[Advice] What is the best way to grow web traffic without SEO?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

"I run a 5+ year old website that generates 175k monthly site visits. To date, we’ve relied almost entirely on SEO from Google and realize this is an outdated strategy.

We don’t have much of a marketing budget to speak of and instead rely on email marketing, guest blog posts on higher traffic sites (i.e., HuffPo), social marketing via FB+Twitter. These are all growing but not providing the “pop” we need.

What are some other effective ways of growing our traffic? lol”



I see a couple issues with your question.



1. SEO is definitely not and outdated strategy. It’s generating 175K monthly visits to your site! lol As long as there is a search engine and a #1, there will be SEO to be done.



2. You don’t have much of a marketing budget. It sounds like you need to rethink your business model. Those 175K visits should be generating plenty of money for a marketing budget. It’s important to remember that marketing is not a cost. It should NEVER cost you a dime. You only market to increase profit. If you spend $1 and get even just $1.01, your marketing was a profit of $.01, not a cost of $1. So try not to think in terms of budget but in terms of return on investment.



You are definitely smart to be looking at other ways besides just SEO to generate traffic.



There are a ton of ways to do this and some are mentioned here, however, without knowing the actual business, no one can really tell you what other methods you should try.



For example: I have clients that use PPC and have amazing results and I have clients that I would never let use PPC again. Same with Social Media, those who insist that all companies should be using Social Media are just Social Media band wagoners. It does NOT work for all businesses and can be a complete waste of time for some.



It would take more than just some guesses to help you further. Only someone who has spent some time going over your business would be able to provide better help.



Hope this helps you out though,



- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Is there a way to measure the impact of word of mouth referrals for a small business?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

"Is there a way to measure the impact of word of mouth referrals for a small business?"



Here’s the short answer, yes. But only if you are tracking sales properly. You should know where every sale came from. That would be your first step in knowing how many sales are from referrals. The more you track, the better you can answer that question.



You also need to be controlling the referral process. Have a system for it. Encourage it with every customer. Reward it, etc. When you control the referral process, you have a better ability to track and encourage it.



Those 2 things will greatly help you measure the effectiveness in your business.



Hope that helps,



- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] What is the best way to optimize 17 different websites?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

"I have a friend I am helping optimize his different websites. He has 17 different websites dedicated to sunscreen and skin care. I feel he is simply cannibalizing his brands, but he wants to maintain each site because he says they each serve a different niche. I am going to help him with onpage and offpage SEO. Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!"



As Jack mentioned, they need to be different sites and not just duplicates. If they really are each for a different niche, he should have different content on there.



Make sure each site is geared toward whatever niche he is targeting and you should be able to eliminate duplicate content.



Hope that helps,



- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Can a premium URL be pointed to a site to drive traffic?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

"I have a premium url which i bought in the hope of gaining more online visibility. The idea was to build a site that will be linked back to my current site (to increase its traffic) But i wanted to know what would be the best strategy to get traffic with this url - doing a redirect to current site or build a site that links back to current one? Advice?"

Assuming that you are hoping the “premium domain” gets ranking because it is an exact match or has popular search keywords, then a redirect is not the way to go.



You need that page to rank. You can’t just rank a domain that is redirected. It just doesn’t work that way. Eventually Google just replaces the search results with the new url. So you would lose any benefit of the domain name itself.



An EMD (exact match domain) for instance, is a great thing to have when ranking a site. However it is only 1 factor. So even if Google would still give it the same weight as a redirect, it is probably not enough to rank it. You need content on that page as well as links and social signals.



Best bet is to rank the domain by building a site that will rank well. Then have that site point traffic to the “money site”.



So use the domain as a landing page that has calls to action sending the customer to the page you want them to end up at.



Hope that helps,



- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] USP for products used in widely divergent markets

Hey guys, just posted this on a forum thread over at GKIC

Caleb wrote:

"We have a product that is sold to wildly different markets for completely different purposes.

As a fertilizer for nuts, alfalfa, corn, beans, sugarcane and other crops, I came up with:

7770 is an environmentally safe, natural organic soil conditioner that nourishes and replenishes the soil by promoting natural urea-generating microbes which increases yield, reduces the need for pesticides and eliminates the need to use urea and / or other man-made commercial fertilizers - GUARANTEED OR IT’S FREE!!

The product under another name is used for breaking down oil-spill contamination for the petroleum industry which is a totally different target market.

I do need to make up a new and separate USP for the new product since I see no way to combine the information for the two products in such a way as it will still be coherent, RIGHT?

Help!!"

Hey Brian, if I am understanding correctly, it makes more sense to have 2 separate USP’s. Since it appears to be 2 different products.

The most important thing to remember with a USP is that it must be something unique that no one else can claim.



