Monthly Archives: March 2009

Squash Negative PR on Social Media Sites

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Posted by admin on March 31, 2009 – 8:49 pm
Filed under Business Communication, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, market in economic crisis, online marketing, press releases, social networking

In the March 13 WebProNews article, “Fighting a Bad Online Reputation & Keeping a Good One,” author Chris Crum brings up some excellent points on how social media sites can spell disaster for some companies. Because there is so much interaction and freedom to say whatever you like, anyone could severely tarnish your company name.

There is always going to be someone on the web trying to bring your company down, and it’s extremely important to make an effort to be present on several social media sites in order to counter any negative opinions. Although you’ll never catch all the bad things people say, it’s important to keep your company in a positive light and build a strong network of loyal followers on these sites. This will counteract to the bad comments some people might be saying about your company. A strong and large network can silence these negative comments and keep your reputation intact.

In addition to building a strong network, Crum suggests using several online tools to find places harboring negative publicity about your company. According to the article, Trackur tracks blogs, other sites, images, and video. The article also provides a link to an article on Duct Tape Marketing, which provides a list of “34 online reputation management tools.”

In regard to the frightening publicity situation, Crum offers some wise advice to businesses:

“PR disaster is much more likely to strike when the business itself does not monitor its reputation. Tools are there for you to use. Don’t ignore them. Otherwise, it might be your company somebody tweets about having a poor product, leading to all of their followers seeing the negativity and possibly blogging about it which can then be linked to, and so on and so forth. I don’t think you want to go down that road. Just watch yourself.”

Start building a strong online network now, and begin using the tools Crum’s article mentions. Your company will thank you for the dedication.

To view the entire WebProNews article, click here.

Mobile Marketing Could Be Your Company’s New Event Coordinator

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Posted by admin on March 30, 2009 – 7:11 am
Filed under Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tip, attract clients, client attraction, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy, marketing trends, small business marketing

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Mobile marketing began in recent years and has since increased in usage. Many companies already utilizing these mobile marketing strategies are club promoters, event promoters, and business promoters, among many others. It’s an excellent way to send a mass message out and have confidence the recipients will receive and view it within minutes of the message being sent. Once receivers open their invitation to an event, they can immediately RSVP and be placed on a list, all within minutes.

According to the mobile marketing company, Mobile Storm, MGM Grand in Las Vegas used mobile marketing to promote a party they were holding. They had recipients RSVP to be on the list, and, all in all, the party was a great success. The time it took to plan such an extravagant event was cut down drastically compared to if they had used an email, flyer, or billboard campaign.

The case study with MGM Grand is an excellent example of how using a strategic marketing plan via mobile devices can have such a successful turnout. Mobile marketing is something that all companies can use to promote products / services—it just requires a different technique to reach out to prospects.    

Mobile marketing is also the perfect way to build strong customer relationships, because it keeps customers up-to-date on company events and news with the click of a button. Using mobile marketing can help your company gain a competitive advantage over other companies in your industry that are not using this new and incredibly efficient advertising tool. Using mobile marketing shows customers you’re current with technology and the latest trends. With the fast pace of everyday life, it’s no wonder mobile marketing is taking off.

Daniel Island Mortgage Rocks the News

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Posted by admin on March 27, 2009 – 5:05 am
Filed under Growing Business, ecofriendly marketing

We’re excited to announce that our client Daniel Island Mortgage has been receiving a lot of press on becoming the nation’s first myEnergyLoan local provider. Daniel Island Mortgage president Gary Harwyn has recently been on Charleston’s News 2, and has articles published and or forthcoming in publications such as The Greenville News, and Island Eye News among others.

Harwyn also appeared as a panel member at the College of Charleston Carter Real Estate Center on March 18 to discuss sustainable real estate and green building and financing.  Here are some photos from the event. . . as you can see, there was quite a turnout.

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Charleston Fashion Week: Part II

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Posted by admin on March 26, 2009 – 7:33 am
Filed under Uncategorized

Charleston Fashion Week continued into night two with a fantastic show. Boutique NW, Mary Porter Couture, Style Exchange, II Brunettes, Copper Penny, and Billy Reid all showed off their collections. Here are some of the pics from the Wednesday, March 25, show. All the photos were taken by the lovely, the talented, Mr. Anthony Hale.

