Recently in Marketing Category
Finally spring time has sprung in the South. I always get in the mood for that fresh start, that spring cleaning mode every year right when the dogwoods are in full bloom in the woods behind the office . Just like we spring clean our homes, change the smoke detector batteries and clean out the cobwebs, when was the last time your cleaned out the cobwebs from your website?
When was the last time you changed any content on your present site? ...yesterday? ...last week? ...last month? ...don't tell me it was last year! We hear things like, "You mean you can do that!" A recent survey reveals that while many site owners understand the need for frequent updating, a good portion still do not, with 37 percent of respondents saying they update content daily, 16 percent weekly, 16 percent monthly and a whopping 31 percent annually.
While many Web sites keep their content fresh and alive, updating links and content often, many do not. Look I know your busy, but this month would be a great time to carefully evaluate your site's content, run maintenance programs to check for broken links (with a plan to do this regularly), and overhaul any of your outdated content, images or applications that are not being used. Fresh content that is updated regularly is key now a days in improving your rank in the search engines as well. The easiest way to do that is to add a company blog to your site where you can share customer success stories, talk about trends in your industry and share information with potential customers that builds their trust in your comapny.
Does your site appear fresh, or does it need some updating? Sometimes bringing your site more current is as simple as adding some fresh content and archiving the old, while other times you may be getting due for a redesign or complete overhaul in order to stay competitive. Your Web site is the most cost effective marketing tool your business can use and the easiest to respond to your customers demands.
Have some friends or colleagues look at your site for you and ask them for honest critiques. Often times we can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak, so asking others to take a look can bring a different, fresh perspective. Ask them to tell you if your site is easy to navigate, if they find any dead links, if the content is helpful and interesting, and if they have any ideas that might improve your site.
Here are some tips to ensure a fresh and vital website:
When was the last time you changed any content on your present site? ...yesterday? ...last week? ...last month? ...don't tell me it was last year! We hear things like, "You mean you can do that!" A recent survey reveals that while many site owners understand the need for frequent updating, a good portion still do not, with 37 percent of respondents saying they update content daily, 16 percent weekly, 16 percent monthly and a whopping 31 percent annually.
While many Web sites keep their content fresh and alive, updating links and content often, many do not. Look I know your busy, but this month would be a great time to carefully evaluate your site's content, run maintenance programs to check for broken links (with a plan to do this regularly), and overhaul any of your outdated content, images or applications that are not being used. Fresh content that is updated regularly is key now a days in improving your rank in the search engines as well. The easiest way to do that is to add a company blog to your site where you can share customer success stories, talk about trends in your industry and share information with potential customers that builds their trust in your comapny.
Does your site appear fresh, or does it need some updating? Sometimes bringing your site more current is as simple as adding some fresh content and archiving the old, while other times you may be getting due for a redesign or complete overhaul in order to stay competitive. Your Web site is the most cost effective marketing tool your business can use and the easiest to respond to your customers demands.
Have some friends or colleagues look at your site for you and ask them for honest critiques. Often times we can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak, so asking others to take a look can bring a different, fresh perspective. Ask them to tell you if your site is easy to navigate, if they find any dead links, if the content is helpful and interesting, and if they have any ideas that might improve your site.
Here are some tips to ensure a fresh and vital website:
- Establish a regular housekeeping schedule. Determine how often you will introduce new content on your site.
- Remove or refresh stale content. Remove all expired offers, products or services and update information that has changed. Be sure to update featured articles and archive that old articles in a separate section in your site for reference.
- Make your presentation current. Even if your product or service is fairly static, find a way to show that the site is up-to-date.
- Periodically test all the links within your site to be sure they work properly. This is especially true if you link off to other sites. They sometimes change where they place their content or remove the page completely.