“7770 is an environmentally safe, natural organic soil conditioner that nourishes and replenishes the soil by promoting natural urea-generating microbes which increases yield, reduces the need for pesticides and eliminates the need to use urea and / or other man-made commercial fertilizers - GUARANTEED OR IT’S FREE!!"

So if anything written in that can be said by someone else, than it isn’t really a USP. It can take some time to develop a good one. It looks like a good guarantee though.

Hope that helps,

- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Should a company offer a store with promotional merchandise?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

"I’ve discussed this with a friend today. We are thinking whether we should create store and sell a few promotional T-Shirts with our logo and slogan, mugs, stickers, plush toys of our mascot, etc. etc.



Examples of stores like these http://minecraft.net/store and http://store.imgur.com/



These can obviously also be given away for free as promotion but selling them would by my primary goal, without making much profit of course, just trying to cover all of these production expenses."

For the right business it can be a great idea. Especially if you have that kind of brand excitement.



Using it for promo material is also a nice benefit.



Just make sure it isn’t a distraction from other money making opportunities. I’ve also seen this go wrong where you basically waste a lot of time and end up with a bunch of merchandise nobody wants.



So just be smart with it and know if it is right for your business or not.

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] How is managing different from coaching?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“As a Soccer Coach, I can see parallels between leading a team of players and a team of employees. But where does the analogy fall down? ”

Interestingly, I have a blog post that answers just that lol. Hope this helps answer your question.



Coaching vs Managing



Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Why do advertisers chase trends instead of sticking to the core principles and tactics that have always worked?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“Why do advertisers chase trends instead of sticking to the core principles and tactics that have always worked?”

Because most don’t know the basics. They only know what the current trend is. Advertisers often sell shiny objects to business owners. They become yes men for a business owner to direct.



You can charge more when you have a trend that you can physically show someone. Selling core principles and tactics is often unsexy and doesn’t tickle a business owners itch to be “trendy” with their advertising.



Inbound marketing is nothing new, there are just different tools available now to make it easier. The basics still take place.



However what happens is most take the new tools and become experts at how to use them. But not how to apply the basics to them. Knowing how to create a facebook page and knowing how to properly communicate to a market are 2 completely different things.



Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Does anyone think that social media really works as a Marketing tool for small businesses?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“Does anyone think that social media really works as a Marketing tool for small businesses?”

It really depends on your market. But understand that it is a TOOL. Just as not everyone can pick up a hammer and build a house, not everyone can use social media and see an ROI with it.



You must be social to begin with. A business that is horrible at communication will be horrible at social media. Social media is a chance to magnify reaching out to your market. It won’t magically make you more social.



Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] How can I lead a team without being a boss?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“I’m currently in college and every time we create a group for a subject, I notice that no one take responsibility for their own actions, so I end up telling everyone what they have to do. This makes them usually mad at me, because I gave them orders and I’m not their boss (if I didn’t, we would never get anything done!). But, when something goes wrong, they all think it is my responsibility, although I’m not their boss.

I get the “I don’t know what I have to do” response two times a day!, and I receive the same information from teachers as they do.

And it gets worse. I make a lot of bad decisions, because I can’t manage everyone’s time; I’m not supposed to do that!



And, I’ve said this to them thousands of times, and they say they get it, but they still don’t know what to do.



I’ve always thought myself as a natural leader, but should I also assume most of the people are not even close to be proactive? How can I deal with these issues?”

Casey had a great answer, so I can only follow with this:



Think less about giving them orders and more about leading them. Think in team perspective. A quarterback is not the boss on the team, but he has to lead. His job is to help everyone be the best at what they do. But he is on their side. Doesn’t mean everyone will like you, but respect is more important.



Hope that helps,

JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] What is the best way to make money from a blog averaging 1000 impressions a day?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“What is the best way to make money from a blog averaging 1000 impressions a day?”

Sell advertising direct to businesses.



Create a product or service to sell to your readers.



Sell other people’s products for commission (affliliate marketing)



Adsense is worthless if you are looking to make any real money on a blog.



Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] How to reach out to potential advertisers for our website?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“How to reach out to potential advertisers for our website?”

A couple ways to do this are first to look at similar sites and see who is advertising there. Then you can approach them.



Also, do a search for businesses that are in your industry that can benefit from your site. Make sure you have enough traffic to make it worth it for them.



The big thing is just asking.



You can use services like Google Adsense, but you will make much more having advertisers pay you directly.



Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] What are some ways to fuel team member engagement at work (particularly for those who work remotely)?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“What are some ways to fuel team member engagement at work (particularly for those who work remotely)?”

I have a remote team and the best way I have found is to make sure they are treated like an office employee. Involve them in events and celebrations. Lots of communication, especially voice or video if possible.



If you have shirts and other promo material that an office worker would have access to, make that available.



