Effective and Free Marketing Tips for your Small Business with Google, Facebook, CRM and Referrals!

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Whenever someone approach us for marketing their Small Business first thing we as a Digital Marketing Agencyget to know about new client is who they are as a Entrepreneur, learn how they are currently operating their functions, see whether it is a new business startups or an established one, and finally discover what marketing techniques they’ve tried or are or are currently put into practice.

After analyzing his business and current scenario rather than making my clients start everything from scratch, I prefer to guide and support existing efforts where suitable. Sometimes all it takes is a fresh look at the marketing they already have in existence to ramp up marketing efforts – all at no extra cost!

Here are few easy ways to do that instead of starting it from scratch:

>> GOOGLE Reviews

Now a day your client become more Internet savvy so before taking any decision he always use to Google you and find what people are saying about you. People love to read reviews. Reviews not only help build trust and loyalty, they can increase the number of prospective clients you get in the door and affect how willing they are to take your suggestions. It’s true – 90% of people say their decisions are influenced by customer reviews. I know you think getting those reviews is hard.

 

But let me inform you, it really isn’t if you have well defined review plan. In fact, an easy review tool is right there in your client’s hand! That’s right – the smart phone! Google Reviews, for instance, is easily accessed through Google maps, an app that is already on android phones by default and easily downloaded from the app store to the iPhone. It also helps to send clients a follow up email with a link to your Google+ page, so they can leave a review from their home computer as well.

>> Facebook Reviews

And speaking of reviews, not only can you put a review feed on Facebook, it is an excellent place to connect with your clients, their friends, and family. You can:

• Make clients aware of open appointments slots.
• Share any promotional offers you have going on in the office. (Learn How to Put Offers on Facebook)
• Highlight multiple locations on your Facebook Business Page. Simply add the address, upload a photo, description, and title for each location you would like on the map, and their system will do the rest. (Learn How to Add Multiple Locations on Facebook)

 

And don’t forget, now a day many software programs can link an app to your Facebook page. This makes it completely effortless for your clients to make an appointment while they are enjoying themselves on Facebook. Interesting isn’t it?

>> Client Management Software

You must be using some kind of software for maintaining your back office processes. And you are already paying for it; you might not well utilize it to its full potential. For example you might using any CRM for your work but main task you are performing through your CRM may be lead confirmation, surveys, and the occasional birthday greeting.

 

But you can also take that survey page and put it on your website for a continually updated stream of testimonials to show new visitors as a Testimonial Section. And, you can set your system to automatically post any 4 and 5 star reviews to Facebook. You can even use their reputation management application to let you know when a new review appears on Google, Yahoo, Yelp and more!

P.S.: To know more details about how to streamline Testimonial and Social Media Contact one of our Account Manager by clicking here

You can also try one of the cheapest and most effective marketing channels if it is done with well defined marketing strategy. Use the demographic targeting feature to send e-blasts about an offer special to one specific segment of your Buyers Persona, or an email about an upcoming webinar to people who are interested in knowing more about your offerings.

There’s so much this well defined marketing strategies can do that I recommend you set a regular training date with the software company.  It can be overwhelming to learn it all at once, so every quarter, get trained on just one new thing.

P.S.: If you are not using any streamline marketing strategies for your business promotion ask for the free marketing plan by click here.

>> Clients Referrals

Your existing clients are one of the greatest marketing tools you have at your disposal. Make them happy, then give them an easy way to refer, and they will bring more prospective clients to your door. And to really ensure that they don’t put off referring their friends and family add an incentive and you have an unbeatable marketing machine in form of your Existing Clients.

 

From our research on group of small business owners, we have found that simple care-to-share plans are amazing motivators and allowed by most state boards (double check just to be sure!) But referral programs only work when you ASK for the referral before handing a client your referral card or something. To make sure there’s no overlie, assign referral targets to team members at your morning meeting. Reward your team members for every referral they help bring in to keep them excited and motivated in this program. For even more referral tips,download our patient referral tips below. 

I hope these ways will give full advantage in your marketing as you try to implement an effective marketing strategy in your business without spending any money for it. Have a suggestion I haven’t listed here? Please share in the comments below!

To find out more about how to keep your marketing fresh and maximized, talk to us for your Free Marketing Assessment today!

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Do you want to get more positive reviews about your business on Yelp?

