Kelly McCormick's Business Tips

What I’m about to tell you may seem so obvious, in hindsight.

However, there could be a big reason why your on-line marketing isn’t paying off.

Okay, is the suspense killing you?

Keep reading to find out the problem and the easy solutions.

The BIG Problem

Here’s why your on-line marketing might not be working. Drum roll please.

Even though you have links to your website, listed on every major social media site and in your articles and guest blog posts and blog comments, potential clients and customers could be having a hard time reaching you.

You might be thinking, “Oh, that doesn’t apply to me. I have a contact form and email address on my website.”

Well don’t be so certain that your CONTACT US methods are working as planned.

True Stories

These stories illustrate my point. It’s not always easy to get a hold of you.

So I’ll begin, at the beginning….

I am always on the hunt for other experts, with complementary skills, who can help on the bigger business development and marketing jobs.

Twice this year I thought I’d hit the jackpot!

For some time I’d been following two well-known experts on LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Triberr (a blog sharing community).

After reading their stuff for several months I was impressed enough to TRY and connect with them.

Just Try to ‘CONTACT US’

To reach out to the first person I jumped over to his website, via a link on a guest blog post he’d written.

So far so good, his marketing methods were working. Until I tried to find his CONTACT US page.

I looked on his website’s top menu, bottom menu, and side menu. It turned up nothing.

“Really? I have to search to find out how to contact you?”

Finally, after digging around the site, I found the guy’s CONTACT US info. It was at the bottom of his ABOUT US page.

If I was a potential client I would have left his site about five minutes earlier, to search for another supplier.

WAIT! I was a potential client. Well at this point I was actually a frustrated potential sub-contractor.

What? You Contacted Me!

The second expert was much easier to TRY and connect with.

I found her website’s CONTACT US page in seconds. So I quickly sent an email asking for a phone meeting to discuss potential work, for her.

Then I waited.

After three days the lack of response was getting to me. Who doesn’t want work, which comes to them?

I needed to figure out why she wasn’t responding. Maybe the email, sent from her website, got caught in her spam filter? It happens.

It was time for plan ‘b’.

Next, I sent her a DM (direct message) on Twitter. Again, I heard nothing. Okay, to be fair, people get a ton of junk DMs. It’s easy for a message to get lost in the pile.

It was time for plan ‘c’. I was on a mission!

On my THIRD attempt I sent her a message through LinkedIn. It would go directly to her personal inbox. Surely she would see this message.

Nope. Again, the only thing I heard was the sound of crickets chirping.

By the way, these aren’t isolated problems. I’ve been hired by businesses to diagnosis similar issues.

I’d Call You…But…

Are you wondering why I didn’t just phone them?

Well, the answer is simple. They didn’t have phone numbers listed on their websites.

Before you judge, it’s not uncommon for some businesses to not list a phone number, especially if someone has a home office or uses their cell phone.

So if you don’t list a phone number it’s vital that your alternate contact methods work!

The Last Resort

When I finally tracked the experts down it was via a standard Tweet on Twitter. “Hi @SoandSo I have been trying to connect with you about work.”

That was an attention getter!

When they finally responded, did I hire them? Sorry. It was too late.

Instead I put on my marketer’s hat. I explained the problems I had trying to reach them. (I hate to see people working so hard to get business, only to have simple things trip them up.)

They then turned to me for solutions.

My Five Easy Solutions

Here are just a few of the solutions that I recommended to the experts. Please feel free to use them too.

1.  Put a CONTACT US tab on ALL menus and/or pages on your website. This makes it easy for people to reach you, in seconds.

2.  Replace any live email links on your site with an unlinked email address filled with symbols and spaces. Now your email address can’t be scooped by auto programs, which will spam you to death. Here is an example: RichardBranson (at) VirginGroup (dot) com. (I just made that up. It’s not really Richard Branson’s personal email address. Well I don’t think it is. However, if the address does work please say hi for me.)

3.  If you have a WordPress site you can also add a Captcha plugin  to contact forms etc. Captucha requires a human to type in any words, symbols or numbers that are displayed. This eliminates junk mail from filling your email inbox, so that you don’t miss the real inquiry emails.

4.  Pre-approve emails which come from your website by whitelisting them in your email program. This stops those real inquiry emails from going into your Junk Folder. Here’s how to create email whitelists.

5.  Make a point to check, and respond, to inquiry emails and DMs within 24 hours or less. One of my clients found that when they responded within an hour they turned 90% of those inquiries into sales.

Hi, I’m Kelly McCormick, a Business Growth and Marketing Strategist. I help entrepreneurs & companies to identify opportunities for growth. Plus, I develop targeted branding, marketing & sales strategies. I can help you too!