IMA Blog: Building Your Online Network |
- Building Your Online Network
- How to Optimise Your Article Writing for Social Media
- Rewarding Readers with Quality Content
- Optimise Customer Experience with Intelligent Website Design
- Making Your Blog Work for You
- Improving your Social Presence with a Facebook Fan Page
- Make your Site Mobile Friendly for 2012
- The Secret to YouTube Success
- 3 Great Ways To Use Embeddable Tweets
- SEO Fundamentals: Keyword Selection
| Posted: 19 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST
Blogging regularly is one of the best ways that you can establish yourself as an expert in your field, and thus gain your readers' trust. However, make sure that you go about it the right away, or you may as well not be blogging at all. Post Regularly This is true for a lot of forms of advertising, but it's especially true for internet-based media like blogs and Twitter. Everything on the internet is changing so rapidly that if you don't keep updating regularly, your site will quickly be rendered obsolete, or just simply lost. Now, when I say regularly, I mean regularly. If you're serious about building an online network of current and potential clients, you should be updating your blog every single day. Creating new content can be tough, but try to write an original post at least once per week. The rest of the time, it is sufficient to link to a video from YouTube, or a news article, or link to another industry blog. Engage the Community Blogging is a form of social media, and you can't build your online network in a vacuum. While it seems like it might be counter-intuitive to send your hard-won readers over to competing sites, it actually makes a lot of sense. One of the best ways to improve your Google page rank is through backlinks, or links to your site from other sites. When you link to other sites, they'll notice this, they'll appreciate it, and they'll link back to your site when you create content that they think would add value for their readers. Add Value Not to beat on a dead horse, but ultimately online marketing always comes back to adding value. People have gotten accustomed to getting most of the information and entertainment they want for free on the internet. So if they land on your site and you go immediately into a sales pitch, they're going to say "why should I pay for your product? I don't know anything about you and I can probably find it for free somewhere else," and click away from your site before even taking a look to see what you have on offer. So you have to build the relationships slowly. One of the best techniques for building a customer base is by offering basic content for free, and charging for premium content. This fits perfectly with building trust. You offer every visitor to your site a quality product that they can download for free, or in exchange for an email address. You've successfully added value for all of your readers, and when they see the quality of your product, some of them will be willing to pay for your other products. Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
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| How to Optimise Your Article Writing for Social Media Posted: 16 Jan 2012 07:55 PM PST
However, this has all changed. Not only have search algorithms gotten a lot smarter, but social media has played a role as well. Modify your articles writing campaigns accordingly, and you'll see your traffic increase dramatically. Targeted Promotion Where it was once possible to effectively promote your site by generating tons of low quality content and throwing it haphazardly around the internet, it is now much better to create a few articles that you know your target audience will appreciate, and target them specifically. Consider the differences in exposure potential. A low quality article might be seen by a few people while they're searching for something related to your industry on a major search engine. It can definitely bring in a few sales. However, the exposure from something that goes viral is higher by several orders of magnitude. A video or an article that goes viral on YouTube or Facebook might very well be seen by several tens of thousands of people. And it may not have necessarily taken any more time or money to create than a lower quality piece. The key is just that it provided something to your customers that they wanted, which typically is information or entertainment. When one of your customers sees an article which they like, they're more likely to share it on Facebook or Twitter. When this happens a few times, you suddenly have hundreds or thousands of what are essentially personal recommendations for your product. Adding Value Of course, what it always comes back to is writing articles that add some value for your readers. Your customers have always been primarily interested in valuable content. The recent developments in social media, combined with Google's changes to its search algorithms, just mean that the valuable content is now easier to find than it ever was before. Today, more than ever, quality content rises to the top, while useless information sinks and is never seen again. Make sure that you're on the right side of this trend. Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Rewarding Readers with Quality Content Posted: 11 Jan 2012 10:48 PM PST
