Archive for the ‘Online Marketing’ Category
What Starbucks and McDonald’s Can Teach You About Twitter Marketing
Friday, January 25th, 2013You would think that, with their massive budgets and global branding, social media marketing would be an easy thing for big companies like Starbucks and McDonald’s. But, as both learned this year (through the ill-conceived Twitter hashtag campaigns that backfired), there is more to the game than meets the eye.
We’ll spare you all the details (that’s what Google is for), but both companies tried to engage customers in a light, spirited way with the use of creative hashtags. It didn’t take long, though, for disgruntled followers to start using the hashtag sarcastically to slam the brands. What started out as a neat idea turned into an ugly public shaming – not to mention a big waste of heavy marketing dollars.
Although most of our clients don’t have Fortune 500 budgets to burn, and thus can’t really produce such spectacular failures, they can learn an important lesson from both brands: Social media can’t fix bad perceptions of your company, but it can enhance them. In other words, customer satisfaction is important to social media marketing, whether you are a multinational firm or a mom-and-pop store on the corner.
Here are a few quick ways to take that lesson to heart:
• Be very aware of dissatisfied customers, and watch out for negative posts or reactions on social media sites.
• When trying to launch a new social media campaign, think ahead to any potentially ironic or damaging uses for your message.
• And finally, use social media to engage customers and deal with their questions and complaints directly, so that you don’t have to deal with ugly opinions later.
To be sure, there are millions of people who are perfectly satisfied with Starbucks and McDonald’s, but it only takes a few people to start a negative social media campaign, or ruin a perfectly good one. So, take a cue from these high-profile blunders and be careful in the way you use your Twitter account to find new customers.
Good Online Marketing Goals for 2013
Friday, January 11th, 2013Stop whatever you’re doing right now and think to yourself: What are your online marketing goals for 2013.
Probably the vast majority of business owners and executives out there would have to answer that they want “more sales,” or “higher profits.” That’s great – everyone wants those things – but they don’t necessarily make great marketing goals because they aren’t specific enough.
In fact, sometimes the easiest way to increase profitability is by narrowing down to a more specific target. Here are four that we consider especially good online marketing goals for 2013:
1. To improve your online marketing ROI. Granted, this is also a bit vague, but it at least addresses both sides of the equation. It’s good to want to increase sales, but you should also be looking to lower costs at the same time.
2. To gather more social click-throughs to your business website. Why settle for having more followers, when you could have more social engagement at the same time? In other words, you shouldn’t want customers to just look for you online, but to take action on your posts and tweets.
3. To secure higher PPC click-through rates. Although your cost-per-conversion is ultimately more important, raising your click-through rates is a good way to capture more of the market and improve your quality score at the same time – in other words, to reach more people at a lower per-customer cost.
4. To have more return visitors to your business website. Capturing first-time potential customers is wonderful, but bringing them back is even more important. For one thing, return visitors tend to convert at a higher percentage. Plus, the more likely they return, the more engaged they become with your company and the more likely they are to think of you the next time they need to make a purchase.
There’s nothing wrong with setting your sights on bigger sales or higher profits in 2013, but narrowing down to some more specific goals is a good way to ensure that you actually accomplish both.
If you need more help, we’d love to be involved! Just drop us a line to connect.
Chickens, Eggs, and Search Engine Optimization: How to Maximize the ROI on Your Business Website
Tuesday, June 19th, 2012
The biggest challenge to online marketers these days almost sounds like a philosophical riddle: You can’t really find customers over the Internet without a strong search engine optimization profile, but that’s getting harder to build – especially if you want landing pages that convert at a profitable rate.
You’re hurting if you emphasize SEO, and you’re hurting if you don’t.
The solution that most business owners follow is to keep adding keywords and links as quickly as possible. That’s been good advice for quite a while, but the latest Google Penguin update has made below-quality links next to useless, and added more penalties for sites that are too repetitive.
So, it’s getting harder to improve your search engine rankings quickly. And even if it weren’t, Google’s automated spiders are notoriously cheap; we have yet to hear of them buying any product or service anywhere.
Since more traffic and a better search-optimized business website don’t necessarily lead to higher profits, how do you draw the line and maximize the return on investment from your search engine optimization campaign? There isn’t a perfect answer, but here are a few tips to get you started:
Employ more advanced analytics. We are finding more and more that “long tail” keywords tend to be the most profitable, and are less likely to be ignored by Google and the other engines. Find out which keywords and phrases are bringing you real customers, not just traffic, and focus your attention appropriately.
Split-test your landing pages. While split-testing isn’t a search engine optimization tactic, per se, it does help you maximize the revenue you get from any form of traffic to your website. The better you know your buyers, and what they respond to, the higher ROI you’ll get from any SEO effort.
