Archive for June, 2009

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Iran Election – Social Media

Posted by Myles Vives on June 17th, 2009

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Improving Online Brand Image in a Poor Economy

Posted by Brent on June 16th, 2009

It is always surprising to see major brands and companies that have been around for decades that still have website built in the 90′s.  It is fairly common and many times this is simply not a priority especially if the company “doesn’t gain new business prospects via the web”.  The response to this kind of comment of course is “Of course you don’t if your website is old and invisible to Google”.

More large companies (across all industries) are starting to realize the importance of improving their online marketing capabilities.  For most, it is a matter of simply focusing on it, making the commitment, and having an internal team to head up the effort.  Even if the Internet marketing and website development initiatives are going to be outsourced, mostly companies will still need and internal marketing team leading the charge.

Some company owners and executives wonder if now is a good time to invest in improving their online exposure.  The answer of course is that it has never been a more crucial time.  During good economic times, consumers and potential customers do not scrutinize these types of things as much nor do they price compare a shop around as much as they do now.  You have one shot when someone visits your website.  This is important especially if your website is your key resource for providing information about your company and services.

So once you have decided that it is time to make the commitment, what is the next step?  Here are some tips for getting started:

  • Define your business and marketing strategy: Your business goals should drive your marketing strategy.  Look at what you are currently doing (or not doing) and set some benchmarks.  Research your competitors that are doing it better.  If your major competitors have a better website (that has been redesigned in the last 12 months), great rankings in the search engines, and an exciting social media campaign, then you have some work to do!  But don’t worry…the fact that they are doing it proves that you should be too.
  • Website redesign/redevelopment: Before launching the marketing strategy, you need to prepare your online platform for traffic and converting traffic into new business.  Think of this as having a house warming party.  You wouldn’t send out 100 invitations and make big plans to show off your home unless you have done spome “house cleaning” first.  Your website needs to be compelling, user-friendly, offer great value to your visitor, and have good calls to action so the user know what you want them to do.
  • Internet marketing strategy: Start with the basics.  A good search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is the right long term investment to make.  There is no point investing in a new website if noone is going to ever see it (or at least not many people).  Remember my comment above about companies saying that they do not gain new clients or business from the Internet?  Well this is meant to change that.  Great rankings relevant to your industry, business, and services, will eventually build traffic and foster new customers – if the website is set up to convert.  Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a great way to get quick results in the search engines, target specific areas and consumers, and get faster results than you will with SEO.  PPC is advertising where as SEO is more like a true investment in the future of your business.  Other strategies include social media marketing, email marketing, display ads, retargeting, etc.

The best way to get the process started is to talk to people you trust who are currently doing it.  The most important thing to realize is that consumers in all industries are researching online and could find you if you take the time to “be found”.  The web is a trasparent place and people want to know who you really are.  The days of hiding behind a website that has limited information are over (if you want to survive).   Consider starting a blog and get the executives involved.  If the CEO of Ritz Cartlon can make time for blogging and Twitter, so can you!

Google Site Review- Watch the Video

Posted by Brandon on June 16th, 2009

Google’s New Store Front Locator

Posted by Myles Vives on June 11th, 2009

Many people are now coming to realize the importance of Search Engine Optimzation, Paid Search, Email Marketing, and Social Marketing. However, some businesses fail to realize the importance of creating a Google local business listing. These listings can appear in search results ahead of sites competing for top ranking natural terms. Google local business listings have been around for a while now and should be a part of any online strategy.

On June 10, 2009 Google took another step in enhancing the value of having a local business listing. Google Base announced a new expanding feature related to the Google Business listing product.  The new feature still in beta allows businesses that submit their physical store location to show up in the Google Base product search section. This feature would allow a business to list a store front location to match up with a product search that an end user could be inputting in Google Base. The value of this can lead to additional store traffic to your storefront. Once again showing how valuable and important it is to have a Google business listing. Also, setting up a business listing is very easy. Simply follow this link to do so.

iPhone 3G S and why Twitter Matters

Posted by Myles Vives on June 10th, 2009

Social Media Consulting

Posted by Brent on June 8th, 2009

Social media continues to draw attention and buzz in the marketing world and will continue to evolve.  As a stand alone industry it is very new and generally thought of as a “service” within the Internet marketing umbrella.  However, the foundation of social media is really about client/customer communication and conversation.  Regardless of what some social media “consultants” might say, there is still not a black and white way to measure complete ROI with social media alone.  The most important take away though is that without that active “conversation” with customers, you are not making progress with your social media strategy.

