Category Archives: market in economic crisis

Google’s Blog Ranking Criteria Revealed: Part II . . .

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Posted by admin on May 4, 2009 – 6:37 am
Filed under Copywriting, blogging for business, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, website copywriter

View Part I of this blog post.

If you’ve already read Google’s Blog Ranking Criteria Revealed: Part I . . . I’m sorry to say, that Google uses even more criteria to rank the quality of your blog. It’s a tough life for blogs when it comes to Google Blogsearch, but with the right attitude, effective strategies, powerful networking techniques, and stellar writing, your blog will reach celebrity status on Google Blogsearch in no time.

So, what more could Google possibly be looking for to prove your blog’s popularity?

•  The number of clicks on your blog link when it appears in search engines: If your blog link is continuously clicked on, it illustrates to Google that your blog is receiving a high concentration of readers. If your blog is clicked on more times in search engine results than other blogs, Google sees this as an excellent indicator of blog popularity.

• Inbound links on other blogrolls: The more reputable blogrolls your blog is linked to, the higher Google will rate your blog. Google takes blogrolls seriously because they contain constant outbound links to other blogs. This shows Google you probably have a high respect for and enjoy reading the blogs on your blogroll. Approach your favorite, reputable bloggers and request for them to put your blog on their blogroll. If they agree, you’ll have a strategically placed inbound link to your blog. This also expresses to Google that your blog isn’t SPAM. The more of these reputable inbound links you have, the higher Google will rank your blog.

• Appropriate tags for each blog entry: Tags are your blog’s keywords and are an extremely important factor when determining what your blog is about. Make sure your tags describe the blog post accurately. This will help viewers and Google determine what your blog post is about. Inaccurate tagging and over-tagging is frowned upon by both visitors and Google because it is a false representation of your blog content. It’s important to effectively use tags if you want to become a reputable blogger and increase targeted traffic while ranking high in Google Blogsearch.

The Economic Downturn Is No Excuse to Forget About Online Marketing

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Posted by admin on April 29, 2009 – 8:28 am
Filed under SEO copywriter, attract clients, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online advertising, online marketing

The above video is an interview with Jack Flanagan of comScore at the SES conference expo on March 24,2009 in New York. The video provides excellent tips on how to market your business online during this turbulent economy.

Charleston Style Concierge Rocks the News

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Posted by admin on April 24, 2009 – 8:18 am
Filed under headlines, market in economic crisis, social networking, website copywriter

We’re excited to announce that our cleint Charleston Style Concierge has been receiving a lot of press for being Charleston’s leading style expert. In this video, Charleston Style Concierge owner and style expert Lee Heyward shares her effective style tips for dressing for success.

YouTube Becomes Even More Interactive

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Posted by admin on April 17, 2009 – 4:34 am
Filed under Business Communication, attract clients, market in economic crisis, online marketing, website copywriter

In June 2008, YouTube added an application, called Collaborative Annotations, to video usage that allowed people to post links on their own videos, add stories, and post commentary at any point during the video. The person who posted the video was the only person allowed to add comments, links, and narration.

As of February 20, 2009, YouTube introduced an updated version of its Collaborative Annotations application. Today, other YouTube users can post comments on your video if you invite them to do so. No longer is YouTube simply engaging—it’s interactive.

The application update allows friends to create speech bubbles, complex narratives, notes, teaching tools, marketing campaigns, and spotlights on your videos.

The Collaborative Annotations tool works to stimulate conversation among audience members and allows you to receive feedback about the message of your video from viewers, colleagues, and friends. And it enables the audience to inform you about positive and negative elements of your video.

When you’re ready to begin using Collaborative Annotations, go to YouTube and click My Videos and copy the Annotations link. Send this link to friends, who can then add annotations to your video. Not crazy about what they write? You can always delete it.

Start using YouTube Collaborative Annotations today, and receive helpful feedback from others. Who knows, you might start doing things differently in response to viewer feedback.

See how effective YouTube’s Collaborative Annotations application can be by watching the video below:

6 Ways to Drive Targeted Traffic to Your Website

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Posted by admin on April 13, 2009 – 6:17 am
Filed under Copywriting, Gain Brand Loyalty, Marketing Strategy, RSS Feed, article marketing, blogging for business, ezines, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, social networking, web traffic, website copywriter

1. Blog for Business: Blogging for business 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. Regularly posting a blog also builds loyal readership and attracts more people to your website.

2. Comment on Blogs: Posting comments on blogs, forums, and discussion boards related to your target market and industry is a great way to increase site traffic. Use these platforms to post comments, get consumer feedback, and search for industry updates. Posting relevant and helpful comments increases your credibility and lures more readers to your website. After every comment, include a link to your blog or website to increase targeted traffic.

3. Socialize Online: Social media sites effectively integrate your business into the online community and help give your company result-driven online exposure. They’re a great place to post inbound links to your website and are a way to express industry expertise. Social media sites allow you to post recent news, company events, company information, discussion questions, and other useful tools to build solid online relationships.  

4. Bookmark Your Business: Bookmarking your online articles, blogs, and website in specific categories on a social bookmarking site, such as Digg, allows you to reach out to your target market. These sites permit you to share web content with others and allow them to vote on the content. If this content becomes popular among viewers, it will be voted to the front page of the bookmarking site and be viewed by thousands of potential clients.

5. Utilize RSS Feed: RSS feed allows you to reach subscribers interested in what your company has to offer. RSS feed is similar to emails since they’re both sent to subscribers, providing them with updated information. RSS feed makes it easy for subscribers to be alerted immediately and allows them to click on the link to your website. Using email together with RSS feed will increase your client base and increase site traffic.

