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Sunday, July 31, 2011
Getting Stuff Done by Video
Posted by PhilNottingham
Hi SEOmozzers! I’m Phil Nottingham and I've recently joined Distilled as an in-house pirate. This is my first SEOmoz post and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in the comments!
The Conundrum
Creating detailed and actionable client reports has become a vitally important skill for any agency SEO to hone. Often we’ll spend 20-30 hours composing a veritable treat of a read for our clients, a hand crafted sluice for a torrent of brilliant ideas, delegations, and requests that will certainly lead to a better performance in the SERPs once put into practice... but, as we’re all painfully aware, sending over these floods of text and screenshots often fails to get stuff done. It seems that often these reports get stuck in the quagmire of uncompleted items lurking at the bottom of our clients inboxes for weeks; to end up competing with a perpetual inundation of other requests, constantly clamouring for attention and requiring immediate action. And it’s no surprise that these reports often fail to make the impact we have in mind for them.
Consider a typical reading list for a web marketing type on a Monday morning. It’s probably going to look something like this:
- Emails
- Blog feeds
- Google Reader – News & Articles.
If you’re anything like me, this list is going to feature well in excess of a hundred items, the vast majority of which you will only skim read and deal with quickly. As technology thunders on, accelerating global connectivity and productivity on an exponential scale, this brevity and superficiality of attention span is likely only to expand; threatening the practical viability of our beautifully crafted and detailed client reports.
How Can We Communicate Detailed Concepts and Suggestions to our Clients More Effectively?
The obvious answer is to do more phone-calls, lunches, video-conferences and direct face to face communication with the client so you can explain things and answer questions when you have their full attention available. However, most clients are typically busy and over-loaded people like us, sometimes based in different time-zones, making this approach rarely feasible.
At Distilled, client reports were taken to the shearers a while back. It’s now company-wide policy to send out succinct, simple, bare-bones reports a maximum of 3-4 pages long, which focus purely on the actionable and achievable aspects of all the findings from our 20-30 hours of research.
But just recently, we’ve also started trying out a more creative method of communicating complicated tasks and ideas to our clients and colleagues – demonstrating our thoughts and suggestions through recorded video.
Without going into too much detail, below is an eloquent summary of our findings so far from my colleague Tom Anthony:
Written reports - 20-30 pages = very little shit gets done
Distilled reports - 3-4 pages of actions = lots of shit gets done
Video report - video(s) + 1 page summary w/checklist = masses of shit gets completely annihilated
Why Go To The Effort?
There are some unique benefits of using video to communicate with clients as a supplement to email and telephone calls....
1. It’s different and fun
Video doesn’t feel like as much of a chore to plough through as emails or reports and this helps it to stick out from the remaining mass of inbox clutter and generate interest.
2. It’s a great teaching environment
If you’re client is not particularly SEO savvy, video is an efficient and easy way to practically explain some of the basic principles driving the ranking factors.
3. Clients can’t skim read a video
You cannot skip through a video as innocuously as you can skim through an email or document; it requires conscious effort to avoid.
4. It's easy and quick to make
If you become practiced and efficient at making videos, it can be an extremely fast process and take less time than composing a long email.
5. You can demonstrate complicated technical issues as if explaining them in person
It can be easier to explain complicated design and technical considerations with screencasts and diagrams, rather than through extensive writing and annotated screenshots. Problems with UI and design are often better looked at than talked about.
6. It can be edited
As with an email, but unlike a phone-call or video conferencing; a video allows you time to consider your response and suggestions before sending it.
7. It lives on after it’s been created
Unlike a phone-call or VC, videos can be watched back by multiple people at their leisure. This can be a great way to help clients and as can keep the video for future reference, as well as showing it quickly to colleagues.
8. It can be rapport building
Videos can also be a fantastic tool for building rapport with your client. If they happen to live a long way away and are on different time zones, so you’ve never met, allowing them to see your face and hear your voice on a regular basis is a great way of building trust and mutual understanding. You can also convey emotion through video where you would struggle in formalised written word.
9. It's not Rocket Science
While is fantastic to have a top-of-the-range camera and microphone to work with, you can still create relatively high quality videos with modest resources.
This...
Was recorded and uploaded using this...
Common Pitfalls When Making Videos
Although videos can be an incredibly useful resource when integrated into a holistic approach to communication, it is incredibly easy to undo the potential benefits videos offer...
1. Thinking Video Can Work for Everything
I'm not suggesting here that video is an all an out solution for all communication, but rather that it works when included in a holistic approach encompassing email, phone-calls and traditional reports. Video is particularly valuable when you don't have the opportunity to meet with your client and explain things to them in the flesh, such as with International SEO, but it doesn't replace traditional methods of communication.
2. Lack of Clarity
The best thing about email and reports is that they can be edited down to succinct actions points, which cut out the prognostication and deliberation populating everyday phone-calls and conversations. To make effective instructional and informational videos – always stick to the point at hand and avoid meandering tangents. Videos are only valuable in as much as they maintain an audience’s interest.
3. Inability to hone in on specific points
If you’re going to end up putting your video on YouTube, then an interactive transcript can be used to allow your client to skip to relevant points within the video. If not, then creating a contents list with corresponding time-codes for your video can be a great aid for efficient viewing.
4. Low Quality
Having good picture quality and clear audio is essential when producing a video. Especially when discussing complicated technical processes, there cannot be any compromise on this. Ensure you record all content at high resolution and avoid microphone interference.
5. Difficult to work out actionable tips
Clients aren’t going to want to watch through your videos multiple times and transcribe the point you make in order to ascertain appropriate action points. Whenever you send a video, ensure it comes complete with a list of jobs to be undertaken, which you’re client can study while watching your presentation. This will focus their mind to the practical essentials of what you are trying to say and ensure stuff gets done.
How to Convert a Written Report into a Video Report
- Decide the form appropriate form the different parts of your report should take – which bits are best shown through a screencast and which bits would work best with a whiteboard Friday style talking head presentation?
- Convert your report into a script, removing any descriptive passages which can be displayed visually – If it makes sense within the context of your report; write a script for multiple videos covering a single subject on each one. Six 5-minute long videos are easier to digest than one 30-minute video.
- Practice speaking through your script in time with your screencast a couple of times before recording, ensuring you cut out any “umms” or “likes” opting for pauses any time you are unsure what to say.
- When recording, always talk slightly slower than you would in everyday conversation, as the nuances of corporeal expression are inevitably lost through the cables of a microphone -- Speak at the speed where it just starts to feel uncomfortably slow. In most cases, when you listen back to your recording, you’ll be surprised how slow it doesn’t feel.
- For any talking head passages of your recording, always look straight into the lens of the camera.
- After recording, trim out any sections which lag or feel unnecessary to make the overall points.
- Add zooms, markers and annotations where necessary.
- Export your content to video and upload to a cloud hosting service if necessary.
- Creative an executive summary of the key points in text and create a contents checklist for your client to use to navigate to relevant points in the video(s).
Examples:
Last week Rand published a blog titled The Best Kept Secret in the SEOmoz Toolset, which explains how to access the new SERPs analysis tool. I've taken the process he explained through text and diagrams and put together a tutorial video which works towards the same purpose. Using Rand's post as a script, this video took roughly 10 minutes to make using Camtasia for Mac.
Do you find it easier to watch through the video or read through the post? Please let me know your thoughts!
If anyone would like to see further practical demonstrations of turning a written report into a movie, then i invite you to email me over your content (phil.nottingham@distilled.net) and i will use the above formula to convert it into a video and share it in the comments section.
