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Basics for EVERY Business

February 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Address goofs or inconsistencies can cost you with the Search Engines

 

Name, address and phone number. These three pieces of information should be consistent in ALL places. Every time your business is listed on the web, it should come up absolutely consistent, as Google or any other search engines look for “clusters” of information.

Here’s a good example: (512) 658-0094 is NOT the same as 512-658-0094.  Street is not the same as St. And Trail is not the same as Trl.

Get the idea!

Make it a project to take a quick look-see at yours. Simple thing, big importance.

 

 

Filed Under: Website

Educate…Don’t Sell

February 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Good quality content always wins...

The winning difference is always the business that educates its customer. Ask questions and find out what they need and want. It is truly all about them and how you can solve their situation or problem.

There are many ways to differentiate yourself from your competitor, but the foremost thing that will make you stand out is build yourself as an authority in what you do.  That is done with quality content.

If you concentrate on delivering value when people arrive on your website (which they all do these days before they buy), then provide them with educational, tutorial-style content. The benefits are exponential. It attracts links, it brings traffic, it builds trust, and it improves your ranking in the search engines – all the while decreasing sales resistance.

Purely and simply, educate with simple, basic content, so that people clearly know what they need to know to do business with you.

Think of it this way: If your perfect customer calls you on the phone with money in hand with a problem or situation, and you have the solution…

What would you say?

Build trust by educating your customer of the benefits of doing business with you.

 

Filed Under: Customer Retention, General Marketing, Website

Want Google to Love You?

February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you  wondering, why do I care whether Google loves me or not, as I am just a regular business owner  in my local area?

Positive Reviews in a Google Search is EVERYTHING

Though you may not relish it, Google is “the” main search engine on the Internet. And nowadays, most business is preceded by a Google search first and foremost, if nothing more than to check credibility and read reviews to see what customers think of you.

“To rank well, build a site so fantastic that it makes you an authority in your niche” ~ Matt Cutts, Head of Google Web Spam Team

“It’s quite complicated and sounds circular, but we’ve worked out a way of calculating a website’s importance.” ~ Larry Page, Co-Founder, Google

By nature, people want to follow important, credible people more than others. Google ranks important pages and sites higher than others.

How that translates for you?  The essence is this :   If people think you’re important, so will Google.

The next obvious question would be, how do you get people to think you are important, when they use search engines to find things online in the first place? How are you important if you’re invisible in the search engines to start with?

Now wondering… well, how does Google know people think you are important?

One way is other people linking to you because Google follows links to index and rank web pages. This way requires alittle more work and time to accomplish.

The easiest is you need a content-rich website that demonstrates that you are an authority in what you do.

Your content actually demonstrates your expertise, rather than a website or bio page that claims expertise. This levels the playing field and allows anyone to come along and build authority and importance that outpaces even recognized and credentialed experts in your field or niche.

How is this all possible?

Well, it is due to one essential truth about how people and Google perceive importance:

What other people say about you is more important than what you say about yourself.

Importance is all about perception. Perceived importance can outrank actual importance, because both the general rank and file populace and the most powerful search engine on the planet look to what others ‘say’ to be the most relevant expertise for any given topic, rather than some other method that might give a different result.

Want a great example of how this works?  

It is an amazing strategy that works like magic. Click Mr Smith and Susie to read. 

Make YOU important... and Google will too

Filed Under: General Marketing, Website

Gratitude is a wonderful thing for your business…

February 7, 2012 By 16 Comments
Tell your customers 'Thank You' every chance you get.

Tell your customers 'Thank You' every chance you get.

Every business loses customers, either they get upset, they move away, they outgrow the need for your service – they simply disappear.

You may not be able to prevent any of this from occurring, but there is a preventable reason customers drift away, one that is very easy to correct.

According to a well-publicized survey, one of the biggest reasons that customers stop frequenting a business is that they don’t believe the business cares about them one way or the other.

That basically translates to, they leave because we haven’t said ‘thank you.”

Letting your customers know you appreciate them and care about them is free, so easy and surprisingly rare.

Maybe it’s because we think customers must just know how much we appreciate their business. That they must know we value them as our lifeblood, the key ingredient that allows us the freedom and enjoyment of a successful business.

But they will not know, unless we tell them.

It isn’t complicated or difficult. Take a few minutes right now and schedule some ‘thank you’ time in your marketing communication.

  • Send an email message with a ‘thank you’.
  • Send them a special promotion for their next visit.
  • Use your favorite social media platform (Facebook, LinkedIn etc) to express your appreciation.

And think of ways you can recognize your most loyal customers, those that come back over and over and send you referrals. Make it a habit to show meaningful gestures to say ‘thank you’, I appreciate your business very much.

Find ways to add extra value, to over deliver. Give far more than would ever be expected.

If you’re looking for a fast, free way to make your business stand out – one you can execute today – try a little “Thank You.” You’ll be amazed at how well it works.

Happy customers promoting you.. How cool is that?

Filed Under: Website

Focus on Helping People

June 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

With all the whirlwind of changes that are occurring all around us – the economy, the technology zooming past us at amazing speed, evolving marketing strategies –  how does a small business owner stay ahead of competition?

Your audience – your potential customer – their core desires never change. They want information and resources that will improve conditions for themselves, their family, their business and the groups they support.

Offer them solutions to some of their problems at no charge. When you genuinely help them with their smaller problems, then they will look to you for help with their bigger issues. If you can multiply this assistance many times over, you will rapidly grow your business.

One way this is done is with content on your website, blog or social media.

Deliver this as engaging ‘how-to’ assistance in the form of something valuable with no strings attached.  It gets the person to thinking “how much more do they have”? Then the question becomes: “If I get this kind of value from them on a no-charge basis, what could I get if I hired them?”

Genuinely provide good content on issues that will help them grow their business, solve some kind of problem in their life, offer a viewpoint shift with solutions that perhaps they have not considered before – keeping it  purely “help” information driven.

Avoid selling. You are educating, you are providing proven solutions to various problems, cite case studies or successes from others.

You become the ‘go-to’ source for answers in your field. Plus you invite questions and the answers to those new questions become your next article for content.

When needed, Two Old Pros help our clients with strategies to accomplish this. With this approach you will gain trust and are seen as a contributing member of their team because you come bringing gifts. What’s not to love about that?

Contact us: Click Here

Filed Under: Customer Retention, General Marketing, Website