Of course, they may also discover you through Internet search. 89 percent of consumers surveyed used search engines to make their buying decisions according to the Fleishman-Hillard 2012 Digital Influence Index. A snappy print ad may plant the seed, but it’s a safe bet that your newest customer looked you up online before committing to buy.

The good news: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can help you be in the right place, in front of the right customer, using the right words on their computer, tablet or phone, at the right time.

Connecting customers to you on their terms.

By learning a little about SEO via our QuickStart Guide to Search Engine Marketing, you can ensure that potential customers find YOU, and not just your competitors.

HOW DO I GET STARTED? 

The easiest place to start is your own website.

Customers search using Google, Bing, or Yahoo, looking for a key need that you might fulfill. Customers type in descriptive “keywords,” – maybe rubber gaskets, custom trailers or commercial real estate – and a search engine like Google crawls, looking through millions of websites to return a page of results. The order of these search results matters. A study by Chitika, an online advertising network, found that moving from the second result to the first can almost double the traffic you receive for that keyword.

Where your company falls in the list is largely determined by your popularity and content. High up? Second page? At a glance, Google is looking to see how many sites link to your website and if your content includes relevant keywords that match what a visitor is searching for.

SUCCESSFUL SEO PRACTICES

1. Know your customers. We don’t always know exactly what the customer wants. But we can continue to learn about their perspective. Ask current customers how they found you; what they value about your service. It’s likely that some of these keywords will translate when you plant them on your page.
2. Know your competition.  What are your competitors doing well? What keywords are they using? What sites are linking to them?  Do some searches on your own, or ask us about a competition report.
3. Know your keywords. The old-school trick to SEO was dropping artful terms into your own website, to drive search results simply through overwhelming clutter. That no longer works. By tailoring your webpage content to a few keywords and keeping your descriptions short and simple, you’ll make search and discovery simpler for your customers.
4. Keep measuring results. We love SEO because it’s easy to monitor. A newspaper ad may take days and weeks to wrap up its effect, but with SEO, we can see results as they happen. Google Analytics is a great tool for seeing what phrases customers used to find you, how many, what works and what doesn’t.
5. Keep experimenting. SEO keywords and your web presence are constantly evolving. So are the search engines. If search terms aren’t working, you can target others. You may even discover it’s fun to review phrases, and you may learn more about your customers’ preferences.

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE

In the time it took you to read this article over 6 million Google searches have been conducted.

Download our QuickStart Guide to Search Engine Marketing that walks you through boosting your business’ online profile to drive more traffic your website. These starter steps will help you position your business for SEO, and should also serve as a road map for your future online marketing efforts.

Let us know how it works for you! And feel free to share these simple tools with others!

If you have questions, please give us a call at 1-888-865-8511 or email us at info@imagemakers-inc.com.

Wamego, Kan. (February  15, 2013) — Wamego-based marketing agency Imagemakers Inc. recently received four ADDY Awards from the American Advertising Federation. Not only was www.keimts.com, one of Imagemakers’ winning sites honored for creative excellence,  but it became a fan favorite among top creative professionals attending the award ceremony for its impressive design and moving photography.

“The ADDY Awards are facilitated through 200+ advertising organizations within 15 districts. Creative work from both agencies and businesses are submitted to their local or regional American Advertising Federation. After the judges review all projects, Gold and Silver winners are selected. Each round Gold medal winners are forwarded on to the next level, from local to regional and regional to national,” according to the Federation.

Members of the Imagemakers team attended the ADDY Awards Show in Topeka.

The Imagemakers team was excited to learn that the Keim Website will continue to move on to the next round of the competition.  Imagemakers also received 3 Silver Awards for projects including: America’s Breadbasket website created for the Kansas Wheat Commission, Salud Mediterranea website, and a Flint Hills promotional video for the Manhattan Convention and Visitors Bureau.

“Helping local businesses is extremely rewarding. We enjoy being able to provide our clients with online tools that have been proven to deliver measurable results. We’re looking forward to sharing our expertise to help other local businesses meet their marketing goals and tap into the mind of their target market. Receiving these awards has been an honor,” shared Dan Holmgren, President and Creative Director.

