MerchantCircle Starter Packet

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1 MerchantCircle Starter Packet

2 1 1 Getting started with MerchantCircle You want more customers? MerchantCircle can help. You want to advertise your business online, move up in search results and track what customers are saying about your business. With the tools available from MerchantCircle you can do this and a lot more. The following information is designed to help you understand some of the ways that you can use our tools to get more customers and build your business. The Basics Marketing your business online is all about search results - how can you help potential customers find information about your business when they search for local businesses in popular search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Ask. Content: Search engines like content. By content we mean the online stuff about your business. Content can be a webpage(s), an online review left by a customer, a blog post, a link from another business s website to your website, photos, videos, etc. It s all content - and the search engines love it! When search engines look at your page, often called indexing, it is the content that helps them understand how to classify your page and how to give it a page rank (a rating of the relevance of a specific web page). User-generated content, or content created by users as opposed to just a website builder, are seen as more credible by search engines and will improve the ranking of your web page. Better rankings means you move up in the search results and are seen by more customers. Links: The other things the search engines like are links. A link between your MerchantCircle page and your web page (if you have one) tells the search engines that you are connected and therfore more important. Links to other small businesses help the search engines understand what kind of page you have so they know how to rank it relative to other similar pages. The more links you have the more important the search engines think you are and that means better page rank... which means you move up in the search results and are seen by more customers (you are probably starting to see the trend). Creating Content Customers (and search engines) like to see updated information about your business. This includes contact information, business address, hours of operation and so on. The best web pages have a variety of great content about the busines that helps their page rank and gets them seen by more customers. There are several ways to create content using MerchantCircle. At MerchantCircle we track the impact different types of content have on page rank. The following content has proven to have a dramatic impact on page rank results. Let s get started and help you build a great page!

3 2 Your Dashboard To get started, login to your MerchantCircle dashboard. From the home page, click on Member Login located in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This will take you to the log-in page where you ll enter your address and the password you ve selected for your MerchantCircle account. Click on enter your account and you are directed to your merchant dashboard. Your dashboard is visible only to you. It is where you create and manage the content that customers will see on your MerchantCircle listing page. The links on the left hand side direct you to specific content about your business. The Account Inbox contains messages from customers, other merchants and important system generated updates. Update Your Profile and Business Info Your company profile and business category tells the search engines about your company - who you are, what you do, and keywords associated with your type of business. Updating your profile tells the search engines that something is new. It also helps to make sure that your customers have your correct information.

4 3 Here s how to update your profile page: Click Customize My Website (left menu). Click on Edit Business Profile. Check your contact information and make sure everything is accurate. Include a link to your website (if you have one). Add keywords that describe your business so customers can find you on the search engines. Click Save. Add a Photo Photos are great promotional tools, after all a picture is worth a thousand words. Use your city and type of business as tags so search engines, and your customers, can find you easily. You can add pictures to get people familiar with your business location - show them the outside of the store (if you have one), show them some of your smiling employees, show them some of your happy cusotmers. Click Add Pictures in top block menu (or Add Videos ). Click Upload (on bottom right corner). You can add up to 10 photos at a time; just repeat the process for File 2, 3, 4. You don t have to worry about picture size because we shrink the images for you. Create a Blog A blog is a personal online journal related to your business. It is an informal way to update customers about your business. You can use your blog to differentiate yourself and let your personality shine. This information is tracked by the search engines so you get more visibility on the web - plus it is a great tool to keep your customers up-to-date on new products, promotions or offers. Did you know that merchants who provide updated information about their business more than double their visibility on seaerch engines like Yahoo! and Google? Each word in a blog is tracked by the search engines so a blog gets you more attention plus they keep your customers up-to-date. Blog posts of 1-2 paragraphs give search engines enough content to help them find your page. Once you ve created a blog, MerchantCircle helps get your blog picked up by the major search engines - extending your reach by introducing you to more customers. Here s how to add a photo (or video) to your listing: Click on Customize My Website (left menu). Click on Create/Manage Pictures (or Create/ Manage Videos).

