It seems that everyone’s talking about landing pages these days.  So you already have a website, why create a landing page?  Isn’t that just like having a one-page website in addition to your current website?  Not exactly. A landing page is a page that directly contains the content your visitor/customer is looking for.  This may mean that it’s a direct link to a promotion off your e-mail marketing campaign or newsletter, search engine advertisement or even a direct link from a directory or other related website.  The great advantage of landing pages is ...

Having an online storefront means you’re always open for business Unlike other months, December is a critical month for just about any retailer.  According to the U.S. Census bureau, retailers’ sales during this busy month account for 15-24% of their total annual sales.  Besides Black Friday, the busiest shopping time during the year is the weekend right before Christmas. Typically, the Saturday before Christmas represents $15 billion worth of sales for retailers. This year, the United States East Coast was badly hit by a snowstorm that brought some areas up to two feet of snow, dashing the hopes of many retailers. With ...

Website, e-mail, and search spending made up the top of the list in changes business-to-business marketers would make in their online spending in 2010, according to BtoB magazine. More than half of B2B marketers would also increase their spending in social media and video marketing. However, more than half wanted to use social media for thought leadership while 49% wanted to use it to generate leads. On the other hand, 13% of B2B marketers would decrease their spending on online banners and 10% would decrease their spending on sponsorship. Want more information on how to increase your company’s reach online? The experts at ...

It might be tempting for local business owners to make changes to their business listings in order to improve their search engine optimization (SEO), but they actually might be ruining their listing. Changes like adding a slogan to the business name or changing office locations to seem local will actually negatively impact your listing and possibly get you delisted by the major search engines. Here are a few simple ways that you might be ruining your local business listing. Change your phone number in your business listing While call tracking might be an important way to measure success in advertising, your online business ...

With everyone jumping on the social media bandwagon, it is easy to get caught up in the hype and lose focus. Tapping into social media requires more than just a single idea, it requires an effective plan to help your company and brand create opportunities for community and engagement. Follow these tips to help you get started on your social media campaign. Create a vision Develop an idea of what you want your brand or company to be in social media. Will you be offering special deals or coupons? Is it to personalize your brand? What is the message you ...

Many small businesses have decided to cut their marketing budget, however this can end up hurting your company more than you realize. Spending more money on marketing during an economic downturn can help your company get ahead when the economy turns around. There is a direct relationship between the success of a small business and its marketing spending, according to the “Small Business Marketing Health Check” report from Hurwitz & Associates. About 65% of small businesses that expected increased revenues had raised or planned to raise marketing spending, compared with just 32% to 36% of businesses with flat or declining ...

According to to TMP Directional Marketing and comScore, almost 40% of people who did an online local business search ended up visiting the store in person. Even more people, 46%, contacted the business on the phone. This is up from 2008 when only 39% of people contacted the business on the phone. Contacting a business online went down one percent, from 12% in 2008 to 11% in 2009. Also, general search engines were more likely to be used than local search sites or online yellow pages. The biggest searches on local search engines were for child care and hotels and for ...

With social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter becoming the latest word-of-mouth venue, it is becoming more pertinent for businesses and companies to have a presence on these sites. According to the report Social Commerce on Facebook, Twitter and Retail Sites, almost 75% of the merchants in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide have a presence on at least one of the major social networks or social shopping sites. Social networking users of all ages are more likely to make online purchases, so they are considered a highly sought-after group by internet retailers, according to a May 2009 survey by ...

By now you probably know that not following through with search marketing is just as bad as not having a website at all. It’s just like being there and not having anyone know you’re there. The top two options for search marketing are Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC). More and more often, companies, especially small businesses, are turning to PPC as their search marketing choice. PPC is a great way to increase your online exposure and ultimately traffic to your site. It works as a carefully planned bidding system whereby you pay only for each ...

Can’t find a job? Consider joining the thousands of Americans who are contemplating or have pursued the entrepreneurial spirit. In a time where your job is never promised to you for tomorrow, finding satisfaction and passion as your own boss seems to be the risk many want to take. Doing something you love. For those of you who have toyed with the idea for years, there is hope, you can do it, and it’s very well possible. To help you start thinking strategically about your business venture, consider these 5 steps as a starting point: Develop Your Business Idea: Now that ...

Facebook hopes to provide accurate advertising measurements with its latest deal with Neilson. Many have claimed that Facebook's advertising techniques are not successful, but with this partnership, Facebook will be able to provide more reliable data. Facebook will poll users about the display ads on its site and then provide that data to Nielson who will package it for advertisers. It will also include responses from people who did not see an ad. By teaming with Nielson, Facebook will give more credibility to its advertising data. Some brands have already begun conducting intent-to-purchase tests on the site. According to ClickZ, Procter ...

Have you been trying to increase traffic to your website using only SEO, but find yourself coming up short? It might be time to consider another option. While companies focus on making their sites more SEO (search engine optimized) friendly, they could be neglecting another search marketing tool - PPC (pay per click) advertising. Most people use SEO only because there is little to no direct cost they have to pay. However, making your site SEO friendly can take a lot of time and effort. Also, SEOs can often just be guesses about which keywords are popular and could possibly bring clicks. PPC ...