Yahoo Small Business Advisor :Grow a Business

How to Develop Your Internet Marketing Department

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:55:31 -0400

As a business owner, you recognize that your company isn’t growing at the rate it could, and you know the internet is the key. Maybe you’ve already seen inklings of the potential through running a PPC campaign or starting a company e-newsletter. Or perhaps you’ve just started dabbling in internet marketing by assigning certain tasks...

Learn About Your Customers: They Are Speaking to You Louder Than Ever, Are You Listening?

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:55:29 -0400

Prospects and Customers are more accessible than ever, when we get them to engage with a brand. Engagement in a digital environment leaves a data trail, as searchers interact with our content. As Marketing professionals we have access to more data about customers than ever before as we build out a content strategy to attract...

Once Again: Are You STILL Making These Fatal Video Content Mistakes?

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:26:22 -0400

No one plans to make bad marketing videos. Yet, the majority of them ARE bad. And most of the time, it’s because the clients or the video producers fell into one or more of these deadly mistakes. A few months back, I talked about deadly video content and the “advertising vs. programming” mindset that can...

Marketing Online Can Help Connect You to a Targeted Audience

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:55:36 -0400

Every business has a specific audience that they want to reach because they believe that those people are far more likely to become good, long-term paying customers than the general population – your demographic. For years, real world marketers have sought out ways to help businesses pinpoint their individual demographic using a variety of methods...

Segmenting Content Marketing for Better Results

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:55:44 -0400

Effective retail marketing addresses customers’ needs. The challenge is that, no matter what you are selling, your customers will have different needs. A pet store sells to owners of cats, dogs, birds, and more. A CD store caters to clientele with vastly different music tastes. So how can one marketing message speak to all their...

7 Amazon Tools To Help Market Your Book Like A Professional

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:03:51 -0400

As an author and self-publisher it is absolutely essential that you have a presence on Amazon. And luckily for us, Amazon provides many powerful ways to connect with potential readers and buyers. Even if you use a regular book-publishing company to publish your book, you will still need to have a presence on Amazon. Especially...

Are Video Streams Overflowing, And Will You Pay For It?

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:00:24 -0400

With technology and all, and with everything going mobile, it’s hard to keep up with currents in the video streams. Some platforms were created for user-based postings. Others for access to old and new TV, old and new movies, and anything old or new that the networks could license to video streaming services. Brand Keys...

Content Marketing and the 3 Stages of the Buying Cycle

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:55:00 -0400

Before you can understand how content marketing plays a role in the three stages of the B2B buying cycle, it’s important to make sure that you know exactly what content marketing is, and at what stage in the Internet Marketing process it needs to be used. The simplest definition is that it is content that...

4 Signs You Are Making Your Customers Angry & What To Do About It

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:50:31 -0400

Your online reputation helps build a strong foundation when it comes to potential customers choosing your business over competitors. In fact, according to one survey, 88% of respondents’ purchasing decisions were affected by the positive or negative reviews they read. But if you aren’t doing everything you can to ensure that what’s being said about...

Learning in a Global Business: How Waters Corporation Uses Online Presentations

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:50:20 -0400

Remember science class? That’s where, as kids, we got to mix chemicals, dissect frogs, and burn stuff. What fun! Yes, we also had to memorize the periodic table and calculate equations, and yes, we’d sometimes wonder when we were ever going to use these scientific concepts. Waters Corporation has been putting science to good use...

4 Ways to Write More Effective Content

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:55:57 -0400

The primary focus of writing content should be to attract traffic to your site which may lead to a conversion. You will be rewarded for quality content through return visitors to your site and/or improved SEO (Search Engine Optimization) rankings. Research The initial step in any content creation process is research. You want to become...

Advertisers See Changes With Google’s Enhanced Campaigns

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:51:14 -0400

In February, Google shook up the SEM world by announcing their next-generation ad system: Enhanced Campaigns. Since then, there has been a lot of controversy around these changes, as they will impact all PPC advertisers. There are three new features in Enhanced Campaigns that you should be aware of before you transition from Google’s Legacy...

Getting with the Program: The Necessity of Having a Great Search Engine Marketing Program on Hand

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:30:32 -0400

What You Need There’s what you need in life, and what you want. Stoics often protest that we need very little in life to get by, but modern business pros understand otherwise. While there’s the temptation to get every new-fangled doohickey that the tech companies put forth, most of it is not necessary to online...

