What is the secret of finding the right keywords for your web site promotion? The quality of your keyword research will be directly reflected in the quality of your web site promotion. Quality research requires the right tools. The more tools in your web site promotion toolbox,the more information you will access. There is no such thing as too much information when it comes to keywords. The more informed you are about your keywords, the better chance you have to make your web site promotion a successful one.Keyword research is a unique form of market research. It is always dynamic, as are Google and the Internet itself. Keyword research skill should evolve and grow along with Internet marketing skill. It will correlate closely with your success as an Internet Marketer. Every owner of an Internet business should understand the importance of keywords and keyword research to their success.You don’t have to limit your choice of keywords only to a specific business you want to promote on the Internet. Your web site promotion could be a blog about something that interests you, and a subject on which you are knowledgeable. It may be possible to garner enough traffic to produce profitable results from a blog about almost any subject that you are interested enough in to write about. Your writing subject does not have to promote only your business opportunity. There are many examples of profitable blogs and web sites that started from a personal interest or hobby.Where can you find the right tools to research your web site promotion keywords ? A good place to start is with a simple Google search. Take a look at the numbers in the upper right hand corner of the results page from any Google search. This number indicates the total indexed number of web sites that have those keywords on their web site. Even though the number may seem very large, many of the sites just mention the keywords without specifically targeting them.It is important to know where the keywords appear on the site. Sometimes keywords may appear in the URL, (Internet address), in the title, or simply in the text of the page. A search for keywords in web page URL’s would be inurl:keyword where your keywords would substitute for the word “keyword”. A search for intitle:keyword would indicate which web pages used the keyword(s) in the title of the page. A search for intext:keyword would reveal the pages that listed the keyword(s) somewhere on the page in readable or visible text.By the way, one of the most important things on any web site in terms of search engine optimization is to use keywords in the title of the page. Note: search engine optimization or SEO, is the practice of using knowledge of Google to gain a high search engine position or ranking.For much more specific information on traffic volumes for particular keywords, there is a great tool from Google called Google AdWords Keyword tool. This is a free Google service that supplies a wealth of information. You can get a good idea of the traffic for your keywords in the previous month, and the average monthly traffic for the previous year. It also provides a long list of related or additional keywords, and the corresponding traffic levels.Another free tool you can use is the free keyword suggestion tool from Wordtracker. Note: the paid version is even better. This is a very interesting web site promotion tool that gives you a weighted number that indicates the value and level of competition for a particular set of keywords. A number between 75 and 100, or higher, usually indicates that your chosen keywords are good ones. A number closer to zero, indicates less desirable keywords.An additional tool available at no charge is the keyword discovery tool. It gives you one hundred of the best keywords related to your keywords. It claims to look across various search engines to give a broad view of search engine results. There is also a paid version that gives you a twelve month history.There are also various types of software that do keyword research. If you decide to invest in this type of software, it is recommended to find companies that offer a trial version. There are some software programs of this type that are merely marketing tools to sell search engine optimization services. Caveat emptor is the word here. (Buyer beware.)This it just a brief overview or introduction to keyword research. Any web site promotion effort should prioritize thorough keyword research, and recognize it as an essential element of success.
Want More Clients? Do You Need to Fix Your Marketing or Your Sales Process?
I spent the last week at a conference and had the opportunity to speak to lots of small business owners about what was working, and what wasn’t working in their business. A lot of entrepreneurs were saying that even though the overall trend was an increase over last year, they are still looking to increase their revenues even more.I found it interesting to listen to what they thought was preventing them from achieving those goals. The two topics that come up most often in these discussions are marketing and sales. The thing is that I think there are a lot of entrepreneurs who don’t understand the difference between marketing and sales, and how one impacts the other.Here is a simplistic way of explaining it. Marketing is what happens before a client contacts you. It’s what you do to increase awareness so that people know who you are and what you do. Sales starts once the client contacts you asking for information about working with you. It continues from the initial contact until you have their credit card number and their signature on the dotted line.Once you have the sale closed, I would say marketing kicks back in again (though I know many people feel that the service you do after the sale is a continuation of the sales process – and I can see their point on that!). The reason I feel like it is marketing is that you are now setting the stage for repeat and referral business. In my opinion, that’s marketing.So basically MARKETING is the process of getting your name out in front of more potential clients, of letting them know you exist and how you can help them. SALES is the process of closing those potential clients who raise their hand and say “hey, that sounds good! I’m interested in that!” You could certainly break things down even further, but for now let’s go with that idea, OK?So what’s your problem?When you look at your business, ask yourself a couple of questions:
How often are you getting new inquiries or quote requests?
Does your phone ring fairly often?
When you do get an inquiry, is that person the “right fit” for your business?
Once you reply to the inquiry, how often are you closing the sale?
How hard do you have to work to close the sale with that prospective client?
It’s your marketing… If you aren’t getting many inquiries, it’s fairly easy to see that you have a marketing problem. You aren’t doing enough to let people know you, and your business, exist and that you can be of service to them. In this case, your marketing problem is generally pretty simple – it probably means you just aren’t doing enough marketing! No one tells you that when you open your business, you aren’t just becoming a business owner, you are also becoming a marketer… but it’s true!Not getting enough inquiries is not the only sign that you have a marketing problem. If those leads aren’t coming in the way you want them to, if the people contacting you aren’t your ideal clients or if you are just flat out having to work really hard to close the sale, then your marketing just isn’t getting the job done the way it should.Really great marketing will filter your clients for you. It attracts your ideal clients and draws them in. They see it and they think, “YES! I want that!” or “I need her!” It gets you half the way down the sales path because they have already “self selected” and decided that they want to work with you. It’s almost as if your marketing handles a good bit of the client qualification process for you.At the same time that your marketing is attracting your ideal clients, it should also be repelling those clients who you just don’t want to work with anyway. They should see that same message that makes your ideal client anxious to talk to you and think, “why on earth would anyone want THAT” and toss your ad in the trash.Far too many entrepreneurs get worried about appealing to everyone or saying something that is off putting to some people. My answer to that is that this is actually a GOOD thing. Those aren’t the clients you are meant to work with anyway!How do you fix it?If you are experiencing these marketing problems, you need to sit down and take a good hard look at your marketing message.
