Web Strategy

Great tips on budgeting time for your online reputation management

Monitoring your business' social media presence is incredibly important. You need to respond to people talking about your brand and understand how people view your company. However, a common concern is that it takes up too much time.

Great list of terms dealing with Google Local search results and local SEO

A collection of terms and definitions from a number of Google's patent filings on Local Search (not everything discussed in these patent applications have been incorporated into Google Local search - but the interesting thing about many of these patent filings is exploring whether or not they may have been).

An excellent post about localized search engine optimization and all the ways your small business can target local search. The items are prioritized so you know which to focus on first.

It is my hope that this study will help small business owners confused by Local Search, or those strapped for time, to prioritize their marketing efforts.

When considering the tools of social media and how they relate to your business communications needs, it's important to think about two parts of the equation: possibility + function. These tools open up new ways to communicate, which is great. It also means that you have to consider what the functional goal of that communication means to your need.

As you push traffic to your website and expand your brand name, you lose out if you don't use the power of online video. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) is a vital and necessary component of a competitive website, and it's not as difficult to implement as you may think.

"Bring wine to the picnic." In this case, Conn was talking about the idea that if you show up and try to market, people will be frustrated and will shut you out. Instead, if you bring something of value to people, they'll be more likely to accept you.

What we, as intelligent marketers, need in the end is an econometric model that allows us to use multiple variables to determine the outcome of our social media campaign.

Great points to focus on conversion rates rather than traffic.

The most important point every online business needs to know is this: Conversions (how many people take the desired action - whether that is completing a purchase, gaining potential leads, or increasing a subscriber base) are more important by far than increasing traffic.

Quit treating your website like a brochure! You can communicate to your visitors with video, audio, written word, and even in a conversational manner through blogs and discussion forums. If you have the option of communicating so clearly to your visitors … why aren't you?

Sideline, announced on the Yahoo user interface blog, is a desktop application that displays real-time mentions of specific keywords, brands, or names. It is capable of custom search groups, advanced queries, and refreshes the application with new mentions automatically. How does it do this? It pulls keyword mentions from Twitter, of course!

There are three basic rules that you need to follow to have a successful Web presence: 1. Brand matters. 2. Usability matters. 3. Search engine optimization matters.

With communities in the driver seat over product, a shift will happen as communities can define the spec of future products and therefore multiple brands will bid for their business. As a result, we should expect the agency model to flip over, where PR agencies start to represent communities of customers -rather than brands.

Great tips on Local SEO for niche and small biz. Good copy goes a long way for local SEO but so are inbound links...

I know this Local SEO guides have been written many times by others, so I'll try to cover it well enough so readers don't feel the need to read more Local SEO tips and waste more time.

Use your advertising to start conversations, create content that builds trust and community and you'll harness the ever effective power of advertising for generating leads and sales, you know, until the next new thing comes along.

Great list of resources to learn Google Analytics - from beginners to experts

Great way of turning advertising copy into a great content strategy...

This spot is such good advertising, it's become… content. Which connected a couple of dots for me.

Google will begin showing ads on Wednesday to people based on their previous online activities in a form of advertising known as behavioral targeting, which has been embraced by most of its competitors but has drawn criticism from privacy advocates and some members of Congress.

Great tips on developing an organic SEO strategy - aka the BEST SEO STRATEGY

When you set out to build your site content, keyword research and educated guesses about keyword relevance are often necessary initial steps.

Jeb makes a great case for developing a web strategy for your business - and provides a seven step strategic plan that should work for you. I'm glad he mentioned something we are always preaching - "Analytics or Tweak and Repeat". Once you implement your strategy you should always be tracking it and honing it.

Is your business struggling to survive in the current economic environment? Are you seeing your cash reserves dwindle as new business drys up? Even if you are doing well I have the same advice- Use the web to save and grow your business.

Principles of building communities online.