Want to learn more about Yelp recommendation software ? Why are your yelp reviews ‘NOT RECOMMENDED’

 

Are you looking for a way to get rid of a negative review on Yelp.  

The below blog post will answer all your concerns. Hope you find it useful. Please share it if so.

Why Yelp Filters out 25% Of All Reviews

Yelp has an automated recommendation software in place which is programmed to highlight the most useful and reliable content to consumers and site visitors.

“Our stance is quality over quantity and we currently recommend about 75 percent of the reviews that are submitted. This means about 25 percent of the reviews submitted to Yelp are not published on a business’ listing or recommended to consumers.”

 

WHY ARE MY REVIEWS NOT RECOMMENDED ON YELP?

There are several reasons for the review not being recommended. 

• The Reviewer Does Not Have a Complete Profile
• The Reviewer Does Not Have Social Integration
• The Reviewer Has Only Positive Reviews and hence fictitious
• The Review Was Submitted from an IP Located Somewhere Other Than the Business Location.
• The Reviews Are Originating from the Same Computer and hence same IP tracked.
• Reviewers Do Not Have Useful or Funny Marks on Their Other Reviews
• The Reviewer Does Not Have Yelp Friends
• The Reviewer has violate TOS (Terms of service) - example shown below.
• The Reviewer is a beginner and infrequent contributor in Yelp.

The reviews that are not currently recommended can still be viewed on a separate page but do not factor into a business’ overall star rating.

HOW TO GET YOUR REVIEWS RELEASED FROM NOT RECOMMENDED ON YELP?

The following tactic that can help a company get more positive reviews to appear on its Yelp profile. The most rewarding part of this tactic, is that the positive reviews have already been left for businesses by their customers or clients or patients - all a business has to do is to put an extra effort to make it visible.  After all, a real positive review matters to the business and should be shown to the people visiting Yelp. 

STEP 1: - FINDING YOUR FILTERED (NOT RECOMMENDED) REVIEWS

If you scroll down to just below the reviews listed on your profiles you will see a clickable link that says “(x) other reviews that are not currently recommended.” Click on that link and you will be able to see the reviews that have been left for your business that are caught in there filters and not recommended. 

Once you click on the link you will see the list of filtered reviews, it looks like this.

As you look through the filtered reviews you will obviously want to choose good reviews to free from the filter such as the examples above. Once you find a good review, simply copy and paste the first few lines of the review into Google, if you cannot find it right away, add parenthesis around the text.

If you are not able to find the reviews, try using a different sentence or two from the review to look for it. If that still does not work, you can try to search for the user profile on Yelp. Some reviews take a little extra work to locate but it is definitely worth it. 

As you will notice above, there are three buttons below the review, useful, funny and cool. According to Yelp’s algorithm of its review software, the company aims to show “useful” reviews.

For better understanding regarding this watch out this video.

STEP 2:-  Getting “Votes” for your  Positive Reviews 

In order to get your positive review released from the filter, you will need to get people to vote your review as “useful,” and for the sake of appearing true, a few “funny” and “cool” votes won’t hurt anything either. The problem is you might not be able to get a lot of people to take the time to follow the above steps and vote for reviews other people have left for your business, but if you can, you can remove your review from the filter.

Regardless of how you choose to get votes for your reviews, there are three elements critical to getting them released.

1. The votes need to come from unique IP addresses (not same computer).

2. The votes need to be spread out over several days to avoid looking fictitious.

3. Getting some votes from people with active Yelp profiles is very helpful. 

CAN I DO ANYTHING TO REMOVE A NEGATIVE REVIEW ON YELP? 

  

1. The easiest way is to have the pissed of customer remove their negative review.

This might not always be possible but this should be your first step to remove a negative review.  Make an offline conversation with your customer or patient. Address their issue and if possible provide them with an explanation for his disappointment. You may also want to offer something extra as a gesture of good faith - like a free dessert on next visit (for restaurants) or a free dental kit (for dentists)

All they need to do is log back onto yelp and hit the “remove” or “delete” button under their own review.

2. TOS Violations

Every review site has something they call their TOS or Terms Of Service. This is where they list all the things they allow and don’t allow in their reviews.

If a review is a personal attack on an employee, defamatory, derogatory or attacks a person based on disability, race, ethnicity, religion or other factors, you can have their reviews removed.  

