Your Questions About Business Online Services Group

Jere answers:

There are many completely FREE and simple ways you can drive traffic to your business page. You need to get your URL(site address everywhere…Like Zorro leaving his ”Z” everywhere)

Start by placing catchy Classified Ads on Sites like CraigsList, Kijiji and others that you can find by searching on Google. Stick to the first 1-2 pages on Google to start.

Then start a Blog on Google’s (Blogger). Easy to setup and post to. Always include your URL at the end of your Blog entries. Post to other people’s Blogs and always leave your URL at the bottom of each entry.

Engage in Forum marketing in Groups like this and on other Business related sites like HomeBasedBusiness.com, Startup.Biz. Again search on Google for these types of forums and you’ll have a nice list to sign up to and post thoughtful entries.

Write keyword rich articles and submit to 5-10 popular Article Directories like ezinearticles,article dashboard, etc…

Create accounts at several Social Bookmarking Sites like Digg, Technorati, Delicious and bookmark your articles once they have been accepted as well as your main webpage and Blogpage URL.

Make a profile on MySpace, FaceBook, and network with other business minded people in the Business Groups. You need to target who to contact because people are fed up of Spam and strangers adding them so don’t go overboard. Post Bulletins, add posts to Forums, add selected friends and send personalized messages so they know you are not some FriendBot software hehe

From time to time when you have something very newsworthy like a new product release or a new partner joining your business etc…you can write a Press Release and submit to directories like PRFree, 24-7 Press release, free press releases etc…

Use a site traffic analysis tool like Googler Analytics or StatCounter to see what drives most traffic and stick to what works. You need to maximize your productivity and have better conversion rates with time. Stick to what works for you. I have seen solid results by employing all of the above strategies for my business page and have had to do so consistently for months so don’t expect huge results overnight. The effort must be consistent and multi-faceted. Be patient and have focus. There are more strategies than the ones I have listed. Those are just the main free ones and the tip of the iceberg in Internet Marketing. Later on you can engage in Video Blogging, Video marketing, Pay Per Click Advertising and many more. Web 2.0 has become 3.0 and soon 4.0!!!

The main thing is that once you get increased traffic to your page you need to be able to contact those targeted leads. Make sure you have an Opt-In Form on your main page where people can voluntarily leave their contact info (name, email). Set up an autoresponder with , Aweber, or iContact etc…You can write a handful of emails and start an automated email campaign so your potential customers will be in the loop as to what you are doing. Maybe later on they will be interested in purchasing whatever product/service you are marketing or becoming your business partner if you are looking for partners. Also make sure your contact info is clearly visible so your visitors can always contact you.

If you brand YOU INC. And show people you have valuable information to share with them you will have succeeded in earning trust and establishing yourself as a knowledgeable leader. That is the goal here: Attraction marketing. Let me know how your online assault works out and keep in touch! Best, G (The Musical Mad Scientist and Entrepreneur)

www.boom.thevfusiongroup.biz
www.gopalonline.com

Jere answers:

You may want to go and pitch your ideas where investors gather. Here are some places where angel investors come and those looking for funding can come and pitch their business plans. Be sure to have a strong business plan and describe what makes your business idea stand apart:

Angel Capital Association http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org
Angel’s Forum http://www.angelsforum.com
Band of Angels http://www.bandangels.com
Common Angels http://www.commonangels.com
Keiretsu Forum http://www.k4forum.com
Launchpad Venture Group http://www.launchpadventuregroup.com
New World Angels http://www.newworldangels.com
New York Angels http://www.newyorkangels.com
Prairie Angels http://www.prairieangels.org (charges $125 to submit idea)
Robin Hood Ventures http://www.robinhoodventures.com (charges $250)

Jere answers:

Social media will have a huge impact depending on the type of your target market, age group, type of business/businesses you have. You mentioned that your customers are mainly locals, social media has less value here, especially for age groups 40 and above. Honestly, you have to provide specific information in order to have a customized type of marketing.
Guerilla marketing works effectively, partner with local stores to make your brand and services known, offer sales and coupons for people to try out your service which they may come back for more if they are satisfied, etc.
You said this is a joint venture, ever considered using an online asset management tools (http://www.sysaid.com/free-asset-management-software.htm ) to monitor your inventory, progress, stocks, etc? Having a partner (what more with 20 people) needs an open communication from time to time, and keeping your business facts online will make things easier for everyone to monitor its progress and to avoid miscommunication. This is still part on increasing your sales, having good relationship with your partners, and business.

Jere answers:

Yes Obviously…You need a good Internet Marketer to market your business to survive in this competitive SEO world.

Now a days, there are plenty of Internet marketing companies available in the market. Choosing one among the best is a critical job for you.

Here are questions that you might consider asking the SEO Consultant before choosing them for your business…

1. What are your opinions in regards to Best Practices for the SEO – Search Engine Optimization / SEM – Search Engine Marketing industry? How does a company effectively compete online using traditional optimization strategies?

2. Can you assure us that the marketing strategies and methods that you are utilizing fall under the criteria of Best Practices for the SEO/SEM Industry? Can we assume that this means no penalties for our website? Penalties could include, but are not limited to; removal from the search engines or directories index.

3. How many search engine marketing campaigns have you been involved with? What was your role for those projects? How many are still active? How many are inactive? If inactive, why?

4. Are there any guarantees for top search engine positions? The answer to this question will depend on whether or not you choose a Pay Per Click (PPC/CPC) Program from Google, Yahoo!, Live or Ask.

Depending on the competitiveness of your industry, guaranteed top search engine placement may be difficult and expensive to maintain. We recommend an ROI analysis prior to making a commitment.

5. Do you have experience managing Pay Per Click (PPC), Cost Per Click (CPC), and other keyword bid management campaigns? What types of programs, if any, do you use for PPC bid management?

6. What is link popularity? What linking strategies would you use to increase link popularity for our website? Is this service part of the proposed price? What types of websites will you target for link opportunities? What other target audiences are available in a link strategy campaign?

7. What is Google PageRank and how does it affect our website(s)? How would you address improving our PageRank with Google, and other search engines that calculate the number of quality inbound links to our website?

8. What changes can we expect you to make to our website to improve our positioning in the search engines? Will these changes be visible? Will there be changes in the coding of our website?

9. What type of reporting (website statistics/metrics) will you provide to us? How often will you provide those reports? Do you provide live statistics? Will you provide consultation on how to interpret the reports so that we have a basic understanding of the statistics?

10. Do you offer ROI (Return On Investment) analysis? Is this in addition to your contract pricing? Have the consultant explain the process of how the ROI will be determined. This type of ROI tracking may require strict participation by the employees of your company. You may need to address internal procedures first, before being able to successfully track ROI for your website.

As an SEO Professional I hereby suggesting you an SEO Company who offers affordable organic SEO Services for your business.

SEO Services Group – http://www.seoservicesgroup.com/

SEO Services Group is a SEO company offering SEO services with a highly-qualified professional team at affordable rates with guaranteed results.

Good Luck! 🙂

Jere answers:

Join the business network, it’s free

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/onlinebusinessguide/