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Mastering Local Business SEO

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Local Shops

Check out our Guide to Local SEO :

The Value Of Local SEO

For most businesses, we don’t recommend spending a lot of money on ongoing monthly SEO services.

There’s a simple reason for this: Paid ads on Google have increased in both number and size – so no matter how good your SEO, you still won’t come up top of the search results. The ads will. On mobile especially, it’s unlikely searchers will ever scroll down the results far enough to see your website.

The exception to this is Local SEO – and there are a several reasons:

  • Google prioritises local business results – above the main natural results
  • Often there are fewer ads displayed – maybe only 1 or 2
  • It’s less competitive – so it’s easier and more cost effective to get good local results
  • These results are highly targeted
  • People are searching for exactly what your business offers – in your area

So, for a Local Business, we do recommend spending some time and money on your Local SEO.

What Are “Local Search” and Local SEO

By Local Search we mean searches on Google for services based on a geographical area.

There are 2 types:

1 – Keyword + location

This is the typical local search – for eg “Vets in Bath”, “Devizes Dentist”, “Solicitors Salisbury” etc.

Here Google will show Local results – ie 3 Google My Business / Google + page results – above the main natural results and all results will be businesses in your location only.

2 – Keyword only

Search usage is changing, as Google now often delivers local results for a generic keyword, based on searches for certain services  and using the location of the searcher (by IP address).

So the search will be for “Vets”, “Dentist” or “Solicitor” – and Google will generally show results for your location.

This isn’t completely consistent yet – Google may show national results or sometimes both, so it’s important to check what it is showing for relevant searches in your area.

As users become aware of this, they are not bothering to add the geographical tag in their searches, which is affecting and distorting geographical search numbers. This is particularly the case in more urban areas, where there are more young and tech savvvy searchers.

Identify Local Keywords

Of course, it’s important to start by identifying the relevant keywords for your business, in order to optimise your site for them.

Sometimes there are surprisingly different search numbers for “Vets Bath”, “Vets in Bath” and “Bath Vets”.

We recommend using Google’s keyword tool to research search volumes. You will need a Google Adwords account for this, which is free to set up.

You will also want to optimise your website for your business name, including popular abbreviations. For example, “XYZ Veterinary Surgery” is very often abbreviated to “XYZ Vets”.

Mobile Searches

It’s important to be aware that mobile searches can produce very different results, so again do check mobile results when identifying your target keywords.

10 Ranking Factors for Local Search

SEO is a complex subject and Google guards its algorithms closely, as well as changing them frequently, so it’s not possible to say exactly which factors rank highest at any particular point in time and/or their respective weighting.

However here are the factors which experts consider have the most impact.

1 – Authority

This is about Google’s assessment of how established your website is – how long the domain has been in existence and references to it across the web from reputable sites. Long established businesses are rewarded here.

2 – Keyword Focus

It’s important to include your target keywords in the copy on your site. It’s important to ensure this is done naturally and you do not “stuff” your site with keywords. In technical terms, keywords need to be included in the site and page titles and meta description  – and you need to use “H” tags.

For our clients, we normally optimise your website when it is created and we cover this in training and will provide you with our SEO guide for new pages and posts.

3 – Key Data – Name, Address, Phone

Your business name, address and phone number is at the heart of local SEO.

Contact information inclusion and placement is very important. It must be in the header and footer, ie on each page – although not necessarily in the text with H1 tags. If images are used though, especially for your phone no, it must appear separately in the text as well, so it is search engine readable.

Your phone number needs to have a relevant area code, not an 0800.

Multiple locations for larger businesses will need their own pages, with unique content – eg maps, photos and testimonials.

4 – Inbound Links

You need links to your site from relevant local directories.

The quality and quantity of these will affect your Google ranking.

5 – Google My Business / Google  +

It’s important to optimise your page and ensure you have accurate and optimal categories selected.

Relevant keywords should appear in the business description.

6 – External Directory References

It’s important to ensure that your entries are consistent.

Contact details especially need to be up to date and the same keywords and categories should appear across the web.

You should ensure your business appears correctly in both local directories eg Yell.com and in industry specific directories eg RCVS..

7 – User Behaviour and Mobile Usage

Google will take into account the number of clicks through to your site from external sites, including social media – your CTR or Click Through Rate.

Separate assessments will apply for mobile searches. Of course, your site must be mobile friendly ie responsive and with readable fonts etc to show on mobile searches, but beyond that user behaviour and CTR may vary.

8 – Search Personalisation

Increasingly, Google (and other major sites) are delivering personalised results according the individual user’s (searcher) preferences.

This is obviously not something you can influence effectively.

9 – Reviews

The quantity and diversity of online reviews and ratings is important.

It’s essential of course that these are genuine and from well rated sites.

Encouraging customers to leave reviews on your Google + and Facebook pages is very worthwhile to boost your ratings.

