20 Reasons Why You Should Want More Traffic To Your Website

More Traffic – Less Time

  1. More traffic means more monetary income for your business.
  2. The more people know about what services your small business offers, the more likely they are to become a new client.
  3. When more people know about who you are and what you do, they are more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family.
  4. Consumers in 2012 are more likely to give you their business if you are up to date on the latest technology.
  5. more traffic to your website - Louve Notes Media GroupClients not only want to go to your website to find out about your business, they also want to find out general tips and tricks concerning your area of operation.
  6. There were billions upon billions of searches made on Google in 2011 – don’t you want to partake in that and get more traffic to your website?
  7. By Christmas 2011, 1 in 2 Americans will own a smart phone – This means 50% of the population will have access to the Internet (and your website!) right in their pockets.
  8. The age ranges of Americans who access the Internet every day have spanned from 3 years old all the way up to 100+.
  9. Everyone who is anyone is actively on the Internet.  Get more traffic.
  10. Your customers want to be able to rely on your business to supply them with the information they need on a 24/7 basis – This is possible with a website and blog.
  11. Setting up your website will allow your current customers and clients to see what weekly specials and events you’re currently offering.
  12. Your customer’s lives are extremely stressful – Make the process of going to your website simple and easy in order to become invaluable to your customers.
  13. There are many businesses out there who have confusing websites with little to no information on them – Stand out and create an informational website.
  14. Customers are willing to pay a premium if you make the process of buying a product or a service very simple and intuitive on your website.
  15. When customers refer their friends to you, you need to make a good impression because then it makes the original customer look and feel smart – Customers love that!
  16. Everyone likes free stuff – give your new email subscribers an incentive to sign up with you.  This will give your website more traffic.
  17. There are customers out there who cannot navigate confusing websites but they will not admit that to you because that makes them feel inadequate and they will simply not give you their business – Instead create a logical, simple website that is easy for anyone to navigate.
  18. Customers hate salespeople, but they love to buy things – make this process simple and painless for them.
  19. Most customers will give you anything you ask for as long as you don’t make them feel silly about it.
  20. Customers want you to do all the hard work for them and then they want to take all the credit – this is possible with the design and implementation of an email sign up form on your intuitive website.
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What is Mobile Marketing?

Essentially, the word “mobile” means capable of being moved.  When you think of marketing and advertising, you may not necessarily associate those two words together.  But in this day in age, when almost every single person walking down the street carries the Internet in their pockets, you as a small business owner need to take advantage of this phenomenon.

mobile marketing with Louve Notes Media GroupThere’s no doubt that you’ve probably seen a few of these funky bar codes pop up in your life over the past few months.  But do you know what they are?  For those of you with smart phones, you can actually use a free “App” to scan this code and it will take you to a website specified by the QR code.

This is a great way to implement mobile marketing into your business strategy.  Face it: people are lazy.  They may not want to type out your entire website name into their mobile browser – those keys are tiny!  Instead, make it easy and simple for your customers to access your website.

Create a large QR code sign and place it at your front desk.  This way, when customers come in to your office they will be able to whip out their smart phones, scan the code and get access to all of the great features that you provide on your website.  They can access your latest blogs, special offers and office hours – all on the go.

Our society is made up of on-the-go people.  They want their information and they want it now.  Your small business needs to be able to give them their information as soon as possible.

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What is Social Proof & Why it Should Matter to Your Small Business

Social proof is the phenomenon that occurs when we find out that others are doing something that we are not. Just the idea that someone has the scoop on something we care about or about something we don’t know anything about, is enough to make us care.

For some of us, it’s human nature to want to be the first of our friends to reveal news or have the newest technology. As marketers, finding out that your early influencers are – the ones who really care about being the first to know or have something, will put you in front of the curve in harnessing your social proof.

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strong social proof helps to grow your business

Launching a product with no social proof is a difficult undertaking. In an article written for Tech Crunch, Aileen Lee describes five types of social proof.