If you’re interested to know more about the practical process for making awesome videos, please check out a post I created a the Distilled blog last month - Creating Awesome Videos for SEO.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/seomoz/~3/Y_v_LDOgS_0/getting-stuff-done-by-video
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Using Social Media To Listen And Respond To Customers
From American Express OPEN:
According to Hashable’s Michael Yavonditte, “The greatest customer service system ever invented in the history of the world is Twitter.” Along with expert social media marketers Ido Leffler (Yes to Carrots), Robbie Vitrano (Naked Pizza) and Otis Chandler (Goodreads.com), he weighs in on using social media tools to create brand evangelists, address feedback and monitor how your company is doing, at the NY Times Small Business Summit.
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Is SEO Irreducibly Complex?
In his book, Origin of Species, Charles Darwin says that:
"If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down."
This is typically used by proponents of Intelligent Design to state their case against evolution by invoking the principle of Irreducible Complexity, which is to say that:
This applies to any system of interacting parts in which the removal of any one part destroys the function of the entire system. An irreducibly complex system, then, requires each and every component to be in place before it will function
Essentially the idea is that something that is irreducibly complex does not evolve to its state in a gradual manner (like evolution) and so the scientific research process of how X came into being is mostly irrelevant versus something that has evolved over time (like an algorithm). A man made algorithm fits into both categories.
What creature could be more complex than a creature which not only was part of natural evolution but also has elements of intelligent design within its core?
How does this apply to SEO? Google's algorithm evolves and it certainly fits precisely with how Darwin laid out the basis of his theory of evolution (numerous, successive, slight modifications in general) but by human hand and captured data.
Of course, sometimes Google makes a big update but generally speaking they make lots of minor updates per year.
Consider that a couple years back in 2009 they claim to have made just south of 500 updates in that year alone.
So the point I'm making is that SEO is both irreducibly complex (remove the hand of man and it would no longer evolve or even work as intended) and a product of a natural evolutionary process (the constantly adjusted algorithm) with layers and layers of thousands of changes over time, full of small and large complexities. These two characteristics make the process of trying to break it down to a stagnant formula with assigned percentages you can attribute to a majority of examples (with confidence) cumbersome and inaccurate.
Forcing Simplicity Creates Complexity
If you read a bunch of SEO blogs you might feel a bit overwhelmed with where to start and what to do. Some blogs tend to be information-heavy, some heavy in theory and (attempted) science, some straight news oriented, and some that are of the good old fashioned boot in your rear end "get something done now" genre.
I think it's important to pick blogs to read from those aforementioned areas of the industry to help get a well-rounded view of the SEO space. However, sometimes I think the more simple you try to make something, say like trying to whittle SEO down to a push button solution, the more complex you make things because then you need to have sound, reliable data to back up those kinds of claims and solutions.
If data starts reading out 50/50 or 60/40 probabilities then that's not really sound science at all. In fact, if anything, it just shows that some things cannot be broken down into a push button forumla or a statistic with any reliability whatsoever. It probably makes for good salesmanship when you want to wow a client with your superior knowledge but it also makes for laughable science, kind of like this kind of science:
The real problem is that Google claims to have more than 200 parts to its algorithm (which we obviously don't have available for studying :) ). Even if you call it an even 200 what about the different weight each factor has? Surely each does not represent 0.5% of the algorithm.
When you dive into trying to mathematically and scientifically break down a formula, of which you know an average (at best) amount of the variables + their direct effects, you actually create more confusion because you have to go out and find examples proving a specific theory while ignoring ones that point in the other direction.
Figuring Out the Variables
I think the annual SeoMoz Search Engine Ranking Factors is a worthy read as they pull data from lots and lots of respected folks in the industry and the presentation is top notch. I think overall it's a good representation of the factors you will need to face when conducting an SEO campaign.
Another good page to bookmark is this page from Search Engine Journal which has guesstimates of what they feel these elusive variables might be.
It can be hard to isolate really specific types of variables because of the constant Google updates, the other factors that are involved with your site and its ranking, and anything being done by the competition. You can test elements for sure, things like:
- Does X link pass any pop?
- Seeing if a couple pages pass juice on a 301 before 301-ing an entire site
- On-page elements like title tag changes, internal linking, and external linking
- An so on and so on..
The issues are still there though, even with "testing". It is still really, really hard to sell off a scientific breakdown of a consistent path to success beyond high-level ideas like:
- Become a brand (brand signals, social media signals, offline branding, nice site design, etc)
- Lots of links from unique domains (preferably good ones of course)
- A good natural mix of anchor text
- Great user experience and deep user engagement
- Targeted content which gives the user exactly what they are looking for
I think that for someone looking to move forward in their SEO career it is important to try and remove the idea that you can break down the factors into exact numbers, as far as value of each individual variable goes. Anyone who practices SEO will likely tell you that you simply want to win more than you lose and even if you are on top of your game you still will have site failures here and there.
The issue of failing might not even be because of some current practice. You could be sailing right along and all of a sudden a Google update cleans your clock (another good reason to be involved with multiple projects).
You might spend more time agonizing over some magic formula or avoiding a project because some tool told you it was too competitive (rather than your knowledge) than building out multiple web properties to weather the expected storms and the ebbs and flows of the web.
Dealing with Complex & Unknown Variables
When faced with the prospect of working within a system where the variables that hold the key to your success are unknown, it can seem daunting. It can also make you want to run out and buy a shiny new tool to solve all your problems and get you that elusive Google ranking you've been waiting for.
The sad truth is if there was such a tool the person(s) who created it wouldn't be selling it to you for less than $100 or slightly higher (or even way higher!). They would be building sites in many verticals and making an absolute killing in the SERPS. By selling it to you they would just be creating more work for themselves and competition.
Not all tools are bad of course. I use the tools here at SeoBook as well as tools from Majestic, Raven, SeoMoz, and Caphyon (Advanced Web Ranking). The tools give you data and data points to work with as well as to cross reference. They do not provide answers for you at the push of a button.
The best thing to do is to start launching some sites and play around with different strategies. Over time you'll find that even strategies that worked in A, B, and C markets didn't work in D or E.
Things like algorithm's changing and competitor's stepping up their game can be factors as to why test results aren't always that accurate (at the real granular level) and why certain strategies worked here but not there.
Keeping Track of Wins & Losses
It makes sense to keep some kind of running journal on a site (why I did this, when I did that, etc) so you can go back and evaluate real (not theorized) data.
Running weekly rank checks isn't a bad idea and tools like Advanced Web Ranking and Raven have built in ways of you keeping notes (events for Raven) on a specific campaign or date-based events (added X links this day).
I happen to like Evernote for these kinds of things but most project management applications and information organizer tools have this kind of capability built in (as does having separate Word and Excel docs for your campaigns).
So if you are involved with a handful or four of projects, in addition to keeping track of strategies used, you can really get a solid handle on what is likely to work in the short to mid term and what really is working now.
A good example of this would be folks poo-pooing the idea of exact match domains being a golden egg of sorts over the years. If you were or are running any SEO campaigns you'll notice that the exact match benefit was quite real. So while pontificators were decrying their effectiveness, practitioners were laughing all the way to the bank.
There is no substitute for real experience and real data. Which group do you want to be in?
Mental Models
As we discussed above, the algorithm has a lot of components to it. There is generally no 1 correct universal right answer to each and every SERP. The gold usually lies in trying to understand where algorithms are heading and how they have changed.
As an example, in his recent post about exact match domains losing weight, Aaron used highlights to visually segment the search results in regards to "why is XYZ ranking". I'll include the image here:
This is a good example of the fact that when you build your own sites and you collect your data it helps you form and solidify your mental models.
