HOW TO DOMINATE ONLINE

Foreign. Hey everyone. Welcome to the July Facebook Live. I am Sandy Wagott, owner of MSW Interactive Designs, a digital marketing agency. I do these every month to try to educate and teach clients and other business owners on what makes great marketing, what makes effective marketing. Today my topic is all about dominating online. We all want to do that, right? So I'm going to dive right in and share my screen. Just give me one second while I jump into the presentation and we will get started. Okay, so how to dominate online. Here is the mistake that most business owners make. And I have got a blank white screen on purpose, right? So they just come to us and they want a website. The website is all about them. And that's kind of it. Launch the website and we just assume that people are going to come and that business is going to start flooding in. But in reality that is not how it works at all. There's so much more to it. So then we get, you know, excited business owners like, okay, I'm going to add in social media. Okay, do you see that thing down in the lower left of your screen? So we're going to do social media and now I have that disjointed. I'm trying to send people to my website and that's all I'm going to do. And I'm going to expect amazing results. But that does not yet put the bell. So I'm going to go through all the things that number one, as an agency, we really try hard to encourage people to do. But whether you're working with us or somebody else, it really is a unique formula that creates success. Online domination online. First of all, you need to have a website with a very customer centered message that helps them solve a problem. So that is the very first thing you need to have and the most important thing on your website itself. It needs to be very customer focused. It needs to be clear in its message and let people know how you solve their problem. Then you want to make sure that you have what's called a lead magnet. A lead magnet allows you to collect email addresses and cell phone numbers in exchange for something of value that your prospect or website visitor would likely want to download because it solves a problem for them or provides them information that they find very useful. So the lead magnet helps you actually grow an asset for your business. And this puts the website to work for you because you collect all this information and then that allows you to stay in touch with prospects, people who did not convert on the first time. Once you have the website and then the lead Magnet, you want to add in what we call nurturing funnels. Nurturing funnels will convert leads or site visitors into customers over time. So what happens is the person comes to the website. Most people will not convert on the first trip to your website. In fact, a lot of times they'll go to your website, they'll be interested, and then they're going to forget about it. So you've got the lead magnet where they download something of value. Now you have the email address or the text number, and then you build what's called a funnel so that you are sending them emails or text messages over an extended period of time to, number one, remind them of your service and the problem that they have and that you are the answer to solve it. Build credibility and nurture this relationship that you're going to start to build with this person who came to your website. It's kind of like I joke, but I equate it to dating, right? So you meet someone, that's awareness, but you're not going to say, marry me on that first date. You know, you will get their phone number, you'll ask them out multiple times, and you'll start nurturing a relationship before you actually get married. Next, we want to make sure with the nurturing funnel that we've got multiple emails, multiple text messages. So we want a series. It's not just one. It's not just thank you for downloading this. It's multiple. So it's a series, so that you are constantly in their inbox. Now, I get a lot of people that say, well, you know, Sandy, I hate getting these junk emails. Here's the thing, the person subscribed, they downloaded something because they were interested and they have a problem. So what you're doing with your emails is not spamming them at all. You are continuing to provide value. What they download on your website tells you exactly what problem they have and what problem they need solved. And that gives you the opportunity to share with them why you did that exact company or business to do that next. And so many businesses not only miss the lead magnet and the nurturing funnels, but they miss the retargeting. So retargeting is those, like creepy ads that sort of follow you around the Internet, right? You went and looked at a lawnmower, but you didn't buy it. Now all of a sudden you're seeing ads for lawnmowers everywhere. That's retargeting. So someone comes to your website and what happens with retargeting is there's a Little piece of code that gets written to their computers, it's called a cookie. And then based on what they do on your website, we serve up ads, display ads across an array of websites that they visit after they've left your website. So it's kind of like you're following them around saying, hey, remember me? And then what happens is those ads, when they click back through those ads, you aren't actually just taking them back to your homepage. You're going to take them to specific landing pages based on their interest so that you're sending them somewhere new on the website. Because remember, if they didn't convert on the first time, sending them back to the thing that they didn't convert on is pretty useless. So what you want to do when you're retargeting is create these ads to get their attention. When they click through, they go to a different place on your website that has more information, more help, more access and resources to help them solve the problem that they came to you for in the first place. Next SEO. So search engine optimization is key. Now, a lot of web designers don't do SEO. A lot of content writers don't understand SEO. You need to make sure you're working with someone from a content perspective and a design perspective that understands the fundamentals of search engine optimization. Search engine optimization is not a one time thing