If you run a small business you probably already have a website – but does that website ever make you any money? No? Why not? It should. A well-conceived and well-built website will make you money. It will attract and convert new customers.

So why doesn’t yours?

• Perhaps you believe like many people do, that the internet is all hocus pocus and nobody really understands it
• Perhaps your web designer told you that you need to buy lots of Google AdWords to get traffic to your website
• Perhaps you believe that if your website ‘looked better’ it would generate new business

These are all myths.

A small business website should attract new visitors, generate new leads and enquiries and ultimately help you to convert those leads and enquiries into sales.  To do that is not hocus pocus, doesn’t require a bottomless pit of money to keep throwing at Google AdWords and the ‘look’ of your website has very little to do with it.

For your website to generate new leads, enquiries, sales and money you need:

1. It to be built according to Google’s Webmaster Guidelines – most small business websites are not.
2. It to contain well written, engaging page content which people want to read and then want to share.
3. It to have social sharing buttons at the bottom of every important page to encourage readers to share your content.
4. It to have a call to action at the bottom of every important page to tell readers what to do next (i.e. call, email, order etc.).
5. It to employ the very latest, ethical search engine optimisation techniques to enable the search engines to list its pages correctly – not those of 12 years ago like so many small business websites.
6. To have a business presence on social media sites like Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
7. To use that social media presence to develop an online network and engage with that network.

At this point if you’re thinking, “That all sounds expensive”, you would be wrong.

We build those websites for just £200 per page using points 1 to 6 as our baseline and all included in the price – and we can explain how to do point 7 too; it’s not rocket science.

We build websites that make our customers’ small businesses money and we can build you one too.

So if you’re one of those small business owners who believe that a website can never make you any money… think again because it can.

Click here to read more about our small business websites

Since the ‘Google Penguin’ update last month, Social Signals are now a really important part of getting your website listed well in Google.

And arguably, the most important aspect of that is to use Google+,  As I pointed out in my last post, ‘Social Signals’ Wins Hostile Takeover Bid for ‘Link Building’, this is because Google has full access to the data from their own social site.

So if you don’t already have a Google+ Business Page, go and set one up now - it’s quick, easy and free.

Once you’ve set up your account and your Google+ Business Page, its really important that you verify yourself as the author of your website or blog. If you have a WordPress blog, there is a great plugin by Mervin Praison called Google Authorship, which makes the whole process really quick and simple.

Once you verify yourself as the author of the content on your website or blog, Google can then track and record your social signals, which will now have a big impact on your listings in their search results.

Once you’ve done that, get out there and engage with other users; share content, comment on their shares and generally start networking the way you would in any ‘real life’ arena.

Like it or not, social signals are now a huge factor getting your small business found online, so if you want your small business to do better online, its time to stop complaining about Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and instead, learn to use them to your advantage in getting better Google listings.

‘Social Signals‘ are not new… Back in December 2010 Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team confirmed Google does use social signals (data from social sites) in ranking.

However, as part of their quest for returning the best search results possible, Google is now focussing on social signals rather than backlinks. This fact was confirmed during a recent telephone conversation I had with SEO and Social Media author, David Amerland.

This move, like so many others is designed to stop the spammers and further improve search results for Google’s users.

Like it or not, social signals are now a really important factor in improving your Google listings and link building is officially dead as an SEO tool. Google have now firmly moved the goal posts towards social signals and away from link building.

What does this mean for Small Business?

If you run a small business and use the internet to promote and market your goods and services you need to be using social media – period.

Here’s how:

• Write unique and compelling content on your website or blog
• Do your keyword research to identify good keywords
• Include those keywords in the right places (i.e. URL, page title, description, and copy)
• Add social media sharing buttons to your pages
• Develop a network on social media sites and engage with other users on those sites

For now, keywords are still important, though when Google rolls out semantic search, they will become less important.

How to Improve Your Social Signals

Join some social media sites as a business:

• Google+
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Digg
• Reddit
• StumbleUpon

there are of course,  lots more and you only need to join a few. Arguably, the most important one is Google+. The cynics out there will tell you this is because Google want to control you, but in my opinion its simply because Google has better access to the data from their own site than they do from other sites. Either way, use Google+ and other sites too. They will track your activity on them and it will count towards your ‘social signals’.

