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Google Mobile Algorithm Update Starts April 21, 2015

How Will This Affect the Rankings of Your Company’s Website?

Google is making yet another major update to their algorithms come

April 21, 2015. This is going to create a major shift in the results that we haven’t seen yet. MANY businesses’ websites will be affected, will yours?

Why The Google Mobile Algorithm Update is Significant

google-mobile-searchThis update, which has been given the name “Mobilegeddon”, focuses on the details that will ultimately affect how well a website ranks in the mobile search results or if it even shows up at all. With more than 55% of all Internet users accessing the web through their smartphone rather than their PC, a business could potentially lose half of their website traffic or more as a result of this change.

Before I get into the details, I want to share with you that in ALL the years of following Google’s algorithm changes, I have never ONCE seen them give ANY KIND of heads up with specific information about an update and how it might affect search engine rankings. This may or may not have something to do with Matt Cutts, Head of Google’s Web Spam Team and 14 year Google veteran, taking a leave of absence. In any case, Google was kind enough this time to give us all a one month heads up so we can get our acts together and not be blind-sided by the changes.

Here’s What’s to Expect

So what IS the Google Mobile Algorithm Update, happening on

April 21st, all about? To quote Google themselves:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have a significant impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

This is their reasoning:

“When it comes to search on mobile devices, users should get the most relevant and timely results, no matter if the information lives on mobile-friendly web pages or apps. As more people use mobile devices to access the internet, our algorithms have to adapt to these usage patterns.”

Mobile Device Users

We cannot deny the fact the smartphones and other mobile devices have become the new way to view the internet. When we’re out and about and something pops into our mind, we whip out our phones and search. There’s no waiting to look it up later when we get home to our desktops and laptops. We want answers NOW!

According to recent report from comScore, the smartphone market comprises 75.8% of the total mobile subscriber population since January 2015, which is a 4% increase since October 2014.

So what does any SMART business do when it sees a change in the market? They adapt and give the market what it wants.

Google is no different, as they have admitted in their statement above.

So what does the Google Mobile Algorithm Update mean to you?

It means, if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, it will score against you as a ranking signal; and in really bold terms, it means your website will fall out of the rankings and you will lose traffic from the organic mobile search results.

It is also likely that you will have a low quality score if you pay for traffic to be directed to your site. I can’t imagine that those who are paying for AdWords will be allowed to direct traffic to a website that is not mobile-friendly without a penalty.

How does Google know if your website is mobile-friendly or not?

Well, they created a handy tool for us to use to test the mobile-friendliness of a website. You can test your website by clicking the button below.

mobile-friendly-test-button

Did it pass or fail?

If it passed, congratulations, you’re in the clear and your website is mobile-friendly. It will not be negatively affected by this update.

If it failed, my professional, and deeply sincere advice, is to update your website to be mobile-friendly (aka mobile responsive) or you will lose half of your website traffic after

April 21st.

What it Means to be Mobile-friendly

All “responsive” means is the structural layout of your website needs to respond or change sizes to fit the different widths of various screen sizes.

How to tell if your website is NOT mobile-friendly or responsive. When viewing your website on a smartphone:

  • The text is too small to read without zooming in
  • Once you zoom in, you have to scroll/pan sideways to view the whole site
  • The links are too small for your finger to accurately tap on

It’s a frustrating experience for mobile searchers and most of them will quickly leave your site because they cannot easily find or see what they are looking for.

We all have just

ONE MONTH left to take action on this matter and fix our websites if they are not currently mobile-friendly.

I URGE you to take care of this matter right away as website re-design projects can take up to a month to complete.

If you’re ready to take action now so you don’t lose your current website traffic and rankings, please schedule a 15-minute phone consultation with me to discuss upgrading your site.

Schedule an appointment
to speak with me

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I am happy to help you keep up with the trends and stay ahead of your competitors who aren’t in the SEO loop.

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No Online Reviews Means No Business

The number of reviews your business has online can have a dramatic effect on your reputation AND your business revenues.

featured-image-templateIn the past, before company reviews and reputations were so visible, a good marketing strategy might have been to market the business using SEO, pay per click, social media, branded websites, TV and radio spots, and other similar marketing channels. Then, we would help them to build a five-star reputation. That no longer works. In fact, any company that still employs this methodology is certain to have a significantly diminished return on their marketing investment. This much I can almost guarantee.