Speed things up with paid ads. The longer time frame needed to execute a search engine optimization campaign in a competitive market means you should do as much research as possible beforehand. Trying out pay-per-click ads is a great way to experiment with different keywords that might be good organic targets later.
You have to have visitors before your business website can be profitable, but you also want your site to be written and designed in a way that appeals to buyers more than search engines. Follow these three pieces of advice, and you’ll have a good starting point for getting the best of both worlds.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Newsletter Update – June 2012
Monday, June 18th, 2012Here is our June 2012 SEO Newsletter packed with all of the latest information about Search Engine Optimization and what’s affecting business rankings in Google. Check it out and contact us if you need help ranking higher in Google with your website.
Front-End Conference
Friday, June 15th, 2012
I recently had the opportunity to attend the Front-End Design Conference, with our Creative Director, Trey Ingram. It was held at the Palladium Theatre in St. Pete Florida. The speakers ranged from designers, programmers, and everything in between. The conference was well-organized and the speakers had a great range of topics. One of the main themes was the interest, and propagation of responsive web design for mobile users. There were different opinions as to the best practices, but all agreed it is the future of the web, and the way we use it.
One of the most interesting speeches was in regards to the way the world changed with the invention of the automobile, and how subsequently the screen is the game changer for our generation. The world adapted and the way we do life was forever changed. Similarly the screen has revolutionized our lives in almost every way. And with advances in size, and cost it will continue to do so.
The best benefit from the weekend was the sense of excitement that everyone leaving seemed to have. It truly is a great time to be a designer, and with the prevalence of the internet, it is especially a great time to be in web design. For designers, and programmers, if you get the chance to attend the Front-End Design Conference next year it will be sure to be a pleasure.
-Joe Dykeman
Project Manager
Networking, Internet Marketing, & Instant Gratification
Wednesday, June 13th, 2012We live in a world of instant gratification. Everyone is looking for the fast way to lose 10 lbs or get rich quick. We want things and we want them NOW!
Networking and internet marketing have a lot in common regarding this…
Many people show up at networking events and shuffle around the room handing out their own cards and talking about their own businesses as quickly as possible. Later, they get back to the office and wonder why they don’t have a flood of calls coming in
. They then assume that networking or the group they attended are a bust because they didn’t get any business from the first visit.
Internet marketing is much the same. Many business owners expect to launch a website and magically start seeing business flying in the door. If their site is not #1 on Google the first day out the gate, there must be something wrong with the website. Or business owners on Twitter and Facebook spend countless hours talking about themselves and then wonder why it’s not working. It must be the fault of the social media networks, right?
The reality of course is far from this. Networking and internet marketing take time. They are not vehicles of instant gratification, but they can be HUGE assets to your businesses growth in the long-term. It’s all about planting seeds, building relationships, and laying a foundation for the future with both of these.
With networking, get involved in your local community through different types of groups. We’re a part of a great BNI group, The St. Johns Business Network and also members of the St. Johns Chamber of Commerce. Our goal in each of these organizations is to grow relationships and help others first. When you reach out to help others, they will want to reach back and help you!
The same goes for online marketing. Spending quality time building a network of relationships on Twitter and Facebook is valuable for business, but it takes time to turn that into business. Search engine optimization is the same way, it takes time to build good results that will last a long time.
On that note, how can we help you today? 
The Biggest Misconception About Changes to Google’s Algorithm
Tuesday, June 12th, 2012
It only takes a few minutes on any major online marketing site or forum to see that lots of webmasters and business owners are upset about recent changes to Google’s algorithm, and especially the latest “Penguin” update, which affected some companies that previously put a lot of work into their SEO plans.
But while their grief is understandable, there seems to be a huge misconception about changes to Google’s search algorithm. That’s because they aren’t really changes at all, but small shifts designed to make the world’s largest search engine better at the same things it’s been trying to do for years.
Simply put, Google doesn’t like “over-optimized” websites because the searchers who use Google don’t like them, either. It isn’t helpful for men and women who want to find answers, or products, to come upon pages filled with copied text or stuffed keywords. And so, all the major search engines are doing what they can to deemphasize those listings – and will likely continue to do so in the future.
That doesn’t only say things about the current state of search engine optimization, but where the future is headed, as well. Here are a few trends you can expect to continue:
Search engines will keep looking for natural value. In other words, they want to prioritize websites that seem to be focused on giving the most information. Where does that line fall, and what is considered “over-optimization”? There aren’t any clear answers, but expect that scrutiny will get tighter.
Google and the other engines are paying attention to the way searchers treat you. The surest indicator of a high-value website is the way searchers use it, and how other webmasters link to it. In addition to links, it’s also possible that factors like bounce rates and time on site will become increasingly important in the future.
The social media element of SEO is increasing. Another way that the major search engines can measure interest in your website is by monitoring social media posts, updates, and links. Expect the relationship between search engine optimization and social media marketing to keep growing stronger.
