Consulting Business 101: How To Manage Your Online Reputation

Having a home office is the biggest advantage of launching a consulting business.

Photo Courtesy of: Flickr

You don’t have to worry for monthly rental, maintenance costs and gas bills. All your basic transactions are done online.

From setting up a site, hiring employees, finding leads, nurturing clients to receiving payments, you can manage all these activities with a computer with a fast-speed Internet connection at home.

Don’t get it wrong. An online consulting business isn’t a fantasy paradise.

It isn’t a business that will make you rich overnight. Consulting requires consistency.

Nothing will happen if you fail to consistently market yourself. The online world must see you.

To keep the ball rolling forward, your long-term goal is to manage your reputation around the Internet landscape every day.

Below are some of the tips to enhance your online reputation 24/7:

1) Your reputation is your brand.

It speaks highly about you, your products and your services. That’s why; you need to carefully choose the people who will work for you.

It takes time to hire the right people for the right position. You’ll look for a team of virtual assistants who understand and perform the following:

• Building a site
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Blogging
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing (SMM)
• Web Analytics
• Affiliate Marketing
• Display Advertising
• Mobile Marketing

Apart from the above mentioned, your #1 aim is to train these virtual assistants to think outside the box.

You make them realize that they work for you not only for money but also to represent your name.

Keep in mind: Hire for attitude, Train for skill

2) Master the art and science of English.

English is the universal language. As an online consultant, you communicate with your employees and clients through email, project management tool (Wrike, Trello, etc.) and Skype.

The style of communication in each platform varies. Sometimes, a research proposal is best discussed in detail through email than in BaseCamp.

It’s mainly up to you which is convenient and affordable to use. Most important thing is, you send the message in a concise and friendly manner.

The disadvantage of online communication is people might immediately misinterpret you if you use slang terms. They might get uncomfortable if they read your message in caps.

Worst case is, they will never trust your intention if you write with wrong spellings, wrong punctuation and wrong grammar.

English is a cerebral language. It has rules and patterns. Below are the tips you can follow to improve your oral and written skills:

• Speak concisely.
• Listen attentively.
• Talk to express an idea.
• Never use big words.
• Use short sentences.
• Keep a paragraph short.
• Observe proper punctuation.
• Observe correct grammar.
• Be professional in tone.
• Edit, edit, edit.

Talking and writing in English fluently improve your reputation, online and offline.

3) Participate in social media.

Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. LinkedIn. etc. These social networking websites are all the same but function differently.

Your social media world plays as a shadow to your offline world. For example, if you consider yourself an extrovert, your Facebook profile might receive hundreds of likes, comments and shares.

People will remember you as either their friend, enemy, office pal or classmate. You can’t please all of them but you can certainly earn their trust and respect using one of the sites mentioned above.

The following are a number of tips you can use to rev up your social media reputation.

• Separate personal from business accounts.
• Update your Facebook profile frequently.
• Update your Facebook business page every day.
• Get many likes as you can.
• Study your Facebook page analytics.
• Join the conversation in Facebook Groups.
• Tweet naturally and concisely.
• Tweet with a photo and a link to your site.
• Reach out to your Twitter friends.
• Learn to use hashtags.
• Update your YouTube Channel twice a week.
• Upload instructional and promotional HQ videos.
• Share these videos to your Facebook and Twitter friends.
• Update your LinkedIn business profile.
• Participate in Linkedin business groups.
• Connect with the influencers.

4) Buy a trusted tracking tool.

It takes a lot of time to search the web for mentions, reviews and citations. Even a simple and free Google Alert isn’t enough.

That’s why; use an automated tracking tool to save time and effort.

Angela Stringfellow is the Chief Ideation Officer of American Express Open Forum. In an article she wrote in October 2013, she enumerated the six recommended tools here.

It’s also a smart idea to look for a number of special features such as:

• Thorough filter of good from bad reviews
• Automated posting of good reviews in social media
• Comprehensive analytics

5) Participate in business forum.

There are hundreds of forums online. It seems impossible to actively participate in all; therefore, better choose two of the many.

Register to a forum that allows a link signature to your site. This way, you’ll get more attention (and clicks) as this link appears in all your threads.

Just be extra careful. Make sure you provide answers that are realistic and doable. Answers that don’t make sense are forbidden. Forum owners will ban you.

6) Design your website.

Your website is your shopping mall. Its goal is to attract different users and visitors.

It requires technical expertise to create a functional site. It needs to have the pages that provide the right information.

