Internet 1994
August 19th, 2010What do you use your blog for?
August 18th, 2010
Blogs and social media are hot buzz words right now. Many companies know that they should have a blog and get involved in social media but lack a real plan. So, your company decides that it needs to have a blog. Great, why?
Why do you want a blog?
Blogs can be powerful tools when used correctly. You probably already heard that which is why you want one. But you still have to answer the question as why you want a blog. Does your website need an outlet for more content? Are you looking to garner some inbound links? Do you want added exposure? To help sales? I could go on.
Essentially you should have this question answered BEFORE you begin building your blog. Why? Because you need to know your goals so you can outline a roadmap as to how to achieve them. There are many different ways to use a blog and knowing what you are going to use the blog for before you begin will save you time in the long run.
For example, if you are using the blog for additional content for your website, well then, your posts should be full of content. At least 400 words per post if you really want to get the benefits from the search engines. It would also behove you to do a little keyword research so you can properly optimize your articles as well. If you are looking for added exposure, you would want to incorporate social media sharing options throughout your blog. You would also want to get involved in social media so you can promote your content throughout the social networks.
Who are you writing for?
This is important. You should know your audience or target audience. Just like in sales where you want to know your customer, in blogging, you want to know your reader. Find out what they are interested in and the best ways to communicate with them. This being said, find out what social media outlets they spend time on and try to network with them on those networks. Writing for your readers encourages reader engagement and will help your content spread.
Be sure to listen to your readers as well. Encourage comments and listen to your readers feedback, both positive and negative. This will help inspire you to write more and match your topics to what your readers are interested in.
Don’t leave any stone unturned
Blogs are highly customizable. There are many resources out there to help you integrate social media sharing, promote following you on various social networks, increase engagement and subscribers and even sell products. If you use WordPress (which I highly recommend!), there are an abundance of free plugins to enhance your blog.
All this being said, if you are on the fence about installing a blog for your business/website, then stop thinking and do it. Just be sure not to just mindlessly add a blog. Just like building anything else, you need a plan.
The Social Media Effect
August 12th, 2010I found this interesting infographic from Smashing Apps on the effects of making it big on the various social networks. Hitting front page or viral shares can send massive amounts of unique visitors to your website. It will be interesting to keep an eye on digg and the “digg effect” once they officially roll out Digg 4.
Taking Control of Your Web Presence
August 11th, 2010
We have seen it time and time again as web developers. Website owners also know this situation very well.
A person has decided to change their website. (The change also means changing service providers.) The headache comes when most website owners find that the service provider also hosts their website. Not only that, but many times it is built using a proprietary CMS that risks hindering the website should it be moved.
So now a string of questions must be asked, solved, and action taken just to access the information needed. Hours are wasted, money spent, and nothing has happened except switching service providers.
We have always aimed to solve this problem once and for all for clients. (Atleast the headache part of it). As a website owner, your web presence is crucial to business operations. Why should you allow service providers to control the stability of that?
Hosting
First let’s look at hosting. It is necessary for a website owner to own and control their own hosting environment. Many times, you can find fully supported hosting providers with rates at a fraction of the cost of what your service provider up-sells to you. Sure you might still need someone to service the website, but what you have done is eliminated the middle man between you and your website. If you need to change service providers, it is as simple as calling a new firm and giving them access.
CMS
Many firms sell their services based on the convenience factor of having an all in one Content Management System. You don’t need to do anything. You host with them, use their editing tools to make changes and you have to do very little. What they usually don’t tell you is that your website will be put on a generic template system that will make it look almost identical to every other site they have on the system. Your website is unique and needs to be expressed that way. Something else that you might not see before signing up is the captive nature of the content edited on the system. If you decided to upgrade your site, you have run into a very troublesome situation. What if you want to move to another service provider? Good luck with the transition. It will cost many hours to change for your new needs.
This is where WordPress comes in. This solves the issues created by using locked in ‘all-in-one’ website systems. Not only can you control your website hosting, but you can run it on what is easily the most recognized CMS on the planet. Plus it’s FREE!!
So we have already identified the freedom you get by going this route. Are there other advantages? Sure! WordPress is backed by a large community. It has thousands of plugins that will enhance the usability of your website. It can take care of anything and everything a generic proprietary system can minus the costs.
You then have the ability to take the code, database, and your website freely to any hosting provider. You own and control it all.
These are the problems RhinoSEO identifies and tackles with a client’s best interests in mind. It is important to spot potential ‘lock in’ offerings that are aimed at bettering the service provider’s bottom line. Don’t pay for convenience. Pay for control and the same conveniences come with it. Stop the vicious cycle of headaches caused by changing services providers.
You will thank yourself for the decision later!
Who can identify with the problems addressed in this post?
Don’t You Hate This?
August 10th, 2010
Integrating Social Media into your Email Marketing
August 9th, 2010
Savvy businesses are using social media and email marketing to promote their business online. Savvier businesses are using social media WITH email marketing. What do I mean by with?
Integrate
When designing your next html email, think about ways to integrate social media into the email. There are a couple ways to do this. You can add “share” icons/links to your stories. For example, when someone reads an article in your email, give the reader the opportunity to share it in social media. Some simple links to share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc. at the bottom of your articles makes it easy for the reader to share your content.
