I Do Web Marketing

I am happy to announce that today, we have rolled out a new service called SalesFuze. SalesFuze is an automated online sales lead generation tool that allows you to get leads on autopilot.

Who Benefits the Most?

SEO’s, social media marketers, and local marketers all benefit the most from this tool. Makes for a handy call lists for your standard B2B sales professional as well.

You get the following:

• Business name, address, and phone (and emails on about 20% of the leads)
• Link to their Google Places account
• Shows if their Google Places account is verified or non-verified, how many reviews they have, photos, videos, etc.
• More to come, including SEO analysis and social media activity.

How’s it Work?

1. Simply sign up for your plan
2. Request your targeted industries (the more the merrier), and the state or locations you serve (again, the more the merrier)
3. You’ll receive a csv file in your inbox every month with your leads.

This is the exact same tool we have used internally at SEORCHERS to generate leads.

Pricing

Start getting 500, 750, or 1,000 leads sent to you every month.  $49/mo gets you 500, $79/mo gets you 750, and for a limited time you can sign up for the Elite package and receive 1,000 for the same price ($79). Start with a free account and get 100 leads for FREE.

We are excited to launch this service and hope you find it as valuable as we have. I look forward to hearing some success stories!

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Sachin of Web Profits. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

Because we have seen huge growth online marketing, social media marketing (namely, Facebook marketing), and the importance of effective website design, websites are doing more for us – even printing services companies are using intelligent websites to deliver us better products, faster and at much lower costs.

• Websites that work for you. If we want to print a brochure, we should print a brochure. A website should do a lot more than just show people your business. You want to think about what your website can do for you. Can it help you with payments? Can it help you screen clients? Can it help you gather information on your potential customers? Smart websites do more than just market to your potential business; they help you do your business. There are companies who have greatly reduced their other business costs with their marketing budget. Money that was originally allocated for marketing purposes was used to build a smart website, which in turn, reduced the number of manual operations with clients. Think of a website as an application, a piece of software, that everyone can use to do business with you.
• Online print companies. There will always be a place for printing companies. The days of setting up our logo and brand image being painful are long gone. Just as we have mentioned above, smart websites employed by online print agencies has meant a huge reduction in costs and a greater increase in delivery speed. Using these services will mean you can arrange all of your needs in one order, add items you want in the future, including novelty gifts, and all you will need to do is logon, order and pay. Your details and your design are stored in the online application. If you can use a simple word processing application, you can arrange all your printing needs in a matter of minutes with these systemised and easy-to-use websites.
• Content production. Writing, photographing and video-ing your own content is one of the best ways to get free advertising and communications online. You can submit your materials to popular sites, and develop an interesting blog of your own. Do not forget you can apply this strategy to other media, such as local news stations, newspapers and magazines. They are all looking for good content. If you know your area, and you know what your market needs to know, share you knowledge and share your authority in your field.

There is a lot that Internet-based communications has done to help other traditional marketing tools, and more importantly, it has highlighted that we can all demonstrate our skills with content sharing. Demonstrate you talents, and let the web do more work for you.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

You’ve all heard the statement, “Content is king,” and I do believe it is paramount to the success of any SEO campaign. However, isn’t the goal of great content to generate links? Links that build your authority and drive traffic to your site? Great content that never gets seen won’t do anything for you. So if content is the car you ride in on, then links are the engine that makes it run.

Whether you like it or not, you have a job to do AFTER the content is written. Simply put, you must promote it! Don’t just promote any and every piece of content though. You want to promote your best work. Content that you really feel has an impact within your industry, or something that you feel should be shared. The general rule of thumb is this content will not be self-serving in any way. So exactly what type of content can be created to attract links and traffic from other sources?

Here are a few ideas to help you get started with creating your masterpiece:

1. Industry reports – create a report that is conducted from surveys and interviews. Look at Marketing Sherpa and their industry reports for guidance.
2. Infographics – These are all the rage nowadays. Show your information in a visual format, don’t have readers read a bunch of text.
3. Helpful guides – have something to share that could use it in an easy to digest how-to guide format?

There are other ways to generate links, but they all generally require doing some additional work and creating something unique. The question then becomes, “now how do I promote the content?”

