10 Tips to Create a Sales Page that Converts Prospects to Customers

You work your butt off for your clients, and they know it, but how do you convey this on the services page of your website without bragging too much or too little? It’s a balancing act that you CAN only figure out by testing to see what your clients like.
A lead usually comes from a referral. The referral could be weak or strong, but both can be very powerful if you have a solid system in place.
It could start with a friend named Tina referring her friend Stacy, who then of course goes to your website. If Stacy doesn’t feel engaged or comfortable right away, she’ll click away and probably never come back.
That’s it. Stacy either is intrigued by what you have to say or she isn’t.
There are ways to create a services page that engages and entices people and to avoid common “mistakes” that turn people off from buying from you.

Something I’ve Discovered

Over time, as I’ve worked with clients and their web sales pages, I’ve begun to see a pattern.  For example, let me tell you about a client named Carol.
Carol is a hard-working editor who struggled to get clients steadily coming to her. She cared about her clients, always met her deadlines, and did fantastic work. Yet there was a disconnect at some point in the sales funnel that she couldn’t figure out and change to her advantage.
She noticed that when it did rain, it poured. She either had too many clients or not enough. When she had too many clients a lot of them weren’t very good clients. But she took the jobs anyway because work had been slow.
She thought her sales page might not be effective, so she came to me.
We started off by looking at her website and I noticed 3 problems right away.

1. The website started off by telling potential clients how much she would charge. (Price or fees should be last, because you have to convince them why she (or you) is worth it first.)
2. She didn’t explain the benefits of hiring her.
3. She lacked a powerful call to action with an easy way to contact her.

There is a lot to be said for creating a website with the equivalent of a velvet rope that raises the bar so high that you only bring in “ideal” people, but if your offer isn’t compelling enough and/or it’s not easy to contact you, you will be losing clients.
These kinds of mistakes are very easy to make. Even simple spelling errors on your sales page can mean the difference between a sale or not because it signals to a potential client that you don’t pay attention to details.
It’s hard to write and design your own sales page because you are so close to your business. You know the great value that you deliver, but explaining it is a whole different story.
So, over the years, I’ve designed a list of my top 10 rules to creating an engaging service page that converts potential prospects into customers. I’ll share it with you here, and I’ll give you examples and walk you step-by-step through your services page.

1. Create a Compelling Narrative

Some businesses tell a story about who they are and where they come from, while others weave a great story that sucks you in and convinces you to buy from them.

Can you see what Mark did so cleverly on his Heart of Business sales page?
He compliments you as he explains who he likes to work with and asks if you are a good fit for his services.
Then he begins to create his “ideal client” velvet rope:

Steering through and staying true to your heart often requires a few things.

As you begin to read through this page, I’ll let you know that although I love working with clients, I can only handle a very few.

That said, if you’re a perfect fit and I have an opening, I’d love to support you.

He gets you excited about the possibility of working together within the first few sentences. You can’t help but keep reading.
Narrative Takeaway
Infuse Mark’s copywriting technique into your services page. For example, look at what past clients have said about their greatest struggles, ask your blog readers, Facebook followers and other outlets for feedback.  Then use their language to help craft your narrative.
When you can create a services page that walks them through the process of how you work with clients, they’ll see for themselves whether they are a good fit for you. If they believe you can help them, you’ve already done the hard work and now you just need to close the sale.

2. Leverage Great Design to Build Trust

The most important aspect of people actually reaching out to you, giving you their information, and being responsive when you message or call them is TRUST. If they land on your website and they don’t feel like they can trust you, then they will never reach out or call you.

Peter Shallard’s client sales page is well-designed. You can see he put a lot of thought into who he is and what he offers. When you land on his site, you know he is serious about his business.
I have people who help me with designing my clients’ web sites, sales pages, and product launches. Design is not my superpower. Strategy is my USP that convinces people to buy from me. I know my superpower is understanding how a business owner can create a deeper connection with his/her audience.
Design Takeaway
When improving your design, you need to create emotional separation from it. If you can do this for yourself, that’s great. If not, I suggest bringing in an expert and have them look at your analytics and structure so they can give you tips on how to improve your conversion rate.
I know my strengths are marketing strategy and copywriting, so I have a team who help me design my sales pages and clients’ web sites, sales pages, and product launches. I also prefer a simple design to a cluttered one. I know what will work, but I’m not very good at creating the design itself.
If you believe in your idea and business never be afraid to hire someone you trust to help you convey your brand’s message.