As the buzz grows, social media consultants have been coming out of the wood work…actually, due to the economy, ALL kinds of consultants have been coming out of the wood work as people transition between jobs.  There is nothing wrong with this but as the volume grows, the range between actual experience and self proclaimed expertise grows. 

There are two ways to offer social media marketing as a service:  (1) consulting; and (2) actual implementation/management.

When seeking social media marketing services, many companies need everything from the research and strategy to implementation and management.  Its usually a bandwidth issue.  The company doesn’t know enough about social media nor do they have the internal resources to actively engage their online audience and manage a full campaign.  This of course is totally normal and good Internet marketing/social media companies can provide this.  The downside is the long term scalability and accuracy of the “message” being communicate to the audience.  If communication between the service provider and the client is clear and regular (i.e. the client at least has one point of contact helping develop the strategy and message) then this type of relation can work very well.

On the other hand, many Internet marketing companies are leaning more to the consulting side rather than trying to implement and manage the entire effort.  The benefit to this is that it gives the client the internal knowledge and capability to control their own client communication (via social networks).  The consultant’s role is very robust however and involves continually educating the client, research, strategy, initial set-up and training, and ongoing management.  The consultant plays an ongoing role overseeing the team on the client side.  The long term take away though is that the client is empowered to take the reigns.  Some companies fear this of course because they don’t want the client to “learn” the best practices and fire them after a few months.  There is always that risk but if the consultant is doing their job, there will be real ongoing value as social media is a constantly changing environment.

Which approach is better is really based on the needs of the client but in the long run the client should learn as much as possible so they can play a close role in the online “conversation”.

So how do you choose a social media marketing company?  The list of ways to choose a social media cosultant is pretty much the same as when you research an Internet marketing company.  One of the main things I wanted to point out however, is that the more well-rounded a firm is the better.  There is always value in a company that focuses on one thing and does it well.  However, these days the lines between different online marketing strategies are very grey and most compliment one anther extremely well.  For example, social media and organic search engine optimization (SEO) are huge compliments.  I would always recommend ensuring the two strategues are tied together.


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SEO Fraud: Small Business Owners Beware

Posted by Brent on June 7th, 2009

Like most industries, the Internet marketing world is fraught with companies and individuals seeking to make a quick buck by ripping people off.  One of the most common is SEO fraud.  There are unfortunately many firms or “consultants” out there preying on the unsuspecting small business owners and selling them SEO “guarantees”. 

Frankly, there are a lot of larger SEO companies doing similar things by charging outrageous prices while spending about 2 hours a week on your project and telling you to “stay the course” and that it takes time.  They use iron clad contracts and by the time you are frustrated by the lack of results and fire them (if you can get out of your contract), they have collected thousands from you.  These days of course that is harder to get away with because do to the economy, companies will price compare more often.

So how do you find the right SEO company? How do you compare the good ones from the not so good ones, and choose a company where you feel confident that the money you invest is in good hands and will generate good returns?  Here are a few tips:

  • Do as much research on basic SEO as you can on your own so you know what questions to ask
  • Choose a few firms and learn as much as you can about them
  • Be careful about the pitch where they show you all the “rankings” they have gotten for their clients – you never know what was involved, what kind of rankings the client had before, or if they are even still a client, etc.
  • Look at the firm’s own rankings and see if they practice what they preach
  • Look at their website:  if they are selling you SEO but don’t even have title tags, descriptions, etc…RUN!
  • Ask them details about their SEO practice, strategy, process, link building efforts, etc.
  • Know who their SEO engineers and project managers are:  chances are your campaign and keyword strategy will only be as good as that individual’s knowledge
  • Check certifications/qualifications
  • Read their blog, if they even have one
  • Ask if they attend the SEO trade shows, seminars, etc. to make sure they are continually learning too:  SEO these days is all about staying current
  • NEVER work with a firm offering ranking “guarantees” because you might be treading closely to black hat SEO and potential penalties

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SEO Link Building and Business Development

Posted by Brent on June 5th, 2009

Search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are constantly changing as we chase the SE’s latest algorithms and try to keep up with what Google wants from us.  As search engine marketers, we have to always be on top of the best practices and guidelines in order to properly serve our clients and ensure that the strategies used are sound. 

The greatest part about SEO these days is that its less about repetitive activity (though that is still a big part of it) and more like business development (in my opinion).  SEO has become more and more natural and it all starts with adding real value to the web by creating a site with good content.  These days good content can and should come in the form of all kinds of media:  blogs, articles, video, podcasts, etc.  The SE’s are giving rankings to sites that really have that “wow” factor when it comes to valuable unique content. 

