By Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters

When you send out email marketing, you are sending your troops into war. The first battle is with the spam filter and if your email survives, you start fighting with every other email in the recipient’s inbox: newsletter subscriptions, blog RSS feeds, emails from friends and colleagues and lots (and lots) of promotional material.

What does an email marketing victory look like?

You’re winning the war if your email gets opened. You’ve won the battle if your email gets a response.

Here are some tips that will help you win the email marketing war:

1. Write a subject line that gets your readers attention.

You could have the most amazing offer ever, but if your email isn’t opened, it’s worthless. Spark curiosity or simply explain what your email contains, but keep it under 10 words and make it stand out in a long list of emails.

2. Personalise your email.

Fill out the From field in your settings so your reader will recognise you as a credible source and personalise the greeting. “Hi Sarah” is so much nicer than “Dear sir/madam,” isn’t it?

3. Try sending your emails at different times.

The line between “work time” and “personal time” is heavily blurred so try sending your emails on the weekend, early in the morning and in the evening. Compare the results and see when your audience is most responsive.

4. Use lots of links.

When you scatter links through your email, your reader doesn’t have to work hard to follow the thread. It can be a number game, but the more accessible you make your content, the higher your click-through rates will be.

5. Include a strong call to action.

After getting your email through the SPAM filter, opened and read, you must direct your reader to some kind of action. Do you want them to reply? Tell them. Or visit your blog? Tell them. Just implying an action isn’t enough – be bold and really spell it out.

6. Optimise your email marketing for mobile devices and tablets.

As most of us access emails and webpages when we’re on the move, it’s worth making sure your email marketing is easy to read on a smaller screen.

7. Include an unsubscribe link.

This is a legal requirement, but it’s good practise to make the unsubscribe process as easy as possible. Why not collect some valuable information on the way out and ask them why they are leaving?

Most importantly, remember to measure, analyse and improve. A very respectable open rate is between 20%-40%, but this will be influenced by your industry, when you send the email, your subject line, etc. Try varying the elements of your email marketing, including your opener, how many links you use and your call to actions to see if they impact your results.

Is email marketing an effective tool in your marketing arsenal? Are there are tips you can add to the list?

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY BELINDA WEAVER

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By Kerry McDuling, McDuling PR

As many, if not more, searches are conducted on YouTube than on the most popular search engine, Google. YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos. The launch and rise in popularity of YouTube has created so many additional opportunities for publicity and building profile, that are open to virtually everybody with a recording device.

Create a unique YouTube video for branding exposure

The options are endless and anybody with half a creative bone in their body can post something really unique that will give exposure to their message, company, brand or product. In fact, some videos that are really different, creative, interesting or humorous have gone viral; in other words, people have willingly shared them with friends, family and colleagues because they found the video interesting or entertaining.

When coming up with ideas on what can be created, options are literally only limited by your imagination and what sort of video/editing equipment and experience you have. The technology nowadays is not only inexpensive, but relatively simple to use.

Here is an example that a book publisher, Bright Light Multimedia, used to promote an anthology of love stories and poems in the lead-up to Valentines Day.

They uploaded two videos, each with a similar theme, but will a completely different take on the idea. The concepts are simple, but effective.

http://youtu.be/9O1b1RB05mA

http://youtu.be/czUjTm9K54s

Top tips for creating a successful YouTube blog post:

Use these ideas to capture attention, build your profile and maybe even get people talking!

• Keep videos short and sweet and make sure you grab the attention of the viewer in the first ten seconds. People’s attention span online is vastly reduced than offline, so you need to grab them immediately.
• Include an element of entertainment, humour or interest. Remember that just because you think your idea is fabulous, others won’t necessarily, so get a second, third and fourth opinion.
• Steer clear of making it look and feel too much like an advertisement. That is generally not what will get the attention of YouTube viewers.
• However, that said, be sure to direct viewers back to you so they can buy from you. Your website at the end of the video clip is a good idea.

In future blog posts, I will share ideas on creating a brand and expert profile via regular YouTube videos.

MORE GREAT POSTS BY KERRY MCDULING

• Building a Personal Brand for Increased Exposure

In March 2011, I heard one of the founders of location-based application, foursquare, speak at the South By South West Interactive festival in Austin, Texas. Up until that time, I’d not used location apps except for the occasional checkin through Facebook places.

Since then, however, I’ve been playing with foursquare to understand its application and how it can be used as a marketing tool for business.

