Posts Tagged ‘social media marketing’

How Social Media Influences Your Search Engine Ranking!

Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Including social media marketing in a business’ online marketing strategy has become widespread use for most companies. Be it a small company that is trying hard to make an impact on the online world or a company listed in the Fortune 500 companies. The use of social media has boomed during the last years, increasing its importance in the ‘eyes’ of search engines as well. As most search engine marketing experts have observed, social media marketing activities are getting a high quality ranking from search engines. That is because search engines are using social voting systems and bookmarking trends to determine quality sites. Being a social media friendly website means more ‘real’ people voting for it. Search engines term it as real feedback and hence pass on the benefit to them.

Going together with your SEO and SEM strategies, Social Media Marketing can be very effective. Social Media is updated at a good pace and search engines ‘love’ this trend. The most relevant elements to be included in your social media marketing and online reputation management strategy to get successful impact on your search engine rankings refer to:

* Including relevant and high quality content. The main aspect of any online success is going for a good content. It is the backbone of success stories.

* Maximising the number of links to your site. Genuine link building from similar webpages are very beneficial. They help in reaching to a good Page Rank.

* Include social bookmarking in your online marketing strategy.

* Use business blogs on a daily basis. Updated blogs becomes the mouth piece of the organisation and this leads to a good reputation amongst the ‘netizens’. Businesses of-late have recognised this feature and are getting good returns in terms of traffic and audience feedbacks.

* Create a strong online reputation for your business through social networking sites.

The above tools are very helpful if used properly. A badly designed blog with the ‘latest’ post “Merry Christmas” during June is a real blunder! It will be better not to have a blog rather than having one such. Also instead of monotonous looking blogs, conversation should be encouraged.

Social media impacts on your search engine rankings because:

* Most search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) trust social networking sites as a source for quality back links. They associate these as submitted by ‘real’ persons and hence pass on the benefit to the websites by giving them a good crawling rate.

* Search engines seem to give higher rankings to sites based on social media voting. This is another way to ‘gift’ you for being social.

* Search engines use Bookmarking and Social News sites to update their results.

* Social Media sites (Digg, Reddit, Stumbleupon, Delicious) are perceived as sites with authority.

The above is a list, if executed in a proper manner, will boost your online experience. Social media is evolving and changing day-in-and-day-out. The pace is ’super-sonic’ and hence businesses should try their best to match that to get the best result!

SysComm is a social media marketing, online reputation management and search engine marketing company. Click here to contact us.

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How to Define Your Goals in Google Analytics!

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Most of us are by now familiar with the general use of Google Analytics as to monitor the performance of your online marketing strategy through your site. All those who have a blog or a website have learned how to use the report categories on the left hand side bar in Google Analytics. That’s how you can keep track of the number of visitors, time they spent on your site, landing page, demographics and many other useful data. Nevertheless, not that many appreciate the advantages of the Goals report in Google Analytics. That is mostly because it is not that straightforward in using it. Setting up Goals is a very good way to measure the success rate of your website. Especially for e-commerce businesses, this can be of great help. Here are the steps to setting up Goals and funnels in Google Analytics.

According to the Google Analytics official blog: ‘Goals (with a capital G) are a way to measure business objectives for your website in Google Analytics. Goals must correspond to a measurable action performed by your website’s visitor.’ As to be able to set goals, understanding how to define funnels is very important. According to the same source: ‘Usually the visitor action that’s associated with a goal involves multiple steps. Together these steps make up the Goal Funnel, or the sequence of steps that lead up to the successful completion of a Goal. Like the Goal itself, each of these steps must correspond to a measurable action, such as a page view of a specific page.’

1. Define your Goals Decide what you want to measure? (e.g: e-mail sign up, checkout confirmation page) Add Goal in Google Analytics based on what you want to measure. You can do that by clicking on Goals in the left hand menu, then click on the set up goals and funnels link to get started. Next click on the Add goal link on the left and fill in the following fields: Enter Goal Information and URL Destination. URL Destination refers to the page where you want to get your visitors to. It can be the page indicating the completed checkout process.

