Marketing & Social Networks Webinar (What You Need to Know)
What social media networks can do for your business
How social networks benefit your web presence.
Why blogging and micro blogging is important.
Learn how Bulbwired can help grow your business using social media networks
Register for our weekly Webinar and learn more about this new area of marketing.
How to Add Social Media to Your Press Release Strategy
Before the web came along, small businesses often had very little control over the publicity they could generate in the press, even when sending out press releases. They had to submit their news to a traditional press distribution or media wire service, which was often expensive and provided no guarantee that their news would ever be mentioned anywhere in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication. Reporters and editors were completely in charge of which press releases were deemed newsworthy enough to be published, and the rest were basically ignored.
Things improved greatly for small businesses with the development of online press outlets that allowed submissions from all types of companies, large and small. One main benefit of these sites was that even if your news wasn’t “picked up” by a major news outlet or site, at least it generated some new, high-quality inbound links back to your business web site, providing you with some additional exposure online and helping improve your search engine rankings.
Now with the explosive growth of social networking sites, small businesses have another great opportunity to gain extra publicity and online exposure by incorporating social media into their corporate press release strategy.
When thinking about a press release strategy for your small business, consider creating a comprehensive plan that includes your web site, online media outlets, and social media sites. For example:
Web Site:
* Be sure to have a “Press Room” or “In the News” section on your business web site. Include the latest press releases for your company, and also provide a link to a press release archive for older news releases.
* If you are a Chamber member, always submit your release to your local Chamber of Commerce. These organizations love to promote news from their members, and Chamber publications are typically well-read by the membership and others in the community.
* Submit your press releases to any other organizations or professional groups to which you belong, or to other sites in your industry that accept news releases about your type of business.
Online Media Outlets:
* There are hundreds (or probably thousands) of web sites that are news-related or niche sites that publish news from press releases submitted to them. Many are free or very low cost, and will accept press releases from all types of businesses. Just do a Google search to find the online press release sites that fit your budget and your industry.
* Optimize your press release for the keywords that you also target on your web site. Use keywords in the title and subtitles of your release, as well as through out the body of the press release.
* Always provide links from your press release back to your web site. Better yet, provide links to specifically optimized landing pages that target the keywords or the subject of your press release (e.g., a new product announcement).
Social Media Sites:
* Include links from your press release to your social media accounts such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This helps drive traffic to your social media sites, and may provide the spark needed for your release to go “viral”.
* Use Twitter to announce your press release, and link back to your web site’s Press Room or the landing page for the release.
* Put your optimized press release on your Facebook page, preferably in a custom tab where your optimized release can help boost your site in the search engine rankings (regular “wall” posts don’t help your rankings)
* If your social marketing profiles have been set up correctly, the press release can be published automatically to all your social media and bookmarking sites with one single action on your part (such as a blog post).
Press releases are an excellent way to publicize your company, build inbound links to your web site, improve search engine rankings, and promote news or events going on in your company. Because of the web, small businesses now have more access than ever before to get their news (and links) in front a huge audience without the approval of traditional news reporters and editors.
By adding social media to your press release strategy, you can create a comprehensive plan that not only takes advantage of your web site and online media outlets, but also uses social media sites to distribute your news further on the web, help keep it visible longer, and ultimately extend the reach and effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Advertising Local Online Tips to Effectively Getting Your Local Business Advertised Correctly
Getting targeted advertising is crucial and can be a serious money saver. Advertising local online is not that difficult if you use the proper tools and techniques. For example, you need local leads if you are an accountant that has a local office. You then should not waste your money on general online advertising that attracts people that live out of state. You have no benefit when you get a visitor to your site that lives in China. These two examples are why you need to have a geo targeted advertising solution.
Marketing & Social Networks Webinar (What You Need to Know)
What social media networks can do for your business
How social networks benefit your web presence.
Why blogging and micro blogging is important.
Learn how Bulbwired can help grow your business using social media networks
Register for our weekly Webinar and learn more about this new area of marketing.
