How To Reach Out To Local Business Leads

For many people, their businesses are their primary source of income and the way they provide for their families. In order for a business to continue generating a steady source of income, and to grow, a business needs to seek new clients. Anyone who's been in business for a day can tell you how competitive it is. Your customers have plenty of businesses to choose from so you have to go out and find them. It's hard to be found by new customers, but luckily in the age of the internet we have thousands of platforms and means to advertise and market ourselves.

There are many ways to start with lead generation and it can be done through platforms like Google and social media. Many businesses also like to use a landing page along with other methods to generate leads. Using landing pages effectively can be a great way to gather leads, but first you have to get your leads to visit them.

Whether your business is online or offline both avenues are great for getting the word out about what your business is doing. Many believe multimedia marketing is only for the big dogs in the business, but local companies have many avenues before them as well.

1: Paper Publication Advertising

If you're trying to draw in certain groups or demographics, local magazines or newspapers may be the way to go. This is a great way to reach people locally and to reach a specific audience since magazines and paper publications that operate by subscription will cater to a certain audience. By using local publications you also have a higher probability of reaching people in the neighborhood. Even in 2020 there are still ways to be effective in newspaper advertising as well.

2: Online Paid Ads

Pay per click and similar methods of online advertising are still alive and well and with customizable tools and targeting options, ads on platforms like Google, Instagram and Facebook are becoming better than ever. These platforms allow you to set custom budgets and running times as well as specialized goals and targeting options. Social media is ideal for reaching customers because you can reach out to potentially millions or even billions all over the world, but you can narrow them to those who are most likely to take an interest in your business. Local businesses can utilize this incredible option as well, since the ads programs allow you to also target your customers geographically and may even be able to track local behaviors like store visits. Many businesses are using social media to advertise their business as well as to generate leads on platforms like Facebook. Online ads are the ideal way to reach out to potential clients and customers as well as prospective leads globally, nationally, and yes, locally, at the click of a button.

3: Google

Google is the most widely used search engine in the world. While the platform allows you to potentially reach millions or perhaps even billions of customers all over the world, it's also ideal for gathering local leads and clients as well. Did you know? More than half of smart phone users locally find services on Google by simply typing a business or service name then the words “near me” into search engines to find what they need locally. Optimizing your business webpage, landing page, and social media page as well as local results is an ideal way to find the people you need locally. All local entrepreneurs should consider optimizing their listings on Google My Business.
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4: Business Cards

Local businesses are still often relying on tried and true methods, and where the modernization of the digital age hasn't rendered these methods obsolete it has in many ways improved them. Online websites like Vistaprint make it easier than ever to print paper promotional materials like business cards and flyers to help you get the word out in person when the times comes. Design is made easy by online wizards or cheap freelancer services, and if you prefer not to wait for shipment you can even pick them up at your local Stores that offer this service.

Business cards are still a tried and true method for networking and reaching out to local clients and should be carried on you at all times. Often business owners have complained of networking and business opportunities arising in daily conversation, only to realize they had nothing to give the potential client who may have been to rushed to take down a number. Business cards are still a great way to make people aware of your business, social media pages, web pages, and may even be a great way to draw local traffics to your leads pages.

5: Direct Mail

Many in the business world still have mixed views about direct mail marketing, but it is certainly still effective even as a means of lead generation. It takes some work and research but you can market and reach out to leads effectively through direct mail marketing and it is an assured way to reach out to local leads since you know all your recipients are in the neighborhood. Direct mail marketing may not be as effective as it used to be, but many businesses are still using as effective way to expand their client base.

6: Automated Programs

One thing that's making life easier for business owners of every size and stripe, is the development of software that automates and streamlines the process. Programs like Macroleads allows you to organize your leads and reach out far more effectively to potential clients, all while saving precious time.

