Archive for the 'Tips' Category

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Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week May 10 2010

Published on May 15, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Best Internet MarketingThe iClick Solutions internet marketing team dedicates countless hours reading internet marketing news, updates and using all this knowledge to create innovative ideas for our clients each and every day.

Each week we are going to highlight the best internet marketing news that we have seen you may have missed and should read.  Makes sure to subscribe to iClick Solutions RSS, via email on the right sidebar and / or connect with us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on these weekly internet marketing updates and learn how to leverage internet marketing and social media to connect with your customer online.

For the week of Monday, May 10, 2010 here are iClick Solutions Best Internet Marketing winners that you want to make sure you read:

  1. Facebook Privacy Settings: How To Fix Your Profile In 2 Minutes (VIDEO) – In light of recent changes, Facebook privacy settings these days can be a hassle. To exert full control over your privacy on Facebook, you have to navigate through 50 settings with more than 170 options. All of the settings can be mind-boggling, unless you know where to go for the most important fixes.
  2. HOW TO: Get Notified When Someone Hacks Your Facebook – Facebook just announced a tool that notifies you by e-mail or SMS text message when someone logs into your Facebook profile from an unknown computer. The idea is to help you recognize when a hacker has broken into your account so you can respond quickly by either changing your password (if that’s still possible) or contacting Facebook.
  3. 7 Tips to Boost Your Blog’s Credibility – How can you improve blog credibility? In a world full of scams and false promises, there’s an increasing need to be more credible in today’s online atmosphere. This article will go over 7 quick tips to help you build and maintain a good credibility standing among your readers.
  4. 6 Steps That Get Big Shots to Answer Your Email – You need to get the attention of a powerful internet marketer, A-list blogger, or busy CEO. Maybe you’ve got a brilliant idea for a joint venture that would make you both scads of money. Or maybe you just wrote a brilliant guest post that a certain top blogger’s audience will love.
  5. Does Social Media Success Only Come with Deals? – Patricio Robles of eConsultancy takes a look at the success of some recent social media campaigns—and the results aren’t exactly as inspiring as they might seem at first glance. For example, he looks at a recent JetBlue campaign on Facebook, where they saw a “massive” response (in ClickZ’s words). But the biggest challenge facing that campaign wasn’t getting people to fork out the bucks for discount plane tickets—it was getting them to believe the $10 fares were for real.

If you have any thoughts regarding above articles please share below.  Also, if you have a suggestion for topics you want us to focus on with next week’s best internet marketing tips please Contact Us and let us know.  We would love to hear from you.

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How To Twitter Search

Published on May 14, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

How To Twitter SearchYesterday we spent some time with a client explaining the benefits of Twitter, finalizing their objectives on why and how to use Twitter, how to best use Twitter to connect with their customers, and train them on How to Twitter Search to find interesting people to follow.

For those new to Twitter, it is a great social marketing tool that can help you engage with customers, follow hot trends in your industry, breaking news, asking questions, and learn from people you admire. There are few social networking platforms that can match Twitters capacity for real-time, person-to-person communication.

In this blog post we wanted to share a few of those Twitter Search tips to help you get started following interesting people. First, there are 4 main reasons why you should leverage Twitter Search for your business:

  1. Find good people to follow, especially for new users, can be a bit challenging
  2. Stay on top of industry buzz and hot trends
  3. Learn about your competitors and what people are saying about them
  4. Listen to your customers, monitor the sentiment about your brand and address any issues you uncover

Second, before we get into it How To Twitter Search check out this video from Common Craft, who are known for creating great videos to explain complex topics such as Twitter Search.  They did a great job at covering the basics on How To Twitter Search:

Last, but not least, there are about 18 different ways to use search operators on Twitter search; however, we have found only 10 of the Twitter Search Operators to be beneficial.

So now that you have our recommendations on How To Twitter Search get started by visiting http://search.twitter.com.  Oh, of course, make sure you follow iClick Solutions on Twitter and we look forward to your tweets.

In the comment area below please share your Twitter ID and let us know a brief overview what you tweet about so others can follow you.  Hope the above How To Twitter Search tips were helpful.

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Prosthodontist Does What?

Published on May 12, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Prosthodontist In PhoenixRecently we met with a Prosthodontist in Phoenix who was looking for help with his website search engine rankings.

His site has been live for over 2 years and his search traffic was extremely low.  He let us know he paid another Phoenix search engine marketing (SEM) firm a good size budget but was really frustrated how poor the ROI was.

With his approval we wanted to share this story as it will be helpful to other business owners who are either just getting started with search engine marketing or are scratching their heads wondering why their search traffic is so low.  We hope this story will prevent this same issue from happening to you.

An important part of the story is answering the blog post question. We knew that a prosthodontist was some kind of dentist but thought it would be smart to understand exact definition before we headed into our initial meeting to help this client. We are brilliant, huh?

