Everyone loves video and you can probably guess from the views that people watch video after video on YouTube.
But, I bet you didn’t know that YouTube is the largest Search Engine after Google*.
That means web video can be a powerful marketing tool for you.

What is it about video that engages internet users like nothing else on the web?

No really, we’re asking you, we’re marketing experts, not psychologists.

Regardless of why, web video is a growing trend that can keep people on your site longer, and often improve customer action.

If you’re thinking about trying some web video, here are some things to keep in mind.

It Doesn’t Have To Look Professional

Any camera will do. Internet users are used to low quality video, and in fact for a local business a video shot with a HandyCam or Flip Video will look more natural.
Be careful with audio though! If the audio is distorted, too loud or too quiet it might annoy viewers.

Keep It Short

Generally, the attention span of an internet user won’t allow for more than a three minute video.
If you can keep it to around one minute, even better!

Call To Action

Keep in mind the action you want your viewer to take after watching your video.
A Good call to action is very important, even in video.

If you’re already using Local Mojo’s Complete Web Advertising System, and you want to put a video up for your customers, let us know! Our web design experts can help you put the video online for the world to see.

Here is an example of a top notch web video for a small business; La Madusa Restaurant in Seattle.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZuQPjf2GNE

Note the low video quality, decent audio, three minute length and scattered calls to action throughout.

* As of 2008, ComScore reported that YouTube was second in monthly traffic after Google. Recently, Facebook has become the most frequented site on the web knocking YouTube down to number three.

When someone is surfing the web, reading a magazine or watching television, they’re not always ready to react appropriately to an advertisement.
As a marketer you have to guide the consumer to your most desired action (MDA).

Examples Of Desirable Actions

* Call a phone number
* Join a mailing list/newsletter
* Email you for information
* Buy something!

How To Win Sales And Influence People

Guiding someone through your MDA can be surprisingly difficult.
Especially when a particular ad’s MDA is to drive sales directly.

Convincing someone to buy something is tough, and no one can give you a magic bullet that will work every time; not even Dale Carnegie.

There are some tried and true methods however that can help increase the chances someone viewing your ad will react to it.

Start Using Calls To Action Today!

Calls to action can work wonders, especially if your ad’s MDA is for consumers to inquire further about what you offer.
Calls to action excite!
they get the heart rate pumping, and act like a shiny object someone just has to pick up! (Or in the above context click on.)

Give Me Stuff!

People like free stuff, even if it’s just an awesome promise. Add an incentive to your MDA for some added value:

At Local Mojo, We’re So Sure Of Our Site Visitor Offering, That If You Don’t Get The 150 Clicks We Promised, We’ll Give You Your Money Back!

It’s sales 101. Give them an offer they’ll have trouble turning down.
Urgency can also work wonders. Use limited time offers as incentives, so people feel more inclined to Buy Now Before This Offer Disappears!

Be Obvious… Obviously

Don’t make your customers follow a maze to end up at your MDA.
You don’t need to be pushy, but make sure your offer is very easy to find regardless of the chosen advertising outlet.

Also keep in mind that Americans read left to right, top to bottom.
Maybe that explains why company logos are almost always at the top left of their websites?

Finally, and this is especially true on the internet; most people hate reading a lot of content.
Be strategic with what you write, and keep it to a minimum.
Customers will thank you for it and be far more likely to find your offer and commit to your MDA.

We know how excited you are about your new offering!
It really is great! But the reasons you think it’s great and the reasons your customers think it’s great, more often than not, are quite different.

It may seem like common sense, but thinking like your customers is step one in creating effective ads.

One of the most common traps marketing newbies fall into, is using language and selling points that appeal to them and not their consumer target.
In our world of keywords, and search engine results, you really have to know how your customers think.

1. Do The Research

Find companies similar to yours.
Even better, find companies similar to yours that are successful!
How are they selling their products and services?
What language and calls to action seem to be working for them?

2. Do… Well… More Research!

Now you want to find out how consumers are finding what you sell.
There are some great free tools for this that actually use data from Google to suggest terms to use for online ads.
Our favorite is the Search Based Keyword Tool.
Google it!

3. Place Some Ads

Now you know how your competition is doing it, and how your customer’s are looking for it.
With this information you should be able to create a very targeted, effective ad.

Whether you’re placing an ad online, in a magazine or anywhere else you want to reach consumers,
Knowing how your customer base thinks about your products and services is very important.

And not to brag, but with Local Mojo’s AdMaximizer Pay-Per-Click programs, we do all the thinking for you!

That’s right! Manners!
Of all the advertising channels available to you as a marketer, social media can be one of the most beneficial, but also the most difficult to capitalize on.
If you choose to use social media in your online campaign, follow the rules and be consistent.
Otherwise, it can hurt you more than help you.

1. Participate In The Community

You want people to follow you, but you need to be a follower as well. Find other companies and individuals that interest you and follow them. Respond to comments, and initiate relevant conversations. Be polite of course!

2. Nurture Relationships

Social media is about interacting and nurturing relationships with your customers. Being promotional on a social network is a big no no. You want to develop relationships with your followers that keep them faithful, and in turn open up opportunities for more revenue.

3. Be Consistent

Signing in once a month or even once a week is just not enough when it comes to social networking. If you don’t have the time to be consistent or don’t have the money to hire someone, you’re better off opting out of social networks for your business.

