Internet Marketing Tips, Tools and Strategies

Are you struggling to come up with topics that are appropriate for your company’s blog? Running out of content that is not only interesting to read and write, but that is informative to your customer? Thankfully there are a few great, and simple to use, tools out there that can help you do some blog topic research. These blogging research tools will help you stay abreast of what the hot topics in your industry are and should help you find subjects that you can blog about.

Blogging Research Tools to get you started:

Google Alerts: This is a blog research tool you might already be using, as it is a popular method people use to get news. Google Alerts is a free email alert service from Google, it notifies you when there are new web pages or new stories about a certain topic you are interested in. Why not create a few Google Alerts using keywords appropriate for your industry? Then you can pull key news articles for your blog posts.

Feed Reader: Feeds are incredibly useful for blogging research. Subscribe to the RSS feed from a blog or website that you are interested in. You can receive new blog postings, podcasts, and online news as they are updated that give you current topics being discussed in your industry.

Google Trends: Once you have found a few topics you want to blog about, enter them in Google Trend to view popularity of topics over time. This will allow you to research the blog topic and see the search popularity of it before you start writing blog posts.

Keyword Research Tool: Google’s free keyword tool can help you research keywords relevant to your blogging topic. By using the right keywords you can drive the right traffic to your blog post.

Use these blogging research tools to find interesting, pertinent and current information to write your blog postings. Your readers will appreciate fresh and relevant content.  

Want to know what other research tools are available? Want to stay updated on hot blogging tips? WSI wants to keep you informed, sign-up for our free newsletter – Inside Edge to receive more blogging tips.

It seems everywhere we look nowadays there is someone on a smart phone surfing the web, updating their Facebook page, or composing a Tweet. The popularity of mobile users on the Internet is growing, is it time you looked at creating a Mobile Website?

Google reports that about 1 in every 7 searches on the Internet are from a mobile device and by 2013 there will be more searches from mobile devices than from desktop devices. In fact 25% of Internet users around the world are “mobile only” right now, yet not many websites are mobile enabled.

You might not think that a website optimized for mobile usage is that important, but you have to consider a few key factors before making that assumption:

Search Engine Relevance – Search engines (such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) are trying to give their users the most relevant content and the best user experience they can. If a user is searching for a particular website on a mobile device, most search engines can detect what device the search is being conducted on and will give preference to mobile websites (or mobile enabled websites) over non-mobile counterparts.  

User Experience – A user is not going to dedicate time to viewing miniature versions of full websites if they do not function properly on their smartphone/tablet – basically every site that is not built for mobile devices specifically are going to function this way. Patience on the Internet is short, most users won’t “waste” their time by making text bigger and moving the website around the screen to read everything. Also, most users are trying to physically push on buttons with their finger thanks to touch screen advancements and zeroing in on a small icon with a forefinger isn’t always the easiest thing to do.

Digestible Information – Mobile users are not always looking for the same information that they would search for from a desktop; navigating through a mobile website on a phone is usually a “short and sweet” affair. Mobile searcher's wants are typically less, but more specific so you want to be sure you are giving them exactly what they are looking for. What is the most sought after items mobile Internet users are looking for on a mobile site? Company information, destination information, contact information and social media.  

Now that you understand why mobile website development is important and what mobile users are looking for, creating a mobile friendly version of your company website makes sense. Right? Why not get started today by downloading our free Mobile Marketing Strategy Kit.

We have discussed Social Media Marketing multiple times on the WSI blog, but I know not every one of you is actively using social media as part of your online marketing strategy. You might still be asking yourself “why is there such a buzz around social media and should my company utilize it?”. The answer is yes!

Yes, your company should be actively using social media as part of your companies’ online marketing strategy. But you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you? Well, let me give you some facts that highlight the reasons your company should be including social media in your marketing strategy:

• Nearly 4 out of 5 web users visit a social networking site on a monthly basis (source)
  
  
• Internet users worldwide spend more hours per week with social media than any other online activity (source)

• 46% of Internet users worldwide interact with social media on a daily basis (source)
  
  
• 72% of marketers said social media helped in closing business (source)
  
  
• 1 in 6 minutes spent online is spent on social media sites (source)
  
  
• 14% of time spent online is spent on social media sites (source)
  
  
• There are 10.7m Tumblr visitors in one month (source)
  
  
• There are 157.5m Facebook visitors in one month (source)
  
  
• There are 33.4m LinkedIn visitors in one month (source)
  
  
• 73% of consumers can be reached through a social network (source)
  
  
• 78% of marketers say that social media has helped generate more qualified leads (source)

Have I convinced you how important Social Media Marketing could be to your business? I am hoping that answer is a resounding yes!

