Digital expertise

15+ years of helping businesses grow their digital marketing performance.

I created this website to share my professional knowledge and insight into all things digital. Each year I review thousands of websites, analytics accounts and marketing strategies for all types of businesses.

How to Build Your Online Presence

Generating a consistent flow of new customers has always been essential to growing a sustainable business. But with rapid advances in mobile technology and internet marketing techniques, many business owners are scrambling to figure out where to start and how to keep up.
If you’re looking for an overview of how to establish your company’s presence online, look no further. Here are four online marketing strategies you need to master as soon as possible.

Fill Your Website With Valuable Content

Eventually, your goal will be to “be everywhere” on the internet. But as you expand your audience and get noticed on other platforms, all roads will ultimately lead back to your own website. This is great for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes and can get you tons of free traffic – but only if people really like what they see when they come to your site!
So it’s essential that your content marketing strategy begins with building an awesome website that offers plenty of useful information, resources and easy access for your customers and leads. Content creation will include, but is not limited to, the following types of content.

Connect with Your Customers on Social Media

Social media sites like Facebook have been around for well over a decade now, but many businesses are just barely getting their feet wet in the pool of social marketing possibilities.

Your best bet is to pick one or two platforms and focus on building a consistent flow of content, comments and interaction. Get a feel for these before expanding so that you don’t get overwhelmed and end up with a dozen abandoned social media accounts.
But don’t just pick the platform that you personally use the most in your free time. That platform might work perfectly for connecting with your own friends and family, but it might be a waste of time for your business.

So how do you know which social media platform to use?
Use the platforms that best connect you with your target market and target customer demographic.
If you sell clothing for women ages 40 and up, you’ll have better luck finding them on Pinterest than on Snapchat. If you sell vegan pizzas to millennials, you’ll get their mouths watering on Instagram more easily than on Twitter.
In other words, go to where your target market is already hanging out, and create native content that makes sense for that platform.

Here are the best social media apps for small businesses to get started:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Instagram TV
• Youtube
• Snapchat
• TikTok

Manage Your Listings in Business Directories and Apps

There are many online directories for businesses to help establish their online presence. One of the keys to optimizing for local SEO is to maintain consistent, current information across all platforms.

Research from Google shows that 88 percent of people who search for a local business end up visiting or calling that store the same day. Your company name, address and phone number (NAP) needs to be current and accurate to the smallest detail, or you’ll end up losing sales. So make sure that spelling and abbreviations are always consistent and that outdated addresses and phone numbers are updated.

But effective listings management involves more than simply having a profile on each of the main platforms and keeping your contact info current. Listings management should include managing your reputation on those platforms as well.
This means you’ll need to make your customers aware of your presence on these platforms, perhaps by offering incentives for reviews and check-ins.

You’ll also need to actually communicate with customers who leave reviews – and this includes responding appropriately and promptly to the negative reviews.
For many people using these apps, these reviews are what creates their first impression of your business. So having an active, engaging and courteous presence on these apps can make or break your reputation with potential customers who discover you through them. Here are some places you’ll want to be found online.

GMB – Google My Business (GMB) is a free service that helps businesses manage their internet presence across Google products and platforms. It’s a great way to get more visibility for your company online.
Start by creating and verifying your listing, and then keep it updated with descriptions of your business, NAP, photos, customer reviews and more.

BBB – Established in 1912, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a non-profit organization whose aim is to help consumers find reputable businesses from which to purchase products and services. The BBB gives businesses a report card with grades A through F and allows customers to post reviews and complaints. Earning a high grade from the BBB can help your business gain trust with your customers.

Map Services – You’ll want to make sure to embed a clickable, interactive map somewhere on your website, perhaps on your contact page or home page. Or if you have multiple locations, you will also want to have a dedicated page or search tool to help visitors find the store or location nearest them. Google Maps, Yahoo Maps and Apple Maps can all be smoothly integrated into your company website.

Business Review Apps – There are tons of smartphone apps out there that help people find local businesses near them. Many consumers use the app while driving and end up making a purchase within minutes of locating a business – even one they’ve never visited before.
A recent Nielson study found that 4 out of 5 Yelp users search the app when looking to spend money that very day, and related platforms receive similar results. So if you aren’t listed in one or more of these apps, you are leaving money on the table. Here are a few such apps:

• Yelp!
• TripAdvisor
• Angie’s List
• Delivery Apps

Delivery apps are rapidly growing in popularity, with DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber Eats accounting for 80 percent of all delivery app food purchases.
However restaurants aren’t the only businesses jumping on the delivery app bandwagon. These courier services will deliver just about anything within their service areas, so your business can greatly benefit by utilizing these services without having to spend your own money on delivery vehicles, insurance and drivers.
Start delivering your products with these services today:

• DoorDash
• GrubHub
• Uber Eats
• Postmates

Expand Your Network and Tap into New Audiences

Content creation, social media and business directories are all powerful tools for building your company’s online presence. But this discussion wouldn’t be complete without also addressing SEO and content promotion. Here are three strategies you should use to expand your network and rapidly tap into new audiences.

