​An online portfolio is a great way to show off your work and promote your business on the internet. You know that a website only provides you with a small window of opportunity to convert readers into loyal clients - and if you want to spike those conversion rates through the roof, it pays to show off your work with an online portfolio.
Let's face it: you're a successful business owner with plenty of high-quality projects under your belt. Maybe you're a roofer that can restore a roof like brand new and improve the look of a home, or a painting company that can turn any room to a work of art, or even a website designer that can build custom websites... Why not show it off to your potential customers?
While all websites should have a section devoted to providing information on their services, a portfolio can make a huge impact on increasing your conversion rates and calls. This is simply because it's proof of the wonderful work you do. Online consumers want to know that they're getting the best deal when they choose to work with you. If they can see that they're guaranteed a higher level of product or service quality with your company, then they'll be far more likely to become a customer.
So where's the best place to display your portfolio - and what should you put in it?
The rule of thumb for online portfolios, is that it should be easily accessible from your list of services page. You can opt to place a link to your portfolio on that page, or you could cut down on the text and let your portfolio speak for itself. Both methods have their pros and cons, so weigh up the decision carefully before making your choice.
You know your online portfolio should contain your best work - however, don't overload your readers with heaps of images and files. Simple and efficient are the key words here; find no more than ten examples of your best work, and feature them in a simple slideshow. For an even greater impact, use before and after photos of your work.
If you're looking for a great way to promote your business on your website for free, show off your work with an online portfolio. If you need help creating your portfolio, hire a website professional to help you create one that reflects your business acumen.
Elite Web Professionals provides website design and internet advertising to increase your visibility online. Services include web development of database driven websites that comply with W3C standards and seo copywriting to get traffic from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. For information on our services view our website design portfolio, or call 1 (800) 631-4177.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Christopher_M._Williams/681384


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6915286

Using different ways to promote your business using Facebook is an excellent strategy for generating targeted traffic to your business or website. When promoting your business using Facebook it's a good idea to concentrate on just a couple of methods to start with. Once you begin to see results, and your confidence grows,you can move on to more challenging and in-depth methods. Listed below are 3 ideas you can implement today,and start to promote your business using Facebook.
1. Using Your Facebook Fan Page To Send Out Information.
A benefit of having a Facebook fan page is that you can send out information to your fans easily. If you have previously used the option to locate friends using your email list from your autoresponder and have got them to become a fan, then you should now have a broad base of fans to contact. You can make use of this situation by sending them information about your business,such as dates of sales,coupons, and upcoming product launch information.
2. Using Your Facebook Fan Page To Request Information And Pictures.
In addition to sending out information from your fan page, you can also use it to gather information from your fans. In particular there are three things that you should try to recover from your fans:
i. Survey data about your business.If you can get your fans to fill out surveys about your products (perhaps by offering some incentives), you have a good chance of capturing vital information that you can use to create,market and fix your products.
ii. Photos, or art related to your business. In many cases this simply isn't applicable, but in others it is; and can be one of your greatest assets. If you can get your fans to post pictures of themselves using your products, this can be a very useful way to draw in additional people on Facebook.
iii. Testimonials.Regardless of what business you are in or what product you are promoting, testimonials can play a vital role in improving your credibility. For this reason, you should make a concerted effort to get testimonials from your customers through Facebook.
3. Using Event Invitations On Facebook.
There are many ways you can support a product launch through the use of Facebook; however I personally recommend that you do so by creating an event. You can then promote the event by inviting all of your business "fans" to participate in the event (i.e. your product launch).
It is imprtant that you spell out exactly what it means to participate in the launch event. For instance, you might explain that on the launch date, you are going to hold a variety of contests and award prizes, ranging from cash awards to coupons for products.
Additionally, it's important to explain to fans that they must confirm that they are attending the event in order to be eligible to receive prizes in the contests. This will create a buzz around your event; and possibly encourage new people to become friends.
Follow the above methods and begin applying them into your business, and start seeing results from promotion through Facebook.Request your Free and very comprehensive report today on the use of social media in business. Visit this special web page http://www.thenewguidetosocialmediaprofits.com
Ian Gibbins is a successful Internet Marketer,specialising in the use of social media to promote business.
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Ian_Gibbins/574181


