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Beyond Web 2.0: Delivering on the Promise of the Engaged Web to Win Business

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

AJ Harring, President, EPiServer US offers a glimpse of the “engaged web” and explains how to profit from it.

Most marketers understand that one-way communication with customers is no longer effective in today’s Web 2.0 world. Knowing this is one thing; understanding how to effectively utilize Web 2.0 platforms to form meaningful connections with prospects and customers is another. In fact, while many marketers still struggle to understand Web 2.0 and social networking, the next generation of “the engaged web” has arrived – and with it even greater opportunities for organizations to effectively turn web traffic into qualified leads and revenue.

Rather than cling to traditional approaches of building web sites on pillars of content, companies should take advantage of new interactive, community and conversation-based tools and services that engage visitors. The current Internet generation no longer simply browses; they interact. They create content, share opinions, show videos and join communities to connect with others who share similar interests.

So how can we, as marketers keep up with all the changes taking place, and how should we leverage the engaged web to create more meaningful customer interactions?

First, we must stop thinking about how to push content and messages to key audiences, and instead focus on a) understanding and b) addressing the individual needs and preferences of those audiences. This may sound complicated, but by simply investing less time and energy in promoting ourselves, and more time fostering compelling, two-way conversations with the audiences we want to reach, we’ll be able to create more meaningful relationships. As a result, we have a better chance of winning their business, and we might prompt word-of-mouth referrals too.

Here are a few tips outlining how to successfully market products and services in the new, conversation-based Internet economy:

Focus on users rather than content: Personalize web content for individual users and make their online experience more meaningful by fostering two-way communication.

Think “relations” rather than “sessions:” Create a website with individual users and their specific needs or issues in mind rather than maintain a website using a “one size fits all” approach.

Use what you know: Use the data you have at hand to gain insight into user behavior and preferences – whether it’s from software that tracks how they interact with your site or click-through analytics – and deliver an online experience that matches their needs.

Only when we fully understand the individual needs and goals of our customers can we develop deeper, more fruitful relationships with them. Companies that fail to make the leap to dynamic web engagement may not survive the transition into the next digital age.

As President of EPiServer’s North American organization, A.J. Harring has more than 17 years of IT software sales and management experience. Prior to joining EPiServer, A.J. led teams at leading companies like Check Point Software Technologies, Pointsec Software Technologies, Compuware, and Platinum Technology. Contact: aj.harring@episerver.com.

Tags: AJ Harring, Engaged Web, EPiServer, Interactive Marketing, Social Networking, Web 2.0
Posted in Guest Articles, Social Network Marketing | No Comments »

Profiling a Web Searcher With Log Data

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Dr. Jim Jansen, Assistant Professor at Pennsylvania State University explains what relevant information can be found about your customers using search logs.

One of my conference presentations, To What Degree Can Log Data Profile a Web Searcher?, addresses research about developing a profile of a Web search using just the few fields in a search log.

Typical search logs really don’t have that many fields, a dozen or so at most. Even when one enriches the logs (i.e., combining fields to make new ones of greater insight), the logs are still sparse.

So, in this research, we set out to determine what we could find out about a user based on a record or so in a search log. We found out that we could actually determine a lot!

Here are some examples.

- With the IP address, we can get a fairly accurate pin point of the location. From geo-targeting data in the query, we can tell the location of focus.

- From the query, we can do a topic analysis to determine the searching focus.

- We can use algorithms already available to determine what type of content is desired (e.g., informational, navigational, transactional).

- We can determine if the query has commercial intent and where in the buying cycle the user is at.

- Using session level data, we can determine the level of engagement (i.e., how motivated is the user to get the desire content).

- Based on pattern analysis, we can determine with a fair degree of accuracy what will be the next query reformulation.

- Using out-of-log sources, such as http://adlab.microsoft.com/Demographics-Prediction/, we can determine the gender bias of the query.

- Using neural network techniques, we can determine the probability of the user clicking on a result listing.

- With enough temporal data, we can reasonably determine the identity of the searcher.

I am not a big online privacy dude, but the results surprised me when you put all the techniques together. And, techniques are just going to get better and better.

There are some really interesting aspects for advertisers, great possibilities for consumers, and concerns for all.

Dr. Jim Jansen is an associate professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Pennsylvania State University. Jim has more than 150 publications in the area of information technology and systems, with articles appearing in a multi-disciplinary range of journals and conferences. His specific areas of expertise are Web searching, sponsored search, and personalization for information searching. He is co-author of the book, Web Search: Public Searching of the Web and co-editor of the book Handbook of Weblog Analysis.

Tags: Dr. Jim Jansen, Log Data, Search Data, Search Logs, Web Profiling
Posted in Guest Articles, Search Engine Tools | No Comments »

Measuring the Value of Digital Display Media to Offline Channels

Wednesday, July 29th, 2009

Principal Consultant for Analytics at Razorfish, Craig Schinn, explains why measuring online purchases may not be the most accurate metric for digital marketing success.

Craig Schinn For years, I’ve struggled with my agency to show the total value of display media budgets. You’d hear things like

Why is this CPA so high on my branding campaign?
This ROI is not acceptable compared to my catalogue.
Sure we hit the goal, but how many of these sales would I have gotten anyway?

As an industry, we’ve invented tons of ways to measure these things. We ran control/exposed surveys where we measured brand lift, but those only help so much. We ran intricate cookie-level analyses where we looked at the behaviors of cookies at every frequency and mix of ads. But again, this only helps so much. Even when we measure the lift in purchase behavior from exposure to ads, we only do it for online purchases. Some products necessitate online research, but the purchase actually occurs elsewhere.

Enter pharmaceuticals. At Razorfish, we have a large health practice. The challenge with pharmaceutical marketing – aside from the obvious legal concerns and government regulation – is measurement. It’s very challenging to know how to optimize a digital marketing campaign when there is no on-site monetary transaction. So many other verticals allow the advertiser to see how many conversions are taking place and what the value of those conversions are. But in pharma, the real conversion is going to the doctor’s office, receiving a prescription, and then going to the pharmacy to fill it. The conveniences of cookie-based measurement break down when this happens, and marketers are forced to estimate.

This was my first major assignment at Razorfish five years ago. I had to help my client assess the value of our campaigns and determine ways to optimize media. This was a challenge because my work at my previous employer used PII and had detailed CRM data. For my client at Razorfish, we assessed a number of different ways to solve this challenge, but we settled on the following:

A site survey that could be tied to digital media exposure and interaction
The tagging also allowed us to track on-site behaviors
Finally, we collected an email address (blinded in our dataset) that allowed us to recontact the respondents after a period of time.

