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How to Ask for Reviews (And Get Them Fast)

I hope you’re not sick of me talking about online reviews because I’m about to do it again. Why? Because they can have a huge impact on your business and bottom line.

91% of consumers between the ages of 19 and 34 trust reviews and consumers are more likely to trust your company if you have at least 40 reviews. If you don’t already have a solid review presence, it’s time to get serious about building one.

The great news is that 68% of customers who are asked to leave a review are willing to do so. Here’s how to ask them.

Asking for Reviews in Person

If you’ve got a brick-and-mortar store, then asking for reviews in person may be the way to go. The trick is doing it in a way that doesn’t feel forced or put undue pressure on your customer.

Conversational flow is important. One option is to have your cashier(s) engage with customers when they check out. They can start by asking if the customer found...

Marketing Hacks (That Make Your Life Easier)

Marketing your local business can seem like a full-time job. Most business owners can’t afford to have a marketing department which means that you’re adding marketing to all your other responsibilities.

Since there are only so many hours in a day, it’s essential to have a few tricks up your sleeve: things that can help you fine-tune your marketing and get the most bang for your buck. Here are some marketing hacks to help you focus your attention and reap the rewards.

Pay Attention to Your Data

When was the last time you looked at your data on Google Analytics? If it’s been a while – and if it has, you’re not alone – then it’s time to take corrective action.

The truth is that your analytics provide a wealth of information that can help you improve your marketing and grow your business. For example, do you know which page on your website has the highest bounce rate? Can you pinpoint which blog...

10 Practical Local Marketing Ideas You Can Deploy Right Now

You already know that local marketing is the name of the game if you want to grow your business. The challenge – especially during this difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic – is choosing practical local marketing tactics that can help you without breaking the bank.

I hear you. So, without further ado, here are 10 of the most practical and affordable local marketing ideas I know.

#1: Fine-Tune Your Yelp Categories

Yelp is the gold standard of crowd review sites for a reason. When your customers search for reviews in your area, Yelp pages are likely to appear at or near the top of Google’s SERP.

The best way to make sure your business makes an appearance is to check out your Yelp categories and make sure they’re an accurate reflection of your business. For example, if you own a hair salon that specializes in hair extensions, then you should add the Hair Extensions category to your Yelp page. You can...

Facebook Ad Objectives… Explained

Most local businesses should advertise on Facebook. That’s what I believe, and the evidence backs me up. It’s cost-effective and, if you do it right, it can help your business to grow.

Easier said than done.

The issue is that while Facebook ads are effective, a lot of local business owners don’t know which objectives to choose for their ads. Choosing the wrong objective may lead to a low return on your investment and the feeling that you’ve wasted money.

With that in mind, here’s my rundown of Facebook ad objectives to help you understand which objective makes the most sense for your business.

What are the Available Ad Objectives on Facebook? 

When you create an ad for your business on Facebook, you can choose from 11 objectives divided into three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. Let’s review them.

1. Brand Awareness. These ads generally do not get a high click-through rate because...

11 Marketing Ideas to Get You Through the Pandemic

Have you cut back on marketing due to the COVID-19 pandemic? You’re not alone. A lot of business owners are trying to save money by reducing their spending.

Cutting back is understandable and may be necessary, but marketing isn’t a luxury for your business. It’s a necessity. And it’s possible to keep things going even if you need to reduce your spending. Here are X ideas to help you stay in the marketing flow.

#1: Focus on Social Media

According to Statista, Americans are spending more time on social media now than they did before the pandemic. That translates to an opportunity for businesses that need low-cost ways to engage their target customers.

It’s a good time to share the ways your business is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight the ways your business can help people cope with social distancing and stay-at-home orders. You may also want to consider boosting your ads or running a page...

Increase Your Website Conversions with These Helpful Tools

In the world of digital marketing, traffic gets a lot of attention. Small business owners understand that without visitors to your site, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to grow or sustain their businesses.

I’d argue that the focus on traffic isn’t helpful unless it’s paired with a focus on conversion. After all, you might be able to attract thousands of visitors a month – but if none of those people are buying from you, what’s the point? You’re paying for traffic without getting any real return on your investment.

With that in mind, here are some of the most useful tools I know to help you boost your conversion rate and turn your traffic into revenue.

Content Research Tools 

A  high conversion rate starts with great content. If you’re not sure what content gets the most traction, then these tools can help you find out.

BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is one of the best...

By now, most small business owners know they need to be active on social media. Regardless of your industry or niche, your customers expect to find you there. And social media’s free, so… it’s all easy, right?

I wish it were that easy. In fact, I notice that a lot of small business social media pages are missing the mark. They’re not getting the engagement – or the leads – they want and they’re not sure why.

Fortunately, the answer is pretty simple, you’re making mistakes and they’re probably the same ones that other small businesses are making.

What should you do? Identify the mistakes and stop making them! Here they the most common social media missteps and what you can do to fix them.

Being Inconsistent with Your Account 

When people follow brands on social media, they want to know what kind of content they’ll be getting. If you look at big brands, you’ll notice that they have a clear rubric they use to...

SEO matters. You don’t need me to tell you that – although I certainly have told you all about it! 

Understanding the importance of SEO is one thing and knowing what to do with your SEO metrics is another. With so many metrics to choose from, how do you know where to put your focus? Which metrics can help you the most? 

That’s where I come in. It’s a lot to ask any small business owner to learn everything there is to know about SEO. It’s a complex topic. But here are the SEO metrics that you really should be tracking, even if you don’t have time for anything else. 

Organic Traffic  

The traffic your website generates is the life’s blood of your business online. If your site doesn’t attract new visitors, it’s a sure sign that your SEO isn’t doing what it should. 

Organic traffic is all the traffic you don’t pay for – in other words, it’s the traffic you get because someone...

“Even before the first leaf falls – you can feel the seasons click. The air is crisp, the summer is gone and for the first night in a long time, you need a blanket on your bed….” What a great Fall quote from the TV series Sex in the City.

It is hard to believe that we have already flipped our calendars to a new month -  SEPTEMBER!  

It has certainly been a different kind of summer for most of us. I hope you are staying safe and actually getting to spend some time working on your business. I know it is hard to focus right now, but I am trying to keep pushing towards my goal of simplifying in 2020.

Did you know that each month we release a free calendar with several posts to use throughout the month to save you time with social media?

The September calendar includes some Holiday and National days plus a sample post of each of the post types that we release in our "Your Social Plan monthly planner".

Each free calendar...

You want to grow your business. That’s a given.

New customer acquisition is expensive. Another given.

What a business owner to do? If you have an unlimited marketing budget, you can simply put it into attracting and nurturing new customers. But I don’t know many small business owners who have that luxury.

Fortunately, there are alternatives. One of the best options is to start a referral program. Here’s how to do it.

What is a Referral Program?

A customer referral program is a program that encourages and incentivizes your existing customers to refer other people to your business.

You already know that it’s costly to acquire new customers. In fact, as of 2020, it cost about five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to hold on to an existing customer.

New customer acquisition is also time-consuming. It takes between 5 and 7 interactions with a brand for people to remember it.

Referral programs are both less expensive and less time-consuming than...