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5076463

​Here's another online business tip that some business owners use, but strangely enough many do not, or do not use it properly. Emailing past customers and people who signed-up for an account is one of the best ways to promote your business for free. Business owners really underestimate the power of this.
With our fashion jewelry business, we used to send out 2-3 emails a month that mentioned new items, closeout sale items, and sometimes included a 10%-20% off coupon, depending on the time of season it was. I would say 70% of our sales came from these emails.
I was really surprised that it took one of our main competitors almost three years to figure this out. Even though "they" received our company emails 2-3 times a month, it never clicked in their heads that they should be doing this too. Now after three years, I get a sales email from this company every week, sometimes twice a week. Like I said, it works!
But Don't People Hate Email? Isn't This Spam?
If a customer bought something from you and they enjoy the products you sell, the answer to both questions is "NO." You will get a few people that object, maybe 2-3% of the entire customer email list. All you have to do is remove them from your list when they request you to so that they'll never get the emails again.
How Much Is Too Much In Terms Of Sending Out These Emails?
We've never gotten complaints from 2-3 emails a month. You might be able to get by with one a week, but I've never tried it. We've gotten such good results with 2-3 emails a month that it made no sense for me to force the issue with more emails, which would cause a higher % of people asking to be unsubscribed from our customer email list.
Be sure to allow people to join your mailing list from the homepage even if they don't buy anything. If your shopping cart doesn't allow this, there are programs and companies online that handle mailing lists. Sometimes people will join your mailing list but won't make a purchase from you that same day, and then they'll come back and make a purchase after receiving your sales email. I suggest offering some sort of small giveaway to entice people to signup for your mailing list like, "Subscribe to our sales mailing list and be eligible for a free 'whatever'." You could do this every month but it is most effective obviously during your more busy months when more people are visiting your website. Obviously, you'll get more subscribers and still have to give out only one prize.
Visit the website I write for and you'll get more free tips like how to make an effective email, how to develop an email list, and over 100 more free articles.
Join me each week on my main writing website, ThingsWeLearned.com [http://www.thingswelearned.com], for over 100 of my free money making business articles.
Why would you even care to read any of my articles? Because I'm one of the foremost experts in the world on making money on the Internet, earning over $5 million dollars since 1997 with several different businesses. And if $5 million doesn't sound like a lot of money to you, it is when you factor in that I made it starting with only $500.
Other websites, book writers, conference will charge you $1,000's of dollars for this information, and most of the people made very little money, if any, with their own advice. I'll show you how I made millions online, FOR FREE!
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Johnathan_Rogers/211164


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Business networking groups, like BNI, consist of business owners/marketers who meet once a week to pass leads to one another. Leads are considered potential business offerings. Each business represents a category and only one business is allowed in the group per category. For instance, the group will only allow one general contractor, bookkeeper or hair stylist. 

I have found a few steps handy while choosing which group to belong to. Depending on where you live, you may have several groups to choose from. It is a good idea to check out each group's website to see that your business category is available. In addition, look for members in each group in which you could be strategic partners. It is very important that you figure out if you will get business from the group before you join. Your goal is to find a group that will give you the most business. It is also likely that you might attract referrals through these steps, even if you don’t join the group. 

1. Contact the administrator/director of each group that you find interest in. Discuss your interest with them and any ways that they could help your business. Also, ask if you can contact several members to discuss their experiences. Review the information that is listed on the group website before calling group members.
2. Contact all the members that could be good strategic partners for your business. This gives you an opportunity to get their opinion of the group and also feel out if they would in fact give you business if you joined. You have to be very strategic about this since you will be cold calling them. You don’t want to sound like a telemarketer. (Good telemarketers are the bomb by the way.) 
3. Get as many free visits as you can with all the groups in your area. Since everyone will know you are researching groups, you won’t sound like you are only there for referrals. You will need to join one group. Your reputation and reviews are a very important factor and they can deter business from your success. 