 Buyers Trust Reviews

Myles Anderson, the founder and CEO of BrightLocal stated that “79% of buyers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.” This was an increase from 72% in the 2012 survey, so it is obvious to see where the trend is going. This type of data provides indisputable evidence with regards to the growing influence and importance that online reviews are having on consumer attitudes and ultimately whether or not they purchase from you.

 Can Your Business Be Trusted?

In a survey done last year, DemandForce found that most consumers look at up to 10 reviews when researching the company before they make a decision to do business with them. Even more important, they found that 70% of consumers trust a business with a minimum of 6 to 10 reviews. That means if your business does not have at least 6 to 10 five-star reviews, that prospect will most likely go to your competitor who does. Without the proper reputation marketing strategy, including a sufficient number of five-star reviews, you are giving up your bottom line profits to your competitors and you are most likely not even aware of it.

 So What Is Working Now?

It is imperative that the first critical step of any marketing strategy is to develop a 5 star reputation. That is what your prospects will see mixed in with the search results when they research your name or the name of your business. It is not possible to delete negative reviews and I would not trust any company that claims they can do so. However, by encouraging your customers, clients, and/or patients to post their five-star reviews as a result of the quality service you have provided, those negative reviews can either be pushed further down on the page or to a 2nd or 3rd page where your prospects are less likely to see them. It is also likely that the negative review(s) will be so outnumbered by 5 star reviews that they lose their damaging powers and people may view them as isolated incidents and still choose to do business with you.

 What Is the Reputation Marketing Process?

The process begins with developing and promoting a reputation marketing culture within your organization so that each of your staff members fully understands the importance of delivering first-class service and the vital role that five-star reviews play in the continued success of the organization.

The next step is to actively solicit reviews from all of your current and former customer/client base. A variety of online and off-line channels should be utilized to maximize the effectiveness and capture the most amount of reviews. The easier you make it for your customers to leave reviews, the more likely they are to do it. It is important to have specific workflows, processes and strategies in place to accomplish this. After these elements have been set up, reputation management can be implemented to monitor, engage, and report the activities related to the other phases of the strategy.

The real magic comes into play by actively and aggressively marketing your 5 star reputation by utilizing a strategic mix of online and off-line marketing channels. The proprietary system and processes we utilize are able to accomplish that for our clients.

Online Marketing Costs Have Risen Significantly So a Good ROI Is More Important Than Ever

With thousands of new websites coming online every day it is becoming increasingly difficult to rank well in the search engines, which has driven up the cost of SEO and other similar strategies. The bid prices of pay per click (PPC) advertising has increased significantly because of the number of competitors trying to get their marketing message in front of their prospects. You are already investing marketing dollars on SEO, pay per click ads, social media marketing, print ads or other off-line promotions because you want your prospects to learn more about you. Doesn’t it make sense to squeeze every penny of profit out of those campaigns by making sure when you are driving visitor traffic from your marketing channels, those prospects view your company as the market leader and the one they should do business with? That can only be accomplished by developing a reputation marketing culture within your organization, actively engaging your customers to get five-star reviews, and marketing those reviews online for maximum effectiveness. There is no shortcut.

Other Intrinsic Benefits of Having a Five-Star Review

There are 2 other significant benefits of attaining and marketing a five-star review online that some business owners don’t even consider. The first of these is a pricing advantage. People inherently expect to pay more for five-star products and services so you should be able to charge more than your competitors with little or no reduction in the amount of customers. You can leverage that five-star reputation to brand yourself as the market leader and let your prospects know they can expect first-class service and great value for the money they spend with you. Another hidden benefit of having a five-star reputation relates to search engine optimization (SEO). A business that has a very strong reputation online is considered more of an authority in the eyes of the search engines, especially Google. This alone can boost your organic search rankings for that website. The number of citations (mentions about your business, especially in a positive light) can also have a positive influence on your search engine rankings.

Want to discover how to create and market your 5-star reputation and become THE business choose first for your products and services? Click the link below to schedule a FREE 15 minute phone consultation and learn how our proven strategies can out you WAY ahead of your competition! Schedule now.

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Trust Is the New Online Currency

Do You Know Your Online Trust Factor?

trust is the new currencyIn a very enlightening TED presentation, Rachel Botsman stated that “The currency of the new economy is trust”, and I could not agree with her more. The online transparency of your business’s reputation is now easily visible. Therefore it is more important than ever to not only minimize the occurrence of poor customer service, but also consistently strive to deliver a first-class customer experience and actively solicit reviews from those customers, clients, and/or patients to enhance your online credibility and reputation.

