Websites are one of today’s main avenues for online promotion. Websites can be used to spread information, sell items, or promote services, as well as share a cause that one cares dearly about. Whenever you decide to create a website, you will initially be presented with two general choices – a custom website or a template website. If you are unsure, knowing more about the benefits of custom and template website should help you in arriving at a decision.

Custom Websites

• Unique Design That Will Match Your Branding

This is one thing that makes custom websites special – unique design. With a custom website, you will be able to freely employ your overall theme even up to your website. Moreover, your website will not have a look-a-like or twin on the internet since it was made especially for you.

• Functionality

If you will have your website custom-designed, you will also be able to inject certain functions that will be most useful to you and your clients. With template websites, either you will settle for the already-existing functions on the site or you will hire a web developer to have your function injected. If you will be doing the latter, you might as well as the same person to create a custom website for you instead of using the template site.

Template Websites

• Saves You More Money

Unlike custom websites, template websites will save you more money in terms of website development. You can ask website designers to build a website using a theme. This way, their web design fee is a lot lower compared to asking them to create a custom site for you from scratch.

• Preset Functions

If you do not have any idea on what functions you should place on your website, template websites got you covered. These websites already have preset functions, usually many essential ones, but also often various advanced functions. So, this allows your website designer to save you much money, as well as expand your website as needed in the future, since your needs are likely to change over time.

Using a custom or template website essentially depends on your budget and your needs. If you have some cash to spare, you will do well in having a custom website as this may appear more professional compared to template ones. Most importantly, WHO builds your website matters much more than HOW they build it. A great designer using a theme-based website will be able to create a much more professional, aesthetically-pleasing, and reliable website than someone who builds custom websites, but is not a great designer.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is simply marketing with the use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the likes. Social media sites are common online places where people from all over the world gather. Originally, these sites were created for easier communication for people who are far from each other. But with time, social media can now also be used to disseminate information such as news, updates, and others. They can also be utilized as business or fan pages so that people with the same interest can easily gather and talk about what they like.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing

• Saves You Money

Social media marketing is relatively cheaper compared to offline marketing and other marketing means. You can easily create an account on the major social media sites and you will not be charged anything for that. You can then upload pictures of your products or services, post updates and news, and do promotions.

• High Traffic Avenue

Since social media sites are high traffic places online, you will be exposing your business to more people. This means you will be basically spending less, yet your reach is expanded to a lot of people. Many people stay for hours on their social media account so your potential clients are far greater compared to those from print ads and other types of advertisements.

• Specialized Marketing and Business Features

Since these social media sites are already being used for marketing and business purposes, social media sites like Facebook have done some tweaking so as to accommodate businesses. Their Facebook fan pages have business versions and they have also allowed related business ads to appear on the side area and timeline of users – this is for a fee, of course. Nevertheless, the fee is relatively cheaper compared to other advertising fees. Moreover, their algorithm for such is also specialized since only related business ads appear. This means that only the targeted market will see the ads.

To Conclude

Social media marketing is one of the easiest as well as the most inexpensive means to market or advertise yourself, your products, your services, or a certain place. You must make use of them so you can take advantage of all the features and perks that it can bring to your business.

Your Business Needs a Website

In light of this, the answer is a resounding, “Yes!” Your business needs a website. Your business website is going to be your way in developing your business’ online presence. This will also serve as a great marketing tool, which is not very costly, compared to the traditional means. Here are other benefits that you can get for having a website for your business.

• Online Representation of Your Business

The real world is not the only place where your business should be represented. It must also build its presence online since the online world is becoming a huge avenue where people meet, chat, socialize, communicate, and gather. Therefore, it is only practical for your business to be represented online and you can do this by having a website.

• 24/7 Advertisement and Cheaper Marketing Tool

If your business has its own website, you will be able to have a cheaper marketing tool as well as 24/7 advertisement. Unlike in the real world, your advertisement will sleep if the people in the area sleep. It will be gone if the newspaper or magazine where you placed your ad in is replaced by a newer copy or issue. However, with websites, as soon as the site goes live, it will be online for as long as you like. It will be searched by many people all over the world – even if you are already asleep.

• Better Client Reach and Easier Means of Gathering Potential Clients

If you only have a brick and mortar business and no website, your client reach will be limited to the people who live around the area, at most those who live in your province, state, or country. However, if you have a website, your client base will expand to the whole world. With a little SEO and online advertising, your client becomes the whole world. In this case, if you have better client reach, you will be able to gather many potential clients.

