Marketing

Images were a huge part of Facebook and other social networks in 2013,  but you can expect these sites to get even more visual in the New Yea. And with good reason– pictures can drive big engagement on Facebook, as much as 120 percent more engagement than text-only posts.

Luckily, with the popularity of smartphones, it’s never been easier to snap a photo, add a comment or a question, and upload it to social media. Following are 14 creative ideas to help you get started with using images on Facebook :

1. Spark a conversation: Look for ways to engage your fans in a conversation. You can use an image to catch their attention and text to encourage a response.

2. Go behind the scenes: Give fans a peek behind the curtains with images that show all of the work that goes into the products you sell and the services you provide. (more…)

January is a time of introspection, reflection and goal setting for the year ahead. Want to get your email marketing on the right path for 2014? Here are 3 easy but essential email marketing resolutions to commit to now to ensure long-term success:

Eliminate your email bad habits

Reduce your content-related stress

Few email marketing tasks can cause a small business owner’s stress level to go up faster than creating email content. This is especially true if you consider yourself to be a less-than-perfect writer. Make a commitment to reducing your content-related stress, and break this frustrating cycle. (more…)

Did you know that companies that leverage email marketing estimate its overall return on investment at 119 percent?* That’s an impressive ROI! Without a doubt, a carefully considered email marketing campaign can reap high returns for savvy small business owners.

Email marketing is an opportunity to connect with existing customers and prospects in ways that other online marketing resources cannot. When done correctly, an email marketing campaign can boost brand awareness, pique interest in your products and services, communicate value to a targeted audience, and generate sales.

So, how do you do it right? Here are five tips for top-notch email marketing:

1. Only send email campaigns to people who have signed up for or requested them. Email campaign companies offer resources like opt-in buttons or sign-up forms to help build permission-based contact lists.

2. Craft the kind of content your contacts requested. You’ll build credibility and loyalty when you deliver what you promised. Get creative, but be sure to provide the type of information recipients signed up for. And remember to include at least one compelling call to action, such as “Call today to start saving!” (more…)

Looking for ways to grow your business online? Meet Friday 15.

In 15 minutes, you could check email, take a nap, dance to your favorite song…three times, or you could learn some new tips to help your business succeed on the web. Friday 15: Small Business Tips is a series from Google’s Get Your Business Online program designed to help small businesses like yours make the most of their online presence.

Friday 15 answers questions like: How should I choose the pictures on my website?  How can I monitor my business online? How should I handle a bad review?  And more.  Check out highlights from two Friday 15 lessons below. Enjoy!

Attract customers with clear page names and descriptions

One quick and easy way to help Google and other search engines understand your website is to add names and descriptions to your webpages. A page name, or page title, describes the content and context of the page. The more specific and informative the title, the better chance that page has to be displayed on a related search.  For example, use “Hours and Location,” instead of “About Us.” (more…)

Email marketing provides businesses with a cost-effective way to stay connected to their customers. In addition, companies can easily launch a program to meet many different objectives. Learn the best ways to increase sales with email marketing.

Email marketing programs

There are many different ways to use email marketing to connect to customers. Companies can launch campaigns with the objective of being promotional, informative, or to provide a company specific announcement. The type of campaign and frequency of emails will typically depend on the customer, company, and industry. For instance, a business targeting a previous retail customer may send promotional emails based on historical purchases and the time of day the open-rates perform best.

Important email marketing metrics

The open-rate measures the number of recipients that opened the email as ratio of the total email send list. Most marketers should expect an open-rate of 25% to 30% according to the recent 2013 industry statistics provided by marketing firm Epsilon. In addition, to open rates, marketers will want to pay attention to click through and bounce rates. Click through rates are typically shown as the number of links in the email that were clicked in relation to the total number of recipients that opened the email. (more…)