Do you know exactly who your ideal client really is? (hint: if your answer is a vague as “moms of preschoolers” or “baby boomers” then the answer is no, you don’t know exactly who your ideal client is!)
Are you able to clearly articulate what it is that you do for them, why they should work with you? (Another hint: if the answer is “I give great customer service,” or “I have 25 years of experience in the industry,” that’s not thought out enough).
Are you making sure you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket? You should aim to hit them with your marketing message in at least 3 different places at the same time whenever possible.
Are you marketing consistently and regularly or only here and there?
It’s your sales process… Now if you are getting a lot of inquiries from all of the right people but they just aren’t converting into sales, then you have a sales problem! At that point, it’s time to sit down and evaluate your sales process.For the next month, keep track of the number of inquiries you get and the number that you actually close and book. Keep a spreadsheet or a chart that tracks your leads and sales. Once you have that information, you can figure out what percentage of sales you are closing. No one is going to have a 100% close ratio, but if you are closing less than 50% of the prospects you work with, there is definitely significantly room for improvement in your process!How do you fix it?
Review the “script” you use as the basis for your conversations. Don’t have one? Well, that might just be your problem!
Take a good look at your qualifying questions. Are you getting the info you need?
Review the emails you’ve sent during the sales process, do they have a really clear call to action on what the client needs to do next to start working with you?
A BIG but really basic thing that I see happening a lot… are you actually asking for the sale? I’m always amazed at the number of people who present the perfect plan but then close the conversation with “so take a look at this and let me know if you have any questions. OK?” and never actually ask for the sale!
Review your follow up procedures. Chances are you aren’t following up enough!
So here’s your homework… Set aside some time to look at your business this week and see where you can find room for improvement. No matter how successful you are, we can ALL find somewhere we can be doing better! Pull out your marketing plan for the last year, review your materials and your message. Look at your sales process. Review those scripts and templates and see if you can adjust the language a bit to appeal more to your ideal clients. Practice a “closing the sale” conversation with a friend or colleague and ask for feedback. You’ll be glad you took the time to do this when you see your revenues increase as a result!
Pet Vets and Groomers Go Mobile: What It Means for You
In the digital era, there are some pet services whose online optimization is obvious. The ease of ordering food online has opened up every home to top-quality brands and ingredients not available in their neighborhood, for example, and mobile booking for dog walkers is as intuitive as using an online service to find a babysitter.
Recommended site: Mobile Pet Grooming Phoenix
Like the home-visiting doctors of old, mobile veterinarians offer comfort for your pet without the distress of an office visit. There’s no need for a waiting room crowded with other animals, unfamiliar bright lights and tile floors, or the whole new array of smells the vet’s office has to offer.
The New York Times refers to these home visits as “fear-free” veterinary care. It’s a name taken after the company, Fear Free, who first began certifying veterinarians, technicians, and staff for these low-stress, at-home visits. The approach takes advantage of your animal’s tie to their natural environment and allows them the respect of undergoing stressful veterinary care without the additional demands of a road trip.
Recommended article: Fear-Free Pets Make for Happier Pets, and Owners
Respecting our pets and their comfort allows them to be at their best. Often, an animal will be reported to have behavioral problems, when the real problem is rooted in their own boundaries being crossed. At-home visits prevent high anxiety, rapid adjustments to new environments, and, some would argue, trauma.
And allowing your animal to be at their best isn’t just beneficial to them. A calm, at-home pet is an easier client for vets and groomers to work with and reduces your chances of being responsible for an injury or bite. Lowered anxiety levels may even have long-term impacts on your pet’s health. Much like with humans, an animal’s anxiety levels can worsen their health over the broad course of their lifespan. Findings reported by Dr. Gary Landsberg suggest lowered anxiety can help curb preventable gastrointestinal problems, respiratory problems, immune system problems, inhibited wound healing, and even rapid aging.
Mobile pet services are rapidly expanding. According to a report by Spot Pet Insurance, those services now include:
Wellness exams
Vaccinations
Spay & Neuter Services
Skin & Ear Problems
Allergies
Fecal & Heartworm Tests
Blood Profiles
Minor Injuries
Health Certificates
Diagnostic Testing
Much like with veterinary care, we ask a lot of our pets on visits to the groomers. Good behavior is competing with new environments, new smells, other animals passed on the way in and out, and the stress of a car trip there. In fact, many of the stressors that arise from a visit to the groomer’s are identical to those surrounding a vet visit.
Suggested site: Mobile Pet Grooming Tucson
Some stressors can’t be removed. In the case of both medical care and grooming, your pet will need to tolerate a minimally invasive, but still invasive, treatment of their body. A good vet and a good groomer alike have respect for your animal and their boundaries, while still doing what they need to do to provide the best standard of care.
But we, the owners, have the power to keep our pet’s stress to a minimum.
A quick online search will turn up thousands of articles for helping young children through transition time, doctor’s visits, and first haircuts. Discussions dive deep into issues of consent, respect, and understanding the sheer number of sensory demands on the child at any given time. It’s time we gave our pets the same respect, and mobile visits—limiting that stress too, at least, the comfort of their own home—are a massive stride forward.