For this reason, work closely with your developer. Let him or her understand your vision, mission, goals and the following technicalities:

• Web brand logo
• Domain name
• Font design
• Font sizes
• Brand colors
• Number of columns
• Placement of boxes
• Installed plugins
• Analytics
• Homepage design

The content you put in the site reveals your personality. Therefore, carefully plan what you want and create a timetable when to post it.

It’s helpful to vary the content. A good combination of written, audio and visual contents always attract new visitors to return for more.

7) Go offline.

Managing your reputation online is never enough. Whenever you can, make it a habit to encourage your leads and customers to attend seminars and workshops. This way, they will have the chance to meet you and shake your hand. They can even take pictures too.

Always remember: Healthy offline reputation results to healthier online reputation.

*****

Leads Ahoy provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

5 Reasons Why You’ll Use Twitter For Online Marketing (Part 1)

Nowadays, Twitter is perceived as Facebook’s little brother. It currently ranks second as the most popular social media platform with 284 million actives users (Jeff Bullas, 2014).

Once you include online marketing in your mix, below are the reasons why you need Twitter:

Reason 1.

If Facebook improves brand awareness, Twitter acts as a stream for conversation.

Your responsibility is to keep tweeting until the influencers hear you.

Influencers are the popular people in the industry relevant to your business. They are either businessmen, athletes, celebrities or international brands.

These people have the power to create a buzz. For example, if you’ll launch a new product tomorrow, you’ll receive more attention if these influencers will talk about it.

Reason 2.

Twitter is the best content marketing channel for visual contents.

In Facebook, posting contents will annoy your friends. They will unfriend you. They will also block your posts in their feed.

In Twitter, it’s a great habit to regularly tweet with a photo + a shortened link. Your content will receive more engagements.

Just be extra careful though. Your followers will want to unfollow you if their feed is flooded with your tweets.

Regular tweeting is about the right timing. For example, if you post the first content at 12 noon, you post the next content at 4:00 then at 8:00 etc.

Reason 3.

Twitter is a free monitoring tool.

The https://twitter.com/search-advanced allows you to explore the popular keywords, people, places and dates.

You can use it for thorough research. It allows you to find the influencers, the leads and the relevant hashtags.

Free Analytics is available. It measures the performance of a tweet. It also allows you to study your followers’ demographics.

Reason 4.

Content curation is easier with Twitter.

You’re a content curator once you create a Twitter account. You either curate news, videos, how-to tips, photos etc.

Your online reputation improves if you keep curating contents. It means you’re sharing the best piece of content for free.

Reason 5.

Twitter is a real-time media.

Use Twitter when you want fast and up-to-date information 24/7. It never fails to amaze you.

Real-time tweets will give you plenty of facts and opinions from news reporters, bloggers and influencers.

*****

LEADS AHOY provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

10 Reasons Why Online Marketing Alone Isn’t Enough

The primary goal of this article is to encourage business owners to use online marketing and offline promotion in one mix.

Nowadays, the popular saying “go where the target audience lies” yields more realistic measurable results if you’ll bring your offline businesses to the online world and vice versa.

Here are the reasons:

Reason 1.

Online marketing is an ideal landscape for electronic goods such as e-books, digital music files, paid softwares, mobile apps, e-coupons, e-tickets, e-cards, paid live streaming, web programming, site development and business blogging.

Marketing across the online web generates more leads. It wouldn’t hurt; however, if you’ll meet corporate friends and new connections.

Reason 2.

Traditional advertising is too expensive for small and medium businesses such as food, home improvement, HVAC, auto-repair, physical fitness, etc.

To save more money, these businesses need to get busy with online publicity such as paid press release distribution, blogging, guest blogging and social media. These techniques satisfy the demands of their existing and new customers.

Reason 3.

Direct online marketing through email correspondence provides limited reach, especially if you rely on automated software. It’s still best to gather leads offline.

Directly call the list (one by one) before sending them the newsletter to ensure increased engagement.

Reason 4.

People are used to seeing the most valuable brands in TV. Pepsi attempted to focus in social media in 2011. Unluckily, the company’s sales sank.

This only proves to increase conversions, Pepsi and other valuable brands such as Coca-Cola, Samsung, Toyota, etc. should invest more airtime and more money in commercial ads.

Reason 5.

If your products and services are digital, it seems right to pay more attention in direct online marketing such as email marketing and Twitter buzz.

Offline direct marketing such as brochure distribution helps you discover potential leads within your community.

Reason 6.

Never underestimate the power of trade shows. Apart from posting hundreds of photos in Pinterest, mall trade shows can increase product awareness and enhance customer relationship even if you’re selling digital products.

