Get More from Search - Trends in Search & Social Media

Why do you read a newspaper? Read a magazine? Watch television? Listen to the radio? The answer to all of these questions is content. That’s right…content. If advertisements were the only things offered in the newspapers or magazines you read, television stations you watch and radio stations you listen to, or if the articles, programs and music were always the same, would you continue to use these media devices? The answer is no. Since this is the case, wouldn’t the same thing apply to your website? To improve the optimization of your website you need to provide fresh, new content on a consistent basis.

Content brings to a website what articles bring to a newspaper and magazine. Without it newspapers and magazines would be empty and stale. This also applies to websites. When robust content is added to your website it will help to improve your page ranking and site visitations. Another of the benefits is that you won’t get one-time only site visitors but rather, people who will come back on a consistent basis to read and interact with the new content that has been created.

It’s great that content will dramatically help your visitor acquisitions and retention rates, but what happens if you’re fresh out of ideas and resources? That’s the perfect time to identify online copywriters and content contributors with tried and tested written skills. You’ll need people with industry knowledge, a willingness to learn or some sort of following (i.e. bloggers, columnists or industry experts) because the aim is that they develop compelling content about what you do and how it makes your customers lives better.

Once you realize the benefits of improving the content on your website and are actually able to initiate it, then you can send people to your website in a few different ways. There are different services that are offered on the Internet that can assist you in getting your information out to the general public. One of the ones you can use is www.digg.com, a blog site, which allows you to post articles on their website with a link back to your site. If you really need some inbound links and inexpensive coverage, www.payperpost.com is a fee based system used to hire authors to write articles about your website. www.sitepronews.com offers a slew of actionable information on how to get more traffic to your site the right way, and for the long-term.

Advertising, whether it is for a brick-and-mortar store or an online website, can be one of the highest expenses for a company. This is true whether the company is advertising online or in traditional media. You need to think about a couple of different factors before you decide on the path you want your company to take and determine if it will fit into your budget. You need to have a well thought out plan that has been researched and your company has determined that it is the best course of action for the company.

Let’s take a look at online advertising and review some smart steps to take before your company jumps into the vast opportunity of online advertising.

One of the factors you need to decide on is: will your company create the advertising plan in-house or are you are going to outsource it? If your company already has an advertising department in-house, then you need to determine if they will be able to fulfill your online needs, or whether a new recruit with online experience would more efficiently accomplish your goals.

You might think that advertising is advertising, and it is to some extent, but the way you advertise in traditional media does not typically translate to online. For instance, if one of your traditional methods is local newspaper advertising, and you insert a discount coupon for the first 100 customers, that will not work online because your audience is suddenly global. Even online local newspaper advertisements are going to a larger audience which should be considered when you offer limited or local discounts.

If you’re going to outsource, you’ll want to consider several aspects before you decide on the scale of your project and the size and specialty of the company you will contract with.

Do you need a full-service agency that can handle paid and natural search optimization, vertical search, rich media and viral campaigns or a specialty firm focused on one discipline?  Budget may limit your choices somewhat.

Once you’ve determined the type of firm, interview several companies and once you present your first-stage goals and ideas, ask them how they’d strategize your online advertising campaign. Ask for referrals and talk to their customers with similar budgets. Query the agencies for their perspective and you’ll likely learn a lot in the interview process.

Look for flexibility and a firm that wants their customers to learn along the way. It is also important to remember that there will always be adjustments in your advertising campaign. You’ll need to be flexible too. The online marketplace is growing and morphing rapidly and everyone has to catch up or switch gears at some point.�

When you’re ready to make your decision, keep in mind that budget and shiny new methods are very important, but it’s always wise to align yourself with an agency that captures your vision and shares similar philosophies.  Steer clear of those that operate in a vacuum, expecting you to trust the methods as long as the outcome is profitable. The Internet is one place where word of mouth – both good and bad – spread faster than any other medium.

When you start looking for an online advertising company, there are some websites you can go to that will assist you in asking the questions that will help your business succeed. Some of these are: www.marketingprofs.com (free and inexpensive articles, case studies and seminars for online marketers), www.marketingexperiments.com (for learning what really works), and www.responsys.com (full marketing and email services lifecycle marketing).