If for an example where someone says, “our fat server” is generally enough to have a review removed for TOS violations, even though they are not pointing at a specific individual.  Also look at the following example.

Always mention that you “believe” it is a Terms Of Service violation when you report the review.  In many review sites they use an automated support processes called a ticketing system, and that system is programmed to first review an incoming contact for certain words.  If it find words like TOS in your message, it is likely to send that review to someone who deals with TOS violations directly.  This improves your chances of having a review removed.

An example:

Joe Smith was working for us for the past 3 months.  She left this review right on  the day that she was let go. This review is nothing more than ex-employee vengeance and I believe is against the Yelp! Terms of Service

3. Reply if nothing of the above works.

If you cannot have a review removed by the reviewer or for TOS, then replying may be your only other option.

1. If the reviewer sounds like a whiner, completely unreasonable or says something that makes them seem stupid, don’t reply.  People will get it and ignore their review. 
2. If you have proof that the review is false, post it in a way that seems factual and not emotional.

I hope this blog gave you many useful tips on getting more positive reviews on Yelp. I also discussed how you can get rid of negative reviews that can hamper your reputaion online.

If you found this blog useful, do not forget to share with others.  Let us pass on the information so more businesses can benefit from the information.

You can write your comments and suggestions in the comments section below. 

You can subscribe to our blog for more of such useful updates directly delivered to your email address.

You can also refer to our Additional reference: -  http://ibisinfotech.com/blog/how-important-are-patient-reviews-for-your-dental-practice-collecting-on-right-sites

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Why Not Having a Responsive Website Is Hurting Your Business?

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After Google Mobilegeddon Update in April 2015 - Google Start Penalizing Non-Mobile Sites

A New Google Algorithm Update “Mobilegeddon” Will 'Considerably Impact' Sites Without Mobile Compatibility.

As the world lasts using more and more smart phones and tablets for using the internet, business who do not useresponsive web designs are seeing less visitors and less success from their websites even after getting visitors to their old non responsive website. Typical websites, are made with desktop internet browsers in mind. They are made to fit perfectly on a pc screen, not any of the other types of screen that are found on devices such as tablets, smart phones and other mobile devices, so users who visit a non-responsive website on their phone, are going to have a poor user experience.

Mobile Sites to Be Remunerated by Google Buzzes have been circulating for some time. The cautioning signs have been there, showing us the way. And, as of Google source, the news is official: Google wants you to mobile-ize your website for better user experience as seeing non responsive website on smart phones are very difficult to access. Responsive website designs will make the site function and look as it should on any size, or type of screen. That is why in a world where PC’s are actually the least used tool for internet access, a non-responsive website design is hurting your business

Studies have shown that more than 40% of all google searches are performed on a mobile device (2014 study), and more than 70% of all local Google searches were done on a mobile device. Having an un-responsive site will literally mean that your business is losing out on more than half of all local business searches. Can your business really afford that?

So much so, in fact, that the search engine giant will be updating its algorithm (again) to increase rankings for mobile-friendly sites. That’s right, Google declared that it plans to expand its use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. In a somewhat unprecedented move, Google not only laid out the plans for its next algorithmic update but also assigned a specific date to the launch of the update.

In plain English, this means that websites with mobile compatibility and mobile app connectivity will be awarded higher rankings in search results than those sites without.

According to the announcement on its Webmaster Central blog, Google said:

“Starting April 21, we will be expanding our use of mobile-friendliness as a ranking signal. This change will affect mobile searches in all languages worldwide and will have an important impact in our search results. Consequently, users will find it easier to get relevant, high quality search results that are optimized for their devices.”

Important impact, huh?

What does that mean for you exactly? In short, if your website is not responsive or mobile-friendly, meaning your site is not responsive to diverse screen sizes, correctly configured and able to be viewed on multiple device types like Smart phones, Tablets, Google is making plans to penalize your search rankings. All the treasured SEO your site has currently could be for nothing if your site isn’t viewable on a mobile device correctly.

In terms of SEO, and ranking your site on Google. Non-responsive sites are becoming punished for not being 100% comprehensible to all Smart phone and Tablet users. Even if you forget about the mobile internet users, not having a responsive site will have a negative SEO effect, and could hide your business in the lower regions of google, never to re-appear.

Search engines are surely where most of your site visitors come from, energies must be made to keep fulfilling and making your site as much user friendly as possible. Your business needs to stay robust on Google to succeed, so adding a responsive website design would keep your company up to date with technology, and keep your business on top of SERPs for longer time.