3. Know Your Greatest Superpower (Your USP)

Your services page should focus on one major aspect of what you do well for your clients. I’ve reviewed services pages that give people 10 different options, and that is a huge mistake!
When you give people too many choices, you stymie their ability to choose. Your Unique Selling Position (USP) allows you to leverage your superpower and build interest in what you do.
Take a look at your sales page and ask yourself if you have only one main offer with the rest supporting the main offer.
In my case, I offer product launch strategy and support, and with this service comes copywriting and structure for sales pages, product development, launch implementation, etc.
I’ve made the mistake of going too specialized. I thought I could create a business just around Twitter parties. I was wrong. When I expanded out my main offer, my business took off.
Superpower Takeaway
Your service page will work well when you focus on providing one service well. If you try to do too many things for too many people you aren’t going to attract your ideal people.
The key here is to test out your service page on people who would be your ideal client. Ask them what they think your main offer is and how they think you can help them.

4. Share Your Technique

Giving people advice that is valuable can be a little surprising to people. Many companies will hide their best information from you, so you have to hire them. When you show people that you are confident in your work, they will be drawn to you.
It’s why I offer people a free product launch e-course when they sign-up for my newsletter updates. I know that they could probably use this information to make 10%-20% more money off their launch, but that’s ok. The people I want to be on my list and hire me will know that this is still a small percentage of everything I know. If they hire me, I could probably increase their sales by 30%-50%.
I tell people upfront the 3 biggest mistakes that they can make on their sales page free-of-charge. They might go back to their sales page and start working on these three mistakes, and that’s ok because they probably wouldn’t have hired me anyway. The people who do hire me know that I know my craft and I will help them increase their conversion rate and save them time and money.

I like to show people what they will get when they work with me. If they want to apply these free techniques to their sales page then I’ve done my job. I’ve earned a little bit of their trust. Eventually when they are ready to take their sales page or product launch to the next level I’ll be there to help them.
Sharing Takeaway
Show people that you aren’t afraid to share your expertise and help them see how valuable you can be to them. If you help people insulate their house, then explain the biggest energy drainers that most people miss. They might go to Home Depot and fix the issues themselves or they might not have the time or energy to do it. If you educated them and earned their trust, you will be the first company to come to mind when they are ready to invest in high quality insulation.

5. Be both Humble and Confident

Almost no one knows everything there is to know about their craft. In fact, my clients teach me new techniques and ideas all the time. When you work with someone, they need to know that you are willing to listen to their ideas and build on them. This humbleness is what will continue to help your business grow.
Of course if you feel like a client has a weak idea, you must be willing to tell them why and give a very good explanation. This confidence will show them that you are also willing to help them avoid mistakes.
This concept took me awhile to learn. Initially, I acted more confident than I was and I didn’t listen very well to the good ideas that my clients presented to me. Over time, I brought humbleness and confidence to every interaction I have with my clients, and my business grew.
Confidence Takeaway
People want to see that you believe in yourself — that’s why testimonials are so powerful. When they see that you’ve helped other people, they believe you can help them. The key is to be humble with how you present yourself. If you go overboard with praise, people will tune you out and click away. Finding the right balance humility and confidence will attract your “ideal” people.

6. Describe Benefits Clearly

The list of features of your service is great, but it lacks an emotional connection. That’s why I teach all my clients to focus on benefits instead of features.
The difference between the two are subtle, but critical. A feature is an aspect of what you deliver. A feature could be how your company is never late in meeting a deadline. That’s great, but what is the benefit to the buyer.
It’s better to say something like “When you work with me, I’ll always meet our deadline and keep your business on track”. It’s critical to build trust with your clients.
Benefits Takeaway
Look at what you offer and the benefit to your client. This is the type of copy you need to include on your services page. When you can paint the picture of how much better you’ll make their life, they will understand why they should hire you instead of your competitor.

7. Include Real Testimonials

I’ve seen so many services pages without testimonials. This still surprises me because testimonials are vital to proving the value you can provide potential buyers.
The key is to put real testimonials that don’t over-hype your services. Over-hyped testimonials feel fake and disingenuous. In contrast, the best testimonials tell a story.

These three images over at Steve’s Rebel Fitness Guide tells a complete story in itself. Most businesses don’t have the luxury of having visual proof, so you will have to create a testimonial from your clients’ results. When you can back your work up with actual numbers from satisfied customers, that’s a story that will help sell your service.
Testimonial Takeaway
Use testimonials that tell a “before and after” story. Help your potential clients see how valuable your services are to people who are most like them. When you can use testimonials to paint a positive picture, prospective clients are more likely to trust you.

8. Make It Easy for People to Contact You

If you get someone interested in what you have to offer and they are ready to contact you and they can’t find the number to call or the contact form, you may lose the sale. Even a little extra time might make them lose their focus and click away before they reach out to you. The easier you make it for your ideal people to reach you, the more likely they’ll actually reach out.
For example, when you want someone to fill out a form, keep it simple and only ask for the most basic information that you need to contact them.
Contact Takeaway
Look at how people are able to contact you right now. What is your contact conversion rate? Look at how many people land on your services page and divide that by how many people actually fill out your form and submit it. That’s your contact conversion rate. Simple, but not many people calculate this number. To increase your conversion rate, you need to figure out how to make reaching out to you more enticing, and reduce the hesitation they feel before they fill out their information and send it to you.