Google isn’t going to want to see anything it considers cheating. These include copied content, keyword stuffing, buying links, and so much more. As a general rule of thumb, if you are doing something only for the search engine optimization benefit, it’s likely to get decreasing returns as time goes on.
Search is changing all the time, but the biggest shifts in Google’s algorithm aren’t due to a whole new set of ideas, but the narrowing focus on the same priorities that have been there for a long time.
Free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Newsletter
Friday, May 18th, 2012
The landscape of online marketing is constantly changing. Google updates their search results on a regular basis and it’s import to be aware of the changes and how they affect your page rank and SEO results for various keywords. We specialize in helping clients get great results with online marieting using a combination of SEO, PPC, and Social Media.
Want to learn some of the latest news in online marketing, for free? Check out our May 2012 newsletter below:
While many of our clients are in the local Jacksonville or St. Augustine, Florida area, we’re not limited to the customers we can serve and work with SEO clients around the country.
How Online Marketing is Like a Bad Breakup
Thursday, January 19th, 2012
Bestselling books and blockbuster movies are continually filled with the theme of heartache. That’s because most of us have, at one point or another, known the terrible, sinking feeling that comes with losing someone we love.
Of course, online marketers can feel the same way when they see their best customers slipping away.
While you might not feel the same kind of depression over a missing account or decreased orders that you do when you lose a lover, either one can keep you up at night wondering what went wrong. And, believe it or not, there are some similarities, both in the way you are left and what you can do about it.
Here are some bad breakup tips you can use to fix your online marketing plan:
Don’t expect your departed customer to tell you what went wrong. You can ask all you want, but once a customer is gone, they aren’t likely to give you the real reasons they left, so it’s going to be up to you to figure it out on your own.
The exception to this rule, of course, is when your company messed up badly enough that it’s obvious to everyone why they took their business elsewhere. In those cases, learn from the experience, improve your customer service, and move on.
You can learn a lot from your customer’s next partner. If you really want to know why someone isn’t buying from you anymore, figure out who they are buying from now. What does that vendor offer that you don’t?
Often, if you lose out on a big account, it isn’t that difficult to find out where it went. Or, if you’re noticing a trend of smaller orders dropping off, see if you can find out which of your competitors is benefiting the most. Either way, you’ll learn something about what they are offering that you can’t match.
Sometimes it really is about the simple things. Differences in price, a more competitive product, a cleaner online reputation, or even better site layouts and navigation structures can all be obvious reasons that a customer might stop responding to your online marketing efforts. The answers are usually simpler than we think, so look for the big explanations first.
Losing customers is tough, but the pain doesn’t last forever. Follow these tips, find out why your online business isn’t stacking up, and then use the knowledge to either win your buyers back or find new ones. And if you want even more powerful tools to bring in those new clients, or find the lost ones, Give us a call at Design Extensions. We’d love to hlep.
The Biggest Online Marketing Mistake Most Business Owners Make
Thursday, January 12th, 2012If you were pressed for an answer, what would you suppose the most common online marketing mistake is? If you’re like most of the business owners we work with, you might think of spending too much or too little, writing ads that don’t speak to your unique selling proposition, or maybe even pricing your products and services the wrong way.
These are all decent guesses, and maybe half-correct. That’s because the biggest mistake in online marketing is making any mistake over and over again.
How do you stop yourself from repeating costly errors? By evaluating the effectiveness of what you’re doing in a subjective way. In other words, by studying the numbers behind your business website. A lot of business owners can talk about the number of visitors their website is receiving, or how many sales they’ve been making, but getting a good understanding of your online business requires a deeper look than that.
Here are three easy to use and understand metrics you definitely want to keep an eye on:
The numbers of visitors coming from certain sources or advertising campaigns. Often, it isn’t possible to tell that a certain message is or isn’t responding to a segment of your market until you take a closer look at your traffic sources. Viewing these with a critical eye could show you where you need to tweak your offers or benefit statements.
Your most popular pages. In many cases, business owners see this kind of data as simply “the products and prices that customers respond to most.” That’s a starting point, but high numbers of views in your frequently asked questions or shipping policies, for example, could indicate that buyers have concerns about how quickly they’ll receive their order. This is only a simple example, but it’s representative of the kind of trend you should be looking for.
Parts of your site where visitors exit. This is even more important, since they can help you to identify parts of your site that aren’t fully optimized for conversions, or that buyers are responding to. If potential customers are leaving you at any point other than the one that brings them closer to buying from you, then it’s costing you money.
There is any number of mistakes with your content or marketing message that you can inadvertently make on your business website. The real mistake, however, is to keep reproducing errors by failing to study the numbers closely enough. Need help studying those numbers? Let Design Extensions help, and we’ll do what we do best so that you can do what you do best.
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