Do You Really Know How to Market Your Business?

There are so many people that just throw around the word marketing and really do not have a full grasp of what the word really means. Think about it – ask yourself, how do you define marketing? I read a book called “Mind Capture” by Tony Rubleski –in his book Tony states “Marketing is the oxygen of every successful business”. He is exactly right – I don’t care how great you product, service, or anything else is, if you do not market your business, then nobody will know about it – and if nobody know about your business do you really think you will be successful?

OF COURSE NOT!

OK so let’s define what marketing is in a nutshell:

• Becoming known in your marketplace by building a memorable image or brand.
• Getting the customer to remember you even when they don’t need your goods or services.
  • When the time comes and they need what you have to offer you are the first one that pops into there mind.
• Giving great customer service - even when the customer is "difficult".
• Continually updating your knowledge on the latest innovative social media sites.
• Deciding what would benefit your business and what is a waste of time.
• Networking with people you can trust (the best of the best).

But how do you do that?

A memorable image – genuine and honest belief in your product and/or service(s) and letting the world know what you have to offer.

Repetition

Becoming an expert in your industry

Defining what makes you unique in your industry.

I can honestly tell you that it can be as simple as real customer service. The word customer service is thrown around so loosely – but I am talking about really caring about your customers, making sure that what they are getting is really something that they need. Being there when something goes wrong and making sure that you are on top of everything in a timely manner.

I am old enough to remember when someone gave you their word it was as good as gold – and you could trust what they told you was the truth.

That is a rare commodity in this day and age.

Professional image – success always draws people to what you have to offer.

You must look successful in every aspect of your business from your business cards down to your website, blog, ads and everything you are projecting out on the internet, as well as print.

Make sure the graphics are all branded (look alike) from the colors, logos, verbiage, feel to the way things are presented. Create an emotional association (such as the feeling of success, happiness, or relief) that a customer forms with the product, service, or company.

Surround yourself with the best to be the best.

Whoever you incorporate in your inner circle must hold the same values as you do – and all employees and even affiliates must uphold your high standard – one bad seed can be the down fall of your business especially in the viral world of the internet.

Know you customer, what does you perfect customer/client look like?

Do not tell me everyone – because that is not true. You must know who you are trying to attract – what does you perfect customer look like, what type of income do they have, what do they find valuable, where do they live and what do they read…

Who is it that you can help? How can you solve a problem or make someone’s life more enjoyable.

The more you know the faster you can put together a marketing plan that will lead to success.

Don’t be afraid to do a little traditional marketing along with all the internet marketing, social media, and above all else network!

Give away things of values, pearls of wisdom and help people – don’t give away the house of course, but I have found the more I give - the more comes back to me.

If you doubt my words try it you will be amazed!!

For help with a personalized marketing plan contact me Pamela Jacob - Artista Design

Providing Practical Solutions & Valuable Results

Flash Web Sites are Beautiful – But - Are They For You?

I often have people asking me can you do a flash site for my business ? They love the flow, modern look and elegance that can be obtained.

I will ask them "are you sure?" You will pay much more to develop the website and it may not be profitable.

They don’t always want to listen to that – but I owe them the truth! I could say oh yes (because I would make a lot more money) that is exactly what you need. But that is not what 99% of online businesses need.

As a young designer, I thought the only type of website to have was a flash site – in total! I loved the look and the artistic feel. I loved the animation, and movement of all the elements on a page. Their just wasn’t anything I didn’t like about flash.

Then – I came down to the real world – and realized it wasn’t just the dazzling effects in a website that caused it to be successful, in fact just as important as having a cutting edge website (or more important) was having a website that a search engine could index (list). A website that could be marketed with keywords and a website where search engine spiders could come through and pick out all the information they needed to get the word out about your website.

This cost-free marketing is invaluable and if you can not really Search Engine Optimize, then how will you get listed? Pay per click – or banner ads – all options but not the best options when it comes to marketing on a small budget.

