The Final Four is coming to Indianapolis. It's important for your web based strategy to be prepared for the influx of patrons coming to witness the finish to a wild tournament. This week it is important to be involved in your social media community and focus on your email marketing strategy to attract the vast sea of potential customers.

If you haven't done these things yet - don't worry! You have two more days before the first two games. Get out there and let everyone know your specials. Update your website and address your corporate blog. You have a chance to increase your business' visibility.

A website redesign may be a part of your web based strategy, but is it in your strategy for the right reason? Search engine optimization, inbound marketing and lead generation should be the purpose of a website redesign. Before you employ a website design company, think to yourself, "Will the new look be able to help me generate leads?" 

Search engine optimization is one of the most cost effective ways to generate traffic and leads. A website design full of flash elements, graphics and with little to no content will not assist you in these goals. I'm not condoning ugly websites because there must be something pleasing to the eye, but when a customer goes to a search engine looking for information about a product, service or vital information on your industry, you want your business to be found.

Fusework Studios can help you form a plan structured to create leads through inbound marketing and SEO value. Give us a call, and let's talk.

A complete web based strategy can be an excellent forefront to a solid Internet marketing strategy. The goal should be to be able to reach all of your customers through different "vehicles" to promote your products, services and even your customers. The focus the past year has been on social media marketing, and the year before that there was a great increase in email marketing. This year, the focus has shifted to search engine marketing, and it is important to include this in your strategy.

Here are benefits to good search engine marketing:

• Search engines are the number one resource for people to find websites
• Targeted search engine marketing can have a high conversion rate
• Search engine marketing can be completely free (do not have to use pay per click)
• You win search by writing about what people are looking for

If your website is not winning the traffic through search that you're looking for, contact Fusework Studios about putting together an Internet marketing strategy including search engine optimization.

Indiana website development has been improving year after year as the competition gets thicker and as businesses understand the web's capabilities better. As an Indianapols web development company, we get many projects that really allow us to use the dreaded "think outside the box" cliche. We recently completed a project for ProCLAD, Inc. that challenged our team to be creative and in the end achieved amazing results.

The website design was complicated and built in many layers. There was a need for a rotating image section on the home page and the placement of a flash piece representing the ProCLAD engineering wheel. Additionally, there were many angles incorporated into the design that would make any developer cringe.

One of the immediate challenges we addressed was the ability for ProCLAD to be able to easily update the rotating images on the home page. To save the client trouble from using Photoshop or other photo editing software, a transparent image was placed over the top of the slideshow to create the angled look while the full images are located below the white angle. The photo gallery module was implemented with a JQuery rotation script for smooth transition from image to image, and the client is in full control of the imagery that is implemented.

The site is also tied into a content management system to allow the client to fully customize the content that is entered from page to page and to allow control over search engine optimization properties including page title, keywords, description and web URLs.

Fusework Studios is proud to work with ProCLAD, Inc. on this project, and as a team, we love to be challenged. We hope this is one of many Indiana website development spotlights to come.  Check out the new site at www.procladinc.com.

After we have some lunch, I will try and answer all those questions for you plus many more. We will talk a little about Business Blogging, SEO, and how to incorporate winning search into your web based strategy. 

We have made it very easy to sign up. Just click on the link below, fill out a few questions and you are good to go. 

We look forward to seeing you next Friday, March 5 at the Rutter Communications building in Muncie from 11:30am-1:00pm.

Inevitably in this business, I get pulled into the never-ending debate on what is the best content management system (CMS). I get asked which are best for search engine opimization, social media community integration and flexibility. Every website design or website development company has their preferred CMS they design and implement for. Some of these are proprietary, but most are likely third-party provided. At Fusework Studios, we have a proprietary software, but there are some cases in which we go with third-party integration.

Almost all content management systems now have tools for search engine optimization and other tools to complement your web based strategy. A company can spend from nearly no money to thousands of dollars for the top-of-the-line CMS. Unfortunately, all that money will do no good without a keyword and search marketing strategy behind your content.

