Social media has become the new bandwagon for businesses hoping to generate new sales leads. If you don’t have a Facebook page and a Twitter account, you may as well not exist in the minds of a large portion of your intended audience. For many, it’s just not worth the trouble of having to visit individual sites to check out sales promotions and blog posts. Instead, they want to hop on Facebook and see all the latest news collected neatly for them in their inboxes. But social media isn’t just convenient for consumers. It’s also a powerful tool for businesses to incorporate into their overall marketing strategies.

The Positives

Social media provides potential access to an audience of millions at the touch of a button. Want to build your contact list so more people see sales ads and promotional items? Host an ipod giveaway on Facebook and watch your list of contacts balloon. Social media also gives companies an opportunity to find out what customers really think about their products and services. By listening in on forum conversations and post comments, they can get an inside look at how people view the company and can then take steps to address those concerns.

The Negatives

The social media sphere isn’t all roses for businesses, however. The very thing that makes social media appealing to consumers—the ability to hear real life opinions and experiences with a particular company—can quickly destroy a company’s reputation if a negative experience becomes public. The potential for companies to lose control over marketing messages means that they need a strategy for addressing problems and concerns immediately in order to allay fears.

Putting it together

Remember the Domino’s pizza nightmare? It’s an excellent demonstration of how quickly word can spread in the social media environment. With nearly a million views of a disgruntled employee’s damaging video on the first day it was posted, Domino’s immediately had a marketing crisis to deal with. But the good news is that companies can use that same power to build brand loyalty and address concerns as they arise. Companies like Dell Computers have mastered the art of meeting people where they are and tactfully addressing concerns in a way that garners customer loyalty without engendering feelings of distrust or frustration. Stepping into social media conversations allows you to address specific concerns and needs at the customer’s level, especially when done in a way that doesn’t come across as a sales pitch, but rather as a genuine effort to provide benefit.

Social media will find you whether you have a strategy in place or not. People are already talking about you in blogs, on their Facebook pages, over their Twitter accounts, and in forums. By taking the initiative to define parameters of conversation, you can guide those conversations toward a positive interaction with your company and set yourself up to be viewed as a trusted entity rather than scary corporation.

Are you using a social media strategy in your business? Have you seen businesses that excel with their social media strategy? What about businesses that fail miserably? Share in the comments!

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Small businesses need to make the most of every advertising dollar. Understanding what marketing trends will be most successful in 2010 can help your business soar above the competition, while ignoring those trends could leave you floundering.

Search engine optimization (SEO) continues to head the list of online marketing strategies. New aspects in 2010 include personalization and greater relevance. As you develop your SEO strategy this year, dedicate some of your resources to developing content that targets niche audiences. You’ll also want to keep your web content up to date since search engines will begin factoring publication dates, geo-locations, and social media content into their relevancy algorithms.

Social network marketing will continue to rise in popularity in 2010, but you’ll need to fine tune your strategy in order to use it to best advantage. It will no longer be sufficient to maintain a Facebook or Twitter page. You’ll need to take the next step and use it as a vibrant forum in which to engage current and potential customers in meaningful conversations.

Mobile marketing has exploded and continues to rise in popularity. More people now have access to cell phones than to cable TV or home computers. Small businesses need to take advantage of this burgeoning market by creating mobile apps and by instituting location-based marketing techniques.

Video blogs are the blogging method of choice in 2010. Millions of web users view online videos each day, and while video blogging may not replace the text version, still, companies can expect an increase in the number of viewers who want more than pages of text about their products. Videos are highly shareable, and are more interactive than text; consequently, they have the potential to attract more loyal groups of followers than the more traditional written blogs.

Building your web presence should be a key leg of your online marketing platform in 2010. It’s no longer sufficient to maintain your website, Facebook page, and Twitter page. You’ll want to make your website visible in as many venues as possible including blogs, Youtube, Yelp profiles, and email newsletters. For instance, videos that appear on your website but nowhere else online will fail to reach a large portion of your target audience due to the web user’s tendency to search one centralized site such as Youtube for any videos on a given topic. If your video doesn’t appear on Youtube, then for that viewer it may as well not exist.

Online marketing trends in 2010 will expand on the succession of new marketing outlets that appeared in 2009. Using your advertising dollars effectively means putting them towards the venues that will produce the most return on your investment rather than continuing to invest in trends that may be dying out.

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It seems I am running into more and more people who have been burned by bad SEO firms. Now, as I previously discussed, there are certainly plenty of bad SEO people to watch out for. However, you can do yourself a huge favor by preparing some questions for your prospective SEO providers. This will allow you to gauge how knowledgeable they truly are on the subject, and give you a better feel for what to expect.

