CopyDragon Mobile Site now online!
The CopyDragon mobile site is now online.
When surfing with your mobile phone, just go to CopyDragon.com as usual. Our website will immediately know that you’re using a mobile device, and route you to an optimized website that’s easier to navigate on the phone.
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Note to google (only): the CopyDragon webwriter’s mobile site is located at http://copydragon.com/mob/
Does Your Local Business Need a Website?
[Article By Roy H. Williams , September 19, 2005, reprinted with permission from Entrepreneur.com]
If you want to attract customers, the answer’s a no-brainer.
Websites are perhaps the most overlooked vehicle of advertising for local, owner-operated businesses. Yes, every retailer needs one. Every dentist, lawyer, accountant and minister needs one. Every café, restaurant, coffee shop and nightclub needs one. Every wholesale supply company needs one.
I’m not suggesting that all these businesses need to actually transact business online. I’m only saying that everyone listed in yesterday’s Yellow Pages needs to also be available on the internet today–it’s where your customers expect to find you.
If you’re thinking you might not be able to afford putting up a website, think again. For a simple website, a budget of $2,000 to $5,000 for construction and $100 to $400 for monthly maintenance and updates should cover it. Robust sites with streaming video, opt-in subscriber functions and other, more complicated features can run between $12,000 and $20,000 for construction and $500 to $2,000 for monthly maintenance and updates.
How a Website Helps a Local Business
Properly constructed, a website allows your prospects to gather the information they need from the privacy of their own computer monitors. What are the questions your salespeople answer virtually every day? And how, exactly, would your best salesperson phrase those answers on his or her best day? This is the information that needs to be available 24/7 on your site.
Think of your site as a relationship deepener, a half step between your advertising and your front door. Do you suppose it’s easier to convince customers to visit your web site or to convince them to get in their car, drive to your store, park that car and walk in your door?
The internet is heaven on earth for the 49 percent of our population who are introverted. That’s because introverts strongly prefer to gather information anonymously. They’re unlikely to dial your phone number, except as a last resort. Even more unlikely is that they’ll choose to walk into your store and engage a salesperson. Introverts aren’t necessarily shy–they simply like to gather all the facts before they put themselves in a position where they’ll likely be asked to answer questions. Forty-nine percent of your customers strongly prefer to know what they’re coming to buy before they walk in your door. And even the extroverted 51 percent of your target market will appreciate an informative site that functions as an expert salesperson during all those hours you’re not open for business.
Don’t think for a moment that your customers aren’t already online. Several times a month, I speak to groups of at least several hundred people. And I always ask, “How many of you have used a search engine within the past seven days to research a product or service that you were considering purchasing?” I raise my own hand as soon as the question is finished. The hands raised in response have never been less than 85 to 90 percent of the crowd.
The most interesting of these situations happened about a year ago in Las Vegas. I was the keynote speaker for a trade organization whose 1,600 delegates had been gathered from around the world. I was there to deliver a speech on the keys to more effective advertising. The trade organization published a full-color magazine for their members, and prior to this conference, the executive council had been complaining to me privately about the high cost of publishing and shipping that magazine. I was waiting offstage while the emcee introduced me when the chairman leaned over and whispered, “Almost all our membership is over 55 years of age, so you probably don’t want to mention the internet.” Just then, the emcee finished his jabber and barked, “Roy H. Williams!” I opened my mouth and asked this roomful of oldsters, “How many of you have used a search engine within the past seven days to research a product or service that you were considering purchasing?” You guessed it, about 95 percent.
I think maybe that chairman is still standing offstage with his mouth open.
Roy William’s is Entrepreneur.com’s “Advertising” columnist and the founder and president of international ad agency Wizard of Ads. Roy is also the author of numerous books on improving your advertising efforts, includingThe Wizard of Ads and Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads.
Do Americans Shop Online?
Do Americans shop online?
Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope visit in the woods?
Of course they do!
They learn from search results, user reviews, ratings, text ads, image ads, news headlines, forums, videos and even good old-fashioned official brand websites.
It’s All about the “Conversation”
They learn and decide in what Google now calls “the Zero Moment of Truth,” that moment when a potential customer is first exposed to marketing and research information about the products and services that *you* want to sell.
