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Business Blogging Conference: Rochester, NY September 25

Doug Williams @ 5:35 am

This blog entry was posted on August 31, 2008.

The eBusiness Association of Rochester, NY is putting on an all day business blogging conference on September 25, 2008. Registration is only $99 and includes a copy of the book Biz Blog Marketing by Doug Williams. The event is cosponsored with the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association and Association for Women in Computing.

This blogging seminar / blogging workshop will break down the basics of the blog—the benefits, content, approach, etiquette, legal issues and provide the tools to better navigate your way. Whether you’re a novice or a familiar “voice” in the blogosphere, you’ll learn what works and how it works from a diverse group of experts who’ve been around blogging for quite some time.

Speakers include:

  1. Doug Williams, Business Consultant, Internet Marketing Specialist will speak about “Business Blog Marketing.”
  2. Yvonne DiVita, Business Writer, Publisher, Multiple Blog Author will speak about “Google Juice or Why People Think BLOG Means Better Listing On Google.”
  3. Adam Christensen, IBM Corporate Blogger will speak about “Web 2.0 in a Global Enterprise.”
  4. Deborah Colton, Assistant Professor of Marketing/International Business, Rochester Institute of Technology will speak about “Corporate Blogging Tactics.”
  5. Jessica Murray, Partner in Boylan, Brown’s Business & Corporate and Intellectual Property & Technology Practice Groups will speak about “Making Legal Happy: Minimizing the Risks of Corporate Blogging.”
  6. Peter Burris, Principal Analyst and Research Director, Forrester Research will speak about “Blogs: A Key Spoke in the Community Marketing Wheel.”

Registration is $99 and can be done online on the eBusiness Association website. The event venue limits this to 200 attendees.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Why B2B Blogging is Failing

Doug Williams @ 5:26 am

This blog entry was posted on August 29, 2008.

A Forrester Research report shows that the number of new B2B Blogs fell sharply in 2007 when compared to 2006. This was because of low results and greater than expected effort. But this doesn’t mean B2B blogging doesn’t work, it means the way B2B blogging is being done isn’t working.

According to Forrester Research, the problem is that B2B corporate blogs failed to energize their intended audience and they read like “tired, warmed-over press releases.”

So what are the answers to make these corporate blogs successful? The answer is simply to give the readers information and opinions that they want to read, written in an exciting and energetic style.

  1. Topic: Choose subjects that interest or fascinate your targeted reader. What information is your targeted customer searching for? Stay with leading edge, latest news and current trends. What does the future hold?
  2. Passion: For successful B2B blogging, businesses need to “hire smart, passionate people.” These should be people who love their jobs, are proud of what they do and be allowed to blog with contagious enthusiasm.
  3. Style: Write in a way that intrigues and engages the reader. Be mysterious with posting titles so that you entice the reader to want to learn more. Write with personality and make your blog posts fun to read.
  4. Be brief: Blogs are not the place to discuss subjects at great length. Studies have shown that blog readers will read up to 300 words. If you write a 700 word blog, readers will still only read up to 300 words.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



SEO Strategy: Link Structure

Doug Williams @ 5:22 am

This blog entry was posted on August 27, 2008.

Internal linking is an often overlooked part of SEO. Interlinking is an SEO strategy where you link internal web pages as well as your home page. This is done to control the link flow within the website. Primary pages in your site should be just one click away from your home page.

By optimizing multiple pages within your website and then interlinking them, you provide a focused link structure that will increase search rankings.

If your website deals with several related, but yet different subjects, interlinking should be strongest within each topic area. The home page will link to a primary page for each topic and then there would be more intensive interlinking within each topic. This will serve to increase relevancy and rankings for each section of your site.

Links flow into web pages from external sites and from internal pages. This waterfalls from page to page within the website. Links will leave the site in the same way. This link flow can be random or be directed.

The link flow can be sculpted and directed using the nofollow attribute. This way PageRank flows to important pages using keyword link text and not to pages with low importance.

What should be considered as you develop your interlinking strategy? Home page menus should be structured to be text links and include your primary keywords. These text links can be in navigation links, breadcrumb links, category links or individual page links. Use these links to strategically optimize keyword density and improve search rankings.

Interlinking helps the search engine to spider your website, classify it and then evaluate it.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



Successful Organic SEO Takes 3 Things

Doug Williams @ 4:26 am

This blog entry was posted on August 25, 2008.

There are three parts to implementing a successful organic SEO campaign. Great SEO results take: keyword rich text, architecture and link development. If you are missing one of these, you will limit your results.

Keyword rich text: The text content is what the search engines see and what your visitors read. Your website needs to satisfy these two separate audiences. Search engines judge your website by how you present and format your content. Visitors look at your marketing message. Content must be original, compelling and get your visitor to take action.

