Social Media – Is it Right for You? – Philadelphia Internet Marketing

Social Media is a term that refers to communal websites and applications that rely on many different people working together towards a goal. Wikipedia, 43things, Twitter, Myspace, each of these websites relies on the interaction of dozens and sometimes thousands of users to create interesting content. Everything from finding a date to making lists, this new social media is very popular for many reasons.

Because there is so much traffic on these websites you’ll find many Internet Marketers trying to ‘leverage’ the audiences on social media websites for sales leads and announcements of new products/services. In some cases this is done tastefully and with the spirit of the website’s purpose, other times it’s blatant spam.

A common misconception is that if you get links on Digg or Delicious or Myspace you’re search engine rank will skyrocket. In truth it’s very rare that such an occurrence will happen and just placing links on these social media outlets won’t pan out the way you hope. That is… unless you’re providing great content.

Content, content, content, what do I mean when I say ‘great content’?

I mean something of value, something that will not only draw people to WANT to read what you’re providing but make them hungry for more. You simply can’t rehash the same old article on ‘How to fix your Air Conditioner’ and expect people to stick around. There are dozens of websites providing the same sort of content, so what makes yours stick out? What about writing a column where a retired Air Conditioner Contractor gives you the skinny on the fun stories he’s accumulated over the years? How about a Q&A session? A survey? Horror stories and advice on how it could have been avoided?

You want to be compelling and you also want to focus on your audience.

If you go on Myspace and try shilling handicap walkers and Ensure your not going to get much attention. The demographic for Myspace is 14-25 so try pitching things that a teenager would be interested in. Same with 43things, if your trying to sell a book then go find people who like your type of book. Don’t just pop in and say, “Hey check this out and buy it!” Start a conversation, get involved, treat it like a hobby not a job.

Now most people will say, “I don’t have time for this.” And to them I say, “Make time or social media is never going to be an effective Marketing tool for you. Ever.” Social Media is not for spammers, it’s for people with a genuine interest in what your talking about. Hiring on a web company to ‘leverage’ (that term is bandied about a lot lately) social media isn’t going to get you great traffic because they could care less about your product. They’re there to put in some hours and skim a few sales leads, enough to make it look as if what they’re doing is justified.

You are the one who started your business, you’re the one with expert knowledge and you are the only person who can really use social media effectively. Ask your Internet Marketer to research places that you could find interesting people in your demographic and go make friends.

Using Keywords in Your Advertising - Philadelphia Internet Marketing

You may have seen an ad recently that went something like this:

"Our Environmentally Friendly Tires are a
commitment to the Community and the World
To learn more about our GREEN tires go to Google and type in: "greentire"

This is in response to a growing problem with search engines, too many websites competing for the same keywords. If you're a Tire company and you've found the keywords you've been using getting swamped by spamy listing sites ("Philadelphia Tires" is a good example) then this can be a compelling work around.

What you want to do is create a page on your website or create a landing page that is optimized for the keywords you want to use. Make sure the keywords have zero competition, since 'greentire' isn't even a word it has hardly any other website trying to utilize it.

Now your asking the question:
"Why don't I just point them to a URL like www.greentire.com, instead or www.phillytires.com/greentire?"

A: No reason what so ever, but this is the 'hip new thing' in Internet Marketing so I'm giving it some lip service. One advantage is that you don't have to pay for the domain but given the cost of a domain is under $10 it's not a huge budgetary concern. You could definetly use this technique to create a whole new 'buzz word' and spin off product for your company.

If you've got a business that's consistently hammered by spam websites using your relevant keywords, then take advantage of this idea. Use keywords that aren't traditionally what people would think of, but you can train them into using.

Example:
If you have a new product like "light tubes" which reflect sunlight from your roof and into your basement to light up your house, try the following.

• Run an Ad that basically says: Learn more at Google by typing in "Light My Room"
• Then when they're on your optimized web page have links and mention other phrases. Like: "Light My Bedroom", "Light My Garage", "Light My Apartment"... etc.
• Eventually people will learn to do searches for your products by using your keyword phrases. "Hmmm... what was that website with the light tubes... oh yeah! Light My... um....Light My Apartment!"
  

Landing Pages & Domains: Philadelphia SEO

You’ve got a website and you’re comfortable with the idea of how it’s structured and how people move through it. The typical layout is a Homepage that has links that navigate to your service pages, products, articles, contact info and appointment scheduler. It’s all self-contained and interconnected, the way everyone else’s website works.

However you’re probably having trouble getting your website to come up under multiple searches. You may have the first position for ‘philadelphia dolls’ but you can’t seem to get yourself optimized for other search terms: ‘swarthmore dolls’, ‘exton toys’, ‘unique gifts pa’…etc.

Instead of stuffing keywords into your webpage copy until it resembles an intersection covered in election posters, you should think about landing pages. Instead of having just one big website, break the mold and develop several smaller websites/ landing pages. You can optimize each landing page for the keywords you want, tailoring your copy without degrading the quality of the information.

Step 1: Buy a domain with your keywords in it, the closer the better. (example: ‘philadelphia dolls’ = www.philadelphiadolls.com [.net, .org, .biz, doesn’t matter].

Step 2: Set up a sub directory on your primary hosting account. If you website is www.example.com, then create a folder on your host www.example.com/philadelphiadolls.

Step3: Make the domain www.philadelphiadolls.com an addon domain to www.example.com and point it toward the sub directory you just created.

Step4: Upload your landing page to the new sub directory as the index.html file.

Step5: Submit your new domains to search engines and wait for results.

Submitting new domains can take time and so does attaining good ranking on search engines, so have patience and wait a few months. When it comes to Organic results on search engines, change comes slowly. Meanwhile you can start using the new landing pages in your traditional advertising. After all you now have a brand new domain, targeted specifically to your product or a location, so push that new website to your demographic.