2. Goal Details

Add the Goal Value. The Goal value refers to the monetary return you estimate to get from a completed goal. Choose the Match Type. There are three options available as to set up your match type: head match, exact match and regular expression match. Choose the first option if your Goal page has variables in the URL that might change. E.g.:/checkout/?page=1&basket=12345, where the first part of the string URL will be matched. Choose Exact Match if your Goal page is a static URL and Regular Expression Match if your Goal page is actually a static URL that does not change.

3. Setting up Funnels Go to your website and map out the exact URL path of the process you would like to monitor as your Goals. This path is actually the funnel process.

4. Review your Goals After you have set your Goals and defined you Funnels, it is time to see where you find the results. You can see your Goal data straight from the Sites Overview page.

These are the main steps in setting up your Goals as well as define your Funnels. The report generated by your Goals can bring huge benefit to your understanding and monitoring of your site’s users.

SysComm is a social networking company, online reputation management and search engine marketing company. Click here to contact us. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service

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7 Simple Low Budget Ways To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

If you want to drive more traffic to your website there are couple of different ways to achieve that. I am going to show you the low budget strategies you can use to attract more visitors and potential applicants. Using Social media tools is an excellent choice to promote your network marketing business.

Article marketing is a simple method of driving traffic to any website. You write quality articles and submit them to several article directories. After submitting to different directories, they give permission to add the business website link on your articles. Website and blog owners will use your articles with your links intact. As a result of this you will receive visitors to your site.

Blogging is another fantastic method that you can use to promote your service. Blogs typically include source links, and bloggers (as blog owners are called) look to also add lots of keywords which will make it easier for a person looking up their topic(s) to find their blog on the Internet. Blogs can be set up with minimal cost and effort, though bloggers are encouraged to constantly add fresh content to their sites to encourage new visitors to seek them out and previous visitors to continue coming to them for information.

LinkedIn is a professional networking site which can work in your favor to guide people to the website. After you become a member make sure you fill out your professional or business profile with as much detail as you can. There is a place in your profile to place website links, place the website in which you want people to see. The next step is building your connections through linkedin. The idea is to get as many people as you can to view your profile and letting your website link do the work.

Twitter is one of the social media tool that allows you to connect with other people who have the same interest as you or who may be interested in what you have to say. It is a free service and it is a fantastic way to drive traffic to your website and build a relationship with your fellow twitters. What is unique to the twitter that your message have to be only 140 characters long so you have to be very straight to the point . It can be very rewarding experience so try to learn as much as you can, follow the gurus and learn from their expertise.

If you have every thought about having a podcast on your site, it is well worth it. A podcast gives you the ability to record a commercial or an interview. You have this podcast available on the main website for your subscribers to download to their computers to listen at their convenience. If you make the podcast informational and about something connected to the business website, your customers will continue to visit your site to see what new podcast you have this week.

Facebook is a unique networking site. Similar to linkedin, you must make your profile as detailed as you can. There is a place in your profile to list three websites of your choosing. Try joining groups that are the same topic as your business website. Answer all of your friends update postings, this will show that you care and are a passionate person. Most people read their friends profile, and some will ask for more information, then send them to the website.

The amount of information on the internet about affiliate marketing could be quite overwhelming at first, but it can be a very rewarding experience. There are so many programs that you can choose from and the best way to start is to do a reseach and try to find a profitable niche and something that is close to your heart as well. This is an ideal way for a low budget marketer to earn extra money and enter into the world of Internet enterpreneurs.

Used correctly, the possibilities for your network business and financial success are endless with Social Media. The first step for you is to find the ones that you are most comfortable with and what will work for you best. Don’t try everything at the same time. Start to build your online presense slowly but surely and watch it grow and prosper. If you put enough effort people will want to know more about you and what you have to offer. Good luck and I wish you all success.

