Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network. In the accounting profession there are very few firms that deployed mobile marketing as part of their broader marketing approach.

Benefits of Mobile Marketing

 There are several benefits to mobile marketing including:

The ability to create unique and cost effective promotion campaigns in reaction to breaking news, events or legislature.

• Access to a wider audience and chance expand market share
• The opportunity to build stronger customer relationships through the distribution of timely and trusted content
• The ability to retain existing customers while enticing new customers
• The ability to penetrate the Smartphone market and build brand awareness
• The opportunity to reach out to customers ‘on the go’
• Forum to integrate new, innovative forms of advertising and promotion with existing strategies.” 

A key question many accounting marketers and partners want to know is the Return on Investment. How do you measure this and what has been your ROI? 

ROI can be measured in a number of different ways including utilizing QR Code stats, Google analytics for the mobile sites, social media measurement tools, tracking the growth of web and mobile leads and quantifying marketing tactics. Click through response rates are helpful to see what calls to action are working.

Advice for CPA Firms

Be deliberate about the utility of the mobile initiative. What value and role will it play? Don’t do it just because everyone else is. Use mobile websites wisely and offer some value, not just for the sake of using them. Find a way to integrate it into your existing successful marketing plans, and if possible, find a topic that really speaks to a particular audience.”

Consider these other tips when adding a mobile site to your portfolio:

• Limit the menu options for ‘on-the-go visitors’. 
  These items might include your contact information, link to Google maps with driving directions, a prominent phone number, contact form, and a page on key services offered or industries served.  Don’t get bogged down in the details – remember that these are mobile phone visitors, so they are on the move.  Offer information that is most important to the site visitor.
• Simple Design.
  Keep the design simple, it must be consistent with the firm’s current branding standards.  That is part of your brand promise and you won’t want to doubly confuse visitors coming to your website that looks like something completely different from your existing brand.
• You are Re-directing.
  Consider the idea that a mobile website is simply a condensed version of the most important items on your existing website and that a special code being implemented into your existing site is shuffling all mobile users to the mobile website – try to avoid treating this mobile website like it’s something completely new.  Keep it familiar or risk losing prospects and clients.
• “But I want to do something different”
  You aren’t the first business to want to make your mobile website stand out, but remember that unless your industry is arts or entertainment, people are coming to your site primarily for information – so make it easy!
• Avoid images/video
  We love images and video on desktop websites, but think of your phone as the dinosaur computer you had in the 90’s – the  Internet and processing speeds may be slower that your home computer (this varies on the network the mobile device uses) – so to be safe avoid lengthy download times by excluding video and images.
•  Provide a link to your standard website.
  In our research, you have no idea how many frustrated people we have spoken with that just wanted to get back to the main website – perhaps they were seeking a specific article, or they needed to login to their accounts to pay an invoice (something that needs to be done from a secure access point).  Whatever the reason, give your visitors a way to the traditional site if they want it.

If your firm has gone through the process of designing a mobile website, please share your experiences with us!

© 2012, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

Develop your list of targets – scan it for existing clients (twice), make sure all of the prospects fit properly into your target model, and don’t use a pre-defined list from a online list generation service – find a qualified professional to develop your list, or do your own research.  This is a marketing investment, and this is not the place to be lazy.  This list can be used for many different campaigns so make it worth the initial cost.   Send this piece out to your prospect list seven days before you begin your calling.

*Tip: Put yourself on the mail list and when you get your direct mail piece back in the mail, you can begin the calling process.

First and foremost, you have to set your expectations appropriately – remember that you have spent at least a month developing this piece and you are in LOVE with your results – you can’t expect everyone else to be though.  You have approximately 7 seconds to create that first impression with the mail piece (which is where beautiful, clever, creative components play a big role), and let’s face facts – despite your best filtering effort with your list, some businesses just aren’t ready or willing to make the change to you.  With that being said, expect to hear many ‘Not interested, but thanks”, and a few ‘Tell me more, please!” peppered into the response. 

Most of your prospects are lazy, they aren’t going to pick up the phone and call you, they might go look at your website but get distracted by an incoming email, they may even have good intentions of calling you but never make the time for it – which is why it is especially important for you to make the first move. 

Follow up. 

Did you hear me?!

I said….. FOLLOW UP!