(Below) The Mary Porter Couture collection was so beautiful. Very old school, glam.

fw202fw221fw25fw261fw271fw242 The lovely Anna D. sauntering in her white dress. Isn’t she stunning?

(Below) photos from the II Brunettes show. fw302

This last one is from the Billy Reid show.

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Anna and Anthony strike a pose. fw32

Fashion Week in Charleston: Part I

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Posted by admin on March 24, 2009 – 9:57 pm
Filed under Uncategorized

It’s the third annual Charleston Fashion week and Michelle and crew headed out last night for the emerging designer show. 6 semifinalists showed their collections.  Here are some pics of our favorites.

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 (Above and Below) Our favorites from Caroline Baker’s collection.

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 (Below) We loved the fun, earthy feel of Emily Bargeron’s collection.   

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(Below) Shan Keith ROCKED the house with this dress. Personally, it’s a must have.

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(Below) Another great photo from Shan’s collection.

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 Below are photos of Michelle & Company. . . translation: Anthony and Michelle.  Here we are super excited for the show to start.

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(Below) Lee, Anthony, and Michelle during a break.  Anthony’s new fab look comes from the style expert, Lee Heyward (Charleston Style Conceierge). The two of them came straight from a shopping trip, where Lee helped him purchase an entire new wardrobe.

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(Below) The Charleston Style Concierge and me.

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Nest Realty in the News and on TV

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Posted by admin on March 24, 2009 – 7:57 am
Filed under SEO copywriter, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy, professional web design, website copywriter

Since launching their fantastic site in February 2009, our client Nest Realty has gained a large amount of positive publicity around the Internet, real estate world, and on the local news. Here’s an excerpt of what the propertylight.com blog had to say about Nest’s message:

“Immediate impact homepage. The impact of the Nest Group homepage hits you as soon as the webpage loads. This website is not just a boring list of property. This website has content above and beyond a picture of a house with a price. It engages you immediately and makes you want to explore. You might not be from Charlottesville Virginia but suddenly you find yourself wanting to know more about this community and what is on offer.”

As you can imagine, we’re thrilled and honored that we had the opportunity to work with Jonathan Kaufman of Nest Realty Group to develop a clear, result-driven message on their gorgeous website.

To read more on what propertylight.com had to say about Nest Realty Group, visit propertylight.com.

Nest was ALSO featured on NBC 29 on March 23 for their fantastic real estate marketing campaign. View the video here.

Use Social Networking to Gain Market Share

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Posted by admin on March 22, 2009 – 12:46 pm
Filed under Gain Brand Loyalty, attract clients, client attraction, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing trends, social networking, social networking increase business

 Check out this great video on company’s using social networking to increase revenue and to increase brand awareness. This video comes from Fox Business.

Hills of Africa Travel Launches New Website: Case Study

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Posted by admin on March 20, 2009 – 6:49 am
Filed under SEO copywriter, increase site traffic, professional web design, update webcopy, web copy, website copywriter

Michelle Salater Writing & Editorial, LLC, is so excited to announce the launch of Hills of Africa Travel’s new website. We headed up the creative content direction and wrote the web copy while Sunni Chapman of Bella Fiori Art & Design worked her design magic.

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Below is an interview with owners Meredith Hill and Sandy Salle.

Why did you decide to bring on a copywriter?

Before hiring you, our website was more of a brochure and not doing what it needed to do to attract target customers and increase sales. The message was muddled in too much copy. And the copy did nothing to excite and draw in the viewer. Because Meredith and I are so involved in our daily operations and with building our company, it was extremely hard for us to see clearly and create a clear business message—one that spoke to viewers and one that created an experience for them. We needed a professional web copywriter to create an awesome story about Hills of Africa Travel and about what we do. We also needed someone with exceptional SEO knowledge.

How do you think this decision has affected the success of your business online?

We’ve seen a huge increase in customer attraction and even better leads from the website. Hiring Michelle to write our web copy has been the best investment we’ve made in our business. Now, our website is not only optimized for SEO purposes, but our web copy is also exciting and encourages visitors to browse the site and to contact us. Michelle went above and beyond, offering suggestions on design, how we could convert more visitors using photos and video, and even offering advice on content for our new blog and advice on press releases and Social Media.

