What are your thoughts on the current social media trends? Is this a fad? If so, how long will it last?
This video has been viral online for a couple of months, however its message is strong – SOCIAL MEDIA IS HERE TO STAY. Business is changing, to remain competitive and alive in your industry, you need to change with it.
Enjoy the Social Media Revolution, created by Socialnomics09. Currently over 1.2 million views.
This post may be a bit overwhelming… I’ll do my best to simplify.
Anyone who is interested in ranking well within the search engines and has a basic understanding of how the internet works.
A sitemap is a listing of the pages on your website. It is used by crawlers (search engine spiders) and site users to easily navigate through your site. Not only does the sitemap list the pages on your site, it informs search engine spiders how often the content on those pages changes and also identifies which pages you feel are more important.
Your sitemap should be added to your site and then submitted to the search engines when the website is complete. No point in submitting pages that are not complete or will drive to a “Page Under Construction” notification.
According to Sitemap Protocol, it is strongly recommended that you place your Sitemap at the root directory of your HTML server; that is, place it at http://example.com/sitemap.xml.
Webcrawlers find more pages and websites to crawl through links. Posting your links in one central location that is universally known as your “sitemap” will simplify the “crawling” process for the search engine spiders.
Before submitting your Sitemap to the major search engines, make sure that your Sitemap is created per Sitemap Protocol as found at sitemaps.org.
Once your sitemap is created, focus initially on the three major search engines and then move onto the many other searching tools available on the web.
GOOGLE.com – Google offers a handful of tools and resources to assist with your site rankings. First step is to set-up a Google account and sign-up your website with Webmaster Tools. These tools will crawl your site and confirm the status of your links. You can also submit your Sitemap here. A quick overview on submitting to Google.
YAHOO.com – Yahoo! offers a quick overview on how they support sitemaps. Read the overview, and then submit your Sitemap to Yahoo!
BING.com – Bing, MSN’s new search engine, also has a resource area specific for Webmaster Tools. The instructions to submit your Sitemap to Bing are fairly simple.
To submit an XML-based Sitemap to Bing:
- Copy and paste the entire URL below as a single URL into the address bar of your browser: http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?sitemap=www.YourWebAddress.com/sitemap.xml
- Change “www.YourWebAddress.com” to your domain name
- Press ENTER
Any other search engines you use that we should mention how to submit to them? Let us know or comment on it and we will add it to this post.
Online retailers like AT&T and Comcast have figured out what everyone from college dorm residents to cubicle dwellers have known for years: chatting online is convenient, easy and popular. A recent survey conducted by Bold Software shows that live chat is fast becoming the preferred method of communication among online shoppers – ahead of phone or e-mail. This is no surprise, given today’s fast-paced culture.
Most importantly, regular and affluent shoppers seem to prefer e-commerce sites with live chat functions. Sixty-eight percent of those who identified themselves as weekly shoppers and 66 percent of those who spend more than $1,000 on a single purchase are more likely to buy a product or service from sites with live chat. The survey also indicates a loyalty effect among 72 percent of those who have used live chat in the past.
The results also suggest that live chat is especially useful during the following scenarios:
1. When order processing errors occur. We’ve all encountered technical problems when shopping online once or twice in our lives. Forcing customers to wait around for support staff to return e-mails or endure endless hold music over the phone is sometimes enough to kill repeat business. Live chat is a great way to solve ordering issues and make life easier for your customers.
2. When customers want to check an order status. Again, we live in a culture that doesn’t like to wait. Customers can easily access live chat to check the status of their order, without picking up the phone or sending an e-mail.
3. When customers have general questions about products or services. Even the most concise product descriptions and comprehensive FAQ pages sometimes fail to cover all of the bases. Live chat is a great way to answer those random questions that stand between customers and their purchase.
Live chat software might be something to consider if you are expecting a high volume of sales during the fast-approaching holiday season. Do your research before deciding if it’s right for you.
CitiGal Magazine is a women’s empowerment online magazine devoted to educating, uniting and empowering their community. The goal of this project was to allow for growth in their community becoming the one-stop online resource.