This requires using your social networks, doing social bookmarking, asking people you have relationships with to help spread the word about the content you have developed. Be sure the content itself is shareable. Remind people within the content to tweet it, email it, like it, etc. The actual process of promoting will be something else that I go into more detail with a helpful guide (see #3 above:D), so stay tuned!

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

As I deal with prospects, and those newer to online marketing on a regular basis, I am always fascinated with people that assume all they have to do is stuff their web page with keywords. I’m also entertained by those so called SEO experts who try to make themselves out to be rocket scientists. It really isn’t difficult, but it can involve more things depending on your business vertical. Content is a big thing no matter the vertical.

The reason I say your business vertical impacts your SEO effectiveness, is because if you are a company that creates the next generation smart phone, you are going to have a lot of people linking to you and discussing your product (provided there is something groundbreaking to discuss). That said, if you are a financial planner or tax advisor, you aren’t going to have that same type of content that can be linked to and shared in social circles. So you are going to have to go about your SEO efforts in a little different manner. I will be posting more about content and links in my next blog post. For this moment though, I wanted to discuss some realizations you need to have about SEO. Given that today is Halloween, I thought I would share some scary truths about SEO that you need to know:

1. It isn’t the end all be all
SEO should not be your only form of marketing. Do not bother with SEO if you have a $200 marketing budget, it will not work and you will be another person complaining about how SEO doesn’t work.

2. It’s a waiting game
Simply put, there is no magic wand. You don’t just SEO a web page and then it magically appears on the top of search results. Unless it is a search result for some random 8 or 10 word phrase.

3. Doing the wrong things can hurt you
Just ask JC Penny after Google’s Panda update. Keyword stuffing, buying links and link farms are dangerous tactics that can get you quicker results, but also has the down side of removing you from Google’s index entirely.

4. It isn’t a set it and forget it marketing strategy
You need to continuously think of new ways to get your message out. Create new and fresh content for your blog or as a downloadable guide, always look for link opportunities, etc.

5. People in your social circles have influence on your rankings
The more prestigious people are in your social networks, the more power you have on your rankings. You want them talking about you because this can positively influence your rankings.

6. Your customers have an influence on your rankings
Making customers happy allows you the opportunity to receive good reviews. Good reviews can impact your results in a positive manner. Alternatively, the reverse is also true. Bad business practices are now punished with negative search results.

7. You need to write…a LOT
Search engines love fresh new content, so give it to them! It is much easier than you might think. Follow industry blogs by Googling “[Industry] blog” to see what people are talking about in your industry. If that doesn’t give you any ideas, than try taking a contrarian approach to someone’s stance on something.

8. The rules always changing
SEO is an ever-evolving industry. 4 years ago who knew what Google Places was? Now it is a critical driver of traffic and business for a number of companies out there. There are over 400 changes to Google’s algorithms every single year. Stay up to date by reading blogs like this. J

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

The daily round up of web marketing links I was gathering for internetmarketingnewsdaily.com, has been forwarded to idowebmarketing.com. From here on out, I will be compiling a weekly roundup versus just a daily roundup as well as more of an overall view of the web. So followers of IMND, please be sure and subscribe to this feed to stay up-to-date with the latest in the industry as well as more regular contributions from myself and other contributing authors!

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest blog post written by Mark Barry of Integrity SEO Experts Ltd.

Pay per click advertising campaigns are a simple and popular method of Internet marketing and have become widespread in their use like other useful techniques such as themed link building. The idea behind a pay per click campaign is that the ads appear on a target website, but rather than the advertiser getting charged per ad or a lump sum, the website only gets payment when a visitor actually clicks the ad. Websites determine the cost per click that advertisers will pay whenever an ad is clicked and the business can discover how many of the website’s visitors actually clicked on their ad by analysing the click-through rate.

As shown above, the pay per click campaign concept is not complex and this inherent simplicity means that advertisers can quickly get to grips with a campaign. Pay per click campaigns are easy to get off the ground, just like themed link building and can be analysed equally simply. For example, campaign managers can check the click through rates for each website to discover whether the campaign is working on certain sites or not.

Once created, pay per click campaigns are not set in stone. In fact, another advantage of pay per click campaigns is that they can easily be adjusted to suit the needs of the advertising business as things develop. As with themed link building, keywords play a part in pay per click advertising; as internet users search for specific topics, well-placed keywords will bring up the ad. Keywords can be modified if need be, while campaign managers can even alter the intended target audience or region to better focus the advertising campaign.

