Internet Marketing

4 Tips to Developing a Pinterest Strategy For Your Business

Thanks to a number of social media sites that businesses can use, it is difficult to determine which one that works best for your business.

However, Pinterest should be an interesting choice as it is visually compelling and for that reason can prove to be beneficial in the interests of promoting your company’s products.

 

With that said, here are 4 tips to develop a Pinterest Strategy for your business:

 

#1: Plan Your Boards Carefully

Planning your boards will mean looking at trends, promotions and seasonality. In fact, it is suggested that you plan your board one quarter in advance so there is continuity to the boards d pins that you post on a regular basis. It is the only way to promoting your business successfully.

 

#2: Focus on Pinning Compelling Images

Adding a compelling image to whatever you intend to pin is probably the best way to go if you want your content repinned in decent numbers. Of course, the quality image in questions has to be good enough to stand out of your followers news feed.

 

#3: Follow Pinners in Your Industry

Not only should you follow other pinners, bloggers and companies within your industry but also think about following your competition as well. This gives you access to more relevant content which you can repin to your own boards and build a community in the process.

 

#4: Promote Pinterest on Your Website & Other Social Media Channels

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, then don’t forget to promote your Pinterest posts through these social media channels as well. Not only can you add posts to your Facebook or Twitter page but you can add a Pinterest tab to the former.

Internet Marketing

3 Simple Ways to Optimize Your Images

It goes without saying that images are an important part of any website. Yet so many sites ignore this important element by failing to optimize these images.

If you aren’t aware of how this should be done, here are 3 tips that can help you optimize the images on your website, so as to be more searchable:

#1: Using Image Descriptions
Describing an image within an HTML file works in three steps: a file name, an ‘alt’ and a ‘title’ attribute. The first aspect helps search engines grasp what the image depicts while the second offers an alternative description if the image does not load correctly. The third aspect is used when the image is also a link, and although it tends to be ignored, compared to alt text, still can be used as an important source of information.

#2: Using the Right Image Dimensions
The reason why it is so vital to pick the right image dimensions for the site is that it aids in site loading speed. And which is why you should determine the exact dimension instead of making your browser to do all the work. Even if content management systems do automatically resize the images to small, medium and large, it’s still better to understand how it inserts images while only uploading exactly sized images.

#3: Using the Right Image File Type
Among the several types of image types that are available, the PNG and JPEG are the most common ones on the internet. The reason for this is because they offer several optimization benefits which are, of course, dependent on the subject matter and size of the image. With that said, use JPEGs for big, photographic images while the PNG format can be used for smaller images.

Internet Marketing

Tips To Help You Manage and Monitor Your Online Reputation

Article provided by Reputation Stars

Managing and monitoring your online reputation is something that can be extremely frustrating. If you are in a competitive industry, chances are that you are going to be competing with many different businesses, which all have an online reputation. Typically, when consumers are searching online, they want to go choose a company who has the best consumer reviews and appears to be the most favorable brand. Monitoring your online reputation is a great way to stay ahead of your competition so that your potential customers are getting the right idea about what your company can do to help them.

One of the best ways to help build and manage your online reputation is to take control of it. Something that many companies fail to realize, is that you can buy a domain name for your business for as little as $10 or less on popular sites such as GoDaddy.com and others. This is a great way to ensure that your online reputation is going to be traced to you and a web site that you actually own and update. The last thing that you want is a competitor or some unhappy customer buying a domain such as TheNameOfYourBusiness.com and then putting up derogatory comments about your business. This is exactly how a negative reputation is built online, and this can severely hinder your ability to garner sales from potential consumers, as they may actually believe all of this negativity they are reading online, without knowing any better.

Online reputation management is as important as ever as you are going to have to be proactive so that you can be sure you are in control of what consumers see and read about your business online. The more aware that you are, the safer you can feel in terms of the image your brand gives off on the World Wide Web.
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This article was provided by Reputation Stars.  Reputation Stars provides online reputation management and reputation monitoring services. If you have negative reviews and  feedback online, visit Reputation Stars website for more details on  how they can help you.

Internet Marketing

5 YouTube Videos That Will Benefit Web Marketers

There’s a good reason why YouTube is considered to be the second largest search engine in the world. There’s plenty of information that one can obtain, thanks to a large repository of videos available at this website.