How to Make More Money Without Having to Look for More Customers

It’s often a lot easier to sell to your current customers than to get a new customer. They already like and trust you and know your product/service works. Tap into that opportunity by looking at what else you can sell to your customers that compliments what they bought previously.

For example, if you have a resume writing service, you could go out to recent customers and also offer an additional service where you submit their resume to X amount of job ads and write a customized cover letter for each ad, and also submit their resume to several recruitment agencies.

One of our followers once had a tech business where he sold server management services, and he was asking me how to increase sales. After pointing out how it’s often much easier to sell to existing customers than get new ones, I asked him what kind of stuff or things his current customers seem to want or ask him for. As I suspected, they were often asking for things like websites, ranking help, etc. among other things. But to my surprise, he wasn’t offering any of these services (or even taking a cut from others he referred them out to). Months later I heard from him that he finally put my advice into action and said that he instantly saw a big boost in sales, and then months after that I heard that he increased his sales to something around 66% more with just adding a couple other offers that he’d approach existing customers on. He admitted that he wasn’t really even trying hard, and that if he gave it some more thought, he likely could’ve more than doubled his existing sales. That’s the power of selling to your existing customers with relevant offers that they likely already need!

Since your customers are going to be buying related products and services anyway, you might as well have them buy it from you! And even if you can’t offer the product or service directly yourself, you can easily reach out to those who can supply them and work out a commission deal for referrals. Reselling to your current customers is often a lot easier and less costly that trying to obtain a new customer. So try reaching out to your current and past clients with a complimentary offer to what they’ve bought in the past.

For other marketing tips on how to maximize revenue from your current customers, and refine your current sales funnel and offerings, check out this tool: BizFire's Free Funnel Maker & Analyzer.

How to Create Repeat Customers Using Future-Use Coupons

How can you encourage customers to make their second, third, and fourth purchase with you? How can you entice them to keep coming back and buying from you, changing them from a once off customer to a regular? Future-use coupons are one great strategy to employ to incentivize customers to make that next buy.

So how do future-use coupons work? When customers make a purchase, you give them a coupon for a dollar value or percentage off their next purchase. This is called a “future-use” coupon. It encourages your customers to come back and purchase from you again, and keeps you in their mind. You can even make receiving the coupon dependent on spending a certain amount, to encourage customers to spend more per sale.

For example, if you have tennis shop, you could have an offer where if they spend over $100 today they get $25 off their next purchase of $100 or more. Not only does this give an incentive for your customers to spend $100 now, it also gets you an additional $100 sale next time they come in wanting to use their coupon.

So encourage customers to come back to you with “future-use” coupons, where, if they spend a certain amount with you today, they get a percentage or dollar discount next time they make a purchase with you.

Want more great tips on customer retention and turning your clients into repeat purchasers? Check out this book 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!

A Unique Way to Increase Your Customers Spend Per Sale: The Value of Offering A Gift With Purchase

Offering a free gift, with a purchase over a certain amount (or just with any particular item), is a great way to encourage people to buy from you, but also to spend more per sale if they have to spend a certain limit. A great way to take this strategy a step further is to make your free gift a sample of other products you want to promote, or a new product you want to encourage your customers to try so as to buy in the future.

For example, beauty brands use this strategy regularly, and to great effect, offering a selection of sample size beauty products in a cute looking case, when spending over $50, $70, $100, etc. in one transaction. Not only does the free gift encourage their customers to buy more beauty products in one transaction, it also allows them a chance to introduce their customers to new products or items they may not have bought previously, without the chance to try them first.

A twist on this method that we used with great success in building a couple seven figure businesses was to offer a free gift in exchange for signing up for a monthly membership program as an upsell. It dramatically increased the conversion rates (by many, many times over). However, the key there was to have the perceived value of the bonus be more than their total investment for the first month. That makes them feel like they’re getting a no brainer offer that they’d be dumb to turn down, yet it gets them into your recurring money maker where many of them decide to stay to make you even more over time. The bonus here has to be of real value to them, which is why we often times would include a physical item as a bonus even for a digital membership program.

