Mobile Marketing Website: 5 Easy Steps to Get Started

Are you thinking about mobile marketing? Wondering how you can use mobile marketing to connect with customers?
The good news is that mobile marketing is not too complex.
Here are five things you can do to get started in mobile marketing. Once you’ve mastered the steps below, you’ll see that mobile marketing is a great way to open up new revenue streams for your business.
Ready to get started?

#1: Set up your mobile website
This is actually easier than you might think. One option is to use the automated systems offered by many companies. Essentially, they take your existing website content and auto-format it for a mobile screen.
WordPress has some plugins that do a pretty good job of this and ThisIsMyDomainUSA has an automated system that does it, too when you buy a .mobi domain. But for the best user experience, I recommend you focus on one of the options outlined below.

Your mobile home page should have a clean and simple design. On the left is the standard 60 Second Marketer home page seen on a smart phone. On the right is the mobile version of the site.

Option number two is to use one of the many plug-and-play platforms offered online. These companies actually create a separate mobile website that is completely independent from your regular website.
Just Google “How to set up a mobile website” and you’ll find a number of companies doing this. There are some good organizations offering these plug-and-play systems, but there are also some real losers, so do your research before you choose a company to work with. Mobicanvas.com, GetGoMobi.com and Onswipe.com all seem to have good solid platforms to work from.

You can build and manage your website quickly and easily!
A third option is to add a simple line of code onto your existing home page that “sniffs out” the screen size of the person visiting your site.
If the person visiting your site has a screen that’s more than 600 pixels wide, they’re probably coming from a PC and are directed to your regular site. If the screen is smaller than 600 pixels, they’re probably coming from a mobile device and will be redirected to pages designed for a smartphone screen.
Out of these three options, the third option is the best approach. Just ask your web designer to do a search for “mobile website redirect code” and they’ll find plenty of options like this one on CSS-Tricks.com.

Redirects are a critical step in ensuring your website is search-engine friendly.

#2: Claim your business on location-based platforms
You should claim your business on location-based platforms like Foursquare,Gowalla and Facebook Places, especially if you have a brick-and-mortar location.
Claiming your business just means that you’re raising your hand to these services and saying, “I’m an official representative of XYZ business and want to be listed on your platform.” Claiming your business is similar to calling up the phone company to get a free listing in the Yellow Pages, only now you’re reaching out to these location-based services instead of Ma Bell.
Once you’ve claimed your business, you can start using these platforms to run mobile promotions. For example, Chili’s ran a promotion where everyone who “checked in” to their locations using Foursquare got free cheese dip.
Better still, Chili’s improved on the promotion by making it so that anybody who checked in at another store within 200 yards of Chili’s got the same offer. Yup, you heard right—if you checked in at the florist next door, you got a digital coupon for free cheese dip at the Chili’s a few steps away. Brilliant!
Users can unlock the free appetizer coupon at participating restaurants by checking in at Chili's through Foursquare.

#3: Immerse yourself
You can’t fully understand mobile marketing until you use mobile marketing. So when you get through reading this article, grab your smartphone and mess around with it—check in on Foursquare, buy some shoes using the Zappos app, do a voice search using Google Voice Search—just get comfortable with all your smartphone’s nooks and crannies.

The Google Voice Search App lets you speak your queries without pushing any buttons, and also lets you do local searches without specifying your location. Faster web search with fewer keystrokes.
When you’re ready to take a deeper dive into your smartphone, download theStarbucks mobile payment app and use it to pay for your next cup of coffee. That way, you can look even cooler than the guy who ordered the “double whipped mocha Frappuccino with a twist of whatever to go.”

You can pay for your Starbucks drink using the Starbucks Card Mobile app!
The more you use mobile media, the more you’ll see that it’s really not all that complex. It’s just the newest marketing channel in a long line of marketing channels introduced throughout the last several decades.
Tip: For smartphone overachievers: 1) Download LinkedIn to your smartphone, 2) enable your Bluetooth function and 3) open up the LinkedIn application. In the LinkedIn app, you’ll notice an icon with two people shaking hands called “In Person.”
Find someone in your office who has LinkedIn installed on their smartphone, then “bump” your phones together. Ding! You’ve just used Bluetooth to exchange your LinkedIn profile without having to type a word. LinkedIn's app allows you to bump smartphones to exchange information.

