August 12th, 2009
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn…I’m sure you have heard about these popular Social Media sites. And now businesses are taking advantage of this marketing tool and reaching people they may otherwise have never reached. Where do you start? There are a lot of business bloggers out there who can tell you how to do it, why you should do it and if it’s worth it. However, unless you are willing to put in time and effort, it won’t do much for your business.
First, you need to set goals, determine your audience and find a consultant to help. Communication is the key, and you can’t do it all yourself. Social Media marketing takes time and it is very difficult to measure your ROI (Return On Investment). Why bother? Because you will be connecting with people you may not otherwise have reached through conventional advertising. In turn, those people will tell their friends, colleagues and peers. What’s more, consumers today are trusting referrals before any other form of advertising. Wouldn’t you?
The bottom line is, it’s all about a new way to develop relationships with your customers. Lidija Davis of ReadWriteWeb posts: Marketers today are caught up in a jumble of buzzwords that mean very little. It’s a confusing time, but to get the marketing right, you need to start thinking about relationships first. “It’s not about selling something anymore; that might be the end result, but to get there, you need to work on the relationship.”
More to come on this hot topic, so stay tuned…
June 12th, 2009
I’ve met a few business owners recently who just paid for their brand new website that does…nothing. They hired the web designer, approved the design and the website is now live. Yet nothing is happening. They are receiving minimal e-mail submissions, very few hits on the site, maybe a few phone calls and no search engine ranking.
The first problem is that many sites are not designed – nor are they built – for search engine optimization (SEO). In addition, once the website is finished, owners think they can just sit back and the contacts will roll in. In reality, it’s only the beginning – there is much more work to be done. Think of your website as your car – it won’t get you anywhere unless you keep adding fuel and continue to maintain the engine. (I’ll bet car enthusiasts will love that one).
How you advertise your website is just as important. If you only advertise twice monthly in a newspaper ad, you are missing the boat. Online advertising, social networking sites, mobile media and blogs are today’s keys to your website’s performance. Monitoring your website hits through web stats is vital. Changing content frequently is also important for search engine indexing. I could go on here.
If you need an evaluation, give Maurice Design a call. What have you got to lose?
Posted In: website design
Tags: search engine optimization, seo, social media, Web Hosting, website design