Are Facebook Fan Pages Replacing Websites?

Have you been noticing that your company Facebook page is receiving more attention than your business’s official website? Facebook is big for consumer brands, but why does it seem like Facebook pages are getting more attention than your official website?

Let’s take a closer look. Starbucks, Oreo, and Coca Cola all lead the charts for gathering millions of “likes” on their Facebook page. They win with Facebook, but if you look at the traffic Starbucks, Nabisco World, and Coke U.S receives from their company website, you’ll notice its decreasing considerably. Why? A recent research by digital consultancy Beyond has shown that consumers actually prefer receiving brand information from Facebook (23%), rather than brand’s website (21%) or company blog (3%).

From this information, it seems Facebook newsfeeds are the future of product marketing and promoting. So, is it time to abandon your company website? Not quite yet.

Although Facebook is becoming the biggest marketing tool for brands, from an SEO perspective, using Facebook pages exclusively will drop your search engine results significantly. Less search engine results means a lower amount of quality leads. It is easy to think Facebook is taking over, but promoting a product or service from one social platform decreases your chances to reach all potential customers. Becoming soley dependent on Facebook and removing your official homepage from its secure place limits your brand. Facebook has controls and restrictions that will not give you the flexibility you want for your campaigns as your own website will.

A great way to integrate your business website and Facebook company page is to drive traffic to the website from Facebook. Having a strong Facebook page will give you the attention you want, and the website link will build your site traffic. Look at Facebook as just another way to promote your official website and platform your brand.

Here are a few tips to use Facebook to drive traffic to your official website:

• Create a Facebook competition which requires finding clues around your website, and announce that you will publish the competition winners in your official website.
• Tell your fans about special offers they can downloaded from your website.
• Integrate e-mail marketing with social media to increase your brand’s own customer database.

Do you have any other tips you’d like to share?  Please do so here for our fellow start-ups!

What is SEO?

You’ve heard about SEO, but what is it?

SEO, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization, is a technique which helps search engines find and rank your site higher than the millions of other sites in response to a search query. SEO thus helps you get traffic from search engines such as Google, Yahoo and YouTube.

Through SEO, your website will gain more visibility, more credibility, and help you outrank your competitors online.

Is your company website ready for new customers? If you said yes, then you are ready to begin an SEO campaign!

Where do I start? Simply invest some time into smart SEO initiatives.  Here are just a few steps to help you get started:

1. Keyword Research (Keyword Analysis & Selection) – Find keywords phrases that make your site shine! Remember, it works best if the keyword phrase are related to your niche products and services. If you need help, consider one of our SEO packages.
2. Meta Tags – Develop and embed Meta Tags (page title, descriptions, keywords) in your page code to help your individual website pages rank high in the search engines.
3. Optimize Page Content - Based on the content you have on your website, optimize the page content so that the keywords you are using for your SEO campaign will be ranked for relevancy and authenticity. This will help the search engines to see that your page has relevant content based on the user’s searched terms.
4. Link Building - This is the practice of building back links to your site and it must be done as an ongoing basis.  A few link building tactics consist of submitting your site to various online directories, social bookmarking as well as Article & Press Release syndication & submission.

Keep your keyword index strong enough to show in searches, and you’ll see your business grow right in front of you.
Good luck!

Why Is Link Building So Important?

Do you want your website to come up on the first positions of the search engines when a potential customer is searching for your products and/or services?

If you answered yes, please keep reading.

In order to appear on the first positions of the first page of the search engines, such as Google or YouTube, your website has to be optimized, also know as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  SEO is broken down into 2 main factors, On-Site & Off-Site Optimization to determine the rankings of your web pages.

On-Site Optimization refers to the factors that you CAN control on your web site such as text, links, keyword density and your site map.  This is a critical factor as all the On-Site tweaks need to be implemented in order for your site to be search engine friendly.

Off-Site Optimization refers to the ranking factors that you CANNOT control such as all the links coming to your web site also referred to Link Building or back links.  Links coming to your website from online directories, Social Bookmarkings, Articles & Press Releases that are published on a media site linking back to your website. This part of the SEO process needs to be managed on a regular basis as link building is crucial to your Optimization process.

Currently, Search Engines consider Link Building to be one of the most influential portions of SEO success. Your back link portfolio is the entire scope of websites that are currently linking to your site directly, this does not include link exchanges.  Search Engines are looking for quality back links from relevant websites with relevant content. These sites include: Social Web Pages, Directories, Blogs, and finally, purchased one-way links.

In addition to the above back linking, you also receive Local Search Submissions to your back linking portfolio. This will target your audience geographically with local phone numbers, and map directions.

