Do you wish you had:

• more traffic coming to your website?
• better search engine ranking?
• a name recognized and trusted as an industry expert?

You can achieve all of these with a blog. Blogging is one of the easiest, least expensive, and most effective social network marketing tools for a small business. According to Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2011 report, 13% of all bloggers are entrepreneurs – small business owners – who blog to share expertise (76%), gain professional recognition (70%) and attract new clients (68%).

Why should you blog?

To increase traffic. You and your competition are in a constant battle to get to the top of search engine rankings, which is critical to get more traffic coming to your site. One of the best ways to attract search engines is to provide fresh, relevant, keyword-rich content about your business or industry on your website. To keep a steady flow of increased traffic coming to your website, you need to keep adding content. Blogging is the answer.

To earn high search engine rankings. The more consistent you are in adding content about relevant topics to your website, the more search engines will determine that your site is valuable and give you higher rankings. And once prospects begin to see valuable information on your  website,  they’ll comment on your blogs and add links to your blogs on their sites, both of which will boost your rankings even higher.

To establish an Internet presence.  With limited time and money for marketing, small businesses need to take advantage of the low-cost opportunities available on the Internet to share expertise, build community, and establish relationships with a much larger audience. Your name can quickly be seen by hundreds or thousands of visitors who are looking for the information you provided in your post, and those visitors will tell their friends. They may even put a link to your blog on their Facebook, LinkedIn or other social networking site. In essence, they’re marketing for you.

To keep up with – or stay ahead of – your competition. Do you want to take the early lead or play catch up with your competitors? When you blog about your business and industry at least once or twice a week, the Internet audience will become familiar with your name, and when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come to the name they’ve learned to trust – yours.

Studies have shown that blogging can bring small businesses twice as many visitors as their competitors who don’t blog. And more visitors = more potential clients = more sales!

Blogging is one of the most cost effective marketing tools for a small business. But once you start blogging, you need to be consistent – at least once or twice a week. If you’re not sure you can make this commitment, but you want to realize the amazing benefits of blogging for small businesses, call seenBEST Web Design in Phoenix, AZ. The professionals at seenBEST can help you develop a plan. They can help you:

• Create a new website with a blog
• Add a blog to an existing website
• Perform advanced SEO research that will help guide your blogging efforts
• Provide blog training (to individuals and groups)
• Provide a seasoned blog writer to help you achieve industry credibility and attract new customers
• Build a solid social media marketing program for your business that ties into your blogging efforts

Start blogging today! Call us at (480) 256-9010 to schedule your free consultation, and meet with our internet marketing experts to discuss ways we can help your business achieve marketing success on the internet.

A core part of your business marketing strategy should be online marketing. The more time you spend researching and testing before developing your online marketing plans, the more effectively you can focus your time and efforts to gain a strategic advantage over your competitors. Before you move forward with an online marketing campaign, you need to know the following:

1. What your competitors are doing online

One of the fundamental processes in developing an online marketing strategy is learning all you can about your competition and who they are. Spend time reviewing their websites, social media pages, blogs and videos to learn what they’re doing to promote their businesses, to increase visibility, to position themselves as leaders, and to keep visitors on their sites longer – a key to increased conversions. Test a variety of keywords to learn where each of your competitors is ranking. This process will advance your SEO strategy development. Ask yourself: Where do people find your competitors?

2. How your target audience is looking for your offerings online

Testing keywords helps you determine what your potential clients are searching for. More importantly, the right keywords attract the right audience – people who want what you offer. Create a list of all the words and strings of words you can think of that people would use to describe your offering, and test them all. You may be surprised to learn that the keywords you assumed would bring in the best visitors don’t work. Ask yourself: What attracts your target audience?

3. How to write compelling content to attract visitors

Writing for an online audience is not the same as writing print material. Web readers are looking for information to address a problem or to fulfill a need. Strong, clear headlines and titles attract web readers who scan search results for text that sparks their curiosity and makes them want to click through to read the content. Once they reach your page, write concisely and focus on one or two main ideas. Remember that web readers don’t want to read a sales pitch – they want useable information. Enrich your writing with keywords to attract search engines and improve your search ranking. Ask yourself: Who is looking for your information?

4. How to analyze online marketing results

Online marketing programs should be analyzed frequently – at least weekly. Google Analytics gives you a wide variety of stats to determine the effectiveness of your online marketing strategy: if your hit numbers are up or down, which blog posts are getting the most hits and comments, how long visitors are staying on your site, what your bounce rate is, and what your conversion rates are for each of your sites. You can even determine the ROI of your social media sites. The point is to be on top of your online performance constantly and make tweaks and changes to your sites to continuously improve online marketing results. Ask yourself: How do you measure your online marketing success?

