When it come to social media, there seems to be two sides of the discussion. Those who use it as part of their daily lives and those who have no idea how social media is as powerful as it really is. This is true of the general population, but it also seems to hold true to the business population as well. If you are questioning whether or not social media is worth the investment for your business, for your career, or even for your personal life, this video by Erik Qualman is a must watch!

So, are you trying to figure out how to add keywords to a website so it can rank in the SERPs (search engine results pages)?

Whatever your business, industry or value proposition is, there is no business without customers and there are no customers without leads.

If you are using email marketing to reach out to leads and gain customers, we have a few ideas on how to grow your email marketing lists so that you can reach more and more leads with your services and products.

First of all: NEVER BUY A LIST!  

We have all been on the ‘hook’ end of the ol' lead generation techniques. Even in the last week I have experienced a number of these ol' tactics. Last night I had two gentlemen knock on my door asking if they could clean my carpet. I received direct mail about hearing aids (and I am not even 40 yet) and even at work my inbox is filled each morning with emails from companies selling products and services that I have no interest in at all.

I love super hero movies. My husband grew up on comic books.  So, the current movie craze with super hero stories (especially Marvel) keeps us going back to theatres. My confession is that I have a heart for the super villains, especially those who were good and turned bad and still struggle with that pull on their conscience. (My current favorite is Loki, but that is a subject for another blog).

Enjoy my favorite scene between Thor and his brother, Loki:

Landing pages are typically not a general informational page on your website. The best lanidng pages are those pages on your website with a single focus and a single objective for the visitor. 

You have your new website design up and running.

Check

You have optimized it for search engines.

Check

You are blogging and attracting traffic to your site.

Check

You are getting a huge increase in website conversions.

Nope. Wait…what?

Well what went wrong?

There are many “life lessons” I have learned through the years and one of them is that some things are worth the money, while others are not. We usually learn this one of two ways: from our own experience, or if we are wise, we watch and listen to others’ experiences and learn from them.  I suggest the 2^nd route, but most of us learn by doing and experiencing.

Well, let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with ABC, when you blog you begin with marketing goals. (Okay, so Rodgers and Hammerstein may not exactly like my rendition…)

Let’s start by remembering the overall goal of internet marketing for your business and ultimately the answer behind the question ‘Why Blog?’--

You want more customers and more sales.

No really, people make purchases after talking about brands and products on social media. So, if you are a business owner, that’s the answer to your question “Why is social media important?”