Once you have a few accounts, (and yes, they are all free), start networking and striking up or joining in conversations about topics related to your industry. Remember though, social media is not a platform for simply broadcasting your sales message, it is a way to engage with other users by…

• Engaging in constructive conversation
• Being helpful
• Listening to feedback and responding positively to it
• Sharing your freebies, give-aways and special offers
• Running competitions and quizzes

How to Track Your Social Signals

Once you have a social signals you will want to track them. There are two methods I can recommend:

• Klout – This is a website which enables you to track the effectiveness of your social media presence.
• Social Metrics Pro Plugin for WordPress – This is a great new plugin for WordPress which gives you really easy to understand data about your social signals.

E-commerce Get It Right! – Essential Step by Step Guide for Selling & Marketing Products Online. Insider Secrets, Key Strategies & Practical Tips – Simplified for Start-Ups & Small Businesses [Kindle Edition]

by author Ian Daniel

Just released and written in a no holds barred style… This new and exclusive Step-by-Step E-commerce Guide, will show you everything you need to know about achieving success with your own e-commerce website and business. Whether you’re an e-commerce Start-Up or have an Existing e-commerce website that is struggling to make a profit, this book is literally packed full of the latest tried and tested insider secrets, key strategies and practical tips, proven over a 10-year period to generate sales and profits at explosive levels.

Did you know…

97% of e-commerce websites (shopping websites) make $0 profits in their first 3 years online. Such is the steep learning curve and skill set required to build an e-commerce website that can dominate your product category, market or niche. Be Part of Elite 3% with E-commerce Get It Right!

Inside You’ll Learn…

• How to Build & Launch a Super-Charged E-commerce Website & Business – Fast!
• How to Generate High Quality, Ready-To-Buy Visitors!
• How to Convert More of These Visitors Into Paying Customers!
• How to Transform a Struggling E-commerce Website!
• How to Fast Track Your Learning & Avoid the Pitfalls!

…and Everything Else In Between for E-commerce Success!

E-commerce is a booming industry that is growing at a rapid rate and many e-commerce businesses are taking market share from traditional offline retail businesses. Now is the time to take the opportunity of an accelerated start-up regardless of the economy, your background, age or experience. You’ll see how to quickly get accomplished in owning and running your own e-commerce website and business with E-commerce Get It Right!

Within this book, we are going to break down and analyze the four critical steps required to get explosive E-commerce Sales & Profits – within 30 Days of launch and beyond.

• Step 1 – Get Started: Setting Up Your E-commerce Success Formula!
• Step 2 – Get Sales: Build & Launch Your E-commerce Website – Fast!
• Step 3 – Get Hiring: How To Find A Kick Ass-Web Designer!
• Step 4 – Get More Sales: Marketing to Hordes of Hungry, Ready-to-Buy Ecommerce Customers!

We’ll also cover building your e-commerce success foundation, hiring a kick-ass web designer, how to drive masses of traffic to your website, how to lower bounce and cart abandonment, and how to increase conversion rates (sales), all using simple and common sense yet powerful e-commerce strategies!

Start Up Accelerated With E-commerce Get It Right! Available In Paperback, Ebook or ePub for Kindle.

A note from the Author

“Thanks for your interest in the book! The contents, insights and practical tips inside come from over 10 years online e-commerce experience. I’ve built up, done business in and subsequently sold 3 e-commerce and information site business networks (total 25 plus sites) all trading profitably. In addition I ve built, managed,consulted on and SEO engineered as many websites for happy clients. This is my guarantee to you that you are in good hands. Who can best guide you and provide the most effective real life and cutting-edge information for your e-commerce business success?

1) A web agency who builds websites, but has never actually sold a product from an e-commerce website to date?

2) A writer or blogger who writes for a living?