It’s also a website where web marketers can also obtain a lot of information in the form of tutorials and webinars.

So, here are 5 YouTube videos that can be very helpful to web marketers:

#1: Optify Best Practices: Landing Pages
This video is a 40-minute tutorial made by Optify, a popular digital marketing firm, on the rudiments of effective landing page design.

#2: How to Check for Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a reality that every web marketer has to be aware with, and must have strategies in place to deal with. Even though this video has been created from an affiliate marketer’s perspective, it shows you how to find people using your content without your permission.

#3: Tutorial: Branding Yourself
This video is a sample from Lynda.com, which explores the topic of personal branding over the internet. The entrepreneur of this website also offers a 7-day trial period to view the rest of the series.

#4: Top 5 SEO 2012 Tips
This video was created by Roy Higdon, a marketing consultant, has interviewed leaders in the industry to reveal the top 5 search engine optimization tips and strategies used in 2012.

#5: Email Copywriting Tips: Proven Subject Line Formulas
A marketing and development firm known as Multiple Stream Media has created a video where they discuss 5 ways to write attention-grabbing email marketing subject lines. As a result, using these tips will ensure that the open rate of your campaigns get a boost.

Internet Marketing

3 Simple Ways to Get More Customers from Your Site

Two reasons why more and more businesses want a website of their own is because it not only increases visibility amongst customers but it also sells your products or services for you.

However, there’s a catch: not all visitors will read all the content on the page and most of all, they don’t visit the other pages on your site too. Most of them leave as soon as they’ve arrived, and once you take steps to deal with these customers, you can see your sales rise as a result.

So, here are three simple ways by which you can keep these customers at your site:

#1: Make content easy to find

If you are aware of the fact that most customers usually read information at the top of the page, then it shouldn’t be difficult to make sure that you help them find the most important information. Some of these include what you have to offer, latest announcements and news, social media links and your company phone number.

In most cases, interested customers will prefer calling people they want to do business with, and putting your phone number here will ensure that you do get a bit more calls than usual.

#2: Use an Opt-In Form

An opt-in form is for visitors who do not wish to call you. Using this method helps you collect information about them while offering them information that might help you gain sales. Just make sure that you tell them to contact you instead of giving them the option of doing so, using this method.

#3: Use a Chat Box

If your customers do not want to call you or use the opt-in form, you can use a chat box so as to communicate with them to find out more about what they need. This is just as good as speaking with them over the phone. However, ensure that the chat box appears before they choose to leave your site for another.

Internet Marketing

3 Online Marketing Trends for 2013

If online marketing in 2012 could be summed up in a few words, it would entail Google updates, mobile and big brands.

Since we have moved into the new year, it’s also natural to now look forward and predict when the year 2013 holds for online marketing as a whole.

So, here are 3 online marketing trends for this year that marketers will probably focus on:

#1: Second Screen Value

It’s a known fact that 75 percent of users owning mobile (referred to as ‘second screen’) devices, it’s important for brands to realize that offering content for these devices is paramount, considering how technology is changing. While 2012 was all about making websites mobile, this year will focus on adding value in terms of mobile apps.

#2: A Focus on Gamification

Applying game-design thinking to non-game products in order to make them more engaging and fun has already begun in a big way but this aspect will expand this year with companies spending more money and resources on “gamifying” their services and products. Platforms such as BigDoor and PunchTab will make this new area of focus a reality.

#3: Increased Investment in inbound marketing

With the rise of social marketing, the focus must be on adding a different type of value, and for this year, it looks like inbound marketing will prove to be just that. What this type of marketing involves is creating content, conversations as well as valuable resources that will make their products or services attractive to consumers, without the need for paid advertising.

Internet Marketing

3 Most Successful (and Underrated) Marketing Strategies in 2012

Technology, and in particular, web marketing change strategies as soon as someone tries something new. Yet there are time-tested strategies that continue to deliver results while remaining as inconspicuous as ever. So, here are the 3 most successful marketing strategies in 2012:

#1: Facebook Ads
The beauty of Facebook ads is that if you are very specific about the type of consumers you want to reach, they’re able to do this for you, rather effortlessly, and in most cases, deliver results that have a greater than 100% ROI. The only caveat in this case is that this group of specific consumers will see those ads over and over again, so it’s a good idea to upload new ads to avoid annoying your potential customers.

