Online Marketing Tucson

  • Hyperlocal Marketing and Its Benefits to Your Business

    Hyperlocal MarketingMarketing your business locally is clearly important to your bottom line. Hyperlocal marketing addresses just that. By definition it is focused marketing that targets a community within a local geographic area with the hopes of creating repeat business.

     

    To be successful with this type of marketing it is important to first develop a plan by getting to know your target audience, finding more than one marketing channel that works, and then you can rinse and repeat.

     

    So let’s talk about five hyperlocal options to market your business:

     

    Newspaper/Magazine Advertising

    Not only can you advertise in your local publication; you can also use your local paper to participate with your community.

     

    Event announcements, promotions, or anything special in the paper related to your target market can provide you with a way to initiate communications by simply dropping them a note of congratulations.

     

    Event Sponsoring

    Whether it’s a charity or a business event, step up and sponsor something. You can do this via the chamber of commerce or a charity, and you won’t regret it. Whether it’s hosting the entire event or buying up one table for your business associates, your name will get out there.

     

    Sponsoring speakers who are not competitors but are in a complimentary business can also be a way for you to have an opportunity to address a live audience of potential clients. I have personally found this a successful model.

     

    Local Networking Groups

    Check Meetup.com for local networking groups that consist of your target audience, or local businesses who service your target audience. Then participate fully so that you become a known expert in your niche. Be a presenter. You could even start your own group.

     

    Check out my post on networking.

     

    Personal Networking

    Never underestimate the power of personal networking. Call on your friends, family, and community to promote your business every chance you can. Definitely practice gratitude in return, by doing a great job for the clients they recommend, maybe offering a restaurant gift card or just a heartfelt thank you. And if they have a business, maybe you can return the favor.

     

    The Follow-Up

    This is something, believe it or not, that many small business owners do very poorly. I see it all the time. They meet people at events, or get a phone call from a contact, and then do not follow up. This is a big mistake. Follow up no matter what. Even if someone turns out not to be a fit for your business, you might be able to connect them with someone else, and they won’t forget you.

     

    Check out my post about following up. 

     

    hyperlocal marketingAnother thing to consider is someone else’s rolodex could be an opportunity for you to meet someone that you may not have been able to. You know that seven degrees of separation. If your community is smaller that could be even less.

     

    By putting these hyperlocal marketing resources into practice you’ll increase your business, improve your reputation, and develop a local following that will be loyal and profitable. Believe me I have personally seen this work for my own business as well as others.

     

    Using these local methods in conjunction with blogs, websites, social media and more will keep your business at the top of people’s minds in your local community.

     

    Remember that with any of these methods it’s important to repeat each technique more than once. No marketing works in a one-off manner. All marketing needs to be done multiple times to be effective. It must be repeated, tested, and done again. Always keep testing your methods, do more of what is working, and less of what doesn’t work and stay consistent.

     

    Hyperlocal marketing benefits not only your own business but also your community. By keeping dollars local and business local, tax dollars stay in your area. Not only that – building a local community interested in what you offer just feels great because you’re contributing to the local economy in terms of jobs, taxes, and more.

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  • How Group Learning Events Can Add to Your Bottom Line

    webinars
    Do you ever wonder why some businesses host so many webinars, seminars and online workshops? The reason may surprise you. The truth is that these group learning events can generate big profits. Let’s take a look at what live learning events are and how they can help you increase your bottom line.

     

    Group Learning Events

     

    Group learning events are just that – they’re events that are usually held online and they’re designed to teach a subject to a group of people. Webinars, organized social chats, and Yahoo group conferences are just a few examples of group learning events. People organize at a specific time to learn about and discuss a topic.

     

    Why Are These Events so Profitable?

     

    There are many reasons why group learning events are profitable. Let’s remember first that a group of people has signed up for or joined a learning event because they’re interested in the information. They’re pre-qualified prospects. It’s significantly easier to sell to a pre-qualified prospect than it is to a cold one.

     

    Dynamic

     

    When you’re teaching a large group, there’s a connection to your audience that is much different than what they’d receive by simply visiting your website. You’re talking to them. You may be interacting and answering questions as well. There’s a different dynamic. Assuming the prospect already likes you and you have established credibility, then they’re much more likely to take the next step – your call to action – at the end of the event.

