Amplify Online Blog

It seems like everyone is focusing their attention on their mobile devices.  For better or worse according to pewresearch.org,  roughly three-quarters of Americans or 77% now own a smartphone.  77% is too big of a percentage to ignore. The truth is that Americans are using their cell phones more and more over their desktops to look at websites and do their shopping.  If your business wants to stay competitive, you can’t ignore the mobile revolution anymore. Is your website designed for mobile? If your website is not adaptable for mobile, now is the time to make that change. The first thing to realize when adjusting your site for the mobile platform is to understand that tablets and smartphones have limitations. The 1st limitation Mobile screen size is the first limitation that you will need to adapt your website. Mobile screens are a lot smaller. This means that the real estate you have to display your message and promote your products needs to adjust the ...

The number one mistake small businesses make is cutting costs by eliminating their marketing funds. A business owner cutting their marketing budget is like a farmer who stops watering their plants to save money on their water bills. If your business is struggling the reason may be because you have been neglecting your marketing. Start off small but smart. Small companies should start with lean marketing. Make sure you are doing the things that are free and pick inexpensive marketing options that can be tracked or measured to see if they are successful activities. If you find a marketing venue that works make sure you repeat what works for you. Set aside a marketing budget that you can draw from to make your marketing more professional and reach more people. Marketing pays off in the long run, and you may not see a return right away. Remember that marketing is like farming, you need to plant the seeds and wait and nurture it until you can bring in the harvest.  It takes patien...

1.  Understand your brand. It doesn't matter which way you go if you don't care where you end up.  Before you start making social media posts, make sure you understand your brand, and where you want your social media posts to take your business. Make a plan about the content you plan on posting, how often you plan on posting and if you are going to be actively creating content or outsourcing it to a company that specializes in social media posts and marketing. 2. Keep your sales pitches to a minimum. Your social media should be engaging to your followers. Your posts should invite your followers to your site from time to time, so your websites can make the sale pitches.  Your posts should funnel traffic to your website.   3. Quality photos and videos are a must. We live in a digital world, and you need to grab people's attention with images and videos to have a successful social media campaign. Wow, your followers with quality videos and photos. 4. Hav...

“When in doubt about the direction your company is going, advertise. If you want success, make sure you are promoting your business.”   These are words you might hear from any marketing professor. It's wise advice, but how do you go about implementing an effective marketing campaign? Do you hire an in-house team of marketers or request services from an independent contractor or go all in with a bonafide marketing agency? Let’s talk about the pros and cons of each one. In-House Marketing Pros: Hiring an in-house marketing team can be very useful, especially if your company is a large business over 150 employees. If you can afford to have an onsite marketing team, they can be 100 % dedicated to your business. They know the company’s culture, products and SOP’s. Cons: Having an in-house marketing team is an expensive investment. Hiring and training take money and time. Also, your company will need to take care of benefit packages, payroll taxes, and other HR/employee issues...

Your company deserves its best chance to thrive online. Whether you’re considering outsourcing your online marketing or taking the DIY route, the goal is always the same: seeing company growth from improving your online reach and search engine ranking. Here are five reasons why outsourcing could be the right step to promote your business's growth: Saving money. This might sound crazy at first, but doing your SEO and online marketing in-house means either hiring an SEO specialist to work on-site or taking it all on personally. An on-location specialist can run you thousands of dollars each month; outsourcing is typically a fraction of that. “Well, then, I’ll do it myself! That’s free, right?” That can be true, but that all depends on how much an hour of your work is worth. When you run your own business, your time is money, and an hour spent on one task is an hour lost towards another. It’s more efficient. Unless you have the time, resources and SEO experience to do it pers...

If success in business were a recipe, there’d be a lot of ingredients.  In a good cookie recipe, some ingredients are necessary (e.g., flour, sugar, baking soda) and some are nice to have but not crucial (e.g., chocolate chips, frosting, sprinkles).  In a business situation, there are some must-have ingredients in the recipe for success.  One of these success staples is how we think about things and look at situations. American philosopher, Wayne Dyer, once said: “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”  The way you look at day to day tasks, your brand, your business goals, and your strategies can change the entire course your business takes. Because your thought process is so crucial to business performance, it is often important to take a step back and think about your mindset. The following is a self-evaluation that will help you analyze your business mindset. Personal Mindset Evaluation Read each item below.  Dec...

