There are many more ways of improving your ecommerce site and analytics to help you understand the customers experience more clearly which should increase the conversion rate. But before you undertake any of these activities, please ensure you’ve got the above mentioned 5 aspects right.

About the Author:  Susanna Cha is a recent MSc graduate, currently writing on behalf of Guardian Jobs including jobs such as marketing jobs, graduate jobs, fundraising jobs and more.

Matt Heinz, the CEO of Heinz Marketing sent me this list that appeared in an article he wrote for his own blog.  His first post on DIYMarketers, 10 Ways to Automate on a Shoestring, has been such a hit that I’m sending you MORE of his wonderful resources!

The following is a list of 10 Free Resources that he pulled together for Small Business Saturday and I wanted to share them with you!

Small business marketing starts with these four steps

Nine steps to a more effective elevator pitch

Nine tools that will help you sell more via social media

The nine (other) people who can market and sell for you

Four keys to building (or improving) your online presence

The three most important components of a retail marketing strategy

Six ways to get more business without directly asking for it

How to keep your small business from acting like a big company

Ten lessons learned for small business success

Free download of the e-book, “Secrets to Successful Holiday Selling”

The good news is – the Internet offers unparalleled marketing opportunities. Unlike other marketing channels, it is very cost effective ad highly trackable. Truly, a marketers dream.

But how can small mom-and-pop stores across the country harvest the power of the web?

It would be a joke if you called Internet marketing simple – it is far from simple. However, most local businesses really don’t need huge or complex campaigns. All they need to change is their attitude and take a few steps to truly make a difference.

Change of Mindset

Some small business owners believe in too many Internet related myths. Here are a few of those that quite simply have to die and make way for better things:

• The internet is not a fad nor a trend. It will never go away. The only change that can happen is a deeper integration of the web into our lives and, with that, into our business. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at Siri, Apple’s intuitive voice activated digital assistant that lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls and send reminders.

• Internet Marketing is expensive. This myth is self-destructive in its nature. Internet marketing campaigns routinely outperform newspaper, radio and TV advertising when it comes to ROI. Word-of-mouth is the only marketing channel that boasts a better ROI than Internet marketing.

Build a Website That Sells

The Internet as a marketing channel should be held accountable for its output. This should start with your business website whose primary goal must be to generate revenue, either through creating awareness, generating leads or sales.

It’s not as complicated as it seems if

• You make your website ridiculously easy to use by implementing simple and intuitive navigation. Just take a look at Microsoft or Medicare.  They each have two sets of navigation that are easy to find and click on.

• Does your website clearly communicate your unique selling proposition (Can a visitor see why are you better than your competition in a matter of seconds).  My favorite example of this is Mint.com.  That clearly states what the site is about.

• The website is built in a searchenginefriendlyway.
• It can inspiretrust in first time visitors.

Keep in mind that building a website that sells when you know what is important for website performance doesn’t have to be complicated nor expensive. If you can’t build it by yourself nor by using free website building tools, consider hiring a local junior web designer that is looking to build their portfolio. The risk of creating an inferior website is lower if you educate yourself and if you develop a clear vision of what your site should accomplish.

Promote Your Website

Even if you build the most professional looking site on the planet with copy that is so persuasive that it would convince an Eskimo to buy ice from you, you are highly unlikely to generate a single dollar of revenue from your website if nobody knows it exists. Sad, but true. Luckily, promoting a local brick and mortar business doesn’t require Coca Cola’s marketing budget.

With a little bit of guidance and some time at your disposal you can do it yourself. You need to:

• Make sure that anyone that has ever mentioned your business online also links to your website. That is not always possible, but most of the time it is. If an online magazine mentioned you in one of their articles, you can always e-mail the reporter who wrote the story and ask if it’s possible to point a link to your website since you were already mentioned. The same is true for industry and professional associations, chambers of commerce, charities and so on.

• You should be present and active on all the most popular social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin), as well as the ones that are relevant for your industry. One example is BizSugar which is great for consultants that sell to small business owners.

• Get listed in all Internet directories for your industry. You can find them using Google or, ironically, other directories like BOTW (listofbusinessdirectories).

