WSI Matrix is an consulting company in Edmonton, AB serving local businesses. We specialize in building an online presence for local businesses, optimizing their websites and driving targeted traffic.
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Five Strategies to Use to Take Advantage of Social Media to Expand Your Business
Throughout this article we will discuss five strategies on taking advantage of social media to improve business. Social media is a fast growing trend and attracts millions of daily users. Turn these users into future clients by following the strategies discussed in this article. By creating social media sites for your company, adding social media bookmarks to your main page, and using podcasts to keep your users informed, you can increase your customer base.
There are quite a few benefits when setting up social media sites. Millions of individuals use social media sites daily- a range from Facebook, Twitter, to more unconventional sites such as Pinterest. Each of these sites have something in common: people love them. Social media sites allow individuals to keep in touch with others, share interests, or follow others. Setting up social media sites for your business will expand your company. It will allow you to advertise in a new dimension. Sharing sales, new products, or prompting customers for ideas can help your business. You can also post discounts for customers who "like" your social media site page, and work with other companies to advertise if they have complementary products to your services or products.
Conversation maps are a good way to establish communication with social media and products. Not only do they aid in communicating with your user base, it will also allow them to remember things better- 70 percent of what people can remember comes from what they learn, not what they read or see.
Pod-casts allow you to quickly and efficiently provide your messages with all of your audiences. Sharing sales, product details, or future ideas with your clients provide them with a more personal relationship. Podcasts also allow your clients to pick and choose which podcast they want to watch and listen to. This allows them to cater to their interests while allowing you to see the interests of your client base.
Knowing how popular social media is, it is a good idea to add social media bookmarks to your main page. Not only does this allow your client base to connect their favorite social media site with your services or products, it also allows them to quickly share with the world any of their purchases or wants. They can post what they like which also spreads the word of your products.
Setting up a community group is a good way to establish a loyal fan base and provide support to your clients when they have questions, concerns, or comments. This can be done very easily and will add an additional aspect to your customer support. They will feel grouped with people of similar interests which will help them feel like you cater to them and people like them.
In conclusion, use this article to take advantage of social media and find millions of new clients. By using the strategies discussed in this article you will have a growing business in a very short time, with an expanded client base.
Friday, 25 January 2013
Mobile Marketing Trends
The ubiquitous reach of the mobile can work wonders for your business
The proliferation of smart phones and tablets has made mobile marketing an attractive medium to win customers. Your business stands to gain significant benefits if you integrate mobile marketing to your overall strategy.
Let’s look at a few trends that you can leverage for your business.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Using Twitter Effectively: Tips for Success
If you are a small business owner, you have probably figured out by now that social media is a great, free way to advertise your business. However, you have probably also realized that establishing a presence on these sites is easier said than done. It is not hard to set up a page, but it is difficult to figure out what to post, how often to post and how to get followers to your account. In addition to Facebook, Twitter is one of the major players in the social media game, so it is important to get a handle on it as soon as possible. The following tips will help you develop an efficient Twitter strategy to generate more interest in your business.
Scheduling your tweets
It is possible, and beneficial, to use a program to schedule your tweets so that they appear at different times throughout the day. This will allow you to write the information that you want but not be tied to the computer in order to share it. However, it is important to be careful when using this strategy. If someone comments on your tweet, it is important that you respond relatively quickly. Therefore, you still have to check up on your posts even if you are scheduling your tweets. In general, you should plan to do a quick check-in about six or seven times during the average work day. This will ensure that you remain in touch with the Twitter community.
Showing your personality
Obviously, what you tweet should typically have something to do with your niche. However, it is important that your followers get a sense of who the person behind the business is. If they can relate to you, they are going to be more willing to buy from you. Therefore, look for opportunities to inject (appropriate) humor or relate a personal story. Try to tie these things to the topic at hand so that you don't go overboard. In general, you want to post about six times a day. Make sure that some of them are informative or interesting rather than just about generating sales, however. You don't want to turn people off.
Searching for your name
In the Twitter world, your handle can be very important. For example, if your handle is "TimsToolStore," every time a user puts the "@" symbol in front of that name, you will be notified. Therefore, doing so is a way for your followers to give you a very public shout-out. It can become easy to simply watch and wait for someone to do this, but it is important to remember that not everyone will. Some people may mention you simply by writing about "Tim's Tool Store." If they do, and if you are not looking for that, you may miss an opportunity to interact with a customer. Therefore, it is important to look online for sites that let you search within social media sites. You can simply type in your name and see who is "talking" about you.
Twitter is a powerful player in the social media world. The tips included above will help you use it to your advantage.
