Last updated 1 year ago
When it comes to marketing your business, it’s super important to know the effect of each online marketing campaign you run, as online branding is becoming much more difficult due to the vast amount of services available on each network that may distract your potential clients.
If your online branding is delivered in a way that persuades people to interact and share, then you will certainly have a much better response than sending the visitors directly to a sales page. As each channel you advertise on has a member base with different demographics and mindset, you must ensure that your marketing suits the users on each specific network.
As content networks are delivered on many platforms such as desktop, mobile & tablets, it can be hard to understand how effective specific advertising is, as people browsing are multitasking and their attention is spread across many different devices and channels simultaneously.
Unfortunately, at this time, there are no metrics that take into account the consumer distraction and attention when it comes to actual pricing the impressions/clicks that are provided to media buyers. Companies such as comScore & Nielsens efforts within this space may bring this metric into action in the near future, after the testing has taken place.
In the past, content was actually written for us. In today’s world, consumers generate a lot of the content surrounding a specific business or service, which is then shared across many different networks. Sometimes it is hard to know who has created the content, whether its premium, niche, user generated or professional, so developing your content for online branding purposes would be much more effective if it involved your consumers and always persuaded them to share their opinions.
One of the biggest issues that companies face when online branding is the fact that people are paying less and less attention to advertising, and will only connect with a company if they find something interesting or the advertisement offers them something of value for nothing. Without some sort of “HOOK” for consumers, even the largest advertising budgets will fail to gain a reasonable ROI.
The best thing for your company to do is have a brainstorming session that focuses on what content you can deliver that will immerse your target audience. Although immersive content is not relevant for every business, but if you can develop something that persuades interaction with your brand then you will be on to a winner and get a much better response and ROI.
Are you using brand marketing AKA online display AKA banners ads in your media mix this year? Why or why not?
About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,600,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a Free Online Marketing Consultation.
To read more of the article that inspired this blog, please visit: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008891
Last updated 1 year ago
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 12 months, you should be aware of how popular mobile marketing has become for generating interest in your business. “With Google Sites, you can build a professional mobile landing page in just minutes. You can also visit GoMo, an initiative by Google, to learn more about why mobile matters, test how your current site looks in mobile and get a free report with personalized mobile site recommendations.”
The amount of people that access search engines via a mobile device has doubled within the last 6 months which means that mobile searches account for millions of searches every month. If your website is not compatible, then a mobile user will simply bounce off of your website and move on to your competitors. Scary thought, right?
Do you want to lose sales just because your website is not mobile friendly? Or, do you think it’s a very good idea to use Google Mobile to create a zero-cost mobile friendly version of your existing website? I know what you’re thinking; I guess you now want to get started on building your own mobile site and that would be a very good decision if you ask me!
Not only will you look more professional with a mobile website, but you will open up another avenue of online marketing specifically aimed at mobile devices. When you send traffic from Google Adwords or Admob, you can add “click to call” buttons on your mobile website, which makes it so much easier to generate calls from your marketing.
Why do you think Google bought Admob, the mobile advertising platform? It is due to the fact that there is actually more internet enabled mobile devices than desktop computers and it's growing at an exponential rate. More and more people are searching for local businesses on Google using a mobile device every single month and if you’re not listed, with a mobile compatible website, you’re in trouble.
When you visit the Google Mobile application, you are presented with several ready to go templates which suit most business sectors. The first option provides themed templates for restaurants, local business, lead generation, social, and eCommerce. Next on the list is the color scheme. When you click on the preferred color, you will see an example of your selections to the left of the page.
Once you are happy with your theme and the color, you can then continue to login to Google Sites. This step will require registering, although the chances are you probably already have one if not several existing Google accounts. Once logged in, you can then start to develop your Google Mobile website by adding your own logos, descriptions, text and numbers. Once you have followed all the steps, you can publish your site and you’re ready to go.
Is your website mobile ready? Do you know what percentages of your website visitors are using mobile devices?
About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,600,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a Free Online Marketing Consultation.
To read more of the article that inspired this blog, please visit: http://www.google.com/sites/help/mobile-landing-pages/mlpb.html
Last updated 1 year ago
Google’s algorithm update, named Penguin seems to be focused on “webspam” and the tactics unethical search engine optimization companies use to dupe the search engine into ranking their clients pages higher on the search engine results page.
Fresh content that makes sense to your audience is what the search engines want. Search engine optimization companies that stuff pages of content with keywords over and over again appear to be the target of this update.
Google gives 8 Specific Guidelines to help better understand this update and why your search engine rankings may have been impacted:
1. Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
2. Don’t use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
3. Don’t send automated queries to Google.
4. Don’t load pages with irrelevant keywords.
5. Don’t create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
6. Don’t create pages with malicious behavior, such as phishing or installing viruses, trojans, or other badware.
7. Avoid “doorway” pages created just for search engines, or other “cookie cutter” approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.
