Learn why exchanging links with like web sites will help to gernerate action for your site.

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After providing your client with new customers and growing their business it will become time to position them as the local expert in their industry. This will solidify their marketing efforts and take their exposure to the next level. The key is to use the media to promote the business and their products or services. This can be done with radio, magazines, newspapers and local television. The best part is that it won’t cost any money. Let’s take a look at some of the ways your client can take advantage of media opportunities.

The first place to get local recognition is on the radio. There are hundreds of radio talk shows that need guests to fill their time slots. Just check your local am dial for daytime shows and contact the station manager. More times than not, they need to book some guests. Give them an overview of your expert and send them a quick bio. Since these talk radio shows don’t fill up fast, you can usually get a spot in as little as one week. Most of these shows are also archived on the stations website, so you get an instant podcast as well. Once you have referred a couple of guests, the producer will be calling you often for more recommendations.

Next, look at local newspapers and magazines that feature local experts. Many medium to large cities have several different publications that could use some great local content. The key is getting in contact with the right person at the publication. A lot of times, there will be a charity event that is put on by the magazine. This is a great opportunity to get in front of the key personnel. Since it is a charity event, it is pretty easy to get tickets to the event. Just remember to not be pushy and offer your clients as information sources and experts. Some of these publications will also accept articles from freelance writers. If you have a writer that you use on a regular basis, you can have them craft a piece for a local publication. This also gives a chance for syndication, which will give your client even more exposure.

Finally, local television is the best place to get media for your client. Out of all the traditional media sources, television can be the most difficult to break into. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. A lot of local television personalities have blogs on their station websites. Your client can interact on the blog, offering their expertise on relevant stories. If a reporter likes the feedback, they may contact your client for more information or a future story. Another place to look for reporters is on the website http://helpareporter.com/. This site is designed to connect reports and sources, which can be a great way to get free PR.

Becoming a local expert in the media is a great way for your clients to increase their exposure and gain new customers. Look at local media sources such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Getting your client in front of the right person can gain them a lot of great local PR. Remember that your clients are a great source of information and you can leverage it for their benefit.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to my reports at  http://www.tomsheaonline.com

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From The Desk Of Tom Shea 

Putting up a company would of course require a lot of things, to get straight to the point, you need a capital. To make money requires money as well. But of course, with the versatility the internet offers, there are many ways you could find that could help optimize the potential of your site or business in generating traffic.

While there are ways to jumpstart your traffic flows, many sites don’t have the resources that others have to generate more traffic for your site. Well, you don’t have to spend a cent; all you need is the proper mindset and a lot of eagerness. You also must have the drive and perseverance to do hard work and research to generate more traffic for your site.

How sweet it is to have more traffic for your site without spending a single cent.  Now it’s a sure thing that many sites have articles that offer tips and guidelines in how to generate traffic using only free methods. Because it is possible, you don’t need to speed a single cent, it may take time, to say honestly, I’m not going to beat around the bush with you. You get better chances by paying for your advertisements, but at least you get a fighting chance with some of these free methods I’m about to tell you.

Take advantage of online forums and online communities. The great thing about forums and online communities is that you can target a certain group that fits the certain demographic that you are looking for. You can discuss about lots of things about the niche that you represent or offer.  Another great advantage is that you know what you are getting into and you will be prepared.

With online communities and forums you can build a reputation for your company. Show them what you are made of and wow them with your range of expertise about the subject, with that you can build a reputation and build trust with the people in your expertise and knowledge.

You can also make use of newsletters. Provide people with a catalog of your products and interesting and entertaining articles. If you make it really interesting and entertaining, more people will sign up for your newsletter and recommend it to other people. The more people who signs up for your newsletter, the more people there will be that will go to your site increasing your traffic. 

Another great idea is trading links with other sites. You don’t have to spend a cent. All you have to do is reach an agreement with another webmaster. With exchanging links, the efforts both sites do will benefit both sites. Every traffic that goes to the site could potentially click on the link of your site and visit your site as well. This works well especially when both sites feature the same niche.

Write articles that could pique the attention of people that have interest in your product. Try writing articles that will provide tips and guides to other aficionados. Writing articles that provide good service and knowledge to other people would provide the necessary mileage your traffic flow needs.  

Many sites offer free submission and posting of your articles. When people find interest in your articles they have a good chance of following the track by finding out where the article originated. Include a link or a brief description of your company with the article and there’s a great probability that they will go to your site.

