Call to action

by Sarah Santacroce

Every website should have a call to action, a response you want users to complete. What do you want the visitors on your website to do ? Should they

• download your free e-book and get added to your e-mail list?
• download your brochure?
• subscribe to your newsletter?
• register for a webinar?
• buy your product?
• donate money for a good cause?
• book a free call with you or one of your representatives?
• what else?

Once you have defined the action that you want your visitor to take, you will have to think about how to encourage the users to act. Here are a few ideas:

1. Action words
   
   A call to action should clearly tell users what you want them to do. They should include active words such as:
   
   
   • Download
   • Subscribe
   • Register
   • Buy
   • Donate
   • Call

   All of those get the users attention and encourage them to take an action.

2. Sense of urgency
   
   To create a sense of urgency and a need to act now, words like these can be used:
   
   
   • Now
   • Order now and receive a free gift
   • For a short time only
   • Immediately
     
     
3. Location
   
   Location is important for the call-to-action. The right side of your website’s header is a good place, or anywhere else above the fold, so visitors see it without having to scroll down.
   
   
4. Presentation
   
   Use images – Images or buttons get people’s attention because our eyes are naturally drawn to images rather than text first.
   
   Choose contrasting colors – Use a color that contrasts with your main colors for maximum effect.
   
   Use white space – The more space around a call-to-action, the more attention is drawn to it. If you surround it by too much content, it gets lost in the jungle.

Track your success

Last but not least you will want to track your results. You want to be able to measure how successful your new call-to-action is. If your call is related to an e-mail registration, a product sale or a registration for a webinar, this is pretty simple. You can just look at those statistics. But if you just want your customer to download your brochure or watch your video for example, I suggest you use the Goal Settings of Google Analytics. You can define your goal (for example the “download complete” page) and Google analytics will then measure how many users get to that specific page.

Some good examples

Firefox

Firefox has a nicely designed button, in a contrasting color. It is clear that they want you to download their browser.

Dropbox

It couldn’t be more simple. An empty page with just two things: a video and a download button. Any questions ?

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is also a great example. It is pretty obvious that they want you to sign up to their free e-mail marketing plan.

Do you have an example of a creative call-to-action ? Or do you have a question ? Share it in the comments below.

Facebook pages for small businesses

by Sarah Santacroce

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you have probably heard that everybody is talking about Social Media. Especially Facebook. So what is all the buzz about ? And how is it relevant to you, small business owner ?

Being myself the owner of a small business, let me give some insight about these famous Facebook pages and how I think they can benefit your business.

Why a Facebook Business Page ?

A ) It’s free
And not many things are, so why not take advantage of it ?

B) Huge audience
Facebook is expanding day by day. Here are some statistics from their website:

*Due to hit 600 million subscribers end of 2010

*More than 250 million active users, half of them log on at least once each day

*More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of university

*The fastest growing demographic are individuals 35 years old and older

*More than 8 million users become fans of pages daily

*70 percent of Facebook users are outside the United States

C) Optimized Search Results
Google and other search engines find and list your page. Even better is when you have more than 25 fans, you are allowed to customize the web address of your page. Instead of Facebook.com/and a long string of numbers and letters you can have www.facebook.com/yourcompanyname

D) Increased traffic to your website
On your Facebook page you will promote your website, post your blog posts and showcase your testimonials. This will automatically increase the traffic to your website and…

E) increase your sales
If you utilize your page the right way, you will increase your sales. This will not happen over night, since you will first have to establish a partnership and gain the trust of your fans. But in the long run, if they happen to need the services/products you offer, they will know you as the expert and come to you in the first place.

How can I measure my return on investment ?

True thing, Facebook does take quite some time to maintain. If you want your fans to interact and socialize on your page, you need to deliver daily updates, quotes, videos, articles, interesting facts etc. But will this time you invest be worth it in the end ? Below are two tools which help you to find answers to that question.

1. Facebook stats

Facebook will send you a weekly update with your Facebook statistics. In it you can see how many active users you have, how many weekly visits and how many additional “likes” you got that week. This basically shows you how popular your page is and let’s you adapt the style of your updates.

2. Google analytics

In your Google Analytics account you will find valid information on how many people come from Facebook to visit your website. In order to measure if they actually buy your product, you will have to set up a goal with your analytics account.

