Internet Marketing Tips

Basic On-Site SEO Tip:  Two months ago, we helped a real estate client by doing two things:  Adding Real Estate Schema to their property level listings and trained their in-house marketing assistant on basic SEO tactics.  The client is thrilled with the results, a definite increase in leads and traffic over previous years.

If your site is dynamic and ever changing keeping up on your basic on-page SEO can have a big impact, if you have someone in-house who is savvy with time to spare – call Mannix Marketing for a one-on-one training session, this combined with some expert SEO can have a big impact.

Print it Everwhere Internet Marketing Tip:  This is an oldie but a goody. Every time you get something reprinted, make sure that your website address gets listed on it. For example, if you’re a restaurant, print your address on your menus, brochures, business cards, signage, advertising, email signature, door, handouts, hats and t-shirts! Don’t forget receipts – almost everyone walks out with one! If you are a shopping site, make sure your invoices, shipping labels, boxes, envelopes, catalogs, everything has your address. If you have a bricks and mortar location, is your address on your advertising sign? Your door with your store hours?

Check for the Basics Tip:  Does your site contain all the basics? Hours, phone number and address… all pertinent contact information. Is it easy to navigate? Allow secure purchases? For the tourist industry, does it allow secure purchase of gift certificates? Invite comments? (You can learn a lot from a contact us page.) If you are a restaurant, do you have your menus, special events, directions, banquet menus online? Do you visually sell the restaurant? Allow online sign up for email specials? What about take out menus? An email sign up would be perfect for this if it is a big part of your business. Does the site list a dress code? How to make a reservation? And don’t forget added benefits for you: links to other area businesses, employment opportunities, printable employment applications. Good Internet marketing will impress your market audience and provide you with a website that does more than look pretty.
Keyword Research Tip:  The first step to any Internet marketing campaign is the keywords. How will potential customers find you in the search engines? Work with different keyword combinations to determine the keywords you want to be found under. Make sure you balance broader keyword combinations with more specific keyword combinations. The average person searching on the Internet may start with a broad query, but they quickly narrow it down as they see returned results and learn more about what they are searching for. For example, someone searching for digital cameras may start with “Digital Cameras”… after clicking a couple choices, they may then search on “Nikon digital cameras”… after clicking a couple more choices, they may search on Nikon Coolpix cameras, then narrow it even further to Nikon Coolpix 4800 Digital Camera. The more specific they become, the more likely they are to purchase.

My favorite way to find new keywords quickly is the Google Spacebar Keyword Research Tip: type in your keyword in Google then hit the spacebar, more keyword suggestions will come up, hit the spacebar and a letter like

SEO A - gives me suggestions for seo audit, seo analyzer, seo articles etc…  all sorts of ideas for what I might want to be found under.

Competitive Research Tip using Evernote:  A basic component of any marketing strategy is to know your competition. This is especially true in Internet marketing. Do an online search for the keywords you want to be found under. Who is your competition? What is their pricing structure? What keywords do they target? Honestly appraise their site against your own. Is their site better than yours? Why? What do they do better on their site that you may be able to improve upon on your site? Is their site more informative? Is it easier to navigate?Then …. do they have a newsletter you can sign up for?  – you can sign up for an evernote account, and sign up for the enewsletter with that email address, then every one of their enewsletters will be saved in your evernote account – this is great for research.  You can go back years and see what they promote at different times of year (heard this tip from LinkLove).

Write a Blog Tip:  Are you the “expert” in your industry? If so, share your knowledge on your site. Write feature articles for your website. Volunteer to write articles for others with the stipulation that they link back to your website and your business. This is a great way for you to not only improve traffic to your website, but improve brand recognition for your company.  Fresh content and quality content will improve traffic to your site.  Don’t forget to have Mannix Marketing help you set up your Google+ Authorship!
Tip:  Build Loyalty and Top of Mind Awareness through Email Campaings: Your customer base may know who you are, but do they think of you FIRST when they need your type of product? If not… keep your business in the minds of anyone who has been to your site or business through email marketing. Offer a sign-up on your site so they can be the first to find out about your new products. Offer “weekly tips”, or send out monthly coupons. Make sure you only send email to those you’ve requested it through your site. And, make sure the email has a BENEFIT for the customer… not just free publicity for you.
TRACK YOUR WEBSITE STATISTICS AND ANALYZE!!!

Most hosting packages come with stats. Google Analytics is also a great program, we like to set up both server side stats and Google Analytics.  Don’t just look at hits – look at unique visitors, referrers, exit and entry pages, time spent on site, and keyword combinations used to arrive at your site and goals.

Any site that can measure a conversion (a sign up, a purchase, an action) should truly analyze traffic patterns, keywords and pay per click programs with a good tool. Not sure how to track conversions, ask Mannix Marketing, we have lots of options for you!
HANDY RESOURCES FOR THE “DO IT YOURSELFER”