Archives for August 2011

When A Plano Business Executive or Owner Needs Internet Marketing

If you own or manage a business in Plano Texas, or the nearby communities of McKinney, Allen, Frisco, Richardson, or Carrollton then there are several ways you can use intelligent internet marketing and other online marketing techniques to help your business.  While most internet marketing firms will focus on using internet marketing for lead generation, there are several other benefits.

These benefits include:

• Helping your retail location get more customers by having clear driving directions

• Asking your current customers to leave positive reviews on various local web properties including Google Places, Yahoo Local, Yelp, Merchant Circle and more

• Split testing your website (e.g. A/B split testing) to improve conversion rates

• Surveying your current and previous customers to improve your value and build goodwill

• New revenue models by offering upsells to your own products and services, or recommending third-party products and services which you endorse to your current clients/customers as well as first-time website visitors

• Online reputation monitoring and refuting negative reviews

• Staying on top of industry trends and breaking news

• Increasing prospective customer, and current customer, contact lists to increase your business’ valuation

• Allowing your employees a creative outlet to promote the company by respectful and value-added use of social media properties

• Competition research

• Reducing current marketing costs including online and television, radio, print, and live event

• Marketing your open-to-the-public live events better and giving attendees a reason to become “fans” of your business

• Marketing to your strengths such as your voice (podcasts and online radio), camera presence and charisma (typical video marketing), creativity (entertaining videos and unique social media strategy), writing (article marketing and blogging), etc.

This is just a short list of the benefits which any internet marketing firm serving Plano, McKinney, Allen, Frisco, and other North Dallas businesses should emphasize.  While it is always terrific to rank # 1 in the search engines for a particular keyword phrase (e.g. “Plano pizza restaurant”), online marketing can offer any local business owner so much more.

The “take away” from this blog post is to ask any person who offers some form of Plano internet marketing (SEO, pay-per-click, video creation, video optimization, etc.) to talk with you about YOUR specific challenges.  If the person cannot customize something to your specific situation then consider moving onto the next professional.  Before you hire anybody, or do the actions yourself, be VERY CLEAR on the reasons why you are pursuing a specific internet marketing strategy.

Please refrain from getting caught up in a particular strategy specific to a specific website.  Even though “advanced Facebook marketing” may sound appealing, if you do not know what you are doing – and do not have the time nor inclination to play the rules of helpful social media etiquette – then stay away from such a strategy even if your best friend is doing well with it.  Remember that all of this, no matter how dynamic and unique, should be designed to address your specific short-term situation as well as giving you a platform to expand into the mid-term.

Feel free to contact me with your questions about your specific situation.  You also are welcome to look at the FAQ for common questions which I, and other internet marketing professionals, tend to get on a consistent basis.

Thank you, and I hope that this blog post will help you get a better understanding of how to view internet and online marketing for any business in Plano and the nearby communities.