9. Offer a Guarantee

If you have a big company or if you do everything online, a lot of people that buy from you might not actually ever meet you. You have to build trust into your services page, and offering a guarantee that you will deliver what is expected of you creates trust.

In this example, you can see that Hampton guarnantee clearly states what they expect to provide you and hopefully exceed those expectations. By putting this in every hotel lobby, on their website, and now I’m talking about it, the more confidence people will have in staying at a Hampton hotel.
Guarantee Takeaway
Do you believe in the quality of your services? That’s sounds like a silly question I’m sure, but people need proof that you do. For example, if someone isn’t happy, how far will you go to make them happy? This is what you need to make very clear on your services page. It’s backing up your results with a guarantee that will make it easier for them to trust you and more likely for them to reach out to you for more information or to buy from you.

10. Create a Clear Call to Action

Your services page must direct people to the desired action that you want them to take. You can’t expect them to know what you want them to do next. Make your call to action (CTA) as clear and direct as you can.
The simple formula is [action you want them to take] and get [thing you are offering].
You can see in the example below that Yoast’s call to action is “Fill out the form” and get “your website review!”

It specifically asks you to take the next step. Yoast created a simple call to action that converts well for him.
Call to Action Takeaway
Every service page needs to be clear on what is the next step you want your potential client to take. It might be filling out a form, calling you or hitting the buy now button. Whatever it is, make sure you are clear about the next action and the benefit of them taking that action.

Bonus Tip! Driving Focused Traffic

Being great at what you do is an accomplishment, but if people don’t know about you then you won’t be able to leverage all the knowledge that you have. This is why you need to stay hyper-focused on what you do well and drive targeted traffic to your services page.
You have to create a domino marketing effect to grow your business. One way to drive focused traffic to your sales page is to get a boost from past clients and from bloggers with authority who can showcase your expertise in public ways.
You have to be hyper-vigilant in where you market yourself. You can’t be everywhere so you need to choose a few places to be a dominant player and make sure you are so valuable, people can’t help but talk about you.
Focused Traffic Takeaway
Look at where you’ve had the most success to date. Then think about how you can expand this and improve the quality of traffic to your website. Look at where your ideal people hang out and be the expert in this area.
Improving Your Service Page
Creating or improving your service page can seem overwhelming if you don’t have the right tools. But if you follow my top 10 rules, you should have a great start to connect with your audience and show them how well you deliver on your services.
The key is to improve your services page as you go along. You will never have the perfect services page. You’ll always miss out on some buyers as you hone in on your ideal clients. That’s ok. You want to make sure you are working with people that build your confidence and truly enjoy working with you.

10 Tips to Create a Sales Page that Converts Prospects to Customers
Posted in http://dominoconnection.com/10-tips-create-sales-page-that-converts-prospects-to-customers/

Sell Benefits, Not Features

Whenever you need to sell something, how do you introduce it to potential buyers? The most natural thing for us to do is to start describing the product itself. In other words, to start describing its features. The problem with this approach? It doesn’t sell! It will simply bore the customer and make you lose his attention.
If you want to sell, you need to start with the benefits and value that your product will bring to the life of your customers. Sure, down the road you’ll need to actually describe the product features (cause people want to know what they are actually buying), but you only do that once the customer is already convinced to buy your product.
I’ll give you an example to illustrate my point. Suppose that you are a bit over weight, and you are looking for an ebook to guide you through the process of losing that extra weight. You visit the sales page of two weight-loss ebooks. Ebook A has the following bullet points right on top of the page:

• 176 pages full of content!
• Illustrations about exercises.
• A complete list of food you are not supposed to eat.
• Immediate download after you buy.

Ebook B, on the other hand, starts with the following bullet points:

• Techniques to start burning fat today!
• Lose up to 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks!
• Discover the 5 best exercises to slim down.
• Become healthier and more attractive at the same time!

If you could keep reading only one of the sales page, which one would it be? Probably the second one, cause it’s describes exactly what you are looking for, right?
In fact that’s the logic behind the theory: customers don’t want your product, they want the benefit that your product will bring to them. In the example above you can clearly see that. Over weight customers don’t care if an ebook is red, yellow, with or without illustrations, with 10 or 200 pages. All they care is whether or not they will lose weight using it. That’s what they are willing to pay for.
Bottom line: whenever you need to sell something, always start with the benefits. After all that’s what the customer is looking for.
Sources
Sell Benefits, Not Features

How Can Online Market Research Benefit Your Business ?

There are many ways in which online market research can benefit your business. As well as allowing for precise demographic breakdowns, online market research can be invaluable for lowering overheads, and for dealing with time sensitive marketing and customer satisfaction campaigns. Overall, though, online market research can provide you with a wide range of data that can be used to learn more about potential and existing customers.

