Beefing Up Your Online Presence in 2014

English: The family garden at RHS Wisley (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This seems like one of my more popular blog posts, so I’d thought that I share it with all of you again:

If you’re in the landscape, lawn care, or garden center industries, you’re still busy with your clients’ projects. However, for some of you, business may be slowing down.

And you can use that extra time to think about how you’re going to market your business in 2014, beyond door hangers and brochures. One of your marketing goals in 2014 should focus on beefing up your web presence.

The first step to improving your online presence in 2014 includes updating your website by making it more appealing to your prospects. In May 2013, I wrote an article for TURF magazine called, “Power Up Your Sales with USP,” http://www.turfmagazine.com/article-9500.aspx. For the article, I interviewed three marketing professionals who work in the green industry, and they shared a lot of good information that all lawn care, landscape, and garden center businesses should know.

For example, do you know that it’s better for your portfolio to have pictures of your satisfied customers enjoying their landscapes and lawns instead of the standard pictures of different projects? One marketing professional also stated that it’s better to have real people, your clients, in the photos rather than hiring models to pose in your finished projects. Of course, if you use pictures of your clients enjoying their properties because of your work, make sure that you get your clients’ permission first to use those photos (don’t forget to first ask your clients if you can use pictures with them in it).

Here are some other ideas for beefing up your online presence in 2014:

1. Consider starting a blog. Ask your website designer for a copywriter who can help you maintain your blog posts.

2. On your blog, remember to add information that will benefit your readers. Your clients and customers subscribe to the acronym: WII4M: “What’s in it for me?” So, make sure that your content focuses on them. You can ask your copywriter to put a call to action at the end of your blog post to encourage prospects to call you for business.

3. Use Linked In to learn and connect. Get involved with other folks in your industry on Linked In, such as Green Industry Pros, Green Mark Landscape, Landscape Contractors, Lawn and Landscape, LI Lawn and Tree, and PLANET (Professional Landcare Network). Learn more about your industry and become an expert in it.

4. Get involved with your local Linked In groups, too. For example, in my area, I belong to groups like Linked In Lancaster and Reading/Berks Professionals.

5. Don’t forget to have a Facebook business page. Setting up a business FB page is pretty simple. And you can invite your friends to ‘like’ your page. Facebook has a different audience than Linked In–it’s more laid back and personable. You can add contests and upload coupons to your FB page that will draw in clients.

There’s a lot that you can do online that will draw others to you. And if you’re not comfortable with social media, find someone in your company that can keep it clean and professional, but will also update it regularly. Finally, being active online is almost akin to going full circle in today’s marketing climate. For example, don’t forget to put those digital buttons on your webpage so people can follow you, and add your website link to all of your social media outlets, so they can check out your website. Just like one big circle.

What other ideas have you used to beef up your online presence?

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Beefing Up Your Online Presence in 2014

English: The family garden at RHS Wisley (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you’re in the landscape, lawn care, or garden center industries, you’re still busy with your clients’ projects. However, for some of you, business may be slowing down.

And you can use that extra time to think about how you’re going to market your business in 2014, beyond door hangers and brochures. One of your marketing goals in 2014 should focus on beefing up your web presence.

The first step to improving your online presence in 2014 includes updating your website by making it more appealing to your prospects. In May 2013, I wrote an article for TURF magazine called, “Power Up Your Sales with USP,” http://www.turfmagazine.com/article-9500.aspx. For the article, I interviewed three marketing professionals who work in the green industry, and they shared a lot of good information that all lawn care, landscape, and garden center businesses should know.

For example, do you know that it’s better for your portfolio to have pictures of your satisfied customers enjoying their landscapes and lawns instead of the standard pictures of different projects? One marketing professional also stated that it’s better to have real people, your clients, in the photos rather than hiring models to pose in your finished projects. Of course, if you use pictures of your clients enjoying their properties because of your work, make sure that you get your clients’ permission first to use those photos (don’t forget to first ask your clients if you can use pictures with them in it).

Here are some other ideas for beefing up your online presence in 2014:

1. Consider starting a blog. Ask your website designer for a copywriter who can help you maintain your blog posts.

2. On your blog, remember to add information that will benefit your readers. Your clients and customers subscribe to the acronym: WII4M: “What’s in it for me?” So, make sure that your content focuses on them. You can ask your copywriter to put a call to action at the end of your blog post to encourage prospects to call you for business.

3. Use Linked In to learn and connect. Get involved with other folks in your industry on Linked In, such as Green Industry Pros, Green Mark Landscape, Landscape Contractors, Lawn and Landscape, LI Lawn and Tree, and PLANET (Professional Landcare Network). Learn more about your industry and become an expert in it.