The reasoning for this update is simple. As the world moves to small screen and more and more of our lives appear in a handheld device, it is serious that websites are able to keep up. By rewarding those sites which are mobile friendly, Google is continuing to shape the digital landscape in coming years.

How Do You Know If Your Site Is Mobile Friendly?

Before you sound the alarms, you must determine whether your site is at risk. To determine whether your website is currently being deemed “mobile friendly” by Google, there are two tests to run which was mentioned in our previous blog which you can access here.

Make Plans for a Site Upgrade

If you do not pass the mobile test, Don’t worry just seat back and relax! It is definitely important that you are making arrangements to update your website soon. While the exact outcomes may not be spelled out, the warning signs are there and should be taken seriously.

If you are concerned about why not having a responsive website is hurting your business we can help. Getting a responsive design for your site is easy. Contact the professional web designers at IBIS Technologies today to get started.

As Rajvi of IBIS Technologies LLC points out in her previous update that Google finds mobile so important that it has decided to provide a timeline for this update to urge companies to make a changeover-- and comparatively quickly.

It appears the time is drawing imminent to go mobile or possibility going dark.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

Is My Website Responsive / Mobile Friendly?

How Do I know if My Website is Mobile Friendly?

That is the question that most business website owners have.

Let me ask you a question here. What do you do when you want to search for a local business in your area ?? Lets say, you want to look for a speciality restaurant, a real estate agent or a local dentist in your area ? You might want to start searching online starting with a simple google search. Now have you ever wondered how often do you use mobile devices ignored to perform the search ?

I bet most of the time. 70% of the time, visitors to your professional website use their mobile devices to search for your business online. Now what happens if your website is non responsive -Non Responsive website has elements that does not resize automatically to fit into mobile screens display. Hence the website that is not mobile friendly will look clumsy, non user friendly and hard to read when displayed on smart phones. Such websites can cause frustration to the website visitors and they would not be able to stay at your website for more than couple of seconds.

So what happens here ?  You have lost a precious visitor that can be converted to your customer or your patient. You have lost your business to the competition. If you are looking to acquire new business through your website and you are spending thousands of dollars marketing your business online, you should first know whether you have a responsive website. 

HOW TO FIND OUT IF MY WEBSITE IS RESPONSIVE OR NOT

1. Google has released a tool for the developers and webmaster. You can use the link below to access the mobile website tester online.

 

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

 Enter your website URL here and click analyse.

The tool will analyse your website and show you if your website is mobile friendly or not.

2.  There is yet another way to find out if your website displays well on mobile. 

Pick up your smartphone. Go to www.google.com  and type your URL. The google search result below your website URL, before the description shows if your website is responsive / mobile-friendly or not. Take a look at the screenshot below.

 

 Another thing that you might want to know here is according to the latest update from Google, Google penalises the non responsive website in terms of its google ranking.

https://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.in/2015/04/rolling-out-mobile-friendly-update.html

 That means if your website is not responsive, your SEO rank i.e the rank at which your website appears for keywords is affected in a negative way.   A decline in your google rank leads to further negative impact in your website visits and conversions.

Now lets take a look at how responsive and non responsive websites look when seen on mobile devices.

 

 HOW TO MAKE WEBSITE MOBILE FRIENDLY OR RESPONSIVE

There is an absolute need for adaptivity of the new web design - the responsive web design. If you still have the traditional web design that is not responsive, you want to consider redesigning you website.  The responsive web design gives web creators some tools for making layouts that respond to any screen size. The layout looks great regardless of the size and dimension of the mobile screens. The website is designed to custom fit with self resizing elements that look perfect on mobile devices.

A simple website redesign can enhance your website visitors experience and help you to achieve more business through your website. Don't lose out on mobile device visitors to your website due to the traditional website design that you currently have.

If you have any questions, please contact us.

10 Tips For Promoting Your Dental Office To Acquire More Patients

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Since the big bang of cosmetic dentistry has begun to weaken, many dentists are left in a marketing void. Many Dentists asking us questions like:

How can a cosmetic dentist transfer back into doing a lot of bread-and-butter, general dentistry?

