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Posts Tagged ‘google’
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
There are some marketers that are quite sensitive when it comes to any foray into social media by Google. Google doesn’t have a great record for long term support of projects if they don’t grab everyone’s attention immediately, so there is a little resistance to Google+. The feeling in some quarters is simple enough – why expend energy if the whole concept quietly slips under the carpet in a year or two? Whilst I understand their feelings, I don’t think they are right this time; in fact, I think Google+ is here for the long haul.
One thing is certain, Google is still pumping resources into the project, and their latest offering for website owners includes functional and cosmetic changes to the Google+ button. These changes include:
- the ability to configure a badge to a suitable width
- changing the background color of a widget to match your page’s color
- including a widget that displays your Google+ profile’s circle count
As a marketing tool, website owners have nothing to lose by including a badge on their sites. According to an article on WebProNews, some businesses are receiving a 30% increase in followers simply because of the widget. If your content is of a reasonable standard, then you shouldn’t find it too difficult to encourage readers to click on social media buttons. There’s no harm in inviting your readers to click on social media buttons – they are often sharing a good story with friends whilst bookmarking an entry for future reference.
When it comes to marketing, you need to use every tool that adds to your website’s exposure. Google+ looks to be one widget that’s here for the long run – are you badged yet?
Tags: google, website badges, widgets
Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »
Sunday, January 8th, 2012
Think about commercials on television. Which ones can you just not forget? You know, the ones you catch yourself singing their theme song or repeating verbatim parts of the commercial? Those are the ones that are constantly on the TV. Every time you turn around, they are showing the same commercial again. This is a good market strategy.
Yes, they are annoying to us. However, they are bringing in money for the company by inundating the viewing public. That is what small businesses need to do with their online marketing campaigns.
It’s sort of like brainwashing. For instance, if you are constantly hearing in the background about a certain cold medicine. You are not really listening because you don’t need it. But, when you get sick, your subconscious is going to quickly remember all the commercials you have heard about this certain cold medicine. And, you are sick enough you want to try it.
Online marketing needs to be out there on a regular basis. Not just one ad all the time. Mix it up and have different ads going all the time so that your brand, products and website are getting ingrained in people’s minds. This is one of the oldest forms of advertising and still one of the most effective.
Since you are already thinking of new advertising campaigns for this year, think about how often you can afford to place ads all over the internet and especially social network sites. You just never know where your next customer will come from.
Tags: advertising, facebook, google, internet marketing, online marketing
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011
You have your brand new website up and running. It looks fantastic and you have a lot of great products listed along with article or blogging content. Are you wondering what else you could do to enhance your website?
Consider doing various videos or podcasts about you, your business, what your products are and other ways. The general online public loves short podcasts on just about anything.
For instance, maybe your website business is providing a service. Whatever the service is, you could have short videos on tips and tricks of the trade to help someone do something instead of always hiring to have it done.
You can also have a how-to section for people who like to have do-it-yourself projects. Look at it as giving away freebies. Everyone loves freebies and if you give your customers something, they will be sure to give back by purchasing something from your website.
It’s also a great way for SEO. Podcasts and YouTube videos will get you moved up in the search rankings faster than without them, thats for sure.
If you are not sure how to go about making videos, there are a lot of self-help videos online. See there! You are even using them now! A world of information is right at your fingertips so why not use it to optimize your business presence on the internet.
With a new year upon us, now is the perfect time to try something new. You will be surprised at how effective videos are on your marketing campaign. You can even attach them to your marketing emails for an even bigger response.
Tags: advertising, google, online marketing, small business, YouTube
Posted in Video Marketing | 2 Comments »
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
One of the best ways to market your business at a low cost is to use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. However, because of the sheer number of users who practically live on Facebook all day, it can be hard to market the one business you have and get a lot of hits to your status posts and website in general. So how do you go about it? The following tips will help you build your business on the social media sites.
- Have a website or a blog. There are a number of free sites where you can start a website and/or a blog. The sites are customizable and easy to use. Not only will you be able to put your products on the site, you will need to keep information up to day in the form of a blog post or article. Once that is done, link your site to all the social media sites, including Facebook, Google + and Twitter. Link to as many as you feel comfortable doing on a daily basis. Alternatively, you can also hire a business consultant who will help you get a website set up and give you pointers.