Before engaging in ANY discussion with an SEO provider, you should have done your research first. Ask yourself, how did you find this prospective SEO provider? Was it through a search engine? Was it through a social media platform such as LinkedIn? If you found them there, chances are they have an idea of what they are doing. Pull some analytics on their website. Run their website through HubSpot’s website grader and see some information about their website. There are other analytical snapshots you can review as well such as www.quarkbase.com to get some quick information. This will give you an idea of who you are engaging. If an SEO firm cannot represent that they are ranked highly themselves, then what makes you think they can do it for you?

Now, once you have done your due diligence, these are the questions you should be asking:

How long have you been in business?
You should know the answer to this provided that you have done your due diligence. Now it is just a matter of them being honest with you.

What keywords have you attained ranks for?
This is important, because you want to know that the keyword campaigns they build are legitimate. An eight word keyword phrase is not difficult to rank for, so pay close attention to this.

What keywords do you feel my site should be ranking for?
If this is your first conversation with them, then a respectable SEO firm should have to get back to you after they do some preliminary research. They might be able to quickly go through your site and give you some keyword ideas off the top of their head. Match whatever they give you up to the research you have already done.

What is your SEO process?
Shady SEO people will dance around this question. Or they may even claim that it is a trade secret. This should throw up caution signs. Respectable SEO’s should never have a problem explaining their process to you.

Is my industry competitive?
You should have an idea on this before you engage in discussions with an SEO provider. There are a ton of factors into determining an industry’s competitiveness. A general rule of thumb is to look up a keyword query in Google and look at the number of results. You will see a number on the top right that says 1 of 10 of X, where X is the total number of pages that are relevant to the search query. Now, this isn’t always 100% accurate of a term’s competitiveness nature, but it gives you an idea. If your primary keyword has less than 500,000 results, and the SEO firm tries to tell you it is a very competitive industry – then you will want to proceed with caution.

Are you working with anyone in my industry?
This is important, because you don’t want your SEO firm to be targeting the same keywords with you as they would with someone else. Most SEO companies will not offer industry exclusivity without charging higher prices for it. You should be able to provide an SEO Firm a list of your competitors that they agree not to work with while under contract with you.

Do you require changes to my site?
If they answer “no” to this question, then this should throw up caution flags. On page optimization is absolutely necessary and is the second step of a campaign (after the research). Some SEO firms require that you make their recommended changes. Respectable SEO firms will handle this themselves and make the necessary behind the scenes changes. They should not be changing your website design unless you have a specific agreement in place with them to do so.

What will you be doing besides working directly on my site?
Again, if they answer “no” to this question, there is cause for concern. The on page optimization is only PART of the SEO process. If they are not building links for you, then you are not gaining credibility in the eyes of search engines. All SEO campaigns should include a link building process.

How long will it take to see results?
An SEO firm that tells you it will happen in days, is one that is most likely using very shady tactics. These shady tactics could result in having your website removed from Google’s index. The truth is, no one knows for sure. It isn’t up to SEO firms to dictate this, search engines do. Usually you will need to wait 2 to 3 months to have an idea. If absolutely no improvement is made by 90 days, then you will want to investigate this a little further.

Can I speak to references?
Some SEO firms do not provide this information. They should always be able to show you something and allow you to speak with someone regarding the work they have performed.

And just for fun…What kind of a relationship do you have with Google?
Absolutely NO ONE has any special relationship with Google. Those that tell you that they do are full of it and you should end the phone conversation immediately and never consider their services.

I hope these questions help business owners from making a bad decision. You can avoid putting your business in jeopardy by doing your homework beforehand. If you have other questions, share them in the comments!

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We recently created this flyer for an upcoming trade show. I felt it was something that I needed to share on this blog as well. So without further ado, here are the top ten reasons to use SEO to market your business:

#10 – Nearly 250 millions searches are performed per day on Google alone.

#9 – Online marketing = a virtual salesman 24/7/365

#8 – Natural search result listings are 85% of all clicks, as opposed to only 15% for Pay Per Click (PPC)

#7 – Online marketing up an average of 8.6% a year through 2011. $41B spent in 2007, $69B by 2011

#6 – Online marketing currently at 7.6% of all media advertising spending is projected to be at 15.2% in 2013.

#5 – E-Commerce sales will grow 4.4% in 2009  to $141B, and jump to 16.5% in growth in 2010.

#4 – Recent Phoenix Business Journal states an estimated $25B leaving print media and going directly to internet marketing.

#3 – Your competitors are getting wise! SEO utilization is at 39% of all businesses, up from 19% in 2007.

#2 – Increased brand visibility and awareness as 8 out of 10 people find companies they eventually do business with online.

#1 – Best way to initiate a direct response as it is the only form of marketing that puts you in front of targeted prospective customers who are looking exactly for what you offer.

These stats are from all kinds of various marketing reports, most of which come from www.marketingsherpa.com. Hopefully, you find this information helpful. If you have additional statistics that you think warrant placement in this list, please share!