Five Types of Social Proof

  1. Expert social proof – approval from a credible source
  2. Celebrity social proof – Think Pro Active ads on TV- they’ve used several celebrities to “prove” how great their acne medication is.
  3. User social proof – Yelp reviews are an example of user social proof. Reviews,  can impact a company both positively and negatively.
  4. Wisdom of the crowd’s social proof – When we see a packed restaurant, we know it must be good. All of these people can’t be wrong.
  5. Wisdom of your friends social proof – Think about all your social networks and the impact that your friends have on you when you see they’ve liked and/or shared something. You are more likely to “like” or share something that your friends have said was worthwhile or great.

Small businesses and professionals need to understand the importance of social proof. Companies with large amounts of financing have blown launches simply because no one knew enough about what they were trying to do.

Color, a new app that was supposed to connect users using location-based pictures, launched in March of 2011 on Apple and Android devices. However, even with $41m raised from major VC firms backing the company, the launch was a bust.

Color had no user base with which to connect. They failed to not only create a buzz within their target market, they did a poor job creating a need for their app. Users should have been clamoring for its release, but alas, we had no idea why we should want to use it, so of course we didn’t care.

Small business marketing depends on your ability to show that your product or service is the best choice for your target market. Find your early influencers and talk directly to them, they will do most of the leg work after that.

Are you an early influencer for a product or service you love or will you only purchase something if one of the above social proof criteria have been met? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

 

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You Don’t Have to be an SEO Wizard to Increase Traffic to Your Website

As a small business owner, one of your goals every month should be to increase traffic to your website.  Gone are the days of the Yellow Pages – can you even remember the last time you looked-up something in the phone book?  Your clients can’t either.  The Internet has made the phone book an endangered species.  So, if you’re not findable by your prospective clients when they Google “fitness and wellness professionals” you don’t exist to them.

you don't have to be an SEO wizard to draw traffic to your website

The first step to getting found as a service professional is to create a dynamic online presence; the fastest most effective way to create that presence is to start a blog.

Starting a blog may seem like a giant task at first.  But it doesn’t have to be so overwhelming.  It should become part of your weekly business routine.  Also, don’t blog about things that you don’t like or your clients may not like.  Blog about what you know and love.  If you do this the rest will follow.  Your readers and subscribers will realize that you are passionate about what you do and that will cause them to trust you and your small business.

Don’t think about writing your weekly blogs as a chore.  Think about it as more of a free marketing tool that you can use to drastically increase traffic to your website.  That’s right – it’s free!  If you already have a website then adding a blog page to that site is a tiny step towards getting the right people to view your site so that you can help them to the best of your ability.

Lastly, make sure you keep your blog up to date.  You should be posting multiple times every week.  But don’t think that you are the only one in your company that should be posting on your blog.  In fact, readers will find it more interesting if you integrate multiple writers into your blog.

For instance, if one of your co-workers is very passionate about the technology your company uses, versus your competitors, let him/her write about that in their weekly blog post.  This way, you don’t have to be the only one to contribute to your company blog, but it will still be updated weekly so that you can increase traffic to your website.

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At Last, Call to Action Ideas that Turn Visitors into Leads

Marketing call to action ideas are crucial to the success of your website, and thus the success of your small business.  A marketing call to action button is a way that you can track potential leads and current customers.

call to action buttons that actually drive traffic to your website

Here are a few tips and tricks on how you can create a highly effective marketing call to action button:

Placement

Your home page should be where you feature most of your call to action ideas.  This is the default place where all of your customers are directed to straight from a search engine.  But beware, do not place too many marketing call to action buttons on your home page.  This will only overload the user and cause them to bounce right off your page.

A vs. B

Build and create a few quality marketing call to action buttons and trade them in and out every week or so.  Take data and statistics on each button and see which one generated more leads that were ultimately turned into customers.  While using Hubspot, they have a really great marketing call to action button that automatically switches a predesigned button with another comparative button.  The Hubspot call to action button generator also collects stats on each button to let you know which button has generated more traffic.

