One such “extra piece” is the use of videos. Not everyone likes to read so if you give your visual visitors something to look at, such as How To videos or a tour of your store, they’re more likely to stay around and see what you’re about.

An essential item for a website’s success is testimonials.  If you have happy customers, put their letters or emails on your site. Potential clients like to know that others have gone before them and are happy with what you provide. The testimonials can also be videos if you have people who prefer to do it that way.

Another very important element, besides the written words (also known as content), is the use of graphics. I’m talking about eye-pleasing photos, charts, and clip art pictures that draw focus, make the web page interesting, and break up what would be considered a lot of text.

This next one is simple, yet so many websites overlook it – contact information. There is nothing more frustrating than looking all over a website and not finding a way to contact the site owner.

On every page of the website there should be an address, phone number, and email address.  This is crucial to good customer service, and it makes a site look more legitimate and less suspicious.

But it’s not enough just to have any old website. You need a website that will draw traffic, aka visitors, who are surfing the web. These are visitors you wouldn’t otherwise have and they can make a huge difference in the success or failure of your online presence.

So how do you get these visitors who are surfing the web?

By your choice of words…
* in your content
* in your content titles
* in your graphics titles
* behind the scenes of your site
* in your links to other pages of your site

Some words are better than others because they are searched for again and again by TONS of people. Some words, called longtail keywords, are searched for a lot yet have little competition from other sites (not as many sites use these keywords). If you use these favorable longtail keyword phrases it may mean you can land on page 1 in Google for the phrase.

The result of being on page 1 of the Google search engine is huge! Just think what it means if people find your website on the first page of their search – a marked influx of traffic and a big new market of people to market to.

About one-third of people deliberately search for information about local businesses through the internet rather than through the phone book or other traditional media. Ignoring this fact can be detrimental, but those that take advantage of local business internet marketing will see the advantages that are available. There are three basic steps that a local business can utilize in order to market itself online. They are not necessarily followed in any particular order, but they include managing online business profile information, optimizing web pages for local internet searches, and increasing the local popularity of the site by dominating the search results.

There are various sites that provide business profiles, and the most important ones are those run by the primary search engines. In order to ensure that the search engines have an accurate profile of a business, it is necessary to improve and correct profile data through various online channels. These include data providers such as Amacai, infoUSA, and Acxiom. The search engines themselves have business profiles as well. These include Google Maps, Bing Local, Yahoo Local, Local.com, Ask.com Local, and TrueLocal. The search engines obtain information from the national data providers, but allow businesses to submit their information as well. Internet yellow pages such as Switchboard, YellowPages.com, SuperPages.com, and Citysearch should also contain up-to-date information.

The next step is to optimize the primary website. This means performing keyword research, providing relevant local information, organizing the site both for users and search engines to understand, and obtaining links from high quality sites related to the subject of the business. In addition to these tasks, which are relevant to all online businesses, a local business marketing strategy will target keyword phrases that reflect local needs, and information on the site will seem targeted to local traffic rather than a generic audience. Furthermore, a local phone number and address should be listed on all prominent pages of the site, or even on every page. Display a local phone number even if a toll-free number is also available, as this is helpful for the search engines and people to determine the location of the business. Driving directions can also be helpful.

The final step is to dominate the search results for keywords related to the business. The first two steps contribute to this. There are three locations that a search engine can display a website: the general search results, the local listings, and the advertisements. The first step focuses on a high location in the local results and the second step focuses on a high rank in the general results. By taking advantage of pay-per-click opportunities, a business can advertise next to the search results as well.

About the Author

Author is a freelance writer. For more information on local business marketing, please visit http://www.local-marketing.com/.

According to Matt Cutts from Google, they may not be as important to Google as they used to be …

“How to…” are two words that end up in search engines quite frequently. The Internet is 100 percent information transmission — someone has something to share, and others have things they want to gain. The how-to phenomenon exemplifies this dynamic like few other events can. People no longer have to go out to the store to get a book on car maintenance or pot roast recipes — they just hop online and grab the information for free.