Anyway, a Prosthodontist (per wikipedia) specializes in the cosmetic restoration and replacement of teeth that have been lost or damaged due to disease or injury. A prosthodontist can cosmetically restore the look and function of these damaged or missing teeth.

Pretty Smile TeethNow that we understood what kind of services this Prosthodontist in Phoenix offered to his dental clients creating the strategy around how to optimize his site made the process much easier.  We started out with a high level search engine optimization (SEO) audit of his prosthodontist website. When considering hiring an SEO firm make sure the first step they propose is an SEO audit of your website.  This should uncover any obstacles preventing your site from achieving search engine rankings and what opportunities you have for connecting with prospective customers and beating out the competition.   Our team had to spend only 45 minutes looking at his website and reviewing his search traffic and keywords from his website analytic tool to figure out what his issues were and what needed to be fixed.

The prior SEO firm did what he asked and did an okay job with their on-site search engine optimization. This prosthodontist wanted to be found online with search engines for his business name and that is exactly what they did.  This is where we uncovered the problem and where the story got interesting (so hopefully you are still with us).

The prior SEO firm did not think about the customer and optimized the website for his business name, his own name, and phrases such as Prosthodontist in Phoenix.  The ranking positions were very good (as they should be) for his business name and his own name and ok for the word Prosthodontist (3rd page out of 245,000 results).  Not many people go past page 1 so 3rd page results is not ideal; however, it is not horrible either. So you are probably scratching your head wondering what the issue is if he was getting some ranking positions.  Well let us tell you what his SEO firm should have done with these 2 search engine optimization critical steps when optimizing your website:

1) Wear Your Customer Shoes – When optimizing your website for search engines make sure you think about your customer, what words they would use to describe your service, and how they search online.  The problem we ran into with not understanding the definition of a Prosthodontist is probably a similar problem other prospective patients would have.  Ask your customers to define your business and the types of search phrases they would use online.

2) Keyword Research – There are so many amazing free tools online to research, such as Google Keyword Suggestion Tool, to determine what keywords are smart to optimize for.  After completing step 1 and creating your search engine keyword list review that list against the Google Keyword Suggestion Tool. Let us know if we can assist you with this step.  Our team found that many more people were searching online for cosmetic dentist not Prosthodontist.

For this client we thought showing him some high level keyword research during our 1st meeting would help demonstrate his issue:

Prosthodontist Keyword ResearchAs you can see in the above example, if we were to focus on the customer who searches for words, such as cosmetic dentist, when optimizing his website his opportunity significantly increases with search volume.  As above shows only 22,000 searches a month for the search phrase “Prosthodontist” where “Cosmetic Dentist” has over 300,000 searches a month.  At this point in the meeting the light bulb went off and he was practically jumping out of his seat and wanting to turn over the website to our team.  We then took the education to the next level and made him understand our strategy.  Yes, cosmetic dentist phrase would be awesome to get results for; however, it is a very competitive national phrase.

We explained what long tail search is and showed him geo modified phrases such as cosmetic dentist in phoenix or find cosmetic dentist phoenix examples.  Yes, these phrases had lower search volume; however, they were less competitive to go after, collectively they generated more search volume, and the conversion rate would be much higher since they were so geographically targeted.  Because most people want to use services locally unless it is for a very specialized service such as heart transplant surgery make sure your keyword list includes local search.

So either you landed on this post because you were searching online trying to find the definition for what a Prosthodontist does or even better you were looking for assistance with your website search engine optimization.  Either way we hope you found this helpful.  Please share below any other ideas or questions you have.

If you need any assistance with your search engine optimization services please don’t hesitate to contact us.  Hopefully with our next client we will understand what your business does without needing to rely on Wikipedia.

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Blog Topic Ideas – 5 Ideas To Create Great Blog Topic

Published on May 10, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Blog Topic IdeasA question we get often from clients is “what advice do you have on creating blog topics ideas?” We are often asked how do we get ideas for blog posts? How do you create original blog content rather than copying from others blog or websites?

At the end of the day we always respond with write stuff that people want to read and share and that you are passionate about.  Keeping your blog updated each week is hard enough with other business tasks so making this a check list to do item will become boring very soon.  If you are passionate about the topic it will actually be fun.

We have seen many clients start up their blog and then after a few weeks stop.  That is almost worse than not having a blog at all.  How often do you land on a blog and the last post was from 3 or more months ago and you decide to leave?  Research shows that more people are reading blogs (over 346 million per comScore) and those blog readers expect your company to have a social media presence, and blogs influence their purchasing decisions.  If you are not keeping your blog current your current and prospective customers will go elsewhere to make purchase decisions.