Sometimes there are reasons you shouldn’t join a group, such as if you aren’t planning on attending regularly. Most groups will terminate your membership and the other group members may view you as unprofessional. Put in one year of being a member. After that year you may be too busy to attend the meetings. One year will give you a chance to make good contacts. You will probably continue to get referrals until someone else takes your category. Sometimes, people may not like the new member in your category and may continue to refer to you. Remember to make the process smooth for all referrals generated by the group as it can get back to the businesses that referred you. This is extremely important as it could jeopardize their business as well.

Choosing the best business networking group is essential to get your business off the ground and can add to a growing business marketing strategy. It is a lot of work and time commitment but can be much cheaper than other forms of marketing. 

Google Ad Grants is a service provided by google, where eligible entities can benefit from advertising them or their service through Google Ad Words. The best part is that all the advertising comes for free. The advertisement cost is provided by Google in the form of a grant. This is why the service is called Google Ad Grant Program.

We all know how effective it is to advertise through Google AdWords. Google is the king of the internet so, it is the only place where you can get the most relevant exposure for your ads. Advertising through Google Ad Words, if designed correctly, can work wonders for any organisation. This is where the real benefit lies for the organizations that get Google Ad Grant.

The Ad Grant service is already very popular with non-profits as it is already working with more than19000 non-profits globally. The benefits that it provides, makes the application and selection process all the more competitive. There are a stringent set of guidelines laid down by google that have to be met by any organization in order to be eligible for Google Ad Grants.

Guidelines of Ad Grants Program:
Google has laid down a set of guidelines for the ads to be placed under the Ad Grant program. Anyone advertising through this program will have to strictly adhere to the undermentioned guidelines:

1. The ads have to be in the form of ‘text ad’ only. This means that you cannot include any form of video, images or animation in your advertisement. The ad has to be strictly text based.
2. The ads have to be built around certain keywords that your ad campaign is going to target. Free tools like Google Keyword Planner can be used to figure out low competition keywords and your ads can target those keywords.
3. Maximum CPC allowed in this program is $2. This cannot be exceeded under any circumstances. So, this condition should also be kept in mind while choosing your focus keyword.
4. Google provides $10000 monthly ($120000 annually) in the form of advertising budget. One should not confuse it with real cash. This fund is available in the form of Google Adword advertising budget. Well, in terms of advertising, this amount is really good, even when you are advertising on Google. This amount of advertising can bring significant benefits to your organization.
5. Daily advertising budget under this program cannot exceed $329. This budget is sufficient to create enough engagement for your organization and its goals.
6. Another important thing to remember is the positioning of the ads on google search result pages. The ads placed under the Ad Grant program will be displayed below the paid advertisements on google pages.
7. Another important guideline is that the entity which has been provided with the funds under Google Ad Grant, must ensure activity and innovativeness in its advertisements. The programmers behind the advertising campaigns of the organization, must log into their Ad Words account at least once every month. They should also make some changes in their advertisement campaigns and ad setup every three months.

Eligibility Requirements under the Google Ad Grant Program:
Any non-profit that wishes to avail the benefits of the Ad Grant program has to fulfil certain pre-determined eligibility criteria as laid down by Google. The eligibility requirements are as follows:

1. The organization has to hold a valid 501c3 certification. This certifies the charity status of the organization.
2. It must have a live website. The website must have relevant content that matches with the actual work the non-profit organization does. It should also display all the currently active schemes, the office addresses, contact details and a clear vision statement of the non-profit entity.
3. The non-profit has to agree to the Google Ad Grant Terms and Conditions while signing up for the program. By signing up, the entity agrees to use the advertising grant as per the regulations and policy terms as laid down by Google.
4. There are certain organizations that are not eligible for the Ad Grant program eg. Government Organizations, Hospitals, Schools, Academic Institutions or Universities are not eligible under Google Ad Grant. However, the philanthropic division of educational institutions can avail the benefits of advertising under this scheme.

What is a 501c3 organization?
A particular organization is said to be 501c3, when it is involved in charity programs and its status has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service. Such an organization is also exempt from its tax liabilities arising from its fund raising operations that are directed towards its charity related activities. The span of charitable activities is huge and it encompasses a host of activities that are directed towards the general welfare of the public or a particular section of the society. They can range from educational to sports, religious to scientific, literature to testing etc.

