SEO rules the internet. If you think about it, if a business owner wanted to make a website for his business, he would use SEO. Before I start going into this a deeper, let me explain what SEO is.

SEO stands for search engine optimisation, and is integral in any business owner’s internet plans. In a nutshell, SEO is how you structure your website to try and rank high on a search engine’s search results, for example Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc.

Some people, however, will say that they do not need SEO because they are already using PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising on said search engine. While this is true, it is still advisable to optimise your website, because everyone uses different search engines. So, while you may be sitting at the top of Google, with PPC, if you haven’t optimised your site, then potential visitors won’t see your website in Yahoo or Ask results.

Recently, more and more people have been using the internet to do business, whether it is to arrange meetings, find new prospects, or just to sell direct on their website. The reason for this is that it is much cheaper than more traditional methods of marketing, such as advertising or direct mail. Not only is it cheaper, but it is also a lot easier to track, so if you are making any mistakes, you can identify them, modify them, and then track the stats.

SEO also makes internet marketing a lot more effective than other forms of marketing. While your traditional marketing messages would have been sent to people who you have no idea if they are interested, with SEO, people are actually looking for you. Not the other way round. So anyone who sees the link to your website will already be seriously considering buying the product/service you sell.

So, internet marketing is cheaper and more effective than traditional marketing. You will be getting much higher quality leads to your website, so if you optimise your website with SEO efficiently, then you will get more and more leads, and more and more sales. You will most probably grow a lot faster using SEO than traditional marketing.

SEO is not important just in business, though. Many people have started to optimise their personal Facebook and Twitter pages, by making sure that the keywords are in the right places. The reason behind this being that if a long-lost friend or relative tries searching for you on Google, they will find you, because social networking sites like the ones above rank very high in search engine’s results.

There are many different ways to optimise your web page using SEO. You can include keywords in headers and titles, make more pages for your site, promote your site on social networking or social bookmarking sites, or a good one I like is to put alternate keyword text behind an image.

So, there you have it; that’s why SEO rules the internet! What do you think?

Long before the Internet, people shared product opinions with friends and family through word-of-mouth. For years brands have spent countless sums of money on multichannel advertising campaigns to promote their products/services. Today, it is no longer about the millions or in some cases billions of dollars spent, but rather finding ways to become closer to your target consumer to stimulate trust and support to create brand evangelism.

With the World Wide Web, word of mouth has transferred into eWOM, a social networking platform where consumers are able to share attitudes, opinions and reactions about brands, products/services with each other.  Social networking  has provided consumers with the authority to influence a brand’s image and perceptions as people are relying more on the opinions of others.

The multifaceted and influential viral marketing has also become a powerful medium for corporations. The Web 2.0 development have ignited key features of social communication services like social network, virtual reality, and online community sites that have proven to influence a brand’s image and perceptions.

Corporations are beginning to implement viral campaigns using social communication services, such as Twitter, to reinforce their image and influence consumers.  With unlimited online access for everyone, the impact can be profound. There are many other means of social networking platforms, which ones you choose depends on what’s the product or service, your target audience and what is the main objective behind utilizing these platforms.  But the bigger question is which is the most powerful when its time to build that BUZZ?

Hello tiny humans,

Today I would like to introduce some friends of mine. Their names: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Lewis Carroll, our maker, took their names from a John Byrom’s poem, which are quite meaningful since “tweedle” means shaking your hands and fingers in order to catch somebody’s attention. As you could surely imagine, they are not as notorious as they would like to be. However they invest a lot of efforts and as soon as they catch some daydreaming wanderer walking through Wonderland they start with their verbal diarrhoea and nonsense tales and stories. When they met Alice, she tried to get rid of them without hesitating. It was not that easy, but she managed to do it.

Lots of Internet users find themselves bombed by a huge amount of e-adverts (pop-ups or introduction messages among others) while surfing the Internet. If I were those users, I couldn’t help but wonder: “why don’t they just let me be?”

The other side of the coin could be GoogleAds. While pop-ups and similar tools are much more likely to upset the audience, advertisements that appear when carrying on a Google (or Yahoo or MSN or…) research are usually much more useful and interesting for users. Actually, it would be easy to think that we are offering what they wanted. However, impulsive visits, purchases and acquisitions are more likely by advertising methods that let the audience notice about something they were not looking for in theory.

The thing is that it is not that difficult. Good blogger can do it. This is a great example: a good friend of mine, a blogger called Jon Hunter, was telling me about his work in search engine optimization, and it shows. If you look for “Game of Thrones DVD” (a future HBO TV-series) in Google, Game of Thrones UK (his blog) is the second result. As always, a picture speaks a thousand words.

From Wonderland with Love,

The Cheshire Cat

A lot of people already know what Facebook can help them achieve, but a lot of people stop updating their Facebook page soon after they start it, because they are wondering why they haven’t got many fans. In this post, I will give you a few tips to increase the number of fans you have on Facebook.

1.Post a comment on your fan page, and let everyone know that if they become a fan, you will mail them a link to some tips, relative to your industry.

2.Join groups on Facebook that you think your target market would be interested in, and then interact with other people in that group.

3.If you are sending out emails, always include a link to your Facebook page at the bottom.

4.Choose the keywords you use in your comments carefully; Facebook and other social networking pages show up high on search engines.

5.Create a custom URL. There are applications on Facebook that let you create a custom URL for your fan page, but you can also do it for your personal profile!

6.Interact. As with any other Social Networking site, your main priority should be interacting with your prospects.

7.Email your friends telling them about your page.

8.Exchange. If you know someone else who has a Fan page, email your personal friends promoting their fan page, and then ask them to do the same with their friends.

So there you have it! If you have any other tips, please let me know about them in the comment section.

So many businesses already know the power that they can harness by joining LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a bit like Facebook, but completely business-orientated. People use it to connect and build rapport with potential clients, as well as with other business owners, where they can share past experiences and advice. In this post, I will give you 5 tips to improve you success on LinkedIn. So, have a read!