I live in metro Portland, OR so there is several larger known local websites that I can use to advertise locally. One of the most popular local online advertisers is Craigslist.com. To be exact it’s http://portland.craigslist.org. Many businesses post their ads in the appropriate section. A good tip is to put your business phone number in the advertising post. Not that you get more phone calls, but it makes your advertising more believable. You can use this method to attract many leads online in your local area. Just a fair warning for you is to ensure you keep up with their rules. Craigslist has very strict rules to protect their users. Failure to adhere the rules can quickly get you banned from ever posting your local online advertisement.
Kudzu.com is another very popular website for advertising local online. Post your business listing in the appropriate category. As a bonus for good companies your customers can give you a rating score. Also notably give you a good testimonial if you deserve it. Kudzu’s search engine can provide very good targeted results. For example, you can good several results for plumbers with in 25 miles of zip code 30339. Additionally, you can sort by the ratings and review the comments given by users. Another fair warning is that you need to be aware that there is a potential for a bad review that can affect your business. Just understand that you can rebuttal them and I suggest you do. But potential customers know that no business is perfect. You just need to ensure that you have many positive reviews then the negative ones.
CitySearch.com is another great resource to advertising local online. It’s very similar concept to Kudzu.com. Just like kudzu it’ll provide all the reviews and scores from your customers. Word of mouth advertising and having a loyal base of customers is critical in having a successful business online. My suggestion is to ask your customer to give you a favorable rating at citysearch. Normally your customers are not very good with the internet. Take advantage of this and ask them to rate you right on the spot. I always have my laptop around me connected online. After my work is completed I ask them to give me rating. This way they won’t forget.
It isn’t so simple advertising local online by using Google, Yahoo or MSN (Bing) search engine advertising. You can purchase keywords that are specifically from seekers that live in the geographical area you choose. It’s setup where you can choose the country, state, and even the city location of the information seeker. It is a very good way to advertise locally. This can pin point your potential visitors to your site.
Whether you have been purposefully ignoring local search, or simply are not aware of it’s potential impact to your overall marketing strategy — you may want to reconsider your position. Local search marketing can really pay off for “bricks-and-mortar” businesses. It can provide excellent opportunity for garnering both foot traffic and website traffic.
Even as early as 2005, an article in MIT Technology Review, April 2005, “E-Commerce Gets Smarter” reported that for every one dollar U.S. consumers spend online, they spend another five or six dollars on offline purchases that are directly influenced by online research.
Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, says — “We think search is a very viable advertising segment that produces great results and great leads for advertisers. But it has to be managed properly.” It also provides a way to claim more space in the local search engine results pages, thus increasing your chances of getting that valuable consumer click-through to your business profiles and listings. Ultimately, these click-throughs result in sales and increased profits.
As a example, if a local user searches for “pain-free dentistry” and a dental practice has it optimized correctly, there is a very good chance that it will appear prominently in the local search listings. Ideally, a local user will acquire dental related information from the main website of the close proximity dental practice, and thus be influenced to seek out their services. The goal is to shorten the consumer’s path from searching/researching to making a purchase.
Further proof is presented in a study by The Kelsey Group and ConStat, 74% of U.S. households now use the Internet when shopping locally for products and services. This huge trend can no longer be ignored. Even more evidence of this growing trend in local search is presented by The Kelsey Group’s Annual Forecast, which shows that local advertising is shrinking. Going from $155.3 billion in 2008 to a forecasted $144.4 billion in 2013. This means that nearly $11 billion that would normally have been spent on traditional local media (newspapers, Yellow Pages, direct mail coupons, etc.) will shift to local search, social networks, mobile and similar digital media spends.
Bulbwired.com has years of experience in local online search marketing and can manage all aspects of your local online advertising. Call 866.376.7772.
It may or may not surprise you that more searches for businesses occur online than through the Yellow Pages. Many businesses have already abandoned the Yellow Pages for being expensive and not yielding results. There are increasing numbers of people who say, If you’re not on the Internet, I’m not interested. Look for this to continue to increase at an exponential rate.