Reason 7.

Uploading videos in YouTube is a good habit. It may receive attention especially if you optimize it for local search.

A YouTube promo video will gain more exposure if you’ll pay for billboard ads located at the busiest street.

Reason 8.

Blogging is the heart and soul of inbound marketing. One blog post can go viral. It can receive more than 10,000 views and 500 shares in 24 hours.

Yet, if you’ll be more creative and bring that viral content offline (for example: contest), your blog will receive flood of re-blog, comments and shares in under 24 hours.

Reason 9.

Educating people is always a great thing. It’s recommended to conduct free weekly webinars in an aim to spread awareness.

It’s a big plus if you’ll also conduct seminars and workshops in selected schools, offices and charities.

Reason 10.

Always think of the press. The local, national and international press people have the power to circulate your campaign around the world.

Writing a mail to a group of journalists or meeting them in person for an interview is strongly recommended.

*****

LEADS AHOY provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

10 Internet Marketing Services That Are Illegal

Who would have thought the Internet becomes a powerful way to market products and services? Probably, no one.

Whatever your product is, whatever your service is – you need to create an online presence to embrace more people.

They say internet marketing is easier than offline marketing. They say it’s inexpensive.

For example, you can start by creating a video if you want a promotional campaign. Then, you can circulate the video by embedding it on your website.

You can also invite more bloggers to write something about you and the video.

They say it’s measurable. You can always monitor your analytics. You’ll know who plays your video, what time of the day it gets more clicks and what techniques you can do to increase its visibility.

These days, however, internet marketing gets more complicated due to these illegal methods and practices.

Anything that is done to disobey FTC Internet Marketing Rules, CAN-SPAM Act and Google Guidelines is highly prohibited.

To get things done and crystal clearer, here are the Top 10 internet marketing services you shouldn’t include in your plan. Protect your site from any of the following techniques before it’s too late.

Black Hat SEO

Internet marketing includes search engine optimization. These two are inseparable. Don’t expect you’ll do good in internet marketing without understanding the basics of SEO.

The biggest problem is, hundreds of people want to get smarter than Google. They invent these illegal techniques and unluckily, they have hundreds of followers too.

Buying Email List

Success in internet marketing doesn’t happen overnight but with consistency, you’ll go in the right direction. Therefore, there’s no need to buy a list of email addresses.

Lead generation is the hardest. Building a foundation of trust takes time but you’ll see, it’s worth the wait.

Automated Content

Quality content connects you to your target audience. For this reason, it’s never a smart decision to rely on automation to publish articles on your blog.

You need a content marketing plan or – if you’re too busy, consider hiring a content writer. Search engines love quality blogs, well-written press releases, slide presentations and free e-books.

Free Autoresponder

The techniques in email marketing serve as the juiciest part of internet marketing. It’s where you negotiate and close a deal.

That’s why; use a paid autoresponder in monitoring your campaign. These are more trusted and stress-free.

URL Tweak

There’s no other way to improve search ranking than to perform the legal techniques, on-page and off-page.

If the technique requires you to insert or add something in the url, don’t think twice. It’s illegal.

Unnecessary Display Ads

This isn’t an illegal technique but it’s unnecessary. Display advertising works but it’s unhealthy when you’re losing a lot of money.

That’s why; before relying on ads, stick to your budget. Better ask yourself: How much do I want to spend?

Forum Listing

This is a popular black hat technique used by link builders. What they’re doing is register to hundreds of online forums, even it’s irrelevant to your business, and put the site’s homepage in the signature.

Multi-Level Marketing

Referral marketing is done using word of mouth. You encourage high profile people to mention your products and services in YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

MLM does the opposite. Its main purpose it to sell, nothing more. People recruit other people in an attempt to create a multiple level of compensation.

Fake Reviews

Registering your site in selected review sites is recommended. More people will trust your products and services if it’s filled with star ratings and good reviews.

Yet, fake reviews are circulated around the web these days. These reviews are mostly done by your competitors. They post negative reviews under fake names to bring you down.

Blog Commenting

Irrelevant and fluff comments make no sense. Oftentimes, these are written for the sole purpose of putting a backlink in the url box.

Internet marketing is about hard work. You don’t simply fool around to earn money. It pays to be patient and it pays to say no to illegal internet marketing services listed above.

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Leads Ahoy provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

The Best SEO Services For Your Website

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It’s a technique commonly used in internet marketing.

When your website is well-optimized for search engines, it’s easier for the robots to find your site.

Once SEO is coined with the keyword “service,” it becomes a verb and you’re required to perform it regularly.

