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Category Archives: internet marketing strategy
Just Ask!
Testimonials are a great way for garnering new clients. Websites like Yelp have grown an entire business out of peoples’ desire to leave comment and read comment about their positive or negative experience. Adding a Customer Review page to your website gives potential clients the chance to hear from your customers how satisfied they are. But how to get this feedback? You just need to ask for it! After a client uses your services or purchases a product, send them a quick email requesting some feedback in exchange for 10% off their next offer. In this way, you encourage them to leave feedback AND shop some more! So remember, for #feedback, #juskask!
Taking E-Commerce In-store
Shopping online is markedly different from shopping in-store. When you shop online, you browse for the best deal on some far-reaching e-commerce website, probably alone and late at night. It’s not especially social; it’s practical. Online shopping isn’t not fun, it’s just not the same as in-store shopping. When you go out shopping at a mall or in a city, you often bring friends and you never know what interesting product will end up in your shopping bag on the way home. Successful e-commerce marketers bring a little bit of the in-store shopping experience to their websites.
One popular reason to do shopping is ”retail therapy.” Retail therapy is defined by Wikipedia as “shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer’s mood or disposition. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as “comfort buys”. Retail shoppers often go out shopping with friends as a method of distraction. They can discuss potential purchases and there is a lot of “Oh this is cute!” One way to create an in-store atmosphere online is to allow shoppers to express their opinion about products and communicate their opinion to friends. Allowing shoppers to comment on items for sale and linking the site to social media sites achieves this.
Another characteristic of in-store shopping is the “impulse buy.” Many people are impulse buyers, meaning, they see something they want, and they immediately buy it without much thought. By making buyers go through many pages in order to make a purchase, they are more and more likely to change their mind. Online shopping often eliminates that “impulse buy.” By streamlining the purchasing process, buyers are more likely to follow through.
Today in History!
On August 1st, 1958, the price of first class postage increased to 4 cents. The previous 26 years it had cost 3 cents to mail a letter. Nowadays, the cost of a stamp is at least 45 cents, but thanks to the magic of the world wide web, you don’t need a stamp to send a letter. Mail Chimp (http://mailchimp.com/) offers free accounts where you can send 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers monthly! Mail Chimp helps you design, send and track attractive and user-friendly newsletters. This is the perfect DIY option if you are just starting out. For full email marketing strategies, check out our EmailSpark plans.
Take advantage of the opportunity to send your clients and potential clients email newsletters on a regular basis. Invite them to join your mailing list and offer some incentive for doing so. For example, offer a coupon or a chance to win if users give you their email addresses.
Once you’ve got subscribers for your newsletter, work hard to keep them by refraining from blasting an overload of emails. Also, keep the content concise and relevant.
KPI: Key Performance Indicators
What is a KPI? A Key Performance Indicator is a unit of measurement that reveals information about the success of some activity. For example, say you want to use social media to spread awareness about some cause, so you link viewers to a YouTube video through Facebook and Twitter. The number of views that video gets is a good KPI. By reviewing the number of views the video got, you can answer the question, “Did social media effectively promote the viewing of my video?”
The number of views, shares, comments, Likes, ReTweets, etc, are all great ways to determine if people are picking up what you are putting down on the Internet. With KPIs, you’ll know if your marketing efforts go unnoticed.
Google provides you with great KPIs in the application Google Analytics. You can use Google Analytics to monitor how viewers navigate through your website and adjust the layout and user experience accordingly. With Google Analytics, find out how people find your website, which links they click on most and why the leave.
Once you’ve determined your KPIs and analyzed your data, don’t just sit there, do something about it! Marketing is all about testing, and testing is all about making changes according the the results of the test. Did you post a video to YouTube and only three people watched it? Then don’t simply post another video and cross your fingers for a better result. Adjust your strategy until you see your desired results.
