Archive for April, 2009

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Social Media: Twitter on the radio a Lot!

Posted by Myles Vives on April 20th, 2009

Social Media is a fairly new coined term.  In the past 6 months especially, the term has seeped into everyone’s lives.  If you do not know what Social Media is, and how people are now using it to notonly communicate, use it for press releases, but now also using it for dating.  It is the speedier way in many ways.  Locally here in San Diego, in the past 2-3 weeks, if you have turned into AJ’s Playhouse on Channel 933 (93.3 FM), you may have heard many stories about Twitter.

On AJ’s Playhouse, they made a song about Twitter, they had a local Tweet (Melodie Tao) come in and talk about Twitter, and they also had a dating coach come in today and talk about how to find local singles in San Diego through Twitter.  In other words, if Channel 933 is talking about Twitter this much, and you are still on the fence on Twitter, and getting an online presence through social media, then it is time to get on the bandwagon.

Great Video Optimization Tips

Posted by Brent on April 16th, 2009

Optimized video content is a key element in a well rounded search engine optimization campaign.  With Google’s newest algorithms and Universal Search features, a company must optimize not only it’s website but also ALL other digital assets such as video content.  YouTube.com videos are some of the best video content to embed on a website because Google gives them the most relevance. 

Video files can be optimized in the same way you optimize a web page with title tags, meta descriptions, etc.  Those videos then can be blasted out through networks such as Tube Mogul.  The idea being that when users run searches, they may not get your website everytime but a video result can be just as powerful.  Video optimization is a great Internet marketing tactic that enhances brand image and supports both SEO and social media strategies.

Here are some great tips for optimizing videos:

Upload the video to YouTube and write an optimized title and description, plus add a link to your site from that YouTube page

Video should ALSO be located within one of the company’s domains, IF POSSIBLE, and have the page itself optimized for the video which includes the Title Tags, META Description, & content.

Embed both the YouTube video and a link to the raw video on the client server

Video should not be in FLASH

Have all videos within one subdirectory or subdomain

Create a video XML feed file for iTunes and other podcast readers, to include BOTH the YouTube video AND the client server download URL for readers – adding the video location to both the site’s current HTML & XML sitemap would be an added benefit

The XML file should contain the description, Title, Client Server URL, YouTube embed, link to blog post/client page and other meta data

Enable a CALL TO ACTION be located in the video, especially a link to where they could purchase something similar to what’s in the video

If there are issues hosting videos on the client server then YouTube videos alone should suffice but its best if you can have both in tandem since there will NOT be duplication penalties applied

NOTE – The YouTube video will rank fairly quickly while the client hosted video would be a slow climb in the rankings

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Internet Advertising Almost Twice What TV Was In 15 Years

Posted by Myles Vives on April 15th, 2009

 

The inflation-adjusted dollar growth of Internet advertising through its first 14 years is already almost double the growth of advertising for both cable and broadcast television over their respective first 14.

Do you feel this will continue or bottom out in the near future?

internet advertising vs tv

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Optimize Your Website – Split Testing

Posted by Melanie on April 15th, 2009

You’ve created a great website!  So you think, but your website analytics reveal a high bounce rate.  The question at hand is: WHY?  Have you optimized your website effectively for your audience?  When you optimize your website it is wise to approach it with a strategy.  One thing to remember is: it’s all trial and error.  Another question to ask yourself is: Are you giving your visitors what they’re looking for?  This is very difficult to gauge especially if you do not have a full scale in-house marketing team to analyze your target market’s behavior.

So lets talk Split Testing.  Split testing is a process to test the effectiveness and conversion potential for variations of the following:

  • Different elements on a web page (multi-variate) – i.e. forms, call to action buttons, images, headliners, content, color etc.
  • Web pages (A/B) i.e. landing pages
  • Complete websites (A/B) i.e. re-design

Split testing equally randomizes each variation.  It will tell you how many times the variation was visited and how many conversions were met for each variation.  The results will show which of the variations has a better chance for conversions.

Split testing is the easiest way to optimize your website.  It does not require in depth technical know how.  It’s also easy on the budget.  For example, before investing on a complete web page change ensure to test out different pieces of the page for what works and not works.  This will save you time and money of having to redo the work again.  There are additional benefits to split testing:

  • You’ll understand your target market’s website behavior and what you need to convey on your website even more!
  • Eliminates the guest work on what converts better for a Split Testing provides stats and numbers.
  • Lessens episodes of hells kitchen of having too many cooks in the kitchen.
  • Find trouble spots on your website.
  • and importantly maximize your conversion rates!

E-Commerce Usability

Posted by Ceci on April 14th, 2009

People ask us how to make a great looking and functioning website pretty much every day of the year.  One of the most important things people don’t think about is usability. How important usability is for the internet marketing industry as a whole.  No matter how “attractive” and cool your website is if it is not built for the users it is useless!  You need to make your website easy for the visitors so that they know how to purchase from your website. Make it fast and easy for the user!