• Add a personal touch – LinkedIn is full of businesses who just set up their profile and then expect new business to come rolling in. To a certain extent, you might get some new business, but in order to maximise your chance on LinkedIn, add a personal touch to your profile, and show other business owners and potential clients that you have actually put the effort in to create a friendly page.

• Interact – As with any other social networking site, be it Facebook, Twitter or anything else, the main point of it is to interact with potential clients. Maybe say on your profile that you are happy to help anyone who is having any problems, and then when messages come through asking for advice, give it to them; for free. This will help to build a relationship with that person. Just don’t give too much advice, or they wouldn’t need to do business with you!

• Profile Picture – Same as Facebook and Twitter; if you have a picture of yourself up, people will be a lot more inclined to interact with you. It always helps to have a face behind the brand.

• Connections – Connect with as many people as you can. I don’t mean randomly adding people, I mean searching keywords that your ideal customer may have included in their profile, and add them. Once they have accepted, be the first to message them thanking them for accepting you, and let them know what you do.

• Rapport – As with any sort of marketing, build rapport with your customer. You shouldn’t sell directly on LinkedIn, you should try and re-direct anyone who is interested to your website or blog. Make sure you build some rapport with these people first though, once they like you, they will pay more attention to the links you post.

I hope you found this helpful, and if you would like to share any other tips you may have with other readers, please feel free to leave a comment.

Cuando hablamos de buscadores podemos diferenciarlos en 2 tipos, los cuales son:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

El SEO permite optimizar el posicionamiento de las marcas en las primeras posiciones de los buscadores. La mayoría de buscadores indexan las páginas web del mismo modo a pesar de que haya pequeños cambios en cada uno. Como empresa debemos tener en cuenta nuestro posicionamiento en los buscadores ya que si no estamos en la primera página de éstos es como si no existiéramos ya que el 90% de las personas que buscan sólo lo hacen en las primeras 3 páginas y a partir de aquí cambiamos las palabras que buscamos por otras que se ajusten más.

Para situarnos en una buena posición dentro de un buscador debemos tener en cuenta qué incluimos hay elementos como las palabras en negrita, las cuales nos permiten ganar posiciones en el ranking, o por ejemplo vídeos o imágenes, entre otras cosas.  Por otro lado, como empresa necesito que me encuentren con otras palabras diferentes a mi nombre ya que de éste modo tendré más presencia en Internet. Para ello, es necesario saber como mis usuarios/consumidores me definen y así poder incluir estas palabras en mi página web. El problema es que estas palabras tienen que definir realmente la empresa y además ser diferentes del resto para que otras empresas con mayor flujo de clientes no ocupe mi lugar. De este modo cuando me busquen por Internet sólo debería salir yo en los primeros puestos. Cabe destacar que esto es una tarea realmente difícil y por eso hay que buscar otros métodos para ocupar las mejores posiciones.

• SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

El SEM permite maximizar la inversión a través de los buscadores. A diferencia del SEO, el SEM es otra manera de indexar la información, dónde la empresa paga por estar posicionada en la primera posición.  En el caso de Google el SEM se encuentra en la parte derecha de la (parte derecha de Google). El problema que podríamos encontrar en el caso de Google es que si miramos la imagen del eyetracking vemos como la parte roja (la que el usuario ve primero y se fija más) no se encuentra en la zona derecha de la página web, lugar donde se encuentran los SEM. De modo que podríamos cuestionarnos si realmente es efectivo este tipo de SEM o no.

Prior marketing techniques such as cold calling, telemarketing, e-mail campaigns, direct mail etc., are known as “Outbound” or interruption based marketing. Time challenged consumers and businesses fight back in a “do not disturb me” mode. They use protective shields (spam filters, voice mail screening, etc.) to guard against your attack methods.

Companies must adopt to these changed buying patterns if they are to survive these turbulent times. Realize how people search on their terms, not yours, for information and answers to questions. People gather information when they are ready, at times convenient to them. This is especially true of more affluent and higher educated people.

They turn to the same place you turn to, the WEB, for their answers. Why? Because it is open for business around the clock. Consumers scour Websites, reviews, forums, blogs, and social networking sites such as facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. Information is dispersed almost instantaneously via Twitter and other broadcasting means.

Adopt this newer key to your Web success bu using “Inbound” or permission based marketing. I define this loosely as being at the right place at the right time. Or, in other words, have a presence when someone searches for your service or product. Make it easy for them to find you, and your information 24/7/365. Prepare your site for free results through Google searches. Then get your self recognized blogging, article marketing, video marketing, press releases, etc.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Hopefully you enjoyed Part 1, for those of you who haven’t read it, click here.

Me: What is your opinion on e-newsletters?

Karen: At the moment, personally, I am sending HTML emails that discuss various blog posts I’ve done in more detail, but my Newsletter list is only a sub-set of my database. I don’t have any images, it’s all text, but I do format the text so it’s easier to scan, because that’s the other thing; people don’t read it the same way they read a book, so you have to structure it so that people can scan it and pick up the right information, and then go to wherever you are pointing them. I’m not necessarily using the format of a Newsletter, but I’m still doing the same function, and I think that depends on your market. If your email isn’t easy to read without the images, then I do tend to unsubscribe. That’s my own personal behaviour, so I think if I’m doing that, perhaps people who are reading my Newsletters are doing that, so that is why I don’t have a lot of images.

Me: How often would you recommend sending out emails?

Karen: I think that depends on your market, where they are in the buying cycle, and what you’re trying to do with them. First of all, your email marketing should have a schedule; you should know what you are going to be doing, with a combination of content and promotion. Providing you’ve got the content and promotion mix right, then the frequency will really be down to what the market can bear and what the market likes. You can find this out by asking for feedback. So I’m afraid there’s no rule; there are some ‘schools’ that say you must be in contact with your customers every week. Well frankly, if some of my suppliers contacted me every week, I would probably not continue to be a client.

Me: What would your Top 5 Tips be for start-up Email Marketers?

Karen: My first tip would be to sign up to an email marketing client. This is really important – they all have the mechanisms you need to maintain your email reputation, and your reputation is key to this, because you don’t want to end up being blocked, which is why sending mass emails from Outlook is just not a good move.

