1.    Make your emails interesting and valuable
2.    Offer a discount or special for subscribing
3.    Advertise your email list with a call to action on your website and Facebook page
4.    Use a QR code on print materials to allow people to scan to sign up
5.    Collect email addresses at an event or conference
6.    Encourage your current subscribers to share with their friends and family (You can even throw in a free gift or discount for those who do)
7.    Promote it on business cards
8.    Include the link on comment cards
9.    Do a contest or giveaway that requires an email address to enter (but be sure to include a disclaimer that they are opting in to email updates from your company)

One of the best marketing strategies to implement is email marketing. You can reach your customers directly with news, specials and deals, and other important information related to your business. If implemented correctly, an email marketing campaign can increase your business and sales, and help to engage your customers. The key is to know how and when to communicate with your customers so that your email marketing efforts are not wasted. If you have yet to launch an email marketing campaign, or even if you are in the middle of one, these simple steps can help you to get off on the right foot.

Define your objectives

• Set expectations for your email marketing so that you have a clearly defined goal.
• Create a calendar with upcoming promotions, events, and other information that you want to send out so that you keep it organized and spread out.

Create and organize your email lists

• Announce that you will be sending email updates to get contacts to sign up for your list voluntarily.
• Segment your lists to target certain markets differently.

Create interesting emails to send

• Send interesting and compelling content to catch their attention and get them to read the email.
• Use an attractive email design that includes both images and html text so that all users can see the content if they cannot view the images.

Follow best practices

• The subject line should be short and sweet. You want to get the point of the email across while making it enticing to open. Include a call to action if you can.
• Your from name and email address should be your business name and professional email address so that they know it is coming from a trusted source. You should also keep this consistent across all emails so that your customers begin to recognize your emails.
• Try to keep the most important information at the top of the email so readers see that first. Include a call to action so they have something to do at the end of the email.
• Include links to your website and social media accounts.
• Use plain text in your email.
• Keep your email short so that there is not too much information to digest in one email.

Timing

• Try out different times of the day and week to determine which is most optimal response for your business.

Measure your results

• Use your email statistics to track how often your email are opened and read.

If you follow these simple steps, your email marketing campaign will do great things for your business.

Do you have business cards for your business? Do they match your brand? Is your logo on it? Does it list your contact information, location, and website address?

These are all important things to think about when creating your business card. There is more than meets the eye when it comes to your business cards. This is your branded material that you hand to people to remember your business and contact you in the future. If it is poorly designed and laid out, then they can easily get overlooked and lost in the shuffle. You want your business card to represent your business and stand out in the crowd at the same time.

Your business card should match your overall branding. You want to include your logo and brand colors so that your cards are consistent with your website and other branded materials. If your brand is consistent, it becomes recognizable.

Your business card should be pretty to look at. You want it to be eye catching and appealing to people so that they remember it and know what to look for when they are trying to find your card in the pile of cards they may have. Your card will stand out in the stack and people will be more drawn to it.

Your business card should have all of your contact information. The point of your business card is so that people know how to find or contact you in the future. What good would it do if there weren’t enough contact information for them to easily get in touch with you? Make sure you include your company’s name, your name, title, phone number, fax number, email address, physical address, and website address if they apply. This way people can contact you in whichever way they find most convenient.

If you think your business card doesn’t stand up to the test, we can help. A business card redesign may be in your future.

Here are some simple steps you can follow to write awesome website content for your site.

1.    Write for your audience

It is important to determine who your audience and target market is before sitting down to write the content for your website. You need to know whom are you trying to reach and how you think it is best to reach them.

2.    Write useful and interesting content

You don’t want to bore your potential customers or clients with dull content on your website. It is important to make sure your content is pertinent and useful for what your website visitors will be looking for, but it is also important to make it interesting to read. Website content is like any other advertising message – you don’t have very long to catch the readers’ attention. You want them to be able to get what they need from the content while keeping them entertained by what you are saying.  You are selling your business through your words, so choose them wisely. Ask yourself if you would want to read what you wrote and put yourself in the clients shoes.

3.    Short and sweet

The first paragraph of any article is critical. You will either catch your reader’s attention or you won’t. In general, people comprehend and remember shorter messages that include bullet points and main headings for sections. Keep this in mind when writing your content and break it up in to sections if possible. Make sure you can deliver your information without dragging it out.

4.    Use SEO

Search Engine Optimization is important to remember when writing the content for your website. You don’t have to put hours of research into it to make your site more SEO friendly. Make a list of a few keywords you would like to rank for in search engines and include those in your text. Your keywords should be words that people actually search for so that your site will show up in search results. You also want to include links in your content to other pages on your site using keywords as your link text. This serves two purposes: it is good SEO, and it is more user friendly. We can help you develop your SEO plan further for your site, but it is important to include basic SEO principles when writing your content yourself.

5.    Structure and flow

You want to have a focus for your content and an overall flow to the text between pages. Make sure that your message remains clear throughout your site. What are you trying to accomplish with your website content? Do you want your visitors to act on something? Are you trying to inform them about a certain product, service, or event? You need an overall marketing message that you can carry throughout your site to keep your content organized and well thought out.

Google is a king among search engine optimization.  As far as SEO goes, the power that Google holds is great.  That is why the regular changes and updates to the Google Algorithm’s can be frustrating and sometimes a stumbling block in many SEO strategies.  In a recent announcement, Google shared 40 search algorithm changes made in February 2012. 

Among the many changes and updates shared, the underlying motion behind each is targeted towards refreshing data in the Panda system currently used by Google for searches.  The goal with this is to make Panda more accurate and more sensitive to online activity. 

Some of the changes are geared towards increased related-search results, data refresh for related searches in succession, and expanded image indexing.  What do these mean for you?

•    More search results to be listed per search
•    Smarter adjustments to searches with related terms that are searched back-to-back
•    A focus on more images (keep this one in mind for new updates to your own SEO marketing campaigns and strategies!)

In a recent edition of website magazine more details and coverage on these algorithm updates is shared here.

With all of the regular updates and changes that occur month-to-month and year-to-year in the SEO game, we understand how confusing and difficult it may be to stay abreast the most recent round of changes.  Part of our job in better serving you is to make sure we stay up-to-date with these things—because you cannot be expected to!  We have dedicated professionals who study and research SEO and Google algorithm updates so you don’t have to---just contact us today to see how we can help you get a handle on your SEO strategy.