Demographic Breakdowns
It’s possible to access a global network of different users online – whether through email queries, or via online test groups and competitions, you can take advantage of the reach of the Internet to focus on very narrow, but lucrative demographics.

Lower Overheads
Online market research is particularly useful for small businesses that cannot afford the overheads of physical research; queries and forms can be generated and automated to be sent out to large groups of people, and don’t require significant amounts of time to set up.

Time Sensitive
Another benefit to online market research is being able to get time sensitive campaigns sent out as quickly as possible; you can email out campaigns, while also being able to target users via social networks with a strict time limit. In this context, you may want to get some last minute reassurance over a new product launch, or you may be after some data to reinforce a presentation.

Search Engine Queries
By researching keywords, and by using Google Analytics to see what kind of phrases and search terms directed users to your company’s websites, you can get a better perspective on what customers expect from your brand; doing so can also help to build stronger Search Engine Optimisation campaigns.

Sentiment Analysis
It’s worth looking at how your brand is being discussed across social networks and blogs; tools such as Sentiment 140 for Twitter can be used for free, and can provide some valuable insights into how your brand is being talked about. This kind of approach can be combined with other qualitative measures, which might include interviews and online surveys, to help improve the strength of your brand.
The Reach of Social Media
There’s few places where you can engage with so many potential customers than social media – most of the online market research involved with social media relates to qualitative studies; conversations and Q and As can help you to build up a community of loyal consumers.

Focus Groups
You can also set up online focus groups that run in similar ways to physical focus groups; online forums and groups can be used to test customer responses to videos and content, as well as to breakdowns of new products prior to their wide release in stores.

Mobile Marketing
All businesses should have a mobile marketing plan in mind, and should be able to use mobile specific QR codes and short surveys to get a better sense of consumer preferences on the go; short online surveys tied to a customer being in a physical store can help to get a more rapid sense of their satisfaction.
Author Bio: Liam James writes about technology, from fibre optics to the latest innovations. In his spare time he enjoys reviewing and testing the latest gadgets.
Taken from http://idealtechblog.com
How Can Online Market Research Benefit Your Business ?

Understanding Affiliate Marketing

"What is affiliate marketing?" We are all bowled over by the same question when we hear that people are making a huge amount of money in this field. We kind of get inferiority back when we see that people are actually implementing something that we haven't even heard of! So let's not stay ignorant any further and try and explore this mesmerizing field. Let's start from the basics.

Consider an example of a simple business 'A'. 'A' needs to advertise his products, so he convinces 'B', who knows a lot of people, to promote his business. In return, 'A' will pay him commission according to a bond they sign (it can be share per walk in, or percentage per customer, etc.). This was a simple example in layman terminology. To understand the basic of Affiliate Marketing, replace 'A' and 'B' by websites.

Website 'A' chooses website 'B' to advertise its products. 'A' can pay 'B' either through Pay-per-Click (for each visitor), or Pay-per-Lead (for each registration), or Pay-per-Sale (commission for each sale).

Now that we've understood the essence of Affiliate Marketing, another very common query that arises is that "How do I go about implementing it in my business"?

The first obvious step to do that would be, create your website.

Once you're done with that, you can choose out of a variety of choices available in the affiliate network. For example, search engine
affiliates who essentially rely upon the Pay-per-Click commission, Retail sites that compare various products of the same category, booking a site exclusively for your advertisements, Review sites, Blogs and the list extents with your creativity and business thought process.

Being a business person, the next question that I would put forward is "How will it enhance my sales?" Visualize it this way, you have just built a website for your business and obviously, not many people know about it. Being a global business person you cannot call each of your clients to inform. That would not be a practical thing to do! Instead, hunt for a website that it already a hit amongst the internet surfers, and also use your business wit and look for sites whose contents relate to your product. This way, many people would be directed to your site, and in turn you would have to pay a minimal amount to the site.

Apart from the various promotion techniques that are available, why only Affiliate Marketing? The advertising techniques can be as many as you can think of. Promoting business is nothing but using your resources to the utmost. But then the question is "what are the reasons that Affiliate Marketing is such a hit"? This is so because; it is a "Pay per Performance" technique. You get pamphlets and hoardings printed, but you never know if you will have any walk ins or not. But in case of Affiliate Marketing, you pay only after you get a query or a customer!

Wishing you a very prosperous business!!
An article from esitesecrets.com
Understanding Affiliate Marketing

10 Ways Brands Will Win With Content Marketing in 2013

As we look forward to 2013, it’s not just consumer brands that will lead the way. Corporate and B2B brands are investing millions of dollars into content-marketing campaigns that help generate leads, bolster their reputations as thought leaders and help inform and engage their customers. In the year 2013, marketers will break through with innovative content-marketing strategies. 
Here's what we have to look forward to:

1. Practice will be over

If 2012 was after-school practice, 2013 is the varsity championship game. Many marketers spent the past year getting up to speed on content marketing. They were interested in the growing trend, and realized they needed to leverage it, but didn’t quite know how to do it. Now that it’s game time, marketers face increasing pressure to drive traffic, leads and sales through content marketing. With the right data and strong analytics, marketers will have to prove that their efforts have real business value.