When preparing for this post, I asked the people in my network what they would like to know with regards to this subject. Here are a couple of questions I got:

Questions:

1. If I have a Facebook page, do I still need a website ?
2. I already have a Facebook personal profile, can I use that for my business ?
3. Is there a way that my clients can order directly through the Facebook page ?
4. I don’t know what to post on my page, can you give me some ideas ?
   

Answers:

1. In my opinion it’s still better to have a website. The site is where your clients find all the information about your business, your services and products. Facebook is just a door opener for your page, a way to bring clients to your website. However, if you feel confident that your main target public hangs out only on Facebook, you could probably get away with just the Facebook page. See also my response to Question 3 concerning a store front directly on your FB page.
   
   
2. I advise against using your personal profile for business purposes. The personal profile is to connect with your friends, share photos and experiences. But I would keep that separate from your business page. That doesn’t mean that you cannot share some personal info on the business page, but you will be more selective on what you share.
   
   
3. Someone asked me if there is a way to have a “store front” directly on your page, where clients can order and pay for your products and services, without ever leaving Facebook. Yes, there is. I have never actually used it myself, but I recommend you check out the Payvment application. Read this review for more information.
   
   
4. There are many things you can post on your wall. Here are some examples:
   
   - pictures of your products
   - pictures of your store front
   - quotes
   - interesting facts
   - links to your blog posts
   - polls
   - videos that you find interesting and relevant
   - questions and answers
   - discounts
   - etc. etc.
   
   Don’t forget that there are also many applications you can use to enhance the engagement on your page. Read this post on Social @ Blogging Tracker on how to increase engagement through applications.

If you have other questions, please leave me a comment below and I’ll be happy to answer. You can also e-mail me at sarah@simplicityadmins.com

I hope I supplied some valuable info on the benefits of a Facebook page.
I am not saying that every small business has to have a Facebook page. It does help in terms of the Search Engine Optimization, but it all depends on your target clientele. If your target public are other businesses, you might want to invest more time on Linkedin.

I’d be honored if you joined the discussion on my own page at http://www.facebook.com/Simplicityadmins. I’m looking forward to connecting with you !

Content Repurposing

by Sarah Santacroce

Content is king! That’s nothing new. In order to gain online visibility you have to create content. Every Online Marketer will recommend you create a blog and submit regular blog posts.

But that’s just the start. Since you have already invested the time in writing these blog posts, why not use that content and distribute it on other online channels ? This tactic has numerous benefits, here are just a few:

• brings traffic to your website
• creates back links (SEO)
• shows your expertise
• increases your audience outreach

To give you an example, let me tell you what I do after I have submitted a new blog post which I think is worth distributing on other channels

1. Submit it on Ezinearticles
   Ezinearticles is by far the best article bank out there. It is a great option to increase your SEO, since it let’s you create an author “resource box”, basically a short bio, with clickable links to your website. You will have to tweak your post a bit, since Ezinearticles does only allow a certain number of the same keywords and no links above the fold.
   
   
2. Submit it to Scribd and Slideshare
   After you have created a nice, clean pdf document (don’t forget to add your company details in the footer) you can upload it to different content sharing sites such as Scribd and Slideshare. I like those two because they are easy to use, and Slideshare can be linked to Linkedin so you can display your documents on your profile.

   If you create a series of articles, you can even create a small e-book and offer it for free on your website in order to build your list. Zinepal is one of the tools that simplifies that process for you.

3. Create a Autoresponder for your e-mail marketing list
   Sometimes, but not for each and every blog post, I let my subscribers know that I’ve just posted a new article or even send it to them in a pdf document.
   
   And here is what I don’t do, but know I should be doing :-)
   
   
4. Translate your content into another language
   If you work in a multilingual country like me, it also makes sense to translate your content into the other national language. Of course this costs either time or money, depending on whether you do it yourself or outsource it. That’s the reason why I usually just leave my content in English. But if you have the budget, a translation definitely makes sense since you increase your audience tremendously.
   
   
5. Create videos and submit them to Youtube or Tubemogul.
   If you are not camera shy, videos are definitely the way to go. Youtube is highly ranked in Google and video content really increases your chances of showing up on the first two pages.
   

Now it’s your turn. What other channels do you use to submit your content ? Please share your ideas in the comments below.

Happy Holidays

 

I wish all my readers a Happy Holiday season !

