If you’re having a hard time figuring out whether your SEO strategy is working and you’re struggling to make sense of your website analytics, sometimes it helps if you can visualize the data. Infocaptor’s Bubble My Page scans your website for word content and coverts the keywords into a bubble word cloud so you can see what words you’ve used often on any given page of your website. (Only the first 100,000 bytes are read from any page.) The tool is useful to help you keep on target when writing content for your site by providing an easy way to visualize whether you’re sticking to your keywords and topics.
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March 20th, 2013 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich7 Marketing Trends That Benefit Small Businesses
February 19th, 2013 :: Monika Jansen
Now that we’ve gotten comfortable writing 2013 rather than 2012, I revisited all the “top trends for 2013” blog posts and articles I saved over the past two months to see what stood out the most and could potentially have the biggest impact on small businesses. Here’s what I found:
1 – Loyalty
Loyalty programs are shifting. Traditionally, you reward your customers for spending, but now consumers expect rewards for taking certain actions and sharing their activities with others. Additionally, consumers are responding to more variety in redemption options, so think about the “near-cash” rewards you can offer.
2 – SEO
SEO, social media, and content used to be completely separate areas in marketing. Now, they’re overlapping thanks to changes in search engines, which reward social sharing and linking, and content-focused marketing strategies (an active blog and fresh content). Continue to focus on engaging your customers through social media and valuable content to see benefits around SEO.
3 – Local
Local will continue to grow, especially since local businesses know their local customers and are as good at – or better than – engaging with them online as big companies. If you don’t already, use location in your online advertising, and continue to focus on customer service.
4 – Partnerships
Big companies (airlines and hotels, for example) continue to create partnerships to reach more customers. I have seen a lot of small businesses partnering together, based on neighborhood or industry, to increase their reach as well. Who can you partner with?
5 – Ecommerce
Online consumer spending is soaring. According to comScore $304 billion was spent via ecommerce in the U.S. during 2012. It almost goes without saying, but if you sell products, now is the time to consider putting together an ecommerce site.
6 – Mobile Devices
Smartphones and tablet usage soared in 2012 – more than 120 million people in the U.S. own a smartphone and more than 48 million people own a tablet (again, those stats are courtesy of comScore). Aside from having mobile-friendly sites, take advantage of geo-targeted marketing by “pushing” relevant information to your audience if they are in your area.
7 – Real-Time Analytics
By using a social media dashboard (like Hootsuite) and Google Analytics for your website, it is dead-simple to get real-time insights on what is going on online – from conversations about your brand to a blog post that is getting shared like crazy. With this information readily available, you can make quick changes to improve your marketing and customer service.
What trend do you think will impact you the most? Why?
Image courtesy of allspammedup.com
Editor’s Note: Network Solutions offers an easy way to build a website for mobile devices in mere minutes: goMobi™, powered by dotMobi.
Google+The Do’s and Don’ts of a Social Media Strategy
December 11th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
To make sure you’re avoiding common mistakes when using social media for marketing, follow these simple rules:
Do: Have goals
Before you get started, decide how social media marketing fits into your overall marketing strategy. Do you want to find better quality leads, engage with and retain current customers, generate word of mouth? How do your goals complement the other pieces of your marketing strategy, like your blog, SEO, content creation and online advertising?
Don’t: Dive in without a plan
An editorial calendar will keep you organized. Decide what you are going to post when and on what network. Take timing into consideration, as well: What times are your fans and followers more likely to see your activity?
Do: Use social media consistently
Randomly using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and any other social network is a waste of time. Inconsistent use of social media sends a signal that you don’t care about and are probably not that interested in your customers.
Don’t: Ignore SEO
Search engine optimization is important for any online activity, whether it’s your blog or a how-to guide on your website. Sharing content on social media is great, but to snag a wider audience, make sure all that content on your website is optimized with keywords so search engines redirect people to you.
Do: Use visual content wisely
People engage with images, so when you use them, think about how to make your brand fun and accessible. You can showcase products and services, fans and customers, user-generated photos, your logo, employees, events – get creative!
Don’t: Make it all about you
Social media is not a one-way bullhorn. People love to talk about themselves, so be sure to focus your social media activity on your fans and followers. What do they like? What do they care about? How can you help them?
Do: Engage
This is a corollary to the above: social media is a conversation. Respond to direct messages and mentions on Twitter, comments on Facebook, messages on LinkedIn, etc. Ignoring people is no way to build a community.
Don’t: Assume anything
Don’t assume you know what social networks your customers and potential customers use or what sort of information they find most valuable. You have to do your research first, or you will be wasting your time (hint: ask them).