- Emails and Comments. Stay in contact with the people who visit your site. If they make a comment, be sure to respond back. The same goes for emails. Emails are a great way to build a client base and to market sale items. At the same time, put a status on the social media sites about the sale or a comment about the new post for everyone to read.
- Third Party Endorsements. Search for online magazines or journalists who typically write about the brand and/or products you have. Ask to be interviewed, don’t wait to be. There are thousands of small businesses out there and you may never get noticed. If you have a third party endorsement, it will go a long way in building integrity for your business.
All it takes is thinking about a different way to brand and market your business. It’s a new world with new ideas, so jump on the bandwagon and try your hand at standing out from other businesses in order that your on line presence will grow.
Tags: advertising, blogging, Branding, business, facebook, google
Posted in Social Media | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Anyone who has surfed the internet for several years will remember the early days when you had to search for something with several words separated by + signs. Sometimes you got good results and sometimes you didn’t. It all depended on how you phrased the words. It could cause a migraine to say the least.
With new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics, it has become much easier to find what you are looking for. And now, you can usually find what you are wanting with a very simple term, such as cell phones. The search engines then pull several pages of cell phones.
Google is the most used search engine with 65.3% of users while Yahoo dropped to 15.5% according to SearchEngineWatch. Google even uses auto-complete to finish the search for you. It is not always right, but it’s quite eery to think that a computer can actually finish our sentences as well as it does.
Small businesses can take advantage of this by branding their business. If you have a unique name, brand it so that the search engines will catch it with just one word. For example, say your business is named “Tiny’s,” and you deliver pizza. A search for that one word by someone in your town could pull up your business so that consumers can find you. Of course, a lot of times it’s not that easy to brand your business.
But, if you want to move up in the ranks of the search engines, think along the lines of branding something that will be unique to your business. Between a brand and a logo, you could in essence have your online business grow as you have never imagined it would. If necessary, search for small business consultants who can help you get your name out there.
Tags: Branding, google, internet marketing, online marketing, SEO
Posted in SEO for Small Business | 4 Comments »
Thursday, December 15th, 2011
We hear a lot of information about how social media is a great marketing tool. It is a great marketing tool, but is it better than other marketing tools? It depends on the market and how well you get your information out.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is actually the better way to go for small businesses. A recent Merchant Confidence Survey shows that 35% of small businesses use and are optimized by SEO over the social media marketing. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and others is standing at 16%.
Surprisingly, traditional media such as newspapers, yellow pages and radio advertising are behind the SEO ratings at 19%. The proof is there. More small businesses are utilizing the SEO marketing tool over any other type of marketing.
At the same time, the survey also suggests that 70% of all small businesses do use Facebook over any other social media like Google, LinkedIn, Yahoo and Myspace just to name a few.
It is easy to see why marketing tools, no matter what they are, are very important to a small business website. The more information you get out about your business, the better off you will be. If you can consistently write a blog, interact with people on social media and do traditional advertising, chances are your business will grow even bigger.
If you are just learning the ropes on SEO and how to market your business, think about speaking with a consultant who can give you tips and ideas on the direction you need to go as far as your business is concerned. A new year is just around the corner, and now is the perfect time to start getting something in place for the coming year.
Tags: advertising, business, facebook, google, internet marketing, SEO, social media marketing
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
There is a new contender on the block as far as Facebook is concerned. Google has just announced it’s newest product, Google + brand pages. Google+ brand pages look a lot like Facebook’s fan pages for businesses or brands. The platform is still in beta stage but is open to the public.
Since Google+ is still less than a year old, they don’t have the following yet that Facebook has but it’s only be a matter of time. Why, you ask? Simply because of the name, or brand, if you will. The Google name will go a very long way in bringing in numbers.
The new Google + has some of the same styling as Facebook as far as profile, pictures, friends and news pages. Friends are put in circles, such as friends, family, etc. There is also an option to choose the latest news headlines or people you find interesting and add them to your pages as well.
Additionally, Google already has a good grasp on search and other means of keeping track of what people are searching for online. Think about your ad placed on Google +. This alone could be a potentially big boost for your business. Google + is already ahead of the game in this area. More so than Facebook.
On Google + you can start a “hangout.” There is a webcam attached so all of your friends or business acquaintances can get together and visit or talk about business. It seems there will be a little bit of Skype, Facebook and YouTube all rolled into one platform. That will be much simpler than having to tab back and forth between them.
It’s going to be interesting how well Google + is received. For all intents and purposes, it looks like it’s going to be a huge success simply because of the name.
