Archive for Attracting Clients – Page 7

Social Media: 3 Things Teenagers Can Teach Business About Getting It Right

It seems that the younger the employee, the more frequently they use social media. While it is still relatively easy to find baby boomers who have no social media accounts, it’s tough to find a millennial without at least one online profile. Tougher still is finding a teenager who is not connected on Facebook and Twitter.

The difference between teens and their older counterparts on social media platforms is that they use it less to connect, and more as a creative outlet. Most of the friends that teens have through social media are the same ones that they see on a regular basis at school. As a result, social media outlets are used less to connect and more to keep up. (Image: freedigitalphotos.net)

It can be easy to write our youthful “friends” off as irrelevant to our own social media pursuits. The truth is that there is actually a lot to be gleaned from the younger generation. In many ways, they get a lot right when it comes to social media. Here are a few tips savvy social marketers can take away from teens: Read More→

Content Marketing: What Are Your Target
Audience’s Interests, Needs, and Wants?

Content marketing is all about quality content that grabs the attention of your ideal prospects and clients. If you want to create content that engages readers, you need to know their online habits and interests. Yet how many of us post on a blog or upload a video to YouTube without taking time to survey what are our target audience‘s interests, wants and needs?

Content marketing requires that you publish frequently on your site, your blog, and in social media. You want to focus your content on the keywords your prospects are likely to use in searches. You can’t do that without asking them what their interests are.

Here’s a quick list of survey questions to ask your target audience to help define what they want to read:

  1. What are the five top web sites you visit frequently in your work?
  2. What are your online reading habits, blogs, websites, articles, videos, podcasts?
  3. Do you use social media like FacebookTwitter or LinkedIn?
  4. Which e-newsletter and blogs do you subscribe to?

You have about eight seconds to engage someone before they click away. Clever headlines and intriguing social updates will get them to click over to your content. But unless you know what your audience wants, you’re shooting in the dark. They won’t stay. Click and bye-bye. So how do you keep them on your site to read your stuff? What makes for effective content marketing? Read More→

Social Media: 3 Keys to Business Success

Are you thinking about creating a social media page for your business? Social media (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) can be great marketing and networking tools for small businesses, but there are a few rules you should know before jumping on the social media bandwagon.

The following three P’s of social media will help your business create a loyal customer following and find new clients through a fresh, well-organized social media page. (Image: Freedigitalphotos.net)

1. A Purposeful Plan

Before you open a social media account for your business, make a plan. First, learn your way around the specific social networking site. Most sites offer tutorials to new users; take these and get to know the tools and tricks available to you. Once you know what you can do with your account, devise a marketing plan that will maximize your business’ page presence. Read More→

Keyword Research: What Smart Professionals Know

We have at least two audiences when we write on the web: people and search engines. My clients tell me it feels hard to write well for both, and in my experience, it’s because they’ve skipped the first step in the process: Keyword research. (Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

If I were to optimize my web copy for what I believe to be my main keyword phrase, I’d certainly be helping Google know when to serve up my post in search results. But my post still might never show up if the keyword phrase I’ve used and optimized for is not one that anyone uses to search!

That’s why keyword research is so important – I want to use keyword phrases that people are actually using when searching online! Then, not only does Google know when to serve up my post, but now I match how people are looking for what I have! The likelihood that I’ll get found, get known and get clients has just increased dramatically. Read More→

Social Media for Busy Business Bloggers

With the onslaught of social media in the last 10 years, the ever constant question is, what can it do for my business and my business blog?

First, why should you bother with social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) if you’re in business? It’s the numbers. If you want customers, you need to go where they are online. Let’s be clear:

  • Social networking now accounts for 22% of all time spent online in the US.
  • Twitter processed more than one billion tweets in December 2009 and averages almost 40 million tweets per day.
  • Over 25% of U.S. internet page views occurred at one of the top social networking sites in December 2009, up from 13.8% a year before.
  • The number of social media users age 65 and older grew 100 percent throughout 2010, so that one in four people in that age group are now part of a social networking site.
  • As of June 2011 Facebook has 750 Million users.
  • Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
  • Social Media has overtaken pornography as the No. 1 activity on the web. Read More→

Using a Business Blog:
Are You Hard to Find on the Web?

Have you ever tried to find yourself on the Web? No, I don’t mean by searching for your name or the name of your business – that would be too easy. Try searching for a solution to the kind of problems your business solves, using keyword phrases your typical client might use. (Image: Freedigitalphotos.net)

Search for your business the way new prospects would search for you, without knowing your name.

When you do, you’ll know that it’s difficult to be found on the World Wide Web, because there are a lot of people and companies doing what you do. Okay, maybe not as brilliantly, and granted, maybe they have bigger marketing budgets than you, but the thing is, those search engine robots don’t care who’s big or small or even who is a qualified professional doing great things.

That’s right, search engines like Google and Yahoo only care about words and links. I know, cold and cruel, nasty little algorithms, but that’s life on the Internet. A business blog is the most common publishing platform that smart professionals use to get found on the web.

So what do the others (not-so-smart) do? Some people have found success by using expensive web site designs and hiring Search Engine Optimization experts, but there’s only so much Google juice they can get out of a site. You still need content and lots of it.

