We all know that the more people you stay in front of, the better your chance for conversion is, which of course ultimately leads to more profits, so effective, thorough keyword research has a direct impact on your bottom line. 

Here are four good suggestions of where you’ll find what I think are some of the best trainings and other information on generating keywords for your business:

Market Samurai

Market Samurai is the tool that we use to do our keyword research.  It’s not free, but their training is!  You can find their training videos on their YouTube Channel at:  http://www.YouTube.com/samuraikeywordtool.

Zeke Camusio

I discovered Zeke a few years ago, and I like to learn from him because he stays current on what’s happening with Google Search and other internet issues.  You can find a lot of free training from Zeke on Vimeo at:  http://vimeo.com/search?q=zeke+camusio.  I highly recommend him as an expert in his field.

Competitors’ Websites

Visit your competitors’ websites and take note of the keywords they are using, especially the ones that rank at the top of the search engines.

Finding their keywords is easy to do. Simply go to your competitor’s website and right click around the outside margins on the site.  Be sure not to click on text or an image.  Select “Page Source”.  This will bring up the code in the site, and by doing a “Control F” or “Command F” on a Mac, you can search for the word “keywords”, and you’ll see the keywords listed.

Google Adwords Tool

You’ll need a Google Account for this, but it’s free and I highly recommend you learn to use the Adwords Tool to refine your keyword choices.

You can find Google Adwords at http://www.adwords.Google.com

By using the Google Adwords Tool, you’ll not only get good keyword ideas, you’ll also learn which keywords are the most searched in your category.

Once you have a list of the best possible keywords for your business, simply place them strategically within your website’s content and in the keyword area within your website’s code.  If you don’t know how to do this, contact your webmaster.

You’ll want to avoid what we call “keyword stuffing”, which is filling a whole listing with too many keywords.  Instead, use 3 or 4 keywords on each page, and don’t forget to include them in the the page description (again, contact your webmaster if you don’t know how to do this).

One last piece of advice.  Use keywords to name the files you use in your website (i.e., images and videos).  For example, when naming an image, instead of naming it “image01.jpg”, name it “NewYorkSteakHouse.jpg” or “BestPastaInChicago.jpg”.

Thorough keyword research and proper use is a MUST DO in this very competitive business.  And please follow  my suggestions — every little bit helps!

What you want to do is promote Check-In tools and apps, such as FourSquare and Yelp, inside your business.  And how it works is this:

• customer is inside your establishment
• customer checks in
• all of customers’ social media connections receive a message (usually via a post on Facebook or Twitter) telling them that this customer is inside YOUR establishment, mentioning the name and location of your establishment as well

It’s great exposure for your business especially if there are lots of people checking-in, and it ties into ‘good social proof’ (i.e., wow, if Mary likes that place, then I should try it too!).

The video below is directed toward a restaurant business, but the concept’s pretty universal, so it should work for your business, too.  Check it out and let me know what you think!

Achieving positive results from marketing activities starts with having a keyword-rich domain name for your business’s website. Using a unique and catchy name may seem to be a terrific idea for recall purposes, but you always have to consider its searchability on the net. If people can’t find it, then it does not make sense to use it at all.

Let’s take for example these two domain names:

JoesRestaurant.com vs. BestSteakDinnerinSanFrancisco.com

The first one will most likely be the primary choice since it is the usual name format most businesses use. This might work if Joe’s Restaurant is already a household name, but otherwise, it is not the best choice. If you were a client looking for a steak dinner in San Francisco, what terms would you likely be putting into a search box? In all likelihood, it would be the very terms that are in the second domain name.

When creating a domain name, always put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Think of the keywords that they will be using and which ones are applicable to your products or services. Be as specific as you can. Combine your product and/or your service, a good adjective and a location, if applicable. Good examples are:

FamilyFriendly + Restaurant + DesMoines = FamilyFriendlyRestaurantDesMoines.com
Or
Best + Cleaning Services + Miami = BestCleaningServicesMiami.com

Strategic domain names are important to the success of your business’s website. Remember to consider how your target customers will search for your products and services online. The easier you make your business visible to them, the bigger the chances are of increasing traffic to your website and therefore, increasing your sales and profit.

You’ve got to have an offer that is almost impossible for your prospects to resist.

This “Marketing 101” technique is illustrated quite nicely in the following video, where I show restaurant owners how to create offers that have high perceived value, which will capture and hold the interest of their customers.

It’s important to note that price is not the most important factor when your customers are looking for a service that suits their needs. For example, for a restaurant, delivery service may have a higher perceived value to its customers than a $10 discount, mainly because of the time it saves and the convenience it gives.

Creating a strong, magnetic offer may be an obvious marketing technique for your business, but believe it or not, many, if not most, businesses still do it incorrectly. How about you?

Did you know your competition can be easily crushed when you compete on value?  And it’s easy to do!

Simply position your product or service so that it’s perceived as being more valuable than the cost, and more valuable than your competition.  Here’s how:

Identify what your ideal client wants, and then market directly to that want.  In other words, when you market or talk about your business, focus on the benefits that meet your ideal clients’ DESIRES (more so than needs).  These are what we call “hot buttons”.