My second tip would be to create a Lead Magnet. By this I mean having different sign-up boxes for different topics you email about. This is good because people want to know about that topic, and then you have something to communicate with them about. Putting ‘Click here for our Newsletter’ might have worked 5 years ago, but it doesn’t work now. People haven’t got time to read newsletters just to see if there is something of interest to them in it.

My third tip would be to create an Ideal Customer. By understanding who you are emailing to, your emails will be more effective, because you use the language appropriate for that profile, and you will include information that that person actually wants to know about.

My fourth tip would be to keep headings under 41 characters. This is for both the subject line, and headers in the body of the email.

My fifth tip would be to track your stats. Even though I’m giving you these tips, you may say it doesn’t work for me. This doesn’t mean my advice isn’t right, it means that it isn’t right in your particular instance, but it’s giving you a good starting point. Although marketing has elements of science, largely it’s an art, and you will increase your performance in marketing by measuring, tracking, evaluating and using that feedback to alter your marketing in the future.

As a bonus tip, I would tell you to plan. Have a programme of communications you are going to have with your list. Try doing a rolling 3 or 6 month programme, depending how fast-moving your business is, that’s enough for you to have an idea of ‘OK, this is what I’m going to do with giving them lots of information, this is the information I’m going to give them, but why am I giving them this information? Because I want to promote xyz later on.’ If you’ve got that worked out, writing content doesn’t become a chore because you know why you’re doing it.

And that’s all folks! I’d like to say a special thank you to Karen for agreeing to be interviewed, and if anyone’s interested, her blog is here.

Today, readers, we are interviewing e-marketing expert Karen Purves. Karen is no stranger to Marketing or Social Media. In the 90’s, she pioneered a business networking model from which many businesses in South East England benefited. Now, after successfully setting up and selling one business, Karen is delighted to be working with small businesses so they can make the most of the world of e-marketing.

Furthermore, Karen developed the Marketing Iceberg System and MaxWeb Social Media Marketing Programme, which teaches Social Media Marketing through using social media tools. Karen uses both these systems herself, and shares with her clients what works and what doesn’t.

Some of the experience Karen already has under her belt includes;

-         Blogging for 3 years

-         Twitter and Facebook for 18 months

-         LinkedIn for 3 years

-         Created her own community for her clients using Groupsite

-         Along with various other niche sites

-         30 years of Marketing experience, 20 of which with small businesses

Karen is renowned for her expertise in this field, and is frequently asked to speak at events. Some of the events she has spoken for this year are the Eurocoach conference, Women in Business, FSB meetings in Sussex, and Business Networking events in South London. When Karen isn’t marketing or reading about the latest trends, she likes to walk her westies in the countryside, find good restaurants and learns to cook better!

So! Let’s get on with the interview!

Me: What would you say the advantages of email marketing are?

Karen: Email marketing is the glue that holds other forms of marketing together, because it’s the way that you can communicate easily and cost-efficiently. What I think is more important are the disadvantages of email marketing. For example, if one of your readers are sifting through their emails and hits spam, thinking that it will unsubscribe them, it won’t. In fact, it will majorly affect the deliverability of emails in the future. Email marketing is a great way to market to people because it’s opt-in, so you know they’re interested, but it is also a great way to spoil your credibility and reputation by misusing it. Because anyone can do it, a lot of people are and doing it badly.

Me: What tips would you give to the readers regarding subject lines?

Karen: If you think of when you send an email to a friend, it has a short, snappy subject line – that’s what works best. When small businesses first start email marketing, they’re only communicating with a small number of clients, so they write on a one-to-one basis. Once they start building their list, they are talking to maybe thousands at a time. If the business owner doesn’t know who he’s writing to, or their interests, then the whole idea of subject lines becomes troublesome. My tip would be to direct it to one person.

Me: What tips would you give to readers regarding open rates?

Karen: If you keep your subject line short, under 41 characters works best, then you should see an increase in your open rates. Personally, I don’t subscribe to using a person’s name in the subject line, unless the email is directly after they have signed up for something, or bought something. Also, to increase your open rates, keep the subject interesting; that comes back to knowing who your market is. One of the things I encourage my clients to do is to resend the email to anyone who didn’t open it with a different subject line. Also, split your list into many, depending on their interests.

Me: What are your tips for improving click-through rates?

Karen: Track them. The style that the email is being sent in is important as well. I know a lot of people who like to send emails with lots of images, which are then not downloaded by their email client. If you have images and your hyperlink is attached to these images, then that is a way to increase your click-through rates, but then it’s turned off because you have to download the images separately. So I think it follows on from open rates; it’s the same principles. It’s about creating something that’s consistent, in the way you set up your email. Always have your headers hyperlinked as well. If you’re consistent, and your headings are always linked out, then you’re training your readers to click them. Because they know the headings are hyperlinked, they won’t necessarily read the taster text; they will just think ‘Oh that heading sounds interesting, I’ll click that’. Those are some ways to improve your click-through rates, but make sure that your readers know they’re links.

Well, that’s it for part 1; part 2 will be following soon, so stay tuned!!

Spraw aktualnych nie poruszam, bo są jałowe, ale ostatnie sygnały, które nawet do mnie dotarły – mimo, że nie mam telewizora – a gazety codzienne mijam szerokim łukiem, nastroiły mnie do konkluzji.

Mamy bez mała 2010 rok, być może ostatni rok pełnej wolności Polskiego internetu. Władzuchna pod pretekstem dbania o nasze portfele, które mogą ucierpieć gdy bawimy się w hazard, puka do internetowego raju wolności. Na Kubie i w Chinach też ograniczają wolność, pod pretekstem dbania o obywateli – pretekst szlachetny, dlatego lud daje się grabić.

Póki co, mamy piękny czas – w kilka godzin można zarejestrować i uruchomić całkowicie niezależny serwis internetowy. Dlaczego? Bo Państwo Garstki Polaków, dotychczas nie wtykało nosa w wirtualny świat.

Ja się czasem tym delektuję… mamy coś czego nie zabiorą nam.