An anonymous identifier allowed us to match the respondents in the first survey to those in the follow-up. We began an ambitious roadmap with my client:

Who was coming to the site? What segments existed?
What were our site visitors looking for and how could we use that information to improve the relevancy of our media?
What affect was our site having on their attitudes and opinions? Did they receive the medication?
What site content seemed to resonate with each segment of the audience? Were there KPIs we should use to assess relevancy of the site experience?

We learned a lot, and the client was thrilled. Overall, we helped lift intent to request the drug from the doctor by 15%. But that was purchase intent – a great metric for the industry, but soft compared to what it could be. Other verticals offered us an opportunity for more robust metrics.

Enter retail – a sector I love after 3 years as a sales associate at a major US retailer during college. Retail is such an amazing space. It combines the all of what I find interesting about marketing – hard science, creative, fleeting consumer opinions, price competition, etc. The margins can be thin for some retailers and being efficient in the digital space is a major challenge for well-optimized direct marketers.

At Razorfish, we have many retail clients, and they are all extremely savvy direct marketers who often seek the highest return on ad spend. But digital media has gotten more expensive, and it’s getting tougher to get the low CPMs and CPAs of years past. Clients look at the return on ad spend every week in our reports, and often we optimize out of media that does not meet stringent standards. But as an industry, we usually only evaluate what happens online. This doesn’t seem fair.

Some products justify research online but consumers are more comfortable buying offline – technology and furniture are categories like this. So my question to retailers and similar businesses is this:

What are you doing with your customer data?
How are you collecting data on your site visitors and tying that to offline purchases such as in store, through your catalogue, and via the phone?
Are you tagging emails with purchase confirmations to do cross-channel media analytics?
Do you have a loyalty program that you use for this sort of thing? How about warranties?

Many studies have been published on the effect of digital media to in-store and offline sales, and I work on a daily basis on these types of analyses. I can tell you, the studies I’ve read are supported by the data I’ve seen. Much more sales occur for cross-channel retailers in store than happen online. Optimizing only to a cost per action on your website can take you out of the media channels that contribute the most to in-store conversions. It’s imperative that cross-channel players begin to understand this dynamic, because it can lead to a significant advantage over competitors who are not.

There are companies out there that can help. Unica offers a great technology for this sort of thing, but it requires much more in addition to technology. Usually, client web analytics practices are much too small. Marketers need staff to perform this analysis. This is usually much more costly than the software required to join disparate data sources and analyze the merged file. Additionally, we have seen that client divide their website business from their traditional practice. This can lead to political and organizational difficulties in assigning cross-channel reporting responsibilities and in acting on the findings. For example, the retail practice might benefit from a certain type of placement or search keyword group, but the website team needs to pay for it. This is a much more challenging issue than simply measuring what the benefit is to each organization.

I think thinks is the next major frontier for savvy digital marketers. Your customers are interacting with your brand online and offline. Use digital data to understand what happens offline, and you could be at a significant advantage over your competitors.

Craig Schinn is a Principal Consultant at Razorfish, the digital marketing agency. His team specializes in measuring and optimizing marketing performance. Craig can be reached at craig.schinn@razorfish.com.

Tags: Craig Schinn, Cross Channel Analytics, Digital Marketing, Razorfish, Web Analytics
Posted in Guest Articles, Web Analytics/Web Metrics | 1 Comment »

5 Easy Ways to Put Your Site Search to Work and Deliver a Better Online Experience

Tuesday, July 28th, 2009

Shaun Ryan, CEO of SLI Systems explains how to use site search to improve your SEO rankings and paid search campaigns.

If you’re like most digital marketers, you probably don’t realize the hidden treasure in your possession that can improve your search marketing, email marketing and other campaigns, and create a more meaningful online customer experience. Yet the little white box on your web site – the search box – can mean so much more than simply helping people find products and information on your site. When used appropriately, your site search solution can help deliver more targeted messages to your customers and result in an improved online experience for them (which improves the bottom line for you).

Below are 5 tips you can use to improve the effectiveness of your site search to improve your marketing efforts and deliver a better customer experience online.

Improve the relevance: Examine your search logs and check that you’re delivering relevant results. Start with the most popular search terms. A great way of doing this is to examine what results people are clicking on and bringing the results people click on the most to the top. Relevance is the single most important aspect of site search.
Connect search to customer ratings and reviews: Your online visitors love to read the opinions of others. Make it simple for site visitors to sort through these reviews based on their own likes and dislikes. Another customer of ours, an online tea retailer, has configured its site search so that shoppers can narrow the search results to see items with reviews based on similar preferences (like full-bodied teas, or ones with good aromas). The result: a refined, more relevant group of items in the search results, making it even easier for shoppers to find the right products.
Leverage site search data for more successful SEO and paid search campaigns: It can be a huge struggle to figure out which search terms will generate the most referrals from search engine traffic, or will create the best paid search efforts. However, there’s a gold mine of information in your site search system – including “long tail” terms that aren’t used as often but which convert much higher than more commonly used search terms. The site search terms show the language that your visitors use on your site – they’re use similar language when they’re search the whole web and you should be optimizing and buying keywords based on this Shoppers’ most commonly used keywords might be different than what you’d expect – or they might change at various times of the year without you realizing it.
Index all your content: Many ecommerce sites have a lot of content beyond their products, such as blogs, guides, forums and faq’s. All of this should be indexed and should be accessible through your site search.
Bring rich content into the search: Video is appearing on more and more company web sites. Make it easier for shoppers to find this rich content by incorporating them in search results – for instance, create a video icon that lets searchers know that there’s a related video to view, or show the videos in a section of the search results.

Shaun Ryan is CEO of SLI Systems, a provider of hosted search solutions that learn from the people who use them to continually improve relevance of results. Shaun can be reached at shaun.ryan@sli-systems.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/shaunryan.

Tags: Paid Search, SEO, Shaun Ryan, Site Search, SLI Systems
Posted in Guest Articles, Search Engine Optimization | No Comments »

Improve Your Website’s Effectiveness with Google Website Optimizer

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Apogee Search Founder, Bill Leake, explains how to use Google Website Optimizer to improve your website effectiveness.

Driving traffic to your website is only half the battle. Your site also needs to be constructed to convert those visitors into leads or sales. A valuable first step to making your website more effective is to utilize Google Website Optimizer. Google Website Optimizer is a free tool that website owners can use to determine the most effective combination of content on their site through a variety of tests. The results from these tests can then be used to maximize conversion rates among existing traffic to your site.