All of the basic rules still apply and things like having good site structure/site maps, unique content, and solid link building strategies are the foundation of any good SEO effort.  The on-page portion is of course all about continually adding fresh content for your users (content that is relevant and hopefull educational).  The off-page portion has become the mosty important ongoing effort in the form of link building.

Link popularity is about building solid inbound links from relevant websites.  The more quality links you have the more “votes” of assurance Google will notice and the rankings will follow.  The days of link trading and link farms are over as we all know.  Follow those practices or any unnatural method for building links and you could find yourself sitting on the search engine sidelines for a long time. 

Below are some initial steps to beginning your link building effort:

  • Build a healthy content rich website that adds value to your online community
  • Submit your site to all the top directories
  • Purchase key “paid” links
  • Always SEO optimize your press releases before sending

The rest of your link building effort is where it gets tricking and time consuming.  As stated above, the best link building strategies are natural and well planned.  Use some of the steps below to get started once you have completed the steps above:

  • Run Google searches using your targeted keywords
  • Find sites that are relevant and similar but not competing
  • Call or email the webmaster and formall request that they link to your site
  • Offer reasons and benefits (consider offering to link to them as well but don’t over do the “link trading”)
  • If you have other websites with related material or partner companies, make sure they are linking to your website
  • Use anchor text when setting up the links and try to have the link coming from the home page or other powerful pages on their website
  • Set up a blog and contribute to other people’s blogs – once you are a trusted source you can start throwing some links in as long as they are relevant and the page on your site you are linking to offers additonal value to the reader

The key to these efforts is that you simply have to commit the time to do it.  Google will usually only recognize a fraction of the links you build so make sure you are going after quality, not quantity.

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Social Media Presence on the Rise with Small Business

Posted by Myles Vives on June 4th, 2009

Just over a year ago I can remember people talking about what Social media was and how do they could dial into it. Now 5 months into 2009, everyone and their brother is on Twitter “tweeting” about what they are up to, on Facebook setting up a business listings or chatting with friends, or on LinkedIn finding colleagues or updating there personnel work profile. Social Media is becoming part of everything that is online.

Over the past few months small businesses have suddenly made a big splash on to the Social Media stage.  They are taking their swings with the bigger brands in creating an online social presence. Small businesses are seeing the benefits in reaching out to their customers and audience through social channels such as: LinkedIn, Myspace, and Facebook. According to a Sage Research study of Small Businesses on Social Networks, professional Social network sites such as LinkedIn accounted for over 50 percent of all activity for small businesses, followed by general social marketing sites including: myspace and facebook.  These social arenas have become the top mediums of choice for small businesses. One fact to keep in mind is there are over 25 million small businesses and only 250,000 are using Social platforms (according to the study), which makes up a small percentage of total businesses. With that said, less than a year ago those 250,000 small businesses had little to no social presence. So, even though the mass has not moved to Social platform, at least a small herd is moving in the right direction. Hopefully, the rest will follow.

The below statistics show the breakdown of Social Mediums used by Small Businesses

Types of Digital Social Media Used by Small Businesses in North America, March 2009 (% of respondents)

Twitter: Explosive Growth VS. Retention

Posted by Brent on June 3rd, 2009

As we all know Twitter has grown immensely in the past few months due to major media hype and droves of celebrities jumping on the social media band waggon.  According to Nielson, Twitter will face an “uphill battle” due to the void between explosive growth and retention.  Twitter’s retention rates are around 40% month after month of people who actually return.  We are seeing people set up profiles and play around for a few days or weeks then never return.  So how will Twitter combat this and give user’s more reason to keep coming back?

Studies show that sites like MySpace and Facebook even had better retention rates in their early days…even during explosive growth periods.  Often you will see fast growth lead to lower retention but these two sites experienced the opposite:  fast growth lead to even higher retention.  See the chart below:

social_network_loyalty

Notice the consistency of MySpace and Facebook over Twitter.  Of course, there could be many reason for this.  Obviously, Twitter has fewer “bells and whistles” than the comprehensive social networking platforms like Facebook.  Over time they will need to give users more functionalities (which I am sure they are working on) to keep them on the site longer and coming back every day.  Of course, Twitter has made quite a name for itslef as a powerful social media marketing tool, but for it to continue to hold that title it will have to retain users.  Like anything else, establishing user loyalty will be the key to their long-term success.

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