PS Jak działa wolności w internecie:

Słowo Australia – 618′000′000 wyników wyszukiwania w Google

Słowo kurwa – 1′230′000 wyników wyszukiwania w Google

Ponad 600 razy więcej.

A jak kształtowałoby się to w Sejmie, nawet gdyby wziąć pod uwagę wszystkie nazwy krajów świata ?

Orzeł Bielik - Piękna Wolność

__________

Podobne:

• Solidaryzm wieku XXI >>
• Decyzyjność: Strona bierna Polaków >>
• Hybryda telewizyjno-internetowa >>
  

We have a very small target audience – maybe 50 organizations with 1-3 contacts in each company – that we want to establish lines of communications with and build relationships leading to sales.  Is direct mail or e-mail a better bet?

Founder & President of Midwest Mechanical Contracting Firm

________________________________________________

By Jim Sweeney

As you might imagine, there are pros and cons to both tactics.

A physical mailer, particularly if it is dimensional, colorful or incorporates sound, has a much better chance of engaging the recipient.  The receiver is more likely to see it, open it and review it. On the other hand, an email with the right subject line can and will get opened, and if it incorporates good messages, offers and functions, it will also get reviewed.

The life of both mailers is limited (by the recipient’s choice) once opened. However, a direct mailer may survive longer depending upon format and contents (e.g., a pen with imprinted logo may stick around for months).  But the value after the initial mailing is questionable.

A physical mailer can be expensive to produce – copy, design, printing, premium and mailing.  But so too can an HTML email – copy, design, programming and distribution. However, because the database is so small, printing only 50 direct mailers will be a potential problem, since you will be required to either use digital printing techniques (lower quality, higher cost) or overprint jobs based upon printers’ minimum requirements (which could be anywhere from 250 units to 1,000 units).

Response mechanisms for a direct mailer can include a business reply card, a phone number, a fax number, a web site and/or an email address.  An email can offer all of these as well, plus a direct link to a landing page and/or web site. In addition, assuming you employ an email distribution services like iContact, you can get immediate feedback (open rates and click through rates); you can also use web analytics to measure traffic and purchasing patterns related to the email.

A direct mailer can take longer to print (days) and distribute (more days), while an email, once produced, can be distributed almost at will.

But perhaps the most important consideration is the preference/behavior of your target audience. In the case of a mechanical contracting business – particularly in the Midwest –most relationship building and business is still done in person or over the phone. While maintenance personnel are not shunning the Internet, they are not using it routinely to communicate via e-mail. However, if your target audience consists of deskbound executives or traveling businesspeople who are hotwired into their e-mail service, they are more likely to read your email within moments of receiving it.

In conclusion, I wholeheartedly encourage you to test both direct mail and e-mail campaigns – either simultaneously or within a few weeks of each other (being cognizant of holidays and business cycles) – and document results.  Then apply whatever analytics you have available to determine the true cost and value of each campaign.

You may discover that one, the other, both or neither is the right answer. But that’s fine; through testing you will find the right answer for your situation.

To discover if you are using the correct strategies to reach your target audience and produce the best ROI, contact me at 440.333.0001 ext. 101 or jim at sweeneypr.com.

E-communications is a powerful medium when dealing with social change issues. Reaching audiences of varied cultures and different perceptions, the internet has provided powerful tools that have proven to be more beneficial, than traditional media, in improving the quality of information shared and generating linkages. Consumers worldwide have become aware of the potential that the internet and other social media have provided over the past couple of years, especially with regards to health related information. With rapid access and delivery increasing, so have the prevailing issues and key factors that have been associated with web-based health communications and their implications.

Interactive Health Communication (IHC) is the interaction between an individual and a health related provider through an electronic device or communication technology. The internet has bridged gaps and provided applications that are useful in building awareness and support, health communication needs to be based on scientific evidence and communication theory models, where e-communications is part of an overall integrated approach to reach specific audiences. While consumers and healthcare professionals demonstrate significant interest in using the internet, privacy and information quality, present notable risks in healthcare provider-patient relationship.

The absence of social rapport that is present in face-to-face encounters may influence how consumers view and process information.  It is therefore important to ensure that information shared online clearly indicates its source credibility to ensure that trust is maintained with the intended audience. But more importantly, are patient privacy and equal access to information by all. Furthermore, when applying online health communications to influence behavior change, practitioners need to identify the level of audience exposure to the online channels they plan on using.  Knowledge of their target audience characteristics, the role that online mediums play in effectively reaching their segment are equally important to how the internet is perceived and used by different consumers (including health practitioners and services).  Once barriers have been identified and removed, based on who the target is, internet-based communications and tools, integrated with other traditional media channels, can be valuable in increasing social support, mobilizing communities and providing the needed services.

The internet is one of the most powerful influential medium that can affect health outcomes if used properly as part of an overall integrated approach to health communication.  One cannot ignore the use of the internet and its effect on different audiences; therefore, it is important to continue to eliminate barriers such as access and source credibility.  The opportunity for e-health technology to improve access to information, reach rural or underserved populations, reduce care delivery costs, and integrate health care services and information is significant, and should not be avoided.

//

(Reprinted from the Zazoo blog): I was listening to an interview recently with the head of Razorfish, one of the world’s largest digital agencies (If you want to keep up with what’s happening in the digital media, I can recommend Susan Bratton’s Dishymix program, it’s very informative).

It was both surprising and refreshing to hear this fellow, Clark Kokich, frequently use phrases such as “none of us know anything” about digital media, “we’re actually inventing this as we go along” and “there are no experts”.

If the head of an organisation that is billing hundreds of millions a dollars a year in digital media is prepared to admit this, it’s time for all of us working in this space to come clean. This is the guilty secret of digital media “experts” all over the world: no one really knows what consistently works. There are a few principles to be applied, but unlike traditional media – be it advertising, marketing or publishing – there is no established framework that ensures a certain level of response to a program or campaign.

If someone tells you they have a fool-proof way to engage your customer base and turn ordinary customers into raving fans, guaranteeing huge exposure and profits, they’re bullshitting you. We’re all still experimenting with clients’ money.