3) Or someone who has built e-commerce websites from the ground up, search engine optimized them to reach top spots in Google, refined them to convert 1 in 33 visitors to a sale (the average is only 0.7 in every 100), sold e-commerce websites for big profit and ultimately lived the e-commerce lifestyle 7 days a week for 10 years?

This book simplifies and demystifies my best ideas, insights and strategies. It also details the mistakes I made so that you can avoid them and get it right from the start. I m not a professional writer. I ve written the book from cover to cover and published the book myself. Refusing to use a fancy-pants writer meant that the book has kept its raw edge it s important that you feel my enthusiasm. The content is GOLD!”

Ian Daniel – Author

Buy direct from the Author

Click to download the PDF Version

Buy from Amazon (for Kindle)

The Ultimate Guide To Marketing Your Business With Pinterest

(Kindle Book)

by author, Gabriela Taylor

Pinterest, the latest social networking phenomenon has exploded onto the scene and has as objective to connect every one in the world through the “things’ they love.

Pinterest is now the third most-visited social site:

1. Facebook: 7 billion
2. Twitter: 182 million
3. Pinterest: 104 million
4. LinkedIn: 86 million
5. Tagged: 72 million
6. Google+: 61 million

This is why you have get in there and learn as quickly as possible how to benefit from it. If you figure out how to use Pinterest before any one else, you can become a leader in your industry.

For products or services, Pinterest can take your business to a whole different level. All it takes is a few “Pin It” and your business can easily take off. So before you engage in asking for an invite, be sure you’re ready for new traffic or orders. It’s growing and it’s growing fast. If you do it right, it’s has the potential to be a better marketing tool than Facebook or Twitter.

This comprehensive book of 140 pages is the only definitive guide you will ever need to unlock this new social media network and is full of tips, real business examples and tools you can use to enhance your Pinterest experience.

In this Pinterest marketing guide you’ll learn:

• What Pinterest is and how it works
• What Pinterest can do that Facebook and Twitter can’t
• Who are the power pinners so you can follow and learn from them
• The most successful brands on Pinterest
• How to get an invite and set up your account the right way
• How to create or find powerful content so your pins can go viral in no time
• When and how to use hashtags (“#”), mentions (“@”) for a better engagement with your clients
• How to get followed and therefore increase traffic to your site
• How to take the visual conversation to Facebook and Twitter for a more integrated online marketing experience
• How other industries and brands are using Pinterest right now
• How to do SEO for Pinterest
• How to cash in with Pinterest
• How to measure and track results
• 22 tools you can use to enhance your Pinterest experience

That’s just few of the things you will learn from this book that will conclude with my 17 steps plan for a successful pinning experience to benefit your business and help achieve your goals whatever they are: drive traffic to your site, get leads, increase sales, build brand awareness, do market research, test new product concepts or even educate.

So far, Pinterest has proven it can help pick up traffic to your website, increase sales, but also run contests, do marketing research, and brand your name to millions of pinners. What more can you ask for from a marketing tool?

Happy and Successful Pinning!

About The Author

Gabriela Taylor is an internationally educated Global Online Marketing Strategist and Consultant who’s worked with some of the world’s biggest brands in Telecommunications, Retail, Lifestyle and Advertising.

A recognised expert and specialist in Social Networking, Mobile Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation she is fluent in 7 languages, has lived and worked in many countries throughout the world and has experience of implementing successful web-presence strategies for both startup and large established organisations.

She is the founder of Global N’ Digital, a consultancy firm specialising in Online Marketing services and Cross-Cultural business practices around the world.

Our Opinion

If you have even a vague interest in Pinterest, once it is released, you should buy this Kindle book.

Scan Me – Everybody’s Guide to the Magical World of QR Codes

by author Mick Winter

Imagine you could hold your mobile phone up to an image, and magically summon any information you wished.You see a movie poster and wonder if the movie is worth seeing. Zap! You’re watching the movie’s trailer. You see a restaurant menu and wonder about the food. Zap! You’re reading reviews from people who ate there. You’re at a subway stop. Zap! You’re seeing the actual arrival time of the next train. You see a magazine ad for a product and want to buy it. Zap! You’ve placed the order. How does this magic happen? With something called a QR Code. If you have a business or non-profit organization, you absolutely want to know how to use QR Codes. This book will tell you how you can use them in your marketing to attract, assist, hang on to and increase your customers. If you want to know how to make them and use them for personal or educational use, you’ll learn that, too. They’re free. They’re fun. They’re useful. Why not start now?