Write good content for your site. Many search engines track down the keywords and keyword phrases your site uses and how they are used. It is not a requirement that a content should be done by a professional content writer. You could do your on but you have to make content for your site that is entertaining as well as informational. It should provide certain requirements as well as great quality.
Generally, internet users use search engines to find what they are looking for. Search engines in return use keyword searching in aiding their search results. With the right keywords, you could get high rankings in search engine results without the costs.

All of these methods and more will drive more traffic to your site for free. All it takes is a bit of effort and extended man hours. Learn all you can about the methods depicted here and you will soon have a site with a great traffic flow without the usual costs that come with it.

And now I would like to invite you to claim your Free Instant Access to my reports at  http://www.tomsheaonline.com

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There are many ways for a small business to increase traffic to its website. One of the often overlooked or little known methods is through article marketing. This method is well known in the internet marketing niche, but not so much by traditional businesses. This is a great service to offer your clients and can go a long way in providing a boost in website traffic.

Article marketing is the process of writing a piece of content (known as the article) and submitting it for distribution with high traffic article directories.

Most of the article directories are free to submit and generally only require that the content is well written and not overly promotional. At the end of each article, the author is allowed to include a resource box which is a quick blurb about the author and a link back to their website. This is the key to generating the traffic back to your client’s website.

By submitting the article to a directory you are giving permission to others to use the article on their website. So, when someone else uses the article, the resource box (and link) will appear on their site. This gives your client exposure on other websites and can generate targeted traffic back to their homepage.

The key to this method is providing great and informative content and writing a good resource box. Once a reader gets to the end of the article, they will see the resource box which is your opportunity to get them to click through to the website. Keep the resource box relevant to the content and give the reader a call to action. If your article offered some plumbing tips then a good call to action would be, “Visit the Atlanta Plumber for more great tips.” Make sure that the keyword “Atlanta Plumber” is hyperlinked backed to the website. This gives the potential customer a reason to click on the link and visit the homepage.

Another great thing about article marketing is that you can get the client to provide the content for you. It doesn’t get any easier than that! A lot businesses already have plenty of content that you can turn into an article. All you have to do is ask. It doesn’t take a lot of articles to generate a lot of traffic. One well written article every month will be more than enough to provide tons of potential customers for the business owner.

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After providing your client with new customers and growing their business it will become time to position them as the local expert in their industry. This will solidify their marketing efforts and take their exposure to the next level. The key is to use the media to promote the business and their products or services. This can be done with radio, magazines, newspapers and local television. The best part is that it won’t cost any money. Let’s take a look at some of the ways your client can take advantage of media opportunities.

The first place to get local recognition is on the radio. There are hundreds of radio talk shows that need guests to fill their time slots. Just check your local am dial for daytime shows and contact the station manager. More times than not, they need to book some guests. Give them an overview of your expert and send them a quick bio. Since these talk radio shows don’t fill up fast, you can usually get a spot in as little as one week. Most of these shows are also archived on the stations website, so you get an instant podcast as well. Once you have referred a couple of guests, the producer will be calling you often for more recommendations.

Next, look at local newspapers and magazines that feature local experts. Many medium to large cities have several different publications that could use some great local content. The key is getting in contact with the right person at the publication. A lot of times, there will be a charity event that is put on by the magazine. This is a great opportunity to get in front of the key personnel. Since it is a charity event, it is pretty easy to get tickets to the event. Just remember to not be pushy and offer your clients as information sources and experts. Some of these publications will also accept articles from freelance writers. If you have a writer that you use on a regular basis, you can have them craft a piece for a local publication. This also gives a chance for syndication, which will give your client even more exposure.

Finally, local television is the best place to get media for your client. Out of all the traditional media sources, television can be the most difficult to break into. However, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. A lot of local television personalities have blogs on their station websites. Your client can interact on the blog, offering their expertise on relevant stories. If a reporter likes the feedback, they may contact your client for more information or a future story. Another place to look for reporters is on the websitehttp://helpareporter.com/. This site is designed to connect reports and sources, which can be a great way to get free PR.

Becoming a local expert in the media is a great way for your clients to increase their exposure and gain new customers. Look at local media sources such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. Getting your client in front of the right person can gain them a lot of great local PR. Remember that your clients are a great source of information and you can leverage it for their benefit.

