Posting a discount on your website is fairly easy to do, and it also takes the least amount of work for your customers.  These discounts can range from a temporary price cut on certain items to a flat percentage off of the total or free shipping.  Usually, your online shopping cart system automatically factors in the discount, so your users don’t actually have to do anything other than shop.  Most shopping cart systems can be programmed for discounts fairly easily, too, so there’s not a whole lot of work on your end.  These discounts are given to all customers.

The second type of discount is a little more work and a little more risk, but it definitely has its uses.  With social media, many companies have started posting discount codes and coupon codes for their followers as a way of enticing more people to follow/like them.  Sometimes this is a one-time thing (“like our Facebook profile for 10% off”), but some businesses regularly post discount codes for their followers.  This way, you guarantee to keep those followers rather than see them use the initial code and then unfollow you.

These periodic discount codes do take a little more work.  You have to create a unique code for your customers to enter on your website, which means you need a shopping cart system that will accept discount codes.  You also have to know how to set these codes up so that they expire on time (you don’t want them to last forever).  In some cases, you might a discount to apply to only certain items, which adds another layer of complexity.

So why do these discounts?  Again, they give people a reason to follow you on Facebook or Twitter.  You can also put discounts like this in your email newsletters.  Because customers have to enter a discount code, you can use them as a type of reward for your loyal customers.  “Since you’ve shopped with us before, we’re giving you £10 off this week.”  These types of discounts make customers feel valued.  While it may not be a way of growing your customer base, it is a way of getting previous customers to give you repeat business.

The other big downside to discount codes on social media is that if you don’t have a large number of followers, you may not get that much business from it.  If only 20% of your followers use the code, and you only have 100 followers, those 20 people who shopped on your site may not spend enough to really make it worth your time.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

• How large is your website?  If your site is pretty simple and won’t include many large images, videos, or other big files, you may not need much disk space.  However, if your site is going to grow, you may want to go with more disk space now so you don’t have to worry about it later.

• How much bandwidth do you need?  This is basically how much data you can send to users.  Usually it’s measured in months.  If you go over your bandwidth, some web hosts will simply not allow users to access your site for the rest of the month.  If your site features large images and multimedia files, you’ll want a lot of bandwidth, especially if you anticipate getting a lot of visitors.

• Do you have one or more domains?  If you have multiple domains (i.e., are planning multiple websites), you’ll want a web host that offers unlimited domain hosting.  Remember that multiple domains will require more server space and bandwidth.

• Do you want your own email?  Some web hosts offer @yourdomainname email addresses, which makes you look much more professional.  If email is important, look at what they offer.  Can you connect their email to Outlook and other desktop email programs?  Do they offer mail forwarding or auto-responders?  How much email storage space is available?  This is especially important if you’ll be sending or receiving large files.

• If you’re developing your own website and are a beginner, you may be very interested in web developing software.  Some hosts offer programs to help you create your website.  While this software may not be as powerful as programs you’d pay for, such as Adobe Dreamweaver, they are usually pretty simple to use.  You can also contact your hosting company for software support, which is a nice extra feature.

• Does the web host offer extras like free scripts, audio features, resource libraries, and the like?  If you know which features you need, it will be easier to find a host that fits these needs.

• Does the web host fit your budget?  Don’t get so caught up in features that you pay more than you can truly afford.  Also look at package options.  Does the host offer domain name registration?  If so, you may be able to get a discount if you get your domain names along with your hosting.  Can you buy additional server space or bandwidth separately, or will you have to purchase an entire new package?  These are all very important things to consider since changing to a cheaper web host in the future may be a pain.

Get your free SEO Report

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Search engine optimisation (SEO) is vital for your business and websites success. 9 out of 10 people use search engines when looking for products and services. 86% of clicks are on natural search engine listings.

The website site audit and report will include:

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Limited availability – As each report will take about a week to complete and cost money to create we have to limit how many we can do. As a result, we can only accept the first 10 businesses that contact us.

To get your free SEO Website Audit and Report simply email sales@impliweb.com or call 0800 211 8511 and mention this special offer.

Each website audit will be tailor made for your website, business and industry.