Doing your due diligence in advance can measurably updgrade your web presence. But if you’re like most of today’s small business owners, you have limited experience working with web marketing strategies and technologies. To achieve the level of success you desire in the most cost effective and timely manner, contact the online marketing experts at seenBEST Web Design, Tempe. The professionals at seenBEST will work closely with you to make sure your online marketing program is achieving the results you want, when you want them.

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Quality content has become one of the most important elements of online marketing. Search engines are constantly revising their algorithms to improve search results and satisfy online consumers who want to find information and solutions. Sites with high quality, legitimate, credible content are among the top results. Sophisticated search engine algorithms penalize sites that provide a poor user experience with low quality content, awarding such sites low search rankings.

Internet savvy marketing professionals recognize the need for quality content in online marketing strategies. A Content Marketing Institute study found that “93% of marketing professionals create, or plan to create, content marketing as part of their overall programs in 2012.” Why?

• Original, relevant content improves search engine rankings and increases conversion rates.
• Informative, useful content generates targeted website traffic and provides new sales leads.
• Great content pieces are shared by visitors and can spread quickly – virally – further improving search rankings.
• Quality content builds trust and establishes a reputation of leadership, resulting in customer loyalty and referrals.

What constitutes “quality” content?

Consumers search the web for information to help them solve a problem or to learn something. They don’t want a sales pitch. That fact means companies must rethink their approach to online promotion. A highly effective emerging strategy for writing content pieces is to fashion them so they don’t overtly look or sound like they are selling. So how can you write such quality content?

• Deliver content that is well-crafted, customized, and professionally written. It should engage the visitor, keep them on the page longer, and represent you as an authority on the topic.
• Focus on addressing one topic in a content piece. To gather the material for an article, for example, you might select a topic and make a list of questions and answers that address the topic thoroughly. Visitors who find the information they seek will be encouraged to stay longer on your site and to share your content, which will improve search engine rankings.
• Review a list of questions Google uses in assessing “higher-quality” sites vs “lower-quality” sites. Fresh, quality content, frequently updated, helps your site rank high for the long-term.

Social content, blogs, videos, articles, press releases, posts, reports, surveys – all aim to provide content that your visitors will enjoy reading, watching or listening to, and sharing with their family, friends, and colleagues. Attracting more targeted visitors and earning their respect with quality content will build a strong network of linking and extended visit times, putting your site among the top search rankings and ultimately increasing sales!

Your online marketing program must include quality content writing and expert web design to be successful. Contact the professionals at seenBEST Internet Marketing in Phoenix, Arizona to create a winning web strategy…and you’ll soon begin reaping the benefits of quality content and online marketing!

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Logging in to my Facebook advertising account this morning I found a new message:

“New: We’ve updated how you create ads and sponsored stories. Learn more.”

Whoa! A changed Facebook advertisement creation interface. Instead of placing me immediately into the configuration of a new ad, Facebook is now asking for an ad destination before anything else is visible. For destination it appears that you can enter a page, app, or external URL and the drop down box will automatically select the best option. From here, Facebook makes some determinations as to what you see next based on the destination you select.

Here’s a quick list of the most important changes that I’ve noticed right away in the new ad creation interface:

• The ad creation process is now more of a step-by-step process and series of questions
• You have more flexibility when assigning app URLs to ad copy and page posts
• You can add optional URL tags to new ads
• Pricing is completely changed, you can no longer set CPM manually

The biggest change I see deals with pricing. Before you can set pricing, you’re first asked an objective. What would you like people to do, like the page or click on your ad? Changing that selection automatically converts your ad between CPM and CPC.

I was surprised to see that CPM no longer allows us to set a bid price! After creating a new CPM ad the status of the ad in the main dashboard shows up as Optimized CPM.

Overall, I think the recent changes are helpful to people who are new with advertising on Facebook. The step by step questions will allow them to make better advertising choices. For those of us with more experience and especially people who are creating multiple ads on a daily basis, the new process does seem to make the ad creation process slower. It’s going to take me a little while to get used to this.

What do you think? Please leave a comment.

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If a picture is worth 1,000 words, what is a video worth? Video is a great way for you to form a personal connection with visitors to your website, increase conversion rates, and drive traffic to your website from YouTube and elsewhere online. So why do most people avoid creating videos for their business? Many first-time clients say they are too self-critical or don’t have the time to bring their elaborate ideas to life.

