flyte blog: small business web marketing blog

How Your Small Business Can Create Content That Attracts New Customers

admin — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:26:25 +0000

Online lead generation is critical to every small business. Our websites–and related properties–need to be constantly attracting new customers.

Content–valuable content–is what attracts prospects to our website where we can begin the process of turning them into customers.

Since so many of us turn to search engines or our favorite social media platform to answer questions and solve problems, as businesses we need to make sure that we’re there, too, ready to help.

Start by Creating Valuable Content

Value is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case the only beholder that matters is your ideal customer. What are they struggling with that you can help them with?

Let’s imagine you run a dentistry practice, and you’re looking to get new patients for cosmetic dentistry. You might start by brainstorming some questions or concerns that your ideal customer may have:

What is cosmetic dentistry?
How much does cosmetic dentistry cost?
Will my insurance cover teeth bonding?
What’s the difference between teeth bleaching and veneers?
What questions should I ask before choosing a dentist for cosmetic dentistry?

These questions can come from your experience, surveys, actual questions people ask you or more. For more ideas on how to come up with great content ideas, check out 13 Ideas for Writing Content Your Audience Wants to Read.

Choose Your Channels

Each one of these questions can be turned into an article, blog post, video, a webinar, or a dozen other packages. Let’s assume we’re going to start with “the difference between teeth bleaching and veneers.” Because this is so visual, let’s create a video.

The video should be short–probably two minutes or less–and focused on explaining the differences between the two approaches. If possible, we’ll have the dentist who does the procedures explain them so she can build trust with her audience before they even make their appointment. We’ll want to end with some sort of call-to-action: perhaps telling people that if they want to learn more they should click the link in the description field.

Or you could take advantage of YouTube’s feature that allows you to link to your website. Here’s a how-to on creating external links from your YouTube videos.

Before we upload it to YouTube (my video sharing platform of choice) we’ll want to change the file name from whatever random name it has to something keyword rich and specific, like teeth-bleaching-vs-veneers.mov.

As the movie uploads, we’ll give our video a keyword-rich title, like “Teeth Bleaching vs. Veneers: Which Is Right for You?”

Moving on to the description field, we’ll start with a URL that we want to drive viewers to…a page on our site with more information, our contact information, and a call to action. We’ll continue by creating as much relevant content as we can, using our keywords a few more times within the copy.

Finally, we’ll put our keywords into the tags field.

For more detail on YouTube marketing, check out How To Maximize Your YouTube Marketing.

Promote Your Content

Even though this content is part of your marketing, you’ll still need to promote it to get it in front of your prospects. Since we created this content as a YouTube video, we can embed it in a blog post (among other places.)

So, we’ll create a new blog post about teeth bleaching and veneers. A lot of the written copy can be similar to the video content, so we’re not reinventing the wheel. In fact, we could take the transcript as is if we’re feeling especially busy (or lazy) and turn that into the blog post.

Within the post we’ll both link to the video hosted at YouTube and embed the video so people can watch it from within the video.

In addition, we’ll create a call to action, guiding people back to our website where they can call us, fill out a contact form, or setup an appointment.

When we publish this post, all of our RSS and email subscribers will get a heads up about the new content.

We’ll also share this on our Facebook page, create a series of scheduled tweets through Hootsuite, and use any other social platform where our audience might hang out.

Turn Visitors Into Customers

If we’ve done our job, a lot more people who are interested in cosmetic dentistry have discovered our content and followed the links back to our site. However, these people are still just visitors…not prospects, and certainly not customers.

Our website needs to be professional and easy to navigate. It should be at least as nice as our offices, because it’s likely that they’ll see our website before our offices, and we need to make a good first impression. A messy, frustrating or unprofessional site will send the message that our practice is the same.

The page on our website that explains in more detail about bleaching vs. veneers (and perhaps answers some of those other questions as well) needs to have a clear call to action at the bottom. What do we want people to do? Call us? Fill out a contact form? Use our online appointment form? Let’s make it clear to them what the next step is so they’re more likely to take it.

Takeaways

Although you may not be running a dentist’s office, hopefully you can see how these steps can be recreated to support lead generation for your small business.

Start by creating valuable content that answers the questions your ideal customers are asking at Google or Facebook. Find the right platform or channel to deliver that content, and follow up by promoting the content. Use any and all channels that your audience are likely to be active on.

Use your content to lead people to an information-rich page on your site, and give them a clear indication to what the next logical step would be to solve their problem.

In this way you’ll be attracting a steady stream of new customers for your small business.

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing Consultant

Photo Credit: Wonderlane via Compfight cc

I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.