GWO can conduct both A/B testing and multivariate testing. A/B testing will test two different pages against one another, and multivariate testing will test the various elements on the page to determine the best combination.

Strategies to keep in mind when using Google Website Optimizer:

Ask big questions. You will only receive answers for the things that you actively test. You should test drastic changes rather than slight changes to obtain statistically significant data.
Spend time developing well-written copy to test.
Wait for significant data. GWO will indicate when a sample is large enough to be useful.

Different situations in which one would want to use A/B testing versus multivariate testing:

Multivariate tests compare different elements of a page. Google uses a full factorial test so it is very easy to generate a large number of combinations even when testing just a few elements. These tests require a high amount of traffic to achieve statistical significance.
A/B testing is suited for sites with less traffic because it requires a much smaller sample size to achieve statistical significance. This is the best option for testing a complete site redesign.

Rules to follow when using Google Website Optimizer:

Wait for statistically significant data. As discussed earlier, initial results might reflect random chance, so wait until you have had enough traffic for the information to be significant.
Limit the elements being tested. If you create too many different combinations, it will take a great deal of time for GWO to produce meaningful results from your test.
Spend as much time developing content for a test as you would for a website. Even though this is a test, you are testing potential real options for your site. Do not get sloppy with the content just because it is a test.

Bill Leake is the CEO and Founder of Apogee Search, the largest search engine marketing firm in the Southwest, one of the 20 largest in North America and one of the fastest growing companies on the Inc. 500 list. In addition to leading Apogee Search, Bill also serves as the president of the Austin Interactive Marketing Association, and as the chairman of the SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization) committee.

Tags: A/B Testing, Apogee Search, Bill Leake, Google Website Optimizer, Multivariate Testing
Posted in A/B Testing Programs, Conversion Rate Improvements, Guest Articles, Multivariate Testing, Online Testing Programs | No Comments »

Ten Practical Tips to Propel Your Search Engine Advertising Program

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

NetElixir Founder, Udayan Bose, offers ten strategies to improve your search engine advertising campaign.

Online retail sales have been completely flat in the first quarter of 2009 (comScore), and all economic indicators point to a very difficult holiday shopping season this year. In 2008, comScore data reported holiday sales were down 3 percent- the first ever decline since 2001. This year, retailers need to prepare for more tough times.

Beginning in early October and lasting through the end of December, the holiday season accounts for nearly 50% of the annual sales revenue for some retailers. It is obvious that success during this time of year is vital for companies’ survival, and competition for sales this year is going to be at an all time high. NetElixir produced a workbook, "Fresh Ideas," to help online retailers streamline their search engine marketing efforts to be as efficient as possible. Below are ten practical tips from the book to help propel your keyword search advertising program.

1. Build your Objectives-Investment Scorecard. Quantitative methods like creating a chart with specific goals or objectives and how much money you plan to spend on each one, will help you understand how each part of your budget contributes to the overall program. Remember, what you can’t measure, you can’t control.

2. Use Strategic Keyword Bidding during the Holidays. Tailor your campaign to consumers’ holiday shopping habits by using tactics like day-parting and product category-specific bidding.

3. Sync Your SEM Campaigns with Your Holiday Marketing Promotion Calendar. The holidays comprise peak sales days when consumers spend the most amount of money and companies earn maximum profit. Know which days (e.g. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, etc.) are important, and allocate different amounts of your budget and use targeted keywords appropriately.

4. Know Thy Competitors. Because searchers always like to compare before making a purchase, keep track of aspects of your competitors’ campaigns like product, price, promotions, and specific SEM tactics employed, etc. This research will help you understand how you stack up to your competition.

5. Use the 5 KPI’s Every Search Advertiser Needs. A portfolio of key performance indicators (KPI’s) is needed to measure SEM driven customer acquisition performance in a holistic manner. A few of them are profit per click, average order value per new customer, and the percentage of (converting keywords / all keywords). Make sure you set your KPI benchmarks before starting your campaign and then track them on a weekly basis.

6. Create A Targeted Holiday Keyword List. Gain reach coupled with high conversion probability by completing the 5 stage optimal keyword list building process of research, select and group, test, analyze, and refine.

7. Differentiate Through Targeted Ad Copy. To help you stand out and build brand credibility, make sure your ad copy writer answers questions like "At whom is your ad copy targeted?" as well as "What will compel the searcher to click on your ad?" and "Where does the searcher expect to land on your website post clicking?"

8. Use Twitter to Create Immediate Campaigns. Campaigns built around keywords extracted from tweets are more immediate and relevant, and therefore hold greater monetization potential. You will have an edge over competitors and also significantly lower your cost per click (CPC).

9. Make Transactional Landing Pages Relevant. Build trust, demonstrate consistency of message, and guide the visitor by keeping a set of important factors in mind, including keeping pages simple and establishing landing page specific KPI’s that link to overall campaign KPI’s, among others.

10. Understand the Importance of Trademark / Brand Name Keywords. Trademark and brand names are more likely to be the last clicked keyword for a conversion, and their contribution to total account conversions has increased 5-8% over the last 12 months.

Use tactics like evaluating the performance of brand terms separately from those of non-brand terms to better understand the performance of your campaigns. If you have a strong brand name, anticipate that other advertisers will bid for your trademark terms.

Udayan Bose founded NetElixir with a vision to provide online marketers worldwide with a paid search campaign optimization solution capable of delivering magical performance. To download a full copy of his workbook, complete with charts and performance indicators for retailers to fill out, please visit http://netelixir.com/semfreshideas.html

Tags: NetElixir, Paid Search, PPC, Search Engine Advertising, Udayan Bose
Posted in Guest Articles, Paid Search Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Advertising | 1 Comment »

Twitter Followers: The Fast and The Furious or The Steadfast?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Angie Swartz, founder of Square Martini Media, discusses why adding massive Twitter followers isn’t always the best idea.

I started out my day today writing a blogpost, Gain 1.1 Million Twitter Followers Here! Tonight! Make Millions! as I watched twitter messages go by on Seesmic offering to add followers for me and make me money. Adding Twitter Followers quickly seems to be all the rage. In fact, just in the past month, vendors seem to be popping up everywhere who offer to sell you their services to add followers and to teach you how to make money on Twitter overnight. So many vendors have gotten into this market that the Better Business Bureau has gotten involved. What does that tell you? Whenever the Better Business Bureau’s name is popping up, then I start to think somebody’s being taken advantage of. (Read a more in depth view of this topic at Rieva Lesonsky’s Beware of Get-Rich Scams on Twitter).