• You could also ask your vendors to link to you, offering a testimonial if necessary.

• Offer to write for other websites in your industry in exchange for a mention of your business on their pages etc.

This list could be infinite.

You need to approach this task as seriously as you possibly can as it will make a difference between improving your bottom line vs losing money and time building a website which will never be seen by anyone except yourself.

Local Search Platforms Are Your Friends

Google Places, Bing and Yahoo Local as well as many IYP sites (Internet Yellow Pages) are more than capable to bring you new business. However, first you have to make sure that you are:

• Present and in control of your presence on these platforms. This is exceptionally important when it comes to Google places. So if you haven’t, go ahead and verifyyourGooglePlaces before you finish this article. Yes, it is that important. While you are there, just make sure to read howtomakeagreatlisting

• Be ubiquitous and consistent. Try to list your business in all local business directories using the same information (same name, address, phone number, categorization etc.) The more consistent signals Google finds about your business, the more important your listing becomes in “Google’s eyes” and the higher it ranks.

• Reviews – get them. Reviews are highly important for the success of your listings. People are using the when they are making purchasing decisions and search engines are using them in their algorithms.

There you have it. Follow these easy steps and your local business will get a boost from the web.

A well-planned, proactive marketing plan is critical to the success and growth of your business.  But it’s also one of the first things to fall off your plate when the thousand other priorities hounding you come calling.

But with some up-front planning, plus the right tools & resources, there’s no reason you can’t put more of your marketing on auto-pilot, taking far less of your time with better results.  Here are ten specific best practices to get you there.

1. Have a plan

Basic, right?  And yet, few small businesses have a proactive marketing plan developed up front.  What does success look like for your business this year?  How are you going to get there?  Having a good marketing plan in place is the single-most important thing you can do to ensure more of your marketing is on target, on pace and working on your behalf.  Here are several resources to help get you started.

2. Define your sales process

How do your customers buy?  Where, how, and for what reason?  What stages do they go through before making a decision?  Map this out up front as well, and you’ll more easily be able to identify the key marketing levers required to significantly increase conversion rate through your sales process, and do it in a fraction of the time.  Here’s a template you can start with to define the lead and sales process stages your customers go through.

3. Know how to speak to each customer

What do they need to hear?  What are they dealing with right now that you can address and solve for them?  Start by identifying and enumerating their key priorities, pain points and drivers.  They figure out how to translate that into your own product and service messages.  Here’s a template that can help you organize this.

4. Plan content and campaigns in advance

Now that you have the foundation for your marketing plan, take the time to build a schedule of what’s going to happen when.  Plan the content you’ll write on your blog in advance, map out all of the events you’ll participate in so you’re thinking about and working on them in advance.  Think about the people across your organization that can help you execute if you had more time.  Here (again!) is a template of a good editorial calendar that can help you do this.

5. HootSuite to manage the social Web in one place

The entire social Web can be managed in one place, HootSuite.  Sort your Twitter followers based on who’s a customer, a partner, a supplier and so forth.  Set up alerts so you can see anytime someone in your market asks for or mentions a product or service you can provide.  With just 10-15 minutes a day, you can master the social Web and use HootSuite to prioritize conversations and opportunities for follow-up for you.

6. Timely.is to automate your content distribution

Wonder how some people keep an active and growing social presence?  Most of them set it up well in advance.  Use Timely.is to pre-populate content to be distributed in Twitter and Facebook.  Then use HootSuite to monitor responses.  An active social presence with just minutes a day, and someone else pressing the “send” button.

7. eLance to get the little things done

Need a list built?  Need to convert a PDF into an Excel spreadsheet?  Need to find out anyone online who has mentioned a product or service you offer?  eLance is a fast, easy and inexpensive way to leverage an army of virtual assistants to do administrative or data-entry tasks for you.  Pennies on the dollar, and worth every bit of it.

8. Loopfuse to manage early-stage sales opportunities

The majority of your sales prospects will be the right people but not yet interested in buying.  You need a system that keeps in touch with them for you, while you’re off working with the ready-to-buy prospects.  Loopfuse does that, for free for up to 1,000 prospective customers.