Table of Contents (from the book)

• Quick Shortcuts ~ 11
• Introduction ~ 13
• About QR Codes ~ 17
• What is a QR code? ~ 17
• Why should I scan QR codes? ~ 19
• Why should my business use QR codes? ~ 19
• How are QR codes already being used? ~ 21
• You and QR Codes ~ 22
• How do I scan and decode a QR code? ~ 22
• What happens when I scan a QR code? ~ 23
• Readers ~ 23
• How do I find the right QR code reader for my phone? ~ 23
• Can I decode QR codes on my desktop computer? ~ 26
• Making QR Codes ~ 27
• Why make a QR Code? ~ 27
• Can I make color QR codes? ~ 27
• What resolution should QR codes have? ~ 27
• Can someone make a QR code for me? ~ 28
• How can I make my own QR Codes? ~ 28
• How do I enter text into the QR code generator? ~ 30
• Can I create QR codes with my mobile phone? ~ 30
• Rules of Thumb for making QR codes ~ 30
• Firefox Extension ~ 31
• WordPress Extension ~ 31
• How do I convince someone to scan the QR code I made? ~ 32
• Where can I put QR Codes? ~ 33
• QR Code Analytics ~ 34
• Google and QR Codes ~ 36
• Google Places ~ 36
• Google Goggles ~ 39
• Mobile Web ~ 40
• Should I use the .mobi Extension? ~ 40
• Mobile Websites ~ 41
• How You Can Use QR Codes ~ 46
• The A to Z of QR Codes ~ 50
• Appendix A – Other Types of Barcodes ~ 105
• 1D Barcodes ~ 105
• Create your own 1d barcodes ~ 108
• Comparative Shopping ~ 108
• Other 2D Barcodes ~ 109
• Decoding 2D Drivers License Barcodes ~ 116
• Appendix B – QR Code History and Specifications ~ 117
• Appendix C – Entering Text into QR Code Generators ~ 122
• Appendix D – Not Barcodes, but Kind of Similar ~ 124
• Location-Based Applications ~ 124
• Augmented Reality ~ 125
• Internet of Things ~ 127
• Appendix E – Academic Research ~ 129
• Index ~ 135

Our Opinion

If you have ever wondered what those strange little codes are that are printed on ever increasing numbers of products, advertisements and even the top right of this webpage, this book is for you. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about QR codes and how to use them for small business. We recommend it… and don’t forget to check out our free QR code generator too.

“Get backlinks to your site.” is something I always say when asked, “How can we get our website to rank better in Google.” In essence, for your website to do better in Google’s search results, you need to do two things:

1. Optimise the content of your web pages
2. Build backlinks to those optimised pages

But that begs two questions:

1. “What are backlinks?”
2. “Where can I get backlinks?”

What are backlinks?

A backlink is a hyperlink from someone else’s web page, which points to your web page. To illustrate the point, this is a backlink to (not from) Wikipedia’s page about backlinks. In other words, wikipedia will benefit from this backlink, not Small Business Marketing.

A backlink has two elements:

1. Anchor text – in the example above the anchor text is “this is a backlink to (not from) Wikipedia’s page about backlinks”
2. A hyperlink to another web page - in the example above the hyperlink points to “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlink”

Where can I get backlinks?

There are millions and millions of places to get backlinks from. They include online directories, blogs, social media pages, online profiles and countless others.

Good and bad backlinks

Good backlinks are obtained from reputable sites, with good Google PageRank™, whose content is related to yours.

Bad backlinks include reciprocal links (an outdated an now, virtually useless technique), links pages, blog networks (very recently outlawed by Google), links from irrelevant pages (i.e. pages whose content has nothing to do with your content), links from adult sites and links from pages which are breaking Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

How to get backlinks naturally and easily by blogging

Blogging is a brilliant way to get backlinks to your web pages naturally and easily. Here’s how to do it:

1. Install a self-hosted blogging platform on your website.
2. Blog about your industry.
3. Blog regularly – at least once a week, but preferably more often.
4. Write with passion about your chosen subject.
5. Encourage your staff or team to write blog posts.