2. The microsite will die

The microsite just won't cut it anymore. Social media and new technologies have allowed people to hyper-curate their web experiences, meaning they’re way more likely to go to a brand’s Twitter page than homepage. Marketers need to think creatively to gain distribution beyond their owned properties. In the words of search-marketing guru, Li Evans: “Content doesn’t win. Optimized content wins.” Marketers will need to find out exactly where their audiences are, and use relevant content to drive them back to owned sites. Marketers must activate and amplify the content they create.

3. You’ll have to scale or fail

In 2013, marketers will need to figure out how to scale and sustain their content-marketing efforts; and the answer is technology. Having an intern write three measly blog posts a week isn't going to cut it. Even a network of freelancers isn’t enough. Scaling means customizing content to specific targeted audiences and delivering enough content to consistently capture their attention.

4. You'll either go big or go home

In the spirit of scale, marketers need to fully commit to their content-marketing efforts. If you’re going to be creating and pushing out content, it needs to reach all target markets, from international to hyperlocal. Our “always on” culture demands that marketers devote sufficient resources and time to carefully planned content strategies.

5. People will judge a book by its cover

Although the phrase “B2B” invites conservative and utilitarian associations, this does not mean B2B companies should offer user experiences that prove them true. Savvy, plugged-in consumers expect innovative platforms and design wherever they are, and B2B marketers need to deliver them. Innovation in design should not be limited to consumer brands or the new generation of publishers.

6. There will be 50 shades of copyright concerns

The copyright laws surrounding digital content are pretty gray. While marketers have gotten some practice purchasing stock images or using photos with a creative commons licenses, content distribution is new territory. Although navigating copyright is a mystery to many marketers, the proliferation of content marketing means that they need to get smart quickly. Squeezed out of print revenue, publishers are adapting quickly. They’re looking at what it means to steal or share content, and marketers would be served well to catch up to their publishing counterparts.

7. Brands will break news

The "brands as publishers" trend means brands need to think like newsrooms. Speed is everything. If the Twittersphere is buzzing with news about a company, that particular company can (and should) own that content. What are audiences interested in right now, and how can brands deliver it to them? Brands no longer need to rely on PR and publishers to react to news; they can be and break the news. Red Bull is the ultimate example of this, with 8 million people tuning into its Stratos mission. Think beyond evergreen content, and create relevance among content, audience, and current events.

8. Social content will be the new ad unit

We've seen the obituaries of the banner ad in pretty much every major blog. Now what? New ad formats are coming, such as the one from Flite, which put content front and center.  With content at the heart of every campaign, brands will drive engagement, leads and sales. Again, technology will make these efforts scale.

9. Native advertising will start to scale.

Native advertising is the next big thing, but many properties haven’t quite figured out how to scale it; that’s bound to change. We’ll start seeing a marketplace or ad exchange for native ads where brands can buy and sell sponsored posts. The success metrics for these ads will likely be social sharing and engagement. A marketplace or ad exchange will be the key to scale and sustainability for this ad format in 2013.

10. Brands and publishers will be better together.

As the line dividing traditional publishers and brands continues to dissolve, we’ll see new partnerships form between the two that will open up opportunities—beyond the native ad—to engage audiences in creative, innovative and profitable ways. One example we’ve loved is the online/offline campaign from Microsoft and Conde Nast. Partnerships will be critical to standing out and gaining greater distribution in a sea of content.


Article by Shafqat Islam
10 Ways Brands Will Win With Content Marketing in 2013

Simplify Social Media Marketing With 6 Free Mobile Apps

If you have a Smartphone or other mobile device like an iPad, then you can manage your social media marketing on the go. There are many apps out there that you can use to make it easier and faster to take care of your social media activities.
If you spend more time away from your computer or just don’t have the time needed to focus on social marketing throughout the day, then look into downloading some of these free apps onto your mobile device and take your work with you.

Plume
Plume is an app that is similar to TweetDeck. With it, you can manage multiple Twitter accounts. It makes it easy to shorten links with a drop-down menu. You can customize the app to improve your Twitter experience. You can save usernames and hashtags that you use often to save time. It gives you the option to preview photos and add your location.
The Plume app also enables you to post to Facebook.

Flipboard
Flipboard is a great tool for finding content on-the-go. You can connect your social media profiles so you can share content easily while seeing what is going on with your social networks.
You can connect the app with Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr and your blogs. You will be able to find and share content, interact with fans and followers and manage your social media from one app.