Friday, 18 January 2013
Online Reputation Management
Protect yourself from online onslaughts
Customers today are highly likely to search for your business online before they engage with you. Any negative content – a slanderous comment, social media post, or bad review – about you that they come across will be detrimental to your business. In the online world, negative information can not only spread fast but also persistently show up in search results, even years later.
Mobile Marketing Tips For Those Who Are Just Getting Started
These days it is quite difficult to find someone that does not use a mobile phone. Everyone from school-aged children to senior citizens have discovered this new way to connect. Many people have realized the popularity of mobile phones and they have started to use them as a marketing tool. If you are not familiar with how to do that, you should continue reading.
Reward customers that agree to receive mobile marketing materials from you. This can be in the form of some type of discount or freebie. There are many people that do not want to receive mobile messages, so it is very important that you give a token of appreciation to those that do. Make sure that what you offer them is of value, because you do not want to appear like you are cheap.
Always respect the privacy of your customers. The last thing a customer wants is to be deluged by unsolicited mobile messages because they gave you permission to contact them this way. If you plan on sharing their information with others, let them know that when they sign up. Make it clear that they can receive messages from you without receiving correspondence from others. Make sure that they always have a choice.
The site that you are sending customers to must be completely secure. Never send customers to any link that you are not totally sure is safe. If someone receives a virus on their phone as a result of visiting your site, you can be guaranteed that they will not become a customer of yours. Also, do not think that they will hesitate to tell their friends to avoid your site if they do not want the same thing to happen to them.
Send message to users when it is a reasonable time of day. There are many business owners that do not take time into account when they are sending out messages, and that is a big no-no. Even though it may be a decent hour where you live, make sure that you think about the time zone differences across your customer base. It is a good idea to send messages midday, since most people will be up and about. While you will never be able to satisfy everyone, you will definitely keep the majority of your audience happy that way.
Make the opt-out process very simple. You should never try to make it difficult for anyone to stop receiving messages they don't want. Even though it is a blow to lose the interest of some of your customers, you do not want to make them feel as if you are forcing them to be there. If many people start to opt-out, the best to do to is ask yourself what you can change to keep more people on board.
Mobile marketing is a great way to stay in touch with customers, but it can only be effective if you follow certain rules. The article above had several good ideas that any beginner should keep in mind. It may seem like a lot to digest, but you will be very thankful for this information once you start to see an increase in profits.
Friday, 11 January 2013
Local SEO Marketing
Be the first choice in your local geography
Google’s Venice update introduced modifications in its search algorithm to correctly interpret the intent of search queries and provide local results where applicable. Since then Google and other leading search engines such as Bing and Yahoo have introduced several new features to improve local organic search.
The SEO strategy for local businesses will, however, vary from those practised by global businesses. Below we discuss a few steps that your local businesses should explore to rank higher in local search results.
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Mobile Marketing Advice For Growing Your Business
If you've been wanting to set foot into the field of mobile marketing, then you are onto something. Mobile marketing is undoubtedly a growing field with plans to take over how people view the Internet and browsing. There is much to learn, and there are many available opportunities. Continue reading to find out some great mobile marketing advice for growing your business.
There are many different ways you can tap into the field of mobile marketing. You can take on an SMS or MMS campaign, and you can even start your own phone app. You definitely should make a mobile version of your site available to the public. You also want to consider mobile advertising as well as anything new and trending that comes to the surface. You have so many options. One of the biggest up and coming trends is people purchasing with the push of a button from their phone. More and more people are taking advantage of mobile shopping.
Mobile marketing is all about reaching the customer at just about any time because you're sending them messages or communicating with them on a device that is with them at all times. This is a very personal form of communication, and the privileges you have when mobile marketing should not be abused.
This goes to say that you should not be sending too many messages to your targeted customers, and you should always watch at what hours you send them. Also, you need to make sure that information you get from your customers is not leaked to any third parties in any type of way.
Make sure you always keep your messages very short. You even want to shorten links when used, and you definitely want your messages only to grab the attention of the reader and get to the point quickly. Don't include images or files for videos that are extremely large. Don't get too wordy with your text either. This will only serve to irritate your customer, and you won't get your point across. Don't you want them to realize it's just a good idea to hit up your sale? Get to the point!
Realize how cost-efficient mobile marketing truly is, and use this information to adjust how you see mobile marketing strategies fitting into your plan. Maybe you can take on more than you once thought. Think about the innovations of mobile marketing and how they can be integrated with the popularity of social media and all browser related activity with today's phone capabilities.
