Whether or not you’ve been following this Internet marketing blog (which we hope you’ve been), it has now become obvious how huge a role online presence plays in helping businesses succeed. Increase web traffic, generate more sales and opportunities, and increase profits: it’s a simple equation. But it’s also one that can be solved using countless methods and formulas. Keep in mind, though, that not everything has to be done online. SEO, online advertising, and social media management are great ways of enhancing your web presence, but there are offline ways, too, of achieving just that. In fact, one can go so far as to say that in order for your small business, store, restaurant, civic community, etc. to succeed, you should close the loop between online and offline. Remember: you can get away from the computer for awhile and still be able to take action. Wonder how that’s done? Here’s a list of the top 5 ways to promote – Read the full article
The social networking / microblogging site, Twitter, is so popular right now that it’s not a bad move to think you should use it for your business – as part of your social media strategy. In fact, you may go so far as to say it’s a necessary move. Sure, it’s cool to be able to follow the tweets of Ashton Kutcher and Stephen Fry on a daily basis and join in on casual conversations. But it’s so much cooler that Twitter offers you, through these conversations, new opportunities to expand your business and your brand. Before you dive in and start twittering, make sure you consider a few important things first. You don’t want to start out on a bad note, after all. Ask yourself how you want to use your Twitter Sure, you can’t use Twitter yet as a direct revenue channel, but you can use it as a way to continue to enhance your brand and image. – Read the full article
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
Due to the tremendous support and success of last year’s event, Barcelona Creative Group has decided to host our 2nd Annual Open House and Food Drive. We invite you to join us as we “talk turkey,” help those in need and celebrate Thanksgiving (the most American of holidays) with clients, business associates and friends. Date: Monday, November 23rd Time: 5:00pm to 7:00pm Where: 12416 S. Harlem Ave., Palos Heights, 2nd Floor Holiday appetizers and beverages will be served. This year we will be supporting the Palos Township Emergency Food Pantry. We hope you will help by bringing a non-perishable food item. Thank you. Items needed: Canned Vegetables, Canned Soups, Canned Fruits, Canned Tuna or Chicken, Macaroni & Cheese, Spaghetti Sauce, Applesauce, Fruit Drinks, Toilet Paper, Kleenex, Paper Towels, Toothpaste & Toothbrushes, Hand Soap, Dishwashing Soap and Shampoo & Conditioner. RSVP Here… For more information or questions please contact Juli Barcelona or Monica Crites by email at juli @barcelonacreative.com or monica – Read the full article
LinkedIn isn’t just for individuals looking to power their career and build their professional network. It’s also for companies and business organizations looking to establish and promote their professional identity. Creating a LinkedIn company profile page will go a long way in letting people know what your business is all about. First of all, you can use it as an opportunity to build an online reputation for your company. When created and managed strategically, it can also be a great branding tool. A LinkedIn company profile, moreover, is friendly to search engines: it’s public and can show up in search results, giving you an extra edge in exposure and helping your business attract potential new customers or employees. Create your company profile now on LinkedIn. The instructions are simple and easy to follow. We have even included a short Youtube video on how to create your profile. Below are a few tips to help you maximize the Linkedin company profile – Read the full article
LinkedIn is not Facebook. It’s not Twitter, either. You don’t use LinkedIn to post 140-character statuses about your business or to officially like someone’s new online video. What you can do, however, is use LinkedIn to grow your small business and make it more profitable. And isn’t that your priority? As a business-oriented social networking site with more than 50 million registered users spanning 170 industries, LinkedIn is an online real estate for professionals big and small. It is truly a business networking site with the average user having $109K in income and 41 years old. If you’re unsure how to use your LinkedIn profile to gain a business advantage, you can follow these tips below: Brand your profile: As a small business professional, you want to be easily found by the people who matter – as well as by the most frequently used search engines. Make sure that you customize your LinkedIn profile by changing the default link into – Read the full article
The last few days I utilized the new search engine Bing. I was skeptical at first of the new Microsoft product but was quickly impressed with the raw power of this new “decision” engine as they are branding it. I took notes in search results compared to yahoo and Google and I am going to share some of my insights into what I discovered (and opinions) 1. Bing has a better image search, I like the pop out feature to see the image a bit larger as well as the amount of images that are returned on the first page. It looks like they use “citations” to determine the image and do not have as much focus on alt and title tags. As webmasters have used images as an opportunity to put more keywords into the meta data, Google images has become less relevant. 2. Bing is showing favor to major websites, they are not showing site links except for – Read the full article