With the incredible popularity of 'blogging' over the past few years it is becoming easier and easier to enter the world of social networking. If you haven't already entered this space on the Internet you need to consider what essential features are needed for a successful blog. Here are just a few:
- Flexible Layout. It seems if you've been to one Blogger blog you've been to them all. Having the capability to make your blog look different to the other estimated 27+ million blogs out there is a good thing. Take the time to investigate the many free templates that are available with so many different blog solutions. It will help you stand out!
- Browser Based Editing. This makes getting content online easy as well as makes any edits, changes or additions a simple task.
- Automated Publishing. FTP Who? You shouldn't have to mess with complicated file transfers; you want to simply click a button and your posts appear. Having text formatting and spell checking is a real must have feature!
- Categories. This feature makes it easy for you to split your entries into categories that will make it easier for your site visitor to find them.
- Search Engine Optimized URLs. If your written a post, you don't want your URL to be something like www.myblog.com/4586972.html?myleftfoot. You need to be able to squeeze every ounce of search engine optimization (SEO) out of your post. So having a URL that includes keywords about a post is a useful tool in getting your posts ranked.
- Comment Systems. A critical feature. The comment system is the number one way your blog site becomes sticky (how likely a visitor will return). The free for all commenting is something bloggers have embraced and has contributed to the explosion in its popularity. Many corporate sites that have blogs are afraid to go down this path. In some ways it makes sense but in others if you make a great product let your customers comments spread the word about how great you are.
- Syndication Feeds. When you go to a site you see the RSS icon. This is an application that pushes your posts onto other RSS readers. Some email clients such as Thunderbird come with RSS readers, as do personal sites like Yahoo. The interesting aspect of this RSS feed is that a website can read a RSS feed. Which means your posts can appear on other websites automatically. It's a great way to syndicate your blog in real-time the will get you even more readership. Best part, its automatic!
- Email Notification. When you make a post, wouldn't it be great if you had an email list that got notified every time you made a post? Granted this is another subject beyond blogging involving SPAM.
- Search. The more you opine, the more your archive of content will grow. Having a robust search tool helps your website visitors find your post related to the topics they are interested in. Face it, on the web you are either a searcher or a browser when you land on a page. Some visitors will automatically look for a search as the first thing they do when they go to a blog or website.
- Trackback. This is where it can get complicated. Simply put, you read a post, and you comment about it on your blog. You place the URL to the post in yours and the blog picks up your post and leaves it as a comment in the other's post.
Here's an interesting low tech idea on sales prospecting in what has rapidly become a high tech world.
Sales 2.0 is focused on using technology tools to reduce sales cycles and increase productivity. New and improved technology will only get you so far — at some point you must create a warm connection.
With over a 99% open rate, a handwritten note is a dynamic tool in combination with new technology to warm up a targeted prospect and get in the door. Use technology on business networks like LinkedIn to research and target prospects. Then connect using a handwritten note as a first contact and see the results of a dramatically warmer reception when you follow-up by phone.
A Profits in Progress client saw a 500% increase in set appointments by warming his prospects with a handwritten note for the first contact. “As a way of generating a warm reception to a cold call, I created a campaign using Profits in Progress note cards and a custom leather coaster. I handwrote a note to the CEO of my targeted client, including a leather coaster. I followed up with a phone call to make sure he received his 'gift'. As a result of the first 100 mailed, I was able to personally talk with 30 of the recipients, set up 6 appointments and close 4 sales. As a comparison, prior to this campaign, it was considered a success to set 1 appointment for every 100 calls.” – Jeff M.
The Note-Working Success System makes it easy to put your pen to paper and get noticed every time. With beautiful note cards that are exclusive to subscribers of the system the month they are released along with sample messages and tracking sheets to measure results, this system is designed to help you write a note in only a few minutes and make a dramatic connection that produces results.
Vanessa Lowry is a connection expert and owner of Profits in Progress, helping businesses integrate the dynamic tool of handwritten notes into their marketing strategies to get noticed and make their recipient feel valued. She can be contacted at vlowry@profitsinprogress.com or 678-521-8820. www.ProfitsinProgress.com
Sales 2.0 is focused on using technology tools to reduce sales cycles and increase productivity. New and improved technology will only get you so far — at some point you must create a warm connection.