Build-A-Biz Teaches Entrepreneurship to Maine Youth

Rich Brooks — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:41:32 +0000

Build-A-Biz is a youth entrepreneurial education program to kids how to start and operate their own businesses.

I remember the first time I met Kate Krukowski Gooding, the founder and director of Build-A-Biz. I was presenting for the Maine Center for Entrepreneurial Development and she came up and introduced herself. Half-way through explaining what she did, I interrupted her and said, “I want to be a part of that!”

In Maine, something like 95% of adults are employed by small businesses, so entrepreneurship is a critical skill for Mainers.

As Kate told me, kids learn at a young age, and it’s up to us to give them experience. It’s important for kids to have the tools and experience that a program like Build-A-Biz offers, whether they start their own companies or work for others.

Build-A-Biz offers two programs, one for children 5-8 and the other for children 9-15. Both offer four modules:

Setting goals
Finance
Advertising & marketing
Running your business.

The only difference is that the younger kids watch instructional videos, while the older group reads the material. There’s also an “elevator pitch” contest for the older kids.

On May 19th, kids across the state of Maine are going to be starting their businesses…a kickoff for running their businesses during the summer.

One of the things I especially like about Build-A-Biz compared to other youth entrepreneurship programs is that this one isn’t just one day…it’s the beginning of a lifetime of entrepreneurship learning.

Build-A-Biz website was designed by the Via Agency and built by flyte on a responsive platform for optimal viewing on all devices.

Rich Brooks
Responsive WordPress Web Design

Should I Hire an SEO Copywriter? | Search Engine Optimization

Rich Brooks — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:44:33 +0000

Is hiring an SEO copywriter a good investment in your business, or are you better off writing your own copy?

In today’s Dear Rich post, I summarize a conversation I’ve been having with a few different clients lately. Although I’m not a copywriter myself, I’m a huge fan of the art, so expect heavy bias ahead.

Dear Rich,

Should I hire an SEO copywriter or write the copy myself?

You [flyte] have provided me with a keyword matrix for my website. You’ve given me recommended titles, headers, meta-descriptions and keywords for every single page. You’ve even provided suggestions for alt-tags and intrasite links.

This thing could write itself!

No one knows my business like I do, so why would I spend money to have someone else write my copy for me?

Why can’t I write my own search engine optimized copy?

–Writing in Westbrook

Dear Writing,

Maybe you can write your own copy! I’m definitely not trying to stop you from writing copy for your site. And yes, we’ve provided you with well-researched keywords that your audience is searching for online. But there’s more to building a house than having enough wood and nails, and there’s more to writing SEO copy than just knowing your keywords.

Are you a sports fan or do you prefer cooking? Never mind, I’ve created two metaphors so you can Choose Your Own Adventure. Or metaphor. Whatever.

Cooking Metaphor for Why You Need an SEO Copywriter

We’ve given you all the ingredients you need to bake a perfect soufflé. We’ve even given you a basic recipe for you to follow.

But now you’re going up against some of the greatest chefs of our generation in a bake off, and this may be the first time you’ve ever made a soufflé.

Are you ready for that level of competition? Or should we see if Martha Stewart is free?

Sports Metaphor for Why You Need an SEO Copywriter

We’ve shown you how to hold the bat and instructed you in what to focus on when you step up to the plate. You may have even taken a few swing in the batting cages.

But now it’s the bottom of the 9th, the game’s on the line, and Mariano Rivera is pitching.

Would you put you in? Or would you let Big Papi pinch hit?

There’s more to copywriting than just sprinkling in keywords.

Copywriting is about more than just communication, it’s about persuasion. It’s about moving someone to action. You don’t just want people to find your website through Google, you want them to take a desired action once they get there. To move down the sales funnel. Fill out a contact form or click a buy now button.

Here’s the thing about copywriters.

While we can all write–except for those people who write “loose” when they mean “lose,” those people piss me off–we’re not all copywriters.

That’s a very specific skill.

The copy on your website could have a life span of three, five, even ten years depending on your industry. Hiring a professional copywriter isn’t an expense, it’s an investment.

And a copywriter who understands how to for search engines as well as people is worth her or his weight in gold.

Do you have the time to write your own copy?

The last time many of us had to write lots of copy was back in college. If your website is going to have 15 pages to start (a conservative estimate), you should plan on spending 30 – 45 hours in content creation, review and editing.

That’s right: about two to three hours a page if you want to do it right.

Couldn’t you be spending that time on something that provides more value to your business, and contributes more revenue to your bottom line?

I’ve been involved with the building of over 500 websites at this point, so please believe me when I tell you: the number one reason jobs get delayed are because creating content is hard work!