Add your social media profile links in your email as well. You may have a Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn profile for your business. I’m sure you are always looking for ways to increase the number of qualified followers to your profiles, so link them. Adding simple “connect with us” icons/links to your profiles encourages your readers to network with you through social media. This gives you the opportunity to network with those who have already shown interest in you and your industry.
Reach
Encouraging your readers to share your content through social media increases the reach of your messages. Say for example you are emailing 1,000 people. Your reach is pretty much capped at 1,000 unless you are lucky enough to get a couple forwards here and there. When you encourage your readers to share your content, your content now has the opportunity to spread through each readers social network. And if anyone in their social network shares it, well, you probably see where I’m going with this. Don’t limit yourself. Give your content the chance to go viral.
Grow
Integrating social media into your email marketing strategy helps you grow your network. It gives you the opportunity to increase your following on each social network you include as well as provides you the chance to grow your email subscriber list as well. Syndicating your content through social media increases readers. These new readers may sign-up for your email newsletters too. Combining the two helps you grow your email subscribers and your social networks simultaneously.
Blog
A third element you can add to the mix is your blog. You can host your full articles on your blog. You should also feature a newsletter sign-up prominently on your blog. This will help you convert a percentage of your social media visitors to email subscribers. Also, include your social media profile links and social sharing links as well.
See how email marketing, social media and blogging can all sync? Each one of these tools are powerful in their own right, but when you integrate them together, you can really maximize your content and brand exposure.
Even Facebook Loves Digg
August 5th, 2010
What to do Once You Make Front Page
August 3rd, 2010
Many people get tunnel vision when running an SEO campaign. The ears are pinned back and the focus on reaching the coveted front page of Google for a desired keyword is all that is often thought about. But what happens when you are lucky enough to land that prime real estate on the first page of Google?
Don’t Stop
Many companies find a keyword that they believe their business MUST rank for. They do a little research and hire an SEO company to help them get their website featured on the first page of Google search results for that keyword. Their main goal then becomes “how fast can we get to the first page of Google.” The SEO company works their tail off and gets the website to first page.
Now the client is happy and receiving additional traffic and leads. Everything is just peachy. Then a month or so goes by and the client thinks “well, I’m on first page, guess I don’t need to pay for SEO anymore.” They let the SEO company go.
A few months go by and they’re rocking and rolling. Then business slows down. They check Google and notice they have fallen to page 2 or 3 for their main keyword. Crap, what happened!!!???
What happened is they stopped. SEO is not a one time “campaign.” It should be an ongoing process. Always working to gain and keep momentum. Think about it. The company wanted to get to first page. They hired an SEO firm to do that. Now, what do you think their competitors are doing?
The point of all this is to not make your SEO a one off. Make it ongoing. It takes a lot of work to reach optimal rankings, it takes more work to keep those rankings. The moment you stop, you give your competition an open lane to pass you by.
Extend Your Focus
Not only do you want to keep you efforts up for “maintenance mode,” but you want to extend your focus as well. Ever heard “don’t put your eggs in one basket?” This too applies to SEO. Don’t just pick one popular keyword and stop there.
Find a dozen or more keywords that are relevant to your website and business and optimize for those too. Always research to find new online opportunities whether it be additional keywords, social media avenues, press releases, video and even email marketing.
True success in the online space comes from constant efforts to improve search engine visibility.
Google Facebook Fail
July 30th, 2010
Do You Know Where Your Leads Come From?
July 23rd, 2010
Let’s face it, the main motive behind online marketing is to generate something. Depending on your business, it could be to generate leads, sales, traffic for ads etc. That being said, once you get a lead, what do you do?
Tracking
If you have spent time and money on SEO or any other type of online marketing, you have prepped your website to become another salesperson. In any sales organization, sales people are measured by their performance. You should have the same set-up for your online marketing.
You most likely have some type of web analytics you use. It tells you all kinds of cool stuff about your visitors, but is it set-up to tell you about your leads? Most analytics have a way to set-up some sort of lead tracking. In Google Analytics you would want to configure your goals and funnels so you can go back and learn more about your leads. If you use RhinoSEO, you have a lead management system built-in.
You want to have a way to look at how your visitors became leads.
Analyze
It is important to learn from your leads and analytics. When you are lucky enough to get new web leads, take a minute to analyze how they became a lead. Some of the things you’ll want to look at are:
- Referring source
- Visitor navigation
- Visitor frequency
Referring source is probably the main thing you will want to look at. This can give you a lot of insight as to how people are finding your site. This give you the opportunity to evaluate how well your online marketing efforts are working. It can also shed some light into how your prospects search or which inbound links are sending you quality traffic.
This information can help you tailor your online marketing strategy around what works instead of wasting time on what doesn’t. Find what is working and why and do your best to replicate it.
Visitor navigation tells you what your prospects and leads are most interested in. You can see what product/services were most viewed and for how long. This will help you custom tailor your sales pitch and drip marketing around what you know they like.
Visitor frequency is how many times someone visits your site. Find out more about your online sales cycle. People might visit 2-3 times before they fill out a form. Make on site tweaks and monitor if you can shorten the amount of visits it takes before they convert into a lead.
The more you learn about how visitors become leads, the more successful your online marketing and conversions will become.
Signup for our Newsletter
Connect