Run a blogging competition

Your workforce are without doubt, the greatest asset to your business and their combined knowledge is a treasure trove of of ideas, opinions, tips and advice. So encourage them to share what they know with your customers, and potential new customers by blogging regularly.

If they are resistant to the idea, offer an incentive. A great way to engage your staff is to offer a monthly prize to be awarded to the team member who, in the opinion of everyone else has written the best blog post. The prize could be anything from cash, to vouchers to a bottle of wine, but should always be accompanied by a trophy.

The trophy is all about recognition and should be held by the winner for the whole of the coming month. In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie said our greatest desire is “the desire to feel important”. The trophy does exactly that. It makes the winner “feel important” and makes others want to strive for that feeling too.

So make the trophy at least as important as the prize and offer it every month without fail. By having everyone vote about which blog post was best you will engage and inspire your team to write with passion.

So what does all this have to do with you wanting to get backlinks to your website?

Content which is well written and written with passion will attract backlinks naturally. The backlinks are effortless. They just happen because when people like what they read, they want to share it.

You can make your blog posts easy to share by putting sharing buttons at the bottom of each post like the ones you see below. Always make sure those buttons include Google+, Facebook and Twitter as a bare minimum and the backlinks will just start to happen for you.

Over time those backlinks will grow effortlessly – just like a snowball rolling downhill.

Duplicate websites are far more common than most people think. This is because huge numbers of small business websites are duplicated unknowingly by the web designer who built them.

As our core business, we build websites, which are designed from the ground up to get to the top of the search engines and then convert website visitors into enquiries, leads and sales. But some of our customers prefer to invest in search engine optimisation (SEO) for their existing website, rather than buying a whole new site. This approach is fine, but frequently when writing a report on their site (as the basis for the SEO work we are doing), we find that their website is duplicated in its entirety.

How?

Well firstly domain names have two elements:

1. yourdomain.com
2. www.yourdomain.com

To search engines like Google, these two elements are entirely separate domains. However, if you build a website on one of them, it will by default, appear on both – i.e. duplicate websites.

To overcome this, your web designer needs to do the following:

• Set up a 301 redirect from your non-preferred domain to your preferred domain
• Go to Google Webmaster Tools (see image below)
• Add both sites (yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com)
• Verify both sites
• Then go to Dashboard > Site configuration > Settings and tell Google which is your preferred domain

That’s it.

Now, regardless of which domain someone types into the address bar, they will be redirected to your preferred one.

Perhaps more importantly, Google will understand they are both the same site and only index your preferred version.

Remember, this is a real ‘schoolboy error’ and is very easy to overcome. But despite that, duplicate websites are an incredibly common issue for small businesses.

Powerful Marketing On A Shoestring Budget: For Small Businesses

by author, Dee Blick

If you have neither the time nor the inclination to wrestle with marketing jargon, nor do you have deep pockets with which to fund your marketing activities, then the likelihood is that you will get on famously with Dee’s books. You will lap up the practical tips and case studies that are packed into every page.

Dee has spent 27 years working in marketing and the last 12 years in particular working with with small businesses, helping them to achieve incredible results on the smallest of budgets. Her oft repeated mantra is that small businesses simply need to be brilliant at the basics if they are to make great strides with their marketing. Although Dee is a qualified marketer (a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing) she has built a reputation for her practical, no nonsense approach, and for accelerating the growth of small businesses from a wide range of sectors.

Dee has won many awards for generating the highest responses to adverts and press releases and she brings this experience to her books by sharing tips, case studies and marketing tools designed to generate responses; more sales, more enquiries and more satisfied customers. Dee is a lively, animated woman, a professional public speaker who hails from Yorkshire. She loves talking to her readers and sharing their journey.

You can find out more at Dee’s website at www.themarketinggym.org. Dee also runs one day marketing bootcamps where she brings her books to life.

