What Is Local SEO? How to Use Social Media To Target Local Customers?

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The internet is the most powerful tool in the world. It’s changed our lives and made connecting with people from all over the planet more accessible. But what about when you want to talk to people who live right in your backyard? Suppose you’re running a local business or trying to reach out to your local community. In that case, local SEO is an essential part of how your business can stand out from the crowd—and get discovered by potential customers.

What Is Local SEO?
Local Search Engine Optimization, or Local SEO, is finding your business online through people in your local area. It can accomplish through organic listings on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo and other online directories such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google Maps.
It’s about ensuring you’re showing up in the results of Google searches and other search engines – but it also means optimizing your website so that people find what they need locally. You should also ensure that you have accurate information about opening times on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter so that users can see whether or not they can pop into one of your stores before heading home after work.

How to Use Social Media to Target Local Customers?

Optimize your page for local visibility
You have now taken the first step in local SEO. Now it’s time to optimize your site for local visibility. To do this, you must ensure that your business information is accurate on Google and other search engines. Like adding a local phone number, your mailing address, and business hours of operation, to name a few.

Google My Business
Google My Business helps you gain more visibility in your local community by making it easy for customers to find and connect with your business on Google. How does it work?
After you’ve claimed your business, you can get found when people search on Google Maps and Google search, as well as through ads. In organic results, you’ll also see a snippet of basic information like your address and phone number. It’s important to note that only verified businesses are eligible for this feature.

Facebook Places
Facebook Places allows you to create a page similar to Google My Business.
Your information here will aid people in finding your product or services on Facebook but not on Google. It will help boost the organic reach of your Facebook posts, as they will appear in search results if someone searches for them specifically.
The description should match what you have on other platforms, and use the exact keywords when possible; also, include photos from your website or other social media profiles.

Foursquare
What is Foursquare? Foursquare is a location-based social networking site for mobile devices that gives your business a mobile footprint. With more people using portable devices to search for companies, a presence on Foursquare is a popular social media platform for local businesses. Create a Foursquare Page and connect it with your Twitter account. When you create your page, make sure you complete your Page Profile. Now you want to add your listing to Four square’s searchable database. Just click on “The List My Business” tab, and follow the instructions. If you don’t have a business listing, you can create it at https://foursquare.com/login?continue=%2Fadd_venue. The business listing will ask for your phone number, your website’s URL links to your Twitter and Facebook profiles, hours of operation, and a description of your business. Make sure you include all the information.
Once your business listing is there on Foursquare, claim it. When you claim your location, you are telling Foursquare you are the manager of that venue. You can claim multiple locations of Foursquare; all you need to do is to provide verifiable contact information. Once you have listed and claimed your site on Foursquare, you can begin adding specials, checking your analytics, and much more. But the most important way to use Foursquare is to take the time to build a network of just local followers and interact with them.

Business Information
Make sure your business info is correct in all places. You can use the same name and address on all your marketing materials, website, and social media accounts.
If you’re a new business, set these things up immediately so you can start local search engine optimization as soon as possible. If you already have a website, make sure of all changes across all pages.

Keywords and Hashtags
A helpful tip is to use geo-specific keywords and hashtags. Local SEO is more than just ranking highly in Google. It’s also about targeting customers searching for a specific product or service in their area, so they can easily find you when they’re ready to buy.
You must ensure that your website is suitable for local search and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for any videos and Instagram. Use geo-specific keywords and hashtags on these sites so that people looking for local businesses can find yours.

Conclusion
Local SEO is a great way to grow your business and reach more customers. It’s essential to take steps now so that when you open up your new branch or expand, you will be okay with Google and Facebook. The key takeaway is that local SEO can be compelling if done correctly.

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Tips to Boost Your Popularity Online

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Do you recall your days back in high school? For many students, high school for the most part was about popularity, or simply how to become popular in school.
If you were a guy, maybe you would join the football team, or if a girl perhaps the drill team or cheer-leading. But what if you didn’t like football? What if you didn’t want to be a cheerleader? Then you could simply become a friend to someone who was on the team or squad. Then you could increase your chances to be popular by simply becoming a friend with someone who was. Believe it or not-the same can be true with your website.
People, products, brands, and your business— all need a little familiarity to get recognized, tested, and eventually accepted. In some instances, familiarization itself is sometimes not enough and being popular is far more convincing. To reach your targets considerably, establishing a website that garners traffic and popularity is a much desired goal.
Increasing traffic to your website can be done in a number of ways and it takes time. But how can you make your website popular? Just remember your approach in high school. However, here are 5 few tips to boost your popularity online.