8. If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.
And 4 Basic Principles:
1. Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don’t deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as “cloaking.”
2. Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you’d feel comfortable explaining what you’ve done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, “Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn’t exist?”
3. Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
4. Don’t use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.
A modern day twist on a Bob Marley song may go a little something like this, “you can fool Google some of the time but you can’t fool Google all the time”. Do things right or make sure your search engine optimization company is following best practices that do not involve black hat tactics and you will not have to worry about Google’s updates.
Try to trick them and you will always have to worry about waking up one day to find Google de-listed your website.
ReachCast is ReachLocal's award winning solution for business owners who wish to outsource their web presence optimization (Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and Reputation Management rolled into one) to trained experts in the field of Internet Marketing.
Have you seen your organic rank
ings drop in the past week? Will you switch SEO companies because of it? Why or why not?
About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,600,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a Free Online Marketing Consultation.
To read more of the article that inspired this blog, please visit: http://www.webpronews.com/google-penguin-update-12-tips-directly-from-google-2012-04
Last updated 1 year ago
Most online marketers know that search engine optimization is important. After all, who wouldn’t want to be at the top of the search results? According to a survey by Optify, click-through rates are very high for those sites ranking in the top two positions on Google; after that the drop-off is huge.
As a result, businesses with a solid marketing plan include a search engine optimization strategy as a vital part of their online growth. But did you know that optimization techniques vary by country? For businesses and websites looking to grow their international presence, a focus on search engine optimization by locality is important.
There are only five countries in the world where Google is not the number one search engine, so most sites can focus their efforts on getting noticed by Google’s crawlers. But if you are selling a product or service in Russia, why waste your time on search engine techniques tailored for Google when the biggest search engine in Russia is Yandex?
Google is also missing out on the top market share in China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. In China it is Baidu, in South Korea it is Naver, and in Japan and Taiwan the top search engine is Yahoo. There are a number of reasons for this but the main one seems to come down to users in these countries are just more comfortable with different search engines whether it be the language used, the interface, or the name recognition.
So, if you are targeting any of these countries, you should look into the different nuances involved in search engine optimization for Baidu in China, for instance. The different search engines each place a different value on things like inbound links, key word density, and H1 tags. For example, Google prefers a keyword density of 2-3 percent while Yahoo Japan prefers one closer to 7-8 percent.
Since the majority of Internet sites are in English, it is much easier to get ranked higher for searches in other languages. However, keep in mind that those search engines doing the rankings in these other countries may have a different algorithm than Google.
Did you find this blog fascinating? Are you trying to target consumers in other countries online for your products and services? Why or why not?
About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,600,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a Free Online Marketing Consultation.
To read more of the article that inspired this blog, please visit: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/targeting-the-right-search-engine-for-your-market/41863/
Last updated 1 year ago
Every successful business owner knows the significance of online brand positioning. But what is online branding and how will you position your own business?
Online branding is totally different from its offline companion. The channels are usually social media, display advertising or pay per click advertising and provide a lot of opportunity to connect with your target consumers through branding. Online branding is one thing that cannot be ignored today.
Online branding should be part of your comprehensive efforts to form a unique brand image. It is a progressive set of actions that you may take on to complete your total web presence called web presence optimization. In reality, given the quantity of user-generated data that exists these days, your business identity may already be featured on the internet without your knowledge as users relate their experiences concerning your service or product.
Whereas online branding often includes an SEO component, it additionally includes web promotion and social media or even pay per click advertising. It isn't just positioning your website to become synonymous with certain words or phrases. It involves advertising online at intervals to bring your brand top of mind at the moment they need a product or service you can provide. In addition, it employs social media techniques to build your online identity and to assist with online reputation management. Another indicator to measure is noting a rise in the number of mentions on alternative websites.
Online branding could be an important step towards setting up any business with intentions of long-term success. Building a recognizable online business presence helps to increase your selling effectiveness while you build a strong and faithful following. Having a distinctive identity makes it a lot less complicated for consumers to 'hear' your message through the noise of other online businesses. It is completed by repeatedly tying your company with a product kind, niche, expertise or image that leaves a long-lasting and favorable impression with people.
Online branding makes good business sense for anybody trying to establish a long-term income on the internet. In reality, business branding ought to be looked at as a normal element of any online advertising plan. If done correctly, it can significantly improve the power of any promotional content you put out.
Are you running any online branding campaigns? What sort of success have you seen on previous campaigns? Failures?
About Alan Moore: Alan is an Internet Marketing Consultant with ReachLocal Baltimore. His mission is to help you increase your revenues and decrease unproductive advertising expenses through proven, online marketing strategies. He manages over $1,600,000 in yearly marketing budgets and has worked with local businesses, agencies and the US government. Give him a call at (877)655-3438 to schedule a Free Online Marketing Consultation.
To read more of the article that inspired this blog, please visit: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008938
