10 Ways to Promote Your Business in 2011
By Dave Young, Professional Writer and Founder, Young Copy
Article originally published in Ping! Zine web hosting magazine, issue 42, pages 16-18, 21.
Whether you are just starting out or you have been in business for years, there are several things you can do in 2011 to promote your business and increase revenue. Some things you may already be doing and others you may have plans to do. Either way, take a few minutes and read the following list of the most important 10 things you can do in 2011 to attract qualified visitors to your website, convert visitors to customers, and the ultimate goal – increase sales.
- Put Yourself Out There
- Website Content
- Press Releases
- SEO
- Blog Posts
- Articles
- Case Studies
- Directory Listings
- White Papers
- Ad Space
Put Yourself Out There
Okay, so you are probably thinking, “How do I do all of the above or how can all of the above help my business?” You start by putting yourself out there. What do I mean by “Put Yourself Out There?” If nobody knows your company and products and services exist, how can you get business? How can you generate sales and increase revenue? You can’t. Even if your business primarily relies on referrals, you still put yourself out there by networking and talking to people, right? You get to know people through forums, message boards, conventions, meetings, chat rooms, and for those few of you actively working social media, you meet people through Twitter and Facebook, right?
So the first thing I recommend you do is you put yourself out there. Put your company name, products and services out there in as many ways as possible. Get it in your head that you need to just get out there and promote. Some of you may not be ready for the new business you can generate and that’s okay. Sometimes you need to take a step back and pace yourself so you can maintain high quality services and take care of existing customers. It’s not unusual to want to take it slow and do things right. But if you are ready to go full throttle and take advantage of all the opportunities you have available to promote your business and put yourself out there, now is the time.
Website Content
Content is one of the most important elements of any successful marketing campaign, especially website content. Website content is the foundation of your business. Even if you have a basic website, need a website, or have a website with many pages, your main goal should be to get high quality content written and produced for your website. Content combines both copywriting and graphics, neatly packaged to entice your visitors to take action and contact your sales force. For some of you, your sales force consists of you – you wear many hats – and that’s okay. Most of us do wear many hats and our sales, support, administrators, and billing do just about every job imaginable. Regardless, make website content a priority.
When visitors reach your website, you want to educate them on your company and your products and services. Your website content should reflect all the most important attributes of what makes your company and your products and services better than your competitors – that is if you have any competitors. Even if you do have competitors, separate your brand from everyone else by developing well written copy and integrating the right mix of graphics and call-to-action elements. Doing so could mean the difference between increasing sales by 1% or 100% or more over the next year.
Press Releases
Not just any press release will do. You need an optimized press release. What do I mean by optimized press release? An optimized press release is primed for search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. An optimized press release is written with unique content specifically geared to attract search engine spiders and attract your target audiences. When you attract search engines and your target audiences, guess what happens? You increase visitors and with the right website content, you convert those visitors to paying customers.
Optimized press releases are distributed to leading media companies, media websites, bloggers, and journalists ready to talk about your brand. The more powerful your brand or well known your brand is in the marketplace, the more your optimized press releases will get picked up by influencers. And when that happens, your optimized press releases will generate more links back to your website, which in turns helps you rank higher in search engines. So the more you distribute optimized press releases, the more opportunities you have to build your brand and get more media exposure.
Also, optimized press releases contain more than 250-300 words and more than just one link back to your website. Optimized press releases are written with a specific number of words that educate the media on your products and services so they can write about your company, products, and services effectively. And you want to make sure the media has the right links to your website so they can include those links in their news content. So how do you know if your press release is optimized with the right number of words and links? You hire a professional writer with optimized press release writing and distribution experience who can get your brand out there to the right mix of media and help you generate more revenue.
SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is crucial to the success of your company. If you are not utilizing SEO services, and I mean using the right SEO services, you are missing out on increasing your revenue today, tomorrow, all of 2011, and beyond. The right SEO services can take your brand to an entirely new level. By combining advanced SEO techniques with your well crafted website content and optimized press releases, you get a triple-play advantage. With everything working simultaneously to attract search engines and target audiences to your website and then convert those visitors to customers, you will increase your revenue.
Although links to your website are powerful, SEO is more than just generating links. SEO utilizes techniques designed to maximize your website’s code, navigation, content structure, and copywriting that will ultimately enhance the usability of your website and convert visitors to customers. You may be thinking – SEO and usability? Yes, when you optimize your website, you enhance the usability of your website – if it’s done right. Remember, using the right SEO services will help you achieve maximum results with your website and marketing campaign.
Blog Posts
Yes, Facebook and Twitter is all the rage today. I get it. But regular blog posting will generate fresh, unique content that will keep your website visitors engaged and compelled to stay on your website longer. So what do you write about? You write about your products and services. What makes your products and services unique? What makes your company unique? What makes you unique? Stand out from the crowd by writing unique content about your company, team, latest innovations, or anything your current and prospective customers are interested in reading.
People often ask, “How do I get started with a blog” and “Can a blog really help my business?” To get started, hire a professional writer with blogging experience. Hire a professional writer who has experience in your industry – a writer who can generate high quality content that can speak directly to your target audiences. And hire a professional writer with SEO experience who can turn your blog posts into search engine friendly content. When you get fresh, unique, search engine friendly content on your website, you generate more traffic from qualified visitors ready to purchase your products and services.