If you want your website to be launched on time and on budget, then you should definitely hire a copywriter to take that work off your plate.

When you hire an SEO copywriter…

You get copy that’s going to help you rank higher at the search engines and get found by your ideal customer.
You get top notch, persuasive copy that turns prospects into customers.
You know that your copy will be completed on time and on budget, so you can launch your website when planned.
You get to focus on the things you do best and where you can add the most value.
You don’t have to give up a week of your life to write copy that may–or may not–be effective.

So, can I put you in touch with a great SEO copywriter?

Rich Brooks

NOT a Copywriter

5 Financial Planning Tips for Your Small Business

admin — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:32:10 +0000

It’s that time of year again: tax season. Lately people have been asking me—me—for financial planning tips.

Me, the guy with the five-dollar latte in his hand.

So, I did what any smart entrepreneur would do: I outsourced to people smarter than me.

I asked five financial planning whizzes for their best tip, then I asked my wife, Cybele, who runs the books here at flyte and at home, to add some additional vetted resources for your researching pleasure.

“Create a budget so you know if your next great idea will put you on the map or sink you.”
Alison Hinson
Yarmouth Maine

Additional resources:

How to Create a Simple Budget:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/201670

How to Start a Business Budget:
http://www.inc.com/encyclopedia/businessbudget.html

Business Budget Worksheet:
http://bizfinance.about.com/od/businessbudgeting/a/budget_wksheet.htm
“With the new tax rules for 2013, many successful small business owners now face a 50%+ marginal tax rate… so the best idea has to deal with tax reduction.
“In our experience, most successful business owners leave money on the table each year because they have not maximized their tax savings through their corporate structure. LLCs taxed as partnerships, S corporations, C corporations, disregarded entities — these all have their pros and cons. Most often, a successful business should use multiple entities to maximize tax savings, yet most small businesses use only one entity and thereby lose out on tactics that could reduce taxes by $1,000-$100,000 annually. Consider multiple entities… you might be happy you did next April 15th!”

David B. Mandell, JD, MBA
OJM Group
Cincinnati, OH
www.ojmgroup.com

Additional resources:

Entity Structure Overview:
http://www.accountantsofficeonline.com/members/Cathe59783/FAQ.htm

Business Entity Formation:
http://www.formationsolutions.com/blog/corporation-and-llc-tax-issues/which-business-entity-saves-the-most-on-taxes

A Dozen Tax Deductions for your small business:
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/a-dozen-deductions-for-your-small-business-1.aspx
“Focus on the aspects of your financial plan that you can control and don’t worry about those that you can’t! I.e., focus on Taxation, Estate Planning, Insurances.”
Dan Sparta CFP
Northeast Financial Services
Portland, ME
www.northeastbank.com/investments

Additional resources:

Small Business Financial Planning:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/biz/green/19990712a.asp

Small Business Tax Strategies:
http://www.inc.com/guides/legal/20687.html

Small Business Owners Estate Plan:
http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-item?cmsid=35790

How to Create an Estate Plan:
http://www.inc.com/guides/estate-planning.html

Types of Business Insurance:
http://www.sba.gov/content/types-business-insurance
“Know how to read your own balance sheet, and recognize the strengths and weaknesses it presents.”
David Driscoll
Oakworth Capital Bank
Birmingham, Al
www.oakworthcapital.com

Additional resources:

Balance Sheet Basics:
http://www.inc.com/articles/2000/05/18941.html

Small Business Balance Cheat Sheet:
http://blog.lessaccounting.com/p/small-business-balance-sheet-deciphered/

Top Ten Reviews - 2013 Best Accounting Software:
http://accounting-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
“Focus on what you do best and do more of it.
“When you are looking for ways to grow revenue, the real growth is usually the same stuff that’s already proven successful. So before you spend more money, move to the next new project, new idea etc. slow down, and do more of what has been working. Then make a plan for growth, make sure that your new plan, does not take away from revenues that have made you successful, and the most important piece, friendly banker, friendly banker.”

Mark A. Tanous
FISC Solutions
Lewiston, ME
www.fiscsolutions.com

Additional resources:

From Business Plan to business Growth Plan:
http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/998/1/AT_Business-Growth-Plan.asp

Lean Planning for Small Business:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sabrinaparsons/2012/11/16/lean-planning-drives-growth-for-small-business/

How to Shop for a Bank:
http://guides.wsj.com/small-business/funding/how-to-shop-for-a-bank/

Small Business: It’s all about Relationships:
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financialcareers/08/business-owner-relationships.asp

Takeaways

Create a budget, reduce your tax burden, and focus on what you can control and what you do best.

