In these stay at home COVID times, the offers and ads are coming at light-speed pace. Online marketing “experts” have popped up EVERYWHERE! If you have ever signed up for an offer via a Facebook Ad or Website you get added to that company’s automated email list. Which then pumps you into their scheduled follow up, offer rich, time sensitive offer emails. This is called a FUNNEL. We hate them. Let us explain.
Our industry has lacked integrity for years. Many of our clients are rescues from bad marketing company’s, web developers, or lazy basement dwellers. The amount of money and time we have seen people spend on their online presence with NOTHING to show for it is astounding. And so, with these things in mind we have moved forward to ensure that our company operates out of integrity and honesty. So, when others in our market come forward with the NEWEST Challenge, or the BEST Offer, or the LASTEST online technique we just shake our heads.
THERE IS NO SMOKING GUN!
THERE IS NO MAGIC WAND!
Online Marketing consists of 4 main cornerstones that if you will set them up properly you can build your business online and be confident that it will succeed. It takes TIME and INVESTMENT. It does not happen overnight, and it takes some good old fashion work to get there. Here are the 4 main cornerstones for successful online marketing.
1. Funnel Cornerstone
Ok now wait – don’t we hate these? YES, we very much do but there are funnels that are integral and very much a requirement and there are funnels that take advantage of you and never stop harassing you. A proper and integral funnel is just the journey of a lead.
GOOD FUNNEL
- When someone signs up for a FREE SEO Audit with our online form, they then get an email from us confirming we have received their Audit and they will have it in their inbox in the next 48 hours.
- The 2nd email they receive will be the audit which they asked for. In that email is a question – would you like to book a call to review with us. There is a link and they can book.
- If they do not book and do not contact us again, they will receive a 3rd and final email from us saying thank you for using our SEO Audit service. If you would like to know more contact us. List of services available, END OF FUNNEL.
ANNOYING BAD FUNNEL
- When someone signs up for a FREE SEO Audit with our online form, they then get an email from us confirming we have received their Audit and they will have it in their inbox in the next 48 hours.
- The 2nd email comes 12 hours later… “While you wait on your funnel we have ANOTHER offer to send you for only 9.99 we can add on a website Audit.” Click HERE
- The 3rd email comes 24 hours later… “sorry you did not take advantage of the website audit, for the next 12 hours we can offer it for 4.99 and include it with your SEO Audit”
- The 4th email comes day 2 and it finally has the audit that you signed up for but not without MORE OFFERS. For $199/month SEO service is now being sold because your audit came back so bad. Keep scrolling and you will see a time clock counting down, creating urgency.
- The 5th email comes day 3, 72 hours later knocking on your door, asking if you need any more help or assistance. You have missed the offer and checking in to see if you are still interested.
- The 6th email includes a picture of incredibly happy clients who got their audit, signed up for service, and are now on page 1 and rocking a seven-figure income because of the services they received from the company who did the audit.
- The 7th email comes with another countdown, this time with a $97/month offer for SEO services and upgrade packages that range all the way to $997. (you will notice everyone uses 7’s in their sales, as it is psychologically proven to be more successful.)
- The 8th email…need I continue???
Can you see the difference? We can. It’s called integrity. The unsubscribe buttons are so tiny it is sometimes impossible to find and get off the list. If you sign up for a free service, you do not expect to be chased with services for the next 3 months. A sales funnel or lead funnel is especially important things to have in place especially when generating leads. It is even more important to have them automated, so you are not running off your feet – but more then all that the integrity and honor you want to extend that lead is forefront. Sending out several emails to them with things they did not ask for is not doing that.
2. Website Cornerstone
You need a website and it needs to be mobile-friendly. Whether it is a basic site with a landing page telling people about you, your service and contact info, you will need something to send people to. There are many options out there for websites – we suggest getting a WordPress website that can be optimized, that you don’t have to pay a monthly fee for and can be expanded and built out without costing too much or adding on monthly apps to run. The way the site is built and styled is totally up to your service industry and offering. A life coach site is going to need something completely different than a hairdresser – but no matter what they need one. This is where branding and quality content come in and where a marketing company or business coach can help you.
3. SEO Cornerstone
Search Engine Optimization is more than keyword stuffing and domain buying. It is a 3-prong approach to setting up your online presence so you can be found. You would be surprised how easy it is to appear on page 1 with localized results in a map listing for instance. With some on-page optimization such as meta tags, keywords, and headings, this will ensure your website is found and begins its ranking journey with Google. Next is the off-page work ensuring your Google My Business is setup and confirmed phone verifications and map listing confirmations. This also includes claiming our listing your business on the top 20 directories, (it’s free) so you can piggyback on their SEO as well. The last thing is quality content ensuring that your website is being updated on at least a monthly basis to keep Google happy and let them know your site is active and giving relative information to those finding your site. All of this is part of SEO and all of it helps you rank in the search engines. If you want to rank in the top 3 spots immediately you can always pay for Google Ad Words and generate leads right away. Sometimes a company will do both SEO with their Google Ads to play both the short-term and long-term game. This comes down to the investment you want to make.
4. Social Presence Cornerstone
This side of things is a little tricky because having a Facebook Page or Instagram account does not convert into sales if you are not paying for ads. What it does do is give you social proof for the customer. Over 50% of customers searching will use social to search OR will check out a referral on social platforms. This means that if they find you on Facebook and your last post was 2017 and you have no reviews, they will most likely be moving onto the next option. Having a social presence is a must even though it may not pay off in an actual ROI. (Return on Investment) We do suggest building your audience and be engaging so this is something that could eventually be a sales tool but for starters, it is ensuring you are on the social platform where your demographic will be found. We do suggest doing Paid Ads if you have the investment, they can be highly successful in reaching your audience and bring in valuable leads.
The moral of our 4 cornerstones is that there is a way to be ranking on page 1, have a strong online presence, and bring in leads that can convert and not be annoyed by an email sequence. There is a way to market with integrity. We have made one of our goals to bring integrity back to the online marketing world. It comes with large challenges of cheap services from overseas, young kids that can build websites for $100, and an exceptionally large group of competitors that over promise and under deliver. But we feel it is worth it. In a few months, you could be up and running and doing what you do best while we do what we do best. 😊 Meet our Amazing Team HERE!
