get traffic to your website.

Get More Customers …. for FREE

The purpose of your blog is to provide helpful information related to your business that your target market is searching for. They’ll find your blog in their search to solve their problems or get their questions answered.   Your blog will be picked up by the search engines, and this allows you to reach a much wider audience. Some of these folks will click from your blog to your site and turn right into customers. But only if you do it right.   Here’s an example. You’re a wedding caterer in New York City. You read my email and start blogging about wedding dresses, wedding fashions, last night’s episode of Bridezilla and so on. Your blog gets some traffic – but no new business – because you did it wrong.

If you want to attract more local clients via a blog you must blog about things that local clients are searching for when it comes to your business.

You don’t want the whole world on your blog if you run a local business – you only want local buyers. So, what does that tell you?

Post Local, Related Content

Let’s go back to the example of the New York City wedding planner. Instead of blabbering on about your opinion of “The Bachelor” – which no one cares about and won’t drive local buyers – write useful content that your ideal client would want to read.   “How to Get a New York City Wedding License, Fast” “How to Get Married in Central Park: Licenses, Permits, and Plans” “The Best Place to Get Married on Long Island” “The Best and Worst Catering Halls for Weddings in New York City” “Planning Your Wedding at New York City’s Ritz Carlton”   All these topics are focused on topics that ideal, local clients will care about.   Here’s another example. Let’s say you’re a cosmetic dentist in Chicago. What are you going to blog about? “How to Keep Your Gums Health?” Please! A topic like that is dull, overdone and will not attract local buyers. A smart dentist would think … local + related.   Local means dropping names of local cities, towns, neighborhoods, and destinations. Related means what people who are might be in the market for cosmetic dentistry are searching online for.   “The Best Plastic Surgeons in South Chicago” “Best and Worst Tanning Salons in Chicago’s Loop” “Losing Weight in Lincoln Park” “Lakeview Chicago Orthodontists” “Kid Friendly Dentists in Logan Square”   See, people who want to lose weight, get a fake tan and a nose job are likely candidates for cosmetic dentistry.

In addition, if this dentist is kind enough to promote related professionals, might they return the favor?   SEO Benefits   Blogging consistently keeps fresh content on your website and this is one of the things search engines love. When you get into a routine of posting, for example, a blog a week, this tells the search engines that your site is active and worth sending traffic to. When you get more traffic, you’ll show up higher in the search engine results pages.

Here’s the right way to do it. You set up your blog so that it attracts search engines. You set up the layout so that every post is surrounded by extremely powerful marketing messages. You don’t want people reading your posts! You want them to be attracted to your post and immediately drawn to your marketing message. You need a blog layout with a solid header graphic that makes a great offer and instills confidence. Next – use columns and a footer to surround your blog post with more compelling messaging. I like to include a marketing video on every blog page – just make sure your video is persuasive.   Use every inch of that blog page to SELL. Not to sell hiring you on the spot … but perhaps to sell the visitor on watching your video … which sells the viewer on filling out your email form to get a free report, exclusive offer, invitation to a free event – like free passes to a wedding show in this example.   Now that the site is structured to attract search engines and the layout is designed to motivate the reader to take an action – how do you get them there?  By using local search phrases that tie into your service.

More examples … if I’m a local florist I put up a post on how to schedule your wedding at the top 20 churches in the city and about funeral homes in my neighborhood.  If I’m a cosmetic dentist I post reviews of local plastic surgeons … because someone who is looking for a plastic surgeon in the area may also need a good dentist. If I’m a yoga school I post about the local gyms, local races, the local softball teams and so on.

Branding Your Business   Your blog is yet another weapon in your branding arsenal. It allows you to maintain control over your business’s image, and this is really important online where reputation is everything. You can use it to build trust and authority, and show the world your personality.