The tricky part is how do you know who's advice is garbage vs who you should trust? You should take your independently arrived upon conclusions that you have repeatedly tested and see who is offering similar advice. Those are the folks who you can trust to tell you "what actually works" rather than "how to buy the number they are selling as a solution".
For another example of a mental model in action, you should check out Charlie Munger's piece on mental models and investing.
One more piece of advice here. Recently we wrote about the the importance of rank checking with a tie-in to analytics. It's vital to have both installed as you can get concrete before and after data. Without hard data relative to ongoing algorithm changes, you are kind of flying blind to the actual changes being made.
Being in the Know
The reason this community and many paid communities are successful is because there isn't a lot of noise or high pressure sales (like there are on free chat forums or message boards) and because experienced people are able to freely share ideas, thoughts, and data with like-minded people.
The more information and thoughts you get from people who are in the trenches on a daily basis can only help your efforts, knowledge, and experience because theories will only get you so far.
I think there is a scientific element to some factors like links, domain age, social signals, brand signals, anchor text (but at a high level, nothing overly exact) but overall I think it's too complex to break down into a reliable scientific formula.
It's important to pay attention to trends but your own experience and data is invaluable to your ongoing success. I believe that search is going to continue to get more complex but that's necessarily a bad thing if you have access to good information.
A friend gave me a great quote from Michael Lewis's book, Liar's Poker:
You spend a lot of time asking yourself questions: Are munis (municipal bonds) right for me? Are govys (government bonds) right for me? Are corporates (corporate bonds) right for me?
You spend a lot of time thinking about that. And you should.
But think about this: might be more important to choose a jungle guide than to choose your product.
When it comes to SEO, it's pretty important to choose your jungle guides correctly.
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Source: http://www.seobook.com/seo-irreducibly-complex
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Is SEO a Long-Term or a Quick Fix Issue?
by Stoney deGeyter
Question: Is SEO a long-term process or can there be a quick fix solution?
Before all you SEOs raise your hand with the answer, lets take a minute to analyze the basis of the question for all the small business owners out there.
A lot of businesses are looking for ways to grow their companies without increasing long-term costs. They want profits, and in order to be (and remain) profitable, they have to keep expenses down to a minimum as much as possible. After all, the more you spend, the less profits you have in your pocket, right?
This is an unfortunate mindset when it comes to SEO and SEM. Instead of looking at them as an investment that will grow their businesses, owners hope that both SEO and SEM can provide quick-fix solutions that will bring an influx of new customers and soaring profits. And somehow, magically, that influx is expected to stay strong, even without any ongoing marketing efforts.
Uh huh.
I got two words for you: Coca-Cola.
Or Pepsi Cola.
Or Wal-Mart.
Or Target Stores.
When did these guys stop advertising? All are well-known brand names and very few people are in danger of forgetting that Coke continues to make cola. Should Coke (or Pepsi, or Walmart or Target) stop their marketing efforts, nobody would forget to go to those stores or buy those products.
Or would they?
These companies continue to advertise for one reason only: it increases their profits. They just don't advertize once or twice, or for a year or two. They continue to advertize year after year after year to make sure people keep them in mind when they do their shopping. They know that when the advertising stops, sales decline. That's the bottom line.
I often talk to business owners that want to invest temporarily in their SEO or PPC efforts. They want to start strong then scale back or eliminate the "expense" down the road.
That's just crazy talk!
PPC as a Short-Term Solution
PPC can be expensive. It's pretty hard to run a successful PPC campaign without an ad spend of several thousands of dollars per month. And it's very easy to move into the tens of thousands of dollars per month. A lot of businesses look at PPC as a temporary solution until their natural search engine rankings are in place. Then they cut out the PPC and let the natural do it's thing.The question to ask is, if you're profiting with PPC on each and every click, why cut it? Sure, you can get "free" clicks in the natural results via SEO, but why cut out one profitable stream just because you opened another? The problem with PPC as a temporary strategy is that you're looking at the expense, rather than the ROI that it brings.
If all you see is the $5000 per month credit card charges in ad spend, that can be daunting. You can be tempted to think, "I can't afford this $5000!" But if that $5000 in ad spend is bringing you $10,000 in profits, you really can't afford to stop. Sure, you'll "save" $5000 per month in expenses, but you'll be losing $5000 each month in profits.
Killing profitable PPC can really hurt your business. If your PPC campaign isn't, or is barely, profitable, perhaps you need someone else to manage it for you. How you manage your PPC campaign can make a HUGE difference in your profits.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term SEO
There are some things you can do to SEO your site that only need to be done once, then you move on. Things like website architecture can make a profound impact on your site's performance. A few hours of consulting can help point you in the right direction to improve your rankings.But SEO is really a perpetual process of researching keywords, finding problems and making your site more search engine friendly and keyword focused.
Short-Term SEO Solutions
Short-Term SEO can really only focus on a few things, including site architecture, one-time keyword research and optimization of a set number of keyword phrases. It's pretty difficult to "fully" optimize a large site in a short period of time. There is no ongoing management, reflection or strategic improvements being made. Once the "SEO" is done, it's done. The rest is just happenstance.Here are some pros of a deliberate short-term SEO campaign:
- Pages gets fully analyzed, optimized and rolled out within a few weeks or months, depending on the size of the site.
- Site architecture (should) be reviewed and problems corrected.
- No long-term contracts or ongoing commitments.
- No re-occurring fees past the initial payments.
And the cons:
- It can take months until any work or recommendations are submitted to the client, delaying performance on the search engines.
- Many valuable keywords may not get optimized into the site based on timing, contract limitations, available pages to optimize or keyword discovery through analytics.
- Limited reporting and performance analysis.
- Extremely limited or non-existent link building or social media help.
Long-Term SEO Solutions
Long-Term SEO is more about the process of improvement. Keyword research and optimizing those keywords into your site is an ongoing process. Finding and correcting site architecture and usability issues is important for continued success. Link building and even social media strategy continues to keep you ahead of your competition.Here are some cons of a long-term SEO campaign:
- Some valuable keywords may take time to get optimized into the site as other important keywords are targeted first.
- Long-term commitment, which is generally 6-12 months at minimum but likely can go on indefinitely.
- More money out of pocket.
- New and valuable keywords are always being discovered and optimized into your site.
- Ongoing performance analysis, ranking maintenance, analytics reporting and consultations as needed.
- Ongoing link building and social media consulting (if included in a contract)
- Keywords are optimized and implemented continuously; no waiting for a "final" product to be delivered.
- Responsibility in success lies with the SEO because nothing is being "handed over" and then forgotten about.
Short-term SEO campaigns can have merit. But for long-term success and growth, a long-term strategy is generally warranted.
When looking at your SEO and SEM efforts as an ongoing investment, you can get out of the mindset of "cost" and look at the return on investment each will bring. If the return is profitable, then any cut into the "cost" of your online marketing will only result in a cut in your profits.
Follow me at @StoneyD, and @PolePositionMkg.
Be sure and visit our small business news site.
Source: http://www.searchengineguide.com/stoney-degeyter/is-seo-a-longterm-or-a-quick-fix-issue.php
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Social Media Consultant / Confidential / Skokie, IL
Confidential/Skokie, IL (Part-Time, 2-3 months)Digital People, your marketing and creative staffing agency, offers freelance, project engagements, consulting and executive search opportunities for professionals who specialize in the fields of Creative, Interactive, Advertising and Marketing.
We are currently sourcing a part-time social media consultant for a client of ours based out of Skokie, IL. Our client is looking to bring on a consultant to help them use various social media tools to advertise and increase attendance for a tradeshow they have coming up in October and again in April. Our client is really not savvy at all with regards to their social media marketing efforts and have realized that to gain a larger market share they need to expand their marketing efforts. The right professional will be open to part-time hours, be able to work on-site most of the time and educate the client on how to use social media tools effectively. The client is looking to meet candidates the week of July 18th and from there be presented with a project quote once the discovery process, on the part of the professional, has been completed.
