Google Changes are Coming!

A few interesting things have occured at Google this last month and I thought you might want to know about them:

I just sat through about a 2 hour session from Google on their new apps.

Check out Google Goggles - download this to your mobile phone - very cool! You can take a picture of the outside of a landmark and Google will tell you all about the place. Google does this for artwork, books, landmarks, etc...see the YouTube video on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhgfz0zPmH4

Also, you can access 'Real Time' postings and blogs on Google by doing a search and just under the search bar is "show options" - hit that and now you can see blogs, news, updates! Social Media postings -Facebook, Twitter, MySpace have partnered with Google to allow "real time" postings to show up in the search queries. That means that if you post and use keywords on those postings they will show up in the search queries!

Google Caffeine (Google's new search engine) is coming out in January and will move our rankings around - I will be watching this carefully to see what happens! SEO is under some significant changes this next year and those of us that work in the Internet world need to be aware of those changes! It is going to be quiet the ride!

Anyone want to comment on these changes?

Q & A for a Good Social Media Strategy

Here's some great questions to ask yourself or company when setting up a Social Media strategy:

Who do you want to talk to?

How will you engage them?

How will you market your messages?

Where do you find people to listen?

Do you know what people are saying in the target market you are in?

What do you do to help customers become part of the process? Is there something you could do or say that would entice a customer to work with you in conveying the message?

What is your value-message? Is it worthy of engagement?

What are your goals for the Social Media plan?

Can you build a stronger relationship with your client through Social Media?

AND, probably some of the most important things to consider: Are you able and willing to maintain consistency, maintain postings regularly? If not, don't attempt a program unless you want it to be short lived. Also consider that Social Media should become a part of the overall marketing and communication programs for your company.

If you haven't consider these things, be sure you do! Hire someone to give you guidance if your not sure how to set things up and to develop a strategy a plan for your company. You could also hire a company to do your postings and manage the programs for you as well. Many companies decide to do this in an effort to become consistent.

LuCorp Marketing provides both marketing strategies and Social Media Management for small to mid-sized companies. Contact us today for a quotation on your Social Media needs.

Business Week Post "Beware Social Media Snake Oil"

This is a great post about the use of Social Media for companies. The articles gist is consultants, like ourselves, need to produce results for the companies we work for and not to make unattainable promises when working with Social Media.

I especially like the Chris Brogan quote: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_50/b4159048693735.htm

Brogan quote from the article about the use of Social Media for companies: "Is it an exacting marketing science? Not at all. Partly because it's so new that we're inventing the case studies while we're experimenting with what comes out of it. Are companies asking for more and more experiences with me to see if it'll work for them? Yes."

Interview with Social Media expert Gelie Akhenblit, Founder and CEO of NetworkingPhoenix.com

The importance of Social Media in today’s business world has never been more evident. With a properly developed strategy, social media provides endless opportunities to build relationships, reinforce branding and messaging, and maximize your company’s online presence, reaching an unlimited number of targeted new contacts.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Gelie Akhenblit, Founder and CEO of NetworkingPhoenix.com, one of the Valley’s most dynamic networking and social media sites. NetworkingPhoenix.com started out as a central clearinghouse for events held by existing networking groups in the Valley, and through the effectiveness of networking and the site’s social media capabilities, has grown into a hugely popular local online business resource that is changing the landscape of small business and entrepreneurship.

In addition to maintaining the NetworkingPhoenix.com site, Gelie shares her expertise through training professionals on “how to network strategically, create a personal following, and effectively and deliberately employ the latest social media tools.” Here’s what she shared with me:

Q: What got you started developing NetworkingPhoenix.com?

A: My second job out of college was in the corporate world and about 1.5 years into it I decided that this is not the path I want to pursue. I didn’t like the restraints and knew there was something else I could do. I enjoyed networking and finding out what was going on in the marketplace. While networking, I found out there was no set place to find information about all the networking groups in the Valley, so I started thinking about developing a calendar to bring everything together and to connect people. That’s how NetworkingPhoenix.com all started- that was back in January 2008. Originally it was launched as Gelie.net and in October of 2008, we rebranded and re-launched the website.

Q: Did you go full steam into this project?