Why Reputation Marketing Is So Vital Now

A study done by Nielsen Media (Global Trust and Advertising Survey) revealed that 70% of the people polled trusted consumer opinions posted online. This is the 2nd highest level of trust just under recommendations from people they know, at 92%. ALL other forms of advertising such as editorial content in newspapers, branded websites, ads on TV, and others fall way below that. This means your prospects are likely to check your online reputation before they even consider doing business with you. In fact, a recent study done by Real Strategic Inc. found that 87% of the respondents searched online to find information about a company EVEN if they were referred to it by a friend or family member. With Google now including your reviews and reputation score right along with the organic listings, your online reputation is naked for the world to see.

One of our newest clients shared an experience with me that he recently had, which reinforces the statistics shown above. He had just run a 60-second TV spot that aired during the 12 o’clock news segment. This was obviously not a cheap commercial and it produced a moderate number of phone calls. One particular viewer called and scheduled an appointment upon seeing the commercial, and the very next day called back to cancel that appointment because she found an unfavorable review online. Even though there were other positive reviews, the negative one is what she read, which prompted her to cancel her appointment and visit a competitor for the service she was seeking. This client is in the medical field and his patient value is over $2000 so you can see how critical reputation is.

I can virtually guarantee there were other potential patients who viewed that same commercial and also researched the business online. They may also have seen that unfavorable review and decided to not even pick up the phone in the first place. These scenarios could obviously determine whether that particular campaign even produced a positive return and the client was not even aware of it.

Even a Small Change Can Make a Big Difference

Researchers at University of California, Berkeley published their results of a study conducted to analyze how a restaurant’s Yelp rating would affect the nightly reservations. It was determined that just a slight improvement of one half star could increase the amount of business a restaurant does during peak hours by 19%. How would you like to increase your bottom line by 19% by doing nothing other than increasing your online reputation?

Reviews Are Everywhere

Unless you have been off the grid for the past year or more, you have probably noticed the explosive growth of online reviews and reputation scores. Google now includes the company’s reviews and/or ratings right along with the organic search results. They also appear in the maps listings as well as any pay per click ads. If that wasn’t obvious enough, you have probably noticed that the coveted first page of Google now contains numerous results from third-party review sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Insider Pages, Yahoo Local, and many others. One of Google’s core philosophies is to deliver the best possible end-user experience and there’s no better way to do that than making it easy and obvious for consumers to see which companies will most likely provide that level of service.

Barry Craft is the founder and CEO of Your Marketing Crew, LLC and has been providing graphic design, web design and Internet marketing services to clients since 1998. To get access to your FREE Reputation Analysis Report, please visit www.YourReputationReporter.com or call us at 727-210-5046.

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Is Your Reputation Silently Killing Your Business?

concerned-man-55382647-300x300Do you know what people are saying about you and your business online? I mean, do you REALLY know? The answer might surprise you. Many of the businesses I consult with are shocked when I show them some of the less than favorable comments and reviews about their business. They simply had no idea. This is a common situation that stems from the fact that small business owners usually do not have the time, expertise, or desire to research and analyze this type of data. Additionally, they may think they have a very good reputation, and in general that may be true, so they are not looking for bad reviews or comments.

The problem with that mindset is that your receptionist, sales rep, or anyone else in your office might have been having a bad day or a bad week and could have delivered less than a first-class experience to your clients or customers. Even 1 or 2 bad reviews can seriously undermine any of your marketing efforts and drive your potential customers away from your business, and over to your competitors. The really scary part is, you may not even know about those reviews.

Why Most Business Owners Are Not Even Aware Of the Bad Reviews That May Exist Online

Many small business owners do not even think of looking online for bad reviews because in their mind they always provide first-class service to their customers. Usually the only time they become aware of a bad review is if one of their prospects or customers calls it to their attention, like the incident that happened recently with a new client of mine.

Further complicating the entire research and monitoring process is the fact that directory sites frequently aggregate results from other directory sites. So a bad review can self-perpetuate across the entire web, silently robbing you of profits without your knowledge. Is this how you want to be rewarded for all the years of sacrifice and dedication you have invested to build a good name for yourself? I hardly think so.