To get the tools to grow any business on a budget watch those Free Videos by Mike Dillard by clicking here Click here to get your own unique version of this article with free reprint rights.

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What To Know About Social Media Marketing

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

If you own a small business, social media marketing can help your company to gain name recognition and to grow.

Thanks to the World Wide Web, our world has grown much smaller. Small businesses that once had only local customers may now have customers from around the world. This means that you no longer have a limited market potential, but an unlimited one.

The problem however is that not only are there unlimited customers, there is also unlimited competition. Just as you have started your own home business, someone else from around the world can also start a business and offer similar products to those you offer many times at a lower price.

If customers recognize your name brand, they will likely pay more for your product than one which they do not recognize. Just ask companies like Nike. Today, one of the best ways to get name brand recognition is not a television campaign, but a social media one. Millions of people log into their account at a social media network at least once a day. The best campaigns allow your company to gain name brand recognition at a lower cost than you are able to get on television or radio.

If you are new to social media, a coach can help you to find your way through the first few campaigns. The coach is continually studying the media and understands the best ways to get your message to the world. If you follow the coach’s instructions you can make the most of the campaign in order to see a small business begin to grow.

Social media marketing is an excellent way to grow a small business into a larger business. This approach to marketing uses the media that millions of people log into every day to push your business to the top.

Its a fact that if you are the owner of a business, social media marketing will certainly help with company recognition and growth. More info on http://www.trcb.com/author/siddique.htm

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Social Media Marketing Can Increase Your Online Sales

Friday, March 5th, 2010

The Social Media marketing expert, Muhammad Siddique, Helps Entrepreneurs Make Money Online; take a lesson from him today. If you are not using social media to increase your online business sales your missing out on a great opportunity. The simple and plain fact is that social media is here to stay.

One of the most effective way to build traffic to your website is to use social video sites. When you post a video about your business or service or product you will see more traffic coming to your website than if you are simply trying to use website text to be search engine friendly.

The plain and simple fact is that more and more people are going to video websites for information. We all like to be entertained. And videos are a form of information even if we are looking for information we would rather learn about our subject in an entertaining way.

For those who think that it is too hard to make a video and post it on a social media site think again. There are many resources you can find on the internet to learn how to create a video.

You do not have to go out and hire an expensive film crew. You can buy a simple video camera for under two hundred dollars. You do not even have to use a camera. You can use a digital text presentation and use a video editing software to make a video and add music to it.

So the presentation is a text presentation but it is in the form of a video. Then you upload it to the media site and place it in the category of your keyword phrase. Make sure you put a link in the video to your website. You can learn other ways to use social media marketing from the expert.

Social Media marketing expert, Muhammad Siddique has the inside scoop on how to make money online, chop-chop! More info now on http://www.trcb.com/author/siddique.htm

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How to Get a Huge Following on Twitter

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Twitter has evolved from a way to tell people what you had for breakfast into a powerful marketing tool. If that is something that interests you, the first thing you’ll want to do is amass a huge list of followers. These steps will show you how.

1. Start by creating a great bio. You only have 160 characters to do this, unlike the 140 limit in tweets, so think carefully about how you will write your bio. Make sure it includes your website address.

2. If you’re just getting started on Twitter, create about 10 interesting, relevant tweets. Give people a reason to follow you.

3. Links to interesting websites, articles and videos make great tweets. Because the URLs will be too long for Twitter, you’ll need to create a short version. You can do this at tinyurl.com. Copy the long link and paste it into the appropriate window there and it will generate a short link that is suitable for Twitter.

4. Humorous and inspiring quotes make great tweets and are among the most popular. Lots of sites post great quotes for you to use. Find them with a Google search.