“That’s The Way (I Like It)”: When Customers Sing the Wrong Song

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:00:19 -0400

Perhaps we’ve trained customers to believe that they’re always right or “king” so thoroughly that some of them feel “special” enough to violate institutional norms with impunity. Some of the behavior I witnessed during a business trip last month made me wonder whether we’ve taken our “customer focus” too far. Example 1: “U Can’t Touch...

Where to Find Kickin’ Online Images for Your Content

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:30:16 -0400

We’ve been writing a lot lately about including video in your marketing content and it got us thinking about how important it is to have compelling images in your blog posts, on your website and in your social media posts to Facebook, Instagram and of course, Pinterest. Sure, most of us are armed with smartphone...

How to Revive a Failing Family Business with Internet Marketing

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:55:13 -0400

If you have a local family business that’s been around for a while but has now gotten into trouble or sales are slowing, chances are good that your success came from providing a high level of service and advertising locally via the Yellow Pages and through word of mouth courtesy of your long term clientele....

Making the Most of Word of Mouth Marketing

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:35:29 -0400

I’ll bet Word of Mouth (WOM) is the number one way your company gets business. If so, you’re not alone. WOM is the leading way customers find out about start-ups and small businesses, study after study has shown. Even search is now driven by Word of Mouth. (Google and other search engines optimize for user...

The Problem with Inside-Out Thinking

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:09:09 -0400

TSA recently announced that it was changing some of its carry-on restrictions; in addition to certain types of knives, they will allow passengers to bring golf clubs, hockey sticks, and plastic bats onto planes, all of which had been restricted post-9/11. Other than the obvious question about whether the world is a safer place now...

4 Simple Ways to Optimize Your Website for People and Search Engines

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:05:49 -0400

Have you ever come across a website that was so hard to navigate that you left as soon as you arrived? Chances are, the owners of that website may have focused too much energy on optimizing it for search engines and not enough for regular Joes like you and me. The last time we checked,...

Use Local Internet Marketing to Find Customers

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:55:39 -0400

A whopping 83 percent of people in the U.S. are now using the internet to search for local businesses, according to The Kelsey Group. That’s an amazing statistic, and one that every business – big or small, web-based or brick and mortar – needs to take note of. In today’s world, lots of people won’t...

Once They’ve Arrived: Converting Online Leads to Sales

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:55:19 -0400

The goals of SEO are similar to other kinds of advertising: it’s about getting people to figuratively step into your store – or lead generation. The next important step is converting those leads into sales, whether that means purchasing a product or hiring your services. How you accomplish that depends on a number of factors,...

Be Human In Marketing

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:50:43 -0400

One of the things I like best about my current position is that I can look out from behind my desk and see the front desk interactions, the office and lobby interactions. I cannot necessarily hear the conversations taking place but in a moments notice I can be a part of a conversation. Also, if...

Are You Ready For… Disruption???

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:40:36 -0400

Often in the digital world, we talk about “disruption.” You may ask “what is disruption?” I thought I would shed a little light… Disruption is anything that interferes with (or disrupts) the way that things are traditionally done. According to Miriam-Webster, disruption means “to interrupt the normal course or unity of” To provide some real-life...

The Content Marketing Pyramid: Are You Hungry for Content?

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:33:29 -0400

From 140-character tweets to 14,000-word print books, most content marketers now understand the value of producing content of varying lengths and format. But those that try to churn out equally high volumes of content at every length will soon find themselves collapsing from sheer exhaustion. Enter the Content Marketing Pyramid, a framework which I first...

5 Tips to Integrate Mobile in Your Lead Management Strategy

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:30:42 -0400

When implementing a lead management strategy, marketers are challenged to find the most effective ways to engage and remain top of mind with their target audiences. Today, no other device is closer to people than their smartphone. Think about it: when, if ever, do you leave home without your smartphone? How often do you sleep...

Why Content Quality Matters

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:55:58 -0400

Recently, the head of Google’s team that fights against web spam announced that they will be changing their search engine algorithm to “reduce low-quality ‘exact match’ domains” so that they don’t show up as highly in the results. What does this mean? That search engine optimization is changing. Even if you sell books and own...