So, is there value in adding massive twitter followers quickly? Undoubtedly, yes, and we’ll examine those advantages below. However, we shouldn’t discount that joining twitter is just like joining any other community. If our goal is to use twitter for business, we should remind ourselves that part of the importance of taking time to develop a community is in the getting to know, like and trust the people you choose to become friends with and in aligning yourself with people interested in the same things that you’re interested in (and with regards to business, aligning yourself with people who want to buy what you have to sell).

What is Twitter All About Anyway?

Twitter is about the following:

Two-way conversations
Meaningful engagement
Developing relationships
Transparency and Authenticity
Creating an environment where people know, like and trust you
Helping others without regard to what you’ll get in return
What it’s not: a one-way push marketing tool (aka tv, newspaper or magazine advertising)

The Fast and The Furious or The Steadfast Method of Gaining Twitter Followers

How you choose to grow your twitter follower base is a personal choice. The following are just a few of the things you might want to consider:

Two Methods of Gaining Twitter Followers: The Fast and The Furious vs. The Steadfast.

	Fast & Furious	Steadfast
Lots of Followers Quickly	üü
More Targeted Audience		üü
Ability to broadcast far reaching message (maybe)	üü
Followers who know, like, trust you		üü
Engaged Followers		üü
Loyal Tribe		üü

The Twitter ecosphere is changing a bit every day. How you choose to grow your twitter follower tribe is up to you. So ask yourself how you want to use Twitter as a tool and proceed from there. As for me, I’ll be the person communicating with my organically grown tribe of approximately 5,000 trying to get to know them as best as I can so that I can clearly understand them and their needs and hoping they’ll understand me and mine. You can read more articles about social media strategy at http://www.squaremartinimedia.com or tweet me @aaswartz on Twitter and tune into TwitterTalkRadio on Wednesdays at Noon PST on www.wsradio.com.

Tags: Angie Swartz, Social Media Marketing, Square Martini Media, Twitter
Posted in Guest Announcements, Guest Articles, Social Media Marketing, Social Network Marketing | 1 Comment »

Does ROI Fit into Social Media Marketing for Businesses?

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

Matt O’Brien explains the 5 basic ways to measure results with social media marketing and online branding.

For those of you that have been in the Internet marketing business for a while, you more or less see social media as another search engine marketing tool that you can pull out of your tool box when needed. Others may not have a search engine marketing tool set and therefore may not have the big picture with social media. However, this does not mean you are not going to look into why there is so much hype around social media and if there a fit for marketing you an/or your business with it.

Let’s start with one of my favorite concepts, getting hired on account of the strength and quality of your network. Interview questions may soon be more like, “how many people are in your LinkedIn network” or a bit more of a stretch is “how many followers do you have on Twitter?” This makes sense today if you are looking to get hired as an online marketing or social media marketer. But the time is coming or may already be here that the strength of your network will make a difference to getting a job, especially if you are in sales. More on this topic, about under being ‘The Hunted’…

So what does this have to do with delivering an ROI with social media? Well, that depends on what your goals are. If you are out of work, social media can help you find a job and this can be a huge ROI for you. Let’s switch gears and talk about businesses. There have been some great articles on social media and ROI and one of my favorite quotes about it by Steven Smith:

“The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable.”

I could not agree more but for some reason companies not in the game and prospects I call on think this is a cute saying but they want to know what results they can expect or they are going to remain on the sidelines. In addition to saying to them, “well the conversation is going on around your brand with or without you” we also say, “let’s work with the number 5”. We see there are 5 basic ways to measure the results with social media marketing and online branding that are specific and measurable:

Increase mentions online through publishing of content on multiple online sources and create inbound links to website
Improve overall keyword rankings and specifically the top landing pages
Increase traffic to website
Build an online community through social media marketing
Help create inquiries and awareness of the online brand

We can then take each of these 5 benchmarks and set goals that we can measure on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis.

Matt O’Brien is a blog marketing expert and is the founder of Mint Social. To learn more on creating ROI with social media please visit www.MintSocial.com or call 602-206-8089.

Tags: internet marketing, Matt O'Brien, Mint Social, ROI, Social Media Marketing
Posted in Guest Articles, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »

PPC Tips to Boost Business!

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Lorrie Thomas, founder of Web Marketing Therapy, offers 5 huge tips to having success with PPC advertising.

Paid search spend equates to an average of 42% of all online advertising spending on the world wide web. Buying keywords is one of the most targeted ways a prospective customer can find you, as most people start with a search engine to find products, information or services. Paid search messaging can be controlled, tracked and continually optimized for maximum Return on Investment (ROI). Paid search is a valuable search marketing tool that can brand, build, and boost business….if you know how to tap this medium.

PPC Best Business Practices:

Define success criteria. Paid search is a track-able medium. What defines success? Traffic? Leads? Email signups? Sales? Make sure you have success criteria defined and a way to measure success. Google Analytics is a great free tool to track traffic and conversions (leads, sales, etc.)
Select “select” key phrases and buy wisely. Brainstorm words that define who you are, what you do and who you serve. Make a list of key phrases that are worth buying. Start small and snowball. There is no need to buy every phrase upon campaign launch. Take calculated risks, measure, learn, optimize…then expand.
Set up the campaign strategically from start to finish. If you are buying the phrases “gold Celtic knot jewelry” and “silver men’s wedding band” then the ad copy needs to be specific to those key phrases – not one message for both phrases. Generic ad copy will get you generic results. Match it up! Match the key phrases to specific ad copy that links to specific landing pages. Funnel your target customer from the start of the search (key phrases) to attracting them with the right message to driving them to an appropriate landing page that solidifies the sale!
Leverage paid search to support other marketing efforts. If radio ads are running in certain geographic markets, you can target paid search in those same locations to reinforce your message. Paid search can be used “a la carte” or “a la mode” to support other marketing campaigns.
Create, Execute, and Monitor…then rinse and repeat! Great ideas are only great if they are executed brilliantly. Have a clear goal, plan and execute the paid search plan from sound strategy. Then monitor the campaign. What is working? What isn’t? How can the paid search campaign be improved? How can spend work harder for its money?

Paid search management is a process and requires thought, creativity, dedication and effort. Marketing is about building awareness, communicating information, connecting, serving and selling. Paid search is a tool for marketing, how it is used to brand, build and boost business is in your hands….

