Post consistently

When you post on you site consistently, it will lead to more people seeing the content that you make.  It doesn’t have to be daily, just consistently.  On one of our sites we post monthly to letting people know where we will be.  In addition you need to add information that is useful.

Current events

Don’t hesitate from posting about current events as this is what people will be searching for on a daily basis.  This information can be posted to Twitter or your blog.  Again, useful information keeps people coming back for more.

Get back links

Network with a lot of people and try to have them post links to your site to gain some traffic.  Adding information that people will want to link to adds  more traffic to your site.  In addition, add links to others site and helps them as well as you.

Offline promotion

Simply asking your friends and people you meet to visit your website is often an overlooked strategy.  This is where it’s nice to have your site on your business cards and other marketing materials.  You site is always open and available to provide information to your customers.

Include URL in signature

When you post on forums or in emails, it is a good idea to post your URL in your signature so that they will be sent to your site.

Try these quick ways to get traffic to your site and you will certainly see a big difference.  Again if you need help with any of these please contact me and I will be glad to help you get started.

To Your Success,

Deb Stowers

DKStowers.com

deb@dkstowers.com

Share on Your Facebook Wall

As simple as this sounds it is a simple way to get instant traffic to your site.  It might not be lots of traffic until you get many people on your page, but it will expose folks to the things you are doing and get them to follow your activities.

Twitter Contest

If you can start a contest on Twitter this will definitely get some good attention towards your website with ReTweets.  If you are a local business offer a coupon or special offer if you come into your store to shop.   Same thing worked if you have an online store.

YouTube Video

Post videos and have them link back to your site.  This will add more sources of traffic and will also be a platform for viral video marketing.  Some great videos we have been considering is how to videos on gun cleaning or lessons for the horses.

Viral Video Marketing

If you are able to think of a unique and funny way to make a viral video, it will certainly be a great way to get instant traffic.  This can lead to millions of hits.  You can not force a video to be viral, but find something unique that you do and the possibilities are endless.

Optimize Your Site for Search Engines

If you optimize your website for search engines, you will be able  to gain more traffic from people searching those keywords.  This is a powerful tool and will lead to a lot of traffic.  There are many ways to do this and if you need help please contact me for assistance.

This is just a few of the methods to increase traffic.  We will continue this in the next post.

To Your Success,

Deb Stowers

DKStowers.com

deb@dkstowers.com

Facebook

With over 800 million users, there is no reason why you would not use Facebook as a way to gain more traffic.  We discussed one way to get traffic from Facebook by setting up a page for your business.

People are constantly on the website and if you are able to make your presence known on Facebook, you will be able to drive a lot of traffic.  Though it may seem like there is too many people on the website, it is actually a good thing for people who are trying to generate traffic.

Twitter

Though this may not be as big as Facebook, this is a great way to get more traffic. With the ReTweet (RT) and favorite tweet features, it is not rare for you to spread a piece of information to thousands of people in a short period of time.  In the process you can gain more followers.  We discussed how to get more followers here!

YouTube

This is a great way to really utilize videos and to reach out to more people. Video is the newest and most efficient way to get a message out and so it is important to incorporate your own YouTube videos into your marketing plan.  These can be simple how to videos.  Ones showing off your product or service. Or ones showing your customers enjoying your product of service.  These will get more traffic to your site and thus more sales.

Blog

In our last post we discussed how a newsletter could help with gaining more customers for your small business.  A blog is a great way to build a newsletter.  You can set your email system to send out every time you post, or once a month. And the email system delivers a nice neat newsletter to your subscribers.  By consistently posting on your blog, then you generate more traffic. With the right SEO strategies, you will be able make your blog show up in a lot of search engines.

Network

Networking with as many people as possible to get people to link back to your website is a great way to get additional traffic. This is called link building and it is a vital step towards being able to really get more traffic to your site.  However, be careful who you build links with.  Google is constantly changing their search criteria and looking at the quality of links, not just the number.

These are only some of the basics things that you can do but it will go a long way towards your online success. If you stay consistent with these traffic generation tips, you will surely see just how successful you can be.  If you need any help with any of these options, please contact me and I will gladly work with you and get you started.

To Your Success,

Deb Stowers

DKStowers.com

deb@dkstowers.com

Newsletters usually aren’t difficult to start up, as there are very few aspects that need to be completed. With just a few steps, you can be gaining plenty of subscribers within days.

How to start your own newsletter:

There are several different ways to provide our customers with a newsletter.  Some cost for companies to provide you with an emial marketing service while others are free.

