Becoming Your Small Business PR Specialist

When big businesses develop products or services, they hire public relations specialists to promote them. The public relations specialists’ job is to organize a promotional campaign to drive business through the door. They provide a press release or story to journalists in online and offline media. They’re hired to promote and create buzz about the new service or product. Making a small business P.R. campaign is a lot easier than many would think. By becoming your own public relations specialist, you can promote the same way, leaving your local Wisconsin competition in the dust.

First, make a list of potential contacts from local papers and also check online for free press release sites. In other words, find places looking to promote new businesses or products. A Good journalist is looking for a unique story to write about and small business success is one of them.  You’re making their job easier by bringing a story to them and cutting their workload down significantly. They often spend more time looking for a story to write about, than dong what they love, interviewing people and writing stories to publish!

You can find many find journalists working for a local newspaper by simply checking their website for the e mail address. You can also call local newspapers and ask to speak to the small business reporter or local beat reporter. Your business contact information will also be included in the newspaper article so people can contact your business. Get yourself in front of thousands of people this way and help your business take off.

The next step is to write a press release that you will send to local newspapers and also Internet press release sites. It is a factual non sales release explaining what great thing has happened with your business. Of course you will link to your small business website. This will drive many people to your site and the press releases will rank highly in the search engines.

These are the same techniques used for exposure in magazines and other forms of media. Most have online and offline editions. When news is considered legitimate, it’s taken more seriously that any advertisement you can buy.

The best part of this P.R. campaign is that it won’t cost you a dime. Feel free to call me or e mail for some help with this.

Wisconsin Web Design | How to get Referrals

I went to a sales club meeting for Waukesha Chamber of Commerce Thursday morning and the speaker was Matt Anderson from the referral authority. He did a great job training us on how to get more referrals. I know this doesn’t have anything to do with website design except all my clients are business owners who could use this information. Always remember the more people you know the more money you will make. So today’s post will be about getting more referrals.

To get referrals you must understand the psychology of why we get them from our clients. There are two universal principles behind why we get referrals. The first is the rule of reciprocation and the second principle is the rule of likability. I would like to explain these a little further.

Reciprocation is defined as “to make a return, as for something given.” The concept is rather simple when used for getting referrals. Give something of value to someone and they will feel they should give something back to you. Matt brought up a great example of going to the coffee shop with a friend. They say “i’ll get this one” and buy your coffee. What’s the first thing you think? I better get next time! So what do you do? You give something to your clients they will find valuable and they will give back to you. If you ask them for referrals they will WANT to give you people they think you can help because you always give them something important.

The second rule is just being likable. I am not going to define it as most of us know people we like and dislike. Needless to say we want to help clients we like versus someone we don’t. You must be likable to those that you want to get referrals from. The key though is it must be genuine, you can’t fake that you are a nice person.

That’s it the two universal principles of getting referrals. Matt has a lot of ways to increase your referral business and I would highly recommend visiting his website. I could go into further details but I will leave that to the expert

Matt Anderson

The Number One Rule to Website Design

Wisconsin web design has a basic philosophy that drives how any website is designed. This rule is not hard to follow, difficult to implement, or hard for anyone to understand. It is one of the simplest design mistakes to make and the most important to avoid. What could be so simple to do but rarely done by small business websites? What is this mistake?

Providing something of value to your reader! Yes, i know it is not something outlandish and that hard to understand. Yet, most small business websites just tell there visitor what they do. They list products and services because they are trying to sell them. does the visitor care? I say NO!

Most visitors search the web for information about something that interests them. 85% of the time local shoppers go to the Internet to do research before they purchase a product at a local store. So the thought behind this is I will list my products for them to see I have the best product, price, etc. really good concept lets sell on price, WRONG!!

Why not show the consumer something different that shows the value you provide as a business. Something that seperates you from the rest of the sell on price people. For instance you sell lawn mowers. Instead of listing all lawn mowers and their price, put up a video on landscaping and how your mower will help in the design a beautiful lawn. Give away information how the consumer can grow grass greener and more plush than their neighbor and why your mower will cut that better than any other mower.

That was just a quick example but the possibilities are endless on the amount of information you can give away to help. I know your first thought is I can’t give away free information! They will just get my information and go somewhere else. True that can happen but I think you will find that most local shoppers want to buy from someone they trust and can get answers from. If you show your knowledge and willingness to help they will pay more to make sure you are there to help. Give it a try and you will be surprised how much people will appreciate what you have done.

Wisconsin Web | Online Writing is Different than Print

One thing many small businesses don’t understand is that print advertising and online content are two entirely different things. Way to many businesses just post their brochure for their website. It ends up being called a brochure website (clever-I know).  Why is it different you ask? Well maybe you didn’t but you should really!

Print advertising is linear. That is you have a front and back like a postcard or you go from page to page in a systematic way. In print you can’t search or link like you can online. It is vital that you use this linking concept as much as you can. People are on the web because they prefer to find more information. They want the details that are not available on a print advertisement.

A link is a call to action. It is a way to direct where you want a customer to go. You can direct your visitor down the sales cycle with appropriate linking. They can get in toch with a sales rep for instance. They can get more product information but you are not limited by options or size. You can direct them to a coupon that has a limited life and directs them too buy.

Always remember  that you are not limited by a certain space like in print. You can link too anything you want and should produce online copy with those links. Linking is absolutely a critical element of online copy, for more reasons than I can discuss here, so use it to your advantage. If you want to discuss any of this feel free to comment or call me 262-953-6026

Wisconsin Web Design | Six Vital Purchase Questions

When someone stops at your website they have six questions that need to be answered before they will trust you or spend money with you. If you want to improve sales answer these questions and conversions will improve.