What are the top three benefits of working with my company? And why?

• It saved us a ton of time and energy. We were able to focus our energy on the other aspects of our business and on our clients.

• We knew we were working with the right person to get the job done the way we wanted – Michelle understands our target market and our business goals, and she has done everything possible to make sure she knows everything about our business.

• Whenever we need advice on other aspects of our business, Michelle is there.  We regard Michelle as a partner in our business, and from the client attraction we’ve seen from copywriting work on our website, it’s clear that she’s on our side.  What better partnership is there?

Cost-Effective Marketing for Businesses

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Posted by admin on March 17, 2009 – 7:41 pm
Filed under Copywriting, Marketing Tip, SEO, article marketing, attract clients, blogging, increase online sales, increase site traffic, marketing in bad economy, online articles

Submitting online articles to reputable article directories, popular bloggers, social media sites, social bookmarking sites, and online publications is an excellent way to increase SEO.

Article marketing is a cost-effective way to increase your online visibility, drive traffic to your site, and bring in more business. One article provides long-term results, exposing your company to thousands of potential customers—over and over again. Every article you place drives more traffic to your website and improves your site’s link popularity and search engine rankings.

Online articles are an excellent resource for potential clients and illustrate you’re an expert in your field. When writing online articles, it’s important for them to be well written, informative, and unique. This rule applies no matter where you submit your article.

Make sure your article is focused and expresses your expertise. The article should not sell your product or service—it should be informative and relate to your industry knowledge.

For example, if you specialized in web copywriting and online website promotion, instead of writing all your articles about web copywriting tips, try to think outside the box and touch different industries in a unique way. 

When writing articles, you want to utilize keywords your target market will likely use on search engines and incorporate those naturally into your online articles. The same keywords used on your website can and should be used in your online articles.

CAUTION: Some people make the mistake of thinking the more keywords they use, the more site traffic they’ll receive. The placement of your keywords and the correct usage of them will build site traffic. Focusing on a small set of keywords in niche articles will bring in more traffic and help the article to rank high on search engine results.
Also, make sure to include inbound links to your website at the end of an article, and, if applicable, throughout the article. Remember, the goal is to drive traffic to your website.

Once you’ve written your online article, it’s time to spread it across various online marketing platforms. As mentioned above, submitting online articles to reputable article directories, popular bloggers, online publications, social media sites, and social bookmarking sites is an excellent way to increase SEO.

5 Ways Blogs Increase SEO

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Posted by admin on March 15, 2009 – 9:18 am
Filed under SEO, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging, blogging for business, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, marketing in bad economy

Click the play button to listen to the blog post or, if you prefer, read the post below.

Increasing targeted traffic to your website can cost a small fortune, but it doesn’t have to if you know the right tips, tools, and strategies to get a significant amount of targeted traffic. All it will cost you is your time. The more comfortable you become with these tools, the less time and effort you’ll spend on the blog.

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your website is through a blog. Blogs significantly help your SEO efforts because search engines love updated, fresh content.

Creating a blog is free and is an excellent way to attract thousands of potential customers to your website, increase your search engine rankings, and boost company credibility. A constantly updated blog is a great way to build a loyal readership group. It allows you to establish yourself as an expert in your field by providing visitors with tips, industry news, and information they can use in their own business. It’s also a great place to showcase news relevant to your company and post case studies, testimonials, or awards you’ve received. It’s also an excellent vehicle to let the public know about community service your company is involved in.

There are 5 major ways blogs can increase SEO:

• Search engines love keyword-rich, updated content. 

• Search engines rank you on how many inbound links you have, and blogs are a great way to link back to your site. The more links you have from reputable websites, the higher your page will rank because the search engines will view your site as one of high importance.

• Keywords work on your blog the same way they do on your website. You want to utilize keywords your target market will likely use on search engines and incorporate those into your blogs.

• If you post your blog on social bookmarking sites, it provides a link and gets you exposure.

• Recycling your past blog posts in future articles that are submitted to other online platforms further increases inbound links, exposure, and higher page rankings.