Website and Social Media – You Can’t Have One Without the Other

You have a website – Check. You have a Facebook page – Check. You have a Linked In profile – Check.

I’m sorry to say that you got the cart before the horse UNLESS… you had an overall plan for integrating your on line marketing resources to produce measurable results before you built your website.

Here are seven important steps to creating (or re-creating) a low cost, effective system for building your prospect database while helping your network to know, like and trust you enough to refer you to others.

Identify your Ideal Client Profile. There may be more than one type of client that you wish to pursue, but your ideal client is one who provides steady profitable business for you, pays their bills on time, respects your opinion and provides feedback and referrals upon request. Check here for details on how to create that profile. Target their biggest challenges and your solutions for them as your main copy on your website.

Make it easy for prospects to reach you. Prominently display your phone number and email address on your website, whether through a simple Contact Us, or better still, as part of your banner. Even if you have to redirect your phone to an answering service or an assistant, it is wise to be accessible at the time that your website visitor’s interest is piqued. The standard plug-in email form used by many websites is for the most part, creating distance between you and your prospect rather than bringing them closer.

Choose an email marketing program to manage your email contacts. Mail Chimp and Constant Contact are two popular ones, and AWeber and Infusionsoft are much more sophisticated with higher fees representing the extra options they provide. The key to any software that you choose is that you can import and export records through a .csv file – one of the options in any Microsoft Excel program.

Each of these programs provides an automated response for a double opt-in to your email list. You will also be gathering permissions to add emails from those you meet at networking events. Again, I advocate making it easy for people to join your list so asking them to go to your website to sign up is not a good idea if you really want to strike while the iron is hot.

You can either add these emails one at a time through your website, or more easily, enter them into an excel .csv spreadsheet from which you can then upload to your email marketing software and import into your Outlook or other email program on your computer. Call me for more details on how to do this and what precautions to take. 780-908-0309.

Include an invitation and a link to join your email list and offer a free bonus for doing so. A simple “Three Biggest Mistakes… And How to Avoid Them” is a sufficient gift for starters. You may want to enhance the offer later with an eBook or a more extensive report. If and when you do that, remember those who have already subscribed and be sure to make the same offer to them as a thank you for their loyalty.

Create a blog page where you can post articles or messages that you write from time to time. Your email marketing program has templates for you to prepare newsletters or memos to send to your email contacts.

Prepare a series of standard messages for your FaceBook and Linked In contacts. You will need the following templated messages:

1.Accepting an invitation to connect – include an invitation to join your email list with a link to your website.

2.Thanking someone who accepts your invitation to connect. Again, invite them to pick up their free bonus while signing up for your email list.

3.Requesting an introduction from one of your contacts to someone on their contact list.

4.Thanking someone for endorsing you or providing a Recommendation on Linked In.

5.Thanking someone for “liking” your business FaceBook Page.

6.Asking how you might help someone who views your Linked In page.

Write your first article and post it to your website and your social media. Then send it to those on your email list in the form of a newsletter.

Voila! You have your system in place, you have some content, and everything connects.