1. Can they find what they are looking for? Most visitors come to your site based on your search engine ranking. When they get there will they fin the item easily? The longer it takes them the greater chance you will lose them to another site. The best solution is to make sure they hit the proper page within your site based on the keyword they are searching for.
2. Is there something here that interests me? When a visitor continues to shop do they find products that are tempting to them? One way to do this is to add related products to your website.
3. Do your customers really want this product. They obviously have some desire for the product but may hae questions. Are you answering their questions in a compelling way to persuade them?
4. Is the price right? The reason a lot of people search the internet is because they expect to find better deals. Suffice to say you have to have the right price but you can also sell other things like support, free shipping, or coupon.
5. Can I trust you? The horror stories are out there so what are you doing to show your visitors they can trust you? Pictures, testimonials, security certs, guarantees, BBB membership, and listings on known sites are ways to enhance trust worthiness.
6. Can your new customer buy what they want easily? Add calls to action on every page. Add your phone number and contact info on every buy page. Make the checkout cart easy to find.

Hopefully this helps in increasing your sales. Even if you aren’t selling items you can still learn a lot about how to set up your website for future sales. If you have any questions feel free to contact me at 262-953-6026

Useful Tips for User – Friendly Web Designing

Your companies Wisconsin website is a necessary marketing tool for your business. Currently 85% of local shoppers use the Internet to do research for a purchase coming up. For the website to be good it must be visually appealing (not perfect) and be able to grab the visitors attention with great and useful content.

Wisconsin website design is an art and also needs to done with the involvement of all the decision makers. When everyone is involved the website will be user friendly to the visitors. using marketing strategies when designing the website will improve your visibility of the website in the search engines.

As you can see web design is a key aspect of how your website will turn out. Planning the website will lead to a better design that is user friendly. Here are a few tips gained from experience that when implemented will yield a used and useful site.

Here are the tips that will help make your website a great one!

1). Ask yourself  “what am I trying to Convey with this website?”

The answer to this question will lead you to what you will need to do. It is best to have one general theme throughout the website, like web design. Once the designer knows what the site is about they can do proper headers, pictures, and articles. Your answer to the question will lead you all the way to a good and meaningful web design. For designing a website, one should have a theme. On getting to know more of what the website is about, as a designer or as a Webmaster, it will be easy for you to design accordingly.

2). Planning for the web design

Advance planning makes website work proceed smoothly. As a website owner you should go to all of your competitors and see their sites for ideas of what you like and don’t like. Then expand that search to include all websites and the features you like. Make sure you write all the ideas down. Next ask old and new clients what they would like to see in a website to try and get a pulse of what visitors might like.

3). Setting theme and layout

After your research and planning, the vital part of your web design is the collection of assets. The first step will be theme selection and web page layout. There are personal websites, informational websites, ecommerce websites, blogs, and service providing websites. It is all in the hands of a designer to select a matching theme to satisfy the need and implement it attractively. It is also important that the designer know what your goals are for customer interaction.

4). Web Page Design

Neat and informative web pages are the most visited pages on the net. To design such a web page, the important elements to be taken note of are the header, footer, text area and the navigational area. Avoid using animated/flashy headers and navigational icons. Use a uniform header and footer to give a professional look to the website. These, when designed with care and when followed, will result in good web design.

5). Site Map and Navigation

In web designing, the term navigation goes hand in hand with user friendly. Navigation within the website should be very clear and easy to find. Always try to implement normal links for moving around, and avoid animated buttons. Users prefer either navigation to be on the top or the right side of the web page. Make sure the visitor also has easy access back to the home page. The site map is another important and easy way for finding web pages in the website.

6). Usage of images and text

Web designing is all about expressing the ideas of the business to people. For it to be a success, use of correct images for communicating the content of the website to the visitors is a must. It is important that the pictures break up long pages and make everything easier to read. The text in the webpage must be search engine optimized and must convey the message clearly. It should also lead to a very clear call to action; meaning what you want your visitor to do on the page.

7). Page Size and Download Time

After placing the images, links and the text, the complete page should not exceed 30 KB. This size will ensure that the page is downloaded quickly, within 5 to 6 seconds. This time is crucial time because either it may bring visitors or divert them to another website of the same type.

This has been a short reminder about how to design a website. I hope this helps you when you design your new website. Feel free to call me at 262-953-6026 or email me at dforer@comstar.biz and i will try and help in whatever way I can.

Wisconsin Website Design | Why use Wordpress

I have started to use Wordpress for almost every type of Wisconsin website I do. I recently had a friend ask me why? Thought it would be a great starting point for my blog today.

First and foremost Wordpress is just way too easy. I can buy a domain name and have a website up in a matter of minutes not days. With fantastico or simple scripts you can automatically download everything you need and be off and running. It really is just push button easy to have the site downloaded into your cpanel without any knowledge. No HTML code or using an editor and uploading, it is just easy!

The second reason is the fact it is open source. What ever I think I need I find with a simple word search. There are more plug-ins and widgets than anyone can ever use. Go to the wordpress site and you will find an endless list of upgrades. Since it is open-source you can also get really cool designs. This site was free to download and I have about twenty other ones I like if this doesn’t work out. It really is like an endless supply of templates.

Search engine Optimization! You can get a Wordpress blog ranked in a matter of hours if done correctly. It really is a lot easier than a static website because Google loves these blogs. It is also easy to post new stuff so the spiders are constantly going to your site which helps rankings.

Interactivity is the final reason I use Wordpress. My clients can come here and leave comments and become an integral part of my blog. A static website just doesn’t give you that same feel. It is really nice to be able to post something and have people comment instantly on the topic. It is much easier to build up rapport this way.

those are just a few reasons I use Wordpress. There are a lot more and I would love hearing what those are!