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Social Media (SM) is an important tool in marketing any business when it's done right. And, SM is here to stay so this is the first post in an ongoing series of SM. SM can go wrong is you are not careful. In the paper today there's a story of a news station that asked viewers to tweet what they are glad is over in 2014, since today is the last day of the year. It backfired. Viewers ended up mocking the station and the news casters too. ( read story ). What is Social Media (aka social networks) There are a slew of social media providers. The top ones in USA are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.  Those four are also free to use. There are many social networks that started free but now you must pay. For example Ning.com; however, there are no ads in that one like you see in Facebook or Linkedin. Click here to view an entire list of social media sites in Wikipedia. How Does Social Media Work? The old school  term is networking. Nowadays, it depends on what SM t...

Data sharing is becoming an important life skill. In education, in business, in public projects, and in private projects allowing others to see, collaborate, and share your data is important for a host of reasons. This post will focus on free or inexpensive tools that allow for one form of data sharing or another. Free Tool Google Docs is a free Web-based application in which documents and spreadsheets can be created, edited and stored online. Files can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection and a full-featured web browser. Google Docs allows you to edit or share existing Microsoft Word or Excel files and Open Office files too. To use Google Docs just login using your gmail account.  Select what type of fie you want to use by selecting the menu icon. In the screen shot below you see a blank spreadsheet. The "title" field is in the top left corner. You can only see part of it here, but just click it to modify it.    If you hav...

The other day I was out browsing the web looking at new GMC trucks. The next day, and it's still happening, almost every page I visit in my browser has ads for a GMC truck. Finally, I came to the realization that the GMC sites I visited had installed a cookie (software code) on my computer and this was creating the GMC ads on those other - non related GMC - pages I was visiting.  It's no coincidence those GMC ad were appearing every where. As I began talking to other people, many have had similar experiences.  It's not GMC that is the issue, it's the nature of internet marketing gone bad - IMHO. Hey, there are all sorts of companies collecting info about you when you surf the web. It's not just  Facebook, Google+,YouTube and the other 'biggies'. If you don't mind this sort of practice that is literally mining your personal data (behaviors and habits), then do nothing. And, if you want to retain your privacy in a digital world here are two g...

SEO is the practice of improving and promoting a website in order to increase the number of visitors the site receives from search engines - aka marketing in the 21st century. There are many aspects to SEO, from the words on your page to the way other sites link to you on the web. Another piece of marketing is how you have your page setup in terms of words, links, and format. Another layer of marketing involves your content is meta tags and rich snippets. Those two help search engines decipher what you are providing. In the old days there were desktop computers. Then came laptops. Nowadays there are all sorts of mobile devices too, many of which are more powerful than those computers that sat on a desktop years ago. Can your web site or blog be easily read by a mobile computing device? And the layer after that is social marketing. You want your web site to be plugged into networks so people can find you more easily. Remember when Google was just a search engine. Today, Goog...

PageRank (PR) is what Google uses to determine the importance of a web page. It's one of many factors used to determine which pages appear in search results. PR can impact your SEO and SEM, depending how you structure your web content . Today, PR is used as the gold standard for measuring the quality of a web site or blog.  The history of PageRank (PR) PR was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford. At the time that Page and Brin met, search engines typically linked to pages that had the highest keyword density, which meant people could game the system by repeating the same phrase over and over to attract higher search page results.  PR is patented by Stanford, and the name PageRank comes from Larry Page .  What does PR accomplish? PR is a Standard that measures a web page's importance using baseline values inherent to the software code of PR. Page and Brin's theory is that the mos...

Well, I am doing my best to help you get your arms and mind around the fact that social media, SEO, and SEM can help you grow your business. I have a  "web system" that I've  developed and used with clients very successfully .   My "web system" has a static piece, a dynamic piece, and integrates social media.   Below are the seven key statistics. The source of the information with a link is provided.   1. There are networks of connectivity in the internet. "There are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on Earth.   AllTwitter "     2. The best way to create a buzz about your products and services is using a blog or social network. " 80% of active internet users visit social networks and blogs.   AllTwitter "   3. Google is the new yellow pages. You better make sure you are easily locatable there. "61% of all online shoppers research products in search engines before making a purchase.   H...