1. The Back-links
Back-links are integral factors in improving traffic to your website. However, not all back-links are good for your website. Only those that are relevant to your industry.
So what you can do is perform a search for the most popular websites relevant to your industry. Look for the ones that may invite you to leave a comment on an article or idea. Most of these sites may allow you to leave a back-link linking to your own website. Be sure to read the article well and leave a good comment, thanking them for sharing. If you do this on a regular basis you can develop a good rapport with them, like becoming a friend with someone popular in high school.

2. Quality Contents
People like reading articles that make sense. If it is of no use, then what would be the purpose of reading it? In writing a worthwhile piece, write something that people do care to know about your products, about the company, its benefits, and many more. You can even write in detail of some sort regarding your clients’ concerns and queries. Eventually, this would likely clear up the clouds building in the minds of your valued clients. Make yourself an expert in the eyes of your reader.

3. Social Media Engagements
Social media has become more than just a platform for socialization. It has also become a means for improving website traffic. Just consider a user has picked an interest in your post and eventually sharing it, this means the user got engaged with what you have shared. These users, in the long run, have become your force multiplier, by using social media.
How are you going to get those clicks and shares? Firstly, simply make your posts concise and interesting. Lastly, be people-oriented. Do not be too obvious in selling out your brands or products. Instead, just give a helping hand!

4. The Responsive and Flexible Website
Time is precious! Nowadays, people who like to know something conveniently and in a short span of time would prefer to search the web through their mobile devices. Therefore, make your website flexible and view able on a wide range of devices. If people see that your website is flexible from any device, this will certainly increase your popularity online.

5. Directory Submissions
According to LinkCollider, directory submissions can increase the volume of traffic to your website and has the effect of also increasing your search engine rankings. As a matter of fact, this is a cost-effective approach because it opens up new doors to different websites. In the long run, it boosts your link building activities. Directories submissions are also good because your search engines see that your site is gaining some popularity and will rank you accordingly.
There are lots of directories, but the query starts on what directory should you go to? Here are some that you can try to give your website boost it’s popularity online.

All Free Things (http://www.allfreethings.com)
Travel Tourism Directory Info (http://www.traveltourismdirectory.info)
High-Rank Directory (http://www.highrankdirectory.com)
Marketing Internet Directory (http://www.marketinginternetdirectory.com)
Submission Web Directory (http://www.submissionwebdirectory.com)
Link (http://www.lilink.com)
Feed Up Info (http://www.feedup.info)
Hot Vs Not (http://www.hotvsnot.com)
Direct My Link (http://www.directmylink.com)
Master Moz (http://www.mastermoz.com)

Traffic and Popularity are Earned!
Indeed, creating, maintaining and boosting your website is a challenge. It calls for a lot of hard work and sometimes a little strategy and creativity. The bottom line lies on the appropriate approaches and their implications. So just like those days back in school-recall if not from yourself, the desire, the desperation from someone else to be popular, and use those same techniques to boost your popularity online.

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7 Social Media Platforms Effective for Business

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Congratulations! You have successfully started your business or at least launched your business website online! How will you market it? Paid advertisement is essential but expensive! Using social media is what many businesses are doing now because of its reach online, and because that’s where the people are!
So the question is: What effective social media platform can be use for most businesses? Or let’s say my business? What an appropriate question!
Nowadays, there are tons of social media platforms at your disposal. These are all effective social media platforms where you can create an amazing following. However, you don’t have to sign up for all new and popular social media sites on the planet. Trust us when we say you would rather be excellent with one or two platforms rather than be mediocre with four five or six!
A number of accounts in different social media sites don’t matter. Instead, pick one or two channels and focus your target marketing there. If you need some guidance on what is the best social media site/s for you, tips and information are available for you to determine the most effective social media channels out there. But for now here are seven of the most effective social media platforms that you can use for your business.