This means you are going to have to work the phones, or pay a professional to do this for you [AHEM] shameless plug here for Flashpoint (but we do get results, so just trying to be helpful). Also – note here that calling once is not enough, at minimum call three times and leave a message after each call.  This sounds absolutely ridiculous I know – in fact you are probably thinking “If I left a message, they would call me back if they cared!”, no… in fact today I made some calls on behalf of one of our clients and called one prospect for the third and final time – lo and behold he is extremely interested in making an immediate change from his current CPA to our clients firm.  Again, this was my third call to the prospect, so I promise that this process works.

All in all – direct mail is extremely effective when all of the proper components are pulled together; to recap these are the things you should be doing;

-Pick a single service with a clear message and call to action

-Work with a creative team to develop a direct mail piece that is outstanding in every way and clearly illustrates your message with an easy to find call to action

-Mail the piece out to your well-researched, pre-screened list of prospects 7 days before you begin your follow up.

-FOLLOW UP – perform at least 3 rounds of follow-up calls to all the names on your list.

Remember – in most cases, deriving a single lead from this type of service can often result in covering your entire initial marketing investment – and by following through on your service promises, this lead could be a viable client for years to come.

What has been your experience in direct mail marketing? Have you seen success? Does your process differ from this one? I look forward to hearing from everyone in the comments.

© 2012, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

One of the most basic pieces in any campaign is a direct mail marketing piece.  It has a proven track record for generating a surplus of impressions, and creates more leads than any digital banner ad campaign.  Something about physical collateral that people respond over digital messaging.

There is a lot more to direct mail marketing than just developing a mail piece, sending it to a list and crossing your fingers.  In fact, if you are hoping to generate any response whatsoever, you should to follow some basic rules:

1. Make Your Piece Interesting. 
   Seriously, if you look at it and think of it as just another boring piece of junk mail – what do you think your audience is going to think? When was the last time you picked up a piece of corporate collateral material and said to yourself “This is awesome – I want to show it to my __________.” My guess is that it’s either been awhile, or you have never felt that way.  Work with a creative team – tell them to push the envelope – express to them that you want results and you want to generate a buzz and an interest.  Be open to guerilla marketing tactics (a post for another day – or just look here for the definition [LINK]), try something new for your call to action, or open yourself up to something other than boring business stock photography.  Be funny, be sad, be angry, give your piece an emotional promise. 
2. Promote a Single Service and Understand the Emotions Behind A Need for that Service.
   Do you want to gain new book keeping clients? Think of all the reasons someone might need an accountant to handle their bookkeeping, are they scared to do it themselves, seeking knowledge from a professional, looking for someone who deals specifically in their industry, they are too busy? Too disorganized? Whatever the reason – you need to appeal to that in your direct mail campaign – play on that emotional response because your target audience will naturally respond to the message.  Think about using a metaphor – perhaps an illustration of a monster under the office desk and a line like ‘Are taxes catching you by surprise?’ – be concise, creative and direct.
3. Stop Saying You Are Friendly and Professional. EVERYBODY says this. It makes you sound boring, like there is nothing else that makes your firm outstanding – what is your value proposition? What is the one thing that really, really makes you stand above your competitors? How much has your firm saved its clients over the course of a year? How many years of combined experience does your firm have? Is your approach different than other firms? How? How is that a benefit to your potential clients? Oh, P.S. if you insist on being ‘friendly and professional’ – do it, don’t say it.  Your follow-up calls should demonstrate both of these qualities. 

So now you have your perfect direct mail piece, you have included the basics; call to action, website URL, return address, logo, and a phone number – did you develop a special landing page to track your website hits based on this piece? That’s a good idea too! You also made sure to include a targeted message for a single service, and you had a professional put the entire thing together.  You are thrilled with the entire campaign, from concept to process to execution, now it’s time to send it out.  

Be sure to check back next week for how to properly send out a well developed direct mail campaign, perform proper follow up and more importantly – generate those leads!  

See you then!

© 2012, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

1. Choosing your prospects.
Perhaps the #1 most important thing you can do for yourself.  Make sure you know your target, it’s Marketing 101.  Pick a single service to offer, and then choose businesses that make sense for your firm.  If your firm specializes in businesses with 1-50 employees, targeting Wal-Mart on your prospect list doesn’t make any sense.  First of all, you probably aren’t set up to handle a business that large, and your portfolio of existing clients doesn’t back up any of your claims for being qualified to handle such an enormous company.  On the other hand, if you are a firm who targets fortune 500 companies, you should not set up your call list to include start up businesses – they won’t be worth your time, money and labor based on the structure of your own firm.

