Online Marketing Focus: SEO and Social Media

Small business owners have a wide array of marketing choices when selecting the right online marketing strategy to pursue with the goal of finding new leads that actually turn into sales. The most popular being paid advertising, SEO campaigns, and Social Media Marketing. Making a site that is streamlined to be attractive to the search engines through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most talked about tactics that drives traffic to websites generally through Google. It is always important to build a website based on proven SEO principals, but in today’s online world failing to engage with the community through social media sites is a big mistake.

Google now puts value on the number of shares, likes, +1’s, etc. that a site receives when producing its search results. Therefore social media campaigns also have an impact on a company’s search rankings for their desired keywords. A great SEO strategy with lots of backlinks is no longer enough to gain high visibility and traction online. The best marketing campaigns for a small business include a combination of both solid SEO principles and promotion of social media channels. Paid search advertising and banner ad space can get a new site the exposure it needs to reach customers; but it is usually way too expensive for most small business marketing budgets.

Basic SEO Principals

In order to get the most out of your social media campaigns it is wise to have a site built based on best practices concerning search engine optimization. The following are a few guidelines that are important for your web development team to follow when designing your site. But doing these alone will not drive the traffic you desire until you begin sharing your website’s content on Twitter, Facebook, and elsewhere providing readers the opportunity to share, like or +1 the content you are distributing.

• Create a site map.
• Develop unique page titles, keywords, and page descriptions.
• Use keywords in headers and body of text, but don’t overdo it.
• Create backlinks, but use a family of similar keywords not just one or two.
• Include blog titles in the URL for the company blog

Of course there are dozens of other aspects for building a website with SEO in mind and so it is important that you have a web developer that is adept at SEO techniques when building the website. Many small business owners fall into the trap of trying to implement what they read about SEO strategies that pertain to affiliate marketing companies that are only seeking traffic through Google search and are not actively selling a product themselves or building a brand that customers will return to.

Social Media to Drive Traffic

Using Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, and other sites to promote content about the business, products, and services provided should be the majority of your focus. Building a community of people interested in the industry the business is in, is much more effective than building thousands of links on irrelevant websites. Individuals that actively follow a business on Facebook or engage with the company on Twitter are actually helping to promote the brand to their followers and friends simply by engaging and having a discussion. This can be the best kind of exposure as the business is able to reach additional people that may have similar interests. By focusing on creating an effective social media marketing strategy the business has a much greater chance of being noticed by others that will take the time to write or comment either on the social sites, but also on their own blogs and other websites which can result in very high quality links. Building links is a huge part of any effective SEO plan and one of the best ways to get others to link to your content and discuss your brand is through unique and original content that is shared through social sites.

Make sure your site has the basic requirements that the search engines are looking for. Be sure to have a well-designed website and leverage social media to generate the high quality links and discussions that will really send traffic to your site. If you have the ability to create original content then you don’t need to worry about creating an intricate link building scheme as it will more than likely end up getting sniffed out by Google anyways. Small business owners are much better off spending their online marketing budgets building value for their community and actively participating in industry focused discussions throughout the web.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Tips for Getting More Clients from Marketing Activities

joint venture marketing

joint venture marketing

The new year is always a time to review last year’s execution and make plans for growing the business. The following tips and techniques can be used to maximize your existing marketing activities in getting more clients. If you have a product or service that is currently being marketed through your own activities or from your joint venture marketing partner then it’s necessary to close every lead and potential deal that is on the table. To acquire a customer it often takes several different attempts with layered marketing of the company and its offerings. By quickly following through with every marketing activity you can potentially hit a customer in multiple channels.

Blog Posting

A blog post may about a new product or new company information that is posted in order to educate customers and potential customers about the product or company. Blog posts are a great foundation to build on and leverage for improving the companies rankings in the search engines. It’s important to expand the reach of your company blog by using the following actions and services on websites to promote the blog post.

Email – Blast a company message with the title, link, and summary of the blog post to people in your newsletter lists.

Facebook - Post a link to your company’s blog post. These should be posted on both companies Facebook pages if it’s a joint venture.

Twitter - Post a link to your company’s blog post. The co-branded blog posts should be posted on both companies Twitter accounts.

Fiverr - Hire someone to submit blog pages to social sites like Reddit, Digg, StumbleUpon and other locations. Hiring additional people to also promote and engage with the content can help posts gain traction faster in the Search Engines.

While results may not be instantaneous, if you follow the steps above your blog posts will receive more value in search engine rankings for your target keywords from Google due to the links that will be created directing back to your specific blog posts. This will help create more traffic to your company’s main website through promoting your content.

Facebook

Facebook can be a unique place to advertise for many businesses. However; there are a few strategies that can work for companies and their joint venture partners that are looking to gain access into specific local markets and have a solid presence on the social network.

• Facebook ads can generate interests from a partner’s existing customer base that follow them. Create an advertisement special that customers of a partner can have access to if they post a message in there Facebook status about your brand. Getting more clients from Facebook requires them sharing your company with their friends.

• If you want to build a following of people, then as a company you have to be educational and have interesting content that makes people want to subscribe to your content. Create interesting videos that provide specific details about a topic in 2 – 3 minutes and post them to your Facebook page as well as on Youtube.

• Create an interesting ad that targets very specific demographics. The ad itself needs to be short and sweet and catch the attention of viewers for the target market your business is after. Purchase ads to the exact details of the market that you need to reach whether it’s regional or based on the individuals occupation, age or gender. Facebook allows for creating amazingly detailed ad campaigns. Make the campaign about clicking like to your Facebook page versus redirecting to your website or a sales landing page.

