It’s that time of the year once again: the time to make lists, review what has happened in the last twelve months, and look back at some of the year’s highlights. It’s no different here at Lakeshore Branding. As you probably know by now, we’re very passionate about all things online. And that’s why we work hard to bring you news, trends, tips, tricks, and the occasional top secrets on Internet marketing, social media, technology and apps, etc. So, as 2010 comes to a close and we herald the coming of a new year, we thought it would be a cool idea to check out Lakeshore Branding’s top 5 blog posts of 2010. 60 Awesome Small Business WordPress Themes This blog post was inspired by the small business owners who are dedicated to finding solutions to enhance their visibility online. And since we were getting a lot of questions about where they might find business-oriented WordPress themes, or how they – Read the full article
Tumblr is easy to fall in love with – especially if you’re looking for a light (and awesome) blogging platform. It’s going to be even easier once you’ve read the reasons why you should “Tum-blog” and taken note of the fact that the company has significant plans to expand next year. If you’re big on SEO, however… umm. Okay. So here’s the thing: Tumblr isn’t exactly the best blogging platform to support your SEO (search engine optimization) campaign. Unlike WordPress sites or even blogs hosted by Google’s own product, Blogger, Tumblr sites don’t rank well on search results. Which isn’t to say that Tumblr never ranks well – because with a few tweaks, tips, and tricks, you can position your Tumblr blog in a way that gives you an edge in the search rankings. Optimize your page titles: Here’s one good thing about Tumblr: it allows you to modify the HTML of your posts. HTML! Isn’t that a form of – Read the full article
Are you ready for 2011? As the Internet transforms, so should you. The rate at which technology evolves only means that, no matter how far along you’ve come with your Internet marketing program, there will always be something new to explore. There’ll always be something new to add to the mix. It is in this light that Lakeshore Branding takes a look at a number of online marketing trends expected to take off next year. We present this hoping that you’ll turn these expectations into opportunities – and the opportunities into tools to drive your business. HTML5: As the next major revision of the HTML standard, HTML5 is expected to emerge next year – and beyond – as that which will change the chemistry of the World Wide Web. Under development for much of the last few years, HTML5 will nonetheless continue to usher in the next generation of web development and programming. It will be supported by more browsers, – Read the full article
It used to be that businesses concentrated their marketing efforts exclusively on traditional (offline) media – like print ads, TV commercials, radio, PR campaigns, events, billboards, direct mail, glossy brochures. And then the Internet happened. And then social media changed the Internet. A recent report by GrowBiz Media, a small business market research firm, and online survey company Zoomerang led to key insights on how much money small businesses are allocating for their Internet marketing efforts. Entitled “SMB Marketing Practices: Small to Midsized Business Survey Results, 2010”, the report gathers information from 751 completed surveys across the U.S., by businesses with less than 1,000 employees. Among the key takeaways: More than half of the businesses with less than $1000 marketing budget are adopting social media practices, most notably in social networks Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter (in that order). Around 39 percent of respondents are spending more than 20 percent of their marketing budgets on websites (design, development, content creation, marketing, – Read the full article
A free photo-centric social sharing app called Path was launched early this week by a familiar face in social media: former Facebook Platform Manager Dave Morin. Just don’t call it a social network, though. Path – unlike Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn – is being positioned as “the personal network”. According to its San Francisco-based founders, Path is the place where “you will always feel comfortable being yourself and sharing the story of your life with your closest friends and family via the photos you take every day with your mobile device.” Sounds like Facebook Photos or Flickr – but there is this twist: with Path, you can only have up to 50 members in your network. Fifty and no more. That’s right. At a time when Facebook users are sharing bits and pieces of their lives to up to 5,000 friends, and where people are tweeting all kinds of information for thousands and thousands of followers to see, Path is – Read the full article
A new web browser has been unveiled by the people who brought us Netscape 16 years ago. RockMelt, founded by Eric Vishria and Tim Howes, was released Monday as a “re-imagined” web browser that is designed to serve as a social networking hub, tightly integrating Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites into a traditional web page navigation program. RockMelt allows users to “share easily, search faster, connect with friends, and keep up on news”; since the Monday release of its early version, the new browser has gotten industry observers in and beyond Silicon Valley talking. The RockMelt browser is based on Google Chrome’s HTML-5-compliant and open-source Chromium foundation (which is why you might perhaps echo our same initial sentiments, “It kind of looks like Chrome”). However, what makes RockMelt different from Chrome (or Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and Safari) is that it actually frames the social media experience – Facebook updates, chats, Twitter streams, etc. – within its browser, – Read the full article
Not long ago we published a blog post with essential tips on how to use LinkedIn for your small business. Since then, Facebook and Twitter continued to rise and flourish under the social media spotlight. But it doesn’t mean that LinkedIn had not gone through its own evolution, because it did. Just check out the stream of activity on the official LinkedIn blog. Or take numbers as proof: today, 80 million professionals – and counting – have signed up to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities through the social networking site. After all these new LinkedIn features and developments, we thought it would be a great time for an update. Here’s a list of tips on LinkedIn for small business – tips that may not have occurred to you just yet, but which will certainly give your online presence a huge boost. Upload that picture. Okay, we did mention this in that previous article – “brand your profile” – but judging – Read the full article
If you’re thinking of starting your online business, then you’re part of a race where millions are striving for successful brand recognition on the Web. To win, you have to build an online brand that stands out in the competition – a brand that has a unique, likeable personality. Online brand building means thinking of ways you can make your Web identity more accessible to your potential customers, all while boosting your sales and building a reputation that engenders trust and credibility. Let me first raise some of the aspects of brand-building across the Internet: Quality Creatively built web identity Customer service Promotion and marketing Consistency Quality of products or services is your niche and is arguably most important. It’s better to have a single product that does well rather than having a hundred that perform really badly. Your product should be more innovative and superior than what the next guy has to offer. To make a product with distinction, – Read the full article