Plan now for a more effective 2011: Outsource non-core tasks !

by Sarah Santacroce

As a small business owner you constantly have to wear different hats: the Marketing Hat, the Social Media Hat, the Administrative Hat and many other hats. Honestly, sometimes you forget what your actual core business is. When things get really out of control, you even trespass the sacred personal time: you skip your daughter’s ballet audition, postpone date night for the third time and cancel the gym membership – because who has time for that, right ?

But this was 2010 – let’s focus on 2011. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could outsource some of your tasks to a helping hand ? Someone who could wear some of those hats for you ? Guess what, that someone exists and is called a Virtual Assistant.

There are numerous benefits of working with a Virtual Assistant (short VA). Here are 5 of them:

• Benefit Nr. 1: with a Virtual Assistant you do not waste precious time on training. If you choose the right VA, she comes highly qualified, experienced and skilled in her field of expertise.
  
• Benefit Nr. 2: if you hire a Virtual Assistant you don't have to pay fees to a temp agency. Let's say your business goes through a tough time and you need immediate help with your administrative tasks. If you go through a temp agency, you always pay a certain fee to help you find an temporary help. Just hire a Virtual Assistant and you can save yourself that fee.
  
• Benefit Nr. 3: Have you ever had an assistant that serves the net all day and makes too many personal phone calls? If you work with a Virtual Assistant you only pay for the time she spends on your project!
  
• Benefit Nr. 4: Since VAs work in a virtual world, place and time no longer matter. You could work with a Virtual Assistant who lives thousands of miles away, even in a different time zone. In fact, different time zones can actually work to your advantage. Your VA works while you sleep!
  
• Benefit Nr. 2: a Virtual Assistant is not affected by bad weather conditions, traffic jams & public transportation strikes

Now that we know some of the benefits, let’s look at how a Virtual Assistant could help you with those hats:

The Marketing Hat:

1. Add a press page to the company website
   Every website should have a press page. A Virtual Assistant can create a press page, and add links to articles in which your company appears on a regular basis.

2. A VA can post your company videos on Youtube
   Youtube and video branding becomes more and more important. Did you know that Youtube reaches 1 Billion views per day? You will have to agree that it would make sense that your company’s videos get posted and marketed on Youtube. A VA can set up an account for you, post the videos, send out links on Facebook and Twitter or embed them on your website.
   

3. Help you distribute your press release and articles on various directories
   It’s very important to write regular articles and press releases. But it’s even more important to distribute them online so people actually read them. A VA can help you distribute them to various directories online.
   
   

The Social Media Hat:

1. Create a Social Media Strategy
   You have made the decision to give Social Media a try – but you don’t know where to start. A Virtual Assistant can help you with that too. Together you will define your business objective, target audience and from there she will create a tailor made Social Media Strategy for your business and will help you implement it.
   
2. Update your Linkedin Profile
   Did you know that your Linkedin Profile is like a mini website and should be treated as such ? Many business owners get new leads through Linkedin, but only because their Linkedin Profile is complete and updated with their product brochures, links to their websites, keywords and even videos.
   
3. Create a Facebook Page for your business
   In my opinion every business who has a website should also have a Facebook Page. A VA can help you take full advantage of this marketing channel, customize it and teach you how to use it.

The Administrative Hat:

1. Organize venue arrangements: seating, meals, beverages, flowers etc
   Next time you have to organize a big event, why don’t you hire a VA instead of trying to prepare your speeches and organize everything at the same time? A VA can get in touch with the venue provider and arrange seating, meals, beverages, podcasting etc.
   

2. Setup an online backup system for your computer
   Honestly, when was the last time you backed up the data on your computer? A Virtual Assistant can arrange an online backup system so that you’ll never have a nightmare about loosing all your files again!

3. Enter the business cards you collect into your contact management software or database
   Is your desk drowning in piles of collected business cards ? Your Virtual Assistant is equipped to scan those cards and easily import them in your customer database. You really don’t have time for that !

These are just a few ideas to show you how a Virtual Assistant could help you make 2011 more effective than ever. You can find a more complete list here.
Plan for your outsourcing needs now, you will not regret it.

Sarah Santacroce helps small business owners with their administrative tasks, Internet & Social Media Marketing. You can contact her by sending her an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com

Newsletter Marketing - Tips

by Sarah Santacroce

This is the third and last post of a 3-post series about Newsletter Marketing. You can find the first post that explains the benefits of Newsletter Marketing here and the second post that features Newsletter Marketing Tools here.

