These days more and more people are accessing the Web through their mobile phones. They’re checking their E-mails, surfing, reading the news, and even shopping – literally “on the go”. Wouldn’t you like to make your website “pops” for mobile? Don’t think it’s an impossible task. Today tools that format your website or blog for mobile phones and smartphones are aplenty. Most of them don’t even require web design or HTML expertise! Let’s take a look at some of them. Really Sweet Tools Mippin: This is a fast and free service that can “mobilize” your website or blog, so long as it has an Atom or RSS feed. It also offers built-in content variety through a list of sites delivered in simple format for the mobile audience. While there aren’t lots of features on Mippin, you’ll still have full control of your logo and branding efforts, as well as access to your traffic and reporting stats. And, to make sure – Read the full article
The holiday season is right around the corner – and with it, shopping galore. Are you ready for Christmas? Is your E-commerce site optimized for maximum sales? People will certainly be looking up holiday items and ideas on the Internet, and – to help you gain greater visibility and maximize search traffic – we’ve come up with a list of 7 SEO tips for your retail website. 1. Refresh your content. Don’t just copy and paste from your manufacturer’s website. Be creative. Yes, it takes a lot of effort, but it is worth it to have unique product descriptions, catalog and category descriptions, case studies, industry news, and shopping tips that not only make your E-commerce site a lot more interesting for visitors, but also improve your sales through better search engine visibility. 2. Create a blog. Why not? The fact that holiday season is forthcoming should give you enough things to write about. A blog not only enhances the – Read the full article
It is tough to sell these days – even tougher if you try to do it online. It’s not just the similar businesses and stores in the neighborhood you would suddenly be competing against. Take it online, and you’re competing against the whole world. But times are changing, and often your online presence is critical to the success of your company. That’s where the customer base is obviously moving towards. In the US alone, ecommerce totaled over $200 billion in sales. In running an online store, one of the important first steps is finding the best ecommerce solution for your business. At Lakeshore Branding we use Magento, a versatile open-source cross-platform content management system that aims to handle all aspects of building and maintaining your ecommerce site. It is dubbed as the “platform for growth” for businesses looking to take it online and to the next level. We agree. What’s best about Magento is its robust set of features, scalable – Read the full article
Ecommerce is evolving. It’s certainly growing. By the year 2012, ecommerce sales in the US alone are projected to reach $335 billion. As the online customer base continues to grow, so will the number of online stores. Needless to say, it’s an increasingly fierce competition. In order to keep up and ahead of the pace, it is critical that businesses serious about growth in the ecommerce industry should find the best ecommerce solution for their companies. Enter Magento. Called the “platform for growth”, Magento is an open-source enterprise-level content management system whose flexibility, scalability, and robust feature set have been acclaimed by experts in the ecommerce industry. It’s the fastest-growing ecommerce solution in the market today, and with 750,000 downloads, the platform is bound to only grow bigger. Magento’s usable interface, analytics and reporting capabilities, SEO-friendliness, and catalog management tools have been praised by businesses, retailers, wholesalers, marketers, developers, and design firms. But what makes the ecommerce platform truly special – Read the full article
“Right now, your customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They’re defining you on Wikipendia and ganging up on you on social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon- the groundswell- that has created a permanent shift in the way the world works.” This is written on the book jacket of the book Groundswell, a national bestseller. The social media revolutions is upon us. Several experts claim for it to be the biggest shift in business since the industrial revolution. The change in how we communicate with the public, potential and existing customers is evolving at a pace that has not been seen before with adoption of other technologies. Its a social media revolution. It used to take years to build new media platforms, for radio it was 38 years, television 13 years, the internet 4 years, and the iPod 3 years- each respectively to reach 50 million – Read the full article
Reputation management is becoming a big part of our small startup. Many of our Chicago clients are finding that monitoring their online reputation is more important than ever. Reviews are viewed as a trusted source of information, in fact 70 percent said they trusted consumer opinions posted online. This ranks above newspaper editorials, tv and radio- according to Nelson Research. Recently an old friend reached out to me to let me know that their company, Alterian, recently acquired Techrigy. Techrigy is a social media monitoring tool that complies links, mentions, information about particular keywords or companies. I know that there are several social media monitoring tools out there, but for some reason this one caught my attention. The team here knows that it takes a lot to impress me, but I was pleasantly surprised with this web based tool. Within the first few minutes I began to see the depth and capabilities of the reporting and I am only in – Read the full article
When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), everybody wants to be on the same page: Page One. And why not? The benefits of consistently showing up first on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, and other search engines are obvious. Businesses of all sizes and across all industries recognize the value and benefits of an optimized site, such as: increased number of visitors. Better brand recognition. Potentially higher transactions and sales, and potentially increased market share. Nowadays, you can’t afford not to optimize. One of Lakeshore Branding’s core strengths is Search Engine Optimization. We work step-by-step in a process that’s proven its success with our previous clients. We look at your on-page optimization and link development strategies. We study your competition. We customize our SEO packages to cater to your specific needs, goals, and budget. And we make sure that we deliver organic results consistently, so that at the end of the day you enjoy the edge that you need to – Read the full article
As Seen on Fox News It happens to the best – and biggest – of companies. Bad reviews, negative search results, brand-destroying viral tweets, video parodies, libelous Facebook notes, nasty blog posts and comments. You know, the usual “I’ve Been Wronged by That Evil Company” routine. What do you do? In the past you would turn to a seasoned, traditional PR firm. Today you need experts who understand how information on the Internet is searched, understood, and shared. In short, you need Lakeshore Branding. Our online reputation management solutions can build your brand, withstand online reputation crisis, and win over customers both old and new. Contact us at (312) 229-0038 for a confidential evaluation. Social Media Monitoring Online Brand Management Crisis Management Online Reviews Tracking and Management Customer Relations / Customer Relationship Management Track Online Reviews