A major advantage of the pay per click advertising model is that instead of paying for ads that may end up attracting absolutely no visitors, the pay per click concept ensures that businesses only pay when that ad placement has garnered interest. Companies can decide how much they’re willing to spend on the campaign beforehand and set cost limits that impact how often their ads appear on a website. This also means that the business isn’t paying for random web traffic. Instead, many of the net users who click on the ads will then actually go on to buy something from the advertiser’s site, since they’re already interested enough to click the ad.

Another benefit for the advertiser is that the ads they deploy as part of a pay per click campaign appear across websites and are accessed through search engine results. Like themed link building, these ads allow the business to gain more exposure and to appear in more web search results.
This exposure can be vast; for example, popular search engines are used millions of times per day, which means an increased likelihood of a potential customer searching and finding the advertiser.

The exposure pay per click campaigns generate isn’t limited to customers who are looking for products or services the business offers at that moment.
Since the ads are deployed onto websites and then spotted by web users who are simply browsing, awareness of the advertiser’s brand is slowly increased.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

There continues to be new reasons nearly everyday to choose online marketing and social media strategies over any other form of marketing for just about all businesses. The United States continues to be the leading example of what will follow in most other markets, and definitely markets like Australia, Europe, Latin America, and even more so nowadays, the Middle East. Here are some of the recent new records, market leaders and new milestones in the world of online marketing and business.

• One Billion. Google continues to make new records, and clearly dominates the absolute majority of the search engine marketing market. Google just recorded over one billion unique users for the month of May. This is a milestone for any website, and a milestone and another boost in business for the search engine giant. It must be stressed this figure is of ‘unique’ visitors. This is clear evidence of the continued increase of internet users, and even more reason to work with those who specialise in SEO (search engine optimisation). Having your website, article or webpage come up at the top of those search results continues to be one of the best ways to market yourself. At the same time, Google is about to be put under a serious spotlight, by an investigation of US Federal regulators looking into Google crowding out competitors, particularly in the area of maps. It does not take much investigation to know this is the case. Maps also forms the basis of Google Places, an area that has become very important to small business.
• Facebook Ads. Facebook has increased its share of the online advertising market. This is a little different to the search engine advertising market of Google, and the two should not be confused. Facebook has now become the largest generator of advertising on the internet according to a survey by eMarketer, and has taken the top spot from Yahoo. The same company (eMarketer) predicts that Facebook’s advertising revenue will reach US$2.2 billion this year. For a company that many still believe doesn’t have a real revenue stream, the figures do a lot of talking. There is a lot to be said about including a targeted Facebook advertising campaign into any online marketing and awareness strategy.
• LinkedIn. LinkedIn, which has a huge popularity in itself, without competing with the likes of Facebook, has taken a leaf from Facebook’s advertising platform. LinkedIn has just started its own new socal ad formats as of late June, 2011. The advertising platform is designed to leverage the actions of members on the site. For example, if you recommend a company or ‘like’ or ‘follow’ a company, LinkedIn will use this data to give users a more targeted advertisement. This is not just about what you see, but how other users could interact with you and those advertisements. The example LinkedIn provides, gives a very good explanation of their strategy. “LinkedIn could put up an ad for a Google job (sponsored by Google) that will show people in your network who work at Google”. This could help you in targeting those who could refer you. Other examples need to be demonstrated, but because of the huge popularity and clear demographics of LinkedIn, the potential is extremely exciting.

The world of online marketing is still playing second fiddle to the budgets for TV advertising, but it is only a short time before this situation changes.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest blog post written by Noel Addison Agnote of NDIC.

Social media is a great channel of communication in this modern day. It is a great means of reaching out to people, exchange thoughts with whom you already share a relationship and continue to develop a harmonious relationship with people, which is anticipated to be mutually advantageous. Social media is all about strengthening relationships through communication.

The key to a successful social media is the social relationship with users, which is based on trust which eventually generate loyalty. If you want to be in touch with those you serve, boost your reputation, and grow your user base, social media is the best place for you.

Build Relationship Based on Trust with Your Target Market

Reaching your target audience and building a good relationship with them is essential for your business. Connecting with your existing customers and target clients could bring you higher profits, customers’ loyalty and the pleasure of owning a business that serves people. Reaching out to your target market takes effort, patience and time but in the end it is all worth it.

