 I wait in the car for my kids to come out of their theatre class. The heat is blowing full blast and my seat warmers give me a reprieve from the negative temperatures of our harsh Minnesota winter weather. I dare to take off my gloves--only to grab my phone. I check my email and Facebook, and then remember that I have been meaning to sign up my kids for summer swim lessons. I flip to Safari and search. Some websites I find are still desktop versions--I have to pinch and squeeze and zoom in. Others are clearly missing content--I can tell I've landed on a "mobile" site that is a stripped down version of their real website. I sigh. Frustrated, I flip back to Facebook.
This scenario is happening to moms everywhere. They are sitting in carpool lanes, thinking about YOUR services, and they are googling you. First of all, are they finding you? Are you ranking on page 1 when they search for what you do, in your town or city? Secondly, when they land on your website, is it a frustrating experience? Do you have 12 pictures all in a row that they have to scroll through? Can they click on your phone number or email address? Can they easily fill out a form--on their phone--to get more information? As a busy mom of four kids, ages 9 to 16 (and I thought babies were busy! At least they napped. Now I'm constantly in the car, bringing my kids to one activity or another!) my phone is my lifeline. It's how I touch base with friends, order groceries, text my house cleaners, check on my staff, touch base with my husband, track my calendar, keep lists for buying gifts, and where I keep my to do list. I used to settle down on the couch for the evening with my laptop on my lap---but not so much any more. Almost everything I do as a mom is on my mobile phone. When I flip to wearing my "business owner" hat, I can see that 70% of our website traffic for our music school is coming from mobile devices. So I know I'm not the only high-tech mom using my phone on-the-go. Google is taking note. In 2016, studies say that nearly 60% of searches were done on mobile phones. And the number just keeps climbing. More and more people are moving away from desktop computers and moving to tablets and mobile devices for their everyday use and for searching. Because of this shift, Google is making a major change in 2017. Since the beginning, Google has been searching the desktop versions of websites to get their search engine results. In the past few years, they have also started crawling the mobile versions of sites as well. The new change is that Google is going to start to stop crawling the desktop versions of websites. This change will slowly roll out throughout the year. This is the biggest motivator to get a Responsive theme installed on your website ("responsive" means the layout changes for ANY device, large or small). We recently moved to responsive themes on our business' website and it wasn't too painful. The hardest part was just reading through every page and making sure that nothing was affected by changing the "theme" of the website. Yes, the "look" of our site changed, but it had to. Our site was looking dated and it is now easy to view on phones, iPads, etc. Now here's the trouble. In the last few years, many businesses added a mobile version of their website, but didn't optimize it with the best organic SEO and they didn't include all the same content as the "full version" of their website. This is what Google is trying to make you change. No "full version" and "mobile version" is needed anymore. We need to have one website that is responsive across all sized devices. I'm sure you've noticed the crazy different sizes of phones and tablets that are out there--there is nothing "standard" anymore for phones or devices. We need to be ready for our readers (they are our clients and our prospects!) no matter what device they are using! As Google starts crawling mobile versions, don't let your rankings drop because you don't have your full content on your mobile site. Check the following: 1. Do you have good organic SEO on your mobile version? 2. Is all the content the same on your mobile version as your desktop version? 3. Better yet--are you ready to change your website to a "responsive" theme so you don't have two versions but, rather, one website that is optimized for ALL devices? If you're ready to make these changes on your website, so you don't have frustrated moms leaving your site without contacting you, just email us. Let's talk. 2017 is going to be an exciting year of growth! Don't get left behind.
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 Social Media has changed the way we all do business! It's astounding that we can show up in the living rooms of our ideal clients and connect with them right on their phone or laptop!
