WSI Blog - Search Engine Marketing - Trends, Tips, Tricks, etc.

Social - Local - Mobile (So-Lo-Mo)

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:49:20 GMT

Social - Local - Mobile (So-Lo-Mo)
While many companies are now using Facebook and Twitter as part of their marketing strategies, few of them are incorporating location-based applications into their marketing plans. According to eMarketer, 33 million people used a location-based application in 2010 and the number of mobile social network users is predicted to double 2010 – 2015.

It’s free and easy to put your business on this “map”, enabling you to get marketing exposure from people who voluntarily track and post their locations online. So why hasn’t every business verified their location on Foursquare or other location-based social media applications?

The fact is that many businesses and marketers are confused about where to begin and how.

What is Social Location Mobile?
Social Location Mobile refers to consumers interacting with brands, products and businesses by updating their social networks with their locations via their mobile phones. Broadly defined, it refers to any location-based engagement a consumer takes to interact with a geographic area via their mobile device. Social Location Mobile is based on two things:

1. Social Location Sharing
2. Social Location Marketing

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Competitive Analaysis Tools

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:15:59 GMT

Spying On Your Competitors - Best Competive Analysis Tools
In the below video, there are 5 different competitor analysis tools that you can use to start spying on competitors.

#1: Google Keyword Research Tool
* URL: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Use this keyword research tool to find out which keyword phrases your competitors are trying to rank for. It will also show you how many times those phrases get searched, how competitive it is and average cost per click if you decided to bid (PPC) for those keywords.

#2: RankChecker
* URL: http://tools.seobook.com/rank-checker
Use this rank checker tool to find out where in Google, Yahoo and Bing your competitors are ranking for the keyword phrases you have researched in step #1.

#3: Compete
* URL: http://www.compete.com
Use this web research tool to find out how much estimated web traffic is going to your competitors website.

#4: SpyFu and KeywordSpy
* URL: http://www.spyfu.com
* URL: http://www.keywordspy.com
Use these ppc research tools to find out if your competitor are doing any paid search marketing (adwords). This PPC tool will also show you how much they are paying per click, which phrases they are bidding for, variations of their ad copy and much more!

#5: Market Samurai
*URL: http://www.marketsamurai.com
Use this SEO research tool to find out how your website compares to the top 10 results in Google for your main keyword phrase. It will show you your competitors page rank, number of pages, incoming links, anchor text links, domain age and much more data that is all valuable when doing your SEO research.

Other Internet Marketing Tools You May Want To Check Out:
1. SEM Rush: http://www.semrush.com
2. Google Insights: http://www.google.com/insights/search
3. SEO Quake: http://www.seoquake.com
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Got Questions? Feel free to call 310-909-8835

Also, posted on Grow Plumbing.

Productivity

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 23:03:45 GMT

Productivity

These 7 Productivity Tips were posted by Iiya Pozin on the inc.com website. (Click Here To See Article) View the tip and assess yourself to see if you are guilty of any of these tips. Also, see if you can take one or two of them and improve yourself. (I will give it a try and report back in the comments.) Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts or tips.

Here are his tips for staying productive:

1. Work backwards from goals to milestones to tasks. Writing “launch company website” at the top of your to-do list is a sure way to make sure you never get it done. Break down the work into smaller and smaller chunks until you have specific tasks that can be accomplished in a few hours or less: Sketch a wireframe, outline an introduction for the homepage video, etc. That’s how you set goals and actually succeed in crossing them off your list.
2. Stop multi-tasking. No, seriously—stop. Switching from task to task quickly does not work. In fact, changing tasks more than 10 times in a day makes you dumber than being stoned. When you’re stoned, your IQ drops by five points. When you multitask, it drops by an average of 10 points, 15 for men, five for women (yes, men are three times as bad at multitasking than women).
3. Be militant about eliminating distractions. Lock your door, put a sign up, turn off your phone, texts, email, and instant messaging. In fact, if you know you may sneak a peek at your email, set it to offline mode, or even turn off your Internet connection. Go to a quiet area and focus on completing one task.
4. Schedule your email. Pick two or three times during the day when you’re going to use your email. Checking your email constantly throughout the day creates a ton of noise and kills your productivity.
5. Use the phone. Email isn’t meant for conversations. Don’t reply more than twice to an email. Pick up the phone instead.
6. Work on your own agenda. Don’t let something else set your day. Most people go right to their emails and start freaking out. You will end up at inbox-zero, but accomplish nothing. After you wake up, drink water so you rehydrate, eat a good breakfast to replenish your glucose, then set prioritized goals for the rest of your day.
7. Work in 60 to 90 minute intervals. Your brain uses up more glucose than any other bodily activity. Typically you will have spent most of it after 60-90 minutes. (That’s why you feel so burned out after super long meetings.) So take a break: Get up, go for a walk, have a snack, do something completely different to recharge. And yes, that means you need an extra hour for breaks, not including lunch, so if you’re required to get eight hours of work done each day, plan to be there for 9.5-10 hours.

