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February
23 2015

How to use automated emails to grow your business

How to use automated emails to grow your businessAs a small business owner, coach or consultant, email marketing can be a key way to grow your business, but are you using various types of email marketing to grow your business?

Most people think of e-newsletters or e-zines when they think of email marketing, but one of the best ways to grow your business is by strategically using automated emails. Two key types of automated emails are autoresponders and drip campaigns.

Autoresponders

Let’s start with autoresponders.  We’ve probably all seen this type of email in action. Whenever you opt-in to receive a product, service, ebook, white paper, checklist etc.  from a company, we immediately get a response email from the company after the action has taken place.  This is an autoresponder in action.  The email could simply be a “Thank You for Your Business” email or it could even be the delivery of the actual digital product or service via email.  Whatever the case may be, the automatic email that you receive after taking action with that company is an autoresponder.

Autoresponders are great because you can set it in advance and it runs on autopilot.  So if you client signed up for your coaching program or scheduled a consultation you don’t have to manually respond to that client, your autoresponder will take care of the communication for you.  It’s like having a personal assistant who handles your initial communication.  This is not only time saving, but it also makes you more efficient knowing that this part of your business is always taken care of.

Drip Campaigns

In addition to Autoresponders, you may want to automatically send out a series of emails to your clients and/or prospects over a period of time.  Drip campaigns make the process of creating and sending these emails super easy.  You create the emails one time and then when a client is added to the list the emails go out to the client or prospect over a period of time.

All of this happens behind the scenes, so the drip campaigns automatically keep your audience informed without the need for you to actively do the work.   It is super important for you to plan out what drip campaigns you would like to send out.  Make sure that the emails are informative, value-packed, and beneficial to your audience.

For example, many companies like to send out a drip campaign to new customers.  A series of emails welcoming the client and informing them of the various services that you offer and giving valuable and helpful information can really help to start the relationship off in a good way.

Tips:

The key to successful autoresponders and drip campaigns is to keep it relevant and timely. 

By keeping it relevant you are ensuring that the information that you are sending is what your client or prospect needs and can help them in some way.  And by making sure it is timely you want to make sure that you are sending emails at a frequency that is not annoying to the recipient.  Spreading it out over the course of several days is good.  Most people don’t like to receive back to back emails from a company (unless they have signed up for a daily email in which they know they will be receiving frequent emails from the company)

So if you have not done so already, be sure to setup an autoresponder and think about various drip campaigns that you can send out to your clients and prospects.

Are you using automated emails in your business?  If so, are autoresponders and drip campaigns a part of your automatic email mix?  Be sure to share your thoughts below.

 

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How to use automated emails to grow your business  |  in Business, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized
February
10 2015

Does List Size Really Matter?

E-mail marketing flat illustrationWhen it comes to your email list, does the size of your list really matter? As a business owner, coach or consultant, you probably already know about the importance of having and growing an email list, but did you know that it’s not the size of your email list that is most important, but the quality of the people on your list? As the saying goes, it is better to have an email list of 100 interested prospects, than 1,000 uninterested people.

However, you still want to work on increasing the size of your list because you want to make sure your message is reaching a wider audience each month. Your goal should be to grow your email list with individuals who are interested in what you have to say, and what you have to offer. So the big question is how can you effectively and efficiently grow your email list?

Here are 6 tips to grow your email list:

Offline:

  1. Events– whenever you conduct an event (workshop, seminar, etc.), or if you are presenting at an event, be sure to collect the email addresses of the attendees (or participants who expressed an interest in learning more) . Be sure to disclosure that by signing your list or providing their information they are agreeing to receiving emails from you.
  2. Text Messages– Consider adding a text to join your email list option. Now-a-days people don’t leave home without their smart phones, so making it easy for them to join your email list by simply texting a word to a number and then providing their email address makes it easy to join your email list.
  3. QR Codes- Consider adding QR Codes to your marketing material (business cards, brochures, flyers, etc.) It’s another way to make it easy for people to join your email list. However, I personally don’t really use QR Codes and haven’t gotten a lot of people through this method, but it is still something you could consider.

Online:

  1. Webinars– a great list building strategy is webinars. When you conduct webinars, people have to give their information to sign up for the webinar. Just add a disclosure that signing up for this webinar also gives you permission to add them to your email list.
  2. Lead Pages– Another great online list building strategy is to create a lead magnet (eBook, White Paper, Case Study, Checklist, etc.), and have people enter their information on a specially designed lead page that talks about how great your lead magnet is, and why they need to give you their contact information so they can receive your awesome lead magnet. This technique works really well because you know that you are getting people who are interested in the content that you have to offer
  3. Social Media– Encourage people who follow you on social media to sign-up for your email list so that they can get additional and maybe even exclusive information that you provide only through email. This technique works really well, because if you already have a following on social media, it just makes sense that the next logically step for them is to receive your emails. This also allows the relationship to get stronger when they are not only connected to you via social media, but also receiving your emails.

For more tips, download this Guide Building Your List Can Be a Thing of Beauty by Constant Contact

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  2 Comments  |  in Business, Business Development, Email Marketing, Email Results, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized
January
27 2015

The Truth About Blogging for Business

The Truth About BloggingThere are many advantages to starting a business blog.  In fact, I talked about one of the major benefits of a business blog in my blog post, How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor  for Your Business,  but what most people don’t necessarily talk about is the “truth” about blogging.  So in this blog post I will uncover some of the truths about blogging for your business:

  1. Blogging for business has become very popular in the last five years or so, which has created a crowded blogging world and with so many things grabbing people’s attention, it takes time to get results from your business blog (it can even take years),  so if you think blogging for your business will bring you a ton of clients quickly, think again.
  2. Creating content for your blog takes time.  You have to think about the content you want to post, then you have to create the content, and then you have to promote the content, this can take a lot of your time and effort.  For example, on average it can take up to two hours to create the blog post, it may take an additional 10-20 minutes to promote the posts on your various social networks, so one blog post can take almost three hours, so depending on how many blog posts you produce per month, this can be very time consuming
  3. A large percentage of business owners, coaches and consultants manage all aspects of their blog themselves.  According to coSchedule, 58% of business bloggers are solo bloggers.  That means they are the content manager, the copywriter, the graphic designer, the promoter, and everything else for the blog, which can become overwhelming because of the different elements of running a business blog as well as keeping up with running a business!
  4. Many blog posts go largely unnoticed.  You put all the time and effort into creating content for your blog, and then nobody reads it.  That is why promoting your blog post is an important part of blogging for your business.  You can promote your blog posts to your email list, on social media, etc.
  5. A large percentage of business blogs die after a few months because many business owners, coaches and consultants can’t find the time to keep up with the blog.  In fact, according to a recent survey by coschedule, 22% of respondents said their biggest challenge when it comes to blogging is finding time, which makes it easy to see why so many business blogs end up in the blog grave yard.
  6. Most people will not comment on your blog.  One of the great things about blogs is the ability to create conversations, because people are able to comment on your blog posts, but the statistics show that the majority of people who may read your blog, will not comment on your blog post, which can make it hard to gauge if you are engaging your audience.

So, if you decide to start a business blog, keep these truths in mind and check out my blog post The 5 C’s of a Successful Business Blog.

Do you have a business blog?  Are you thinking about starting a business blog this year?

 

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The Truth About Blogging for Business  |  in Blog, Business, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized
January
12 2015

The 5 C’s of a Successful Business Blog

The 5 C's of a Successful Business BlogAs a business owner, coach or consultant, blogging can play a key role in your marketing strategy.  As mentioned in my prior post, How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like and Trust Factor For Your Business, blogging allows you to build those key factors that can allow you to have an advantage in the marketplace.

In order for your blog to be successful, you need to follow the 5 C’s of Blogging:

  1.  Content
    The first and most important part of your blog is your content.  You should decide on the main topic for your blog (i.e. business, gardening, etc.) and then decide up to three sub-categories for your topic (i.e. business- marketing, leadership, productivity; gardening-  fruits, vegetable, flowers; etc.).Once the topic and sub-categories have been decided, then the next thing is deciding whether you are going to come up with original content or content that you curate.    In order to show your expertise in your particular area, having original content is very important.  That is how you showcase what you know and show your knowledge in your area.  However, coming up with original content consistently can be a difficult task, so sometimes it helps to curate other people’s content.  Use what they have posted about your area or expertise and write a response or a differing opinion to the original article, or just reposting what they have written also works too.  As long as the content is relevant and will resonate with your audience then using other people’s content is fine.  The biggest thing when it comes to curating content is giving credit to the original source of content, your goal is not and nor should it ever be to take their content as your own, so always give credit where credit is due.  This is especially important when it comes to copyright infringement, you do not want to plagiarize, so be sure to site where your content is coming from.
  2. Community
    Your blog posts should be targeting a specific community.  Your goal in blogging is not just to add value by informing your readers, but to also create followers who become your community.  Having a community of people who are like-minded and enjoy your content can do wonders for your business.  When you create a community, you create loyal followers who can become loyal customers, so knowing that you are creating a community for your blog is also helpful.
  3. Conversations
    You want your blog posts to create conversations.  The great thing about blogs compared to regular online articles is the fact that blogs allow people to converse about the particular topic that you have posted.  You want to create conversations around your topic, so it is not a one-way street, but a two-way conversation with the writer of the blog and the audience.  The ability to have a conversation, adds another level of connection with you and your audience, so make sure that your blog posts create a level of conversation around your industry or topic.
  4.  Consistency
    I believe there is a Blog grave yard,  so many people have good intentions to start a blog, but couldn’t or didn’t keep up with blogging consistently, so their blog died!  When you make the decision to start a blog for  your business, you have to be consistent with posting on the blog.  You have to decide what makes sense for your business.  If you are able to blog weekly that’s great, if you can only blog bi-weekly that’s fine too, the least amount of commitment would be blogging once a month.  Of course there are benefits to blogging more frequently especially when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and people finding your content online, but you want to take on a frequency that will be able to fit into your business.  Blogging on a daily basis is not viable for the average business so you have to figure out what frequency works best for your business.
  5. Convert
    As a small business owner, one of your blogging goals should be to convert your followers to customers.  By sharing your content with your readers people start to view you as knowledgable or an expert in your field.  Once they have that level of trust in your knowledge and your blog talks about solutions, if they are in the market for what your company offers, they will naturally see you as a solution and become a customer, which ultimately is what you want.  Having strong call-to-actions (i.e. click here, sign-up now, learn more, etc.)  on your blog helps with converting people to your website pages, or sales pages for your product or service.

Are you currently blogging for your business?  If so, what other C’s do you think are an important part of blogging?

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  2 Comments  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing for Coaches, Marketing for Consultants, Small Business, Uncategorized
December
10 2014

How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor for Your Business

About ME Contact/Connect ME How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor for Your BusinessAs an entrepreneur or small business owner, standing out from your competition is really important.  Creating a unique statement that tells why you’re different is good, but as we know, people really like to buy from people they know, like, and trust, and a simple statement as to why you are good, may not be enough.

A great way to establish the know, like and trust factor is by blogging.  Blogging is a great marketing strategy because if you consistently blog and promote your blog posts you will build an audience who will begin to know, like and trust you based on the content that you publish.

So let’s break down the way you can use a blog in order to establish the know, like, and trust factor and grow your business:

KNOW

Your blogging goal as an entrepreneur or small business owner is to become known as an expert in your field.  People like to buy from people who are knowledgeable, helpful, and show that they care.  Through your blog you can become known for providing valuable tips, tools, and techniques in your industry. If you consistently put out good content on your blog and that content is shared, this will help you to grow your “Know” factor.

LIKE

Another blogging goal is for people to get to like you.  Your tone, writing style, and the content you provide on your blog should help with the like factor.  Keep in mind your goal is not to be liked by everyone, but to be liked by your ideal target audience.  When you know who you are talking to, and what their needs are, then you will be better able to create content that resonate with your target audience.  Therefore, they will end up liking your content, and therefore, liking you.

TRUST

And lastly,  your blogging goal is to build trust with your audience.  This is a big one because people may buy from people that they don’t know that well, and may even buy from people they don’t always like, but they have to have a level of trust in you, your company, or your service in order to buy from you, so building the trust factor is really important.  You can build trust with your audience by practicing what you preach, by doing what you say you are going to do, by being professional, by being reliable and consistent.  When you show up on your blog consistently and provide good information, you are helping to build the “Trust” factor with your audience.

There are many factors why you should consider blogging in your marketing strategy and growing the know, like, and trust factor is just one reason why entrepreneurs and small business owners should be considering blogging.   Are you currently blogging for your business?  If so, do you feel blogging helps to build the know, like, and trust factor for your business?  Share your opinion in the comments below.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How to Use Blogging to Build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor for Your Business  |  in Blog, Business, Marketing, Small Business, Uncategorized
December
07 2014

9 Steps to create a Simple Marketing Plan

9 Steps to Create a Simple Marketing PlanHaving a Marketing Plan to grow your business is important, but sometimes creating the plan can feel overwhelming.  This Blog Post simplifies the creation of your Marketing Plan, by breaking it down into 9 questions.  When you answer these questions, you will create a simple marketing plan for your business:

  1. WHO is your target market?
    You have to clearly define who you are trying to reach with your products and/or services.  When you understand who your audience is, you are better able to market and promote to that target audience, so clearly define you target market including the demographics (age, gender, income, etc.) and pyschographics (beliefs, personality, hobbies, etc.)  and this will help you to effectively market and promote your product or service to your target audience.
  2. WHAT is the problem that your target market has?
    You have to clearly identify what problem or issue your target market may have.  Most, if not all, products or services offer a solution to some type of problem.  It may be a direct problem or an indirect problem, but your target market should have some type of problem that your product or service will help to alleviate.
  3. HOW does your product or service solve these problems?
    After identifying the problem your target market has, now you have to show how your product or service solves that problem.  It is important to not only identify the features of your product or service, but more importantly to identify the benefits of your product or service.  People identify better with benefits rather than features.  Saying your product is “light weight” is a feature, mentioning that your product is “easy and convenient to carry with you because it is light weight” is showing how that feature is a benefit.  Taking the time to identify how you solve the problem and clearly articulating that in your marketing material will work to your advantage.
  4. WHERE is your Target Market?
    The next step in your Marketing Plan is locating the target market that you have identified.  The key is to find the places that your target market exists in large quantities.  This is where you are going to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to your marketing activity.  The more people you can reach who are in your target market and are located in one place (an event, conference, workshop, etc.) the better results you will be able to get from your marketing activity.  You can find your target market in various places both online and offlline.
  5. HOW Do You Reach your Target Market? 
    Once you have located your target market, then you need to plan how you would like to reach them.  What activities will you do to reach your target market.  There are over 1,000 ways to reach your target audience (networking, advertising, email, video, speaking engagements, books, etc.)  so you have to decide what method works best for your industry, your company, and your audience.
  6. WHO are your ideal referral partners?
    Referrals can be one of the best ways to grow your business, so including in your marketing plan who your ideal referral partners are and working to build relationships with your ideal referral partners can really help you to grow your business.  If you are able, including some type of incentive for referrals works really well.
  7. WHAT differentiates your company from all the other companies in the marketplace? 
    It is important to not only identify who your competitors are, but to identify how your company is different from the others in the marketplace.  Once you clearly identify what makes you different than your competitors, then you are better able to articulate that in your marketing material to your clients and prospects.
  8. WHEN do you reach out to your target market and how much do you spend?
    Planning your activity is a very important step that many small business owners and entrepreneurs neglect to do.  The key to planning when you are going to reach out to your target audience and how much you are going to spend is to create a marketing calendar.  This calendar will allow you to plan out when you will be doing certain marketing activities, what that marketing activity will be, and how much you plan to spend on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.  Taking the time to do this activity can make a huge difference in the growth of your business.
  9. WHAT headlines will you use to catch the attention of your target audience
    Thinking about the words that you are going to use to catch the attention of your target audience is very important, so taking the time to think about relevant keywords for your audience and your company will help you to craft the appropriate headlines for your marketing material.

Have you created a Marketing Plan for your business?  If so, are there other aspects of your Marketing Plan that you include?

If you need assistance with creating a Marketing Plan for your business, we offer Marketing Plan Coaching for entrepreneurs and small business owners contact us to learn more.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 9 Steps to create a Simple Marketing Plan  |  in Uncategorized
August
11 2014

5 Must-Haves for Social Media Management

5 Must-Haves for Social Media Management

Image Source: copyright Hootsuite

Social media has grown from a curiosity to an integral piece of a company’s strategy in the space of only a few years. Nearly overnight, companies have brought on whole teams of specialists to craft effective social media strategies and manage multiplying numbers of social media accounts. Companies are hungry for better social media tools to engage their followers.  Below is a list of five features key to delivering on a social media strategy.

1) Scheduling

Social media doesn’t sleep, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to! Ensure your social media management tool of choice allows you to schedule messages in advance. So even if you’re in New York, you can schedule messages out to your customers in Tokyo during their workday.

If you want to take scheduling to the next level, look for a tool that offers the ability to schedule large batches of messages at once. This will be a super useful time-saver when it comes to managing campaigns or contests that require heavy messaging around a certain period of time.

2) Geo

When it comes to interacting with your customers, those in different locations may have different needs, speak different languages or follow different trends. You’re going to want a tool that optimizes your searches and filters your searches by language to help you curate relevant content for different demographics.

3) Keywords

Social media is also an effective way for businesses to keep their finger on the pulse. Setting up keywords or search streams provide insight into what is trendy among your customers. This can help you develop a marketing strategy that focuses on customer’s lifestyles and personal preferences.

Keywords are useful for keeping track of competitors’ activities but they’re also useful for tracking brands that are complementary to your offering. If your product is often purchased in conjunction with another product, keep an eye on the complementary product’s social media activity to take advantage of promotions or recent sales, as these are potential leads ready to be converted.

4) Collaboration

It takes two to tango especially when it comes to being social. Collaboration is key when it comes to developing and executing an effective social media campaign. Ensure your social media management tool enables you to seamlessly collaborate with your team to ensure you execute an integrated social media management strategy.

5) Reporting

Gone are the days of social media purely being about ‘building buzz.’ It is now a line item in budgets as companies invest resources in these channels and there is an expectation for reports which show ROI for social media outreach.

Make sure your tool has the ability to analyze important metrics such as click-through rates on shortened links, clicks by region and top referrers. It’s also important to have access to Facebook Insights and Google Analytics.

The most effective tools will provide the ability to access in-depth granular metrics on the efficacy of your social media programs. This will allow you to determine which messages resulted in the highest number of conversions, which platform is providing the greatest return and which time of day is most effective to drive traffic.

What it takes to go Pro?

Social is here to stay and to maintain a competitive advantage, businesses need to stay abreast of this ever-evolving space. Hootsuite Pro helps teams engage with audiences and analyze campaigns across multiple social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn from one secure web-based dashboard.

Sign up for a 30-day FREE trial

Written by Matt Foulger. Originally posted on HootSource.

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on 5 Must-Haves for Social Media Management  |  in Business, Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized
July
08 2014

How to use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business

Email Marketing GraphicAre you using email marketing to promote your business?

Are you thinking about using email marketing in your marketing strategy?

This blog post covers four types of email marketing strategies and how you can use them to grow your business:

  1. E-Newsletter–  An Email Newsletter (E-Newsletter) is an email created in a newsletter format and emailed to a list of your email contacts who have opted-in to receive information from you on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.).
    There are many variations of e-newsletters including plain text e-newsletters or html e-newsletters.  The look and feel of your e-newsletter is up to you, but it should be consistent with your brand.  Although the look and feel of the e-newsletters will vary for each company, most of the time there are key components included in an e-newsletter.  The components usually include the following information in some way:

    • Intro–  An introduction from the company or person who publishes the newsletter.  The intro is the lead into the email and usually includes a brief update and then leads into the rest of the newsletter
    • Article/Blog Post Preview–  Many e-newsletters link to the company’s recent blog post which covers the topic in more detail, so the first few sentences or paragraph of the blog is placed in the e-newsletter and the reader would have to click on a link in the email to read the entire article or blog post
    • Event Announcement–  Many companies choose to include any announcements of upcoming events in the e-newsletter.  These events could be live in-person events including conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. or online events like webinars or teleseminars.  This will be included in the e-newsletter with a link to the event page where people can register for the event.
    • Special Promotions-  This could be promotions from your company of promotions from partner companies.  The promotion offer is listed and the reader can click on the banner or link to get additional information.  The link usually takes the reader to a sales/promotional page to get more information regarding the special offer
    • Inspirational Quotes–  These are popular and many companies like to include them in their e-newsletter
    • Testimonials-  Many companies like to showcase testimonials in their newsletters because it is a great way to show your audience why people love your product or service and people tend to look favorably on testimonials.
    • Videos–  A link to a video is great to include in an e-newsletter.  If you have a company video or a video that your audience would find useful, you can include the video image and link to the actual video in the e-newsletter.

    E-Newsletter Tips:

    • Be sure that the content in your e-newsletter is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% promotional.
    • Limit the information to no more than four topics for each newsletter.
    • Keep the e-newsletter clear and concise and make sure that the information does not appear cluttered to the reader.
    • Have a strong call to action at the end of each section (i.e. “click here to read more…”  “click here for more information”  “sign-up today” etc. )
  2. Promotional Emails–  The specific purpose of this email is to promote ONE thing.  This could be an event, a special company promotion, etc.  You want the information to stand out, so you create a specific email dedicated to just this one topic.  This is also known as a stand-alone email.  This type of email is great to use if you have one topic or you want your audience to focus on one thing.  The one thing could have several parts, but the email itself focuses on only one topic.  For example, if you are having a special sale and you want to focus your readers’ attention on the special sale, although you may have several items on sale, the focus of the email is the one topic of the sale.
    Promotional Email Tips:

    • Be sure to focus on only one topic
    • Have a strong call to action at the end of the email (i.e. “buy now” “limited time”  “click here for more information”  “sign-up today” etc. )
    • Make sure you are clear on what you want your reader to do
  3. Autoresponder–  An Autoresponder Email is a series of emails that is sent to a person when they sign-up for something.  This could be when they sign-up to join your email list, when they sign-up to get a free download, when they sign-up for a webinar etc.  The action of signing up and therefore opting into the list creates an automatic response (or autoresponder) that is a series of emails that are sent to the individual over a period of time.  Autoresponders are great because you can set it and forget it.  Once you create the series any time someone opts into that particular list, he or she will receive the emails automatically and you only had to create it once!                                                                                                                                                                                           AutoResponder Tips:
    • Make each email in the series timely and relevant
    • Provide valuable information before you promote your product or service
    • In a series of 4 emails, 3 should be informative and educational and the 4th one can be a promotion (always provide value first)
  4. Drip Campaigns–  Drip campaigns are very similar to autoresponders in that they are a series of emails.  The difference is that a drip campaign does not have to be initiated by a person opting in.  You can create a campaign for a specific group of people already on your email list and drip them information over a period of time.  Drip campaigns are great to promote an event or a special company promotion to your entire list or a portion of your email list.  Similar to the autoresponders, once you create the emails you just set it and forget it as the series of emails will be dripped out to your list over a period of timeDrip Campaign Tips:
      • Make each email in the series timely and relevant
      • Make sure each email has a strong call to action

Are you using any of these email strategies?  If not, what other email marketing strategies are you using?

Be sure to download this checklist with 21 tips on how to get amazing success with email marketing!

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on How to use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business  |  in Uncategorized
June
23 2014

Business Blog v. Business Website

Blog v WebsiteIt may seem like a silly question, but what is the difference between having a blog and having a website?  And when it comes to your business strategy, do you need both?

With the popularity of blogs and social media, some companies are thinking they may not need a website.  Although a business can be successful without one, I feel it is important to have one.  Your website is your home base, the place on the internet where your company/brand lives.  All other places on the internet like blog platforms, or social networks are places that you rent space, so if you are serious about your business you don’t want to just RENT, you want to OWN!

