Every effective marketing campaign needs to include a way to quantify results. Tracking both successes and areas that need improvement are essential to refining plans, making the most of your investment, and achieving your marketing goals. Social media is no exception. Even though the very nature of social media can make it seem difficult to measure and track results, there …
Google+ Comments – A Powerful Tool for Bloggers
Google+ Comments were recently integrated into Google’s Blogger platform, leading to a noticeable and sometimes drastic increase in comments for many blogs. It was such a popular move that the Google+ WordPress Plugin was created. Using this plugin allows blogs not powered by Google’s Blogger to integrate Google+ Comments as well. (Note: this plugin isn’t officially endorsed by Google, but …
Internet Marketing Facts & Figures
A few notable internet marketing facts and figures that we’re following closely. The use of video content has risen from 52% in 2011 to 70% in 2012. According to Hubspot social media produces almost double the marketing leads of trade shows, telemarketing, direct mail, or PPC. This is an interesting perspective, but is a like or follow the same as …
Key Factor in Successful Website Analysis
Key Factor in Successful Website Analysis: Accurate Data In today’s world of internet marketing, there is a great deal of easy-to-access and valuable data available. However, with all this readily accessible data, there comes a new factor to consider before conducting analysis to inform marketing decisions: how accurate is your data? Answering this question is not easy, given the numerous …
Guide to Generating Rich Snippets
Generating Rich Snippets Rich snippets, the brief descriptions that appear along with listings on search pages, can play a key role in creating high conversion rates by offering search engine users more information about how a site can meet their needs. Rich Snippets can be generated using a fairly straightforward form of mark-up within the HTML of your site. Micro …
Facebook Graph Search: Are There Potential Online Marketing Opportunities?
Facebook is in the process of launching Graph Search, a new search tool designed to make it easy to search for specific information, such as “People who like to ski and live in Boston,” “Cities my family members have visited,” and “Music my friends like.” Since Facebook is such a vast potential market, as well as a repository for huge …
The Dramatic Evolution of Keyword Tracking
The world of rankings has been changing drastically. In the recent past, the vast majority of keyword rankings/SERPs were identical for everyone who did the same search, regardless of who did the search, where they were located, what device or account they used, or any other factor. Over the past several years this obviously has changed, but in 2012 the …
The New SEO Process: Holistic Strategies Get Results
The latest in SEO is an approach that integrates other aspects of online and traditional marketing to maximize results. The key components of this highly strategic approach are: Opportunity Exploration: This stage of the SEO process includes gaining a comprehensive understanding of business objectives, target audience, and the competition. The best SEO strategies focus on meeting goals using a holistic …
External Factors Can Cause Unexpected Mass Google Ranking Changes
Every so often, there is a noticeable spike in Google ranking changes on a particular day for no easily discernible reason. The obvious place to look for answers is a Google algorithm update for that day, but if this is not the case, it’s worth considering other possibilities. One such ranking flux occurred on December 13th, with no confirmed algorithm …
Ten Essential Enterprise SEO Facts
Search Engine Optimization is of vital importance to successful online marketing plans and plays a huge role in their ROI. Like the web itself, SEO is constantly evolving, due to Google’s ever-changing search algorithm, competitors’ actions, and any number of other strategic factors. The list below provides some of the latest information you need to maximize your SEO efforts. Conversion …
Timeless Tips for Monitoring the Success of your Online Efforts
Successful businesses are based on sound strategy and measurable objectives. Whether you are a traditional marketing communications professional, a web content manager, or anyone else conducting business online, it is vital to define your online goals or key performance indicators (KPIs). We have actually worked with a number of organizations on a consulting basis just to help them define and …
Top 10 Mobile Optimization Tips
During a recent discussion with a mobile app guru we were discussing the importance of optimization that is uniquely positioned for the mobile market. In several instances we’ve seen over the past few years, many mobile websites tend to be optimized exactly the same as a traditional desktop website. While there are some commonalities there are also some very distinctive …
Facebook Promoted Posts: The Potential Impact
Facebook continues its often controversial evolution with the roll-out of “promoted posts,” posts that are included in more news feeds than they would reach organically because businesses and brands are paying for it. From a social media marketing standpoint, the main issue is whether these paid posts are causing the exclusion of posts by brands that users have liked and that would have …
Top 10 Online Marketing Measurement Points for 2013
When using the influential online marketing tools of key word optimization and paid ads/listings, understanding the impact of Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and Return on Investment (ROI) on your online marketing efforts is vitally important. Continual and consistent monitoring, analyzing and responding to your data is the best way to gain a comprehensive picture of your search engine results and how to …
Social Media Success – No Easy Fix
The key to social media success isn’t dictated by the latest trend or technique. It’s dictated by skill, hard work, and dedication to a constant evolution of your strategies. You can’t just put social media on auto-pilot, because what people did nine months ago may no longer be true, and what everyone seems to be doing right now might not make sense …
The Latest News on Google Mobile: Google Now
Google Now, especially when used along with Voice Search, is a tool that continues the evolution of mobile search. It goes beyond traditional search by incorporating users’ search history, location, time of day and other categories of information to predict their needs. With the Jelly Bean Android update, Google Now’s content has expanded to include weather, stocks, traffic, calendar reminders, sports scores, nearby restaurants …
Optimizing for Results, Not Just Rankings
Limiting your focus to high search engine rankings can take away from the bigger picture and your larger goal: clicks that translate into better site exposure, stronger branding and increased business. Top rankings are only one step in effective search engine marketing. What SEO can draw from PPC Strategies Historically, search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click (PPC) were treated as …
Triggered Message Click Rates Over 119 Percent Higher Than Normal Business Email.
According to the June 2012 Epsilon and Direct Market Association’s Email Experience Council’s Email Trends and Benchmarks report triggered email messages had a 119% higher click through rate than standard “business as usual” (BAU) email messages. This significantly stronger click rate than traditional email marketing spotlights a prime opportunity to create triggered email messages to help boost online response rates and …
Dark Social: Site Traffic That Defies Tracking
Social networking on the web did not necessarily begin with Friendster or Facebook. It has been there all along, just less organized, structured and quantifiable. Every time someone shares a link with someone else via email or instant messaging, that is a form of social networking that can’t be easily classified using web analytics programs. Alexis Madigral of The Atlantic calls this type …
YouTube Search Change
YouTube search is now ranking videos based on time spent watching, instead of just on clicks. In this way, YouTube hopes to reward videos that viewers spend the most time watching and provide better search results for site users. A new “Time Watched” report has been added to YouTube Analytics. If you are using YouTube as part of your online …