Digital Marketing Consultant

The question is frequently asked, “Can I achieve professional Internet marketing in-house?”  There are specific criteria that must be met to obtain  successful results.  The information set forth here will help you to set your Internet Marketing sails.  Bon Voyage!

The first thing needed to set sail is a trained expert or two in Internet Marketing.  They should have plenty of time to devote to the SEO objectives, such as target audience identification and understanding, keyword identification, and  designing the overall optimization plan.  They will also need to stay abreast of the ongoing changes within the search engine.

While focusing on every fine detail of search engine optimization, they will also need to be able to look at the overall big picture.   Three main components make up the big picture including:
•    Sales
•    Marketing
•    IT components

Successful Internet Marketing works collaboratively with sales, marketing and IT.  Marketing will provide input into the online offers and initiatives for alignment with off line initiatives and offers.   The sales experts will align types of successful leads and keywords development to attract the target market.   The IT experts will need to identify technical limitations and implement the SEO strategy on the website.  The collaborative team work assures for smooth sailing of your Internet Marketing strategic plan.

You have two valid choices:

1. Outsource fully or
2. Outsource to lead, to train, and to measure in-house staff.

Reality is, often the experts for your business in the areas of sales, marketing and IT already have a plate full and have limited, if any, time available for additional time-consuming projects. Finding the right person or persons that meets all of the criteria can often be a challenging task.   You may have the right person or people available, but they are probably already in a key role for your business and cannot take on extra work with the dedication required for Internet Marketing.  Without the proper resource allocation, expert level of Internet Marketing skills, your in-house Internet Marketing project may be doomed from the start for shipwreck.

Often Internet Marketing strategy that begins with outsourcing can be the most economical and effective plan.  Effective Internet Marketing requires a lot of enthusiasm and energy with fresh new ideas.  It just may be the best resource for your company Internet Marketing plan is outsourcing.

Most of the time when a company brings Internet Marketing in-house it is all about money.  They take this short cut to save money, but fail to identify the actual cost of in-house Internet Marketing efforts and often even fail to identify the effectiveness of their in-house strategy, not knowing how to organize and to measure the efficacy.

Many times companies start the Internet Marketing strategy in-house only to find they still need to outsource for quality results.  The problem with this picture is now they have the additional cost of having someone clean up what has already been set up ineffectively.  

Starting with a Digital or Internet Marketing Consultancy can truly be a cost effective approach in most situations.  Experience, time and unbiased input are value added benefits of using a professional marketing consultancy. 

But use a consultancy for one big reason: If the consultancy can teach in-house staff, organize them, and measure efficacy, then you can have THE MOST EFFECTIVE Internet Marketing team available.   Set the Internet Marketing sails for your online business success today for a long and successful voyage.

You can see examples of such work here.

Those who have been marketing businesses on the Internet for a few years will understand how it has become more competitive over the years.
Each day more and more websites are added to the Internet.  Setting realistic expectations for search engine optimization has become even more important with the increased competition.

It is necessary to develop a good Search Engine Digital and Internet Marketing strategy to obtain the best possible ranking.   The question today is not about keywords as much as it is about Search Engine Digital and Internet Marketing (SEM) strategy.  Getting ranked well is an ever-moving target. It is your ever-changing strategy that is going to obtain the most successful ranking on the search engines.

SEM will not provide results immediately and it is not a magical approach to successful ranking.  Obtaining overnight success with search engine results simply is not a reality.  

SEO still has some value in using keywords, but it is quickly becoming a less effective way.  The future success of SEO is with the development of a comprehensive strategy targeting multiple keywords focusing on sustainable long term results.

The strategy for Search Engine Digital and Internet Marketing will vary depending upon the type of business and type of business model utilized.   A professional Digital and Internet Marketing Consultancy can provide the best direction and strategy implementation for your business.

The complexity of search engine optimization has brought new elements of focus to leverage your website for both search engines and visitors.   Maintaining you website position for optimal visibility is critical to the success of your business.

Developing the best strategic plan for Search Engine Digital and Internet Marketing and even International Search Engine Digital and Internet Marketing is an essential for building your online business.