Why Paid Advertising is the Future of Tumblr

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:44:34 -0400

Currently hosting over 100 million blogs, Tumblr is a testament to the tortoise and the hare adage – faster is not always better. ComScore reports that Tumblr is one of the most consistently growing social networks today, nearly six years after it was founded. Tumblr’s continuous ascent is especially extraordinary in terms of the magic...

How to Use Analytics to Identify Your Strongest Content

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:25:06 -0400

A content marketing strategy is only a half strategy if you only produce and publish the content. The other half involves analysis of that content and how it performs. In this article I will show you, quickly, how to use Google Analytics to identify the content that is working for you. You will need access...

Use Content Marketing to Engage the Right Prospects

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:46:50 -0400

Content marketing is a must for online marketers. It is rapidly becoming the most valuable marketing strategy to build brand awareness and nurture leads. Content marketing allows your business to create and share valuable free content to attract prospects and convert them into customers. Let’s take a look at some important tips to help you...

How to Use Content Marketing to Increase Brand Awareness

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:30:38 -0400

So you have created a content marketing strategy and are using social media but how can you use this activity to increase your brand awareness and generate more visitors to your website? Different Kinds of Content Content has many forms, from blogs and news items to videos and infographics. Making sure you create and manage...

The Lighter Side of Marketing…A Burrito

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:50:51 -0400

My Burrito Knows my Name So I was heating up a burrito for lunch just yesterday and reading the package before I threw it away… here’s what I saw. The brand of the burrito is Evol and in case you’re wondering, I’ve tried a lot of store-bought frozen burrito brands and Evol is by far...

What’s the Difference Between Marketing Automation and Voice-Based Marketing Automation?

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:30:06 -0400

Most marketers today are familiar with marketing automation. So it may come as no surprise that a question I frequently get asked when I talk to marketing and demand gen professionals is “What’s the difference between marketing automation and voice-based marketing automation?” It’s a good question. If you aren’t familiar with traditional marketing automation, it’s...

Mobile Website Design for Tour Operators: 5 Reasons Why You Need It!

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:39:32 -0400

In case you haven’t noticed, the world is rapidly moving from online to mobile. In many countries (including the US and Australia) sales of web enabled mobile devices outstrip computer sales, and this trend is accelerating! For the young the world has already moved from the desktop and the laptop to the smart phone and...

Gartner Report – What’s Next In Advocacy Marketing?

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:54:29 -0400

Gartner just released a report on the state of advocacy marketing that outlines why it’s important and some of the key vendors in the space, including SocialChorus. This report, yet another validation of the importance of the advocacy marketing space, analyzes word-of-mouth marketing and some of the underlying factors that make it successful. The benefit...

4 Essential Goals for a Website

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:52:19 -0400

Planning is one of the best methods in achieving positive results. Determining and setting your goals will make your plan more structured. Be sure you know what you want to do and why you want to do it. Money: Let’s face it money is on everybody’s mind and people never seem to have enough of...

Why You Should Sell Services Online Just as You Would a Product

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:17:49 -0400

When you are selling a product online, it’s pretty clear what you want your visitors to do: hit the checkout button. But what if you’re selling a service that can’t be packed into a box and shipped to your customers? That’s a whole different ballgame, right? Wrong. You should approach selling a service on your...

Content Marketing, Meet Content Selling

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:57:03 -0400

Content Marketing Meets Sales The traditional sales funnel is dead – made irrelevant by instant access to analysis, opinions, and other data. Now, business teams can make smart buying decisions by researching via online channels and social media. In fact, analyst firm Sirius Decisions reports that the majority of the B2B buying process is executed...

How to Increase Online Sales for Your e-Commerce Website

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:00:05 -0400

“I miss the days when all you had to do was buy a $200 yellow page ad and the phone would ring off the hook.” We’ve heard this time and time again. Those were the days before these unbelievably useful and simple tools called search engines came along. Slowly but surely the yellow pages have...

Delivering Loyalty: 10 Lessons From Zappos.com

Mon, 20 May 2013 17:43:40 -0400

Zappos.com is more than an electronic shoe store. It is a supportive community that happens to put you in a pair of great-looking shoes. Somewhere in creating what is now one of the leading online retailers, founder Tony Hsieh established a state of mind – and ideal stemming from his own pursuit of happiness. Today,...