10 – Social Media

Social media activity will also affect local search results: your Facebook likes, Twitter follower and Google + page supporters and the activity on these profiles, especially clicks through to your site.

It’s important to focus on engagement on your social media profiles – large but inactive followings will not help. Outsourcing your page management may well help to provide core content, but “real” posts typically generate more response.

Local Results / Google Maps

3 Businesses are now shown openly in the local results, with up to 10 on dropdown – so it’s important to appear in these top 3 if at all possible.

The 3 factors which most affect these top 3 results are:

1 – Relevance – closest match to the search term

2 – Distance – typically closest to the centre of town

3 – Prominence – local directory entries and reviews

Local SEO Checklist

Here’s a quick checklist of the most important steps to take to improve your local SEO

  • Add your business name, address and phone no to your website header and footer
  • Post regular new blogs on your site – fresh content is valued
  • Encourage customers to leave reviews
  • Check your Google + page is up to date, with optimised photos etc and post your blogs here
  • Check your Social media pages are up to date with your keywords etc and engage with your customers
  • Check your entries in local directories are consistent (use the same format) and up to date, including keywords and categories and are verified if this is required
  • Add your business to any new local or industry directories

If you haven’t really focused on Local SEO in the past, we do recommend you take these steps, as with a bit of time and effort you can get good results and it is an excellent way to source good new customers in your area. Best of all, they are already looking for you!

Sophia

Internet Power – Making You Shine Online

The Power of Google PPC Advertising

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What are PPC and Google Adwords?

Google AdwordsGoogle Adwords is Google’s advertising platform for its search engine. So these are simply ads which are shown in Google’s search results.

When someone searches on Google, the top 3 results displayed are typically ads, followed by “natural” search results.

For local business searches, local search results, with a map showing where the top 10 businesses are, are usually shown above wider natural search results.

Ads are also shown on the right of the search results.

Pay Per Click refers to the charging system; advertisers pay when viewers “click” on an Ad, at a pre-agreed rate, which could be anything from 1 pence to £100 per click. Advertisers effectively “bid” for the advertising space, based on keywords – ie search phrases. The specific rate paid will depends on how competitive the keyword is.

Google also runs a separate advertising system, which is called Google Adsense and which allows banner ads to be displayed across its network of approved websites.

What’s Special About PPC?

Of course Google is the biggest search engine in the world and particularly in the UK – by miles. But that’s not the real reason why Google’s PPC Advertising is so powerful.

The key is the nature of advertising in a search engine setting: Your ads are shown to people who are specifically looking for exactly your services and products.

This immediately changes the relationship with the prospects who respond to your ad, compared with say Facebook ads, or traditional advertising in newspapers and magazines etc. In these cases, you are trying to attract people’s attention – which is primarily focused elsewhere.

With Google PPC, the prospect is searching for you. They are specifically looking either to buy or at least to find out more. So you are half way there before you start; it’s a much easier to start a “conversation” and build a valuable, long term, relationship.

Before Google PPC ads came along, not so long ago, this was virtually unheard of in marketing, outside Yellow Pages. It’s obviously the perfect opportunity to get your business in front of exactly the right audience, at the right moment.

Clearly, it means that these prospects are more likely to buy or to sign up for information on your website, opening the opportunity for Permission Marketing – so conversion rates are much higher than traditional ad response rates.

What is particularly interesting is that research consistently shows that most searchers on Google do not even realise that some of the results displayed are ads.

Pay Per Click – Paying for Results

With PPC, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad.

Today, it’s easy to forget how significant it is to be paying only for clicks ie only for people interested enough in your Ad to take action and click on it. You do not pay for all the other people who may see it, but are not interested in looking further.

Most advertising obviously works on the basis that you pay to have it appear in front of people regardless of whether they are actually interested and regardless of whether they respond. Which is an expensive way to find out that they aren’t.

This means that you can discover very quickly if your campaign will be successful or not; probably within a couple of days. If you are not getting the response you hoped for, you can cut the campaign immediately, without wasting more resources on it.

So if you haven’t chosen the right keywords, perhaps and so aren’t getting to the people who are truly interested in what you are offering – you will find out very quickly, before you invest large amounts.

So this is extremely low risk advertising (providing you convert effectively), compared with paying for an advertising campaign, possibly over several months, with significant costs and no guarantee of results – and no refunds if your response is poor.

Local Advertising – better targeting and keeping costs down

With Google Adwords you can choose to advertise locally ie for your ads only to show up to people within a certain area. This is done by tracking computer IP addresses and mobile phones.

Obviously this is particularly powerful for smaller local businesses, as the cost is much lower and there is no waste due to people outside your area clicking on ads.

When Google first launched, ads were shown right across the UK, but now you can target a specific town or city. Even if your business is national, or even global, you may well still want to use local advertising to focus your budget according to your target demographic; most businesses have some geographic bias in their customer profile. 