6. Post Articles: Online article directories allow you to place niche-oriented articles into specific categories, targeted at your specific market. For example, if your real estate company writes an article for ezinearticles.com and submits it under the real estate category, you’ll receive viewers who are specifically searching for your articles.

Build Long-Lasting Relationships on LinkedIn

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Posted by admin on April 10, 2009 – 6:14 am
Filed under Marketing Tip, attract clients, increase online sales, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, social networking

LinkedIn has become an extremely popular social media site for promoting your business. It’s an excellent online vehicle for building a massive networking system, a larger online presence, and driving higher targeted traffic to your website. LinkedIn offers a variety of features beneficial to the success of your company. This site allows you to join groups related to your industry or of interest to you personally. Also, the site allows you to build a detailed company profile, request recommendations, and join in on industry discussions. It’s also a great place to search for jobs, people in your industry, and other companies in your industry.

LinkedIn has several areas of information to fill in to create a complete profile. These areas of information include your current position, two past positions, your education, your profile summary, a profile photo, your specialties, and at least three recommendations. You can choose to add certain information while leaving other details out if you prefer. But, according to LinkedIn, “Users with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.”

One of LinkedIn’s greatest features allows you to recommend someone or recommend yourself. You can recommend excellent service providers you’ve used, a colleague, or someone you went to school with. You can also ask colleagues, clients, managers, and employees to endorse your work. According to LinkedIn, “users with recommendations are three times as likely to get inquiries through LinkedIn searches. Ask your colleagues to speak up for you and get endorsed.”

LinkedIn is the perfect site to join since it’s one of the most elaborate and connected networks on the internet today. Integrated social networks, such as LinkedIn, are so intricate and virtually all connected, that by participating in one, you are bound to get a heavy traffic flow to your business site.

What makes LinkedIn so complex? LinkedIn has different circles of personal connections such as “circle one,” with your very personal contacts and “circle two” with the contacts of your personal contacts. If you only had one contact, you could virtually have 130 contacts in your second circle just from that one person.

It’s important to always remember to stay active on networking sites, such as LinkedIn, and constantly build your network.

Social Media Sites for Business: Which Ones Should You Join?

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Posted by admin on April 8, 2009 – 6:46 am
Filed under Gain Brand Loyalty, increase online sales, market in economic crisis, marketing trends, social networking, website copywriter

No longer are social media sites just being used to interact with friends and meet other people for social and entertainment purposes. These sites are being used by many businesses to promote themselves online, network with others, build company credibility, and express their industry expertise to the online community.

Some of the most popular of the social media sites are Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. These sites have recently received a lot of attention in the news because of their popularity among businesses.    

There are dozens of social media sites, and it’s important to choose which types would benefit your company the most. Every company has different needs, and sometimes, your time is better spent on one type of social media site as opposed to another. It’s better to spend a solid three hours a week networking and promoting your business on two or three social media sites instead of joining five or six. Keeping your company present on social media sites takes some time. If you join six, you might compromise quality for quantity. Go for quality every time.

When deciding which social media sites to join, it’s important to take into account the type of business you run. Look at the features of each social media site in order to make your decision on which one would be the most effective.

Below are descriptions of Twitter and Facebook. Although there are several social media sites to choose from, these are two of the most popular.

Twitter works in a way similar to a mass text message. If you’re part of a fast-pace company that does new and exciting things each day, Twitter might be perfect for you. Twitter updates should inform your followers about what you’re doing at that moment during the day, ask a question to followers, ask advice to followers, and send an industry update to followers. If your company is a financial firm, Twitter might not be the way to go. A great example of a company that would benefit from Twitter would be a travel company, where updates are more timely and entertaining.

Facebook is another excellent tool for building your company’s online presence. It’s primarily used to illustrate your company’s overall mission, services, and image. There is room for large amounts of content and media. Facebook has more features than Twitter, but it’s not as timely as Twitter. Two of Facebook’s greatest features for businesses to use are the company page and group page applications. These two features allow you to create a page for your company where you can post company news, events, photos, videos, and industry updates.

Google Introduces Google Friend Connect API

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Posted by admin on April 6, 2009 – 7:21 am
Filed under Gain Brand Loyalty, Marketing Tip, SEO, SEO copywriter, attract clients, blogging, increase site traffic, market in economic crisis, online marketing, social networking

Google has recently launched its new Google Friend Connect API, which works the same way many social media sites do. Just like social media sites, Google Friend Connect (GFC) is an excellent tool for companies to use to drive targeted site traffic and grow a successful business online.

This free online marketing tool works with blogs and discussion forums to build a niche-oriented online community on that specific blog / forum. GFC plug-ins are now available on Wordpress, allowing you to add a more interactive and social aspect to your blog.

Using effective SEO techniques to drive traffic to your blog is the first step. The next step is to build a loyal group of readers and allow them to interact on your blog more than ever before. If you use the GFC tool correctly, you can build strong and long-lasting relationships with customers, drive targeted traffic to your website, build readership, and allow visitors to have an entertaining experience on your blog.

How Does GFC Work?

• Allows visitors to sign in to the GFC aspect of your blog using their personal Google, Yahoo, OpenID, or AOL AIM account and make friends, share media, comment, and invite friends from their other social networking sites to visit your blog.

• Permits visitors to become members of the blog and create a profile or upload an existing profile from a social media site they’re a member of.    

• Offers entertaining social features that engage visitors more and encourage them to visit your website and continue to visit your blog. 

All of GFC’s features allow you to build your own niche-oriented online community centered on your blog. This community will consist of people interested in your industry expertise and business. The growth is viral and is an excellent time investment if you want to build a successful business online.

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.