Once you’ve optimized your website, ongoing Link Building assists your site to outrank your competitors when customers are searching for your products or services. As a small business, startup, or entrepreneur, being found on the first few pages of search engines may be challenging, but it is 100% reachable. Smart SEO strategies provide you with the latest techniques and technologies that will bring your business to where you want it to be.

Focusing on Link Building may seem tedious, but it helps you capitalize on your online endeavors. It is a process that will not only build your website, but also improve your overall business strategies.

Are you puzzled by how Link Building works & what type of optimization works best for your site?  If so, check out our How It Works section of our affordable SEO website for more information & feel free to contact us!

5 Steps to Using Competitive Intelligence to Enhance your Online Marketing Efforts

Learning about your competitors is a great way to enhance your business and give it a competitive edge. These 5 simple steps will enhance your Online Marketing strategies:

Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the competition.

Do you know who your online competitors are? To run a successful business, familiarize yourself with all the ins-and-outs of your business as well as your competitors.  Compare your performances with theirs in order to help you achieve a competitive advantage and design an effective marketing strategy. Your new competitive intelligence solutions will allow you to gain more business awareness, make logical business decisions, and maximize ROI.

Step 2: Brand your company to be become more visible.

Are your potential clients aware of your company offerings? Do they know who you are?  The visibility of your company website in search engines is becoming increasingly important, and the smartest way to approach this is to go to the major search engines (such as Google, YouTube, Facebook) and see who is ranking on the first positions.  If you are not appearing on the first page of any of the mentioned above search engines, your website needs to be optimized and the next step for your company is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for the keyword phrases that represent your niche products/services.

Step 3: Mimic your competitors’ online marketing success.

Online activity continues to grow and change everyday, therefore online marketing continues to grow and change as well. In order to maintain effective Internet marketing, identify which of your competitors are online.  Do they have multiple websites?  Are they appearing in online directories? How are their rankings compared to yours?

If you discover that competitors are receiving mass traffic from specific sites, reach out to those sites and brand yourself within those online spaces.

Step 4: Provide excellent customer service.

The most effective way to retarget clients is to provide them with excellent customer service so that they come back to your business.  It is important to clearly explain your product offerings at the time of purchase to set the right expectations. There is nothing worse than negative publicity, especially when you are online.

Step 5: Stay on top of your competition.

After you’ve followed these steps, staying on top of your competition is the next challenge. The best way to keep growing and be effective is to keep building your competitive intelligence. Set milestones, and continue to monitor your marketing strategies and the impact your enhancements are having on your competitors. Develop a marketing strategy that ties your new competitive edge with your marketing goals.

Good luck, and continue to incorporate competitive advantage into your marketing mix. This will allow you to gain more insights in the industry and remain ahead of your competitors. All your information will enhance your online marketing efforts and make your business more successful.

Are You Ready To Explore a Facebook Company Page But Need a Little Help?

There is great hype about Social Networking, and it is one of the best ways to connect with your target audience.  Why? Social Networking helps people get more connected! Over the past few years the strategy of the big online social networks have concentrated on building a great amount of followings to eventually generate income from targeted audiences. Engaging with people on these social networks allow the demographic you are targeting to take action on company pages.

Here is a great success story about a Hair Salon in Seattle, Washington that has greatly benefited from having a Facebook Company Page, Twitter page & company Blog:

Emerson Salon was a typical salon in Seattle, Washington. When co-owners Matt Buchman and Alex Garcia decided to buy and makeover the salon in 2008, they needed a new business model that was both affordable and effective to make the salon a success. Their primary focus for marketing was to use the Internet. Today, over 75% of Emerson Salon is sourced from Social Media, including Facebook, Twitter, and their blog. “It’s rare for even a walk-in customer to come in and not have read our blog or seen our tweets,” says Buchman.

Are you curious to see how Buchan and Garcia built a successful online community? The answer is actually quite simple. Here are some ways they did it:

• Upon entering Emerson Salon’s website, links to all their social profiles, stylists’ social profiles, blog feed, and a button where users can book their next appointment online is visible right away.
• After booking an appointment, a user can share their appointment with friends on Twitter or Facebook.
• Emerson Salon stays tuned in with the community. Buchan explains, “whether it’s talking about the next local street fair, things we are passionate about, or just our latest hair cut special, social media is a great place to engage the community.”