Do: Measure the right metrics
Likes and retweets are not marketing metrics – they’re popularity metrics – and the two are not the same thing. Instead, measure how much traffic Twitter and Facebook are sending to your website, how many downloads your content and shares your blog posts are getting, and how many leads from social media are converting into customers.
Did I miss any do’s or don’ts?
Image courtesy of wellhappypeaceful.com
Google+5 Steps to Keep Your Sales Funnel Full
December 10th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
No matter how long they’ve been in business, a lot of small business owners are not very good at keeping the sales funnel full. You’ll do a marketing blitz, get super busy and focus on work. Because you’re so slammed, you will then ignore marketing and sales. Then your projects wrap up, and you’re back to square one – you need to do another marketing blitz.
The better, less frantic approach is to always be marketing – it’s the best way to keep your sales funnel full, especially if you tend to have a long sales cycle. Here’s a 5-step process to ensure those marketing blitzes become a thing of the past:
Step One: Create valuable information
Your goal is to first get people onto your website. Devote time each week to creating valuable content, like blog posts, white papers, eBooks, infographics and videos, that are full of keywords. Potential customers will find your site when they go searching for information on a specific topic.
Step Two: Pump up the SEO
Your goal remains the same: get people onto your website. Make sure your website is fully optimized for all the keywords you want to be found for, including location if that’s relevant. Even though it’s not technically SEO, use hashtags on Twitter to make it easy for people to find you.
Step Three: Convert Web visitors
Now that they’re on your site, your goal is to convert visitors into leads. There are two ways to do this: 1) If you’re offering an eBook or free demo, direct them to a landing page and ask for basic information before they can access the item. 2) Use compelling calls-to-action that direct visitors to do something – contact you, sign up for your e-newsletter, like you on Facebook, etc.
Step Four: Nurture and qualify leads
At this stage, your goals is to stay n touch with potential customers and build the relationship through social media and email marketing. Because you’ll stay top-of-mind, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll think of you first. You can also offer specials or coupons, to speed up the decision-making (on a personal level, this always works for me).
Step Five: Analyze your efforts
Your final goal is to simply look at your process and see if people are getting caught up somewhere in the process. Is a piece of content not attracting website visitors? Are people leaving your site when they reach a certain page? What offers are converting more leads into customers? Adjust, and continue.
What do you do to keep your sales funnel full?
Image courtesy of outsideinview.com
Google+5 Marketing Lessons From Inc. 500 Companies
November 12th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
The companies that land on the Inc. 500/5000 list (including one of my clients) never fail to impress me. From their growth trajectories to what it is they actually do, I find it all fascinating.
HubSpot analyzed the winners using their Marketing Grader tool. Below, I share their findings about 5 of those companies’ marketing strategies, along with my takeaways:
#5: Gold & Silver Buyers
They have a great rank, but their online marketing efforts fall a bit short. They have a blog, but only post every few weeks, and what little they do post cannot be shared because there are no social share buttons on their site.
Takeaway: Blog consistently (at least once a week) and add those social share buttons to your website! If you don’t know how, your website developer can do it for you.
#11: Nasty Gal
The peeps at Nasty Gal are doing a lot right, but one thing they are not doing at all is analyzing their website. This is one of the easiest and most important things a small business can and should do to improve marketing.
Takeaway: Just set up a Google Analytics account (it’s free!), and you’ll learn so much valuable information about your website, like number of visitors you’re getting each month, which pages they’re visiting, keywords you’re being found for and so on.
You can then tweak your website as needed – maybe remove pages no one is visiting and develop more content around the products and services that are drawing the most online eyeballs.
#9: Red Frog Events
This company a has a lot of SEO issues that are affecting their website. A technical one is the lack of 301 redirects (so if someone doesn’t type in the www before your company name and domain extension, that person will still be pointed to your website). Nontechnical ones include a boatload of images with no tags and pages missing unique page descriptions.
Takeaway: Go into your content management system (CMS), and open up the media gallery. Check that each image, photo and graphic has an alt tag so search engines know what the image is.
Next, open up each page in edit mode and add keywords to each page title, to make it easier for search engines to find you based on what you do or sell.
#47: Vitals
This company does a lot right, and with one small tweak, they can do a lot more: add an email subscription option to their blog.
Takeaway: No matter how much your customers like you, they are not going to check your blog regularly for updates. An email subscription option ensures that all subscribers receive a ping whenever you post a new blog post – and thus gets more eyeballs reading the content you create.
#37: Webimax
This company is doing pretty much everything right: they blog every day and share their content on social media. They have a mobile version of their site that is optimized for a good user experience. They have landing pages that they link to from their blog posts, making it easier to convert visitors into leads. They use marketing automation software to nurture leads. They use analytics to track their marketing efforts.