Articles
When most people think of articles, they think of those 250 word write-ups posted on article farms such as Ezine Articles. The last thing you want to do is post on an article farm. Article farms saturate your content with bogus articles written by, well, anyone – not professional writers who can communicate your brand to your target audiences. Instead, you need professionally written articles with substance that educate and motivate your current and prospective customers to take action. And your articles need to be posted on your website, not some other website filled with articles that do not make any sense.
Additionally, your articles need to be optimized for search engines. When you optimize your articles for search engines and place them on your website, you generate high quality, fresh, unique content that Google, Yahoo!, and Bing consider important. As a result, your website gets ranked higher in those search engines for keywords that generate more qualified traffic and more revenue. So how do you get started with optimized articles, written specifically to your target audiences that educate, motivate, and attract search engines? You hire a professional writer who can walk you through the process and explain how high-quality articles can benefit your business.
Case Studies
A lot of companies are not utilizing the power of case studies. In some cases, companies are so busy taking care of their customers and clients, they forget to take the time and ask for testimonials. Testimonials are a great lead-in to building a case study. For example, if you have customers and clients that send you a “thank you” or a sentence or two about how you have helped their business or organization, take advantage of the opportunity and ask them if you can interview them for a case study. And let them know a case study will help generate leads for their business as well.
Case studies are typically 2-4 pages, but can be as few as one and as many as 6-8 depending on the problem, solution, and background of the organization being interviewed. Case studies should be available on your website for prospective customers to read and learn how your products and services can help their organization. Take it a step further by distributing an optimized press release announcing your case study (yes, that’s newsworthy) and generate even more brand equity and links back to your website. And if you are extremely busy, like most business owners and marketing executives, hire a professional writer who can handle the interview process and write a compelling case study that speaks to your target audiences and generates leads for your business. Remember to ask for examples as examples can demonstrate the quality of the professional writer’s ability.
Directory Listings
Not just any directory will do. In order to promote your business effectively, you need to find a directory that caters to your niche market or industry. Some clients say, “There are so many other companies competing in a particular directory, our click-thru rates are low and our conversion rates are even lower.” Stop thinking about click-thru rates and conversion rates for a second. Those are not the true indicators of what a successful directory listing can do for your business.
When you post in a valid directory specific to your target audience that contains listings of other companies similar to your company, you are building credibility with your brand. First, every time a potential customer sees your logo or name, it becomes engrained in their memory. Over time after seeing your brand or name, they start recognizing your business as a prominent figure in the industry. Second, if the directory is valid, meaning it has a high Google PageRank or is well known in your industry, it will help you increase your rankings in major search engines.
But be careful as directory listings can quickly backfire on your brand. In order to build a successful directory listing campaign, consult with a professional writing team that understands how to promote your business with SEO and proper directory listings. The copy you use in your directory listing can make the difference in whether you rank high or rank low in search engines. By hiring a professional copywriting team with SEO experience, you increase your chances of ranking high – page one, number one in most cases. Choose wisely, your revenue depends on it.
White Papers
People often confuse white papers with technical papers. There is a big difference between the two. A white paper is 10 or more pages and explains how to resolve an issue or problem with multiple solutions, but also educates the readers on why a particular company, product, or service is the best choice for resolving the issue or problem. And in most cases, the company sponsoring the white paper is the company written about in the white paper – it’s standard practice and it works really well.
A technical paper is a 2-4 page document that explains a technical aspect or explains how to use a particular piece of technology, product, or service. A technical paper is not a how-to guide, but can provide instructions only in conjunction with educating the reader about the technology in question. Both white papers and technical papers are great for generating leads and both can and should be posted on your website. However, white papers can also be published on third party websites that cater to your target audiences, whereas your technical papers should only be posted on your website.
Ad Space
Ad space is similar to directory listings in that the more you can put your brand and name in front of your target audiences, the more your brand and name become engrained in their memory. And having a link to your website from a leading website that caters to your target audience or even caters to your industry can help with your search engine rankings. But the major difference between ad space and directory listings is you have more creative freedom to promote your brand, company, products, and services with animated graphics, flash, or any other medium and you can do so in a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors.
Again, click-thru and conversion rates are important, but look beyond those two metrics. Consider the brand equity you can build with the right ad space. Consider the message you can deliver to your target audiences. And most importantly, consider the credibility your brand can have with your prospective customers and search engines when you link your ad space to your website. If you are on a limited budget, there are websites that can work with your budget and help you build your marketing campaign as your budget increases.
What you do in 2011 will build your business in 2012 and so on
The 10 things I listed above are incredibly powerful. In fact, most of the 10 things have been working well for many years and still have significant longevity in the future. So what you invest in this year can extend well beyond 2011. Think about this for a second. If you consider doing even a few of the 10 things listed and you attract and convert 10-20% new customers, the revenue and referrals you generate off of those 10-20% new customers will help you generate more in 2012 and so on. It’s a simple formula – just duplicate.
Everything you do goes hand-in-hand with each other and works in conjunction to take your brand and revenue to the next level. In order to be most successful with the 10 things you can do in 2011 to promote your business, start by consulting a professional writing team with experience in copywriting, SEO, and marketing. Then watch your brand and business reach new goals and watch your revenue increase significantly.
About Dave Young
Dave Young is a professional writer, technical writer, website auditor, marketing consultant, SEO guru, and founder of Young Copy, a leading promotional and technical writing services firm. Visit www.youngcopy.com to learn how you can boost your company’s revenues.