Since introducing social media into the marketing mix, traffic to Emerson Salon’s website has more than tripled. They were able to use social media effectively by providing regular content to attract customers, keep their audience engaged, and generate more returning clients. Social media also helped Emerson Salon inform their clients about the latest offers, current products, trendy hairstyles, up-and-coming events, and their stylists’ profiles. Don’t underestimate the power of social media because as we have seen here with Emerson Salon, social media can be your business’ new platform to success.

The Influence of Facebook

For those companies seeking to improve your brand identity, improving your Facebook company page is a great way to go. Facebook is one of the fastest growing social media networks and is increasingly becoming another home page for businesses. With more than 550 million users around the world (and getting thousands of new users every day), Facebook is one of today’s best places to increase online identity, entertainment, and content distribution.

There is no better time than now than to revisit your company page and improve its presence. The challenge is not to just get more traffic on your company page, but to get users to “like” your page. It’s an advantage when visitors “like” your page and become a fan because they will be updated on the latest things you publish, and it may also appear on their wall so that their network can become familiarized with your brand. Once you have their support, there is a great marketing opportunity for you to showcase your business and it’s products and/or services.

Having a Facebook page that captivates users, receives “likes” and gathers a solid fan base is a challenge, so let us give you a hand. If you’re interested in ways to tune-up your company profile for maximum effect, here are some ideas that may give your page the boost it’s looking for:

• Utilize the Welcome Tab on Facebook
• Add your company logo to brand your company effectively.
• Add your company headline
• Add your company Info
• Set up your privacy settings
• Stay connected with your social network & fans.  Post often & respond to comments in a timely manner.
• Create a clear “call to action” graphic to receive more “likes” from your visitors. Visit our welcome page to get an idea of what we’re talking about!
• Incorporate more “shareable” photography to engage your followers and provide more insight on your brand and what it represents. If you’re a local business, play up your localness in photos.
• Embed a YouTube video.
• Insert a “share” or “invite your friends” button so fans can interact with potential clients.
• Put up a “product commenting” section to have your products/services “liked” and commented on.
• Hide content from non-fans to encourage visitors to “like” your page and become a fan.
• Share your new company page with all of your social communities.
• Create a username on Facebook once you have enough new fans.
• Don’t leave your company page in the dust, track it with Google Analytics!

The LinkedIn Effect

LinkedIn® has proven time and time again to be an effective networking tool for professionals to reconnect, strengthen, and extend existing contacts with one another. It also has the ability to charge up your professional career and introduce you to prospective clients, which in turn will increase your revenue. The growth rate is astounding, 100 million new LinkedIn members per week. Its success has lead to the creation of LinkedIn Today, a new news product for professionals. LinkedIn Today is a professional profile of information and insights across the web.

Why get started with LinkedIn Today?

• It is a news feed that surfaces the top stories in your industry that matter to both your connections and you, your industry peers, and the wider professional audience.
• This amazing news feed allows you to follow multiple industries. It also streamlines the top news associated with the industry you are following.
• If you’re on the go, LinkedIn Today is accessible with the iPhone & Android applications.
• If you like the article you’re reading, you can share it with your network or post it as an update. If you happen to not finish reading an article, you can save it and take a look at it at a later time.

If your interested in starting your own business, LinkedIn today will help you view what your business and social community is checking out online. It has found its own place in the news sharing market, and its content is adaptable and customized to help you out. It will introduce you to new providers and businesses that are relevant to your industry. It will help you establish a platform of information, better understand who your business reaches, and maintain a competitive informational advantage. It will inevitably bring awareness to and recognition of your business!

A recent study from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reveals that more Americans are dedicating their time reading news online. The more online news that businesses and brands consumers read about, the more word-of-web referrals they receive. Nearly one-third of consumers personally favor brands affiliated with news content on social sites. This will stimulate more news in your Linkedin Today account!

LinkedIn Today is an awesome way to help you get more informed without information overload. It seems it will evolve into something even greater than it is now, especially with the high awareness LinkedIn has reached. Not only will it benefit your own professional career, but it will also help your new business reach its maximum potential. Good luck with all your LinkedIn networking endeavors!

Marketing Strategies: Essential for Startup Growth

With so many different companies out there in today’s world, a solid marketing strategy is essential.  Without an effective small business marketing strategy, your company will not be able to bring in new business because no one will know your business exists!   Create a marketing plan today!

What will a marketing plan do for your business?

1. Build awareness of your business. This will help more people know about your company and the services it provides.
2. Create your company’s image. With a marketing plan, you have the option to create your company’s image.  By doing this, you will enable more people to share your brand and discuss what it has to offer.
3. Develop your customer base for up-selling. Once you establish customers with your marketing plan, you will be able to offer them your other services.  This can be a great way to up-sell more products and services to your already loyal following.
4. Use strong advertising messages to set your company apart from competition. A marketing plan will allow your company to create a message that will help differentiate your company from your competition.  This will enable more consumers to choose your brand over another.
5. Understand and create the best marketing mix strategy for your company. Find the best marketing methods to advertise your company. A mixture of marketing methods will help you share your message in a variety of ways.

