Web Marketing Blog
All About Building Succesful Online Marketing Campaigns
The Google Toilet? Hilarious…
Jul 15th
Many are worried about privacy rights when it comes to shared content and advertizing space in the internet..so am I! But no worries, Google has a privacy act in place wich is quite broad ( http://www.google.com/privacy_ads.html) …But imagine if it doesn’t? Watch this hilarious video that a friend shared with me… enjoy!
SEO & SEM
Jul 15th
“You accepted the invitation,
to enter the internet,
hints of aimless consternation
followed by hesitation in your first steps,
you pressed key after key into the system,
your eyes scrape over every object you see,
then with some keywords of the propose,
quietly you rests in a revolutionary system of communication,
that nearly engulfs you,
Search Engine Optimization,
results generated algorithmically from anywhere,
but after… Search Engine Marketing,
Paid search advertising >> reach you,
with the interest of showing you ideal options,
your needs are met and you eyes glimmer,
musical sounds surround you in a satisfaction way”.
>> Paola Agaton
Google Analytics & Social Media
Jul 14th
Understanding who your site visitors are is one of the most critical steps in optimizing your online presence. Google Analytics can help you to understand who your visitors are and what their expectations are. Yet, too often, companies focus exclusively on marketing or overall site performance, without taking the time to understand the types of people they are trying to interact with.
This article will not only challenge you to dig deeper into oft-ignored reports for insights, but it will also point you to some other tools to analyze the data.
The ultimate goal of web analytics is to improve your site and marketing. To do this, you need to know what’s working and what’s not. And if something isn’t working, you need to understand why not and how you should begin optimizing it. In other words, you need to come away from your analysis with a list of to-do’s.
Many Google Analytics users read the reports without knowing what to do with them. For most people, reports seem to satisfy curiosity more than inform any kind of action.
…and Social Media Tracking
Many business are tapping into the value of social media. It operates unlike any other type of online marketing, and the rules are constantly shifting. With this shift in focus, web analytics vendors have started to announce partnerships or tools to integrate social media tracking into their product.
Companies using web analytics have to decide how they will track and measure their social media efforts alongside their online marketing and website traffic. How can social media be tracked in Google Analytics? How can a company compare their social media against their banner ads?
The short answer is, they shouldn’t.
To put it another way, with other digital marketing, if there are not visits to the site (and conversions), the marketing failed. That’s a relatively straightforward proposition. In social media, on the other hand, a successful campaign will increase influence but may not directly bring any visits to a site. (Taking customer care as an example, a successful campaign may actually reduce the number of visits to a site.) In any case, the number of visits to a site and the comparative conversion rate for them is not an indicator of whether a social media campaign has succeeded or failed.
The Importance of Social Media Marketing
Jun 22nd
Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.
There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.
If you are selling products/services or just publishing content for ad revenue, social media marketing is a potent method that will make your site profitable over time.
Those who ignore the efficacy of social media usually fall into three categories; the ones who don’t know much or anything about social media, the ones who are interested but don’t know how to use it and those who don’t believe in the value that a social media strategy can bring to any site or business.
Social media marketing benefits organizations and individuals by providing an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, and a method of managing their reputation online. Key factors that ensure its success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides them with and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a stand or platform in which the organization can centralize its information and direct customers on its recent developments via other social media channels, such as article and press release publications.
The most popular platforms include:
The goal of a strong foundation is to create a platform that engages and empowers its customers with the opportunity to communicate with the organization. This platform is important because it also allows the organization to measure and monitor the effects of their organization on their customers. All platforms are tailored to each organization’s endeavors, taking into account factors such as the biggest opportunities and challenges brought on by the platform, the primary demographic being targeted, and metrics used to assess the information gained from its customers. Tools offered by certain platforms are more applicable than others in achieving goals set by their customer. Examples of such tools and customers are as follows:
- Likes, wall posts, and fan size on the Facebook page of an organization
- Tweets & blog posts to announce new releases
- Rating and ranking videos, as performed by YouTube
- Music posts as performed on MySpace
Social Media Fear?
May 31st
When it comes to Social Media, a lot of individuals and companies are quite afraid. Fear of the unknown. Fear of lack of privacy. Fear of retribution and negative response. Fear of ex-girlfriends’ new boyfriends, or of strangers stalking your kids. I hope to quell some of those fears with some good old fashioned rationalization and logical determination of what Social Media can do for you.