Design

If you are enticing your readers to download a free e-book, put a picture of a book on the actual button.  Simplicity is key.  Use a font color that is readable over the image or over the background color.  No one likes reading bright yellow text on a neon pink background.

Redirection

Where are you sending users to after they click on your marketing call to action button?  Your button should send users to a corresponding landing page where they should then fill out a form.  This form could ask for information such as name, email address, Twitter handle, industry, company role, etc.  Also, if the landing page where you are sending users is meant to achieve a purpose, feel free to ask users specific questions with a fill-in-the-blank answer box.

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See How Easily You Can Get Traffic to Your Site

A little bird told me you want to get traffic to your site.  If I hit the nail on the head, read on my friend!

Create Remarkable Contentsee how easily you can get traffic to your site

No one in the entire world will be drawn to a website that is lacking intriguing content.  In order to get traffic to your site, you need to first draw readers in through the use of creative and innovative ideas.  For instance, on your blog (you do have a blog, don’t you?) for a restaurant, don’t just write posts about your own restaurant.

Instead, blog about current trends in your market including how many restaurants are only serving locally produced food on their menus.

Blog about how you created your latest menu and which company you utilized in doing so.  Maybe you could even get their company to mention your restaurant on their website’s blog.  You scratch their back, they’ll scratch yours.

Now this is not to say that you should never ever post anything about your own restaurant.  You definitely should!  In fact, you should post about upcoming events, recent menu additions, new staff members and restaurant milestones.  But, this should not be your main source of blog content.

Now, some may consider this cheating, but another way that you can get traffic to your site is to see how your competitors are getting traffic to their websites.  It is public information after all.

Another thing to think about is the demographic of the potential customers you are trying to target.  Are they of the younger generation?  If so, they may have an active presence on Facebook and Twitter.  Now, I know that you already have a Facebook page and a Twitter handle for your small business, right?  What you need to do now is engage your readers and create content that they actually want to see and read.

Put up exclusive content on your Facebook page that only users who have “Liked” your page can view.  You can post coupons, secret menu items and extended hours only for your Facebook followers.

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2 Social Media Lessons Every Service Provider Should Learn

social media lesson, the easy way to get traffic to your siteHere at Louve Notes Media, we do not want you to learn these social media lessons the hard way.  Follow these simple steps to improve your social media marketing strategy today:

Use Meta Description Tags

Meta data can be simply defined as “data about data”.  In Google, when you do a search, the meta data is the little snippet of information below the website URL that tells the reader a little bit about what information is contained on the page you are about to click.  This tiny description is really all you have to convince potential readers to click on your page.  So, your page’s meta description should be interesting enough to make it stand out against the other millions of meta descriptions out there.

Also, you should make sure that each page on your website has its own meta description because each page is about something different.  A good way to increase the probability that someone will click on your site is to promote a free offer in your meta description.  This could be an e-book, a consultation, a seminar or a white paper. Think about it, you love getting free stuff, especially free stuff that will help you grow your business.

Use Links in Every Footer

One way to utilize links in every footer on your page is to link to other pages within your website that are related to the current page.  Make sure that you aren’t doing this:

Like what you just read? Click here to read more about how to grow your small business!

Instead, you should link the entire keyword phrase like this:

Like what you just read? Click here to read more about how to grow your small business!

Google has a ball with links so make sure that the links you are providing to your readers include descriptive keywords that focus on the content of the page you will redirect them to.

Another way to utilize links in your footers is to link to content that you own outside of your website.  This includes your blog, Facebook page, Twitter page, podcasts, and YouTube account.  The specific link, or links, you provide at the bottom of each page should be related to the content on the page.  Since the information you provide for readers on your page should intrigue them to read more, supplying them with related links to what they just read will eliminate any extra work they have to do to read more about a particular subject.  Simplicity is key.