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The conversion of a prospect to a paying customer is the lifeblood of any business. Sometimes a business will be good at the initial conversion, but they will stop there. A great way to help the local business is by implementing a sales funnel. This can go hand in hand with the previous implementation of a CRM system.

First, find out where most of the leads come from for the business. Ask the business owner if they have a qualification process in place to prioritize the most likely customers. The goal is to optimize the sales process and increase the lifetime value of a customer. No matter the number of leads it will be impossible to convert them all. Out of the initial set of prospects a certain percentage will become customers. After the first set of prospects become customers, then the business owner will won’t to maximize the amount spent. This can be done in with an upsell, just like when you purchase a value meal the cashier asks if you want to supersize it. This can be applied to all types of local businesses. Again, a certain percentage of the initial customers will take the upsell. As you move down the funnel, it becomes thinner and thinner. This is how it gets its name “sales funnel.”

Take a look at all the products and or services that are offered by the business. Make a list of the ones that are complimentary to each other. A great way to increase the initial purchase is by packaging similar products together to bump up the sale. The best time to offer this package is when the person has their money out and are ready to make the purchase. This is a great way to increase revenue for a local business.

There is no limit to the size of a sales funnel. A business can keep selling and selling as long as the customer is willing to spend. The goal is to zero in on the best conversion from one level of the funnel to the next. Make sure the business owner is properly tracking the sales, so the progress can be measured over time.

Stay tuned for some more service offering that will keep you local business client happy.

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As you start to grow your client base, you will notice that some of your clients will be offering complimentary services. This creates a great opportunity for you to bring them together and offer a cross promotion. Sometimes a business will have an informal referral network, but no official agreement. This is where you can step in and setup the formal agreement and the metrics and payouts. The local businesses can leverage each other’s customer list and generate sales for each other.

Take for example a local nutritional supplement store. Over the months you have been growing their business and collecting the name and emails of their prospects and customers. Later on, you start helping a local dietician. You can setup an agreement with the supplements store to send out an email recommending the dietician. The store will get a certain percentage from each new client the dietician signs up. So, just like that you have helped two of your clients.

This can also work with other types of marketing. The two businesses can publish coupons on each other’s websites or even something as simple as putting flyers in each other’s stores. They can even host a teleseminar together with one interviewing the other. There are many opportunities that will come up for cross promotions.

Never underestimate the value of your own customer list. Just like the importance of helping your clients this can be a great benefit to your own consulting business as well. The key is to leverage your existing customer base. You will gain even more favor with your clients and all you did was setup the cross promotion. Even if you don’t have two businesses to cross promote, you can seek out new clients by using your existing clients. This can be a great way to get your foot in the door for new business. You can call on them telling about how you are looking for promotional partners and setup a meeting. After you go over the details of the promotion, then you can leave behind your contact information and let them know to check out your website. This way it isn’t a hard sell and if they take you up on the promotion, then you have a relationship that gives you a chance to introduce your other services.

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The internet age has brought on new responsibilities when it comes to brand and reputation management. Information travels lightning fast and just one misstep can reach a wide audience in no time at all. The addition of social networking has added to the velocity of information propagation. Now more than ever it is important for the small business to monitor the internet for their brand. This gives you another opportunity to provide another valuable service that is easy to implement and manage.

Reputation management is an ongoing process that involves the monitoring and research in order to discover feedback, both positive and negative that has to do with a small businesses brand. This process is very important for any business and should not be overlooked. Unfortunately, most businesses do not manage it properly and learn about their feedback after it is too late. This is why it should be part of your service portfolio and will add more value to your overall business.

The first step in online brand and reputation management is monitoring the search engines for mentions of the business, service or product. This might sound like a daunting task, but it can be implemented very easily. The best solution is to setup Google alerts which they define on their homepage as, “Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.” Just head on over to http://www.google.com/alerts where you will be presented with a simple form to create your first alert. The first option is the search term you would like to monitor. It is best to start with the business name.

Next, select the type of search that should be monitored. In most cases this will be “comprehensive” but there may be instances when you only need to monitor search. Then select the frequency you would like alerts to be sent and the amount of results to be sent. Finally, just fill in the email that you would like the alerts to be sent to and that’s it! Depending on the frequency, Google will send you a new alert whenever it finds a new occurrence of the search term in its index. Now you will know right away when a business or brand has been mentioned on the web and gives the small business an opportunity to respond.