Just make sure they are not feeling left out of what goes on in the main office.



If they are all remote and there is no main office, just make sure there is a lot of communication.

Hope that helps.

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] How can I decide whether to list pricing on my website or not?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“This is for an online service with customers of varying budgets. What types of businesses don’t list prices? How does it affect different types of customers?”

It really depends on what you are selling and your market. If you are a commodity product that your market is used to seeing prices online (clothing, food, most retail, etc), than having prices online is probably smart.

However, in many cases prices online allow your market to shop just price without calling or visiting. So in those cases, not having pricing online is smart.

Sometimes pricing can vary and so it would be very difficult to list on a site.

Even if you decide it is best in your situation to not list pricing. You can always address the issue of pricing in order to get them to call or visit.

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] What's better: cold calling or door-to-door sales?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“I’m planning on either cold calling using a phone or going door-to-door. This will be B2B and focused mainly on getting appointments before selling. With cold calling, I will be trying to set phone appointments and with door-to-door, I will be trying to set real-life appointments.

I’m planning on putting 100% of my time into one or the other initially, before I can afford to invest in passive marketing methods.

I want to know: out of the two, which will bring me the best results if I put 100% of my time into the one I choose?”

That really all depends on you and your market.

I have seen both methods done very successfully but it really depends on what you are good at and the market you are targeting.

Either one you choose, stick with it and work hard at it, it will work.

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] Are matte or are glossy cards preferred by successful businesses?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“Are matte or are glossy cards preferred by successful businesses?”

The coating doesn’t really matter. Both can look great. However, your business card should be a good stock and not on cheap, thin paper.

Use the back of the card. It is not much more to print on the back as well, so do it. The more info you can get on there the better.

Make sure the card is not just basic information. That is the #1 problem with business cards. They say nothing more than some contact info.

Use it as a sales tool. Lots of info about why you benefit the customer. And put an offer on there. A call to action for more info or a free gift, something.

Focus on those areas more than whether or not gloss or matte is better.

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] What challenges do small business owners face when they try to figure out online/social media marketing for the first time?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“They say online marketing is a must for small businesses. But turning your passion into a profitable business is quite a challenge in itself. How then do you manage your online marketing efforts? What hurdles do you encounter?”

One thing many businesses do wrong with social media is that they treat it like some link bucket. They just drop links to their site all day. This is not being “social”.

One must already be social to truly be effective at social media. It’s about engaging the community and growing a fan base. Rewarding them, communicating with them, etc.

The tool doesn’t matter, it must be a mindset with the business, not just because they are on Facebook.

Businesses must get personal in order to have suceess with social media. I wrote about this a while back. It’s Business and Now It Is Personal

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] How do I avoid duplicate content on a search / comparison site?

Hey guys, just answered a question over on Quora

This question was asked:

“We’re building a site to search for suppliers in a particular industry based on location. It’s very similar to a hotel search site except for a different industry, you enter the location and then results are returned for the suppliers in a given radius of that location. So that the site is indexable for we want to create links based on a hierachy

eg State -> City -> Suburb -> Results for that suburb

The issue is that the results for 2 suburbs could be almost the same because if they are near each other they will have nearly all the same suppliers. I’m therefore concerned that this will create pages with a lot of duplicate content. Are we approaching this the right way and is there some way to avoid duplicate content issues?”

Duplicate content is an over hyped concern. Unless you are dealing with hundreds of them, you are fine. News articles go out with duplicate content all the time, it doesn’t hurt anything.

In general, if you are not creating garbage sites to game the system, you are OK.

Worry more about providing a great experience for your customers and you’ll be fine ;-)

Hope that helps,

-JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com

[Advice] USP & Strategy Help for a Commodity type B2B

Hey guys, just posted this on a forum thread over at GKIC

Bob wrote:

"I have a b2b operation which produces small wooden and cardboard baskets used to pack and ship vegetables and fruits. It is very much a commodity type of product, where for the most part, the buyers only seem to be only interested in price. There is a flood of product from China that adds downward pressure to the already razor thin margins.

For the life of me, I can not figure out a USP, a positioning strategy, or any other angle on how to differentiate this product from the competition and gain market share.

Any ideas, suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you."

 

Hey Bob, it's important to realize that a USP needs to be something unique that no one else can claim.

So what about your product or service can do that? It can be either the product or a guarantee, etc.

Why should someone use your baskets instead of some from China? Are there problems with the ones from China that you don't have? Is that unique?

Remember, having the best service or friendliest staff is not unique. Anyone can say that.

Having the ONLY product that keeps fruits and vegetables fresh for x amount of days, is.

What else can you do for your customers that would make them pay more? Keeping in mind that the more they pay you, the less profit they make. How can you compensate for that?

Hope that helps,

- JR

JRGriggs.com || RedWallMarketing.com