What’s needed in the online search world is a lot of content, using keywords, published frequently and attracting inbound links from other people and connections. This is why a business blog is what successful people use to get found, get known, and get clients.

I don’t want to confuse you, so let’s cut to the chase: what’s needed is for you to publish 2-3 times a week on a business blog, writing about the problems you solve for people. Oh, and it helps a lot to have some video. …And to update social media sites about what you’re blogging about. Read More→

Blogging that Makes Sense: Mind Your P’s and Q

Does your business blog make sense to readers?

The most frequent complaint I hear about blogging is “I don’t know what to write about.” This is because many business bloggers don’t have enough clarity about their blogging goals. Here’s how I help my clients solve this problem. (Image: freedigitalphotos.net)

  1. Define your business Ps & Q (3 Ps + 1 Q):
  • What Problems do you solve?
  • Who are the People you serve?
  • What Products and services do you offer?
  • What makes you uniQue? Read More→

5 Pinterest Pinning Tips: Don’t Be a Pinhead


Don’t Be a Pinterest Pinhead
5 etiquette tips for pinning on the world’s favorite social pinboard

It’s true that Pinterest is fun—designed to be a simple, beautiful way to pin all your favorite ideas, products and places on the Web—but it’s also true that it’s powerful. With a registered user base that includes over 10 million and grows every day, Pinterest represents great potential for influence. That’s why, to avoid serious copyright infringement or even just the simply bad manners that are possible on this popular social pinboard, it’s vitally important to practice good Pinterest etiquette.

So whether you pin for pleasure or pin for business, here are 5 key tips to make sure you’re doing it right!

  1. Always pin from the original source: This rule is first because it’s most important. Always, always, always pin from the original source. When you pin an image that doesn’t link to its original source, you are essentially stealing credit from the creator of that image. This kind of careless sourcing is no small matter—it’s drawn some of the biggest controversy Pinterest has ever seen. Any time you pin (or repin) anything, make sure it directs users to the original site where that image was posted—otherwise you risk infringing on copyrights, upsetting the original author and giving yourself a bad name.
  2. Write teaser descriptions: Every time you pin an item, you have the opportunity to write a short description about it that will appear on your board. Because clicks are the currency of Pinterest, it’s crucial you write teaser-type phrases that draw users in but also that you don’t write descriptions that give all the information away. If you pin a recipe for black bean brownies, for example, don’t copy and paste the entire recipe into the description—simple write the name of the recipe, maybe naming the person who created it, and then let users click through to learn more.
  3. Like and comment: Interaction is what makes a social network social—so participate in the Pinterest community by liking and commenting on pins that catch your attention, repining images that you find inspiring. This helps build connections with others as well as engender goodwill. Plus, it’s fun!
  4. Show respect to users: When it comes to interactions, Pinterest is no different than any other spot on the Web—when you comment or respond to comments, always show respect to other users. This means no harsh language, no name-calling, no rudeness. Treating others how you wish to be treated goes a long way, both online and off.
  5. Report violations: Part of the way Pinterest polices its site from inappropriate content is through the help of users. On its etiquette page, the network asks users to report any content that violates the site’s Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policy—this includes nudity, as well as content that promotes harmful behavior—by pushing the “Report Content” link on a pin. So when you see something inappropriate being pinned, help the network out by reporting it.

Following these five etiquette tips will spare you the biggest and most common Pinterest problems—but is there anything I missed? What other Pinterest etiquette have you found to be important?

Shanna Mallon is a writer for Straight North, a Chicago Web development company with clients in diverse industries, from the makers of fire retardant clothing to providers of a leading merchant processing service. Check out the Straight North Blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter!  

Pinterest: 3 Reasons To Take Note

Even if you’ve never been on Pinterest, you’ve probably heard of it—this hot social network is drawing attention everywhere, from newspapers and magazines to television and political campaigns. Since beginning just a few years ago, it has become the fastest website in history to hit 10 million visitors a month—buoyed to success by loyal fans who spend hours on the network each day.

So what’s all the fuss about? What is this latest social craze? Why does it matter?

1.  Pinterest Is Visual Bookmarking. To put it in a nutshell, Pinterest is a super simple way to visually bookmark what you like on the Web—products you’re interested in buying, recipes you want to try, outfits, craft ideas, articles, infographics, etc.—all through pictures that link back to their original sources. As a new user, you set up boards (like folders) named for categories of your choosing; then, when you see something you want to bookmark, you pin it into its category and have it neatly organized to find again. As you pin, you build stunning, pretty-to-look at boards that hold all your favorite places online.

With an attractive and user-friendly interface, it easily solves a felt need for individuals—how to organize info online. Read More→

Online Persuasion: Seeing Through the Eyes of Customers

There’s an important shift in content marketing tactics that affects professionals who want to get found, get known and get clients online. And that shift means a different mindset.

Not too long ago I came across a great blog post. There was a picture of a pair of glasses lying on a bench with this caption: Don’t you wish you could see through your customers’ glasses?

What if you could live in their shoes for a day? Or, track their brains as they go online to your website? What makes them click? What makes them take action?

Here’s where you should start thinking a little differently when writing content for the Web:

Smart content marketers are using persuasion tactics that appeal to emotions rather than reasons. They know that emotions not only guide our decisions and actions, they determine whether or not we buy. Read More→