Your prospect list needs to fit nicely in with your existing client base – stick with the industries you are familiar with and know the service you are offering.  You SHOULD include 5-10 ‘dream’ clients on your list, again not the entire list, but a few businesses that you would like to have in your portfolio, these dream clients should fit in with the overall model of your business and also be within the industry of your expertise – you never know when an opportunity to work with one of these companies will arise.

2. Check your list – twice!
At least! Nothing is more embarrassing then having a current client contacted by your telemarketing company asking if they would like to switch firms.  I cannot stress enough that when you outsource your work to another company, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure that this doesn’t happen.  Have two sets of eyes look at the list before it gets approved – and make sure you note any merger or business acquisitions that your client has undergone to ensure that those merger names are not being contacted on the list.

3. Proper Follow Up
If your telemarketing company is any good, they are going to come back to you with a decent amount of leads.  Leads that range from simple information requests, to the typical “We’d like to keep your name on file”, or a really big ‘What are your prices?’ lead.  Each lead needs to be handled with care, and promptly followed up on.  Do not leave any leads to chance! If you are selling professionalism and customer service with great relationships as a part of your sales pitch, you need to follow through.  Contact all leads, big or small.  If information is requested, send a warm letter or email with that collateral within 24 hours of the request, then follow up in 7 days to confirm receipt and offer another opportunity to discuss a change to your firm.  As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot! After all you have paid a third party to go out and find these people – in order to get what you paid for you are going to need to close the deal.

4. Professional Collateral
Key word is professional.  Have beautiful PDF’s that are informative at the ready to send to leads.  Have at least two PDF’s.  One PDF should discuss your firm’s areas of expertise, level of experience, the history of your firm, and your value proposition.  The second PDF should be specific to the service which you are selling to this new company.  In the beginning we discussed the importance of focusing on one key service, this collateral piece should match the key service you are selling.  It should highlight your areas of expertise, name a few satisfied and recognizable clients within the document, and more importantly discuss how your firm is qualified to work with their business. If you  think it is acceptable to create these collateral materials in Microsoft Word, or if you think that your daughter can write the copy for the piece – hire a marketing professional immediately.  Remember that these materials are going to set the tone for the brand of your firm and will be impacting the prospects first visual impression so take them very seriously.  In addition these materials can be used after the telemarketing campaign to further e-blast campaigns, direct mail campaigns and additional marketing efforts, so it’s wise to invest in them.

Telemarketing can be extremely effective and very lucrative for your firm, but it’s important that you take the time to set yourself up for success – getting the leads is only half the battle.  It will be up to you and your team to follow up and demonstrate the promise made in the pitch.

Does your firm have experience with telemarketing? Are there any additional tips that you would offer to someone getting ready to start their first campaign?  Share them in the comments!

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

Business to Business telemarketing is a very cost effective method for finding long term business while leveraging a short term solution.  Often the ROI is more than 6 times the initial investment – and the recurring revenue year after year more than makes up any initial start up costs. When a well planned campaign is executed taking into consideration timliness of the service or product being sold, and a company value proposition that binds the pitch and the service – you can strike pure gold in new business using this approach.

Below we’ve included a couple of tips for CPA and Accounting firms who are considering telemarketing campaigns so that you can have the most positive experience and see maximum results:

1. Research your outsourced providers. 
Recognize that just because someone can pick up the phone doesn’t mean they should. It’s important that whatever outsourced telemarketing provider you choose understands your business.  If they can’t talk on your level about your business then they shouldn’t be making the first impression with your prospects.  Make sure they have at least a fundamental understanding of your industry so they know how to answer tough questions from prospects during the first point of contact.  Nothing is worse than losing a perfectly viable lead because your telemarketer couldn’t keep up with prospect questions.

2. Ask where the calls are made.
Are you going to be working with the provider you spoke with directly? Or will they be outsourcing your project to services overseas? If they are located in Maryland, and you are in the Pacific Northwest, how will they cater to the timezone difference for your prospects? These are tough questions that you should be asking your provider now, not after you have started the engagement.

3. Request an exclusivity clause in your agreement.
That’s right, unless you have one, companies are not obligated to turn down the same work, at the same time, using the same list for your competitors.  We’ll pause here so you can gasp in shock….