Sure, some of the visitors on your website may not be the market that you are aiming for, but it cannot be denied that this can generate word of mouth marketing as well as the attraction of clients, which may be interested in doing business with you.

Here are some tips on how to grow and electrician business:

1. Have a solid client database that is often updated.

Having a systematic client database will enable you to have a better understanding of your clients’ needs so you can cater to them perfectly. They may not need your services all the time, but it does not hurt to develop a good professional relationship with the clients. Keeping them abreast with your latest rates, discounts, offers and sending greetings their way during special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries and holidays) will make them remember you more.

2. Offer rewards to motivate repeat customers and referrals.

If you give great services, chances are your clients will want to call you again and tell their friends and family about you. But you don’t need to sit around and wait for that to happen. The next time you have a client, leave a card or flyer and guarantee discounts for repeat services and referrals. You will be amazed at how many clients would want to take advantage of this loyalty perk.

3. Do not be afraid to go online.

Small businesses that are service oriented tend to veer away from creating an online presence because they do not think it is worth it. But really, the trend nowadays is to search the internet rather than the yellow pages so it is wiser to have at least a Facebook page or a website with pertinent information on rates and how to contact you. Bonus information such as safety tips and some electrical basics in a blog also entice customers because you share the knowledge and they begin to trust that you know what you are talking about.

The Widows Oil Ministry serves the needs of single moms and widows in many places and in many areas of their lives.

To share a piece of our impact, we wanted to provide some examples of our work.

Our ministry helped Sandra, a widow near Johnson City, TN, who had recently become a widow and never knew how her husband took care of the septic system on their property.  She contacted many agencies to help her get the system working again so that she could flush her toilet and wash her dishes, but they all turned her down.  She could not meet their expectations for solving her basic, yet essential, need.

Here is what she had to say about our Ministry:

“When I first found The Widows Oil Ministry, my spirits were low to say the least.  I want the world to know about these Angels among us.  Within less than 48 hours, someone was here to fill my well with blessed water.  They also checked my wiring, and now the heater is running like a dream!  Do you know the sound of a flushing toilet is a wondrous and glorious sound from the Heaven above?  We have been smiling ear to ear at my house today.”   ~ Sandra

We helped a single mom, Carla, in York, Pa with her car repair and got it ready for her to pass her inspection the first time.  By giving her the advice and funds she needed, we saved her additional inspection fees, and likely, her job.

Our current project is to obtain this Beauty Salon to accomplish the following:

• Community Service:  Keep the business operating as a beauty salon, a cherished service in our community
• Keeping Jobs:  Keep the jobs of several single moms that enjoy working there
• Creating Jobs:  Hire more staff to increase jobs and community engagement
• A Dream Coming True:  Granting a recent widow, Bonnie, the joy of retiring and seeing the salon she established 40 years ago still serving her customers and being a productive service for the community.  Her salon is also the only handicapped accessible salon within a 20 mile radius.
• Supporting Elderly Neighbors:  Continue giving many elderly women (many of whom live in the assisted living complex across the street) access to the salon that has been their special place for many years.
• Fulfilling Our Mission:  This salon will not only help us fulfill our mission, but it will also help us expand our impact to neighboring communities in the near future.

We all would like your financial support to buy this salon as a symbol of hope in this community and let these ladies know “people all over the world do care for their valuable lives.”

This project will support the ministry to continue fulfilling Our Mission:
The Widows Oil Ministry’s mission is to help single moms and widows achieve their personal life goals. We help people through life transitions, put the pieces of their lives back together when they are down, and live their lives to the fullest.

Please begin now with your financial love and support to these ladies and the Ministry.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!

How to Donate

• Establish Your Online Presence

This is a cheaper means of advertising your small business. Compared to offline marketing and advertising methods, establishing your online presence can help you in gathering more potential clients even while you are asleep. You can also make use of social media sites to promote as well as gather your client base. You can use this avenue to disseminate information about your business as well as collect reviews that can attract new clients to your business.

• Create a Killer Elevator Pitch

You have to take your time in creating the best elevator pitch that you can. You have to grab the attention of your potential clients and keep them engaged so you will be able to sell them your product or service.