     

    Speaking of Credibility…

     

    Group learning events put you in the position of teacher. In general, we give a certain degree of authority and credibility to our teachers. We believe what they tell us, for the most part, and we respect their knowledge. Credibility, authority, and liking are all buying triggers. We buy from people we like; people who we believe are credible sources of information, and people we believe to be experts or authorities on their subject.

    online events
    The Next Step Is Easy

     

    Most group learning events are set up so that they deliver only a portion of the information. To gain the full value, an attendee needs to take the next step. For example, if you attend an online seminar about how to use Twitter to market your romance novel, you’ll probably be willing or interested in buying a book or course on how to market your romance novel. Assuming the teacher delivered valuable information, you’ll be interested in gaining more of it.

     

    Finally, there is some immediacy to a group learning event. The call to action is usually a special deal offered for only those who attended the event, and it’s only available for a limited time. So your prospects feel as if they belong to a special group and there is a time limit on the offer. These two triggers often motivate more sales. But remember this deal has to be exclusive and not one you offer all the time. It could be a deep discount or a product specifically put together for only this specific event.

     

    If you’re seeking a nice boost in profits, consider planning and hosting a live event. This may turn into your most profitable marketing tactic.

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  • A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

    A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
    You’ve heard the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  Now, more than ever images are more important in your marketing plan.

    We live in a visual world. We make decisions based on what we see. Images appeal to our emotions.

    Content may be king, but images are queen.  With networks like Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, images are shared instantly from your smartphone.

    Visual content including photos, videos and graphs, have been proven to grab the attention of your readers and are more likely to be shared than text alone. As a marketer, images can help you build effective and shareable selling campaigns.

    Of course, you don’t want to just throw random images into your marketing mix. You need relevant and professional looking images that engage and help communicate what you are trying to say?

    The 3 basics of creating effective visual content should be:

    • The style and type of image needs to be consistent throughout your all your products. That doesn’t mean all your images have to be photographs or clip art. What I mean is you should be keeping a consistent color and font style.
    • Know your target market. Knowing who your target market is and their preferences will help you determine where and what types of images to use.
    • Think outside the normal. Be creative in your use of images. Go ahead and change images, add text to photos or combine images.

     

    A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

    Where can you use images?

    Full length articles need images to break up big chunks of text. Images can be used in your branding and logo. Use images in your social media channels to make it more interesting.

    Use images online in your website and offline in any advertising or conferences you participate in.

    Images are clearly a major part of buying behavior because they grab attention and evoke emotions in your buyers.

     

     

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  • Blog Marketing for Small Business

    Blog Marketing

    Blog marketing can be quite complicated for anyone that has never even blogged before. If you are considering getting into small business blog marketing, you will want to first have a blog and see what that is like before you get into something more. Blogging requires dedication and patience. You have to update your blog on a regular basis in order to keep your readers happy. Doing so will keep them coming back for more to check out your latest post.

     

    Blogging for your small business consists of writing about your business. It definitely is a great tool that you should use to get your business out there and known by others. However, you will need to be patient because it can be a long process that will require much of your attention. Just because you have a blog does not mean that someone is going to find it and read it. You are going to have to make it known. Nowadays most people combine their blog with their website. If you have them separate make sure that your readers are aware that you have both and refer them to each other.

    Blog marketing is something that anyone can do.

    Having a blog and keeping it up to date with the latest information is not hard. All you need to have is a plan and you will be set to market any type of business from your blog. This plan should definitely include an idea of who your ideal client is. Narrowing this down from the start will save you time and money. There is no use blogging to a market that is not looking for what you have to offer.  Whether you are selling a product or a service, it does not matter. A blog that is marketed the right way will be beneficial to any business whatever it might be.

     

    So you are probably wondering how you are going to accomplish this blog marketing. When you are marketing a blog, you pretty much do it the same way that you would market a website. It is going to need keywords, great titles, eye candy (great photos) and content. Remember when using photos that you need to have the right to use them because it can get your business in trouble if you don’t. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean you can use them. Play it safe and use a reliable source like rtf123 or Fotolia. Be sure to read their licensing to be clear on how you can re-use these pictures in the future. Some companies will allow you to use them on social media for instance while others don’t. These resources are inexpensive and can make your blogs pop.