1. Facebook
What can we say? Over 1.11 billion people are into this famous social media site. Besides catching up with loved ones from overseas, Facebook did a wonderful job for many aspiring entrepreneurs out there. If you’re a start-up entrepreneur, we suggest you try the waters of Facebook first before jumping on any other platforms.
Facebook has established itself quite well and you can use that to your advantage. You will be easier seen on this social media site with an option to send you a private message, browse your products and even share your goods to a wider network. We firmly believe your target marketing strategies will not be wasted on this site. Indeed Facebook is an effective social media platform for you business. On facebook, you will be able to launch a seperate business page or “Fan Page” to promte your business and to also leverage the use of group pages as well.

2. Twitter
Twitter is an astonishing social media platform that can promote your business in 140 characters or fewer. This is a site that garners over 215 million active users or potential customers. This great site is generally made for communication so you know that customers can reach you 24/7. What’s more special about Twitter is that you can incorporate your own hashtag brand so you’ll be easier searched or be on the most popular page.
Word of the wise, this effective social media platform can get you viral in no time! Proven and effective way to increase your business’ popularity.

3. Instagram
Instagram is a good platform if you like photos. Just open an account and build your audience to engage and post any pictures relevant to your business, add a cute or useful tagline and then link them to your website.
If used properly, your followers may skyrocket more than what you’re expecting.

4. LinkedIn
This effective social media platform is made for business people to interact with others. Sometimes it is used by job seekers to find potential employers but most of the time it is used to increase your audience. Business owners realized the value of this site and the opportunities to build relationships and sales leads. An estimated 2.7 million business pages are on LinkedIn, each interacting with each other for partnership, proposal, quotations etc.
Just a quick heads up LinkedIn has a humongous number of professionals so expect important business dealing. It is not similar to Facebook or Twitter where any start-ups can be casual. On LinkedIn, you need to look professional so people can take your business seriously. Nevertheless, don’t be intimidated though as the users on this social media channel are really friendly. You’ll never be out of place here.

5. YouTube
1 billion unique visitors every month – that’s how huge this video-oriented site is. Not to mention that it’s the second largest search engine after Google! How’s that for target marketing and popularity boost? YouTube can literally take you to places with increasing your customers every second someone clicks on your video.
You can even sponsor a commercial where they can stream over millions of videos. Oh, did we also mention that YouTube is owned by Google? You don’t have to worry about search engine rankings at all with this platform.

6. Pinterest
Pinterest is another effective social media platform made for business-especially if your business involves products to promote. All you need are good photos of your products and post or “PIN” them on a board representing a certain category and then build your following to interact. The people on Pinterest are friendly and sometimes helpful to promote even your own products. It is worth signing up just to get a little familiar and start getting your business or brand out there to be seen on the internet!

7. Foursquare
While most social media platforms will connect to people all accross the web, Foursquare is design to target local follower at the exact location of your business. Over 50 million people use Foursquare whether for online or offline businesses. So for storefront owners, you would want to learn how to leverage this effective social media tool. Just simply go to Foursquare, sign up, follow the guides, and engage as you would with other social media platforms, but keep in mind these will be local followers as potential customers to you business.

 

Social media is really simple to use and inexpensive! It’s all about one thing-engagement! Once you get a good feel at using social media-the more you will be effective in promoting your brand and they can become a powerful tool for your business. So whatever you choose from these effective social media channels, just remember to focus first on one or two at a time, so your marketing will be successful to a large degree.

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The Best Days and Times to Post to Your Favorite Social Media [Infographic]

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best times to postWhen is the best day and time to post to the most popular social networking sites in order to reach the most people that happens to be online? Whether you are posting just for fun or involve in a marketing campaign, knowing the best days or time may prove to be helpful.
Timing means everything in social media marketing, or even if you’ll wanting to share some information you think others would enjoy. The fact that you are working in different social platforms, you have to be wary about the peak time. One social media site’s climax is different from the other due to demographic reasons and the description of a particular platform. Here are a few examples.

