Happy May Day
In the words of Seth Godin “There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas, what’s missing is the will to execute them.”
Over the past year I have trained over 1000 people who had the desire to turn their dreams and ideas into reality and learnt a lot myself from their struggles.
So do you have the will or skill to execute your ideas?……Answers these 2 questions;
1) What is most exciting in your life right now?
2) What is most frustrating in your life right now?
With 75% of all transactions originating from a search engine it’s clear to see the benefits of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and how it could dramatically increase traffic to websites but it is important to understand that it has no bearing on organic search engine optimisation.
70% of transactions originate from a search engine – Is your business being found?
Business Consort launches a series of new digital and social media training courses this October.
These innovative courses are Fast Track Lead Generation and Selling Online, Boosting Brand and Reputation in a Digital World and lastly Online Advertising, Digital Campaign Management and Analysis.
With 95% of digital campaigns fail due to lack of knowledge, resources and strategy so with this in mind – Business Consort the forward thinking training academy bridges this gap and helps businesses excel in the Digital World.
The courses cover all the key elements required to market a business effectively online incluidng Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising could dramatically increase traffic to websites.
However, it is important to realise that these potential advantages only come with a skilfully implemented and managed PPC campaign.
Poor planning and management could see businesses accruing costs without any increase in sales.
PPC advertising delivers immediate results, unlike Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaigns. While an SEO campaign will ultimately produce more website visitors at a lower cost, it could be months or years before the full benefit is seen.
If there is a need to generate online revenue immediately, then a PPC campaign should form a key component of the company Internet Marketing strategy.
Key Benefits – Watch Dawn McGruer FRSA’s Digital and Social Media tips video filmed at The Telegraph
It’s incredibly flexible. Add, modify and delete keywords based on current market conditions or consumer reactions. It provides an instant Return on Investment (ROI), particularly if the website processes sales/business online.
It’s a fast method to generate traffic and response for sites. It’s relatively inexpensive compared with other advertising media. It’s great for short-term campaigns. It allows the advertiser to change the copy of the adds with the change of keywords.
Analysts predict that UK PPC advertising is forecast to total £3 billion in 2012 and here at Business Consort we know Google Adwords are growing at 15% per annum and the cost of key positions on Google is rising so can businesses afford not to fully understand the crucial disciplines of PPC?
Business Consort train businesses in all aspects of digital and social media marketing as this is a crucial part of every business due to the fact that
70% of all transactions originate from a search engine so if a business isn’t visible then they will without doubt be losing out on revenue.
They have written a FREE Digital and Social Media Marketing Guide to help businesses on their way which is available for immediate download.
Business Consort – The Digital and Social Media academy has already trained thousands of businesses and are proud to be a Chartered Institute of Marketing accredited study centre. Simply visit http://www.thesocialmediaacademy.org to see their full list of courses.
Things that you can know about the visitors to your company website or business blog include:
Knowing these things tells you a great deal about your visitors. Once you get a clearer picture of where people are coming from, you can begin to plan your efforts around what you have learned.
Fortunately there are some excellent tools available to you to help you track and monitor the visitors to your website.
Google Analytics is a free service provided by Google which offers a comprehensive set of tools to analyse and monitor the visits to your business website or company blog.
Learn more… download our FREE Social Media Marketing Guide… click here
If you haven’t already sign up for our FREE Digital & Social Media Marketing Guide
I hope it helps you along your way and gives you some good pointers
We know that 95% of businesses fall to reap good results with their digital or social media campaigns because they had no strategy or required a greater knowledge.
You can’t expect to compete with Microsoft, but you can replicate some of their successes on a smaller scale, just by watching what they do:
WHAT YOU GAIN FROM ALL OF THIS?
If you’re serious about personal branding and brand management, here are ten things you’ll see the professionals doing when blogging:
ONE - Comments on other people’s blog articles are your calling cards. Be sure to use these as an opportunity to draw the focus of the blog post towards your comment. Make sure you drop in a relevant link to an article of yours in the URL field. That way, you’re not just making a statement; you’re opening the door for bringing the dialogue to your own blog article. A word of caution here. Misuse of this idea can be misconstrued as being “spamming”, which you really don’t want it to. If you’re going to comment, then make sure you’re adding value to the article you’re commenting on, or don’t do it at all.