501c3 organizations are primarily of three types: Public charity, Private Foundation and Private Operating Foundation. They all have their own specific management structure, active charity programs status and revenue generation method. A 501c3 organization is under a heavy set of regulations, mostly because of its tax status. Its operations cannot be directed towards generating any monetary benefits for the individual members of the management, employee or any private individual. Similarly, in the event of a shut down the corporate assets cannot be distributed among the members. Even the income generated by the website, should go towards financing the programs being run by the organization.

How to Maintain and keep your Ad Grants Account active:
There are certain requirements and conditions that Google wants you to follow in order to maintain your Ad Grants account alive and running. They are as follows:

1. You have to be active with your ads and your Ad Words account. It is required to log into your ad words account at least once a month and make some changes in the ad settings every 3 months.
2. You cannot monetize your website that you are promoting through Ad Grant program. Google strictly prohibits such websites from displaying Google AdSense ads or other affiliate links of any kind. Any profit generation in this way will contradict with the very essence of being a Non-Profit organization.
3. Your ads should link to the very same website (only one domain) that has been approved by Google for the ad grant. You cannot use the funds available under the grant to advertise any other program other than your organization’s main website. Similarly, your ads should also not point to a page that carries links to other websites.
4. Your ads should be relevant to the purpose of your organization. The keywords should be set around the programs and services that your non-profit organization is associated with.
5. Neither can your ads offer financial products, nor can they ask people for donations of any kind.

How Can A Non-Profit Organization Benefit From Google Ad Grant:
Advertising on Google has benefits that no other site or service can offer. Google is the king of the Internet with around 3 billion searches per day. Google is present everywhere and almost everyone uses it. It has access to our desktops and smartphones. It can reach us anytime of the day, while we are in our office, or bedroom, or shopping mall, google has access to us all the time. Advertising on google, therefore becomes all the more relevant, as it will reach its target audience for sure.

However, on the negative side, advertising on Google can be very expensive. Small organizations or non-profit organizations won’t ever have the money to utilize this huge advertising service. This is where the Ad Grant program steps in. Through this program, organizations are able to utilize this massive advertising resource and generate great results for their cause. This is the very reason that many major organizations of the World are advertising on Google through the Ad Grants program eg. Unicef, Kiva etc.

Everyone in the online industry understands that to generate any results from your online endeavours, the most basic necessity is ‘Traffic’. With access to a huge target audience, Non Profits benefit from Google Ad Grant service in many ways. Some of them are as follows:

1. With the huge exposure that google advertising brings on the table, non-profit organizations can benefit greatly in terms of increased number of people who want to get associated with their cause. This in turn translates into, a greater number of donors, volunteers and consumers coming together to further the organization’s cause.
2. Greater exposure also translates into greater awareness among the relevant audience about the existence of your organization. This span of awareness is further broadened by word to mouth publicity. So, in a way this creates a ripple of free publicity of your non-profit.
3. Google Adwords also provides you with one of the most elaborate Insights about your ad campaign. The exposure and engagement received by your advertisement is further broken down in terms of demography, geographical locations, gender and interest. An elaborate insight helps you understand in a better way as to what ad combination is working best, which geographical location and age group is responding the most to your ads. This also helps you track the number of new people signing up to your newsletters or registering as volunteers.

It is therefore, very clear that Google Advertising can bring great benefits for your non-profit in more than one way. However, the restriction of maximum CPC of $2 can sometime acts as a restraint. In more competitive markets, the CPC can be higher, but the maximum CPC ceiling keeps the advertisers away from those markets. This sometimes leads to advertisers not being able to utilize their entire ad grant budget.

Tips to maximize earnings:
Here are a few tips to help advertisers utilize maximum advertising budget allotted to them.