Effective Internal Linking Strategies
Internal linking can greatly impact your website’s traffic and ranking. It is one surefire way to promote and boost your website’s credibility, and to help get it tabbed and listed by search engines. Links are always at the forefront of search engine effectiveness.
But one problem with linking is the keyword use and, just like any other aspect of website content, internal linking is no stranger to keyword stuffing. By now, you’re probably already familiar with Google Penguin and the whole rank adjustment, let alone you know that getting internal links from stuffing poorly executed keywords just looks funky. So how do you correct that and make your site both pretty and effective? Obviously there have to be better internet marketing solutions to drive traffic and popularity.
Well, consider a few things:
- What is your viewer expecting visiting your site?
- Which internal pages on your site are most competitive?
- What page type are you linking to? Is it a home, category, or product page?
These three questions will keep your linking in line. The first thing is to provide users with a good search experience. Google wants people to find good information. Next is competition; links to better ranking or more viewed pages bring even better ranks overall. Which then brings us to page type: the pages with hits are probably being found because of popular keywords, which then lets you know what keywords to use to link.
It’s that easy to have better internal linking.This one one of many internet marketing strategies to help generate better ranking, so see how it works for you.
Help, I Received a Negative Review!
It’s a sad but true fact; you can satisfy 1,000 customers who will go on their way and never think twice of it; and yet, you get one disgruntled client, or even former employee, and all of a sudden you can have a negative review front and center when you search your company. It can have devastating effects on your online marketing efforts. What can be done?
You can counter negative reviews with positive ones. Offer clients a free goodie or a small discount for positive reviews on sites like Yelp or Webutation. Many positive reviews will expose the bad review for the anomaly it is. Certain sites allow you to rate a review’s helpfulness, so get clients to deem the bad review as unhelpful and untrue.
Another option you have is to reach out to the person who issued the negative review. Offer them a free good or service to make up for the bad experience they had. Apologize and then kindly ask that they take down or amend the negative review. Most people will remove negative reviews if you do right by them.
In this day and age, many customers will search terms like “YourCompanyName.Com review” or “Is YourCompanyName.com legitimate?” before opting to use your service. Any effective business marketing campaign will also monitor your online reputation.
Drawing Attention To Local Events Online
Being a small local business, you must be in the know about getting the word out effectively to your target audience, the residents of your neighborhood and those in the surrounding neighborhoods. Hosting local events and sharing information about them online is a fantastic way to boost visibility and put your name on the map.
When you host an event or whenever you try to promote your brand, you should find ways to provide authoritative links in your content to boost its online presence. It’s not just a matter of getting links that rank well prior to the Google Penguin updates, but also about what’s called “hard linking.” Hard linking means that you have authority behind the website connection. You must earn these links. By obtaining links from popular social networks, directories and classified sites that must approve of your submission, you get access to a better audience, and people will actually find your online material and take it seriously, not consider it spam.
Search engine marketing has recently had to change the game and it’s time to change your approach, especially when it’s local. Keywords now must be tailored for humans, not just search engine spiders; and they must actually be valuable to the topic of the blog, article, or whatever kind of post it is. Natural, diverse anchor text is much more effective. Aim for local relevant sites to submit your events information to, and list in the keywords the location where possible, like “Italian restaurant in Brooklyn.” Be sure the link goes to the event page, not the home page, too. Google now appreciates a closer relevancy.
Best of luck with promoting your local business with these new search engine trends!
Higher Rankings or More Website Traffic?
Each business has different goals in mind when it comes to online marketing. But some are not even sure what it is they’re looking for when they sign up with an online marketing company. They just want to see immediate results and make oodles of money. That’s all well and good, but you have to be a bit more specific and have a few goals in mind. Most companies fall into two categories: those who want to rank higher on Google and those who want to drive more traffic/have higher conversion rates.