Marketing & Social Networks Webinar (What You Need to Know)
What social media networks can do for your business
How social networks benefit your web presence.
Why blogging and micro blogging is important.
Learn how Bulbwired can help grow your business using social media networks
Register for our weekly Webinar and learn more about this new area of marketing.
Marketing yourself is a public service. This means letting people know how you can be of service to them. Your Internet presence allows people looking for someone to help them solve whatever problem they are in. If you have no internet presence, many people will not find you and determine if you may be of service to them. Marketing is making your presence known. It is NOT a hard sell, trying to ram anything down anyone’s throat. Advertising is presenting yourself mostly to people who aren’t interested in what you have to offer. This is why most print advertising does not yield clients. Internet advertising is presenting yourself at a time when your prospect is searching for what it is you have.
Google your name and business zip code. Do you find yourself on the first page of the results? You may already be listed in sites of which you are unaware. Next, Google your specialties (one at a time) and your business zip code. If you have a number of listings, especially for your specialties, Congratulations. Even if you already have a steady stream of referrals, an Internet presence will only strengthen your position.
An Internet presence can be started (or expanded) for a lot less than you think. Getting yourself on free and paid listing sites. Generally, start with the free listing. One client found their free getfaves.com listing showing on the first page of Google search within one week. Begin with seeing if your professional organization has listings. These are often free.
Find the listing sites for Google business. This will also get you listed on Google maps, which show at the top of Google searches. Also do this for Yahoo and Bing business. Find other business listing sites by Googling free business listing sites, etc.
Create a website
A website is probably the single most important thing that you can do to expand your marketing efforts. It will greatly increase your presence and legitimacy beyond having your profile listed in different places. One can quickly create a simple site. You will want to present information that will speak to those clients you would most like to see. This will attract your Ideal client much more than if you describe yourself as a caring person who provides a safe place, etc. Conventional wisdom is that your content is 80% about the client and 20% about yourself.
Don’t wait until you have a perfect site planned. Better to get a functional site up, asap. Websites are dynamic entities. You will want to refine, probably add, and sometimes delete what you began with. How you write gives others a sense of who and what you are. Be sure to include a head shot photo of yourself with a big smile.
Begin with your DSL provider and see what they offer. Google free websites. Look for templates that you like, flexibility, expandability, etc. Many of the free sites will also let you expand your site, more, for a monthly fee. Most options will cost between $5 and $10 a month.
Create a blog
Some will start a blog, rather than a website. Generally, a website is more versatile and should be your first priority. A blog will probably serve you best, the more specific it is, i.e., focuses on a niche, etc. Two popular sites to start a blog are blogspot.com and wordpress.com. If you do a blog, aim to write at least twice a month.
Social media
The use of social media is exploding and will continue to grow. It is a way of connecting with friends and colleagues, as well as others finding us. Businesses are increasingly finding ways to market via social media.
One of the most popular websites is YouTube.com. While it is primarily used for entertainment, more and more it is used for education and marketing. An example is the video on our main page, Social Media for your Business. These videos can also be put on your website(s), as we did. Video has largely been underutilized by businesses.
Facebook.com has become another of the most popular websites. Some use it to keep in touch with friends and others use it for marketing. Use it for on or the other. If you want to use it for both purposes, use a personal email account for a Profile and a business email for a business Page.
Biznik.com is a business site, primarily for entrepreneurs. It is a way to network, especially with other businesses.
Twitter.com is a source that you can announce publishing a paper, changes to your website, good books and articles, workshops that you might offer, etc. Many offer free things like recordings, articles, etc. It is another way to network with other professionals. It’s popularity is exploding.
Like most things, the more you invest in being involved with social media, the more you will benefit. If you are active, you can minimally expect some increase in website/blog traffic. This may or may not equate to client referrals.
Writing articles
Another way to develop a presence is to write self-help and other articles. A very popular site to submit articles is ezinearticles.com. You can also submit to some of the listing and social media sites. When you write, distribute your writings in as many ways as you can. Post them on your website and blog. Have copies in your office waiting room. Fax copies, as is relevant with other fax communications.