Google Currents
This is another great app for finding content to post to your social networks. It is similar to adding information through a RSS feed. You can see what is trending right now on the Internet, plus choose sites to add to your library.
By finding popular content to post, you will see even greater response from your followers. Ask questions based on the subject, get discussions going about trending topics and receive an increase in engagement.
Apps like this lessen the amount of time you have to spend in searching for content to share, leaving more time to interact with your audience.

Buffer
Share videos, photos, articles and status updates across several social networks easily with the Buffer app. The app helps you stay on point with your content so you can keep your marketing focused. You can connect Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
However, using third-party apps like Buffer to post directly on your Facebook page can actually reduce your engagement ration, so use it sparingly.
You can post 10 times a day and pick what times you want to share during the week. That gives you the advantage of posting during the best times for engagement.

Postling
Postling makes it easy for you to create content and post it directly to your blog so you can keep up with fresh content even when you’re not in front of your computer. This is important because new content is what your audience wants.
You can also monitor RSS feeds, Citysearch and Yelp for any reviews of your company. Right now, this app is only available for iPhone users.

Facebook
Facebook is always updating its mobile app to improve usability. It is an important part of mobile marketing. You can upload photos and videos to share or just write a quick text status update for your fans.
You can also respond to comments and share other posts plus monitor what people are saying on your page.
Social media marketing can take up a lot of time. Using mobile apps can make it fast and easy to handle some common tasks without having to stay close to the office.
What mobile apps do you use to simplify your marketing while you’re away from the computer?

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Dawn Pigoni, Post from: SiteProNews

Simplify Social Media Marketing With 6 Free Mobile Apps

Most Out of Your Content Marketing Budget?

According to a study released by the Content Marketing Institute a few weeks ago, B2B marketers are spending more on their content than ever before. In fact, the average company spends 33 percent of its marketing budget on content marketing – so, all of those blog posts or sales copy you’re having done by a pro really add up.
If you’re planning on spending even more on your content marketing efforts in 2013, you’re not alone. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s study, more than half of B2B marketers plan to increase their content spending next year.
The only problem?
Lots of those people don’t know if their strategies are actually working.
Whether it’s creating enough content, compelling content, or finding the right people to create their content, there is a lot of uncertainty out there.

Call it the “Content Conundrum”
If you’re not quite sure how to approach your content marketing strategy – or you’re not even sure if your content marketing budget is money well spent – you’re not alone.
Even worse, you may not even know you’re on the wrong track.
The truth is, I see people making huge content marketing mistakes every single day. And, the sad part is, they think they’re doing everything right. In today’s world, though, you can’t afford to make mistakes with your web content. Not only will Google’s spiders make you pay for them, but you’ll literally pay for them – in dollars and cents.

Here are the most common examples:

• The Double Spenders
In most cases, these people think they can get a great deal on their content, usually by spending a couple bucks on an article from a writer who promises to be different from all of the other “churner-outers” who are offering the same low prices. But, when they get the final product, they realize they’ve got nothing but gobbledygook.
Now they’re left with two options – try to rewrite the content themselves (wasting valuable time), or pay someone to do it properly (and, thus, pay for the same thing twice). After all, ever since the Panda update, they don’t dare publish it as-is. That’s SEO suicide!

• The Micro-Managers
These are the people who know they need a quality content writer and are willing to pay for top-notch expertise. The only problem? They micro-manage to the point of damaging their final product.
For example, I had a client place an order for an article a few months back. In that article, she wanted five paragraphs (no more, no less), and each of those paragraphs had to have a minimum of seven sentences. I tried (very politely) to tell her that her topic actually lent itself much better to a bullet-point list format and that paragraphs that long weren’t really ideal for the Web (since Web readers like to scan). But, no, she insisted on having long paragraphs… well… just because.
In the end, she got what she wanted, but I felt like her final product could have been so much better if she had taken my advice. I couldn’t help but wonder if she went into an Italian restaurant for dinner that night and told the chef how many garlic cloves to put in his marinara sauce. It’s really no different.

• The Stop-Shorters
Some people hire great writers and take full advantage of their expertise, but stop just short of doing everything right – by not taking full advantage of their content. After all, there is no rule that says your Web content can only be posted in one place. If you want to make the most out of your content marketing budget, you have to leverage every single piece.

How do you do that?
Don’t just publish a blog post and call it a day. Instead, put that post on your RSS feed, share it on your social media profiles, tell your e-mail list about it, and share it on niche-specific bookmarking sites (for example, I share all of the articles I post here on SiteProNews on BizSugar.com, a Digg-type website geared specifically to business owners. You can do everything I just listed in less than 10 minutes, but the exposure it generates can be endless.
After all, that’s what content marketing is really about – leveraging your own expertise (and the expertise of the writer you hire) to present you and your business in the very best light. At the end of the day, if you’re left with “could’ves,” “should’ves” and “would’ves,” you’re not making the most out of your content marketing budget.

