There are many ways that you, as a business owner, can connect with local customers to build trust, loyalty, and brand awareness. By doing so, you create a relationship with your customers that will keep your them coming back as well as recommending friends and family. Each of these methods require a little effort on your part and will not cost you very much, if anything at all.

1. Twitter - Create a Twitter account for your business if you haven’t already. Twitter every day to communicate new products, services, deals, coupons, and what your business is doing in general.
2. Facebook - Create Facebook Fan Page for your business and suggest all your friends become fans as well. Be sure to post new and exclusive content on your fan page too. It’s important that you connect and interact with Facebook fans differently than you would on your website.
3. LinkedIn - Create a LinkedIn profile for you and your business and make sure you complete the profile 100%. Once you’ve done this be sure to upload all your contacts and invite them to link up  with you. Lastly ask for recommendations and join and participate in groups. LinkedIn is a great way to generate new business leads.
4. Blog - If you haven’t thought of starting a corporate blog, then now is the time. A blog is a fantastic way to reach out to customers and let them know what you’re doing. Blog each day about both personal and business achievments and be sure to ask for your readers input. This interaction between you and your customer is a powerful tool.
5. Comment - It’s important that you not only blog but subsribe and read other blogs as well. Look for local blogs from newspapers, television stations, and other professionals in your area and comment on their posts. This not only puts your name out their but builds links back to your blog.
6. Google Local Listing – This should be one of the first things you do as a business. Create a listing with Google for your business and be sure to pick several appropriate categories. This listing will show up when customers search for businesses in your categories.
7. Local.com – Another great directory for businesses and will cost you nothing to register. The more directories you can register your business with similar to Local.com the better. The reason for doing this not only helps you build your brand but establish trust with both your customers and Google.
8. Host a Free Seminar – Building trust is crucial to your business’ success and what better way than give away free and valuable information. Host a seminar in your community that will benefit attendees by sharing your knowledge. Whether you’re a real estate agent, attorney, plumber, or car dealer you possess specific trade knowledge that can benefit your customers.
9. Sponsor a Local Event – Look for events in your community where you can have the opportunity to be a sponsor. Most of the time your business name and information will be placed in the event’s publications and printed materials. This is an excellent opportunity to build your brand.

Many small business owners and even some marketing firms fall in to the trap of sending targeted web traffic to a website’s home page. This may be fine for those visitors who come to your site through direct contact such as word of mouth, business cards, yellow pages ads, etc. but it is certainly not effective when it comes to buying web traffic.

There are many business owners who have dabbled with Google Adwords and simply direct their paid traffic to their home page. While this may generate some business they typically become frustrated when the desired results are not achieved. The reason for their frustration and lack of conversions is very simple. You cannot send targeted traffic to a generic or untargeted web page and expect  it to convert. What do I mean by targeted traffic? When you bid on search terms in Google Adwords, you are buying traffic for web users who are actively searching for products or services that match those terms. For example, let’s assume we are working with an attorney who specializes in several areas of law. Let’s also assume we launched a Google Adwords campaign and are bidding on the term “divorce lawyer”. If we sent those clicks to our client’s home page it would most likely be a waste of money. Why? Most home pages are very generic and give a brief look at the company and require you to dig deeper into the site to find what you are looking for. In our example, if we sent someone who is looking for a “divorce attorney” to our client’s home page that talks very little about divorce, we may not get any action out of that visitor.

The solution to our problem is to use a landing page. Landing pages have a single purpose — that is to compel a web visitor to perform some business goal. Many times this goal is capturing a name and email address, downloading a PDF, making a phone call, or even purchasing something from your web site. There are too many distractions on the home page and other pages of the site which can cause your site to lose sales and leads. Looking back at our example, if we had directed the visitor to a page that talked specifically about divorce, the services offered by our client, and a strong call to action we could expect better conversions. When used correctly landing pages can drastically increase your ROI.

Whether your budget is $100 or $10,000 per month, Cogent Search Engine Marketing can assist you in your Internet marketing efforts. We know exactly what a great landing page can do for your marketing dollars and how to implement them. Call us today and find out how you can take advantage of our services risk free.

Time and time again I hear small business owners complaining that they don’t have the capital to launch an effective advertising campaign. The simple fact is there is absolutely no truth to that statement. There are several inexpensive ways to promote yourself, your business, or product that are very effective. The four methods of advertising that I’d like to share with you are:

• Networking & Word of Mouth
• Community Involvement
• Giving Something Away
• Performance Based Marketing

Each method, if implemented properly, can have a large impact in your business’ overall success. Combined, these tools create an advertising weapon like no other.

