Search Engine Marketing...

Is your website working for you or are you working for your website?
As the world turns, the web evolves and so must your business.

Search engines allow you to appear in front of people who expressed interest in your product or service by typing a few KEY words relevant to your site. Your web link can appear in 2 places on a search engine page; as a natural result or a sponsored result.

Natural is the term for links that appear after a word or phrase is typed into a search engine. Sponsored links are advertisements you must pay for and are shown above or next to natural search results, which appears when keywords are typed into a search box.


Keywords.
The best way to gather keywords is to begin with some generic words then hone in more specific words-consider alternative words that mean the same thing. After you find 10 to 15 keywords they then need to be embedded into your meta pages. These are commands that describe the page it is coded to. Note they are invisible to your customer but important for search engines to find you. In addition to your keywords, search engines consider the viewable text of your site in order to determine its position in the results.

Paid Searches.
Paid search works somewhat like an auction. You bid on search terms for your product/service. Once you pay for the term(s) you develop a text-based advertisment for posting along side natural results, then pay-per-click when user click your ad. The advantage here is that your ad can appear near the top of the results and you get to set a budget that when met will automatically remove your ad. You should consider creating a budget; 1) how much you will spend over a period of time 2) how much you're willing to allocate for each click. The more $ you pay for a click through, the higher you will likely rank.

Keep in mind when it comes to generic terms, you are likely to be out bid by companies with bigger budgets. If you have the money, bidding on keywords can be a successful strategy for increasing your presence on-line, though it may not always lead to sales.

Maximizing Your Sales...

Growing your client base and gaining new clients/accounts is the basic elemnet of sales coverage.
If you are reevaluating your sales coverage, here's a few questions and tips to consider...

1. Are you selling to the right market?
2. How do your customers want to do business? A recent client study shows that many prefer to do business over the phone versus a face-to-face visit. This is because of tight schedules and time taken from actual sales the buyers can be conducting during the time of a face-to-face meeting. Larger buyers prefer to have the option to meet and to buy over the phone.
3. When to do a face-to-face sale or a sales call? Face-to-face is valuable. It allows the buyer to see and feeel the product, but if your an experienced seller then a sales call is a walk in the park.
4. Do you have alternate channels of distribution? This is basically networking. Are there people out there that can add some of your items to their sales? For example, if a friend makes a sale of a vase, they can add a greeting card with it. This will get that buyer interested in my card designs and bring them to my site just to browse and maybe later becoming a customer. Many people I knoe do this with business card exchanging, but an actual item is so much more affective, in my opinion. This tactic is also helpful with website/URL's/ Exchanging links can help drive traffic. This works by placing someone elses URL on your site as they do the same.
5. Is your marketing plan and sales plan the same? Your marketing plan should back-up your sales coverage. You need to create awareness to help sales indentify new leads.

Jumpstart Sales with an ol'School approach...

Socrates taught his students to ask questions that will make others question their own assumptions. With this thought in the aspect of sales we can persuade buyers to open up, examine all consequences of their position and work with you or your sales rep to close a sale that works for both.

ie: "Mrs. Hill, I will like to discuss the products, which I mentioned in our phone conversation earlier this week. I would like to know your thoughts, so we can focus the meeting on what interests, questions or hurdles you may have."

The point is to get the buyer to tell you 'NO' before they can think of saying, 'NO'. How is this possible? Well if the buyer tells all the reasons why they think your product will not or why they can not accept your sale at the point in time, you can work with them and around any situation that comes up. Once the buyer has done that, you keep asking questions: "Tell me more..." "What would help me understand more..." "what can make this easier..."

Some inexperienced salespeople do not listen to the buyer.
Don't get impatient with the buyer, because they are stilling sizing you up. Let them talk and vent, don't just jump in with assurance that you can be better then other vendors. Inquire more on they feel on certain situations they discuss. This will help identify the buyers personal motivators and show you have remorse and care for them as well. Basically it gives you a better connection with the buyer.

Key point here is to listen to your buyer(s) with eyes and ears. Body Language speaks in volume. Keep the meeting/conversation productive while identifying what they need and want.

This is a true fact. I have not personally done this with shops, wholesaling, B&M's, but at craft shows I have exercised these tactics with people who have stopped at my booth. In return, a few shows have turned those same people into buyers through my website, with revenue in the hundreds.

Notes here were gathered from

'Sales & Marketing Management Magazine'

Article: 'Socrates Makes A Call' by DALE KLAMFOTH