Now, starting to utilize social media is only half the battle. Here are a few concerning social media statistics:

• 65% of marketers investing a minimum of 6 hours per week saw an improvement in search engine rankings (source) – don’t have 6+ free hours a week?
  
  
• 53% of managers identified social media as an area of concern (source) – don’t want your employees surfing the web at work? Don’t feel comfortable with social media?

What is the best way to avoid these social media marketing issues? Why not work with a Social Media Marketing expert? An expert can make social media platforms work for your company!

Find out more about social media by downloading our Social Media Strategy Kit. Or, contact WSI today to start working with a Social Media Marketing expert.

Video marketing is a great way to connect with your customers (or audience) and is playing a huge part in where the Internet Marketing industry is headed. Users are more inclined to watch videos now - they are easier, more dynamic, more entertaining, and more personable. Also, it doesn’t take much to get started with Video Marketing - you don’t need fancy equipment, a big production budget, or a super star in front of the camera.

Here are a few tips to create successful videos that promote your company:

What is your video going to be about? Think about that before starting to record. Target some keywords and not only use that in the title and description (more about this later) of your video, but be sure to actually discuss that topic (and keywords) in the video! Also, create an outline of your key points to help you cover all the items you want to discuss. Mentioning some of your keywords in your video is going to be more and more important as video search engines become more sophisticated and will continue to scan the content in your videos.  

An outline can also help you hook users in with content. I suggest “front loading” your marketing video by telling the viewer what they are going to get from this video in the first 10-45 seconds. You want them to watch the whole video and feel like they are being rewarded (or getting something) for watching the entire video.

Share your video and I don’t just mean on YouTube. Oh and by the way, you absolutely need to be on YouTube! Be sure to link to your video on all your social platforms – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. YouTube even makes this easy by allowing you to link to these and other social sites (orkut, tumblr, Blogger, Myspace, hi5, Bebo, and StumbleUpon) by clicking a link located under the video’s share tab. You should also consider creating a podcast feed for your videos.

Another great social trick to get more video views is to post your marketing video in the comment section of appropriate (for your industry) and popular Myspace pages. Example: sharing a cake baking how-to video on Martha Stewart’s Myspace page.   

Optimize your marketing video for search. When writing your video’s title, description and tags be sure to include your target keywords. Be sure to also include a link to your website within the description – hint: format your link like this - http://yourwebsite.com/, to make it clickable on YouTube.

Include a call-to-action at the end of your marketing video. You always want to direct your viewer to an action at the end of your video. YouTube allows you to add comments over the top of your video or you could always add a static page at the end of your video. No matter how you chose to do it, the point is to drive traffic back to your website for a sign-up, download, etc.

The last thing I want to share with you is this - Keep it short. Be yourself. Be energetic. Be comfortable.

Now get out there and start shooting your video!

So we already convinced you to write a blog for your business and shared tips how to get that business’ blog started. Now I want to discuss some additional things you could be doing to make your business’ blog more successful.

Know your traffic. Analyze your blog’s statistics; analytics not only lets you know you are doing something right, but they allow you to analyze where you can improve your business’ blog. I strongly urge you to add some type of analytics (Google Analytics being a popular choice) to your blog, or most major blogging platforms (Word Press, Blogger, etc.) have something built in or offer an easy plugin.

Don’t focus on just visits, really look at where your traffic is coming from and see if there are some areas you can improve to get more organic-search based traffic to your blog.

Know your audience. Look at who is already following and commenting on your business’ blog; do they fall into a particular age/professional/locational group? This will help you understand how you should be writing to your audience and hopefully attract more readers.

Know how to promote. Writing a blog post shouldn’t be the end game, you should be promoting all your business’ blog posts on all your social media networks as well. I suggest using Hootsuite to send a link to your newest blog post to all your social media networks. Also, try to encourage your employees to share your latest blog posts with their social networks.