Look, you don’t have to be a movie star OR have an Oscar winning idea to make a successful video! Just be yourself and talk about things you’re passionate about. If you want to do it yourself, a webcam and simple movie making software will do. Or seenBEST Internet Marketing can help. Our video packages start at only $500 and include idea brainstorming, writing a professional script for you, a recording session where we come to you and record the video using HD video and audio equipment, post video production and editing, and posting your new online and embedding it to your website.

We can record and publish to the internet for you:

• Staff bio video
• Highlights from your events
• Corporate values
• Training sessions
• Landing page sales videos
• Customer video testimonials

Could your Arizona business benefit from video marketing? We travel anywhere in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area. Call (602) 456-0150 for a free consultation.

A few examples of on-page videos:

www.mypctechs.com
www.socialnetworkarizona.com
www.weightlosshelpquick.com

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There is a time and place for both inbound marketing – search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, content publishing, subscriber emails, and social media – and outbound marketing – print and TV/radio advertising, telemarketing, trade shows, and cold calling.

The debate should not be about which one is better, because both have merit. But for small business owners who can’t afford a large marketing staff and don’t have a large advertising budget, the debate should focus on where to spend your limited time and advertising dollars to get the highest ROI (return on investment).

That said, the reality is that people are increasingly going to the Internet to learn about the products and services they want to buy and to find places to buy them. Last week I decided to buy a patio umbrella. I wanted to make sure it can withstand wind and rain, and would not fade in one summer. Did I want to wait to get a direct mail piece selling patio umbrellas? No. Did I want to wait for a radio, TV, magazine or newspaper ad to tell me where to find one? No. And even if I did see an ad, how much can they possibly tell me about patio umbrellas in a 30-second spot or a 4” ad? I don’t have time to wait for an ad or drive around to several stores until I find what I want. In a few minutes online I found several manufacturers’ and local stores’ websites, read consumer reviews, and learned all I needed to know about patio umbrellas, including prices. I chose a nearby store from the ones I found online, and when I went to the store to look at the umbrellas, I already knew they carried what I was looking for. All I needed to do was decide which color I liked best, buy it, and bring it home. I saved gas, time, and money using the Internet to do my leg work. That experience shows the power of inbound marketing.

 

Inbound (“digital”) marketing “pulls” people to your products or services. Inbound marketing strategies and techniques are designed to attract people at the moment they are online looking for information about something they want to buy. Companies must to provide useful information and tools, interact with potential customers, and develop relationships to meet the expectations of today’s online consumer.

 

Outbound (“traditional”) marketing “pushes” information about your products or services to the public. Promoting your business with outbound marketing keeps your name in the public view and creates a sense of urgency to buy what you sell.

 

What is the trend in marketing today? Industry sources estimate the ROI on email marketing at 4,300%, making it the most popular form of marketing by small businesses. Numerous studies and surveys indicate a movement toward inbound and away from outbound marketing. Consider:

• 84% of Americans do Internet research before going to a store. (Google – Zero Moment of Truth)
• 70% of consumers trust online consumer reviews, an increase of 15% in four years, more than any other source of brand information and messaging except referrals from friends and family. (Nielson)



• 42% of total retail sales in 2009 (online and offline) were affected by the Web, with sales growing to 53% by 2014. (Forrester)
• 87% of companies now employ Twitter as part of their social media marketing strategy, while 82% use Facebook.(eConsultancy.com)
• 86% of TV viewers skip ads. (The Guardian)
• 44% of junk mail is thrown away unopened. (About.com Environmental Issues)
• 74% brand recall is experienced by consumers when the advertiser’s integrated strategy is carried across mobile, TV and online. (NYTimes/Google)

 

The bottom line: Your inbound marketing strategy is critical to the long-term growth of your business. Get your share of the $224.2 billion estimated online sales in 2012. Contact seenBEST Web Design to help you develop an online marketing strategy that gets results.

 

 

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Does your business offer a referral program to drive leads? Have you integrated that program into your Facebook page?

Facebook is a powerful platform for referral programs. Almost everyone uses Facebook and, using the right Facebook tools, it is possible to provide everyone an easy to use method for sending promotional data about product and services to their network. With this type of application you can have your friends, family, and customers refer your business to the people they know. You can even drive targeted Facebook ads to your new app.

Take a look at this referral APP example on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/energysavingaudit/app_369491899737901

This application is a valuable tool that can be used for affiliate programs and any other type of lead generation where you want to leverage the power of social media to drive traffic. If your Phoenix or Scottsdale area business would like to integrate referrals into Facebook, schedule a free consultation with a local internet marketing expert: (602) 456-0150.

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