CONTENT MARKETING Your content online needs to be valuable to readers. In fact, some advertisers (e.g., Google) demand it! For example, if you have an ad that takes a user to a section of your site with poor content, then Google will rank your ad low- despite the bid you are willing to make! To begin, you should consider content that is primarily (1) entertaining, (2) educational, or (3) inspirational. Fortunately, there are many free tools designed to help you create content for your site. Alternatively, you can use influencer marketing to capitalize on content that has already been created. A tool like Powtoon lets you create animated videos (so fun…and useful for how-to guides). They offer a free account for personal use. You can also use conference call tools (e.g., Zoom) to record video presentations- perfect for beginners in video marketing! You can also use other content tools to create unique ways for your users to interact with your brand. A great example includes Listly- where you can curate and publish fun lists. To create beautiful visuals (e.g., graphics, presentations, logos) for free, you can use Canva. The free account gives you access to more than 8,000 templates and hundreds of free photos and graphics. CANVA.COM LIST.LY POWTOON.COM E-COMMERCE The importance of having e-commerce capabilities has never been more salient than now. Even small business owners should consider having an e-commerce platform on their website. Are you a restaurateur? E-commerce ideas may include gift cards or product add-ons (e.g., Loveless Cafe’s famous biscuit mix). Perhaps your business is a beloved brand and your website could include merchandise with your company’s logo. The ideas are endless, but the benefit is clear. E-commerce can definitely help a small business owner earn income that isn’t dependent on traffic to your storefront. UDEMY.COM/CHATBOT COURSE FREE E-COMMERCE CERTIFICATION COURSE EMAIL MARKETING As “old” as email marketing may seem, it continues to be a digital marketing staple. Why? Well- consider what you and 58% of most people do first thing in the morning. That’s right! We check our email! Email marketing is a great investment for small businesses. While you can use free email service providers to send messages to your customers (or website visitors), paying for managed email is likely to yield a very high ROI. For every dollar you spend on email marketing, you can expect (on average) $42 in return (DMA 2019). Also- Milled is a highly recommended search engine for email newsletters! GSUITE.COM MAILCHIMP.COM MILLED.COM INFLUENCER MARKETING Consumers trust content from people like them (e.g., parent bloggers). Such influencers have become captivating storytellers to their followers and fans. Today, brands can connect with influencers to leverage their reach and credibility. Influencers can also create and distribute content. FAMEBIT.COM/BRANDS PAGE SPEED | SITE PERFORMANCE As a business owner, it’s important to understand if there are any speed-related issues with your site. Users want information quickly- despite the device they use (e.g., mobile, desktop). The goal is to have your page load in as little as 2 seconds- or a large percent of your potential customers will leave! GTMETRIX.COM SITELINER.COM WEBPAGETEST.ORG SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (S.E.M.) Search engine marketing is the umbrella term that leverages how search engines work for businesses- mostly with SEO (organic page ranking) and/or PPC (pay-per-click advertising). S.E.M. helps you position your website online and reach customers. The eMarketing Institute offers a free SEM course and certification. Additionally, a great tool to assess the SEM of competitors or similar brands is BuiltWith. Enter the URL and you’ll get a full technology profile. EMARKETINGINSTITUTE.ORG/SEMCERTIFICATION BUILTWITH.COM SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (S.E.O.) When a potential customer searches online for a product or service that your business delivers, does your website show up on page 1 of the search results? While you can always pay to have an ad for your business on page 1 (e.g., Google Ads), having your website appear on page 1 organically is always recommended (plus, it’s free!). MOZ offers free SEO tools to help you understand and analyze your website. FYI- Google is your primary source of organic traffic! Local SEO is also very important, so consider adding geotags to your site’s images. GeoImgr is a wonderful tool to help. GEOIMGR.COM MOZ.COM/FREE-SEO-TOOLS SOCIAL MEDIA Your business or non-profit may use social media to connect with consumers. If you don’t have one (or more) social media accounts for your business, you are missing out on an important tool. Plus, social media is a great way to communicate important things about your business in a way that is usually always faster than updating your website! While you can also use social media to advertise (e.g., Instagram for Business, YouTube Video Ads), you can also use some social media channels to analyze your consumers interactions with your content- for free! Examples include Twitter Analytics and YouTube Analytics! With SM management tools like Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, you can even prepare your social media content in advance and release it on a schedule you design. However, try to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach with your social media content. For example, Facebook values (i.e., will rank more highly) native video content while Twitter values news and trending content. Instagram is ideal for sharing your brand’s best (and most sharable) images. ANALYTICS.TWITTER.COM DIGITAL MARKETING COURSES (COLLECTION) HOOTSUITE.COM INSTAGRAM STORIES FOR BUSINESS LINKEDIN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS COURSE (FREE) SOCIAL MEDIA SEARCH ENGINE TOKBACKUP TWEETDECK.TWITTER.COM VIRAL 100 TIKTOK SOUNDS YOUTUBE.COM/ANALYTICS ANALYTICS What do users do once they visit your web site? How long do they stay? How