Know how to comment. You should be responding to comments on your business’ blog whenever possible. This lets your readers know you appreciate them and encourages them to continue to communicate with you. Getting negative comments? Learn how to address these.

I hope these suggestions help you take your business’ blog to the next level and not only increase your readership, but also improve your blogging experience.

Recently my TV decided it didn’t want to work anymore and in an effort to save some money I decided I would try to fix it myself. A few frustrating hours later, with the back of my TV off with wires, cables, and a serious amount of dust everywhere, I was questioning why I didn’t call a TV repair expert? This got me thinking, in the land of Online Marketing, is it better to just call an Online Marketing Consultant or try to do-it-yourself?

Well, you need to ask yourself - what exactly do you get from working with an Online Marketing Consultant?

How about the obvious – they are online marketing experts. You are a business owner, and I think it is safe to assume, you know more about your products/services then you customers. The same can be said about an Online Marketing Consultants. They work with online marketing campaigns all the time and know what it takes to develop an online campaign that works.

Also, you need to think about time. Developing an online marketing strategy and executing that strategy can take a lot of working hours. Especially in competitive markets, it takes a small army to implement an effective online marketing campaign. Not to mention, once a campaign is launched the work is rarely over. Most online marketers continue to monitor results, test landing pages, and make tweaks for optimization after launch day.

The last thing you should consider when trying to make the decision between do-it-yourself marketing and working with a professional Online Marketing Consultant is the importance of your online presence. For most businesses being visible online is extremely important and not coming up on search engines can sometimes mean you are non-existent. Can you really say the cost of working with an Online Marketing Consultant outweighs having the online presence your company needs? I firmly believe that in the near future if a company doesn’t have a great online presence, they will NOT compete in their market (unless your brand is huge like Nike or Apple, but even they are a force online).

Now, you might think that being online isn’t as hard as fixing a TV, but I want to urge you to consider all the details of running an online campaign - keyword research, developing a successful website, working with Google (and other search engines), optimizing webpages, developing a social media strategy, backlink building, off-page marketing, on-page marketing, and much more…. Now those wires and cables aren’t as intimidating are they? Get started with a WebScan and initial consultation with WSI for free to see how your current strategy stacks up.

You might be asking me, why? Why should I create an email newsletter? Maybe you already do a little bit of promotional email marketing, or maybe you do no email marketing at all. In any case, if you are not currently sending out a newsletter to your customers or potential customers, you should consider it.

Now, I am not saying you need to develop a newsletter every month or in some cases – multiple times a month, but you should think about sending something (even once a year, or quarterly perhaps?) that lets your users know what is going on with your company. It reminds users you are there and in some cases makes them realize they meant to schedule an appointment, buy a new product from you, or even pick up the phone and ask you a question. Have I convinced you? I hope so!

Here are a few tips to get you started with your own newsletter:

• Have a standard format so you can just plug content in when it is time to send out your newsletter.
  
  
• Don’t be too wordy. I mean, you need to get information out there, but be sure to include images and other creative components to break up all that text. Another feature you could use, only put a portion of an article on a newsletter and have a link to your website for the user to read the rest (ex. click here for entire article). This makes your newsletter less wordy and brings traffic to your website!
  
  
• Don’t just sell yourself/product/company, be sure to give the newsletter recipient useful information they can use. Provide value!
  
  
• Talk to everyone who is a part of your company, find out what has been happening in different departments and compile content for your newsletter. If you decide to send a quarterly or yearly newsletter (opposed to a monthly) be sure to highlight important things that have happened over the course of 3 or 12 months. Also, if you are going to go with an extended time-frame don’t put everything in your newsletter, just the “big news”.
  
  
• If you are a company that relies on local business, consider adding news from your community (if it is relevant).
  
  
• Consider recruiting an employee to write a reoccurring column for the newsletter. This adds information from another voice that could be interesting to users.
  
  
• Create a compelling subject line for your email. This is really important if you want people to open your email. Make sure you get their attention without being spammy, pushy, or too controversial.

Well there you go - just a few tips to get you started thinking about your own newsletter. Be creative and have fun, your readers will appreciate it. To find out more information on email marketing and how it can work you for you, read our white paper - Email Marketing: Still the Powerful Engagement Tool That Turns Marketing Dollars into Highest ROI.