Takeaway: Putting together an integrated marketing strategy can certainly pay off – Webimax grew from revenue of $123,000 in 2008 to revenue of $7.1 million in 2011.
Now you know what these successful companies do – and don’t do – what small fixes will you make to improve your own website and marketing strategy?
Image courtesy of HubSpot
Google+Content Marketing 101: The What, Why and How of Using Content to Generate Leads
October 26th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Content marketing has become quite the trend this year. If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to creating digital and print marketing pieces specifically to market your business to your customers.
The benefits of content marketing include:
- Creating trust
- Building thought leadership and expertise
- Building and solidifing relationships
- Improving search results
- Increasing Web traffic and leads
There are many pieces of content you can create, repurpose and share via social media and on your website. In my opinion, the top 7 by popularity and effectiveness (but in no particular order) are:
1. Articles
Seek out opportunities to write for trade or general interest publications, both digital and print, on your area of expertise. Reach out to editors and propose topics that would be of interest to their readers.
2. Blog posts
Writing blog posts for your company’s own blog is great for search results – search engines reward websites that are frequently updated with new content. You can also seek out opportunities to guest blog for a partner company’s blog or an industry blog.
3. Case studies
Turn your projects into stories that explain a client’s challenge, your solution and the results. Case studies need not be long and technical – 3 paragraphs of 2-3 sentences each should suffice.
4. Enewsletters
A short, monthly newsletter is a great way to not only stay top-of-mind with your audience of potential, current and past customers, but also share your expertise and industry news.
5. Ebooks
Repurpose content from articles, blog posts, case studies, and presentations by creating an ebook in which you share tips, tricks and how-to’s.
6. Presentations and Webinars
If you hold or participate in events like seminars, workshops or webinars, consider your presentation part of your content marketing strategy, either by repurposing it whole or in parts.
7. Videos
Marketing videos can be entertaining, educational or a hybrid of both. When done well, a video will not only engage your audience, but also drive leads to your website.
What kind of content marketing has worked well for you? What would you like to try if time and money were no option?
Image courtesy of adrants.com
Google+6 Tips for Creating a Successful Blog
October 10th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
So, you’ve decided to finally start a blog – awesome! And congratulations! Blogging is fun, but it’s also a lot of work. To make sure your hard work actually pays off, follow these 6 tips to ensure your blog is set up properly and ready to hit the big time:
1. Choose a niche subject
Do your research first to choose a subject that you are not only comfortable writing about on a regular basis, but that also has little or no competition online from other blogs. A Google search will help with this. I recently did it for one of my own clients (a CPA), and confirmed that no one else is writing about her area of expertise.
2. Use a Web designer and developer
Unless you are one of the above or highly technical by nature, don’t try to put together your own blog or it could look unprofessional – or not function properly. The investment in a professional will be worthwhile. I have learned this the hard way.
3. Optimize your site
Turn to an SEO expert to ensure your site is thoroughly optimized for search. In the meantime, do keyword research on Google to find the keywords and phrases most often searched for – and use them in the title and body of your posts.
4. Write engaging posts
Easier said than done, yes, but in general, an engaging post is:
- short – 300 words
- visual – include an image or video to emphasize your point
- easy to read – write the way you talk
- actionable – give your readers a specific tip on how to do something better
- humorous – people like to be entertained
5. Publish several posts before launching
Once you launch and publicize your blog, people will skim your posts and scroll through several of them to get a good idea of what you write about. Be sure you publish at least five, preferably more, posts to give potential readers a really good idea of what they can expect from your blog.
6. Categorize and tag your posts
You want your readers to easily find previous posts, and the best way to do so is to categorize them based on topic and tag them based on subjects covered. So a post on the topic of “Facebook “could include the tags of “photos, videos, engagement, contests,” etc. You get the idea!
Good luck!
Any other tips you’d like to share around setting up a blog?
Image courtesy of blog.hubspot.com
Google+3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Search Rankings
July 19th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
SEOMoz is a company that provides SEO and social monitoring software, and they publish a lot of interesting information based on their own research. Use the following tips – all based on their research – to easily improve your search rankings:
1. Add fresh content.
Google rewards new content on your site. If you publish a really useful blog post on a subject that is valuable to your readers, it will get shared via social media and receive some ranking love from Google.
Along those same lines, frequently updating your website is also viewed favorably – that could mean adding new case studies, media mentions, or a video to your homepage.
2. Focus on content titles.
Instead of focusing on clever titles for your blog posts, white papers, ebooks, and other content, focus on including all relevant keywords. By relevant, I mean keywords that people actually use in search, not what you think they use.
To find those keywords, simply use a keyword discovery tool like Wordtracker. You will learn which keywords and phrases are competitive, meaning popular but not so popular everyone uses them.