9. MediaPiston to ghost-write your content

So you’ve identified content you want to write, but you don’t have the time (or the skills) to write it yourself.  Post that project on MediaPiston, and you’ll have a professionally written and edited article in about 48 hours.  A 600-word article costs about $28 bucks.

10. Trada to manage your search marketing

If you don’t feel like a search marketing expert but want to take advantage of potential buyers on Google, let Trada do the work for you.  It’s completely outsourced search marketing management for a great price.

11. TimeSvr as your virtual assistant

An unlimited number of 15-minute-or-less tasks for a low, flat monthly price.  They can do virtually anything – manage your newsletter list, your contact list, look up someone’s contact information, invite someone to a meeting, make dinner reservations.  They’re an email away.

12. Dial2Do to capture ideas on the go

Put Dial2Do on your speedial, and for about $3 bucks a month you can leave yourself a message, have it translated to text, and sent to your email to do later.  Great for taking notes and to-do’s while traveling, in the car, or anywhere you don’t have a pen and paper.

Matt Heinz is president of Heinz Marketing, a Seattle-based sales & marketing firm. You can connect with Matt via email, Twitter, LinkedIn or his blog.

It might seem crazy to be talking about high net worth clients in an economy that’s tanked.  But it shouldn’t surprise you to hear that high net worth individuals are still spending — and spending big.

There have been several studies on high net worth individuals and they all show that big spenders spend on brand value and not just on price.

In this issue, we interviewed Patti Stanger, who is Bravo TV’s “The Millionaire Matchmaker.” Her clientele? Strictly millionaires who don’t have time to date because they’re too busy running their businesses. Wealthy individuals usually have higher expectations and can be difficult to attract, especially when you’re first starting out. This issue will explain how to go about being a brand that serves them.

Features: 

• Full paid issue (February 1st):  19 articles total
• Sample issue:  8 articles total
• Interviews with:  Patti Stanger (Bravo TV’s The Millionaire Matchmaker), Ali Velshi (anchor for CNN’s “Your Money), David Novak (CEO of Yum! Brands), Dan Roam (bestselling author), and Meg Hirschberg (Inc. Magazine columnist)

Here’s a free sample of Personal Branding Magazine for you and you can subscribe to Personal Branding Magazine.

If you’ve made the commitment to “Get Organized!” in 2012 — then you might have been exploring the many project management tools that are out there.

It can get absolutely overwhelming when you see all the tools out there and really hard to choose one.

Who should use project management tools and why

• Sales people who are managing customers or key account projects.  Project management tools will keep you on track and make sure your project gets done on budget and on time.  Several CRM systems have project management features – but if you’re budget sensitive – consider using Manymoon for this application because it’s FREE and it allows you to see conversations that your team members have had about your project.  So when you log in — you can see all the latest actions that have been going on.
• Marketing managers who are tracking marketing plans and marketing calendars.  My favorite recommendation for this group is using SmartSheet.  This is a free tool that is grounded in a spreadsheet format with pre-formatted templates such as a Gantt chart.  I love this feature for marketing plans, trade shows and product launches because it allows you to track and collaborate on tasks and budgets.

There are many more out there and to help you make sense of it — check out this very cool infographic that Diego Dacal from GetApp.com sent in.  GetApp is a marketplace for online business software.

What comes right into your mind when you hear or see or talk about “Facebook”?

Facebook is a social networking site that was founded in the year 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates in Harvard University. It was initially made accessible to only a limited number of users, but was later on expanded, because of its interactive features, bridging the communication gap in between families, friends and acquaintances. Currently there are already more than 800 million active users of Facebook. If you still don’t have a Facebook account then it’s time to create one!

Truly with the existence of Facebook, communication has become a lot easier than before. The areas for development for Facebook don’t end that’s why people are keen about it and in fact has become part of their daily lives. Clearly, Facebook has become a main activity of people who are socially inclined.

Facebook has become such prominent that even companies, big or small, are using it as one key to market their brand name, as well as their products and services. One significant feature of Facebook that companies use is creating Facebook Fan Pages. Facebook Fan Pages have become prevalent in businesses, regardless of what type of industry a company or an organization belongs to. We will furthermore discuss in the succeeding sections of this article on how Facebook Fan Pages can be used as an effective approach for Online Marketing.