If you would like a FREE Reputation Analysis Report, you can click here for instant access.

Reputation Management by Itself Is No Longer Effective

In today’s ever-changing online world, marketing strategies often reach a point where they no longer produce the results they once did, calling for new strategies to emerge. For the past few years, many small business owners have utilized reputation management services to monitor their brand and track comments or feedback related to their business, in an attempt to mitigate the effects of negative posts and reviews. The inherent flaw with most of these types of services stems from the fact that when somebody is posting a review on a site such as Yelp or Google+, they do not normally mention the name of the company or the CEO because they are already on that company’s page. Therefore, many of these reviews will go unnoticed. This is especially detrimental if the review is unfavorable, whereby if the owner had addressed the customer’s concern in a prompt fashion, it could have been reversed. It is no longer effective for a business to simply “manage” their online reputation, since it is really a defensive position. More importantly, you don’t make money by managing. You make money by marketing.

Reputation Marketing Emerges As a More Effective Solution

According to Wikipedia, “The reputation marketing field has evolved from the marriage of the fields of reputation management and brand marketing.” Reputation management is certainly a vital component of an effective reputation marketing strategy, but there are several other considerations. These would include other vital strategies such as developing a reputation marketing culture within your organization, having systems and a process in place for delivering first-class service and soliciting reviews, and most importantly strategically marketing those reviews on a multitude of online and off-line channels. We will be covering this topic in more detail in an upcoming article in this series, so make sure you follow us to receive this vital information as soon as it is released.

Barry Craft is the founder and CEO of Your Marketing Crew, LLC and has been providing graphic design, web design and Internet marketing services to clients since 1998. To get access to your FREE Reputation Analysis Report, please visit www.YourReputationReporter.com or call us at 727-210-5046.

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Importance of Claiming Your Google Plus Local Pages

Google-plus-local-featured-imageClaiming (Verifying) Your Google Plus Local Pages

This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your search engine rankings and gain more exposure for your business. Since many of your competitors may not have their Google Plus Local listings properly verified and optimized, it is a way for you to get an easy and quick advantage in your local market.

There are several advantages to claiming your Google Plus Local Pages and why it is so important.

  • Your page must be owner verified in order for your customers to leave reviews and ratings.
  • You will have the ability to add pictures, videos, hours of operation, offers, and other details. It is also important to choose the most appropriate and specific categories that apply to your business. This will ensure that your listing is complete and accurate.
  • By claiming and properly optimizing your Google Plus Local listing, your business’s information has the potential to be displayed by Google’s other services such as Google Plus, Google Maps, and so on. This increased amount of exposure does not cost you anything. With your page verified and properly optimized, you can get your business in front of more qualified prospects looking for the products and services you sell, with no additional cost to you. It’s all about getting more customers.
  • The major search engines, and especially Google, are putting an increased effort to match the search results with the user’s location to provide more relevant results and improve the end-user experience. This means that when someone in your local area searches for the products or services you offer, having your Google Plus Local listing properly claimed and optimized will give you a better chance of appearing prominently in the local search results. This means more prospects are likely to visit your business which means more traffic and more revenues for you.

Google places a great deal of emphasis on accurate and consistent name, address, and phone number (citations) whenever your business is mentioned. Of all the online platforms, their own properties of course are considered most relevant, so the Google Plus Local listing is a great place to start. If your local business information is incorrect or inconsistent, it can certainly make you appear less credible as well as decrease your local search engine rankings.

Other Important Advantages

There are other advantages to claiming your Google Plus Local business listing. Besides the potential for increased website traffic and visitors to your business, a verified local listing also prevents someone else, maybe even a competitor, from hijacking your local business listing. It is critical that you maintain control with regards to how Google displays your local business listing.

Depending on the type of search, Google may also display a horizontal strip of local businesses above the regular organic search results. This is THE best advertising spot you could ask for and it doesn’t even cost you a penny.

More importantly, it also displays the number of reviews that have been left by your customers and the average star rating. In order to be included, your business’s Google Plus Local listing MUST be claimed and properly optimized. It really is that important. In fact, Myles Anderson, CEO of Bright Local, stated in their findings from the 2012 Local Consumer Review Survey, that “72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.”

Nearly Everyone Goes Online to Find the Products and Services They Want to Buy

There was a survey done nearly 4 years ago by BIA/Kelsey that indicated 90 percent of consumers use the search engines when looking to purchase a product or service. That number does not even include Internet Yellow Pages or similar types of directory sites. I’m sure those numbers are even higher today with the increasing number of people accessing the Internet through their smart phones or other mobile devices.