3. Get social.
Google judges your content on more than 200 signals, all of which affect ranking. Four of them are link-related: quantity, diversity, quality, and relevance. Quantity is lowered by quality, meaning relevant links are extremely important to your rankings.
To get relevant links, it is important for thought leaders to share your content and link back to it. Start by following influential people on Twitter. If you are engaged, retweet others’ tweets, mention people and companies, and publish interesting content, they will likely follow you back – and see and share your content.
***
Have you used any of the above tips to improve your own rankings? What other tips have worked for you? Share your ideas in the comments below!
Image courtesy of bradfordbarker.com
Google+Chartbeat: Analytics Dashboard for Your Website: Small Business Resource
May 2nd, 2012 :: Maria Valdez HaubrichIf you’re looking for an alternative to Google Analytics, you might try Chartbeat, a simple-to-use but feature-rich real-time analytics dashboard. Log in and get a view of every user on your site, including what page they’re on and where they came from. Track key traffic flow and know which users are actively participating and which are doing nothing. Chartbeat can also help you determine which of your SEO efforts are working and which are not. Try the free 30-day trial and then pick a pay plan that suits your needs. Plans start at $9.95 per month.
Google+Marketing on Google+ Part 1: 8 Ways to Drive Traffic to Your Site
April 17th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen
Since its launch last year, Google+ has rocketed to social media stardom among marketing pros, but not everyone has closely examined what it can do for their own business’s bottom line. In this three-part series, I will show you how to leverage Google+ to boost your company’s online marketing performance.
This first article focuses on how to drive traffic to your website using Google+. Recently Google changed the SEO game by introducing “Search, plus Your World.” This new search concept revolves around Google’s idea that people want to see search results that are related to their personal history and their social profile. So, the +1 and Google+ posts are heavily integrated into the search results Google returns because it is factoring in your social profile in its search strategy.
What this means is that marketers have a world of new opportunities to leverage Google+ to build their SEO strategy and drive traffic to their site. Here are eight ways to do just that.
1. Use Web links.
Web links help Google know how to categorize you, so try including links between your business’s website or blog and your brand page. These links help Google recognize authorship and remind it of what you’re all about. Google has its own badge creator to easily create links between your content.
2. Grow your following.
In social media, usually quality trumps quantity, but it pays to have a larger following on Google+ because more followers means a higher search rank on Google. To grow your following, try getting the word out about your Google+ page. Use a badge, and mention it in print and online communications – even on Facebook and Twitter. Also, try leveraging your personal profile (and the personal profiles of your employees) to push out your brand page’s content. Since brand pages are only allowed to follow users who have already followed them, using your personal profile can help you attract more followers for your brand.
3. Use their keywords, too.
Just like other SEO content strategies, you should think of what your customers will actually type into Google when they look for you. They many not type the industry-specific terms you optimize for, so think like your customer when creating keywords. Now, use those keywords in the About section of your page, and include them in posts so people can easily find your Google+ content when they search.
4. Use images.
People tend to click on photos and videos more than links, so use them in your content for better engagement. Fill your page with interesting images, both across the top and throughout your posts. Also, many Google searches return images that are prominently displayed, so do your best to get your visual content in front of searchers.
5. Condition Google to work for you.
In its quest to return better search results, Google has started including people and pages on Google+ that are related to the user’s search query. Although not all searches have this feature yet, being listed in search results is excellent exposure for your company. To train Google to categorize your content, making it more likely you will be featured in search results, be sure to keep your posts on topic and use consistent keywords. As you post on the same topic, you will be conditioning Google to include you in searches related to that topic.
6. Consider authorship.
Google supports an authorship markup that lets you tag your work to show Google your writings all over the web. When people search for you, Google can pull together your tagged work and present it in a search results page. Setting up authorship is a bit more advanced, and would probably require its own post. For now, check out instructions on Google’s support blog.
7. Use the +1 button.
According to Google, the +1 button is becoming a significant ranking factor for returning search results. You’ve probably noticed that search results now include the option to +1 a result. Use the +1 button wherever appropriate for your business so you can factor into Google results, too.
8. Engage them.
As with all social media strategies, it’s important to engage your Google+ community with helpful information, exclusive content, and interesting photos. According to Google, one of the top things you can do to appear in search results is to post and to engage with other people’s posts on Google+. Be sure to +1 other people’s content, and experiment with your own to find out what is getting the best engagement. Later in this series, I’ll also introduce you to Ripples so you can see how Google+ is taking the art (and measure) of engagement to a whole new level.
So, there you have it – eight ways Google+ can drive traffic to your site that you can start using right now. Stay tuned for the rest of our three-part series on using Google+ to boost your business.
Image courtesy of frombogotawithlove.com
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