Lorrie Thomas, MA is the founder and Marketing Therapist at Web Marketing Therapy, a full-service marketing agency and self-help web marketing education resource. Lorrie speaks nationally and teaches Web Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Marketing courses at UCSB and Berkeley Extension.

Tags: Conversion Rates, Google Analytics, Lorrie Thomas, Paid Search, PPC, Web Marketing Therapy
Posted in Guest Articles, Paid Search Advertising (PPC) | 1 Comment »

Top 9 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Online Lead Generation Campaigns

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Improve your online lead generation campaign with this insightful article by Apogee Search CEO and Founder, Bill Leake.

Now more than ever, marketers are hyper-focused on getting the most out of their lead generation investments. Here are nine quick tips to give your current online campaigns a boost and get the highest quality leads coming to your website. For the most part, these techniques can be implemented fairly easily, and are highly effective at maximizing your campaign ROI.

1. Reevaluate, reexamine, and reconfirm your objectives. Different economic times often drive different campaign objectives. Campaign success or failure is driven by getting the objectives right on the front end. Now is the time to ensure your objectives are in line with your needs.

2. Look at your traditional marketing assets and see what you can repurpose, reallocate, and reuse online. There’s gold buried out there in your traditional marketing spend. What events do you attend? What video assets do you already have? What great PowerPoint presentations do you have that can be turned into webinars, articles, etc? Recycling and reusing isn’t only good for the environment, it’s great on the pocketbook too.

3. This is the year to finally get end-to-end tracking and analytics. Reconfigure your web analytics, tie your web analytics into your CRM system, and get a marketing automation tool. Have all of these communicate with each other and with your vendors from beginning to end.

4. Retool your paid search campaigns. Run Google search query reports for your AdWords campaigns. Cut out irrelevant impressions, increase your click through rate and quality score, and add negative keywords. Paid search ads need to be targeted to attract relevant traffic, so make your ads specific. Sometimes it makes sense to use ads to qualify prospects too. One good strategy to reduce spend without reducing performance is to daypart-turn off ads at times of the day that do not deliver quality leads traffic.

5. Add compelling lead bait. Webinars, whitepapers, and case studies, oh my! The quantity increase in quality content can be well worth the investment, and good content will warm up the prospect too.

6. Implement nurturing campaigns and lead lifecycle management. Nurturing campaigns involve things like newsletters, seminar and webinar invites, special tips and tricks in email blasts, physical direct mailers, etc. Basically, continuing to communicate with folks who aren’t ready to speak to a sales rep or who do not yet have a budget. Best communications are always things that have value in them. For example, “Here’s something you might be able to use,” rather than, “Listen to what we have to say.”

7. Use a multivariate landing page testing tool and test all major changes to your website. Google Website Optimizer (GWO) is a free tool that enables you to conduct multivariate and A/B tests on your landing pages. Be sure to limit your variants to a level your traffic can support. Worst case scenario, you discover that some of your brilliant ideas are not so brilliant, and quickly fix them. Best case, you’ll see a triple digit improvement in your landing pages and website conversions. Apogee Search has recently been named one of a select few GWO Authorized Consultants by Google. Working with an authorized consultant can get you the answers you’re looking for to drastically improve your conversion rates.

8. Optimize past online conversions. Your problem may not be that you need more leads, but that you need better quality leads. Integrate your PPC and SEO data into your CRM system so you can have solid ROI numbers for each of your online campaigns before you need them. Once you get enough data, you can start optimizing your campaign towards activities that are generating revenue rather than leads that go nowhere.

9. Start / continue / increase your SEO efforts. SEO success builds over time and can have one of the highest ROIs. If you haven’t started a SEO campaign or you’re not seeing results from your campaign yet, keep up your efforts. While your competitors are pulling back and retrenching, or maybe just utilizing paid search campaigns because of its immediate impact, you can get a long-term lead on them by accelerating and improving your natural search impact.

Tags: Apogee Search, Bill Leake, Google AdWords, Multivariate Testing, Online Conversions, Online Lead Generation, SEO, Web Analytics
Posted in A/B Testing Programs, Conversion Rate Improvements, Guest Articles, Lead Generation, Multivariate Testing, Online Marketing, Online Testing Programs, Paid Search Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics/Web Metrics | No Comments »

Why ANY Business Can Be Green (And Why You Should Be One of Them!)

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Greenopia founder Gay Browne offers tips to businesses looking to “go green.”

greenopia

No matter the size, scope or aim of your business (selling products or providing services), you can do it in a way creates lighter environmental footprint. At Greenopia, we see it all, from family-run businesses who specialize in green, to larger corporations taking strides to be sustainable. Going green is for everyone, and every person (and business) can do their part, even if they’re not a ‘green’ business. You don’t have to sell solar panels or all-natural hemp body lotion to reduce your impact.

And since consumers have repeatedly attested that they would both pay more (even in these economic times) or take more time out of their schedule to be sure they are buying an environmentally-friendly product, going green means that your customers are more likely to return, spend their money with you, or go out of their way to find you.

Being eco-aware will also save your company cash in the long term (though some up-front investment might be necessary), which is why the term ‘green’ is so often used interchangeably with ’sustainable’. Investing in long-term strategies to green your company will ensure that your company is around, and profitable, for many years to come. Triple bottom line is the new way to be green and earn green.

Here are 5 Easy Tips to Help ANY Business To Lighten Their Environmental Footprint

1. Use less energy: This is first because it is number ONE! Whether you are working from a home office or your company has its own office building, using less energy will save you money, and cut your carbon footprint (and mitigate the effects of global warming). Turn down the heat a degree or two in the winter, and up a bit in the summer, encourage employees to power down computers, and make sure all lights are off at night. These are simple anyone-can-do-them ideas. Want more? Replace conventional bulbs with compact fluorescents (or better yet, LED bulbs) and invest in natural light (skylights, larger windows) to slash lighting costs.

2. Cut Down on Transportation: Whether it’s flying to far-flung locales for meetings, driving across town to meet with clients, or just the everyday commute to the office, use technology to cut down your footprint. (like gotomeeting.com and videoconferencing) rather than fossil fuels to connect you with your clients and associates is another easy way to save money, and better yet, time, while still meeting face to face and sharing documents.

3. Encourage Employee Creativity: Ask those who work for you, or with you, from the bottom up, to suggest ways to green your workplace. Crowd-sourcing for good ideas is how Google became the top company it is.