5. Search YouTube for videos that relate to your topic or area of expertise, then tweet about them.

6. Help others by re-tweeting their tweets. Many will return the favor, which will expose you to other people who may then decide to follow you.

7. Join the conversation. Reply to other people’s tweets, give them a compliment or thank them for sharing. These people may also decide to send you @ messages, which will also make their followers aware of you.

8. When people re-tweet you, be sure to thank them. It shows good manners and it increases the chances that they will do it again.

9. Participate in Follow Fridays by recommending others on Twitter to your followers. In turn, many of the people your recommend will then recommend you, which can grow your list of followers.

10. Follow all of Twitter’s rules about following and un-following. Don’t become too aggressive or your account will be suspended.

11. Try to limit the number of marketing tweets you post. You should do about 10 regular tweets for every marketing one.

Danek S. Kaus is a veteran journalist and publicist, and author of You Can Be Famous! Insider Secrets to Getting Free Publicity. Learn more Publicity Secrets and his Publicity and Writing Services

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Using Applications to Keep Your Business Online And Making Money

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Innovation With Applications

Innovation will almost certainly make it easier to succeed where others fail. If you don’t innovate during these tough times, your product line will get stale and your company will have a harder and harder time differentiating themselves from all the others. But, by doing something unique that shows off what an innovative business you are, it can give you the online image that you’re an intelligent, hip, and with it company that is going to keep getting better and better. But, how do you do this when you don’t want to spend a ton of money and time on research and development on products that may not earn more then they took to develop. Well, until the time comes to unroll your big innovation, you can opt for small innovative gestures that show your customers you really are on the leading edge. For that, Internet and social media applications can be a really easy way to get the right attention without too much in depth research or commitment.

Website Applications

Even if you don’t decide to develop your own, there are plenty of website applications you can use on your own website to give the impression that you are technologically savvy and innovative. If you have a stock market website, why not include some stock quote applications? If you are a mortgage lender, mortgage calculators make ideal tools to add to your website because they help your buyers determine how much house they can afford.

You can even hire someone to create special applications for your website to further promote some product. For instance, recently, a website called Telonu.com that offers reviews of employers also created an application that tracks the layoffs in the different companies. People who go to the site cannot only get an idea of how good they are to work for, but whether they are stable, growing companies or not.

Social network Applications

There is a great glut of applications on social media sites, like Facebook. But, there’s always room for one more, if it is genuinely innovative and engaging. These make an excellent foil to introduce new customers to your business and to interact in a manner that is non-threatening and friendly. Different examples of popular applications on Facebook are L’il Green which gets environmentally conscious people to build virtual gardens and save rain forest while they’re doing it. If an application is well accepted, it can spread across Facebook very fast, landing you in practically everyone’s inbox.

You can hire someone to produce a Facebook application or you can do it yourself. Basic ones are generally just a collection of images that are used to promote some concept and that are fun to send as gifts to others on the same online community site. Just downloading one application will often get you a link to produce your own application, should the mood suit you and you have a firm concept that promotes your business niche too. Don’t just go willy-nilly. Try to use the application to help provide exposure for some area within your business that is targeting a specific market niche.

Discover how a couple of social network marketers made $101,028.40 in only 9 months working 15 minutes a day. Check out the Social Networks Marketing video now!

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Social Media Marketing Is Changing Business

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

Social media is changing daily the way businesses interact with customers. With the development of social media, companies are interacting with current and potential customers on a more personal level. This personal level of interaction through the use of blogs, networking sites, applications and online publishing to name a few brings marketing to a new level. Prior to the development of social media a business was left with one-way communication with its prospects. This one way communication was unable to develop “personal” relationships with customers. This personal relationship allows companies to gauge their performance within specific campaign techniques. Social media may be one of the biggest changes in business communication since the introduction of mass media. Social media continues to change and requires one to stay abreast of new developments. In Feb 2005 social media use was represented by only 5% of adult internet users. In April of 2009 that number had grown to 46% of adult internet users. Your company could be interacting and gaining personal relationships with 46% of adult users today! While social media is not perceived as a business requirement by some, I feel the numbers speak for themselves.