and it is not based on keyword stepping, a meta tag that died a decade or more ago. The search engine optimization of today is providing real, hardy, valuable content in a structured way. So you know, if you think about Google, Google is in the business of returning the best search results that it possibly can. How does it gauge that? Well, it gauges that based on the content and quality of the website. It gauges it on the existing website traffic, because traffic is an indicator of how popular a website is. It gauges it on authority, which comes from reviews and it comes from social media engagement. It comes from so many things. It also comes from correct directory listings, links back to your website. So link building. There's so much that goes beyond behind the scenes in search engine optimization. And you want to make sure that you're working with a company that understands all of those facets and you do not want to ignore this piece. You can't just launch a website and have it start ranking in Google on page one right away. I mean, it takes months and months and depending on how competitive your market in your field is. But there is a formula to it and if you have great reviews, quality content, great links, back to your website and have established yourself from a social media and interaction standpoint as an authority in your space, your site will start ranking well on Google. It just takes time, but it has to be a consideration as you're building out your web presence for domination. Next, we add in social media. So the social media component is hugely important. So everybody's on social media, you know, right? We're all on our phones scrolling through stuff. Scrolling through stuff. Now, social media, some mistakes that people make when they, when they jump into social media. Number one, they're not consistent about it. Number two, they're pitching sales messages all the time. What you want to do is put content out on social media, number one, consistently. If all you can do is pitch a sales message consistently, fine, do that. It's better than nothing. But if you can create a social media presence with consistency and quality around your content, you will naturally get the engagement that you need. Also, it keeps you top of mind. And if someone has gone to your website and now they're looking for social proof, before they do business with you going to your social media channels, they will go and check and see how active you are, what kind of reviews are there, and all that good stuff. So it is imperative that you are on social media. It is not even an option these days. And it's not just having a dead page, like a page that you post once a month on or a couple times a month. You really need constant posting. If you don't have the time or the will to do it, then hire an agency to do it. We help our clients with all of this, but do it, definitely do it. Do not leave this component out. It's huge. And then I've got on here two things that I want to address. You see, add onto the screen, popped a megaphone with some more email icons. And so another mistake that a lot of companies will make is to do the nurturing funnel. And then when the nurturing funnel ends, they just stop. You need ongoing communication with prospects, you need ongoing communication with clients. So you should have. Because you've taken the time and the energy and the investment to build your list with your lead magnet, you need to have ongoing email and text communication with both prospects and customers. So you're constantly top of mind, so, so important. And then in the upper right hand corner, you see what looks like a bunch of charts and stuff, and that's data. And again, you are doing all of these things. And I always say it's an arrogant marketer who thinks they're going to get it exactly Right the first time. So maybe you have a lead magnet on your website, but it's just not getting the conversions. In other words, people are not exchangin their email for the download. That means the lead magnet is not of interest to your target customers. So what do you do? You change the lead magnet. You just don't dump the idea altogether. So you only know these things by looking at the data, the traffic on your website, what are people looking at on your website, where are they exiting your website before converting? Looking at this data not just once a year, but often helps you make informed decisions around improvements to make in your marketing for your website. So you invest, you know, I'm talking digital marketing right now. But on top of that, many of you are doing radio ads, you're doing TV ads, you're doing print ads, you are doing marketing in all kinds of other places. So you want to make sure you've got this entire mix built into your website. So you're retargeting. So your investment in your marketing becomes exponentially better. And you're watching the data so that you can make informed decisions about what's working, what's not working, not what you need to stop, but what you need to change, where you need to improve. So we're not guessing anymore. The data tells us where we need to make improvements on the website, on the lead magnets, on the nurturing funnels, all that stuff. So that is market domination digitally website with great customer centered content, lead magnets and list building, ongoing nurturing and sales funnels, retargeting, SEO, link building and directory management, consistent social media marketing, email and text campaigns, and then consulting with someone who understands the data and can help you look at it for your business and determine where adjustments need to be made so that you can actually optimize those dollars that you're investing in getting your business out there. So hopefully this gave you a bigger picture of what's truly required to be successful online. My team at MSW Interactive Designs does all of these things and we are here to help. If you are looking for help, certainly these are all things you can go out and do on your own. But if you want someone to hold your hand, make sure that you're doing it right and get the best results, let us know. You can reach us at 573-552-8403 or visit our website and we would love to set up a complimentary consultation. I hope you all have a great day and go out there and dominate it.