What About Bing and Yahoo?

Google is the biggest search engine in the world and in the UK, by miles. So this is the place to start and to focus. It’s the best place to test and measure, to maximize your campaigns’ effectiveness and your returns.

Once your have a successful campaign up and running though, it’s a good idea to roll it out – Bing and Yahoo have far fewer searches (Bing has 10% of the UK search market), but they often have higher click through rates and lower costs.

Myths

You may have heard people saying that Google Adwords is not as effective as it once was. This is really a bit of a myth; there are just as many searches being carried out. Plus costs have actually dropped.

However, what has happened is that Google has changed the placement of some of its ads, with just 3 being shown above the natural search results, while the rest remain over on the right and the results for those on the left are now dramatically better than the others. When left position ads were introduced they immediately got slightly better results ie click through rate (CTR). Gradually the emphasis has shifted; by last year left hand ads got a CTR 10x better – and now in 2015 it is 15x.

More significant still is the impact of mobile phones. Only the left hand position ads show up at all on mobile searches – and 50% of all searches are now on mobiles.

So the positioning of ads has become ever more critical. Many businesses are unaware of this discrepancy – and more importantly how to ensure their ads appear on the left as much as possible – so they have seen reduced CTRs and poorer results from their campaigns.

So if you are not getting the results you used to, it may be time to look closely at your campaigns and brush up your skills. It’s important to use the latest techniques to be successful in getting left hand position ads and then to convert effectively through well designed website pages.

Getting Great Results

These are the keys to successful PPC advertising with Google Adwords:

  • Correct selection of keywords
  • Excellent ad, relevant and with great copy
  • Getting your Ad positioned correctly – this is based on a secret algorithm, which includes your “quality score” and your bid price
  • Effective conversion on your website – this is about a well designed landing or sales page, probably with video and compelling copy, with an irresistible offer
  • Test and measure – repeatedly

If you are new to Google Adwords, we do recommend you try it, as it is the most consistent way to source good leads, if you get good at it – but just make sure you learn how to do it well. It’s well worth the investment of your time, as it will bring you consistent, ongoing prospects and customers.

Sophia

Internet Power – Making You Shine Online

Your Pricing Strategy – and Profitability

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PricingIt may seem obvious, but one of the easiest and quickest ways to increase business profits is to increase prices.

So why don’t businesses do it more often?

The equally obvious and simple answer is that businesses fear losing business and customers.

In fact, higher prices are generally seen to equate with higher value – and raising prices can often generate more demand, not less.

Clearly pricing is linked to the perceived value of what you offer and it’s essential to get pricing right.

Of course, in very competitive situations eg tenders, price may be a significant factor, but generally research shows that only 15% of customers buy essentially on price. That 15% are not the customers you want to target; they are usually the hardest to satisfy too.

A 10% increase in price, with no decrease in customers, often increases profit by much much more than 10%, as your business’ base costs are already covered.

If you just increase your prices by 10% each year, it might take a while, but in 5 years you will have transformed your business.

Of course some businesses, perhaps up to 20%, have scope to increase prices by 50-100%

The Key To Pricing – Understand The Behaviour of Your Customers

As we’ve already highlighted, the vast majority of customers do not buy on price alone – yet many businesses approach their marketing as if it’s all about price.

For the majority, perhaps 60-80% of all customers, they are concerned about other issues too – not least quality. We are almost all prepared to pay more for a better experience; just think about last time your booked a holiday or simply went for a meal.

Price reductions can even have a negative effect on your business, especially if you are positioned at the higher end.

The key is always to focus on communicating the benefits of your services and products in your in your copy and your emails. Your customers may be willing to pay more than you think – provided they understand the benefits of what you offer.

At the core of your pricing strategy is your positioning. This is linked to your goals and where you want your business to be. You can choose which market you want to target. This applies to everything. You can choose to sell budget pizzas or gourmet pizzas. Fords or Ferraris. You can model Harrods or a corner shop.

If you have a passion for what you do and it is not high end, that is totally fine of course, but understand that you are making a choice and that it will affect your business and its profitability.

Your business and your marketing are all about that market. Who are your ideal customers? If you choose to target people who are willing to invest, instead of those who fight over every penny – it changes the quality of your life and the profitability of your business.

So, here are our 8 Steps for Successfully Increasing Your Pricing

1 – Test

Testing is obviously at the heart of pricing. We can all guess what prices can be justified and sustained – only customers decide.

So it’s worth testing different price points. You may be very surprised. The results will vary from business to business, even in a similar market or local area.

Of course, it might be opposite – 10% cut may boost business. If so, the boost in your business may help your leverage scale so as to reduce your costs per unit – and it’s still good news for your business.