• The Power of the Community

In terms of marketing a small business, you do not need to do extravagant marketing efforts just so your business would get known. You can just use the power of the community. You can market your small business doing simple things such as sponsoring a charity or a little league. You can also print some bookmarks and then leave them at your local library. You can also try to focus on your target market and think of creative ways on how you can advertise your business to them – just like the bookmark and library method.

• Collaborate with Other Businesses

You can also collaborate with other businesses, which are non-competitive ones around your area for cross-promotion. This can be done by leaving fliers on each other’s stores, making use of coupons, website linking, or even providing bundled promotions. When you collaborate with other businesses, you will be able to expand your reach and you are also able to expand the other business’ client reach. It is basically an inexpensive win-win solution.

There are tons of great business strategies that you can employ to market your small business. You do not need to spend a lot. You just need to use some tried and tested marketing methods that may possibly work for marketing your business.

SEO is not the most expensive marketing tool out there, but neither is it cheap. This is why those who have never tried SEO often ask “Is SEO worth it?” Alas, the answer is not a simple yes or no.

As many SEO experts would say, it depends on several things such as your business model, niche or industry, your target market and the budget that you are willing to spend. The costing of SEO varies on how much needs to be done and how far you would want to go. To give an example, a mid-sized business would need to invest around $3,000 to $5,000 for a three-month budget for a total SEO service to rank high on the first page of Google. That is not a small sum, but it does get the job done.

Of course, some would say that SEO does not necessarily need to be outsourced and it can be done by a trained personnel within your own company. Sure, that can be done, but how many hours of work would it take for that personnel to get you to the top ranks of page results? It is probably not going to happen within a month. And training a staff for SEO alone is not necessarily the wisest use of your resources. You will have to pay another expert to truly train your personnel since YouTube tutorials and online walk-throughs will not be enough to truly succeed with SEO. At the end of the day, it is still more time and cost efficient to outsource the SEO project and pay someone else to do everything for you. And chances are, SEO services can be custom fitted to suit your needs.

Is SEO worth it?

If you want to bring your brand to the internet limelight then yes, SEO is worth it only if, you get a supplier, such as Local Monster that can specifically cater to your needs such as:

• Producing high volume of high quality content
• Make use of SEO keywords as well as hidden key phrases and LSI
• Provide analysis and trend reports based on the flow of traffic
• Provide possible link backs to websites
• Generate and spread content on social media as well
• Setup and be active on blogging sites, new release sites, online business directories, and social bookmarking sites

Local Monster is an inbound marketing firm that specializes in helping businesses generate more online leads and sales. With free consultations and research, Local Monster ensures that every business receives a strong ROI from their online marketing efforts.

If you don’t really care about getting your presence online, don’t mind being edged out of the competition in a world that is quickly going digital, already have a stellar cult following in the non-internet world, or just want to take your sweet with tiny little business baby steps then you can forgo SEO.

However, for those who want to see a better business growth, quicker return on investment, translate more leads to sales, or just make more money with your goods and services, SEO is still worth a try. Even if it is not the largest or most comprehensive package that you get, you will still see results.

You can visit localmonster.net to learn more about an affordable, effective SEO solution with incredible customer service.

Therefore, what that means is the real answer to the question “How much should I spend on marketing?” is “it depends”. Because it does. It depends on several factors such as:

• Size of the Business – this affects how much budget is available for marketing
• Years in Existence of the Company – businesses that have been around for much longer are expected to have established reputations and a certain following already so maybe only the updating to more recent marketing strategies will be needed. On the other hand, new businesses may need to employ several marketing strategies to get desired results
• Target Market – differences in age, generation, gender, and sociocultural backgrounds affect what kind of marketing will be used
• Business Location – some business would need more visibility than others
• Existing Business Plan – marketing should fit the business plan
• Business Goals – the mission, vision and branding are needed for marketing
• Kind of Marketing Strategy to be Employed – various marketing strategies have different costs depending on the effort and time needed to accomplish tasks
• Where You Will Get the Marketing Service From – marketing firms have varied rates and there are some times when your existing marketing team will be enough to implement marketing changes

Spending on marketing is essential as it gives so many benefits. The easiest ones to spot are the increase in revenue and the heightened visibility. Companies old and new all need some form of marketing. With the constant increase in population, the amount of needs, and the cost of living, it is almost impossible to rely on word of mouth alone. Businesses who hope to grow and not be left behind by the competition need to have a more aggressive marketing plan to survive the changing times. These things all cost money from start to finish. As several business experts would say, “You have to spend money to earn money”.