By analyzing your web traffic and looking at the referring sites, you can better target your online marketing.  Did you only get three visitors from your Twitter posts in a month, but your Facebook profile brought in over five hundred?  That tells you that you either need to do a little more work with Twitter or abandon it altogether to focus on the more effective Facebook.

How can you get these statistics?  Some web hosts include reports on web traffic as part of your hosting package.  These reports can usually be found in your hosting control panel.  The information you get varies from host to host.  Most include the referring website, and many mention things like the keywords used to find your site, the country the user is from, and even what web browser they were using.  While not all of that information is going to be helpful, some of it can certainly be used to more focus your marketing campaign.

You can also use Google Analytics.  Google Analytics actually gives you the ability to track more than just what site referred your users.  If you’re putting links out there on social media sites, in articles, and in your emails, you can use Google’s URL Builder to add information to these links.  To get to this tool, go to Google and enter “Google URL Builder” as your search.

What does this URL Builder do?  It adds extra information to your URL that doesn’t change where it goes but does make the link show up differently in Google Analytics.  You put in the URL you want to link to and then fill in different fields like Campaign Source, Term, and Name.  For example, if you want to track a link from Facebook, that would be the source.  The Medium could be a status update or wall post.  The term can include a special promotion you’re running, while the campaign name might be the current month.

The end result?  You’ll be able to see if that £10 off campaign you ran of Facebook was more or less effective than the 15% discount you ran the month before.  It’s very helpful in pinpointing exactly how users are finding you and what deals are getting them to click that link and actually visit your site.  Even if you don’t use Google, take a look at your site’s referrals.  It can really help you with your marketing plan since you’ll be able to see what’s working and what’s not.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

So what type of photos should you take?  It really depends.  If you’re taking photos for your website, posed and professional is the way to go.  This is especially true for business profile pictures of you and your associates.  If you are taking photos of your products, make sure the lighting is good and that the products can be clearly seen.  Set them on a neutral-coloured table or against a blank wall.  You want the product to shine, not its surroundings.

If you’re putting up photos of a conference, workshop, or other event your company hosted, casual pictures are certainly fine.  Just try to only use ones in which everyone looks good.  You don’t want to include a horrible image of someone—they may get offense and make negative comments about you.  Also avoid any photo that’s blurry or too dark.  You want any photo you put online to reflect how professional your company is, and a bad photo won’t do that.

Be sure your photos are relevant.  Don’t post pictures of your dog Fluffy on your business profile page, for example, unless you’re in the pet business.  Now, a picture of you with your dog further down the page along with a few other casual snapshots might be okay in some lines of work.  For someone in the legal business, you should probably avoid the dog pictures.  For a photographer or a hairdresser, two people who don’t always have to be incredibly professional, a few of these more candid pictures might be fine.

When you post pictures online, many sites allow you to add captions and keywords.  These are very important because an image on its own can’t do much to help bring traffic to your website.  That’s because search engines can’t see images.  They can only read the tags and words around them.  Be sure your capture includes some keywords related to your business if possible, especially if you’re posting the image on a social networking site or a website you don’t own.  On your own site you can be a bit more relaxed about this since you’ve already got the reader there.

However, there is something you need to do with photos on your own website: include alt text.  Alt text, short for alternative text, is the text people will see if your image doesn’t load.  It’s also important for another reason: search engines can read it.  This is how you can get your photos included in an image search.  Be sure to include some keywords in your alt text.  In fact, you can even include a few more than you normally would since viewers rarely see this information.  If you want to include keyword-rich alt text but don’t want your readers to see it, also include title text, which overrides alt text.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

Much like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, it all depends on how much you put in to it and how you use it.  Before we look at its uses, let’s talk about what Pinterest is.  The name is a portmanteau, or combination, of the words “pin” and “interest.”  Pinterest is basically an online bulletin board that you can pin anything to.  You can set up different boards for different options (the site automatically gives you boards like “Favorite Places” and “For the Home”).  You can then share items by pinning them to your boards using the Pin It bookmark.  You add this little bookmark to your browser’s favorites bar.  Click it, and it shows you all the images on the current webpage.  You pick the one you want to pin, select the board, and add a comment.

Naturally, you can add followers and entice others to follow you.  They will see everything you pin or repin (which is like retweeting, or sharing something someone else has pinned).  They will be able to share your pinned items on Facebook or Twitter, leave a comment, and visit the website you found the image on.