With billions of web pages, in order for your page to soar in the search engines, there are certain elements that you must have in each web page. SEO (search engine optimization) has morphed over the years in its' practices. That is nothing new really, all technology morphs over time. Cars are a another example of changing technology. When you are getting ready to publish your content, make sure it has these elements and you will accomplishing some basic SEO principles. Content above the fold   Most web sites today are using an image at the top of the page, so "above the fold" means the top half of the page underneath that image which begins the page. If you are not using an image on the top of your page, "above the fold" means the top half of the page. This content should contain key words. Key words are what you want to be found by in searches performed in a search engine. But, don't over due it. Use the key words in normal conversation tone, don...

This video research will give you some serious evidence to consider when thinking about online video as part of your marketing tool set. Keep in mind that you have 10 seconds to capture the attention of the viewer.  Visible Measures research is showing that 20% of your viewers will click away from a video in 10 seconds or fewer. #1 According to the Online Publishers Association, 80% of Internet users recall watching a video ad on a website they visited in the past 30 days. It gets even better. Of that 80%, 46% took some action after viewing the ad. In fact: 26% looked for more information about the subject of the video   22% visited the website named in the ad 15% visited the company represented in the video ad 12% purchased the specific product featured in the ad #2 Of all viewers who watch online videos, 64% are more likely to buy a product on an online retail site. In addition, visitors who view videos stay on the site an average of 2 minutes longer than thos...

This is a brief article about a web site I built, for minimal cost, using Google Spreadsheets to display a book inventory. I have a wonderful client who owns a used book store in Southern Oregon . Like so many small businesses, they have limited funds for marketing. But, at the same time there is a need to do as much marketing as possible.  All business want as much marketing as possible, right? I got to know them by enjoying their great selection of adventure and mysteries books. Once we got to talking how they are doing their web presence,  I found out they didn't have a site or blog. It seemed like such a waste to me, all their thousands of books going idle, when the more people that can browse them, the more the books will be enjoyed. They felt the same way. The Solution The obvious solution is hooking up their database to a web site and off we go.  All though that's  probably the "best" method it was just not affordable for them. The fund factor was th...

You have heard lots about SEO (search engine optimization). You may even know you need it. But how do you go about finding some with the right credentials and experience?  If you enjoy doing it yourself (DIY) checkout my 7 steps to SEO your blog . When To Hire? The best time is before you get started with a web site or blog. But, an effective SEO  professional can turn around any web site or blog so they begin receiving search engine visibility - being displayed in search engine results pages( SERP) for searches related to specific services or products. Questions To Ask Get more information by asking these seven essential questions. The answers will provide you with the measures to compare SEO candidates you are interviewing. - Can you show me examples of your previous SEO work/results? - Do you suggest organic results over paid advertising results? - What time frame do you think I should use to expect some results? - How will you measure the success of the SEO work on my be...

In this article I offer guidelines on how to measure SEO, search engine optimization, or SEM, search engine marketing, services for your website or blog. At one time or another you will be pitched to hire someone. Now you are gonna know what to look for in hiring someone. It’s the century old story. You can buy a dress shirt at the box store for a lot less than at the men’s store. But, the shirt at the men’s store is custom fit to your shape and the actual shirt material is a different quality.  You always get what you pay for. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will have a better understanding of the characteristics being offered to you for SEM and SEO work. Make no mistake, SEO and SEM are critical to the success of any website or blog. There are millions of web sites and blogs out there You must consistently provide quality SEO and SEM to your pages in order to stand out from the herd; show up on the front page of the search engine results. I have covered the six common ...

Putting a blogging strategy into place is a proven method to enhancing your web reputation and your visibility. Even better, blogs are free to acquire and just require your energy and desire. All you need is some thoughts about about the qualities and features of your products and services, along with ideas to educate folks. Blogs work better when they inform the reader. A blog used as a "sales pitch" is less appealing to readers and to search engines. In this post I will cover some effective, but simple techniques to SEO (search engine optimize) your blog posts. Online marketing is a must have for any business who wants to stand out from the herd in the search engines. Be sure your content in informative, even Facebook is removing promotional sharing in its' new rules. People want to make their own choices, just help them understand the benefits of what you are offering without pitching it. These techniques below will optimize your blog and blog posts for more s...