“Does my website need SEO?” This is the most common question around the web and the answer is yes.

Whatever your website is – may it be blog, e-commerce, forum, photo gallery or gaming – it’s recommended to find the array of seo services to rank higher in Google, Yahoo and Bing.

“What’s the best SEO service for my website?” That’s the next question and the truthful answer is, It depends.

Each website is unique. Like humans, they have their own needs and it’s up to you how you’ll prioritize these needs.

SEO is divided into two types. The on-page refers to all techniques you do once you sign-in to a website. The off-page refers to all techniques you do outside the website.

These two types help maximize your online visibility. It doesn’t, however, mean you’ll prioritize one type than the other. Your time must be equally divided to manage the two.

For example, you’ll spend the whole day for on-page. The next day, you’re going to perform the off-page techniques.

Listed below are the best search engine optimization services your website needs every day:

1) Organic Search Services

Organic search focuses on ranking your site based on importance and relevance. A well-optimized website follows the guidelines prepared by Google.

Listed below are the on-page services your website needs. These are mostly technical details.

If you think you can’t properly handle it, better hire a webmaster.

• Website theme and layout: How friendly it is?
• Page speed: How fast is it to load?
• Keyword-rich url: Is it easy to remember?
• Proper use of title tags: Is it easy to remember?
• Descriptive meta description: What did you write?
• Placement of keywords in a content
• Format of blog articles: Do you use bullets?
• Sizes of images in each page: Is it too big?
• User experience: How friendly it is?
• Analytics: How often you monitor the number of visits?

2) Local Search Services

According to statistics, more than 80% of online users use key phrases to either find your site or your competitors.

This is the reason why local SEO play a vital role in internet marketing. It focuses on geographic region.

Local SEO combines the use of on-page and off-page techniques. You must make sure your site provides the following:

• verified business name
• complete address
• phone number
• star ratings
• customer reviews

Below are the techniques or better called as the checklist to boost your local online campaign:

( ) Your root url must include a business name and location.

( ) Your page title must include the service and location.

( ) Each page includes your business name, address and phone number.

( ) Target your blog posts to a specific state and city.

( ) Register your site to popular listings.

( ) You put your listing in the right category.

( ) Be consistent with all your listings. The profiles must include the same business name, the same logo, the same address and the same phone number.

( ) Update your social media every day by posting the new blog posts, press releases and free downloads.

( ) Conduct an online seminar once a week. Be an expert in your field and inspire your audience.

( ) Encourage your audience to rate your products and services. Allow them to write honest reviews too.

( ) Positively respond to negative reviews. Instead of being too defensive, let them understand how you can improve.

( ) Constantly ask for citations. For example, request an authority person to tweet about your new blog post.

3) Social Media Services

Social media focuses on off-page techniques. Your goal is to reach out to all the registered members and give them a reason to trust you.

You communicate with your new and existing customers through your social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Below are the essential techniques for an effective social media campaign:

Technique 1.

Be consistent with all your profiles. The primary function of all social networking sites is to attract attention using your visual content.

Therefore, put your logo as your profile picture. Most importantly, your url should be your business name. For example, www (dot) facebook (dot) com /leadsahoy.

Technique 2.

YouTube is the most popular video networking site and it allows you to optimize your channel, create a playlist and subscribe to other channels.

Therefore, make it a habit to upload all your promotional videos in your channel and link them either to your homepage, blog or contact.

Technique 3.

Participate in two forums related to your business. Answer as many threads as you can to earn the members’ trust.

Teach them with what you know. Just make sure your signature includes your homepage.

Technique 4.

Twitter is an ideal networking site for communication and research. So, take time to explore around and learn how to use each feature to your benefit.

Tweet and re-tweet regularly. Include a photo, hashtag and link in a tweet.

Technique 5.

Create a group in Facebook and send invites to all your friends. This group serves as your discussion board in which you encourage to share ideas and ask questions.

Technique 6.

LinkedIn serves as your online resume, which reveals something about your reputation. You’re also allowed to join groups and find new connections.

For this, don’t forget to update your profile. It’s your responsibility to regularly add new skills, new blog post and new announcement.

Technique 7.

Create a presence in other social networking sites such as Google+, Pinterest and Tumblr. Make sure you’ll link all the photos to your homepage.

To know how you’re going to set priorities, answer this simple questionnaire made by MOZ. It’s easy and it’s fast.

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Leads Ahoy provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

23 Ways To Evaluate An Online Marketing Consulting Firm

These days, every business needs an online marketing consulting firm. You need the firm to manage your web presence and reputation against the competitors.