It doesn’t matter what your competitors are doing. You can always test with 1 element of a service, or perhaps within a range. Or test an increase to a group; there are lots of options.

Remember the example of airlines; these days virtually everyone has paid different amount for their seat.

If you sell online, from email marketing, or from ads, via your website, it’s worth split testing and using 2 landing pages.

If you are worried about testing an increase, just remember that you can always reduce prices again.

Continual, ongoing testing is the way to go; don’t just assume your prices are right.


2 – Reinforce Benefits

Of course, this is always essential. You need to continually remind your customers what’s in it for them and why it is worth the price you are charging.

When people object to a price, they rarely mean that it’s too expensive per se, it’s just that they can’t see the value.

So in your marketing materials, online and offline, always immediately repeat benefits, with your pricing. In fact highlighting more benefits will easily mean more sales, regardless of prices.


3 – Offer Add-ons or Bonuses

You need to choose add-ons which increase perceived value, but do not cost too much to deliver.

These can be anything from free CDs containing useful information, to free delivery for physical products. Anything you can deliver in media format, has low costs, but increases value.

Do remember that your competitors may be doing the same – but not communicating this to customers.

There are no rules about what to offer – you can offer products nothing to do with core business. Just try and see what works.


4 – Add a Guarantee

Guarantees are always effective, as they reduce risk for person doing business with you and perceived risk is a blocker to sales.

So, if you add a powerful guarantee when increasing your prices, this will help offset any resistance. Again, simply test it.


5 – Overcome Objections

If you can overcome your prospective customers objections effectively, you have more scope for an increase in your prices.

As before the key is to focus on highlighting benefits. If you save people time, perhaps, then reinforce this, by emphasising that you a freeing up time for other enjoyable or profitable activities.

Price is the most common objection given (even if it’s not the underlying issue). It’s always important to highlight value and to confront potential issues on price and value. So here you can specifically ask people: ” Do you think this is too expensive? Here are the reasons why not…”
6 – Add an Elite or High Price option

This is an excellent way to test a price increase, without risking an adverse impact on your sales, if you are really worried. There is always a proportion of your target customers who will pay more for an elite version of whatever you offer.

So consider what you can offer as an elite option. Going back to airplanes, it will be business and first class seats, with uprated comfort and service.

What can you offer in your business as a high end and high priced version of something related to current services?
7 – Sell Yourself

Sell yourself personally. This is especially effective especially in any competitive market. It enables you to differentiate. It’s why we always recommend personal branding for a business; you should always have 1 or 2 individuals who are the “face” of your business.

With services, of course this is especially important, but even if you sell products, you can link yourself to them, via great service.

Emphasise that when a customer does business with your business they get something different – you. Highlight this in a personal way: “I’ll go out of my way to…  I’ll do whatever it takes…”

Very few businesses do this and it’s still the easiest way to overcome price objections.

Do not hesitate to say that there are cheaper options – someone else who will do it cheaper, but they are not the best, they do not invest in same way. Ask: “Do you want cheap – or do you want the best?”

This approach will mean that the pure price purchase people, who are not your ideal customers, will go elsewhere. While you get the valuable long term customers who will buy from you again and again in the future.


8 – Value Yourself and Business

Pricing is also about how you value yourself and your business. Always remember that you’ve invested years of time and a fortune getting good at what you do. So you should value that.

If you don’t value yourself and your business, why should your customers?

Mindset is the foundation of pricing and your business. Many people are not comfortable with receiving a large amount for what they do, even though  they offer great value.

The price you deserve is the value you add. You are making a difference to people, so be clear and confident on your prices. Be proud; they reflect the quality and the value of what you offer through your business.

Sophia

Internet Power – Making You Shine Online

Facebook Ads – The Golden Opportunity

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7 Steps To Success With Facebook Ads

Facebook adsFacebook ads offer an unrivalled opportunity, especially for local businesses.

Now is the perfect moment in time. You can reach your core target audience with laser like precision and at a great value cost.

Facebook has millions of pages, so they have endless advertising inventory to sell. This is why it is so cheap.

For many businesses, Facebook Ads is now taking over as the no 1 source of leads – ahead of Google adwords, even for people who have specialised in adwords for years.

Just look at the stats:

  • Facebook has over 2 billion users
  • Facebook is making $1 billion from mobile ads, every quarter
  • In the UK, half the population go on Facebook for average of 25 mins every day
  • So half your potential customers are on Facebook every single day
  • This gives you the opportunity to target reach your existing and your prospective customers – quickly and cheaply

Facebook Targeting

Facebook targeting is so powerful. You can target by

  • Location
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Demographics eg social class; salaries; the cars you drive etc
  • Interests

This ability to target is a million miles away from traditional direct mail. Where you send out 1000 letters to reach 6 customers. Now you can go straight to those 6.