Social media was created to build communities and bring people with common interests and goals together are a virtual community. These platforms were designed to allow individual users to interact on a personal level and communicate directly with others. These networking sites create a perfect opportunity for a business to reach highly targeted consumers and build much deeper relationships in a fraction of the time required prior to social media. Social media marketing could be defined as a combination of efforts utilizing social media outlets to reach a targeted audience. There are several methods to getting your campaign started. A Facebook fan page is a great start but without proper implementation and management it will be perceived as unsuccessful by you. Social media changes daily, if not hourly, as new methods and tools are developed. It is imperative that your business stay abreast of current developments to achieve success.

We have defined social media and I am sure some are interested in exactly what it is. Well, an example would be Twitter. Twitter is one of the better known. It allows a company to build a group of dedicated followers interested in what they have to say. The key point is “interested in what they have to say”. These core loyal consumers have agreed to become part of YOUR network and are waiting to hear what you have to say. Think of the possibilities. You advertise a sale or coupon to a HIGHLY targeted audience. Do you think the results would be better than sending 20,000 postcards to homes? Twitter may not be right for some businesses though. It is only a tool in the social media marketing campaign. A word of caution, be wary of those building your Twitter follower list without targeting audiences. If the audience isn’t willing to listen to what you have to say, then they aren’t targeted! Another popular example would be Facebook. Within Facebook, a company can create fan pages and groups bringing their customers together. Within these groups customers could share their experiences. Now these experiences could also be moderated by someone within your company, which brings in Internet Reputation Management (a definite requirement when developing a social media campaign). These Facebook pages are similar in creating a following, but allow the customers to be engaged on a more personal level. These are only two examples of Social Media. A successful campaign will also utilize blogs, articles, press releases, applications and numerous other networking sites.

Social media can be a bit overwhelming for the new business entering into the internet world. A company will quickly learn that they can’t be everyone’s answer. Customer involved interactions will assist the company in further targeting their social media marketing campaign. From polls to surveys, a business can further determine the consumer that is the best fit for their company. The information received from these polls and surveys is then utilized to better refine a social media marketing campaign.

I know, social media seems a bit overwhelming. You have a business to run and don’t have time to create and manage a targeted marketing campaign. But with the ever-changing world of internet, can you afford not to? There are several internet marketing companies that bring together highly qualified and experienced social media experts. These companies usually provide a free consultation and can develop, implement and manage your entire social media marketing campaign. Think of it as outsourcing your entire internet marketing division. You get expert knowledge, advice and professionalism at a fraction of the cost of hiring at least 2 more personnel.

Social Media Platform Has The Experience You Require. Are You Ready To Begin Your Social Media Internet Campaign? Contact Us Today For A No Obligation Consultation.

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Using Social Media to Manage Your Brand Online

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Is Your Online Branding Important?

As the social spaces grow, there are more opportunities to increase your brand awareness and build on solid customer referrals, but the flip side is that there are additional opportunities for negative publicity. For this reason, businesses should be very aware of their online reputation and how this can affect their position within the SERP’s. As search engines push for more personalized, user based results, consumer attitudes and recommendations become more important, and help to shape your brand online. Don’t waste this opportunity to manage your brand with Social Media.

As a business owner, you should be concerned with your online brand, and it’s important that you carry a consistent message and control the information that can be found online. There are literally thousands of online mediums where a consumer can praise you for excellent work, or bash you for sub-standard service. Your responsibility is to monitor and know what is being said about your business online, and respond in a timely manner to either praise, or criticism. The following steps will make your job easier and keep your brand out of the gutter.

Using Social Media to Manage Your Brand - 4 Quick Tips

Use a company logo or the picture of your PR rep for your Avatar. This will help you to make sure that you have a consistent image across all social sites, and ensures that the image associated with your social presence is worthy of representing your company.