The firm also assists you in your day-to-day goals. These marketing consultants will drive these goals in the right direction. Most firms offer services that improve your visibility in Google search.

These firms use legal techniques to polish your existing SEO and content marketing plans.

The biggest problem that is, not all firms are created equal.

Sure, it’s possible to find the list of Top 10 best marketing firms in less than 10 seconds. You simply need to key-in the right keywords in Google and, that’s it. You’re done!

It, however, doesn’t mean all these firms offer the right and quality services that are worth your money.

Wherever the firm is located, whether in Chicago, New York or outside the country, it’s your responsibility to study the firm and its team of consultants.

Remind yourself trust is earned. Therefore, before hiring a firm, take time to exhale and ask yourself the following questions.

These questions will serve as your guide to evaluate your chosen marketing firm.

1. Does the firm practice what’s written in their blog?

The firm’s reputation depends on how the team manages their blog.

Their blog defines their brand. It reveals their work ethic, camaraderie and professionalism.

A quality blog is regularly updated with fresh original contents such as inspiring stories, instructional articles and free downloads.

2. Does the firm’s site provide case studies?

Case studies serve as the heart and soul of the firm’s content marketing campaign. It’s the type of written content that tells a success story, which convinces the people to hire the team.

3. Does the firm tell you how their team operates? Do they outsourced or work in-house?

These days, online marketing firms choose to hire a number of qualified consultants from neighboring countries.

It’s expected a team of consultants will consist of Americans, Filipinos, Indians and Malaysians.

4. Does the firm explain the latest news in online marketing?

The online marketing world is competitive. There are new rules and new techniques invented every day. Therefore, it’s the firm’s responsibility to share these news to you, either by mail or by chat.

5. Does the firm complement your business’ culture?

It isn’t enough to hire a firm that you can afford. You need to hire a team who understand your business. They need to familiarize the flow of transaction, from top to the bottom funnel.

6. Does the firm achieve great results with past clients with similar goals as yours?

Reading the firm’s reviews is one way of studying a firm’s reputation. Past reviews and testimonials serve as your guide to know if the firm was good enough or was great enough.

7. Does the firm offer flexible pricing models?

It’s expected for a firm to offer a list of great services. However, the truth of the matter is you don’t need all these services.

For example, your website needs on and off page SEO but it doesn’t mean you also need email marketing services.

Therefore, choose what specific services will work for you and your business.

Ask if you can’t understand how a specific service works. It helps to conduct your own research too. Do your assignment and learn to negotiate.

8. Does the firm offer discounts when you pay in cash?

Paying in cash is a good thing. It means the firm will want you as their long-term partner and the team will do what they can to serve you better. They will give you more freebies, more extra services and more discounts.

9. Does the firm provide a service in traffic generation?

Your website needs traffic generation to ensure its web presence is consistently healthy.

Traffic generation yields great results but it doesn’t happen overnight or in a month. It can be achieved if the team works extra hard to attract more people to your website.

10. Does the firm provide a quality service in lead generation?

A business without leads is a dead fish. Leads are the people who want and who need your services. You can convert these people into new and repeating customers.

11. Does the firm provide a quality service in lead nurturing?

Leads expect your care and attention. These people long for quality information, which convinces them to stay in the list. Lead nurturing goes beyond the walls of search engine optimization. Well-nurtured leads will spend money to get your offers.

12. Does the firm provide a quality service in customer acquisition?

Customer acquisition is about respect and trust. You want your firm to attract the curiosity of people to get to you. Once these people get into you (for example: sign up to your weekly newsletter), they will start to respect you. Trust comes when you’re showing care.

13. Does the firm provide a quality service in analytics?

Every thing online is measurable. A marketing firm will oversee the numbers, percentages and graphs for you. The team will record the progress and failures of your campaign.

14. Does the firm provide a team of content writers?

The main responsibility of a content writer goes beyond blogging and e-book writing. Content writers are expected to create a content marketing plan, which consists of keyword research, duration of writing a content, editing the content and content submission to selected social channels.

15. Does the firm provide a team of site developers?

Site developers are in-charge of all the technical aspects of on-page SEO. They create the website from scratch, install necessary plugins and make sure the website remains internet friendly to all types of users.

Usually, a developer isn’t your man for all that you want. He or she needs the assistance of a graphic designer, a webmaster and a content writer to fully optimize the website in search engines.

16. Does the team provide an up-to-date project management tool?

Spreadsheets are old-school. Firms these days need to use an online project management tool (Wrike, Trello, Evernote, Basecamp etc.) to impress you.