#4: Run a mobile ad campaign.
A mobile ad campaign is great for all kinds of companies, but particularly good for companies that have brick-and-mortar locations. After all, if you own a restaurant, wouldn’t you want to have an ad pop up when someone searches for “restaurants near my house”?
Mobile ad campaigns can be bought on a cost-per-click basis, a cost-per-thousand basis or a cost-per-acquisition basis.
Sound confusing? Don’t worry—just visit any of the most popular mobile advertising platforms (like Millennial Media, iAd from Apple or AdMob from Google) and they’ll walk you through the distinctions and how to use the services.
AdMob provides innovative solutions for brand and performance advertisers, effective distribution for app developers and revenue opportunities for mobile site owners.

Qlixite's QR Code

#5: Scan a QR Code.
QR Codes are those little barcode-like squares that are popping up all over the place. For an in-depth introduction to QR Codes, you can check out How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business.
QR Codes (or their closely related cousins EZ Codes, Microsoft Tags, SPARQCodes, etc.) can be scanned by smartphones. Once scanned, they drive you through to mobile web pages that offer discount coupons, bonus content, special offers or some other additional content.
How to download a QR Code reader to your smartphone:
 Turn on your smartphone and open your web browser.
 Visit BeeTagg.com or Sparq.it and click the link that says “Download QR Code Reader”.
 Launch the app and hold your phone’s camera up to a QR Code. The app will automatically scan the code.

Bottom Line
By now, you’re probably realizing that mobile media really isn’t that complex. It’s just like social media or email marketing or organic search, the only difference is that the delivery mechanism is a smartphone or a tablet computer instead of a PC.
These are just five of the ways you can kickstart your use of mobile marketing. There are probably dozens more.
What are your thoughts? What mobile marketing tools have you tried out that you’d like to share with our readers? Leave your comments in the box below.

Introducing Learn with Google

(Cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog)

School is back in session and here at Google, we’ve been looking for ways to help you learn how to grow your business online. Many of you have been looking for one central place to go in order to get smart about online tools and strategies, and we hear you. That’s why we’re pleased to introduce Learn with Google, a new educational site designed to be a one-stop shop for businesses to learn about Google products and services like AdWords, Google Apps, Places, Analytics, and more. Whether you’re looking to grow your business or just be more productive, we hope that this collection of short videos, handouts, and resources will arm you with best practices and tips that you can use right away.

On the site, you’ll learn about:

• Starting Your Business Online: Learn why having an online presence is critical for growing your business and how to create an online marketing plan. Discover how local marketing tactics can help you reach and attract customers near you.
• Marketing Your Business Online: Master the basics of online marketing and AdWords to get more for your money. Learn how to choose the right keywords and write compelling ads, as well as how to optimize your advertising spend.
• Running Your Business Online: Learn how the Google Apps suite of online communications and productivity tools, like Gmail and Google Docs, can make your team more collaborative and your business more efficient.

To get started, check out the videos, worksheets, and checklists at Learn with Google. From there, we’ll recommend other tips and how-to’s that will help you grow your business online. We’ll be adding more content and improving the site over time, so be sure to check back often.

Posted by Barbara Yang, Product Marketing Manager, Small Business Team

Why A Workshop And Not Just Licensed Algos

Once I realised how powerful algos were in not just my own trading, but how an algo could take a trader to CP even more quickly and surely, my first thought was to license a locked version of Flo to students.


We started writing a manual, showing Flo to a few students and it quickly became clear that this wouldn't work for them.


Just like trading, a trader needs to "own" his algo. He needs to know and understand exactly how it trades and why. Without this, it is difficult to configure an algo and even more difficult to believe its signals. It's doing brain surgery blindfolded. Can be done, but the chances of survival are small.


I then decided that if I wanted to help people to get to CP quickly and more surely then I had to reveal it all. The full monte.


Some people who I respect tried to talk me out of it, as I would be giving away many years of work.


