This week's annotated collection focuses on techniques, templates, and tools to make it easier for the local business to engage consumers online, increasing their satisfaction and your sales.
Customer Experience: Business and Conversion Strategies
"How to Use Customer Experience Maps to Develop a Winning Content Marketing Strategy" by Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger, December 3, 2014
This article, based on a report from Bain & Company on customer experience, examines how to use and navigate the customer experience to bring in more sales, calls, and ultimately money.
"4 UX Lessons I Learned Playing With Toys" by Agus Esperon, UX Magazine, December 8, 2014
This article discusses four elements that can help businesses with their online and in-store marketing efforts based on information gleaned from our early learning experiences. These same factors influence our adult experiences, such as appreciating consistency, ease of use, and the power of emotion.
"How Using Customer Feedback Can Help You Grow & Achieve Your Business Goals" by Debbie Fletcher, Nimble, December 11, 2014
Listening to your customers and to what consumers are saying about your business isn't always easy. This article shows how positive and negative reviews, feedback, or questions on your social network pages can provide you with insight into opportunities for improving your product, service, customer support, or engagement, which in turn can lead to a more successful business.
"Website Redesign for Higher Conversions? Tread Lightly" by Peep Laja, ConversionXL, December 4, 2014
Are you considering redesigning your website? Before considering a redesign, understand the reasons behind this decision. This article points out that unless your site is technologically lacking (not mobile-friendly or uses Flash), looks amateurish, or has issues too numerous to fix economically, your better option is optimizing elements of your site. It makes better use of your resources and provides an opportunity to measure your results.
Online Marketing Tools, Templates and Techniques
Google My Business has overhauled its guidelines. These three articles provide businesses, both single location and multi-locations, with details of the changes, comparisons of the new and old rules, and expert commentary.
"Google Rolls Out Major Update To Google My Business Guidelines" by Mike Blumenthal, Understanding Google Places & Local Search, December 1, 2014
"Google My Business Guidelines - A Detailed Comparison New & Old - Part 1" by Mike Blumenthal, Understanding Google Places & Local Search, December 5, 2014
"Google My Business Guidelines - A Detailed Comparison New & Old - Part 2 - Chains, Brands & Departments" by Mike Blumenthal, Understanding Google Places & Local Search, December, 2014
"Stop Selling Like It's 2004 (Infographics)" by Laura Montini, Inc., December 4, 2014
Content marketing, which provides information of value to consumers in an engaging format, is very much in the forefront of marketing strategies. Why? If done right, it lets the consumer know about your product or service, but in a way that doesn't scream "BUY ME." Many businesses still find this difficult, however. This infographic provides ways to make it easier for your business and your staff.
"6 Social Media Templates to Save You Hours of Work" by Evan Lepage, Hootsuite, December 10, 2014
Does your business participate in social media and/or need to do it better? This article is a must-read. Templates, available for download, are available to help you create and audit your social strategy, plan an editorial and social media content calendar, and use the correct image sizes on each social network.
"5 Marketing Musts for a Successful Year Ahead" by Steve Goldner, SocialSteve, December 7, 2014
This article explores ways to improve your interactions with consumers by building your marketing thru meeting the needs and motivations of your targeted audience. To reach people in 2015, the author discusses storytelling, holistic user experience, personalization, community, and advocacy.
"10 Digital Marketing Trends for 2015" by Tessa Wegert, ClickZ, December 11, 2014
Need to know what the biggest trends for 2015 will be for your online marketing success? From this list, the answer is providing consumers with what they need, when they need it, and in a way that works for them and captures them emotionally. The list of trends includes video, storytelling, mobile-first design, and the use of visuals in multiple channels to engage consumers.
"10 Must-Have Plugins for Every New WordPress Blog" by Joe Fylan, wpmudev, December 5, 2014
WordPress is now a standard platform used by many businesses for their website design and content management. It has features and capabilities that can be extended by using plugins that are snippets of code that perform a particular task, such as a contact form. This article lists plugins for SEO, social sharing and list building, blog maintenance and security.
Call to Action Conference Videos from September 2014 Conference, unbounce.com
Nine speaker videos, totaling 4.5 hours, are provided on various strategies and tips to improve your conversion rates - phone calls, sales, donations, or downloads. Topics include optimizing lead generation pages, "live" page review, and copywriting. The videos are presentations from the September Call to Action Conference.
"Top 5 Benefits of Using Call Recording For Your Small Business" by Kurt Wolfgang, Velocity Networks, December 11, 2014
If your web marketing is successful, customers will be calling your business. If the interaction doesn't go smoothly, all the online marketing efforts and dollars you've invested may be wasted. Call recording is a tool a business can use, with the employees and consumers' knowledge, to improve customer experience, uncover additional employee training or information-sharing needs, and analyze how a business could improve its product or service.
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