So why on earth should customers take their money out of traditional marketing and advertising budgets and give it to online? Well, one big reason is that traditional methods are becoming less and less effective as the world’s embrace of online irrevocably changes their life habits (you can hear more about this in a Zazoo-produced podcast interview with Ad Age colunnist Bob Garfield published on the HotHouse blog this week. Be warned, this interview is not for the faint-hearted.). You need to find alternative ways to reach your customers, or else your competitors will get there before you.

Ready or not, your world is changing. Finding your way in the dark with someone who has a torch, however dim, is more effective than sitting there cursing the dark. And those torches are getting brighter all the time.

Social Networking has become more and more popular over the past few years. Many businesses have already discovered the potential these sites have to generate new business. Some businesses, however, are still unsure about if they should venture into the world of social networking, which is why I wrote this post! In this post, I will describe some pro’s and con’s that social networking offers. Read on!

The Pro’s

Always good to start on a positive note

• Networking – Many people think of social networking sites as a virtual Speed Networking event. To a certain extent, I would agree. Although it is always better to actually attend a networking meeting, sometimes we are stretched for time; which is where social networking comes in!

• Cheap as chips – It’s not really cheap as chips. It’s actually free most of the time, for example, Facebook, Twitter etc. Think of it like this; with huge marketing expenses, would you throw away a free marketing strategy?

• Personal touch – Social networking is a way for a company to interact and build a relationship with their customers, and potential customers. I personally think it is great to have a face behind a brand; it helps customers trust you quicker.

• HUGE reach – How many people do you think you can reach with an ad in your local newspaper? Maybe a few thousand. Now think of how many people you can reach on the internet. Billions.

The Con’s

• Time – A fair bit of time is required to maintain a social networking site, to set it up, to constantly post on it, to interact with people, etc. This is why a lot of people aren’t using it for business purposes yet. I believe, however, that the return on your time is worth it. Maybe some of you think the opposite? Let me know in the comment section below.

• Time II – This isn’t in relation to the amount of time inputting, it is about the amount of time it takes to achieve results. Getting new business from a social networking site usually takes a while, because the main purpose of these sites is to build relationships with prospective customers, and only some of those people will actually become customers.

• 1 mistake – Yep. One mistake is all it takes to tarnish a reputation you have been steadily building for years. One spelling error, and people think you’re unprofessional. You need to make sure everything is right before sending an update or a tweet, or anything else.

• Hackers – Don’t think it won’t happen to you. Many profiles for small businesses have been hacked, and the profiles destroyed, or obscene images posted, or foul language used. You can go a fair way towards stopping this happening to you, though, by maintaining your security settings, changing your password often, etc.

I hope that this post was helpful. If you have any more pro’s or con’s about social networking, then share your wisdom with the other readers!

Pour mettre en place un programme d’ambassadeurs de marque il convient de :

1- Comprendre le postulat de départ c’est à dire laisser les ambassadeurs parler de la marque dans leur espace et à leur communauté et accepter qu’ils s’approprient le message que la marque leur adresse.

2- Identifier les ambassadeurs potentiels, ceux qui parlent de la marque spontanément.

3- Définir le programme et ses objectifs et gardez surtout à l’esprit que le transfert des compétences s’effectue vers les ambassadeurs. Pourquoi mettre en place un programme d’ambassadeurs de marque? Est ce pour créer de la notoriété? Augmenter le trafic sur un site Internet?

4- Construire une communauté autour des ambassadeurs : il est important que les ambassadeurs  communiquent entre eux, partagent leurs expériences et comprennent comment les autres communiquent. C’est pourquoi il est recommandé de leurs mettre à disposition un espace, tel qu’un blog, pour qu’ils puissent créer des liens entre eux, mais aussi organiser des rencontres off line avec le personnel de la marque, pour créer un sentiment d’appartenance à une communauté.

5- Communiquer avec les ambassadeurs : la marque “parle” à ses ambassadeurs. L’ambassadeur quand à lui s’approprie le message, l’interprète, le transmet, l’enrichit selon ses propres termes et le communiquer dans ses propres lieux d’expression.

6- Mettre en place le programme : laissez les ambassadeurs s’exprimer librement (tout en recadrant dans les cas extrêmes…), c’est grâce à leurs initiatives que la relation avec les consommateurs s’enrichira et qu’ils seront le plus efficaces.

7- Collecter les feedbacks, très tôt et très souvent : les retours utilisateurs apporté par les ambassadeurs sont très précieux. L’information qu’ils récupèrent  provient directement des consommateurs et est d’autant plus importante que ces derniers se ont exprimés selon leurs propres termes et dans leur propre espace personnel.

8- Transférer le contrôle du programme aux ambassadeurs : cette étape est primordiale. Une fois le programme mis en place il faut laisser la communauté s’animer par elle-même. Cette dernière trouvera les idées  et prendra elle même des initiatives pour faire vivre la marque.

9- Donnez aux ambassadeurs existants des outils pour recruter d’autres membres : les ambassadeurs seront les mieux à même de voir qui pourrait être un ambassadeur efficace. Il faut leur donner toutes les informations sur les modalités de recrutement de nouveaux ambassadeurs et la marque doit écouter attentivement leurs recommandations.

10- Donner aux ambassadeurs les moyens de rester en contact constant avec la marque : être très disponible avec ses ambassadeurs : ils auront beaucoup d’idées pour animer leur communauté et, leur tendre une oreille attentive leur prouvera l’importance qu’ils ont aux yeux de la marque. Entretenir un lien constant avec eux est primordial.)

Source : http://www.marketing20.fr/marketing-communautaire-marketing-social/comment-creer-et-animer-un-programme-dambassadeurs-de-marque/

A lot of people have already uncovered the potential that Facebook has for businesses and networking. In this post, I will give you 5 tips to optimise your success on Facebook. Read on!

1. Detailed profile – You want to put as much detail as possible into your profile as possible. The reason behind this is that you want people connecting with you to know what your interests are, and what you do.

2. Don’t sell, re-direct – Just like Twitter and LinkedIn, you ideally do not want to be selling on Facebook. The reason behind this is that on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, you want to be networking. You should re-direct anyone reading your posts to either your business blog, or your website, and this should do the selling for you.