Colin MacMillan, one of the Top 10 Photographers in the State, Joins Imagemakers Inc. as a Photographer/Videographer

Imagemakers is excited to welcome Colin MacMillan to their creative team. Recognized as one of the top 10 photographers in the state by the Kansas Professional Photographers Association, he has the rare ability to make people feel comfortable in front of the camera. Colin’s work has been chosen by the Professional Photographers Association of America for their loan collection and has been published in national magazines. Imagemakers feels that Colin’s high-quality work will be beneficial for businesses across the northeast Kansas community.

“It’s exciting to be an official part of the award-winning and growing Imagemakers team,” Colin says. In the past year alone, Imagemakers has doubled in size and plans to continue serving businesses throughout the state of Kansas.

Mary Foster, the Imagemakers Project Manager shares, “Our expansion has allowed us to offer a larger variety of work ranging from product photography and corporate headshots to event planning and public relations. In particular, our decision to bring a full-time in-house photographer/videographer on board is a result of the need for high-quality photography and video production in the area. Nowadays, more and more people are using their iphone or smart phone to take product photography or company photos. And although the quality of smart phone cameras and apps is improving, there are certain things you just can’t get using your smart phone or home camera.”

Mary continues, “Not only has our team shot video projects all over the world from London to Hong Kong, but our long history of photography, video and film allows us to produce products with a high-end cinematic quality time and time again. This is something that typically comes to life during our post-photography and post-video production phases. Our new addition to the team, Colin, plans to help business owners find solutions for sharing their story visually, in a way that will do just this and that will also drive an emotional reaction.”

Prior to joining Imagemakers, Colin served as an associate photographer and digital artist at one of the best photo studios in Topeka for over the past 11 years, and oversaw the organization’s evolution from film to digital media. Colin has studied photography at Kaw Area Technical School in Topeka and fine arts at Washburn University, yet he attributes much of his professional success to his father. According to Colin, it was his father, a hobby photographer, who is largely responsible for instilling in him a strong work ethic, a desire to explore his world behind the lens, and the drive to express his creativity without limitations. “Photography was the first thing I found I was really good at and it was really a lot of fun,” Colin says, hoping to inspire young, amateur photographers to pursue a creative career like he has.

For Colin, photography has become something he’s not just really good at, rather something he’s great at. In 2012, Colin’s To the Stars print was chosen by the Professional Photographers Association of America for their Loan Collection. It was then included in a worldwide tour with other honored works of art, as well as published in their national magazine, Professional Photographer. While the year prior, the Kansas Professional Photographers Association recognized him as one of the top 10 photographers in the state.

From web analytics,  customer relationship management tools to detailed sales reports, filtered through Microsoft Excel, Salesforce, or Access, one can gain valuable insight about their business. Everything you need to know is right there in the numbers, isn’t it?

However, what analytics don’t always tell you is what’s in the mind of your customer. Numbers can create just as many questions as they answer. Sometimes, sales figures and data simply pile up, serving as noise.

When the data no longer provides you with the answers to your questions, it’s time to get your customers’ perspectives. It’s time to ask them directly why they do what they do. It’s time for you to conduct a survey.

A successful survey is both an art and a science. It’s an attempt to isolate the logic behind your customers’ behavior; to add some color to your blank data. In reality, your customer isn’t just a statistic, rather your customer is a person who has a direct relationship with your brand.

A survey can help paint a picture of this subjectivity. Perhaps, you might uncover new anecdotes that clear up your burning questions, or you might even develop a baseline trend from similar responses.

A successful survey, however, depends on strategic planning and execution from start to finish. It’s clichéd but true; you get out of your survey what you put into it. The amount of effort, time, and thought you put into your survey plans will determine the quality — and quantity — of your results.

Ready to solve your survey needs? Start with our road map: The 7 steps of a successful survey.

• Why survey?
• Who will you ask?
• What will you ask?
• How will they receive your survey?
• What’s in it for the customer?
• Timing is everything
• Say thank you

Remember, the customer’s time and energy is key to your survey’s results. You’ll want to make sure and say “Thank You” for taking the time to complete your survey. After all, you’ve put time, effort, and money into your survey, but it’s the customer who lays the foundation for your data, intelligence, and future success.

Show your customer you truly care

Make sure you’ve said thank you throughout your survey content. If you have the space, it’s often a good idea to describe to the customer the importance of their reply, or even state that you will be using these responses to improve your service or product down the road. Be inclusive, and they’ll return the favor.