Apply To Job
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Senior Social Media Strategist / Morpheus Media / New York, NY
Morpheus Media/New York, NY
Senior Social Strategist
Morpheus Media is seeking an experienced Senior Social Strategist to work across client teams with some of the most prestigious brands in the world. This candidate will strategically direct and support teams that are responsible for developing and executing digital communications strategies across Morpheus Media's fashion, beauty, retail, wine and spirits clients. Opportunities presented by ever-evolving technologies and behavioral shifts should create irrational excitement. This candidate has managed team members and created and executed digital marketing programs from beginning to end.
The Senior Social Strategist should possess the following qualities:
�?� Understand emerging platforms, online communities and industry trends to identify client opportunities
�?� Strong client and team management skills
�?� Ability to translate client goals into actionable Social Strategies
�?� Present and articulate Social Strategies to executive level clients
�?� Project management and execution of strategies through creation of tactics, deliverables and recommendations
�?� Past experience with online monitoring platforms such as Radian6
�?� Interpret data sets and quickly adapt client strategies
�?� Adaptable to change and ability to multi-task
�?� Advanced knowledge of social platforms and tools for optimizations
�?� Basic understanding of other digital marketing disciplines for integrated strategies (i.e. SEO, Paid Search, Paid Media)
�?� Strong organizational skills
Role Responsibilities:
�?� Create long and short-term client strategy; complete with milestones, Social Strategy goals, deliverables, etc.
�?� Develop analyses that lead to optimizations, community insights and new strategies
�?� Oversight of client and internal team Social Strategy activities
�?� Prioritize and juggle multiple projects, clients and deadlines
�?� Manage client deliverable schedule and calendars
�?� Delegation and execution of client deliverables
�?� Manage project workflow and deliverable review process
�?� Train clients in advanced brand and community management
�?� Lead and grow a team
�?� Facilitate training and development for Strategists
�?� Creation of agency processes and procedures to increase productivity
�?� Third party partner identification and management
Reports to: Manager, Social Strategies and Associate Director, Client and Media Strategies
Oversees: Social Strategists and Associate Social Strategists
Qualifications:
�?� 5+ years experience in digital marketing
�?� 2+ years experience in social media marketing
�?� Past experience managing team members
�?� Past experience with luxury brands a plus
�?� Undergraduate degree (preferred) in communications, marketing, advertising, public relations, business or related fields
Apply To Job
Senior Social Strategist
Morpheus Media is seeking an experienced Senior Social Strategist to work across client teams with some of the most prestigious brands in the world. This candidate will strategically direct and support teams that are responsible for developing and executing digital communications strategies across Morpheus Media's fashion, beauty, retail, wine and spirits clients. Opportunities presented by ever-evolving technologies and behavioral shifts should create irrational excitement. This candidate has managed team members and created and executed digital marketing programs from beginning to end.
The Senior Social Strategist should possess the following qualities:
�?� Understand emerging platforms, online communities and industry trends to identify client opportunities
�?� Strong client and team management skills
�?� Ability to translate client goals into actionable Social Strategies
�?� Present and articulate Social Strategies to executive level clients
�?� Project management and execution of strategies through creation of tactics, deliverables and recommendations
�?� Past experience with online monitoring platforms such as Radian6
�?� Interpret data sets and quickly adapt client strategies
�?� Adaptable to change and ability to multi-task
�?� Advanced knowledge of social platforms and tools for optimizations
�?� Basic understanding of other digital marketing disciplines for integrated strategies (i.e. SEO, Paid Search, Paid Media)
�?� Strong organizational skills
Role Responsibilities:
�?� Create long and short-term client strategy; complete with milestones, Social Strategy goals, deliverables, etc.
�?� Develop analyses that lead to optimizations, community insights and new strategies
�?� Oversight of client and internal team Social Strategy activities
�?� Prioritize and juggle multiple projects, clients and deadlines
�?� Manage client deliverable schedule and calendars
�?� Delegation and execution of client deliverables
�?� Manage project workflow and deliverable review process
�?� Train clients in advanced brand and community management
�?� Lead and grow a team
�?� Facilitate training and development for Strategists
�?� Creation of agency processes and procedures to increase productivity
�?� Third party partner identification and management
Reports to: Manager, Social Strategies and Associate Director, Client and Media Strategies
Oversees: Social Strategists and Associate Social Strategists
Qualifications:
�?� 5+ years experience in digital marketing
�?� 2+ years experience in social media marketing
�?� Past experience managing team members
�?� Past experience with luxury brands a plus
�?� Undergraduate degree (preferred) in communications, marketing, advertising, public relations, business or related fields
Apply To Job
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Google Brand Bias Reinvigorates Parastic Hosting Strategy
Yet another problem with Google's brand first approach to search: parasitic hosting.
The .co.cc subdomain was removed from the Google index due to excessive malware and spam. Since .co.cc wasn't a brand the spam on the domain was too much. But as Google keeps dialing up the "brand" piece of the algorithm there is a lot of stuff on sites like Facebook or even my.Opera that is really flat out junk.
And it is dominating the search results category after category. Spun text remixed together with pages uploaded by the thousand (or million, depending on your scale). Throw a couple links at the pages and watch the rankings take off!
Here is where it gets tricky for Google though...Youtube is auto-generating garbage pages & getting that junk indexed in Google.
While under regulatory review for abuse of power, how exactly does Google go after Facebook for pumping Google's index with spam when Google is pumping Google's index with spam? With a lot of the spam on Facebook at least Facebook could claim they didn't know about it, whereas Google can't claim innocence on the Youtube stuff. They are intentionally poisoning the well.
There is no economic incentive for Facebook to demote the spammers as they are boosting user account stats, visits, pageviews, repeat visits, ad views, inbound link authority, brand awareness & exposure, etc. Basically anything that can juice momentum and share value is reflected in the spam. And since spammers tend to target lucrative keywords, this is a great way for Facebook to arbitrage Google's high-value search traffic at no expense. And since it pollutes Google's search results, it is no different than Google's Panda-hit sites that still rank well in Bing. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. ;)
Even if Facebook wanted to stop the spam, it isn't particularly easy to block all of it. eBay has numerous layers of data they collect about users in their marketplace, they charge for listings, & yet stuff like this sometimes slides through.
And then there are even warning listings that warn against the scams as an angle to sell information
But even some of that is suspect, as you can't really "fix" fake Flash memory to make the stick larger than it actually is. It doesn't matter what the bootleg packaging states...its what is on the inside that counts. ;)
When people can buy Facebook followers for next to nothing & generate tons of accounts on the fly there isn't much Facebook could do to stop them (even if they actually wanted to). Further, anything that makes the sign up process more cumbersome slows growth & risks a collapse in share prices. If the stock loses momentum then their ability to attract talent also drops.
Since some of these social services have turned to mass emailing their users to increase engagement, their URLs are being used to get around email spam filters
Stage 2 of this parasitic hosting problem is when the large platforms move away from turning a blind eye to the parasitic hosting & to engage in it directly themselves. In fact, some of them have already started.
According to Compete.com, Youtube referrals from Google were up over 18% in May & over 30% in July! And Facebook is beginning to follow suit.