So the bottom line is your business MUST have a verified (claimed) Google Plus Local listing. You must also take maximum advantage of every available tool and feature that Google provides to properly optimize your listing which can improve your search engine rankings and get you more customers. You can certainly perform all of these important tasks yourself, assuming you want to take time away from your business to research how to do it, implement the changes, and hope they are correct.

Your other option is to hire the professionals at Your Marketing Crew to do it all for you. Our experienced team can verify and optimize your listing in the best manner possible, with very little of your time required. That way you can focus on what you do best, which is running your business and servicing your customers and/or clients. It just so happens you can get it done for less right now.

LIMITED TIME OFFER

We are currently offering a $100 discount on this professional service to help you gain more exposure, website traffic and customers for your business. Our normal price is $297 but if you visit our special discount offer page, we will provide this very comprehensive service for a one-time charge of only $197.

This special reduced price is part of a test marketing campaign and once we have enough data, it will revert back to our normal price, so we apologize in advance if you missed out on this great discount.

Your Marketing Crew provides web design, SEO and many other forms of Internet marketing services for many small business owners in the local Tampa Bay area as well as nationally. Give us a call today at 727-210-5046 if you would like to learn how you can use the Internet to get more leads, customers, and profits.

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How to Set Business Goals You Can Actually Achieve

setting-business-goalsWith the New Year right around the corner, I thought this would be a good time create A Guide to Small Business Goal Setting. Traditionally at this time of year, many people are planning their New Year’s resolutions for the personal goals they would like to achieve. However many small business owners also have renewed inspiration for the upcoming year because of new marketing budgets and expectations for increased prosperity.

Many goals, whether they are personal or professional, are often set with the best of expectations, however they are often not achieved for variety of reasons, which I will cover.

[Share this post on Facebook and I will reveal the 2 most important keys to achieving your goals. If you don’t get these 2 core principles right from the beginning, your chances for success are greatly diminished. This much I can guarantee!]

Why Most Goals Fail

Write Your Goals Down

The first and most obvious step in the goal setting process is to actually have some goals and take the time to write them down. If it is not written down, preferably on paper (yes the old 20th century style of communication), it is unlikely that those goals will be achieved. Typing them out and reviewing them on a computer screen is certainly better than just keeping them in your head, however it is not nearly as effective as physically writing them down. There is something magical that happens on a subconscious level during the act of writing your goals down on paper. It does not matter whether you understand or believe this concept. It is just the way the things work and it has been scientifically proven, so the sooner you accept this universal law, the better off you will be. Incidentally, if you have not already shared this post on Facebook to receive the 2 most important core principles that radically boost your chances for success, I encourage you to scroll up and do so now.

Your Goals MUST Have a Timeline

I don’t recall when I first heard “A Goal Without a Timeline is Just a Dream”, but it is a statement that has stuck with me for many years. There are many reasons why this statement true. First of all, there is no way to track progress or milestones without knowing where you are in the overall process. Secondly, there is no sense of urgency because on a subconscious level, we are thinking we will get around to doing it whenever it is convenient or whenever we have the extra time. That thought process is a deal killer if you are serious about achieving your goals.

Your Goals Must Be Action Oriented

You have the best chance of achieving your goals when they are broken down into small, actionable items that can be tracked and monitored. An easy way to accomplish this is to think in reverse. Analyze your goal and determine the individual components that must be achieved to reach those goals. These bite-size pieces are much easier to comprehend and track, therefore more likely to be accomplished.

Tracking and Monitoring

Staples published an article in 2010 which stated that 80 percent of the small business owners they surveyed admitted they do not adequately track and monitor their goals. This is often a critical missing component responsible for lack of achievement of business and marketing goals. This concept works closely with the paragraph above because as it is with any journey, one must constantly assess the current status and make the proper course corrections to stay on track.

Helping Your Employees Achieve Their Goals

Many small business owners have a staff to manage, whether they are actual employees or contract workers. Since your staff contributes greatly to the success of your organization, it is important to include them as part of your goal setting process. I have consulted with entrepreneurs who often overlook or minimize the importance of this component.