Look at what you can offer as a free gift to customers when they spend over a certain dollar amount in one transaction. This encourages your customer to spend more per sale and also gives you a chance to get customers trying new products, if you make those products your gift. Or put a little twist on that method and include a free gift with the purchase of any particular product you want to push, or even as a bonus to push them into a recurring membership site (physical products can work really well here for a bonus even if the main offer is a digital one).

For more great tips to increase your profits and make more money from your sales funnel, check out this tool here: BizFire's Free Funnel Maker & Analyzer

How to Convert More Sales By Using The Power of A Guarantee

Offering a guarantee is a great way to make it easier for customers to buy. It takes the risk out of the purchase for them, as it gives them an out if they don’t like the product. Psychologically, it also gives them confidence in your product - as why would you be offering a guarantee if you weren’t confident in your product? Now, to be clear, make sure you do offer a great product before you whack an awesome guarantee on it!

For example, if you have a mattress company, you could offer a guarantee and word it like this: “Try our mattresses risk free for 30 days - In the unlikely event that you’re not 100% satisfied with your mattress we will give you 100% of your money back.” A guarantee like this takes the risk out of buying for your customers and gives them confidence in your product. Most people won’t take advantage of the guarantee and the amount of returns you’ll have versus the increase in sales will be well worth it.

And having said that, it’s often best to be fairly laid back on your guarantees. If you have crazy fine print or rules to claim the refund, you’ll just encourage chargebacks, piss off your customers (potential future buyers), etc.. It pays to be nice and laid back to an extent.

So consider offering a guarantee that takes the risk out of the purchase for the customer (make sure you have a good quality product that you’re willing to back). Make your guarantee bold and visible, and the amount of extra sales should far outweigh those that make use of the guarantee.

For other tips on increasing your sales, check out his book: 50 Marketing Tips & Tricks Learned After $100 Million in Sales Over 20 Years!

How To Make Money Using Social Media

It takes a while to understand that social media sites are developed for more than just entertainment and de-escalation of boredom. You can make money through social media without selling anything. These platforms are, believe it or not, perfectly designed to be used as money-making machines. It may take you a little time and a lot of effort to get recognized by other social media users. You'll need to build an image and audience on social media. You'll need to build an audience and engage in an effective social media content strategy. Over time, as your audience grows and you accumulate more and followers a number of new income opportunities may open up to you, and you'll never have to create a store or start your own business if you don't want to. Once you have a substantial audience, here are some ways you can make money with your popular social media account:

1: Brand Promotion:

Some of the most effective marketing is done through ads and promotions online, but not all of it is pay per click advertising. Many companies will turn to famous and popular celebrities to promote or endorse their products. If you become a social media influencer companies may reach out to you for brand promotion deals. Companies know this is a great way, especially to reach a targeted audience.

Example: Look at Tecno Mobile who launched a Tik Tok campaign to reach out to teen users, which comprise about 90% of the website's audience.

2: Shout-outs:

Shout-outs, especially among young people and millennials, are becoming one of the most common social media promotion tactics. You find someone who is a highly influential social media personality with an audience that fits your target market and you get them to give a shout-out to their audience about your page or business. Not only can you gain new customers this way, but also followers and viewers for your other pages online. If you become influential enough on social media, other influencers and companies may reach out to you for a paid shout-out.

3: Selling Arts And Crafts On Social Media:

Millions, maybe even billions of social media users all over the world have a love for the arts. Who doesn't love seeing the creativity of another person in action through arts, crafts, and other special talents. Showing your creativity and talents in action and putting them on display is a great way to build a solid social media following if you do it right. In addition to getting the influence though, it also opens up the door to money-making opportunities. Many artists are already selling on Instagram, and Facebook is starting to break into E-Commerce as well. If you have talents and hobbies you're good at and passionate about, you may be able to turn it into a social media business.