1. Keep effective track of your ads and keywords.  Whenever you spot that a particular combination is not performing well, immediately phase it out and replace it with another combination. Keep doing this till you get a perfect match that converts well.
2. Keep your ads and keywords relevant with the content of the webpage you are sending your visitors to. Play around with short and long keywords while always keeping them relevant with the website.
3. Provide free giveaways. This has proven to be the method that always works. Everybody wants a freebie and you won’t mind giving it away in return for a valuable email id that belongs to a future prospect.
4. Keep your ad interesting and elaborate. New people while viewing your ad should feel tempted to click the ad. At the same time, your ad should give your visitors a clear idea as to what you are representing.

How to Apply for Google Ad Grants Program for Non Profits?
If you feel that your organization meets all the criteria laid down by google for their ad grant program, then you can begin with registering on their website. There will be a simple form initially that will ask for your and your organization’s basic details. Then you will be provided with a TechSoup validation token.  TechSoup verifies whether your entity is actually an NGO or not and submits its report to Google.

After filling all the relevant details, you can submit your application. Giving you approval will totally depend upon Google. They generally provide approval in 10 to 15 days or they may ask you to submit other information as required by them.

Along with that, you also have to separately create an Adwords account. The advertisers need to develop some understanding as to how Google Adwords works before they actually start utilizing their Ad Grants budget.

Conclusion:
To conclude, we can say that Google Ad Grant program can be of great help to any non-profit. Just the sheer amount of free advertising that it offers, can change the fortunes of the organization. It can greatly help the organization increase its reach and influence and gain more supporters to further its cause in the long run.

​

By now, you should know how lucrative Facebook marketing is, in terms of the amount of income you can potentially generate for your business from this one single social networking site. There's no denying the fact that, Facebook is definitely one of the most effective platforms on which you can conduct businesses and reach out even more to prospective customers (determining your ideal client, Entreprenuer Mag.).

This is one single platform where you have the opportunity to expand your business to reach out to tens of thousands (or even millions) of prospective customers worldwide. What's more, there are many different ways in which you can generate income from Facebook.

However, as much as it is easy to generate massive leads from Facebook, you should also be aware of the fact that you have to do it well in order to see any results from your Facebook marketing efforts. In this article, you will discover some bad mistakes in Facebook marketing that you must avoid at all cost if you want to be able to generate those huge paychecks from your Facebook marketing efforts.

Do Not Spam Your Prospective Customers
Spamming is illegal in most countries, including the United States. Even if it is not, it is something that is frowned upon by people. Therefore, you must be mindful of not spamming your prospective customers' wall with your marketing messages. Doing so will anger them and remove you from their friends' list.

Do Not Just Concentrate On Solely Selling
If all you do is to sell, people will probably not listen to you. Especially when you are new to Facebook marketing, and just starting to connect with prospective customers, you should focus on building rapport and trust with them first, before you even try to sell them anything. What you can do is to provide them with useful tips and information in the niche market that you are in, along with extending your helping hand by helping them in whichever areas they need help in. It is only after you have gained their trust and respect (that you are someone whom they can listen to), only should you start to sell them products and services.

Do Not Be Too "Pushy" With Your Marketing Efforts
Always remember, people go to Facebook to stay connected with their friends, family members, and other individuals who have the same hobbies and interests as them. They do not go to Facebook and make purchases. Therefore, you have to be mindful whenever you are trying to market to your prospective customers. You must not be too "pushy" with your marketing efforts.

Mixing Personal & Business Profiles
What you should not do is to mix both personal and business profiles together. Rather, what you should do is to have one account solely for personal use only, and another account solely for business use only. The reason is this, having personal stuff (such as updates on the games you play on Facebook) on your business profile will lead to your prospective customers deeming that you are not professional enough. And at the same time, posting business stuff on your profile will do nothing to boost your business.

Avoiding the mistakes above will go a long way in helping you achieve success through Facebook marketing. Read, digest and put into practice what you’ve learned.