None the less, this is how its going to be. I guess it's like sky diving. You need to pack your own parachute so you know you can rely on it. You need to tailor your suit to fit you and no one else and you need to acquire the knowledge to do that.


This workshop will be like no other! It has been carefully designed after the last two years of experience mentoring quite a few people and after more than 30 years using computer technical analysis and after some 45 years of trading the markets.


The sign ups so far have been a majority of past students. I can hardly wait for November for the workshop to begin.

The shazbat hit the flag again today. No surprise if you have been reading the blog. Reality is slowly setting in. Realignment is a painful business but brings opportunity for traders.



Still a very busy day today. I guess I'll be working well after my usual gentleman's hours. I'm glad Flo is doing her share.

Character and charm...

Hi Everyone


I've been so busy this week i almost forgot to blog! It's been a mountain of paperwork this week but finally that's all complete and i can start to think about more fun things. Like our VIP pre launch party... So i'm thinking cocktails and canapés, 200 or so designers, celebs and media, a live band and a sneak peek before opening. It's a leave the kids at home event so you can relax, network and have some fun. We will of course have an opening day for the kids and parents as well. I'm thinking face painting, crafting, music, entertainers and allergy friendly snacks. What are some other ideas? We want this to be a super fun day for the kids. This event will be the retail store opening so you'll finally be able to shop shop shop!


Here's a store i looked at recently which turned out to be too small but i just had to have a look seeing as the signage was so intriguing. (Herrick is my last name)

And another space which would suit us quite well. Loads of natural light, an outdoor space and some office space we could convert for the learning centre, party room and photo studio.

Ahh the possibilities... I see so much potential in places like these, no matter how well presented or rustic they feel. Kids Style Hub is going to exude character and charm. The retail space is going to have very few "formal" walls, wide browsing lanes that prams can glide easily around, varying height levels of display made up of an eclectic range of gathered pieces like old crates and suitcases, quirky second hand furniture and simple shelving. Not too crowded and all painted white so that the products speak for themselves. There will however be a quite modern designed counter (which i'm designing) and some great lighting. 

The cafe will be a great fun space too. Kim and Hardy are designing a large tree for the heart of the cafe which will grow magical craft works. If we are able to get some outside space, i'd love to create some interlinking cubbies of all different styles with secret doors to one another along with space to run around and fall over softly. Maybe even a vertical organic veggie garden which the kids can help us grow. Hahaha oooh dear i've got so much work to do before opening. 

I'm actually going to need some help once we move into the space to get it ready, so for anyone who is based in Melbourne who wants to come down and give us a hand painting or creating these magical spaces, i'll give you a shout out when we're ready to start. 

That's all for this week. I'm off to the Melbourne Mammas Market this Sunday with my two children's wear brands on sale at 50% - 80% off. Lots of you are also heading there so please pop in and say hi to me, there are so many of you i have not met in person yet. 

Happy designing

Nicole Herrick

KIDS STYLE HUB

Melbourne Mammas Market: Sunday 21st August

10am - 2:30pm

Ukranian Hall Essendon

www.melbournemamma.com.au

Looking for Certainty

New traders always look for certainty in a trade. "I want to KNOW that this will be a winner". This search for certainty leads people to keep changing what they do. We are taught from an early age to do our BEST. To WIN. All these ideals reinforce our search for a 100% win rate.


I realised a long time ago in life that I don't need to always get the best deal. Yes, I try and get it and negotiate accordingly, but in the end I will settle for a deal that's GOOD ENOUGH. I have learned that if I consistently get a deal that is good enough, in the end I'll always be ahead.


I don't get the lowest price when I buy a car, but will certainly get rid of my unwanted trade in and have what I want. I'll buy my properties at well under market and replacement value in these types of markets, but I know that maybe I could have squeezed a bit more. But I did GOOD ENOUGH.


And so it is in trading. Yes, I have losing trades. Do I worry about it? No, because I do good enough. I KNOW I can't have a 100% win rate and the effort I would put into trying to achieve the impossible would wreck my trading. What I teach students is that 70% is good enough. If you can reach that, and most traders who do not have mentoring, don't, then you have achieved a great result.