More than 80% of small companies using social media to promote their businesses list Facebook as their top marketing tool, followed by LinkedIn and Twitter, according to a recent survey of 2,292 small businesses by Webs, a digital services division of Vistaprint. The top three reasons owners cited for creating a Facebook page were customer acquisition, building a network of followers and increasing brand awareness, according to the survey. Chrisy Bossie built a $100,000-a-year gemstone e-commerce business by sharing information about her products on her company’s Facebook page several times a week. “Steals in the Shop! I have a TON of new 36-inch-long necklaces, most priced at $15, available in amethyst, lapis, watermelon tourmaline, turquoise.... Shop them all here,” she wrote in a recent marketing post on a Facebook page for Earthegy, the business she runs from her home in rural Kent Store, Va. She als...

In case you haven't heard yet, Amazon is now getting into offering local services to local markets.  The BIG PIECE of this is that they are going to be selling services too. Amazon is know for physical products (books, CDs, movies) so seeing them get into offering local services is a major step. There are already similar services out there now. For example,  Angie's List offers a local business rating service and hangs it claim to fame on being a place to find reputable referrals for just about any type of service in any community. IMHO, this new Amazon service will probably knock Angie's List out of business.  Don't forget Angie's List charges a fee to both users (people like you and I who want to view the local business directory) and to businesses (folks who want to have their businesses rated by people using Angie's List). But, don't expect this to shake out overnight. A few days ago I was on Amazon Services to examine setting up how to use one ...

As a small business owner, you have to know how to get the most for your marketing efforts . The battle between Google and Facebook (FB) to be King/Queen of the pile will be interesting to watch over the coming years. #1 Google+ rivals FB since Google already has millions (billions?) of gmail users that can easily activate their Google+ accounts.  It is free to list your business with Google and create a Google+ account with it. #2 Blogger (blogger.com) is a free blog service that is owned by Google. And, yes, all those blog posts are automatically distributed to Google+ users. FB posts stay in FB and get little, if any, attention in Google, Bing, or Yahoo search results. #3 Google is the number one search engine used around the globe. Do you think their search results favor Google+ accounts and posts made with Blogger? Proof is Here.... The other day I logged into my gmail account and searched, in the Google search engine, for a local business - using a ke...

Facebook (FB) is expanding it's perception beyond a social network. What this means is pretty important if you are a small business owner wanting to sell more products. You already know that goofy "Thumbs Up" icon where everyone can bless you or hate you courtesy of FB. Imagine a world where you can sell your products online to anyone in FB. That means accepting payments online through FB - what a concept. That is in motion now as FB ramps up its' FbStart program, literally giving selected  businesses $30-60K to develop FB apps. Some say this eliminates the need for a web site or blog. Really?  Sure, FB has some advantages to doing networking. It's difficult to measure the clients it generates for business pages listed there. I see it more as a free "Angie's List."  I have never met a new client using FB, and only know of one business who has. But, FB is great as a search engine because it's a global repository of information ...

Google and Yahoo have announced big changes that will impact your small business web site. Several weeks ago Google announced the latest version of its' Panda Update — a filter designed to penalize “thin” or poor content from ranking well — has been released. If you see some change, good or bad, in your web traffic or your search engine rankings you know where it came from.  What Google is working towards, based on user (and webmaster!) feedback, is to  identify low-quality web page content more precisely . With that accomplished, there will be a greater diversity of high-quality small- and medium-sized sites in search engine results. Meanwhile, Yahoo announced that it is closing the Yahoo directory after 20 years of operation. Sure, they will have the Yahoo search engine available but no longer will they be maintaining their own directory of web sites and blogs. Over the years I have been comparing the search...

Organic links  are the bread and butter to expanding your web site traffic. They are not a quick fix like the golden arches, but the rewards are very significant. Organic linking  is the development of  hypertext  links between web sites with or without an explicit agreement to exchange links. Organic links are more likely to appear in a context relevant to the subject of the target document, which makes them useful for  search engines  like  Google search  that rank pages according to their links. In my opinion, one of the best ways to measure to overall success of your SEO campaign is to look at your organic SEO traffic. Rank just isn’t a good SEO metric for a variety of reasons including the increased personalization of search, the impact of social signals on the search results, the effect of local SEO on search results and more. A site’s rank changes too frequently to be a viable method of measuring your long tern SEO succes...