And even if you’ve already provided a reward or an enticement, don’t hesitate to send out an email of thanks. A carefully-worded landing page illustrating your appreciation is a must for responses you gather online. Even an update to survey results or direct-mail thank-you note reinforces your tactics and helps pave the way for future responses from your customer. Above all, remember how important your customer is and how valuable their responses are to your business. Thank them as you hope they thank you for offering your product or service.

Don’t fear the review

Finally, when it’s all said and done, survey responses provide you with immense benefits – but you’ll need to devote considerable time and energy parsing responses.

Don’t be afraid of negative comments and don’t be defensive, learn from your target audience. And who knows, a customer’s anecdote about your service missing the mark may help you improve your company’s offerings. This process can also open a dialogue between you and the customer base. Perhaps, you’ll learn that you need to devote more attention to a certain audience, an issue you may not have been aware of before distributing the survey and receiving such constructive feedback.

In addition, keep track of your results and measurements – you’ll want to improve your survey tactics next year, next quarter, or next time, and you’ll no doubt have some more burning questions based on these responses and the follow-up. The best news? By keeping track of the Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why – your next survey will be just as successful, if not even more successful than the last. On behalf of the entire Imagemakers team, we wish you the best of luck!

We hope you have enjoyed our survey road map and have found it helpful. However, if you have any questions please give us a call at (785) 260-0146. We’re always available to discuss survey tactics, best practices, content, tests, and rewards.

You can also reach us by email or leave a comment below!

How have surveys helped your business? We look forward to hearing your success stories!

Now you’re ready! You’ve kept your purpose in mind, developed leading, short questions that can be answered in a burst, you’ve targeted the right customers, perfected your method and design, and you’ve even included a small token of appreciation. Just a couple more things to keep in mind…

Timing is everything. You’ve spent time and money perfecting your content, and you’ll want to put some added thought into time of delivery. Consider the best time of day, week, and month to send your survey.

Do not, for example, instruct your staff to stuff envelopes right after you receive your pieces and mail them the Friday before Labor Day. Define parameters, check-ins and even a promotional plan for your survey. You’ll want to schedule mid-week arrivals for email, phone, and direct mail. Your piece should arrive on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. As for the ideal time of day to target your customers, email surveys should be sent in the morning and phone surveys should be conducted in the early evening.

Limit your response aggregation time to a two-week period for mail and one-week period for email. And don’t sweat it if you need to send out a piece on a certain day. It’s okay to segment your target groups. Delivering your survey at certain times, can be ideal for your own ease of recording purposes. However, it’s also okay to remind your customers to take your survey to receive the reward or incentive you’ve provided for them during the survey period.

Simple on-site advertising and cheerful reminders from front-line employees do wonders to reassure customers, so make sure they received your content and allow your team to spur them to act. If you’ve instructed a customer to respond on your website, make sure it’s easy to find and in a prominent location. After all, your website is your space, so it’s not obtrusive, rather it’s measurable and low-cost.

That’s almost it. But we’ve got one more important thing before you start analyzing, reading, and categorizing your responses.

Key takeaways

• Do not rush your survey. Carefully select, segment, and target arrival times.
• Reminders are a good tool, particularly on your website or in your office’s front lobby.
• Define parameters on response turnaround time. You’ll thank us later.

Up next: Say thank you to your customers

Remember, your purpose is to uncover the most data you can use: trends, responses and remarks. You’ve got your goal, your questions, your target market, and your probable forum. Now, you need to make sure the message appeals to your customer.

Test it out

The content should spur your customer to respond. A trial run with different content such as A & B testing – can help you perfect your message. For example, one message might be warm, fuzzy, with script font. Another might be blue or black, with block text. Therefore, by using two groups as recipients to compare sample results can help you before the real thing goes live. You can even perform a dry run comparing email content with mail content.

Create an intriguing design

Secondly, the design is important. For emails, the subject line is essential, and body copy should be kept short. And note, that it’s better to link to a web survey rather than include a PDF attachment.

Your direct mail piece should be eye-catching and grab your customer’s attention. This could be a brightly-colored, catchy postcard. It could also be a warm, hand-addressed envelope. No matter what the mail piece is that you decide on, make sure
it stands out. The last thing you want is a windowed envelope that looks like every other envelope with the address and name in block text, looking like it’s directly from your billing list. You’re asking for a customer’s time, so creating an intriguing direct
mail piece is essential. They need to be assured that you spent some time and effort understanding them so that they are convinced that they should open your envelope or read your postcard.