Next, it is important that the businesses website shows up first in the search engine results page. This can be done with proper SEO and was discussed in a previous lesson. Whenever a potential customer searches for the business or brand, it is important that they see the businesses website rather than a site with negative feedback. A lot of this can be accomplished by creating press releases, social media accounts, and video sites. A broad presence on the internet will help insure that the small businesses website will show up in the search results.

The final step in online brand and reputation management is to make sure the business is present on all the major social networking sites. That way if a complaint or compliment is entered on one of these sites, the business owner can respond. Social networking sites are the place where information travels the fastest. It takes a second for a person to post something and instantly share it with hundreds of friends that in turn share it with hundreds more. This is why it is vital to be able to respond to social networking posts.

Now that you have a better understanding of online brand and reputation management, you can offer this service for you clients. Most likely none of them have even thought about reputation management which will demonstrate to them that you have their best interests in mind. Coming up next we will discuss some more techniques to help your small business clients succeed.

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Another great way for a local business to engage customers is through the use of teleseminars and webinars. Many types of businesses can provide weekly content that can be delivered over the internet or conference call. This creates an interactive environment for the customers and business. A local dietician can provide a weekly nutritional chat and gain a lot of exposure and new customers. This will establish the local business as an expert and create trust with potential customers.

The key to providing teleseminars is planning. The business owner should pick a topic to discuss and then create an outline of all the talking points. It is important to stay organized so that the presentation can flow easily and there is no down time. It is best if the presentation contains as much informative content as possible and isn’t total marketing hype. If a prospect suspects that the presentation is just a sales pitch then they will quickly tune out.

Save time at the end of the presentation for a question and answer session. Being interactive is a great way to make a connection with your customers. They will know that the business is there to help and is willing to take care of the customers. This is an effective way to build customer loyalty.

Another great thing about teleseminars is that they can be recorded and made available later on. An archive of the weekly sessions can be published on the website and made available to everyone. These recordings can also be syndicated to podcast directories and provide even more exposure for the local business. The content can also be used for a special members club where a prospect has to register to gain access. This creates a lead capture opportunity and an entry into the sales funnel.

A webinar can also be done which will give the business to present a slide presentation or even do a live video show. Many webinars combine a teleconference so the audio can be transmitted via phone and the video over the web. This creates a highly interactive and rich presentation at the same time. Then recordings can be created and used as part of a video marketing campaign.

Showing a local business owner how to do teleseminars and webinars can be a great way to open their business to a whole new audience and engage prospects. They will establish themselves as the local business expert in their field and grow their business. This is why it is an important service to offer and can help your overall marketing plan.

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Another service that can provide a consistent source of traffic for the local business owner is video marketing. Providing static content on a website is not enough and many people don’t take the time to read it. There are a lot of distractions for a web surfer and many times it is best to grab their attention with web video. A simple and concise video can be more effective than a long sales letter. By providing video marketing along with standard web copy, you will be reaching a broader audience for your client. Best of all, just like standard content, video content can be outsourced as well.

The type of videos that you provide can vary from informative to promotional. Video is a great way to highlight the different products available in a physical store. It provides a great deal more information than just a static photo and a text description. The potential customer will get a better understanding of the product. Video can also be used for product demonstrations adding even more to the user experience. Sometimes a video can provide information about a particular subject related to a service oriented business. A plumber can offer a video that explains how to prevent drain clogs. Another great use of video is for recording customer testimonials. This provides social proof for the local business and can build instant trust with a prospect.

Another great feature of videos is that it is easy to reuse and republish in other places. A video from the businesses website can be redistributed on dozens of video sharing sites and even social media sites. This will give the greatest exposure to the local business. People love to share information that they find helpful and video provides the perfect opportunity.

Getting started with video marketing is very easy. All you need is a simple digital video recorder that can be purchased inexpensively at all the major electronic outlets. They all come with software to help you download, edit and upload your videos. Just take the recorder to your local business owner and start shooting! You will be amazed at how effective video marketing works and how little of an effort it was.

Just remember you don’t have to be a video professional and the end result doesn’t have to be perfect. Don’t worry if the video doesn’t look like an expensive TV shoot. Web video marketing can be more effective when done imperfectly and will create a connection with the prospect.

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