Wharton Internet Marketing Blog
Today, Google begins blurring the line between the web as we know it and the web as you and your Circles of friends know it. Today, Google begins integrating Google+ into Google search in an update they call “Search Across Your World.” For more information on this update, go to the Google Merges Search and Google+ Into Social Media Juggernaut on Mashable.com.
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If you are not using mobile in your marketing efforts, you are really invisible to what could be a major part of your market. We recently moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. The city has been flooded with tourists for the past few weeks for events ranging from New Year’s Eve to tonight’s BCS Championship Game. For a new locals, like us and tourists alike, mobile helps us get around and find new places to visit.
Here are some things that businesses are doing that have gotten my attention:
Being mobile friendly is the first step but it is not, by any means, the only step. Getting noticed on mobile requires that you create a great experience for your customers so that they will “share” you with their social network.
This is not only a lesson for people in New Orleans, it is important for you wherever you are. What are your experiences with mobile marketing? Would love to hear about them.
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As we start a new year, I thought I would list three ways you could increase the effectiveness of your website by increasing quality visits and conversions.
SEO is vital to your website being found for the right keywords in online searches. One of the best ways to improve your SEO is to do some Keyword Research.
When doing Keyword Research, you’ll want to research the terms that your potential customers might use to find you.
So update your website to include the right Keywords.
One of the best ways to increase quality visits to your website is by blogging. The simple rule is that the more content you have on the web, the better your chances of being found in search results. And there is no better way to increase your content on the web than by blogging. Be sure to include your Keywords in your blog posts and your blog posts’ names.
One of the best ways to convert website visitors into leads and customers is through the use of Calls to Action. A Call to Action is simply a directive to the website visitor (e.g. Click Here to download Free eBook). Often a Call to Action will offer the website visitor more information in exchange for their email address. Once you have an email address (a lead), you can set up a nurturing campaign where you send the lead more information about your product or service. (Always have an opt out option in your emails and stop your nurturing campaign if they opt out)
Of course, there are many more ways to improve your website. These are just three to help get you started.
Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone. It requires a certain tolerance for risk taking. It requires a level of confidence in what you can accomplish. It requires tenacity when things get tough – when success takes more hours, more effort, more knowledge. It takes an ability to get things done with NO EXCUSES!
What excuses are holding you back?
What excuse is holding you back. It’s a new year and time for new beginnings. 2012 – No Excuses! What do you think?
As we are entering the 2011 holiday season, we would like to wish you a happy Christmas and a blessed new year in 2012.
2011 has brought many changes to Wharton Marketing. In 2011 we became a HubSpot Certified Partner. This allows us to offer our customers even more options in reaching their target audiences and converting them into customers. The certification required many hours of education and a comprehensive exam. We also have the great opportunity of continuing education on the very latest and most effective internet marketing techniques.
2011 has been a year of growth. Our customers are from several states and many types of businesses. We are now planning our expansion for 2012 which includes some very exciting developments. We are expanding extensively into the New Orleans area in the coming year. We are very excited to become a part of one of the fastest growing markets that has been named in the top 10 entrepreneurial cities in the nation.
We look forward to providing the best internet marketing services to New Orleans and the surrounding area. We are in a transition mode right now so we’ll catch you again when we get established and settled.
Happy Holidays!
Joe B. and Christi Wharton
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Our friend Herb Lawrence, the center director for the Arkansas Small Business Development Center at Arkansas State University, recently wrote a great article about leveraging social media and online resources to help your business get found this Holiday season. Thank you Herb for a great article and for letting us share it with our readers!
Holiday season is gearing up! Challenging economy or not, shoppers will be out On and Offline this year in growing numbers. This year online marketing and social media marketing will be critical for small business Holiday success and here’s why!
Independent retailers will find that their customers are moving online in droves to get ready for the holiday shopping season. The questions are:
In a recent article from Hubspot 60 Inspirational Holiday Marketing Statistics there
can be no question that holiday shopping will be dominated by the Internet and especially social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The good news…It is not too late for your small rural retail business to get on the bandwagon!
Need some convincing? Here are some statistics YOU need to know about Holiday Shopping Online this year:
MOBILE COUNTS: Nealy 40% of consumers own a smart phone AND 53% say they will use it to help them shop this seasonNo question about it Santa and his elves are online this year… looking for gifts, deals, discounts, coupons AND information about your business. Are you ready to meet them?
The good news is it isn’t too late to get your online holiday marketing tools in place.