If you want results from your marketing, but you don’t have a big marketing budget then this book will show how you can grow your business on a small budget with some incredibly simple, but powerful tips and tools. Real-life case studies of small businesses are used throughout the book and each chapter is written in a practical, easy to read style. Find out step-by-step how you can build your small business through PR, targeted direct mail, exhibitions, business networking, e-marketing, advertising and telephone cold calling. Learn the secrets of writing a simple marketing plan that will move your business to the next stage. If you are a small business then you will regard this book as your biggest marketing ally.

About the Author

Born in Yorkshire, Dee Blick is an award-winning Chartered Marketer. Over the past 24 years she has worked with hundreds of small businesses, helping them to grow through marketing on a small budget. Dee also writes for many business magazines and websites, sharing marketing advice and tips. Most recently she has featured on the BBC and radio as a marketing entrepreneur. In the last two years Dee has won three advertising and PR awards and in this book she shares her winning approach. Dee now lives in Sussex with her husband, her two sons and 14 chickens.

Marketing any small business in a recession can be a challenge. So today I wanted to share something with you, which made me stop and think and I hope it does the same for you…

This morning I received an unsolicited letter from someone who is currently taking a PhD in Biochemistry. He was asking if I have any job vacancies. His letter was very professional and he enclosed a copy of his CV.

Reading through his CV, I noted that his work experience includes both voluntary work and cleaning jobs. It is very clear to me that whilst he is without doubt very well educated, he doesn’t see anything as beneath him when it comes to getting a job. I have to say, I really admire his work ethic.

This guy is clearly talented, keen and wants to work, but we are in a recession and the job market is tough.

But does the tough job market phase him? No. He simply sees it as a challenge, adapts his approach and starts writing pro-actively to anyone who might be in a position to offer him work. By doing that, he has put himself head and shoulders above all the other jobseekers out there and got my attention.

I don’t have any job vacancies, but if I did, this guy would be right at the top of my interview shortlist – simply because he has demonstrated an ability I would prize as an employer; namely his ability to be pro-active. He hasn’t mentioned his pro-active mindset in his letter, or his CV; he did something much better – he actually demonstrated it.

Now at this point you may be thinking, “Fine, but what does all this have to do with marketing a small business in a recession?”

Actually, quite a lot.

Re-Active Marketing in a Recession

In times of recession a small business needs to be especially pro-active in its marketing. Its no good placing an ad in your local paper, or Yellow Pages and then sitting back and waiting for new customers to come to you. That is passive, or re-active marketing; marketing which requires the potential customer to seek out and contact you. In other words it puts the whole thing in the hands of the potential customer.

Pro-Active Marketing in a Recession

Pro-active marketing on the other hand puts you in control. You seek out the potential customers and you contact them. This gives you and your business a chance to stand out above all the ‘noise’ of advertising and other passive, re-active marketing.

Notice I said, “a chance to stand out”, not that you will stand out. This is because when you are pro-active in your marketing, (and especially in a recession), you need to be creative. You need to find interesting and novel ways to be different – to set your business apart from and above your competition. You need a unique selling point.

Once you have a unique selling point and then engage in pro-active marketing, your small business will stand out above all the noise and grab the attention of prospective new customers in a way that your competitors don’t.

Advertising is not pro-active because it relies on the potential customer to make the first move. Pro-active marketing doesn’t.

Pro-Active Marketing Examples

Some examples of pro-active marketing are:

• Telephone canvassing
• Door-to-door cold calling
• Targeted leaflet drops
• Email marketing
• Sales letters

But please don’t assume that picking up the phone, leaflet dropping,  knocking on a few doors, or writing an email or letter will transform your sales. It won’t. None of these will work properly unless you combine them with a unique selling point first – before you get pro-active.

So come on – get pro-active today, beat your competition hands down and be a success in spite of the recession.

Oh, and one final note – if you do have a job vacancy for an enthusiastic, pro-active, hard worker, please contact me and I will pass your details on to the guy who wrote to me asking for a job. Small businesses need people like him.