You are able to use the different mobile marketing techniques and strategies to help grow your business. They are waiting for you to take part, and you just have to develop your plan. Use what you've learned here as you start coming up with a solid mobile marketing plan that will see your business taking a new and more focused and cohesive direction. You want all of your marketing strategies working together, and your efforts in the field of mobile marketing will not misfire if done properly.
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Strategies For Successful Email Marketing
If you really want to use email marketing to its greatest advantage for your business, you need to think about a lot of things. This article can help you to stick to what works and help you determine how to craft your articles for greatest success.
First, you need to get personal. Use their name in every email you send. People like to feel that you are separating them out from the pack. Make sure that you go out of your way to show them you appreciate them personally. Using their name is a start.
Don't forget to add a call to action to your emails. Your email should not stand alone. At the end of every email, mention your site and ask them to look at it, or to make a purchase relevant to what you are discussing. This is an effective way of asking for the sale.
Build a list on your own with a simple opt-in system. Don't buy email addresses. When people don't want your email, they send it right to the spam folder.
Make your emails brief. Think about your own internet use. How often do you want to read pages and pages of text? If you have a lot to say, send the reader to your site for more information.
Use relevant information. Why are you sending email in the first place? If it's just to get the sale, don't be surprised if people ignore your email. You have to build a relationship, and to do that you have to offer value to your subscribers so that they continue to stay interested.
One thing you can do to make your readers happy is to offer special discounts that are only available to people on your list. That way, they feel exclusive and lucky to have gotten a discount. It makes them feel special, and when you help people save money they think you may do that again.
Integrate your emails with your site. This is a great way for you to continue branding yourself. When people see the same logos, fonts and colors that they see on your site, you seem more professional and they respect you that much more. And if they send your email to others, other people will be more interested in seeing what else you have to offer.
Test your emails on different browsers and platforms. With the rise of smartphones, a lot of people aren't even using a computer to check their email anymore. It's important that you make sure that your email can be read well wherever they are accessing it. If it doesn't look right, people will be less likely to see it and less likely to return to your site.
Now that you have these ideas in mind, it should be easier for you to build a marketing campaign with email. It can be easy when you have the right information. Use the tips laid out here to help you reach your customers and build a relationship with them that translates into sales.
Friday, 4 January 2013
Building A User-Friendly Business Website
When building a website, above all else, you want people to come in droves to use it for a purpose. This will solidify your interest and profits. How do you do that? Making a user-friendly site is part of that equation, and you must know how to do this. Continue reading to find out more about building a user-friendly business website for your representation.
What are you building your website for? What is the purpose of your site? Your site needs a clearly defined purpose and mission when approaching the general public. Part of this is knowing your targeted audience and who you're approaching. Learn more about your business and your targeted audience, and take notes concerning a plan to move forward regarding a vision of what your website will bring to the public on the Internet.
Consistency is key when approaching website design. Do you have a logo? What type of branding do you plan on doing? Color schemes and design schemes are great for linking your site pages and other sites you start together that have to do with the same brand, products, purpose, and mission.
You never want to make the mistake of forcing your targeted customers to have to download anything. Give them the option, but don't make it necessary for registration or involvement in your site. While some businesses may not be able to avoid this, it should be avoided at all costs. If not avoided, it's part of the targeted customer expectations, but you don't want this if you don't have to have it. This translates into downloading apps, plugins, and browser upgrades just to see your content or participate with your site.
You want to watch your site for any broken links. These links come about for all kinds of reasons, so don't think you're exempt. The larger your site grows, the more chances you have of broken links occurring. Therefore, you should make it a point to regularly check out the links throughout your site.
You want pages that load fast for your targeted visitors. This means that you need to stay away from Flash for one thing. All your users will not be using the same browsers, Internet connection, or even the same devices; therefore, you must think about this when planning out the content of your pages. Make it easily accessible to everyone, no matter device, browser, or connection speed if possible.
Have a site map for search engines so that people can find your site easily for searches. Also, place keywords in the right spot, not only to grab the attention of the reader, but to grab the attention of the search engines. You see, search engine optimization is a huge part of site design.
Continue learning more about website design as you dive further into getting started with your own business website. Determine what you need to be doing, develop your plan on paper, and get going. Use the tips you've learned here as you now move forward with designing your own personal site.
Use Email Marketing to Boost your Business
Email can help you engage and retain customers
In the digital era, email has replaced traditional forms of communication such as direct mailers thanks to its cost-effectiveness, global reach, and ease of implementation.
Listed below are a few advantages of effectively utilizing email as a marketing medium.