Create a reward system

Finally, a small reward can really seal the deal for your customer – and for your response rate. Enticement often spurs responses above and beyond normal forecasts. In addition, it provides value to your customers, and shows you care.

Remember, that any survey you conduct is an extension of your brand so it must represent your loyalty to your customers.

During a recent survey, we tested a $5 bill incentive versus a $2 bill incentive. The $2 bill incentive seemed intuitively cheaper.

However, we sent out far more $2 bill incentives to our target, and far less $5 bill rewards, that elicited the same response per group. In the end, we spent less and received better responses with the $5 bill group! A reward that triggers actions will definitely be preferred over the cheapest and fastest method, saving you money in the long run. The lesson here? It’s best to keep your reward simple and sweet. For instance, including a gift card or certificate to your own business may seem self-serving and a sweepstakes offer tends to be confusing and ineffective. Whenever you’re ready to make the jump to surveying,
we’re happy to discuss which reward incentives will work best your survey sample.

Key takeaways

• Consider testing methods and content with small groups.
• Eye-catching and standout design is vital for direct mail surveys.
• Remember to include a subject line and to keep body copy short for email surveys.
• Small, thoughtful rewards can really help make customers feel appreciated.

Up next: Timing is everything

You’ve got your targets and your questions. Now, how will you contact these customers?

Keep in mind your target customer’s preferences, plus standard response rates. Your message content, length of questions and purpose should also help dictate the medium of your message.

Email surveys

Emails feature the lowest response rate of 0.12% according to the DMA, but they do have their strengths. Surveys distributed via email are inexpensive, easy and fast. For a professional or online-savvy customer base, this platform may be ideal. However, for other survey samples, customers may be more likely to overlook, ignore or delete your email messages.

Phone surveys

Phone calls typically provide a 12.95% response rate. This medium is ideal for surveys requiring detailed responses, which may be needed when measuring massive customer service trends. On the contrary, phone surveys can occasionally be intrusive for
your customers. In addition, they’re time-intensive, expensive, and more difficult to track and execute. Remember, a survey asks your customer for his/her time so it’s important to assure that phone calls don’t impose a significant burden. Trying to avoid the high costs and negative effects? Then, it’s safe to say that email or direct mail is the way to go.

Direct mail surveys

Direct mail continues to carry a high response rate of 3.40% for a letter, 2.97% for a postcard, and 3.95% for a over-sized mail piece. It makes sense: a direct-mail survey can seem more personal, gently encouraging your recipient to respond. The method depends not just on your budget, but on the who and the what. You can of course develop a survey mix comprised of email and mail, but do so with caution. We encourage you to carefully monitor your list and your delivery. You don’t want to browbeat a customer by asking them the same questions in several different forums. Always be sensitive of their time.

Client success story
We’ve learned from experience

For example, we conducted a survey for a health care client with questions about extended family care. For this client’s budget, purpose and target, the best bet for return was printed, direct mail. With careful attention and extensive testing of subjects outside the survey drop, we were able to target people, preferences and method within a four-county area. Even on a fairly small drop-base, our response rate was an astonishing 54%. So how did we help our client achieve such a high response rate? Our content helped trigger such success – we included less than 10 multiple-choice questions, and then two open-
ended responses. Aside from the deciphering the best-suited target audience, delivery, platform, and questions, the intriguing incentive is key to boosting response rates. Join us, while we tackle that next survey challenge on our road map.

Key takeaways

• Remember your purpose and questions while deciding on the medium of your survey.
• Think about how your ideal customer would prefer to respond.
• Be aware of the differences between direct mail, email, and phone surveys.
• And remember, always be sensitive to your customers’ time.

Up next: What’s in it for the customer?

You wouldn’t let a stranger take off with the sign above your door. What about your domain name?

Think about all of the things you can do in just five minutes. You can check your email, make a phone call, or even be off to a business meeting. But what if we told you it takes just five minutes to ensure that your website stays your website? Five minutes of attention is all you need to make sure your web address stays safe and secure, in your good hands.

Your domain name is your central hub of email communication, your doorway to e-commerce and web visitors. Once upon a time, you may have rushed to make sure you had the web name of your choice, the perfect web address for your business. Yet the domain name is a detail, a published record that now often goes unchecked.

