In honor of the new year, we offer 12 business tips for 2012! Here are some ideas/tips to keep in mind if you have a small business or a website:
- Keep your passwords secure! Okay this one isn’t really a business tip, but I’ve seen too many people get their websites and/or email accounts hacked. Be sure to change your passwords regularly and use complex passwords: best practice is over 8 characters, a combination of upper AND lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. If you have a password of 6 characters, with just letters, it can be cracked in less than 5 seconds! Conversely, if you have a complex password of 8 characters, it would take over 2 years! Check this out: http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/how-quickly-can-your-password-be-cracked
- Keep your website fresh. Search engines like Google and Bing reward websites with fresh/new content. Be sure to add something new regularly. All the websites I develop offer easy-to-update administrative functionality that allow YOU to edit your website quickly and easily.
- Market your website offline for free. Don’t forget that word-of-mouth advertising is some of the post powerful marketing there is! Be sure to simply talk your site up in the “real world.”
- Market your business and website offline. Marketing OUTSIDE of the web can sometimes bring more traffic to your site than online marketing. If you want to get “official”, you can do direct mail marketing. I highly recommend Expresscopy.com for your direct mail needs: Postcard Printing. 20% Off Your Direct Mail Campaign.
- Market your website online. If you haven’t tapped online marketing channels like Google Adwords, you might want to try! It can drive VERY targeted traffic to your website when you want.
- Start a blog. Blogs are a great way to keep your website fresh. They are also great to let your customers know more about you and strengthen your relationship.
- Email your customers. Again, keep that relationship strong with simple emails to your customers. If you want to get fancy, you can do true email marketing, we do it! Mailchimp is great (and free): www.mailchimp.com. We can also help you design that campaign if you want to get serious about this.
- Leverage your logo. Do you have a great logo? Why not create some reminder items! CafePress and/or Zazzle can create tons of promotional items with your logo/imagery on it! Think mugs, tshirts, plates, keychains, etc.
- Go Social Simply. Have you mentioned your website on your personal Facebook and/or Twitter profiles? Why not?! Do it today and you’ll be surprised how much traffic this can bring.
- Do REAL Social Media Marketing. If you want get serious, we can help create destinations (pages) for you on Facebook and Twitter. People can “like” your business and/or this lets you build 1-to-1 relationships with your customers. Again, that word-of-mouth advertising can be leveraged online too!
- ABC – Always Be Closing. Sometimes people forget that the point of a business is usually to MAKE SALES. Make sure your website and/or marketing tactics ask for something (hopefully a sale). Keep that call-to-action strong!
- Put your Customer First. One of the first rules of good marketing to keep your customer at the center of everything you do. So, no matter which of the tips above you employ, be sure to think about it from the customer point of view. How will THEY be seeing your site, your email, your communication. Why would THEY want to act upon your offer? Always put them first.
As always, if you need any help with your online strategy, web design needs, or even help/advice regarding the tips above, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
dan@dangandor.com
847-752-6228
www.DanGandor.com
Happy New Year,
Dan