The Facebook Challenge

Bear in mind that the online world moves very fast –so what was working even 6 months ago, may not be best now. And vice versa: what didn’t work then, may be the best option today.

The challenge is that there are so many options within Facebook and its ad system – so you need to do a lot of tests to find out what works.

This is why we also like to leverage the knowledge that comes from being part of an advanced marketing group mastermind, drawing on the experiences across the group as well as our own.

7 Steps To Success With Facebook Ads

1 – Use Newsfeed Ads

The key to focus on is ads in news feeds. People on Facebook spend all their time in their newsfeed. A year ago when these were first introduced, people didn’t like them appearing in news feeds. Now people are used to it.

With news feeds ads you are getting to communicate directly and personally with your prospects. It’s quite different from traditional forms of advertising.

You will get the best results is to put up an ad in the newsfeeds is in the form of content, which clicks through to your website, for conversion.

As ever you do need to run different ads,in order to test responses and performance.

2 – Use Video

Over the last 6 months you will have noticed there has been a big shift on Facebook, away from images and to video.

Video ads have increased by 160% over the last year and are now much the most powerful medium for Facebook ads.

If you are just starting with Facebook ads, you will probably want to use ordinary Ads fisrts – but aim to move to video as soon as you can.

3 – Use Mobile

Not long ago, mobile ads didn’t get the same response, but with the increase in mobile usage everywhere, this has changed.

Be aware that:

  • There are 1.2 bn mobile users
  • 30% of Facebook users only go on Facebook by phone
  • 65% of Facebook video views are only on mobile

So, you want to be using the mobile ads options.

4 – Target Existing Customers First

You can upload your existing customers’ email addresses and Facebook will match these with Facebook accounts. You can then serve ads to them.

Your ROI will be much higher, due to your existing relationship – and you reduce your risks too.

To increase conversions significantly, use remarketing cookies on your website so those who do not convert receive follow up ads.

5 – Use Remarketing to Convert Website Visitors

Remarketing enables you to track visitors to your website and then send them Facebook ads.

This ensure that those who visit your website but do not sign up or buy, see your ads as soon as they then visit Facebook.

6 – Use Lookalike Audiences

Facebook’s own algorithms are extremely powerful – not surprisingly, since they have huge resources to invest in getting this right. They hold all sorts of information about, say, your existing customers, which you cannot see, but they can use..

Even experienced marketers will tell you that they cannot match Facebook for results, no matter what they do.

You simply create your own custom audience. You’ll need at least 100 customers for this. You then create a lookalike audience via Facebook, suing your custom audience as the basis.

7 – Use the Right Bidding Mechanism

You can use cost per view or cost per click ie conversions.

Both give great results but cost per conversion gets much the better results. 100% better, even 300% better.
What About the Social Side of Facebook – and Getting Likes?

This depends on your business.

For a local business, your Facebook Page is a great way to connect with your customers and their contacts and to build relationships.

For most smaller business owners though, spending more than 30 mins per week is probably a waste of your valuable time.

The key issue is that most people who have liked your posts will not see them anyway. 3 years ago it was different and a great opportunity to make contacts cheaply.

Today Facebook is restricting the visibility of Business Pages, so only approximately 17% of people who have liked your page will see your posts, unless you pay to boost them.

It’s still important to maintain your profile and look professional. You should definitely make sure you claim your social profiles, so no one else can.

Beyond maintaining a professional presence though, it is best to get someone else to manage your page; your time is not free.
Get Started

If you’ve not tried Facebook ads before, we strongly recommend you try it.

It works for both B2C and B2B and for virtually all types of business. If you are in B2B, it’ still very likely that your target contacts are on Facebook. Personally.

It’s especially useful for local businesses as you can target so effectively, which means that you can stay within budget.

You can try it very cheaply – just set a budget. It can be just £10 if you want.

It’s very worth learning how to do Facebook ads well, as soon as you can. At the moment it’s such an opportunity.

Sophia

Internet Power

12 Steps to Successful Email Marketing

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Successful Email Marketing To Grow Your Business

Email marketingEmail marketing is an extremely powerful and still underused marketing tool – when you use it correctly.

Study after study has shown that marketing and selling via email is a low-cost highly effective way to build relationships and trust, develop awareness of your business, educate your customers and ultimately, increase sales.

Of course, it’s essential to use email marketing correctly. Low cost is is still expensive if you don’t get the results. You need to ensure your emails are opened, read and acted upon and that’s a challenge as we are all inundated with emails.

There are several key factors that will ensure your email message gets opened, read and acted upon… You need to:

1 – Know Your Audience

You must know and understand your audience.

First of all, be clear whether they are existing customers or prospective customers. You will want and need to communicate differently to these different groups. This is why a professional email marketing system which enables you to segment your email lists is important.