Social Media for Personal Use
When it comes to personal use, there is a lot more to fear from Social Media on an individual level than on a corporation level. There is a level of comfort that some were able to adapt to quickly (they all work in PR) and some took a little while longer to come around. Some still haven’t come around, but have their little toes in the water and some flat out refuse to be involved at all. Most of the fear in the latter categories come from lack of knowledge about the Social Media networks and false assumptions about what kind of information you are required to share.
Let’s talk about that for a moment. What information, on a personal level, are you required to share? That’s actually a very simple answer, one that seems to elude many. None. You are required to share nothing. Plain and simple. I think this fear of being forced to provide personal data just because you signed up comes from cell phones. I’m serious. When cell phones became mainstream I remember people lamenting that now their friends & co-workers would be able to get hold of them wherever they were and an expectation was set that they would. That’s the way the behavior drove the technology. Few people, if any, mentioned to me that the solution to that is to just not pick up the phone.
It’s the same thing for Social Media. You are only required to share as much information as you feel you should share. This is a fear I myself had to conquer when moving my persona onto Facebook. But then I realized that I can put whatever I want up there. I don’t have to tell people my innermost secrets, I don’t have to put my correct birthday or favorite foods. That’s all optional. I don’t even have to use my real name. The fear here is lack of privacy. People are afraid they will give away too much information. Well, only if you give away too much information. Again, at a personal level you aren’t obligated to do anything at all, so it’s completely up to you as to how you want to represent yourself online.
When it came to more career oriented sites like Linkedin, the logic there was easier. What information would I be putting up on that site that wasn’t already up on Monster.com or Careerbuilder? My resume, after being spread around the internet like herpes backstage at a rock concert, was pretty much public record. With that thought in mind, creating my profile on Linkedin was a walk in the park.
The other thing that really scares people, especially when it comes to networking sites, is connecting with the past. A lot of people have skeletons in the closet that they just don’t want to let out. Or they don’t want to be faced with the decision whether to “friend” an ex on Facebook or not. There is a lot of trepidation about what the expectation is when it comes to selecting your “friends” online. A great rule of thumb when it comes to that is – would you stop and talk to this person in real life? Is this someone you’d recognize in a crowded room? Someone you’d sit with uninvited at a coffee shop if you knew them? I have acquaintances from high school that try to connect with me on Facebook, but I either A.) didn’t like them then and probably wouldn’t like them now or B.) have no freaking clue who they are. Why should I feel obligated to connect? Am I that self centered to think that if I don’t connect they are brooding over it? Chances are, I’m one of a hundred invites they sent out that day.
I spoke to a friend who is consumed by the fear. The media hasn’t helped, with stories of MySpace & Facebook predators and so on. That’s where his fear stems from – he’s afraid his family would be targeted. It may be a harsh conclusion, but you may as well never leave the house and never let your family out of the house as well. It’s a rough and tumble world out there, and even more so online. You have to have a particular constitution about you and be armed with the knowledge of what’s out there and what kind of programs you are working with. The fact that Linkedin pulled in his gmail account address book scared the crap out of him. You can’t be participating online with that glaring lack of knowledge about how the internet and it’s related applications work. Arm yourself with knowledge and the fear will subside.
Getting over these fears are tough. However, they are clearly worth the benefits. I have several thousand connections on Linkedin, people I don’t know in industries I’ve never heard of – but they are there. Ready and mostly willing to provide information and insight when needed. I’ve made advantageous connections on Facebook with people I’ve not seen in years, working for or running businesses that could benefit my life. I’ve connected with people outside my zip code – which is the most important part. I’ve gotten freelance jobs through connections, been involved in projects I never would have known about had I not been connected. With networks like Twitter, I’ve got a constant stream of what’s going on in the world and with subjects I’m interested in. Not to mention the quick availability to self promote via utilities like Digg. Those are the benefits.
In a future post I’ll discuss the overuse & abuse of these networks that only propagates the fear, but again – the fear is only what you make of it. If you don’t post the picture of you getting drunk with a bunch of underage kids at a frat party, then no-one will see that picture.
Social Media for Business Use
With business use, whether it be to self promote or promote your business, there are different fears but based on the same inherent base fears. Lack of knowledge is the big one, followed by general apathy and ignorance. Businesses don’t worry about the privacy issue as much as an individual would.