5 4 Here s how to create your MerchantCircle blog: Click Promote My Business (left menu). Click Create/Manage Blogs. Click Write Blogs in top block menu. Add the blog title, content and keywords. Click Publish (on bottom right corner). To make sure you get the most out of your blog activity, use these 5 important blog tips: 1. Be informative - you re trying to create an impression that you are knowledgeable about your business. Your reputation matters so be sure to stay current and check your facts. Initial blog posts can include items like a history of your business and how you got started. Future blog posts can highlight new products and services, special events, employees, or tips for customers. 2. Use keywords wisely - one of your goals is to increase your visibility, so it is wise to use words that people will use when searching for your type of business on the web. Each blog post should have a title as a headline that will attract attention and be relevant to the post. 3. Quantity matters - in order to attract the attnetion of search engines, you will need to develop content with substance. A simple headline or single sentence is not going to grab someone s attention or help get your post found on Google or Yahoo! 4. Frequency matters too - if your blog content is updated and you add new information frequently, you can keep customers interested and search engines will index your pages at regular intervals. 5. Grammar and spelling count - it only takes a few extra moments to check your posts before putting them on the web. Keep your posts looking professional and make sure there are no spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. You can create your content in Microsoft Word, check for spelling and grammar errors and then paste it into your blog. Publish a Coupon Coupons drive action and are a great way to promote products to new and potential customers. It s always a good idea to give customers (or potential customers) a reason to visit your business. It s no surprise that giving customers valuable offers, like discounts on their next visit, can be one of the most effective ways to get them to come back to your business. You can create a coupon on MerchantCircle and we distribute them to multiple websites for you, including Google and Judy s List. This saves you time since you don t have to register with different coupon sites and build multiple coupons (one for each site). Just build your coupon on MerchantCircle and we ll take care of the rest for you.

6 5 Here s how to create a coupon on MerchantCircle: Click Promote My Business (left menu). Click Create/Manage Coupons. Click Create a Coupon in top block menu. Add the expiration date, headline and a description of the offer. Add any legal disclaimers if necessary. You can also add a photo to your coupon. Click Publish (bottom right hand corner). You can also manage your coupons on MerchantCircle. Build seasonal or promotional coupons to encourage customers to check you out. You can active or deactivate coupons whenever you want. For example, if a seasonal coupon has expired, you can de-activate it; you can try a new offer, build it and activate it for a short period of time. Create a Newsletter Newsletters are a great way to share information and helpful tips that are important to your customers and relevant to your business. Newsletters tend to be longer than blogs so you can share more detailed information. For example, if you are a landscaping company, your newsletter might focus on the type of garden maintenance to do each season. they are also useful for highlighting news, events and offers. Here s how to create a newsletter on MerchantCircle: Click on Promote My Business (left menu). Click Create/Manage Newsletters. Click Create a Newsletter in top block menu. Add the title of your newsletter and click Start. Select a newsletter template and click Next. You can add a photo to your newsletter if you like. Add the subject line for the newsletter and add the title of the newsletter and text for the articles. Click next and you can add additional articles, or you can use content from your blog. Click Next. Check that the contact information in the footer is correct and click next. Select who to send the newsletter to. Refer to How to add customers below. Click Save. Manage Customer Lists Did you know that you can manage your customer lists on MerchantCircle? You can import your existing customer addresses from your favorate program - like Outlook, GMail or Yahoo!. Managing your customer lists online lets you quickly communicate new offers, updates and promotions in newsletters, coupons and ads.

7 6 Here s how to add customers to your lists: Click on Connect With Customers (left menu). Click Manage Customers. Add customers directly by pasting addresses into the Add a Customer Address box. Import customers from your address book in Outlook, GMail, Yahoo! or other applications by clicking the Add from My Address Book button, and following the instructions for your mail program. Create Customer Groups You can organize your customers lists into groups for specific communications. For example, customers who want to receive a newsletter but not direct s can be put in different groups. Here s how to manage customer groups: Click on Connect With Customers (left menu). Click Manage Customer Groups. Add a group name, click Create. Click on the group name in blue. Click Add from my customer (upper right hand side). Select the names to add by clicking the checkbox to the right of their name. Click Save. Create an Ad You ve probably noticed the ads of other local businesses on the right side of your MerchantCircle listing. If you haven t created one of your own yet, this is the perfect time to get your business s name on other sites. Ads provide potential customers the opportunity to click on your ad and visit your listing where they can read all about your business through your blogs, newsletters, and the reviews other customers have written about you.