     

    You can write your own content or have someone write for you.

     

    Keep in mind that you can write the content yourself but if this is not your gift you can pay someone else to write it for you but be sure that your personality shines through by infusing your voice into the content. Also, be sure that the content is relevant to your followers so that they will want to read it. This will keep them coming back. Also, make sure that the content is written using keywords that work for your market because this will be how new readers will find you on Google and other search engines in the future.

     

    Once you have chosen the type of content that you want to be noted for, and gotten some content and photos published on your blog, you will be ready to get it out there some more. Using social media platforms is a great way to share your blog. Choose the platforms that will attract the type of audience that holds your ideal blog follower. An example, is if you’re a Mompreneur who loves blogging about cooking and crafting then you might find great followers on Pinterest and Facebook.

     

    One of the best compliments you can get is to have a comment.

     

    Blog Marketing

    Another important thing to remember when you are blog marketing is that if anyone leaves you a comment, you should acknowledge it and respond as soon as possible. You can also comment on other blogs that are relevant to yours, and leave a link to your blog as well. This will help bring in visitors to your blog, and you will begin to see more and more traffic.

     

    Blog marketing for your small business is not rocket science, however someone that has never marketed a single thing before in their life may have problems. Be sure to visit our resource page for additional information to help your business. Remember be persistent, consistent and don’t give up.

    At Strategize Your Success we help entrepreneurs, small business, coaches and consultants with all their online marketing needs. If we can help you please contact us. We can take the pain out of figuring out how to do things right.

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  • Email Marketing Autoresponder Options

    Email Marketing
    When it comes to email marketing businesses are concerned on whether they should use a single or double opt-in option. Some will say that using a double opt-in makes them lose subscribers – after all, how many people really take the time to click a link to confirm their subscription? That may be a good argument but it’s really a weak one if you think about it.

    Anyone that is interested in receiving the information you’ll be sending is going to take the time to click the confirmation link. It’s pretty normal and standard these days so people are aware they have to confirm if they want to be added to your list.

    There are several reasons you should use the double opt-in function.

    1. Canada’s new Anti-Spam Law. With the recent changes Canada has made and the implementation of their new Anti-Spam Law, double-opt in should be an absolute mandatory part of your email marketing campaign. To learn more about the new law (for Canada), check out this article: What You Need to Know About Canada’s Anti-Spam Law (CASL).
    2. Less chance of being flagged as a spammer. When people are required to confirm their subscription, your emails have less of a chance of being marked as spam.
    3. Better open rates. When people are required to confirm they want to receive your information and are willing to not only sign up for your list, but click that confirmation link, you know they truly want to see your emails. This means you’ll have better open rates.

    These are just three of many reasons you should (or at least consider it) use double opt-ins for your email lists. It truly is the best way to not only protect yourself, but to ensure that only people who really are interested in what you have to say and want to be on your list, end up on your list.

    If you need more proof that double opt-in is the way to go, look at some of these organizations that require people to confirm (double opt-in) when they sign up for their lists:

    • Oprah
    • IRS.gov
    • Microsoft
    • Whitehouse.gov

    And that’s just a few!

    One other thing to keep in mind – yes, some people will sign up and still not click the confirmation link, it happens. But don’t fret. When it comes to email marketing and building your list, you want quality over quantity anyway. If you find that it’s happening often then you might want to put a note on your thank you page (You do have a thank you page you send people to after they sign up right?) telling people that they will receive an email shortly and to be sure they click on the confirmation link in it. Remember, sometimes people just need to be told what to do!

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  • Email Marketing and Your Aweber Stats

    If you’re growing your mailing list and emailing on a regular basis, that’s great. But there’s a little more to email marketing than just growing your list and sending your subscribers some emails that you hope will get them to do something – buy a product, purchase a service you’re offering, attend an event you’re putting on are some examples.

    You need to know some statistics on those emails to figure out what’s working and what’s not. We have a lot of clients who use Aweber but don’t quite understand how to find their stats or how to interpret what they mean once they find them.  So we thought that others may have some of the same questions.