SEO Is King!

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:39:02 GMT

SURVEY SAYS SEO IS KING
MerchantCircle conducted a survey in November and the survey polled over 1.6 million small businesses. Over 80% of the people surveyed were from business with less than four employees. The most interesting finding was that (63 percent) had yearly advertising and marketing budget of $2,500 or less.

Also interesting is how high “traditional media” ranked. That category would include newspapers, yellow pages, direct mail, traditional radio and so on. Newspapers and direct mail were the top traditional channels being used by this group of survey respondents.

However Facebook (not Facebook Ads) was the most common marketing tool, used by 70 percent of these SMB respondents. The question was, “Are you promoting your business with the following websites/services?”

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SEO Is The Single Most Important Marketing Activity For Small Business

WSI Search Engine Marketing Overview

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 22:06:12 GMT

Search Engine Marketing Overview Presentation

What is SEO? How do you do SEO for a website?

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:39:24 GMT

What is Search Engine Optimization?
Watch this video explaining SEO! In three minutes, the video covers the basics of SEO including; words matter, titles matter, inbound links matters, words in links (anchor text), and reputation are the basics.

Why do you care about Search Engine Optimization?

People don’t “surf the net” anymore, they search the internet. Data has shown that for B2C and B2B businesses, search engine marketing has proven to be one of the most effective and cost effective ways to create brand awareness and generate new leads.

91% of buyers go to a supplier's website before calling.
If they don't find what they need, 80% choose another supplier.

When it comes to search engine optimization, the content of your website will play one of the largest roles in determining how well your website will rank. Due to this, it is vital that your content be optimized for specific keywords and closely related terms.

Outline below are only a few of the processes involved in proper search engine optimization:

Link Building Process
Keyword Research
Competitive Analysis
Article Creation, Submission, and Announcement
Utilization of Meta-Data
Keyword Creation
Read more details

Top Questions to Ask Before Hiring an SEO Firm

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:20:02 GMT

Top Questions to Ask Before Hiring an SEO Firm
As search engine optimization (SEO) has made its way onto the radar of small business owners, e-commerce site managers and marketing executives, many companies have sought the expert advice of either an SEO firm or SEO consultant.

Unfortunately, because SEO is a constantly-evolving combination of art, science and math, there's a lot of confusion at the client end about what "SEO work" actually entails. Since client education is paramount to combat these bad experiences, I thought it would be helpful to offer the most important questions that clients should ask when hiring an SEO firm for their company's website – whether it's e-commerce or lead generation.

1. Can you explain how SEO works?
First, ask potential vendors to explain, in layman's terms, how SEO basically works. If they cannot explain what "on-page SEO" and "link building" are, how they optimize a site, that's a red flag. Ask, up front about their pricing structure as well. Is it retainer-based? Is there a contract to sign? (If so, is there a 30-day out?) Each company will probably have a different approach to their SEO work and their fee structure.

2. What methods does your firm use to get results?
Will they make changes to your existing web page coding or will they just be adding or revising meta tags? Will they be performing search engine optimization copywriting and editing to add relevant keywords to your visible page text? Will they be adding new pages, or possibly redesigning your navigation to make it more search engine friendly?

3. Can you provide a complimentary SEO evaluation of my internet presence?
Very important! Before hiring any SEO vendor, they should be able to provide you with a complimentary evaluation of your current web presence. A SWOT Analysis (which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) would be ideal.

4. Does your SEO firm or its principals have marketing experience background?
Search engine optimization is art, science, and math. When done correctly, all of these aspects including an understanding of how to motivate people to buy will ensure success.

5. Who is going to do the work on a monthly basis?
Establish whether the SEO company is going to be working on your behalf, or if they are going to simply create a strategy and have your in-house developers roll it out. Some aspects such as link building may be handled on their end, while on-page optimization may need to be fulfilled in-house. Iron out the details of “who does what”.

6. Will you be adding additional pages to my website?
If a search engine optimization company answers "no" to this question but answers "yes" to the question above, it likely means that it will be employing what I call the "shoehorn" approach to optimization. This means that the firm will try to shoehorn key phrases into existing pages on your website, rather than expanding your website to include new content.

7. What reports will I get and how often?
Having an SEO company working on your behalf isn’t very valuable if you don’t have a consistent flow of reports to inform you of changes in sales, signups, traffic or rankings. Make sure they intend to provide ample documentation of what was done and how it affected your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

8. How will your overall Return On Investment (ROI) be measured?
At the end of the day, SEO is a performance based campaign which should be (easily can be) measured with tight metrics which impact a company’s top line or bottom line.

9. What is the history of your company?
Find out how long they have been in business and why they decided to go into the SEO industry. People with experience have a great advantage in SEO because they know how the industry has changed and are more likely to be versed in what works and what doesn’t.

10. Can you provide a list of references?
This is the only way to truly get a read on how well a company performs and what kind of ROI you can expect is to talk directly to their previous and present clients. (If a client chose not to continue their SEO contract with that vendor, don't be shy about asking why.) Part of your responsibility as a client is to vet potential SEO firms, so make sure you're doing due diligence in each case.