Two of our businesses utilize Yahoo Groups and send out annoucemnet through the groups.  These is a great way for a small business to start with email marketing or newsletters.  Check out the Sierra Ranch, LLC webiste for the link.  You will need to have a Yahoo account.  This service allows people to add and remove themselves from your list or group.

There are companies like Aweber who can provide for you the service that you need for getting the perfect email marketing account.  Through Aweber, you can get your very own subscription form script, and it’s this script which you’ll place on your site to get people to type their names and email addresses inside of. 

We use Aweber and have an afflilate link at the bottom of the page to join them.  The great thing about using someone like Aweber is that all of our lists are at this one site.  We operate several newsletters from one account.  The account cost is based on size and we have not gotten over the minimum yet, but we are promoting very local businesses.

Before you place that script on your site, make sure that you create a really nice set of messages that you will automatically send out.  You can create around 10, 20, and even 50 different messages that you’d like to send out over a period of weeks or even months. We have done this with the HorseMatch.net site.  All the lessons are sent over several weeks. (And from looking at the site I can’t find the link for the lessons so will be updating this site very soon!)

You can create some nice offers, and then suddenly make sales day in and day out little by little.  To get the most amount of sales, try creating lots of offers after each email.  This will give you the chance to promote on nearly any email that is send out.

With our gun business we send out a newsletter once a month to let folks know what shows we will be attending.  This allows our customers to plan where they want to see us as we don’t have a store front other than the shows.  We also update them in the newsletter with new or different stock and other information about the business.

Newsletters are meant to mainly be helpful and informational, but there’s nothing wrong with making one to build your list as an local small business owner.  So, try joining Aweber or starting a Yahoo group to begin with, and then start adding more and more emails to potentially make more sales. 

Newsletters aren’t easy to do, but it can be hard to do at first. Just stick with it, and you’ll see your campaigns grow little by little.  If you need help starting a newsletter, please contact me. 

To Your Success,

Deb Stowers

DKStowers.com

deb@dkstowers.com

Some people tend to overlook the importance of Twitter. A lot of people have been focused on Facebook and Twitter tends to be looked at as a lesser version of the website. However, if you are serious about taking your marketing strategies to a higher level, then it is a good idea to learn how to get more Twitter followers.

Twitter is all about being able to send a short message to all of your followers.  This can be a picture.  A link to an ad about your business. Or you can ties your Facebook, Foursquare or other accounts to twitter to let your customers know where you are or what you are doing.  It is a good idea to try and get as many followers as possible, but a focused list is better than growing a giant list.

To get more followers, you will simply need engage in your followers.  Have conversations with them about things in your feed.  This applys to all forms of social media.  Don’t just put things up, engage your customers.

Linking your account profiles to other websites will increase your presence.  Make sure all the accounts have the same name so that your customers can easiely find you on all the different formats.  We have done this with our businesses and have many different followers between all the sites. For example, your Facebook, YouTube and even LinkedIn profiles will have your Twitter name exposed so that you will be able to gain more followers.

One way to get followers is to ask friends and family to follow you.  One great way to grow followers is to find others in your community and follow them.  If they re-tweet your posts then you will grow followers in your area.  Some suggest “buying ” followers to make it look like you have a large group, but this eeems to defeat the purpose of growing a focused group.  Organically growing your followers is best.  And a great way to get more customers.

If you are serious about trying to get followers, you have to be patient as you will most likely not get a big boost of followers right away. With just a little patience, you will surely be able to gain more followers on Twitter.

If you need help with any of the suggestions you see here.  Please contact me.  I love helping small businesses grow.

To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com

 Facebook fans will make your company look very trusted and it is a great way to draw in more potential customers. Customers can leave feedback and reviews as well as pictures on your page

 Most people will admit that they will often go towards companies that have more fans because they feel like it is a great way to determine if they are a trusted brand or company. On the pages that I administer we have about the same number of fans as we do customers that join our newsletter.  However, if you compare the two lists there are different customers on both lists.

 If you are looking to learn how to get more Facebook fans, then you will need to take these things into consideration.

 Engage Your Customers

 Facebook is a great way to share interesting ideas or test things on your customers. Post pictures of a new t-shirt design and ask for ideas.  Post new products and ask for naming ideas.  Have customers post pictures using your product or service to your page. 

These ideas will help you stay connected with your fans and to create a relationship that will help build your online presence. Post events you will be attending to your events section. This allows your customers to share the event or show they will also be attending.