Whether you are already writing articles for SEO purposes, or want to start promoting your website through this popular SEO practice, be sure to consider methods that will take your web site to the next level. SEO article writing is critically important to a solid SEO strategy. Here are some key pointers to remember when doing SEO article writing and what you should avoid doing:

Don’t:

Repeat yourself for the sake of using keywords (otherwise known as keyword stuffing). You want to be sure to include your targeted keywords, but do it in a natural flow. Continually repeating your message throughout your article will just make users aware that you are writing it for SEO purposes and they won’t want to read it.

Sacrifice quality for content. This is sort of a repeat of the last don’t (going against my own suggestion, huh?), but bear with me. Not only should you not keyword stuff and repeat content in your article, but be sure that what you are writing is actually useful. Also, don’t post an article on a website if it has nothing to do with what that website is about (example: an article about SEO Content Writing on a cooking website).

Ramble or be unclear. You want concise messaging that gets your point across. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t be personable…use your voice.

Forget who you are writing to/for. Well yes, you are writing to boost some traffic to your site and hopefully improve your websites search rankings. But remember, actual users will be reading this not just Google bots.

Forget that there are professionals who can help you. Don’t feel comfortable writing your own SEO content and articles? Well, luckily there are experts out there that can help you.

Forget to promote it. You have spent some time creating and posting your quality article on your site, but it just sits there collecting dust. Make sure you are promoting your articles on top quality content and social sites like Scribd, Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter Hubpages, etc. Some require 100% unique content, so you may have to rewrite your article a bit, but these site are great ways to spread the word about your content and drive natural links back to your articles.

So there you go, keep these don’ts in mind next time you go to write your own article and you should see the traffic you were hoping for in no time.

Definition of a backlink:  Backlinks, also known as incoming links, inbound links, inlinks, and inward links, are incoming links to a website or web page. In basic link terminology, a backlink is any link received by a web node (web page, directory, website, or top level domain) from another web node. (Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backlinks)

You might not yet be aware of backlinks and their value. Search engines look at your website’s backlinks and factor various aspects of these backlinks in, when determining where your site will rank in searches. In short, backlinks count.

Let’s consider what Google (everyone wants to rank high with Google, right?) factors when looking at your website’s backlinks:

The amount or number of links to your site. Obviously the more the better, but you should always take the next factors into account when trying to increase your overall link count.

The quality of incoming links. Google will look at where the backlink to your website is coming from. You want to be on sites appropriate to your industry and  that are of high quality wherever possible. Obviously, a site of high quality will not add a link that isn’t of equal quality, they will want links that improve their webpage’s overall value. So if your site stinks, don’t expect many other sites to want to link to yours.

Our extensive testing has shown that while “thematic” links definitely do help, links from non-related sites help as well.  Its about finding the right balance and creating a strategy that is as organic and natural as possible. Having all one way links to your site and no reciprocal links, or links from all the same type (ex: bookmarks vs. directories) will look un-natural.

How a link changes over time. If you use the same text and the same keywords throughout your links you will get what is called “Anchor Spam”, which has a low value associated to it. You want to be sure to not only vary what text you are using in your links, but vary the text over time (remember, link building is an ongoing process). Target 6-10 keywords and be sure to vary that throughout your links over time.

How often a site is adding links. You want to consistently be adding links and increasing your backlink count. That being said, you don’t want to add links too fast as you may be considered a spammer by Google. It isn‘t about having thousands of links to your site, it is about adding as many links as you can over time that are quality and as natural as you can find. Creating content that goes viral (video, promotion, article, blog post, etc) can potentially get you thousands of links naturally, but it typically takes something special for that to happen.  

The lifespan of a link and the site it is on. Spam sites build a lot of links in a short amount of time  then close down (effectively ending the link). So Google looks at the history or lifespan of a domain that a link resides on, and associates more value to more history. Also, if a link is “turned off” it is no longer being counted towards your overall backlink count.

Be sure to focus on building backlinks for your website, but consider all the factors beforehand. The overall count of backlinks isn’t the only thing that is going to be looked at. And don’t forget, there are Internet Marketing Consultants that can help you build quality backlinks.