*Gasp*

Any provider who is worth their rates will be more ethical than to work the list twice over, but we’re telling you because we’ve seen it happen.  So look your contract over, and if you don’t see it put in the request or don’t sign.

4. Request References
Anybody can tell you that they have worked sales miracles, but ask them to show you.  Better yet, ask them to provide you with a list of references you can contact yourself.  You can ask the tough questions with people who have already gone through the experience – and you are more likely to get honest feedback instead of the sales pitch.

The bottom line….
Don’t be foolish.  Any college kid can be hired on the cheap and call a list – but is that person you want to give the first impression about your firm? Are they well-versed in your industry? Are they motivated to see your business succeed? If you answered no to any of the above questions, then you should work with an outsourced professional specifically experienced in your industry.

Check back next week for the second part of our telemarketing myths article to learn what you can do in-house to insure a successful campaign.  I’ll cover topics such as choosing your prospect list, the follow up process, and why professional collateral materials are a must-have.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

Google’s most recent change will impact 35% of searches! Searches will now bring back the most recently updated/implemented content as a result.  The key thought being that recent content is more relevant than content written 10 years ago.  This change may be putting your firm’s website at a disadvantage.  More than half of the websites online today are not on content management systems, and this makes changing or updating site content more difficult, which in turn means that content is not being updated or changed.  And therefore will no longer appear at the top (if they once were) of searches because they aren’t seen as new and fresh.

What does this mean?!
It means that most websites are sitting static on the internet, and their content has been indexed thousands of times so their SEO is decent, it’s ‘comfortable’ – to borrow from relationship terminology.  Then along comes Google, who notices that the website has been the same for 5 years, and it decides that the next time a search on ’401k plan audit providers’ comes up, the firm with a recently updated blog about “401k plan audit providers” will surface.  This is how the newest change can affect your firm.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself

• When was the last time we did something with our website?
• Does our firm have a blog?

You may think that a website redesign is far off, after all you did one two years ago.  If that redesign did not include building the site on a content management system, then you should consider having your newly designed site moved to one – read more about CMS at point #8 in this article.  Also if you are using any Flash, consider another redesign – you can read why, here. Content management systems will empower the people at your firm to add new content to your existing website, and this keeps your content in the “fresh and new” section of Google indexing.

Consider a blog.  Blogs don’t have to be about what your cat ate and how high school was a waste of your youth.  Consider a professional blog for your firm, one that will address current issues relevant to your firm’s areas of expertise.  At Flashpoint, we often recommend delegating the workload.  In other words, you don’t need to hire a new person to ‘manage’ your blog, but you do need to have a list of 4 topics a month that you want to blog about, and assign them to different people within your firm.  Another great strategy is to have the people within different departments at your firm write a single blog article about their expertise and publish them a week apart from each other.  Again, this inspires relevant content that is fresh in Google’s eyes and will keep your firm at the top of the results.

The Bottom Line

Keeping all of these things in mind, remember that Google has clearly stated that “different searches have different freshness needs,” so use common sense when addressing specific areas on your website.  Some information about your business will never change, and it doesn’t need to be updated – but it will be important to know how to differentiate.  It never hurts to use a Content Management System, and the improvement will save both time and money in the long run.  In addition, regularly updated content is a must in today’s fast-paced world of information exchange, so if you aren’t doing something already – this Google change might just be the final push you need to convince the partners at your firm that change is a necessary evil.

If you need assistance differentiating what kind of content needs regular updates, or if you regret that your last redesign wasn’t on a CMS – by all means get in touch with me.  I have an office full of resources and I’d be happy to help.  Otherwise, get out of here and go update your website!

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

First, let discuss what ROI means? Generally speaking, ROI refers to what the firm will “get” in return for the investment and effort they are putting into the project. A good marketing professional asks this about every marketing campaign they undertake (whether internal or external). In the case of telemarketing there are several benefits the firm will receive from a telemarketing campaign including; increased brand reinforcement/recognition, market education about a new service offering, and of course access to new prospect opportunities. All of these are benefits the firm receives from implementing a telemarketing campaign and all offer different levels of value. However, when an accounting (marketing or other) professional makes this inquiry they really want to know how much they can expect to close in new business.