You can easily monitor their accomplishments and weekly goals if they’re given an access to this tool.

17. Does the team respond positively to real-time marketing opportunities?

The team needs to stay flexible to whatever changes in online marketing. They must learn how to respond to whatever problems and complains.

Days at work are not happy all the time but if the team works smoothly, they can still convert the most negative event into a positive opportunity.

18. Does the firm set clear, realistic and measurable expectations every month?

It’s the firm’s responsibility to create, re-create and organize their goals and expectations. Every goal results to expectations – that’s why, the expectation needs to be crystal clear. The goal needs to be measurable by their analytics.

19. Does the firm provide a timeline for progress?

Every goal is monitored and measured. Whether the result is positive or negative, the firm needs to include it in their day-to-day timeline.

This timeline serves as their detailed evaluation board to understand what’s going right and what needs improvement.

20. Does the firm conduct a Skype meeting?

Weekly or monthly meetings play a vital role in business transactions.

Whatever the agenda is, either it’s only a scheduled meeting for 30 minutes or one whole morning, a meeting enhances your relationship with the firm.

It melts the iceberg and opens new ideas for long-term realistic development.

21. Does the firm provide training videos and free e-books?

A marketing firm never gets tired to educate people. The consultants will find time to write free e-books and conduct offline workshops. True education goes beyond the unlimited walls of online learning.

22. Does the firm provide a report filled with meaningless metrics?

Reporting isn’t an easy job. Some reports are too detailed but confusing to understand. These days, the firm needs to change that habit. The consultants must submit a succinct and visual report, which consist of summary, colored graphs and bullets.

23. Does the firm provide graphs with accurate interpretations?

A report without graphs is no report at all. To make things easier to digest, the firm’s monthly and annual reports need to include various types of graphs to clearly explain the necessary interpretations. Presentation also becomes more professional with graphs.

REMEMBER: You can’t find a perfect online marketing consulting firm. It never existed. It never was and it never will.

A firm can give the best quality service you need but it provides no one-that-fits-all formula for success.

Success means hard work and requires experimentation. It’s a process and it doesn’t happen overnight.

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Leads Ahoy provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/ 

8 Reasons Why Color Psychology Plays A Role in Content Marketing

1. Bright colors attract attention. It’s the reason why you either read, watch and browse visual contents such as articles, e-books, newsletters, videos, photos and infographics.

Photo Courtesy of: Entrepreneur

2. Contents with pure colors bring emotions. According to Joe Hallock, 34% of voters choose blue for trust, 76% pick red for speed and 28% choose orange for fun.

3. Colors direct your customers’ eyes where to look. For example, when Person A wants to get your blog updates, he will search for a yellow rectangular box to register.

4. Colors tell your customers what to do. For example, a red button instructs your customer to download the free e-book before it expires in 48 hours.

5. Blog posts with high-quality photo receive more unique clicks than those without. The photo supports the written texts in every paragraph either it’s inserted on the left, right or center.

6. Colors affect your conversion rate. It’s believed internet ads in full-color receive more clicks than those in plain white and black.

7. In Twitter, a tweet with quality photo, hashtag and link receives more favorites and re-tweets.

8. A color is your brand. People notice your existence if you consistently include them in your logo and other visual contents.

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Leads Ahoy provides services in reputation management, search engine optimization, list building and geo-targeted lead generation. http://leadsahoy.com/

Mastering Local SEO (Part 10) The Recap

Mastering Local SEO began the lecture series by covering the basics. We define what local search engine optimization is and we explain what its primary goal.

Part 2 explains how search engines reveal results. Part 3 teaches you how to market your local business online. Part 4 explains why there’s a need to register your business in listing sites.

Part 5 focuses on citation. It enumerates the techniques on how to get a mention of your business name. Part 6 and 7 emphasize the importance of online reviews. It gives you the idea on how to choose a popular review site and how to effectively manage reviews.

Part 8 reveals why a website needs to follow the technical, content and social guidelines as prepared by search engines. Part 9 explains why and how you can use social media to improve local search ranking.

We’ll end the lecture series by sharing the following videos created by Google. For sure, these videos will change the way you handle your online activities.

Learning continues here. Please click “play” to start.

The third video is seven minutes and 42 seconds long but we guarantee you, it’s as good as the first two videos.

Video no. 4 talks about basic implementation and best practices.

We’re almost done.

Master the science of engagement and you’re on your way to success.

Good luck!!!

Mastering Local SEO (Part 7) More Reviews

Reviews reveals your online reputation

Photo Courtesy of: Pinterest

Your reputation improves when a review praises your products, services and customer help desk. Unluckily, your reputation spirals down when your review profile is filled with inaccurate criticisms and false accusations.