Brochures / Mailers

If part of the marketing activities is sending out a regular printed brochure, catalogue, or promotional newsletters / sale offerings then it is important to maximize each piece of mail, due to the cost of regular mail campaigns.

Email - Sending an email at the same time as a physical mailing is a good way to use the marketing material twice and help reinforce the physical papers that may get shuffled around for a few days before being reviewed. Invite them to a webinar that will be conducted concerning a topic related to the products or services that are being offered in the mailer. Include a form in any emails that can be filled out and sent in requesting more information as some people prefer to communicate through these channels rather than making a call.

Phone Call – Making a follow up phone call 5 – 8 days after sending a letter / package to a perspective client is always a wise idea. If you are conducting a massive mail campaign and neither you nor your business partner has a call center, it’s ok. There are people that can be hired for a fairly affordable rate that can quickly understand your company’s basic information and products to make lead generation calls to provide hot leads to your sales team. Train sales people making follow up phone calls to get email addresses during the conversation as it’s the easiest way to ping potential customers on a regular basis.

Have a great 2012; enjoy growing your business and maximizing all of your existing joint venture marketing activities to get more clients.

christian fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A joint venture marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

Discover more joint venture marketing Strategies join his free report on joint venture marketing.

joint venture marketing

joint venture marketing

5 Secrets to Internet Traffic You Need to Know

Your online business needs plenty of traffic if you’re going to build a solid customer base. That may be the biggest reason to consider partnering with another business for some serious joint venture marketing. However, even if you sign on with a good JV partner, knowing how to increase website traffic will make a big difference in the success of your partnership.

We have five secrets to increasing Internet traffic that you need to know for your joint venture.

SEO

Search engine optimization is essential if you want to increase your rankings on the search engines. This is a complex and ever changing technology that requires research to stay abreast of the updates.

The proper use of keywords and phrases can make all the difference in how many people find your website. Tools like Google Keyword or Keyword Discovery can make a big difference in finding the best words to incorporate to drive the most traffic home.

Social Bookmarking

In order to drive more traffic to your website and increase the benefits of your joint venture, you will have to get social today. Social networking has become a viable method for driving traffic to your site, as well as keeping customers up to date on your latest promotions and products.

Rather than just bookmarking your main site, spend time adding bookmarks to your articles and backlinks for the greatest return on your efforts.

Article Directories

Submitting to article directories is a must for both you and your JV partner. When you

write articles for directories, you immediately establish yourself as an expert in your industry. This will increase consumer confidence in your company, so that those who do click on your backlinks to find your website will also be more likely to purchase from you.

Articles on the directories should come with backlinks and social bookmarking to help readers find your business.

Backlinks

To ensure you get the greatest return on your backlinks, watch the content to which you are adding your backlinks. Pasted content is easily detected by search engines today and automatically goes to the bottom of the pile, where your potential customers will never find it. By the same token, generated content that was so popular at the beginning of the Internet marketing era is now considered taboo by most search engines. You are much better off to create new, unique content for your backlinks that will be seen by more potential customers.

Blog Commenting

Commenting on other people’s blogs is a free, effective way to get your business name around the Internet. Add a backlink to your blog entry and wait for potential customers to find you. Look for blogs that would attract your market base for the best return on your efforts. It is also important to find high traffic blogs that have done much of the tough marketing work for you.

Internet traffic is the key to any successful online business today. Even joint venture partners can benefit from increasing website traffic using these simple techniques listed above.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free report on Joint Venture Marketing.

4 Ways to Make Your Website Work for You

The Internet has opened the door to a wide range of marketing opportunities today, allowing you to build your business and boost sales all from the comfort of your office. One of the best ways to advertise your business online is through joint venture marketing, which links you with an established business in a related industry that can send more potential customers your way.

Once you have created a few JV partnerships, it is time to make the Internet work for your business, with website tips guaranteed to broaden your customer base.

Use Search Engine Optimization

When people need a product or service, they use the search engines to find the companies that provide what they are looking for. While you can use Google tools for this purpose, the best course of action is to hire an SEO expert for this purpose. Although your JV marketing efforts will be effective in growing your customer base, a little search engine savvy can’t hurt either. Your JV partner probably already knows the tricks of the trade, so you will need to get up to speed to ensure you are doing your part to attract new business.

Make Your Company Inviting

Once your customers find you, it is up to you to ensure that they stay long enough to make a purchase. When designing your website, set it up for easy, convenient navigation. Post your phone number, address and direct email link on your contact page so customers can get in touch with you easily. Offer easy to follow links that move from one page to another and add a few full-color photos to make your website and your products more enticing.

Provide a Physical Location

Few businesses do well when they limit to all of their business to online transactions. Even in this electronic age, customers feel more comfortable with a business that offers a brick and mortar location, as well as a website address. When you provide the contact information above, you are doing more than offering your customers information to get in touch with you. You are also showing stability in your business by providing a physical location and an actual person over a phone line with whom your customers can connect.

Know Your Customer

This advice is not strictly geared to online businesses, but it does tend to get lost in the translation when setting up a virtual business. Your company may get seen by many more customers through the Internet, but your website still needs to address the specific needs of your customers in order to get noticed. You can hire a company to perform market research for you, or you can do your own through customer surveys and other techniques that will help you learn what your customers want and why they buy certain products.

JV marketing may bring more customers to your website, but then it is up to you to entice customers to stick around and shop. Like a brick and mortar store, your website needs to build your customer’s confidence and interest in your company through a high quality site that offers ample information about your business and the products and services you offer.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.