It’s Idiot-Proof   If reading that you need to start a blog for your small business makes you sigh ‘yet another thing to do,’ don’t worry. Blogging is extremely easy and it takes little time out of your busy schedule.   First – get your marketing message right. You need an irresistible offer that will make the person who stumbled across your blog post to DO something. Again, it’s far easier to get them the sign up for your mailing list in return for a nice freebie than to expect them to hire you on the spot – but you can go straight for the sale.   Next – have your blog professionally designed. Not to look pretty – but to convert visitors into leads and sales. Then write your blog post and click a button, and it’s published for the entire world to see.   You don’t have to blog daily, but decide on a schedule that you can keep consistently. You’ll discover for yourself how the little time and effort you spend blogging brings massive results.

The post Getting More Customers with “Free Advertising” Strategies appeared first on Brian McGovern.

Or you’re wasting your money and the whole thing will die a quick death. Mobile marketing is easy and effective, but only if you do it right. Here are the 8 things lots of businesses do that screw up their mobile marketing campaigns completely.

Buy Your List

Mobile marketing only works if you have a list of subscribers. If you buy a list from somebody else, those aren’t subscribers. They’re random people who have no interest in your business and they’ll toss your messages in the trash. Use an opt-in form or short code and get their permission first.

Message at Midnight

If you send messages late at night or early in the morning, people won’t open them. They’ll groggily delete them and possibly block you from their phones. Send your messages during the daytime and experiment with different times to see what gets the best response.

Cram Your Messages

Your mobile messages need to be 160 characters – at most! That’s not a lot of characters, so don’t cram your messages full of too much information. Each message should be focused on one thing. If you’ve got two things to tell your subscribers, break it up into two messages.

Abbreviate Messages

You also might be tempted to use text lingo like LOL and OMG. This saves you space in your messages but it makes you look like a teenage girl. They look unprofessional so stick to actual words in the English language.

Ignore Stats

Most bulk messaging services provide you with analytics so you can see how you’re doing. If you don’t pay close attention to these, you’re lost. This is how you learn what works and what doesn’t.

Be in Too Much Touch

With SMS marketing, you don’t want to be texting them daily. You should be consistent but if you send too many messages, they’ll start turning you off. Strike a good balance between staying in touch and going overboard.

Think ‘Sales’ Only

When crafting your messages, start by asking, ‘How can I help my subscribers?’ Don’t start by thinking about sales. If you focus on helping them and offer information or promotions that give them value, the sales will come.

Rant, Blog or Otherwise Not Deliver

Whatever you do, make sure you send the messages you promised them. They signed up because they wanted what you said you’d give them. Make sure you deliver.

Mobile marketing is a great tool for businesses, but you’ve got to make sure you’re doing it right. Stick to these guidelines and your mobile marketing campaign will be everything you want it to be.

Photo credit: tommipictures.de / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

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Google Analytics not only lets you measure sales and conversions, but also gives you fresh insights into how visitors use your site, how they arrived on your site, and how you can keep them coming back. Google Analytics shows where your traffic is coming from, how much you’re getting, and what they’re doing when they get to your site. Everybody with a website who cares whether it gets traffic or not needs to be using Google Analytics and here are the reasons why.

Where Do They Come From?

Probably the best thing about Google Analytics is that it shows you where your traffic is coming from. It lets you see your traffic sources and how many visitors you’re getting from each. This is essential for your SEO strategy because it shows you what’s working and what’s not. For example, let’s say that I’m submitting articles to article directories with a backlink to my site. After a few weeks of submitting articles, I can see exactly which directories are getting me traffic and which are getting me zilch. I can then drop the sucky ones.

Know Your Visitors and What They’re Doing You can use Analytics to get demographic information about who’s viewing your site and what they’re doing. You can analyze geography, language, what kind of browser they’re using, and other demographic info. It also lets you choose specific time frames from one day to the entire time you’re site’s been there. The program lets you track visitor navigation. You can see which pages they visited and when to see if you’re site navigation is working the way you want it to.

Fix Your Content Analytics shows you the ‘bounce rate’ for each page. The bounce rate is the percentage of entrances to a page that leave the site immediately. This means that they didn’t like what they found there. Either your content was weak or it didn’t deliver what the referring site promised. You can use bounce rate to get rid of low quality traffic that you’re paying for.

Lots to Do and See And there’s much more.