So Pinterest is basically a way of sharing images of things you like.  How can that help your business?  There are a few different ways of leveraging Pinterest.  You can share some of your products, of course.  This can be especially helpful if someone sees it and repins it to their board, where their friends repin it, and so on.  Your product can go viral on Pinterest very quickly this way.

You can also use Pinterest as a way of doing market research.  See what others are pinning by searching for products and items that are similar to what you offer.  It’s a way of checking out the competition and seeing what’s hot in your industry.

Another thing that has become pretty popular on Pinterest is infographic sharing.  Infographics are images that either display information or provide a breakdown of a process.  For example, one infographic titled “The Brain of a Blogger” contains images and text related to how bloggers think, what their goals are, and some of the major things a blogger must know, such as SEO and how to bring in more traffic.  Checking out some of the infographics others have posted on Pinterest can give you new insights into blogging and using the internet for business.

Overall Pinterest can be a place to share images of your products, do market research, see what’s popular, and learn about social media and internet marketing.  It’s not a requirement for businesses, and you may not see as much growth as you will using Facebook or Twitter, but it’s worth a look.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

While your promotional videos should probably be done with a camera that’s a bit better than a mobile phone, you don’t need expensive equipment.  Most digital cameras have a video option.  Just set one up and start recording.  Once it’s done, edit it (you can find free video editing software online, plus many cameras include a program), upload it, and watch it go viral!

You may think we’ve gotten a little ahead of ourselves here, and you may be right.  It’s one thing to tell someone to go shoot a promotional video for their business, but it’s another to actually come up with an idea for that video.  Promotional videos aren’t exactly like commercials, but they do need to be aimed at selling your products and services.

The first thing to do is write out what your goal is.  Do you want to introduce your service/product to customers?  Do you want to promote a certain special or product?  Are you doing a how-to or other video that’s not directly aimed at selling something but does raise awareness of your business?  All three are good options.  In fact, a mixture of the three will often get you a good number of hits.  This is especially true if you can get a few how-to videos up on popular DIY websites.  These videos won’t be completely promotional, but if you’re featured and you can link to your website, that’s all that’s important.

You can include yourself or members of your staff in your video.  You can also do voice-over pretty easily—most programs let you replace the audio track of the video with a different one, so you’re free to add different music or commentary.  If you’re highlighting a particular product, you may not want to include any people.  Instead, you could do a product slideshow.

If you and your staff are on-camera and have speaking roles, make sure the dialogue says exactly what you want it to.  Run through it several times before filming, and be ready to re-film if you see something off later.  Take some time to really get this right.  Videos often have more of an impact than simple text or images because they fully engage the viewer.

Once you upload your video, be sure to give it a title that is going to get you the most number of hits.  Try to get your business name in there and your location, if possible.  If the site allows you to tag your video, be sure to tag it with your business name, your main products/services, your location, and any other relevant keywords.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

Your first instinct may be to ignore a lot of online marketing once you’ve got your website and basic social media profiles set up, but this isn’t a good idea.  If you don’t keep your online presence fresh, you’ll quickly be forgotten.  How many people actively visit Facebook profiles that haven’t been updated in several months?  Very few.  Likewise, blogs that aren’t regularly updated fall off search engine result pages.  However, you don’t have to put in a lot of time working on your online marketing.  In fact, five hours a month is more than enough.  Here are a few tips on where to put your time:

1. Blogs:  one post a month is the bare minimum.  Ideally, you’ll do a blog post a week.  These posts don’t have to be long, but they do need to be interesting, related to your business or industry in some way, and they need to contain at least one link back to your website, especially if your goal is to drive costumers to your online store.  If you’re offering a service of some sort, links aren’t as necessary.
2. Facebook:  spend about 15 minutes a week on your Facebook profile, more if you have time.  Reply to wall posts, post status updates, and upload a few photos if you have any new images to share.  Also post links to interesting news articles or websites related to your industry.  Try to split this time into three five-minute intervals on different days of the week.
3. Twitter: likewise, about 15 minutes a week on Twitter is fine.  Reply to messages, send out your own tweets with links to your blog or website, and do a Follow Friday post.  As with Facebook, do this several times a week, not all at once.
4. One useful tool for Facebook and Twitter is HootSuite.  It allows you to schedule messages for delivery at a future date.  You can spend a little time at the beginning of the month scheduling tweets and wall posts to go out over the next few weeks.  This is especially useful if you want to promote holiday specials or new products throughout the month.  You can also install apps that will mirror posts on Facebook to Twitter and vice versa.
5. Google+: business profiles are new to Google+, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it.  Start building your circles (Google’s version of friends/followers/likes) and be sure to post statues updates and reply to posts directed towards you throughout the week.