3. Interact – As it’s called a social networking site, you obviously want to be networking. Interact with people, have conversations and see what they are interested in. Above all, build some rapport!

4. Casual pictures – You want to include some photos of yourself on your business profile. It helps people to see that you are a person, and not a robot. Also, it’s good for potential clients to have a ‘face behind the brand’, and will help you to build trust and rapport with anyone you interact with.

5. Spelling – You absolutely NEED to make sure that there are no spelling mistakes on your profile. Don’t forget, you are using Facebook as a marketing tool, and you wouldn’t send out an advertisement or a job application with spelling errors, would you?

I hope you found this helpful. If you have any tips you would like to share with the other readers of this blog, please leave a comment. Until next time!

Internetmarketing, websitemarketing, e-marketing. Veel namen voor hetzelfde en dit gaat over hoe het internet ingezet kan worden voor uw bedrijf. Veel organisaties zijn geïnteresseerd wat het vakgebied inhoudt en wat het voor hen kan betekenen. Ik wil hieronder het één en ander vertellen over internetmarketing en wat het MKB hiermee kan, de doelgroep waarvoor ik als Syntens innovatieadviseur werk.

Wat dient u te onthouden en wat mag u vergeten
Ik begin mijn internetmarketing presentatie met wat de toehoorders dienen te onthouden en wat ze mogen vergeten. Met deze zelfde sheet sluit ik mijn verhaal ook af. Mensen onthouden vaak maar een heel klein deel van een presentatie en dan wil ik daar graag sturing aan geven. Als u deze blogpost gelezen hebt hoop ik dat u één of meer van de onderstaande punten meeneemt.

• Probeer klantgericht/marktgericht te denken, wat wil die klant, hoe denkt de klant, wat heeft hij of zij nodig?
• Als u weinig affiniteit heeft met internet wil dit niet zeggen dat dit ook geldt voor uw klant
• Een goede website levert geld op en is een investering en geen kostenpost
• Internet is de echte wereld
• Internet is voor ieder bedrijf belangrijk
• Internet is een communicatieplatform, niet alleen reclame
• Laat u zich niet afschrikken door techniek, probeer door de techniek heen te kijken

Een internetsite is een investering en geen kostenpost
Ik begin mijn presentaties met de mensen bewust te maken hoeveel gebruik ze maken van internet. Ik doe dit door middel van een kleine poll. Vooraf heb ik de websites vaak al bekeken en het wil nog wel eens gebeuren dat mensen die intensief gebruikmaken van het internet, een belabberde bedrijfswebsite hebben. Ik ben dan heel nieuwsgierig hoe het kan dat iemand die heel intensief gebruik maakt van internet, geen goede bedrijfswebsite heeft. Dit heeft vaak verschillende oorzaken. De belangrijkste is dat een goede website vaak puur en alleen gezien wordt als een kostenpost. O ja, we moeten ook nog een website hebben. Wat krijg ik er dan voor? Wat levert mij een website op? Waar moet ik terecht voor een goede website? Dit zijn een aantal van de opmerken die ik hoor en de vragen zijn zeker terecht. Feit is dat er zeker ook antwoorden zijn op de vragen. Onbekend maakt onbemind en soms ook onzeker. Een internetsite is een investering en geen kostenpost.

Internet is niet het sluitstuk van het bedrijfsverhaal
Bijna iedereen gaat als hij of zij ergens meer van wil weten eerst het internet op om meer informatie te krijgen. Er wordt gekeken op de bedrijfswebsite, productwebsite, vergelijkingswebsites, weblogs, LinkedIn, Schoolbank et cetera. Bijna iedereen gebruikt het internet om meer informatie te krijgen. Dit wordt ook onderbouwd door cijfers want in 2008 maakten 11,7 miljoen mensen gebruik van internet, was men meer dan 8 uur per week online en hebben 7,5 miljoen mensen wel eens iets gekocht op internet. Belangrijk voor MKB bedrijven om te beseffen is dat van het mediagebruik 20% aan internet besteed wordt en 13 % aan print. Welke marketingeuro levert langer/beter/meer rendement op, een advertentie in de lokale krant of voor hetzelfde geld zoekwoorden inkopen bij Google Adwords die na een week nog wel opbrengst heeft terwijl de krant alweer bij het oud papier ligt. Nu wil ik niet zeggen dat advertenties in een blad niet werken, maar het is goed om te weten dat er meer mogelijk is. Internet is voor veel bedrijven het sluitstuk van het commerciële verhaal. Gelukkig zien steeds meer MKB-ers in dat een goede website geld oplevert.

Zakendoen met de vent en niet de tent, de vrouw en niet het gebouw
Binnen het MKB is nog meer het adagium, klanten doen zaken met de vent en niet de tent, de vrouw en niet het gebouw. Ik zie op heel veel sites echter niet met wie ik van doen heb. Grote bedrijven hebben nog al eens geen gezicht, maar hebben een merk of logo. Binnen het MKB wil ik altijd graag weten met wie ik van doen heb. Wie is de man of vrouw achter het bedrijf? Ik wil dit soort zaken graag zien en weten. Het internet ontwikkelt zich steeds meer naar een platform waar er sprake is van communicatie twee kanten op. Het “oude” internet was vooral zenden, net als TV of radio, this is it and take or leave it. Klanten op het internet pruimen dit echter niet en hebben zelf ook inbreng en laten dit merken door e-mail, weblogs, reacties op fora et cetera. Ik zeg, je hebt één mond en twee oren en gebruik ze in die verhouding.  Luister naar uw klant, vraag uw klant naar hun mening of wens. Het mooie is dat dit heel erg dicht bij de MKB mentaliteit staat. De MKB-er staat vaak niet heel ver af van de klant, maar weet vaak wie zijn klant is. Het internet kan hier bij helpen.