Depending on which you want, there are different approaches in mind. Most e-commerce sites are looking for the latter. They want to make more sales, have many more customers visiting their sites, who will hopefully make a purchase. The best practice? Sign up for our PPC plan which incorporates Google AdWords –you know, those advertisements you see on Google when you do a search. Google AdWords is the quickest way to see results and it’s a must for e-commerce websites.
If moving up your position on Google is more important, and you understand that SEO practices are long-term, the AnewB plan will be more your style. Keep in mind, we mean it when we say it’s long-term (think months at least, not decades). Ranking #1 on Google doesn’t happen over night. It’s an investment, one that takes time through expert SEO practices. And quite honestly, any online marketing expert will tell you the same.
So consider which is more important to your business or give us a call and we can help you decide.
Targeting Local Ad Campaigns
Creating effective ad campaigns on Google AdWords isn’t always an easy task. Nor is it one that a business often gets right the first time. As much as everyone would love to get it “right” the first time around, ad campaigns need to be closely monitored, statistics and reports checked frequently. One strategy that can help local businesses to succeed is to create location targeted campaigns.
For example, if you provide appliance repair for the New York tri-state area, you should include keywords such as “New York appliance repair,” “Queens appliance repair,” etc. There’s no point in showing up for people halfway across the country if that isn’t where your services are located. It could result in wasted clicks and wasted money on your part. With Google AdWords you can target the right audience by country, region, city, or customize it so only people in a very precise location will see your ad.
And if your company does have an international audience, consider setting up separate campaigns for each country individually. This way you can easily manage your account and see how your ads are doing in each country. This can help you learn where people are using your services or buying your products the most so you can adjust accordingly. Local internet marketing can make a huge difference in your results and hopefully increase click-through and conversion rates.
Obama Campaign Using Targeted Internet Marketing
Politico ran an article today about how the Obama campaign is using local internet marketing in swing states as they attempt to secure an election victory. As Politoco put it:
“Obama strategists see this election as a block-by-block knife fight, to be fought in fewer than a dozen states and likely decided by very slim margins.”
Chances are this analogy is a bit extreme for your business but you can still learn a lot from it. Your business services only appeal to a small block (or a few blocks) of people, say, for example, people who want to take a cruise. To succeed you need to target said blocks of people and appeal to them.
How do you appeal to these people? You use search engine marketing and you run ads for your block only. Say you want to sell spots on a cruise. You can engineer an ad to appear only when people search “Hawaiian Cruise”. You can have a banner ad appear on Hawaii.com. You can send out mass email to people who subscribe to travel magazines.
The Obama campaign is being outspent by a ratio of 2-1, in some states 4-1, but they manage to say competitive in every poll. Why? Because they are hitting all the groups that can benefit them and not wasting time on groups already firmly in one camp. You can do the same!
Things To Consider On Your Site To Make It SEO Friendly
When you have a website or a blog it should be made with SEO in mind. Search engines use spiders to crawl your site and they need something to feast on. If they don’t like what they find, they’re not going to show you any love in rankings when people type in search queries. Always be sure you incorporate internet marketing strategies for the best results.
You probably have already heard enough about keywords and their value, how to place them, etc. As long as you remember to place them appropriately, and the links go to the individual pages on your site or blog and to any other pages you want to gain attention, then you’re fine.
Also make sure your images have tags and descriptions. Spiders can’t search images, only the text connected with them. Make descriptions descriptive, or use keywords to title them. Also, add captions where appropriate.
Avoid flash whenever possible. It may look pretty but it’s pretty much useless when it comes to SEO. You can’t link to single pages when you use it. If you do need to use it, be sure to add actual text and navigation links below the fold so the spiders can identify and file the page.
These tips should help you make your site SEO friendly and easily found by search engines. Always take advantage of search engine marketing strategies.
Custom Marketing Plans
Not all businesses are created equally so why would anyone believe that all businesses can fit into the same online marketing strategies? While other companies try to fit you into a box, Ajax Union is an online marketing company that will create a box to fit around you, even if that means cutting off some flaps and taping on a few new pieces.
