First you move customers into the 1 in 2 categories and second it is an opportunity to promote products and services.

We like to think our company newsletter engages with our clients at Websites In Business Ltd and keeps us in the front of your mind.  In this article we’ll cover how to create your own newsletter to keep in your customers’ minds too. Apart from being a great way to keep in touch with existing customers and potential customers, newsletters can also generate real business growth.

How to use a mail service

To create this newsletter we used a Mail service. It allows us to create a template for our customer’s newsletter. This then allows our customers to add news items themselves by using a simple fill in the blank web page as well as uploading pictures to pretty it up.

The service looks after managing your list of subscribers. Takes care of sending out all the emails, handling incorrect or abandoned email addresses and removes those who wish to unsubscribe so you don’t make enemies.

You can also have a form added to your website to allow visitors to add their details to your emailing list.

Why use a mail sending service?

As we mentioned above we use a mailing sending service to send our newsletter and our client’s emails. The alternative is to send all your emails through outlook or your email program.

The main problem with using your email is that the emails are more likely to be flagged as spam and not be delivered to your customers at all.

Mail sending services have departments that liaise with Internet Service Providers like hotmail, aol, btconnect etc to help your emails get through. Mail sending services require you to use genuine email addresses and provide a guaranteed unsubscribe. By doing this they are trusted much more than your office pc.

You can also have your email rated against the different spam checkers before sending the email to give you the maximum chance of getting it through.

Unfortunately there is a little cost in using this service which is normally around 1p per email address you send to.

Getting Started

Take a look at mail services like constant contact, aweber and campaign monitor. Look at their features and take one of their trials.

The biggest issue is keeping it going. We schedule time each month to get the work don’t and we do brief a sigh of relief when it is done. Then our newsletters can be a little epic.

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Below are some tested links to sites that offer free listings and most take no more than 5 minutes of your time – you will know by return mail or telephone call your entry is active – and therefore visible to all potential customers searching for you too.

1. Google Local
Adding your listing to Google Local lets you appear on the maps and company listings that sometimes appear when you search on Google. Your details will also appear on the Google Maps website.

Visit:  http://www.google.com/local/add/  or see the full Instructions with pictures and diagrams at http://www.businessinsites.co.uk/getting-on-google-local/

2. Yahoo Local

Yahoo’s local business directory – The information is used as a database to help people "find the nearest" company. It is used on a lot of website and applications. For example there are several iPhone applications using it. Add one entry here and your listing spreads all over the place.

View at http://uk.local.yahoo.com/
Add your details at http://yahoo.infoservegroup.com/business-owner-form.html 
 

3. Applegate
Applegate appears a lot as one of the results in Google. It might work for you, it might not but it is worth a few minutes adding your details. You will get a sales call at some point trying to get you to upgrade your listing – listen to the pitch and decide for yourself.

To get listed visit www.applegate.co.uk- use the search box to look for your company – if you find it, look for the ‘is this your company’ link at the bottom of the page. Otherwise use the Add/Edit information link to create a new listing.
 

4. Touch Local
Again appears frequently in Google Results. Expect a sales call on this one too.

Visit www.touchlocal.com – search for your company first  and look for ‘is this your business’ link. Otherwise click here to create a new basic free listing.
 

5. Best of
Best of is made up of a series of websites for major towns. They are a franchise with each area run by a franchisee. Experiences vary depending on the skill and experience of the franchisee. I would expect a sales call again.

To get listed find the nearest town to you at their town list. Click on the town and look for the ‘contact us’ page and then click Join.

6.  Ikarma.com

This site offers you a profile (see mine) which get added to Google over time, it also gives your customers a chance to review you.

Visit www.ikarma.com and register. You only need to add the basic details and can skip the first steps if you don’t want to ask people in your contact list to rate you.

7. Free Index
A free listing site with options to upgrade your listing online. Worth asking people to review your business as it raises your profile higher up in their search results.
Visit http://www.freeindex.co.uk/

8. Need some more?

Visit Google and try searching for < Your Town name> Business Directory

Reviews

As a lot of these sites accept reviews of your business, it is worth you monitoring what is being said about you. The reviews can appear even if you don’t add yourself – so it is worth looking just in case. You can of course encourage people to review you and it does make a difference especially if people have a choice of several businesses to take their business to.

Sites accepting reviews : Google Local, Touch Local, Best Of, iKarma and Freeindex.

Technorati Tags: advertising, marketing ideas, promoting your business

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This podcast asks the question should you blog for your business. Find out what a business blog can do for you and how to get started.

Resources mentioned in the podcast are

Hosted Blogging

www.wordpress.com
www.blogger.com
www.livejournal.com

Microblogs

www.twitter.com
www.pownce.com

Blogging software to install

www.wordpress.org

Hosting Companies that make blogging easier

www.hostgator.com

How to Blogging Sites

www.problogger.com

Technorati Tags: blogging, business blogging

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This video takes a look at the first things you can do to improve where your website shows up in the Google rankings.