4. Really recycle: The most commonly non-recycled item in offices is paper, yet it’s one of the simplest things to recycle! It not only takes up space in landfills, creating new paper uses lots of resources to produce and ship. Make sure the basics are in place for real paper recycling in your office. Making sure cans and plastics in the lunchroom are recycled, and designating a person to make sure electronics are recycled properly (Earth911 is a great resource to recycled almost anything in your area) and recycling doesn’t cost a thing!

5. Source your office supplies wisely. Make sure you are using your bulk buying power for good! Recycled paper, reusable mugs instead of paper or plastic cups, refillable printer ink, even recycled folders, files, file boxes, furniture and more can all be found from all the major retailers, including Office Depot and OfficeMax.

The best part about making these simple and cost-effective changes is that then you can tell your customers about the steps you are taking to green your business. Once you’ve tackled the basics, your company can be proud that you are doing your part.

Always remember you can go onto Greenopia.com to apply to be listed with Greenopia, join our newsletter, or summit a business to be listed!

Gay Browne is the founder of Greenopia, a directory of retailers, services, and organizations that have a consistent track record of environmentally friendly practices. The directory is available online as well in printed format for New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Tags: Eco-friendly Business, Environmentally Friendly, Gay Browne, Go Green, Greenopia
Posted in Guest Articles | No Comments »

The Great Video Debate

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Kara Trivunovic, Sr. Director of Strategic Services for StrongMail Systems discusses the pros and cons of using video in your email marketing campaign.

Kara Trivunovic After a coast-to-coast travel extravaganza last week, regardless of the venue or focus, one topic cropped up repeatedly – the pros and cons of leveraging video in email. While there are valid positions and applications for the inclusion of video within an email message, it has yet to be proven more effective than other relevancy tactics. I have three major points of conversation around this topic for which I am opening up for debate. I remain completely open to a sway-factor, so long as there is a good argument or supportable point of view. So, let the Great Video Debate begin!

Video vs. Relevance

Advocates of video in email talk about it like it is the next coming for the email industry – but let’s face it, not every email warrants a video. I support the idea that there are opportunities for video to enhance a message, just like images in email have; but just because you “can” use video, doesn’t mean you “should” use video. I have seen some very successful applications of video – one example is when a popular airline launched new cabins on their entire fleet. An email was sent that included video highlighting all of the new features on the aircraft. The message had great conversion, but this is an example of leveraging video to support a very specific and relevant cause. If it enhances the message content, then go for it, but don’t include video just because you “can.” If your video has no relevance to the message or the experience for the recipient, then it has no place in your email.

Video vs. Metrics

As marketers are turning more to email as a cost-effective and trusted marketing channel during this down economy, we are all looking for ways to differentiate our messages. But I have to say, of all the conversations I had last week on this topic, there is one comment that I heard that is just unfounded and nearly impossible to support: “Video in my email drove higher open rates.” What?! Without some serious ESP (and not the Email Service Provider kind) by your recipient, there is little possibility they knew that video was in your message when it hit their inbox; unless, of course, the subject line alluded to the video – but I would argue that it was then the subject line that drove the higher open rate. I don’t doubt that leveraging video that is highly relevant to your topic will drive higher conversion or will impact your success metrics, but to say undoubtedly that video increased open rates is really a stretch.

Video IN Email vs. Video “in” email

I’ve seen case studies that talk about the lift realized when video was featured in email versus text and images, which is a pretty valid claim if applied appropriately. However, I am still waiting for someone to prove that the ability to play video within your email client is more effective than linking a video image to a browser to actually play the video. I somehow doubt there is a marked lift in response. I admit, I am a pessimist when it comes to physically including video in email and am anxiously awaiting someone to convince me otherwise. What’s the benefit? There is little reason to ever want to auto-play a video upon opening a message, especially if there is sound in the video.

So we’re clear, I am not saying there is no place for video in email, but I am suggesting that you approach it with a cohesive plan and a realistic expectation of what the video will bring. If you approach this adventure with eyes wide open, then the experience should be pleasant.

Kara Trivunovic has over 10 years of email marketing experience. She is currently the Director of Strategic Services at StrongMail Systems. Their dedicated marketing and transactional email solutions eliminate the limitations of traditional email service providers and custom-built solutions, enabling businesses to deliver more relevant, timely and cost-effective messages.

Tags: Email Marketing, Email Metrics, Kara Trivunovic, Leveraging Video in Email, StrongMail Systems
Posted in Email Marketing, Guest Articles | No Comments »

Public Relations an Essential Component of Smart Marketing Programs

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Len Gutman, President of Open Door Communications, explains why public relations is a vital part of any marketing campaign.

Most gardeners know you need a shovel, a hoe and a rake to cultivate a proper garden. Likewise, even an awful golfer wouldn’t attempt to conquer Troon North without bringing a full complement of clubs. But when it comes to marketing, far too many companies don’t utilize the complete range of available tools.

While advertising gets all the glory – with its own awards shows and Super Bowl hype – public relations is often overlooked. Perhaps that’s because when public relations is done correctly nobody is supposed to notice it’s been done at all!

Indeed, a successful public relations campaign typically ends with a series of newspaper or television segments about your company’s products or services. To most outsiders, these stories appear to be the result of a sharp journalist simply doing his or her job. Truth be told, a great many newspaper articles and broadcast segments begin with skillfully executed public relations programs.

If you’re relying solely on advertising to promote your business, you’re really only playing with half your clubs. While there is definitely a time and a place for a targeted advertising program, more and more companies are turning to public relations to spread the word about their businesses. The reason is simple – when done correctly, public relations is far less expensive than advertising and the end results carry more weight with potential customers.

Then there is the perception factor. By their nature, ads are viewed by consumers with skeptical eyes. After all, the company paid big money for the ad and there’s no third-party validation that anything you see, hear or read in an ad is the truth. On the other hand, when a consumer reads an article in a newspaper about a company or product, the article comes with third-party substantiation built right in. That perception carries much more weight with consumers than a paid advertisement.

Additionally, public relations as a practice has gone through radical changes over the past few years with the explosion of social media. Not too long ago the most important business tool required for the practice of public relations was a well-stocked Rolodex. PR professionals simply picked up the phone or e-mailed reporters and editors, pitched a story and with a little luck an article or broadcast segment followed.

Certainly media relations has remained a critical aspect of public relations campaigns – you can’t very well get a story in a publication without pitching the reporter or the editor – but social networking sites have opened up an entire new avenue to reach consumers directly without the filter of the news media and without spending a single dollar. Social networking can provide you with a captured audience of like-minded people – a demographic dream come true.