Categories:
Source: http://www.seobook.com/parastic-hosting
web hosting seo experts search engine marketing sem experts search engine optimization
Associate Marketing Manager - Consumer Products / 11th Hour / Los Angeles, CA
11th Hour/Los Angeles, CA
A great consumer products company in Los Angeles is looking for an Associate Marketing Manager to join its team. In this role you will be working with the Marketing team on new product development, promotion and forecasting, as well as existing product strategies. You will be working with budget forecasting, analyzing margins and be acting as an integral part of the day to day marketing strategy.
You should have:
-3+ years of Marketing experience
- Experience in marketing toys, fashion, or other seasonal/trend driven consumer products
- Strong presentation abilities
- Excellent analytical abilities
- Strong project management skills
This is an on-site freelance position in the LA area [Westside] with an open ended duration of at least 5 months, and an hourly rate in the range of $30-$35 hourly. For consideration, please send your resume to Recruiter3@11thr.com
Apply To Job
A great consumer products company in Los Angeles is looking for an Associate Marketing Manager to join its team. In this role you will be working with the Marketing team on new product development, promotion and forecasting, as well as existing product strategies. You will be working with budget forecasting, analyzing margins and be acting as an integral part of the day to day marketing strategy.
You should have:
-3+ years of Marketing experience
- Experience in marketing toys, fashion, or other seasonal/trend driven consumer products
- Strong presentation abilities
- Excellent analytical abilities
- Strong project management skills
This is an on-site freelance position in the LA area [Westside] with an open ended duration of at least 5 months, and an hourly rate in the range of $30-$35 hourly. For consideration, please send your resume to Recruiter3@11thr.com
Apply To Job
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9 Ways To Write Great E-mail Subject Lines
From Helen Jane Hearn:
E-mail marketing invokes the golden rule. Do onto your recipients as you would like to receive in your own inbox. You'll find when you ask, “What entices me to open an e-mail?” you’ll find a relevant, compelling subject line at the top of the list.
Yes, subject lines are only 50 short characters. Since those 50 characters can have the biggest impact on the success or failure of your e-mail marketing campaign, it’s worth some effort.
Following, you’ll find nine ways to craft a great subject line.
1. Spend time writing your subject line
I know I’ve been guilty of throwing a subject line in my e-mail service provider’s (ESP) subject line field at the last minute rather than thinking it through. When you actually schedule time to write a compelling subject line, you’ll find a much better result.
2. A/B testing, repeatedly
If your e-mail service provider has the service, try A/B testing to determine which different subject lines work best for your audience. Test every time to find out what kinds of subject lines elicit the greatest response.
About two days before your big e-mail send, take a section of your list and test three or four options for your newsletter or promotional e-mail. I know it sounds like a lot of work, but the math works in your favor.
Consider if each time you test, your best subject line does 9 percent better than your worst subject line. Count up all the times of the year you send a promotional e-mail, then do the math on your revenues with that conservative 9-percent estimate. Increasing your conversion rates (or even open rates) by 9 percent with each e-mail drop can have a huge impact on your long-term ROI.
A/B testing will continue to surprise you. You’ll often find your favorites doing terribly, and the ones you scoffed at quadrupling the open rate. Failure isn’t failure here; it’s just learning. And it can pay off.
Once the winning subject line is chosen, use it for the major send a few hours later.
3. Personalize the subject line
Subject lines containing the first name of the subscriber always perform better than e-mails without. You can also include other subscriber details such as special offers, purchase history or products of interest. Include other names that recipients would recognize, like the name of your company or an editor’s personal name. Personalized subject lines can help increase open rates up to 64 percent; don’t miss out on an easy addition.
4. Urgency elicits action
Setting a deadline in your subject line can help increase open rates. Short-term promotional offer? Set it up in a series of planned e-mail drops. On Tuesday, tell your recipients they only have four days left. On Thursday follow up with, “Only 24 hours left.” You’ll find that action increases as the deadline approaches.
5. Avoid the spam filter
Avoid the use of terms like FREE!!!, Save $, Lowest Prices, URGENT!, Double Your Sales, !!!, ***, $$$ or all the spammy words you get in the subject line of e-mails that land in your inbox or spam folder. Not only are they red flags to spam filters, they’ll tip your recipients off that there’s nothing of value for them in your e-mail.
6. Don your press hat
Want to write better subject lines? Pick up a newspaper. Newspaper headlines do a great job of highlighting the most important part of a story in a limited number of characters. Newspaper headline writers have years of experience of summarizing their articles (your newsletter content) in a compelling manner.
7. Question your subject line
Ask yourself the following questions about your e-mail before hitting send.
- What benefit does this subject line infer? Does the e-mail follow through on that promise?
- Will the e-mail save the reader money? How is that reflected in the subject line?
- Will the e-mail improve readers' lives? How is that reflected in the subject line?
8. Put as much relevant information into your subject line as possible
Sending an offer e-mail? Including both the offer details and the product name can help your open rates. If your recipients can trust that the subject lines accurately reflect your content, they’ll continue to open at higher rates than if they feel tricked. That said, you still want to keep an eye on your character limit.
9. Be concise
Leave out unnecessary words. Evaluate greetings to make sure they are needed. By leaving out articles, adjectives and adverbs, you clearly tell the recipient what action to take. Raising curiosity while promising a benefit is a great place to start.
Of course the best thing you can do for your subject line is to always include great, valuable content in your e-mail.
What's the best subject line you've seen lately? Share it in the comments!
American Express OPEN offers YourBuzz, a free app that can help you manage your online reputation and connect with customers via social media. For more information or to start, visit YourBuzz.com/freeapp.
social media marketing website development web hosting seo experts search engine marketing
Manager of Social Media Marketing / ANSYS, Inc. / Canonsburg, PA
ANSYS, Inc./Canonsburg, PA
Company Information
About ANSYS, Inc.
Who We Are
Founded in 1970, ANSYS employs over 1,700 employees, and many of them are engineers with advanced degrees and extensive training in fields such as finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics and design optimization. ANSYS is passionate about pushing the limits of its world-class technology, so our customers can turn their design concepts into successful, innovative products.
What We Do
ANSYS develops, markets, and supports engineering simulation software used to predict how product designs will behave and how manufacturing processes will operate in real-world environments. The company continually advances simulation solutions by, first, developing or acquiring the very best technology; then integrating it into a unified and customizable simulation platform that allows engineers to efficiently perform complex simulations involving the interaction of multiple physics; and, finally, providing system services to manage simulation processes and data �?? all so engineers and product developers can spend more time designing and improving products and less time using software and searching for data.
Where We Are
ANSYS is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and has more than 60 strategic sales locations throughout the world. In addition, ANSYS enlists a network of channel partners in more than 40 countries. Together the company fosters close partnerships with customers and provides local value-added service and support.
Job Description
Job Title: Manager of Social Media Marketing (#2457)
Reports To: Director of Marketing
Business Unit/Function: Corporate Marketing
Career Band:
Job Track:
Position Location: Canonsburg, PA
Number of Direct Reports: 0
FLSA Status: Exempt
Position Summary:
ANSYS is looking for a social media strategist to lead our global social and digital media efforts. We want a social media evangelist to drive positive online communications and safeguard our corporate brand through the various social media channels. This person will monitor, analyze and regularly engage in social media with respect to corporate issues and initiatives. He/she will also be expected to establish and maintain positive working relationships with key bloggers and social media influencers and proactively identify opportunities to strengthen ANSYS' corporate social media presence. The manager will develop an understanding of trends in social media and evolving online behavior and position the company to act on emerging marketplace and competitive trends to develop a social media engagement strategy.