Ah, but that’s not to say there’s no money in how-tos. How-to celebs like Kimberly Clayton Blaine and Michelle Phan have made substantial headway in the world of how-to videos, with their once quiet video sites gaining major cooperation from organizations like Lancôme and Yahoo! as a result of their rapidly-growing popularity.

But what exactly makes a good, solid how-to video? What parts need to be included in a proper series in order to encourage people to keep coming back for view after view?

Part 1: Choose a Topic People Care About

It might seem like a given, but a lot of marketers seem to forget that people have emotions and minds of their own, and they can tell when someone isn’t giving their all. Someone who is obviously “phoning in” a performance is likely to get dismissed out of hand compared to someone who obviously is knowledgeable and passionate about their chosen topic.

There are a lot of ways for a presenter to show they care about a topic. Great how-to artists — and when done well, it truly is an art — like to diverge from the main discussion to give a very short aside, such as a recipe specialist sharing an anecdote about mixing up salt and sugar in an icing recipe. Others might offer tips about how to circumvent official channels for acquiring supplies and share knowledge about secondary, less expensive sources. In short, the great ones don’t just share the hard details, they also behind-the-scenes information to help spark their audience’s interest.

Part 2: Ensure Purity of Purpose

That said, small asides that showcase personal interest in the topic are good, but the stress must be on “small” or short. The average attention span of most web users is not terrifically long — there’s so much to see, do and learn, so a how-to video must capture interest and hold it without fail for the duration. Thus, make sure that every element included in the video is absolutely necessary to the message being conveyed and/or to capturing the audience’s hearts and minds.

If a small aside illustrates a more personal interest and helps the viewer connect, great — keep that in. If, on the other hand, it’s just kind of funny, nix it. Focus on the details and make sure that everything in the video is bent to the task of fulfilling the how-to process. Always remember that the viewer is present for a reason: to learn what information is available.

Part 3: Allow for Style

Each person has his or her own style, without question. Style is a complicated thing: It’s composed of accent, pattern of speaking, physical mannerisms, personal attire and more. Does the presenter actually show up in the video, or does the video conceal his or her face? Is the video shot in real time, edited for sectional content or does it use a stop-motion process so that the presenter is never visible throughout?

No one style is appropriate to every venue, and styles can be stretched to odd degrees. One might find it odd to adopt an exceptionally formal tone when presenting a how-to on baked beans and cornbread. On the other hand, this kind of style might be exaggerated for comedic effect, and this human element of irony might keep the viewers coming back. In short, don’t be afraid to experiment with a few different styles, possibly under alternative accounts, until finding one that works.

Step 4: Take the Time Needed; No More and No Less

YouTube is a popular venue for video how-tos, for obvious reasons. The default length for most videos is 10 minutes, which provides a reasonable benchmark for simpler how-to guides. It also has become a benchmark for video tolerance in general simply because of the sheer number of users growing accustomed to videos based around this length. That said, YouTube recently increased its maximum video length to 15 minutes, so be sure to keep an eye on viewers’ habits.

Indeed, the issue of time can be a bit tricky for a how-to. Ideally, unless the procedure is a particularly long one, the how-to should be kept to a single video. This may mean taking multiple shoots to see how various treatment lengths work for the project. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to let the video expand to several “episodes” if the how-to in question is large enough. Something as complicated and involved as building a backyard deck can reasonably be expected to require several videos to encompass.

Step 5: Cross Promote

The currency of the web is reputation. If people think poorly of a site, it gets poor views. Having a good attitude and a cooperative spirit is often the best way to get a good promotion off the ground, and this includes how-to videos.

For example, a site might consider promoting a fellow though unaffiliated how-to expert if their videos cover a gap in the site’s own knowledge. A cooking site whose patrons ask about a type of cooking none of the site’s staff specialize in could refer them to a colleague who just happens to know what he’s talking about. Additionally, one might promote webzines and non-how-to sites that cover similar topics.

About the Author

Enzo F. Cesario is an online brand specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to Brandsplat.com or visit our blog at http://www.ibrandcasting.com

When folks learn what I do for work they often ask me the same thing, “What’s the best way to obtain new clients?”