A: Yes and no. I was definitely on my journey of becoming an entrepreneur, but right when I launched, I started contracting for several companies (that was the business model for gelie.net) and worked with them for months all the while the calendar just ‘lived’ on gelie.net. I

Q: How did you get the word out about NetworkingPhoenix.com when you did the re-launch?

A: I networked like crazy and began using social media and asking my contacts to spread the word about the calendar. I asked everyone that I had already built relationships with to promote the calendar and the website through email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and anything else that made sense at the time!

The social media promotions really took off and people started spreading the word through the various tools as well as direct email campaigns. This multiplied the free profile sign-ups on NetworkingPhoenix.com by massive amounts. The site went from 400 members in Oct. ’08 to nearly 6,100 to date. As a local site, that’s not a publication, NetworkingPhoenix.com is the most visited site in Arizona. And nearly half of the visitors are returning.

Q: Did you do other things to get website and brand noticed?

A: Yes, I developed NetworkingPhoenix.com quarterly Signature Events. The first one was held in January of 2009. I reserved the space for 150 people and approximately 600 showed up. And this event was held on the same night as the Phoenix Open – so I thought no one would show up! In March we held our second event, where 750 networkers showed up, and in August we had over 1,000 in attendance!

Q: What goes on at the events?

A: The event itself is a big Mix & Mingle. It’s really all about networking, creating new connections and giving people a chance to get together in a friendly professional environment. The testimonials that come out from this event are pretty incredible. People are always telling me about the great business connections that they made and some of these are pretty high dollar deals!

Q: Who is the event for?

A: It’s for the entrepreneur, small business owner, sales professional, person in a career transition and anyone else in between that wants to network!

Q: Do you plan on having more events?

A: Our last one of the year is being held on Thursday, November 19th, 2009, 5:00pm - 9:00pm at the Scottsdale Hilton.

Q: Why do you think this event has become so successful?

A: Probably a few different reasons. I know people like free events and they like being around like-minded individuals. You put those two things together and the ‘buzz’ around the event will spread by word of mouth. It seems the word spreads fast and people seem to create the buzz themselves. They say things like “Are you going to the Networking Phoenix event?” “Have you heard about Networking Phoenix and their networking events?” It spreads like wildfire and I am thankful for the support and plugs.

Q: Have you had any stories that show the whole social media platform in action?

A: I did a “Vote for the new Gelie headshot” campaign using social media and there was a great response. Lucky for me, everyone chose the headshot I liked best. But what was really amazing was that people who didn’t even vote would come up and say “Hey Gelie, I like the new headshot you chose”! It blew me away.

The other story comes from just sitting having lunch at Paradise Bakery and overhearing someone talking about me. I didn’t know who they were! I asked, “Are you talking about Gelie and Networking Phoenix?” They said, “Yes” and I said “That’s me!” It was wild.

Q: There’s talk that there are different skills to using social media for business. Do you agree?

A: Oh definitely. You always need to be thinking about your brand and how it is portrayed. You also want people to engage in the conversation.

Q: So what are you working on now that is part of your social media campaigns?

A: In just a bit I will be launching “Networking Phoenix TV” where sponsoring businesses will be interviewed by me about their company. It’s a 3 minute ‘newslike’ segment that will be featured in our emails as well as live on our website and be promoted through our social media channels. The business owner gets to keep the video as well for their marketing campaigns.

Q: Anything else?

A: There is always something! We are also working on providing members with “Member Deals” to give members discounts and sources of great businesses in the Valley.

The Impact of Social Media on the World

The Impact of Social Media on the World is HUGE! Take a look at this video on Youtube: 155,000 visits and growing! Thanks ClowerPower for the information!

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging ...Social Media Management for Business

Let's talk about social media use and why it is very important to have a strategy when dealing with Blogging, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter...


We've all heard that we should be using these tools to build out online presence, develop our brand and drive business to our website. And sometimes, it seems like business owners are jumping into "social" media and focusing a little too much on the chatty, social aspects of these mediums as opposed to using a smart marketing strategy to drive their messages.

