Archive for December 2011
New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business
December 28, 2011 | Author Michael Cornett
No, we’re not talking about losing weight or quitting smoking, we’re talking about New Year’s resolutions for your small business. Have you thought about it? Maybe you want to increase sales by 5%, cut your overhead by 3%, or finally start you social media campaign. We are going to look at a few New Year’s resolutions that may help you decide the best, achievable goal for your small business.
1) Form an LLC or corporation-If you are operating as a small business, but don’t do so under the protection of an LLC or corporation, now is the time to protect your assets. Forming an LLC is less expensive than you probably think and should something ever happen in the future, will be well worth the time and money.
2) Update your website-Investing time into creating a great Facebook or Google Adwords campaign isn’t going to help tremendously if customers are funneled to an out-of-date, boring website. Update your website to make it more engaging, exciting, and ensure that it is converting those potential customers into actual paying customers.
3) Start your social media campaign-Once your website is ready to go, make a resolution to block out time for social media. When 1 out of every 8 minutes online is spent on Facebook, it would be outlandish to pass on engaging those potential customers through social media. Start out with one or two social media sites, as delving into all of them at once may make your head spin!
4) Try real world social networking-While social media sites may have all the hype, good ol’fashioned social networking is still worth the time. Visit your local ADP, business networks, Kiwanis club, or just stop in to other local businesses and introduce yourself! You may be surprised to find how much connections to other small business owners can help your business.
5) Optimize for mobile and local search-53% of mobile searches on Bing have local intent according to Microsoft. By 2015, more U.S. internet users will access the internet via mobile devices than computers. If your small business is not visible on local search (ex: plumber Hattiesburg, MS) and accessible on a mobile phone, your small business may suffer.
Staying true to all 5 of these New Year’s resolutions may be tough, so pick a one or two that you think could truly benefit your small business. What resolutions have you already planned for your small business in 2012? Does one of these resolutions ‘hit the nail on the head?’
At Shine Online Marketing we work with small businesses to develop internet marketing strategies that help your business Shine! If you would like to receive a free quote, email us at info@shineonlinemarketing.com, or call us at 601-336-3001. Also be sure to visit our site at shineonlinemarketing.com and subscribe to our RSS feed for all the latest updates.
Shine Online Marketing | 72 N OF FLDS, Hattiesburg, MS 39402 | 601-336-3001 | info@shineonlinemarketing.com
Posted in Facebook for Small Business, Internet Advertising Hattiesburg, Internet Marketing Hattiesburg, Local SEO Mississippi, Mobile Marketing Hattiesburg, SEO Hattiesburg, Social Media Marketing Hattiesburg, Web Design Hattiesburg, Web Development Hattiesburg | 
Tags: Internet Marketing Hattiesburg MS, Marketing Hattiesburg MS, Search Engine Optimization Hattiesburg, SEO Hattiesburg, social media marketing hattiesburg ms, Web Design Hattiesburg MS, Web Development Hattiesburg | 
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The Future of Online Shopping
December 19, 2011 | Author Michael Cornett
What will the retail shopping world look like in 25 years? Will we have brick and mortar businesses or will most retail shopping occur online? Today we are going to speculate about the possibilities of a mostly virtual retail shopping world. What would it look like? Why would an all virtual retail shopping experience fail?
Online Shopping is Growing
Cyber Monday sales increased 33% from 2010 to 2011 according to Smarter Commerce, IBM’s online retail study. While 2011 Black Friday spending was still significantly more than Cyber Monday, the percent of growth for Cyber Monday grew more than Black Friday when compared to 2010. Does this show a trend in online shopping growing to become larger than in-store shopping?
What would an online shopping world look like?
Well, it would probably look similar to how it does currently, but with more features. I still feel like there are a lot of people who like to try on clothes, feel the quality of an item, or hear the quality of those speakers. To overcome these types of obstacles, online retailers would need to encourage more reviews of their products, have software that gives shoppers the ability to upload photos of themselves and try on virtual clothes, and create other types of software that gives users more of a hands-on shopping experience.
Customer-Retailer Interaction
What about good old fashioned person to person interaction? Some shoppers like to ask questions of the retailer before they buy a product. There is always that great salesperson that knows just what grandma would love for Christmas. Could social media be the answer to customer-retailer interaction? We are already seeing social media become a massive platform for business to customer relations. Websites like Facebook give customers the ability to have a near real-time exchange with savvy businesses that monitor and respond to customer questions, thoughts, and opinions.
What do you think?
Would you miss shopping in brick-and-mortar stores? Do you prefer the excitement of shopping at midnight on Thanksgiving Day? Are you happy sitting in your pajamas purchasing all your Christmas gifts?