Essential Job Functions/Accountabilities:
�?� Lead the search, development and execution of social media marketing projects to drive engagement and traffic to ANSYS assets. Responsible for viral marketing plan, engaging bloggers and driving word of mouth
�?� Create and roll out a formal social media policy for ANSYS. Monitor websites to ensure employee and partner adherence to policy
�?� Develop and implement an approval process for social media content\
�?� On a day-to-day basis, act as ANSYS' voice in the social media world. Drive the content across platforms. Monitor online conversations and, if necessary, respond appropriately to them
�?� Coordinate with internal subject matter experts to prepare content for posting on blogs, forums and other social media sites
�?� Work closely with the program leaders to ensure individual program messages are reaching the appropriate audiences in the most compelling ways
�?� Manage internal and work with internal stakeholders to make improvements to Google sites. Drive adoption by program leaders and employees/partners
�?� Study the competition's use of social media marketing and applies those learning to marketing plans and engagement tactics
�?� Direct social media marketing planning in a �??test and learn�? culture to positively impact future results. Leads strategic initiatives to test and potentially implement new ideas
�?� Educate the marketing organization on social media marketing trends. Provide strategic direction to employees on the impact of social media in the marketing process
�?� Ensures proper transfer of important media planning data and provides timely and accurate reports to key internal constituents.
Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:
�?� Education: Bachelor's degree in writing, marketing, journalism or related field
�?� At least 5 years of industry experience in a well-established, role with a proven track record of success
�?� At least 2 years of social media marketing experience, preferably in the B2B space
�?� Thorough experience with social media platforms and tracing programs
Apply To Job
Company Information
About ANSYS, Inc.
Who We Are
Founded in 1970, ANSYS employs over 1,700 employees, and many of them are engineers with advanced degrees and extensive training in fields such as finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics and design optimization. ANSYS is passionate about pushing the limits of its world-class technology, so our customers can turn their design concepts into successful, innovative products.
What We Do
ANSYS develops, markets, and supports engineering simulation software used to predict how product designs will behave and how manufacturing processes will operate in real-world environments. The company continually advances simulation solutions by, first, developing or acquiring the very best technology; then integrating it into a unified and customizable simulation platform that allows engineers to efficiently perform complex simulations involving the interaction of multiple physics; and, finally, providing system services to manage simulation processes and data �?? all so engineers and product developers can spend more time designing and improving products and less time using software and searching for data.
Where We Are
ANSYS is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and has more than 60 strategic sales locations throughout the world. In addition, ANSYS enlists a network of channel partners in more than 40 countries. Together the company fosters close partnerships with customers and provides local value-added service and support.
Job Description
Job Title: Manager of Social Media Marketing (#2457)
Reports To: Director of Marketing
Business Unit/Function: Corporate Marketing
Career Band:
Job Track:
Position Location: Canonsburg, PA
Number of Direct Reports: 0
FLSA Status: Exempt
Position Summary:
ANSYS is looking for a social media strategist to lead our global social and digital media efforts. We want a social media evangelist to drive positive online communications and safeguard our corporate brand through the various social media channels. This person will monitor, analyze and regularly engage in social media with respect to corporate issues and initiatives. He/she will also be expected to establish and maintain positive working relationships with key bloggers and social media influencers and proactively identify opportunities to strengthen ANSYS' corporate social media presence. The manager will develop an understanding of trends in social media and evolving online behavior and position the company to act on emerging marketplace and competitive trends to develop a social media engagement strategy.
Essential Job Functions/Accountabilities:
�?� Lead the search, development and execution of social media marketing projects to drive engagement and traffic to ANSYS assets. Responsible for viral marketing plan, engaging bloggers and driving word of mouth
�?� Create and roll out a formal social media policy for ANSYS. Monitor websites to ensure employee and partner adherence to policy
�?� Develop and implement an approval process for social media content\
�?� On a day-to-day basis, act as ANSYS' voice in the social media world. Drive the content across platforms. Monitor online conversations and, if necessary, respond appropriately to them
�?� Coordinate with internal subject matter experts to prepare content for posting on blogs, forums and other social media sites
�?� Work closely with the program leaders to ensure individual program messages are reaching the appropriate audiences in the most compelling ways
�?� Manage internal and work with internal stakeholders to make improvements to Google sites. Drive adoption by program leaders and employees/partners
�?� Study the competition's use of social media marketing and applies those learning to marketing plans and engagement tactics
�?� Direct social media marketing planning in a �??test and learn�? culture to positively impact future results. Leads strategic initiatives to test and potentially implement new ideas
�?� Educate the marketing organization on social media marketing trends. Provide strategic direction to employees on the impact of social media in the marketing process
�?� Ensures proper transfer of important media planning data and provides timely and accurate reports to key internal constituents.
Minimum Requirements/Qualifications:
�?� Education: Bachelor's degree in writing, marketing, journalism or related field
�?� At least 5 years of industry experience in a well-established, role with a proven track record of success
�?� At least 2 years of social media marketing experience, preferably in the B2B space
�?� Thorough experience with social media platforms and tracing programs
Apply To Job
search engine marketing sem experts search engine optimization internet marketing online marketing
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Marketing Malpractice and How To Avoid It
While malpractice is a concept traditionally used in the legal and medical fields, it is one that can readily be transferred to the marketing industry. While applicable to the field in general, Marketing Malpractice in New Media is of particular interest due to the constant expansion of the field, and the loose (and often non-existent) standards of professionalism that are common to cutting edge industries of new media, web development, and internet marketing.
Over the past few years I have had the opportunity (and occasionally misfortune) to collaborate with a variety of professional service providers. These individuals (and the associated organizations) each have had their unique processes for enrolling and engaging with clients, and it has been very informative to see how different companies distinguish themselves in terms of professionalism. These observations have been invaluable to the ongoing development of our professional SEO company. In some cases, partners and associates have provided a standard of excellence to which we can aspire. In others, these (short term) relationships have provided horrible examples of what NOT to do.
The majority of Marketing Malpractice comes not from maliciousness or any intent to deceive, but from a particular form of cognitive bias referred to as the Dunning-Kruger effect. The basic notion is that people frequently make poor or erroneous decisions due to incompetence, but that very incompetence robs them of the ability to realize the error (even in hindsight). The hypothesis is as followed:
- Incompetent individuals tend to overestimate their own level of skill.
- Incompetent individuals fail to recognize genuine skill in others.
- Incompetent individuals fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy.
- If they can be trained to substantially improve their own skill level, these individuals can recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill.
The resulting studies concluded that incompetence resulted in a grossly inflated view of one's ability, and without the development of actual skill or ability, one's incompetence could not be recognized. It is my belief (and strangely, faith) that this phenomenon is where the majority of professional negligence stems from. However unintended, ignorance should be no excuse.
Understanding Malpractice
The term Malpractice is loosely defined as the failure of a professional to follow generally accepted professional standards, and that breach of duty results in injury or damages to an individual or entity. While there is no professional standard of conduct in the marketing industry, that doesn't absolve marketing firms from holding themselves (and each other) to a standard of professionalism.
For the sake of conversation, lets borrow some terminology from the legal field to draw parallels.
Negligence
Negligence is not the same as carelessness, because someone might be exercising as much care as possible, but still fall sort of the competence expected of them. Negligence is when the actions of an individual fall short of what a reasonable person would do, in a similar position, to protect another individual from foreseeable harm.
Professional Negligence
Professional negligence is when one has represented him or herself as having more than average skills and abilities, but doesn't live up to even the standards of an average individual (referred to as a "reasonable person"). This is an interesting concept, as many professionals are assumed to overstate their ability so have to be held to a different standard depending on the situation. Interestingly enough, a professional who overstates their abilities to an absurd level is engaging in Puffery, making claims that a reasonable person should not take literally (also known as "its your fault for believing me").