We offer a wide range of plans, from AnewB to PPC management to PR & Reputation Management. You can feel free to choose from the plans we’ve already developed or to customize your own from components within these plans.
Do you feel you want blogging at least three days a week instead of once a week? Do you want two press releases a month? Want more time devoted to just Facebook and Twitter? Prefer LinkedIn ads over Facebook ads? You can do any and all of this. There is no need to feel locked into a specific setup. Each business operates differently and therefore, we want to create plans that will better target your audience and increase traffic and conversion. There’s no point in locking yourself into a plan that isn’t boosting your website. Discuss creating a custom plan today with one of our SEO experts today.
Targeted Marketing Allows Small Businesses to Stay Competitive
Big businesses in your field can afford to spend millions, maybe even billions, on multimedia ad campaigns, lobbyists and tax specialists. The rules are stacked in their favor and it can be hard for you, as a “little guy,” to elbow in. If you want to stay competitive in today’s market you will need to make use of smart online marketing.
Instead of spending money on a broad medium, say a billboard ad, why not concentrate your money on people you know are interested in your product? Say you are marketing a woman’s swimsuit. Why put an ad on a billboard when half the people who see it will be men? If you put a much cheaper ad on a women’s website you know you are hitting your audience, and you can get a lot more specific than gender. You can put your ad on a site that caters to women of a certain age, demographic and taste set. Now you are only running your ad for middle-aged women searching for the word “swimsuit” in your geographic area.
By using search engine marketing tools you can cut through the market clutter. Let the big guys worry about saturating the airwaves. You can speak to your clients directly.
Why Fresh Content Is Essential For SEO
When you maintain your website or blog, do you keep it updated? Many times people think that when a website page is complete it’s good to go. You can leave it as is and still have success. But in actuality having brand new material is incredibly important to your search rankings.
Google measures all of the website’s documents for freshness and then scores each page according to the type of search query. In many cases the newness will greatly affect your ranking. There are a certain type of keyword searches that require up-to-date text and linking. These are recent events, hot topics, regularly occurring events, and frequently updated items (i.e. “best new cell phones”).
If you don’t take the time to write up new reviews, news stories, or even just re-vamp a current page or post, you are going to drop lower in the ranks when people type in the correlating keywords. That’s why brand new content is essential for your internet marketing strategies.
Google will also determine fresh content based on inception date, which is the date Google first indexes the page. So the older the page without new material, the more stale it is considered. The more new material on a stale page, the better the chance your rank will rise again. A lot of change is better than a little change. As does the frequency of the updates– if you update it regularly it will rank higher than if you do it occasionally.
As long as you keep producing new legitimate material your site will look fabulous in rankings and Google scores.If you find yourself unable to provide consistent new material, feel free to contact an SEO company for assistance.
Track Your Online Influence With Klout
You may have heard of a little site by the name of Klout.com. This new addition to the world of social media is not only a networking site of its own, it is also a scoring system for social media. Here you build connections and then better understand the way in which your interactions influence others. By directly connecting your other accounts to Klout you build a profile of networks and influencers and boost your local internet marketing skills. You will learn who has the greatest effect on your online actions and who is mostly affected by your posts, statements, and links.
Your score is any number out of a total 100, so look at it somewhat like percentage of popularity and power. Top social media sites that determine your score are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Google+, just to name a few. Whatever tweets, retweets and mentions you get; whatever comments, wall posts, and likes; they all will add-up to give you a score of how influential you are online.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an industry leader or celebrity, or a small business owner or individual internet mogul, your voice can be heard. This site was built to make it easier for you to strengthen your networks. As your score increases it becomes significantly harder to maintain, proving that you’re a powerhouse of information. Using the statistics you will be able to identify strengths and weakness and then follow internet marketing tips to better your methodology.