Daytime Posting

Social activity tends to happen more often during the daytime— clicks and sharing. The two entities are different and peak times are different, but happens at the same span. During this period, you can interact with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. According to addthis.com, sharing happens in the morning while clicking reign in the afternoon hours. In addition to this, the site tipped that company should post in the afternoon to gain more clicks.

• Facebook Regardless of the day you want to interact on Facebook, daytime is best as work tends to slow down. However, if you really want to receive more engagement, then post your content on Thursdays and Fridays.Best Times Infographic-3
• Google+ Posting in Google+ is also best done in the morning. People usually visit G+ between 9 AM and 10 AM according to Hubspot. However, if you want more engagement to happen, update on Wednesdays.
• LinkedIn This social platform is inclined to professionals and businesses. If you want to receive more views, then post before the start of work according to Entrepreneur.com. Otherwise, you will not be able to make that impression. Nonetheless, the best days in posting are Tuesdays and Thursdays.best times to post
• Twitter For more views on your Twitter, then tweet around 1 to 3 PM from Mondays to Thursdays. If your tweet comes with a photo, the more it will incur clicks. A good tool to use for Twitter for best times to post is Tweriod.com.

Evening Posting

Pinterest is yet another social media site where you can share your work and other rich media. The users are more active during night time as they tend to wind down from their work.best times to post

Conclusion

People do not go online at the same time. This only makes sense that your social media marketing strategy should be geared towards the time where people interact the most. If you do, then engagement and brand impression can be maximized.

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5 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About SEO

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CompetitorsWhat your competitors can teach you about SEO

Search engine optimization or simply SEO is one complex mechanism that even professionals get a hard time in cracking out the shell. For a fact, the algorithm has been changing overtime as search engines always want to give the people justifiable and reliable results for their queries. If you are an SEO professional, how can you get your hands on the top page?
To keep the content in top rankings, your search engine optimization strategies should always be legit and updated. Any foul schemes can be detected and eventually will sink your ranking to a lower level. In light of this, here are some tactics that you can practice to catch up with any search engines’ changes in algorithm.

Lesson #1: Content is king

Over the years, the content has remained as one integral factor in search engine optimization success. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have always known that people are up to valuable content and not something empty-worded article. If you want your content to live up with the results, then you better affix high quality attribute. Furthermore, avoid putting duplicate content into your website. Observe your competitors articles in relations with their SEO technique or strategy.

Lesson #2: Getting reliable links

One thing that will surefire the success of search engine optimization is the links. This still works until today, but it now has to do with “natural and earned” links. Even if you buy links, there is no absolute guarantee that these links will count.
So how are you going to earn these links that are acceptable to the search engines? It may take up a lot of hard work and luck, but you can earn these links through endorsements. If you influenced other bloggers or journalists to write something about your business and link it to your site, then the search engine will count it in. You can get a good idea on how your competitors are doing this.

Lesson #3: Not overdoing keywords optimization

A content enriched with keyword can be the downfall of search engine optimization. You should take note that search engines can read between the lines. Therefore, keep the specific keywords at bay and use other keywords instead. You will notice how a certain site have good use of keywords but never overdo it.

Lesson #4: Work on social media

Social media plays an integral role in uplifting your online ranking. It should be remembered that the stance of social media is wide and so is its capability to bring quality traffic. Therefore, be active in updating your social media accounts and do not forget to link your content back to your site as part of your search engine optimization strategy. Look at your competitors site and notice how well they do this-normally on the right side of their pages.

Lesson #5: Be patient and always be updated

One time search engine optimization will not instantly make your site recognizable by the search engines. It takes times as you implement several tasks to attain a long-lasting impact on your website’s traffic and rankings. Apart from being patient, you also have to keep yourself updated on the current happenings on the algorithm of search engines. It is through knowledge that you can tailor your strategies in optimizing a website.

If you don’t know who your competitor is simply “google” your keyword or phrase, and the first three sites are going to be the competition. But you’re not going to want to compete with the “big boys” as of yet, so look for websites close to your size for they will be your real competitors.
Indeed, working with search engine optimization is no easy task. In order to be successful, you should unify all the factors or techniques in SEO to reap out justifiable and good ranking.

