Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category

How to Write a Marketing Plan for Your Las Vegas Business

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

How To Write A Marketing Plan for your Las Vegas Business

A marketing plan is the portion of your overall business plan that describes the market for your products, an analysis of your competitors, and your marketing budget. It is a complete breakdown of the services or products you will provide, your unique selling proposition, and your distribution plans. It will also describe your strategy for sales and pricing, as well as plans for promotion and advertising. Each of these topics are summarized in brief paragraphs with separate headings. Each paragraph will explain how you plan to get customers or clients to buy your products, and the advantages they can expect in return.

The products and services portion of your marketing plan will clearly define the unique qualities of the products or services you plan to offer, and how your customers can benefit from using them. This section of the marketing plan characterizes your product telling what it does, how it works, and how it differs from similar products distributed by your competition. Your marketing plan will define the services you are presenting to customers, and list the advantages you have over other companies that provide the same services.

Depending on the products or services that you will be providing, the benefits for your customers may be tangible (can be touched or felt), or intangible (untouchable). For this section of your marketing plan, think about the products or services that you will be providing, and then list as many benefits as you can. Narrow your choices to the benefits that suit your target customers, and write a paragraph highlighting the advantages of each one. Your marketing plan is a detailed description of your company’s products, and the benefits or incentives that you will offer your customers.

The heart of your marketing plan will define the unique selling proposition for your company’s products or services. It is important that you give specific details showing which features set your products apart from that of your competitors. The goal of your marketing plan is to send a message to your customers showing the advantages of using your products or services. The marketing plan is a direct form of communicating with your customers, it’s message should be clear and concise. An essential document for your business plan, your marketing plan will need to be updated regularly. Your updates will address issues such as changes in the market, product prices, and customer demand.

Writing a marketing may seem like an overwhelming task when you consider all the information that has to be included. A company with unlimited funds can hire a professional to write the marketing plan for them, and keep it updated. Small companies or home based businesses can have a well written marketing plan without spending a lot of money. Business software programs can be used to help you create a business plan, and a marketing plan for your company. There are websites that offer free downloads of templates that you can use to write your marketing plan. This templates can be customized to suit your business, and they include step by step procedures for writing a successful marketing plan.

V Finance is a website with free templates to help you write business and marketing plans for your company. They have an extensive website with templates that are designed for a large number of industries and careers. You can visit them at: www.vfinance.com.

SEO Top Tips for Las Vegas

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

5 Tips to Good SEO: SEO Top Tips for Las Vegas

SEO or Search Engine Optimization has quickly climbs the ranks as one of the most important processes in getting a site noticed. Articles and web content often focus on the importance of SEO with keywords while SEO specialists find their niche in many other aspects of this growing business. SEO aims at the heart of publicity and it’s a known fact that the better your skills at SEO, the more likely you are to climb the search engine charts. Let’s take a look at what makes up a good SEO ethics.

Inbound Links

Often referred to as “back-linking,” inbound links create a direct route to your site from other well known sites. Inbound links are essentially piggy backing off another site’s traffic. These links can be contained in signatures, blurbs, or any other means as long as they link to your site. Creating back links is a time consuming job, but it’s well worth the effort. The most efficient way to develop SEO through back links is to make sure and put your links on pages that have content much like your own.

Lots of Content

Having lots of keyword rich content is one thing, but there is a trick to it you should understand. As Google searches pages for new content, it refreshes the crawl over your site. Having lots of content and creating new content on a regular basis are two different things and Google will recognize that. However, if your page is extremely light on content, like 100 words or less, then you definitely should bulk up a bit. Also, creating new subject content, meaning subjects not previously covered on your site, will help too. This is a big debate and many SEO researchers will tell you it isn’t necessary; however, it’s all in the way that your content is done and not how much of it you have.

Minimum Code Clutter

Search engines sort through your site’s HTML in order to read content. Leaving open or broken codes in your site’s content can prove to be a deal breaker for a search engine. Always use simple HTML and never over use things like flash players and images as search engines can only read text.