many pages do they visit? How close did they come to completing your site’s ‘contact us’ form? Use Google Analytics to understand your website’s data, gain insight, and take action to drive the conversions (e.g., sales, sign-ups, social media follows, etc) you want for your business! ANALYTICS.GOOGLE.COM ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Google makes it convenient for anyone, including small business owners, to learn how to apply artificial intelligence (Ai) and machine learning (ML) to your business strategies. I highly recommend their “Responsible Ai Practices” learning module and “Ai Explorables” interactive content to get started. AI.GOOGLE/EDUCATION BUSINESS PLAN A business plan can be useful for small business owners who want to stand out online, reach more customers, receive financial support, or work more efficiently. SMALLBUSINESS.WITHGOOGLE.COM FIND MY AUDIENCE This tool helps you understand who your most valuable customers are on YouTube — so you can discover new audiences and learn how to reach them individually with relevant messages. Discover new audiences based on their interests, habits, and what they're planning to purchase. THINKWITHGOOGLE.COM/FINDMYAUDIENCE GOOGLE MY BUSINESS This tool is absolutely imperative for small business owners! It’s easy to use and helps you maintain your business’s presence across Google (Search, Maps) and its search partner sites. You can use the site or use this tool on an app (Android or iOS). There’s also a great (and free) marketing kit you can claim! GOOGLE.COM/BUSINESS MARKETINGKIT.WITHGOOGLE.COM GROW WITH GOOGLE This site offers free training (e.g., mini-courses from Google Primer), tools (e.g., career certificates), and other resources. The microsite for small businesses shows you how to use Google tools to manage your business online. Through Google.org (≠ .com), the philanthropic arm of Google), grants are also available to access and use its resources. GROW.GOOGLE/SMALLBUSINESS PAY-PER-CLICK (PPC) ADVERTISING The “long-game” of SEM is SEO. In other words, a business should always have its site(s) appear on the top of search results organically (i.e., free). Depending on your industry and users’ search terms, ranking on the first page of results may take months (an average of 3.39 months, or 100 days). However, if you need your business to appear on the first page right now, then you can used paid advertising. Google Ads is Google’s PPC advertising platform. With paid ads, you have a wealth of options. I recommend beginning with a search ad, but you can also explore advanced options (e.g., shopping, display, video, app, and local). Importantly, you are only charged for the ad when a user interacts with it (e.g., clicks on the ad). You can use the ads to drive website traffic or to increase conversions (e.g., email sign-ups, online sales, social media follows). ADS.GOOGLE.COM SKILLSHOP If you want to learn more about Google products (e.g., Ads, Analytics), you can use their training tools and become certified- for free! (It’s something all of my digital marketing students do.) Develop skills you can apply right away, with e-learning courses designed by Google product experts. SKILLSHOP.WITHGOOGLE.COM TEST MY SITE With this tool, you can understand how fast your site loads on mobile devices. You’ll also be given recommendations on how to improve speed and how you compare with others in your industry. THINKWITHGOOGLE.COM INDEPENDENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY Created in 1953, the SBA was designed to “aid, counsel, assist, and protect” the interests of small business owners. Today, there is a wealth of free resources to help small business owners have access to capital, entrepreneurial development, government contracting, and advocacy. You can also create a business plan, launch and register your business, manage your business (e.g., finances, taxes), and grow your business (e.g., funding, export, mergers and acquisitions). SBA.GOV ENCOVA CENTER FOR INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP The Encova Center at WVU wants to help small business owners, and they have a host of resources- including webinars, designed to meet the needs of our business community. Recently, I was asked to lead their “Coming Back From COVID-19” webinars in May ‘20. Together with WVU’s Assistant Director of Student Media (Joanne Hunt), we created a webinar called “A new digital world: using Google Ads and digital marketing techniques for your business.” A NEW DIGITAL WORLD: USING GOOGLE ADS AND DIGITAL MARKETING WEBINAR BUSINESS.WVU.EDU/WEBINARLIBRARY BBB C.A.R.U. SAFE HARBOR PROGRAM Does your small business market to children and/or have access to data belonging to children? If so, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) may apply to you. The FTC has a self-regulatory program called CARU (Children’s Advertising Review Unit) that helps small business owners navigate COPPA compliance. CARU helps marketers and advertisers “deal sensitively with the child audience in a responsible manner” with their Safe Harbor Program. BBBPROGRAMS.ORG/CARU KOREVARIANCE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL Did you know that Google pulls data from a ton of other search engines to organize search results? Google ranks results based on the consistency of listings, as well as how often there are changes or interactions to or with your platforms. Even if you don't use the search engine GoLocal247, its listings help to propel you to your viewership on Google. Take a look using this Business Listing Report to see how your business stacks up. DIAGNOSTIC TOOL WVU STUDENTS AND/OR FACULTY CAN HELP! If you are a local WV business in Morgantown (or the surrounding area), and you’d like to partner with Chambers College of Business students for an experiential learning project, please complete our intake form. CHAMBERS COLLEGE INTAKE FORM SMALL BIZ ASSISTANCE FORM (RE: COVID-19 IMPACT) SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH LAB