The answer to that question depends on a number of factors.  Externally, the accounting firm must be sure they are selecting a competent vendor who can handle calling the C Level Suite of executives. Most firms are very good at making this assessment. However, almost every firm fails to assess their internal situation and to see how it can impact the overall effort.  There are several variables that must be considered when calculating a firm’s expected ROI. Below I have listed some of the more prominent variables that impact the final results, including:

 Market Presence– is the firm well known in the market for providing the promoted service or is this service new?

• Firm’s Experience (providing the promoted service) – does the firm has a solid list of references to provide prospects?
• Prospect List Quality – was the prospect list well researched and contact names verified?
• Quality Collateral Material – does the firm have high quality collateral material that looks professionals and conveys key messages about the firm’s ability?
• Effective Follow Up Process – Is the internal follow up process consistent and timely?
• Sales Strategy – how does the firm approach sales? Is it simply a numbers game or is there a more comprehensive and coordinated approach in play? 

The answer to the questions above have a serious impact on the ROI a firm will receive from a telemarketing campaign. If there is a weak follow up process internally, then no matter what the telemarketing company there is little hope of the firm getting new business. Less potent variables like market presence and firm experience still play a role in how well a firm is able to convert leads to clients, but they still figure into the mix. 

Survey Says!

You may have noticed I have still not given an answer to the ROI question. I will happily provide the general trends, however I thought it was important to clearly explain how the accounting firm’s structure, actions and processes play a significant role in the firm’s overall ROI from such an engagement. Most telemarketing firms “generally” experience a response rate of 4%-6%. For example, out of 100 companies targeted generally speaking 4-6 of them will have an interest in speaking with you. The ROI can be determined based on the average fees for the featured service across the number of opportunities. Keep in mind, that in some it may be much more and in others much less. So before committing to a program be sure this ROI matches or exceed your expectations. Also, be sure to assess your internal situation to identify areas where you can make improvements or bolster processes. 

One last piece of advice

If a telemarketing provider tells you that guarantee results, then RUN! Like most things in life, there are no guaranteed results. From a practical standpoint it is impossible for any telemarketing provider to guarantee results. Unless they go on the sales call with you, it is not possible for anyone to make a real guarantee about the number of new clients you will get from using their service.  As usual, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

If you are looking for a telemarketing company to help your firm generate leads, shoot me an email here. I am happy to help you out!

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

The basic premise of SEO is that search engines peer inside the code for your website and read about what you have written – this is typically done through header tags, meta-data and alt tags, as well as keywords in content.  All of this data talks to the web crawler and tells them about what is written on your site, what’s important and then the web crawler makes some informed decisions/guesses and ranks your site accordingly.  For this reason it’s important to have content that contains keywords on your home page, to give your images the alt-tags that are relevant to your content, and use meta-data.  Flash however, takes all of that information and puts it into a nice and compact, neatly packaged little file that isn’t readable by search engines.

There is a bit of controversy surrounding the Flash VS. SEO conundrum, so in the subsequent paragraphs we’ll address how some Flash sites achieve high rank, why you should avoid flash, and if you already have flash how to improve it (from a SEO perspective).

Flash Sites with High Ranking

When initially consulting with clients on a website design we request examples of “references sites” that illustrate a feature, design or other element the client really likes. Almost every client will direct us to a LOT of flash examples.  We ask our clients to show us what they love in a website – show us some of their favorites, and typically what comes back are examples of various animations.  To make it more interesting the animations generally appear by themselves with no wording on the page.  For an SEO expert, this is like the 7th circle of hell. Below are a few examples of beautiful Flash sites – with absolutely nothing SEO wise to back them up.  So… why do they rank so high?!

• Orbit Gum
• Hersheys Chocolate
• Louis Vuitton
• Marc Ecko

They are all household names – big brands.  Giant media backing, millions of dollars go into marketing – and frankly their backlink count is higher in a day than most of us could hope for in a lifetime.  On top of that, Google doesn’t just rank based on content, but they rank based on relevance and according to all the back linking going on, Google sees their web address as being very relevant to a lot of people.  Flash works for power brands because big brands don’t need to worry about content.  However, it doesn’t work for smaller companies because smaller companies have to work hard for just a couple of back links (especially CPAs and Accounting firms which are not typically household names).

Help! I already have a Flash site but I want to do something to improve my ranking….