Your pages need to contain the keywords that are relevant to what your targeted visitors are searching for. These keyword phrases must be used in prominent ways. This includes page headlines, bold text, links, numbered lists, etc.

Architecture: The website structure and architecture controls the search engine’s access to the keyword rich content. This includes the navigation, page layout and even how the website is coded. The website must be structured for easy spidering and have a natural sales flow for visitors.

The pages should be named with the most important keyword phrases. The pages should be constructed in validated error free code. Navigation should be strengthened with interlinking of pages within the body text.

Link Development: Incoming links that are relevant, important and varied tell the search engines that your website is important. The search engines place great importance not only on the link text used, but on how relevant these websites are.

Linking should be from a variety of other sites including websites, blogs and social media. Linking should not just be to the home page, but to relevant pages deep within your site.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



Google Market Share Grows Year After Year

Doug Williams @ 4:12 am

This blog entry was posted on August 23, 2008.

Google is clearly the #1 search engine and is gaining popularity with impressive market share. According to ComScore, in June 2008 Google accounted for 61.5% of core searches in the US, followed by Yahoo! at 20.9% and Microsoft at 9.2%. Core searches are defined as those searches performed on the five major engines: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, and Ask.

Even more interesting is the trends happening in the US market share. Google continues to increase its market share in the US at the expense of rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft. In the last 3 years, Google has moved from a 36.5% market share (June 2005) to a 61.5% market share (June 2008). This is a 68% increase in market share. During this same period, Yahoo! fell from 30.4% to 20.9% share; Microsoft fell from 15.5% to a 9.2% share.

The total number of searches performed has risen sharply during the same time. There were 11.5 billion searches performed during June 2008 on the core search engines (US).

According to Neilsen Net Ratings (Nov 2007) there are 218,302,574 Internet users in the US. This is equal to 71.9% of the total US population. This also means that the average Internet user performed 53 searches on one of the core search engines during June 2008. This is up from 43 searches just 9 months earlier (Sep 2007).

Google is increasing both its market share and its number of total searches at a very consistent rate. The average number of searches per month made by the average Internet user is also steadily increasing. This means a sound web traffic strategy focused on Google is extremely important for every business that has a website today.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing,SEO Strategies



Internet Marketing Using Social Media

Doug Williams @ 6:26 am

This blog entry was posted on August 21, 2008.

Social media is the new frontier in marketing your business on the Internet. Every business should be developing strategies and putting plans in place to make use of social media in their marketing mix. Why is social media important? It is important because your customers are using it.

So what is social media and why is it important to business marketing? Social media includes blogs, social networking, professional networking, photo sharing, video sharing and collaboration sites such as wikis. It includes Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and much more. Social media implies a two way interaction rather than one way monologues. It involves building relationships and conversations with your readers.

Why should businesses use social media?

  1. Your customers are there: Many millions of people read blogs, participate in networking and listen to podcasts every day. This includes people from B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) sectors.
  2. Your competition isn’t there: Most small and medium sized businesses are not using social media yet. This gives you a chance to get a jump on your competition. Many large organizations are beginning to market thru social media.
  3. Cost effective: Most social media are free to use. Reach your targeted audience without having to lay down a single cent. The real investment is the time it takes to design your marketing message.
  4. Website traffic: Marketing with social media can bring traffic and links to any website. Social media is not only popular with readers, but search engines give high importance to links from social media sites.
  5. Extend your reach: Marketing thru social media introduces your company to new prospects. Traditional media and website marketing reaches a different audience than social media.

There are thousands of social media sites and options available to your company. What is exciting is that it is still very new and this gives your company the opportunity to be a leader in your market.

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Filed under: Social Media Marketing



8 Tips for Becoming a Better Blog Writer

Doug Williams @ 4:34 am

This blog entry was posted on August 19, 2008.

Writing for blogs is different than other types of writing. It is focused, concise and it is done with style. It requires an informal conversational and engaging writing style. Business blogging is focused around a topic and a particular audience.

  1. Write for your readers: Make it interesting and valuable for your targeted reader. Provide them information, tips and advice that they are looking for and they will keep returning.
  2. Headline: Catchy headlines hook your reader and get them to at least scan your post. Your post title should make people want to read it.
  3. Get to the point: Blog readers are impatient and quickly move on. Skip the long intros and make your major point in the first paragraph.
  4. Format for scanning: People scan instead of reading on the Internet. Pack your main points into headlines, sub headlines, bullets and numbered lists.
  5. Less is more. Be concise and to the point. Blog readers are looking for information that is short and sweet. Keep postings to about 250 words.
  6. Informal Writing: Write in an informal and conversational style. Write like you talk. Don’t be too technical or you will lose your readers.
  7. Active Voice: The active voice is direct and much stronger. Examples: (passive) blogs written in short sentences are easier to read; (active) write blogs in short and easy to read sentences.
  8. Write a draft. Then take a break. When you come back, you will have a fresh perspective and can quickly edit your blog into a final version.

