Small Business Consulting

How Can I Promote My Own Business Online?

So you’ve finally decided to take the first steps toward exposing your small business to the vast ocean of prospects called the Internet; or maybe you’ve had a website for a few years that was built by your neighbor’s cousin’s daughter’s boyfriend. The fact is that if you’ve been in business for more than a year and you’re serious about your future and the future of your business then you need to continue reading because this post was written with YOU specifically in mind.

There’s really no good reason for any brick and mortar business to NOT have a web presence. Even if you’re a one man operation and the entire business revolves around your particular expertise or specialty, you owe it to yourself and your clients/customers to put forth the best possible image that you can for your business. Here are a few more reasons why a website is essential to business growth:

1. 1. A website can make your company look larger than it really is. Positioning is crucial to success.
   2. A website exposes your products or services to a wider audience than local advertising possibly could. Branding is crucial.
   3. A website gives you the ability to stay in constant contact with your clients/customers through auto-responders.
   4. A website that has been properly optimized will have you appear as the authority in your niche or field of expertise.
   5. A website gives your clients/customers a venue to make suggestions or offer feedback for you to improve your business while they can remain anonymous.
   6. More interactivity equals more satisfied customers which in turn equals more profit for you and your business.

Once you’ve decided to move ahead with creating a web presence for your small business there are a few things to consider before attempting to D-I-Y (do it yourself) or even hiring someone to do it for you. Make sure that you have some things crystal clear in your mind before you begin the process and you will save yourself time and frustration later on.
Things that you absolutely should have in place before moving forward:

1. 1. A mission statement. (If you didn’t do this when you first opened your business, do it now)
   2. A vision statement.
   3. A clear picture of exactly who your audience is.
   4. Short term and long term ATTAINABLE goals.
   5. A positive mental attitude.

If you’ve taken the time and forethought to really get these thoughts and processes ingrained into your psyche you’re well on your way to successfully taking your business to the next level and beyond.

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Use Video To Promote Your Small Business

If you’re a small business owner, it’s about time you began using video to promote your small business. The impact and reach that a short video can give to your current advertising can not be overlooked or under valued. It’s imperative that you begin to use video to promote your small business if you haven’t already.

The affordability of small, high definition video recorders like the Flip makes it even easier for the average business owner to get started. Many already have an HD camcorder in their family, it’s just a matter of using it to promote your business. There’s also no need to invest in high cost video editing software. If your PC came with Windows Vista or Windows 7 installed, they both came with “Windows Movie Maker” pre-installed.

There are a couple of ways that you can use video to promote your small business:

• The first way is to do a walk around your shop, from a customers perspective, and show people what you have to offer.
• The second method is to use video to highlight a “special offer or sale” and use that in your promotions.
• Another tactic is to use videotaped customer testimonials to give you better credibility and value in potential customer’s eyes.
• Use your imagination. Maybe you could show how easy your product is to set up or service.

Using video in your marketing, either directly (selling your product) or indirectly (testimonials & how-to’s) is an excellent way to add value to what  you bring to the table for your customers and clients. Remember that the more value that the visitors to your website perceive that you’ve given them, the more likely they are to buy from you…again and again.

If you’re the type of small business owner that likes to be involved in your community, you might consider hosting PSA (public service announcement) types of videos on your website. Maybe you’re a coach or sponsor of a local youth or church sports team and want to post a weekly rundown of local scores. Once again, you’re asked to call upon your own imagination and be creative as to how you could serve your community while bringing attention to your small business at the same time.

Remember, whether you utilize it directly or indirectly, as a small business owner you owe it to yourself to use video to promote your small business.

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Managed Social Media

With Facebook recently overtaking Google as the top venue for advertisers to spend their dollars, it opens a golden opportunity for those entrepreneurs who are poised and ready to take advantage of the timing and positioning.

Take a look if you haven’t already noticed, BIG business is already all over FB. They’ve found that staying in touch with folks who use and like their products is extremely easy through social media. If you’re on the fan page of one of these companies you have access to special and discounts that won’t be found anywhere else. (Exclusivity & Scarcity all in one)

You can also comment on their wall giving them direct feedback without them having to spend money from their budget in order to create, market, score, assess and evaluate a massive poll. They have the ability to ask you directly what you want most from them and respond in kind.

Now, transfer all of these big business strategies down to a smaller scale and begin to realize how easily you could go out and create and/or manage fan pages for businesses in your local community. If you’re good with graphics, that’s even better, there are FBML (facebook markup language) templates and information out there that will allow you to create custom designs for those fan pages.

