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Web Site Strategy

When was the last time you asked your clients how they view and use their web site? And when was the last time they asked their clients? Have they ever asked? Are their clients telling them? And is it really that important?

Of course it’s important because it’s basic Marketing 101.

Web Site Strategy and Marketing

I took a client out to lunch this week for two reasons: for some social time and to discuss the web site strategy for his company.

I really love this part of my job. I get to enjoy the company of some great people over great food. But equally important, connect in a way that you can’t through texting and email.

As we discussed the web site and what direction it should be going we touched on mobile web sites, responsive web sites, cell phones, notebooks and customers. We talked about design, content, providers and devices. We discussed how people view and use web sites, and how they prefer to. And we discussed some web sites that have left users in the ether to jump on the latest technology bandwagon.

That last part is still the key to your web site strategy, and really is Marketing 101. Who is your target audience, what do they need, how do they want to communicate with you, and how do they want you to communicate with them?

Marketing Is Still the Same

I realized during lunch that with all the extraordinary changes in the communications world over the last decade marketing hasn’t changed a whole lot. The basic premise is still promoting and selling products or services. It’s only the way it’s delivered and communicated that has changed drastically.

As we’ve morphed into a mobile society with the expectation that everything can and should be at our fingertips, web site strategy has become the focal point of many marketing campaigns. Hence our business lunch to plot web site strategy for the coming years. And like 10 years ago, and 20 years ago, and 50 years ago, and 100 years ago we will start with the customers, what they need and what they want. We will ask them.

Do you need help with your web site strategy? Give Mary Joan a shout at (312) 421-2129. You never know, you could end up having lunch.

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Top 5 Google Tricks You’re Not Using

We all know Google for its search engine, email and as new owners of YouTube. But Google has many unused, unknown and  underused functions.

Our Top 5 Google Tricks You Probably Don’t Use

Google's "Made With Code" Wants Girls To Code

Adding and Subtracting Content From Search Results

If you search with a Tilde ~ Google will include search results for synonyms. This can be very useful if you’re not getting the results you want in your searches. You can also add in a – in order to omit certain results. For example if you’re searching for something with multiple meanings, such as crane, you can type in crane rental –animal. So that only results for machinery will come up.

You Can Search for Flights

There are conflicting opinions whether travel sites use your cookies in order to determine prices. But if you want to play it safe you can always use Google to search for flights. Google will display the results for the days you choose. But they also  allow you to scrub through a timeline. The timeline consists of the surrounding days to find the best deals.

Compare Your Foods

There’s always someone looking to start a healthier lifestyle. Google can help you make better choices. It can compare two foods nutritionally for you. For example if you are debating if you want to eat an apple or some grapes, you would type “compare apples to grapes” and Google would give you the results.

Specialized Searches

Sometimes you get too many results when you search online. Google offers specialized searches including blog, patent and public record searches. You can reach them by going here and scrolling down to the specialized searched section.

Something for Fun

Google also gives you  chances to take a little break while searching online. These are some of my favorite features on Google. The first one being Zerg rush which is a reference to the computer game Star Craft. Once you search Zerg rush, the letter o will start to drop down and attack the results. You can click them to defeat them. There is also Atari breakout. You have to Google image search but it allows you to play a version of the Atari game breakout.

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Top 5 Ways to Improve Online Traffic

What is search engine marketing?The internet gives everybody a voice so it can be difficult to stand out in such a saturated community. Here’s our top 5 ways to improve online traffic to your site that take just a little more effort than what you’re probably already doing.

Submit to Stumble Upon

Although this sounds a little inefficient, it works. When signing up with the site users have to select categories of interests. This insures that the people that will see your posts, if you submit them, have interest in it and can potentially become avid followers.

Provide Links to Past Posts

This leads us to our next point: including links to your past posts that are relevant. Getting people to visit your site is just the start. You want them to continue to visit your site and a way to achieve this is to include links to your previous posts. This creates interests in more of your past site. This can help you link build and increase your placement in search results.

Answer Questions

Answer Questions on Yahoo Answers, Quora, and other similar sites. This helps you get noticed by people with similar interests or that are looking for information you potentially provide on your blog.

Guest Blog on Other Relevant Blogs

This plays into the same idea as answering questions. Putting your name out there on an established site will help in establishing yourself an expert in your field. If people like what you post they’ll follow you to your site in order to keep reading what you have to say. This can work as a two way street also. You can also have guest bloggers on your site in order to draw some of their followers to you as well as allowing them to gain some followers for their site.

Respond to Comments

Nobody likes to be ignored; the online community is no different. Replying to their comments can help build a relationship with them and keep them coming back for more.

 

 

 

 

Photo courtesy of cooldesign / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Why Create a Google+ Page For Your Business?

Google's "Made With Code" Wants Girls To CodeWhy create a Google+ page?

As we covered in our article about how to maintain your online reputation, it’s important to claim anything associated with your business’ name. Reason being, you control the content and information on those sites. Google gives you the opportunity to add pictures, update information and post news for your business. All that on top of making it easy for your customers to find your business hours, location and contact information.

How to create a Google+ page

There are a few ways to go about this. Odds are that Google has already created a very basic page for your business with the information it could gather from across the internet. All you have to do is to claim your page from Google.

  1. Get signed up with a Google account. If you don’t already you’ll need to set up an account with Google. It’s as easy as setting up an e-mail for yourself.
  2. Finding your business. There is a really good chance that Google has set up a basic Google+ page. Either way you can find out here. You click get started and then search your business here. It will tell you if the business is claimed or not and will let you attach it to your account if it’s not.
  3. Adding or amending your basic information. From here you’ll be able to put in your hours, address, a brief description of your business etc.

If your business is brand new and Google has not started a page for you then you can still create a new page by accessing your Google+ page or the site in step two.

Once you have this complete you can go to your Google+ page and click the drop down menu that says home. Select the section that says places and you can access the Google+ Business Page. Like anything else you should make sure that your Google+ should be branded so it looks like your other social media sites, web site and marketing materials.

 

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