You can choose to be frustrated that marketing is always evolving and changing or you can be grateful for the amazing opportunity to leverage what is new and right in front of us! If you haven't cracked the code on making Facebook Ads work for you, you need to purchase my training! I'll walk you step by step through making Facebook ads work for your brick and mortar business. (Hint: it's very different from how online businesses use it.) Before you purchase my training, here are a few things you need to know! Have a Business Page You need a personal profile, of course, to navigate Facebook. But you must also have a Business Page. It's very simple to start a page if you haven't. (Just Google it.) Make sure your header photo is fun and engaging (build a collage here: www.picmonkey.com). For your profile picture, use faces, NOT your logo. Use Facebook ads during your peak response times Spend your money on Facebook marketing at your peak response times. Once you're getting good responses, then you can experiment during your "off" season. But when you first get started, make sure your clients are actually thinking about your product and what you are selling. Be Social Facebook is NOT a place to be "professional." It's for connection. You're going to have to deliberately change your "voice" on Facebook and make sure you are connecting with your audience in a fun, light, social way. Drop the formality. Be casual, just like you would when you're talking to a close friend! Trust me--you'll attract more business. Fill out your About Section Make sure all your contact info is current and filled out on your business Page. Fill out all the sections so people can find you! Change the "button" to say "Contact Us" and link up your website so people will be guided from Facebook to your website. Do FB Live! Video is king right now on Facebook. (Facebook is trying to rival YouTube for videos.) The BEST engagement you can get on Facebook is through Facebook Live. Yes, it can be intimidating to "Go Live" but just jump in and try it! Be fun and interesting and show people "behind the scenes" of what your company does. Get Training on Facebook Ads If you're thinking, "Facebook just doesn't work for me" you're wrong. You just haven't cracked the code yet! Contact me and request my Facebook training for brick and mortar, local business. People are reporting wonderful results. I'd love to help! By the way, Facebook is one of my top referral sources for my school of music! We got 93 new students just from Facebook last year. Does Facebook work for advertising? Oh yes, it does.  It's a simple fact: people want connection. They want to know a real, living, human being cares about them. This is such an easy, simple thing to implement into business or ministry, and yet most of us are missing the mark.
Through connection, you can grow your business with 3 simple systems: using your website, email, and Facebook. (Chances are, you’re already using these 3 things! Whoo hoo!) Benefits The #1 mistake that 90% of websites make is not capturing the reader’s attention with BENEFITS for the reader on the home page. Why should people choose your business? What sets you apart from other businesses just like yours? Home page rules The average visit on a website is 1 minute! To make matters worse, between 21-79% of your readers only look at the first page they land on. They won’t even attempt to click through your other pages. You have only seconds to grab the attention of your reader and give them the answers that they are seeking. Are they looking for pricing? Contact info? Directions? Information? Do you have the answers to THOSE questions on your front page? Smart Text If you have sentences like: “Thanks for stopping by our website. We hope you will browse around. Let us know if you don’t find what you are looking for” then you are WASTING an opportunity to connect with your audience! You need to GRAB your reader’s attention with a headline (or a question) that they are already asking. Responsive Theme If you have a very beautiful "cool" website without the pertinent information, you will frustrate your reader. If your website is not on a responsive theme, they may not be able to see anythingbecause your site originally designed for a desktop computer. It’s hard to keep up with all the changing trends! If you haven’t updated your site in the last year or two, it's time for a redesign. The right Pictures Make sure you have pictures on the home page of your site! Your site should reflect your audience, so pick pictures that look like real people (not like fake models or stiff stock photos). Portray the clients you are trying to attract! The best thing you can do is take real pictures of your real clients! Answer the questions they are asking Make sure you have text on your home page. Answer your audience’s questions quickly and swiftly, and let them know why they should choose YOU. SEO Friendly Search engines love text (and can't "read" images with words on them) so this will help when users are searching for what you do. Call to Action The very last item on your home page should be a Call to Action. Do you want them to call? Stop by? Request more information? Make it clear. People are in a hurry and want to be told exactly what to do! Next week we'll talk about email and Facebook! |
About the AuthorHi, I'm Jen Hickle! Archives
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