Location-based applications work because they are available on mobile devices. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I can share with the world what I’m enjoying. And, if what I’m enjoying is a product or service that your business provides, then that’s good news for you.

The key part of using location-based applications is to CHECK IN.

By saying “I am here” at this location (restaurant, bar, show, place of interest, live event, playground) and (if I want to) posting comments and photos, I share what I like and dislike about this experience so that friends can take that information on board to make a better decision in the future.

And as the system gets to know what I like better, it’ll provide me recommendations —  ’facilitate serendipity’ as co-founder Dennis Crowley explains in this video:

A newbies special – a great way to reward new clients

I had my first experience of foursquare as a business tool a few months back when I went to visit a local hair salon. When I checked-in (the application invites me to register my visit in order to accumulate points and to share with my social networks great places I’m visiting), a message popped up – a Newbies Special.

It offered me a free hand massage while I was waiting to have my hair done. I was chuffed. Who doesn’t like a freebie?

A few weeks later, I was traveling to Melbourne and while in the hotel bar grabbing a pre-dinner drink, checked in on my iPhone. Up popped a special from the restaurant. Free glass of wine with my meal. I was planning on having dinner there, so this extra little bonus was the source of a promotional message from me out to my friends to share my good fortune.

Both these instances are examples of how thousands of small businesses are harnessing the power of location-based applications like foursquare to connect with clients and to reward customer loyalty.

Who doesn’t want to be mayor?

Foursquare is acquiring over one million new users per month. Millions of people in every city, in every country, are checking in and playing the game of foursquare – vying to be mayor of their favourite establishment.

The built-in gaming technology (you win points for multiple visits, you get crowned the mayor if you’re a regular – and many establishments reward mayors with extra love, attention, discounts) keeps fans using the application because loyalty and use is rewarded and because the built-in rewards system of acquiring points and beating your friends to a high score work.

(Quick aside: I’m the Mayor at my gym. Now, that’s not because I go there more often than anyone else who trains there, but I religiously check in to maintain my mayorship. When I’ve been ousted and de-crowned! — which foursquare takes joy in letting me know the minute it happens —  I’m quick to get back on my game to redeem my position. Sounds silly, but for the business, it’s a good testament. And, because each time I check in I have foursquare post to my social networks, those that I’m connected to on those networks get to see that I like going to this gym – and that’s a powerful endorsement when your customers are posting your name all over the social-media-sphere.)

Recommendations and referrals from people you trust

Dennis Crowley - Co-founder of foursquare

The ability to know what someone whom I trust thought of a place is a shortcut for me. Should I spend time going to that show or visiting that exhibition? My friends recommendations matter and I can know them by seeing what they said when they ‘checked in’.

It’s very clever.

Location-based marketing and your business

Facebook, despite having it’s Places application recently bought foursquare’s major competitor – so you can bet they know the power of location and are looking to make bigger waves in this aspect of social media and social sharing.

Still relatively new to businesses in Australia, foursquare is a powerful tool that should be explored as part of an integrated marketing campaign.

But what is foursquare and why has it become the hottest customer magnet ever conceived?

Here’s what bestselling author, David Meerman-Scott has to say:

“The power to reach buyers at the exact time and the exact place they’re looking for what you offer has massive implications for all kinds of businesses worldwide. Carmine Gallo expertly shows you how to tap into the foursquare revolution, and he does it with a practical approach you can put to work in your business right now. There’s an epic swarm and it’s time for you to check in!”
—DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT, bestselling author of Real-Time Marketing & PR

Join the Australian Businesswomen’s Network on 8 February for a closer look at foursquare

International bestselling author Carmine Gallo not only has had unprecedented first-hand access to foursquare’s founders, he also has interviewed dozens of business owners and marketers who have revolutionised their businesses through The Power of foursquare.

He joins us on 8 February as our guest on BOOKED for Lunch, a free lunchtime webinar during which we’ll interview Carmine and ask him about his new book The Power of foursquare.

You can read more about this free upcoming webinar here.

By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit

If social networking is the new frontier of small business, then Facebook must surely be the wagon that gets us there. However, showing up and staking a claim isn’t enough; you’ve got to work that claim to unearth any riches.

I’ve been optimising my own Admin Bandit fan page over the last few months and here’s what I’m learning.

Use applications to make your page different

“Customisation” is the Facebook buzz word right now. What it means is that you can modify the look and functionality of your fan page… and you don’t need to be an IT geek to do it. All you need is one of the many templates available online (the basic ones are free, while the more advanced attract a monthly fee) — setting it up is like painting by numbers.