Wie is uw doelgroep en wat wilt u dat ze op uw website gaan doen?
Vaak wordt er een website gebouwd maar een aantal essentiële vragen zijn vaak niet beantwoord. Wie is de doelgroep? Wat wilt u dat uw bezoekers op de website gaan doen? Wie wilt u dat uw website bezoekt? Wie zijn uw (potentiële) klanten? Als u dit scherp heeft dan kunt u zich gaan richten op wat u wilt dat ze op uw site gaan doen. Moeten ze u bellen? Moeten ze u e-mailen? Moeten ze aangeven dat u hen terugbelt? Wilt u dat uw beeld over jouw bedrijf goed neergezet wordt? Ik kan zo nog wel even doorgaan, maar deze vragen zijn en worden vaak niet gesteld. Als u antwoord heeft op deze vragen dan kunt u gaan bijhouden hoeveel informatieaanvragen u krijgt per e-mail. Vraag eens aan uw klanten hoe ze bij u terecht gekomen zijn. In veel gevallen is het een combinatie van mond-tot-mond reclame en de website. Op deze manier krijgt u ook meer gevoel bij het belang van uw website. Een mooie tool is Google Analytics waarmee je inzicht krijgt hoeveel klanten jouw site bezocht hebben. Hoe lang ze bleven, wat ze bezocht hebben op de site, met welke zoekwoorden ze bij jou terecht zijn gekomen. Ook voor een website geldt, meten is weten.

De eerste klap is een daalder waard
Ik laat deelnemers aan mijn workshops een overzicht zien van een aantal aspecten die bepalen welke indruk een bezoeker krijgt van een website. Ziet het er mooi uit, kan men de weg vinden, zijn de letters groot genoeg, staat er niet teveel tekst et cetera. Tijdens de workshops neem ik de websites van de verschillende deelnemers onder de loep en laat ik de aanwezigen de site van anderen beoordelen aan de hand van hetgeen ik ze net verteld heb. Vaak zien ze zelf direct welke verbeterpunten er zijn aan de hand van het lijstje dat ik geef. Ik vraag ook vaak welke sites men zelf goed vindt en dan vraag ik specifiek door waarom men deze sites goed, mooi, prettig et cetera vindt. Probeer voor jezelf maar eens na te gaan wat voor u een site goed maakt. De eerste klap is ook op het internet een daalder waard. Dit valt vaak in drie stukken:

• Design
• (Ge)bruikbaarheid (Usability)
• Toegankelijkheid (Accessability)

Design
Onder webdesign wordt vaak het totale vakgebied van een website bouwen genoemd. Onder design versta ik hier alleen hoe het eruit ziet. Dit is gaat vaak in combinatie met usability en accessibility zaken die hieronder staan. Een goede website heeft vaak een design waar goed over nagedacht is en dit is voor brede uitleg vatbaar. Voor goed design is geen maatstaf, maar moet bijdragen aan een prettige ervaring van de gebruiker als men de website bezoekt en moet bijdragen aan conversie voor de ondernemer, oftewel het websitebezoek levert de ondernemer iets op. Hoe zelf te testen. Vraag een leek die uw bedrijf/website niet kent eens om uw site te bekijken en van feedback te voorzien. Voor veel websites zal dit al een belangrijke stroom informatie opleveren. Ik ben ervoor om webdesign over te laten aan professionals, maar voor diegenen die meer over het thema willen weten om dit zelf te doen of een webbureau van repliek te voorzien is Webdesign voor Dummies een bruikbaar boek.

(Ge)bruikbaarheid (Usuability)
Hoe prettig is het om de website te gebruiken. Je komt nogal eens websites tegen waar de navigatie niet op een logische plek zit, of waar als je eenmaal op een pagina zit, je niet meer terug kunt naar waar je vandaan kwam. Dit zijn enkele voorbeelden van usability. Een website heeft net als een boek een aantal randvoorwaarden waar het aan moet voldoen om bruikbaar te zijn. Bij een boek zit de inhoudsopgave vaak voorin. Als deze ergens anders zit is dat vaak storend, helemaal als deze midden in het boek zou zitten. Deze zelfde principes gelden ook voor usability. Hier een website die meer over dit thema vertelt: www.usarchy.com.

Toegankelijkheid (Accessibility)
Hoe toegankelijk is een website? Heel veel websites zijn niet erg toegankelijk. Voorbeelden zijn kleine lettertjes met dwarsbalkjes, die niet te vergroten zijn, slecht kleurgebruik, plaatjes die geen naam hebben meegekregen, menu’s die uitklappen en op het moment dat je de muis ook maar iets beweegt inklappen en zo kan ik nog wel even doorgaan. Deze punten vallen onder accessibility, de toegankelijkheid van een website. Een goede website met nuttige informatie over dit thema is www.drempelvrij.org.

Eyetracking, hoe kijkt men naar jouw website
Ik laat in mijn presentaties een pagina met daarop een eyetrackingheatmap. Ik heb hier eerder al iets over geschreven. De link vind je hier. Dit is een plaatje met daarop een beeld hoe mensen naar een website kijken. Hoe feller de kleur hoe meer men naar dat gebied kijkt. Dan blijkt dat mensen grote lappen tekst niet lezen. Koppen worden gescand, mensen hebben onder andere aandacht voor plaatjes, gezichten, logo’s en zoekvensters. Toehoorders van mijn workshop schrikken dan vaak omdat er vaak hele lappen tekst op hun eigen site staan en nu ziet men in dat bezoekers hier niet naar kijken. Simpele tips zijn dus, korte teksten indien mogelijk, gebruik kopjes, gebruik plaatjes. Probeer niet het hele verhaal te vertellen. Probeer bezoekers snel inzicht te laten krijgen waar men beland is, maak ze nieuwsgierig en zorg dat ze contact op gaan nemen.

Changed Priorities
Vaak vragen mensen aan mij tijdens workshops waar men de tijd vandaan moet halen om veel van de aanbevelingen die ik doe over te nemen. Dan antwoord ik altijd met dat de prioriteiten moeten veranderen. Internet is en wordt steeds belangrijker en het is voor bedrijven zinvol om hier meer focus op te leggen. Je kunt als een struisvogel je kop in het zand steken en doen alsof er niets gebeurt, maar jouw klanten maken steeds meer gebruik van internet en dit biedt kansen.