The Advertising Firm’s ‘Internet Services’

There are all kinds of Internet Service providers that offer all types of services. This causes business owners to have a heart-attack trying to figure out whom to hire. We come in all shapes, from single proprietors to small teams of 30 all the way back to your cousin who took a CSS class in college (if you don’t know what CSS is, this is not a surprise and you should read the rest of this article).

Many businesses already have a PR/Marketing firm or use a Graphic Designer who is producing their TV, Newspaper & paper advertising. It’s an established relationship, comforting, trustworthy and so the day will eventually come when they call you and say, “Hey! We now do Websites! “

This is where you need to suppress the urge to cry thanks to the Gods and buy whatever they are selling you. Because in 9 times out of 10 it’s the worst thing you can do for your business.

It’s been my experience that large companies who have never done web work or internet marketing will hire a young college kid with zero experience or an older fellow who’s making the transition out of IT (Most of these guys believe anyone can create a website, which is patently wrong). They trust their ‘new’ department with your entire online profile, your reputation, the way you sell your business to new consumers. It’s the equivalent of opening a new store on Main Street and having it run by your idiot son-in-law.

Worse still, you may have a very big and impressive PR firm who believes they already know the Marketing game, so how hard could it be online? This will probably go down by them telling you that you need a website (which is true) and then they’ll use traditional paper, TV and radio ads… a brochure, to promote it. They just let your website sit there, no consideration for search engines, no attention to fresh updates or setting up a reason for visitors to come back after their first visit. Many companies don’t even do Statistics tracking, which is practically criminal (imagine if your idiot son-in-law not only ran your shop but he also doesn’t tell you if anyone came in and what they looked at?).

So what should you be looking for? How do you figure out who to use?

By writing down the following questions and interviewing a potential Internet Service Provider. There is no reason for you to walk into this sort of situation in the dark so I’m going to let you in on a few hints.

How long has the company been providing Web Services (Design, Internet Marketing)?

• If they’ve been doing it less than 3 years, which is where most companies that can’t do what they say they can die off, then you need some follow up questions.
• How long as your Designer/Developer/Marketer been doing their work?
• What education or real world experience do they have?
• MEET the person doing the work; don’t just take the sales guy’s word on their competence.
• Do you have examples of work, references?

Do you provide Monthly Statistical and Marketing Reports and how detailed are they?

• Avoid anyone concentrating on ‘Impressions’ or ‘Clicks’; anyone can get these with the massive influx of web traffic in the world. What you want are sales leads, good hard leads that will make you money.
• Request that you want to know how people come to your website, where they come from geographically and how many of them are leaving the website before completing a sales request.

What is your Website Navigation Plan?

• Just having a website is not enough, slapping some pages together haphazardly will cause a visitor to leave before completing your goal (sales/information/phone call/form submission…etc). Have a goal and make sure that visitors are not sent through a maze of web pages to get what they’re there for. You should never be more than 2-3 web pages away from completing your goal, the less the better.

Are you providing me with Organic or Pay-Per-Click (sponsored) Search Engine Services?

• There IS a difference and some companies won’t bother to tell you what they’re doing to get you to ‘rank’ well on Google. Organic are the numbered listings on a search engine in the center of the page. Pay-Per-Click (sponsored) listings are listed on the top and right hand side of search engines. They’re very different things and achieving rank in either one is a completely different process.
• Organic: How are you going to improve my rank? They should talk about Tags, keyword content, links and maybe PR (page rank). If at any time someone says they can ‘guarantee you top listing’, run far far away. Nobody can guarantee you this and they’re likely going to scam you for as much money as possible before leaving. Organic listings are a constant game to appease Google while still providing relevant information on your website. You can be listed high one month and back 5 pages the next. Expect flux and expect to be doing it for a very long time.
• Pay-Per-Click: Can we begin a 3 month trial before committing? Can you do keyword research to see what average costs will be per month? Will you provide reports on an Ad’s performance? What will my Ads say (get them to show you the ads before putting them online)?
• Make sure that the company is using your domain name in every ad and linking that ad to a landing page on the same domain.
• Make sure you’re not running multiple Ads all pointed toward the homepage.
• Make sure that you’re not running just a single Ad with a hundred keywords, which is an ineffective practice.

If your Firm/Independent Advertising company can’t answer any of these questions to your satisfaction then find someone else who can.

Bringing Your Visitors to the Point: Philadelphia Web Design & Web Development

Tips for Philadelphia Web Design & Web Development.

The intent of your website is the most important factor in building one, every business owner should ask themselves “What do I want my website to do?” before building with a web design professional or web developer.

• Do you want to create sales leads?
• Do you want to provide an online brochure as a point of reference to your services?
• Are you going to be writing articles or a blog and want to make money selling advertising on your website?

The most important part of web development is making sure your visitors are guided or drawn through to the correct information. Make it easy to schedule an appointment, be up front about how to contact your business. Don’t make people hunt around for information; they’ve come here for a specific purpose and good web design should reflect that. Many visitors don’t spend more than four seconds on a website, so if you’re not making it easy for them they’ll leave.

Some easy tips for this are to make sure you contact information is at the top and bottom of your website, large and clear. If your selling a service make sure that a full description is right on the page they land on or at the very least put a big, obvious button that links to your information. Try to have as few steps as possible between entering your website and reaching your end goal. Placing a quote submission form right on the landing page, making sure all copy is titled clearly and make sure to highlight important keyword and passages are all excellent ideas.

If you have questions or want to contact us about our Philadelphia Web Design & Web Development contact Alex Seigfried at 215-825-6992 or seigfried.designs@gmail.com