When you have a totally flash website – you are on your own. Figure it out, how are you going to reach a broad audience? TV ads, bill boards, magazine spreads, and internet marketing – sound expensive because it is. You can have flash element – that is great, but the flash site its self only works if you have a big marketing budget like Coke or Pepsi.

Another disadvantage, surveys show that people don’t always click on paid ads as often as they do the more organic listings.

Most of us are not rolling in dough – most of us are small businesses that need to just get out there and do our own marketing, on a shoe string – We as business owners realize we do need to invest in our business, we also need the advantage of having a website that can be marketed through all means possible – especially search engines.

Another disadvantage is when you have a flash site developed it is complex you will be dealing with action scripting – there are different versions of this programming language – what happens if you web developer disappears or decides to charge you – an arm and a leg? I will tell you – it will not be easy to just pick up the phone and call your local web developer because action scripting is a highly specialized programming language – and it will cost you a pretty penny if you can find someone who can actually go in and re-code what needs to be done.

but I have been doing websites before Macromedia had even put flash on the market. So for me it was such fun eye candy and as an artist I was drawn to the really spectacular images and movement.

But before you get talked into spending that extra money on a “beautiful Splash page”, or full flash site, think about it – realize that in the long run you may run into trouble and if you cannot get your website out in front of a lot of hungry clients – what is the purpose of building one at all??

Well there it, my opinion based on a decade of working in the industry.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call (801-910-4825), or drop me a note! pamela@artistadesign.com

Pamela Jacob – Artista Design

Providing Practical Solutions & Valuable Results

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) How Has It Changed in 2010?

I have been reading everything I can get my hands on about changes in SEO for 2010. I will tell you 99% of what you learned the last few years is exactly right but there are a few changes that everyone should take note of. Last year it was finally announced that Google doesn’t read your keyword meta tags. The little spiders actually go into the copy of your website to pick up keywords – so I hope your text is full of keywords?

Even so, don’t think that gets you off the hook! Google isn’t the only search engine in the world, sure it may dominate but there are many, many more, and they do use keywords in meta tags…

You need to put more heft in your meta-tag description code – every page should have a unique description.

Another extremely important aspect is not the most important is that each page of your website should have a unique page title – with keywords.

Fast Loading Pages (proper optimization)

What is new? Google is now putting more weight behind websites that are fast loading - so if you have a clean fast loading website you are going to see the results in your rankings on Google. If you don’t and you have your website bogged down with improperly optimized graphics and the like, you are likely to see your pages tumble lower on the ranking scale.

Google Local

Another way to gain better ranking is to get involved in Google local search. A customer will always prefer to purchase a quality product which is easily available in his or her vicinity rather than order it from another unfamiliar city or state.

Website Analytics

Apply analytics on every page of your website. This allows you to better understand what is happening with your visitor. Some of the most well known web analytics tools are, Google Analytics, Yahoo! Web Analytics, Omniture etc.

I prefer Google Analytics –it an amazing tool - you will not believe what you will learn when analyze where your visitors are coming in and what pages are leaving them cold.

XML Sitemap

Also remember that you need to put up an XML site map. This will allow search engines to properly index all pages.

Robot.txt

Don’t forget the robot.txt file that invites a search engine robot or spider to come into your pages – and can also block the page you do not want to be shown on the internet.

Google has an e-book that is fantastic and free! Why not go to the source to learn more click on this link.

http://tinyurl.com/google-seo-suggestions

The very first link on that page will say “Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide!” that is where you will click to open up your free book – it is chock full of information if you are a novice, and even if you think you know it all you may pick up a point or two…

Worth the price of admission, in fact Google has a whole bundle of webmaster tools, I know a lot of you hire a web designer/developer but it is always important to know the subject enough to have control over the projects that are being created for you... Just my opinion.

To all you who are living the American Dream and starting your own business congratulations – you are in for the ride of your life…

Pamela Jacob – Artista Design pamela@artistadesign.com

Providing Practical Solutions & Valuable Results TM