3 Things You Can Do Today To Grow Your Business

May 3, 2011 by ·

Nope, no magic pill or fairy dust here. Sorry.

But there are 3 things you can do today to help grow your business. Then do 3 more things tomorrow. The next day you could try doing 3 more things.

Get the message here? There is no overnight, magic pill. You need to take action DAILY and move towards your goals.

So what are the 3 things you could do? Let me give you some ideas:

1. Take action on SEO if your site isn’t ranked well. There are 2 choices here:

a. Do it yourself. Check out my book for all of the info you need to handle your own SEO (special introductory offer price: $14.97) (check it out now: http://www.ecombuffet.com/ebook.htm)

b. Request a consultation and proposal to get a formal evaluation of your site and see what it’ll take to get your site on top. Request your consultation here: http://ecombuffet.com/Consultation-request.htm

2. Get active on Facebook. Some ideas:

a. If you don’t have a Fan Page – get one. (Need help with that? Email me and I’ll get you a quote).

b. Invite new friends and fans so you can network and connect.

c. Post to your Fan page and engage fans.

d. Look into a contest to grow your fan base.

e. Make sure your Blog, Facebook, Twitter and site are all working well together for maximum benefit.

3. Get active on Twitter: (Need some help? Check out: http://www.ecombuffet.com/Twitter-quickstart.htm)

a. If you don’t have an account yet, get one started.

b. Writer tweets and engage your followers.

c. Connect with industry leaders.

d. Share content.

e. Build followers.

f. Learn how to use Twitter better with my Do It Yourself Twitter Quickstart Success program.

4. Build content for your site or Blog.

5. Write a newsletter or email offer for your list.

6. Check your Blog’s backend and be sure it’s properly configured with the right plugins to get maximum benefit.

7. Check your web stats and find areas you can improve your site to increase your bottom line.

8. Check for 404 errors and clean up your site.

9. Review Webmaster Tools and see what you can learn to improve the optimization of your site.

10. Review content and make sure there are no errors, make sure your copy is clean and tight and prepared to sell your site visitors when they enter your site.

11. Test your shopping cart to make sure everything works and is user friendly.

12. Invite guest Bloggers to add some interest, different perspectives and fresh content to your Blog.

13. Check on your PPC campaigns and see what you can improve.

14. Set up split tests on landing pages to improve results.

15. Find opportunities for you to be a guest Blogger.

16. Make sure your product feed is working and up to date.

17. Look into mobile search and mobile marketing.

18. Make sure your local listings are all accurate, up to date and optimized for maximum results and exposure.

19. Get active on LinkedIn.

20. Follow up with leads and prospects (key area that most businesses fail)

21. Identify opportunities that you have been too busy to take advantage of and get on it!

22. Get a press release out there.

23. Write an article for syndication (just know the rules and guidelines so this doesn’t end up working against you)

24. Get a video online and promote it like crazy.

25. Check out your competitors and see what you need to do to beat them out.

26. Build links.

There ya go – 26 ideas for you. Pick 3 and take ACTION.

To Your Action & Success,

Jennifer Horowitz

Director of Marketing

www.EcomBuffet.com

562-592-5347

jennifer@ecombuffet.com

Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ecombuffet

Facebook Page: http://www.ecombuffet.com/SEO-Fanpage/

Related posts:

  1. Pinterest For Business
  2. It's Not Too Late…
  3. Back To Basics
  4. SEO and Social Media Questions Answered
Filed Under: Articles, Beginners SEO, blogging, Copywriting, Facebook Fan Page, Google, Grow Your Business, Link Building, Marketing, Recommendations, Small Business, Social Media, Thoughts, Twitter, Website Content · Tagged: , , , ,

Back To The Basics

June 10, 2010 by ·

People are always wondering what they need to do to really grow the traffic to their website.  A lot of people ask what they should do and what order should they do it in.  Here is a little blueprint to help guide you and keep you on track.

It’s important to recognize that there is a lot to do and it can’t all be done at once.  The first step is taking stock of where you are at.  What areas are you lacking in?

Here’s a quick checklist of everything you should be doing to promote your site.