After you have determined the goals you would like your company to achieve, the next step is to break it down by department to analyze what each of those groups need to achieve to contribute to the overall process. If your company is small enough, it is best to consult with each of your employees individually. Otherwise you can have the department manager do the same with them. Ideally, setting aside 20 or 30 minutes to have them write down the goals you would like to help them achieve will be immensely beneficial for them and your organization. Besides helping them to develop the proper mindset for success, it will also help them to realize the importance and value their contributions make to the organization.

Properly Reward and Incentivize Your Staff

I would recommend rewarding your staff with monthly or quarterly bonuses or incentives of some sort, whenever they have achieved the milestones that have been set for them. Regardless of how small the bonuses, people will appreciate the recognition and it will remind them of the milestones and reinforce the concept of contributing to the greater good of the company.

Need Help Developing Your Marketing Goals?

If you would like a more personalized evaluation of your current or proposed marketing strategies, contact the professionals at Your Marketing Crew. We invite you to call us today at 727-210-5046 to schedule a no-cost consultation where we can learn more about you and your business, what you would like to accomplish, and make some recommendations to see if we are good fit. We look forward to the opportunity of working with you to help you grow your business.

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Black Friday Sales Ideas

black-friday-tag-300x200Regardless of your feelings about Black Friday, it is a time when consumers are looking to get some great deals, they have their credit cards in hand, and are ready to buy. Although that super shoppers day is right around the corner, it’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon and get your share of the billions of dollars that will be spent that day.

Think in Terms of Real Value

Don’t try to give away last year’s junk that didn’t sell. People are looking for real value on current items that they can use. Remember the idea is to get them into your store or onto your website and have them become a customer. Don’t think of this as a one-off sale, but rather evaluate the lifetime value of that customer and what it could mean to your business. Even if you break even or take a slight loss on the initial sale, you can still develop that sale into a long-term and profitable relationship.

Tips to Increase your Black Friday Sales

  • Exclusivity is the key. Customers expect to have many if not all items available in limited quantity or for a limited time. Nobody wants to miss out on a great deal and this will inspire customers to make their decision quickly before they lose out.
  • Use Google Trends to research the hottest items related to your industry. Ideally it would be best if you actually sold these items.  However even something related or complementary can work very well.
  • Offer something nobody else does. Even if you are selling the exact same product or service that hundreds of other local businesses are offering, you can still make your sale unique. Consider offering some type of personalized add-on, either a physical product or a virtual service that those buyers cannot get anywhere else.
  • Encourage people to join your mailing list or become fans of your Facebook business page to get advance notice of special Black Friday offerings only available through those platforms.
  • If you have a brick and mortar store, make sure you have the appropriate signage announcing the details of your Black Friday sales. It could be a teaser or complete list of items being offered along with their prices and the specific hours of the sale. You can also include mini flyers along with the receipt for in-store purchases prior to the sale.
  • If your business is online only, make sure your offers are well promoted throughout your website. If you have items that are in limited quantity, make sure you or your webmaster are available to make changes to the website as required to reflect those exclusive offers.

Although this is traditionally a time where people are buying gifts for each other during the Christmas season, many shoppers are also looking for great deals for themselves. With the new year right around the corner, many small business owners are looking to make purchases or upgrades to their business to have a more prosperous year. If you sell B2B services, this could be a great time for you to take advantage of these opportunities.

Check back on our website or join our mailing list to be notified of the Black Friday sales we will be offering.

If you have other specific questions related to your business or have any other marketing concerns you would like to discuss, I encourage you to schedule a free 20 minute phone advisory session and get the answers you need or call us today at 727-210-5046.

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Increase Profits from Your Marketing Campaigns

happy-icon-graph-MC900441884For most small business owners, having effective marketing campaigns that consistently produce favorable ROI’s is more important than ever. Although that may seem rather obvious, the factors that contribute to profitable marketing or advertising campaigns may not always be as obvious. In this article, I will review the steps that I use in my own business, as well as my clients, to make sure marketing goals and objectives are met and the campaigns produce profitable returns.

Planning

Before any marketing campaign is even considered, you must determine what it is you want to achieve. As obvious as this question is, I frequently consult with many small business owners that do not even consider this when they begin their campaign. Many people assume that as long as you are spreading the word, you will get business from it, so it’s all good. In reality it may play out that way sometimes, but often times it does not. Even if the campaign was profitable, it might’ve been more profitable with better planning and tracking.