Trends
Ik sluit af met een aantal trends die voor MKB-ers bruikbaar zijn. Belangrijke trends zijn onder andere sociale netwerken en media die sterk hun stempel drukken op het hele internet. Sociale netwerken zoals LinkedIn, Twitter en Hyves bieden ondernemers grote kansen. Een andere trend is de enorme toename van mobiel internet. Hiermee bedoel ik zowel het gebruik van mobiel internet op een laptop, maar meer nog internet op smartphones. Deze hebben kleinere schermen en dit maakt dat ondernemers ook na moeten denken over het aanbieden van een website die speciaal geschikt is voor deze kleine schermen. Een andere trend is het toenemend gebruik van geotagging. Dit houdt van alles in dat samenhangt met geografische coördinaten. Zo kunt u klanten makkelijker laten weten waar u te vinden bent of waar specifieke producten en diensten te vinden zijn. Video biedt ook steeds meer kansen. Waarom zou u alleen een tekening op je website zetten als je ook gebruik kunt maken van bewegend beeld. Zet bijvoorbeeld je materiaal op Youtube of Vimeo en gebruik deze films op uw je eigen website. Youtube is na Google de grootste zoekmachine ter wereld en het zakelijk gebruik van Youtube neemt sterk toe. Ik maak zelf gebruik van Slideshare om presentaties online te zetten.  Hier kunt u onder andere PDF of Powerpoint uploaden en biedt u zo een enorm podium.

Mocht u na het lezen van deze blogpost nog vragen hebben, aarzel niet en reageer op dit blog of neem op een andere wijze contact met mij op en ik zal kijken of ik u kan helpen.

Hybrid pricing (Tarificación combinada):

Modelo de precios basado en una información del modelo de precios CPM y un modelo de precios de rendimiento.

Twitter launched the “Lists” feature a few weeks ago; here’s a quick and easy over view of the feature. Twitter Lists is a great way to organize your followers or find new ones on Twitter. It is very similar to creating groups in e-mail; it allows you to group Tweeps by family, location, industry, or whatever category you prefer.

Creating a list is easy. When logged into your Twitter account, the “Lists” feature appears below the search box, click on it to create a new list. You can make lists public or private. If public, you can recommend the list for other Tweeps to follow; they can either follow the list or people on it and it can be seen by anyone. If private, you and only you can see this list – perfect for keeping an eye on what competitors are doing. Next, hit “Create List” and you can begin to add users. The maximum number of users is currently 500 and the max number of lists is 20.

Following lists is another great tool to keep track of the happenings on Twitter. These lists won’t show up in your main stream, but can be easily seen by clicking on the “lists” link on the right side of your Twitter homepage. Some great sites that maintain categorized “suggested” lists to follow are:

• Listorious – a 3rd party directory that categorizes the most “awesome” lists on Twitter. The site is user-friendly and allows users to browse or search for lists by category.
• TweetMeme Lists – find the most tweeted about Twitter Lists.

Check out lists following us and that we follow here and more on how organizations are using Twitter lists.

Happy Listing!

Twitter is huge and it’s still growing. So many companies are already using it to market their products. With so many people already on Twitter, how will you get noticed? That is why I wrote this post; it contains 5 tips to help you get found, and when you are found, to entertain your followers.

1.Creating a Username: It’s best to choose a Twitter username which represents your business, instead of a nickname or abbreviations which don’t describe your business at all. The username you choose should have 2 things: it must be easy to remember, and should include a relevant keyword.

2.Make your Account Name different from your Username: The account name you choose should also reflect the nature of your business. It is a good idea to create an account name that is different from your username to make optimum use of keywords, and further promote your business

3.Post a photo of yourself: This proves you are actually human and not a spam bot. Leaving the Twitter icon up looks like you might be a spammer. With a lot of companies, they are finding that their followers grow far quicker with a picture of themselves rather than a logo or the Twitter bird.

4.Interact with your community: It’s fine to send people to your website for offers, deals, information etc. But if you only do that, you will earn a bad reputation as a taker, you will lose followers and break the trust of your followers. Find articles that talk about your area of interest, or retweet other posts.

5.Be consistent with your tweet content: This allows people to find and follow you based on content. With a few exceptions, I usually tweet about e-marketing, finance, and jokes. If someone is considering whether to follow me, they will have a good idea of what I’m all about and decide if that’s information they are interested in receiving.

So, there you have it! 5 tips to help you grow your followers, and then interact with them. I hope you found this helpful, please leave me a comment with any thoughts you may have.

E-Marketing

The Internet has brought marketing to a whole new level. With Internet being a way of life for most people within the UK, we are constantly bomb-barded with adverts; click here for the latest deals and so on. Search engines is a huge marketing technique as well, everyone uses a least one site to search for what users want on the Internet. The most popular and biggest search engine is by far Google, it is simply the leader of it kind. So why do these play a vital part in marketing for LoveFilm?

Because Google can find anything a user wishes, LoveFilm need to make sure that when a user is looking for a product by them that they appear above their competitors in the popularity ranking. Google returns results in a orderly fashion to ensure that the user gets as close to what they are looking for. When I typed LoveFilm into Google it wasn’t a shock to find the number one result was actually the LoveFilm website. This is because the search criteria entered was so unique to the company and Google has indexed this as its number one result for what users were searching for.

Now to test how well ranked LoveFilm actually is when a user wishes to use their service but doesn’t know the name of any companies online, for instance; if I type “rent dvds” into Google, will LoveFilm own its place on the top stop of Google or will their competitors take over. The results from Google still gave LoveFilm the top spot, but with more results from other companies providing the same service. Tesco, Zavvi, Amazon and blockbuster to name a few are all directly below them.

Another issue I had noticed with Google, is their sponsored links above and to the right of the results. Sponsored links give companys the advantage of placing their site near the top results to ensure they are positioned there all the time. Rival companys will pay to have their links within Googles sponsors as there is such a competition for the top result. LoveFilm are also within the sponsored links but again the rival sites are also situated right beneath them.

LoveFilm have a strong hold on their sites services within Googles engine.