What they do worry about is the return on investment. Is Social Media worth the time and effort? Based on Social Media consulting being a whole sub-industry of public relations, I’d say many companies think it is worth the time and effort. Basically, companies need to ask themselves if they have the time and resources to commit to networking. If they don’t, then it’s a moot point and less of a fear of using Social Media than an apathetic response.
The bigger question for companies or individuals looking to self promote, is do their customers use it? For me, the answer was a hearty “yes.” As a writer, joining Twitter was one of the best ways to promote my own work. Did I mention that you can follow me? See? Self promotion.
Businesses hire Social Media experts to guide them onto the internet and promote their service and/or product. This is especially useful if a good percentage of their customer base is deeply rooted in the social networks. More companies are adding a Twitter feed to their contact page, or their CEO suddenly has his own blog to rant on.
A fear here is feedback. A lot of companies are flat out terrified of negative feedback. Terrified. Like walking in the dark and likely be eaten by a Grue terrified. However, that suggests something exists that would cause negative feedback. A good key for any company using Social Media is honesty and clarity with customers and consumers. If you have something to hide and it’s revealed, there will be negative feedback. In any forum however, there will always be negative feedback. Have you ever read the op-ed section of the newspaper?
Businesses can benefit the most from Social Media, more than any personal usage outside of self-promotion. Because there is money to be made. How is there money to be made? It’s basic economics. Reach a larger audience, sell more product/service and make more money. There are companies that wouldn’t exist right now if not for Social Media. Independents based online are thriving because of the networking possibilities of Social Media. As are Social Media consulting firms. Self promotion is another great side benefit as well. Can you think of how you would self promote a blog post before Social Media? Email everyone? That limits you to people you know. Send them certified mail?
Author of this post is Curtis Silver, from the Geek Dad
Read More http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/09/social-media-fighting-the-fear/#ixzz0pYM0rUfk
Learn how to set up a blog for affiliate marketing
May 11th
Very good visual lessons: learn how to set up a blog and use it for affiliate marketing. Make money online by representing thousands of different products and services. The set up takes less than 5 minutes! Enjoy.
Cool Videos: Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh)
May 11th
Watch this: Social media is not a fad at all!!
SEO Mistakes When Redesigning Websites
May 11th
1. The Domain Problem. Companies often decide that with the makeover, they need a new domain name. What they don’t realize is that the old domain name had earned a lot of trust with the search engines. It may take a year to just “convince” the search engines to love you again for who you now are.
2. The Redirection Problem. Webmasters sometimes create new pages (and new URLs) but don’t take the time to redirect the old ones. This is arguably the worst problem we see. An older site has built up a lot of link love, and without those redirects, the links are going to pages that don’t exist. That’s also bad for all your users who end up frequenting your error page.
3. The Duplicate Content Problem. Unfortunately, the implementation team sometimes doesn’t prevent the search engines from crawling and indexing their staging server. This creates duplicate content and a big mess to clean up after launch.
4. The Flash Problem. Designers frequently replace keyword-rich sites with gorgeous flash-based sites. Search engines are only now learning how to read links in Flash. Sadly, they have a long ways to go. Some flash-based sites also have the problem of only having a single URL — the homepage. When you click on a link to a different page of the site, it really just takes you to a different segment of the Flash movie. Too often these “pages” of your site are hidden to search engines and users can’t bookmark them, link to them, or share them on Facebook.
5. The “Crummy Old Articles” Problem. Web teams sometimes decide to “clean house” and get rid of a lot of old content, articles that have links to them and earn traffic for the site. Rankings for keywords associated with that content — along with search traffic in general — plummet. Oops.
6. Content Management System URL Problem. Techies are satisfied with new URLs produced by a Content Management System (CMS) that look like so: www.oursite.com?pid=123&cid=876&country=1&lang=en. However, they don’t understand that a keyword rich URL such as www.oursite.com/product/productname produces higher keyword rankings. Those ugly URLs are also less informative when they appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs), which can lead to a lower click-through rate.
7. Content Management System Title Tag Problem. The e-team invests in a new CMS (to go with their new site). But the CMS makes it hard for them to change their most important “real estate” — i.e. their title tag. Make sure your CMS allows you to write your own title and description tags!
8. The “Haste Makes Waste” Problem: Companies don’t take the time to move some things slowly enough to preserve their old rankings. For example, if you’re moving to a new domain name along with the site redesign, you can make the change in two phases. First, move the old site to the new domain. Then, after things have settled down a bit, launch your redesign.
From story by Robbin Steif , May 11, 2010