Does your business have a blog?  If so, is it used effectively?  Not having enough time to blog is the biggest reason some businesses fail to either have a blog or to have an effective blog.  Improving your blog strategy will be the foundation upon which you can build an effective Digital and Internet Marketing tool out of your blog.

Your blog should first build upon your business branding strategy.   Blogs that have a SEO focus will dramatically increase your online traffic and visibility.  The best blogging strategy will start with unique content of high quality for your website and web distribution.

1. Keep your blog topics aligned with your business niche.
2. Maintain a blog calendar to plan for and track your blog topics
3. Write your blogs for reader value
4. Add variation to your blog topics, content and style.
5. Utilize best practices for blog writing
6. Assure alignment with your website SEO and your blog SEO
7. Add links to your blog
8. Incorporate video and images into your blog
9. Allow your blog to go viral
10. Use a conversational tone and encourage interaction 

As a Digital and Internet Marketing tool, it is important to have a blog that supports your business niche.  Use catchy titles to get the attention of your readers and provide valuable information.

A calendar will help you to organize topics and when to write them.  Prepare a list of topics to be covered and then plan the order of writing them. 

One very important point: If you can't get it done, pay someone to get it done.  Just Do It!

The development of your website is the first step in your online Digital and Internet Marketing campaign efforts.   Remember it is only the first step, not the only step.   To be successful, you will need to position your website to attain good ranking by the search engines and more specifically Google.

The guy speaking in the video below may seem like a clown, but you can bet your business on his marketing knowledge:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is developing the strategies to attain better ranking on the search engines.   There are SEO tips available to assist in a successful online campaign.

If you are using a new web domain, it will take some time to get recognition from the search engines.  Using an existing web domain can help obtain higher rankings quicker by the search engines.  It is also helpful if the domain name carries some of the keywords for your niche.   A fair amount of thought should be given to selecting your domain name.  Finding an available one is another story.

The most effective SEO is built with both the search engines and the reader in mind.  You will want to select keywords that are relevant to the type of searches your target market will be using to search the web.   This is a complex process and the service of an expert in this area can prove to be very beneficial.

The importance of keywords for the search engines, the reader and search engine spiders cannot be overlooked.   Several tools are available to help in keyword research and selection:

•    Wordtracker
•    Keyword Discovery
•    Google’s keyword tool

There are other resources and tools available to assist you in developing effective keywords for your specific niche.

These are just a few of the major consideration required to attain the best search engine rankings for your website.   An SEO company has the expertise to assist you in your Digital and Internet Marketing campaign efforts and obtain favorable rankings in a short time and will likely pay for itself many times over.

[This article I have stolen from ReadWriteWeb because it is so relevant to what we try to get client to understand that I just wanted people to understand that it is not just we who preach this]

An "About Us" page is a good way to provide this information and to assure people that your company has the experience and the skills to meet their needs. And your "About Us" page should answer these questions:

• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• When did we start?
• How do we do it?

Typically, an "About Us" page contains a company description - "here's what we do" - and company mission - "here's why we do it." But it's just as important to highlight the team - "here's who we are."

That "who" should include images (photos or avatars) and biographies of key members of the team. The biographies can highlight educational background and work experience. Clearly, if I'm visiting a website that offers financial services, I'd like to see that the founders have degrees in something other than Folklore. If you offer marketing services, a background in marketing helps. If your startup has a particularly compelling story or angle that adds to your uniqueness, make sure you tell it.

Not everything on an "About Us" page needs to address the business world per se. I am intrigued that Infochimps' COO once operated a tugboat. And I like knowing that Learnboost's developer can be tracked down via his Foursquare check-ins (perhaps that information should be mandated for all developers).

For most people who interact with your website, this may be the opportunity to really humanize your company. You don't want to waste it.

Six Revisions argues that the people who click on the "About Us" fall into three categories: first-time visitors, regular users, and people who want to work for you. When it comes to "About Us" pages for startup websites, I would add to that list "potential investors." In all these cases, you want to be able to provide enough information to convince visitors to become users, fans, investors.

Granted, not every visitor to your website is going to click on the "About Us" link. But for those who do, you want to be sure that the content on that page really gives an insight into not just what products your startup offers, but who your startup is.

[You want to know more about how to do it right?  See our WSI wisdom book.]

