The great majority of small businesses have yet to take advantage of Internet Marketing services.  For some, it’s the cost, for others, it’s the inability to comprehend what it is.  So often I hear comments from callers such as…”Well, I guess I’m supposed to have a website so can you build me a website?”

I imagine this must have been what it was like when television or radio first came out.  Trying to educate business owners on the potential these venues have for their businesses is not easy.  If they don’t understand it, they don’t want to participate in it.  Well, at least some of them.  We do have callers who say they don’t care to know how it works, just that it works.  And boy, does it ever!

Yesterday, a small business client that sells one niche product (a natural product for the care of gums) emailed me.  We’ve been marketing his website for only 2 months (so we’ve really just begun) and although the number of visitors to the site has grown his sales were minimal and he felt he wasn’t getting as much business as he should have.  He also felt that the “language” we used on the website for marketing wasn’t correct.  He had investigated this whole “SEO Thing” and he advised me that he’s learned enough about it to know that what we’re doing just wasn’t right.  (I’ll have to let my 40+ clients who’ve been with me for 5+ years know that I’m just faking it!)

My response to him was this…

#1 -  we have to get traffic to the website, we have to let people know that this product exists and what it could do for them establishing why they should purchase it.

#2 – we have to accomplish #1 by going after the keyword phrases that people are already typing in.  We can’t sell a product on the Internet by it’s name only.  If people don’t know the name, they’re not going to find the website.  So, we have to sell it by what it does.

#3 – I repeated my request to him for about the 10th time that he absolutely needs testimonials and recommendations from dentists.  Without those, the product doesn’t have any credibility.  You have to build trust in the viewer coming to the website and you can’t do that by just talking about the product and how great it is!

The client didn’t agree, he just felt he needed to go in a new direction.  Well, can’t win them all I say.  But I felt sorry for him in a way.  I mean, I know that the product could do well for him if he understood how the Internet works.  The ROI (Return On Investment) that he could have gotten from our services for him would have been great.

How do I know?  Because I know that if you give the viewers what they want, you will do well.  It’s happened over and over and over again.  I’ve seen it with great products and services and I’ve seen it with products and services I didn’t think would have a chance, in any market!

Give the audience what they want and you will succeed.

Tags: internet marketing, niche marketing, roi, small business, successful internet marketing, website marketing

With the recession in a holding pattern, at least it seems that way, the emails and phone calls we’re getting in here at Eckweb Designs, Inc. are coming from a large variety of businesses, small and big.

It used to be we would only get contacted by small or very small businesses.  But in the last 6-8 months, the size of the companies have grown.  We figured it was the recession.  Companies were looking for ways to either begin their Internet marketing or for ways to reduce their Internet marketing budgets.  Either way, we had to re-scramble some of the ways we conducted our business in order to accomodate these types of clients.  I’m sure many of you have had to do the same thing during these recent times.

But, in the last 30 days we have seen an increase in the number of small businesses contacting us.  So, now we’re getting both!  But the fact that small businesses seem to be getting back, or at least feeling comfortable enough, economically, to be getting back to Internet marketing is another sign that it seems the economy is at least, not getting worse.  Who knows after these recent layoffs of car dealerships how it’ll be in a few months but, for now, it seems to have halted the decline.

But, I have to tell you, the ROI (Return on Investment) that can be had through your website is extremely good.  After all, you have complete control over the website.  You can dictate how you want it to present your business, what it says, how it says it, etc.  And the best of all?  You can find out what your audience is looking for and then just give it to them!

Let’s say you are a physician at an Urgent Care Center.  And you obviously are servicing a community but you also want to bring in patients that may be looking for additional services.  How do you know what they’re looking for?  Easy – conduct a keyword research – or add a search box to your website.  From these two, you’ll be able to see not only what the audience is looking for but what is popular, competitive, etc.

Maybe they’re looking for information on seasonal medical issues like flu, poison ivy, allergies.  If so, then add that information to the website.  This makes you an expert in your field.

Maybe they’re looking for weight loss clinics.  Do you have the personnel to conduct weight loss classes?  Maybe you can offer your clinic as a meeting area for a weight loss group.  Maybe you can “hook up” with a local gym?

Maybe the community is looking for anti-aging treatments.  (That seems to be all the rage these days).  If you have the equipment and personnel to handle that service, it could be a great source of income for you.

The idea is, that you may THINK you know how to run your business, but the truth is, the business is only as good as what it offers the customers.  If the customers don’t want what you’re selling, you won’t have much of a business.  So, find out what they want and give it to them!

Tags: internet marketing, seo, small businesses