Do all my students reach that goal? No, but a great majority do because they accept that there are 20% to 30% losing trades as the cost of doing business. They back test their strategy and see that the 70% winners make more money on a consistent basis than the 30% losers. And that's not only good enough but Bloody Good, mate!!!


A couple of DAX trades today to illustrate how trades can be filtered as part of a trading picture to improve win rate and profitability.

Create A Small Business Plan Outline

Every business needs a business plan - no matter how small!

What information needs to be in your business plan? What is the order of information that will make the most sense to lenders and investors? You can answer these questions with the business plan outlines provided below.

What are the standard elements of a business plan? If you do need a standard business plan to seek funding — as opposed to a plan-as-you-go approach for running your business, which I describe below — there are predictable contents of a standard business plan outline.

For example, a business plan normally starts with an Executive Summary, which should be concise and interesting. People almost always expect to see sections covering the Company, the Market, the Product, the Management Team, Strategy, Implementation, and Financial Analysis. The precise business plan format can vary.

Is the order important? If you have the main components, the order doesn’t matter that much, but here’s the sequence I suggest for a business plan. I have provided two outlines, one simple and the other more detailed.

Simple Business Plan Outline

1. Executive Summary: Write this last. It’s just a page or two of highlights.
2. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc.
3. Product or Service: Describe what you’re selling. Focus on customer benefits.
4. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
5. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results.
6. Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website, development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies.
7. Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team members.
8. Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.

Build your plan, then organize it. I don’t recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.

Standard tables and charts

There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard business plan.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet, projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables.

I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers.

Expanded business plan outline

Here’s an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in your own business plan.

1.0 Executive Summary
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Mission
1.3 Keys to Success

2.0 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities

3.0 Products and Services
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services

4.0 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 Market Needs
4.2.2 Market Trends
4.2.3 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns
4.3.4 Main Competitors

5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary
5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy
5.4.1 Positioning Statements
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones

6.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements

7.0 Management Summary
7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team
7.3 Management Team Gaps
7.4 Personnel Plan

8.0 Financial Plan
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators
8.3 Break-even Analysis
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan

Business plan outline advice

Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest. So don’t include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this list, unless you’re developing a standard business plan that you’ll be showing to somebody else who expects a standard business plan.

If you need help with your Website Design, Social Media Marketing and Business Strategy - give us a call (800) 596-6218!

How to Choose A Good Website Domain Name?

In the modern world of the Internet, where people automatically turn to the Web for information, your domain name needs to be unique to you to actively lead people to your business. Customers have short memories; they will not memorize an unrelated URL. Keep it simple for your customers and visitors and uniquely related to your business. Here are some useful answers...


What is a Domain Name?

Just to make sure we're all on the same page here, a domain name is the web address that leads people to your web site. Just the same as your home address, web browsers will direct people to your site via your domain name which ususally starts with 'www.' and ends with .com, .net, .co, .biz, .org etc.


Should My Domain Name Match My Business Name?
In most cases....yes! Example: If my business name is Bloomin Flowers then my website domain name might be http://www.bloominflowers.com/ or http://www.bloomin-flowers.com/. This makes it easy for people to find my website just by searching for my business by name. You want your site to be easy to find and easy to get to. Many new businesses search for and secure their domain name before officially naming their business for this reason.

Not every domain name matches the business name, surprising but true.Suppose those domain names for Bloomin Flowers are taken already. So instead I get http://www.bf.com/ which is my initials but rather obscure since it doesn't delinate what my business is. What happens when my customers type in Bloomin Flowers in a search engine. My competitors' sites will show up first and if I haven't actively made my website search engine friendly, my site might not show up or be recognizable.


What if I can't Match my Domain Name to My Business Name?
Your domain name choice may be already bought and could be a lot of time and money to get ownership of it. You have to determine how important the one you want is and how much you may be willing to spend to buy it from the party that already owns it. Check up the "whois" information for the domain, and contact that person listed to see if they're willing to sell it.

On the other hand, if you're just starting out, you might prefer the cheaper alternative of trying to obtain a domain name first, and then naming your website (or business) after the domain that you've acquired. This may seems a bit like putting the cart before the horse, but that's the reality if you don't want to lose out on the Internet.