#2: YouTube Advertising
Known as TrueView InStream ads, these ads that play before your video begins does hold a lot of potential especially if you are targeting groups that might be interested in purchasing these products. Of course, there are some users who might find this annoying but it is the perfect way to position your product based on location and individuals who are interested in such a product. All
you have to do is create an excellent ad, set up a YouTube channel and work on the AdWords
campaign.

#3: Email Marketing
Without a doubt, email marketing has delivered results time and time again despite the promise that social media when it comes to online marketing. No matter what people say, Facebook hasn’t killed email yet as it has proved to make more money for organizations as opposed to any of the other methods. In fact, email marketing should be your first approach before anything else.

Internet Marketing

Bad Yelp Review Leads to $750,000 Lawsuit

Guest post Provided by Yelp Mediation

A negative Yelp review has had extraordinarily expensive consequences for two people in Virginia. Though high school sweethearts they were not, two former teenage classmates from Virginia grew up to have a very public falling out on Yelp (and other review sites). This November, Christopher Dietz sued Jane Perez, his former classmate, for Internet defamation. In a scathing Yelp review, Perez not only claimed that Dietz’s work had been subpar, but that he had stolen jewelry from her home. Through his suit, Dietz is seeking $750,000 in damages. Ouch!

Perez hired Dietz’s company to carry out cosmetic repairs on her home in Fairfax, Virginia. The story, as told in The Washington Post, is that Perez did not pay for those services, which prompted an earlier suit by Dietz against Perez. The $750,000 suit, however, is on account of the negative publicity Perez created for Dietz on multiple business review sites found online. Reputation management was clearly in order, and Dietz went to the courts.

As a result of his legal filing, Dietz got a judge to order that Perez take down the most damning words in her reviews. Bad reviews are nothing new to businesses, and the media is pointing to the Dietz vs. Perez case as a cautionary tale about all the wrong that can ensue from untrue online reviews.

Internet Marketing

3 Free Tools that you can use to monitor your Business’ Reputation

One of the most important elements of an Internet marketing strategy is where you are constantly in touch with what consumers and prospective ones are saying about your brand and company.

Despite assumptions that being able to monitor your business’ reputation is difficult, even daunting, there are free tools that one can use in order to remain in touch with your business’ reputation.

So, here are 3 free tools that you can use to monitor your business’ reputation:

#1: Technorati

This tool can be considered to be a collection of blogs which users can search for, mostly related to business and technology. All one has to do is enter your company’s name and the results will show you the latest blog posts that have written about your company, product reviews as well as other blog posts that are related to your brand.

#2: TwentyFeet

If you are already using services such as Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, TwentyFeet will combine all these statistics together so that you can view in one place. Not only is this convenient for users with little time on their hands but one can also find out how their content has been shared or not.

#3: Whos Talkin

Whos Talkin offers an in-depth search to its users who have to enter search terms which will lead them to blogs and forums which contain those keywords. So all you have to do is enter your brand name and you should find what people are saying about your company in the interactive part of the web.

Internet Marketing

3 Essential Principles for a Viral Marketing Plan

Constructing a viral marketing plan is easier than it seems, considering how effective creating a buzz can be.

With that said, there are certain principles that are a part of any viral marketing that can work wonders. Experts say that if you put these principles into practice, then your chances of obtaining attention is more likely than not.

 So, here are 3 key principles that can contribute a viral marketing plan:

#1: Gives Away Free Products or Services

The word ‘free’ is probably the most important word in the marketing dictionary. A viral marketing plan also includes this aspect, whether you plan to give away free services or products, with no expectations of profits until you are able to create a ‘buzz’.

#2: Easy to Replicate and Transfer

Just like a virus spreads rapidly as they are transmitted easily, this process is no different with creating a buzz around your product or service. Since most of these viral marketing campaigns are transmitted over the internet, experts believe that making the message of the marketing plan simple and short will only add to its chances of going ‘viral’.

#3: Rapidly Scalable from Small to Very Large

Scalability is very important to the product or service that you wish to go viral. If one must understand this principle, it can be likened to the virus killing its host before it spreads. Since your campaign is over the internet, make sure you enough servers ready when your message spreads like wildfire – or else, in the case of technical shortcomings, your marketing campaign will fall flat and die.