Features of this site include:
Beyond the features that we have built for Citigal Magazine, you can find them on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn among other online social media outlets.
Email marketing is fast becoming a double-edged sword as legitimate marketers continue to fight for attention on the web. On one hand, sending email marketing messages is an effective way to deliver promotions, events, and other information directly to your most valued audience. On the other, email marketing messages can easily earn the “spam” label if they are sent too often. Even worse, your email marketing messages can begin to blend in with all of the other emails your audience receives on a daily basis.
So how should we marketers approach email marketing when subscribers are already drowning in opt-in email programs along with annoying spam? The key is to turn good email marketing into truly powerful email marketing: Here are a few suggestions to consider before you undertake your next email marketing campaign:
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results after the first email marketing message. Powerful email marketing takes a little time, consistency, and creativity.
With a mission to Share, Educate, and Empower Images of Us Sports was seeking a first class web presence to be able to connect to their community. The new site now has features that allow the staff at IOU Sports to easily update the calendar, accept online registration, and post unlimited number of articles and stories.
We took articles from her old site and integrated them into the new site. Also transitioned her donating elements and the email registration from the old design into the new design. Visit IOU Sports.
RitzHolman CPAs, a Milwaukee-based accounting firm, offers much insight to give involving the world of punching numbers. Working alongside Thiel Design, who supplied the design for the new site, we custom coded a handful of tools, which now allows RitzHolman CPAs the ability to update any section of the site without having to know HTML. Some of the highlighted features of the site include the partner biographies, news, and careers sections. The careers section provides insight on the firm’s culture and what it is like to be employed at RitzHolman CPAs as well as view and apply for job opportunities online.
Receiving feedback from their clients, RitzHolman CPAs is thrilled with the ease in navigation and user-friendliness of the site. Another feature, only known to clients, (note: clients but also business partners, friends, prospects and referral sources may use this too) is the secure login system that allows client-accountant document exchange via a secure portal. Clients are able to upload financial information and the accountant in charge of the account is notified immediately of the new document ready to be reviewed. On the flip side of that coin, accountants are able to send documents and messages securely to their clients as well.
This was such a fun project to work on and the end results were exactly what we had hoped. Read more about RitzHolman CPAs in our Portfolio.
If you look back at one of the very first blogs on this site, you’ll find the adage that web strategists have said for years, “Content is king, linking is queen.” We all know content rich in keywords and links is a search engine’s best friend. Yet when we write web content, we often get so bogged down by grammar and style that we forget about the technical side of the website writing game.
Of course, writing well in the digital age is still important. To some, a poorly written site may indicate a sloppy business approach – an impression you want to avoid! However, bear in mind that good online writing combines traditional writing with technology and creativity. Here are four online writing tips to show you how to write for the web in a more effective way:
1. Keep website writing short and concise. Don’t write a book! Keep in mind that in this world of Blackberries and high speed internet, web visitors’ time and patience is in short supply. Write as clearly as possible and avoid unnecessary words or sentences. A good rule of thumb is to keep the information to one full screen.
2. Divide content into small chunks. When writing web content, allow both people and search engines to easily read it by using bulleted lists or section headings. Bonus points for incorporating a strong keyword or phrase into each heading!
3. Write web content with a keyword density of 1 to 10%. While it is fairly easy to plug relevant keywords into Title and Meta tags, it can be difficult to incorporate the same words or phrases into your content without it sounding choppy or just plain boring. This is where the technical and creative sides of website writing come in. Locate a variety of relevant keywords or phrases and limit each one’s use to between two and three percent of your web copy. (All keywords and phrases together should account for one to ten percent of your web content). This way, you won’t have to use the same one or two keywords repeatedly. Google’s Keyword Tool is an amazing resource for finding similar words and phrases that you would never have thought of on your own. Finding ways to fit these words or phrases sensibly into a sentence can be a fun exercise, but don’t force a term into a space where it just won’t fit.