TWO - Think and act like a professional. Don’t get drawn into heated debates, unless you’re sure you can do so without just throwing away your dignity and losing some serious credibility into the bargain. That said, don’t be afraid of contradicting or correcting someone, but be sure that you’re right.
THREE - Have a theme? Stick to it! You don’t see too many truly successful general blogs. Most might start that way, but as those few that stick around longer than twelve months will attest to, some trimming of the excess fat inevitably takes place. The web rewards those that carve out their own niche. Working within a niche and becoming an authority within it is better than being one voice in a crowded room.
FOUR - Be seen, be known. Make sure you’re to be found in all of the right places, such as Business Consort, Ryze, Xing etc. As a rule of thumb, if one of your competitors is there, you should be there, too.
FIVE - Don’t be afraid to sing your own praise. Let’s face it, if you don’t, who will? To begin with, few people will know who you are, so you need to be seen. If you’ve had some recent successes (for example, links from a major website or blog) then talk about them. Use those successes as a driver to help you with the next one, wherever that may come from.
SIX - Be consistent with your image — every blog post, every comment, every instant message, every email. If you feel that you’ve got a ‘house style’ then apply that style wherever you go.
SEVEN - Be an opportunist. As an example, if you’re a writer covering a particular industry, and news breaks on a story that’s very much local to your topic of choice, make sure you’re there. However, it’s not a race, so be sure to put the emphasis on quality and not= speed. There’s no point being the first in if all you’re doing is saying: “Hi!” Sometimes it’s as well to be fashionably late. Over time, as your reputation grows, those that know you will wait. Additionally, being bad-mouthed could be a chance to make friends and influence people.
EIGHT - Get a blog and get ahead! Blogs routinely outrank websites on the search engines for a number of key reasons. The main reasons are that a typical blog has a constant stream of ever-changing content, there are a great number of out-bound links to other sources, and there’s usually a community of people commenting on your articles. In addition to this, make sure people can do stuff with your stuff. By that I mean make sure you have some way of syndicating your articles, either by a newsletter or from a feed subscription.
NINE - Be seen, be known, be available. So you’ve got your audience, you’ve got some notoriety, but you’re aloof! Someone might catch a quick comment exchange with you occasionally, but that’s usually it. Make sure people can contact you. What you’ll have noticed is that some of these suggestions are about being a shamelessly self-promotional. Sometimes, that’s what you have to do.
TEN - Be yourself. Above all else, to make this kind of thing work, there are few a prerequisites, which I hope I’ve covered above. But there’s one prerequisite to rule them all. It’s there when you’re commenting on blogs. It’s there when you’re talking to someone and explaining yourself to them for the first time. It’s even there when things go wrong, and you then make that graceful recovery. That quality, that essential personal ingredient is you, yourself and everything that makes you who you are.
Download our FREE Social Guide now… Click here!
It might seem counter-intuitive for you to spend your valuable time by participating in discussions on other people’s blogs, but the payoff can be very valuable. Remember that it takes time to build a reputation and establish your credibility, and you can’t always expect everyone to come to you. Sometimes, you have to go out and build your own credibility and reputation.
Basic Strategy: Identify 2-3 blogs in your industry, or those that focus on small business, and get into the habit of regularly reading the content and participating in the discussions. Whenever you can, try to add value by sharing a personal story about what has/has not worked for you. Get to know the writers – they’ll be valuable contacts for you.
Advanced Strategy: Once you’ve spent some time on other blogs and have participated in discussions, you’ll find that you’ve built a level of credibility and trust, based on your participation. You should consider reaching out to the blog owners and asking whether they’d allow you to guest post an article on their blog. This is a nice way for you to get in front of a bigger audience, and many blog owners will invite guests to post from time to time. Agree on a topic in advance and provide a draft of your post sufficiently in advance of the publication date to give them an opportunity to review.
Alternatively, ask if they would consider guest posting on your blog. Since you’re looking to attract more readers (and more potential customers), either option works well for that purpose. Don’t worry so much about going after the A-list blogs right away. There are many excellent blogs and it might take a bit of time to build your reputation to such a level that you’ll have opportunities to post in the top blogs.
Find out more by downloading our FREE Social Media Marketing Guide… Click here!