    With Aweber, you can easily see some basic stats about what your subscribers are doing. On the main page once you login to your account you’ll see recently sent broadcasts. This will show you the percentage of opens, clicks, bounces and complaints. While these stats are good, you can get even more specific than that.

    Here is an example of a broadcast. To find your stats click on ‘view stats’.  A new page will pop up that looks like this:

    Aweber

    Now you can see that there were a total of 161 emails sent to this campaign list, there was 1 bounce (email was undeliverable), zero complaints, 3 clicks and 1 unsubscribe.  I purposely skipped mentioning the 41 opens you see on the blue arrow because it’s a bit more complicated than that. Let’s break it down:

    Opens

    The 41 opens (which is a 25.6% open rate for this particular email – not too bad, but definitely could be better) are what is known as unique opens (as shown in the green box above on the graph). Unique opens are when someone views your email in HTML format. (Note: if someone opens your email more than once, Aweber doesn’t keep counting that as an open, they’re counted once.)

    But if you look at the blue box on the graph, it says there were actually 56 total opens. So where do those other 15 opens come from and why don’t they show in unique opens?

    Great question!

    Those other opens are the people that view your email in the plain text format instead of HTML. 

    One neat thing about this stat is you can scroll down the page (you have to click on 41 opens on the left hand side of the box first) and see the names of the people that opened this email. From there you can create a segment based on these people (this is good for if you want to send a follow-up to just those that opened it).  

    Clicks

    In order for Aweber to track how many clicks are made on a link you’ve included in one of your emails, you have to enable this option within Aweber.  For instructions on how to do this, see the article:  How Do I Track Click Throughs on Links in My Messages?

    As you can see from the stats above, there were 3 clicks on a link I included. If you click on that (3 clicks) and scroll down a little ways it will show you what link those 3 people clicked on. 

    Sales

    We do not currently use this portion of Aweber stats. If you would like more information on how it works and how you can set this up, see How Do I Set Up Sales Tracking?

    Web Hits

    Again, this is another portion of the stats that we don’t use and don’t have set up. You can learn how to do it by visiting How Do I Install Email Web Analytics?

    Unsubscribes

    This statistic is pretty straight forward and doesn’t need much explaining. It simply shows you who unsubscribed from your list via this email message. Keep in mind that unsubscribes are counted in your total subscriber pricing programs with Aweber so getting them off your account usually makes sense so you can make room for people who want to hear from you.

    As you can see, Aweber statistics can show you a lot about your subscribers and what they’re doing. This is helpful information for you to know and can help you figure out which email strategies are getting you better responses than others.

    We hope you found this information helpful. If you’re thinking about working on growing your email list and strategies we recommend checking out our “15 Day Email Challenge” which is currently on sale.

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  • 4 Tips to Help Make Sure Your Emails Don’t Get Sent to Spam

    4 Tips to Help Make Sure Your Emails Don’t Get Sent to SpamYou work hard to get people to opt-in to your mailing list.  Once you get them on your list the last thing you want is your emails to end up in the dreaded spam folder. Here are some tips to help make sure your emails get to where they need to be – in their inbox.

    1. Do not buy lists! Sure, we all want huge amounts of subscribers but it’s not worth your reputation to pay for those subscribers for a few different reasons. One, it’s not a targeted list of people. Out of say 1,000 people maybe a handful of them will actually be interested in what you have to offer. And two, these lists have the potential to get you blacklisted. How? If people don’t recognize you and mark it as spam or there are a bunch of bad (dead) emails that start bouncing back these are red flags and can quickly classify you as a spammer. When it comes to protecting your reputation and your mailing list, please stay away from lists of names you can purchase!

    2. Pay attention to the from field. When setting up your list(s), it’s important to pay special attention to the from field. You want to use your name or business name so that people will recognize you right away. As mentioned above, if someone doesn’t recognize the from name (and even the email address you use), it’s way too easy for them to mark your email spam.

    3. Clean up your lists regularly. It doesn’t take much, at least not in Aweber – the service I use and highly recommend – to go through and clean up your lists. What do I mean by cleaning up a list? Removing those subscribers that have been inactive for long periods of time or bad email addresses.