Let’s face it, staying on top of social media accounts can be time consuming. This is a new frontier for many business owners who may not be aware of how to use these outlets most efficiently and effectively. Ask yourself: Are your postings driving customers to your site to find out more about your services? Are you posting to engage or educate? Are your postings telling a story about your business? Are you engaging your vendors, affiliate partners, network in the conversation?

We all want some of our personality to shine through, and this can be a way to engage potential customers, but don’t lose sight of the greater marketing opportunities available through social media. Use your postings as sales “touches” that educate your prospects and customers, and differentiate your business from your competitors.

And let’s not forget the power of using keywords in your updates to provide "find-ability" for the Search Engines. Marketing professionals know that this maximizes the value of your posts from a marketing and brand development perspective. Why waste your valuable time as a business owner on posting “Hey Dude” or blog posts that have nothing to do with your business?

So....the moral of the story is this: Don't fall in love with your words and ideas until you consider the target audience, the keywords customers use when searching for your business, what value offering you are talking about, and how a customer might interact with the posting. Don't guess!

You are a professional in your own field. If you find the idea of writing concise, targeted business pieces daunting, or don’t know the first thing about keyword research, consider hiring a professional company (like LuCorp Marketing) to help you develop or manage a strategy for social media. We have some great case studies that prove time and time again what a good strategic plan can do from increased click through rates, to vendor engagement success stories, to press coverage from blogs posted.

MY mission: To get businesses to THINK before they "speak" and get the most value out of social media.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and the positive impact it can have on your business

SEO BASICS

If you are a business owner with a website, you know that everyone is talking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and the positive impact it can have on your business. Is SEO alone enough to increase sales? Can you do the work yourself, or should you hire an SEO consultant? You don’t need to be proficient in web development or a marketing expert to make an educated decision about small business SEO.

What is SEO and why is it important?

You probably know from doing your own online searches that most people tend to visit the sites that are at the top of the list of search results. Studies have shown that readers scan from top to bottom and left to right, and online attention spans are short. So, if your website ranks near the top in search results, you are likely to get more visitors to your site, which can result in increased sales.

Search Engine Optimization is the process of securing a high ranking spot on search engine results pages. This is done by gathering data on what people search for, and what phrases or “keywords” are entered when they search. By including the keywords that best reflect your business in your website content, you can increase your chances of attracting your target market to your site.

Search engines use search bots (also called web crawlers or spiders) to index sites. Website content that is keyword rich helps make your content understandable to the search bots, thereby placing it higher in the search results. Your website content should be valuable to the reader, as well as reinforcing your company’s mission and brand so that you target the people who are looking for exactly what you have to offer.

SEO and Marketing

Recent survey results indicate that not only are the majority of buyers using search engines to research potential purchases online, but also that they respond more positively to content than to advertising. Your website content should include relevant keywords and effectively describe your product or services. Boost your online exposure through published articles and effective PR, and you can increase your chances of educating buyers and generating leads. It’s been shown that buyers respond more positively to articles, product reviews and blog posts than they do to banner ads, pop-ups or other forms of advertising. So it makes sense to follow the trend and invest in more effective content, articles, and a PR strategy that maximizes media exposure.

SEO should be implemented as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. Not only do you want to increase keywords in your content, but it is crucial to develop branding and messaging that is consistent across all of your communications and promotional efforts. Provide value to your target market by presenting educational content that supports your brand in everything from your email marketing communications to your blog posts. As your SEO strategy is developed and implemented, the results should be tracked and adjustments made to increase effectiveness.

SEO Consultants

Most small business owners have their hands full conducting business in their field of expertise; in which case, hiring an SEO consultant makes sense. If you consider working with an SEO consultant, they should have a proven and systematic process for moving your website up in search engine results. They should also have experience in analysis of competitor rankings, keyword implementation and target marketing strategies.

Great SEO consultants don’t rely on just technical know-how and analytics. They should have a solid knowledge of marketing practices such as branding and messaging, as well as great writing skills to incorporate key words effectively. Choose a consultant who will showcase your business in the best possible way, and give you the maximum return on your investment.

Just a few small things can make a difference for SEO!

Every time I meet a customer they ask me if they have to sign-up for a monthly retainer for SEO. I tell them no and that a small investment can make a big difference. Even just implementing keyword phrases into the website can enhance rankings in the search engines!

