Is your website working for you?
0 comments | Posted by: Jennifer on April 29, 2011 | Categories:
Your business needs a website. “A website today is as essential as the name of your business, your phone number, or the façade of your retail store. Every business — from a restaurant to a biotech research firm to an industrial laundry — needs one.” says Tim Stevens in an article posted on Technology.inc.com.
If you think all small businesses are on the web, think again. An Ad-ology survey found that 46 percent of small businesses did not have a website. What could be keeping half of you from taking the plunge? It is possible some of you don’t know where to start. By following this step-by-step guide, getting your website started will be a piece of cake!
1. Brainstorm: What type of company do you have? What are you trying to accomplish? What do you think of websites for your competitors? What makes your business different? How do you want your clients to perceive your business? Take these details and use them to shape the site you will create!
2. Optimize: Make your content work for you! See the tips listed on entheosweb.com for tips on writing your content. If you will be marketing with key terms, make sure these are embedded in your site. Wordle.net can help you easily display your data visually in a clear, accessible way.
3. Social Marketing: You have to find ways to drive traffic to your site! Social Marketing has become very popular, and according to Forrester Research, spending on Social Media Marketing will increase to $54 million in 2014, which will mark a major increase from the $11 milli0n spent in 2009, via eMarketer. There are many avenues for social marketing: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, For more information on why you should be tweeting, read our post.
4. Analyze: Sign up with an online analytics company like Google or Omniture. Google’s solution is free and can give you detailed information about who is coming to your site, and from where.
If you would like assistance with any of this, talk to an AnswerConnect representative today about our Full Site offer, which helps to create new sites with beautiful designs, improve existing sites, and maximize results! Click here for more information, or call 1-800-525-1315.
Confessing Mistakes Wins Customer Loyalty
0 comments | Posted by: Patricia on January 17, 2011 | Categories:
No company is perfect. Although each of us wishes it were so, both people and organizations make mistakes. From corporate missteps to serious catastrophes, companies who come clean and disclose their mistakes may ultimately increase customer trust according to an article from Gallup on leadership and branding. Starbucks was cited as an example of one company that lost its way and has slowly refocused its efforts. CEO Howard Schulz was blunt about the corporation’s mistakes including opening too many locations and diluting the Starbucks brand. Schulz said that openly discussing the company’s problems was essential to getting back on track. After years of research, Gallup created a system that companies of all sizes can use to rate customer perceptions and feelings about their brand. (more…)
The 5 Minutes that Makes or Breaks Sales
0 comments | Posted by: Patricia on December 22, 2010 | Categories:
Did you know that the odds of contacting a lead if called in 5 minutes versus 30 minutes drop 100 times? This was just one of the fascinating conclusions from a comprehensive MIT study conducted with 6 different companies over a three year span to study how they attain, follow up, and close leads generated from the web.
According to the study, “The odds of calling to contact a lead decrease by over 10 times in the 1st hour. The odds of calling to qualify a lead decrease by over 6 times in the 1st hour. After 20 hours every additional dial your salespeople make actually hurts your ability to make contact to qualify a lead.” If you and your team are waiting 24 hours to contact potential customers, this could spell disaster for your sales efforts or your team will be working harder to close fewer sales. (more…)