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6 Effective SEO Tips to Guarantee Good Website Traffic

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Woman In Traffic

6 Effective SEO Tips to Guarantee Good Website Traffic

When was the last time you found yourself stuck on a freeway during rush hour, or downtown in a traffic jam, or just  simply trying to cross a busy street? There just doesn’t seem to be anything good about the word “traffic.” But that was before the wonder world of the internet. Now if you have a website of any kind, and you want to be found-you need traffic. Good traffic! And the more the merrier. So it’s important that we touch on a few effective seo tips to guarantee good website traffic.

Whether you are running an eCommerce website or a blog, it should speak for itself and reach millions of people online. This would only be possible if you get through of what you can call as Search Engine Optimization or simply SEO. However, many beginners and even veterans encounter troubles in making it on top of the search engine results due to complexity and demands of the process.

According to Blog Growth, there is more than 100 billion searches that occurs on a monthly basis and 70% of it takes place on Google. With this, SEO come into the picture to resolve your conundrum on how you can be on top. Speaking of being on top, SEO is quite demanding and yet, it will greatly contribute to your website’s reputation and credibility.

To get ahead against your competitors and earn massive traffic, bear these tips in mind. Efficient execution of the following  6 seo tips will highly tantamount to your success. So let’s get started!

  • Focus on Long-tail Keywords. One of the basics of SEO is keyword research.  If you are struggling to be on top, then try finding long-tail keywords through the Google’s Keyword Tool. Long tail keywords are a type of keyword phrase that has at least three, and some times as many as five words in the phrase.  For example, “home remedies for bed bugs” or “how to get rid of depression” are long-tail keywords compared to the more competitive search terms “bed bugs” or “depression”.

For a fact, the significance of keywords is undeniable to SEO. It is through these key terms that Google looks on articles, images, and website pages as they are being searched by the users. Although there are thousands of helpful articles or content, not all of them are being brought on the first page. Only the most relevant are shown.

  • Create Quality Content. “Content is king.” This is what SEO will always say in optimizing a website. Well, there is no doubt to it since people are always searching for quality articles. Therefore, always do an extensive research and write uniquely.
  • Optimize the Articles. Once you have created the article, it is about time to optimize it. The essentials to these are keywords, descriptions, and meta-title. As for the keywords, these are the terms that can be found in the post. Insert the keyword in the title to make the permalink keyword-rich as well. The second one which is the description should be concise around having less than 160 characters only. It should be in a descriptive paragraph form. Lastly, the meta-title should have less than 60 characters and should be SEO rich.
  • Practice Ethical Link Building. SEO does not only have to work on-page. It also covers the off-page aspects and embedding keyword links is the pillar to off-page SEO. You can ask someone or a credible source to embed the keywords back to your site. Anyhow, it will yield good results. Apart from this, you can also link your new post to your previous content covering the same niche.
  • Make Use of Multimedia. Images and videos are contents that generate more clicks in   comparison    with texts. Therefore, you will also have to optimize them by adding keywords and descriptions.
  • Ease of Websites. You should remember that search engines also consider the interface of websites. If it is poorly designed and burdens a user to navigate the site, then it will not attract the search engines. Therefore, avoid putting large files on your website that delays loading. Nevertheless, make it more appealing and friendly to the search engines and searchers.

SEO
So all traffic is not bad traffic anymore. Now there’s good traffic! There are a lot of ways to let your brand or website known in the cyber world. It only requires hard work and efficient execution of SEO strategies, and these seo tips will help. Nevertheless, it is only right to say that SEO is the mastermind behind organic searches so that others can find you online.

I hope you enjoyed this post on 6 effective seo tips to guarantee good website traffic.

Reginald Jackson
Social Media Specialist and Blogger in Dallas Texas

What Is Social Media

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6 Ways to Determine If Need a VA to Manage Social Media?

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Virtual AssistantThis is a follow-up to an earlier post entitled “What Is A Social Media Virtual Assistant?”

 

 

A good question that I am frequently asked-but before I answer, as a business owner, you will need to determine a few things to set a solid foundation for your social media plan.