Google Analytics has more than 80 different reports for you to analyze and pore over, and the interface is really easy with drop down menus. They offer tutorials, FAQs and whatever other information you need to figure out what all of this data means. In truth, most people only check on a few things that really concern them, but it’s fun to find out what else you can do with the service. Google Analytics isn’t perfect and there are software programs that give you more customizable reports and better support – but they’re not free! For a free program, Google Analytics is absolutely incredible. You can manage your entire SEO campaign using it.

Photo credit: Patrick Hoesly / Foter.com / CC BY

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Restaurants, hotels and other local businesses that depend on tourists MUST have a solid web strategy and a good mobile website design. That’s because more of these customers are using their smartphones to find what’s nearby when they’re most likely to buy. While a family planning a vacation will likely use a desktop to do research weeks and months ahead of time – they are using mobile devices when they’re in town with money to spend.

Other businesses don’t need a mobile site as urgently. Very few B2B companies really need a mobile site as very few businesses do their homework on vendors via a smartphone. These clients are more likely to be evalauting new vendors when they’re at a full desktop.

Mobile Traffic Growth

Global mobile data traffic grew 70 percent in 2012. Last year’s mobile data traffic was nearly twelve times the size of the entire global Internet in 2000. Mobile video traffic exceeded 50 percent for the first time in 2012. Mobile video traffic was 51 percent of traffic by the end of 2012. – Cisco

Each year, more and more folks are buying smartphones and other devices that they can use to surf the Web. They’re increasingly looking for local businesses while on-the-go. This growth is unprecedented and it’s not slowing down any time soon. You need a mobile site so that they can find your business.

Desktop or Mobile?

Why go through the trouble of creating a new site that’s mobile optimized? Because desktop and mobiles sites are different. Regular sites look terrible on the small displays of mobile devices. Your site has too much information all crammed together and this doesn’t create a good user experience.

With the mobile Web, user experience is everything. If your site’s hard to navigate, people won’t stay.

Different Needs on Smart Phones

As a general rule of thumb when converting a desktop site design to mobile format, you want to simplify things wherever possible. There are several reasons for this. Keeping file size and load times down is always a good idea for a mobile site. Wireless connections — while faster than years past — are still relatively slow, so the faster your mobile site loads, the better.

Usability considerations on the mobile web also call for a simplified approach to design, layout, and navigation. With less screen real estate at your disposal, you need to choose your placement of elements wisely. In short: Less is more.

However, we can still create beautiful designs that are optimized for mobile. CSS3 gives us an amazing set of tools for creating things like gradients, drop-shadows, and rounded corners, all without resorting to bulky images. That’s not to say you can’t use images at all. – Mashable

Creating a mobile optimized site lets you give mobile Web surfers exactly what they want when they want it. Their behavior is different from desktop surfers and your mobile site is custom tailored to it.

When people search on the go, they’re looking for location, hours and contact information first and foremost. When you put that information at the very top where they’ll see it quickly, you make it much easier for them to find you.

They also spend time just playing around with their mobile devices. You can putt apps on your mobile site and integrate it with other sites they like such as Facebook and Twitter.

SEO Benefits

Mobile sites are indexed by the search engines just like regular sites. This means that your mobile site will show up in search engine results, especially if you target the right keywords.

When you use geographical keywords for your mobile optimized site, this gives you a huge advantage over the competition. Not only are Google and Yahoo mobile-friendly, there are all kinds of local search sites popping up that love mobile sites.

Chances are that your competitors probably haven’t started creating their mobile optimized sites yet. Although it’s clear that the mobile market is huge, offline businesses are extremely slow to get with it. If you optimize today, you can be the first business in your area to do so, and this gives you a head start.

Creating a mobile optimized website is a great option right now. But in the future, it will be a necessity. This is why you should make your mobile optimized site today.

Best Design for SmartPhones?

Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device. This is Google’s recommended configuration. – Google Blog

Photo credit: bark / Foter.com / CC BY

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YouTube

As of this writing, YouTube is the 2nd most popular search engine on the Web. We’re talking about billions of views per day. People get on it to look for all kinds of information and your videos could be what they see.