That’s all well and fine you say, but how does it work? Say, for example, you run a backpacking tour business. First, you set up a free profile about your business on Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites. Next, locate your existing customers who have profiles on these sites and invite them to become a fan of your business. Your fan list will grow exponentially, and anytime you want you can reach out to your contacts with a note or post that might interest them. Perhaps you’ve just added new backpacking tours to the Grand Canyon or are running a special to hike the Superstitions? Or maybe you found a great article on the Internet about the best new hiking gear and want to share?

The next step requires some outside-the-box thinking. On social networking sites, people with like interests gather in groups. A search of groups on Facebook for “backpacking” returned more than 500 groups, many of which have thousands of members. Simply pick the groups that seem most appropriate to you and join them – then introduce yourself to the other members and include a link back to your business profile. Essentially what you have uncovered are qualified leads. That being said, being overtly commercial will turn people off so be nice, offer advice and soft sell your business.

Beyond Facebook, MySpace and the other major social networking sites there also hundreds of social networks catered to people with similar interests of backgrounds. Wikipedia has a great list of mainstream social networking sites, and a Google search will bring up sites for people with all sorts of interests. Ning, for example, allows users to create their own social networks. A search on Ning for “backpacking” returned hundreds of user-generated social networks for people interested in backpacking.

The lesson for PR practitioners and business owners is that you can reach customers directly through social networking. With a little effort, and some smart surfing, you can even grow a huge base of raving fans for your business. Combine that with some old-fashioned media relations and public relations can be a powerful force.

Len Gutman, ABC, is president of Valley-based PR firm Open Door Communications and an adjunct professor of public relations at Arizona State University. He is a founding member of Valley PR Blog.

Tags: Len Gutman, Open Door Communications, Public Relations, Social Networking, Valley PR Blog
Posted in Guest Articles, Public Relations Online, Social Network Marketing | No Comments »

The Age of Personalization is Doing Away with the Model-T’s Philosophy

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Sitebrand President and CEO, Chris Corman, discusses the power of personalization to deliver effective marketing messages that can significantly improve conversion rates.

Sitebrand logo

Personalization is a big word. In its most basic definition, personalization conveys the idea of tailoring or customizing a product or service to an individual’s needs or desires. Before the industrial revolution and mass-market economies, everything was personal and handmade, usually by a local crafts-person. In the industrial age, craft and personal choice gave way to standardization. It was most succinctly summed up by Henry Ford in his famous quote about color “People can have the Model-T in any color–so long as it’s black.”

The mass-market paradigm is only now coming apart at the seams. As seen by the slow death of traditional media and the rise of the Web 2.0 movement, people have moved to more personal forms of content delivery and communication. The online world burst on to the scene defaulted to the one-size fits all approach but now needs to rapidly evolve to embrace the changing market landscape.

Now, I don’t know about you but I definitely have different desires from my wife and kids yet we all use some of the same websites. So, why do most websites treat everyone the same and assume the same content and the same offer will be as compelling to me as the next visitor. That is where technology has finally progressed to the point of bringing cost-effective personalization into our online lives… no more Model-Ts in black only.

So what does personalization mean in the online world where the norm is the mass market driven by the economies of scale and technology limitations? It’s confusing, does it mean:

Registration centers, welcome back messages and wish lists

Product recommendations – Jane bought this book, so you should too

Customization – getting a gift with a unique engraving or printing

Email/database marketing with individual messaging

Well, in a word yes! It is all of those but how does an online marketer take advantage of personalization. The problem is more acute when it is the first visit or has yet to fill out a form; marketers don’t have a lot of information.

That is where anonymous personalization solves the problem. Using visitor behaviors and web browser attributes, marketers can segment the incoming traffic and deliver different content for different people. By dynamically delivering different content in real-time, marketers have an active tool by which they can interact with their visitors site-wide.

As an eCommerce example, a clothing retailer might choose to present different offers to different traffic segments. Let’s say it is the middle of February and the retailer’s website receives two different visitors:

A visitor from zip code 10012 (downtown Manhattan, NY), at noon on Monday and arrived at the site from Google by typing in the term “Fashion blue jeans”

A visitor from Albuquerque, on a week-end by typing in the website name directly into the address bar.

So what can we infer from each of these visitors? Visitor A will most likely have a higher income due to demographics, is on their lunch hour, and is looking for a higher-end fashion product but only has a limited amount of time to buy. Visitor B has shown some brand recognition but may have a lower income and has time to browse.

Does this mean the retailer should promote the same product to both? Of course not, the visitor A should be presented with an array of branded, full-length jeans where visitor B should see more causal styles including some shorter length capris.

That is the power of personalization; two completely different site experiences targeted at different individuals. And unlike other online technologies such as in-site search, live chat or customer reviews where the visitor must perform an action to receive the benefit, personalization is subtly engaged with the visitor even before the first page is rendered in their browser.

Chris Corman is the President and CEO of Sitebrand, a personalization platform for online marketers. Sitebrand’s products deliver real-time, rule driven, personalized online campaigns for blogs, email, banners, website, affiliate marketing, search engine marketing, point of sale, or any other web medium.

Tags: Chris Corman, Improve Conversion Rates, internet marketing, Online Marketing, Personalization, Sitebrand
Posted in Conversion Rate Improvements, Guest Articles, eCommerce Marketing | No Comments »

Optimizing Search Campaigns: Put Your Brand Front and Center of Purchase Decisions

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

Your Essential Guide to Search Marketing in 2009. By Bill Lan, Vice President of Account Development for Efficient Frontier.

A roller-coaster economy has forced marketers to seek strategies that reap the highest levels of ROI. In times like these, they can feel confident that search advertising will continue to be a valuable investment in the marketing mix. But with increasing competition and an ever-shifting marketplace, marketers must understand the ways to optimize search to achieve the desired levels of return from their advertising spend.

Here are a few best practices to help ensure that your search advertising efforts will put your brand front and center in online purchasing decisions:

Track your ROI – To improve search advertising results, you must have visibility into the way your campaigns are actually performing. Many marketers are moving towards a more granular level of tracking, but plenty are still assessing campaign success at the ad or campaign-level, which doesn’t lend insight to overall achievements. The ability to track success at the keyword level can provide information on trouble areas of campaigns and allow for quick correction on those that are not performing.