As of present, Facebook is known as the largest social networking site in the world where users of any age keep in touch with one another. With the vast number of users of Facebook, looking for potential customers has become easier too.

It is very important to keep your customers engaged. For them to feel that way, you have to establish an effective relationship with your customers.

• Start off by creating a business profile in your Facebook Fan Page to establish your presence or your online identity. Make it as descriptive as possible because people want to be informed before they’ll start showing some support to your products and services. Know that people would be more attracted to it when they can see photos, so upload some.
• Next thing is to promote your Facebook Fan Page by inviting users to become fans so they can exchange their thoughts by posting in your wall and let others see it, at the same time allowing them to comment on it. Advertise something new to your Facebook Fan Page every now and then to keep your fans visiting your page. If they really liked it, they’ll start inviting their friends; this now gets you more potential customers in return.

How can Facebook Fan Pages help you with your Marketing?

At times you may want to put up announcements in the form of photos or videos for promotions. You’ll be able to attract more customers if you will at least give out rewards later on, as this will increase their engagement and satisfaction.

If maintained and managed well, your company’s Facebook Fan Page can do a lot for you and your business. To keep your customers coming means that you also have to do your part by maintaining the customer relationship of which two among the most important factors involved are trust and loyalty. Since Facebook Fan Pages allow users to voice out their comments, suggestions, testimonials, and other opinions, you as the business owner can take on their words as these also help you decide to make further developments for your business.

Indeed Facebook is such a powerful marketing tool that will help your business become well known, and eventually increase in sales. However, it’s never going to let you achieve the success in haste so don’t strive for quick results. It’s always going to be a step by step process before you make progress out of it.

Author bio:

Jessica Francisco is one of the editors of Luke Roxas.

As the business world becomes more and more competitive, attention for your small business will continue to become more challenging. Many new, small business owners are turning to locally based businesses to fulfill their dreams and support their livelihoods. At the same time, consumer attention is a scarcity in this era, thus local internet marketing can’t be ignored.

If small business owners want to know where potential customers are they should follow the money—through the Internet. Seventy-five percent of businesses are spending between 3 to 10 percent of marketing revenue on the Internet.[i] This revenue is allocated to online channels because that is where customers are actively looking for brands, vendors, and businesses to meet their needs.

You don’t need an Internet Marketing degree to be successful at integrating your business through online channels. All you have to do is stay informed through research, and keep a few tips in the back of your mind. To be successful in local internet marketing keep these five do’s and don’ts top of mind:

1.       Don’t ignore the internet and rely solely on word of mouth advertising.

• ·         Do empower new customers to find you and expand your business.

2.       Don’t “throw up” a website.

• ·         Do plan your site’s architecture carefully.

3.       Don’t restrict your web presence to Twitter and Facebook.

• ·         Do integrate your website and LinkedIn to your internet marketing mix.

4.       Don’t ignore local search engine optimization or overemphasize it.

• ·         Do keep searchers, your potential customers, in mind at all times; then make sure they can find you.

5.       Don’t count on happy accidents.

• ·         Do plan for growth through lead generation and conversion.

Don’t ignore the Internet and rely solely on word of mouth advertising

Referrals are a measure of customer satisfaction and loyalty. They are also a highly profitable lead source. However; if you rely solely on customer referrals and ignore the potential of the Internet, then you are actually taking power from potential customers. Think of it this way –word of mouth is centered on you – your business and your current customers. Marketing professionals recognize that generating revenue growth is about centering efforts on the customer. Don’t ignore word of mouth, but empower customers that are not a personal connection to find your business.

Don’t “throw up” a website

I’ve heard small business owners say, “We better ‘throw up’ a website.” The thought is as unappealing as it is ineffective. It is fairly inexpensive to start a website and very easy to change a url. However, an element that determines how high your site ranks in search engine results is the age of the site. Designing your site correctly the first time ensures you can build on your search engine optimization efforts and not spend time on constant rework. Usability should be paramount in your information architecture. This website gives great tips to design a site with the user’s needs in mind.