That sounds like good advice to me.

Cybele…you on that?

Rich Brooks
Small Business Owner

How to Use URL Builder in Google Analytics

Rich Brooks — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:45:18 +0000

If you want to get better traffic reports, you can enhance Google Analytics with URL Builder. Here’s how.

Rich,

Hope you’re doing well! I recently watched the video of your Google Analytics webinar (thanks for some great info about queries!) and have a burning question:

You explained how to use the URL Builder, but I’m a bit confused about where to input the URL you’ve built to be able to track it. I looked under campaigns, but didn’t see an input window for a URL, am I missing something?

Thanks!

URL Building in Bowdoinham

Dear Building,

Glad you enjoyed the webinar! My plan is to put on a new, free web marketing webinar every month. Be sure to sign up for our email list if you want to get alerted when the new ones are announced.

But back to your question: where do you input the URL you’ve built to be able to track it in Google Analytics?

Let’s say you use URL Builder to create a trackable link for a Constant Contact email newsletter on a widgets promo your selling. It might look like this:

http://www.flyte.biz/?utm_source=constantcontact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=widgetoffer

You use that link as is, or hidden behind a text link like this, or stuffed into a bit.ly URL shortner like this: http://bit.ly/14yp45b.

As people click on the link to visit your website, Google Analytics will track that information automatically. It will appear in many of your traffic reports, but definitely under Traffic Sources > Sources > Campaigns.

You can also fiddle with this report so that it displays by Source, Medium, Source/Medium, or Campaign.

Hope this helps!

Rich Brooks
Web Marketing for Small Business

Creating Short Form Video with Vine, Lightt & SnapChat

admin — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:32:39 +0000

How creative can you be in six seconds or less? New video apps give you the opportunity to find out.

Last night I donned my “tech guru” tiara and did a short segment on 207, Maine’s evening news program.

Of course, it wasn’t as short as some of the video that is appearing on a website or mobile device near you. Thanks to mobile video apps like Vine, Lightt & SnapChat, people are creating incredibly short stories to share with friends, colleagues and even customers.

We take a look at these apps and talk about how they can be used. You can watch it at the 207 website or down below.

Here are those resources:

Rich Brooks
One Day I Want to Direct

Back Cove Yachts Reveals New Website

Joan Woodbrey Crocker — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:23:46 +0000

Back Cove Yachts Launches New Website.

Back Cove Yachts, is the sister company of Sabre Yachts whose site was also recently updated. Together these two yards are the largest recreational boat building company in the State of Maine.

The new site is built on the WordPress platform allowing for Back Cove to have more control over their own site as well as the ability to make changes when necessary. The site also includes Owner’s resources, FAQs on specific Motor Yachts, Employment opportunities and more.

Designed for Mobile

We used mobile platform detection to supply an experience customized for handheld devices. The site also includes some responsive features to make viewing on a smaller screen, such as the iPad, easier.

The New Site Features…

Full Background Slideshow: The new site is visually pleasing with a large photo background design that rotates highlighting different yachts. This design flows throughout the site from the home page to the internal pages.

Find A Dealer: The new option allows buyers to find a Back Cove Yachts dealer by boat type, state, zip or even country. Making it easier for the consumer to find a dealer close by.

Boat Show Calendar: This offers customers the ability to know when Back Cove will be at a boat show near them so they can check them out.

Events: Back Cove dealers offer Open Houses and Events at their dealerships where you can go and browse the different models at your leisure. The events page lets you know when these events take place so you can check them out and take advantage of any promos that are offered!

The Back Cove Blog: Learn about the wood shop, check out new motor yacht designs and get an insiders view of the boat yard.

Be sure to check out Back Cove’s beautiful line of power boats if you’re heading for open water, and be sure to check out flyte if you’re looking for a mobile friendly website for your business.

LinkedIn & SlideShare Webinar

Rich Brooks — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 14:27:48 +0000

If you’re looking to increase your online visibility and generate more leads in the B2B arena, then you’ll want to learn how to use LinkedIn and SlideShare. Good thing we have a free webinar coming up on both.

FACT! Linkedin has over 200 million members.

FACT! Two professionals join LinkedIn…every second!

FACT! SlideShare gets 60 million visits every month.

FACT! Every month over 400,000 presentations get uploaded to SlideShare.

FACT! People love when you scream “FACT!” at them.

If you’re looking to generate more leads through LinkedIn, or have been wondering how you can use SlideShare to increase your reach and improve your online visibility, then you’ll want to check out our free webinar, How to Use LinkedIn and SlideShare to Build Your Business, on 3/28/2013 at 2pm ET.

