Building Business and New Leads

Author: Michael Habenicht

So your website is performing well in online search results, but you're not getting any business leads.

Recently someone who owns a small business and with a limited budget, asked me why they were not getting any new business leads. Below was my response along with some tips that they may want to consider, which I thought I'd share here. Note: I referenced just a few specific social and business building networks - which would fit their needs specifically. If you apply any of these tips, your networking sources may vary.

-------- The Website Marketing on a Slim Budget Discussion --------

So I see your website is performing very well in online search results, but your website's message may not be enticing enough to drive home the sale and to get people to follow through with inquiring about your services and products.

Below is a short list of things you may want to consider doing to begin with, which will only cost you time and effort on your part.

1) Work on your personal branding using networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, etc... and continue to build on your brand profile and follow through with inquiries and leads that come through on these networks.

I spend on average about 4 to 8 hours every week (not enough in my opinion) working on my personal branding or business - to reinforce my reputation (and my business' reputation) as a web designer and web developer. I also have my employees - do the same for their personal branding. Collectively we are creating an online presence that we are everywhere, we aggressively market every new website project we design and develop - so we constantly have a presence online in social media, various networks and here's some information about the website design and development project - along with customer testimonials and case-studies.

The point of all this is that we are working diligently to establish that Kaleidoscopic is a great business to work with and hire, here are other companies that have chosen our web development services, and here are the results.

2) Ask your existing clients for referrals, ask them to recommend your business on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, and any other networks they may utilize. Post client testimonials to your website and your own social networks.

3) Post tips in the NEWS sections of your website. Everyone loves free advice that they can benefit from... such as this tip you're reading now. I plan to refine this tip and perform an email marketing campaign in the coming month which covers most of the topics of the message. Yesterday I was attending a Chamber of Commerce luncheon and 6 people came up and thanked me for the helpful tips and information we've been sharing... thereby I provided something of value to them, and reaffirmed myself as someone who cares, in the know and knowledgeable in my field of business.

4) Post to your NEWS and TESTIMONIALS more often. People are looking for different things in a business they wish to work with. You should consider asking people who hired you - why they chose your business, or how did they learn about your business. Then build a new NEWS article based on the feedback. This will help your business target like-minded prospects.

5) Copywriting - Consider working on your website's message to make it more enticing to the prospect. Reference 3 & 4) above as a place to start.

OR - you may want to consider hiring us to do some in-depth copywriting and editorial for your website and marketing materials. We perform extensive research into your competitors, your service industry, work on and develop more enticing messages for your website, which strongly communicates why a prospect should chose your business over the competition. We offer copywriting services and monthly maintenance plans, as options to help out in these areas of web services. Let me know if you're interested and we can discuss this further.

6) Network - online in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, etc...

Network with other businesses which are closely related to your business' service industry. Kaleidoscopic has an extensive network of business associates which we have built relationships with and most of our work comes in as referrals from these connections and relationships we've built.

7) Get computer and social network savvy - Your competitors are, or they are paying someone to manage their profile branding and networking. If your business is not doing the same - then your competitors already have an advantage over your business in this area. We've helped businesses build new business and increase their sales for many years and those who are the most successful online are those who know how to take advantage of the online services available to them. These include constantly adding new, fresh content to their websites, working the social networks, asking for referrals, basically everything I've mentioned in steps 1 - 6).

8) One other tip... Ask every one of your clients for the names, email address and/or phone numbers of five people who could benefit from your business services or may be interested in your services. This approach is much better than asking a client to refer your business to others... because you're relying on them to make the referral, whereas if you ask for the names, emails and/or phone numbers of five people who can use your business services your more likely to get an immediate answer and possibly 2 to 3 contact leads on the spot. This is a fairly aggressive approach to marketing, but it does work.

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To wrap this up - everything listed above is an example of various tips I provided a business owner (at not cost), regarding how to build online and networking business awareness. I often provide such tips to clients on a one-on-one basis and later refine them to be more generic, so as to repurpose them for my own marketing purposes on my website and social networks, and as described in 3).

...and the message you just read is my tip to a business owner, repurposed for my own marketing endeavors and shared with you.

I hope you find this information useful and helpful. If you would like to discuss our in-depth copywriting, web marketing and web maintenance plans which would cover a lot of the topics discussed here, please contact Kaleidoscopic, Inc at 704-545-5336

And if by chance you're in search of a Website Designer, Web Developer, or Graphic Design Services... please consider Kaleidoscopic, Inc. We'd love the opportunity to work with your business.

Cheers!
Michael Habenicht

Tags: Tips Business Branding Business Websites Copy Editorial Service Email Marketing Marketing & Advertising Social Network Branding Social Network Marketing Tips