Posted on 22nd July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |Marketing
Email works for sales. It’s true, as long as you do your homework and make the most out of your campaign. We covered how to use your email list a couple weeks ago. Today I’d like to share five key points to consider when you are developing that killer email to send out and get more leads.
- Images Help and Hurt – if you have an image at the top of your HTML formatted email, be sure to include the subject line or the title of your email article in the ALT tag. It looks like this: ALT=”Your Email Subject Matter”.
- CSS Style Police – they will come for you if you link to an external stylesheet. Write all of your CSS in line on the page.
- Links and more links – In line links within your content of the email will only help you gain a click. If you only offer one button to visit your website or landing page, you have less chances of gaining the conversion.
- Check that Spelling and Grammar – It happens to the best of us. You send that email and the subject line reads “Big Sale This Wekkend”. Killing that first impression can also kill that new sale or client. MS Word and your email service provider has a spell checker. Use it! Re-read your email twice, three times if needed. Poor grammar sticks out like sore dumb …. thumb=)
- Track that email – you’ll never know if your email blast is working if you don’t track it’s success rate. If you’re sending it out manually, keep track of how many people responded in a spreadsheet. If you use a service provider like Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com) you can view the open rates as well as the clicks. However, it will never work if you don’t use it. Seek professional help if you need it here.
For more information, feel free to contact us at Start@GuavaGraphics.com, or call 800-482-8224. Happy emailing.
Posted on 21st July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |Marketing |Search Engines
Link Building, Page Rank, Search Engine Optimization, seo, small business
The idea that SEO (search engine optimization) is a black box that only professionals can crack is just silly. Some of the basic SEO and link building tasks can be handle by you the business/website owner.
Submitting your website to web directories is one of the rudimentary things to do when building a link strategy. Here is a list of the top 10 web directories (and their page rank) you can visit to add your business for free.
- www.dmoz.org PR:9
- www.lii.org/ PR:8
- www.hotfrog.com PR:7
- www.somuch.com PR:6
- www.skoobe.biz/ PR:6
- www.netinsert.com PR:6
- www.jayde.com PR:6
- www.info-listings.com PR:6
- www.gimpsy.com PR:6
- www.geniusfind.com/ PR:6
For more information on SEO and link building strategy, contact us today at start@guavagraphics.com or call 800-482-8224.
Posted on 15th July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |Marketing |web design
Now that you’ve built an excellent list of clients and prospects and spent a lot of time cleaning it up, it’s now time to take it for a spin. But how do you get the most out of your email list?
Segmenting your list into separate product interests or customer types will get you a better result – better open rates, better click throughs on link, and more.
- Don’t feel intimidated or afraid to test. You can begin by sending a general email to your entire list—one that clearly delineates your various products and services. Based on the response you receive, you’ll gain insight into the topics that interest various customers.
- Create a category for those who usually open your messages. Handle this list with special attention and segment it even further. This will improve the relevance of your emails, and your open rates.
- Pay attention to spending patterns. Identify those with high, average and low budgets—then create offers that are accordingly interesting and affordable.
There’s a lot of proof that segmentation has a significant payoff. One recent study found that open rates for segmented emails are 20% higher in the first 30 days than those of un-segmented emails. Now that’s a good reason to try a slice or two.
Posted on 9th July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |Social Media
advertising, facebook, small business
How does a social network like Facebook ( www.facebook.com ) gain so many users in so little time when you have other networks like MySpace and Friendster working so well. Simple, it represents a specific type of user base. One that’s just a bit more productive than the mySpace user, which makes it a better candidate for certain types of advertisements.
That’s where you come in… The small business, the stay at home mom or dad running a sole proprietorship, the website looking for new juice on the web. Facebook is teeming with customers and it’s easier than ever to market directly to them. (more…)
Posted on 6th July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |web design
business cards, consultants, phone service, website design
Color coordination and matching styles should not be limited to your wardrobe. Your printed materials and your website say who you and your business are in the world.
Your business cards, product brochures and other printed materials should be clear, easy to ready and elegant. Your website should follow suit. If you lack in any of these, it’s time to think about a revamp. The first impression you make on potential customers is a lasting one. Don’t make the mistake of having a disjointed branding package. Here are 5 things to pay attention to for your business – large or small:
1. Logo – I cannot stress the importance of a simple logo. It doesn’t need to be a work of art. In fact, it can simply be your company name in a specific font.
2. Letterhead – Do you send out coorespondence? Invoices? Estimates? Get them looking professional and identical. You’ll save time in the long run creating new invoices or modifying them when they all have the same style.
3. Advertisments – your Yellowbook ad (www.yellowbook.com) and Facebook ads should all help identify your company. You want them to remember your company name don’t you?
4. Website – It goes without saying that all your printed materials should accesorize the website, and vice-versa.
5. Phone and Voice – An non-understandable or out-of-date answering message can drive potential customers right out the door. Make it clear, understandable and matching your company statements. If your business cards says “home of the best chilidog in town” then so should your answerng service.
For more tips and in-depth analysis of your current marketing collateral, call us for a consultation or check back frequently for more useful tips and reminders.
Posted on 3rd July 2009 by Jose Bono in Business Tips |web design
static website
As with most businesses, one cannot afford to be stale and stagnant. Variety and freshness is not limited to the fruits and vegetable isle at Vons (http://www.vons.com). Produce need to be fresh to retain attention, and so does your website.
A static website by definition is a web presence that serves the same pages, the same content day in and day out. Quite simply put: static website = no new prospects. There are a few ways to make your web presence a dynamic one. Here are a couple examples:
- Add Google Adsense to your website: although not necessarily your own content, it can keep the content fresh and earn you some revenue.
- Include an RSS Google News Feed: Now you can leverage Google’s engine to push fresh news articles to your website ( http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxfeeds/ ).
- Images, Images, Images: Why settle for bland images. You can get free images at Stock Xchng ( http://www.sxc.hu/ ) to use on your website for graphic content.
- Write, Write Write: There’s nothing more compelling than content on your website. Writing new product descriptions, editing your About Us page, adding new call-to-actions on your homepage – these are just some of the contextual items you can do that have a significant impact on the stickiness of your website.
- Identity Crisis: Adding a logo to your website can create a sense of stability and professionalism that a line of text just can’t do. If you don’t have acreative department or can’t afford the steep cost of Brand Development, you can call us=) Or, try out a very cool application created by Hewlett Packard ( http://www.hp.com ) called Logo Maker ( http://www.logomaker.com/ ). You can try it for free and play around with ideas all day. Once you have a design you like, you can buy it or just get your ideas together for later development.
Have more ideas to share? Please comment and add your two cents. What are your ideas to spicing up your website?