Deep Linking

Creating a deep link for your site is much like back linking, however instead of simply pointing to a domain, like a .com, it will point to a specific place of your site. The essential idea here is to direct visitors further into your site so that your information is further accessed.

Maintenance

Site maintenance is the simplest and quickest thing some one can do. That’s not saying is the fastest rise in page rank, however there are some positive things to say about it. Everything in our lives need maintenance: cars, homes, even our bodies. Why should your website be any different? Maintaining your website will allow the search bots to crawl through your site on a regular basis and ensure new and fresh content, which links back to the second point above.

While different trial and error sessions work well with SEO, the last point, maintenance, is worth mentioning again. Simply because you put a few back links out, doesn’t mean you will survive. If you don’t take the time to maintain all your SEO set ups then any progress you have made will surely fail. It is one thing to be the first site on a search engine for a day, but it’s another to be the top site on a search engine for a year or more. Without proper SEO and without following up on the path you’ve begun to create for your site, it will fall off the face of search engines everywhere without a peep.

How to Use Facebook for Marketing and Advertising in Las Vegas

Friday, June 11th, 2010

Facebook currently has more than 400 million active users all over the world, making this social network platform an extremely useful instrument for effective marketing and advertising for your Las Vegas business. Facebook allows you to create an advertisement that will be placed on the margin of a page.

You will be able to create or increase consumer demand for your product through Facebook advertisements; you can also attach social actions to your ads and make it more relevant to the Facebook users, and you can target Las Vegas Facebook users. Facebook allows you to choose your target group, including their location and age, thus maximizing the opportunity of bringing in new customers and revenues. You can create your Facebook ads easily by creating or uploading pictures and put on text-based information that will intrigue your potential customers. You can also advertise your website by creating a Page on Facebook to draw in fans. Finally, Facebook enables you to track the progress of your marketing with real-time reporting. The simple bar charts will help you compare what gender and what age group of Facebook users pay the most attention to your ads. After you understand who are clicking on your ads, you can then modify them to maximize the efficiency in drawing in new customers.

Here are some to enhance the effectiveness of your ads on Facebook:

  1. Use an enticing and relevant photo that will attract Facebook users to click on your ad. Most Internet users are numb towards advertisements so it is extremely important for you to use the visual element to attract their attention.
  2. Write a clear and concise message. Again, most Facebook users will not spend more than 30 seconds reading an ad. Make your tag line direct and relevant to accommodate to their short attention span.
  3. Utilize other Facebook features such as Page, Application, Group, and Event. This will allow you to increase the visibility of your website and they do not cost you extra money.
  4. Narrow down your target audience. As you are relying on Facebook to connect with potential customers directly, you have to make sure that your ads pertain to their interests and offer them service or products that they may need.

Creating a Facebook advertisement is very easy. You simply have to go on to Facebook and click on the “Try Facebook Ads” on the right margin. You will then enter into a step-by-step guide that will provide you assistance along the way until you create your very first ad.

Are Directory Links Still Effective for your Website?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Lots of Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing Professionals are voicing their opinions and stating than directories and directory links are dead. Remember, these are the people that also say that Page Rank is dead, SEO is dead, and the latest this is dead theory.  So, is website directory link building no longer worthy for your business?

I believe the real issue with website directory links is that only some of them are good, while some others are junk, and being able to tell this difference is the key between loosing your time and having a fruitful link building campaign.  How can you tell if a directory is good enough for your website or that you should pass it?  Here are the 3 main criteria of identifying a good directory from a bad one:

  1. You can find the directory in the most popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask. Also the category pages of the directory are cached on the search engines, if the directory offers detail pages, these should be as well.
  2. Check the source code of the pages of the directory. Look to see if the links are plain a href’s, without the rel=”nofollow” attribute, and no sneaky redirects are present. By validating all these you guarantee that these links are seeing and counted by Search Engines.
  3. The directory doesn’t link to questionable websites, specially topics like gambling, casino adult, and illegal content websites. Be very wary about directory that offers sitewide likes to these type of sites.