How the ASU Small Business Center can Help Your Retail Business This Holiday Season
The ASU Small Business and Technology Development Center’s consultants can help! The consultants at Arkansas State University, Laura Miller and Robert Bahn provide free, confidential consulting assistance to start-up and existing businesses throughout Northeast and North-Central Arkansas including assistance with marketing plans and marketing strategy implementation. Call (870) 972-3517 or email us at asusbtdc@astate.edu and find out how the ASU Small Business and Technology Development Center can make your retail Holiday Season a happier AND more profitable one!
Learn more about the ASU SBTDC Consulting Services here or visit our website and connect!
Not in Northeast or North-West Arkansas? Not a problem see the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center network website to find a center in Arkansas near you. Not in Arkansas? See our ASBDC website to find an SBDC office in your state.
Website navigation is an often overlooked aspect of website design. While some website designers obsess on the aesthetics of a website and other designers concentrate on the content, many overlook the importance of navigation to a website.
How many times have you been to a beautiful website only to discover that its navigation system was a mess? How many times have you gone to a page on a website that has no menu, and you have to click the back button on your browser to get to a page that does? If your website is not easy to navigate, visitors will likely leave your website.
When designing your website’s navigation system, there are two things you must consider:
I will discuss these in my blog post on Thursday.
What can New Orleans web design tell us about marketing? Recently, we traveled to New Orleans for both business and pleasure, and found many examples, some good, some bad of website design/internet marketing and how businesses are using (or in some cases not) the internet to connect with their customers.
First, some background: According to a story by NOLA.com:
Obviously, New Orleans has had to recover from some major setbacks but the city is thriving. However, in the area of website design for internet marketing, there is still much work to be done. One of the biggest needs we saw for improvement was in mobile marketing and search engine optimization. In what is called the “city that care forgot,” local businesses cannot afford to be forgotten or never found in the first place!
The same principles apply whether you are in New Orleans or anywhere else, in order to succeed online you must:
I look forward to hearing more good news about the wonderful city of New Orleans and its thriving entrepreneurial business community. What are the opportunities for growth using internet marketing in your city?
Does your website have a process for converting your website visitors into leads for your business? If it does, you are one of the lucky few because most websites today are glorified online brochures.
You see, in order to convert a website visitor into a lead, you must give the visitor a compelling reason to do so, such as a free white paper download offering more information. You do this through a call to action whereby the visitor gives you his name and email address in exchange for whatever you are offering. The problem with most websites is that their only call to action is the “contact us” form. The “contact us” call to action is the most common and least effective call to action. The reason it is not effective is because it offers no specific reason to take action. What will the website visitor get in return for contacting you? A sales pitch? That’s what they are thinking.
Most small business owners mistakenly believe their sales funnel is shorter than it really is. They believe that once somebody sees their beautiful website and reads how great they are, that person will pick up the phone and call them. Studies have shown that people who use the internet to research their purchases spend a lot of time researching before making person to person contact with a business. And the more expensive the product or service, the more time spent on online research.
Your website is a marketing tool. It should be generating leads for your business. If your website is basically a glorified brochure and your only call to action is contact us, maybe you should rethink the purpose of your website.
We use a software platform called HubSpot to help us generate leads through our website. If you’d like to learn how HubSpot can help your website generate leads for your business, click the button below.
Your website strategy should include a strong foundation. Like building a house, you have to start at the beginning. If you were building a house, you wouldn’t just start putting up walls without having a plan and the same is true for a website.
Let’s take the analogy further. When you are building a house, you start with a plan. Where will the house be located? How will the house be situated on the lot? What kind of foundation is required? Where will the walls be? How will each room be used? What will be the best placement for each room. What about hallways? You don’t want hallways that lead to nowhere! Once you have the blueprint, the layout settled, then you can start planning on the finishing touches. What kind of materials will be used for counter tops, cabinets, flooring, etc. What colors and finishes will you put on the walls?
If you don’t spend the right amount of time and effort on the foundation and structure of your house, it will not matter what the finishing touches are because the house won’t be sound. The same is true for a website. Do you have the right hosting for your site? You must decide what pages will be necessary, what the function of each page is. Where will the pages go and how will you navigate between pages? What content will be necessary to make the pages functional? Once you get the structure right and spend the right amount of time and effort getting the foundation in place, then you can add the finishing touches, knowing that your website is strong and functional as well as pleasing to the eye.