Tips to utilize your CMS' capabilities:

• Title your pages with keywords in mind
• Use keywords in your links
• Use keywords early in your content (first or second paragraph)
• Use keywords in header tags
• Create inbound marketing by generating buzz or links to your content (preferrably with keywords) by utilizing your social media community tools
• Utilize business blogging to drive traffic to your site

For a successful web based strategy, you cannot rely solely on one marketing medium. All of the tools around the web, including your CMS, play an integral role in Internet marketing.

Contact Fusework Studios for tips or if you have questions regarding search engine optimization and your content management system.

This week, you may have heard about three new Marriott Hotels that White Lodging Services opened in downtown Indianapolis. The area is dubbed as "The Place to Be," and the Merrillville Hotel Development company created not only some good looking buildings, but also a strong web based strategy at: www.ThePlaceToBeIndy.com.  I'm sure you'll have a chance to learn all about the scene in their press releases, on TV, and in the IndyStar.

What you'll only hear from Indianapolis Web Development Firm Fusework Studios is an evaluation of their Search Engine Optimization tactics. In short, I anticipate searches in Google for "The Place to Be" soon to show the new site at the top of the results for the following eight reasons:

1. The phrase "The Place To Be" is in their domain name: www.ThePlaceToBeIndy.com, which is one of Google's factors in SEO ranking. Notice they did not choose www.ThePlaceToBe.com, because is already owned by someone else. If you have a business or idea for a business, secure the domain name right away for future use!
    
2. All pages are titled with keyword-friendly phrases, including "The Place to Be in Indy" in every one.
    
3. Their URLs are short and meaningful. Google rewards you for telling them what a page is about in the filename before it scours the page for content, ie. http://theplacetobeindy.com/attractions.asp?s=walking-distance will tell visitors about the walking distance to attractions.
    
4. The Site Architecture (code on the back-end) is pretty solid. They separate the functional code of their site from the design by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which makes the site easy for search engines to find, and effectively adds to your search engine optimization.
    
5. They use DIV Tags instead of Tables, which enables Search Engine spiders to crawl the site easier.
    
6. Heading Tags ie, H1, H2, H3, are used appropriately and hierarchically, which will tell search engines what content is most important to index.
    
7. They use the Keyword Metatag on every page and the Description Metatag on the homepage.
    
8. They generated an XML Sitemap, which will help Search engines index the content on the site faster.
    

These eight tactics are sure to help White Lodging Services in their Search Engine Optimization in Indianapolis. We implement all of these tactics and more in our web based strategies. If you need a boost in search engines, give Fusework Studios a call!

You've taken the plunge in setting up your corporate blog. Business blogging is new to you, and you're starting to put out content that is attracting both new and existing customers. Then, something happens that you may not have planned for--you start getting comments.

Search engines love comments on blogs. The blog post and page shows that it has been updated with new content (user-generated) and tells the world that your blog is active.

When responding to your readers (which you should do soon after you get a comment), it is important to keep in mind in how you relay your valuable input. It is good practice to attempt to include some keywords in your response to further encourage search engines that the topic of your post has continued in the direction you originally intended, and the new content of the post is related to what their customers are searching for.

If you have questions about comments or maintaining your corporate blog, feel free to post a comment for me. I'll be glad to help!

As a leader in your industry, you may be very involved in business blogging. Your corporate blog may be very active, and you have a nice following of readers that are glued to what you have to say. The question is, what is your goal with your corporate blog? Are you using business blogging to win over search engines, or are you only trying to communicate with your clientele without any real goals to increase your traffic?

Many businesses (Fusework Studios is not so different) try to write regularly in their corporate blog and try to always deliver a message that will floor their readers. They want to provide something that will create "light bulb moments" for their readers to win them over immediately. 

We are beginning to find that is not always important. Sometimes what is important is you deliver a quick message that focuses on a service, product or perhaps another client, that is focused on keywords. These keywords and frequent posts will win you search while still telling a story. We are challenging ourselves and our clients to write about subjects that matter, so don't worry if your next post doesn't move mountains.