Second, you need to know the wants and needs of your email recipients. You must know the problems they need to have solved and which you can provide a solution for. When you know and focus on these issues, you’ll significantly increase the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

You can segment your customer base too and send highly targeted messages to each group.

2 – Get Permission First

You must have consent from your prospects or customers before sending any marketing emails. This applies equally to consumers and to business customers. All professional email marketing systems are permission based.

You can obtain permission ideally via “opt-in” commitments on your website, as well as from prior contact or express emailed permission from each recipient.

This is why having an effectively designed “Opt-in” form on your website is so important.

3 – Start by Building Relationships

When a prospective customer “opts-in” on your website, they are effectively giving you permission to start a relationship with them. You need to build trust, before you can sell to them.

The best way to do start building trust and a long term relationship is to offer good quality free advice, without any suggestion of selling.

If you start in this way, generously sharing your expertise, you will build valuable long term relationships, based on trust and loyalty.

You will tap into the power of reciprocity and ultimately you will vastly increase your sales.

If you simply start sending heavy sales emails, you will simply drive prospects away – your emails will generate high unsubscribe rates – and you will have wasted all the time, effort and money which went into capturing the email details in the first place.

A professional email system makes it easy to give good quality information to your new prospective customers. You can set up a series of emails, to be sent at pre-set intervals, using an “auto-responder”. It’s “set and forget” marketing, with emails sent out automatically 24/7.

4 – Define Your Objective for Each Email

Be careful to define exactly what you want to achieve with each of your emails and how you will know when you’ve done so.

If your email is a straightforward sales email, is will be easy enough to measure success – from your sales numbers.

For a relationship building email (or series of emails) you will need to track and measure longer term conversions.

You must set clear goals that will define your success and enable you to measure your ROI.

5 – Identify Yourself

It’s essential that consumers recognise your email as coming from a legitimate source – consumers especially respond best to companies and brands that they know and trust.

Ideally you will have identified an individual who is the “face” of your business. This will help you build trust and connection.

So, make sure the email comes from a clearly identifiable person and that their name is connected to the business.

6 – Write An Attention-Grabbing Subject Line

Open rates are one of the biggest challenges in successful email marketing. The key is an attention grabbing subject line, especially if this is an email to prospective customers who do not yet know your business.

Your subject line (heading) has to leap out and GRAB their attention – it should be so compelling that they are virtually unable to do anything but open it!

Great subject lines also communicate the content of the message to come and will normally promise a product, service or outcome of real value.

7 – Make Sure Your Subject Line Is Spam Filter Friendly

The words you choose are important if your message is to escape the clutches of spam filters – if you use the wrong ones they can send your message into an email black hole.

Obvious ones to avoid include “Free” and anything associated with porn.

8 – Personalise Your Subject Heading

Adding your customer’s first name to the subject line gives a personal feel to the email and will improve your open rates.

It also tells the spam filters that you know the person you’re writing to, so it’s much less likely to be flagged as spam.

Likewise, always use your customer’s first name at the beginning of your email message.

Again, using a professional email marketing system will mean you can easily capture customers’ and prospects first name details, along with their email address.

9 – Start Your Message With A Benefit Laden Headline

Start your email with a headline that encapsulates your offer and the benefit it will give your customer.

Next, explain the benefit and prove that you can deliver it.

Then, use details of the product or service’s benefits to move the reader through the copy, to the call to action at the end of the message.

10 – Get To The Point

It’s important to deliver a clear message immediately. So generally make your emails short and compelling.

Avoid detailed product descriptions or long-winded stories about your business and its history.

If you are sending a sales email, you will still need to include enough information to persuade recipients to buy – eg testimonials and guarantees.

If you are sending people to a sales page, you will have an opportunity to add more information there – in which case your objective is simply to persuade people to click on the link to the sales page.

If you are sending out a “newsletter” type email, that’s fine, but make sure you highlight your most important information and include a clear call to action, at the outset.

If you are sending an email which recipients are expecting, for example an invitation to a regular event, make sure the link appears early on, so they can quickly click through.

11 – Repeat Your Call to Action

Repeating your call to action and any link is important – and well proven to increase response rates.

Adding a PS “Here’s that link again” is a well used device, because it works.

12 – Follow Up Campaigns Increase Response rates

While the number of emails you send for any campaign depends on what you are selling, you will certainly increase response rates if you send a series of emails – at least 3.

Remember that some people will miss your initial email – or may be were too busy to open it, even if they were interested – in which case they probably won’t go back to find it later.

So always send follow-up emails. They also give you the opportunity to focus on a different benefit, which may appeal to a different psychological profile among your customers.

If you’d like to find out more about Professional Email Marketing Systems and how they can help you grow your business, please Contact Us.

Sophia

Internet Power – Making You Shine Online

Writing Great Website Copy

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Writing Great Web Copy – Our Top Tips.

