Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

Google Analytics isn’t just for seeing how many website visits you get in a month; it is a powerful tool that gives you the ability to understand your customers and their needs based on statistical information. Customer behavior is often dictated by their geographical location and thankfully Google Analytics gives you information on customer location.

So how do you get location data in Google Analytics? Well Google has a handy section under visitors called “Map Overlay”. This allows you to see where your website visitors are located in the world, which you can drill down from country, to state and even to city level maps. 

If you are a company that targets customers in your local area - your surrounding neighborhood, city, or maybe the entire state; knowing how to access this geo-information can help you make improvements to your website content, advertising, etc. to increase traffic and conversions. How?

Find the content that is bringing your target audience and improve on it. Are particular products or content phrasing on your website resonating with a particular audience? Do people in your area use search strings that your website contains? Find the keywords that are driving your target location traffic to your site and write content focused on them.

Really understand who buys your product. Are you under the assumption your customer is from suburban locations? Google Analytics can show you that urban or rural users are actually the bulk of customers searching for your product or service. Knowing exactly who your client is, not who you think they are, helps you develop marketing and sales tactics that work.

Locational information also can tell you if you are limiting your business. By viewing your Google Analytics location information, you might discover that there is potential for expansion to another state or even internationally! Or, maybe you might want to consider adding an ecommerce option to your website that allows users to buy product from areas you aren’t currently doing business with.

Knowing where your customers are located helps you understand them. Understanding your customers allows you to market yourself and your company effectively for success! So be sure to start utilizing Google Analytics location data right away to start understanding where your customers are located and what they need.

Don’t currently use Google Analytics or need some help understanding what all the numbers mean? Contact WSI for an analytic consultation today.  

Online Marketing isn’t just for large companies. Actually, because it’s so accessible, Online Marketing is a perfect tool for small (to medium) businesses. Developing an Online Marketing Strategy gives small companies the potential to not only develop their brand and become a name in their industry, but also improve their bottom line from increased leads that turn into sales.

Here are a few tips for small businesses looking at promoting their businesses online:

1. Be sure that you have Google Analytics installed on your website. Obviously you want to be sure you are monitoring this data as well and using it to make improvements to your strategies.
   
   
2. Don't shun social media. You may think Social Media is just for fun, but in actuality these platforms are powerful Online Marketing tools that you should be taking advantage of. Social media plays an important role in organic search rankings, so ignoring this may be affecting your organic traffic and rankings. 
3. Develop a list of keywords. What are some words or phrases you would use to describe your company? If you wanted to find a competitor online, what would you type into Google’s search engine? Really think about these and develop a list of keywords that you can use for future content writing, PPC ads, etc.
4. Write a blog. Blogging has numerous benefits when it comes to Online Marketing – drive traffic from search engines, a platform for interacting with your customers, etc. Not to mention it shows users that you are an expert in your field. More content in more places = More customers. Several studies have been conducted to prove the previous point, and there is actually a strong correlation between how much quality content you produce and amount of leads/sales you get online. Think of your website and all your social profiles as an asset. You need to build those assets each and every month and the rewards will pay off.
5. Consider calling in an expert. You aren’t an Online Marketing Professional, right? There are consultants out there that understand what it takes to get a company online, generating traffic, and creating conversions – let them do what they do best and help you!

Online Marketing gives small businesses the ability to compete in today’s market. So why not give it a try? Get started by signing up for our FREE website scan which will give you the information you need to be successful online.

These days it seems that every time you turn around there is another social media platform you just have to be on, doesn’t it? Well Google+ is no exception. You might be saying to yourself “Why do I need to be on Google+ if my company is already on Facebook/ Twitter/LinkedIn?”

Well, in an effort to increase their users, Google has been making several changes that could determine your relevancy in organic searches. Search, plus Your World is a new feature that has been introduced with Google+. When signed into Google+ a users’ search results are directly affected by their social network, making search results more personalized.

Posts, photos, videos, and other content your company posts on Google+ will come up in search results for people that are following you on Google+. So it is important that you jump on the bandwagon and utilize this new social media platform to stay visible in your customers’ searches.

This could be another one of Google’s short term things they are testing and it might go away in a few months, or it might be here to stay. Either way, it’s a good idea to get something going on Google + and start building your business page and personal profile now.

Find out more about Social Media Marketing and how to utilize this growing trend by downloading our Social Media Marketing Strategy Kit.

Landing pages are a very powerful and diverse tool that not only affect conversions, but also allow for traffic measurement via website analytics. So, what are some of the things you could be utilizing landing pages for, that you might not currently be taken advantage of?