4. This brings us to linking… When you write web content, keep in mind that the search engine world is a lot like a popularity contest. One of the criteria search engines use to judge your web site is the number of quality web links to and from it. This is why it is especially important to cite any sources you use along with their URL. Don’t overdo it however, and don’t link to just any website. Make sure any site you link to is legitimate and also check out its Google Page Rank. Experienced web writers know that the quality of links is more important than the quantity.
These online writing tips should help you write web content in a more efficient and effective way. If you doubt your online writing skills, test them on colleagues or a small market research group. Be sure to get their honest opinion of whether the copy flows, relies too heavily on inappropriate keywords or links, and accurately reflects your organization’s brand strategy.
To learn more about writing web content, the following resources might help:
Writing for the Web by Jakob Nielsen
MarketingProfs.com
So my colleagues out in cyberspace, how did I do? Can you locate some of the keywords I’ve used in this post? Does it maintain a decent keyword density? Are there enough links?
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” – Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832)
When looking at some of the big hitters in the advertising world, its easy to see what is working and what isn’t working to relay a message. Check out Coca-Cola’s website. The first thing you see is a huge promotion to join them on Facebook. The very first thing! Now if this isn’t a message for the world about the power of social media, I don’t know what is.
A local radio station recently offered free tickets to a concert, but the only way a listener could get the answer to the station’s questions was to follow them on Twitter. What an excellent advertising opportunity for the radio station to quickly increase their number of followers they have. As radio station gains followers on Twitter, the promoting only becomes easier. The radio station grabs attention on the airwaves and online.
Another example I saw earlier this morning is a commercial for Dentyne Gum that plays heavily on the social media concept. Most social media sites allow you to accept, reject, or deny “friends or connections”. This commercial ends with the tag line “60 connections in every bottle”. What’s happening here is the online world is filtering through to the offline world. Lingo and actions normally associated with website activities are being applied to other media. Why is this happening? Social media is so powerful that the transition into other media (radio, tv, print, etc) is the only logical next step in the world of advertising. Good marketers know that relaying their message across different media is the best way to reach their audience. Adding social media is another important piece of the puzzle.
Do you need any more proof that social media is an important aspect of your business? It’s a powerful marketing tool that absolutely needs to be part of your marketing strategy and budget.
Social media is working. The big guys and little mom and pops are doing it. It emphasizes your brand and message, stimulates your target audience, and keeps your name top of mind in your consumers head. Need more convincing than my examples? Check out this recently published report: Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael Stelzner.
Have you ever wondered why your website does not show up on google.com anymore?
Did you do a keyword optimization when your site was initially launched?
Do you know what words to use when optimizing your website?
Was your site once in the top 10 and no longer found in the search engines?
A couple of pointers when it comes to the big bad keyword game of SEO
1) It is best to be generic with your keywords, think like a typical Internet browser. If you want to find music downloading sites, you generally would type in music downloads, and if that didn’t work just type in music. Internet searchers use basic wording in order to find the most results so they can see all of their options. When you think of your web page title, heading, or the content within, be sure to use common words.
2) With your generic keywords, put together phrases using demographics, such as “Milwaukee ice cream shop” or “Chicago hotel”. Using your location helps the search engines display your site at the appropriate times. No point in your site being listed under “ice cream shop” when the searcher is looking for an ice cream shop in Texas.
3) Stick to keywords that directly relate to your product or service. There is no point in trying to attract visitors to your site by using popular word searches. SEO is about bringing in quality site visitors not about the quantity of visitors.
Popular keywords are always changing. As time goes on, search engines change their algorithms to better their services and to keep webmasters from spamming. That said, SEO is not a once and done process. SEO is something that continually needs to be reviewed and tweaked. Although this can get quite time consuming and costly, as the initial research for keywords and how to optimize everything is a lengthy task, there are always free services that provide good information as well. Google has a tool called Google Analytics. Users can see in real-time the amount of times their website has been viewed and which words were used in the search.
Don’t let your website get lost in the World Wide Web. Make sure it stays up to date and in front of the world (or at the top of the list) for people to see.