With over a 99% open rate, a handwritten note is a dynamic tool in combination with new technology to warm up a targeted prospect and get in the door. Use technology on business networks like LinkedIn to research and target prospects. Then connect using a handwritten note as a first contact and see the results of a dramatically warmer reception when you follow-up by phone.
A Profits in Progress client saw a 500% increase in set appointments by warming his prospects with a handwritten note for the first contact. “As a way of generating a warm reception to a cold call, I created a campaign using Profits in Progress note cards and a custom leather coaster. I handwrote a note to the CEO of my targeted client, including a leather coaster. I followed up with a phone call to make sure he received his 'gift'. As a result of the first 100 mailed, I was able to personally talk with 30 of the recipients, set up 6 appointments and close 4 sales. As a comparison, prior to this campaign, it was considered a success to set 1 appointment for every 100 calls.” – Jeff M.
The Note-Working Success System makes it easy to put your pen to paper and get noticed every time. With beautiful note cards that are exclusive to subscribers of the system the month they are released along with sample messages and tracking sheets to measure results, this system is designed to help you write a note in only a few minutes and make a dramatic connection that produces results.
Vanessa Lowry is a connection expert and owner of Profits in Progress, helping businesses integrate the dynamic tool of handwritten notes into their marketing strategies to get noticed and make their recipient feel valued. She can be contacted at vlowry@profitsinprogress.com or 678-521-8820. www.ProfitsinProgress.com
If you were to go the web now and search on your name you may get bits and pieces about who you are, your professional successes and what your business is all about. But the information is often time fragmented and often time not quite accurate.
Have you ever wanted to just add a line or two to a posting on the Internet about you related to you to make it sound better but were unable to to get in touch with the one that posted your information to make some changes?
What if you could have complete control of what you want the web to say about you? In your words and with your facts! By having control of what the Web is saying about you it is the only way I know you can build your own personal brand the only other way would be to go through the time and expense of building your own personal website. as busy professionals we don't necessarily have the time or the knowledge to create such a site. Now that has all changed!
Cornerstone Media Group and qAlias have team up to provide you with a way to get your name number one in Google and Yahoo that combined is being used over 75% of the time by people wanting to know more about you before they do business.
A real advantage of qAlias is that you can send a personalized bulletin that presents a focused, effective message to your family, friends and more importantly customers right from your profile about anything you want, as often as you want. This is a great way to stay in touch with your customers when your business has an announcement. Depending on the size of your company (50 person minimum) we can even customize the background to reflect your brand and company's image. From your own personal bio to your business card online you are taking control of what the Web is saying about you at qAlias.
If you are a soon to be college grad or looking for a new job you can post your resume for downloading 24/7 from your profile on qAlias. It can be downloaded by anyone searching for innovative people they are looking for to fill some of the best jobs in the world.
For more information visit the qAlias website. Hey! Just Google me, Mark Treager to see just a small sample of the sort of personal results you can achieve using the amazing technology from qAlias.
Have you ever wanted to just add a line or two to a posting on the Internet about you related to you to make it sound better but were unable to to get in touch with the one that posted your information to make some changes?
What if you could have complete control of what you want the web to say about you? In your words and with your facts! By having control of what the Web is saying about you it is the only way I know you can build your own personal brand the only other way would be to go through the time and expense of building your own personal website. as busy professionals we don't necessarily have the time or the knowledge to create such a site. Now that has all changed!
Cornerstone Media Group and qAlias have team up to provide you with a way to get your name number one in Google and Yahoo that combined is being used over 75% of the time by people wanting to know more about you before they do business.
A real advantage of qAlias is that you can send a personalized bulletin that presents a focused, effective message to your family, friends and more importantly customers right from your profile about anything you want, as often as you want. This is a great way to stay in touch with your customers when your business has an announcement. Depending on the size of your company (50 person minimum) we can even customize the background to reflect your brand and company's image. From your own personal bio to your business card online you are taking control of what the Web is saying about you at qAlias.
