Archive for the ‘Business Marketing Online’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Top 10 iPhone Apps You Must Have for Online Business Marketing

Friday, September 17th, 2010

Running a business can be stressful, and sometimes you may feel you don’t have enough time to get everything done. Online business marketing doesn’t stop with your desktop computer. Business apps for iPhone can help you save time, but with so many apps out there, how do you choose the ones that will be most helpful to you? Here is a guide to some must-have apps for business.

1. USPS
Track and confirm packages, find local post offices, and look up zip codes when you need them. Great for businesses that do a lot of shipping.

2. UPS
Similar to the USPS app, you can track packages and find local UPS stores. However, if you have a UPS ID, you can access even more features, like accessing your address book and payment info, and print out labels.

3. FedEx
If FedEx is your shipping service of choice, they also have an app, with similar services to that of the USPS and UPS apps.

4. PayPal
For a safe and secure way to make financial transactions, the PayPal app allows you to send money, check your balance, and view past transactions. This is a great app to have if you run an eBay store.

5. eBay
Another great app if you have an eBay store, or if you’re just an avid eBay shopper. Track the status of your auctions, get notifications when a status changes, and much more. This is a great app to have if you’re bidding on item and can’t be tied to your desk when the auction is coming to a close, and you want to get in that last-minute bid.

6. Google Sync
If you use Gmail for business, you’ll want to get Google Sync, which synchronizes Google Mail, Calendar, and Contacts with your iPhone.

7. Stocks
The Stocks app is one that comes with your iPhone, so no download required! This app is pretty basic, but allows you to get up-to-date stock info.

8. Bill Trackers
This iPhone app helps you organize your bills. You can set up your monthly bills, get reminders when they’re due, keep track of how much you paid and when you paid it, and keeps those confirmation numbers too.

9. MileBug
This application helps you keep track of miles and other travel expenses when you’re on the road. If you travel a lot for business, this app is a must-have.

10. Credit Card Terminal
When you need to accept credit card payments on the go, this app will allow you to easily accept payments and let you know right away if the charge was accepted or declined. An invaluable tool for any business that accepts credit cards.

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Marketing Online, Search Engine News | No Comments »

The Real Truth About Email Marketing Online

Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Find out the truth about email marketing before you begin building your online reputation.

Find out the truth about email marketing before you begin building your online reputation.

Many companies rely on email marketing to boost their online reputation, gain more customers and get news and information to current customers. Email marketing can be a wonderful tool when used with a correctly, however, there is a fine line between a welcomed email newsletter and spam. There are plenty of myths and truths drifting around in cyberspace about email marketing. Being able to distinguish myths from reality will help you go about using email marketing online to increase business, not hurt your reputation.

Here are 5 common email marketing myths that David Fowler recently discussed in his email deliver-ability webinar.

Myth #1: There’s a magic list of words that can’t be used in the content of the message. The truth is, there are certain words that may get the email flagged as spam. However, the online reputation of the company has more influence than the content. Avoid using phases and words like call now, don’t delete, get paid, get started now, get it now, join millions of Americans, no cost, no questions asked, etc.

Myth #2: A confirmed opt-in recipient won’t hit the spam button. In reality, even if someone opted-in for the email message, everyone hits the spam button once in a while, so don’t think you have a guaranteed recipient just because they’ve opted-in.

Myth #3: The definition of spam is abusive email. The real definition of spam is unwanted email. This means that even if you’re only sending out an email once a month, if you’re sending it to opt-out recipients who don’t want the email, you’re spamming.

Myth #4: “My sales will decrease if I use ‘confirmed opt-in.’” Your sales won’t decrease for using confirmed opt-in emailing. Actually you’re building consumer trust, which will earn you a more loyal customer-base.

Myth #5: Authentication will get you delivered to the inbox. The truth is, authenticating messages allows you to manage your sender reputation, and it’s only the first step to building your email marketing identity. Once you’ve made a good reputation, your message is more likely to be delivered to the inbox and read.

Keeping these 5 myths and truths in mind when building your marketing reputation online will help your company have more success in e-marketing which in turn will help you gain more loyal customers.

Tags: ,
Posted in Business Marketing Online, Drive Traffic to Your Website | 4 Comments »

3 Key Elements for SEO Web Site Development

Friday, August 13th, 2010

When it comes to marketing your business, there’s a lot more to web design than just a pretty web site. Your site must be search engine friendly for search engines (and potential customers) to find you. Here are 3  important elements for SEO Web site development.

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Content is King.” This rule should apply to every page of your web site. Write informative and engaging content, sprinkled with relevant keywords. The keywords should fit into the text as naturally as possible – don’t just list them or repeat them too often so that the text sounds like it’s sole purpose is to include keywords. Also, don’t neglect pages just because they seem like they don’t need any content (ALL pages need content!). For instance, a products page should not just list the products being sold. Include a paragraph about the products in general, and then write a description of each product.

META tags are lines of text found in the coding of the page. While they may not seem important, since they are “behind the scenes,” your page is much more likely to be indexed if you write your METAs correctly. First, they need to be in the correct order – META Title, META Description, and then META Keywords, followed by a robots tag. The META Title and Description should be unique for each page. Keywords should be relevant to that page and also under 200 characters.

Web robots will not scan everything on your website. There are certain elements they avoid, like images and scrolling text boxes. Also, Web robots have a hard time scanning JavaScript, so it’s better to avoid it when possible. Including images on your web site is fine – people love pictures! However, keep in mind that since robots won’t crawl them, so if there is a company name or keyword in the image, it will not be seen by the search engines.

While there is a lot more to SEO Web development, these three elements are a good place to start, and using them will help to increase your search engine rankings.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Business Marketing Online, Search Engine Friendly Web Development | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »