Better CRM with Custom Graphics

CRM is software which pulls your business’ client data (veterinarians, auto shops and more) into their software accessed via a dashboard. It saves time and keeps a business connected to their clients offering reminder emails for services due, special offers and discounts and many marketing tools. Most CRM tools are reaching out to connect via text, auto CRM software offers a dongle for a car which can send info back to the shop. Should that dreaded Check Engine light flash on a call to your mechanic can determine if you need immediate help, or the issue can wait.

These CRM tools typically offer templates for the marketing media (emails, postcards, special offers, etc.). By creating custom postcards and emails you can brand your business—match to your website and equally important personalize your message and away from the cookie-cutter ads we all receive in our inbox.

Here is a series of postcards for an auto shop:


CRMMarketing Media

Stand apart from your competition with custom graphic design.

About Those Phone Calls

Businesses are bombarded with phones calls with urgent messages your Google map is in “danger”.

1-The message varies from you’ll never show up to it desperately needs help.  These calls have become cloned.  We’re led to believe Google is calling, but as often as not it is a third party company with a sales pitch.  You can claim your Google + business listing and fill out your content.  (If you have ever used a company like Yext you might be locked out.)

What About Those Phone Calls

2-“I’m from Windows calling regarding your computer…” Hang up.  If you stayed on you would hear your computer has been infected and they can fix it.  Microsoft doesn’t call people to fix their computers.

3-The recorded messages, “Hi, I’m Sharon from Google…”  Unless you are ready for Pay per Click/Google AdWords, hang up.  Should you be interested in Google AdWords initiate the phone call yourself. Call 855-245-0843 (9am–9pm ET, Mon–Fri).

And those emails:
Emails warning your business listings have/may have incorrect information. These come from different sources; many who have partnered with Yext “in one shot” to resolve the issue. Things to know:

  • The best success is a human touch for all these directories. Contact information is not where you want to end leveraging your directory listings. Each can be filled out according to the platform specifics – optimize each with keywords and categories specific to your business.  Automation is not your friend here.  It equals duplication which you are trying to avoid when maximizing online.
  • The shotgun method doesn’t always work – I had a client who tried this to find out the company was unable to take care of their business change and subsequently cannot get back into their accounts to change the information without an involved process.
  • A lot of these business directories have no relevance. Important to keep on top of which ones matter.

Having a public email address (on your website) means you’re on a list which is sold to email marketers. Spam has increased, for me personally, the past year to hundreds per day – this using filters and flagging emails to be blocked. It’s part of business online.

The day you get an email from your email address selling “meds” is a rude welcome to address spoofing. There is nothing you can do. Despite the “Name/Address” field you are seeing it is generated from another address.

SEO emails abound. “I’ve visited your website and while it is lovely it is lacking in SEO…” Most ANY website has something which CAN be improved upon in SEO. The promise is we’ll fix it. SEO isn’t a “fix it” method. It can’t be analyzed once and “you’re good to go”. SEO is not simple.

#1 on Google promise calls and emails.  #1 on Google goes to the deepest pockets. The best you can get is #1 at some time, somewhere for one keyword. That one keyword may be “animal hospital puppy package in Walnut”. It doesn’t mean you can’t define an AdWord campaign to work, especially if your website is organically sound, this can be effective. Just be informed. Most companies want to include your business name as one of the paid keywords. If someone is searching for your business by name there is little chance you won’t come up.

What can you do to help your online presence? Freshen your website content (add a page, rewrite dated copy). Search engines are looking for fresh content, new original photos. Stock photography is analyzed by Google unfavorably. While Google is more tight-lipped than in past years how they can make this deduction doesn’t matter, it’s enough to point us in the right direction. Besides: logically – your own photos make a better web presence for your business.

Add to your website, create a mobile site (if you haven’t already), take advantage of directory listings, gets links to your website, consider a blog for the purpose of writing about your industry. The blog can attract back links and comments, which all aid in your online strength, but use it primarily to give out information which adds weight to your website.

Your website is your marketing cornerstone. Devise a plan to keep it fresh.

How to Get More Organic Traffic to Your Website

Looking for More Organic Traffic?

There has been so much about social media for years.  You don’t need it all — be selective in the platforms you devote time and resources toward.  Most of the major players are image oriented.  Facebook favors image and video posts/shares. Instagram, Pinterest, etc. are all about photos.  Google+ absorbed Google Maps a few years back.  When your Google Map appears next to your website in a search result get your photos in front of potential clients.

Local directories often appear at the top of a search result.  Make sure your listings are filled out and the information is accurate.  It doesn’t matter how people find your website – directories are a great connection to your site.

Ready for a video?  Use YouTube – it has become its own search engine.  Vimeo and others are great, but if you’re stretched for time YouTube is “the one”.  Your YouTube channel has lots of opportunities for SEO – make use of it – get out ahead of your competitors.How To Get More Organic Traffic

Guest blogging, forum commenting and press releases are great opportunities, but not simple activities.  These require the most time.
http://weblogs.about.com/od/bloggingfaqs/f/GuestBlogFAQ.htm

Get reviews.  Online reviews help drive your website.  When people are talking about your business search engines are taking note.

Email marketing is on the rise effectively.  If you haven’t already – build a mailing list.  Keep your business in front of your existing clients and engage with them via a newsletter, or a coupon/discount periodic email.  People are opening more of their emails on their phones and tablets.

Promote your website offline at networking events, on print materials, and giving presentations is a good way to increase branded searches.

About links – it doesn’t matter how much this has been spammed year after year – links to your website, from your website and within your website remain a solid organic strategy which plays into your organic website strength.

Add to your website – keep it fresh looking, adding new content and updating photos.  Avoid bounce rates – which means someone landed on your site and quickly left–this is one more thing“Google is watching” when determining which site to deliver in a search.

https://www.brendasimon.com/blog/why-should-i-redesign-my-website-2/

Why Should I Redesign My Website?

There comes a time when your website needs to be redesigned.  This usually involves multiple factors.  Code has changed substantially in the past 3 years which provides more options for your website, and  certainly better performance within browsers.  Leaner code means a faster download which is something Google favors in page ranking.  Websites benefit from a fresh view.  Look it over and discuss with your designer what elements can be improved upon, enhanced, things which are obsolete and how to optimize the space to lead the visitor through the website, while keeping navigation ease a priority.  A mobile presence is critical: whether a free-standing, side by side site or a responsive website (requiring a makeover of your old site) you can’t ignore mobile users.

website in need of a redesign

This site served well for its time, when monitors were smaller, dial-up connections were still around, images needed to be as small as possible, beveled buttons and gradients were trendy and 800 pixels was the maximum width the W3 consortium recommended.  Enter the fun.  Now browsers and monitors span much wider screens, large optimized images are easily handled by browsers and bandwidth. And the most fun of all, design has changed using a much broader palette of colors: beautiful bold, flat colors which let the design breathe and make the web page less cluttered while still offering the same key points, call to actions and copy.  Visual matters in marketing.   A website redesign will keep your website ahead of your competition whose sites may be tired and sagging.  A fresh looking website represents your business well to visitors.  It’s your first impression to potential clients – make the best of it.

Auto Shop Website Redesigned

 

Why Update Your Website?

Your website is the cornerstone of your marketing.  Keep presenting the fresh face of your business by updating photos. List new products or services; add new staff members photos and bios. Consider adding information pages or a “What’s New” page to show off your latest projects or products. If you’re ready to move beyond your cell phone camera or point and shoot camera give us a call for professional photography.  Time for a major website overhaul?  Redesign your website.

Email continues to shine as a marketing tool.  97% of cell phone users read email on their phone.  Let your website help you collect email addresses, if you’re using an email client (MailChimp, iContact, etc.) add their website widget to your desktop website, mobile site and blog.  Otherwise collect email addresses as you invoice, or have a signup sheet available.  When you’re ready to announce a special you’ll be ready.  I manage email newsletter campaigns as a service.

Social media is the choice many potential clients use to engage with businesses.  Every business needs a Facebook page and Google+ page. Photographers and artists make use of Pinterest, Flickr; home construction or remodeling try Houzz and Pinterest; auto lovers frequent Instagram.

When you’re ready move into video and make use of YouTube, Vimeo and more.  For help read about my Webmaster Services.

97% of cell phone users go online with their phones.  The single biggest impact for your internet presence is a mobile website.  Make it easy for mobile users to receive your message. Reach people on the platform they choose.

Read more  http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

photo-editing-services

Online Reviews

Reputation management has always been part of every business.  Online reviews have changed the playing field.  Instantly any review is live, with many platforms.

Recent statistics tell us 79% of customers trust online reviews.  Despite controversy over their legitimacy online reviews continue to gain momentum.  Consumers’ comfort is being fostered in part by businesses nurturing their online reviews and improving their internet presence.  In turn consumers use reviews as part of the information about your business in making their decision.

New businesses have sprouted offering to sell you reviews, or “Likes” on Facebook.  Yelp takes serious action against business posting fake reviews.  Don’t pay for reviews.

Yelp has broadened its scope to include not only photos, but now videos.  Clients can post a video taken at your business and upload on your listing page.  You can’t remove these.  Business owners need to be aware and perhaps set policies in place as appropriate.

Yelp has also opened its reviews to more apps and developers, which means Yelp reviews will be popping up on websites and mobile apps more and more.

If you’re feeling vulnerable take heart – there is plenty to leverage here to promote your business.

Reviews help drive your website.  People talking about your business (reviews, adding photos to your listings) catch search engines’ attention.  It’s a good way to stand out.

Managing your online reviews can be a chore.  Happy customers are wonderful and painless.  Any negative review is where you’ll spend your time.   Unfortunately unscrupulous competitors have taken to leaving negative or false reviews.  Taking a proactive approach keeps maximum control in your hands.  Responding to a negative review lets you send a positive message out to potential clients.  Take advantage of the opportunity to engage with your clients.

With so many platforms meet your clients where they are active:  Facebook, Yelp!, Google Business, Pinterest, Instagram…stay connected.

Online Reviews

Building a Stronger Online Presence

Your website is the cornerstone of your marketing.  Keep presenting the fresh face of your business by updating photos. List new products or services; add new staff members photos and bios. Consider adding information pages or a “What’s New” page to show off your latest projects or products. If you’re ready to move beyond your cell phone camera or point and shoot camera give us a call for professional photography.  Time for a major website overhaul?  Redesign your website.

Email continues to shine as a marketing tool.  97% of cell phone users read email on their phone.  Let your website help you collect email addresses, if you’re using an email client (MailChimp, iContact, etc.) add their website widget to your desktop website, mobile site and blog.  Otherwise collect email addresses as you invoice, or have a signup sheet available.  When you’re ready to announce a special you’ll be ready.  I manage email newsletter campaigns as a service.

Social media is the choice many potential clients use to engage with businesses.  Every business needs a Facebook page and Google Business  page. Photographers and artists make use of Pinterest, Flickr; home construction or remodeling try Houzz and Pinterest; auto lovers frequent Instagram.   When you’re ready move into video and make use of YouTube, Vimeo and more.  For help read about my Webmaster Services.

97% of cell phone users go online with their phones.  The single biggest impact for your internet presence is a mobile website.  Make it easy for mobile users to receive your message.

Reach people on the platform they choose.

Read more    http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/mobile-technology-fact-sheet/

Facebook for Businesses

The evolution of Facebook continues to be driven toward profit, now that Facebook is responsible to stock holders. The effects on businesses engaging in social media have moved from a fun and a useful tool to marketing to sluggish.

Large companies like Coca-Cola garnered over 80 million “Likes” to find Facebook didn’t result in a change in sales; it’s just a place for people who already like their product to let them know. But the value has been a way to reach your client base and reach out to them – engage, engage, engage.

But now Facebook has taken aim at organic page reach–resulting in a mere to 1 or 2 percent reach. Page Reach means the percentage of your fans seeing your posts. Nike with 16 million fans will now only reach 160,000. After aggressively marketing to the Facebook crowd, this is a huge hit for Nike. You can read the stats in your Admin panel to find out how many are seeing your posts.

Finding you are no longer reaching the very people who like you brand and want to hear from you is discouraging, but it’s the decision Facebook has made. Facebook has been changing the news feed for some time since it began adding content to your feed you never have “liked”. Now, you will hear more from those you haven’t liked and not all the posts from those you have liked.

For small businesses the value of Facebook – is for appearances and those posts which do get into feeds. Don’t give up. Adjust with the new change. You want to maintain your Facebook page for the future, as it continues to change, but it’s safe, for now, to give it a lower priority.

Why should I redesign my website?

Thinking about making a change to your website? Your website is your best marketing tool. Its success relies on the amount of attention you put into it.  Search engines look at how often you update your website.

Websites need to evolve continually. The days of create-it-and-leave-it have passed.  Websites which are stagnant year after year fall behind.  With so many businesses actively attending their websites you don’t want to make the mistake of ignoring yours.

So much has changed in the past 2 years online.  As you surf the net you’ve seen wider websites, interactive slide shows and design changes. Consider a fresh redesign and updating your content.  If you like your current design it can be reworked using newer visual layouts and code.  The client below liked his color theme and banner-it now looks fresh.

Add a slide show, add a blog and write short articles, or update the photos on your website. Now we can use much bigger images.  Don’t ignore the value of your FAQs page-update the questions. Offer the information people need to know when they are ready to hire you. The current thinking is to make changes to your website at least every 2 months.

The internet is so visual don’t take a chance on your website looking out of date and losing business to a competitor. Keeping your website fresh and current sends the message your business is thriving.

Original design.

Original design.

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Website Marketing 2014

Since the phone directories are all but dead your website is now the cornerstone of all advertising. Everything needs to point to it. Each email should contain an email signature with a link to your website. Print it on your invoices, print ads, coupons and anything you hand out to clients. You can’t overdo driving people to your website.

What can you do to increase your online presence?

If you began your online presence with a ten page website consider expanding. New pages can include detailed information about your services and products. Each page gives the opportunity to drive that page for one keyword – a solid strategy for organic search engine results. The more real estate you use online – the better your website will work for you.

Web design continues to change to reflect trends and follow the internet consortium standards. One of the most obvious visual changes is creating web pages which are far wider than 5 years ago. Widening your website allows more of your message to be seen quicker. Consider reviewing your website for improvement – both design and functionality.

If your website is static (nothing moves) consider adding a slide show. There are so any choices to display your products and services.  More examples: Magnifier (scroll below slide show), Online Magazine/Book with page turning.

Create a video; embed it on your website using YouTube as a search engine to get out your message. Videos of past were often slide shows, but today’s user expects a higher quality video with a solid message. One client
added a video and within 2 months had over 400 views. This adds to your advertising plan.

Mobile websites are a necessity. You can’t afford to miss out internet users who actively use phones and/or tablets. There are several ways to approach a mobile website depending on your budget.

Collect email addresses and keep in touch with your clients via email campaigns.

A new year and a fresh plan may be in order.