Outside of the content, writings give others at least a glimpse of yourself. This is an opportunity to get to know, like, and trust you. The more that happens, the more people will come to you to help them achieve solutions.
Put your website address and contact information on everything
Make sure your address is on your business cards, stationary, fax sheets, etc. Just the fact that you have a website adds to your credibility, regardless if the receiver has the interest in checking it out. Create a signature file at the bottom of your email accounts. Minimally, include your web address, blog, etc. under your name, business address, business phone. Consider putting other information there, such as free offers, signing up for your news letter, etc. If you are going to start a group, give a talk, etc., consider including that information, while it is relevant, i.e., remove that information after it occurred.
In conclusion, you can’t do all of these things in a single day. However, you can complete Some of these things Today. Keep reasonable expectations. When you do these things, it isn’t likely that you will have 10 people call you in the first week. You will find that new clients will increasingly say, I found you on the Internet. Marketing is a dynamic process. Generally, our efforts are cumulative.
This is not the end of marketing. You will probably want to expand into other low cost strategies, including purchasing a domain name for your website, using one or several paid listing services, etc. Continue to educate yourself about marketing and new avenues. Good luck and good marketing.
Bulbwired.com does all this and more as a done for you package, come and register for one out our information packed Webinars to see how we can help your business.
It has been noticed that billions of people all over the world are using web sites that offer social book marking, social tagging, independent news publishing, video sharing, audio journals, and video journals. The fact that these web sites are so popular captured the attention of businesses, and to get started in this new type of business, they employ social media marketing firms.
Marketing & Social Networks Webinar (What You Need to Know)
What social media networks can do for your business
How social networks benefit your web presence.
Why blogging and micro blogging is important.
Learn how Bulbwired can help grow your business using social media networks
Register for our weekly Webinar and learn more about this new area of marketing.
The logic behind businesses suddenly wanting to establish their presence in this domain is rooted in two things. First, businesses recognize the bargaining power of consumers and the ‘wisdom of crowds.’ Whenever people come together in large numbers they can dictate terms to sellers. However, the sizable nature of this new market segment lures businesses to conduct business at the terms of the buyers.
The second reason is attributed to the power vested in common man due to the arrival of second generation Internet media. Media is no longer controlled by a caucus of a select few. Instead it has been made so democratic that anyone with an Internet connection can publish pictures, essays, audio journals, and video journals. This power has led to a proliferation in media content that the world had never seen before. More media content translates to more opportunities to reach potential customers.
Second generation Internet media require assessment techniques that are very different from those used by brick and mortar businesses. To fill this gap, social media marketing services have been formed. These services allow traditional companies to market their goods and services to the hundreds of millions of Internet users.
In order to increase sales to younger people, businesses can employ social media marketing services. Through these services businesses can build their brand identity as well as form partnerships with other companies. Through these partnerships, companies can share market data.
Social media marketing services are also used to brand an individual or company as an expert or industry leader in its designated field. Most large corporations have brand specialists that utilize such tools as second generation Internet media to recruit new customers and loyal supporters. If executed properly social media marketing can heighten awareness and increase the brand recognition of the individual or company.
There are now literally billions of subscribers to websites that offer social tagging, independent news publication, file and video sharing, and audio and video journals. Brand specialists at most large corporations invariably want to utilize second generation Internet media in the recruitment of new customers and loyal fans. Social media marketing, if executed properly, can create a brand and raise awareness of the company or individual. Companies can utilize social media marketing services for increasing their product sales to the youth population. In addition, they can use these services to market a new brand identity. It is also being used to form partnerships with other businesses regarding business intelligence sharing.
Bulbwired.com is on the cutting edge of bringing businesses across the country to a better Social Media experience. Come and see the Webinar and see how bulbwired can change the way your business advertises.
SEO, PPC, and SMO, how do you pull them all together?