Thinking in Reverse

I have a methodology that I practice in nearly every situation where a specific end result is desired, regardless of the topic. You start with exactly what it is you wish to achieve and then break down into the various incremental steps or milestones that would need to be achieved to accomplish that goal. In this particular scenario, let’s say that a hair salon owner wanted 40 new customers per month. Let’s simplify things to say 10 new customers per week. This shop has had its best marketing success using direct mail. They have found that approximately 50% of people who initially call actually show up for their appointment. Some people call for questions and pricing but did not make appointment while others make appointments but don’t show. So the bottom line is, they need to generate 20 inbound calls per week to get 10 new customers. They have also determined that approximately 1% of the postcards they mail will generate a phone call. Therefore they need to mail 2000 postcards per week which will generate 20 calls and 10 new customers. As a side note, without having these important conversion statistics, there would be no way to calculate the effectiveness of this campaign, which I will cover in more detail shortly.

Tracking

Some people may say the tracking should come after the implementation because how can you track something that has not yet started. That may be, however it is important to decide how you are going to track your leads and have the system in place to accomplish that BEFORE the campaign starts. That is a critical factor. Your tracking might be something sophisticated such as a software application or an Excel spreadsheet, but it can also be something as simple as a hand-drawn table with columns or something of that nature that you could make copies of. Ideally you would want to track the time and date of the call, the result of the call, and the amount of revenue that each customer generated. Those are the most important factors to consider when evaluating the effectiveness of a campaign, and also deciding how it can be improved.

There are 3 major ways you can increase your profits and revenues. Once you have an understanding of these principles and how they can be implemented in your business, you begin to realize the various ways they can be implemented to increase sales, revenues, and profits.

Click the like button to share this post on Facebook and I will reveal the top 3 ways you can increase your business revenues.

Implementation

Once the proper campaign strategy has been selected and the method of tracking has been established, it is time to initiate the process. There are some details to consider with regards to when you plan to launch your campaign. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you will want to make sure that you have adequate staffing on the days your promotions and specials are running. You may also want to check your inventory of supplies that may be needed during an influx of business. Nothing will ruin a campaign quicker than not being able to fulfill on the sales you are generating during the campaign.

If you are an online only business, you may want to verify with your hosting company that this promotion doesn’t coincide with any planned downtime they may have. Depending on the nature of your business, you may also want to consider some additional temporary staffing to answer phones or respond to e-mail queries. The quicker you are able to respond to your potential clients and customers, the less likely they are to visit your competitors for the answers they seek.

Calculating ROI

Even if you are mathematically challenged, calculating your return on investment (ROI) does not have to be complicated. Here is the basic concept. Marketing ROI is simply a ratio of the net amount of money you made from the promotion compared to the amount of money you invested. For the sake of example, let’s say the total revenue from a particular promotion is $1000. The cost of the promotion itself was $200 and it required approximately $100 of your time or your staff’s time as part of the process, so your true cost was $300. If you take $1000 minus the cost of $300, that leaves a profit of $700. That $700 profit divided by your $300 cost equals 2.33. To keep things simple that means you received $2.33 for every dollar invested in the campaign. If you want to think in terms of percentage, you will need to multiply that times 100 which yields a ROI of 233%. Refer to the illustration below for a graphical representation of what I’m talking about. It may help you to remember the simple formula.

roi-formula

That is ROI in its simplest terms. There are many other factors that can be considered to make the campaign even more effective, which will be the topic for an upcoming blog post. So stay tuned.

If you would like a more personalized evaluation of your current or proposed marketing strategies, contact the professionals at Your Marketing Crew. We invite you to call us today at 727-210-5046 to schedule a no-cost consultation where we can learn more about you and your business, what you would like to accomplish, and make some recommendations to see if we are good fit. We look forward to the opportunity of working with you to help you grow your business.

Your Marketing Crew provides web design, Internet marketing, and search engine optimization services for many with local Tampa Bay businesses in cities such as Tampa, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, Oldsmar Dunedin, Saint Petersburg, Palm Harbor, Largo and many other surrounding communities. We also work with many other small business owners located throughout the United States. Give us a call today if you would like to strengthen your online presence and increase your PROFITABILITY.