In order to know which methods of advertising are most successful in our business, you need to track traffic.   Where is your traffic coming from?   Which method of advertisement is driving the most traffic to your website?

There will be some advertisements which will need to be trashed, while others that are successful will need to continue.   Traffic stats are rather robust in the amount of information they provide.  They can provide traffic by day, time, and even pages visited. 

This information allows you to determine the time you have the most visitors and which pages are the most accessed.  The knowledge of which advertisements are the most successful can save you money in advertising.  You can remove advertisements that are not working rather than wasting money on ineffective advertisement.

Your traffic statistics will also inform you of sites that are carrying the link to your website that of which you may not be aware.  This is a good thing, since it is basically free advertisement to your site.  By being able to identify the sites that have links into your site, you can send an email of appreciation to the website owner.

Traffic statics will also help you to identify products that may not be selling but are getting traffic.  With this information, you can look at making updates around those products or perhaps offering specials to get sales for the products from the traffic.

As a business owner, you need to take the time on a monthly basis to review the traffic statistics for your website.  You should review sites that are sending traffic to your website to see if any feedback is being left regarding your business.  Always follow up with any complaints and seek to provide a solution and resolution to the problem.

Tracking traffic to your website will provide you information about search engine ranking. You can even see what words visitors entered into the search engine for their search.

Buntly?  If you don't analyze your website traffic, all else you do is a waste of time.  If you need clarification, look up information in the back of this book.

Some things in life that are better off not being sticky.   You do not want a child’s sticky fingers on your new suit?  Nobody likes to be in a sticky situation with friends, family or debtors.  But there are some things that are good to be sticky.  Can you imagine a stamp that isn’t sticky or tape that isn’t sticky?  But if you want a successful website, it is going to have to be sticky.  This is part of conversion architecture.

Let’s take a look at what it is going to take to attract visitors to your website and then to get them to stay for awhile.   Be aware that some things you do will actually drive visitors away from your site.

Visitors to your website come with needs and you can build a sticky website by meeting your visitors’ needs. Let’s take a look at your visitors needs.

• How can I find what I want to look for?
  
  • You have to know your target market well enough to know what they are looking for and then to place it right in front of them when they get to your website.
• What is your site about?
  
  • Do not make your visitors guess what it is you do or what your site offers.  Let them in on the know immediately.
• What’s the news?
  
  • First time visitors will want to see up-to-date information.  Returning visitors will what to see current and new information. 
• What is that image representing?
  
  • Graphics provides the ultimate when it comes to personalization and product representation.   Visitors will judge you and your company’s credibility by the appearance and professionalism in graphics.  Make sure the pictures and images on your site look professional.
• Why should I purchase products and services from this company?
  
  • Testimonials and references can help provide visitors with a reason to make a purchase.  Guarantees also help reduce the risk for your potential customers.  Make sure the call to action is included in your website.

All of these points are highly important, so Stickiness is not meant to be just a cute term; it is a vital part of converstion architecture.  See how to optimize stickiness.

First, what is website Stickiness?  It is another way of calling Time-on-site or on-page.  In other words, does your website make people want to stay, want to read, want to go deeper into your website?  If so, that is a sticky site. Stickness is part of website conversion architecture.

Our business is devoted to making your website sticky.  But perhaps you have asked how you can determine the stickiness of your website.  There are several ways to measure the stickiness of a website and we will discuss those in this edition.

Some of the sticky attributes you should have implemented on your website include.
•    Making the information for your target market easy to access
•    Clearly and concisely tell your visitors what you do and what your site has to offer in products and services.
•    Keep your website up-to-date with new information, products, and services.
•    Use professional appearing graphics
•    Provide references, testimonials and guarantees for your products and services.
•    Include an effective call to action on your website

After you have the above attributes actively in operation on your website, it is time to start measuring for success.  Measuring is necessary for every successful internet marketing site.  By measuring the stickiness of your site, you will find areas which you need to make adjustments on and tweak you site to become stickier. 

The number of visitors to your site is an important statistic.  But when it comes to stickiness, importance is placed upon how long your visitors remain on your site.  Remember if your visitors get to your website and then can’t locate the information for which they are searching, they will become frustrated and leave and probably never return again.