That’s not an easy question to answer. There’s no one answer. Whole books have been penned on that topic. It’s dependant on the type of practice you have, where you’re located, where you’re trying to take your firm, and of course, your character. Each firm needs to craft a marketing scheme appropriate to the talents of it’s people but I’ll give you a short, generic, abstract to kick-start you.

There’s almost no immediate benefit to networking, but get started on it right out of the gates anyway.

Networking may be the life’s blood of any successful firm, but it’s a long term strategy. Take the time to cultivate prospects. At first the time will feel wasted. It will likely seem to be frustrating and senseless at the start, but as the years pass and quality prospects start contacting you you’ll be glad you did it. The most thoughtful, wisest business people rely on networking to find their accountants. Period.

In the meantime there are a lot of rank and file clients to be had, but there are also a lot of accountants competing for them. When you first get started these people will form the bulk of your client base. These clients are what used to be called “walk-ins”.

Ten years ago direct marketing was very effective, but times have changed. Direct marketing is pretty much useless these days. You could track down recent business licenses in your area and try to contact the owners by phone. For many years I made a a good living out of this strategy. It just doesn’t work any more, though. I don’t recommend it.

Get yourself some business cards (with web address and tag line) and network your butt off. Give them to everyone. And don’t forget the tag line. Every time you hand someone your card give them a reason to visit your site. Don’t be shy. Get cards. Just ask for them. Get phone numbers and email addresses. Once you have them, cultivate them. Sign them up for your newsletter. Send them an Email wishing them a happy thanksgiving.

In my admittedly biased opinion the internet is one of the best sources of clients. Get a good website and a monthly email newsletter. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is a lot of work and very slow and expensive, but it’s also an AWESOME prospect magnet. For the long term it’s worth investing in. For short term just buy ad space on Google using Google Adwords. Also, get your business on Google Maps and optimize your site for Google Places (Local search). This will probably also require some investment on your part, but local search is a let cheaper and easier to get a good ranking in than old-school SEO. Expect a one-time cost of about $500.

So how can websites help accountants network?

The basic strategy of networking is to identify a prospects need, then to offer a solution to fill that need. It’s all about demonstrating the benefit of your service to the prospect. As an accountant you’re in a unique position to offer solutions to problems that really matter to people. Perhaps they’re buying or selling a house. Maybe they’re saving for their children’s education, or retirement, or maybe they’re not certain if they should buy or lease an expensive piece of equipment for their business.

Don’t misunderstand the purpose of this kind of marketing. Prospects will almost never be so impressed with that value that they’ll fire their CPA and hire you right there on the spot. It won’t rack up billable hours for your firm. Networking is a long term marketing strategy. The goal of your networking efforts is to demonstrate your value to the prospect. You’re trying to put your brand in front of the prospect and keep it there so that in a year, or two, or five; when the prospect is ready to switch accountants; yours will be the first name they think of.

A well designed accountant’s website can significantly impact your networking power. Online financial calculators and a libraray of financial articles will bring visitors back to your website over and over. As we’ve already established, when networking your job is to figure out what that persons needs are and demonstrate your value by presenting a solution. Your website can help with that. Next time you hand a prospect your business card you can offer a solution that takes them to your website, complete with your brand at the top of the page and your phone number at the bottom.

Learn the art of the Tag Line. Nobody is going to call you or even visit your website unless you give them a compelling reason to.

These “walk-ins” will pretty much take care of themselves if you do a good job setting up your website. Just pop into your adwords account from time to time and make sure you’re not getting outbid by too many competitors.

It’s time to get busy networking again.

Learn to use online social networks too. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook…

Then network your butt off. Everyone is a potential prospect. Parents, friends, vendors, everyone. Be careful not to judge prospects. That’s a trap. Nobody is too poor for a business card. In 5 or 6 years they may well be standing someplace very different.

About the Author

Brian O’Connell is the CEO and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country’s leading web design companies dedicated entirely to websites for accountants. His firm presently provides websites for more than 4000 CPA, accounting, bookkeeping, and tax preparation firms.

Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether an individual has a small business which they operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming endeavor, Craigslist can help the business to increase in profits and popularity. The two main components to successfully promoting a business on Craigslist include reaching the target audience and running a marketing campaign which will appeal to this target audience. This article will discuss these two components in greater detail to help the reader realize how Craigslist can be used to grow a business.

Reaching Your Target Audience on Craigslist Promoting a business on Craigslist doesn’t have to be a difficult process. However, it is not necessarily automatically easier than promoting offline either. Promoting your business through Craigslist does have some similarities to the process of promoting your business offline. The main similarity is that the business promoter musts do their research to find out who is included in their target audience.

Even the most well thought out and innovative marketing campaign will falter if it is not reaching the intended audience. This is why it is so important for those who are trying to promote their business on Craigslist to be sure they categorize their advertisement correctly to ensure their intended audience will receive the intended message. The majority of posts on Craigslist are available free of charge with the exception of job listings in New York City, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area as well as brokered housing listings in New York City. Therefore small business owners can take advantage of the free posting on Craigslist to reach their target audience in a number of different locations.

Consider an example of a company offering moving services in Portland, Oregon. A small moving company that is relatively new might want to take advantage of the free advertising available on Craigslist. To have the best opportunity to reach the target audience the company should place a services offered posting under the labor and moving category for the counties in which the services are offered. Placing the post this way makes it far more likely to reach an audience of those who are planning a move in the desired county than it would if the same exact advertisement was placed as a job advertisement under the category of government jobs in a county in New Hampshire.

Besides being free for most postings, Craigslist offers additional benefits. The most significant benefit is a large audience. Craigslist receives over 4 billion page views per month. With such a large audience it makes it possible for those who post on Craigslist to reach a large audience. However, as previously mentioned, care should be taken when placing the post to categorize the advertisement correctly to ensure the advertisement is reaching the target audience.

Effectively Marketing on Craigslist Marketing effectively on Craigslist is not very different from marketing effectively in other forms of print media. One of the most important elements of an effective marketing campaign on Craigslist is professionally written copy that appeals directly to the target audience. Hiring a freelance writer skilled in writing sales copy is an excellent idea in this situation. The business owner might be quite knowledgeable about their business but they do not likely have the skills necessary to convey the purpose of the business while also effectively convincing those who read the posting to perform a specific action. The specific action may include visiting a website and making a purchase, requesting additional information about the products or services or performing some other desired action such as visiting a traditional store or place of business.

The other component to marketing effectively, as previously mentioned, is placing the advertisement in the correct section of Craigslist. Categorizing the advertisement correctly is important but it is also important to place the advertisement in the right physical location. Products and services which are only offered in a limited area such as a particular city or county should be advertised in these exact locations. However, those who offer products via a website might consider placing their advertisement in all of the location to which they are willing to ship their products.

About the Author

To learn about lawn repair and lawn replacement, visit the Lawn Problems website.

Forum Marketing is one of the most powerful way to market your business or website on the internet when it is done correctly, this article will show you the fundamental rules for using forum marketing to promote your business.

The first thing you need to understand is that forums are designed to allow people to ask questions for experts to find answers to, not for the purpose of selling products or services. The idea is to become involved in a discussion in which answer people’s questions. You can post your ideas or opinions on a particular topic, question or statement, or you can start your own thread if the topic is not already being discussed. So now you can see the benefit of forums to other people looking for information, but what about the benefits to you and your business? Well, when you join a forum, you will set up your profile with a signature that will appear at the bottom of each of your posts. The only place you should be marketing your website links is the signature box That link becomes what is called a backlink because it links back to your site. If you make lots of forum posts to lots of different forums, your website will rank higher than one that has less backlinks. So now you know why forum marketing works, read on to find out how you should post the right way.

The best forums to post in are those relating to your topic but you can post in forums of different topics as long as your posts relate to that particular topic. Eg: you shouldn’t post about your MLM in a gardening forum. Also, stay on topic with the thread you are posting on. It is easy to go off in a tangent when the thread is very long, read through the posts that are already there, see if you can add helpful information to the thread.

