Today businesses need more clients, customers or patients (I’ll just refer to them as clients). Below are a couple of cost-effective ways to generate volumes of quality new clients, esp. in today’s less forgiving economy.
A lot of the old faithful methods my clients always used with success, like yellow page ads, have faded. There are hundreds of promotion and advertising methods reaching to take your money and promising to make your business prosper.
Do You Google?
Marketing on the web is the rising star. Although I have a strong traditional marketing background, I was also President of a Top-50 website. So let’s hit some key online basics.
Search engines are the most common way to drive people to your website and Google is the 800 lb. gorilla there, so let’s focus on them. When someone types in a word or phrase, Google’s algorithm (formula) uses over 160 elements in selecting what websites they display.
Google looks for whether the words in your web page and the keywords your webmaster lists for your site match what their searcher entered.
Know which keywords you should compete for. Your website should show up on a Google search for one or more of these key words. Researching this may cost a bit, but getting a list of recommended keywords for your products and services is a lot better than guessing!
If you don’t like your ranking, an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) expert may be able to help. If you want more than just optimizing for free traffic then try adding Google AdWords.
Google AdWords is a popular option but pricey. It is vital that you say the right things and there are research methods that can help you get “dialed in” for profits.
What Should You Say?
What can you say that will causemore prospects to click your link before your competitors? And what should your website say so that potential new clients buy on your site instead of hitting the back button to see who’s next on Google’s list.
Conventional wisdom is not very helpful here. In yellow page advertising you were taught (incorrectly, in my opinion) to use a laundry list of all the items and services you provide. You certainly cannot do that with Google AdWords, where you are given one headline of 25 characters and two additional text lines of 35 characters each.
So what do you say? Do you simply guess and hope you get plenty of new clients? That may be what your colleagues are doing, but it’s not a very scientific option.
In Part II (our next edition), I will discuss some proven approaches you can use to really stand out from the crowd.