Pay-per-Click (PPC) Campaigns. Landing pages can be highly customized and geared towards targeted traffic. Use a landing page for your PPC ads to test different messaging and conversion tactics.

Banner Ads. Just like using a landing page for PPC, test out different messaging and content to increase conversions. A banner ad landing page shouldn’t be that different than the ad itself, obviously. Also, your landing page analytics offer (often unbiased) statistics on the ad server traffic numbers.
 
Email Marketing Campaigns. Use a landing page to measure the effect of an email marketing campaign. As always, if your landing page is well designed it can encourage users to convert and take additional action after receiving your email.

Social Media Campaigns. Was that new comment a result of your highly focused Social Media campaign, or is it a user who already regularly visited your site? Most commonly used social platforms do not allow you to see why a user is following/liking you. By using a landing page for focused social media campaigns, you are able to have a better understanding of your social conversion rates.

Increase conversions, test messaging, or have better insight into conversions – whatever the benefit you are looking for, using a landing page could be the answer! WSI can not only help you identify when and where you should be using a landing page, but we can also help you develop a landing page that converts!

You may not be aware of it, but Google has always had rules for websites collecting personal and financial information; especially when it comes to pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns ran on their popular platform – Google AdWords. The reason you might not have been previously aware of these rules? Until recently, Google has not been strictly enforcing them!

However, that is quickly changing - Google has been enforcing their rules as they apply to PPC campaigns and Privacy Policies being present on advertisers’ websites. Some campaigns have even been flagged and prevented from spending, until a Privacy Policy is added to their websites.

Google states that a Privacy Policy must include:

•  What personal information is being collected in the form
•  How the information will be used by the company
•  If and how personal information will be transferred to 3rd party companies
•  Instructions on how users can modify or delete their personal information
•  How users can opt out of future communications

Don’t let your PPC campaign(s) suffer! Find out more about Google’s PPC rules and be sure to include a Privacy Policy on your website. If you already work with an Internet Marketing Consultant, they can help you develop terminology that is not only appropriate for your industry, but also ensures Google will not shut down your PPC campaign(s).

You may have only dipped your toe in the Online Marketing water in 2011. Or, you might have just ignored most of the search/social/local online marketing talk that was floating around. Whatever the case might be, I want to encourage you to try and bring some key activities to your Online Marketing Strategy in 2012. Here are three things you should absolutely focus on in the coming months:

One, Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This should be number one on any Online Marketing plan in 2012. Afterall, what is the point of a website if no one is visiting it? Optimizing your current website, or building a website from scratch with SEO in mind should be your top priority in 2012. Start by identifying target keywords, focus on these when writing content, meta tags and meta descriptions for your website.

If you just don’t feel comfortable with handling SEO concepts, find an Internet Marketing Consult that can help.

Two, Social Media. Social media platforms aren’t just for fun these days. They are powerful tools that should be included in your Online Marketing Strategy in 2012. Social Media allows you to connect with your customers (and potential customers) on a level they are already actively using. Most consumers nowadays think a company doesn’t exist if they can’t find them on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. Speaking of Google+, this new social platform is primed to dominate 2012.

Three, Mobile Marketing. It seems everyone is mobile these days - more users are browsing the web via smartphones and iPads (tablets). Don’t be left out, include a mobile website in your 2012 Online Marketing Strategy! Make sure your current website is optimized for mobile use, or create a “mirror” of your current website for mobile users. Also, be sure your mobile site focus on the things mobile users need.

Make 2012 the year of success, by including these three key activities in your Online Marketing Strategy for the year. Get 2012 started the right way by getting your website score with our FREE Website Scan!

Did you know that using keywords in blog posts can increase your website/blog’s traffic? Here are a few tips to help you use keywords when blogging:

• Focus on one keyword per post. If you already have a list of keywords for your site, then this should be easy! Just pick one particular keyword and write a blog post based on it.
  
  
• Use the keyword early and often. Once you pick your own keyword or keyword phrase, be sure to use it right away – if you can manage it in the first sentence of the post (naturally of course). Also, use that keyword multiple times throughout the posts’ content – try a minimum of once per paragraph.


• Link the keyword to other blog posts and other sections of your website whenever possible.
  
  
• Use the keyword in your blog post title and url.


• Use keywords in tags and categories. Tags and categories are not only used for organizing content, but are also keywords themselves.


• Now, remember when I said put your keyword everywhere? Well, don't overdo it! Yes use your keyword in your blog title, url, and throughout the blog post, but be sure to not keyword stuff.

When writing a blog post, remember to use these keyword tips and you’ll increase your blog traffic in no time! Don’t have any targeted keywords? WSI can help you identify what keywords you should be targeting and how you can use them in your Online Marketing efforts.  

