Having read Jay Baer’s blog post about the Starbucks Digital Network to come to all stores this fall, I became quite impressed with Starbucks’ movement towards material or person-to-person community, local-business support, and access to non-local news and entertainment sources, all for “free” or, rather, with the expectation of purchase. I gain a sense that apartments with close-location to Starbucks may become a bit more desirable to those who may have previously frowned upon the purchase of cappuccinos stained by capitalism. As Baer questions, “…does this change where you might go get your next cup of coffee and how you come to discover music and other consumer products,” he considers the shift in the meaning of ‘end content.’ Yes, I think this will affect where someone will buy their next coffee for a full sit-and-enjoy session, but not for those in and out purchases. And sure, this will affect people who already search and buy music from iTunes music purchases, – Read the full article
Web design is more than just creativity, it’s usability. Understanding your visitors and how they use your website will lead to increased conversions. For each new website, our team of graphic designers, SEO consultants and marketing specialists work together on strategy, design, usability, and goals. _ Over 180 million people in the U.S. prefer to use the internet to find information about local business and about half of those who conduct a local search end up making a purchase.1_ Web Design Vision Our dynamic team of web designers is as creative, driven, and skilled as any in the industry. We have the tools, techniques, and technologies in place to come up with the freshest – “awesomest” – designs. What sets us apart from the rest, however, is our experience in working together with businesses, brands, and clients who, like you, want to be found and chosen by the people who matter. And this experience enables us to design websites that – Read the full article
Coupons still work. Consumers may not find them as often as they used to in the Sunday paper or in magazine inserts, but this doesn’t mean that coupons are no longer popular or effective – because they still are. Just do a quick check on the Web and immediately you’ll find tens of thousands of online coupon sites – like RetailMeNot and CouponSaver – offering discounts, special deals, free shipping offers, and other similar privileges to consumers. If, as a small business owner, online retailer, merchant, or Internet marketer, you still haven’t tried using coupons as an online sales tool, then you might want to start doing so – especially at a time when the world is still trying to recover from the financial crisis. According to recent studies, over 76 percent of the shopping population use coupons, which continue to gain such popularity that the number of people searching for them on the Web has grown to thrice as – Read the full article
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
Do you find yourself always on the go, having to work – literally – from your Apple iPhone? Don’t worry. Running around doesn’t mean you cannot accomplish the tasks needed to manage your SEO campaign – as long, of course, as you have one of today’s most sought-after mobile gadgets. We’ve talked before of great apps for small business owners. Now it’s time to list down great iPhone apps for those looking to continue working on optimizing their site, even while out of the office. Ego Ego for iPhone is a stat-tracking application that lets you check out the numbers and figures that are relevant to your SEO and search engine marketing (SEM) campaign. With support for Ember, Feedburner, Google Analytics, Mint, Squarespace, Tumblr, Twitter, and Vimeo, the Ego app lets iPhone users view things like daily, hourly, monthly site visits, subscriber count, number of Twitter followers, and even feed subscription totals. Ego is particularly useful if you’re managing multiple – Read the full article
Social media marketing is an essential part of many businesses and organizations today – regardless of size. The Internet has grown so much more community-focused, so much more social, that if one were to truly establish and enhance the online presence of a company or brand, there’d be no way of doing it without social media marketing. Sure, to some people, sites like Facebook and Twitter are just a complete waste of time, but without social media sites like these it would be next to impossible to keep up with everything that’s happening online. This is why companies are beginning to recognize the importance of hiring social media managers, social media agencies, social media consultants and strategists. The titles vary, but one thing is clear: if – as a small business owner or an Internet marketer – you want to be able to engage the right way with an online audience and steer the conversation about your brand to the – Read the full article
Developing an e-Commerce site is an altogether different challenge from coming up with an official website or company blog. While the latter two are meant – in one way or another – to serve as means of communication and engagement, an e-Commerce site should be built to sell. And sell lots. Anyone who has ever shopped online will know that it takes more than just a piece of shopping cart software to be able to succeed in the online retail game. It also takes more than eye-catching web design or an impressive collection of product shots. Are you an online retailer or a small business owner looking to boost your online sales? To help you understand selling on the Internet, we present this list of traits that every e-Commerce site should have. Easy accessibility and navigation This is an absolute necessity. Your e-Commerce site should be accessible from various types of web browsers – Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, – Read the full article
An E-mail marketing campaign is a great, cost-effective way to communicate your messages to a target audience – but only, of course, if you get them to actually open the E-mails that have come from you. Which isn’t guaranteed: sometimes you spend hours crafting a message for your campaign and when it finally gets to the inboxes of your mailing list and subscribers, they just delete it without ever reading. The wasted effort! The lost time! The missed opportunities! Don’t worry. There is a solution, and it comes in the form of a great, irresistible subject line. While it’s easy to think that your recipients will hardly care about it, the text you write out in the subject line is one of the single most important factors in the success of your E-mail marketing campaign. It separates the kind of E-mail that goes straight to the trash bin and the kind of E-mail that grabs the attention and tickles one’s – Read the full article
