Online marketing has become an integral part of the small business marketing strategy. Two key pieces of the strategy are Search Engine Marketing and Social Media Marketing. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, and both will drive targeted traffic to your website, one of the primary goals of online marketing. Customers should be able to find your company just as easily on Facebook as they can on Google. By leveraging the strengths of both, you can boost your search rankings while building trust with your target audience.

What is Search Engine Marketing (SEM)?

SEM refers to using search engines to increase visibility and drive visitors to your website. By effectively combining search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click advertising (PPC), you can boost your search engine rankings, resulting in more click-throughs and increased conversion rates.

What is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?

SMM refers to using various social networking sites to increase traffic and visibility. The importance of marketing on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and Twitter is that they provide a platform for advertisers, customers and colleagues to have more personalized interaction. In today’s market, having conversations and providing quality content is increasingly important to customers.

The Benefits of SEM

• Best source of targeted traffic to your website. A Pew Research Center study found that 58 percent of Americans search online for information about products or services they’re interested in buying. With SEM, you reach your target audience at the moment they’re ready to buy.
• Tools to determine what people are searching for. You can refine your keywords to improve your chances of people finding you by employing any of several great tools, such as Google AdWords Keyword Tool.
• Top ranking immediately with pay-per-click. It takes 3-18 months or sometimes longer to reach the top of the rankings with SEO. But PPC puts you at the top in the sponsored link section right away.

The Benefits of SMM

• Peer recommendations to increase connections. Over 46 million Americans are on social media sites every day, according to a 2011 Edison Research study, using recommendations to make buying decisions. Every time someone recommends you, you are visible to their other connections.
• Brand loyalty. Interacting on a personal level on social media sites is one of the most effective marketing strategies. The more interaction you can have with people, the more they will trust you…and ultimately buy from you.
• The most popular online activity. With 1 in every 5 minutes of online time spent on social media sites, having a social media presence gives a substantial boost to your online audience and visibility.

SEM and SMM Complement Each Other

Consumers use search engines far more often than social media sites to find products and services they want to buy. Effective search engine marketing leverages SEO and PPC to get your name at the top of the search results. But how do you stay in the consumer’s mind for future purchases? Expand your presence in social media sites to keep your brand visible by (1) building the number of fans, friends, likes, recommendations, and links, and (2) creating quality content that goes viral.

Search engine marketing has been king for a long time, but social media marketing is quickly catching up in terms of raw effectiveness at driving leads. Leveraging both SEM and SMM covers all the bases as each one has its own benefits and advantages. Both strategies take time to develop, but the results can be phenomenal.

Get Seen Everywhere! Consult with our expert internet marketing team, we bring to the table proven strategies that will help your business maximize visibility everywhere on the internet. In this digital age, potential new customers are looking for you online. Let us give your business the competitive edge on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Email, and elsewhere. Call us at (602) 456-0150 for a free consultation.

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To those of you who have been struggling with timeout errors while uploading large files through a PHP application on an IIS 7 server, here’s some help. Specifically, you need to make changes in your php.ini file and your Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager to allow file uploads larger than 2MB (by default). This is helpful for many different types of applications including WordPress, Drupal, or other PHP CMS systems.

In this step by step example we configure a server to allow file uploads up to 100MB in size and lasting up to 10 minutes. For the below settings, 100M stands for 100MB and 600 is 600 seconds (10 minutes).

Locate your php.ini file and change the following settings:

• upload_max_filesize = 100M
• Post_Max_Size = 100M
• max_input_time = 600
• max_execution_time = 600
• memory_limit = 256M

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I received a telemarketing spam call today (1-512-637-3086) from someone working for Yodel claiming that he could help me advertise my business on the internet. Now, considering we are a comprehensive internet marketing company and are really good at what we do, I chuckle a bit whenever telemarketers insist on pitching me with marketing products. I got double the comedy with this guy from Yodle, who was actually trying to sell me on my own list of services. Strike 1 for Yodel, they definitely could use a refresher course in filtering out bad telemarketing prospects. Maybe start by removing from the list companies that provide the same services you are trying to pitch.

I overlooked their horrible telemarketing routine out of curiosity. What about their internet marketing product, I wondered? Is it possible that they’re bad at telemarketing because they spend most of their time doing great SEO work for small business?

Sadly, no. There wasn’t an intelligent reply to any of my questions from the telephone sales representative on the other end of the line. In fact, after asking him multiple SEO and internet marketing questions it was clear that the person I was dealing with had little to no experience with internet marketing at all. That’s fine, most people don’t, but if you’re going to try and sell a product shouldn’t you at least understand what it is and how it works?

I spent a while with this poor kid on the telephone trying to convince him to look for a better job. Look, I used to do telemarketing in my youth. It was a good industry ten years ago and a viable advertising option before the advance of the internet. These days, however, it’s a giant waste of time and resources. What kind of people actually buy anything over the telephone these days? I do all of my business either face-to-face or on the internet after performing some pretty serious research. There’s zero chance that I’m buying anything over the phone from some kid making $8 an hour who just cold-called me, especially something as complex as internet marketing products.