Previously, I discussed how Indianapolis web development has changed, and I provided a theory on what the next trend will become. I talked about how business blogging and social media community interaction has become the latest trend in providing relevant information to customers. Now we will see search engine marketing at the forefront in how web development is approached for businesses.

Customers have been using search to find goods and services rather than looking for specific businesses. While it is important for your business to be visible (e.g. Fusework Studios) in the search engines, it is even more important that your business is found for specific keywords based on your goods and services.

The next phase in Indianapolis web development will be about playing an integral role in search engine marketing and finding ways to get new content out and fast for what customers are looking for. Search engines are looking for sites and blogs that update often and have relevant content to what their users are searching for. It's not about "if you build it, they will come" anymore.

Early on in web development, it was about telling your story -- the whole story. Unfortunately, this requires time and money to be able to put all that work together. When print marketing is put together, it is customary to hand out a brochure, poster or some form of quick communication about the product or service. I recommend you actually follow suit for initial website release, and over time, you can add the additional content you probably would have initially included before.

The reason is Google and other major search engines value up-to-date content. New content is very important. The sites and blogs that are most active about putting content up for their visitors are getting special treatment because they are viewed as more likely to be current for their customers - those people that search. There is no magic tool or button you can use to get these results. It's about building upon a foundation to be found in search.

Contact Fusework Studios for more information about building a strong foundation to win customers through search and inbound marketing.

The year 2010 brings on new opportunities for businesses across the country including Indianapolis. The economy is slowly on the mend. Jobs are starting to come back. Businesses are strategizing on how to attack their marketing plans and grow. Indianapolis, in my opinion, is no different from this trend.

When I first came onto the web development scene, it was primarily about having a website. Your website was more of a brochure. There was little thought to a full web based strategy or social media community involvement for businesses. The primary focus was having a great looking web design and plenty of content for people to read.

Then came the next phase which was to measure the analytical data provided for your website. Soon, it was found that people often didn't spend more than 1-2 minutes on the site. This didn't help support the theory to have more than twenty pages of content. The next step was to find a way to convert those visits into money by creating calls-to-action. These calls-to-action were provided as forms, buttons and/or videos.

The most recent trend is how to use social media marketing and business blogging to benefit your business. Search engine marketing is taking the forefront, and more businesses are implementing corporate blogs and social media as a part of their web strategy. I believe this trend is going to add a new twist to how websites will be developed beginning in 2010.

With Google Live Search and the rise of blogging as the premiere method in getting recent and relevant content, the next trend is all about flexibility and the process of getting search content out to the masses. It will be about monitoring what people are looking for and providing that information. Businesses will be taking an ever-more increased role in talking WITH their customers (not just TO their customers). Websites and strategies will be taking on a new look to feed how people will find out about their business(es), goods and services.

I will be touching on how to take advantage of this new trend in my upcoming post. For now, I wanted to get you thinking about how sites will be developed differently with this in mind. I'd be interested in hearing some thoughts from you on what you see coming in the next year.

Discipline.

For most people it's an ugly word. It makes you think of a dog that misbehaves, an athlete making wrong choices during a sporting event or sometimes even more frustrating of a child that just won't listen and needs...discipline.

Throughout 2009, I spoke of many different ways to utilize tools and third-party programs to enhance your web based strategy, and I spoke in many ways how Fusework Studios is a great Indianapolis web development company that can help touch all facets of an effective strategy. In 2010, I want to focus on things that are a little more intangible.

By now, most of you know about the tangible objects that go into a web based strategy such as business blogging, web development, website design, social media communities, search engine optimization and an email marketing strategy. When used correctly, all of these tools work, but there are things that are never seen that go into a successful strategy.

Discipline is accepting a challenge and having the fortitude to see it through. When embarking on a new marketing strategy, whether it's television, radio, print or the web, you will never know the true extent of its results until you see it through.

What are ways you can practice discipline in your web based strategy?