If someone else controls your domain, it is important that this information is changed to your contact information. If the wrong person or organization gains control of your domain, it is not just a headache, it can be an enormous and time-intensive effort to get it back. And brace yourself, there’s no guarantee that you will get it back. You could lose the rights to your web address, your email addresses could stop working, and your main platform of online communication could disappear. So what is our job here? To help you prevent this nightmare from happening.

The practice of registering or using a domain name that belongs to someone else is called “cybersquatting” and is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. The cybersquatter snatches up your domain once it expires without your knowledge, then offers to sell the domain to a company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.

Ready to dedicate that 5 minutes yet?
Here’s how you can make sure you actually own and control your domain.

First, you are going to visit a WHOIS database where you can verify who currently owns your domain name. Visit any of the three following websites and type in your web address where it asks for your domain name.

• www.whoisdomain.me
• www.networksolutions.com/whois/
• www.internic.net/whois.html

What do you see? Make sure it’s is up-to-date with:

• Your name
• Your organization
• Your street address
• Your email address

Verify that you are listed as the registrant and as the administrative contact. Also, make sure that it is your company that is listed, along with your correct email address. Okay, your five minutes is up. If all of your contact information is listed, you’re in good shape.

Not the case? If you are not listed as both the registrant and the administrative contact, then it’s time to act. Contact us right away – either by email at info@imagemakers-inc.com or by phone at (785) 260-0146 and we can help you with the process of updating your domain information.

If you recognize that Imagemakers is listed as the registrant or administrative contact, let us know. We’ll start the process of switching it to your company name.

Still not convinced it’s time to make the effort? Well, we’ve seen this ignored and we’ve witnessed the nightmare happen before. Perhaps a company signs up in haste with a hosting service or studio. In a rush to develop their site, they leave the domain in the hands of their agency or even a friend. Perhaps they severed ties with their hosting provider, something happened to their friendship, or the company’s registered contact left for a different company. During such transitions, it’s easy to neglect the need to update your company’s domain information, but it’s important so that your company is not paying the price later.

So go on check, right now. Visit: www.whoisdomain.me or www.networksolutions.com/whois/

The bottom line? Don’t let your domain name walk out the door. It’s the most important five minutes you can devote to the success of your website.

*Imagemakers Inc. is not directly affiliated with any domain registries, but is simply dedicated to helping your website succeed.

You’ve pinpointed customers based on demographics and data. You’ve created your ideal customer. Now you’re ready to finalize your survey questions. What will you ask your sample group?

First, remember that customers come into your survey blind. They don’t necessarily know exactly what to expect as survey recipients. Therefore, it’s important to create questions that your customers will be able to answer easily and effectively.

For example, a professional service organization mulled over whether to offer guidance on a certain pressing topic to its customers. Would customers prefer to review lessons online or download an app? Or, would they rather receive a textbook? The membership organization decided to survey these customers, hoping to ascertain learning behaviors and technology preferences. They narrowed the market, and then sent emails. But, did they ask the right questions?

Well, they asked open-ended questions like “What do you need from us?” or “What product can we create?”

These were the exact questions they wanted answered. The problem? The customers did not have enough knowledge about the problems mentioned to offer high-quality responses. Rather than receiving helpful feedback, this resulted in the customers
feeling overwhelmed and unable to respond accordingly.

How to ask your questions?

Instead of using open-ended questions, it’s often best to ask leading questions, demanding a response. Multiple-choice answers or ranking scales are quick for the customer to fill out and easier to analyze on your end. Open-ended questions often work as a sounding board at the end of a more structured survey. They provide a forum for happy or upset customers, with anecdotal responses that can help you as a business owner by potentially offering you authentic customer testimonials.

Occasionally, you’ll get the response that’s wonderfully off-the-wall – or so illuminating that it begins your thought process. However, the customer’s light bulb won’t always go off just based on open-ended questions. As a rule, they work much better at the close of a survey, after your customer has given targeted, structured responses that you can use to develop trends.

Remember, with a survey, you’re hoping for a baseline of data in return. The anecdotal responses from out of nowhere aren’t the goal, quality insights are…so we encourage you to enjoy the anecdotal responses simply as icing on the cake.

Key takeaways

• Use leading questions and multiple-choice questions.
• Keep open-ended questions to a minimum and avoid making these the focus of your survey. When creating your survey questions, be sensitive to of your customers’ time.
• You’re searching for a baseline of comparable responses, open-ended anecdotes are icing on the cake.

Up next: How will they receive your survey?