Spotted Wombat

You have the most beautiful website. It includes everything you've ever wanted. Except... nobody can find you. What's the point of spending thousands of dollars on a website if you get no return on your investment?

There are many things that you can do today to improve your chances of being found on the internet. Start today with just one thing! List yourself on one internet directory per day for the next 10 days. You'll need a keyword-rich description of your services, plus some time to upload the relevant contact information.

Some internet directories you might want to start with are:

www.truelocal.com.au

www.hotfrog.com.au

www.dlook.com.au

You'll find more if you do a simple internet search on business directories or internet directories. Most directories are free, although you may get contacted by a sales person who will try and sell you advertising on their site. My advice? - if you commit to working on making yourself found, then your money is better spent implementing some good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and developing your content.

TIP: Adapt the description about your services for each new directory. Make sure you include your keywords!

Finally! You've set aside the time to do your newsletter. You've got your coffee made, your chair is comfy and you're sitting at your desk. You stare at your screen, hoping the information will flow through you. It doesn't. Often, the hardest part about writing a newsletter is figuring out what to include.

A professional copywriter will save you heaps of time and cost less than you think!  A copywriter that specialises in newsletter design, writing and tracking data will gather relevant content from you and incorporate it into a powerful, targeted sales message.

Your professional copywriter, or newsletter writer, will include some or all of the following segments in your newsletter:

• current and relevant news items that are of interest to your target audience
  
• a theme or topic focus that is relevant to your industry
• articles
• industry expert column - this should be you
  
• new or existing product reminder
• product or service review
• a case-study

Place advertisements strategically throughout your content. Keep them subtle and always content-rich.

Most of all, keep it newsworthy. Rehashing old news, or telling your customer how fabulous you are, is boring. A newsletter provides news.

Spotted Wombat is a comprehensive content marketing and copywriting service in Brisbane, Australia. We provide writing for brochures, newsletters, websites, articles, white papers, press releases, blogs or any online publications.

Brandkarma is a feedback website, which, according to founder Craig Davis, was launched to "help everyone make better brand choices and influence brand behaviour for good". 

Most websites will have glowing customer testomionials. Why? Because no company is going to publish any negative feedback about themselves... Read more >>

There is no doubt that YouTube has come a long way in these five years. And even more spectacular was when Google paid $1.65 billion dollars for YouTube in October, 2006 (the largest amount of money Google has paid for any one company buyout). Read more >>

It's simple. Ebooks are the ideal platform from which to launch your services. An ebook filled with useful tips, case-studies and valuable information will provide a reference source for your customers. 

If your ebook is a source of valuable information to which your customer constantly refers, who do you think they trust? To whom do you think they will give their business?

Here are 3 reasons why an ebook works:

1. You can quickly, visually and inexpensively establish thought-leadership with an ebook that provides relevant information on the toughest challenges your customers face.

By answering your customer's question before they think to ask – by understanding the problems and issues your customer faces from their perspective (not your own) – you build trust. Trust = engagement. Engagement = business.

2. A free ebook sets you up as an expert leader in your field, as well as being a wonderful incentive to entice your prospects to engage with you.

If you are providing useful, relevant information to your customers, they will automatically think of you when they need particular services. By providing information, I don’t mean telling them how wonderful you are, or how fabulous your new premises are. I mean relevant information that solves a customer's problem, answers a question or makes their life easier for them.

3. Ebooks are easy to pass along from one prospect to another, giving you potentially infinite reach.

A free ebook, with valuable information is always welcome. Yes, your competitors may download your ebook and use it for their own game. Bully for them. It has YOUR branding and YOUR business will be the one to benefit. Would you trust someone who nicked someone else’s ebook?

TIPS: Ensure that your ebook is packed full of useful and relevant information. Keep it professional - no spelling or grammatical errors. If writing is not your strong point, get an experienced writer to write your ebook.