Have you ever wondered why your website is NOT generating sales?
Yes, I know, you thought about it already. And probably you just concluded you have no cash to invest in website traffic generation & no time to look after the marketing and social aspect.
Today, you get a simple solution to your problem. If you are a Sole Trader, a Managing Director or a Website Owner, keep reading. If not, then share with a colleague.
Ever heard the word “internship“? I’d say you did at least 10 times during your last week at work.
So, let’s cut a long story short: as big businesses continue to grow their profits and destroy the competition (us!), we need to get more creative and use our imagination. Hence, hiring an intern might be the simple solution to our problem: interns can boost your productivity.
Lack of time, insufficient skills, no creativity, not being able to work as a team? Yes, as a small business owner, you are very limited and can’t afford to gain all that while you also need to sell, network, meet, manage and… sleep.
So, here’s why I believe interns can save your business and add what you’re missing the most: your online presence.
Websites such as Xperience.ie make it now very easy to advertise your internship vacancy in Ireland and find creative people who can help your business grow. Xperience.ie is Business Bloomer’s sister company and helped me find great interns to dramatically improve both companies’ online profile.
So, what’s all the fuss about internships? And why should you take on an intern? And finally, how can an intern boost your profits?
1) Interns are born social media marketers
Interns know what’s hot these days.
Do you?
These guys (and gals!) spend most of their time hanging around internet and social media, and it’s not because they want to slack off. They are aware of the amount of work it takes to create a good name for a brand – as they like and follow most of them. While you’re struggling to come up with ways to get your business out there, a digital marketing intern will come up with the best social media marketing strategies.
Xperience.ie hired 2 social media interns during the summer 2013: in 2 months there was a tenfold increase in Likes, Followers and Connections, with consequent boost in revenue. And this is not a coincidence.
Interns understand social media in a way you don’t and can’t: they spend most of their time on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – and so should you. Let them come up with innovative ideas and they will boost your brand awareness.
2) Interns love blogging
One of the tasks your digital marketing intern can concentrate on is writing content for your blog.
Hold on – please tell me you HAVE a blog page on your company website, yes!?
If not, ouch – you’ve got to get it started now! Otherwise, read the following paragraph anyway.
Writing for your business’ blog is a great way of creating new content. Why bothering? Google loves new website content, which means your Google ranking will go up. And once that’s up, you can bet the traffic to your website (and thus revenue) will go up.
Xperience.ie interns were absolutely top class at blogging. However, it is always recommended to train them, proofread every article they write and agree on contents – all the time. A badly written blog will ruin your reputation. Take a look at our former intern Emma’s first blog (5 Tips to Stand Out in your Internship) – not bad for a first-time writer, right?
Blogging for business means making money (you might also read one of our most popular articles: Why a Blog will Make you Money). And interns will learn that very quickly.
3) Interns are masters of googling
Your social media savvy digital marketing intern can scrounge the Internet in search for prospect clients for your business.
You can set out specific criteria, and based on target market, your intern can create a database of new prospects for you. Obviously, the more potential clients you have, the higher chance of increasing your profits.
Ever heard of “advanced search on Google”, or “search by hashtag on Twitter”, or “refine Google results by location, date and topic”? If not, not only the intern knows how to do this, but they’re even faster and more effective than you (sorry but that’s true).
Darren, while working as an intern for Xperience.ie, was able to set up automatic email alerts, advanced searches and complicated Twitter hashtag searches: this allowed us to become faster at what we do. And +124% (or thereabouts) more profitable.
4) Interns look after customer feedback
I don’t have to tell you how vital feedback is for your company.
If you have a feedback or rating system in place, people are more likely to come back to your business and new prospects are more likely to turn into customers by reading those reviews and testimonials. Knowing what you can improve or what is working perfectly means more profits.
Lack of feedback is one of the worst mistakes a business manager can make. Yes – you might not have the time – so let your interns set up free online surveys and email templates to be sent out to your clients.
Feedback is the key to retain existing business and acquire new clients, so learn from your interns and let them be creative. One simple implementation could change the effectiveness of your website – and your company too!
5) Interns are wise website traffic generators
One of the first things your website needs is search engine optimisation (SEO) – that is synonym of improving your website so it ranks high on Google.
No clue how to do SEO? Need help with that? Need time you don’t have?
Well, a digital marketing intern will know which keywords to use in order to drive more traffic to your website. A little research and optimisation and before you know it, your sales will increase.
Remember, being on page #200 or page #2 of Google makes no difference: over 92% of clicks happen on page 1. And if you’re not on page 1 for your target keywords, your website is invisible to potential customers and prospects.
6) Interns know more acronyms than you: GA, PPC, SEM, …
If you have a website, and plan on making it profitable, you must have heard of GA, PPC and SEM. Or maybe not?
Well, Google Analytics, Pay Per Click advertising and Search Engine Marketing are now vital tools to make sure your website generates revenue. Whether you sell products or services, your website will sell on your behalf – that’s right!
PPC it’s a vast topic and to be honest, it can be mind boggling. You might not want to spend money on something you don’t really understand. A digital marketing intern would be able to help you out there – after all, PPC is something they know about. Ask for their opinion on this matter and let them manage a small campaign.
While you might be paying for people who click on your advertisement, you can be sure that it will come back twofold with new customers who found you through online advertising.
7) Interns are used to compare the market
Your digital marketing intern can engage in a little espionage – nothing too bad!
They can check out your competitors’ websites and report back to you on their unique selling points. It’s always good to do a little digging, as it can help you come up with a better sales and marketing strategy.
Xperience.ie, as an internship job listing website, has many competitors here in Ireland and our intern Darren created a simple database of competitors when we needed to decide our pricing strategy. Hence, Irish businesses can list an internship vacancy for free, as opposed to the “big ones”… who feel like charging you €100 or even more!
8) Interns know what your website needs
You wouldn’t believe how many businesses lose prospective customers because their websites is badly designed.
Think about it, would you rather do business with a company whose website is easy to navigate, interactive and has relevant and updated content – or one that looks like it’s been designed in the early 90s? It’s a no brainer.
Interns love internet, and visit dozens of websites a day, purchase products online and know what your website needs. Get your digital marketing intern to redesign or even rewrite your website. Don’t be afraid to let them do their job, they know what sells!
9) Interns sign up for newsletters
…and if they sign up, they know what works for you!
Sending out newsletter is a great way of updating your customers and potential clients on what is new in your business. So, get your marketing intern to learn how to use Mailchimp or an alternative newsletter platform, and design a simple newsletter.
Interns learn a new skill – and you keep in touch with your customers, making sure they remember your brand. Make your business stay in touch with your customers and you can be sure they will return.
I nearly forgot – feel free to sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page, so you can keep in touch with us and get free tips for your online business 🙂
10) Interns love Google Analytics reports
Your website is only as good as the traffic it brings in. Do you really have time to tinker around with web stats or online sales? Probably not.
A digital marketing intern can go through all the data from the website, online advertisement and sales and report back to you with relevant information. Saves you some time and gives the intern an opportunity to get great experience!
Darren & Emma, our two interns, absolutely fell in LOVE with Google Analytics, and after showing them how to assess the “before” and “after” of each campaign they executed, they became masters. Every week they were able to assess the previous campaign, calculate its effectiveness, and implement the current week’s strategy.
About 70% of Irish businesses doesn’t pay attention to Google Analytics and doesn’t USE it to make more money. Well, an intern can show you that. Guaranteed.
Thanks to Milena Zwolak, our superstar blogger at Xperience.ie, for helping me out writing this article.