A Surefire Way to Drive Visitors to Your Website

Do you know the fastest way to get on page one of the search engines and drive hundreds (possibly thousands) of qualified visitors to your website? The answer: submit a high quality, keyword-rich online press release.
While traditional public relations is still an important and relevant strategy for your company, creating an online press release can be a good way to get immediate exposure and traffic to your website. Additionally, the best press releases will offer you the possibility to be quoted or have your company’s name mentioned on many other websites as well as create dozens of backlinks (links from other websites to your website which help with search engine optimization).
Here are five tips to keep in mind when developing your small business's online press release campaigns:
1. Plug into a current conversation
People are actively searching the Internet for solutions to their problems (i.e.: how do I get more traffic to my website?) or to research a particular topic or product (i.e.: is direct mail still effective?).
One of the best ways for your website to be found online is to create a timely press release around that topic. For example, using the once trending topic on presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s sweater vest, we created a press release entitled: “Rick Santorum’s Sweater Vest Contains a Million Dollar Lesson for Entrepreneurs.”
The release was distributed using an online press release distribution service, and was read by thousands of people, shared on social media, picked up by bloggers, posted throughout several media channels around the world and instantly drove hundreds more targeted visitors to our website.
2. Do not overtly promote yourself
Media is a tool to share newsworthy information that educates, informs and entertains the public. Advertising is for promotions. It’s important not to confuse the two.
If you want your press releases to be widely distributed and liked by the press, do not overtly promote your products or services. Instead, offer timely information that is relevant to your readers. Your commentary will position you as a thought leader and an expert in your field. The result will be that prospects will visit your website to find out more about your company and its offerings.
Press releases give you the opportunity to add a quick “About” section at the footer of your release. This is your opportunity to tell the reader about you, your company and how to get more information.
3. Optimize your releases for search engines
Once submitted, press releases are instantly distributed to the search engines; however, if your press release isn’t optimized, it doesn’t matter how good the content is, nobody is going to find it.
Be sure to use a keyword rich headline. In the example above, the headline for the article “Rick Santorum’s Sweater Vest Contains a Million Dollar Lesson for Entrepreneurs” helped the press release to rank well for the trending search query “Rick Santorum’s Sweater Vest.” Have a solid headline and tastefully incorporate your keywords inside of the release as well.
Using a keyword tool such as Google Trends will help you identify what topics are trending.
4. Be credible
The best press releases include a quote from you or the public face of your company (usually in the second paragraph, the first paragraph details why the press release is newsworthy). It also makes relevant use of statistics, survey results and applicable studies to establish additional credibility and enhance your position as an authority.
It’s important to note that online and offline press releases have different purposes and produce different results. Online press releases are designed to rank high in the search engines with the intent of directing readers to your website. Offline press releases are distributed directly to media outlets with the purpose of getting a phone, radio or television interview for a larger (possibly featured) story about you or your company. Credibility is key for either approach.
5. Stay in front of the media
The more frequent and consistent your press releases, the more the media will recognize your name and begin to pay attention to your message. Submitting a press release with an ideal goal of once per week (or a minimum of once per month) is a good general guideline.
Once you submit a press release, contrary to what you might read elsewhere, you do not want to follow up with reporters unless you already have a pre-existing relationship with them. Reporters are busy people and can receive upwards of hundreds of press releases in a single day and phone calls are often seen as a disturbance than a welcomed gesture.
There are many online distribution services to consider when submitting your release. The most popular fee-based distribution services are PR Newswire, PR Web and BusinessWire. They will offer you the widest distribution to thousands of journalists and will increase your chances of additional distribution through national online and offline media. Other free services include i-Newswire, PR Log, and 24-7 Press Release.
Remember, reporters are always looking for stories that are interesting and engaging to the public. If you help the media by creating good content for their readers, they will help you obtain additional exposure. It’s a win/win for everyone.

