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.

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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/

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/

Content Marketing 101: 10 Tips for Video Promotional Campaign

1. A video is a visual audio content. Its primary goal is either to inform, entertain or promote a product, a service or a company.

Photo Courtesy of: Entrepreneur

In the world of internet marketing, a video usually promotes.

That’s why; it’s recommended to keep the length of your promotional video short (ideally, less than a minute), direct-to-the-point and will include call-to-action (a contact number or an e-mail address).

2. The duration of informational videos is expected to be longer than promotional videos. Ideally, it lasts for three to five minutes.

An informational video educates. Its aim is to let you understand the what and why of a new idea, of a new product or of a new service.

Just remember: You’re making your audience sleep if it’s longer than the recommended time frame.

You also need to make sure you never fail to put a call-to-action (a website, a phone number, an email address) at the start and end of the video content.

Search Engine Land made an informational video on September 2011, which is entitled “What is Search Engine Optimization/SEO.” It’s three minutes and 29 seconds long.

Play the video below and observe how they use moving pictures and talking voice without explaining too much.

3. Music videos entertain people. These videos are expensive to create but it’s the type that receives tons of clicks, views, replays and shares.

Yet, no matter how short or long an entertaining video is, the description area needs to include the link to your online store.

Click here to observe how John Legend’s All of Me manages to receive more than 459 million clicks (as of April 15, 2014) since it’s uploaded on October 2013.

How does the video look like? What details are written in its description area?

4. Tutorial videos are popular. These videos are similar with informational videos but are longer in duration.

Whatever the topic is, a tutorial video shows you the step-by-step procedures.

Fitness instructors upload instructional videos in their channel to get attention. They also want to convince people to subscribe after.

Below is an example of a tutorial video. Observe the technique he used to motivate you to get ripped.

5. Choose the right tool. Creating a video for online promotion doesn’t have to be complicated.

You’ll love what you’re doing when the tool is easy to use and affordable. There are available tools out there. Some are free but the most recommended are paid.

For quick presentation, we recommend you to use PowToon. It’s a drag-and-drop online presentation software that use animations in presentations. You can sign up for free.

6. Make use of micro video apps such as Vine and Video on Instagram for your promotional teasers.

Your target audience will get more involved if you regularly upload teasers about your company, upcoming events, product and service.

7.  Browse other video channels. Study how they create their video content and how they create titles.

What you write in the description area also matters. It needs to describe your video briefly. Simply inform what the idea is about instead of selling the idea.

The ideal placement of link is located at the opening paragraph where people can see it immediately.

8. Set up a schedule board for your videos. This will help you create a fresh strategy each week.

For example, if you release a new product for whitening teeth, uploading a new video once every week is recommended than uploading ten promotional videos all at once.

9. Embed your video in your articles, newsletters and press release. Make a way to include it in your story.

The written texts need to support the video in such a way that people will want to watch it.

Remember: More embeds. More shares. The higher chance your audience can see it.

10. Re-use an existing idea. Take time to browse your blog if you have nothing fresh to upload in your video channel.

Find that new angle in the story. Identify what specific keywords that support the angle. Once done, convert the angle into a promotion.

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

How to Generate Leads in YouTube

Quality Video = YouTube = Leads

                                                                                Photo Courtesy of: Pinterest

As of the writing, YouTube ranks as the third popular website in the Internet. Its 21.7% visitors comes from United States (Alexa, 2014) and it also receives million of subscriptions daily. Apple and Google are tied with more than two million subscribers. R&B stars, Beyonce and Alicia Keys, got more than seven million subscribers combined.

These numbers prove one thing: You’ll attract more leads using videos.

A video gives your brand an extra amount of attention you deserve to have. You can even improve your reach by embedding the video to your website, your promotional page, your blog, your social media and your review sites.

Be extra careful though. Not all videos are created equal. A music video got the ability to obtain a million views overnight while an info video needs extra push to attract more attention. The former shows Alicia Keys. She’s a brand. People remember her as someone who sells songs and albums like hot cupcakes worldwide. Her 6:07 video captivates you the moment it begins to play. It tells a story that every one of any age can relate to.

The latter explains how search engine optimization works. People who work online quickly associate it to Google and Yahoo. In three minutes and so, it manages to explain the essential information that even an Average Joe can understand, considering it uses a clear speaking voice with moving pictures around.

These two videos have its limitations, however. Not every one is a fan of R&B. These people may only play the first 30-second of Keys’ video then click on other genre they like. The SEO video may be too boring for people who are not interested with the topic. They might have clicked the video on purpose while browsing around the site but as soon they heard the terms that require in-depth research to understand, they either click other videos found on the sidebar or find other channels that will entertain them.

The AIDA Formula

Video marketing requires creativity. It follows the AIDA Formula and uses the basic rules in search engine optimization. Unlike music videos, video for online lead generation needs to grab your audience’s attention (A) with the use of a keyword-rich title and sharp introduction. It’s believed the first seven seconds will make your audience stay or walk away.

Every second counts, therefore, every scene needs to stir their imagination to keep their interest (I). Tell a memorable story, which includes a number of benefits to arouse desire (D). These two elements are inseparable. Make it a new habit to watch videos (music, promo, lecture, fitness, infommercial, coaching) every day to learn how to use interest and desire effectively.

Lastly, your video instructs them to act (A) by either clicking the link in the description, sharing the page in their social media or emailing the page to their family and friends.

Recommended Tools

Learn how to use PowToon if the budget doesn’t allow you to buy a record cam and microphone. Try Easy Sketch too.

Welcome to Leads Ahoy!

This is our new blog!

Leads Ahoy is your newest online business consultation firm. Hopefully, you and our team will have a great time sharing our thoughts and ideas about search engine optimization, reputation management, video marketing and lead generation. This blog will serve as your platform for communication. Tell us what you want and we’ll write it for you.

The Leads Ahoy Team