For example, I used Lujure to create my “welcome” tab, which is the first thing non-fans see when they go to my page. I’ve added a banner, photograph, Twitter feed, testimonials and a link to a 55-day free trial of my accounting software.

A friend who runs a small saddlery on Facebook used Pagemodo to create her “welcome” tab. Compare the two to see just how flexible customisation applications are; the same basic technology has created two “welcome” tabs that are chalk and cheese.

Of course, you don’t need to stick to a single application. Horse Feathers Saddlery used Payvment to create a Facebook store, complete with an inventory function and a check-out linked to Paypal.

Just as exciting is how easy customisation applications are to find. The best ways are to check out the fan pages of other businesses in your industry, especially your competitors or do a Google search.

How to attract fans

Ah, this is where the rubber hits the road for fan pages… getting people to “like” you.

Let me say upfront that attracting fans is not a popularity contest — all fans, whether they purchase or not, have the potential to share quality content and boost your social proof; that is, your credibility and influence.

Start with the marketing basics:

• Add your Facebook address to your stationery, including your email signature, blog and website
• Regularly link to your fan page in electronic communications, especially blog posts and e-newsletters
• Give people reasons to “like” you. Make the benefits clear, such as special offers, free resources or sneak previews
• Ask. It sounds too good to be true, but “plugs” and requests through your personal Facebook page really work!

Apart from buying fans (yes, believe it or not, you can!), a competition or giveaway is the best way to get a sudden influx of fans, up to a couple of hundred at a time, especially the more elusive kind that you don’t personally know. However, Facebook has specific guidelines on hosting anything that comes under the “promotion” banner, so make sure you’re familiar with what you can and can’t do, and toe the line because I know people who have been unwittingly caught and temporarily suspended!

Viral marketing requires more work and doesn’t bring the same instant fix, but it does offer a sustained trickle for steady, long-term growth of fans genuinely interested in your business, not just the lure of a freebie.

In case you don’t know, viral marketing is about increasing awareness of your brand using pre-existing social networks. In the case of Facebook, it means regularly and actively participating in other fan pages, where you’ll meet and attract like-minded people. The really cool part is that every time you leave a comment or tag another user in a comment, you appear in at least one person’s news feeds, which puts you in view of that person’s entire network. Now, that offers possibilities!

So, which fan pages do you head to? The easy answer is to start with those related to your industry and expertise. For example, my business is part of the non-profit, accounting and IT industries, so you’ll see a stack of community, non-profit, philanthropy, IT and small business groups and peak bodies in my list of “likes”.

How to engage your fans

Getting conversations started is probably the biggest Facebook struggle for any small business. And it seems no expert or study has a fool-proof solution… yet.

Until anyone knows for sure, here are some ideas to try:

• Be human: share the bad with good, post photos of your office, life and day
• Don’t over-think your posts; say whatever pops into your head (within reason!)
• Ask for opinions and experiences, but make your questions quick and easy to answer
• Appeal to the emotions… people often respond to humour or injustice
• Thank people for simply being your fans
• Mix business and fun: I posted a photo of my dog at Christmas and my team at a convention with a spy theme
• Post regularly, BUT….
• Post quality over quantity: useful links, information, advice, famous quotes
• Tag people when you post about them or respond to comments
• Host Facebook events, such as sales, workshops, Q and A sessions
• Finally, look at super popular fan pages… what do they do?

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By Vivienne Kane, Minuteman Press Prahran

When you think Virgin, you think Richard Branson. McDonalds – Ronald McDonald. Victoria Bitter – a tradie in a singlet and stubbies.

Have you ever thought what your business would be if it came to life in human form?

What are the values and impressions you’d like to project?

Would you be a cool Gen Y with a couple of tasteful tatts and slightly out there dress sense? Or possibly a well groomed corporate type in a pinstripe suit? Or maybe a grey haired lady with a nana trolley? Would you be old or young, conservative or cutting edge, middle income or poor, an innovator or a follower?

If your business is an expression of who you are, and you think that’s important, it’s a very worthwhile exercise to think about this.

Is your brand personality someone your customers would buy from?

It’s particularly pertinent when you’re growing from a one woman band to an enterprise with multiple staff, some or all of whom have contact with your customers.

Imagine if your “business personality” is a smartly dressed forty something with a quirky sense of humour , but your front-line staff are all Gen Y’s with little training and no spark or interest in conversation. Perhaps your customers might be a bit confused.