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Nicole Beckett, Post from: SiteProNews

Six Common Facebook Marketing Mistakes

These days, it is important for businesses to maintain an active social media presence if they want to be successful. Facebook is one of the leaders in social networking, making it the main focus for entrepreneurs as they start out in their online marketing strategies.
Many businesses don’t realize they are making some common mistakes when they start using Facebook. This can lead to ineffective marketing and a failure to get the results you need.
Here are six of the most common mistakes to avoid when implementing your Facebook marketing strategy.

Cover Photo Doesn’t Meet Guidelines
Your Facebook cover photo is great for getting the attention of users. Many business owners don’t realize, though, that there are guidelines that must be followed to avoid having your page shut down.
Your cover photos cannot contain:

• Pricing information.
• Your contact information.
• Facebook interface features like Share or Like.
• A Call to Action.

Fail to Follow Contest Guidelines
A Facebook contest is a good way to engage and interact with your followers. It can also get more attention from other users and draw them to your brand. But if you’re not following the guidelines set by Facebook for holding a contest, you run the risk of having your business page removed.
Those guidelines include:

• Do not use Facebook features (Like, Post, Comment, Share) as a basis for the contest.
• Do not use a third-party app or run contest on a separate tab.
• Do not state Facebook is connected to the contest in any way.

Your Prize Doesn’t Fit the Business
You always see businesses giving away hot prizes like iPads. While this can be a great way to get attention to your Facebook page and bring in a few more fans, these prizes tend to draw more of the people you don’t want.
You want to attract the fans who will engage with you on a regular basis and who are interested in what your company has to offer. A big-ticket item will draw more people who will only Like your page to get a contest entry and end their interaction there.
Instead, offer a prize that is related to your company and its products or services.

Not Using Visual Content
Picture and video posts get the most attention on social media sites. If you aren’t seeing much interaction from your fans with your posts, then you need to start including images with the post to capture their attention and get them to want to leave a comment, like and share.

You’re Not Posting at Your Peak Time
If your target audience is not online during the day, you will not see high levels of engagement with your posts if you are updating your page at 9 a.m. Check your metrics to see what time of day/week you see the highest interaction with your content and start timing your posts in that window.

Not Asking Engaging Questions
When you update your posts on Facebook, it is important to always ask your fans a question that will want to answer. Social media users love to share, so when you ask them something, they are ready to answer. Ask for their opinion on a new product or who their pick is for the Super Bowl this year.
Have you been making some (or all) of these mistakes with your Facebook page? What have you done to see better results through social media?

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Dawn Pigoni, Post from: SiteProNews

Inbound Marketing Strategies for E-commerce Startups

One of the growing concerns for e-commerce sites is the high rate of shopping cart abandonment. According to Clickz.com, approximately 25 percent of shoppers who abandon their carts during the transaction never come back. This means only 75 percent of potential customers become leads. That is where inbound marketing comes in.

Inbound marketing involves taking care of customers that may not buy on their first visit. Nurturing these non-transactional customers will improve the conversion rates for your e-commerce site.

What is Inbound Marketing?

There are two types of marketing strategies: inbound and outbound. Traditional outbound marketing techniques involve using paid advertisements, publishing press releases and paying sales personnel to contact potential leads. This technique is more involved and persistent and, at times, can irritate potential leads. Inbound marketing involves earning the lead’s trust by publishing useful content, interacting with potential customers using social media and so on.

E-commerce Sites Need Inbound Marketing

Not all customers complete their purchases during the first visit. A number of studies have concluded that up to 75 percent of shopping carts are left behind before the transaction is completed. Here are some of the top reasons for shopping cart abandonment:

• Completing the transaction at a later time
• High prices
• Change of mind
• Process takes too long
• Asking too many personal questions

1. Find out why your customers are leaving their carts behind

Neglecting to find out why potential customers are abandoning their shopping carts means losing out on a large percentage of potential leads and customers. There are several ways to nurture potential leads without bombarding them with sales offers. This includes sending free product information or newsletters. To offer these resources, gathering the customer’s e-mail address and sending the download link for the requested product information is key.

2. Provides potential leads with other options besides buying

There are still ways to reach out to non-purchasing customers, even if they have not left their contact information with your company. A lot of customers leave the website prematurely if they do not feel ready to purchase at that moment but are not given any other alternatives except to buy immediately. One technique is to educate customers and provide them with information on what products can help satisfy their needs. Helping customers help themselves is one way of interacting with potential leads and improving conversion rates.

3. Save money

Outbound marketing techniques are expensive to execute. Consider how much money it takes to buy a newspaper ad or create a commercial for television and compare the cost with publishing content online. Instead of opting for ads or airtime, consider blogging instead. Aim to publish at least one blog per week. Each blog piece should be of high quality and discuss a topic your potential customers would be interested in. Once the content has been published, start promoting it on social networks. This may take more effort to execute, but your leads will be better targeted.