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Filed under: Blog Marketing



Use Internet Marketing to Drive Offline Sales

Doug Williams @ 5:30 am

This blog entry was posted on August 17, 2008.

You can use your business website to increase sales at your bricks and mortar locations. 72% of the US population uses the Internet and they will use it to research a purchase even if the purchase will be made at a physical retail location. An effective business website acts to answer questions and help the pre-sales process.

Even if your business does 100% of its business at a physical retail location, sales can be increased using a business website. According to Nielsen Online 80% of consumer electronic purchasers bought at a store whose website they visited first. 44% of pet food consumers researched info such as nutritional specs online.

  1. Product listings: even if you don’t sell online, list product details so interested buyers can research and compare products. This way they arrive to your store ready to buy.
  2. Contact info: post store hours, store location and an interactive map with driving directions.
  3. FAQ area: include common questions that are asked by customers in person at your store location. This way your website can help answer the same questions 24/7.
  4. Use Blogging and Social Media: By using blog marketing and other social media, you reach a whole new audience than your website alone will. Consider a Facebook page or encourage customers to review your business on social review sites like Yelp.com.
  5. Traditional Media: When advertising in newspaper, radio, TV or direct mail, always include your website URL where interested consumers can learn more about what you offer.

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Filed under: Business Consulting,Internet Marketing



10 Ways to Improve Your Website Conversion Rate

Doug Williams @ 10:30 am

This blog entry was posted on August 14, 2008.

Online sales depend on getting targeted visitor traffic to your site, but how do you convince them to buy? Your goal is to convert window shoppers into paying customers. These are important strategies in business website design.

  1. USP: State your unique selling proposition. This is what sets you apart from your competition. This could be free shipping, unique products or a lowest price guarantee.
  2. Targeting: Target your visitor to bring in ready buyers. Certain keywords have a much higher conversion rate. This is especially important in pay per click (PPC).
  3. Content: Use clear website copy that emphasizes the benefits of buying from you. Your visitor is in a hurry, show your product advantages in bullet points and even compare your product to your competitors. Include a clear call to action.
  4. Build Trust: Everything about your website should be designed to build trust. It should be fast loading, well organized, have clear navigation, be user friendly and work in all major browsers.
  5. Testimonials: Customer testimonials build instant credibility. Keep your testimonials in their original form including grammatical errors. Provide contact details for the people giving the testimonial.
  6. Make it Easy: Make it easy for people to use, easy to find information and easy to find the buy now button. Think like your customer and make every step of the purchase easy.
  7. Contact: If buyers have questions, can you be reached? This can be phone, email or online live support. A quick answer can keep buyers on track to purchase.
  8. Returns Policy: Returns on web purchases is a major concern to most buyers. A clear and liberal returns policy calms these fears.
  9. Assure and Secure: Assure your visitors that the personal information that they share is totally secure by posting a privacy policy. Use only a secure payment gateway.
  10. Payment Options: Buyers like choices. Offer multiple payment methods like credit cards, Paypal and even pay by check options. Consider alternatives to the usual methods.

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Filed under: Internet Marketing,Website Design



SEO Consequences of a Website Redesign

Doug Williams @ 4:41 am

This blog entry was posted on August 13, 2008.

A website redesign can greatly improve your search engine visibility or if done wrong, can cause you to lose website rankings. You can lose the value of your inbound links which usually point to specific pages. The difference is in the planning and execution. Effective SEO must be planned in and not added as an after thought.

SEO Redesign Process

  1. Goals: Start with the business goals of your new website. This could be to generate leads, reach a targeted demographic, present a more professional image or to highlight a specific product or service.
  2. Site Analysis: Analyze your website traffic statistics. Which keyword phrases are bringing visitors to which pages? What were the most visited pages? Which pages already have inbound links?
  3. Keyword Analysis: Select phrases that have a good traffic volume and that accurately describe what you offer. Remember more specific keywords bring visitors who are closer to making a buying decision. 1-2 word phrases bring researchers and 3-5 word phrases bring ready buyers.
  4. Architecture: Design your navigation scheme and page naming to maximize you’re your keyword phrases. Consider keeping the file structure and page names the same so that you don’t need to use redirects.
  5. Content: Design messaging and calls to action for maximum visitor conversion. Search engines love content, especially optimized content. You should have 400-600 words of text on an optimized page.
  6. Link Structure: Internal linking structure using keywords enables website visitors to find what they are really looking. It helps search engines to spider your site and places high importance on keywords used in link text.
  7. Inbound Links: Maintain the content that is attracting inbound links or plan how you will be replacing those links. Consider notifying your current inbound links of the website changes.

SEO planning before and during the design process will make a tremendous difference on how many people find your new website and on your conversion rate.

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Filed under: SEO Strategies



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