Don’t assume everyone will understand your approach by osmosis. It needs to be explained as well as modelled. Role plays are a great tool. Of course, you don’t want the “business personality” to be a straight jacket – but your core values, approach to solving problems and conversational tone should all be clear, consistent and reflected by everyone in the business.

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY VIVIENNE KANE

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By Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen’s Network

If you had to get up tomorrow, or a week from now, and pitch your idea to an audience, how would you go?

James Stevens, Roses Only, Lindley Edwards, AFG Venture Group and Suzi Dafnis, Australian Businesswomen's Network

Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) recently gave four women the opportunity to pitch in front of a panel of judges (Dragons’ Den style) and an audience of about 60 other business owners.

These four entrepreneurs weren’t pitching for money, but were none-the-less expected to do their best to convey their message and provide enough information (but not too much) about what they were offering. In exchange, they got some business advice to help them improve their pitch and further their ideas.

I was on the panel, along with James Stevens of Roses Only and the delightful Lindley Edwards of AFG Venture Group.

Four courageous women took the stage:

1. Nikki Hills, founder and managing director, Mouths of Mums
2. Michelle Teague, entrepreneur looking for her next venture (Invisible ink name badges!)
3. Angela Elliss, founder and managing director, Australian Home Design Directory Group
4. Julie Ankers, founder and managing director, Statement Pieces

Overall, they all did a great job pitching their ideas.They (obviously) knew their business and were very passionate.

Some of the areas that they could have done better at were clarity of message, succinctness and being specific about what the outcome of the pitch was.

Despite the evening event being a great networking night for a bit of fun, the women did get some great advice from the panel, including these four areas below:

Four Ways to Improve Your Business Pitch

Length of Pitch. How Long Should Your Pitch Be?

Most presenters exceeded the suggested time limit. If you have an audience (whether with your bank manager, investors or a potential business client) and they have allocated a certain amount of time for a meeting – then stay within the boundaries. It shows you respect their time.

It’s easier to speak for a long time than to speak succinctly for a short time. So, practise, practise, practise.

Say what you need to say with the most punch and fewest words.

If you’re compelling, you can ask for extra time to expand, but don’t take it without checking in or you risk losing people’s focus.

A Clear Message Cuts Through

Nikki Hills, Mouths of Mums

It was not always clear what the intentions was behind the pitch each woman gave.

What do you want the audience/panel to do? be very clear in your outcome and state it.

For example:

Today I’d like to tell you enough about our 2012 plans to convince you to share our message with you clients.

or

I’m looking to raise $10,000 for marketing. Over the next 10 minutes, I’ll present our marketing plan and I’ll then ask for your input on our ideas.

Tell Your Story – Set the framework

Your personal story adds colour and life and allows us to see behind the person that is doing the pitch.

When I was a panelist on the Dragons Den TV show, we dragons signed up equally on the likability of the person as well as the message and numbers. People like to do business with those they know and trust, so let the audience know you.

Similar to the clarity of message point above, tell your story, but don’t get carried away. We don’t need to know your history and every detail – just enough to make a decision or follow a call to action.

Know your facts and study your competitors

If you’re going into a new market then learn about that market, your competitors and who your competition is. As much as we like to think sometimes that we have no competition, we always do. It just may not be obvious. If you’re bringing out a new telephone (I know – extreme example) then the iPhone is not your only competition – not is every other phone – it’s actually every other way that there is for people to connect with other people.

Also, the whole market is NOT your market. There’s usually a subset of the big group who you can effectively address. (This is your ‘addressable market’.)

When it comes to the numbers, get really crystal clear about what it will cost to implement a plan. If you’re not good with numbers then it’s difficult for investors to have confidence in you. Run the details past your accountant and, again, practise talking about them so that you’re comfortable if asked questions.

Remember, you may only have one opportunity to pitch in front of a particular person or group. Pitching is an art and a science, so look to improve your skills as a presenter, speaker and do your homework.

And, good luck.

Suzi

P.S. I recently interviewed Lindley Edwards about narrative in business storytelling. You can listen to the interview here on our website or tune in on iTunes.

About DWEN

The DWEN community is an invitation-only, global community established to bring together an influential group of female CEOs, presidents, founders and business leaders to share best practices within the unique and challenging world of running high-growth businesses.

With the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) and other related initiatives, Dell is spotlighting female entrepreneurial success and creating an atmosphere where women can connect with one another, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology.