How should you go about establishing a plan?

1. Create a marketing budget. You will need to decide how much you want to spend on each aspect of marketing.  If you are a startup, you need to devote quite a bit of money toward marketing efforts in order to establish a customer base.
2. Research and identify your customers. It is important to understand your target market.  This will give you an idea of how to advertise your products and services to potential customers.
3. Choose a marketing mix. What combination of marketing tools do you want to utilize?  Newsletters, word of moth, promotions, and print advertisements, are just some of your choices.  Deciding on a small business marketing mix will help your company have a solid marketing plan.
4. Stick to your marketing budget. This will allow you to follow your goals and keep in line with costs.  You can also make sure you using your budget effectively.
5. Get professional help. Utilizing a marketing firm can be a great idea.  This can help take away some of the stress involved in planning.  A professional company can help you create an effective marketing plan that allows you  to use your budget in the most efficient way.

What are other small business marketing tips?

1. Research current marketing trends and learn how they might impact your target market and how they might fit in with your marketing plans.
2. Hold meetings with staff members to discuss marketing strategies and to enable everyone to understand the goals and process of the plan.
3. Take a look at your competition and see how they are marketing their brand.
4. Re-assess relationships with marketing companies to make sure they are helping you with your marketing needs.

These marketing strategies for startups will help you market your brand effectively, and bring in more customers.  Creating a marketing mix that follows your company goals can help create a small business marketing solution that truly works.  Make sure that your brand stands out!

How Can Social Media Help Your Business?

You’ve heard it before: Social media is the new marketing tool!  Social media can help a business bring in more customers! Small businesses should look to social media as an online tool to increase sales!  While these statements can be true, it is important to plan out social media efforts before attempting to utilize online marketing tools.  Consider these questions before taking advantage of social media marketing.

What are the needs of my business? What are you trying to accomplish with your marketing efforts?  Maybe this will allow multiple staff members to contribute to your business’s marketing.   You might be looking for a more cost effective way to advertise.
What am I using the site for? Think about your goals for using these sites.  You may be looking for sales and customer leads.  Maybe you want to connect with others in your industry.  Are you looking to hire more employees?
Whose attention am I trying to get? You will want to make sure that you are reaching your target market.
Which sites do I want to take on? If you have a small staff, it may be beneficial to only focus on one or two social media websites.  This will make sure that you do not take on too much.
Who’s going to manage my page? You will want to decide if current employees will be managing your social media pages.  If so, which employees should have take on this role?  Remember that in order to build a community, you must be involved so if you do not have the time to post regularly, outsource it to a company that can engage with your potential fans/clients.
Who has access to my page? Make sure you consider who will be able to access your pages.  You do not want someone handling your social media efforts if they do not have a good character or are not skilled in social media.
Who’s going to be the personality of my page? It is important to consider who will be representing your business.  It is important o have a consistent voice throughout all social media websites.

Choosing Your Social Network

There are many free to use sites. Consider Facebook, Twitter, Friendster, Myspace, Ning, etc.  These free website can be a great way to socialize, and are easily customizable.

There are professional social media sites. If you are looking for a more professional social media site consider using LinkedIn, FastPitch or Plaxo.  These sites are a great way to try social media networking.

There are industry specific sites. These sites allow you to look for businesses and people with particular skills and backgrounds.

Social Media Marketing Fan Features

Make sure to comment on other user posts. This allows you to engage in a conversation with users, and shows your appreciation.

Ask questions on your wall. By asking questions on your wall, you will get valuable feedback.

Post links to content on your Facebook business page. If you have interesting content, other users will share it.  This can bring more people back to your page.

Post relevant events. This can help you bring in more attendees to an event.  It also shows people what kinds of things your business is doing.

Social Network Promotions

Make sure promotions offer benefits to users. Customers will be more likely to participate if there is a benefit.

Talk about new features of products. Showcase new and interesting aspects of your products.

Include discounts and other savings. This is a great way to get customers to try and support your products or services.

Don’t just post sales-related messages. Discuss industry topics or news, and provide other relevant information.

Establish expectations and stick to them. If you also plan on providing resources and information, make sure that you do that!

A social network strategy can go a long way. With these hints, you will be well on your way to a great social network strategy.

Benefits of Using WordPress