Before we get into our 5 Ideas To Create That Great Blog Topic we wanted to address the who part of keeping your blog content fresh.  Below are 4 options you have when planning out who is going to write on your blog.  Don’t feel like you have to pick just one option as you can definitely mix and match that best serves your business needs:

  • Write it Yourself – If you are passionate about your blog topic this is definitely the way to go.
  • Form a Partnership – Consider recruiting others who you can trust.
  • Outsource or Hire a Team – making someone accountable to your blog will definitely ensure it is kept updated but of course there is extra expense to this option.
  • Give Your Employees A Voice – Ask around your office and see if you have that hidden blogger ready, willing and able to share their thoughts and opinions.

After you decide who is going to maintain your blog and how often you/they are going to write you may find you need help on blog topic ideas (trust us you eventually may run into writers block).

Here are 5 ideas on how to generate blog topics that will help get the creative juices flowing for your own blog:

  1. Keyword Suggestion Tools – Start  by checking out the most popular terms and phrases in your niche.  All you need to do then is to convert these terms to great article topics.  A great tool to use is Google Keyword Suggestion Tool
  2. Website Analytics – If you are taking advantage (and you should be) of analytic tools such as Google Analytics make sure you are checking what keywords are driving traffic to your website.  An even more creative idea is to look at your site search keywords.  If you’re website has a search feature on it, reviewing the keywords visitors are searching on your site is a great blog topic generator.
  3. Leverage RSS Feeds – We are not suggesting you copy other blog posts; however, reviewing other bloggers content can and will generate ideas.  Tools such as Google Reader gives you the ability to quickly scan your favorite bloggers.
  4. Ask Your Customers -  Simply ask your customers for their topic requests and suggestions. This is also a very creative way to generate buzz.  For example, a recent blogger decided to rename her monthly newsletter and created a contest looking for suggestions not only on the newsletter name but also content for her blog.
  5. Opinions / Reviews – Everyday you are consuming so why not share your thoughts and opinions about your passions on your blog. Ideally write about reviews on products or services that apply to your business or your customers.  For example, if you are writing a blog on sales why not write a blog post reviewing your preferred contact management software.  You can also share recommendations on a recent book you read that your blog visitors would enjoy.

Share with us your thoughts on the above 5 ideas on how to generate blog topics.  What other ideas do you have on how to create that great blog post that people want to read and share?

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Best Internet Marketing News Of The Week May 3 2010

Published on May 8, 2010 by iClick Solutions. View Comments

Best Internet MarketingThe internet marketing team at iClick Solutions spend countless hours reading internet marketing news, updates and using all this knowledge to create innovative ideas for our clients.

Each week we are going to highlight the best internet marketing news that we have seen you will not want to miss.  Makes sure to subscribe to iClick Solutions RSS, via email on the right sidebar and / or connect with us on Facebook so you don’t miss out on these weekly updates and learn how to leverage internet marketing and social media to connect with your customer online.

For the week of Monday, May 3, 2010 here are iClick Solutions Best Internet Marketing winners that you want to make sure you read:

1. Which is Better for Online Marketing? Facebook or Twitter? – Well, according to SearchEngineJournal.com, it’s Facebook. Some other experts disagree. According to a Chadwick Martin Bailey, Twitter was more hip back in 2008, when it was smaller. In fact, a chart shows that the microblogging network actually stagnated in the second half of 2009. Comparing keyphrases like “Twitter marketing” and “Facebook marketing,” it’s plain to see that there is much more interest in the latter than the former, despite the fact that most corporate discourse with regards to online marketing is focused on Twitter, and not Facebook.

2. Google Search Gets a Major Overhaul – After months of testing and speculation, Google is finally releasing the next edition of Google search to the public, complete with a left-hand menu bar and even an update to the well-known Google logo.

3. Facebook Chat Down for Maintenance Following Privacy Lapse – The feature was presumably disabled following a report that exposed a Facebook security bug that allowed users to access and view friends’ live chats, friend requests and friends in common.

4. McDonald’s to Use Facebook’s Upcoming Location Feature – Facebook is preparing to launch location-based status updates for its users. But the social network is also planning to offer it to marketers, including McDonald’s.

5. When to Respond to Negative Buzz – Denise Zimmerman, President and Chief Strategy Officer of NetPlus Marketing Inc. is a 25-year marketing veteran. Denise Zimmerman has spent the past 18 years focusing on the digital landscape and best-practice applications in marketing, advertising and communications. She spoke with eMarketer Senior Analyst Jeffrey Grau about the options retailers have in responding to negative buzz on social media sites.

6. Apple Has Sold 1 Million iPads – Apple has officially confirmed it has sold 1 million iPads. The company sold its one millionth iPad on Friday, April 30, just 28 days after the device’s release.

7. Website Speed Now A Ranking Factor - Last year, Google had mentioned that eventually site speed would become a factor in how they rank sites in their algorithm. Well the time is here because Google officially announced it. However be smart, don’t sacrifice relevance and quality for speed because even Google says it will have little impact.

If you have any thoughts regarding above articles please share below.  Also, if you have a suggestion for next week’s best internet marketing tips please Contact Us.

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