Facebook

Facebook was primarily developed to allow college friends to keep in touch with each other after graduation.  It soon became so popular that it was opened to everyone, and more recently, the site has created special profiles and apps for businesses.  It’s free and very easy to create a profile for your company on Facebook.

That’s the easy part.  The hard part is using Facebook effectively.  To really get the word out about your services or products, you have to have a lot of friends or page likes (which is basically how a person follows a business’s updates).  You can drive people to your Facebook profile from your website or by advertising it on your flyers and other offline ads.

OK, so now that you’ve got a lot of friends, what do you do?  You need to interact with them.  This means posting wall posts several times a week and replying to customers who post on your wall.  These posts can be updates about new products and services, discounts, and promotions.  However, you can also post industry-related news stories or even things you find interesting.

Facebook also offers photo albums and video folders.  Be sure to upload some photos and even a video or two to round out your profile.  The important thing is to keep it active and keep showing up in your follows’ news feeds a few times a week.

Twitter

Twitter is more limited than Facebook in some ways, but it’s still an important marketing tool.  Again, setting up an account and profile is free and very easy.  Then you’ve got to start accumulating followers.  As with Facebook, you can use your website and offline advertising to help people find your Twitter.  You can also ask your friends to include your Twitter account in a Follow Friday post.  Follow Friday, also known by the hashtag #FF, has become a tradition on Twitter.  Every Friday, people list several other accounts on Twitter that they think their followers would like.  It’s simple, and you can use this method to suggest other friends and businesses to your followers as well.

Twitter is limited to 140 characters per post, so you have to keep this limit in mind when posting.  One tip is to use a URL shortening site when posting website addresses.  A long website will take up a lot of your 140 characters, but these sites will give you a shorter version that gives you more room to type.

Like Facebook, it’s important to keep in contact with your followers.  Post messages, reply to comments, and keep your site updated.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.

• Add a blog to your site.  Blogs give you a chance to candidly talk to your customers.  You can blog about anything so long as you can relate it back to your website.  If you sell furniture, for example, you can discuss ways of cleaning stains, tips for arranging your furniture, and more.  Naturally, you’ll want to blog about new products and business news, too.  But make it more personal than you would an official press release.

•  Keep your blogs updated.  Blogs that update more regularly do tend to rank higher in search results, plus people will visit your blog (and, hopefully, your business website) more often if they know there will be new posts.  Propagate your blog through websites like digg and reddit.

• Use social media.  These days, a business almost can’t survive without a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account, and a Flickr photo album.  Don’t just create them, use them.  Ideally, do two or three wall posts a week.  These don’t all have to be related to your business, either—like your blog topics, you can be personal.  Reply to your customers.  Post some behind-the-scenes images of your employees hard at work or celebrating a milestone.  Naturally, work in product reviews, news, and even special discounts for your followers.

• Do some keyword research.  There are a number of tools out there that will tell you what keyword phrase brought visitors to your website.  You can also find tools that will give you a good idea of the best keywords for your site.  Use these tools to come up with the best meta tags and other keywords possible for your site.

• Don’t put keywords in your site and then forget about them.  You’ll want to use the keyword research tools every few months to see if the optimum keywords have changed.  If so, you’ll want to update your website.  You have to be flexible and always updating if you want to stay ahead in the game.

• Speaking of being flexible, it’s important to test your website on many different platforms to make sure it displays correctly.  If your site doesn’t work in Google Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer, you’re losing customers.  Likewise, you may need a mobile version of your site, too.  Many people use their smart phones to find businesses on the fly, so make sure you offer them an easy way of browsing your site on these smaller devices as well.

Articles and posts written on the ImpliWeb official company blog represent those of the author and not those of ImpliWeb Limited.