It hurts, yes. However, there’s something you can do. Remember: your business is your empire; therefore, you need to learn how to manage these reviews effectively. Listed below are some of the tips and techniques:

1. Respond to reviews, either it’s positive or negative. Reviews don’t define the overall face of your business. These are simply comments, suggestions and feedback written by people – who are your repeat customers, first time customer or competitors. For this reason, make it your daily habit to reply to each review. Either write a simple “Thank you” to positive feedback or send a personal message to those who have commented negatively.

To save time, take time to study your analytics in each channel. This technique will reveal what review channels constantly receive active reviews. You can either use one review channel daily or use a different channel each day. For example, Yelp during Mondays, Google+ Local during Tuesdays, Yahoo Local during Wednesdays, Facebook during Thursdays etc.

2. Your response defines your reputation. A business isn’t a business without negative reviews. It comes and doesn’t go. In fact, a study reveals more customers will write negative feedback than positive.

That’s why; it’s best to handle it with class and confidence. Think and control what you feel before you reply. When you answer back, don’t be too defensive to a point that you aren’t solving the problem.

3. Listen. All reviews are subjective. These are written in different tones, in different styles and in different approaches. Be patient with them. Try to research who wrote the review and what his or her intentions are.

Important: It’s best to delete an unpleasant feedback from a profile without a real name and contact details.

4. Positive reviewers can become your repeat buyers. It feels good to interact with positive people. Positive people also give negative reviews but they back it up with something helpful to you. They help you feel inspired despite of imperfections. It’s for this reason why it’s a best practice to ask if you can include their contact information in your mailing list. Your goal is to earn their trust more by sending useful freebies on a weekly basis.

5. Consider hiring a reputation management firm. Give this idea a green signal if you have the right budget. It does save your time. The firm also protects your reputation from Internet trolls, squatted usernames, false information, fake profiles and competitor attacks.

Mastering Local SEO (Part 6) The Reviews

The Truth about Reviews

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People, nowadays, use smartphone to browse the Internet. They use the gadget to pay their bills, book an airline flight, rent a condo and purchase the latest product for their LEGO collection. For this reason, it’s a smart idea to put your business right in front of them rather than they look for you.

Question is how. Answer: Build your review channels.

The Benefits of Reviews

1. Search engines immediately recognize your local business once it’s registered and listed in quality review sites.

2. Your review channels will appear in the first page once your targeted customers search for your contact information.

3. These review sites serve as your extended area for social networking. It also provides a free blog and unlimited storage for your photos. Most importantly, your customers can rate and write a review about your products and services.

4. These review sites improve your online reputation. People will trust your company once it receives five-star ratings with positive reviews.

5. Negative reviews give your channel a shade of balance. Keep in mind, your customers still need to see and read them.

6. It’s easy to embed the review widget on your homepage and blog. This way, people can immediately read your reviews once they click on these widgets.

Do’s & Dont’s for Reviews

1. Before registration, be aware of the site’s guidelines. Read it, understand it and keep it in mind.

2. Make sure you only registered one account in each review site. Multiple accounts mean the site will ban you in their listing. Search engines will remove you in their index too.

3. All review channels need to have similar business name, address, phone number and website.

4. Verify your business information either by phone, email or by wait for the arrival of a postcard.

5. It’s helpful to see other review channels and get some great ideas. This will help you improve your channel.

How to Choose a Review Site

It isn’t recommended to register to all review sites and aim a higher rank in search engine. It isn’t a guarantee that if you’re going to put your business in these sites, people will come and call you.The business game doesn’t work that way. It’s still about why and how you’re going to invite people to your channel.

Remember: Reviews play a role in local SEO. It talks something about you.

Yes. It’s allowed to register to any review site as long as it provides an easy navigation for people. The site also needs to ignore illegal practices. Most importantly, the site is trusted and popular.

Simply choose the best five for your business such as Yelp, Google+ Local, Facebook page, Yahoo! Local and Amazon.

Realistic Expectations: Hiring the Best Reputation Management Firm

Choose Excellent Services

                                                             Photo Courtesy of: Flickr

Your reputation defines your brand. It acts as your wheels traveling through the detours and roadblocks of the business world. Due to inevitable left and right priorities, however; you can no longer monitor your online reputation.

It’s for this reason why you need to consider hiring a management firm like Leads Ahoy. The firm is expected to monitor and enhance your reputation to bring in more traffic, more prospects and more customers.