Writing great website copy Internet PowerCopywriting is a specialist marketing skill, which takes years to master – and creating great web copy is a specialist area within copywriting…

I have a particular passion for it (I guess it goes back to all my years as a lawyer, analysing words and drafting documents…)

For anyone writing blogs or adding new web pages (or email newsletters), following our simple guidelines will make a huge difference.

Clarity

It’s essential to start by being clear who your target reader is – and what you want them to do. Everything flows from this simple start point.

Customer

So, always write your copy with your ideal customer or potential customer in mind. If you don’t know who they are, it’s worth working on this.

Simple demographics are a good place to start – age, gender, occupation and income levels, plus lifestyle and interests. A great tip is to give them a name. So let’s do just that – we’ll call her Catherine perhaps. Or Cathy, or Cate.

Call To Action

Make sure you end by telling Cate what you would like her to do next: phone you, make an appointment, email you, apply for a consultation or visit your blog etc. It may be quite low key, but it still needs to be clear.

This is probably the no 1 marketing principle of all time and it may seem pretty obvious. Yet a complete absence of any “Call to Action”, even on home pages, is probably the commonest mistake we see… on website after website.

All your copy should be written with the desired end action in mind, so it flows naturally towards this.

Connect

Ideally, write in the first person and as if you are talking directly to Cate, to build connection, trust and a strong relationship.

Conversation

This also means using the language you would use in conversation – avoid over formal or old fashioned phrases.

Here’s a common example: “whilst”. I can’t remember when I last heard anyone use this word when talking to anyone – but I can assure you, it’s very popular in written material. Every 3rd bio includes it.

Communication

Our next top tip, especially for anyone who has professional expertise, is no tekkie jargon. Swap all technical language for everyday phrases, which Cate understands and uses herself.

Vets, Doctors, Engineers and Lawyers, this is for you! No legalese, no acronyms, no medical terms, unless they are mainstream.

It’s all about the words people use in everyday situations. So Cardiology is ok. Cate has been watching medical soaps such as Casualty for years, and she goes to the gym and does cardio workouts. Even so, heart disease is better still.

Oncology is not. Just stop for a moment: do you really think everyone who owns a pet knows what it means? Well, I had to look it up the first time I saw it and I’ve got 2 degrees, plus fitness qualifications, as well as years of pet owning. Now consider the alternative: Cancer. Cate knows exactly what that is. (Of course, it’s a zodiac sign – her sister is a Cancer.) Seriously, she won’t be confused.

Content

Just remember to focus on benefits not features. This is another often repeated marketing mantra, but it’s still easy to forget.

The essence of it is this:

Of course, you are very proud of your new scanning machine – and it cost your practice a fortune – but actually, Cate isn’t very interested in the technicalities, or its long German brand name (which she hasn’t heard of).

But she is very interested in a fast and accurate diagnosis – which means her precious pet will be treated more effectively and will recover faster.

Colour

Visual layout is an important part of good web copy: readability is not just about words. Short and Sweet is the rule here. Cate reads much slower online. So choose simple words over longer ones and shorten your sentences and paragraphs.

Keep to 3-4 lines per paragraph, use commas and add line breaks too, rather than start a new sentence at the end of a line. Plus of course, use headings and bullets and use colour for contrast.

Typically you only have a few seconds to make an impact and get your message across, so you need to maximise everything you do.

There is much more to great copywriting of course – from psychology to storytelling, but following these tips is a great place to start.

If you are looking for professional copywriting options for your new website, we can do this for you.

Sophia

Internet Power

Required Business Information

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Confused About The Business Information You Need To Put On Your Website and Emails?

Business info on websites

Lots of people are confused about exactly what business info you need to put on your website and emails.

There are detailed requirements covering the business information you must disclose generally, on your invoices and at your premises for example.

These depend on whether your business is a sole trader, a partnership, a company or an LLP – and the same applies to your website and business emails.

Apart from simply being the law (and there are fines for non-compliance…), complying with these requirements also ensures your business gives a professional impression.

So, here’s our guide to help you stay on track.

As we’re in legal mode, let’s start with a disclaimer! This guide is intended to help you, but please be aware that we don’t give formal legal advice – you should consult a lawyer for detailed ins and outs.

Please also be aware that this guidance is based on the law in England and Wales – generally the law is different in other countries – and that includes Scotland.

So, what business info has to be disclosed and where?

Limited Company

A limited company is a separate legal entity, registered at companies house.

Websites and Emails – Name and Address

  • The full name of the company as per your certificate of incorporation – eg Smith Thomas Vets Limited
  • If you use a trading name you must state this clearly – eg Smith Thomas Vets Limited trading as London Vets
  • The Company’s registered number
  • Where the company is registered – eg England and Wales, or Scotland
  • The Company’s registered office
  • Directors’ names are optional, but If one director’s name is shown, then all directors’ names must be shown

Websites also require

  • Email Address
  • Physical address (not a PO box) – Your registered office is sufficient, but if your main trading address is different, this should be included as well
  • Vat registration no, if the company is registered for vat
  • Your terms and conditions
  • Any regulating professional body or trade association

Limited Liability Partnership – LLP

A limited liability partnership is registered at companies house and is similar to a limited company in terms of rules and regs.