DWEN Annual Conference: Dehli, India

In 2012, Dell’s annual conference will be at the cultural mecca of Delhi, India from June 17-19. Attendance is by invitation-only.

To learn more join the DWEN “Women Powering Business” Linkedin Community: visit www.dell.com/dwen

Being part of the DWEN community creates unique opportunities to connect, share best practices, build business opportunities and recognise female influence in business and technology. In addition to the annual DWEN Conference, the community holds webinars, Tweetchats and face-to-face networking events throughout Australia.

By Bianca Board, Web123

What’s one thing you’re going to do better in 2012? I hope it’s taking action to improve your website! It’s a huge untapped resource for most of us small businesses as we can sometimes fail to see it as an investment. Like any investment, it should be showing you a profit.

Marketing your website and ensuring it is converting leads and getting you more sales should be at the top of your priorities for 2012. I have 12 pointers to help you get started on this… but trust me; they won’t work unless YOU take ACTION!

Pointer 1: Set your goals.

If you don’t have a clear direction or a set goal to target, then how do you know you’re improving? You don’t! Setting special goals can allow you to plan each step of the way and measure how far away you are from reaching the end goal.

Make sure you have SMART goals; in other words, they need to be: Specific, Measurable, Accurate, Realistic and Timely. Here are some examples:

• Increase sales by XX% during the next financial year
• Grow my subscriber list by XX by June 2012
• Generate XX leads on a weekly basis
• Grow my Facebook fan base to XX fans by June 2012
• Grow online sales by XX% over the next 2 months without increasing my advertising spend

As you can see from these examples, they provide a specific target that’s measurable, accurate, isn’t unrealistic and provides a time frame in which it needs achieving. Make yourself accountable.

So, how can you carry out achieving these goals? Through the use of Tactics!

Pointer 2: Define tactics for achieving your goals.

Put simply, tactics are what you’ll use to carry out your strategies in order to accomplish your goals. Once you identify the reasons for creating and investing in your website, you’ll find it easy to put strategies and tactics in place.

So really you need to work backwards. Define your goals first and then work out how you’ll achieve them. Here are some examples of tactics you could implement:

• Build a database of email prospects
• Promote my business through email marketing
• Sell my products 24/7 using a shopping cart
• Share my expertise through a blog
• Get a guest blogging gig on XYZ blog
• Create one webinar per month on specific topics

These tactics will help you ensure your goals are SMART and can be accurately undertaken without being unrealistic for your business.

Pointer 3: Are you telling your customers where to go?

If your website doesn’t clearly state what the next step is for a customer or where they should go to purchase a product or download a report, how will the customer know where to go? They won’t and this means they’ll either wander your site aimlessly or leave your site as it’s ‘too hard to find’ what they’re looking for.

Therefore, ‘Calls to Action’, known as CTAs, need to be placed on your site in order to clearly direct your visitors to do what you want them to do. The customer came to your website to hopefully buy, so place a CTA on your homepage that clearly points to your products, and ideally at least one CTA on every single page to encourage secondary actions like add to cart, join your newsletter, download your eBook, book a consultation, etc.

The use of catchy headlines and compelling copy is what can also be used as a CTA. If your headline doesn’t catch your reader’s attention straight away, then you risk losing that customer.

Pointer 4: Lead Capturing – What ‘FREE’ can really mean for your business.

People love getting things for free – if they feel there’s value. Putting a small hurdle in the way of someone getting something of value and then seeing whether they jump over it is a great way to filter qualified leads from casual browsers. Lead capture is the capturing of details (name and email as a minimum) for this qualification process. On the flip side, you could always offer free content without a barrier to encourage your content to spread more virally.

Lead capture, properly implemented, helps a visitor get to know you, like you and trust you.

Give them something of value, offer them ongoing information and freebies – and once they’re ready to buy, you’ll be front of mind.

When you’re planning out how to do it, it’s best to think of it as a sale where the customer is paying with information. You’ll want to use all the sales techniques you’d normally use to try to convert visitors into leads as you would converting a prospect into a customer. Use eBooks, reports, whitepapers, webinars, calculators, templates, checklists or ongoing advice as your “product”. Keep in mind all the profiling you’ve done of your ideal clients and use their hot buttons. Create content that helps solve their problems and you’ll have them eating out of your hands!

Pointer 5: Ditch the generic stock photo!

Stop relying on the same old stock photos for your website. Hire a professional photographer or, even better, hire a student photographer who will only charge a small fee!