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How to use Social Media as a Marketing Tool for your Small Business

A simple way to use social media as a marketing tool for your small business: You’ve seen these little blocks before, right?  Do you know what they are?  They are actually Quick Response Codes.  Smart phone users can scan the code with their phones and it will automatically take them to a website.

Go ahead, scan the code on the left with your smart phone to see where it takes you!

Now, how can you use this social media as a marketing tool for your small business?  Change posters hanging in your office that are advertising your social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  Instead of having users type in the name of your business into search bars on each different social media site, they can simply can this QR code and users are automatically directed to your business’s site.

Another way to incorporate QR codes into your business is to create an event on Facebook, such as “Wear Favorite NFL Jersey to Your Appointment and Get 10% Off of Your Services”.  Then when you advertise for the event, you can just put the QR code on your posters.  This is just a simple way to use social media as a marketing tool for your small business.

Another way to advertise for your event could be so simply have a large QR code on the center of the poster and have the words, “Will You Be There?” written across the top.  This will create a sense of urgency along with a bit of suspense for your clients.  Putting a poster like this in your office or waiting room will give patients something to do while they wait.

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Beware: The Benefits of Social Media for Business Could be Overwhelming

The benefits of social media for business may be hard to see at first, but once you get started with social media sites, it’s often hard to stop.

With revolutions in today’s technology, an astounding 50% of American’s own a smart phone.  This is a fact that you, as a small business owner, need to keep in mind as you create your smart marketing campaign.

You need to realize that a smart phone user carries the internet in their pocket.  This is vital to your success.

The Benefits of Social Media for Business

“Like” Us!

If you have clients coming in to your office on a daily basis, place a simple poster in your waiting room asking them to “Like” you on Facebook using their smart phones.

For an incentive, enter everyone who “Likes” your page into a monthly contest to earn a free service or product from your small business.  This is a small price to pay for having the attention of every single one of your clients because you can market to them right from their smart phones.

When clients “Like” your page, anything you post as an update on your page will automatically go directly to your clients’ newsfeed.  This is the perfect place for your brand to engage with its users as well as get the word out about weekly specials, new services and interesting products you are offering.

Interacting with your clients on Facebook also lets them see all the other clients you serve.

You can post pictures of events, feature different clients monthly, embed coupons especially for your Facebook fans to print out or show to you on their smart phone directly in the office. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

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How to Use Facebook When You Don’t Know Squat About Social Media Marketing

If you’re already using Facebook for personal reasons, you’re part of the way there. If you’re not already using Facebook in any capacity or you are just unsure about how to set up a fan page, click here to watch a video on how to set up a business fan page on Facebook. 

how to use facebook for small businessKnowing how to use Facebook as part of your overall small business marketing plan is a great tool to add to your marketing arsenal. To begin creating a marketing strategy for your Facebook fan page you need to develop a Facebook content strategy.

How to use Facebook as a content publishing source?

Step 1. Set Goals

What do you want on Facebook? Are you here to continue a discussion with brand loyalists or to attract new brand followers? Either is fine, but it’s important to know what success looks like for you and your brand before you begin.

Step 2. Determine Your Publishing Frequency

Once you know what you hope to accomplish on Facebook, it’s time to decide how often you want to engage your fans. It’s best practice to post at least once per day.

How to use Facebook to Promote Your Business and Engage Your Fan Base

Create daily features and standard topics for each day of the week. For example, Mondays might be designated as the day Facebook fans receive exclusive discounts off your products and services. Tuesdays are fan loyalty days, etc.

Having a structure to your content gives your readers something to look forward to and it also helps you create your content ahead of time. This is where a content calendar becomes useful.

Facebook and social media marketing can be very overwhelming if you don’t have a content calendar in place. Not only does it help to see what you’re going to publish, it’s a running record of what has already been published. A content calendar keeps your content fresh and allows you to see your posts as they relate to your other social media platforms.

View our “Social Media Marketing for Small Business” webinar on demand for more information on how to use Facebook and other social media networks for your social media marketing for your small business. 

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