Before hiring, make sure the firm is listed in Better Business Bureau. It feels safer to select the best five companies if they’re BBB accredited. Accreditation means you can openly uncover their accomplishments.

A firm with inexpensive list of services isn’t always the right choice. The duties and responsibilities of a quality management firm includes but not limited to:

1. Updating your blog and social media. It’s an excellent idea to hire a management firm with advanced knowledge on search engine optimization. Blogging is an on-page optimization. It is a technique performed inside your website. The firm needs to assign a content manager to write, create and promote quality contents for you.

A healthy blog is updated daily. The content doesn’t need to be long as long as it follows the guidelines in search engine optimization.

Social media covers social networking, social bookmarking and social reviews. Your content manager needs to update your social channels daily. Social media immediately attracts attention if contains colorful photos supported by texts.

2. Monitor daily reviews. Choose a firm that can auto-track your business reviews and mentions 24/7. This way, it’s easier to filter the positive from negative reviews. Positive reviews will be posted in your social channels while the negative reviews will be sent back to you.

3. Reporting. The firm needs to submit monthly reports and suggested recommendations on time. For easy glance, the presentation of the report must give you a visual and written summary before the details of their daily activities.

Realistic Expectations: How to Hire The Right Online Consulting Firm

Get What You Can Afford

                                                                                               Photo Courtesy of: Pinterest

An online consulting firm helps you become an internet rockstar. Its service isn’t limited to search engine optimization. It also provides professional services in reputation management and lead generation.

Good reputation, legal search engine optimization and lead generation are the ingredients to online marketing success. Leads Ahoy believes your business website will not survive if you solely rely on SEO.

Let’s say you get a front page for the keywords “basement waterproofing in connecticut.” Your website produces quality contents but when you view its analytics, you only receive fifty unique clicks per day and 70% bounce rate.

It’s still useless, right? Quality contents doesn’t automatically mean people go to your site. These situations happen and it’s recommended to use your reputation in an aim to persuade the right audience to visit your website regularly.

And there’s more. You also need to convert these readers into leads. You need to gain their trust to a point that they are going to contact you for help.

In other words, an online marketing firm is your partner. The firm listens to you. The firm understands your business’ products and services. Most importantly, the firm knows how to promote your website online.

It takes time to find the best online consulting firm. These companies are every where. Some exist in the business for more than five years. Yet, not all are created equal. You need to choose the best five and once you have the list, figure out their:

1. Payment Terms

Your online marketing success depends on your budget. Your budget determines what services you need and what services you can afford.

Forget hiring if you’ll just pay a pea amount in exchange of services that require hard work and analysis.

Also, forget hiring if you’ll ask for guarantees. No online consulting firm can guarantee 100% success. These firms aren’t tied with search engines; therefore, it’s impossible to achieve number one ranking overnight or in two months time.

Instead of asking unrealistic guarantees, better ask for a realistic time table.

In the words of Alex Houg, the founder of Portage: “Client who ask for guarantees most likely fit in the 20% bucket of clients that cause 80% of problems. Work with people that already love you and are ready to go. (Forbes, December 2014)”

2. Online Reputation Strategies

Online marketing begins with good reputation. Reputation unlocks the door to success. Sadly, companies, these days, tend to forget how to reach out to their audience. These companies only ask the people to buy.

Leads Ahoy believes internet marketing isn’t about selling. It’s about offering. Give what the people can’t have. The goal is to use email and social media marketing to obtain new leads and connect with people, respectively.

3. Local Search Strategies

A professional website defines your online reputation. It’s your window to your products, services, free offers and daily blog updates.

Your firm needs to present a summary of their online marketing proposal. This proposal reveals the legal strategies in search engine optimization that will yield great and long-term results. You can tell the strategies are legal if it follows the guidelines made by Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Bear in mind not all strategies will work for your business. For example, if your website talks about basement waterproofing services in Connecticut, the ideal strategy is to target your website’s local search to the right state, right city and right audience.

4. Communication Process

Clear communication plays a role in internet marketing success. It’s part of your firm’s responsibility to send the monthly updates by mail. The firm needs to send the summary of your website’s performance, changes made in the website and campaign’s updates done offsite.

Some firms provide more than one service; therefore, request a separate mail for SEO results, another for reputation management and a separate sheet for lead generation. Make sure you also inform them to put these results into PDF file format. This format allows you to print the sheets and keep it for further review.

Online marketing results include technical terms that will take time to understand. For this, quickly look for the following: the total number of unique visits to your website, the total number of new active leads in your email list and the summary of positive/negative reviews collected through social media.