But why listen to me? Let’s turn our focus to this fine looking gentleman:

Remember: even if you can’t be on the webinar live, you can still watch it on demand at your convenience. However, you do need to register by the 28th, so why not take care of that right now?

Overview:

Even professionals who are on LinkedIn are often only scratching the surface.

In this webinar you’ll see how to setup and optimize your LinkedIn profile and build your network. You’ll learn the ins and outs of setting up a company page. You’ll discover how to use and leverage Slideshare, even if you’ve never presented before.

Attendees will learn:

How to setup and maximize your LinkedIn profile
How to build your network quickly and ethically on LinkedIn
How to use LI Groups to extend your network
How to get started with Slideshare
How to integrate your Slideshare and LinkedIn activity
How to enhance your profile with slideshows, blogs and more
How to integrate LinkedIn and Slideshare into your overall marketing

Register now!

Rich Brooks
LinkedIn & SlideShare Marketing

Facebook Gives the News Feed a Face Lift

Joan Woodbrey Crocker — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:00:29 +0000

Today Facebook Announced New Uncluttered News Feed!

You may have heard the rumors swirling around the interwebs about an upcoming change to the Facebook news feed. Well… today Facebook announced that it will be slowly rolling out the newly designed uncluttered news feed.

You will still see everything you saw before…So don’t freak out!

However, you will now see bigger images that are more vibrant and colorful and that really highlight what your friends are sharing. You will even be able to switch your feed to show only images, most recent, only folks that you are following like celebrities and news outlets, etc.

To gain access to the new newsfeed early visit www.facebook.com/newsfeed and add yourself to the waiting list. You can also check out the cool new design and functionality.

What does this mean for your biz? Well for one you will want to make sure that your cover image looks good in the slimmed down version that shows on friends news feeds when they like your page.

By Joan Woodbrey Crocker

How to Create External Links in YouTube Videos

Rich Brooks — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:25:18 +0000

If you’ve always wanted to create clickable links from within a YouTube video to an external website, you can now do so. This article will show you how.

For a long time, YouTube has allowed you to create links to other videos, channels and YouTube-centric actions like voting, commenting or subscribing. Also, using 3rd party software or creating overlay ads, you could create some outbound links, but it was tricky and cumbersome.

Then, a few months back YouTube began to allow external links to fundraiser sites like Kickstarter. Now it seems the floodgates are open.

You can create clickable links and buttons from within a YouTube video using their annotations tool.

I created a video, How to Create External Links In YouTube, and put together a step-by-step process outlined below.

First, Associate Your Website.

Log into YouTube.
Click on Video Manager.
Choose Channel Settings in the left hand navigation.
Choose Associated Websites and enter in your website.
Note: Your YouTube channel and the Google Webmaster Tools for the associated website must share the same Google Account. If you don’t have Webmaster Tools enabled for your desired Associated Website, go take care of that now.

Second, Connect Your Webmaster Tools.

Log into Webmaster Tools.
Select the desired associated website.
Choose Configuration.
Choose Associates.
Add a New User.
Put in the email address associated with the Google Account.
Check off YouTube.
Now you’ll see that YouTube has been associated with this Webmaster Tools account.

Third, Verify Your YouTube Partner Account.

Apologies, apparently I deleted the text for the callout for #3 in the video, and by the time I noticed it, I already had some activity on the video, so I didn’t want to take it down. Next time, quality assurance.

Head back to YouTube.
Go to Channel Settings > Features.
Click on Verify Account.
Google will either call or text you (your choice) with a code. Enter it into the next screen.

Fourth, Enable External Links.

Go to your Video Manager.
Select any video and click on Edit > Annotations.
When you arrive in the annotations screen, you’ll see a blue bar at the top. Click “Enable” and agree to the terms of service.
Note: I’ve done this twice and BOTH times Associated Websites wasn’t enabled immediately. I had to go back into the Video Manager page, and then re-enter the video I wanted to create external links for.

Fifth, Link Away!

I didn’t create a #5 in the video, because at this point your channel is enabled for external links to the associated website. Here’s what I show:

In annotations, select a moment where you want to create an external link. I used the Spotlight annotation, but you can choose Speech Bubble or Note.
Select the “nearly invisible” box (if you wish.)
Select “link.”
Choose “Associated Website” in the pulldown menu.
Type in your website (or any page at that domain.)
Click Save and Publish, and your external link is ready for action!

Takeaway

You now have the ability to create outbound, external links from within your YouTube videos. Once enabled, it will work for any YouTube video you’ve put up.

Is this something you can put to use? How would you use it? Let us know in the comments below!

Rich Brooks
YouTube Marketing