After I had my fun with their telephone sales rep. I decided to research on Google. That’s when I found a ton of complaints on this company… Yodel appears to be causing a lot of problems for local businesses. Take a look at this rap sheet:

Yodle Complaints
Yodle, ReachLocal, Yext – Scams?
Yodle.com – False Advertising
Yodle-Scam Or Incompetent?
Yodle, ReachLocal, Yext – Scams or Just Hard To Please Everybody?
Yodle.com Complaints & Reviews – They promise the moon but can’t meet half of what they promise

If you keep searching Google for Yodle Scam you’ll notice hundreds of additional posts by people who have had a negative experience with this company. Who are these clowns and why are they giving my industry such a bad name? I can already see the wave of clients that will come into my office needing me to rescue them from the poor services provided by Yodel. It happens practically every day, clients telling me about the money they’ve wasted on internet marketing that didn’t work. Well, of course it didn’t work, you bought internet marketing from a telemarketing call run by an amateur who has no clue what he’s talking about.

If you’re approached via this method by an internet marketing firm you can almost guarantee that they don’t know what they’re doing and won’t help you – stay away! Our company generates 99% of our own internal leads from internet marketing and referrals because hey, we’re very good at what we do. We NEVER setup an internet marketing campaign without first meeting with our clients face-to-face. Our internet marketing experts will learn the details of the business we are representing, then offer customized solutions that perform rock solid for the unique internet marketing needs of that company. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Sorry Keith, my friendly Yoddle telemarketer from Austin, TX. Today was a bad day for you to call. It’s Friday and I was looking for something interesting to blog about. You amused me for a short time, but that is all. Hopefully you took my advice and will seek out a different career that doesn’t involve telemarketing for a product that you don’t know how to sell.

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Facebook today rolled out the Timeline update to business pages. While there are many positive changes associated with this update, I want to focus on a negative change that many of you should be aware of: Landing Pages are Gone. If you have a Facebook business page that take visitors first to a custom designed page and call to action, you will lose that once the Timeline update hits your page. Those of you who attended my social media seminars will know that landing tabs using apps, when designed correctly, have been proven to increase ROI and “likes” to a page by an astounding 70% or more. This update is a big dose of unwelcome news for small business owners trying hard to maximize conversion rates on small budgets.

For now, your business page will not be impacted unless you first manually update it. For example, the next time you log in to your business page you will be prompted to preview what the Timeline updates will do to your page layout. Here’s an example of what you will see:

You have until March 30, 2012 before the change will be forced on your page. During this time you can make changes to the look of your business Facebook page before you publish it publicly. That means you have time to work out a strategy to replace your custom landing page app. Or, if you’re adventurous, you can elect to update your page manually right now and just run with it. The timeline update is a positive change for the most part. It’s a lot cleaner, and definitely much easier to work with overall. But the removal of the landing tabs is a huge deal that I will definitely miss and you will want to avoid the page update until you develop a replacement solution. That replacement is called a cover image, see the end of this article for more details.

This is an example Facebook page using the old style custom static HTML landing page

The above default Facebook landing page is no longer possible once you update your page. A landing page like this was great, and made it possible to present new visitors with:

• A detailed and customized page of business information
• Layouts that didn’t change and didn’t need constant management
• Interaction with elements such as branded video, links away to a company website, and storefront elements
• A call to action such as “like my page” that prompted new users to ‘do something’ on their first visit – leading to amazingly higher conversion rates

With the new timeline update, tabs like the one above are still possible but they are hidden and cannot be made as the default page for a new visitor. That means your custom designed tab will rarely generate a click and people will probably never visit it unless you specifically send them to it via ads. This is a bummer.

There are many ways your page can interact on Facebook without using ads (for example, posting a question). In these instances, only the name of your business is shown and the link to your page is placed by Facebook automatically, taking visitors to your main Facebook landing page, and that functionality cannot be changed. It means that a lot of internal Facebook traffic will be diverted away from your custom tab making custom development on Facebook far less valuable. It also means that you can no longer generate the same level of SEO value from your default Facebook page. The links that had been custom crafted to website pages and YouTube pages will now be hidden under an extra layer.

Why Facebook decided to take away our ability to pick and choose which page we want as a default I don’t know, but I think it was a bad decision overall. Moving past all of this, you will find some big advantages to the new layout. Using the large cover image makes it possible to brand your wall in a way that looks cleaner with a clear message. Keep in mind, though, that it’s against the Facebook terms of service to use the cover image to encourage ‘likes’. You can also get in trouble for using any form of call to action on your cover image. How’s that for marketing 101?

seenBEST provides you with expert social media advertising services. We can help you overcome the loss of your landing page by providing you with a sharply designed cover image instead. Additionally, we can help you manage your individual posts and calls to action from within your page. In the new Facebook, social media management is more important than ever! Hire a company with the experience to help you produce results. Give us a call for a free consultation (480) 256-9010 and see how we can increase engagement for your brand today.

Click here for Social Network Arizona on Facebook to see an example of our design services on the new Facebook Timeline for Pages.

What do you think of these changes to the Facebook business page? Please leave your comments below.