If you are thinking about spamming the forum, don’t do it. If all you are posting is sales pitches and links to your page, it won’t be long before the administrator catches up with you and boots you out. They don’t want spam on their site, they want valuable information and answers to the questions people ask. The only place you should be posting your links and pitching your business is the signature box. You will be able to set this up in your profile and it will automatically be entered under your text every time you post something to the forum. If your link is quite long such as affiliate links, it is a good idea to mask the html by hyperlinking a sentence instead of displaying the entire link. You can find information about how to do this on each forum.

Some forums allow you to post links and other html if it is directly relevant to the topic and provides valuable information to readers. You should check the forum rules and guidelines before you post. That way you will not breach any rules that may get you blacklisted from the forum.

So now that you know the basics, get started today, the more posts you make in the more forums, the more backlinks you can get for your website.

About the Author

Elle has over 5 years experience in MLM. Recently she moved her business online and has never looked back. She now teaches the techniques she learned to explode her MLM business online. Check out the complete system I used to get started with internet marketing with absolutely no experience at http://www.elleinternational.info Or, to learn more about the techniques I use to market MLM online, please visit my blog at http://narellepy.wordpress.com

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is defined as the process of adjusting web sites and pages to gain higher placement in search engine results. However, ranking in itself does not guarantee profits, you need the search engine to send targeted prospective visitors to your website for that.. So why are the Search Engines so vital? Well, there are more than 162 million registered websites on the web. There are basically three ways that people can arrive at your site: using search engines, clicking on a link from another website, or by knowing your URL (uniform resource locator) and typing that in web browser. Almost half of all internet users use search engines on a typical day online. A site that does not appear on the first page of search results might as well be invisible. If your site is invisible, you will not get any visitors, nor make any sales.

There are three search engines that you need to be concerned about: Google accounts for about 62% of all searches, Yahoo about 21%, MSN (Bing) about 9%. That said, you would be wise to ignore any messages promising submission to hundreds or thousands of search engines. As you can see the big 3 account for over 90 percent of all searches. Likewise, you shouldn’t give any credence to any ads promising a #1 search engine rankings, because no legitimate company can promise you that. It has been said, that in offline marketing, there is no elevator to success, everyone must take the stairs. The same is true in online marketing. In order to achieve any significant success online, you will have to invest some time, or money, or both. But you will definitely invest something. Despite all of the promises to the contrary, there is no free lunch on the internet.

There are a couple of things you can do to gain higher placement in the search engines. One thing you can do is construct a search engine friendly site that allows the search engine to spider or crawl it easily. This includes having a search-engine friendly URLs constructed with different keywords on different pages. You can also create linkable footers on every page. Also creating a site index will make crawling the site easier for the search engines. But what is really going to matter to search engines is the content of your site.

Specifically, the search engines are concerned about relevancy, link popularity, and unique original content. Google, for one, pays a lot of attention to site relevance in its search results. Relevance is about making your site a useful resource for information instead of “keyword stuffing” and other tricks. So if someone entered a certain search phrase and landed on your site, would they be satisfied with what they found? So relevance tells us if your site does a good job meeting the user’s information needs. Sometimes how relevant a site is can be determined by its link popularity. That is the number of associated sites linking in to your website. And of course, one of the things that’s gonna affect your link popularity is the presence of unique, original content. Because of all of the competition on the web, you should be creating content for your site on a regular basis, some even say daily. If your site is not being updated, the search engines will assume that there is nothing new on your site, so why send somebody there?

There are quite a number of content marketing strategies, like article and video marketing, that you can employ. Likewise, there are severalInbound Link Campaigns that you can use to raise your link popularity. Still you will see a lot of short-cuts out there, like automatic content generators and others. Because people are always looking to beat the system, search engines like Google often change the rules. Sometimes, if Google feels like you are trying to cheat, or if your site lacks relevance they may reduce your Page Rank or take other punitive actions against you and your site. But if you just buckle down and do the work, create unique and relevant content on a consistent basis; then your relationship with the search engines should be a rewarding one.