Well the first thing I would tell you to do is to ditch Flash and have your developer put you on a CMS system that uses HTML 5 and Javascripting. This will allow you to achieve similar effects to Flash without compromising your design or your SEO. Although this may sound costly, it is less expensive than you may think. If a change is just not in the cards for you right now, here are practical steps you can take to help your Flash website increase in the rankings:

• Create a set of HTML pages that contain the inner workings of GOOD SEO and direct people through your Flash Site to those pages, or vice versa.
• Add HTML content below the pages within Flash – like paragraphs about the visual.
• Extract any text that is embedded in your Flash site as an image, into a text file, Google has a fair shot of finding these text files, but will definitely not be able to crawl an image file.
• Break apart your entire Flash site into individual Flash components and put them onto their own HTML page to make it a hybrid HTML/Flash site (Search engines really like this a lot better than a straight Flash site).
• You could also try having separate URLSs by implementing the SWF Address.
• Ask your Flash Developer to utilize the accessibility features – its kind of like alt tags for big chunks of your site.
• Last but not least, you could simply focus on off-page SEO instead of on page SEO: convince other websites to link back to your site (like our first big brand examples above).

Flash Hurts

It really does.  You may talk to some developers who tell you that they can make your Flash site optimized – true, there are some things that you can do to help existing Flash sites build their SEO, but the best course of action is to avoid them all together. Some things to remember:

• iPhones are not compatible with Flash – unless you download a specific flash compatible browser ( its not free).
• Flash takes time to load – and making visitors wait for your content, especially if they have a slow connection, is like playing Russian roulette with potential clients.
• Web crawlers see the ENTIRE site as just a single page (ouch!)
• Web analytics for Flash sites are cumbersome at best, and more often purely problematic. The best metrics you can get is when visitors enter and exit the site, but tracking actual activity is impractical.
• Usability is compromised – non-functional back button, inability to copy cut and paste ‘text’ objects, inability to link to a page within the flash site.
• Cross Platform Support is lacking – and sometimes upgrades to a newer version of Flash are required, which navigates visitors away from your page for an install of software and sometimes a reboot. How often do you think visitors are going to come back after going through all that?
• Adding additional content or correcting a content error will require you to contact a Flash Developer ($$$$)

Now despite everything I have said, there are actually some practical applications for Flash sites, such as large household name brands, gaming sites, and virtually any site in the entertainment industry, but for most CPA and Accounting firms a Flash website is not a practical application when tax, audit and advisory leads can be attracted through the Internet.  Before you embark on your next website project, consider why looking into CMS systems that leverages JavaScript and HTML5 could be a viable alternative to Flash.  If you’re looking to consult with an expert *ahem* that can give you some practical advice on your next web project, give me a shout!

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.

1. Be Visually Appealing & Branded:

You’ve heard this one before I’m sure.  But your website really is your first (sometimes only) impression that a prospect may get.  Consider this, does your logo clearly embody professionalism? Does it allude to the culture of your firm? Are the colors complimenting each other? Or are they fighting? If a prospect saw your logo would they easily see your firm’s name? Would it showcase visually what your firm specializes in? Would it be memorable?

If you answered no to any of the above questions – put a hold on your website design and contact a professional who can help you develop a cohesive and communicative brand identity.  Once your visuals are sending the right message, the rest of your design can fall into place as a complimentary component.

Remember, all you get is that first impression – and you want your prospects to see you as an authoritative professional that can clearly and comprehensively execute a project. 

2. Generate Qualified Leads:

Your website must do something for you.  A brochure website is no longer an acceptable web presence.  The internet audience has higher expectations now, especially since technology has shifted so drastically in the last 5 years.  Prospects expect to be able to interact with you in ways previously not available. Examples include the ability to download a whitepaper, e-newsletter subscription, whitepaper or other such vehicle. Consider adding 1 or 2 of the following items to your website to help generate qualified leads:

1. A section of articles written by members of your firm on issues or topics related to your firm’s areas of expertise.
2. 1-2 White Papers
3. A page or section dedicated to a specialty topic your firm is an expert in – with a contact form that caters specifically to that issue.
4. Alt tags or meta-data to all pages of your website
5. A “Contact Us” call to action within every page

There are so many ways to generate leads – but the key really is having specific initiatives that your site visitors can engage in. Make sure you are providing them with as many ways as possible to contact you at any given place on your website. 