On most websites this is pretty self explanatory. E-commerce websites have many different guidelines and studies to help them but there are several e-commerce websites that are not taking advantage of all of this information. Here are a couple of usability DO’s to keep in mind when you are creating your website design.

Remind the shopper where they are: Be sure to use breadcrumbs so the user can easily navigate your website easily. Also make sure to highlight headers and sub headers so the user knows where they are on your website.

Many companies do not offer phone numbers on websites and stick to just using the contact us form. Either way you want the user to be able to contact you. This makes your website more trustworthy and people will hesitate less before a purchase.

Give them what they want: give the user several ways to search your website, main navigation, left hand navigation, footer, and Always make sure to have a Search field on the website above the fold.

Add a section to your website where you can have “featured Products” “Best sellers” or even better  a section that tells the consumer “ You may also like” this allows you to show the client other products your company offers and that the client might like!

Another great addition that we have found works well is letting the user add items to the shopping cart even if they are not logged into their account. You want the user to go through the purchase smoothly and uninterrupted allowing this as a possibility will help you with those shoppers that are reluctant to sign up for accounts.  Along with this is having the option to checkout as a guest and not have to create an account to purchase  from the website.

These are just a few of the tactics that we have found work best for ecommerce website design. Be sure to keep them in mind while building your website. First and foremost make sure you are building your website for the users!!

Taco Trucks Using Social Media Marketing?

Posted by Brent on April 14th, 2009

You bet!  The following example is one of the most aggressive (but simple) gorilla marketing efforts (via social media) done by a simple Mom and Pop Korean Taco Truck in Los Angeles.  The good old days of big marketing budgets may be over for a while but small companies with large visions are killing it with social media.  There is a big difference between basic social media and social media down right.  A company must make a true committment to these efforts if they want to see a tangible ROI.  The soft an easy approach usually doesn’t work.  A good recomendation is to hire an experience Internet marketing company or social media marketing company to handle this effort.

Take a look at how Kogi tackled the world of late night Korean BBQ tacos with agressive (but meaningful) use of Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs. First, the set up a great looking

kogi-logo-final

website with a design feel that you would not expect from people in the late night taco business.  After that they used the following basic SEO and social media marketing tactics. First, they realized that content is king, but not just with thoughtful blogs and articles.  Although they have a great blog.  They developed a large inventory of videos as well to fill the site with rich media in a Google friendly way (i.e. YouTube videos).  They also set up an account on Flickr and use Youtube to marketing the videos.  They have a powerful SEO campaign because the site has great basic SEO coding and the rest is in the valuable content (a good mix of copy and video as well as great inbound links developed through their social media efforts).

Next, they did what any good social media company would do and found out where their target audience was hanging out online.  Twitter just so happened to be the most responsive tool in their soccial media tool kit and they are up to a following of about 14,000.  The next step is crucial and where many social media campaigns fall short.  They actively and regularly interact with their audience.  They don’t just post comments and truck locations on Twitter, they use it as a real communication tool. They talk to their customers, get feedback and even include them in branding ideas, t-shirt designs, etc.  This gives their customers a sense of community and ownership.  It sounds crazy because most of their customers visit them after being at the clubs and bars all night!  But it works!

The company has a true sense of authenticity and transparency.  They know their customers and their customers know them.  They started as a simple mobile taco stand and know have two trucks and customers that stand in line for over an hour late at night to get their hands on the awesome tacos!  The best part about their social media campaign is that they have a good product.  None of this works in the long run if there isn’t something great on the other end for the consumer.  In fact, that is where the world of Web 2.0 can bite you.  This leads into a discussion of online reputation management, but we will dig into that later.  More to come!

Don’t Get Caught Off Guard

Posted by Brent on April 13th, 2009

Don’t get caught off guard by poor marketing efforts.  Companies in all kinds of industries are now realizing the importance of a cost effective and creative online marketing approach.  It is also important to note that an integrated approach based on conversions is the most powerful.  A poorly designed and executed marketing plan will catch you off guard.  Without a properly managed Internet marketing strategy, once you realize your efforts have not been optimal, it will be too late. 

art_polar_bear

Jumping in head first without a plan will result in a disappointing result!  (FYI…this woman from the Berlin zoo was rescued and is recovering).  It is recommended to hire a well rounded and experienced Internet marketing agency.  A good firm will review your business goals and help you formulate a plan that will ensure reaching and exceeding these goals.  This is much different than simply hiring and SEO firm and running a poorly managed PPC campaign to your home page.  Sending traffic to a site is useless until that traffic turns into conversion, sales, and positively affects the bottom line. 

What is a fully integrated online marketing approach?