    4. Don’t use words that are considered spam. When writing your subject line, it’s imperative that you skip words that look like spam. One of the most obvious words is free (and that includes writing it like this: FREE. In fact, don’t ever use all capital letters period). If at all possible avoid using this word in your emails. But there’s also some other words that can send an email straight to the spam folder:

    • Sales
    • Satisfaction guaranteed
    • Click here
    • Act now
    • Risk free

    4 Tips to Help Make Sure Your Emails Don’t Get Sent to Spam

    These are just a few of the suggested spam words you should skip. Here’s  The Ultimate List of Email SPAM Trigger Words to check out.

    15 Day Email ChallengeNeed help with your email marketing. Check out our latest product. This challenge will take you by the hand and show you how create a winning list of subscribers.
    “The 15 Day Email Challenge”

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  • How Baseball Coaching Compares to Business Coaching

    Baseball
    My husband and I at Chase Field.

    It’s Springtime and that time of year that I actually like to participate in watching some LIVE baseball games at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ. Anyone who knows me well knows that sports are not usually on the top of my preferred list of what I like to do but baseball is a game that I understand.

    Since we transplanted our lives back in 1998 to Tucson from the East Coast we have followed the Arizona Diamond Back team thru their ups and downs. We don’t get to go as often as we like but nowadays when we do go we usually can garner some tickets from my husband’s boss. He has season tickets on the first row behind third base, SCORE!  These seats definitely beat the ones we used to get when my son was a toddler and we sat in the nosebleed section although we always had fun when we went.

    So baseball games got me to thinking about coaches and how baseball coaches have a lot in common with me when I coach a client.

    Baseball
    You see Coaches matter both in business and in baseball. If a business owner works with a great business coach they can excel and grow their bottom line. In baseball, a so-so team can be taken to an unimaginable level based solely on the coach they have. Coaches in baseball like a coach in business serve many roles.

    1. They see the big picture. A catcher or first baseman may see the game only from their limited perspective; the coach sees everything on the field and how all the pieces fit together.
    2. They have the wisdom of experience. The average coach has lived through more games than the average player, and they’ve seen things that some players haven’t. They bring that experience to the team.
    3. They are invested in the outcome, but they are in it for the long haul. Just as kids can’t see past the end of the school year, players sometimes can’t see beyond the end of the season. The coach can put things into perspective.
    4. They inspire. Because they care deeply about the players and the game, they are able to connect with the team in a way outsiders cannot.
    5. They get you in shape. No one WANTS to do stadium steps or run sprints, but the coach knows that these exercises are what’s needed to whip the team into shape.

    Just as you’ve never seen a winning team without a coach, you’d be hard-pressed to find a winning business person without a coach as well. As a coach I get coached by people who are many steps ahead of me.  This broadens my knowledge base which in turn helps me to be a better coach for those that I work with.

    A business coach can perform many of these same roles that a baseball coach does. They can help keep things in perspective, guide you from their experience and wisdom, help you think past the next fiscal quarter, and motivate and inspire you to move forward. They know what needs to be done, and in what order, so they keep you from wasting time and energy on unnecessary tasks.

    The best coaches get personal satisfaction in helping you succeed, so choose wisely. Find a mentor with a history of successes not just in the field you need help with but as a coach as well. You wouldn’t want a baseball coach who was still reliving his glory days as a Major League player and felt in competition with the players on his team; you also don’t want a business coach who feels threatened by your success.

    Ask around for recommendations, the best candidates come from referrals. Also, in today’s world taking a look on Google can help you gather information on someone’s qualifications. Please be sure to share how you have found a great mentor or business coach on this blog page.

    If you’re looking for an online marketing coach please feel free to contact me for a complimentary 30 minute consultation. I’d love to hear about your business.
    https://strategizeyoursuccess.com/coaching-consulting

     

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  • Twitter: Still Going Strong

    Twitter: Still Going StrongThere are a handful of big players in the social networking world. Twitter appears to be one of the sites that continue to grow in popularity. In fact, according to research compiled by Brickfish, as of October 2013 there are 231.7 million active users on Twitter worldwide and 100 million of them log into Twitter daily. So what is Twitter and why is it still growing when many of the other social sites are facing challenges?

     

    What Is Twitter?