So by now we know why it makes sense to write a regular newsletter and we have have chosen the tool to do so. In this post today I would like to give you some additional tips that will help make your Newsletter Marketing campaigns a success.

Ask for feedback
Since the success of your newsletter is entirely in your audience’s hand, don’t forget to ask them for feedback. You can ask if there is a specific topic they would like you to cover in the next edition, you can simply ask them what they think about a tool, product or service you are using (and have them post their comments on your FB wall) or you could add a poll and discuss the results in the following edition. Whatever you do, involve your readers !

Promote your newsletter
There are two moments to promote your ezine: before you send it and after.
Before you want to make sure that you have a pretty sign-up form on your website, your blog and your FB page. This way people will be added to your list.
After don’t forget to use Social Media to let your network know that you have just sent out a newsletter. Tweet about it, post it on your FB wall, tell your Linkedin friends, add a link to your e-mail signature, refer to it on your Skype status.

Archive previous newsletters on your website
If you sign up for a magazine or a paper you usually want to look at a couple of their editions before you commit, right ? The same goes for newsletters. People like to get an idea of what you are writing about, that’s why it’s good to give them that option – on your website. Create a specific page which explains the benefits and content of your newsletter. Below the sign-up form you should have links to your archive of previous editions, so they can browse through them before trusting you with their e-mail.
This is also beneficial from an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) point of view. The search engine spiders love regularly updated content on your site and will therefore come visit more often !

Measure your success
Don’t forget to measure the success of your newsletter. The online tools which we discussed last week come with handy reports. You can see how many e-mails have been sent, how many have been opened and how many people have clicked on your links.

Treat your “unsubscribers” well
You will also be able to track your “unsubscribers”. If they leave you a comment on why they unsubscribe, I think it’s a good habit to write them a short e-mail. Say that you are sorry to see them leave, answer their comment and learn from their feedback. Remember that 1 unhappy customer used to tell 3 others – nowadays with Social Media he might tell 3 Million.

So there you go, you should now have all the knowledge and tools to write your very own first newsletter. If you would like some help from my side, send me an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com.

To sign up for my newsletter simply fill in your name and e-mail in the form to your right.
Thank you.

Newsletter Marketing – Available Tools

by Sarah Santacroce

This is the second post of a 3-post series about Newsletter Marketing. Find the first post about Newsletter Marketing Benefits here. Come back soon or subscribe to my RSS to be sure to get the last article next week.

Which tools are available ?

This week I would like to show you which tools are available to simplify the newsletter edition and management for you. The truth is there are lots of  E-Mail Marketing tools on the market. But some of them are better than others. Below are my picks for small businesses.

Mailchimp

• Free Forever Plan for 1’000 subscribers
• Unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 15$
• Recommended for: Small businesses with limited ecommerce needs
• Special Feature: Can upload existing list
• Little extra: very funny interface

If you have a pre-existing list that you want to import, you will either have to choose Mailchimp or Contant Contact. However, since your readers have not actually subscribed to your newsletter, I would mention this in your first mailing and give them the option to unsubscribe in the first paragraph.

Aweber

• 1$ for first month
• Unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 19$
• Very complex reports
• Special feature: Blog integration
• Little extra: great customer service, very good videos

Constant Contact

• 60 days for free
• unlimited e-mails sent
• Cost per month: 15$
• Special Feature: Can upload existing list
• limited reporting features

Personally I have never used Constant Contact yet. But according to other reviews I have read, it is very easy to use. However their reporting features are not as advanced yet as the ones I know from Mailchimp and AWeber.

To summarize:

If you are a small business owner who tries e-mail Marketing for the very first time I would recommend you try the free version of Mailchimp. If however you think you will rapidly reach 1’000 subscribers and then also need more advanced reporting features, I suggest you take a pick between AWeber and Constant Contact, AWeber definitely being more complex.

Are you using another tool ? Tell us about it in the comments !

 

Next week I will give you some final tips before you start creating your own newsletter !

If you would like to start exploring this marketing technique but don't know where to start, contact your Virtual Assistant or send me an e-mail to sarah@simplicityadmins.com.

To sign up for my newsletter simply fill in your name and e-mail in the form to your right.
Thank you.