A lot of social networking groups are mushrooming in the world wide web, one of which, is the famous and widely used Facebook. Without any doubt, Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the market today. A significant percentage of people around the world use Facebook to reconnect with their family and friends. Though It began primarily with teenagers, it has moved along to include older generations. Aside from personal use, Facebook is currently used for business, as well. Thus, it can now reconnect others to their workers, managers, and co-workers.
Internet marketing was started due to the demands of most consumers. As a business owner or manager, we would like to spread the word about our products as far as it can reach. Thus, business made online is born, and Facebook is the ticket for it. Through the use of the Internet, products can be advertised to anyone around the world. A lot of company currently uses Facebook to advertise the brand of their products, attract consumers, inform consumers with essential details or announce updates about what they offer. Since most people use the Internet to communicate, it makes it more convenient for consumers to inquire about the company's information.
Many online businesses are getting great results with Facebook marketing. Many entrepreneurs and business executives are also taking advantage of strategic Facebook marketing. The benefits of it provides are just so numerous. Would you like to know some? Read on.

Benefits of Facebook Marketing
From the numerous benefits that internet marketers derive from Facebook marketing, here are just a few.

Great for Communication
Facebook is a wonderful way to send messages to friends, colleagues, and clients. These can be open for others to read, privately sent, or part of a "live chat" session. Many Internet marketers use it as a way to network with others. They also find Facebook as a fast way to communicate with down the line members, affiliates, or any other people they need to contact.

Way to Share Opinions and Receive Feedback
An entrepreneur or business executive can obtain feedback about their company or promotion. This can be a very valuable resource. Clients can ask questions which can be answered in an immediate manner. This is great for the company because it keeps these customers from calling the next day. Customers appreciate the personal touch of such fast and direct communication. They usually feel satisfied since they are likely talking to one of the decision making associates of the company. So, in the long run, Facebook communication helps to solve problems and concerns. Additionally, it makes the customer feel like he/she is a priority with the company.

Branding
Facebook marketing allows members to have as much or as little information as they choose listed on the profile page. Pictures and logos can be posted to help brand a product, company, or website.
 
Inexpensive to Run Promotional Advertisements
Facebook marketing is a free way to get exposure for a business. Sometimes, the exposure can go viral as friends share what they have found with other friends. In a very short period, your new business or project could be in the spotlight with regard to huge numbers of individuals. There is also paid advertising available that can be an effective way to propel a campaign.

Post Schedules, Meetings, Conferences, and Events
A business associate or entrepreneur can post important meetings, schedules, conferences, and events. It is also easy to post any last minute changes that need to go out to a large number of people.

So if you are interested in making sure your business reaches the "next level," be sure to take advantage of all of the benefits that Facebook marketing has to offer.

R.D. Meyers & Co. is based in Santa Rosa, Ca and offers Website Design, SEO, SEM, Content Management and Social Media Management. We’ve worked mainly with local businesses. Getting a good Internet Marketing firm who knows the web design business is crucial when searching. It is also very important that you have a firm that knows the area well. The outside agency does not know the area nor the other local businesses. We have many years located in Sonoma County and worked with many local businesses. One of our jobs is to connect with as many businesses as possible. We know the business community like no other.
 
Sonoma county business community like anywhere else, is very complex. Some of the business owners locally become a part of politics. They end up involved in many areas outside the business realm. Sometimes it’s hard for the business owner/politician to not benefit from plans made and people connections. As a business owner you try to find ways to make money with many different strategies. It’s understandable that politics is often a strategy to build that business.
 
Working in this area is very different than doing business in Sacramento, San Jose and even San Francisco. Contact us to discuss your business in this local environment. Our telephone number is 707-490-6486 or email [email protected].

Here is a list of the must-have's for your new website design.
 1.) You must have a responsive website design (mobile-friendly). You need to be able to clearly ready your website on all cell phones and tablets.
2.) Your new site should have a call-to-action on every page. Make it easy for prospects to find you.
3.) Give them what they want. Make your website easy to follow so everyone has the chance to make sure you do what they need.
4.) Never create a website with a black background. Unless your business has to do with Halloween, don't do it.
5.) Pay for the added SEO placement. Don't you want people to find you?
6.) Don't make your contact form too hard to send you. A simple captcha is all that is needed.

Not to mention clear fonts, images and logo.

Drop us a line if you want any help when getting a new website. Free consultation means everyone :-).