Do you have a marketing plan or a marketing hope? By this I mean, are you hoping business will pick up or do you have a marketing plan you are following to make sure your business increases?

I was at a BNI meeting yesterday subbing for someone. One of the presenters said that 97% of small businesses don’t have a business plan. While they may have pulled that number out of thin air, I’ll bet no more than that number have a Marketing Plan.

I’m getting an increasing number of clients whose marketing plan has been nothing more than advertising in the Yellow Pages. A recent client is the third generation to own his family business. In our first meeting, he told me that they had always exclusively marketed through Yellow Pages ads. Since 1958…when the family business was started…

However, while his marketing expenses were up to $1,800 a month for Yellow Pages ads, his Return On Investment or ROI had been steadily decreasing. I credit him for tracking his return on investment and realizing it was time for a change.

Do you know what your ROI is for your marketing?

He chose to come to us for a Search Engine Optimization program. After I saw his website, I realized it was a very smart thing to do. His website was created and hosted by Yellow Pages and didn’t even show up when you typed in the name of the business.

When your website can’t be found, you can’t get any business from your website. It’s kind of like paying for a billboard under a bridge.

We’re in the process of Search Engine Optimizing his website because getting your website found is always the most important part of an Internet Marketing Plan. Then we’ll use the keyword research we did for his search engine optimization to begin an Online Marketing Campaign to get him found all over the Internet, not just at his website.

While increasing the visibility of your website is paramount, the next most important thing to do is get your website and your business found in as many places as possible on the Internet.

It’s really simple math. The more places your firm shows up on the Internet, the more likely you’re going to get found. (And the more likely you’ll be seen as an authority in your field, and the more Google will push your website up in the search engine rankings (SERPS) and…ad infinitum.)

Bob McClain or WordsmithBob, has been a website copywriter in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, since 2000. He has focused on developing new, more effective approaches to web writing, web content, web copywriting and Search Engine Optimization. Starting with a BA in Technical Communication and a minor in Creative Writing from Metro State University in St. Paul, McClain has worked diligently to end the use of "corp-speak" and "technospeak" online. His approach is to “humanize” the Web, using real information to guide people to buy rather than turning websites into advertisements that people can easily ignore. McClain is also the creator of Cheap SEO Website Marketing, a website devoted to helping people with the best solutions to DIY SEO at an affordable cost with tips and software reviews. More at Cheap SEO Website Marketing

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Originally posted 2009-06-19 08:42:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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