Sounds more expensive right?  Sometimes it can be but we are really referring to ensuring that an existing or potential marketing plan has components that all compliment one another and that there is a consistent message.  This includes offline marketing channels too.  The entire plan should send the same message and have the same calls to action.  A combination of efforts such as conversion optimization, organic search engine optimization (improving volume and quality of traffic through the natural search engine placements), PPC advertising (with optimized landing pages), email marketing, and social media would be an example of an integrated approach.  This could also include offline efforts such as print and radio.  As long as the message is clear and landing pages are used properly to receive incoming traffic all efforts should compliment one another.  Monthly analysis of each component ensure seeing what areas are working and which ones need improvement.

All of this does not have to cost an arm and a leg.  A good Internet marketing company will help you pick and choose which elements are the most appropriate and that will produce the best ROI.

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Optimization for Internet Marketing

Posted by Brent on April 12th, 2009

To be executed successfully, Internet marketing involves all kind of optimization.  Generally, when people think of optimization they often think of organic search engine optimization.  The term optimization simply means to improve upon an existing strategy. 

Internet marketing is currently the most measurable marketing tactic out there also making it one of the most popular.  Marketers need to know where every dollar is going and what the return on investment is.  The days of wildly spending large marketing budgets are over…out of necessity and because you have the ability to track everything online.  If you have the tools, why not use them.  Optimization strategies are the foundation of turning a creative marketing strategy into a successful ROI.

Step One:  Conversion Optimization

Conversion optimization is the most important first step because there is no point in sending traffic to web pages that do not have a clear message, are not designed properly to encourage conversions, etc.  Conversion optimization involves several key components:

  • Researching the target audience and demographics
  • Defining business and marketing goals
  • Developing a clear message to entice the audience and get them interested in what you have to offer
  • Developing copy/content that supports that message and offers a clear call to action
  • Developing well designed pages that turn visitors into conversions

Step Two:  Marketing Optimization

Marketing optimization involves everything else.  Once the steps have been taken above and the foundation has been set, you can develop the Internet marketing strategy that will bring visitors to your websites and landing pages.  Some of these efforts include:

  • Organic search engine optimization
  • Paid search optimization and management
  • Social media marketing and online reputation management
  • Email marketing to retarget current customers and develop new ones

Online marketing is really a set of collective efforts that compliment one another giving a company maximum exposure on the web and maximizing the potential return on investment.

Forget survival in this economy – Thrive with Social Media

Posted by Myles Vives on April 10th, 2009

Social Media Circle

Social Media Circle

With the way outlook has been like since the financial meltdown, companies are looking for ways to cut costs by any means available to them.  They are looking to survive, meaning the days of wanting to be the best are becoming a faded memory.  If your company is in such a pit as most companies are, you do not have to despair – but only if you take the right steps towards survival, and thriving.

Recently on Yahoo! News, there was a story featured about a London bakery that is thriving.  But, they are not thriving through traditional means of radio, television, or print ads.  Instead, they have decided to embrace social media technologies at their disposal.  They are using Twitter to inform their Twitter followers when they are serving fresh bread.  They are a small business who have embraced social media for their sales purposes.  Large companies are also following suit.  They are building what is called “engagement marketing” by allowing consumers to be actively engaged in the branding, products, and more that companies sell or offer.  Online users are no longer restricted to the high schoolers, college students, or simply tech savvy people.  Instead it has become successful in attracting people from all ages and background – this is why companies are now not only following suit temporarily to save money, but because social media is here to stay.

Advertising online, appearing in organic listings, being talked about online in forums, social networks, discussion boards and more is what is now considered the norm for online marketing.  Additionally it also is how companies such as Dell convert disgruntled customers become happy ones through Twitter.

Online Viewership Increases in 2009

Posted by Myles Vives on April 10th, 2009

According to statistics from Nielsen Online 2009, the United States has one of the highest growth rates over the past few months for new online home viewership growth, in comparison to some other major countries. From December 2008 thru January 2009 the US online home internet user base has grown from 153 million online users to 156 million in January 2009. A growth rate of  over 2%. Other major countries in comparison such as Spain, France, Germany, Australia, Japan all showed declines in home online viewership over the same period. The data below shows a breakdown of home online internet viewership by the countries compared in this report.

Worldwide Active Internet Home Users, January 2009
Country December 2008 January 2009 Growth (%) Difference
Australia 11,576,309 11,618,329 0.36 42,020
Brazil 24,545,405 24,467,388 -0.32 -78,017
France 28,955,721 28,687,263 -0.93 -268,458
Germany 39,382,877 38,214,598 -2.97 -1,168,279
Italy 17,610,828 17,435,926 -0.99 -174,902
Japan 50,638,687 49,898,929 -1.46 -739,758
Spain 18,315,052 18,168,896 -0.80 -146,156
Switzerland 3,742,101 3,755,761 0.37 13,660
U.K. 29,772,512 28,838,135 -3.14 -934,376
U.S. 153,326,129 156,732,434 2.22 3,406,306
Source: Nielsen Online, 2009

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