Consumers are used to getting so much quality content for free on the internet, that they expect something in exchange for visiting your site. By offering them high quality, informative, engaging content, you can keep people coming back to your site, and ultimately bring them on board as clients. But this means that not only do you have to constantly add content to your site, but also that it must always be top-quality content. Follow these tips to make sure that you're generating content for your site that will keep your readers coming back day after day. Keep the Ideas Coming Inspiration is the most difficult part of content creation. Often, once you have an idea for the article, the actual content just flows out naturally. But where do you find the ideas? Surround yourself with potential inspiration, and capture the ideas when you think of them. The best ideas are rarely entirely novel. Regularly read other industry blogs and follow industry leaders on twitter. When you're constantly taking ideas in, you'll find that your output naturally increases. The second key is catching fleeting ideas when you think of them. When you read a marketing blog articles which gives you an idea for an article of your own, you need to record it in some way before you forget it. A notebook, a memo on your phone, anything works. Record everything that could possibly inspire you. Thom Yorke, the front man for Radiohead, keeps a an 'idea box,' into which he puts a piece of paper with a word or phrase on it every time he's inspired by a new idea. When he's stuck for inspiration on a song, he pulls an idea of the idea box and gets writing. Details, Details, Details Nothing matters more than professionalism in marketing. Even the best content in the world will fall on deaf ears if the presentation is poor. Top content creators obsess over spelling and grammar, and make sure that their article titles are perfect. If you're not exactly a grammar pro, have someone else look over your articles for you before you publish them. It's much easier to find the mistakes in someone else's writing. As far as titles go, always rewrite your articles titles at least three times. The first one will rarely be the best. A great title should read like a newspaper headline – punchy, informative, and intriguing. If your website offers regularly updated, quality content, customers will come naturally to you. Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Optimise Customer Experience with Intelligent Website Design Posted: 09 Jan 2012 09:51 PM PST
With that in mind, the best user experience is the simplest and most intuitive experience. By optimising your website and making its design more intuitive, you will improve the experience of your customers. They will respond by spending more time on your site, building a better relationship with you, and ultimately purchasing more of your products and services. First Impressions Count As with everything else in life, your first impression typically matter more than the rest of the relationship taken together. The two impressions that you want to immediately convey to your customers is that you are reputable and professional, and that they will be able to quickly and painlessly find the information that they are looking for. The ways to convey this are through an intelligently designed site layout, and through an intuitive navigation system, respectively. Site Layout Conveys Professionalism Site layout refers to the physical appearance of your website. Where are different pieces of the site located, how do you use colours and fonts, and what is your use of images like. As a general rule, avoid anything that is not strictly necessary. Too many colours or fonts makes your website looks less like the public face of a professional business, and more like a yard sale flyer. Think about the most successful websites, like Google, Facebook, or Wikipedia. In all cases, they just use two or three main colours, and keep the site clean and easy to read. In no case, should you ever use music or animation on your site. This is a business website, not a teenager's blog from the 1990's. Intuitive Navigation Gets Your Customers Where They Want to Go Imaging a supermarket which could instantly transport you to whatever you wanted to buy as soon as you walked in the door. Chances are, you would do quite a lot of your shopping at that supermarket. Make you website do the same. Label all the different sections of your website, and list them in tabs along the top or the left-hand site of the site. If your customers can spend less time on your site while still finding all the information that they need, then you've done your job properly.
Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2012 12:00 AM PST
Open a Line of Communication One of the things that really differentiates a blog from most traditional marketing resources is that it can be used to open a direct line of communication between you and your readers and customers. So if you don't have comments enabled on your posts, change that right now. Encourage your readers to comment by writing about controversial topics, and respond to their comment immediately. Be prepared to deal with criticisms, and have remarks and remedies prepared. People like to see the face behind the business, and are more likely to buy your products and services if you've established a rapport with them. A properly utilised blog is one of the most effective ways to do this. Personalize Your Product One of the fundamental truths of marketing is that people prefer to buy from people. Nobody wants to buy a de-personalised widget from a faceless corporation. This is why successful companies spend so much time and money on branding – making their products more relatable. Thanks to blogging, you can do the same thing for little or no cost. Take an informal tone with your blog, and allow people to see the human being behind the product. They'll thank you with their business. Drive up Your Search Rankings You should absolutely be using your blog to optimise your site for search engines. Search engines reward sites that are regularly updated, as well as sites that contain a lot of relevant and well-research content. Blogs thus give you an unparalleled opportunity to optimise your site. You can update your blog as often as you like, and since you can write about whatever your heart desires, you have a lot of leeway to include relevant keywords, and to write about controversial subjects which will be commented on and linked to. Stay on Top of Your Game This is an almost incidental benefit of blogging, but a sizable benefit nonetheless. When you're blogging on a daily, or even weekly, basis, you'll constantly be doing industry research. Whether this is reading other bloggers, following industry leaders on twitter, or keeping updated with podcasts, you'll be learning tons of new information about recent developments in your industry. The internet can change overnight, and if you're not constantly following the changes, you can become a dinosaur surprisingly quickly. Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Improving your Social Presence with a Facebook Fan Page Posted: 02 Jan 2012 10:21 AM PST
It barely even needs to be said again; social media is the future of advertising. Roughly 80% of large companies plan on incorporating social media into their advertising campaigns in the upcoming year. Moreover, social media campaigns are maturing. No longer is the sole purpose of a Facebook or Twitter campaign solely to drive traffic back to your site. Today, online presence is being measured more in buzz/fans/tweets than it is in page visits. A well-built Facebook fan page is the perfect way to take your social media presence to the next level, and costs nothing to implement. Why a Facebook Page? Despite the recent popularity, Facebook is the most popular social networking site around today. More importantly, Twitter is, by its very nature, incredibly fleeting. A Facebook fan page gives your business something of a permanent presence in the swirling maelstrom of the social networking world. Additionally, a Facebook page provides your company with a standing platform where you can create a conversation, and have an ongoing give and take with subscribers. Keep a few simple tips it mind to make your page stand out from the crowd. Create a Dialogue This is the real beauty of social marketing. You can see what your customers are doing, what they want, and what you can provide for them. The best Facebook fan pages not only provide up-to-the-minute information about your company, but call for input from your customers and prospective customers. Some excellent examples of this would be calling for user-created content like advertisements, or allowing users to play around with personalized product options. Provide Free Content Internet users are used to getting nearly everything for free. If you want your page to make an impact with today's internet generation, you need to provide a reason for them to be there. Create fun and interesting polls that they can take, or interesting games that they can play. In both cases, the point is to provide something that will keep people on your page, and keep them engaged with you. These are also perfect opportunities to make your content more viral, as you can provide an options for them to share their scores or results with their friends, thereby driving additional traffic to your site. Facebook fan pages provide an excellent opportunity for your business to generate positive social buzz while providing value to your customers and winning over new customers. Look around on Facebook for some great places to get started, and then start working on your own. Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Make your Site Mobile Friendly for 2012 Posted: 29 Dec 2011 01:21 AM PST