     

    Put simply, Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that lets you send and read “tweets.” Tweets are text messages limited to 140 characters. However, within the context of any tweet you can embed links which makes it a powerful marketing tool for anyone with a blog or a website. Being able to link to other URLs means you can share value and information. You can share links from your own site as well as promote your fellow business owners to build relationships with customers, prospects, and associates.

     

    You can also make your tweets sharable by using the hashtag. The hashtag is the symbol # and it identifies the keywords for your tweet or post. Here are a few examples:

     

    * What are your favorite St.Patrick’s Day traditions? LINK #stpatricksday #StPattys

    * 10 tips to help you with your tax return LINK #taxreturn #taxtime #taxes

     

    People can search for your keywords and be led to your Twitter profile where they may follow you and/or share your links with others.

     

    The Power of the Masses

     

    Twitter continues to grow in popularity for a number of reasons. The first is that it is incredibly easy to use. Messages take seconds to write, share, and read. We’re a rushed society with little time to peruse long content. If something can be said and shared in just a few characters, we’re thrilled.

     

    So in addition to Twitter being easy to use, it’s also simple to share messages. One click of a “retweet” button and you’ve spread the wealth. That means, as a business owner, if you’re able to provide a tweet with value and benefit, it stands a good chance of being shared. Each time it is shared by someone, you’re reaching a larger audience. One tweet can quickly be viewed by thousands of people. The website traffic possibilities are astounding.

    Twitter: Still Going Strong

    Finally, the folks over at Twitter are continually striving to add value to the site to make it more user friendly and to provide more features. Their partnership with Vine means that people can now easily make and share six-second videos on Twitter. It’s just one more way Twitter is providing value and allowing people around the world to communicate.

     

    Business owners looking into marketing with social media may want to take a look at the benefits of embracing Twitter. It’s one site that is used by people of all ages and demographics. It continues to grow and provide value.

    If you need help in strategically planning your online marketing please let us know. We are here to help. Visit our https://strategizeyoursuccess.com/coaching-consulting.

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  • How to Make the Most of Your Website or Blog

    Chances are you’re putting a lot of time, energy, and effort into your blog or website. Are you getting the results that you want? Are you achieving your online business goals? If not, you may not be making the most of your website or blog.

    How to Make the Most of Your Website or Blog

    Test, Test, and Test Some More

    The best way to make the most of your website or blog is to test what works and what doesn’t. There are many different things you can test and ways to test. Test headlines, test calls to action and test different content formats. 

    For example, your audience may respond more energetically to video content than they do to print content. Or maybe they prefer reviews over “how to” articles. Testing is the only way to know what your audience is responding to. Once you know, then you can adapt your strategies and tactics. Split testing is often the easiest method to test.

    Analytics

    Analytics are almost a website or blog essential. They tell you who visits your site, how long they stay there and what pages they navigate to. Analytics can also tell you the organic keywords used, or the link used, to find your website. Google Analytics is a free tool that makes it easy to create an account and then literally cut and paste a piece of code into your site’s code. 

    Just cutting and pasting code isn’t enough, though. You need to also review the analytics and base your strategy and decisions on the information. For example, if you find out that the majority of your visitors come from the south then you might create more content, promotions, and offers that appeal to that region. 

    Facilitate Engagement

    How to Make the Most of Your Website or BlogIf you’re not encouraging participation, comments, and interaction then you’re missing out. Create systems and opportunities to connect and allow conversation. Blog commenting is a start. 

    However, the posts need to ask questions and motivate responses. Even more, you want to reply to comments in a thoughtful manner that motivates more comments and feedback. Plug-ins that create forums, chats, and social media participation are another means to facilitate engagement. 

    To make the most of your website or blog, you want to create a stronger connection with your audience and visitors. By testing, using analytics to track the results, and by creating opportunities for conversation, you’re able to take your site to the next level. It strengthens your relationships with your audience and helps increase traffic, opt-ins, as well as conversions and sales. 

    What have you found to be helpful in developing your web presence? Are you blogging? I have found that sharing my blog posts on my social media platforms works well for my business perhaps it might help you if you haven’t tried it.

    Confused on the best ways to approach your online marketing? We offer one-on-one coaching to help you with navigating the sometimes confusing options of online marketing. Contact us today! https://strategizeyoursuccess.com/coaching-consulting

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