How to Impress Your Las Vegas Customers

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

In Las Vegas business, every contact with your customer is an opportunity for expanding and growing the relationship. A phone call is nice but sending a business greeting card means that effort and consideration was put into the relationship. A greeting card can be sent as a reminder for an event, upcoming meeting or simply a thank you note. With the highly competitive market that we have today, having a good rapport with your customers is a way of getting ahead of the competition.

There are a lot of reasons why businesses send greeting cards. You may want to attract new customers, enhance a current business relationship or show appreciation to those who have faithfully supported your business during the year. It is essential though to carefully design the card as a well-meant card can actually offend the recipient when it is not done properly. Choosing a poor design can also mean a lot of things to the people you want to impress. The recipient can take it as a sign that the business is not doing well or that they are not properly given the attention that they deserve.

To avoid any trouble in getting the list of the persons that you would send the card to, update your list of names and addresses from time to time.  For certain, you would gain new clients throughout the year. As you gain new contacts take time to add them in your list. This way you wonít have a hard time addressing your greeting card or embarrass yourself by sending the card to the wrong person.

It is also better to sign each card personally and handwrite the address as well. This may sound a lot work for you but if the business and the relationship are worth it, so is the extra effort. Remember that this is your chance to connect with your customers on a personal level so make it work. As much as possible donít also use computer generated labels as they may seem impersonal and make your greeting look like a mass mailing.

If you are sending the card in time for a special occasion or holiday, make sure to mail them ahead of time to make sure that they arrive on the dot. And the best way to avoid the last minute greeting rush is to have all your envelopes addressed a few days before actually sending them out. You can have all the time in the world for designing, decorating and signing your greeting cards so make an effort to create them as stunning and pleasing as possible to make the recipients feel that they are well valued and appreciated.

5 Ways Increase Las Vegas Web Site Conversion Rates

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

If you run an eCommerce website you probably ask yourself often how many people visit your website and DON’T purchase from you. Are you confident that your site converts visitors into customers at the highest rate possible? Do you feel like you have truly tried everything possible to increase your conversion rate?

Ask yourself: Do you have a strong call to action? Have you tried different messaging with a split A-B landing pages? There are always different strategies and tactics to explore when marketing your Las Vegas website. Unless you’re 100% sure that your website has no room for improvements, then you should take some time to explore how to continue to maximize sales.

Here are some website marketing strategies you might consider:

Bait your website visitors with the right cheese

Online shoppers are increasingly more sophisticated each year. Assume that your prospects will visit several competitor websites before they make a decision to purchase. Your website needs to stand out and clearly communicate the benefit your website holds over your competitors. You might need a special nugget of “cheese” that encourages visitors to surf around your website for example, free shipping, suggested selling or a free sample offer. Decide what cheese you can use to entice visitors.

Create value-add offers

Partner up with other websites and companies with whom you can cross promote each other’s products or services. Exchange bonus offers with each other and help each other grow. You could offer a discount on each other’s services, gift cards, an inexpensive give-away, gift cards, etc.

Offer free gifts that encourage viral marketing

Think of a promotional item that your website visitors will keep in their purse, wallet or car at all times. A well thought out promotion item helps create awareness and can help in creating a viral marketing buzz. A phone card is a great example. You can brand it, people keep it in their wallet and they are design for repeated use and keep your brand in front of them several times a week.

Personalize your offers

Try to find ways to personalize your offers, make your prospects feel special, customize your offer with their name, by their city, state or country. Find a partner you could help cross-promote with personalized branded giveaways, coupons or offers.

Give away an item that is perceived as valuable

Free offers are nice, but “free” sometimes can sound a bit negative, so keep the percieved value of what you are offering a prospect high.

Here’s an example:

“Get a FREE phone card if you order by midnight.” (versus) “Receive your complimentary phone card worth 2 hours of free phone calls worldwide as our personal thank you gift for your online order today.”

With a little thought and research, you can find that perfect cheese that will help YOU convert more sales on your eCommerce website!