Analysts predict that by 2013 there will be nearly 2 billion mobile internet users worldwide! In fact, by some estimates, there are already as many as mobile web users as there are traditional internet users. So you can be sure that at least a few people are going to be looking at your site on a 4 x 5 centimetre screen. If you haven't already, make 2012 the year when you optimize your website for the mobile web. Think About Mobile Issues There are two major differences when you browse the internet on a mobile web device, rather than a traditional browser – screen size and connection speed. The screen on a mobile phone is always going to be smaller than even the tiniest netbook. Moreover, connection speed over cellular data networks is considerably slower than broadband Wi-Fi connections. When you're optimizing your site for mobile devices, always keep these two fundamental truths in mind. Plug In for Optimisation If you're using WordPress, there are tons of great plugins out there which will make your website mobile-friendly in one minute or less. Personally, I like WP Touch, because it's free and it's extremely customizable, but there are several out there to choose from. Optimise Content This is a big one. Make sure that you optimise your content for the mobile web. Remember that mobile web users are looking at your website on a much smaller screen, and won't process the information in the same way as someone looking at in on a PC. Write simple articles, with clear headlines, and that right down to the important information. Imagine that your typical user is on the bus, or waiting for their lunch, while they're browsing your site, and you'll get a picture of what you should be aiming for. Images! An image or two can be a great addition to a blog post. However, even on a full-featured browser, they can slow the site down considerably. So just think about what they're liable to do to over a cellular connection. On the mobile version of your site, keep images to the absolute minimum. Remember, we'll have nearly two billion mobile web users by the end of 2012. Start off the New Year on a good food by telling yourself that before the end of the year, you'll be able to capture some of the market with an intelligently-designed mobile web site. Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| Posted: 26 Dec 2011 11:27 PM PST
YouTube is, by any measure, one of the most popular sites in the world. In terms of page visits, it is the third most popular website. In terms of search queries, it recently surpassed Yahoo! to become the world's second most-popular search engine. More than 10,000 videos are uploaded to the site every day, and some experts think that that number could actually be as high as 50,000! Yet, despite these numbers, YouTube seems to get left off of most small business marketing campaigns. If you're choosing to focus only on blogging, Twitter, and Facebook, then you're making a huge mistake. First, Engage The golden rule of social networking applies to YouTube just as well as it does to any other site. If you want your videos to be watched, you need to engage with the community. Create an account, and search for relevant videos in your industry. Rate them, comment on them, and share quality videos via Facebook and Twitter. If you're socially engaged with the social network, you'll see that a lot more people will be watching your videos. Make a Great Video The next step is to create a quality video. This, I believe, is what turns most small business owners off of YouTube. But it's actually much easier than it seems. Start by looking at your competitors videos. What format are they using? How are they telling their story? Look at the composition of the videos in your industry that you think are the most effective, and try to emulate the best aspects. One word of caution – don't make the advertisement obvious. YouTube users don't want to feel like they're being sold to. They want to be educated and informed. A quick product mention at the end, or something to draw your watchers back to your site will suffice. Optimize for YouTube Much like you would optimize a website to make it more easily searchable, you need to optimize your videos to make them more easily searchable on YouTube. As I mentioned before, in excess of 10,000 videos are uploaded every day. If you don't optimize your video, it will be lost before anyone even has a chance to watch it. Like website SEO, YouTube SEO is all about metadata and titling. Do your keyword research, and make sure that your title incorporates your target keyword or phrase. Likewise for the rest of the metadata – descriptions, tags, keywords. This is what gets your video watched instead of the thousands of others with similar content. Now get out there and start marketing your business on YouTube. You have the numbers – it's the second most popular search engine in the world. You have the tools – the keys to getting your video watched are community engagement, great content, and metadata optimization. So start your video marketing campaign today! Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| 3 Great Ways To Use Embeddable Tweets Posted: 23 Dec 2011 01:28 AM PST
Although these Brand Pages have only been made available to a certain number of Twitter's partners and biggest advertisers so far, Twitter has now released a new feature for all accounts which is set to be big news for social media marketers. Twitter has created embeddable tweets, meaning that you can now embed tweets straight from your Twitter account into your website or blog and your visitors can now follow you, retweet your post or click on the links you've tweeted without having to leave your site or go searching for you on Twitter. Although this might seem like a fairly basic add on to the original Twittersphere, you should not be fooled into thinking that there is little value in this. Embeddable Tweets are a great feature, and there is so much you can do with them to help bring your web and social media presence together. Here are 3 great ways to use embeddable Tweets to your advantage: 1. Highlight positive feedback and customer testimonials With the traditional Twitter features you could only promote nice comments from your followers or positive feedback about your business or products and services by adding that Tweet as a Favourite (by clicking the little star). This didn't really make this Tweet any more noticeable than the rest of the content on your feed and it would soon get washed away in your stream of updates. With embeddable Tweets you can now place any positive feedback or customer testimonials you receive on your web pages or in your blog posts, meaning that you can now really showcase any great responses you get via your Twitter account. 