It’s the everything’s-on-sale season. And, maybe it’s your mother’s birthday, your colleagues’ first child, or your anniversary that is just around the corner. Stressed with all the gift giving trips? Know what you want but don’t want to traverse around town trying to find the perfect size, color or model? No need to opt for the gift that states “I didn’t have time for anything personal” gift card.
Instead of having to deal with the stress of running from store to store, determine instead to visit your favorite retailer or Web 2.0 local search websites. Large retailers and some malls across the nation are starting to provide product availability via their websites and data feeds. This feature’s real appeal is that ready-to-buy consumers get instant verification of product availability in local stores. Despite search’s tremendous research-to-purchase value, most purchases still take place offline – in the local store locations. In fact, recent studies show that 92% of post-search purchases are made offline.
Local search sites that integrate this feature will greatly enhance repeat visits by their users – conceivably, every time they’re looking for a specific item, they’ll visit the local site to find it at the retailer with the product stocked.
The more that people utilize local search, the more exposure local businesses will receive, along with the greater possibility for foot traffic to their web and brick-and-mortar stores, which in turn will provide a better return on investment for their advertising dollars.

Everyone’s turning toward the Internet to advertise for their products and services. And with good reason. The idea of online advertising is enticing. Once an online ad campaign goes live, your company has the potential to reach millions of people – almost immediately. As the statistics and case studies are showing, advertising on the Internet can be an important step for just about any company. But is it the right time for your company to shift away significant budgets from traditional advertising to focus your gains on the virtual landscape? Don’t fail to plan: jumping in without proper planning will most certainly not yield you the best return on investment.
Even though your company may be a relative newbie in the online realm, your customers almost assuredly aren’t. Savvy web users demand well-organized, easily navigable and searchable sites that make them feel more than comfortable that your business deserves their dollars and their trust. Becoming a repeatable destination for your prospects and customers means good site architecture including persuasive copy and navigation, as well as a stellar customer service policy and easy access to your inner workings – i.e. your employees – even though transactions take place or are facilitated online.

Thus, the first step is to either establish or recreate your web presence to capture the interest of your advertising respondents. In traditional advertising, what your audience sees in print or on TV must be backed up by the product on the shelf, the customer service agent on the phone or the information package delivered to their door – otherwise, there’s “no deal.”

Similarly, your web site performs that function of engagement with intent to develop a mutually profitable relationship. So unless you’re a very small business and your sales cycle dictates only in-person and/or phone conversations with prospective customers, before you advertise – get your company’s face to the world ready to capitalize on every dollar you spend. And don’t try to go it alone – there are numerous third party consulting services available that will analyze your site, reorganize your value propositions for the best ROI, rebuild your site architecture and plug in the latest verbiage and persuasion wisdom to prepare you for the new prospects that will show up at your virtual door due to your online ads. The best ones have the case studies to prove their value. Don’t just redesign your site – make it appealing to your knowledgeable audience, and then you’ll be ready to rack up the profits.

A few of our favorites include: http://www.futurenowinc.com (persuasion architecture), www.marketingprofs.com (free and inexpensive articles, case studies and seminars for online marketers), http://www.marketingexperiments.com< (for learning what really works), and http://responsys.com (full marketing and email services lifecycle marketing).

Fox is streaming its prime-time shows on MySpace.com, Cars.com is sponsoring six NBC shows on NBC.com for the fall and Google is buying YouTube.com. It looks like more people are looking at the internet to bring them more entertainment. They have already used it to play games, get updates on the news and weather, and now as companies look toward the future it seems to be toward streaming video. Could this mean soon we will be watching the new movies over the internet instead of going to the theater or watching your favorite sports team online? New advertising campaign will most likely feature streaming video in some aspect whether it is the ads for the television shows or marketing a new product on the internet instead of on the television.

Google and Intuit’s new alliance has spawned a revolutionary effort to bring more small businesses online. In Intuit’s QuickBooks 2007 product, set to release this fall, Google tools will be integrated into the software, allowing the 3.7 million small businesses who already use QuickBooks to access Google Desktop, Maps, Base and AdWords right from an icon on their home page. This strategy will encourage SMBs to enter search marketing in a quick, easy and familiar way – possibly speeding up search’s adoption. But will it cause other local online advertising outlets to suffer? Not necessarily.

This partnership could become a very positive injection for local online advertising because the more educated SMBs are the more willing they are to advertise online, the less education other ad outlets have to do. Online marketing offers great potential for small businesses who seek cheaper and more effective ways to reach the targeted, down-the-street consumer. Yet, the complexity of self-serve bidding models and create-your-own ad strategies have kept many at bay.

The fact remains that users only spend about 5% of their time online at major search engines – the other 95% is spent at the destination sites and with email. SMBs will still want to advertise where the users are spending more time and making local purchase decisions – making Google a must, but not the only place they’ll begin distributing their smaller yet highly influential marketing budgets. The more dollars that shift online the better. SMBs have been stuck in offline advertising b/c it’s familiar. With this move, online will be less scary and it should speed up online ad adoption for SMBs.