WEBSITE

According to dictionary.com, “A website is a connected group of pages on the World Wide Web regarded as a single entity, usually maintained by one person or organization and devoted to a single topic or several closely related topics.”  Your website really is the place where people will go to learn about your company.  Since people go there to learn about your company, your website should include the following:

  • The story of your business, including the who, what, where, when & how
  • A showcase of your products and/or services
  • Appropriate messaging directed to your target audience
  • A way to capture leads by offering an email opt-in form
  • A way to convert your visitors to purchases with the use of links to sales pages 
  • A way for people to contact you
  • Connections to your social media networks
  • Connection to your blog

BLOG

So what is a blog and how does it differ from your website?

According to dictionary.com, “A blog is  a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.” Your blog is where you express your opinions and share your insights about your particular topic with your audience.  Your blog should be used for the following:

  • To show your expertise
  • To offer advice, tips, techniques related to your products and services, or your industry
  • To build an audience
  • To subtly promote your products and/or services
  • To build a community
  • To spread the word about your business
  • To capture leads when people subscribe to your blog
  • To convert visitors to purchase your product or service by using links to sales pages

So now that you know the difference between your website and your blog, do you need both?  It depends!  If you want to be known as an expert in your industry and you are committed to consistently blogging (posting articles) on your blog, then blogging should be included in your online marketing strategy, but if you are not sure you will have the time to consistently blog and be committed to maintaining your blog, then you should not start a blog.  Although it has many benefits, blogging is not for everyone!

On the other hand, having a home base for your business/brand is important, so I feel having a website is a MUST for a business while having a blog is OPTIONAL.

So what do you think, does a business need a blog and a website?  Do you have a business blog and a business website?

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on Business Blog v. Business Website  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Uncategorized
June
10 2014

The best way for people to know, like and trust you online!

The best way to get people to know, like, and trust your online!We’ve all heard the saying, “People do business with people who they know, like, and trust“.  I find that one of the best ways for people to get to know you, like you, and trust you ONLINE is by BLOGGING.

So what exactly is blogging some may ask, according to dictionary.com, a blog is a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.  I will also add that a blog allows others to communicate with those writers by commenting on what they have posted!

First let’s take a look at a brief history of blogging.  The first “blog” started in 1994 and was known as Links.net, and the term “weblog” was coined in 1997, a few short years later “weblog” was  simplified to just “blog” in 1999.*

So how can blogging help your business?  Well, the fact that a blog allows you as a business owner to write about your experiences, observations, and opinions,  helps people to know more about you, your business, your business style, and the culture of your company.  Therefore, helping you to build on the “know” factor in the know, like, and trust formula.

In addition, the content that you post on your blog helps people to figure out if they “like” your style, your information, your point of view.  This helps with the “like” part of the know, like, and trust formula.

And thirdly, how consistently you post, how much you care about providing valuable information to your readers, and how knowledgable you are about your topic helps to build the “trust” part of the know, like, and trust formula.

In addition to helping you build your know, like, and trust factor online, blogging also helps you to become known as an expert in your field, which can lead to more business for you.

There are also technical reasons to blog for you business which includes Search Engine Optimization.  Now I am no SEO expert, but the basics of how blogging helps with your SEO is:

  1. It allows your website to stay current.  Search engines prefer to share up to date information with the people searching for a particular topic, and if your blog is posting current information about a particular topic this could help you to rank higher in the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.
  2. The use of keywords in your blog can also help with your SEO.   If someone is searching for a particular keyword and your website ranks high for the use of the keyword organically (existing on the page), then this can help you rank higher in the search engines.
  3. When people find the information on your blog useful and link to it from their websites, this creates backlinks to your website, which is great for SEO.

This is a short and simple list of how blogging helps with SEO, as SEO is a whole other topic that could be a whole blog itself (and as I mentioned, I am not an expert on SEO).

So what do you think?  Do you think blogging is one of the best ways for people to get to know, like, and trust you online?  Are you using blogging in your business?

*  Source-  New York Magazine

Posted by Nadine Mullings  |  Comments Off on The best way for people to know, like and trust you online!  |  in Blog, Business, Business Development, Marketing, Uncategorized