About the Author

I hope that you enjoyed reading “How to Boost Your Search Engine Rankings“.

Reginald Liggins is an internet marketing trainer and coach. The automated marketing system that Reginald uses to explode his business opportunities as well as generate multiple income streams can be found at “MyLeadSystemPro”

Reginald can be reached at reggie@superbodymagic.com

I recently got an email from a marketing mentor of mine who was talking about the famous quote, “If you keep doing the same thing, you are going to get the same results.” The interesting thing about this email is that it is about how this is no longer true in today’s economy. What he is trying to say is what worked 6 months ago does not work today. Consumers are making significant changes in their spending habits and are doing so it a very fast pace. We have to work harder to entice that customer, as well as keep them.
After returning home from my vacation, I realized that I was doing the same thing as far as marketing. I was depending on only a few ways to get new customers and keep my customers coming back.

Immediately, I took action by creating a new happy hour. Instead of running ½ price appetizers, I started running all my appetizers at a discount all day but priced at more than half price. After doing this for a couple of months, I realized that I was making more money per appetizer. In addition, anyone who dined in our restaurant was able to enjoy a game of bowling at a 50% discount. This encourages cross promoting between the restaurant and the bowling center.

Next, I created an online back to school coupon that the potential customer would need to input their email address to receive. Not only will this help with knowing how many coupons have been downloaded in order to staff properly, but this will give you permission to email any other offers you have at a later date.
In addition, I posted a 4 question survey to see what customers would like on our menu. If a customer filled the survey then they would get a $5 food coupon. People love free money, especially if all they have to do is tell what they like to eat! Just make sure the survey is short and to the point.

The next promotion we launched is kids eat free every day with an adult meal purchase. Many families are becoming smart shoppers in this economy, and if they can save without bringing in a coupon they will come out. This is a big one! Families are looking for places they can go to save. If they can go and eat what they want and not have to pay for their kids to eat, but still enjoy their company, then they will come.
We also started promoting with all the local hotels. You can either print a discount card they can pass out or advertise in the hotel’s magazine. Make sure in all advertising you place your website address in a visible location on all your marketing pieces.

Lastly, we sent out a mailing to our database in celebration of our 10 year anniversary. Make sure when you are mailing to your customers that you have a reason like a birthday, an anniversary, or a holiday. Always put some kind of offer that will entice them to come to the restaurant.

Another thing you can do to celebrate your anniversary is to not only give them a special offer if they come in on the anniversary, but to give them a sealed envelope with a special discount coupon that they cannot open until they come in a second time. The discounts can be of free menu items, a free meal, a party of 12 to bowl free, etc. Also, consider offering a grand prize. The point of this sealed envelope is to entice people to come back. Be sure to put a deadline on when they must use the sealed envelope.
Something else you can do is to offer “all you can eat menu items with the purchase of a meal.” For example, instead of offering discounts on specific items, try offering all you can eat fries with the purchase of a meal or all you can eat shrimp. Whatever side menu order you are famous for would be the best item.
For those who have bars inside their restaurant, consider marketing to families by offering alcohol as an accessory to the food instead of as the main reason to stop in. Create a place where a person can bring their kids, but the adult can still get a nice alcoholic drink with dinner. This will eliminate the chance that people will not come to your restaurant because you have a bar. Maintain a family atmosphere, so the entire family can come and spend!

Also make sure to not forget social marketing especially the use of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Remember, consumers have less money to spend these days. Even if they still have their jobs and are still making the same amount of money, their perspective has changed because of how society has changed around them and they are taking precautions and saving for “just in case.”

However, while people are being more careful with their money, they are still spending. They are still going out, eating out, and having fun. They are just doing a lot more comparing and seeing where they can get the most for their money.

Think of it this way, it easier to earn $1 ten ways then to earn $10 one way. By this, I mean you must have multiple ways to get more customers. This is true now more than ever!

For a FREE Ebook on 13 insider marketing secrets go to www.instantrestaurantprofits.com

Wasfi(Wes) Samaan

President, www.instantrestaurantprofits.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/