Nothing beats authenticity and originality.

People like to see exactly what they’re getting and they want to know it’s of good quality. Even with service-based business, having photographs of your staff and what they do will add that personal touch and feel to your website. Real is better. As Ali G would say…  “Keep it real.”

I’m not saying don’t use stock photos because, in some cases, they are needed, but consider for your 2012 website marketing to include new and original photos of you and your team.

Pointer 6: How to get more email subscribers.

If you want to increase subscriptions to your newsletter, try changing the copy and making it more about your prospects’ problems, fears and concerns. Instead of saying ‘Join our Newsletter’, try ‘Free Expert Tips & Success Strategies to Make You More Profitable’.

Offering them something of value is the trick!

People’s inboxes are overcrowded with newsletters these days – what would entice them to join yours? A gift voucher? A Free report or eBook? Regular Free Advice? The list is endless.

We did this with ours and got a whopping 3600% increase in newsletter subscriptions!

What are you going to include in yours to convert them later on too? Free accounting advice? Industry updates? Expert webinars? Always send good quality content that will interest your subscribers. Continuous blast-outs of product announcements just doesn’t cut it these days.

Pointer 7: Accelerate your conversions via landing pages.

Landing pages are simplified pages on your website dedicated to capturing leads or sales for one specific offer or product. I’m sure you’ve come across these before – a page with a sales pitch, lead capture form and one button – one way in, and only one way out.

Your response and conversion rates can be drastically improved by directing campaigns to landing pages – it keeps your message and your sales pitch crystal clear and ensures they’re not distracted by any other of your messages. Landing pages for campaigns targeting different markets can push the hot buttons of different types of ideal clients.

How can you utilise this tactic? Simple:

• Create a landing page that includes all the information about the campaign you’re running. For example, if you’re offering a free eBook for the purpose of lead capture and you’re advertising it through online ads, ensure the landing page has all the information required for the prospect to download the eBook. Include the benefits they’ll receive by downloading the book and of course include your lead capture form. Don’t get greedy with the fields you make them complete either. Keep it simple at this first stage.
• All your advertisements should link to this one landing page. The one-click to the landing page allows the customer to qualify the product instantly and quickly download what they want.
• Ensure you keep your leads and add them to your database for further nurturing!

Landing pages are also great for promoting workshops, special product packages, eBooks or whitepapers and other valuable insider content you want to market.

Pointer 8: Become an Educator.

Building a higher presence within your industry comes down to how much credibility the viewers of that industry perceive you have. A blog is a great way to position yourself and your business as experts in your field – as well as generate quality traffic for your website. Think of it as a personal journal, explaining something related to your industry (and your ideal clients) without being sales-focused. And consider getting controversial too. Make a real statement with your opinion and you could gain more traction and comments on your blog.

This integrates closely with the building of trust – for the kind of reader who goes into depth on your website, they’ll see that you’re knowledgeable, trustworthy and not going for the hard sell.

A blog, like your website, is a living, breathing asset. Google loves recent content.

Google loves newsworthy content. Treat it with love and care to keep your customers and prospects coming back!

Other tools that show you are an educator within your field include:

• eBooks
• Whitepapers
• Reports
• Email Newsletters with tips and advice
• Tutorials

Test each type of tool and see which one your audience prefers the most!

Pointer 9: Go Video in 2012.

Video is the new way to improve your Google ranking. Utilising video on your site can improve your rankings in Google 50 times better than a page of text!

Not only does video improve your ranking, it also allows you to explain what you do easier and will give you a better chance to build trust with your customers rather than using text on its own.

You don’t need a film crew or expensive camera to do it either. There are heaps of free tools that allow you to edit video. Search your computer – it’s bound to have one!

Pointer 10: Slow and steady wins the race.

Search Engine Optimisation is a set of tactics and practices you can implement or outsource to drive your website up the natural rankings in search engines for the keywords you want to be found on.

The best way to handle SEO is to outsource it – make sure you go with a reputable provider, but know that the hours of work required to do a good job with SEO can be substantial.

However, there are a number of things you can do to improve your SEO performance without spending a cent or investing too much time:

• Think about what your ideal client is going to type into Google to find you. Do your keyword research.
• Update all your online listings. To find out where they are, type your domain name into Google with inverted commas like this: “www.mydomain.com.au” and hit search.
• Build additional external links. e.g., get your suppliers to link to your site, write guest blog posts, write articles and submit them to online directories for publishing.
• Set yourself up a Google Places Account – for help with this, you can see this post Listing with Google Places in 3 Easy Steps.
• And use video where you can.

