Depending on resources and budget, many businesses don’t commit to systematic market research to determine what current and potential customers need, want, and are actually buying.

A good portion of business owners operate on a “if I like it, everyone will buy it” mentality - and that’s just not how to turn profits or grow a business.

Smart business owners will stay on top of what people are looking for, then diversify to meet current demand.

Regardless of your business niche, Local Email Marketing benefits small businesses in multiple ways including your ability to strengthen customer relationships and build Brand loyalty  - both help your business continue growing.

Bonding with customers and creating an open line of communication via Email Marketing allows community consumers to communicate their needs and wants, something that's difficult to accomplish with other marketing efforts.

We’ve got a few proven tips that help to increase website sales.

Let’s see how many you already use!

TIP: Display Trust Icons on the Checkout Webpage

With so many questionable vendors online, it’s more important than ever to build trust with potential buyers with their first visit to your website. On your checkout page, briefly describe your site’s security measures. Include a link to the full Security disclosure.

Display a Certified Trust badge (sometimes referred to as a Seal). Trust badges most often indicate security features are in place to keep credit card information and personal information safe.  When you’ve shopped online you’ve seen icons for SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) which indicates encryption of certain information sent over the web.

More and more people are making use of mobile personal assistants (voice technology) such as Bixby, Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, etc.

Voice Search is becoming more prevalent because a voice query is much faster than typing words, and the results are returned rapidly.

Businesses need to focus on Voice Search to make sure they’re not left out of search results.

If you do business on a local level - Local Marketing can become a top sales generating tool for you.

Smart Local Marketing can:

• Increase in-store customers with long-term loyalty.
• Boost visitors to your website.
• Heighten awareness of your Brand.
• Improve SEO efforts resulting in higher search engine rankings.
• Deepen community connections.

One challenge for small businesses is being found online. Another challenge is developing marketing strategies to acquire new customers and retain existing customers.

How much time do you spend working your online marketing strategy?

Is it working for you? Or is it hit-and-miss because you find it takes so much time bouncing between different tools and platforms? Do you feel you’re making as much progress as you’d like?

Let’s look at several online tools your business should be using, how easy these tools are to use, and how to access all of these tools from one place.

When prospective clients and customers browse LinkedIn for people they want to do business with, the first section they look at is your Profile.

Is yours fully optimized?

If you’re not sure what “fully optimized” means in relation to your LinkedIn Profile, here are a few tips you can do to bring more attention to your Business and your Profile.

You want your website to rank well in Google. But how can you improve yours Google Ranking? From Keyword Research and Page Optimization to Paid Search Ads and Social Media. Check these five ways to improve your website and improve your Google Ranking.

A little bit of planning goes a long way when it comes to marketing your business or organization online. But we know it can be tough to find time to look ahead when you’re busy dealing with your day-to-day.

Let us make your 2020 planning a little easier with our free 2020 online marketing calendar!

Our printable PDF calendar includes all the major holidays you should be thinking about when planning your marketing campaigns. You’ll find the big ones in there for sure, but you’ll also see some days you might not have thought about, like Book Lovers Day, National Hot Dog Day, and National Mom & Pop Business Owners Day.

Looking to Work Smarter, Not Harder?

The benefits of well timed and professional looking Email Marketing Campaigns have plenty of data to back-up their success rate. Here are just a few:

• Email is almost 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined in helping your business acquire new customers.  (McKinsey)

• 91 percent of US adults like to receive promotional Emails from companies they do business with.   (MarketingSherpa)

• 44% of people check their email for a deal from a company they know, while only 4% will go to Social Media.  (GlobalWebIndex)