Take the example of 2 clients of LuCorp Marketing who had their sites in Flash: Once we redeveloped their site in html format with CSS, implemented keywords in the Title tags, H1, H2, H3 tags, alt image tags, and in their Meta Descriptors per page they suddenly came up on the first page for a large percentage of their keywords for organic results! The investment of keyword research, site redesign and keyword implementation did tremendous things for their rankings.

Both clients just contacted us to tell us they were now receiving all sorts of leads from their website from clients doing search queries. They were "lost in the shuffle" before. We monitor the rankings and keywords for them at LuCorp Marketing, but try to keep the SEO implementation within budget! Both clients have now moved on to the next phase in SEO-link building, article writing and social media campaigns.

The moral of the story, begin an SEO campaign with the website first and then work from there to develop programs.

Article about SEO Goals

Recently I read a great article, "Business Goals Determine SEO Targets" by Greg Newell from site-reference.com. This article looks at predicting return on investment for SEO campaigns - the number one reason for SEO! It bears repeating this important information regarding targeting your revenue goals and addressing the purpose of an SEO campaign. I really liked this analysis:

HOW MANY CLIENTS DO YOU NEED? You should be able to state clearly your revenue targets and the average annual value a client brings to your business. If you know that, then simple division will tell you how many new clients you need. You should also have a "gut feel" for how many of a hundred people on your website turn into clients. So with that, you should be able to determine how many visitors you need to generate to your site to develop those clients.

The number of visitors required is equal to the number of clicks that are required. The purpose of a good SEO campaign is to increase the number of visitors who are searching for your products and services. Successful SEO creates enough impressions on the search engine results pages (SERPS) to deliver enough visitors to meet the revenue targets.

Getting on the first page of the SERPS generates an impression, or a chance that the visitor will click on your site. Since very few people advance beyond the first page of results, a conservative SEO specialist considers the first page of the SERPS the ONLY place to be and of course number one is best if you can get it.

AOL published information showing that first place in the search results gets almost half of the organic clicks. Second gets 10-15%. Third gets 5-10%. The remaining scrounge around 3-6% but at least they made it to the party. Conservatively, you can estimate that with a well executed SEO campaign, that you will get 5-10% (we'll use 7%) of the search volume. Predictably, you'll be somewhere on the first page of the SERPS. So, if you need 100 visitors, then you need impression in 100/.07 (1,428) total searches.

Once you've established your total search volume to optimize for, you then move into keyword selection. The best is to select a variety of keywords rather than the most popular terms. Remember this: Most of the time it’s easier to rank for many low volume keywords than a single high volume one that equals the same number of searches. Further, lower volume keywords are usually more relevant and more specific to the needs of the visitor. Ultimately, they convert better. You'll also discover that once you know your total search volume requirements, your keywords collectively will meet the search volume requirements without extending into a range that's impossible to optimize for. You can develop a much more practical approach to your SEO campaign.

At LuCorp Marketing we are continually assessing our clients ROI for keywords and target SEO campaigns for that purpose.

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Starting a Link Building Campaign

In order to compete in the Internet world your website needs to be "popular" - you do this through Link Building. Links are important to search engines and customers as they look for your site listings in a variety of places. Links build popularity. A site that is popular has a higher page rank and if you can get that site to link to you your site gets some of this "popularity" or "Link Juice". The more popular your site is, the higher the page rank, the higher your site will come up in the search engines for a query. Google is currently #1 with about an 80% plus market share on the search engine queries.

A good Link Building Strategy is to request links from the search engines first: Google, Google Maps, Yahoo Local, MSN Bing, AOL....and then to find "relevant" and "Popular" sites to request links. At LuCorp Marketing we analyze the competition and relevant searches for available links. We also look at the page rank of every site we are building links from to make sure they are "Popular" and to make sure they are "Relevant" to the business we are linking for.

The key is to do a Link Building Strategy slow and steady. Do a few each day and keep track of links being built. Don't purchase a link farm program that does the link building quickly. This is dangerous as you may not know what the link popularity of the sites being linked or the page rank. You may also find your company on non-relevant sites and this can be detrimental to your business. Again, build links slow and steady, that are relevant, and that have page rankings worthy of linking from.