Due Diligence
Due Diligence is the performance of an investigation of a business or person prior to signing of a contract or entering a relationship. A common example of due diligence is the process through which an employer will hire and screen applicants through investigating work history and contacting references, rather than just taking them at face value.
Loss of Chance
Loss of chance is an issue of causation where the negligence of a professional deprives a client of the opportunity to obtain a benefit or avoid a loss. In the medical field, failure to diagnose a disease resulting in a terminal illness that could have been prevented is constituted as a loss of chance. While the specifics of these issues can be a bit thorny, it seems easy to imagine how they might apply to common practices.
Examples of Marketing Malpractice
Negligence in Identity and Branding
In the medical world, when physicians operate on their patients prior to performing a thorough diagnostic, it's called malpractice. Selling a client a "logo" without any strategy to back it up is just as negligent as a surgeon who removes their patient's appendix without a CT scan or even much of a consult.
Company A spends $25,000 on a new identity and marketing plan. Excited about the project (and the paycheck) the firm responsible then develops a memorable brand, a cool logo, and a strategic marketing plan. However, there remains critical conversations regarding due diligence as it pertains to identity and strategy. Has market research been conducted to identify target customers or "personas" to assure the messages being broadcast are on target? Has there been a conversation about content development and copyright? Has the client been informed on how its identity can be protected from infringement (intentional or otherwise) in the future?
While your marketing agency is not necessarily required to provide legal advice (nor should it), not making the effort to protect the client's interest is unacceptable. Elements such as graphical mark, company name, domain name and slogan are elements that can incur litigation if the appropriate research is not conducted. As a client, you have the right to waive due diligence, but your marketing company does not have the right to neglect it. The absence of this conversation, while an understandable oversight in a pre-adolescent start-up, is unforgivable when it occurs in a seemingly mature, professional organization.
This type of negligence creates a bad name for designers, marketers and brand firms everywhere. Worse yet, it causes well-intentioned clients to form misinformed opinions that "Branding is a waste of money." Or worse yet, "Branding doesn't work."
Solid marketing strategy requires a holistic, intentional approach.
A holistic branding exercise--the kind of exercise we're advocating here--requires both the client and the branding firm to commit to a thorough diagnostic process.
The diagnosis can come in many forms. Often it's initiated by some sort of discovery process. Sometimes this process includes a series of interviews with the organization's leadership, management, internal stake-holders, clients, vendors, and sometimes even past clients. Other times it's a series of exercises with the internal marketing team, envisioning the future state of the organization, and finding which initiatives are the most advanced, and which are the most hollow. But in any case, this diagnosis almost always includes some type of audit or snapshot of everything the organization touches. It's a way of determining where the process started from, and to better determine which direction to head. In some ways, it's a type of SWOT test, pointing out the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to the brand as a whole.
And as an added benefit, when used as a part of a before and after, the brand audit can also help demonstrate ROI by showing where the branding exercise helped improve systems, and close gaps.
Negligence in Web Design & Internet Marketing
As a professional search marketing company, we believe the purpose of a website is accessibility. Whether it be current clients, prospective customers, potential partners or industry opportunities, a website is built to convey information and create connections. At its most basic level, accessibility is about meeting the customer where they are (pull marketing), rather than forcing them to come to you (push marketing).
Browser compliance is the most elemental form of web accessibility. Is your site compliant for Internet Explorer? Versions 6,7 and 8? Firefox? Chrome? What about mobile browsers? Worldwide, more people access the web from portable devices than desktop machines. Are you using Flash? Are you aware that Flash is largely inaccessible from the majority of mobile devices?
Online consumer research has provided robust evidence regarding contemporary consumer behavior.
- Over half of consumers considering a purchase begin their purchasing cycle online
- Most consumers use the internet at some point in the purchasing cycle
- search engines are the primary tool consumers use to navigate the web
To begin a conversation about web development for lead generation without specifically considering the psychology of search marketing is a grossly negligent practice. For many development companies, SEO is beyond the area of expertise, and requires a search marketing firm with which to partner (which makes some agencies uncomfortable, as they may operate from a scarcity mentality). Some development companies claim to provide SEO services, but offer only internal factor optimization, which accounts for about 20% of search engine success. (It is important to note that internal optimization is a CRITICAL 20%. Internal factor optimization is an engineering practice that is far more than installing a WordPress plugin or changing some title tags.) To leave optimization out of the design process is to ignore the majority, and to handicap a client's efforts online. This is one of the most common examples of "loss of chance" in New Media today.
Conclusion
As there is no widely accepted standard of professionalism in the marketing and new media industry, holding professionals to a particular standard is challenging for both associated professionals and the general consumer. What is more reasonable to expect (or at least hope for) is for consumers and professionals to hold themselves and each other accountable through relationships and dialogue. As professionals, we should have the courage and decency to be honest with one another when less-than-professional behavior occurs, and also compassionate enough to forgive the mistakes that lead to growth and change. With our clients, we should also be honest in what we can and cannot deliver (and be held accountable for). A good attorney will tell you that the true value of a contract is shared understanding and mutual expectations between two parties, and not as a back-up weapon when things go wrong.
Source: http://www.deepripples.com/blog/marketing-malpractice-and-how-to-avoid-it
search engine search marketing web 2.0 experts backlink building website promotion
3 Ways To Protect Your Business' Identity On Twitter
From Christina Warren:
Small and medium business owners are increasingly turning to Twitter as a tool to engage with customers, offer support and market their products and services. Twitter even has a dedicated landing page for businesses, including tips and tricks on getting started with the service, various advertising opportunities and case studies.
Protecting identity and reputation are essential for a small business, especially online. Although Twitter isn't currently offering small business users a way to verify their accounts, there are still things business owners can do to give their accounts better visibility and make it clear that they are official.
1. Link your accounts and profiles
Twitter's username policy does not allow users to reserve a username—it's first come, first serve. As a result, business owners who have a more generic company name might find that the desired Twitter handle is already taken. That's not the end of the world, in fact, it can be an opportunity to better distinguish your brand or business, especially if the business name is more common.
Additionally, users can add a URL to their Twitter profile pointing to their business website and add links on their business site to their official Twitter account. Noting "official Twitter account for Business Name" in your Twitter biography can also make the account's identity more clear.
Likewise, if you have a verified page on Facebook, Foursquare or Google Places, you can add links to your Twitter account on those services, too.
2. Protect your trademark and logos
For small business owners who hold the trademarks over a business name, Twitter has a more nuanced policy.
If I own the trademark for "Cafe Christina" and a Twitter account for @cafe_christina or @cafechristina is causing intentional or unintentional confusion with my business, Twitter might be able to help.
If another Twitter account in question is using your trademark or logo in a way that is trying to confuse others, users can submit a help ticket requesting help. Twitter will look at the situation, and if it finds that the other party is trying to mislead, it may suspend that user (and grant you ownership of the account).
If the account is confusing to users, but isn't intended to mislead, Twitter will give the account holder the opportunity to work things out and may ultimately release the username to the trademark holder.
Remember, if someone is using a name you have trademarked in a way that has nothing to do with your product or service, Twitter is not obligated to intervene.
3. Customize your profile
Small businesses can make their business affiliation even more clear by customizing their Twitter profile to match their branding, logo, and color scheme.
pay per click ppc experts social media social networking social media marketing
Debts Amount You Must Have To Apply With A Debt Consolidation Agency
Internet Marketing Articles Sponsored by Moe Tamani, the Website Marketing Consultant
When applying with a debt consolidation agency how much debt do you need to have accumulated to qualify? Well really the answer depends on you and the agency in which you are applying for To better understand what we are saying we are going to inform you exactly what a consolidation loan is and how it can help you
What is a consolidation loan?