1.    Get your site optimized (make sure the code is clean, fast loading, keyword rich and optimized for the engines)
2.    Set up a Blog (WordPress hosted on the same server as your site is the best set up)

3.    Create a Twitter account and start building followers
4.    Create a Facebook Fan page (and invite friends, family, followers, colleagues etc to become a fan, post a Facebook badge on your site and Blog)
5.    Feed your Blog into your Facebook page so that your Facebook Fans are seeing your great content
6.    Write Blog posts that are “article style” and then tweet them out to followers (by article style I mean content that is informative and not self promotional so the article directories will accept it)

7.    Syndicate the articles you posted on your Blog to article directories (once they have been spidered on your site)

8.    Add content that is keyword rich to your site in addition to your Blog

9.    Explore PPC and other advertising sources
10.    Repeat  steps 6, 7 and 8 (as well as building Twitter followers which is mentioned in step 3)
11.    Build joint venture relationships and find affiliates to promote your services as relevant.
12.    Market to your mailing list on a regular basis through newsletters, a series of emails such as a “mini course” and special offers.

I know it’s a lot, but there are pieces of it you can outsource.  Do the best you can and work at it consistently – getting a little bit done every day is better than not doing anything.

Tips:

Articles/Blog posts don’t need to be really long.  If you are syndicating them they need to be at least 400 words.  It’s often easier to write shorter articles.  If you have a lot to say make it a multi-part series.

It’s possible to do all this without taking over your whole day.  Set time frames for each task and set a timer.  Only work for the allotted time and when the timer goes off, move on.  Even small bits will add up over time and its better than doing nothing – which is what most of us do when we are overwhelmed.

Use Google Alerts to stay on top of hot topics in your industry.  It can help make it easier to pick topics for articles and Blog posts.

Keep a running list of topics you want to write about.  A lot of times it’s hard to get started when you don’t know what to write about.  Refer to your list and pick a topic and then get writing.

Not sure how to optimize your site or if it’s optimized already? 

Need help getting going on Twitter?  Don’t waste time, get proper training and get the most out of the time you spend on Twitter.  .

Want more info on Facebook Fan Pages?  Click here:

Related posts:

  1. Back To Basics
  2. SEO and Social Media Questions Answered
  3. 3 Things You Can Do Today To Grow Your Business
  4. 2011 SEO and Social Media Checklist
Filed Under: Website Content · Tagged: , , , , ,

What?? I Need To Keep Adding Content To My Site?

February 4, 2010 by ·

Not many things inspire such dread in my clients as when I remind them they need to be adding content to their site.  If you aren’t a writer naturally, it can be painful to have to produce content on a regular basis.

It’s important though and not just because I said so (although that should be a good enough reason! LOL)

Let’s take a look at why it’s important:

1.     The search engines like it when you add content.

Why do they like it?

Their goal is to deliver the best and most relevant results when someone searches for something.  If a site is rich with content, they see that site as a better resource.  Also the more pages you have that offer good information, the more pages the engines have the possibility to rank.


Even more importantly than that it is good for your site visitors.

So often people tell me they don’t want to clutter their site with text – no one wants to read a ton of text.  I beg to differ and here’s why:

If people are searching for information, as long as it is GOOD and actually INFORMATIVE they will read it.  Sure some people skim and don’t read it all, but they appreciate that it’s there if they choose to read further.

If it’s formatted and easy to read and it doesn’t drone on and on pointlessly (in other words it is actually filled with good information) then people will appreciate it.

The other thing is when I say content needs to be added I am not saying it has to be 1600 word essays.  Good content can be brief and to the point.  You can convey a lot in 200 – 600 words.

Adding new content gives people a reason to return to your site, they see you as a resource and a wealth of information.  There is extreme value (to you) in having people see your site as a “go to” source for information.
So my advice (OK I’m being nice, what I really want to say is MY DEMAND) is that you get to work on creating some good content for your site.

A couple rules to keep you in line:

Don’t keyword stuff. Sure, you have to use relevant keywords but it should still read well and not appear forced.

  • Keep it around 200 – 600 words.
  • Use formatting (bolding, bullet lists etc) to break things up.
  • Make it interesting.  Share information, facts and helpful tips and advice.
  • Not sure where on the site to put the content?  Create a section called Articles or Resources and organize it by category.  You can also put it on your Blog.
  • Keep it interesting and show some personality.  Gone are the days of stuffy corporate text.  Be conversational, people want you to talk TO them not AT them.

K, this is 492 words, so I am gonna wrap it up.  Get writing!

To Your Success!

Jenn Horowitz, Director of Marketing

Related posts:

  1. Load Time (Site Speed) A Factor in SEO?
  2. The Value Of The Web Site Content
  3. Do You Want To Optimize Your Own Web Site?
  4. Structure of your site
Filed Under: Website Content · Tagged: , , ,