If you have a knack for video (outsource if you don’t) you can and should offer to create HD videos for your clients and then upload and manage their YouTube channel for them. Oh, don’t forget to submit their video to sites like TubeMogul so that they can be categorized, keyworded and then widely distributed. This will also come in handy if you’re going to be building a blog for them.

These are only two examples of what you might offer local businesses in order to help them expand their sphere of influence. Think about them the same way for your business. If you’re not already in business, this is a good way to begin. If you already have an established offline consulting business, you could use these ideas as an adjunct to services that you’re already providing. The choice is up to you.

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Business Blog Benefits

One very easy way to begin your offline consulting business is to offer a service to your local businesses that will have you creating blogs for them. We who are already familiar with the SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) value that blogs hold. Blogs are very easy and quick to create. In fact, if you create these small business blogs on Blogger.com (which is a Google property), they’ll get almost immediate attention paid to them.

If you’re already using ANY of Google’s accounts (Gmail, AdWords, AdSense, etc…) you can sign into Blogger with that same ID. You always have the option of starting a new account distinctly for the purpose of this business tactic. After all, Google accounts are free.

Choose the name of your client’s blog carefully. It will reflect the name of their business and be formatted something like this:

http://mainstreethardware.blogspot.com   or   http://sallysbeautysalon.blogspot.com

There are a few reasons why a blog is good for your client/customer:

• Even if they have an existing website, a blog is inherently equipped with more technically beneficial features.
• It gives them a high value backlink from an historically high site. (Thank you Google)
• Blogs equal targeted traffic.
• Targeted traffic equals leads.
• Leads equal customers.
• Customers equal a better bottom line
• Blogs do a better job at keeping them in touch with their customers.
• Blogs are dynamic and easily edited or changed to keep up with special offers and sales.

A great way to begin the conversation with your potential client, that small business owner down the road, is to ask him how he keeps in touch with his existing clients right now. If they stammer or stutter for an answer, you’re in the right place.

• Explain to them how they can stay in touch with their customers very easily and cheaply.
• Tell them about all of  the money getting benefits of a business blog.
• Educate them on auto-responders and how they can send out an e-mail blast right in the midst of a slow week or month in order to bring in more business.
• Describe how they can put advertisements on their site with a cooperative and complementary ad program with another business.

These ideas alongside your imagination and entrepreneurial spirit should give you enough to go out and start knocking on some doors or pick up the phone. There are dozens to hundreds of prospects for you to contact, depending on the population where you live; and don’t let that diminish your drive either.

You’re likely reading this on your computer, and you can therefore use that same computer to begin your search for the businesses that will ultimately make up the foundation and future of your business. The secret is to take action.

You’ve just been handed a simple, step by step method of getting a start in the offline consulting business. Pick an area to specialize in, pick a direction to take that specialty and PROVE to yourself that it’s as simple as making a choice. You CAN do this. Start today.

Two Methods From One Model

Generating leads for local businesses can be a very lucrative avenue for you to think about pursuing. Almost every small business has a need for more customers and/or clients. By providing a venue to gather contact information you can become invaluable to local businesses. Imagine how thankful that new doctor or dentist in town will be after you’ve provided them with a patient base that they never could have achieved without your help and expertise.

There are a number of ways that you can go about generating those leads. One way involves having businesses pay you before you have the leads and the other will have those businesses handing you money for names, addresses, and phone numbers of clients whose names you already own and have permission to market to.

Your starting off point and the direction of your own business will be determined by your ability to gather that contact information. It can be as simple as putting up a single page website that does nothing more than educate consumers to the benefits of using a certain type of business or service. Once they’ve visited the site, ask them to express their continued interest by exchanging their contact information for the promise of a discount with the service provider which they eventually choose, no matter who that may be.

Another great way to gather information, which will also give you the opportunity to realize a greater profit, is to create the website with a keyword rich domain name, ie; chicagosbestpainter.com or bestdentistindenver.com or something similar to that. Once you’ve created the site and put an opt-in box near the top of the page to capture names, you then get the site optimized and ranked in the search engines. Once it’s ranked you have the opportunity to approach those painters in Chicago or Dentists in Denver to 1.) Sell them the leads you’ve gathered or 2.) Sell them the site that you’ve gotten ranked and offer to maintain both the site and it’s rank for $xxx/yr.

Either way you look at it there is profit to be made. Whether you take the long road or the shorter one is up to you. There is no wrong answer. Only your expertise and intuitiveness will determine the outcome of your efforts. The key is to take action. Choose a direction and begin to move that way.

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