1) Solid Marketing Plan? Do you have a solid marketing plan?  NOT just social media,which is still the foundation and fabric of your outreach. Remember, social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Comeoninside.com are all TOOLS). Just like in a tool box, some tools are more effective for some projects than others.
My biggest heartbreak is to see an overwhelmed business owner who thinks they “have” to be on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and YouTube all at the same time. The dirty little secret is, not all social media platforms are good for all businesses. Truthfully, if you are promoting a message to the wrong  Twitter followers for example, how much valuable time would you be wasting?

2) Social Media Platforms List. Make a list of the social media platforms you currently have a profile on (i.e. Facebook Fan Page, Linkedin, Twitter, YouTube, Come on inside, etc.) This will help you determine if you want to continue on these platforms.

3) Social Media Time. How much time are you or your team spending ENGAGING on these platforms? Not just pre-posting or “pushing” your info, but genuinely interacting with your Facebook fans, Linkedin connections, Twitter followers, etc?

4) Social Media Presence. How much time do you WANT to spend on any given platform? What type of engagement do your client desire? What type of relationship are your clients asking from you?

5) Determine Time Needed. Once you have a determination of the amount of TIME needed, then you will know if a social media  assistant is a good fit.
Your time has to be worth something. Just like you are an expert in your field, your Social Media VA would be the same managing your online campaigns for you.

Based on approved guidelines the Social Media VA would be responsible for:
•Connecting with various types of professionals
•Updating content and making sure the content is linked with appropriate keywords, seo, etc.
•Distributing blogs and events to various locations. A lot of work.
•A good social media assistant or manager will give you statistics on what your social media plan is achieving. Platforms include but not limited to: Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

I would recommend that a Social Media VA only answers or responds to people on your behalf, with the business owner’s consent. Some business owners will want to reply to negative conversations themselves, let’s say on Facebook or Twitter for example, or some will  leave that entirely up to you. So it’s good to have an experience or trained Social Media Manager to help you, if that being the case.

6) Your Time’s Value in Dollars. Once you know the amount of time your company is spending on relating in social media, you figure out the cost to your business for those hours. If your team used those hours in a different area of your business – how much more successful will you be? That dollar figure is your new “marketing” budget for a Social Media Virtual Assistant. Their hourly rates will vary depending on location or specialty, from about $40 to $70/ hour. If you want expert results, then you will welcome an expert on your team as well.

By Angel Lebak of Virtual Assistant Social Media.com

Regardless if you hire a Social Media VA now or wait until your budget allows, social media management is quickly becoming a part of many companies marketing plans. So to be sure you have the accurate tools on hand to get the desired results, just click here for Contact information for RTJ Online-Social Media Assistant.

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How to Craft a Killer “Elevator Pitch” For Your Business

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This article will explain the elements of a powerful elevator pitch and then walk you through how to craft your own.

What is an Elevator Pitch?

This is the 30-60 second business description of what you do and why someone should work with you. It’s called an “Elevator Pitch” because it describes the challenge: “How would you explain your business and make a sale if fate placed you in an elevator with your dream prospect and you only had the time it takes to get from the top of the building to the bottom?”

Why Is Having an Elevator Pitch So Important?
You only have 30-60 seconds to make a powerful first impression. The attention span of the average person is just 30 seconds before their mind starts wandering. The other reason is people have less time today. You need to grab them quickly or lose them forever.

Essential Elements of a Powerful Elevator Pitch
1. Concise. Your pitch should take no longer than 30-60 seconds.

2. Clear. Use language that everyone understands. Don’t use fancy words thinking it will make you sound smarter. Your listener won’t understand you and you’ll have lost your opportunity to hook them.

3. Powerful. Use words that are powerful and strong. Deliver the “Sis-Boom-Bang” to grab their attention!

4. Visual. Use words that create a visual image in your listeners mind. This will make your message memorable.

5. Tell a Story. A short story, that is. A good story is essentially this: someone with a problem either finds a solution or faces tragedy. Either type of story can be used to illuminate what you do.

6. Targeted. A good elevator pitch is aimed for a specific audience. If you have target audiences that are vastly different, you might want to have a unique pitch for each.