It’s Simple Really

If you feel like you can handle the etiquette of social networking, and have the time to login regularly, you should do pretty well on social networks. It takes time to build your own community, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Have you ever purchased ad space and then sat back waiting for results?
Or maybe you wanted to purchase ad space but you were unsure of how to measure its success.

One of the nice things about advertising online is that, since everything takes place inside a computer, it’s fairly easy to measure results.

“Where is the data that gives me the results, Mr. Local Mojo Newsletter?”

We’re glad you asked!

Today, we will tell you about one of the fundamental online ad measurements: Click Through Rate! (CTR)
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What Is Click Through Rate?

Click Through Rate (CTR) is determined by dividing the number of clicks on an ad by the number of times the ad was viewed (impressions).

I Have To Do Math?

Not if you have a calculator!

Is My CTR Good?

Like many in the advertising world, this is a loaded question.
Generally speaking though, the average CTR these days is 0.2-0.3%
A CTR higher than 0.5% is pretty awesome!

What Do I Do With This Data?

An ad’s CTR can really help you adjust its effectiveness.
Messaging and calls to action are very important to increasing CTR… but that’s for another newsletter.

Foursquare is a new proximity-based social network fused with a game. As soon as a business has it’s address in place, users can “check in” and leave helpful tips for future visitors. Unlike most social networks that require dimly-lit rooms and too much free time, Foursquare requires users to go somewhere when they use it.

How It Works

* Login to Foursquare and the application tells you what businesses nearby are registered.
* After checking in you can leave tips at the location for others to see
* See what rewards or specials each business offers once you “check in”
* If you are the most frequent visitor at a location, you become the “mayor”
* You earn badges based on a point system

How You Can Use It

With Foursquare for business you can have a free built in customer loyalty program.
Businesses have begun offering incentives to their most loyal Foursquare visitors.
Some may give free fries to the mayor on each visit, or even just name a drink after them. The important thing is that Foursquare gives businesses and customers a unique way to interact and promote each other within their local community.
The customer proves how great an establishment is in return for a bit of renown.

Use Twitter as a Promotional Tool

Just like most marketing tools, Twitter can be used for good or evil. You can use Twitter for good and build community and a following for your business, or you can use Twitter for evil and annoy and spam your followers…who won’t be following for long.

It’s up to you, and for those of you opting for the “good” use of Twitter
here are some tips.

Tweeting 101:

1. Use Twitter to make your customers feel like a part of your family.

2. If you have a promotional contest, post the name of the winner.

3. Thank your customers for busy nights and awards your business has received.

4. Be consistent! The whole point of marketing with Twitter is to keep customers engaged.

Effective Use of Twitter Posts

“Duffy’s Sports Grill” in South Florida uses Twitter very effectively to engage customers:

Duffy’s does a great job of keeping Twitter follower’s engaged by having a lot of contests and then posting the results on Twitter.

Your business may take a different approach, for example: A coffee shop could post recipes for gourmet coffee drinks, or better yet, post customer created recipes.

This community based approach on Twitter will always work better than simply trying to sell.  Your customers will continue following you because they will feel important to your business.

When it comes to attracting customers to your business using the internet, content can make or break a marketing campaign.
At the end of the day, it will always be up to you to get customers interested in what you offer, and urge them to make a purchase.

When writing for an online audience, keep the following points in mind:

* Who is your audience and why should they buy from you?
* What sets you apart from your competitors?
* What action should a customer take after viewing your ad?
* When the customer contacts you, what offer do you want them to inquire about?

2. Use Calls To Action

Solid calls to action are often the most important element of an online campaign.
Once you have a customer’s attention, you have to Tell them what to do.

A shoe store in Florida could say something like: “Your feet are sweating! Call 555.5555 Today And Ask About Our Sandal Specials!”

This call to action accomplishes several things:

* Develops need: It’s Florida, your feet get hot!
* Tells the customer to call
* Tells the customer to ask about a specific offer (a great way to measure the ads effectiveness)

The call to action should stand out, and be easy to read and understand.

Keep color and size in mind as well. Certain colors have psychological effects. If the call to action is larger than the rest of your content it will attract a reader’s eyes.

Read more about writing good calls to action in this article from boagworld.com:

10 Techniques For An Effective Call To Action

During a recent analysis of a site that is a Homestead.com client we found some alarming results. Their motto of “Get a Site. Get found. Get customers.” could not be further from the truth. We recently analyzed one of their websites http://spruchcommunications.com through WebsiteGrader.com and it returned a score of 15 out of 100. In my years of using WebsiteGrader.com and reviewing 100’s of sites I have never seen one with a score that low. To make matters even worse if you search for their company name Sprunch Communications and the site does not come up in the first 10 pages (I stopped looking after that). When searching for the actual site http://spruchcommunications.com that does not even come up at all!

The sad thing is these customers are thinking they will be receiving a site that helps them “Get Found” when this is nearly impossible. On a positive note Homestead does have the ability to use different design templates and customize the look of the site to some degree which is a nice feature. However they are sacrificing everything when it comes to optimization and the ability to “Get Found”.

Just for comparison when running the AgencyWeb – Local Mojo site through Website Grader and it came back with a score of 84. We are also working on developing and addressing some technical aspects that will improve these scores even more. Free Local Mojo sites, are optimized for Local Search right out of the box. For only $49.99 to $199.99 a month you can add a wide range of services ranging from pay per click advertising, analytics, and submissions to over 100 search engines and directories. These are the things that will help you Get Found.

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Local Mojo Site