Many advertisers have found pay-per-click (PPC) to be one of the more profitable marketing options for producing a higher ROI for their business.  When applied correctly, a PPC campaign can reap some impressive marketing rewards.  On the other hand, a mismanaged pay per click account lives far below its earning potential.   Through our years of managing pay per click for a variety of businesses, we’ve been able to hone in on techniques that work and ones that don’t.  Here are 5 of the many PPC strategies that can contribute to your online marketing success: Filter out irrelevant clicks through negative keywords Occasionally, when people are searching for keywords your business is targeting, they may not really be looking for your business products or services.  They may be looking for general information, a definition, etc.  By adding negative keywords to your PPC campaign, you can filter out searches that are not actionable or likely to convert. ...

For every business owner, getting positive publicity is a major goal. Getting published in a top tier media source like Forbes, Entrepreneur.com, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times can transform a small business overnight because of the instant credibility it conveys and the SEO boost it delivers to your website.  However, when it comes to pitching to elite publications, there are a lot of questions. Here we answer some of the top questions regarding getting mentions in top tier publications. Who? Who should I pitch to? Everyone.  Your dream journalist or blogger may not accept your pitch for months or even years.  Getting in contact with several different publishers allows you to get lots of exposure in the meantime.  Also, don’t feel like your options are top tier publications or nothing.  Smaller media companies can still provide great publicity and help build your credibility while you are trying to catch the big fish in the media pond....

Your mom, your junior high teachers, and thousands of quotes on Pinterest have told you to “not care what others think and just be yourself.”  Not letting others opinions get under your skin and letting their comments roll off your back can be very emotionally healthy.  However, when it comes to your company’s reputation on the web, it’s smart to put a little more stock in what people are saying online. Why Reviews REALLY Matter According to a recent Forbes Article, 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. That means the number of stars your receive and online comments from your clients can make the difference between a potential customer choosing you or one of your competitors.  Positive reviews also play an instrumental role in your SEO (a.k.a. how well people will find your business on Google and other search engines). The number of your reviews and your ratings on those reviews are one of the major factors Google considers in ...

When it comes to online marketing, “social media” tends to be a big buzzword.  Social media is a big part of our personal lives--worldwide there are 1.71 billion active daily users on Facebook alone (Facebook Newsroom).  The vast majority of people are pretty savvy when it comes to navigating an individual social media profile. However, when it comes to social media marketing for a company, many local business owners don’t know exactly where to start or how to get the results they seek.   At Amplify Online, our team has a collective 25+ years of social media marketing, and through that experience, we’ve learned what works and what doesn't.  We constantly stay on top of new developments in social marketing to make sure we produce the best results for our clients. During our time in the field, we’ve seen all kinds of perspectives from business owners regarding social media.  Recently, we polled our social media team and got their opinion on some things they...

You’ve heard of SEO, you may have even tried your hand at it. You can see that it works for other businesses, but is it the right investment for you? Search Engine Optimization is used by millions of businesses worldwide, from major retailers like Walmart, Coca Cola, and Amazon to small local businesses and mom & pop shops. Large or small these organizations have realized that in order to compete in today’s digital age they need to invest in SEO. With billions of searches performed every day and ranking for the keywords relative to your business can lead to exponential growth. If you’re still on the fence about SEO here are 5 reasons you should be investing now: Search is Growing As the rise of smartphones and mobile technology has increased convenient access to  the internet from anywhere. This has allowed people to search for products, goods, and services on the go, and has increased importance of connecting to customers who are nearby, and ready to buy.  ...

Everyone knows that an online presence is crucial to succeed in the business world.  However, not all sites are created equal.  Here are four reasons why updating your current site to a new, mobile-friendly version is a smart business move: Your Website is the “First Stop” For Product and Service Research When people hear about your business on the radio, on television, on social media, or by word of mouth, the first place they go to learn more is your website.  According to GE Capital Retail Bank’s major purchase shopper study, 81% percent of consumers go online before making a significant purchase, and the majority of these take a look at your website before deciding whether to do business with you. First Impressions Matter, Especially Online Studies performed by the Missouri University of Science and Technology have shown that it takes less than 0.2 seconds for an individual to get an initial impression of a website.  That means if your website looks like a throwb...