Guest posts are articles that you write for other websites and blogs. These posts get your brand in front of new audiences with links back to your own blog and landing pages. These links help you gain trust with search engines and get higher levels of organic search traffic to your site over time.

Your content creation efforts should also include creating infographics and eBooks that you can distribute through other websites too. Make sure that your website URL and brand are highly visible on these pieces of content. Then let other marketers, bloggers and media outlets distribute them for you.

Similar to guest posting, collaborations with podcasters and vloggers can also put you and your company in front of new audiences. Some business people think old-school networking is dead, and they might be right. But networking online is alive and well and is a great way to grow your business.

Getting your business out there to the world is easier today than it’s ever been. And most channels for promoting your business online are very inexpensive, if not completely free. Try not to let the newness of it all intimidate you. Pick one of the online marketing methods or platforms above and get started today.

With quality content creation, consistent listings management and generous outreach over an extended period of time, you’ll boost your online visibility and attract new customers faster than you thought possible.

The Top 5 Ways to Increase Online Leads

Acquiring leads is essential to any business, especially when you’re online. The point of many digital marketing strategies is to get more leads, which can directly correlate to an increase in sales. Once you have a lead, you can take them through a system designed to help them through the sales process. You can turn a stranger into a loyal customer.

But how do you get more leads in the first place? Thankfully there are a number of ways you can increase the number of leads you acquire online. Here are 5 of the best ways to do it.

Pay-per-Click

Pay-per-Click advertising is an easy and effective way of generating leads. There are a number of platforms in which you can take advantage of this advertising model that host a wide range of audiences. Within minutes you can have your advertisement in front of hundreds or thousands of individuals. And if your lead magnet is strong enough, your sales funnel will start to fill up.

One great advantage of this model is that allows you to easily scale your marketing system. This is a beautiful strength over an alternative lead generator, such as blogging. While there is a limit to how many quality blogs you can create each month, the only factor to increase your pay-per-click advertising is more funds into it.

Paid Social Advertising

Paid Social ads take advantage of the powerful branding and loyal audiences that social media has created. There are millions of users on social media, and many platforms are being tailored to increasing integrate sales and business features to connect you to that audience.

The great thing about Paid Social Advertising is that these platforms are able to carefully tailor who sees your content based on customer profile matches. This means they may be more likely to show your ad to someone who is more likely to click on it. This is done through powerful automated software and analytics.

Display

These forms of advertisements are also known as banner ads. They are a form of pay-per-click advertising and can come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They’re different from search ads, which shows up on search engine results. These ads are seen on various websites such as news sites, blogs, and more.

It is important to consider the relevancy in any form of online advertising, but it’s especially important when designing this type of advertisement. Having a clear call-to-action that speaks to your audience and imagery that makes an impact will be a determining factor in their effectiveness for generating leads. Doing this work helps ensure every dollar is being well-spent when you pay for advertising.

Display ads can come in a number of forms, from having graphics, audio, and even video elements. Any way you can get your ad to stand out and catch the attention of web browsers will help you get more leads. Try to make your ads as compelling as possible, taking them to the next step in becoming a converting lead. But be careful not to overwhelm your ad with too much information or use obnoxious tactics to get attention. This is unlikely to generate quality leads, but will rather push people away.

One effective way for effectively converting these types of ads is to have them link to a specially-designed landing page. This page will have tailored information that covers all their questions and leads them to a sale. Presenting clear information that builds your brand and draws them into your products or services is one of the main goals of a landing page.

Email Marketing

Email marketing has been clearly established as one of the most effective marketing methods. With a high ROI or return of investment, it is wise to put a good amount of effort into engaging with leads through email marketing.

Email allows you to engage with your customers regularly, creating familiarity and trust. This is usually one of the first things you would try to entice your visitors with. Create opt-in forms with a valuable exchange for them to receive your emails. This first engagement ensures there will be some continuing form of contact, even after they’ve put the problem they were looking to solve aside. You can be there to remind them they still need solutions, and that you offer them.

Communicating with your audience through email allows you to take even idle curiosity or interest and develop that into a deeper relationship with the service or content your business is offering. This could mean someone who is sharing your work, engaging with your material, signing up for your class, or attending a workshop. The more engaged they become, the more likely that lead is to become a customer.

Video Advertising

There is a growing trend that is proving video to be the most popular form of content on the web. And marketers need to take advantage of that fact. Video advertising is a powerful way to gain trust, build a following, and get your message out there. And as time goes by, this powerful trend is increasing.

Many people prefer video because it is easier and faster to consume information. The visual and audio engagement allows a more dynamic engagement with the material. Having a video to watch right away can keep a visitor on your page for longer and guide them into the next step in your funnel.

Videos can be kept behind a gate on your website, meaning they must subscribe before viewing it. This may seem like it wouldn’t be an effective tactic, but it has been shown to increase conversion rates. People are interested to see a friendly face and hear what someone has to say, even more so than reading text on your website.

No matter how you approach the problem, generating leads is vital to the success of your business. Using these 5 strategies can help attract and convert prospects and guide them through your sales funnel process. This can lead to increased interest, engagement and sales. Try out a few different ones and carefully watch your analytics to see how they perform.