One way to dominate this moment (or the conversation) is to take as many places as you can on the front page of Google, Bing and Yahoo, because a single listing usually doesn’t cut it. and certainly just having your business name high on Google is often valueless, because all too often NONE of your non-customers go searching for your business name, because they’ve never heard of you.
What Works?
Something approaching total domination would work pretty good.
That is to say, getting your “natural” listing on Google, video, Google Places, reviews, social media and directory listings all over the place. That is, an ongoing ‘conversation’ going on about your product or service and you control it.
Whoever is getting ‘talked’ about the most (positively) usually sells the most!
That’s why Amazon outsells Borders, and Borders outsells Henry’s bookstore in Des Moines.
- Did you know that 70% of Americans now report they regularly examine online product reviews before making a purchase? (And, about your business, how are your online reviews? Uh, do you have any online reviews? Think it might be a good idea to get some?)
- Did you know that 79% of consumers report they use a Smartphone to help with shopping? (Is your website optimized to display differently for a Smartphone visitor, so they can get around and actually read what you have to say?)
- Did you know that, last year, for the first time, the number of cell phones in the world became greater than the number of computers in the world? (So what does that say about how your buyers will pre-research this year and next year? Would you like to be a part of it?)
Did you know that 83% of mothers reveal that they see television commercials and then they research online for things that interest them? (So here’s the bottom line: Are you on page one of the major search engines?)
Want to OWN The Conversation?
The fact is, for any business — local business, nationwide business, online business — the most powerful way to get more customers and increase your income is by simply “owning the conversation” in your area.
Want to?
Call me for a free 15-minute Discovery Session to see how CopyDragon webwriters might be able to help you to conquer the world.
A Great “Zero Moment” Video …
Jim Lecinski is the managing director for Google’s U.S. Sales and Service.
Check out his persuasive video about the “Zero Moment of Truth,” here –
Now, quite possibly you may wonder how this might affect your business. Or maybe you’re stumped about what you can do as a practical matter to take advantage of this idea. After all your business is your business. You’re not in the marketing online business.
Two Ways I Can Help
- Get my new book, “Marketing Online, Clear and Simple, for Local Business.” It’s already on Amazon as a Kindle Edition, and Barnes & Noble as a Nook e-reader book. It will appear as a print title on Amazon soon, and you can get it online as a pdf at my “book site” at http://marketingonlineclearandsimple.com. With the book come a complete series of detailed “how-to” videos which will lead you through the essential steps, click by click.
.. - Call me for a free 15-minute Discovery Session, to see whether CopyDragon Webwriters might be able to provide a complete “done for you” service. You see, my business *is* online marketing. My musical instruments sell around the world, through internet marketing, for example, and I’ve helped dozens of clients to get on the cyberspace fast track.
Those Rascally Customers of Yours
When someone hears about your product or your service, as you darn well know, often their very first reaction is ‘Let me search online for it’. Fact.
It’s simply the way people live and learn and make buying decisions today. They use review sites, read online copy, hear referrals from Facebook friends, and more. It’s what they do at home, in the office, and on their cell phones too.
Lots of times they want to see a video. Seeing is believing. So it behooves you to *be seen.*
Don’t know how? Nope?
No problem. I know how.
Get the Book, or Call me …
Get the book here:
http://amazon.com, and simply search for “Arthur Cronos” (my name)
http://bn.com, and simply search for “Arthur Cronos” (my name)
http://marketingonlineclearandsimple.com
Call me for a free 15-minute Discovery Session here:
(530) 938-1100 (pacific time zone)
See you online!
The “Zero Moment of Truth”?
Marketing, and selling things, changes over the years. These days it changes quickly.
In many cases, the deal is … your business either adapts … or dies. I’ve had a couple of businesses die, where I failed to find a way to adapt to the changing market. I’ve felt the pain, first hand.
The search behemoth, Google, has published an interesting view about marketing. I’d never heard of this before. It’s called the “Zero Moment of Truth.” This idea came from Proctor & Gamble, the soap barons, who know a thing or two about marketing. They apparently came up with this idea in 2005.
Here’s what the “Zero Moment of Truth” means … Read more
Weaving Your Spell, like Smoke into Gold ..
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