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A rebrand effort that has been in the works for the last 45 days has finally been realized. As of June 1st, 2009 Novel Concept Studio now operates under the name SEORCHERS [surch-ers]. This was a needed process for us to realize our long term goals. The following is our press release:

NOVEL CONCEPT STUDIO OPERATES UNDER NEW NAME “SEORCHERS”

Novel Concept Studio, the internet marketing company dedicated to helping businesses expand their web presence, is changing their name to better reflect their company objectives. Under the new name SEORCHERS, the company will continue to help businesses improve search engine rankings and increase profits by making their websites more visible. The new name will symbolize the company goal of searching for potential dollars that companies are not currently realizing by making businesses easier to find on the web.

As a complete SEO company, SEORCHERS will offer internet marketing and SEO packages, competitive internet marketing strategies and management and protection of online reputation. They offer a free, no obligation analysis of current internet effectiveness as well as free subscription to their informative newsletter. A variety of marketing packages are available to meet individual business needs, with pricing beginning at $495 per month. With four out of five people finding businesses through the internet, it’s how businesses are found.

Upcoming features offered by SEORCHERS will include public access to their array of internet research tools as well as premium access to additional research tools that will be targeted to business owners and internet marketers for a monthly subscription fee.

SEORCHERS is dedicated to helping businesses define and meet their internet marketing expectations. They differentiate themselves by not only focusing on improving search engine rankings, but also improving conversion rates. Marketing packages above the basic level will now include full conversion analysis reports and can provide consultations to maximize website effectiveness.

The success of SEORCHERS is measured by the success of their customers. They are committed to understanding the marketing goals of each client by engaging in a detailed conceptualization process from the project’s outset to ensure customer satisfaction. In today’s competitive internet marketing climate, SEORCHERS strives to meet their company objective of helping each client increase their online exposure.

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SEORCHERS provides SEO Services and is an SEO Consultant for business owners.

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This is something I’ve wanted to touch on for a little while. In fact, I had to create a new category to host this (and future topics) of business management and growing your business. This is not related necessarily just to internet marketers, but really can be applied to any business.

The concept of building strategic alliances with similarly aligned business models will be vital to the long term success of your business. Having grown my business from the ground up, and learning much about entrepreneurship along the way – I can say this is one area that I have been rather successful. I will use my business as an example, and then give some other examples with people I have had encounters with.

As a company that focuses on internet marketing, I brought in a business partner to help lay the foundation for a more national approach. We spent several months developing our plan, and a large part of that plan was to start building relationships that catered to our offerings. So, naturally, as an internet marketing company we wanted to establish relationships with web designers. We then looked at other avenues such as video production, tradeshow display companies, graphic designers, and believe it or not, other SEO firms. We knew our price points are rather lower compared to other firms, and we saw us being a quality outsourcing partner for those bigger firms. We’ve built relationships with IT people, branding experts, and more. My point being, they were going to be able to help bring in direct clients because they were people that already had established relationships (trust) with their customers.

I have found that I often times spend time helping business owners build their business by being a consultant and giving advice on things that have absolutely nothing to do with internet marketing. I always look for ways in which you can build relationships with other businesses. I happen to have a great offering, that I can exchange services with just about every company. Some businesses are very niche specific and don’t have that luxury, so it will be a little harder to penetrate. Chances are though, you have something that fellow businesses can appreciate (or else why are you in business?). So, let me just give a couple other examples outside of internet marketing.

One client of ours deals with building restoration. So if there’s a flood, fire, etc, they will come in and take care of the mess. So then you start to look at what customers they are targeting and build a customer profile. This business typically works with homeowners, and sometimes business owners if their building experiences damage. If you have a toilet that overflows, pipe leaks, etc…the customer will call a Plumber most of the time. So I suggested that they build relationships with plumbers. Even landscapers would be a good partner to have because they are in front of potential customers already. You just have to figure out what you’re willing to do in order to build relationships. Maybe some plumbers will just give referrals for nothing, but typically they will probably want some sort of finders fee. It’s worth it – you wouldn’t have gotten that business without them.

Another entrepreneur I met is an interior designer. She was doing it all herself and really had not looked at building partnerships. Well, her ideal customer is one that is remodeling, or else a new home owner. So, you  think about who those ideal customers will be talking to. Realtors? Painters? Contractors? These are all ideal partnerships that need to be explored.

So now the next question after you decide you need to build more alliances is; “How do I find/establish relationships with these people?” Well, you can start by joining social networking sites like LinkedIn and finding people/groups in that fashion. Another option you want to explore is finding networking events in your city. This can be done by joining your city’s Chamber of Commerce. If you’re lucky enough to be in the Phoenix area, there is  also an amazing website that has a great calendar of various networking events over at www.networkingphoenix.com. If you have not done a networking event, it can be a bit overwhelming at first. You just have to remember these are people that have the same goal as you – to establish relationships and build connections. Be approachable, smile, and be yourself.

So, start building those relationships. It’s a win-win!

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