• Make a plan. A web based strategy is a plan to achieve a goal. Put it on paper and keep it where you can see it.
• Make a habit. Practice working on your strategy every day until that goal is achieved.
• Do it when you don't want to do it. Some days it feels like too much work to participate in a social media community for your business, but those days are probably the most important to do the work.
• Have a coach. Even professional athletes have a coach to help set goals and achieve them.
• Form a team. Don't try to do this alone. Find skill sets that are needed to accomplish your goals, and find the people with similar discipline and passion to achieve your goals.

Find the intangibles that make your web based strategy great. I certainly hope this can energize you when you embark on 2010.

Need a coach or a team? Contact Fusework Studios today to discuss your goals and ambitions in 2010 and to create a web based strategy to work for your business.

With regards to business blogging and organic search engine optimization, they always say, "Content is King." You need content, content and lots more content to rank high in the search engines. The more pages you have, the better you will probably do.

However, does the quality of the content matter? You want your posts to be well written, interesting, add value and make readers come back for more. But does that matter to the search engines? Not really.

The search engines care much more about who is linking to you, versus the brilliant idea in that blog post you spent three hours revising. Yes, it's a little sad that Google doesn't love your idea and place your blog post at the top of the search results. But as SEO expert Rand Fish pointed out in his recent article, "Great Content Equals Great Rankings, Right? Wrong.," that's how marketing has always worked. The best restaurant is usually the local hole in the wall that no one has heard of, and sometimes the worst eateries are the chain restaurants who advertise and get virtual back links from commercials.

With this in mind, it's probably not a good idea to start writing tons of blog posts with sloppy content and little value. However, keep it in mind when you are stressing for hours over one little blog post. Of course you want your customers to like your corporate blog, but organic search engine optimization should be at the focus. Write more content, have an Internet marketing strategy to get links to your content, and don't worry as much about what you write. You can write blog posts until your nose bleeds, but if no one is linking to them, Google won't care.

There are various tools that you can use to build your own website. This would be a very long post if I tried to list all of them. Indiana website development has taken on many different faces during the economic downturn as individuals and other businesses have taken use of the many content management systems (CMS), social media tools and most likely one of the many Google tools available. There are some good results, but then there are some very bad results.

Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner spoiled us with the notion "If you build it, they will come." There is still a common misconception of Indiana website development that as long as you have a website you will experience a boom in traffic and knowledge of your online brand presence. This is hardly the case. Here are common pieces of a web based strategy that are often overlooked:

• Search Engine Optimization through keywords and content
• Social media community awareness
• Conversion funneling
• Analytical data and marketing decisions based on that data

As we approach 2010, I urge everyone to look at their online brand presence and future plans for website development. Talk with Fusework Studios about your future plans. We can help answer your questions and advise you on some steps to take with your web based strategy.

This is not only huge for organic search engine optimization, but also for your social media optimization. Google just announced a real-time search feature integrated near the top of every Google search results page. It features the latest news from major newspaper websites, popular blogs and even Twitter. If you search for "tigers mistress," you will currently see a link to a news site, a link to Perez Hilton's blog and random Tweets from people talking about the recent Tiger Woods scandal on Twitter.

Imagine if someone searched your company name and found an interesting Tweet near the top of Google from you, and decided to follow you? Getting followers from search engines, pretty cool right? But what if someone mentioned your company name in a negative light on Twitter, and it showed up on the first page of Google?! 

Social media is real folks; you just can't ignore it anymore. Google has also worked out deals with Facebook and MySpace to include public feeds in the real-time search results. If your corporate Internet marketing strategy does not include social media, maybe you should consider working with a social media marketing company. You need to advertise. You need to monitor your brand reputation, and you can make new relationships all at the same time.

Are you spending a lot of money on PPC Marketing? Why not throw a few of those dollars towards a social media marketing optimization plan and get even more search engine results in the top area of Google.

People can now find live information about you on Google. Does this sound scary? Maybe, but should you put your head in the sand and ignore it? No way! Take advantage of this new form of search engine marketing and free social media advertising in the place everyone wants to be - the top of Google!

