by admin | Apr 18, 2021 | Blog
Is your business using email marketing or are you leaving that money on the table? Marketing 101 will teach you that it is much easier and much cheaper to sell to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new customer. Let’s discuss some of the ways that email marketing can benefit your business and how you can implement email marketing into your strategy.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the process of collecting ones email address and following up with a series of emails designed to engage, enlighten and create a sense of community. It is responsible for a large portion of sales in businesses that use it correctly.
Here are the steps that you can use to implement an email marketing strategy for your business and begin to see positive results on your bottom line.
1 – Collect emails – There are many ways to collect emails from customers and potential customers. You should have a policy in place to collect the emails of every current customer that you have. You should also get permission to send them your newsletter.
The best way to collect emails from potential customers is to offer a “freebie” for signing up for your newsletter. This can be a PDF or a video offering to solve a particular problem in your industry. Think, “5 Tips to Increase Your Email Subscribers by 20%”, something that is useful to your potential customer and will make them want more information from you. Keep in mind that the freebie has to be high quality or they are not going to want anything else from you.
You then create a form to capture the email and create a download page where they will be directed to download the freebie.
2 – Set up an autoresponder – The next step is to setup an autoresponder to store your data and send your emails at your preferred times and in your preferred sequence. There are many companies that do this. Some of the more popular are:
GetResponse
Mail Chimp
Constant Contact
3 – Send emails – You should send an email immediately upon your customer subscribing that thanks them and directs them to the page to download the freebie. Next you should send an email within an hour that introduces your business, tells the subscriber what to expect from you, how to whitelist your email address and how to follow you on social media. After that you should send at least one email a week and more if you can. The idea is to stay in the forefront of your customers mind while sending them valuable content that they can use or enjoy. Here are the 3 types of emails that you should be sending:
Content Emails – These are your bread and butter. Content emails provide real value. They can be articles tips, etc.. You can send your reader to your blog or to other blogs. You can send them to videos and webinars, as long as the content provides real value.
Relationship Emails – It is extremely important to develop a relationship with your list. Try to involve them in your life or business. You can do this by giving them a glimpse into your life. Pictures of your family or pets are a great way to do this. Also sending them to your videos, so they can see the face behind the emails.
Think about it this way. Are you more likely to buy something if a friend recommends it or if a stranger recommends it? While you may not actually be friends, you can be perceived that way.
Promotional Emails – These are your sales emails. The important thing to remember about promotional emails is that they rarely work without a well planned strategy using the other two types of emails. No one wants to only receive sales emails in their inbox, but if they are mixed in with some quality content and relationship building emails, your subscriber will be much more likely to buy.
That is email marketing in a nutshell. If your business isn’t using a email marketing strategy, you are leaving money on the table. Contact us at Built Green for help implementing an email strategy for your business.
by admin | Apr 17, 2021 | Blog
As a marketing agency, one of the many important things that we try to stress to our clients is to always strive to improve your online presence.
Many of our clients will proclaim; “Our online presence is already really good”. While I can appreciate that, the more positive things that you have in your favor, the easier it is to maintain your online presence when something goes awry.
I am a firm believer in Murphy’s Law, which states; “If something can go wrong, it will”.
So let’s look at 3 ways that you can improve your online presence and stay ahead of the curve.
Ways to improve your online presence
Be active on social media and be acutely aware of what you are posting online.
You should be active on at least 3 social media networks and you need to be very aware of how your behavior on those networks will affect your business. Stay away from posting or commenting on anything political. Politics are very divisive and if you identify yourself as either right or left, you are eliminating half of the population from your potential client list. You should post business related things, but also “feel good” personal thing to let potential clients know that you have a soft personal side. So yes, if you like videos of puppies playing, that is ok.
When we say social media networks, we mean Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and even Youtube.
Practice proper SEO on your website.
This is extremely important to potential clients being able to find you online. Search engine optimization is creating your webpages with the intention of being found online for your particular keywords. It includes doing keyword research to find out what clients in your niche are searching for and then providing them information related to their search in such a way that the search engines find your page relevant and authoritative and include you in the top 5-10 results on the first page. Contact us here at Lehmann Design to discuss how we can help you with SEO.
Build back links to your website.
Back links not only help Google to view your site as an authority, they can also generate traffic and bring potential clients to your realm. Here are some strategies to consider when building back links.
Guest Posting
Write posts on relevant blogs in your niche. These will include at least one link back to your site, usually in your profile, but sometimes in the content itself.
Contribute in Niche Relevant Forums
Same deal here, you should get a link in your profile. Remember to add value to every discussion that you are a part of and don’t spam the group.