A consolidation loan is a program provided by a company which helps its clients with many overdue debts, take all of these debts and spin them around into one simple debt, with easy affordable monthly payments
How does a consolidation process run?
Typically in a consolidation process a company will have a one on one meeting with the client who is interested in a consolidation loan The company will assess the total amount of debt which the client is under between all companies in which they are in debt to, and then the consolidator will total up this amount as the amount needed for the total loan If the company requires only secured loans be taken out, then the consolidator will need the client to sign over a personal asset in equal or greater value to the loan taken out to ensure payment will be returned one way or another This form of collateral is usually but not always required to be a car, home, or some form of personal property with a title of ownership
After the loan is taken out, the consolidator will use the total loan taken, the clients monthly salary, and the average monthly living costs of a family to create a monthly payment plan in which the loan will be slowly returned to the company by the client, which is cheap enough to where the client can continue living a comfortable life without the risk of future debt
How much debt does a client need to qualify for consolidation?
The minimum amount of debt is not necessarily the restrictions which prevent someone from getting a consolidation loan; this form of loan tends to more steer towards customers with many different debts with different companies As long as the client has overdue bills with more than one company in a significant manor, they will more than likely qualify for consolidation
Source:
Debts Amount You Must Have To Apply With A Debt Consolidation Agency
Article By:
Angelina Bowling
When applying with a debt consolidation agency how much debt do you need to have accumulated to qualify? Well really the answer depends on you and the agency in which you are applying for To better understand what we are saying we are going to inform you exactly what a consolidation loan is and how it can help you
What is a consolidation loan?
A consolidation loan is a program provided by a company which helps its clients with many overdue debts, take all of these debts and spin them around into one simple debt, with easy affordable monthly payments
How does a consolidation process run?
Typically in a consolidation process a company will have a one on one meeting with the client who is interested in a consolidation loan The company will assess the total amount of debt which the client is under between all companies in which they are in debt to, and then the consolidator will total up this amount as the amount needed for the total loan If the company requires only secured loans be taken out, then the consolidator will need the client to sign over a personal asset in equal or greater value to the loan taken out to ensure payment will be returned one way or another This form of collateral is usually but not always required to be a car, home, or some form of personal property with a title of ownership
After the loan is taken out, the consolidator will use the total loan taken, the clients monthly salary, and the average monthly living costs of a family to create a monthly payment plan in which the loan will be slowly returned to the company by the client, which is cheap enough to where the client can continue living a comfortable life without the risk of future debt
How much debt does a client need to qualify for consolidation?
The minimum amount of debt is not necessarily the restrictions which prevent someone from getting a consolidation loan; this form of loan tends to more steer towards customers with many different debts with different companies As long as the client has overdue bills with more than one company in a significant manor, they will more than likely qualify for consolidation
Source:
Debts Amount You Must Have To Apply With A Debt Consolidation Agency
Article By:
Angelina Bowling
internet marketing online marketing website optimization improve google rankings search engine
26 Practical DIY Marketing Strategies To Use When Sales Are Declining
From Ivana Taylor:
It’s not always the economy, and you’re not stupid. The marketing process is a lot like the laws of physics, for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. The trouble with sales is that there are so many variables, that it’s hard to pinpoint where the problem is so that you can fix it.
The following is a list of 26 DIY Marketing strategies that you can try to build your sales back up to where they need to be.
1. Customer research
Although it’s tempting to jump in and try to do anything, take the time to ask your customers what’s important to them and what other alternatives they are considering to solve their problems. Check out online survey tools like QuestionPro and SurveyMonkey.
2. Offer different sizes at different prices
Rafi Mohamed, pricing expert and author of 1% Windfall, says that people will buy at price points that are appealing to them—assuming they have a need or interest in your product. Give your customers the opportunity to try and buy.
3. Add new products
Consider the possibility of your customers wanting something else. Do your research and check your profit margins before you expand your product lines.
4. Drop unprofitable products
Profitability is more important than sales. Evaluate your product lines and drop products that aren’t passing profit muster. Another option is to raise prices on products that are unprofitable.
5. Bundle products
McDonald’s is king of the bundle. Create a value offer that moves products at good margins and gives customers great value.
6. Find new markets
This is a favorite strategy. Look for emerging markets that have a need for your product or capability. Open your mind and ask “what if” or “in what ways” questions to see how to penetrate more profitable markets.
7. Provide home delivery or offer monthly delivery
Combine a distribution strategy with a subscription model to create repeat sales.
8. Develop new, more varied uses for your product
We wouldn’t know that there were millions of uses for baking soda if Arm and Hammer didn’t pull them together and advertise them.
9. Change the name to reflect new market
If you’re launching into a new market, change the name of your product to better reflect the benefits your product provides.
10. Test higher and lower prices in different markets
You don’t have to charge the same price in the same market. Different markets have different needs, charge accordingly .
11. Try different distribution channels
Distribution means being within arm’s reach of your customer and their wallet. Think of the different ways you can do that; e-mail, direct marketing, catalog, direct sales, kiosk, manufacturers rep. The possibilities are endless.
12. Try new sales incentives and commission structures
Sales people spend effort where they will make the most money. Take a close look at your commission structure and make sure that you are rewarding sales people for profitable sales.
13. Change how you sell
Don’t just assume your current sales strategy is optimal. Consider using affiliates, partners, home parties, catalogs, Internet, etc.
14. Change or adjust your sales process or system
Your sales process might be out-dated. Take the time to explore new strategies such as Craig Elias’, Trigger Events or Jill Konrath’s SNAP Selling.
15. Develop or focus on lead generation program
Where are your leads coming from and are they good leads? Take a good hard look at your conversions from trade shows, websites, etc. and start optimizing all of them to attract your ideal customer. For help, check out HubSpot—they are masters of inbound marketing.
16. Develop a personal follow-up program
Most sales are lost because our follow-up systems stink. Map out your sales process and develop a follow-up system that touches your customer at least 7-10 times. For help, visit Constant Contact, aWeber, InfusionSoft and the new Nimble.
17. Provide free troubleshooting
Don’t sell and run, help your customers by providing them help in using and loving your product or service.
18. Build a customer/user community
Don’t forget the power of social media. Create a customer community using a Facebook page or Twitter—these tools aren’t just for big companies or consumer groups. If social media isn’t your thing, create a customer community using the SurveySwipe mobile survey platform and ask your community questions.
19. Institute a referral program
Word of mouth is powerful, so create a referral system that rewards fans of your company or product.
20. Use QR codes to drive customers to coupons
Research shows that customers love grabbing coupons from their mobile devices. Use QR codes to reward them for buying.
21. Create a video couponing page
Groupon has gotten mixed reviews for small business, but Video Coupons are a whole new ball game. Customers love video and remember twice as much as ads they see on TV, and Video coupons are inexpensive and easy to do.
22. Offer financing or multiple payment plan
QVC already knows that customers will buy more and spend more if you offer a payment plan. Remember customers love to buy in increments of $20. So make your monthly prices $19.99, $39.99, etc.
23. Volume discounts or bundle discounts
Reward your customers for buying more items more frequently.
24. Establish a customer club
Even restaurants can have a customer club. Charge a monthly fee to receive coupons, free gifts and invites to special events.
25. Develop a contest to build leads, communities and excitement
Contests build community and customers. Use powerful social media tools to manage yours. There’s even an online app to help you create and manage contests: Wildfire.
26. Direct marketing to target customers
Three-dimensional, snail mail marketing is still extremely effective. Select a target group of customers and send them special offers.
And there you have it. This list is long but not even a sliver of the possibilities that are available to you. Look at declining sales as a signal that it’s time to change it up and use this list to get you started.
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