“Likes” Beat “Friends” Any Day
Facebook started out as a social tool. At first, only chosen college and university students had the privilege of logging on. Then, the doors opened to all students. Eventually, anyone with a valid email address could join the soon-to-be number one social network. But Facebook for business?
Facebook facilitates public and private communication, media sharing, collaboration, idea swapping and more. And while this all sounds very social, what is at the base of marketing if not communication and the sharing of both media and ideas? With Facebook, individuals market themselves all day everyday. Like most social media, Facebook allows users to present an ideal version of themselves to the world. How is marketing any different? It turns out, Facebook is the perfect conduit for online marketing.
Whereas individuals using Facebook acquire more and more “friends,” businesses utilizing Facebook try to earn “fans,” which translates as people who “Like” the page. Although the terms differ, the concept is essentially the same. Status updates and other posts become viewable to friends and fans alike. The only major difference between the two is that for the individual user, the “friend count” is just a number. But for the Facebook business page, number of “likes” is significant. The more “likes” a business page has, the more traffic that page will get from other Facebook users and through search engine traffic.
Friending someone on Facebook says, “I know you, I remember you, I like you,” or, in a more stalker-like fashion, “I like you, I want to know you.” Liking a Facebook business page says exactly the same thing, and it helps the business, to boot. So how do you get more “likes?”
Ajax Union has developed strategies for increasing the number of Facebook “likes” your business page has by linking Facebook ads with contests. Get in touch with one of Ajax’s marketing consultants to learn more about how Facebook can boost your online presence. And check back tomorrow for Facebook Marketing’s latest Top Ten list.
Showcasing Your Best with PR
There are numerous ways to spread the word about your company. There is blogging, e-mails, social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, etc. All are well and good, but why not add some more oomph and have the word spread throughout Google News and Yahoo! News? How amazing would it feel to search Google News about your company and see yourself in the top results? Pretty good I imagine. This marketing dream can come true with press releases.
Press releases aren’t just a means to talk about industry news. You can use them to talk about whatever you wish –targeting both consumers and other business clientele. Discuss upcoming sales and discounts, new merchandise that just came in, or changes being made within your company or the industry. With the help of savvy writers, you can talk about a plethora of topics that will ensnare your target audience. Well-written and widely distributed press releases can make their way across the Internet and onto the screens of thousands of readers.
With the help of an SEO company, press releases can do more than just inform readers. They can be yet another means for good SEO strategies, further increasing your ever-so important Google ranking.
Is it Groundhog Day Again?
Today is the day Punxsutawney Phil has been waiting for since last Feb 2nd. Or is it the day for which summer-lovers nationwide have been holding their breath? While we’ll never know how Phil feels about his namesake day, we do know that Groundhog Day, while it gives way (or doesn’t!) to the early signs of spring, Punxsutawney, PA certainly capitalizes on the tourism and media brought in by the little brown creature. And why not?
Check out their web presence at the links below:
Like Phil on Facebook HERE
Follow Phil on Twitter HERE.
Get on Phil’s mailing list HERE.
Join Phil’s club HERE.
Watch the live stream of Groundhog Day HERE.
What is the bounce rate of your shopping cart?
So, you installed Google Analytics to analyse traffic to your site. But what does all the data mean?
Let’s start with one important bit of information:
BOUNCE RATE
The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who visit your site, but never move beyond the content on the first page. I.e., a bounce rate of 48% means that 48 out of every 100 visitors to your site do not click on any of your site’s links.
What is the bounce rate of your shopping cart? Shopping cart bounce rate is the percentage of people who fill up a shopping cart at an e-commerce site, and then abandon the cart before purchasing anything. These are the people who are shopping at your site, but don’t follow through with the order and payment. An analysis of visitor behavior and shopping cart bounce rate can reveal WHY customers are abandoning their carts. Find out why, and you can improve your sites functionality so that online shoppers follow through with their purchases, earning you more money.
Watch this telling Youtube video about online shopping:
http://ww