At Shine Online Marketing we work with small businesses to develop internet marketing strategies that help your business Shine! If you would like to receive a free quote, email us at info@shineonlinemarketing.com, or call us at 601-336-3001. Also be sure to visit our site at shineonlinemarketing.com and subscribe to our RSS feed for all the latest updates.
Shine Online Marketing | 72 N OF FLDS, Hattiesburg, MS 39402 | 601-336-3001 | info@shineonlinemarketing.com
Posted in Internet Advertising Hattiesburg, Internet Marketing Hattiesburg, Local SEO Mississippi, SEO Hattiesburg, Social Media Marketing Hattiesburg, Web Design Hattiesburg, Web Development Hattiesburg | Tags: Internet Marketing Hattiesburg MS, Mississippi, Online Shopping, Search Engine Optimization Hattiesburg, SEO Hattiesburg, social media marketing hattiesburg ms, Web Design Hattiesburg MS, Web Development Hattiesburg | Comments Closed
10 Free Citations for Local SEO
December 12, 2011 | Author Michael Cornett
Just how many people using search engines are looking to buy in an offline store? 43% according to comScore Networks. In a previous post, we talked about the importance of local seo. Building citations is one of the most important factors in local search optimization. Today I am going to present a list of 10 free citations for local seo that every small business should have.
2) Bing Local
3) Super Pages
4) Yelp
6) Yahoo
7) Yellow Bot
8) Citysearch
9) YellowBook
10) Mapquest
While it may take some time to visit each of these sites to input your information, the local seo benefits will be well worth the time. If you are already listed in these sites, be sure that your information including your address, phone number, and website are all listed correctly. Also, claim your listing if you have not done so.
At Shine Online Marketing we work with small businesses to develop internet marketing strategies that help your business Shine! If you would like to receive a free quote, email us at info@shineonlinemarketing.com, or call us at 601-336-3001. Also be sure to visit our site at shineonlinemarketing.com and subscribe to our RSS feed for all the latest updates.
Shine Online Marketing | 72 N OF FLDS, Hattiesburg, MS 39402 | 601-336-3001 | info@shineonlinemarketing.com
3 Ways to Improve Your Google Adwords Campaign
December 5, 2011 | Author Michael Cornett
If your small business is advertising online, there is no denying that you should be using Google Adwords as part of your online marketing efforts. Google Adwords has been a proven leader for many years and can really boost your online traffic. Today we are going to look into 3 ways to increase the productivity of your Google Adwords campaign.
1) Target Mobile and Tablet devices- Google has announced that search queries from U.S. mobile devices have increased by four times this year. The number of smart phones, Ipads, and other mobile devices continues to grow at exponential rates, so use this to your advantage.
When in your Adwords campaign, under networks and devices, you can choose to display on desktop and laptop computers, mobile devices with full browsers, and tablets with full browsers. Select all to display your Adwords advertisements on all of the devices, or you can choose which devices you would like your ads to display on.
2) Enable +1-This month Google started allowing the +1 capability for Display Network ads. If users find your ad helpful, they can +1 your ad, which other potential users will be able to see. If this sounds familiar, that is because it’s very similar to Facebook “likes” via their PPC ads.
Aside from having a “recommendation” for your ad, the +1 on your add will likely attract more attention to your add via the color differentiation. It sounds small, but even the smallest advantage over your competition may provide large dividends.
3) Use Keywords and Special Offers-Using keywords in your ads will make those keywords show up in bold and increase your ads relevance. You can also use dynamic keyword insertion, which will allow your ad to automatically insert the keyword in bold that triggered the ad in the first place.
Adding special offers such as “free shipping” can significantly increase the ROI of your Adwords campaign. Special offers will help set you apart from your competitors and give users an extra reason to click your ads.
Are you currently using some of these methods in your Adwords campaign? What other advice do you have to improve Adwords campaigns?
At Shine Online Marketing we work with small businesses to develop internet marketing strategies that help your business Shine! If you would like to receive a free quote, email us at info@shineonlinemarketing.com, or call us at 601-336-3001. Also be sure to visit our site at shineonlinemarketing.com and subscribe to our RSS feed.
Shine Online Marketing | 72 N OF FLDS, Hattiesburg, MS 39402 | 601-336-3001 | info@shineonlinemarketing.com
Posted in Google AdWords, Internet Advertising Hattiesburg, Internet Marketing Hattiesburg, Local SEO Mississippi, Mobile Marketing Hattiesburg, Search Engine Marketing Hattiesburg, Web Design Hattiesburg, Web Development Hattiesburg | Tags: Internet Advertising Hattiesburg, Internet Marketing Hattiesburg MS, Search Engine Marketing Hattiesburg, Search Engine Optimization Hattiesburg, social media marketing hattiesburg ms, Web Design Hattiesburg MS, Web Development Hattiesburg | Comments Closed
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