You want all images associated with your site to be the same, or at least managed by your team. Control is the name of the game here, and you want to make sure that the images that will be associated with your business can be taken down at a moment’s notice, and that they do not portray your business negatively.

Keep your eyes and ears open - Monitor your company name, blog and industry. Social news spreads fast - good, bad or otherwise. It’s important to monitor your company name, web address and social profiles, and it’s equally as important to respond quickly when someone questions or challenges your reputation. It’s often possible to resolve disputes if you respond quickly, and before the negativity spreads. Tools for monitoring your name or web address include Google Alerts and Twitter Search, among others.

Avoid accidental branding - It’s easy to wander through the social media scene without a clear cut message or purpose, and it’s also a bad idea. Everything you publish online is visible to the public, and remains there as long as the web property is live. Make sure that you are in control of the message you are delivering, and ask yourself if your post or image is something you would want a family member, friend, potential employer to find. If the answer is NO, then you probably shouldn’t publish it. People lose their jobs over Facebook pictures or blog posts, don’t let that happen to you or your business.

Want to start a Social Media Campaign to Help Your Brand?

For building relationships online and promoting your business, social media sites may very well be the best thing since email, but you have to do it the right way. Rather than jumping blindly into social media, it makes sense for a business to strategically plan their course of action and take into consideration the big picture.

Social media can reap huge benefits for the right business, with the right approach. Make sure that you are setting for the correct plan for social media so that you can not only manage your brand, but create lasting relationships with your consumers that will resonate for years.

It’s better to avoid social media than do it wrong. Hopefully these tips will help your business get started!

Want to find out more about Social Media Brand Management, then visit HighPoint Search Marketing to see all of our Search Marketing solutions.

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A Few Thoughts On Social Media Marketing For Dentists

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

A big part of owning a business is getting the word out about the quality of service you provide. Whether you are a lawyer, doctor, plumber, or other tradesman, you know that can’t drum up business without proper marketing. In the past, advertising has been very expensive and ineffective, and during unstable economic times such as these you can’t afford to invest in outdated methods that produce the results you need. Fortunately, social media marketing makes it very easy to utilize free online tools that can help you recruit more customers and communicate with repeat customers to ensure the future of your business for many years to come.

One of the first things that you can do in your dental practice is to start writing blogs about your profession. While it may seem unnecessary and perhaps even silly to you, the most successful online businesses have a Search Engine Optimization strategy that involves blogging, which will draw new potential customers to your website.

Offer free advice about certain procedures or controversial treatments. You can share your opinion and quote research statistics, compare products or explain which characteristics make a good hygienist or doctor of dental surgery.

Comment on the current state of health care or give suggestions that can direct to people to improve their overall dental health. If you know of some amazing products to try or perhaps even ones to avoid, you can very easily attract people looking for expert opinions.

Organize your content into a standard Search Engine Optimization style so that you are also more efficiently discovered by search engines which will direct traffic for you. Because of this, you should also invest some time learning a few key, easy SEO strategies that you can immediately begin to implement.

If you aren’t sure where to start, learn what SEO strategies are working for other successful companies, or better yet, go straight to the source.

This will give you an idea as to what people are looking for; information which you can then use to tailor your business towards meeting their needs. Establish a new social media marketing strategy with this at your core and then utilize mobile applications of Facebook, Twitter, and whichever ones bring you the most success.

With this simple fundamental step at the core of your social media marketing strategy, you will quickly learn the more intricate parts of this community and how to best use it to your benefit. Then you can take the networks that work best for you and get their mobile applications so you can update, motivate, and respond to clients from anywhere in the world that you might be.

Social media marketing provides many options that can help you to expand your customer base online without the need for specialized knowledge. We’ve got the ultimate inside scoop now on http://AutomatedSocialNetworking.com

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