Networking & Word of Mouth

You’re a business owner right, so let people know it. All too often we forget to promote ourselves when speaking with others. When you meet someone, introduce yourself and let them know who you are and what you do at the same time. If people don’t know that you own a business or have a product or service that can benefit others, then they aren’t going to share it. The power of networking is huge! When people think you have a great product or service they’re going to tell everyone they know about it. They will then tell their friends, and then they’ll tell their friends and so on. Also, make sure you have plenty of business cards and be sure to hand one out every time you meet someone. This alone is a very simple, yet effective, way to promote your business.

Community Involvement

Getting involved in the community is an excellent way to let others know about you and your business. One way to get involved is to open your store or office up for special events. You can also sponsor a local charity or non-profit organization. Often times charities are looking for local companies to sponsor an event or meeting and give their sponsors special recognition in their printed promotional materials.

Giving Something Away

Consumers love giveaways and freebies. By giving a little away up front, you potentially can make it back in the long run. Sometimes you don’t even have to give something up but by merely letting consumers think you’re giving them something for nothing is enough. For example, an automotive repair shop may advertise a free vacuuming with each oil change. In reality it’s something they do anyway. The appearance is that the consumer is getting something for nothing. Little things like this can get people talking and grow your business.

Performance Based Marketing

Using a performance based marketing firm is a very low cost and highly effective means of advertising. Performance marketing firms like Cogent incur the upfront costs for advertising and only bill you for the leads or sales they generate. If no sales or leads are generated then you have no obligation to pay. Many firms will allow you to place a limit or cap on the number of leads or sales generated too. Sometimes small companies just aren’t staffed to handle a high volume of leads. It’s also important to make sure you review all advertising materials/media prior to launch. This will enable you to ensure your public image, brand, and name are protected. Performance based marketing is probably the easiest and quickest way to get your name or product out to the public.

If you want to grow your business and find yourself wondering how to stretch your advertising dollar, then give us a call. We can discuss how performance marketing can help you reach new customers and boost sales today.

Most of us recognize Facebook as a social medium that allows people to connect and share common interests through messaging, photos, videos, and other related online activities. As a business owner, Facebook offers you a great platform to reach out and connect with your customers in a way that advertising has never been able to before.

Wide Reach

Facebook users worldwide total over 200 million and in the U.S. the number is a staggering 75 million. Numbers like that means the opportunity to connect with potential customers is enormous. Facebook is not just a place for teens either. According to iStrategy, there are more adults over the age of 25 than there are teens and young adults. Many business owners and advertisers like to hear this because the older demographic typically has more income at their disposal.

Targeting

When advertising on the Facebook platform there are many ways select and reach online users.  Advertisers have the choice of filtering by location, age, birthday, sex, education, keywords, relationships, language, and connections. All of these options give the ability to laser target your customers and place yourself in front of them.

Connect and Interact

What you say and how you connect with your customers is huge. Facebook allows advertisers to either direct online users to either your existing website, landing page, or a customized Facebook fan page. One neat feature that Facebook offers businesses with a Fan page is that online users can become a fan without clicking on your ad. This prevents disrupting the Facebook experience but it allows the advertiser to communicate with fans later. Once you’ve aquired a fan you can connect and communicate with them as little or as often as you like.

If you are interested in learning more how Cogent can help you launch a new Facebook campaign and reach out to new customers online then give us a call. There are no upfront fees or hidden costs, you just pay for the leads we generate.

1. Shoppers use search engines to find dealers

According to a study in 2003 by InsightExpress, 3 out of 4 online shoppers use search engines to find a dealer when looking for automobiles.  That means 75% of all people who are ready to buy an automobile start their shopping using search engines like Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.  Additionaly, StatMarket in 2004 discovered that more than 50% of all automobile searches on the web happen on Google’s ad network.  It’s plain to see that if you’re in the business of selling cars, an effective online strategy is required to  be competitive.

2. Target local customers

Because 25% of all online search traffic is directed towards local businesses (Kelsey Group),  it’s a good idea to try and capture these potential customers.  Search engines like Google are used 22% more than the Yellow Pages and have the ability to target this local search activity.

3. High return on investment

With cost-per-action (CPA) advertising, automobile dealers only pay for qualified leads.  Under this scenario dealers can calculate to the penny how much it costs to generate leads and sell vehicles. It’s also interesting to know that FordDirect performed a study in 2003 and revealed that the average dealer cost per sale was $100.  Often times performance marketing can deliver qualified leads for less than half this cost.

Knowing this information it’s very clear why performance marketing works well for automobile dealers.  We challenge anyone to kick our tires and take our service for a spin.  We are confident that you will be more than pleased.  That’s why we allow all new customers to try our service completely free.