12:23 by Robert dawne · 1

The 3 Biggest Blunders When Closing a Sale

If you’ve ever interviewed for a job, you’ve likely been stumped when the hiring manager asked you, “What salary are you looking for?” Remember that feeling of dread—not wanting to answer too high and lose the opportunity, too low and undersell yourself or not at all and risk alienating your interviewer. Now, think about the sales prospects you’ve talked with lately. When you’re early in the process of qualifying sales leads, one surefire way to put them off is to sound like a hiring manager by asking them, “What is your budget for this project?”
Don’t fall into the trap of asking “the budget question.” From our 23 years of experience working clients, we’ve seen the three biggest blunders that sales people make when trying to close a sale all revolve around “the budget question.” These are:
1. Asking about budget too soon
Believe it or not, many sales people ask about budgets upfront, during lead generation, so they can tailor their offering around how much money the client tells you they’d like to spend. Makes sense, right? Wrong. If you ask about the budget too soon into the process of qualifying sales leads, you risk getting incomplete or no information from the prospect, and thus any rapport you may have established is about to disintegrate. It’s the equivalent of meeting someone at a party and then immediately saying, "Hi, Jeff, nice to meet you. I'm Bob. So, what's your net worth?" It can be perceived as rude and invasive in a personal context, and this may actually carry over to the business environment as well. So when is the right time to ask about budget? Read on. The answer might surprise you.
2. Asking about budget too directly
Generally speaking, it’s never wise to ask outright, "Do you have a budget for this project?” or “What is your budget?” Sure, these are the questions you want answered. But if you’re too blunt or too eager to get budget information from your sales leads, you run the risk of shutting down the sales process before you’ve had time to talk and get to know the client’s needs. Although we all want to win the client’s business, there are smarter ways to get there. For example, you could ask, “What are some recent initiatives you’ve done in this area?” This shows that you’re interested in the broader problems facing the client’s business, and you can get a sense for how much they might have spent on other similar solutions. You could also say, “Where does this situation stand on your priority list?” This gives you insights into the client’s level of urgency and eagerness to make a buying decision.
3. Asking about budget. Period.
Getting at the budget in a sale is an art form. Most sales leads don’t come right out and tell you their preferred budget; instead, it requires finesse to hone in on the client’s needs and clarify expectations of what solutions to deliver, and at what price. The real trick is getting the prospect to give you the budget information you're looking for without having to explicitly ask for it. How? Start by leading off with questions that show you're concerned with the client’s best interests. Then show them that you’ve been listening, and demonstrate how you can help solve their problems. Finally, provide a basic cost-benefit scenario and leave it to them to tell you if they can afford it. If you’re doing your job right, you won't even have to ask if they "have enough money."
So now that we’ve discussed the blunders, what is the “right” way to talk about budgets when qualifying business leads?
Remember that you are selling a solution—an “investment” that will benefit the client’s business. Don’t talk about what the client has to pay, talk about what they’re going to get in the context of ROI. Show them that they can’t afford not to pursue your solution since it will likely deliver a positive return for their business. That is, assuming you believe your product or service will genuinely provide this. Here are some examples of how to do it:
Cost-driven conversation
“We have a solution that’s going to cost you $X,000, but if you can afford to go higher on the budget, we also give you additional features for $X,000 more.”
With this conversation, the prospect is prompted to think, first and foremost, about what they will pay instead of what they will gain. A cost-driven conversation reminds the client of what they’ll be giving up, before they think of how they will benefit.
ROI-driven conversation
"Our solution can help you reduce your payroll by X percent and also give you more capacity and faster processing. This means that you can save (X amount) during the next 12 months. The cost of our solution is Y. So would a return on your investment of Z be a good fit for you? If so, then we might have just the solution you're looking for.”
You’ll always be on the right path to profits when the conversation is about the impact your product or service will have on day-to-day business operations or long-term growth.

09:10 by Robert dawne · 0