Grow Smart BusinessGuess what everybody? Twitter is rolling out New Twitter! Yes, we hear you. You haven't figured out Old Twitter yet. Well, you're not alone.
According to Network Solutions' Fifth Wave of the Small Business Success Index and a recent study from American Express OPEN, small businesses are jumping into Facebook with both feet -- 60 to 70% of those doing social media marketing. However blogs and Twitter are down in single digits.
Have you started your company's blog yet? If yes, congratulations and read on for updates on the value of your efforts. If no, let us try to convince you further why blogging is one of the best marketing investments you can make. We'll even help you decide whether to go with a templated blogging platform or a custom blog.
It's amazing how many websites we see where no attention has been paid to Search Engine Optimization – SEO. Yet it's one of the most important aspects of attracting business through your website.
We've written about various aspects of SEO in the past, including keyword research, but it's a constantly evolving practice. Let's take a fresh look at where on a web page you have the opportunity to provide words that tell search engines what that page is about.
Posted on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 @ 18:06 PM
Google is almost always in the news. Just a few days ago, it announced changes to its search engine algorithm that reinforce its commitment to favoring useful, original content. This is good news for inbound marketers and bad news for content farms – sites that recycle content from around the web in an effort to game the system and come up high in Google rankings for search terms not necessarily related to their actual content and motives.
Posted on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 @ 18:06 PM
The fastest retail sales growth is not happening on Main Street or at the mall. According to ecommerce tracker comScore, Inc., non-travel online spending reached a record $32.6 billion during November-December 2010, up 12% from 2009. Yet, overall U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose only 5.5% in a similar comparison, according to MasterCard SpendingPulse. If your retail business has weathered the recession, perhaps the best way to make up for the tough years is to consider expanding your business to the Web. Ecommerce offers a growth opportunity that might not otherwise be realistic here in Fairfield and Westchester Counties.
More and more, businesses want to take control of their own websites. For inbound marketing, this is a good thing. We want our websites to be dynamic hubs – constantly evolving with great content to attract search engines and, ultimately, to engage customers.
It makes sense to be able to add or change content independent of web professionals – from a practical and cost perspective. There are a number of tools to you do it yourself. Each has benefits, drawbacks and limitations.
Posted on Mon, Jun 13, 2011 @ 18:06 PM
If you – like many others – are intrigued by the Inbound Marketing concept but not sure exactly how to implement a program, this and next month's columns will detail some services that can help. We've sought and demo'ed tools that have the time and budget constraints of small-to-mid-sized companies in mind.
Did you know that, recently, the U.S. Air Force ensured that everyone from Airman to General has access to social media – even on government computers?! Yes. According to Captain Nathan Broshear, Chief of Public Affairs, 12th Air Force, his team is enabling members to directly communicate their experiences on the front lines to the public.
This was one of many surprising takeaways about the state of online marketing from the Inbound Marketing Summit 2010 (IMS10), held last month in Boston.
Last week a friend spent 40 minutes on the phone with a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) salesman who promised his company's special formula would get our friend's business on page one of Google search results. The cost? A minimum of $800 over six months. "What do you think?" she asked.
Inbound marketing is about attracting business through your website and web presence. So it's important to be attractive. Technology, online marketing trends and best practices change quickly. Businesses should, therefore, take a fresh look at their websites and consider revamping them every three to five years. This is a perfect opportunity to update your site's look and feel, too.
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