Maybe at the end of the day, the more important question is “How much are you willing to spend on marketing?”

Let us be real here – many people who feel pain think about going to the doctor or grabbing pills right away. Chiropractors do not really come to mind as the top option for healing and wellness, especially for the average, everyday citizen. Therefore, it is understandable that chiropractors make an extra effort to keep their clients happy and constantly need to acquire new ones.

As any business owner would know, marketing is a huge part in making it big in whatever industry and it includes health and wellness companies too. The most successful chiropractors have two basic marketing techniques: in-house and external marketing.

1. In-house marketing – this means taking care of existing client list, ensuring the comfort and satisfaction of every walk in customer and keeping up with the mission, vision and branding of the company. This marketing strategy is geared towards personalization, people relations and making every client feel connected enough to want to come back for years.

• Client appreciation days – giving freebies or discounts once a year for a special list of customers or inviting new customers for discounts of special occasions such as teacher appreciation day, nurse appreciation day, etc.
• Personalized communication – personalized text messages for appointment reminders, birthday greetings via email, personal messages for exclusive client offers
• Well-informed and friendly staff who can answer client questions easily and readily
• Comfortable and clean clinics, with available information on services and the chiropractic methods

2. External marketing – this strategy employs relations with other organizations, tapping communities and making use of media to gain exposure to the target market. In most cases, a third party expert is hired to specifically take care of this process and it goes on continuously.

• Tie-ups with local gyms, weight loss clinics, and aesthetic centers – these places are the closest to the wellness profession and chances are people who frequent these centers may also be interested in getting services from a chiropractor. Tie-ups could mean special offers for staff and members, custom packages and vouchers and something as simple as cross posting of print materials on the center’s bulletin boards.
• Participating in health talks – chiropractors who talk on television, radio, seminars or give advice in forums become a more familiar name, thus will be easier for new clients to search for
• Social media marketing – this is a very important and effective tool which includes setting up and management of social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more.
• Email marketing – sending out email blasts or bulk email to a specific client list
• Affiliate marketing, internet ads and blogs – working with affiliates, putting up ads online and hosting a blog with tips related to the field increases the chances of getting more clients interested to avail of services
• Traditional media marketing – this groups together the most basic forms of marketing such as print ads (Sunday paper, magazines, posters, flyers and billboards), radio and television ads

Of course, it is not suggested to try all of these ways together in one go as the cost may be a little too overwhelming. However, many chiropractors have found success in using a combination of these methods so it is worth giving a try, little by little.

YouTube Works for All Businesses Large or Small

It doesn’t matter if you are a one-person shop or a company with thousands of employees. YouTube videos and channels are the key to having a widespread and efficient online marketing presence to attract and keep customers. People want instant gratification and a video lets them see exactly what you can provide for them in a media that is almost as good as them having you in front of them in person.

YouTube.com is second only to Google amongst the most used search engines. People are signing into it more and more every day and if your business doesn’t get in on this fast paced phenomenon, then it isn’t going to survive for very much longer. You must take advantage of social media because it is the future of success and those companies that ignore that fact are doomed to lose everything.

The bottom line is that in today’s fast paced Internet-centric world, if you don’t get your company out there on YouTube, then you are losing what could be thousands of dollars or more of profits.

How to Take Advantage of YouTube for Your Business

So, now that you understand, just how can business owners take advantage and use YouTube to generate more success? First, you have to make some videos about your products and services. This can be done in a number of ways from you making your own video to you hiring someone to do it for you. It doesn’t even have to be expensive.

Even a few simple, short videos done telling you potential clients who you are and what your products and services can do for them will go amazingly far to add to your client list and earn you more profits. Just make sure to use the same keywords in all of you videos so you will be ranked by Google and the other search engines when potential customers are searching online for the type of products and services your company provides.

Once you have made a video, and uploaded it to YouTube, then you have to place it in the best spots online to get it noticed by your targeted audience. You can do that in several ways, including posting it on a company blog (if you have one) or putting a link to it from your company website or Facebook pages. Then, you can start a conversation with your customers and get their feedback instantly on what they think about your great new YouTube video.

The important thing is to realize that YouTube is where it is at for making money for online businesses and you need to take advantage of this great new Internet marketing source.