There are three main types of improvement you can make and the first of these is to change and add to the content on your website.

Outline:

• Why is content important?
• Ideas for new content for your business website
• Examples of business content appearing in Google

Technorati Tags: Google, search engine ranking, search results

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This article will take a look at

• Where you see Google Local in action
• How to sign up to Google Local
• How to get better rankings on Google Local

Where you see Google Local in action

If you were to search on Google for web design kings hill at the top of the page you will hopefully see something like the image below. You should see a nice map and listings of local businesses. If fact if your search is made up from company type and location you will normally see this type of listing.

This is an example of the Google Local data being used in the main search on Google.

If you have ever tried to find directions you may have used Google Maps. There is a map link at the top of your Google results or you can visit maps.google.com . If you enter a trade or profession in the search box you will again see companies list. This is from the Google Local Database.

Clicking on one of the business listing will show more detail about the company you have picked. This includes business hours, contact details, promotional videos, a link to your website and more importantly reviews from past customers.

If you look back to the initial example you might just make out next to the first listing it says ‘3 Reviews’ while the others just say more. The 3 reviews stands out and takes someone who clicks on it directly to the review section.

How to sign up to Google Local

To get signed up at Google Local visit the Google Local Business Centre and start the sign up process. Lets go step by step through the stages. First you need to either create a Google account or if you have one sign in .

If you are creating an account the next page asks for basic information and a password…

then where you live…

Your Google account can be used on all the other google sites like Google Adwords – for paid advertising or Google Analytics – for website visitor tracking.

Once you have either created an account or logged in, you should have screen offering you the choice of add new business or upload a data file. Click on Add new business.

Next you need to complete your company information. Once you enter the postcode/zip code your business will appear on the map on the right. If the position isn’t quite right then click on the fix incorrect marker location link which is under the map. This allows you to adjust the position of the pin that is placed on the map. You will be able to drag the marker around with the mouse.

Then add business categories to your listing. Look for all that apply.

Then add opening hours if required.

Nearly there… Now tick any payment methods you accept, upload any photos or graphics. If you have a logo in electronic form upload that now.

You also have the opportunity to upload up to 5 video links from Youtube. If you do not have any videos on youtube that promote your business you need to create at least one. Easy ways to do this will appear in future articles.

Finally you need to be able to confirm your listing. You can do this my phone, sms or postcard. Whichever method you pick you will receive a PIN code to enter into your listing. The process is quickest if you use the phone or sms method but lets look at the postcard method.

Once you click submit you will either get an SMS, an automatic phone call with the PIN code or a message as follows for the postcard option.

Look out for the postcard and enter the PIN code when you get it. Simply return to the Google Local Business Centre – find your listing and enter the pin.

If you are using the other methods you will have a screen that asks for the PIN code. Enter it and save the page. Job done.

Once you have entered the PIN code it can take 3-6 weeks for your listing to appear.

How to get better rankings on Google Local

How does the listing order of business work.

As with anything from Google no one really knows 100% how it works but it seems to be based on

• distance between your business location and the searcher
• how many reviews and the quality score on the reviews
• whether your website uses the location names on the pages
• whether other sites link to you using the business type and location
• other databases they have access to

You can’t influence the first one but you can ask your happy customers to review your work. Note the reviews appear quickly but the number of reviews on the main listing takes a while to catch up. Having reviews will get your listing clicked on more and hopefully give customers confidence to contact you.

You can add your business address to every page of your website and make sure the phone number appears on the site somewhere.

You can add a page to your site mentioning local or regional towns. Such as a "here are local areas we serve" page making sure to mention the services you provide on the same page. It could also go on a frequently asked questions page under the question ‘Which areas do you cover?’

If you have any other ideas how to use Google Local or wish to share your experience of it or comment on this article please use the box below. We would love to hear from you.

Technorati Tags: Google, Google local, Google Maps, Google Sites, promoting your business

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This video takes gives you an overview of the process know as Search Engine Optimisation – what it is? how it works? what to expect from a company doing search engine optimisation for your business.

It finishes with points to consider when doing your own optimisation or getting a company to do it for you.

Please feel free to comment on this video below.

Technorati Tags: search engine optimisation, SEO

Related posts:

1. Video in Business Podcast Video is under used by small and medium sized businesses....

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Everyone wants to be number one on Google.

The Google Starter series takes you step by step through the process you need to follow to take a new site into Google and get great rankings.

These videos are aimed a small to medium businesses and their owners to give them the ability to understand how Google search works and what needs doing to improve things. My aim is to give you the confidence to do it yourself or to know what you need someone else to do.

Contents Part One

First we look at whether Google knows about your site and how much it knows.

View Part Two – Improving search engine rankings

We welcome your comments and ratings below.

Resources:

Slides, additional notes and action plan download

 When searching for your ranking you might like to check out the Tip on seeing more than 10 results in Google.

Technorati Tags: Google, google starter, ranking, search results, SEO

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Technorati Tags: advertising, google adwords, ppc

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