Watch your Quality Score – Maintaining a high Quality Score with the major search engines will go a long way toward lowering your cost-per-click, increasing your ROI and extending the effectiveness of your search campaigns. Search engines will reward you on the relevance of your keywords, so be sure to test ad copy and keyword groupings to ensure you’re keywords are relevant to your business. Utilizing tools, such as match types and negatives, will also help improve the quality of your traffic and give a boost to your campaigns.

Scale, scale, scale – To be effective in search advertising, you must scale. Implementing the right technology platform can help ensure the number of keywords you purchase and report on is in line with your business needs. Using fewer keywords will make you more reliant on using broad match keywords to gain volume, which have more competition and are more expensive. Be sure you have the right keyword footprint and you’ll be rewarded.

Integrate data across channels – Your customers frequent many channels. So, it makes sense that incorporating information across them will help you create a more cohesive overall marketing strategy. If your display ads are doing well on a particular site, for example, utilizing that information to tailor keywords and ad copy for your search campaigns can create a nice flow. Cross-channel optimization also allows you to adjust budgets depending on which channels are showing the most success.

Despite the economic slowdown, search advertising remains an effective tool for acquiring and retaining profitable customer relationships. With shrinking marketing budgets, you must ensure that you’re taking advantage of all the resources and strategies available to lower costs, while improving results.

Bill Lan leads the search strategy and execution for some of the largest advertisers in the world who work with Efficient Frontier. Bill has managed and executed database marketing and online marketing programs for clients in travel, financial services, insurance, auto, pharmaceutical and retail.

Tags: Bill Lan, Efficient Frontier, Optimized Search, Quality Score, ROI, Search Advertising, Search Engine Marketing
Posted in Guest Articles, Search Engine Marketing | No Comments »

Maximize Your Business’ Visibility With Local Search

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

Bill Leake, CEO of Apogee Search, offers some helpful tips for retailers to achieve local business listings and to utilize some simple SEO techniques.

Consumer shopping habits are ever evolving, especially online, and more so in turbulent economic times. So what is the next “big thing” for reaching buyers online? Many search engine marketers are favoring local search. Local search can be a very cost effective way to make your company increasingly accessible to online users, but few businesses take advantage of all the opportunities.

According to TMP Directional Marketing’s second annual Local Search Usage Study, search engines are now the primary resource used by consumers to find local business information (31% and growing), followed by print yellow pages (30% and declining fast), Internet yellow page sites (19% and growing) and local search sites (11% and growing). Last year’s study, by comparison, ranked print yellow pages at 33% and search engines at 30%.

This means that while print yellow pages are still a factor, usage is declining. However, online searches are increasing across the board and the future of mobile search is likely to further the progression of local search. The best way to benefit from this trend is to achieve local business listings for your company and utilize some fairly simple SEO techniques.

Achieve Local Business Listings

Small businesses need to provide search engines and potential customers with as much correct information about their business as possible. Achieving an online business listing has proven to be successful for companies that don’t even have a website. Getting the listing is simple and can be done on a local search site or through a site like GetListed.org.

GetListed.org is a new site that offers a simple starter tool for local businesses to get their listing on the four main local search sites: Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, Live Search Maps, and Best of the Web Local. Of additional utility, GetListed.org provides a one page “to do” list for creating a listing or editing one.

Ensure that the information included in your business listing is accurate. Make certain your company is listed in the right category so potential customers can find your profile. Correctly input the street address, city, state, zip code, mailing address, and areas served. Not having an address can be a major disadvantage. If you have multiple locations, I recommend you create one profile per location. Also include contact information, hours of operation, and payment options.

Additionally, a business listing should include relevant business descriptions and keywords. Descriptions are limited to about 200 characters. Therefore, be concise in describing unique selling propositions and include one to two main keywords. Some services allow the association of keywords in a profile.

Once your profile has been created, build brand credibility with business credentials, endorsements, and reviews by adding your business listing to Internet yellow page directories and consumer review websites such as CitySearch.com, SuperPages.com, InsiderPages.com, Yelp.com, YellowPages.com, and BrownBook.com. The amount of positive customer reviews is a critical factor in ranking, so driving happy customers to local search sites and directories is beneficial. Association with the Better Business Bureau or your local chamber of commerce will help enhance your online credentials as well.

Essential SEO Techniques

To further maximize your local listing success in the search engines, consider including the physical address and local phone number on every page of your website. Then give them extra prominence with a contact page. On the contact page provide driving directions from all possible directions. And include a link to Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps, as both include latitude and longitude of the location in the URL.

Take advantage of on and off page optimization by utilizing accurate title tags, meta tags, header tags, alt text tags, links, and keywords. Include the city name in the title tag and heading of your website. Use smart anchor text to create relevant links. Finally, use local keywords to geo-target to a local market.

It is important to grow your company’s marketing efforts as online consumer habits and trends evolve. Implementing all of the above strategies will ensure the success of your business’ online discoverability and marketability. The cost to achieve local search listing and use simple SEO techniques is low or free, and the ability to connect with your customers is invaluable.

Tags: Apogee Search, Bill Leake, GetListed.org, Local Search, Local Search Listings, Search Engine Optimization, SEO
Posted in Guest Articles, Search Engine Optimization | 6 Comments »

8 Ways to Utilize Widgetbox Through RSS Feeds

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

By Ryan Spoon, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development, WidgetBox

RSS feeds make it easy for web publishers and marketers to create custom widgets on Widgetbox… with no development resources! Below are eight great ways to turn feed-based activity into viral widgets sharable across the web:

1. Convert your blog or website’s RSS feed into a Blidget or Blidget Pro on Widgetbox. Just enter your feed and customize the widget’s appearance, size and content. The widget will dynamically update as the RSS feed changes.

2. Add multiple RSS feeds with the Blidget Pro. Why stop at one feed when you can add multiple tabs and content sources?!

3. Create custom Twitter widgets based on your activity or favorite searches:

4. Add your favorite RSS feed to your Facebook profile with a Widgetbox App (learn how!).

5. Create YouTube & Vimeo widgets that play videos in-line:

6. Turn your Flickr feed into a slideshow widget:

7. Turn your eBay listings and store items into viral marketing widgets (learn how!):

8. Turn your real-estate listings into a viral widgets and reach new potential customers:

Ryan Spoon joined Widgetbox in December of 2007 and leads marketing and business development. Widgetbox is the leading self-service web widget platform – serving over 750 million widgets each month and reaching 95 million unique users. Widgetbox enables publishers to easily convert their content into custom, branded widgets and distribute them across the Widgetbox Network.

Tags: Blidget, RSS Feeds, Ryan Spoon, Widget, Widgetbox
Posted in Guest Articles | No Comments »