Perhaps you’ve invested a lot of time and money into marketing your cosmetics dentistry, only to find that the trend became commonplace. While you may have extensive training and a great before-and-after gallery, most consumers believe that all dentistry should be cosmetic these days. The upper middle class public is well versed in the top cosmetic dental procedures, like teeth whitening, veneers, and invisible orthodontics. Now, your cosmetic practice has to compete with other cosmetic dentists, as well as all general dentists. Don’t worry. I have list of useful 11 tips that, if you follow them, will keep the calls coming, the chairs filled, and the bills paid regularly.

1. Branding & Signage:

If sign board on your office says “General Dentist,” that’s exactly what people think you are. Add “and Cosmetic”to your description, and consider including “Family Dentist,” or “Emergency Dentist” if the term applies to your practice.

2. Photo:

A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. With dentistry, it’s very much true. Before-and-after photos,Smiling Patients, Happy Staff, and a Clean Office can all be conveyed in photos. Make sure that your website, blog, and Facebook page are well peppered with your original photographs – not just stock images. Technology is great, but the heart of dentistry is personal – it’s about people. Photos can convey message to your target audience that you still believe, people come first.

3. Website Development:

Your website is nothing but your Online Dental Office so it should reflect your personality and appeal to your target market. An attractive designed website without a strategy won’t do much good for your dental practice. You need a website that sets you apart from other dentists in your area, and that website should be very well optimized for Search Engines and Mobile Compatible.

4. Social Media Marketing:

All businesses need a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest now days. Not only will it help with SEO, but a Facebook profile makes a dentist seem more technically up to date. Twitter Profile makes it easy for patients to follow best dental tips. Google+ will helpful in reviewing dentist as it is location based social platform. For marketing on any above social media, Image is important!

5. Blogging:

Google’s experts say that “there’s no excuse for a business not blogging.” Today, blogs are a crucial component of competitive Online Marketing and Search Engine Optimization.

6. Email Marketing / Newsletters:

Keeping an existing patient costs a lot less than finding a new one. In addition, Word-of-Mouth (or in our digital world we say Word-of-Mouse) marketing is the most economical and rewarding type of advertising. A monthlyEmail Marketing or Newsletter will allow your brand to remain in your patients’ minds between their visits. Electronic reminders also provide a digital tool for quick and easy word-of-mouse marketing. Email Marketing can be emailed or posted to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn with the click of a button.  

7. Directory Listing:

As now it is Digital world so with time all the offline Directory and Yellow Pages are also turn to online version. So still it is as important for your Dental Practice to be named in online Directories like Yelp, Angies List, 1800 Dentists, etc.

8. Testimonials / Reviews:

In the past, a written note card of thanks from a patient made staff and dentist feel like they did a good job. Today in Online Digital World, Online Reviews like those posted on Yelp and Google+ Local, can significantly help SEO and rankings as well as other people to know about you during their process of choosing right dentist for themselves. If you don’t have a plan prepared to acquire patient testimonials and reviews, it’s worth your time to create one now. A few good reviews could score you page number one rankings in search engines as well.

9. Ask for Referrals:

Don’t forget to ask your patients for referrals in their Friend Circle, Colleagues or Family Members. Find the best possible way that you feel comfortable using, and start telling your returning patients that you want to take care of their friends, family, and coworkers.

10. Articles & PR:

Articles and Press Releases about your dental practice, services, events, and new achievements can become a strategic part of an Online Marketing Campaign. Gone are the days when press releases had to be peddled to newspapers and radio stations only. Today, Articles and Press Releases help with your website SEO as it buildsAuthority for Your Website and your dental practice.

 Bonus Tip:

“Like we said earlier Picture’s worth 1000 words but with Video we can say it speaks 10000 words.” Videos are a great way to show off your office, staff, technology, and personality. Video patient testimonials are also impressive way to show off your dental practice reviews. But if you take the time to create videos, don’t forget to optimize them so that they show up in Google search results as well. Videos need a keyword-rich script behind them so that they can become an active part of your SEO strategy.

To learn more about building a thriving dental practice in a waning market, call IBIS Technologies LLC’s expert team today for a free marketing analysis. Rajvi, our Founder & CEO is seasoned dental marketing consultant, will be happy to answer all of your questions. Our team of dental marketing experts will analyze your online presence, interview you about your current and past marketing activities, as well as your target market, also we will discuss about your future objectives and goal so based on all this insights, we will create a practical success plan with measurable goals. 

If you have any questions, please contact us.