It’s a big old world, the internet. As far as getting more leads and business through your website are concerned, there might just be a cache of effective online promotion tactics that may have escaped your radar. We’ll look at some of these with this article:
1. Online Slide-shares. The internet is all about information, and slide-shares are becoming a more attractive and bite sized way of presenting the content you want your visitors to see. They are relatively easy to create, and just as simple to make accessible via mobile devices – so visitors can read, like and forward your slides from any location and device. To create professional slide shares on the cheap, you can use free services such as Slideshare which enable you to organize your content into slides within minutes. Remember, while you’ll want your A++ content on your slides, you’ll also want to make them visually stimulating. Including some imagery with your slides can be a nice touch, and it needn’t cost the moon with free commons image sites like WikiCommons providing an abundance of free for all graphics.
2. Pinterest. Pop down to any marketing forum and you’ll find an increasing number of webmasters cooing happily about the traffic that Pinterest is delivering for them. In some cases, webmasters are reporting better traffic through Pinterest than the other big hitter sites including Google, Facebook and Youtube. The key point with Pinterest is that it is real SEO fodder – Google loves Pinterest, and it also has a natural viral marketing impact. Together, they makes Pinterest one of the most exciting new traffic generation tactics around. To maximize your Pinterest punch, remember that you should be looking to add the most interesting pins that your followers would like. Ideally, this should be closely related to your business niche, though it is ok to stray off topic once in a while.
3. Video. It’s ironic – video marketing has been around for a good decade now, however many SME’s are still not tapping into it as potently as they could be. That’s disappointing when you consider that about 4 billion videos are watched online each and every day (that’s everyone in China and India watching a video daily, plus a few other smaller countries to boot). Research also suggests that people are typically able to recall 95% of the information contained in a video, compared to just 10% when reading text.
4. Local Search. For smaller brick and mortar companies, local search can be a great way to generate business. With local searches, your business pops up when people search for a product or service within the area. There are several different ways that you can make your local business appear more prominently in local searches. For a start, keyword optimise your content to include your location. A Butcher in Golders Green London may wish to use “best butcher in Golders Green London” as a keyword, for example. Additionally, get your business listed in the main local searches – Google Places, Yahoo Local and Bing are the three main ones to target. There are several other local directories too for areas that will be relevant to your business. Many local directories also allow your business to be reviewed – which means the more you can entice customers to leave a positive review, the more your business will gain from the local marketing experience.