If you are a soon to be college grad or looking for a new job you can post your resume for downloading 24/7 from your profile on qAlias. It can be downloaded by anyone searching for innovative people they are looking for to fill some of the best jobs in the world.
For more information visit the qAlias website. Hey! Just Google me, Mark Treager to see just a small sample of the sort of personal results you can achieve using the amazing technology from qAlias.
Surprisingly many companies today still do not see the impact that their company logo has on growing their business. They don't realize that it...
Establishes Your Identity
A strong identity will help your business attract new customers and keep existing customers coming back.
Reinforces Your Brand
Familiarity is vital to growing your business. Logo design is a primary factor since your company logo is the cornerstone of all of your marketing and promotional material. A unique logo will not only tell people what and who you are but it will set you apart from the competition.
Create a long-term impression with your company logo design
Nike, Mercedes, Samsung. Each of these companies created a long-term impression with their logo. An effective logo design can help turn your business into a household name. Apple reinvented itself with a new version of their logo design. Burger King did the same so did Adidas, and UPS. They did not spend millions for a nice looking design, they did it for one simple reason, a logo design defines a company’s direction and character.
Professional corporate logo design increases credibility
Competition is fierce in today's economy. Business owners, small and large, need to gain credibility in order to contend with existing industry leaders and gain market share. A corporate logo design properly used will allow you to create your brand and effectively market your product or service. We will not only design your new business logo design but we will show you how to use your logo design effectively.
Establishes Your Identity
A strong identity will help your business attract new customers and keep existing customers coming back.
Reinforces Your Brand
Familiarity is vital to growing your business. Logo design is a primary factor since your company logo is the cornerstone of all of your marketing and promotional material. A unique logo will not only tell people what and who you are but it will set you apart from the competition.
Create a long-term impression with your company logo design
Nike, Mercedes, Samsung. Each of these companies created a long-term impression with their logo. An effective logo design can help turn your business into a household name. Apple reinvented itself with a new version of their logo design. Burger King did the same so did Adidas, and UPS. They did not spend millions for a nice looking design, they did it for one simple reason, a logo design defines a company’s direction and character.
Professional corporate logo design increases credibility
Competition is fierce in today's economy. Business owners, small and large, need to gain credibility in order to contend with existing industry leaders and gain market share. A corporate logo design properly used will allow you to create your brand and effectively market your product or service. We will not only design your new business logo design but we will show you how to use your logo design effectively.
The iPhone launches today and will change the cell phone industry forever. But I believe it will also change web design. It may be a gradual change but this is the start of something new for the industry.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
Up until now browsing a website on a hand held device has been cumbersome and unappealing. The pages are usually stripped down and do not display the same as they do on a computer. The iPhone looks like it will change that. The early reviews say that this is by far the best browsing experience anyone has had on a cell phone.
So far, all of Apple’s marketing material only shows a couple of sites being browsed using the iPhone. And these are large volume sites like The New York Times and Amazon. They likely have been displaying their content to fit mobile devices for a while now.
How many websites will display properly on a screen with a resolution of 350 pixels wide? Many websites have sections that are explicitly told to display at a width much larger than that. What happens when these sites are viewed on an iPhone? Will this version of the Safari browser scale the sites automatically? No one knows for sure yet.
But what we do know is that more people will begin viewing websites on cell phones. The iPhone is just the beginning. If it indeed does deliver a successful browsing experience then more and more consumers are going to expect this type of experience on their own phones.
Over the next few years it will become commonplace for users to view websites on a cell phone. Right now only a fraction of sites are optimized for mobile phones. This means that along with all of the other things that go into creating a successful website, optimizing a site to work on a phone will be added to that list. As for current sites, it will likely be necessary for them to be overhauled or tweaked in some manner to properly display in this new age of website viewing.