Tags: advertising, Branding, facebook, google, internet marketing, Social Media, social networking
Posted in Social Media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
In the business world, advertising is everything when it comes to keeping a business going. Especially small businesses. Yes, large corporate companies advertise all the time and spend large amounts of money to do so. A lot of people can’t do that when running a small business on a budget.
That does not mean you should ignore advertising altogether. Far from it. A small business has to get their name out there in order to thrive against the large corporations. One way to do that is online. Advancing technology is where advertising lies right now. So what do you do? The following tips will help you get more exposure. Which in turn, will bring in more business and will not cost you an arm and two legs.
- Start a free blog about your business. You don’t have to have an expert copywriter do this (although, you can – wink wink). WordPress, Blogspot and other free blogging platforms offer step-by-step tutorials for setting up your business on a blog. You can then write something regularly about your business. You can post your blog to several websites that will send your blog to many areas of the internet. You will have people reading about your business from half a world away.
- Start a fan page on Facebook. Almost everyone is on Facebook today, or Twitter, or LinkedIn. This is a great way to meet people, talk about your business and get the ball rolling. Once again, post something every day about your business. It will bring customers to the door.
- Craigslist is another freebie you can use to advertise your business. The advertising can be put in different time slots so you have a new ad running virtually all the time. Someone, somewhere is bound to see it.
- Use Google Local to list your business. You can put the pertinent information such as phone number, address and any products you sell. Then when someone wants to search for what you are selling such as flowers in Anytown, USA, your business will pop up in the search results for that particular area. People are using this type of search instead of the traditional yellow pages books.
This is just a small sample of what you can do online to promote your business. Why not take the plunge and reap the rewards of online advertising for your small business.
Tags: advertising, blogging, Branding, facebook, google, internet marketing, online marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Posted in Blogging for Small Business | 11 Comments »
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
When you think of doing business online, do you first think about those big businesses with million dollar budgets? You don’t have to. Small businesses are alive and well on the internet.
So, where do you fit in? What’s up with all that talk of keywords, SEO, social media, and such? There are three basic elements that will drive your business online. They are:
- On-Page Content – If possible, have mixed content on your site. Take advantage of articles, videos, etc. and provide your site visitors with a wide range of content to match their interests. Optimize your content to help it rank better in the search engines for your most profitable keywords.
- Off-Page Content – Content you create for marketing off of your website is good for building links back to your site and delivering new visitors to the site.
- Behind The Scenes Content – This is the code that makes your website visible to search engines and web browsers. You can have too much and you can have the wrong kind. Make sure your code is optimized for better results in the search engines.
Since the internet is growing by leaps and bounds, it is very important to have these elements successfully optimized on your website. It sounds complicated, but it really is not.
With the right guide and a good web marketing strategy you can build a great website with excellent on-page content, a wide variety of off-page content that drives traffic to your site, and great code that gets you well deserved rankings in the search engines.
Tags: advertising, google, keywords, link building, PPC, search engine optimization, SEO, small business
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 3 Comments »
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Everywhere you turn, you can hear someone talking about a blog. Whether they are writing a blog or they are reading a blog, one thing is for sure. Blogs are wildly popular. And one more thing is certain – social networking is the most popular thing on the Internet. You might as well jump on the bandwagon and market your business this way.
Blogs are like websites, but you have social interaction with your viewers. Many blog sites are free and easy to use, too. Each time you post a blog, it looks as if it is an individual web page. This can make for a more dramatic look when viewed by your visitors.
Putting your business ideas into a blog will bring your business more potential customers and an audience who wants to see what you are discussing. Not only can you post your ideas in your own words, you can also have a shopping area where customers can view your products and make purchases.
One of the key things to remember is SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. If you focus your blog posts on the proper keywords and phrases, then you’ll increase your chances of obtaining high search engine rankings. For instance, if you sell gardening products and a prospect Googles “gardening,” if you have a lot of the right keywords (gardening, garden, etc.) in your blog posts, Google will favor your blog posts over those of your competition that are not well optimized.
If you aren’t sure where to start, contact Small Business Mavericks for a free consultation. We have a lot of experience and can get you off to a good start with your new business blog.
Tags: advertising, blog, blogging, content, google, internet marketing, keywords, online marketing, SEO, Social Media
Posted in Small Business Internet Marketing | 8 Comments »
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