You probably are already running a PPC or pay-per-click campaign. You probably are getting a decent amount of traffic from your advertisements as well. So, why would I suggest you consider moving away from PPC and towards building your organic search traffic?

Well, let me start by saying that I think PPC traffic has benefits and you shouldn’t stop advertising this way completely. That being said, organic traffic has a different sort of value associated with the clicks. Let’s look at three highly valuable benefits of trying to increase your organic search traffic:

Increasing Organic Traffic or building a SEO Method makes you focus on content. When you start developing your organic search strategy you really get to focus on your website and what information you are putting out to the public.

Building a SEO strategy to increase organic traffic involves competitor analysis. By analyzing your competitors you get a better idea of what separates you apart from them, meaning you know what makes you better! Knowing the difference between you and your competition allows you to approach potential customers with ALL the information they need to make a decision.

Higher Quality Leads. According to eMarketer, only 25% of people will ever click on a Pay Per Click ad. That means that if you are heavily invested in PPC vs SEO, you may be missing 75% of your market online! Most companies will try to combat this by just investing more in PPC thinking that this will help them compete more effectively, and this does work somewhat, but the minute you turn off your PPC campaign your traffic stops. You are left with nothing but your previous leads/sales.

Also, according to Dan Zarella at Hubspot and the research they compiled recently, most people do not trust PPC ads. Organic search results are more trustworthy by a large margin. So not only are less people likely to click on your PPC ads, the leads you are going to get are not necessarily going to be the most qualified.

Now these are just a few of the many benefits associated with developing an organic search strategy. To be fair any traffic increase to your website can only be a boon, right?

Why not start increasing your organic search traffic by signing up for our free website scan? The scan will let you know where your website currently stands in search engines and how it stacks up to your competition.   

When considering starting a blog you have to decide what type of blogging is right for you (or your company). Let’s discuss the different types of blogs out there and the difference between them:

Long-form Blogging
This is considered the most traditional and original type of blogging out there. As the name suggests, long-form blogging is just that – blog posts in a long, often consistently formatted style. This WSI blog you are currently reading could be considered a long-form blog.

So, what is the benefit of long-form blogging? The obvious answer – space. While posts on this type of blog often take longer to create/write, they allow you to include all the information you want to get across. This allows you to educate the market on your topic without be constrained by 140 characters.

Common platforms for this type of blogging? Blogger, WordPress, and TypePad.

Micro or Short-Form Blogging
This is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of blogging out there. This type of blogging is short and usually ongoing status updates to your audience. While restricting how much information you can share at one time, this is a great method to keep in almost constant contact with your customers, or audience.

A popular platform for micro blogging is Twitter or Facebook.

Lifestreaming Blogging
Lifestreaming is a way of sharing activities of one’s life in a timeline format with very little educational information being shared. This type blogging is mainly short posts with lots of documents included. Types of documents often shared are photos, videos, mp3s, etc.

This type of blogging is not used very often for business, but is more of a self-promotional type of blogging style. 

Platforms for lifestreaming blogging – Tumblr or Posterous.

Once you have decided what type of blog will work for you and what platform you want to use, you can start focusing on building your blog and generating traffic. For more information on blogging and how you can make your blog a success read our other posts on blogging here.

Good luck and happy blogging!

Most companies, okay all companies, want to see a return on investment (or ROI) when it comes to their marketing. This allows them to assess if their marketing activities are worth the time and money being spent on them. Measuring the success of Social Media Marketing isn’t always easy to do, but not any less important than any other marketing initiatives.

When it comes to social media marketing success, you have to look at several factors:

Traditional metrics like page views, time spent on site, unique visits, and goal conversions – all of which can be found in Google Analytics.

Engagement metrics like Twitter retweets, or replies; Facebook likes, or comments; blogs comments, or links to posts.

Influence metrics like Twitter followers, Facebook friends or blog/RSS subscribers.

Now looking at the hard numbers is only half the battle when it comes to determining Social Media Marketing success. Unfortunately, when it comes to measuring SMM success, some of the data you are looking at is subjective. Sure you could say having 1,000 followers is better than only having 100, but what if those 100 followers are engaged, consistently re-share your posts across their networks, etc. and on the flip side you never hear a peep out of those 1,000 followers. Now those 100 are starting to look pretty good, aren’t they? So remember to look at the communication level behind the numbers when trying to measure Social Media Marketing success.

Need help making your Social Media Marketing worth the cost and a true success? Download our free Social Media Strategy Kit for insight into utilizing social media the right way.