7. Goal Oriented. A great elevator pitch is designed with a specific outcome in mind. What is your desired outcome? You may have different pitches depending on different objectives. For instance do you want to: make a sale , gain a prospect, enlist support for an idea, or earn a referral.

8. Has a Hook. This is the element that literally snags your listener’s interest and makes them want to know more. This is the phrase or words that strike a chord in your listener.
How to Craft Your Killer Elevator Pitch

  • Write down what you do. Write it several different ways. Try writing it at least 10-20 different ways. Don’t edit yourself at all. You will edit later. This first step is for generating ideas. Don’t hold back. Ideas can be goofy, serious, wild, funny, or conservative. It doesn’t matter. The goal is to get at many ideas as possible down on paper.
  • Write a very short story that illustrates what you do for people. If necessary, the story can be long. You will boil it down later. Paint a picture with words.
  • Write down your objective or goal. Do you want to make a sale, gain a prospect, enlist support for an idea, earn a referral, or something else?
  • Write 10-20 action statements. This is a statement or question designed to spur the action associated with your goal.
  • Record yourself. You can use Dragon Dictation if you don’t have a recording device. Dragon Dictation is a free phone based service that translates your messages into text as well as providing an online link to the original audio.
  • Let it sit. Come back to what you’ve written with fresh eyes and ears the next day or later on in the same day.
  • Highlight the good stuff. Listen and read through what you’ve recorded and written. Then either highlight or circle the phrases that hook you with clear, powerful, and visual words. Obviously not all the words will fall into these categories. You still need connector words, but you want them to be as few as possible.
  • Put the best pieces together. Again you’ll want to write down several versions of this much tighter pitch. Tell us what you do and why people should want to do business with you. Include elements from your story if you can fit it in.
  • Do a final edit cutting as many unnecessary words as possible. Rearrange words and phrases until it sounds just right. Again, the goal is 30-60 seconds maximum.
  • Dress Rehearsal. Run it by as many people as you can get to listen to you. Get feedback from colleagues, clients you trust, friends and family.
  • Done for now. Take your final elevator pitch and write it down. Memorize and practice it until it just slides off your tongue naturally.
  • Continue to improve. Over time, always be on the listen for phrases that you think could make your elevator pitch more clear and impactful. And then test it out. Every once in a while you will probably benefit by starting from scratch because things always change: you, your business , your goals, and your clients’ needs.

By K Stone of Life Learning Today

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What is a Social Media Virtual Assistant

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Find out what a social media virtual assistant does and how one can help you and your business.
Today, it’s essential and similar to brushing your teeth, that for businesses to develop and bloom, a social media presence is of utmost importance for thriving businesses. Mostly, it is due to people talking about your brand or product, negatively and positively.

Social media and the tools that they possess are extremely effective to reach millions of online users from around the world, verses a traditional website and definitely more effective than paper marketing because of technological advancement.

I know most of you’ve heard about Social Media, but have you begun the social media adventure yet?

I’m sure you feel that it’s important, but something is holding you back. Maybe you think it would take up too much of your time, or you just don’t have any idea where to start. One thing I know for sure…Social Media is here to stay.

A Social Media Virtual Assistant will help you to establish your social media presence, perform a variety of tasks, manage your social media accounts, and allow you more free time, so you can focus on your business. Social Media Virtual Assistants may even be helpful in areas that you haven’t even thought about such as researching and keeping up-to-date with social media marketing and how to help your business. They can also help to create a buzz about your brand or product through Facebook, Twitter, blogging, other social networks and forums. Outlined below are the major social media tasks they can perform for you.

A Social Media Virtual Assistant can:
<Perform Social Media Research, Strategies & Action Planning
<Setup Social Network Profiles
<Manage your Social Networks
<Use Marketing Strategies on Twitter, Facebook, & Online Video
<Manage your Online Reputation
<Perform Social Bookmarking
<Perform Article Marketing
<Perform Blog Commenting
<Post on Forums

So if you haven't taken the plunge yet, and don't really want to, or just cannot seem to find the time, now is the time to outsource all of your social media tasks to a Social Media Virtual Assistant.
This will help to create a more simple life and allow for adequate time to spend on the more important aspects of your business, as well as helping to increase your profits.

By Dawn Pigoni

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