For example, if a major hot button for your client is peace of mind, market to their peace of mind.  Quite simply, you want to say in your marketing “We give you peace of mind.”  If you know their hot button is about saving time, market to that.  Use a line like “We save you time.”

These are very simple examples, I know, but you get the idea.

The days of selling based on features are long gone!  Prospects don’t want to hear about how good you or your products are.  Everybody says they
have good products.  Prospects want to know how your products or services will help them — Will your products save them time?  Will your service give them peace of mind?

Now go take a look at your marketing materials and see what little tweaks you can make to enhance the messaging to make it more appealing to your prospects.

- Find You,
- Appreciate You,
- Trust and Respect You, and then,
- BUY from you again and again?

The key is to build lasting relationships with your prospects, and existing clients as well! Blogging is just one way to accomplish this.

Prospect Can Find You When You Give Them Something Worth Finding!

Here’s a great example of how to do so effectively:

On January 1, Tony Robbins blogged about New Year Resolutions. Aside from the fact that he’s “Tony Robbins”, think about how many new followers he added to his database who weren’t looking for him, but found him, simply because they searched on New Years Resolutions. Hundreds? Thousands?

When you decide to take the plunge and create your own blog, keep this in mind as you create the titles to your blog posts, or any other pieces of marketing and media you put out on the internet. People won’t need to know your name if they can find you by searching on words that you strategically include your title.

Then, give your readers interesting and helpful material to read or watch or listen to. That will have them wanting more from you, and they’ll either subscribe to your blog when they find you, or follow you on Twitter, or friend you on Facebook, or, well, you get the idea.

Here’s the moral of the story: Title your media well, and your prospects will find you. Give them your best and most helpful information for free, and they’ll appreciate you and come back for more.

It’s been proven over and over again by the real ‘masters’ of internet marketing, like Eben Pagan, Frank Kern, Mike Koenigs, Tony Robbins and Susan Merlo (just making sure you’re paying attention!)

Here’s to your Marketing Success!

You Want People to Remember You

BUT, you want them to remember that your business exists so when they do need what your selling, they think of you.

So how do you get your business to be ‘Top of Mind’ – to be the first one your prospects think of when they need the product or service you deliver?

Getting your prospects to remember you and/or your business is the key to marketing successfully, and the best way to do that is by sharing your story.

We all have a story – something that makes us unique.  Your story is not about what makes you better than your competitors, it’s more about what makes you different.

In your marketing, when you share your story with people, you’re humanizing yourself and your business.  You’re planting a little extra information in their minds about you, and you’re connecting with them on a much different level than you could with a sign or a newpaper ad.

Today, the internet makes it easier than ever to connect with people and let them get to know you and your story.  Use your website, your facebook page, pictures and especially video to do this.

The internet levels the playing field when it comes to marketing.  It’s low cost, easy to do, and full of great ideas and new ways every day to put your message in front of people.

You Need to Go Where Your Ideal Clients Are Spending Time

Remember, the internet is where the majority of your customers spend most of their time.  Here is where people are learning about you and your business.  With the right marketing, they begin to know you, like you, and eventually, they even trust you before they meet you.

Once you have that virtual relationship with your prospective customers on line, you’ll be the first one they think of when they need the product or service you offer.

That’s why you need a short, 10 second elevator pitch.  You want to be able to quickly say something that compels your ideal prospects to identify themselves, and then collect their contact information and meet with them at a later time to begin your sales process.

Never be "Salesy" at a Networking Event

By the way, never, ever try to sell to anyone at a networking event.  That is another huge mistake most business owners make.  They go to a networking event and begin to chit-chat, and every once in a while they make contact with a hot prospect.  They immediately gather them off to the side somewhere, and begin selling to them.

In a majority of cases, they usually get the sale.  However, by the time they close the prospect, the networking event has ended, and they only have one sale to show for their time.

When you follow my process, you will say your 10-second elevator pitch to one hundred prospects within an hour, identify and schedule to meet with the fifteen prospects who indicated a true interest in what you sell, and then follow up with them the next week and close twelve of them.

Which result do you prefer?  Close one sale at the event or twelve sales over several days?

That’s why you must create a 10 second elevator pitch.

Keep in mind that often, even unqualified prospects KNOW qualified prospects they may refer to you, all because you spoke the right words in the right order to create an emotional buying situation.

Always ask yourself “What is the end result you want to see take place at the conclusion of whatever it is your doing?”
For instance, when you attend a networking event, you’re going to generate as many leads as you can.  That is your end result or your sole purpose for attending.

"You want qualified leads — as many as you can get"

You shouldn’t be there to chit-chat or to make small talk, which is what the majority of business owners do at networking events.  You want qualified leads — as many as you can get.  You should then follow up with them at a later time and close them into paying clients.

If you’ve been following my blog, you have a huge advantage over every other business owner attending that event.  You know your ideal client, and you can begin the sorting process right away!

You know specifically who your ideal client is, and what they want.  You have a specific market that you’ve positioned yourself to serve, and you have created innovations that have added extraordinary value to your business.

All you need to do now is walk up to everyone in that room that you think will fit your ideal client profile and convey a laser-targeted message to that prospect that, IF they ARE your ideal client, will hit their hot button issues in such a way that they will immediately want to know more about what you sell.