Internet Marketing Strategy Guide (Download)

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 18:15:23 GMT

Internet Marketing Strategy Guide

Hubspot has created a 30 page simple to read and easy to understand internet marketing guide. This guide (The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing) is the best internet marketing guide. They break down internet marketing into eight simple steps. We strongly advise businesses to follow Hubspot's eight steps to internet marketing success. Download this guide and get started today.

Here is a sneak peak at the eight steps:

Step One: Create a Keyword Strategy
Summary - Select five keywords that people would search to find your business. Use Google Keyword Tool to indentify these five focus keywords.

Step Two: Optimize Your Website
Summary - Build these keywords into your website text/copy. Perhaps an individual page for each specific keyword, is a possible strategy. In other words, a page of your website will focus on one specific keyword.

Step Three: Create Blog and Other Content
Summary - This is a great way to add content to your website on a regularly (daily, weekly, or monthly) basis.

Step Four: Promote Content & Participate in Social Media
Summary - Share your content on many sites to make sure it is found by your target audience.

Step Five: Convert Site Traffic into Leads
Summary - It is important to make sure your webpage’s and your overall website has a specific "call to action". It should be clear to the visitor, the action you want them to take.

Step Six: Nurture Leads With Email Marketing
Summary - Companies that build relationships with their leads over time have the greatest success turning those leads into buying customers.

Step Seven: Be Mobile-Friendly
Summary - There are more and more search being done a iPhones, iPads, and Android devices. Creating a positive user experience on these devices will generate more leads and sales.

Step Eight: Analyze & Refine Strategies
Summary - Now that you have completed one through seven, your main goal is to use all the techniques to get found and generate new customers.

Download Internet Marketing Guide

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Learn SEO

Online Brand Repetution Management

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:25:52 GMT

Online Brand Repetution Management If you don't have the time...make it , or call a professional.
Don’t under estimate the impact that your online reputation has on your business. This is about how you search for products and services. Most people start with a typical search on the service or the product and when they find something that looks like it meets their needs, they “re-search” by searching directly on the person or company they are considering.

86% of consumers check out business reviews online before making purchasing decisions.*
90% of consumers trust the reviews they read!*
58% of searchers visit a competitor’s site after seeing negative comments!*

*Source: Kudzu research study

The Internet is forever…when people say bad things about good businesses those things don’t go away by themselves. In fact they never go away… they can only be displaced out of immediate sight. Repairing a damaged reputation is going to cost you time and money. You have to decide how much it is impacting your business. Unfortunately you never know about the consumers who never contact you.

There are many things you can do to establish and maintain your online reputation (Insert Link Here)if you are willing to integrate it into your regular business activities. If you don’t have the time… make it, or call a professional.

“If you’re not actively building your identity and establishing a presence online you’re letting search engines cobble together information, good or bad, and write your public story”
Jason Fitzpatrick
-Writer, Lifehacker Blog

About the Author:

Chuck Bankoff is a WSI Certified Research Analyst, and has certified other WSI Consultants around the world in Landing Page Design and Conversion Architecture strategies. Chuck is currently serving his third term on the Internet Consultant Advisory Council for WSI and is a sought after speaker at Internet marketing conferences in both the United States and Europe.

Download the insiders guide to manageing and leverageing your online repetition.

Download online brand reputation management monitoring and management.

Do you have a mobile version of your website?

info@wsiqualitysolutions.com — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:49:29 GMT

Mobile Friendly Website? Why You Need One?

Did you know:

--> There are almost 5 times more mobile devices than there are computers.
--> Text messages have a 95% read-rate, and are read in an average of 4 minutes.
--> 400,000 Google Android Activations Daily (every day)

Yes, your current website is probably available on a cell phone, but is it user friendly? Can people find what they are looking for? Is the print tiny with tiny pictures and is it impossible to click navigation? A mobile version will improve this experience and a mobile website is easier to drive sales leads and product sales. Across broad business categories, conversion rates are higher on mobile devices compared to computers.

Examples

Tracking Mobile Website Visitors
How do I see how many visitors are visiting my website from an iPhone, Android, iPad, Blackberry? Good questions, simple answer and we have created a list of steps below. Also, we have taken this question one step further. We have created a presentation and a video tutorial to help you answer the following question. How many conversions (leads or sales) I am receiving from mobile devices? Watch the tutorial below or watch the video tutorials. By the way, if you do not have Google Analytics installed,click here and we will install it for your for free.

How To View Your Mobile Website Visitors
1. Login to your Google Analytics account
2. On left navigation, click on ‘visitors’
3. Click ‘mobile’, then click ‘mobile devices’

How to track mobile website visits using Google Analytics

View more presentations from WSI We Simplify the Internet

Click Here or image below to watch YouTube Tutotial of the above presentation!

What Next!

Buy A Mobile Friendly Formatted Website - Contact us today and get a free quote 310-909-8835.

More Examples

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