First, you must be visible A business that maintains a website is more likely to receive traffic just by simply being there. And according to Google and Nielsen, 73 percent of mobile searches trigger additional action and conversion while 55 percent of purchase-related conversions occur within one hour of an initial mobile search. Make sure your website is mobile friendly. Aside from having a mobile-friendly website, there are a few other things you can do on your own to improve your visibility and online presence. These include improving your search engine rankings, creating great content that people want to link to, and curating content. The higher your website ranks in the search results the better. According to Gravitate Online, a sample of over 8 million clicks shows that over 94 percent of users clicked on a first page result and less than 6 percent actually clicked to the second page and selected a result displayed there. Other places you...

7 Creative Ideas for Using Snapchat to Market Your Business In my last post,  A Beginner’s Guide to Snapchat for Business,  I covered why Snapchat is a great new tool for your business and how to create an account. Now it’s time to start thinking about how you can use Snapchat at your business and what to share with your followers. Snapchat has already gained a lot of attention from larger companies and organizations. And if you’re looking for a new and creative way to connect with your target audience, now is the perfect time to give these fun Snapchat ideas a try. Here are seven unique and creative uses of Snapchat for your business. 1. Coupons The immediacy of Snapchat provides customers with an urgent incentive to shop. Try offering a call-to-action like “15 percent off today only!” or “Screenshot this snap and present it at the register for $5 off.” These enticements encourage your customers to shop while making them feel like they are in the know o...

6 Easy Ways Your Business Can Get Snapchat Followers Growing a following on Snapchat can be difficult, but using your current audiences for promotion makes it easier. While you don’t yet have a following on Snapchat, it’s likely you have a social following elsewhere. By taking advantage of the audiences that you have worked so hard to build on other channels, you’ll have a Snapchat following in no time! In this blog post I’ll provide some easy, actionable tips to promote your Snapchat account and grow a following. 1. Use the network you know the best — your email list! I bet you saw that one coming. Your contacts signed up for your email list because they want to hear from your business.They are likely to connect with you on other social channels, such as Snapchat, because they’re already your most devoted followers. In your next email campaign, make sure your subscribers know you’re on Snapchat. Be sure to include your username, a brief description of w...

How to Use Google ‘Near Me’ Searches to Your Advantage I love potatoes. They are the top food in my diet. I like them baked, fried, scalloped, you name it. But most of all, I like them mashed.  I can’t count the times my boyfriend has asked me what I want for dinner and I’ve simply responded, “mashed potatoes.” Sure, they’re not a full meal, but the stomach wants what it wants. “Where do you want them from?” he asks.  And that’s when it happens. My most common Google search: “Mashed potatoes near me.” Your customers, both current and potential, are using Google every day to find delicious food and other services near them To be fair, most people probably aren’t searching for mashed potatoes in the way I am. However, many people use Google to find “comfort food near me,” “family restaurant near me,” or even simply “food near me.” In fact, Google Trends shows that interest in the term “food near me” has been on a steady rise over the past five years....

How To Grow Your Google Reviews There are three methods to grow your Google reviews: Method 1: The Verbal Ask Way back when, I used to ask clients to search for my business and leave a Google review. Although they had good intentions, there was barely any follow-through because there were too many steps involved. In essence, verbally asking for a Google review is not effective.  Method 2: The Direct Link Google My Business offers a way to find your business’s  PlaceID , which can be added to a pre-set URL to create a direct review link. (Are you confused yet?)  For instance, the PlaceID for my  digital marketing agency , BJC Branding, is  ChIJo8FcdTVj44kRga5RffGZmoE . If I add our PlaceID to the preset URL, I now have a direct link to my Google My Business reviews page: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid= ChIJo8FcdTVj44kRga5RffGZmoE.  There are two drawbacks to this method: The URL is very long and overwhelm...

25 Things That Make You Look Dumb on Pinterest Pinterest is one of the hottest new social media networks for small businesses and nonprofits. This highly visual platform has 150 million active users that conduct 2 billion searches every month. Pinterest users also buy more of the items they encounter in pins than items on Facebook, and spend 70 percent more money when they arrive at your website from Pinterest versus non-social referrals. But how can you successfully use this channel for your small business or nonprofit without looking dumb? Whether you’ve been too busy to figure out what Pinterest is all about or have fully embraced the social network, there are things you don’t want to do on Pinterest as you get started or more involved. To help you begin pinning your way to success, we’ve assembled a list of 25 mistakes to avoid: 1. Not including your business information.  The first step in getting started on the right foot on Pinterest is to...

The Top 10 Questions Small Businesses Have About Pinterest This week, we hosted our first ever Pinterest for small business webinar. It was a huge success and over 1,000 people signed up to learn more about a social network that’s already driving big results for businesses—big and small. One of the best parts about the event was the conversation it sparked. With plenty of questions coming in before, during, and even after the event, we were given a snapshot of the hottest Pinterest questions facing small businesses today. Here are the answers to 10 of these questions that will hopefully help  your  business get better results on Pinterest. 1. “What are the biggest differences between marketing on Pinterest and marketing on sites like Facebook or Twitter?” The first thing you need to understand about Pinterest is that it’s not an entirely different world of social media marketing. Pinterest uses a language that most social media users already know. Often,...