If you produce simple videos related to your service that help them with their problems, they’ll click on your link to see what else you have to offer.

Likability

Videos give your business a personal touch and that’s what it needs. When you market with videos, you create a personal connection with your market. Many people will feel like they’ve already met you. This increases the chance that they’ll go to your business when they need the services you offer.

Show Don’t Tell

You can show pictures and explanations of your products on your website, but with videos you can actually show them what they do. Give them a demonstration where they can see the actual results and you’ve already pre-sold your products to them.

Get Attention

Video marketing puts you in touch with a wider audience than you’d have with just text. Many people aren’t ‘readers’ and they find information presented by video much easier to digest. Also, keep in mind that your videos will be seen by people all over the world around the clock.

It’s (Almost) Free!

The best reason to do video marketing is that it’s completely free to publish and share videos around the world.  Videos can be produced with the simplest recording equipment and editing and uploading doesn’t cost a dime. Compare this to how much money businesses have spent in the past on advertising, and you’ll see what a great deal this is.

Starting Your Filmmaking Career

Now that you know what it’s all about, it’s time to get started. Don’t be shy about making your videos. Your videos can be ridiculously simple and still extremely powerful. They can be just a minute or two long, and they should only address one topic per video. If you’ve got lots you want to cover, make a video series.

Once you’ve got a few videos made, create a YouTube channel and upload them. YouTube is the hottest video site, but don’t stop there. As long as you’ve got videos to show the world, upload them to a couple of different sites. You should also embed them on your website, blog and social media sites.

Lots of people are shy about getting in front of the camera. But once you start doing it and realizing how easy video marketing is, you’ll be addicted! Video marketing is a free and easy method that gets your business massive exposure.

Does it Work?

The video below comes from Blendtec. With a simple video that cost about $50 … “overall sales have risen by 20 to 30 percent since the “Will it Blend?” series premiered”. AdAge

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If it sounds like another unnecessary hassle and profile to make, take a minute to consider this – there’s a good chance your business is already listed and people are talking about you. Someone somewhere has put you on the map and there are reviews already written. Wouldn’t you like to be in control of it?

You should seek out all listings of your business and claim them as soon as possible. It only takes a few minutes and there are 4 vital reasons why it needs to be done ASAP.

Reputation Management

Somebody else has created your listing for you and that’s not a good thing. Your listing may have inaccurate information. If you take control of your business listing, you can make sure that your profile accurately reflects your business and says the right things about it.

Search Engine Optimization

Business listings on these sites appear in search engine results. Once you’ve claimed your site, you can rewrite the profile information so that it’s keyword-optimized, and this will get your site found in targeted searches. Local search sites can be used very effectively as part of your Web traffic strategy.

Find Out What Folks Are Saying

One of the best reasons to claim your listing is that you get to learn exactly what people think about your service. You’re a fly on the virtual wall. They’re giving you valuable feedback on what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong. You can use this information to make changes and improve your customer service.

Talk to Your Customers

If you claim your listing, you can use it to communicate directly with your customers. When you reply to their reviews, it shows you to be a business that listens. You create a friendly, responsive image, and that’s the kind of company people like to give their hard-earned dollars to.

How to Claim Your Listing

Claiming your listing takes just a few minutes. Start with the three mentioned above – Yelp, Google Places, and CitySearch – since they’re the most popular. You can also do a Google search on the name of your business and location. On the listing page, somewhere it will say ‘Claim this listing’ or ‘business owners.’

After you fill out a tiny form with your name, email, and street address, they’ll send you a confirmation email. Once you click that, it’s yours.

Claiming your listing puts you in better touch with your customers and provides a valuable tool in marketing your business online. Start searching ASAP and get control over your listings today.

Google Places

Reach millions of Google users, quickly and for free, with Google Places

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“…combine our collective strengths into a mutually beneficial relationship. Our combined customer focus will yield broader and more powerful solutions with expanded choices, adaptability, and education opportunities.”

http://www.laboratorynetwork.com/doc.mvc/new-objective-strategic-high-performance-lc-ms-0001

A co-marketing promotion combines strengths. The company with a great product can team up with another with great distribution. When both focus on the same customer segment (but do not directly compete) the partnership can sell more product, faster and more profitably.

 
photo credit: JoePhilipson via photopin cc

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But what traits are essential to a successful co-marketing partner?

