A big part of running a successful business is making sure that everyone knows about it. Unfortunately, though, that can be a lot easier said than done! If you want to make your business more visible, tap into the power of social media marketing and take advantage of these expert tips: Offer specials to your social media contacts If people know that they’re going to get extra discounts and perks by “liking” you on Facebook or following you on Twitter, they’re going to do it! And, in return, they’ll give you things that you would have a real hard time getting otherwise, like solid word-of-mouth advertising and repeat business. Show people that you’re genuinely excited A big problem that people have in social media marketing is posting something because they feel like they “have to”. Guess what? That lack of enthusiasm shines through, and it’s not a good way to get people talking about your business. Instead, make sure that – Read the full article
For your site to be noticed and to get traffic, it should have a good position in search, so that it will always land on the first page of popular search results at search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Achieving this is no miracle and is not something that can be done overnight: it takes an effective SEO strategy to move your website to the top of search engine results. In order for an SEO strategy to be successful, a website owner should monitor the different metrics of their site on a daily or weekly basis to gauge if the strategy that they are implementing is working. Here are a few metrics that any website owner should watch out for, to know if they are on the right track and if the strategy that they are implementing is improving their website’s ranking: SEO Metrics Traffic Metrics. Web traffic is the number of visitors that your site is getting. This – Read the full article
More and more companies are realizing the importance of utilizing social media. However, finding the right social media marketing consultant or expert can be a daunting task. Due to the ambiguity of social media and lack of a formal means to measure competency, it seems as though nearly anyone can call themselves a “social media guru”. However, social media is more than sending out tweets or reading blogs. How can a company find an individual who can do more with social media than connect with friends? 5 Qualities of a True Social Media Expert Placing your online reputation in the hands of an unqualified applicant is always a risky situation; however, there are several distinctive qualities that mark a true social media expert. In order to find the most qualified social media expert, keep an eye out for the following indicators: 1. Passion: In general, you should look for an individual that has a passion for social media – they – Read the full article
For the travel industry, at least, social media is seen as more valuable than pay-per-click advertising. The World Travel Market 2011 report says that travel professionals see social media as one of the key revenue-generating channels over the next five years. As proof of this, the study found that eight out of ten travel-related businesses use some form of social media. Not only that: the World Travel Market 2011 also expects that in five years, half of all travel-related companies would be generating income and bookings on social media, rising from the current 22%. Out of those using social media marketing, around 50% do not even invest in PPC advertising, while 1 out of 5 of those who do use PPC aim to stop or reduce their spending in the next few years. It is very apparent that the travel industry loves social media. So if you are in the travel business, it is time to amp up your social media activities. Blogs – Read the full article
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you probably know that we’re crazy about Magento. But that doesn’t mean that we’re not willing to give other platforms their due – because we most certainly are. Shopify, for example, is an equally viable e-Commerce solution for anyone who has ever thought of building an online store, boosting sales, and enhancing Internet presence. The platform is growing very quickly, too, with over 16,000 Shopify stores to date. Like Magento, Shopify features an easy-to-use store builder, as well as a set of fully customizable store designs. (If you’re good with codes like HTML and CSS, you can create your own design from scratch.) It’s also integrated with a number of today’s most popular payment gateways, including PayPal, Authorize.Net, Google Checkout, QuickBooks Merchant Services, ePay, and more. Shopify caps off its rich feature set with unlimited e-Commerce hosting, which includes automatic updates and backups, Level 1 PCI compliance, unlimited bandwidth, and its own – Read the full article
Social media advocates are often quoted as claiming that social media is the greatest form of advertising because it is free. At Silicon Beach Training we use social media in a big way; we use it to increase exposure for our training courses. We use it to build relationships with key influencers and our customers. We also use it extensively to promote and share our flow of content generated to inform and inspire our existing customers and potential clients. One of the most important paybacks for all of this activity is it seriously improves our ranking. I believe that Google is going to up the stakes on this one, too; social shares are going to become even stronger signals that affect page position. In order to sustain these benefits, however, we need to employ people. We employ full-time people and we need to tap many external sources for content generation, paid for in currency and in back-links. Time and people – Read the full article
If you want to make sales without chasing customers or making cold calls and do it in a way that is pleasing for you as the marketer and comfortable for the prospect, there are strategies that you can implement so that people will be calling and lining up to do business with you. In this article we will discuss 9 Strategies on How You Can Achieve Expert Status In Your Niche. We’ll begin with: Article Marketing: Writing articles and giving well-researched information to your niche and placing them on your website or social media platforms will be a great way to get started in positioning yourself as an expert in your niche. You can also distribute them in article directories as long as they are of quality such as Ezine Articles or trade publications in your niche (online and offline). Write a book: The book can be in the form of an E-book that is downloadable or it can be – Read the full article
Raising funds online isn’t easy. Thank goodness there are useful social media marketing platforms like Kickstarter and Twitter. (Check out our tips for fundraising on Twitter and our coverage of some of the most successful social media fundraisers!) But if these tools aren’t flexible enough for your charity organization, political advocacy, or religious community – and if you think you’ll need a bigger Web presence, like a website or a blog – then you might as well create your own WordPress site. WordPress is Lakeshore Branding’s recommended content management system (CMS). Why? Because it’s focused on aesthetics. Because it’s built on evolving and upcoming Web standards. And because it’s so easy to use. To help rally your cause, we compiled this list of 15 WordPress themes sure to strike at the heart of your online audience. These WordPress themes are great for non-governmental institutions, public sector groups, charity organizations, environmental organizations, fundraising events and committees, advocacy groups, political aspirants, churches, – Read the full article