It’s a known fact that 90% of search engine users won’t go past the first 3 pages.

In fact, about 42% of people click on the number 1 result. That’s almost half! Therefore, you need to get your business ahead of competitors. If you’re on a tight budget or the DIY type, you could even try a 30 day DIY program to improve your rank >>

Pointer 11: Social Media – Just do it really well.

As we all know by now, social media is where people (and your customers) are hanging out at. This means that your business should be there as well, utilising it to communicate with customers in a more personal way.

However, the point of social media tools like Facebook and YouTube isn’t about just being present. If you really want to make an impact and gain higher conversions from using social media, then you need to do it really well!

This is easier than you think if you have a good strategy behind you. Ensure you communicate on a regular basis if you’re on Facebook and encouraging participation in your posts from your ‘likers’. If you utilise YouTube, ensure you are regularly updating content and pushing links through to Facebook. Keeping active on social media will keep your audience aware of you and will eventually convert them.

Remember, only spend time where you know your audience does. Don’t waste time on Twitter if your audience isn’t using it yet. Research first then approach it from a strategic standpoint and you’ll succeed.

Pointer 12: How to implement and action for 2012.

Your brain has probably just overloaded and you’re now thinking, “How do I go about implementing things like this for 2012?” Don’t stress! It’s all about planning and setting out what you want to achieve… remember Pointers 1 & 2? They are your first steps. Then you need to sort out what tactics (pointers 3-11) you will use to achieve your goals.

Here are some quick tips of getting started on implementing:

• Set Your Goals – what do you want to achieve and by when?
• Create a Content Calendar – what are you going to market and when? Think of what you’re going to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis, then plan it out in your calendar.
• Measure using Google Analytics and Your Website Statistics – Measuring is important to ensure you are on track to achieving your goals. Don’t miss this crucial step.
• Review your progress on a monthly basis – if you aren’t on track, then you should refine your processes or refine your goals to be SMART. If one medium isn’t bring any sales, maybe it’s time to ditch it and put your energy into something that will.

As you can see, when you break it down, it can be a lot easier to take action for marketing your website for 2012. By taking action, and being patient, I guarantee you’ll see positive results and you won’t look back!

What have you got planned for 2012? Share your ideas below. Leave a comment now.

By Belinda Weaver, Copywrite Matters

7 minutes isn’t a terribly long time.

You could make a cup of tea, return a phone call or enjoy a quick walk around the block.

But what if I told you that in just 420 seconds you could optimise your latest blog post or webpage so that Google (and your readers) love it?

1. Choose one main theme in two or three words

If you strive to write content that search engines love, then step 1 is to make each page easy to digest. When you cover lots of topics in a single blog post, article or webpage, your copywriting can look a bit like a pile of books on the floor (to search engines that is).

Choose a main theme to your page or blog post, and stick to it. If you can think of related topics, break them out into more posts or subpages.

2. Do a quick search for the best keywords

Keywords are the words and phrases people use to find solutions online, so if you want your blog posts to be found, you need to use the same words and phrases as your audience!

Google has a free keyword tool that will show you words and phrases that are being searched on and how popular they are. Start by putting in terms relating to your main topic. Ideally you want phrases that have high traffic and low competition.

3. Use your keywords in your headline and any subheadings

To boost your SEO, you need to get smart and use your keywords strategically. One of the ways you can do this is in your headlines and subheadings. Try and use your keywords at the start of your headlines and subheadings, but always keep your reader in mind.

If it feels like you’re pushing a round peg into a square hole, then choose readability over optimisation!

4. Convert long paragraphs into lists

Search engines love bullet and numbered lists and pay particular attention to them. This naturally means your lists are valuable locations for your keywords, especially the first two words of each list.

Lists will also make your web pages and blog posts easier to read which is good news for your audience (and happy readers are good news for you!)

5. Create links between pages and use your keywords

Creating links between your pages has a few benefits. Links make it easy for your readers to navigate around your site, which in turns keeps them hanging around for longer. More importantly, from an SEO point of view, search engines pay particular attention to links making them the ideal location for your keywords.

6. Run your copy through Wordle.net

While there are several ways to use your keywords strategically, using them frequently is also important. One of the hardest elements of SEO copywriting can be striking a balance between using your keywords frequently and still sounding natural.