Keeping Followers Engaged With Content

Building a following and keeping a following on social media follow somewhat similar strategies, in they evolve the constant creation of content. You need content that is original, unique, and will keep relevant users engaged, and it has to be constant. Keeping up with all the content you need to keep your following strong can be demanding, but it's very much worth it, and made easier by user-friendly software like News Poster to help get you started with relevant content rolling on your page.

Five Super Important Things to Rank Your Site

What is a Ranking in SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is meant for the betterment of web pages to help search engines rank them accordingly. In SEO, ranking indicates the position of a website’s page on what's called the search engine results pages (SERPs).
According to Google, the ranking of a website is vital because it helps in showing the relevant search results. It is also essential for the organization of largescale data present on the web and making the information reachable and valuable to people all around the world.

The ranking also makes it easier for Google to catalog the pages based on the optimization and quality of the pages.
The five most important factors in ranking of a website are:

1. Secure Website

The right URL is secure and easily accessible. A secure and accessible URL is probably the most important ranking factor of any website. Google’s bots should be able to access and crawl URLs for the information they need.
In other words, websites that have URLs that Google can visit and review easily, are more likely to rank higher on the SERPs.

To improve the ranking of your website by making it secure, you need to consider the following:
• A well-developed website through a standard website builder.
• Robots.txt file that is used by Google to determine where it can and cannot view the website information.
• A thorough sitemap which gives the details of all of your pages.

2. Page Speed

Page speed is one of the primary SEO ranking factors for many years. Websites that have rapid-loading webpages give an excellent experience to the users. Faster websites are highly preferred by search engines in any ranking system.
Since 2018, Google has taken into account the page speed on mobile devices as well as PCs. Therefore, website developers should consider smart devices and their loading speeds as well.

3. Mobile Responsiveness

Smartphones and other smart devices have become ubiquitous in the last decade. The majority of users on the web use mobile devices to browse websites. Hence, the mobile-friendliness of a website is a major ranking factor today. It has impacted the SERPs a lot because now, only mobile responsive websites are ranked on the first few pages of Google and other search engines.

Google implements a mobile-first index, which means that the results of the searched keywords are drawn from the mobile-optimized pages. Your website must be mobile responsive if you have a desire to see it ranked high on Google.

Some important factors included in website friendliness are:
• A responsive site that can fit and resize according to the device.
• Fonts are large enough to be readable on small screens.
• Different menus and pages can be accessed and navigated easily.
• Ads are placed appropriately and do not hide the content.

4. Content-Length

Some SEO experts do not consider the content length to be an important factor in the ranking of pages. However, it can be observed from the general ranking on Google that websites that have unique, engaging, relevant, and an appropriate word count are ranked higher than the others.

There is no hard and fast rule on the content length. A long piece of writing is appreciated in SEO ranking because it takes time and energy to create a unique and engaging long content.

However, there must be a balance in length. An excessively long and uninteresting piece of writing content will not attract many people to your website, which will adversely impact rankings.

Recent trends in Google rankings have shown that content length should never be ignored, and long-form content is performing better at the top of the SERPs. As a general rule, 1,000 words or more is optimal for most general content.

5. Domain Age and Authority

Data about the top-ranked websites on Google suggests that the old websites are ranked higher than the new websites. The main reason for this is that the old site is usually optimized over a period of a few years. In some cases, the domain name also accounts for the ranking of a website.

Some researches show that domains that match to each other and that are relevant, useful, and highly-optimized enjoy a significant ranking boost. However, your URL must reflect the nature of your business.

Authority is also another factor in SEO ranking. It consists of SEO signals like inbound links, social media impressions, and page authority. All of this requires a great deal of research, time, and experience, but the process can be made simple by automating it all through advanced programs. Highly ranked websites and SERPs are possible and you no longer have to be a digital marketing expert to make it all work. Web Fire is a great way to make this process fast and simple.