Websites and Emails – Name and Address

  • The full name of the LLP as per your certificate of incorporation – eg Smith Thomas Vets LLP
  • If the name includes just LLP, the fact that it is a Limited Liability Partnership
  • If you use a trading name you must state this clearly – eg Smith Thomas Vets LLP trading as London Vets
  • The LLP’s registered number
  • Where the LLP is registered – eg England and Wales, or Scotland
  • The LLP’s registered office
  • Members’ names are optional, but If one member’s name is shown, then all members’ names must be shown

Websites also require

  • Email Address
  • Physical address (not a PO box) – Your registered office is sufficient, but if your main trading address is different, this should be included as well).
  • Vat registration no, if the company is registered for vat
  • Your terms and conditions
  • Any regulating professional body or trade association

Partnership

Partners own the business together and share profits. These do not have to be equal shares and not all partners may be actively involved in running the business. Your business may also have employees.

Websites and Emails – Name and Address

  • If you use a business name which consists simply of all the partners’ names, then the name is sufficient. Eg Jo Smith & John Thomas – or Smith Thomas
  • If you use a trading name, or a name which uses only some of the partners’ names, you must also state the names of each of the partners – eg Smith Thomas Vets must disclose Partners: Jo Smith, John Thomas – and Smith Thomas must disclose Partners: Jo Smith, John Thomas, Andy Bell
  • If you use a trading name, you must also specify an address at which any documents may be served on the business. This can be your trading address, your home address, or an office address.
  • As this is the address that will be used to serve any court proceedings, it’s important to use an address where you will see and pick up post frequently; a home address is not suitable unless all the partners live there.

Websites also need

  • Email Address
  • Physical address (not a PO box)
  • Vat registration no, if you are registered for vat
  • Your terms and conditions
  • Any regulating professional body or trade association

Sole Trader

A sole trader owns his or her business alone. You may have employees, but not partners.

Websites and Emails – Name and Address

  • If you simply use your own personal name alone, then that is all you need – eg Jo Smith, J Smith or Josephine Smith.
  • If you use a trading name you must also state your real name – eg Jo Smith trading as Jo Smith Vets – or Jo Smith trading as London Vets
  • If you use a trading name, you must also specify an address at which any documents may be served on the business. This can be your trading address, your home address, or an office address.
  • (As this is the address that will be used to serve any court proceedings, it’s important to use an address where you will see and pick up post frequently)

Websites also need

  • Email Address
  • Physical address (not a PO box)
  • Vat registration number, if you are registered for vat
  • Your terms and conditions
  • Any regulating professional body or trade association

Make It Easy

For emails, to make sure all the info is included every time, the easiest option is to use a standard footer containing all your essential information.

If you want an example, then check out ours:
Internet Power LLP – Making You Shine Online
Limited Liability Partnership No OC371101, registered in England.
Registered Office Old School House, Stert, Devizes, Wilts SN10 3JD.

Your business info does not have to appear on every single web page, but it should be easy to find and must be clearly legible. Ideally, include it on your Contact page.

Anything else to be aware of?

Website information must be disclosed on all websites promoting your business. If you are using landing, sales and squeeze pages, you must make sure there’s a link to your contact page (and your terms and conditions).

Your info doesn’t have to be in huge fonts, but it must be legible, clear and easy to find. Please be aware that business disclosure rules also apply to business letters, orders, invoices, receipts, cheques, demands for payment and your trading addresses.

They also apply to text messages. You’ve got a tight character limit here, so you need to link to a webpage. If you don’t comply, you can be fined.

Cookies and privacy information – there are also detailed rules covering the use of cookies and privacy information, which need to be included and are not covered in detail in this blog. They apply to businesses based in England and Wales; businesses based elsewhere, including Scotland, should check out the relevant requirements.

There are also lots more detailed rules and regs if you are selling to consumers via your website and/or email and/or by phone – ie without physical meeting and also for commercial email marketing. These are all topics in their own right.

If you want more info, then for companies and LLPs the companies house website is useful: http://www.companieshouse.gov.uk/index.shtml

A final warning, from an ex-lawyer.

Google is great for most info, but it is not a good source of accurate legal advice. What you find is often out of date or simply wrong – and you can’t tell which.

One of the best sources of reliable legal advice for businesses I’ve found is: http://www.lawdonut.co.uk/

Rules and regs aren’t the most exciting topic around, but you want to stay on the right side of them, so they stay that way.

Sophia

Internet Power – Making You Shine Online

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