Use Other Sites

Do not just focus on Facebook. Other social media outlets can be linked to Facebook like  Twitter.  And showing both feeds on your website keeps the information fresh between updates. You will then need to post about your Facebook page and have people join you on Facebook as well. Most people are members on both social networks and so it is a good idea to target them on both sides.

These are just simple ways to get more Facebook fans and to really increase your overall presence on the internet. Do these two things and you will start to see a big increase of fans on Facebook.

 If you need help getting a page started, please contact me and I would love to help.

To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com

Organization

 If you are trying to get more things done, then organization should be the main thing that you should focus on. When you are organized, you will realize that things just seem to run smoother. Whether it is with your belongings or with your schedule, you will need to make sure that things are organized.

I find that when my office or work place is messy then it’s very hard to focus on the task at hand.  Work to declutter your desk.  Make it easier for others to help by having a dedicated inbox, signature box, and out box.  If there is one place for information it makes it much easier to find and process it.

Time Management

 When you manage your time correctly, you will surely get more things done. This means that you should make use of every hour of the day and try your best to stay productive at all times.

 There’s an old saying: Have a plan and work the plan.  Make a list of things that need to be accomplished.  There is a great reward in actually crossing things off the list.

Focus

 While you are working, you will need to remain focused at all times. Remember that you do not want to waste any time and it is important to try your best to not distracted by little things like the internet and other minor distractions.

 Sometimes this is the most difficult.  Most small businesses are very customer service oreinted.  While ansering every call is imposrtant, sometimes letting the asnwer machine pick up while you are brainstorming is not a bad thing.

 Nutrition

 You will need to understand that nutrition is something very crucial towards your focus throughout the day. An unhealthy diet will lead to an up and down day that will lead to less focus. If you are able to eat a healthy diet, you will see an increase in your focus.

 Nutrition also plays a great role in several of the items to come.  It affects sleep, energy, and helps you keep going.  Feed your body good food and plenty of exercise.

 Sleep

 Getting enough sleep is very important and 8 hours a day should be the minimum. If you happen to feel tired during the day, then a 15 minute nap will have you up and ready in no time.

 Studies have shown the we don’t get enough sleep.  You can’t have the needed energy and focus if you are tired. 

 Energy

You will be energetic after a short nap and you will be able to get this energy from caffeine. However, you do not want to take caffeine five hours before you sleep as it can stop you from getting a good night of sleep.

 Energy is best derived from the great nutrition.  Feed your body wonderful whole foods and see the difference in your energy levels.  Exercise also adds energy.   So go walk around the block and see what wonderful brainstorming  idea you come up with for the next big thing for your business.

 Taking a Break

 Sometimes working too hard can wear you down and so you will simply need to take a break to see more things get done in the future. Take a break and you will then be back to work with a new sense of motivation.

This can be that same walk around the block to get energy.  At our house it’s sometimes riding a Harley or a horse.  Short breaks can add that extra energy to get you through to that next big thing.

I hope you have enjoyed my insight to some things to make it easier to get things done.  If you have hints or tips, please leave them in the comments.  I would love to share them.

To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com

I want to bring to my readers and clients ways to get your local business seen on the web.  Most folks don’t look in the phone book and find services these days.  They search the internet.  This means if your local business doesn’t have a website then you may not be found.

I can help with getting you noticed.  By either some of the suggestions as we go along the way or setting some things up for you for a small price.  Go to the Contact Page and let’s begin the discussion.

One of the easiest ways to get started on the web is to start a blog.  Blogging is a way for people to express thenselves on the internet but it can also be a great way to make money. Posting information on your buisness or services is a great way to build a following. (You are reading one expample.)  There are many more.

The best way to keep your following is to stay consistent.  Even posting once a month with sales or promotions for your business is a start.  This gives your customers a way to see that you are an active business and to know what new deals or items you might have in stock.

None of this is new ideas.  Much of this I learned from playing with internet marketing.  Most of the posts below are from my internet marketing days.  I have deleted many or the posts, but will leave the remainder as exapmles.  You can see that sending out information on a regular basis keeps people involved. 

I hope you will let me know if there is anything you have questions about in marketing your business.  I may not have a marketing degree, but have been pretty successful in marketing our businesses.  And one is a bit of a challenge with the restrictions placed on it.  Please contact me if you have any questions or leave them in the comments.  I would love to help your local business grow bigger.

To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com

Click get with the program!

To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com

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To Your Success,

Deborah Stowers
DKStowers.com
dkstowers@gmail.com