On the merchant side ( the partner with the product or service to be promoted) you need to look for a great product that the promoting partner’s customers want. The product should be in hot demand. Avoid products that have already saturated the market. (Unless the merchant can create an amazing deal). The merchant must have have a strong balance sheet, excellent customer service, a solid money-back guarantee and transparency.

You need to be able to trust that the offer-side of the equation will treat the promoter’s customers with great care, the product will meet or exceed expectations and will pay the promoter as promised.

The promoter side of the co-marketing deal needs to be carefully picked too. Many affiliate managers find that blindly accepting all affiliates leaves them exposed to potential problems.  A rogue affiliate may make unsubstantiated sales claims and promises that the merchant can’t make good on.  You don’t want to sully your brand by associating with spammers or hard-sell marketers.

We use the term “partner” in co-marketing but it shouldn’t be confused with a legal partnership entity. Most co-marketing deals involve short-term, creative promotional efforts and do not create new business entities. Joint-venture are companies that are set up by two or more corporations to accomplish longer term strategic objectives.

The post Co-Marketing Partners: Finding The Right Combination appeared first on Brian McGovern.

Should you blog, tweet, post or pin?

What’s better, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google?

Everyday there’s some new internet marketing fad to chase. And you end up confused and overwhelmed. Luckily there is a better way.

If you want to spend less time and money to market your business – and you want to grow your company faster than ever before with total certainty – read on.

More Sales, Less Confusion.

Do you remember what would happen when Oprah recommended a new book? It became an overnight best seller. Why?

Reach & Trust.

Oprah reached millions of people who trusted her opinion. Those who command our attention and earn our trust have leverage.

How far does your marketing message reach? Chances are most people don’t know your business. Advertising to everyone is just too expensive. And even if you could advertise more, it’s likely to be ignored … because people don’t trust most advertisements.

Power Partners

Imagine you could partner with someone who is trusted and known to your ideal buyers. This partner would be your advocate and would actively promote and endorse you to the exact people who needed you. Think that might help you sell more?

How to get other businesses to send you pre-qualified leads and buyers on-demand.

Companies spend buckets of cash and years of sweat to build their client lists. They’ve got loyal buyers – but they can’t possibly fill all of their clients’ needs. Many companies – who don’t compete with you – have buyers who need your products or services – but they don’t offer what you sell.

That’s why joint-marketing makes so much sense.

Examples

1. Members of AARP get discounts on auto insurance. The insurance company shares the revenues they earn when members sign up. Everybody wins.
2. A theater company mails out show tickets and includes a special coupon for a nearby restaurant near the theater. The restaurant gets a new customers, the customers save money on their meal and the theater earns a referral commission.
3. A pool maintenance company could partner with a landscaper to grow the business. All the pool company has to do is give the landscaper a letter and coupon to send out with regular mail. When the customer redeems the coupon the pool guy pays the landscaper.
4. A catering hall connects a bride-to-be with a photographer and florists from their “preferred vendor” list. The bride saves time and finds a reliable vendor (but maybe not the cheapest) – the catering hall makes a commission and doesn’t have educate new vendors on their policies – and the vendors get leads without paying money for ads, and leads are real easy to sell.

Advantages:

Your partner promotes for you for free. You only pay the promoter when a sale is made and the money is in your pocket.

You get access to new potential buyers who are pre-qualified and who trust you – thanks to the promoter’s endorsement.

Your partner makes money without having to stock, ship or service.

Disadvantages:

The arrangement might be misconstrued as a “kickback” if you’re not careful. When in doubt, disclose. Don’t ever mislead. As long as the promoter doesn’t try to disguise the nature of offer it should work fine. Licensed professionals should check to make sure that they’re allowed to do paid endorsements.

Be careful about whom you partner with. Recommending a shoddy business just to make a quick buck can be more trouble than it’s worth.

The post Strategic Partnerships appeared first on Brian McGovern.