4. Targets qualified customers

Inbound marketing is more effective in reaching out to its audience. Television ads may be seen by millions of people, but only a minute percentage of this number will be interested in the product being advertised. Publishing content online caters only to those who are interested in the product being featured in the article. With inbound marketing, potential customers are qualifying themselves to know more about the products your company is selling.

5. Establish a name and reputation

People are drawn to personalities and brands that can provide them with valuable information that can enrich their lives. E-commerce sites that are known to consistently produce valuable content will gain a reputation within the community and the industry as an authority for a specific niche.

How E-commerce Start-ups Can Use Inbound Marketing

Develop and Invest in a Blog

E-commerce sites should think about publishing a blog with unique and amazing content on a regular basis. It is recommended your blog be put up even before your business becomes established. Blogs are great avenues to publish content that potential customers would find useful or interesting. The same blogs can also be used to establish and maintain a community of followers. Producing content that people would find valuable is key to establishing an e-commerce site.

Sign Up for Social Media

Another way to communicate with potential customers is by opening accounts on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media websites allow brands and people to communicate with one another. The medium also allows various forms of content to be shared between networks easily.

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Bethany Wesch

10 Steps to Effective Relationship Marketing

Relationship marketing is a much more effective method of building a business than the typical pushy salesman approach.
Making the sale should not be your immediate goal. Connecting with your prospect and building a relationship is what should be foremost in your marketing strategy. You want to accomplish a long-term relationship with your customer not just a quick sale.

A customer needs to find a business they can feel comfortable with, and trust in, to provide what they need. Building relationships is a crucial step in this process. It may take several interactions, whether by e-mail, phone or in person, with a customer to make a sale. Do not make your customer feel pushed or intimidated into buying. There are many things you can do to show your potential customer you are interested in more than just “making the sale.”

1. Focus on Customer Needs – Don’t make your customer feel that all you want is their money. Take the time to find out what they really need and let them know how you can fulfill those needs. You have to put your customer’s need for problem solution above your need to make the sale. 


2. Really Listen to Your Prospects – Listening to your prospect is common sense to us but, unfortunately, in our need to make a sale, we might overlook this. Don’t let outside distractions take away any of your attention. Reserve 100 percent for your customer and really listen to what he or she is saying to you. Do not let your feelings or your ego stand in the way of listening to your customer. Don’t go by the book. Every customer and situation is different and you have to follow the current conversation not a script.

3. Be Available – Always, always have your contact information such as e-mail address, phone number, etc. readily available to give to your prospects and customers. They need to be comfortable in the fact that they can reach you anytime they need you.

4. Offer Information and Resources – Offer free information, reports, resources, etc. on your website, blog, or newsletter. Let your customer know you want to help them with all their needs. Provide a weekly mailing with helpful tips, hints and information. Show them you are willing to go the extra mile to help.

5. Personalized Greetings – Don’t just take the money and vanish. Stay in touch with your customers to help build that lasting long-term relationship. Send out personalized holiday greetings, well wishes etc. with greeting cards, postcards or e-mail. Even just sending a hand-written thank you note will go a long way in forming that lasting relationship. 


6. Provide Ongoing Support – Many times after a person purchases something, customers have questions or concerns about that purchase. Make sure you provide ongoing support by e-mail or phone so their questions and their concerns can be addressed. Unfortunately, too many times, companies seem to disappear once the purchase is complete. Don’t let that be you and your company.

7. Be Honest – In our eagerness to make the sale, we sometimes stretch the truth or completely abandon it. Never make promises you cannot fulfill or claims you cannot live up to. If the customer needs something you cannot provide, discuss possible options or alternatives or refer them to someone who can take care of their needs. Never make false claims even if you do have good intentions. 


8. Show Respect – This goes without saying, no matter how difficult the customer or situation. There are customers that can certainly try our patience, but you must never lose your temper with a customer. Talk to them calmly and let them know you will do what you can to take care of the problem. Show them that you can work through their crisis and take care of the problem. Your calmness and confidence will help calm them down and reassure them that all will be well again. 


9. Customer Appreciation - Offer your customers discounts, incentives, prizes or rewards any time you can to show them you appreciate them. There are companies that have incentives for new customers but nothing for existing customers. This is definitely not right. You need to show your existing customers you appreciate them as well. Send coupons, free gifts, etc. Doing so could mean a lot to your customer and your business.

10. Connect with Your Customer – Make the effort to actually connect with your customer as a person, not just to make a sale. Gone are the old school ways of making sales with pushy sales pitches, intimidation, scare tactics, etc. We now know relationship marketing and mutual respect and trust sets the tone for long-lasting buyer/seller associations.
Even though you are in business for yourself, think of your customer as your boss. You work for your customer. You are there for your customer. You need your customer more than he needs you. Always value your customer and show them they can value you.