Wordle.net will show you a word cloud of your page with the most commonly used words in larger font. You will quickly get a sense of whether or not you need to do more optimisation work, but always keep your reader in mind!

7. Use your keywords in the page title and description tags

Another strategic use of your keywords is in your page title and description tags. Search engines use these metatags as clues about your content so they are prime candidates for a little keyword love.

The page title and descriptions tags also determine the text that appears when search results are displayed, which means they are like ads for your site.

So there you have it. 7 ways you can optimise your online copywriting in just 7 minutes. If you ever think about SEO as “something you’ll get to grips with one day”, remember all you need is 7 minutes!

MORE GREAT BLOG POSTS BY BELINDA WEAVER

• Masterclass: More Effective Website Copywriting

Flavia Abbate is the CEO of Bolster Trading, manufacturers and distributors of a range of exercise tools and educational resources for allied health professionals and end users, including the BodyBolster.

In this In Her Shoes interview, Flavia discusses:

• the impact of her previous careers on her current focus
• her strategy for taking an Australian product and making it international
• promotion and strategy tips for launching a new product
• how to use marketing in the digital age
• business tips for other entrepreneurs

Enjoy this interview with Flavia Abbate!

Watch this interview on the Australian Businesswomen’s Network website now.

About the In Her Shoes series In Her Shoes is a regular video series presented by the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and BNet.com.au. Each interview features an inspiring businesswoman and her strategies for success. New episodes are released regularly. Become a Community Member for regular updates. StartUp and Growth Members get updates automatically. Become a Community Member with the Australian Businesswomen’s Network.

By Nerida Gill, Admin Bandit

I’m tempted to add “New Year’s resolutions” to my list of dirty words. The phrase is just too steeped with failure — it doesn’t help, of course, that the media loves to bombard us with abysmal statistics.

Apparently 25% of us can’t even stick to a resolution for a week and 88% fall by the wayside within a year.

There’s even an industry that analyses the top reasons we fail!

Are we really that pathetic?

No.

I think we fail because no-one has taught us to make effective resolutions — our resolutions are too vague and focus on the negative, which means we either have no plan of attack or have to deprive ourselves of something we love, such as chocolate.

So I’m not going to give up making New Year’s resolutions just yet… I’m just going to make ones that are specific and optimistic. I’ve brainstormed a list of bite-sized things we can all do to boost our businesses and refresh our enthusiasm in 2012.

Best of all, they’re (mostly) free and take less than five minutes to start!

Learn and grow

Professional development is a breeze, not to mention fun and inspiring when you:

• Join an association (and later take on a role)
• Get familiar with your local library’s business section
• Hire a consultant
• Attend a workshop or conference
• Learn how to write a press release

Get organised

A few simple strategies will transform the way you work. To get more done in less time and with fewer hassles:

• Set three to five specific goals at the beginning of each week
• Write a daily to-do list, tackling the most important tasks first
• Divide your time into blocks of related activities to reduce distractions and interruptions. For example, make your phone calls or answer your emails in a single sitting
• If you catch yourself procrastinating, ask yourself, “Is this the best use of my time?”
• Set a time limit on meetings and stick to it
• Spend 10 minutes a day doing those tasks you avoid… it quickly adds up.

Develop your business relationships

Networking doesn’t have to be scary; in fact, it can be surprisingly effortless:

• Join or friend business-related Facebook pages and regularly leave comments
• Say “thank you” more often: acknowledge everyone from your team members to the speaker at a seminar
• Decide to be cheerful: smile, compliment or chat to your customers, suppliers and associates, even if they’re grumpy or difficult
• Give people something for nothing: your time, advice, free samples or even small gifts

Attract more customers

Don’t have a marketing and promotions budget? A little creativity and Internet savvy go a long way:

• Join social networks. Get on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr
• Start a blog or guest post on a related blog
• Create a new email signature with all your contact details, including address, phone numbers, email, website and social networking links
• Engage with small business forums: ask questions, leave comments and share your experiences
• Invite customers, suppliers and associates to join your mailing list
• Develop partnerships with complementary businesses
• Share your expertise: run free workshops, make videos for Youtube or write an e-book to download from your website
• Run a competition or donate prizes to an event
• Start an incentive/rewards program

MORE GREAT POSTS BY NERIDA GILL

• Ho Ho Ho, A’ Christmas Networking We Go
• Entrepreneurial Qualities: Lessons from the Life of Steve Jobs
• Keeping Up With Your Brand: A Reality Lesson from the Kardashians