Don’t restrict your web presence to Twitter and Facebook

Although great tools, Twitter and Facebook are only two pieces of the Internet Marketing puzzle. Twitter is great for supporting short event announcements or linking to relevant resources, whereas Facebook can serve as a forum for customers, and even lead to customer acquisition. One additional tool that should not be ignored is LinkedIn. LinkedIn offers some great tools for local businesses. Set up a Company Page and claim it to begin building your business. The page will display the details you’ve entered, and also compile information from other sources. Perhaps you’ve posted job openings…LinkedIn’s page will gather them for you. Most exciting is how this Company Page tool compiles mentions about your company that have been shared in the press. Monitor the information written by and about your company to ensure you are projecting the brand you intend to potential customers.

Don’t ignore or overemphasize local search engine optimization

If you are wondering how to pick the right keywords to attract local customers, there are great resources on the web. WebTiger’s blog has some great articles that delve into the topic. There is a danger of overemphasizing keywords – deemed “keyword stuffing”—which can actually push potential customers away and have a negative impact on your search engine ranking. Do not forget that your whole purpose is to appeal to the needs of consumers. All your marketing communication, including online, should have your end user top of mind.

Don’t count on happy accidents

There is a lot that can happen in your favor thanks to tools like Google Places. If searchers enter your business name often enough, and your website has your location on the home page, it will start appearing in local search results. Although this happy accident will draw potential customers to your site, there is no replacement for intentional marketing. To make the most of local search services, register and claim your business on sites like Google Places, Yahoo! Local, Citysearch, and Local.com. It’s worth the nominal cost to ensure your listing has a business description, photos, categories, and any videos that you capture to promote your product or service. Each site has clear instructions to help the first time user.

These five steps will set you on the road to a local Internet marketing paradigm that will turn searchers into leads who may convert to your new customers.

About the Author: Soma Jurgensen is the Program Chair for the School of Business at Rasmussen College. In addition to teaching upper division business classes in the Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, she’s responsible for growing and promoting the business program at the Brooklyn Park, MN College.

Every New Year’s Resolution is not the same yet everyone wants to make a change. What can you do when nobody is there for you and you’re all by YOURSLEF? Through the word YOURSELF I give you 8 things every Do It Yourselfer can do to get a breakthrough.

Y is for Yearn. People will come in and out of your life and tell you what you could and should do. What are you passionate about and can you use this energy to better your life? It feels good when you can take something you love to do and leverage it into opportunities of a lifetime.

O is for Open. For a few seconds clear your mind out of where you are and think about where you can do? Whatever your income is double that number and write it out on a piece of paper. Until now that amount might not of been possible but as you can see it’s right before your eyes.

U is for Use. With the passion and mind ready for possibilities it’s time to go to work. “Use your skills or someone else will” is a slogan I wrote that I live by daily. If you don’t take advantage of what is in front of you someone will come from behind and steal your show.

R is for Rise. Everyone that can fly has to come back to earth at some point in time. Two things for sure will happen and they are you will either land or crash. If you fall down learn how to get back up. If you stay down waiting for someone to pick you up you may never make it off the floor.

S is for Save. Growing up my favorite candy was now and later. Put yourself in position for bigger dreams by saving revenue and resources along the way. I still remember my Dad telling me that dollars come from pennies and to be successful on your own you need at least 6 months of salary saved up.

E is for Expect. You might be hated before you get appreciated. I learned that if you have an idea that you believe in see how you can make it work versus always looking for something to go wrong. Wake up looking for the best outcome so the universe will present you with a chance to earn the best income.

L is for Leave. There are people, place and things in your life that you need to say no to. Don’t be afraid. They are afraid too, that if you go on without them you will find destiny and build a dynasty. Nobody deserves to have more power in your life than you.

F is for Focus. Congratulations if you have accomplished something that nobody thought you could do on your own. Don’t lose track of what helped you get to the level you are at now. Keep it super simple each day by focusing on the important things in your camp.

When you want to make something happen look at YOURSELF in the mirror and go for it.