8 7 Here is how to create an add on MerchantCircle: Click on Promote My Business (left menu). Click Create/Manage MerchantCircle Ads. Click Create and Advertisement in top block menu. Fill out ad information such as ad title, ad text, and keywords, and then click Next Step. Submit your ad. You can save it to work on later, or you can publish it by clicking Activate. Please note, for Google and Yahoo! ads, it takes approximately 3 days for our ad optimizers to configure your advertisement for the best possible performance. Creating Links Content is only one piece of the online advertising puzzle. The other piece of the puzzle is Links. Search engines like links because they indicate that your site is valued by other sites on the web - that s why they linked to you. You like links because they drive traffic to your site. Traffic obviously comes from search engines. But traffic can also come from other business sites, directories you might be listed in, associations your business supports, etc. Developing links on MerchantCircle is as easy as sharing a good idea with a colleague. By inviting other local merchants to join your MerchantCircle network (and get all the benefits associated with MerchantCircle) you add links to your listing. These links go both ways your ads can now reach each others customers - so you both benefit. Here s how you invite colleagues to join your network: Click on Build My Network (on left hand side). Click Invite Merchants. Add your colleagues addresses (directly or from an existing address book). Scroll down to personalize your message. Click Send Invitation. There are a few other ways to create meaningful links to either your MerchantCircle listing of your business web page. Widgets Add customer review content to your business webpage, personal website, blog, or MySpace page. You can include a unique logo that says Member of MerchantCircle in your online advertising and use these links to drive more customers to your business listing from external sites.

9 8 Here s how you add our logo to your website: Click on Promote My Business (left menu). Click on Downloads & Widgets. Copy and paste the pre-formatted HTML code onto your web site where you want the logo to appear. Save. Merchant Talk to Me Give customers easy access to your business with our Talk to Me feature. Your listing indicates when you are online so you can answer questions from customers visiting your site in real time and establish a conversation right on your MerchantCircle listing. Custom URLs Help customers find you with an easy-to-remember URL that reflects who and what you do. Include your new URL on business cards, print advertisements, your signature, and more! Run an online promotion (ad, coupon, and newsletter) featuring your new URL to showcase your latest offerings. Here s how to get a custom URL: Click on Customize My Website (left menu). Click on Edit Business Profile. Scroll down to Custom URL and enter the URL you d like for your business. Type in a short word or words, using only letters (a-z, A-Z) or digits (0-9) and no spaces. If it hasn t been taken, it s yours, for as long as you have your MerchantCircle account. Tracking Account Activity Track your online performance on your personalized report page. The page displays recent account activity, activity in your network and the performance of your site against predefined targets - like your network, and the overall MerchantCircle community. Data is reported for the previous six months, except for Recent Visits which tracks the previous 30 days. Under your reports, you can click on the following topics for detailed performance information: Visits: tracks the number of visitors to your page by total visits including search engines (light bar) and human visits (dark bar). Spread the word! Increase your visibility by upgrading to a MerchantCircle membership package and let your MerchantCircle listing be your focal point on the

10 9 Internet by telling your customers, friends, clients, and associates where to find you online. Invites: tracks the number of invitation sent by you compared to your current business network, local community, and targeted goals. Each connection you establish through an invitation builds trust by providing prospective customers more information while increasing your advertising space and channels of communication in your local community. Blogs: tracks the number of blog posts by you compared to your current business network, local community, and targeted goals. Every blog entry you add increases the chances your business will grab the top spot in local search results. The blog wizard makes it quick and easy to add a line or two every few days about what s new at your company. Reviews: tracks the number of reviews about your business compared to your current business network, local community, and targeted goals. Your reputation is important. Have your loyal customers write about the great service and products your business provides for them. Web Reputation Score Your MerchantCircle Web Reputation Score is important. Your score is compiled from all the listings that are associated with your business on the Internet. We take into account the accuracy of your contact information, the number and quality of reviews given to your business, and the great content you create on MerchantCircle to tell customers about your business. Good reviews, correct contact information, and creating ads, blogs, newsletters, and coupons all help raise your score. The higher your Web Reputation Score the easier it is for customers to find your business online.

11 MerchantCircle