Fusework Studios recently held an event for a local chapter of Business Networking International (BNI) at our office in Muncie, Indiana.  The event was designed to be an educational session on organic search engine optimization and business blogging.  The attendees were all local business owners and general managers that are typically not involved in the day-to-day management of their organic search engine optimization strategy.  Understanding this, we did not want to go into technical detail with all of the behind-the-scenes elements that search engines are seeking.  Instead, we focused on simple adjustments that can help make a big difference in organic search.  Often times the simple things are easily overlooked, and by pointing these things out, we were able to raise a few eyebrows and spark interest in our services.

The feedback from our session was great, and it was incredible to see the reaction from the attendees when we uncovered some basic things their website had been missing.  I'd like to share just three pointers from the meeting that are often overlooked.

• Domain Name - The value of a great keyword domain name is huge.  Consider registering a domain name that includes keywords for the services you provide and putting a microsite behind that domain name.  We recently employed this strategy with one of our microsites which can be found at InternetMarketingIndianapolis.com.
  
   
• Title Tags - The page title or title tag absolutely cannot be overlooked.  This is a chance to include keywords relevant to the content on that specific page in one of the areas that search engines are looking at as a top priority.  Using the same title tag for every page or only including one word (such as "About") is not going to help.  Take some time when assigning a title to your new page.  We recently changed our title tag on the Fusework Studios TV website and are now ranking very high for Indiana film and video production.   
  
   
• Headings - Pay attention to the headings used at the top of your web pages.  Avoid the standard "Welcome" to our website trap.  Instead, use this heading to include keywords related to your services.  When launching our new Fuseworkstudios.com website, we were able to include Internet marketing within our heading.  This is much better than "Welcome to our new web site."
  
   

Search engine marketing is a huge part of making an internet marketing strategy work for you.  Just like a business, if no one is showing up, it will not matter how great your website is designed.  In the video below, Evereffect President, Jim Brown discusses the importance of search engine marketing and how he got started in the industry.  Jim also briefly touches on a local internet marketing conference in Indianapolis, the Masters of Business Online.

 

"I don't have time to blog for my business." That has to be one of the catch phrases of 2009. Heck, maybe it will make a Rolling Stone Top 50 List. It is probably the most popular reason for business owners or employees to not start a corporate blog.

It's a lame excuse. Every business provides a product or service. The majority of human beings on the planet Earth use the Internet, not the Yellow Pages or Highflyer, to find your product or service. You need to be found on the Internet, and business blogging is one of the easiest ways to improve your search engine optimization. You include keywords in your content, get links to your blog, Google starts to like you and then you increase your search engine ranking (and sometimes get two results for the same keywords).

So how do we find you time for your all important business blogging? I'm going to be honest; sometimes it's hard. You're out of the office for a few days on sales calls or busy with a project, and you really are stressed to find time to blog. We need to change your approach to blogging, so here are a few tips:

1. Set a schedule to blog. Or, if you're not a fan of structure, promise yourself you will write a certain number of blogs every week. We have blogging lunches which helps increase our business blogging. 
    
2. Take notes with blogging ideas. Not a day goes by that don't I come up with some good idea for a blog post, but I don't always write them down. Carry a notepad, use your phone or create a draft blog post with your idea. Just write the title and a sentence or two. Then, come back to turn it into a real blog post. If you know you have ideas ready to develop, it can motivate you to finish them and end up with more frequent blog posts.
    
3. Turn your emails into business blogs. There are those projects, those quotes, those conversations where you spent hours selling why you are the best. You worked hard, it sounded good and hopefully got you the sale. Use that content in a blog post, just copy and paste! Don't feel like blogging? Find an email!
    
4. Blog about another blog post. Giving links to another website with a similar topic can be good for your search engine optimization. Quote a paragraph of theirs and then give a paragraph of your own thoughts. Easy peasy!
    
5. Embed a Youtube video and then comment about it. The video can be from a competitor, a partner or a customer. Add content with keywords, make it interesting, and off you are to the blogging for search races. Yee Haw!
    
6. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). It doesn't have to be a thesis, or brain science, or rocket surgery ... it just has to be interesting and provide some kind of value. Don't sweat over it; maybe your next blog post will be better.
    
7. Blog about employees, corporate events, industry news. The business blogging ideas are endless.

Hopefully, that gives you a few corporate blog ideas and attitudes to help you forget those lame excuses. A blog is kind of like the green beans you wouldn't eat as a kid. It tastes good and has value once you try it. Any Internet marketing strategy is a long term process, but with constant effort and best practices, you can turn business blogging into a return on investment. That's the bottom line, whether mommy wants you to blog or not.

I had the good fortune this week to attend the 2009 Masters of Business Online conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. This event is hosted by one of our peers in the industry, Evereffect. The President of Evereffect, Jim Brown, did a tremendous job of scheduling outstanding speakers and visionaries from the Indianapolis area to speak. If you haven't attended MBO in the past, make sure to do so next year.

Over the course of the day, I watched a great presentation from the CEO of Brandswag, Kyle Lacy, on the importance of social media. I had the opportunity to hear Jon DiGregory, Founding Partner of Cantaloupe, talk about video production and how it is evolving for the web. Another particularly interesting presentation was from the Founder of Slingshot SEO, Jeremy Dearringer, on how creating inbound links to your site is so important to your search ranking.

While each presentation during the day was about a different area, all of them had one particular theme that stood out time and time again...COMMITMENT.

You see, when you talk about organic search engine optimization, social media marketing or your overall Internet marketing strategy, one thing is always consistent; you need commitment.

I have blogged about this in the past. We have witnessed this over and over again with our clients. The more they commit, the better success they have. We can create the best Internet marketing plan for you, but if you don't commit to it, you will ultimately limit your own success.

If you think about this scenario, it is the same with so many things in life. Take for instance, weight loss. You can hire the best trainer to create a fantastic workout plan for you, however if you don't commit to the program, you will have little chance for success.

Even though each of my fellow Internet marketers had their own stories and products, each of them continually preached about one ever important thing...commitment.

Before you are ready to dive into your next web project make sure you ask yourself one important question.

Are you ready to commit?

Many people want a colorful website with animated graphics, flash logos and other cool features. The Flash technology from Adobe, but created by Macromedia, has been around since 1996 and become very popular over the last ten years. Some website designs use Flash to display an animated logo, a fancy header or banner, and there are still many websites that are designed entirely with Flash. It's pretty easy to tell when a website is using Flash, but it's not so easy to determine if your website should use Flash. Before you use Flash on a website you should ask questions, learn about disadvantages and avoid possible problems.

1. Why Do You Want to Use Flash?
This is probably the most important question. Are you using Flash just to be using Flash, or is there a real need to incorporate multimedia and interactivity with your website design?

2. Search Engine Optimization
Most Flash-based websites have little to zero text on their homepage and other pages. The text is usually displayed with the use of images, so there is no text you can highlight to cut and paste. That means there's also no text for Google and other search engines to read! This is a big deal because in the world of Search Engine Optimization - content is king.

Those are probably the two most important factors, but are you still wondering when it is appropriate to use Flash?

• Do not design a website entirely with Flash. Instead, you should use HTML pages with <div> tags that include search engine optimized content. You can call Flash objects with the swfobject Java script method to confirm if the visitor can view Flash files, which would automatically replace the content in the <div> tag.
• If you must use Flash, make it only a small portion of your website.
• Do not design your website navigation with Flash.
• Avoid using a Flash header because it can be an obstacle for the search engine spiders.
• It is important to test and confirm accessibility is addressed with Flash files in your website design.
• Make sure your website design is focused on content first, and then, you should use Flash to draw attention to that content and conversion.
• The best use of Flash is to display a lot of information that you cannot fit in one small area and for calls to action to get visitors to engage and convert.

Flash works wonders to get attention and keep your visitors on the page. However, remember the main reason to use Flash on a business website is to get visitors to read content, click calls to action and become another conversion in your back pocket. Make sure your Indiana website design company follows these rules when planning your website strategy.