Monthly Archives: April 2012

Our New Friend Jade . . .

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. . .  well we haven’t actually met Jade yet but who knows, someday.

She’s a traveler & writer from some out-of-the-way place in Canada and we stumbled upon her in Stumbleupon, see it does work, and I started reading her Blog.

Now, not all travel blogs are worth spending time on, but I think hers is, because she’s done some crazy things. Read about her spending hours on a ferry from Fiji in a cyclone accompanied only by an unfortunate friend and a sick bag.

I’ll let you read her stories, you’ll find them here . . . www.ouroyster.com.

She also has a Pinterest Board, but don’t bother going there, there’s nothing on it – yet. Perhaps she should get some ideas from mine www.pinterest.com/traveljunkies

So do yourself a favour, have a little light reading from Jade’s Blog and if you like it, tell her, and if you don’t like it, tell her.

Until next time

Cliff
traveljunkies

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Are You Using Pinterest To Advertise Your Business? It’s Free . . .

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Pinterest’s traffic is growing fast and the stats are impressive. Known for its high quality images, it’s apps allow you to pin pictures from pretty much anywhere with just one click.   Pinterest does for pictures what Twitter does for words.

And demographics show Pinterest appeals mainly to college-educated females who are known to influence many spending decisions.

Pinterest is now the number three most-popular social network in the U.S., behind Facebook and Twitter, according to Experian Hitwise.

A new report shows Pinterest got more than 20 million visits a week in January, nearly 30 times that in July last year.

So are you making the most of this free advertising opportunity to promote your business?
If not … why not?

Read more …

Cliff Chapman
traveljunkies 

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Practical Tips For Small Businesses – Tip #8 Use Pinterest To Advertise Your Business For Free.

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Are you using Pinterest to advertise your business? – You should for several reasons.

“A picture paints a thousand words.”

Pinterest is all about pictures which is tailor-made for your business, and they don’t have to be your pictures.
Once you have set up your Pinterest account, you can pin and repin any picture you like and it’s so simple to do.
What’s more you can add your own words to the picture and a link to your website.

In just a few minutes searching Pinterest you will find pictures suitable for your business and with one click, post them on one of your own boards.
And other people will do the same, pinning your pictures on their boards.
Because it’s so simple it’s no wonder it’s the No. 3 most popular social network in the US behind Facebook and Twitter and is fast growing worldwide.

So give it a try …

Go to http://www.pinterest.com and enter your email address to request an invitation. It should take just a day or two for your invitation to arrive in your mail.

And to see how it works, take a look at the traveljunkies boards here http://www.pinterest.com/traveljunkies  then click on any of the seven pictures to see all the pictures in that board.

Remember, once you have set up your account, come back to the traveljunkies boards and click on Repin to add a picture to your board.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly other people find you and repin your pictures to their boards.

As I said at the beginning, your business is all about pictures and it’s as if Pinterest has been developed just for you.
Go on – Just do it! 

Good luck
Cliff
traveljunkies

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Practical Tips For Small Businesses – TIP #7 – 4 Top Tips To Make Your Adverts Work For You.

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Advertising tips … 

1.  Advertise your website, not your services or products. 

If the purpose of your advert is to attract visitors to your website then advertise your website, not your services or products.
Your website should do your selling so don’t make the mistake of making your advertising a mini version of your website.

Traffic is the lifeblood of your website, without traffic your site is dead.
If no-one sees it, it might just as well not exist. So in all your advertising, promote your website.

So remember the rule “Advertise Your Website, Not Your Services or Products.“ 

2.  Attract more visitors. Include a wide range of keywords and key phrases in your adverts.

As well as the keywords you use for your own business, think wider and include key words and phrases people might use when they aren’t specifically looking for you.

For example, if you provide accommodation, include words for nearby attractions and activities. People searching for scuba diving, whitewater rafting, skydiving, sailing, etc. will often need somewhere to stay and with those kind of keywords in your adverts, people will find you.    

3.  Be friendly, helpful and approachable.

Make it easy for people to get in touch with you. Many adverts fail because they’re not user friendly, and aren’t designed to make life easy. Always include your name and contact details in your advert.

if you send emails to your prospects and customers, keep them short and to the point as more and more people are reading their emails on mobile devices, and make sure your contact details easy to find.

4.  Use Social Media to promote your business – it’s free.

Always include links to your social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin in your advertising and emails. These three cover the widest range of prospects from friends and other people who know you (Facebook), people who come across you from something you posted that interests them (Twitter), and links and recommendations you’ve established with other businesses (Linkedin).

Limit it to three to avoid overload. More than three will look like your spamming.

And don’t forget your Blog. Treat it like another website, which it is.
Promote your Blog in the same way you advertise your website. Then use your Blog to promote your business website.

And don’t forget  …

If your advertising isn’t working, stop doing it. Do something else.

You run your business to make money. The most important thing you must do is decide where and how to advertise to get the best value for your money.

See this and more here …

Best wishes

Cliff Chapman
www.traveljunkies.com

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Practical Tips For Small Businesses – TIP #6 – If it’s not working, stop doing it.

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TIP #6 – If it’s not working, stop doing it.

When did you last check how effective your advertising is working for you?

It almost goes without saying that today’s marketing has to be online.

That’s not to say there’s isn’t a place for traditional advertising such as newspapers, magazines, television and radio commercials, outdoor advertising or direct mail, but more and more people are relying on Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and Internet searches to find the information they’re looking for.

And it’s no longer good enough to put up a website and hope people will find it. Search Engines might find you if you have an active site that you regularly update with new content, but if your site rarely changes you can’t rely on searches finding it, you must actively promote it.

In my previous tips I’ve focussed on Facebook and without a doubt that’s one of the places to start, not least because it’s free. And the same goes for Twitter.

So what should you be doing?

See our 4 Top Tips To Make Your Adverts Work.

Cliff
www.traveljunkies.com

PS . . .   And remember – always post your business comments from your Fan Page, not your Profile.

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