3. Simple Sitemap

The point of your website is NOT to confuse your prospects.  The point of your website IS to make information about your firm and its expertise readily available and easily accessible.  Follow these simple guidelines when developing your sitemap: 

1. Keep it to three levels of navigation – or think of it as only three levels of drop down menus.
2. Navigation should be kept to a 1-2 word minimum per section, and under a total (including spaces) of 24 characters per section.
3. Maximum of 8 top level navigation items.
4. All of your content should be included in your sitemap – no hidden pages, except landing pages for ad campaigns.
5. A call to action should never be more than 1 click away and it should be highly visible.

4. Promote Relevant Content

This means your content actually needs to be relevant.  Don’t post pages about how great your cat is (Yes I have actually seen this on an accounting website), instead focus on the issues and niches that your firm specializes in.  Have tons and tons of content about those items – including blogs, articles, and white papers.  Don’t just limit yourself to a static content page.  If your prospects are going to see you as an expert, and frankly if Google is going to see you as an expert, you need to saturate your website with content related to what you do and how you do it better than anyone else. 

So how much content is enough content? There is never enough content! Strive to have at least 50 pages.  You won’t get there in a day, so don’t even try, but you should always be adding content to your website.  If this is your first website launch, strive to have 20 pages of content and make a goal of adding 1-2 blogs or articles per month. 

5. Use Proper Keywords
You have already written stellar relevant content now you should make sure it includes relevant keywords.

“Everyone says that… but what does it MEAN?!”

It means that the words that you use the most in your content, should be your keywords because that is what people will see you as an expert on.  Bottom line – your website needs to contain content relevant to the prospects you are trying to get to find you.  So if you are writing about cats and rainbows and not tax incentives and audit processes, you’re going to end up with a bunch of 12 year old girls that love kittens and pretty colors visiting your website.  Your keywords should be relevant to the prospects you are targeting.

6. Be Accessible
Simple enough concept right? If you want to get new clients, they should be able to find you.  How do you do this you may be wondering? Consider the following:

1. Adding SEO to your siteto increase leads for a specific topic, or consider doing a basic SEO plan to just get you on the radar in general.
2. Try doing a pay-per-click Google ad words campaign.
3. Go back to basics and write real, relevant copy that will help you achieve true organic search results in your firm’s areas of expertise.

7. Social Media
Not just social media buttons.  You need to engage with your prospects within the social stratosphere.

1. Twitter – Get all of your co-workers/employees on Twitter.  They should each send out 1-2 tweets per day about something that is currently relevant in their area of expertise.  At the very least they should tweet a link to your firm’s latest blog post. Find a bunch of people relevant to your industry and follow them too – not only will you get an abundance of awesome and amazing tips and tricks daily, but you will start to develop a following of people that find your firm to be relevant and interesting and on the pulse of relevant issues.
2. LinkedIn – Be a part of LinkedIn.  Connect with other professionals – business referrals come from LinkedIn all the time.  Share articles – update your status, be a part of it.  Take 5 minutes at the beginning of your day to read and share 1-2 articles that are interesting to you and might be interesting to your network.
3. Facebook – If your firm has a Facebook page – you must remain active on that page in order to stay in the feeds of other Facebookers.  This is the PERFECT place to talk to your existing clients and maintain the relationship you have with them. Post deadlines and reminders of upcoming deadlines, share articles that are relevant to their type of business.  Always post links to your blogs, and don’t be afraid to tag a specific follower in your post if you think it would very much benefit them. 

8. Content Management

I promise if you do nothing with any of the information I have written above, please, PLEASE have your website built (or rebuilt) on a content management system.  This will allow you, the YOU that doesn’t have any coding or HTML experience, to regularly update your content and add additional pages and articles to your website.  A content management system will make your life easier, will make website updates much faster, and will take a financial burden away from being nickled and dimed to death by your website administrator who charges an obscene amount for even the most minor change. 

There are several open source CMS options available, but my personal preference is WordPress for more reasons than I could ever list here.  Trust me when I say that updating your website can be as easy as editing a word document  – and that ease will make developing website content, reworking sitemaps, implementing SEO and all of the other above mentions really seamless. Feel free to thank me later by sending me a warm fuzzy hug here, I also accept chocolate chip cookies and monetary gifts of gratitude.

© 2011, Flashpoint Marketing. All rights reserved. The material presented here is copyright by Flashpoint Marketing. Reprinting or reproduction is prohibited without the express written consent of Flashpoint Marketing.