Perkolate Launches Floor Restore Website

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Perkolate is proud to announce the launch of its latest website for Floor Restore of Las Vegas. Perkolate designed Floor Restore’s logo, trifold brochure, website and branding.

About Floor Restore

Floor Restore LLC is a company that was created to provide a quality Franchise program at a price most can afford. We are a family business interested in assisting people to get back to work in these trying times. We started our business months before the construction crash in Las Vegas. Due to the downturn, we were forced to make some hard decisions. Either close the doors and waste our hard work or find a way to capture a consistent market. We discovered a model for business that caused us to grow consistently through the downturn and become the 2nd largest Flooring contractor in the Vegas Valley within one year.

Branding for Law Firms in Las Vegas

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

At the heartbeat of a strongly branded business firm lies the real essence in which the visitors, clients, and partners all conceptualize for their own selves. Find out about branding for law firms, and how it is of utmost importance to any law firm.

What Branding is not

One must first look at what branding for law firms is not, in order to see what branding for law firms is. Branding is not the identity of the business firm, nor is it the logo, marketing, or mission statement. Branding is not an advertisement, nor an ad campaign.

Having said that, what the business firm wants to portray is what the clients conceptualize it to be. A brand provides a relationship between a firm and its services and the client or potential clients. Branding for law firms must promise and deliver what they say they will to live up to with that brand name; thus, needed trust any great relationship will have.

In addition, for a client, he finds surety and solace in formulating a relationship with a reputable law firm. A business firm that has his trust makes him very confident. For the various customers, they see what the business firm has portrayed itself as.There certainly needs to be consistence of high quality with the manner in which the business firm does do business.

People Pay for Branding

Meanwhile, branding for law firms is in full swing these days in the legal communities. Law firms that are branded, that stand solid, are those that are trusted most. It gives people a real good reason to stay with the best brand. That is why people pay about double the prices, just to get that name brand, wherever it can be found.

Of importance, branding for law firms helps the firm send an unwavering message out there in the public eye as well as within the business firm. It also keeps price battles at bay and keeps marketing costs down. Above all, it will inevitably end up in more net earnings and new clients for the law firm.

Ease and confidence

Also, a well known law firm provides care, comfort and trust for the clients. Research has shown that people will pay more, absolutely without question, for a name brand than for a lesser known item or place.That means customers can save time by going to their own trusted firm.

Free Las Vegas Marketing Resources

Friday, February 26th, 2010

It’s always great to find valuable marketing resources online and when we find them, we publish them for our Las Vegas blog visitors so that they can benefit from the online resources as well.

Here are some great websites to visit that can help market your Las Vegas company:

Advertising Possibilities For Las Vegas Small Business

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Most of the time, the biggest hurdle that most, if not all, small businesses, especially in Las Vegas, have is a limited marketing and advertising budget. Having a small business budget makes it difficult for your Las Vegas business to have the most glamorous marketing and advertising campaign. Advertising can be pretty expensive, especially when you have so many other things that can eat up your budget.

With a limited budget in mind, you should consider some less expensive and cost-effective forms of advertising your business including:

Website

Even with a small budget, you can get a small simple website up fairly inexpensively. Good news about a website is it can advertise your Las Vegas business 24/7.

Flyers

Create a simple flyer (you can do this yourself in Word) that you can hand to potential clients, as leave behinds in other businesses. Include an incentive or special offer to get better results. You can print a simple flyer on your own printer or have it printed in bulk at a copy center fairly cheaply.

Google AdWords

Advertise on google and come up on the first page as a “Sponsored Listing” and help deliver website traffic and leads for your business. Most times, you can find relatively cheap keywords to bid on and you can set your own monthly budget.

Sponsor Community Events

Donate services and/or time to local Las Vegas community events and be recognized as a supporter of your community. Often times you’ll receive a way to promote your business through a free ad, a press release or PR event. This can help give you an edge over your competitors as well!

Hang in There!

The key is not get frustrated because you only have a small budget to work with. Small businesses are often very imaginative, especially when it comes to stretching their money and making sure that each dime is put to good use.