Keep in mind that social media is all about mingling with people and building relationships. And those relationships are built by trust (from consumer) and credibility (from you) which consequently promotes a strong sense of loyalty on both parties. Strengthening your connection with others will increase the loyalty of your customers or clients.

In today’s new course of business getting the trust of your target people is the key to your business’ success. Trust creates revenue. It is a primary block of establishing your brand.

Here are some tips on how to build a strong relationship and get their trust:

1. Be Truthful

Be honest with your customers. Tell them how you can serve them and the benefits that they can get from buying your products or subscribing to your services. At the same time, let them know your limitations and what you can’t do. Show your potential customers what made you different from other businesses who are offering the same line of products or services.

2. Engage your audience

Engage your audience by writing a quality content that will get their interest. Write in a friendly and clear tone suitable for your target readers. Share information that can be beneficial to your target customers, educate them and inform them that you understand their needs and situation. One way of getting their engagement is writing as if you are having a simple conversation with a good friend.

3. Know the motivation trigger of your target market

People are stimulated by different things. You have to determine what motivates your prospect to buy something. Some loves to be adored and that motivate them to buy products that keep them looks beautiful and adorable. Knowing what triggers your consumer to buy your product or service let you know how to communicate with them in manner that gets good results. It also allows you to create products or services that will answer their problems.

4. Connect with people as a human

People who are participating in social media are humans. Thus, you have to act just like what everyone does in the online community. Online people mingle only with people they can relate with. You can do this by interacting with them, updating your post, replying to others post and sharing others content when you find them useful. Let people know not only “who you are” or “what your business is all about” rather tell them “how can you help them with your service”.

Make people see you as a real person and not just an entity who want to make money out of their rockets. Reach out to your clients as if you are having a chat with a friend or neighbor. This is a great way of establishing a strong bond between you and your target audience.

Building Your Brand Based on Trust

Building a good relationship with people through social media not only increases your profit it also fortifies your brand make the public more aware of your existence as a business or company. Building strong brand awareness to the public can help you position your product or service in the marketplace. Right positioning in the marketplace places you first in line in the minds of consumers. Consequently, it is now easier for you to differentiate your product or service from those of your competitors.

Having a good brand creates a positive impression in the minds of the public that builds up your strong reputation in your industry. Having an established brand allows you to slowly cut the marketing expenses which will sooner add to your revenue.

Build relationship with people that creates trust and loyalty so people will not forget you and keep on coming back to you.

Noel Addison Agnote is a writing enthusiast and an online marketer. He is a part of NDIC, Santa Barbara’s premiere web design and web marketing firm. Visit NDIC to learn how to establish a good online presence for your business.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Dean Vella of the University of San Francisco. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

Education has been strongly impacted by the transformative power of technology. Technological advances have made online learning more robust, and it’s clear that this path to higher education is here to stay. On a typical day, in every corner of the world and nearly every academic discipline, untold numbers of students and teachers participate in and benefit from the convenience and interactivity offered by online education.

If you’re looking for a solid career strategy that can give you a competitive advantage, you should look into advancing your professional education through an online program. Gaining new skills can be the gateway to new opportunities – and when you’re learning online, advancing your knowledge can happen any time of the day, no matter where you happen to be.

How Online Education Technology Has Evolved

Over the past several years, education technology has expanded, with new ways to present and share information and reach more students. Online education has grown in program offerings, course depth and user interactivity. The student experience is better than ever, with the widespread use of streaming video lectures, online testing and exam tools, discussion tools, videoconferencing, and synchronized presentation tools.

As access to bandwidth continues to improve, more students can take full advantage of improvements in online education tools. Computers have also become more reliable, with more memory and faster processors. Capacity will continue to increase, which means online learners will enjoy even more interactivity with their instructors, fellow students and the online classroom.

Computer portability is becoming more widespread, with increased use of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablet PCs, as well as cloud computing, which stores data and files online, rather than the computer’s hard disk. And finally, storage is becoming much less costly. External hard drives, flash drives and server space are all relatively inexpensive; as more data is stored other than on the computer, speed and stability increases. Each of these trends point to the increasing virtualization of computers and software, which is sure to make accessing online education easier and more engaging.