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Don’t Forget to Dream

Besides Danny MacAskill’s amazing talents and the months of planning, set building, practice and filming that went into this production, I was reminded how much we seemingly lose our ability to dream once we get older. Click on the image below to view the very cool video on their site.

dont-forget-to-dreamThe young boy in this short film was immersed in his imaginary world where anything was possible. To him, like all of us at that age, the actions and characters were just as real as those portrayed by the actors. Inherently as children, we all have the ability to create whatever worlds we want. As adults we still possess that same capability, but over the years we have forgotten what it was like to be able to create our own realities based on our limitless imaginations.

Our friends, family, educators, employers, coworkers, the media and virtually everyone else we come in contact with throughout our normal days tell us what they believe we can or cannot do. They may mean well and often advise us in an effort to protect us or avoid disappointment. The reality is they are often projecting their own thoughts, lack of abilities or limitations based on their own life experiences. We have become accustomed to believing those warnings, even though it might be on a subconscious level. The end result is that we end up limiting our own growth and development based on someone else’s beliefs or limitations.

The only way to realize our full potential is to remember that each of us, at any age have the ability to create whatever reality we choose as long as we remember that we are in control of our destiny. We have to regain that childlike innocence and remember to dream big, stay focused and let our passion for those goals we wish to achieve be the fuel to drive the consistent action to make them happen.

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Google Reveals Hummingbird Search Algorithm

What Does it Mean for SEO?

hummingbird-google-blogYesterday was Google’s 15th birthday, which was marked by the introduction of their latest search engine algorithm called “Hummingbird.” The special event was held at the garage where Google was started in 1998.

As a side note, I can remember the day my brother sent me an e-mail telling me about this new search engine called Google. I thought it had a fun, cute sounding name. Earlier this year, Google announced that it generated $50 billion in annual revenue for the year of 2012. That’s a little more than cute.

What’s Up With All These Named Updates?

Google routinely assigns names to major search engine algorithm updates. For example in June of 2010, the Caffeine update involved restructuring of the company’s indexing system which allowed them to deliver faster search results. The Panda update in February of the following year was mainly aimed at reducing the amount of low-quality/spammy websites being shown in the search results.

Google Hummingbird Update, Explained

For those of you not familiar with the term “search engine algorithm“, it is basically the formula that Google uses to evaluate over 200 different parameters that are directly or indirectly part of your website. Google said the name “Hummingbird “was chosen from being “precise and fast.” These updates sometimes target only certain aspects of the entire search criteria to accomplish a specific goal. This update involved rewriting the algorithm on a much more global basis. In fact, Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president of search, said that perhaps 2001, when he first joined the company, “was the last time the algorithm was so dramatically rewritten.” Although I just heard about this update yesterday when Google made the public announcement, I found out the update was actually made about a month ago. I have not seen any dramatic shifts in rankings or traffic on any of our sites.

What is the Hummingbird Update?

One of the goals of this update was to allow for more intelligent communication between the search engine and someone looking for information. This conversational search should allow Google to better understand the meaning of the entire phrase rather than just focusing on certain keywords within the phrase. They will be able to answer questions more like a human.

Voice search has also been enabled as part of their Chrome browser which allows web surfers to use their computer’s microphone to speak the search query rather than having to type it out. For people like me who do not like the type, I find it very convenient.

What Does it Mean for SEO?

Google is saying that there is nothing new or different search engine optimizers or website publishers should have to worry about. The things that matter most with regards to search engine rankings are still in place. Having unique, engaging, relevant content that provides the best possible end-user experience is something that will never go out of style. Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team has mentioned this on more than one occasion.

Will Hummingbird Help You or Hurt You?

As a web surfer, you will most likely find the update to be very helpful and more intuitive when it comes time to searching. If you are a website owner, and you update your site on a regular basis with relevant useful information, you don’t have anything to worry about. If you would like to see some specific answers, you can visit Danny Sullivan’s Hummingbird FAQ. I personally am looking forward to exploring some of the more intuitive features that are part of this update.

Your Marketing Crew is located in Tarpon Springs, FL and works with many with small business owners in the local Tampa Bay area as well as many cities throughout the United States. Give us a call today at 727-210-5046 if you would like to increase your online presence and profitability.

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From the President

“I really take a strong personal interest in our clients’ businesses. I don’t feel I can serve them to the fullest extent without taking the time to learn about them and their market. It always gives me a great deal of satisfaction to establish a good working relationship and watch that business grow and prosper as a direct result of our efforts. I really enjoy enriching people’s lives and businesses and have lot of fun while doing it.”

President of Your Marketing Crew LLC

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