If you’re a plumber or a lawyer or even an Indian chief for that matter the answer is you don’t. You may have breathed a sigh of relief or more likely you said. “Then what”? I’ll get to that later, first let’s talk about the problem and then we’ll dive head on into the solution. Have you heard, “I am not sure what my SEO company is doing”, or worse yet, you said it. Or, I hope you haven’t said this one, “My SEO Company is ripping me off”. I have heard both of these and more in my time in this industry more than I can count. I might lose you here, you are the problem, let me explain before you call the nuthouse about me.
Marketing & Social Networks Webinar (What You Need to Know)
What social media networks can do for your business
How social networks benefit your web presence.
Why blogging and micro blogging is important.
Learn how Bulbwired can help grow your business using social media networks
Register for our weekly Webinar and learn more about this new area of marketing.
I fully agree that the Illusion, “don’t try this at home” has become real in the Search Engine Marketing space and has become littered with all sorts of subpar services to put it nicely. However, if you can admit that you are the problem, you can get to a viable solution that returns ROI’s that rival this best and better. The most successful campaigns are born out of a well thought out process, AKA: a plan. Here comes another one of those “nutcase” statements, no plan ever works out, yes that is right ZERO times has your plan at the outset worked out. That’s the good news Ladies and Gentleman, a plan is not a destination, it is a journey. Here is where you might save me from the white coats; you need to plan anyway, without one, no action. Action always produces something. Wouldn’t you agree?
Ok then sir, how does one put together a plan to attack such a complex subject? Glad you asked. Very succinctly, a well crafted plan authored by a Professional in SEO/PPC/SEM, (Project Manager) Recently I was consulting a client that has a monthly budget in this area of about 20k. You would think that if you threw 20k a month at something it would turn to green, well think again. The first question I asked him was, who manages this? Are you sitting, the answer blew me away! “My secretary”, he shared. Don’t get me wrong here, I asked “what this is his/her qualifications are in this area”, and he didn’t have an answer. I am sure I don’t have to tell you this “20k a month” bounty was.
I can’t help myself in quoting this post from Outspoken Media, Read this article, real good down to earth advice. Thanks Lisa Barone,
“You couldn’t pay your mortgage and your house was foreclosed on? Don’t worry, it wasn’t you, it was the recession. You lost your job and now you’re stuck at home cruising Twitter ‘looking for a new one’ all day? Don’t fret. It wasn’t you, it’s the recession. Can’t find new clients so you’re left bitterly blogging that clients suck and the frauds in the industry are stealing your dollars? Calm down, pretty, have a cookie and take a nap. It’s the recession.
Actually, it’s probably not the recession. It’s probably you.”
All kidding aside I really don’t mean to insult anyone, however, the point is; the only thing in the way of your Site blasting out SEO returns like a printing press of money is, yes YOU. If you can get your arms around this one fact you can be free. Free to actually contact someone like myself or the thousands of other qualified Internet Marketing concerns and get rocking. Getting to putting together a solid plan that gets you into action and closer to your boss telling you what a great job you are doing. Or better yet this is your own endeavor and you are laughing all the way to the bank.
I am going to be a sport here and give you 5 things to keep your site from “sucking”.
Write for your Audience – if you can’t do this hire some that can, PERIOD.
Make your site useful – I hate to repeat myself, however, if you can’t do this hire someone that can, PERIOD.
Make the content unique – Again, well you know ….
Make it Interactive – believe me this isn’t at expensive and far reaching – Again, (broken record), if you can’t do this hire someone that can, PERIOD.
Convert readers into subscribers – ask for their email address! And don’t be afraid to use it.
Bulbwired has many other valuable techniques and tips do put your site to use in the real world. I will leave you with some very good, simple yet very sound advice my Dad used to tell me, “Do not go to a dentist to get your haircut”.
You want to get the attention you deserve; bulbwired can give you SEO, PPC and SEM that rocks. If you’re looking for landing pages that “get the Click” yes we do that to. And if you need Upstanding fine Internet Marketing professionals for advice and/or Manage a project to fruition then for goodness sake,