How Students Benefit From Advanced Online Education Technology

Today’s online student enjoys state-of-the-art professional training via multimedia, video-based platforms, with 24/7 access to classes and lectures, downloadable MP3 and MP4 files to learn on-the-go, interactive features like live chat and online discussions, and dedicated private messaging systems.

The user experience in online education is much more advanced – and enhanced – than ever before. Current online learning technology offers students the inclusionary feel of a classroom without the inconvenient aspects of brick-and-mortar classes, such as commuting to campus, arranging childcare, and missing work and family activities. Plus, today’s online students can enroll in any college, wherever their program of choice is offered. You could attend a college located across town, across the state, across the country or halfway around the world. It is more convenient than ever to take advantage of the benefits of online education and advance your skill set to fit today’s business world.

Is Internet Marketing the Right Online Program For You?

Doing business in the digital age requires advanced techniques and carefully developed Internet marketing strategies. That’s why companies of every size and in every industry are selling goods and services, finding new customers, and expanding their market share through online efforts. In a competitive global environment, businesses need the skills offered by qualified Internet marketing professionals. If you enjoy analyzing data, improving website performance and staying ahead of trends, this could be the program for you.

Why not take advantage of today’s online education technology to learn the advanced skills, tactics and techniques you need to compete for Internet marketing jobs? You can gain an advantage over the competition to position yourself to advance or reach for a new career through professional search engine marketing training, web analytics training, social media training, affiliate marketing training, and other interactive marketing certificate courses.

Expand Your Career Opportunities Through Online Internet Marketing Training

Thanks to advances in technology, learning the skills that can lead to greater opportunities for career advancement is more robust, convenient and accessible than ever, through online education. When you enroll in internet marketing training courses online, you can learn the in-demand skills companies need to improve search engine rankings, expand reach and improve customer relations. Online education can open the door to wider career options by giving you the updated, marketable skills today’s business world demands.

This guest post was provided by University Alliance and submitted on behalf of University of San Francisco. University of San Francisco offers online search engine marketing training which is designed to help professionals advance within the field.  Getting certified should be an important part of your career.

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Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.

This is a guest post from Sachin of Web Profits. If you are interested in providing a guest post, please contact me.

There is little wonder why social media applications like Twitter are becoming legitimate communication tools that can be used to engage with various stakeholders including members and industry associations.

They have a lot of benefits that are almost immediate. Twitter, for instance, is like a giant water cooler where companies can find out what the breaking news is, what Government Departments/Ministers/Officials are up to, and what like-minded or competing associations are currently doing.

In addition to this, Twitter offers benefits in exposure to new markets, branding and reputation, collaboration and networking, key stakeholder monitoring, information gathering and if used appropriately it can increase traffic to your website.  It can also contribute to a greater awareness of your company, while providing the opportunity to build networks amongst your clients and other brand advocates.

First things first, you need to set-up a Twitter account. This is incredibly easy and you can just follow the prompts on the Twitter website. Once you have done this, it’s time to post your first tweet. Tweets must be 140 characters or less.  A lot of people often wonder how they can get their message across when they are restricted to such a small amount of characters, but think of each tweet as a dot on a piece of paper. Any single tweet, just like any single dot, can be insignificant and meaningless. But if, over time, you end up with a lot of tweets, it’s like having a lot of dots drawn on a piece of paper – eventually there are enough dots for your followers to connect them together. And if you connect the dots, you get a picture of the company, and that’s a reflection of your brand.

The best tweets are those that:

• Cause their followers to smile (i.e. something funny)
• Inspire their followers (i.e. inspirational quote)
• Enrich their follower’s perspectives (i.e. new announcements, breaking news or interesting articles, photos, videos).

So, we want to create tweets that add value in some way.

The main reason Twitter accounts fail to gain traction (i.e. attract and keep followers) is because they become too ‘me-focused’ and become irrelevant to those that follow them. Remember, your followers come from all walks of life – they can be industry associations, current employees, potential employees, current clients, potential clients, partnering organisations, suppliers, competitors, shareholders, and interested members of the public. So it is important to maintain a balance between tweets containing general company news and greater industry/government news.

Maintaining your social media presence via Twitter requires a little time and dedication each day. You need someone who is committed to this task. If you need help doing this contact a marketing agency near you just jump on Google and search for ‘marketing agency Sydney’ or ‘marketing Sydney’.

Be sure and subscribe for the latest web marketing strategies and updates!

Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.