Archive for May, 2010

Could a Blog for Business Be Part of Your Website Promotion?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

For business owners, it’s very important to not only have a great Website, but to also promote that site with social bookmarks, by adding links, interacting on social media networks and most importantly, blogging. Nowadays, many people follow multiple blogs and own blogs themselves, and what many people don’t know is that blogging is a great business Website promotion tool, and here’s why.

Blogs are a way to reach out to your customers and talk to them in a more conversational tone. A business Website should be professional and easy to navigate with a large amount of information about the product or service you are trying to sell. A blog however, is meant to have an informal tone, and can give information related to your product or service, but not always mentioning it directly. In other words, keep the advertise-y words out of your blog. Instead, talk about industry news, or other product or service-related topics, and link keywords to your Web site. This will urge people to visit your site and check out your product. When you provide useful information that relates back to your product or service, potential customers will read your blog for the information, but also introduce themselves to your product and become more familiar with your company.

A blog for business Website promotion purposes also improves your credibility online. Although the Internet can be a wonderful place to shop, many people are weary of purchasing things online because there are so many dishonest retailers on the Web. If a potential customer is unfamiliar with your business, they’re more apt to shy away from taking a chance with you. However, if you have a blog, they can get to know your company on a more personal level, see that your goal is to provide useful information and therefore will trust you more. This will in turn make them more likely to purchase your product or service.

A blog will also help improve your rankings in the search engines which help give your company more exposure. Linking to your Website in every blog post will help boost your search engine page rank because more links always equal higher position. The links will also encourage search engines to crawl your Website pages more often which also ups your page rank. Also your Website will gain more page views because your blog will help drive traffic to your Website and you will look more relevant to the search engines. When you appear higher in the search engine rankings, potential customers will see you first instead of your competitors, which will make them more likely to buy from you because not only will they see you first but they’ll also recognize that if you appeared first, you must be a more credible and popular business than your competitors.

When you have a blog strictly for business Website promotion, it’s important to make sure the blog is updated at least once a week with fresh information or news that’s related to your product or service. If the content is not relevant or interesting there will be no reason for readers to keep coming back, which is the goal of a blog. Creating and maintaining a blog is a great, inexpensive way to promote your product or service, so what are you waiting for? Jump headfirst into the blogosphere, you won’t regret it.

Should YouTube be Part of Your Internet Marketing Campaign?

Friday, May 14th, 2010

To say that YouTube is popular is a bit of an understatment. With around 233 million visitors each month, it’s no wonder that some businesses have added the site to its Internet marketing campaign. However, in order to be successful, you need to know the best ways to use site. Btobonline.com offers some advice.

The first step is to learn the basics of how to use YouTube and creating videos. Google’s PDF guide, “YouTube: Best Practices for the B2B Marketer” contains information on how to create compelling content, how to add tags and links, and how to use YouTube Insight, which is a video analytics tool. Once you’ve learned the basics, its time to use more advanced strategies.

  • Create microchannels to boost brand awareness. This is where you create a YouTube channel that focuses on one product. Help promote your videos and draw awareness to those channels by posting links to those videos on your business’s website. Also, make sure to tag each video for search engine optimization. That way people can find the video by searching on a traditional search engine, not just YouTube.
  • Be open to participation. By allowing video comments, you are creating a two-way communication. Worried that someone will post spam or some obscene comment to your video? You can select a setting that allows you to review comments and approve them before they are posted. However, some negative comments may be worth replying to, as an intelligent response can help build credibility.
  • Give videos a “face.” Featuring the same person in all of your videos creates a friendly and familiar person associated with your brand. A great example is Flo from Progressive. When you see her, you know you’re watching a Progressive commercial before you even see or hear the company’s name.
  • Be funny. If a video is funny people will be more inclined to watch it, however, don’t make it funny at the company’s expense. Make sure the only humor in the video is intentional, and doesn’t reflect poorly on the company in any way.
  • Use social marketing to get the word out. Whenever you post a new video, make sure you promote it via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Digg. Keep in mind, the more plays your video gets, the higher it will place in YouTube search rankings.
  • Don’t forget the call to action. Every video post should have a link where viewers can take the next step (place an order, sign up for a newsletter, etc).
  • Tap other video content. Keep an eye on your industry, watching and commenting on informational videos (just not those of a competitor!) and retweeting links to those videos. However, make sure to turn off the “related video” option for the videos you post, or YouTube will suggest related videos after yours is done playing – and a competitor’s video just might come up.
If you have the time and manpower to keep up with everything mentioned above, YouTube can become an important part of your Internet marketing campaign. And if you need further advice, Search Circus is here for you!

Unraveling Facebook’s Privacy Issues – A Lesson in Online Social Networking

Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Are online social networking sites doing enough to protect your privacy?

Are online social networking sites doing enough to protect your privacy?

Beware, your privacy on Facebook is at a greater risk than you know, says Joan Goodchild, senior editor of CSO (Chief Security Officer) Online.  Facebook has had a few glitches recently, affecting pockets of its 400 million members. In fact the Federal Trade Commission received complaints from several privacy and consumer protection organizations regarding the protection of members’ personal information.

There are 5 hidden dangers that most users of this online social network are not aware of said Goodchild:

  1. Your information is being shared with third parties
  2. Privacy settings revert to a less safe default mode after each redesign
  3. Facebook ads may contain malware
  4. Your real friends unknowingly make you vulnerable
  5. Scammers are creating fake profiles

Read the entire article on CNet that cites specific dangers of using Facebook and how your personal information can become public.

What are your thoughts about online social networking privacy policies? Whose responsibility is it to protect what you put online?