Create Over the Top, Awesome Content Worthy of linking Too
When you create really good content, you will naturally build links as others find your content and are wowed by it.
Conclusion
That should get you started with ways to improve your online presence. We caanot stress how important this is in today’s business climate.
If you have any questions or would like help improving your business’s online presence feel free to contact us!
by admin | Apr 15, 2021 | Blog
In today’s post we are going to discuss how to use blog commenting to grow your business. This an underutilized method of expanding your reach and building relationships, but like everything else, there is a right way and a wrong way.
Most people use blog commenting strictly trying to build backlinks to their website. If that is you, then you need to take a long hard look at why you are doing it and the good will that you are leaving on the table.
When I think about the purpose of blog commenting, backlinks are not the top reason. The number one reason that you should be using blog commenting is to build relationships with others in your niche.
You are going to have a hard time building relationships with comments like “Great post!”. That adds absolutely zero value to the authors article and doesn’t even deserve to be published.
You should think about the author and the content that he or she has created and how you can add value to the content.
Here are some tips for writing epic blog comments:
Always Use the Authors Name – I always use the authors name at the beginning of the comment and then I try to use it again at the end. Everyone likes to hear their name, it makes things more personal and adds an element of friendship to the comment.
Size Matters – You should strive to write mini guest posts when commenting on blogs. At the very least, you should write 2-3 paragraphs of high quality content that thanks the author and talks about what you liked in the post. Also try to add to the post from your experience and if you can, ask a relevant question so that the author can reply. Adding even more content to the post. Google loves this kind of interaction and most authors know this, so they love when a reader tees up a nice question for them.
Treat the Author Like a Friend – When you are writing your comment, think of how you would talk to your best friend and write in that friendly tone. When you do this you will sound sincere and not like you are trying to use them for your personal gain. Treat the author like a friend and they just might become one! No matter what business you are in, relationships are extremely important to your success and you never know how you might benefit from a relationship with the author.
At the end of the day, blog commenting is a 100% free way to build your brand, build backlinks and build relationships. Basically blog commenting is a great way to build the foundation of a successful, long term business.
Set aside at least one hour every day to add epic comments to blogs in your niche. Follow the tips above focus on what you can do for them rather than what they can do for you and you will be well on your way toward your financial goals.
by admin | Apr 14, 2021 | Blog
My dad ran a successful small business his whole life and as he and I sat talking the other day, we discussed how difficult it was to start a successful small business today. The trend is towards big box stores and the small mom and pop businesses that you used to be able to start on a shoestring are quickly fading into the sunset. But all may not be lost for the small business entrepreneur looking to start with limited capital thanks to affiliate marketing and the internet.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a relationship between 3 parties:
The Merchant
The Affiliate
The Customer
The Affiliate is responsible for bringing the Customer to the Merchant and as a result, the Affiliate will receive a commission on anything that is purchased by the customer.
This may be the future for the entrepreneur looking to start a small business on a shoestring and could be the mom and pop businesses of tomorrow.
Costs to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business 
An affiliate marketing business can truly be started on a shoestring budget, unlike most brick and mortar businesses today. The only real cost associated with an affiliate marketing business is web design and hosting.
Most mom and pop affiliate marketing businesses design and update their own sites and pay for hosting. Hosting starts at about $4.00 per month for basic hosting, but as you grow you will need to upgrade to more dependable hosting that can handle more traffic. Depending on your needs, this can be anywhere from $2o to hundreds of dollars a month.
How to Get Started in Affiliate Marketing
There is more to affiliate marketing than just throwing up a website and recommending products. There is really a lot to learn and the entrepreneurs that are successful have some things in common.
A Well Designed Website – You need a website that is pleasing to the eye, but you also need really good content that engages your reader and establishes your site as an authority in your niche.
High Quality Training – As the old saying goes, “If you think you know everything, you will learn nothing”. Every successful affiliate marketer has a source of training and is constantly learning and seeking knowledge.
A Place to Get Support and Answers to Your Questions – It is very difficult to succeed in a new endeavor on your own. It is so much easier when you have a place to get answers to your questions from others in the same boat.
As I researched affiliate marketing training and where you could find these 3 things, I came across a company called Wealthy Affiliate.
Wealthy Affiliate appears to provide these important aspects and the more I researched the program, the more intrigued I became. I could not find one negative review of Wealthy Affiliate, very unusual in today’s world.
It seems that the days of starting a mom and pop business on a shoestring may not be long gone at all. The players are the same, but the playing field has changed. No longer is it the corner store, now it is affiliate marketing in the niche of your choice!