4. Get involved with your local Linked In groups, too. For example, in my area, I belong to groups like Linked In Lancaster and Reading/Berks Professionals.

5. Don’t forget to have a Facebook business page. Setting up a business FB page is pretty simple. And you can invite your friends to ‘like’ your page. Facebook has a different audience than Linked In–it’s more laid back and personable. You can add contests and upload coupons to your FB page that will draw in clients.

There’s a lot that you can do online that will draw others to you. And if you’re not comfortable with social media, find someone in your company that can keep it clean and professional, but will also update it regularly. Finally, being active online is almost akin to going full circle in today’s marketing climate. For example, don’t forget to put those digital buttons on your webpage so people can follow you, and add your website link to all of your social media outlets, so they can check out your website. Just like one big circle.

What other ideas have you used to beef up your online presence?

Read Full Post »

Expanding My Business

Freelancer Office – Panoramic (Photo credit: lastonein)

Yesterday, I went on my first “interview” in over 13 years. Wow! A lot has changed since I interviewed back in the day!

This interview wasn’t for a full-time job, but with a creative staffing agency in Philadelphia. In my former career, I was in public education. Yet, in my 30’s, I discovered that my real passion was writing and I set out to teach myself how to be a B2B writer. Now, 10 years later, I still love the field and continue to learn how to be a more profitable copywriter.

But I digress. I finally took the leap in September to hang out my shingle as a freelance copywriter. And I’ve participated in Linked In discussions, did a lot of thinking, and decided to really go for it by answering a LI call by a creative staffing agency looking for writers. That connection led to an interview two weeks later. And now, I wait eagerly by the phone for my first assignment.

Something else has happened to me, though, over the past few months. My confidence has grown to the point where I’m really honing my writing resume, my writing portfolio, and this site.

If you’re looking for a writer who specializes in articles, blogs, press releases, and editing, you have come to the right place. I’m always eager to meet new people and help them with their writing needs.

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The Good and the Challenging of Freelance Writing

Image via Wikipedia

My title indicates that there are ups and downs to freelance writing. Yet, because I tend to be a negative person, I choose to use the word, “challenging” rather than cons. And I got the inspiration to write this blog from a public relation professional who recently went solo. She wrote a column, I forget the name, but she used ups and downs. So, to be considerate to her, I’m not going to use her wording.

Here are the positives of freelance writing (and I might’ve named them before. Please forgive me if I did):

1. I’m my own boss.
2. I decide how much or how little I work I take on.
3. I choose which projects to take or which ones to pass.
4. As a freelancer, I use my creativity to decide how to market my work.
5. Iam here for my kids.

The Challenges:

1. It’s feast or famine–I may have a financial goal to reach, but because of the economy or other reasons, it is sometimes a challenge to meet that goal.

2. The competition is stiff. Thus, I need to find ways to market myself that stands out from the crowd–which is a full-time job in itself.

3. I get easily waylaid by watching news clips, reading emails, and surfing the net. Also, social media tends to be a major distractor when I’m reading other people’s discussions on Linked-In (sorry, I’m not into Farmville on FB).

4. I don’t have anyone to brainstorm ideas with. So, my titles can sound dull and I can get stuck in a rut.

5. Time management – I found that this is an issue that most solo practitioners deal with–there are so many distractions: The internet, volunteer activities, and email.

Yet, I find that freelance writing has been the most satisfying of careers and one that I mean to continue to growing in.

If you have questions about freelance writing, send me a comment and I’ll try to answer it. If I don’t have an answer, I can send you to folks on the Web who will have the answer.

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Public Relations: Why is it important to your business?

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Do you care about the public profile of your business? What do you think when someone from the media contacts you about an interview for a trade magazine or your local newspaper–do you grab hold of the opportunity or do you shrug it off?

For the past eight years, I’ve written for trade and regional magazines, as well as my local newspapers. Most people are open to the *free* publicity, but I have had some sources shrink from an interview. Now, granted, I do prefer email interviews over phone interviews, but I will capitulate when necessary. Yet, I do find it surprising that, in this day and age of the Blackberry, I-Phone, and all the other cool gadgets out there, that many people own and use on a daily–sometimes on a minute-by-minute basis–shrink back in fear when it comes to utilizing email. If you can text, you can email. 

However, this post is not to nit-pick on the best way to interview a source. The point of this blog is to urge you, the small business owner, to not avoid media types. Learn new technology–like Twitter, Linked-In, and blogging. Use every type of *free* publicity that you can get your hands on, so you can get the word out that you exist and you mean business.

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