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In today’s competitive online world, attracting visitors to your website can be an overwhelming, time consuming job. Yet there’s no question that businesses are reaping tremendous benefits that result from increased online visibility: more customers and more sales. Our Website Design Scottsdale services can help you obtain maximum visibility for your products and services. Small business owners who struggle with full schedules are often at a loss when it comes to finding the time to learn web design and SEO strategies. They may not have time to master the  techniques, which have become extremely complex when done correctly. Yes mastering these techniques are essential to allow a business website to rank above the competition. Make the decision to gain the competitive online advantage in 2012! Our Web Design Phoenix services provide you with web design specialists to fit any budget and will help you accomplish any internet marketing goal. We can help you throughout the entire process.

Design Strategies: The professionals at seenBEST work closely with clients to create accessible, navigable, creative, user-friendly websites. Our Web Design Scottsdale team will design your business page using the latest marketing strategies, technical tactics and optimization models to start moving your site toward the top of page one search results.

SEO Strategies: It can take days or months to move your page to the top of Google rankings, depending on the levels of competition in your industry. With ongoing site optimization strategies and the use of essential applications, tools and software, your page rank can be improved substantially, attracting more traffic to your site and increasing the conversion rates. Our Website Design Phoenix team will implement the strategies your business needs to obtain more customers and higher revenues.

A Fusion of Design and Marketing Services: seenBEST Web Design offers a wide range of services to help you create a niche in the web market and increase your revenue. Our Web Design Scottsdale team can help you with:

• Keyword marketing and article publishing that help to promote your web pages on other websites. Google considers these pages important and gives them higher rankings.
• Increasing the number of links to your website, allowing your pages to attract Google’s attention and get ranked higher in search results.
• SMO targeting to social sites like Facebook and Twitter to create a brand for your business and make it more highly visible in search engines.
• Pay Per Click advertisements that are placed at the top of Google search results, helping you enjoy quick results via online marketing.

Low Cost, High Results: Our web design services are tailored to meet your individual needs and budget. With a host of features and services offered at excellent rates, your business can achieve greater success and profits. Call the professionals at seenBEST, your Phoenix Web Design and Scottsdale Website Design experts, today…and start realizing your online marketing potential. Call Now: (480) 256-9010.

Bing Maps just got better! The developers of Bing Maps have announced improvements in their driving directions after making a change in the algorithm.

Click here for Bing Maps

The newly enhanced Bing Map now relies on a Customizable Route Planning algorithm, replacing the Dijkstra algorithm previously used. Two major advantages of the new algorithm are:

• Speed. The new algorithm works twice as fast as the older algorithm in computing driving directions.
• Alternative routes. Up to three alternative routes are now provided for the convenience of the surfer.

Microsoft’s Chris Pendleton says the increased speed and availability of alternate routes definitely makes the new algorithm a powerful one. Bing Map hopes to grab some market share from Google.

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Our focus is local – Website design Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro area

Statistics suggest that one of the top reasons a website ranks low in search results is poor web design. As a website manager, you may find it difficult to attract sufficient traffic and become disappointed with search engines for not ranking your webpage higher. Employing search engine optimization techniques and being aware of ongoing changes to Google’s search algorithms are vitally important. To give your site the visibility necessary to generate high web traffic, consider seeking the expertise of professional web designers, such as seenBEST Web Design Scottsdale.

Our focus is local – Website design Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro area

Professional web design will:

• Improve page rank or Google rank
• Provide greater web exposure and generate high traffic
• Increase sales
• Increase revenue
• Increase conversion ratio by providing superior content
• Eliminate paid advertisement expenses
• Produce long-term revenue from promotions
• Give your website the best chance of reaching number 1 rank

Our focus is local – Website design Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro area

Search engine marketing strategies can successfully elevate the Google page ranking. These include:

• Keyword marketing
• Content writing and content development
• Link building
• Social marketing or Social Media Optimization (SMO)
• Article marketing
• Video marketing (including YouTube and Metacafe)
• Facebook and Twitter marketing
• Link wheel (including marketing on web 2.0 sites)
• Other strategies under Search Engine Optimization

Our focus is local – Website design Scottsdale and the Phoenix metro area

Just investing resources on SEO does not guarantee your site will reach the top of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Did you know that using too many keywords in your content can actually backfire and pull your page down the Google ranking ladder instead of pushing it up? In fact, excessive or exaggerated use of keywords or undesirable use of non-relevant keywords can even get your site banned under Google’s black hatting policy. The professionals at seenBEST Web Design Scottsdale will make sure you avoid the traps and keep your site moving up.

Every website owner wants his page to be at the top of the rankings. However, no designer can guarantee the number 1 spot since Google’s algorithmic process depends on a number of variables and unknown factors, all constantly changing. But the right design, constantly monitored and tweaked, can guarantee you a gradual improvement in page rank. The number 1 spot can belong to only one site, but any spot in the top 10 is effective to gain exposure and business. seenBEST Web Design Scottsdale will make sure your website moves up the ranking ladder. With the right combination of technique and tweak, and a little bit of patience, your page may steal the crown and become the number 1 ranked page. Call seenBEST today for a free consultation and start your climb to the top!