2. Use your followers' questions to create content and spark discussion on your blog If you're anything like me, you will get a constant stream of questions and enquiries from your followers via your social media platforms. Not only is this a great way of finding out what your audience is talking about and what they want to know, but it is always important to engage with your followers when you can and share your knowledge and advice with them – that's why they are following you after all! I have often created blog posts and other content based on an interesting question one of my followers has asked me, but now you can embed this question (or multiple questions around the same topic) in a blog post and give a direct response to their enquiries. Not only does this add more gravity to the content you produce, but it can also help to spark discussion with your blog subscribers and Twitter followers. 3. Encourage your Lead Generation offers to go viral If you have a great lead generation offer – such as a sign up form for a free whitepaper for instance – then you should already have this in prime position on your website and blog, but by adding this into other areas of your sites via an embeddable tweet you could encourage this offer to go viral as your Twitter followers will now be able to retweet and share this offer with all of their followers. Just imagine how many followers each of your followers has…if you have a successful social presence then this reach should be huge! And all for embedding a small piece of HTML code on your website or in a blog post – what are you waiting for? Embeddable Tweets look set to truly help the long awaited conversion between our main websites and blogs and our social media accounts, so this is big news for businesses of all kinds – and their marketing departments in particular. Put these three ideas into action and see what you can do with Twitter's latest feature. Thanks! Sean (Image by Eldh) Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog  |
| SEO Fundamentals: Keyword Selection Posted: 22 Dec 2011 12:29 AM PST
Search engine keywords are the basic way that anyone finds anything on the internet. Think about your own experiences. Maybe you have a few key sites bookmarked, or you'll sometimes follow a link from another site, but a very high percentage of the time, you likely just head over to Google, or Yahoo!, or Bing, and put in a few keywords that describe what you're looking for. And if you're looking for new information, for something that you haven't read before, than the percentage of the time that this happens is likely even higher. But there is no need to dwell on the importance of search engines – everybody knows how important they are already. What we're going to look at is the process by which keywords are selected for focus and optimization. Analyze and Plan The first step in any SEO keyword selection is a thorough analysis of your own site. Open up a text editor, or take out a notebook, and open up your website. Look at it and think about the information on your site. Try to come up with 2 or 3 descriptive words or phrases that accurately capture the essence of the site. The key here is to think about the process in reverse. Try to think about what you would type into a search engine if you wanted to come across your site. Don't try and be misleading. Readers who stumble upon your site by mistake are not nearly as valuable as those who try to find your site. Then, repeat this process for every page on your site. Try to boil each page down to a few key words and phrases. Research The next step is actually selecting which keywords you will optimize your site for. So do to this, check out an online tool like Overture or WordTracker. Here you can check the popularity of your chosen keywords, as well as get suggestions for other related keywords. The goal here is to focus on keywords with a middling level of popularity. If you have very common (and thus very popular) keyword like "cars," "books," or "dogs," then drop it right away. Well-funded sites run by corporations with huge advertising budgets and full-time SEO staff are going to dominate the top results for keywords like these. As a small business owner, you can't hope to compete, and should focus on a different niche. Which brings me to a question posed by some of my readers recently. Is it better to be in the top of search rankings for a less popular keyword? Or a few pages back for a very popular keyword? The answer is that it is not just better, but essential, to be in the top 10 rankings. People almost never go deeper than the first page of Google results, unless they are looking for a very specific piece of information. If you're not on the first page, you're dead. So rank their popularity, drop the very popular keywords, and the ones that aren't searched for at all. Before long, you should have a selection of middle-popularity keywords, and you can start optimizing your site properly!
Thanks!
Sean Internet Marketing Training – Internet Marketing Course – Internet Marketing Blog
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