For an online business, the customers’ point of contact is your website.  Your website represents your company and you.  The website should be constructed and maintained to build credibility for your company and the products and services it offers.

Most webhosting companies offer tools to track the traffic to your site (see Google Analytics) along with time visitors stay on your site that can be used to track the stickability of your site.   These tools can even drill down to the page level for your site to provide specific areas on which to focus for stickiness improvement.

Recently, once again there have been some new website design and development trends appearing as a result of search engine modifications.  Some of these have been present for a while and others are still emerging.  Some website owners have felt the impact of some of the changes occurring with the search engines in the recent past.  We will take a look at some of the current and possibly upcoming trends.

Language and Code Changes

Website coding is becoming more interactive with increased functionality.  Previously used HTML/CSS is moving over for JavaScript, JQUERY, and AJAX.  Some limited use of Flash is also occurring or variations with other types of coding creating similar effects, such as a really cool coding found at spritely.net.

Increased popularity of mobile, Grids, and Retro Designs.

Grids are generally seen with product promotion pages and portfolio designs. These designs promote interactivity on the site and simplification for the visitors reducing their confusion with searching.

Designs that are printer friendly with increased white space, large headlines, columned content, improved organization, and large fonts are preferred.

Improved Performance across various browsers.

Developing a website with designs complementing and working effectively will a variety of browsers including Opera, Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox is necessary to assure all potential customers can access your site with their favorite browser.

Development of Platforms that are Interactive

Social media has ushered in interactive websites that encourage user participation.

Ease Of Navigation 

Sites will need to be more user friendly once again noting increased interactivity.   Navigation is key to the search engine ranking process.  The search engines are most kind to the sites that are user friendly.

Employment of Slab Typefaces to enhance Prominence

Logos on websites are employing slab typefaces which are similar to large headers.  Slab typefaces have already been utilized this year.

Solid Typography

Solid and large typography is being used for headings and subheadings to enhance the ability of the reader to simply scan the webpage quickly.

You may want to consider including some of the following enhancements to your website for improved user experience and search engine ranking:
•    Rich user interfaces
•    Font replacement
•    Huge Images
•    Modal boxes
•    Embossing
•    PNG transparency
•    Media blocks
•    Columns
•    Introduction Block
•    Carousels

Putting in too much of a good thing can be detrimental.  So be careful.  If you want to have your business online done correctly, contact us.  Or first, simply check out our wisdom book.

Don’t worry.  I do know it is August and not December.  But the truth is, in order to have your website and online business prepared for the upcoming Christmas Holiday season, you better start preparing now.

[[posterous-content:pid___0]]A lot of retailers both on and offline depend upon the sales during the holiday season to boost end of year profits.  Below are some easy preparations you can put in place that can have a positive effect on both traffic and sales.

SEO Check-up time

This is a good time to check up on your SEO (search engine optimization).  A good way to determine how your visitors find your site and products is to review your site traffic reports.  You can review words and phrases your visitors are using to access your website.  You want to make sure your SEO is built around your visitor inputs.   Doing this can increase traffic substantially for your company.

Email is a Major Force

Beginning to use a serious email system can not only save you time, but also increase your sales dramatically for a minimal cost.

Affiliate Program Additions

This is a good time to consider adding affiliate programs if it fits into your plan, as sales for the affiliate programs will also be increasing over the holiday season.  Some particular good ones to consider are toys, sports, home, and garden.  These are all great gift sites.

Maximize Up-Selling and Cross-Selling

 Up-selling and cross selling are frequently missed as marketing opportunities online.  Presenting related products to visitors viewing products online is referred to as cross selling, such as when viewing dress shirts online perhaps neck ties appear on the side. If you are selling digital cameras, you may show some selections of $150 cameras after your visitors’ view a $75 camera.  This is up-selling.

Holiday decorations for your website

You can use special holiday graphics, holiday colors, and holiday greeting on your website creating a little holiday atmosphere for your visitors. 

Special Holiday Offers

You may increase sales by offering special holiday perks such as free shipping and gift wrapping.     You might consider a giving a free gift with purchases and offering next day shipment for last minute rush orders.

This are simple ideas to spruce up the tree, but if you need serious work and want to have the best year ever, first see our wisdom book and then contact us.