Sometimes adjusting the domain name slightly will allow you to get a domain name that matches your business without having to pay extra. Here are some factors to consider...

Abreviations versus Keywords
Domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters. Some argue that shorter domain names are easier to remember, easier to type and far less susceptible to mistakes. Plus if you work with your initials alot you can incorporate this into your marketing. Example: www. RCDbyJohn.com for a business called Really Cool Designs by John. It's increasingly difficult to get short meaningful domain names because most have been sold already. If you manage to get a short domain name though, the key is to make sure it's a meaningful combination of characters and not hard to type and remember

Others argue that a longer domain name is usually easier on the human memory - for example, "www.gaepw.com" is a sequence of unrelated letters that is difficult to remember and type correctly, whereas if we expand it to its long form, "GetAnEconomicallyPricedWebsite.com", we are more likely to remember the domain name. If you have a tagline that you use often, it can be positive to use that as a domain name. Long domain names that have your site keywords in them also have an advantage in that they seach better in the search engines. This is the key to being found on the internet, can the search engines find your company.
Try to avoid extremely long names verging on 67 characters. Aside from the obvious problem that people might not be able to remember such a long name, it would also be a chore typing it and trying to fit it as a title on your web page.

Hyphenated Domain Names

• Cons

1. Hphens are easy to forget when typing a name. Many users are used to typing things like freecomputertools.com but not free-computer-tools.com. They'll probably leave out the hyphens and end up at your competitor's site.

2. When people recommend your site verbally, having hyphens in your domain name leads to more potential errors.


• Pros

1. Search engines can distinguish your keywords better and thus return your site more prominently in search results for those keywords occurring in your domain name.

2. The non-hyphenated form may no longer be available. At least this way, you still get the domain name you want.


Different forms of Domains with plurals: the and my
Very often, if you can't get the domain name you want, the domain name registrar will suggest alternate forms of the name you typed. For example, if you wanted website.com, and it was taken (of course it is), it might suggest forms like:

thewebsite.com

mywebsite.com

websites.com

and the like, if they were not already taken as well. The question is, should you go with one of these options?

If you take the "the..." and "my..." forms of the domain name, you must remember to promote your site with the full form of the name. Otherwise, people are likely to forget to affix the necessary "the" or "my".

On the other hand, do not take the plural form of the domain name (eg, websites.com) if you cannot also get "website.com", since the chance of the visitor failing to type the "s" in the name is very great.

Domain Name Endings or Extensions
What if you cannot get the “.com” domain but the “.net” or “.org” or others are available. Are these others ok for domain addresses? The answer is not as simple as you might think and should fit your business needs based on some of the features covered below.

.com - the most popular and widely recognized domain extension in the world. It usually pops up first in search results and people are more likely to type it over any other ending. May be registered by anyone. Get it if you can!

.net - used frequently when the .com version of your domain name has been taken. Widely used for internet infrastructure as well.

.info - associated with websites that provide information as opposed to sales. This can be useful for businesses who publish articles and is recognized world wide.

.co - this is a new extension that provides people options if their domains are taken in other widely recognized domain extensions. International recognition and easy to remember.

.biz - made specifically for business and ecommerce sites such as online stores.

.org - popular extension for non-profit and non-commercial organizations as well as highlighting a business or companies charitable features.

.mobi - can be easily viewed on a mobile device such as a smart phone or tablet.

.me - usually reserved for blogs, online resumes or portfolios of an individual

There are other domain extensions that relate to specific countries as well as one's that must be a qualified group to obtain (Example: only an official school can get a .edu extension or government agency use .gov etc)

Can I Have More Than One Domain Name?
Absolutely! Multiple domain names can point to the same website. In fact if you are a new business it's best to secure your domain name with multiple extensions to protect it from a competitor. You can create other search word filled domain names to point to your website but it's a good idea to make sure the domain names are relevant to your content so as not to draw negative attention from search engines.

The best idea is to get your domain name first....before you even make your business offcial! If you're already in business, follow the above hints or seek help from a marketing strategist who understands search engine optimization and establishing a professional web presence.