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.
There are many ways to tackle the task of winning organic search. At Fusework Studios, we believe the most affordable and effective way to increase your search engine optimization (SEO) is through a business blog.
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:
- 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!
- All pages are titled with keyword-friendly phrases, including "The Place to Be in Indy" in every one.
- 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.
- 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.
- They use DIV Tags instead of Tables, which enables Search Engine spiders to crawl the site easier.
- Heading Tags ie, H1, H2, H3, are used appropriately and hierarchically, which will tell search engines what content is most important to index.
- They use the Keyword Metatag on every page and the Description Metatag on the homepage.
- 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!
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.
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."
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?
Search Engine Optimization has become a widely known term and may be mentioned over a few dinner tables in Indianapolis. Search Engine Optimization has become so popular that I am now receiving several emails every week from Search Engine Optimization companies. These are very well written emails with clear calls to action and convincing case studies. Here is one such email marketing example:
"We would like to get your website on first page of Google.
All of our processes use the most ethical "white hat" Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.
Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.
In order for us to respond to your request for information, please include your company’s website address (mandatory) and or phone number."
Email marketing at its finest! In all honesty, I receive this exact same email marketing ploy several times a week. Whenever I hear "first page of Google" or "we will get you on top of Google," it causes me to stop and run the other way. There are so many factors with organic Search Engine Optimization and high search engine ranking that you can
never promise to get a potential client the number one spot on Google, especially if you didn't even bother to ask what the desired keywords are! (That's a tip for all of you SEO spammers out there!)
If your prospective Search Engine Optimization company does not ask a lot of questions and do a lot of research before identifying if the return on investment will be worthwhile, stop and run the other way! There are agencies in Indianapolis with Search Engine Optimization experience and successful SEO case studies to prove their expertise.
My advice: Don't get help from a spammer.
It's that time again, another year when Google is making major changes to their ranking algorithm. What is a ranking algorithm? It's the series of formulas Google uses to determine search engine ranking for your website. Their secret formulas and methods are what decide if your website is ranked number one in Google, or number one hundred. This is really important for the search engine optimization of your website.
Google is calling the update "Google Caffeine," and it will supposedly provide faster search and more accurate results which seem to have a greater reliance on keywords. Domain authority and exact match domain names also seem to have more importance. In addition, Google Caffeine is reported to have a little better understanding of related words and synonyms.
This is the largest search algorithm change from Google since 2006, and it's important to make sure you are ready for the big Google changes. Unfortunately, Google keeps their formulas and special algorithms secret, so there is no magical spell that an Indianapolis Search Engine Optimization firm can use to make Google still like your website. However, there are several tools and preview sites you can use to see the expected results with the new Google.
Here are a few links to check how your site ranks with the new caffeinated search engine results.
Google Caffeine SearchCompare New Google Results vs Old Google Search Engine ResultsIf you need help with Search Engine Optimization in Indianapolis and the Google algorithm changes, feel free to leave a comment or give us a call.
Search Engine Optimization in
Indianapolis can be
tough to find. Not only is it hard to get help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in Indianapolis, but it can be difficult to find agencies who are experienced and have successful SEO track records. In fact, a quick trip to the source code of some of the large Indianapolis website and internet marketing firms, will result in a suprising summary:
Many Indianapolis website agencies do not use Search Engine Optimization on their own websites or their client websites!When I first realized this, it was a pretty big shock to my SEO system. These big time Indianapolis companies are selling expensive websites and internet marketing plans, but they completely ignore one of the most important aspects of a website: Search Engine Optimization!
You can have the nicest looking website in Indianapolis, but without proper Search Engine Optimization there is a chance no one will ever see it! It is important to review keywords and phrases that someone outside of your company would use to search for your product or service. Then research those keywords to determine which receive the most searches and what keyword phrases related to your business you may be missing. After going over a detailed report, it's time to plan your content and meta tags around your chosen keywords. That's just for the inside of your website, we could talk for hours about ways to externally improve your search engine ranking.
People search Google for almost everything these days, so don't forget the importance of ranking high in search engine results. You may have just searched the Internet to find a Search Engine Optimization company in Indianapolis. No more searching to find the best Indianapolis Search Engine Optimization firm, you can get proven and experienced Search Engine Optimization in Indianapolis at
Fusework Studios.
There are many business out there spending thousands and thousands of dollars on pay per click campaigns and Search Engine Optimization. Do these methods work, of course they do. Google wouldn't be worth billions if their pay per click methods didn't work. There are also many search engine optimization companies who do a great job and definitely help with your Website strategy of driving traffic to your site.
I am here to tell you there is another solution. It will take a little more work on your part, but it will cost you significantly less and I believe that it will deliver better results. This magic solution is something that has been around for years. It is the practice of blogging.
I have seen companies hire web consultants, social media agencies, and every other specialty out there and not have the results that a simple blog post can bring. Why do you think I try and blog each and every day. Sure I want to connect with you, the reader. I also want to educate potential customers to the many possibilities of Internet Marketing, but I also want you to find Fusework Studios when you search for Indianapolis Search Engine Marketing.
That is why my team blogs each and every day. You see when you blog you create new fresh content for your Website. Who just happens to love new and fresh content? Yep you guessed it, our good friends at Google.
When most companies launch their new Website is is fantastic. It has fresh content, it looks great and is easy to use, but what happens over time. Employees leave, new products are introduced, but the site never changes. It started out with 15 pages of information for Google to index, but those 15 pages haven't changed for years, so why should the search engines care.
That's where blogging comes in. Every post is a new page for Google to index, it's new fresh content, and it gets rewarded. At Fusework Studios we use an even more advanced strategy that allows each post to become even more effective. Any way you choose to approach it, blogging can dramatically change your search engine placement and success.
Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. You have to make an effort. You have to make time to type a new post; to be creative and to care about your web business strategy. However, if you are willing to take this leap, you can win search at a fraction of the cost of other solutions.
Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Advertising, Blogging, Pay Per Click, Interactive Strategy, Email Marketing, the list can go on and on. These days it seems everyone has a new area of expertise for generating traffic to your site, or your social networks.
While I believe in almost all of these Internet Marketing Strategies, I often wonder when do we talk about your Corporate Internet Marketing, or you Social Media Strategy, why do so many Internet Marketing companies fail to talk about the most important piece to the puzzle, CONVERSION.
Sure I can drive thousands of visitors to your site. I have used Google's pay per click service with great success. I have seen companies drive a 100,000 visitors a month to their site using this service. I worked with one company in particular who would spend over $40,000 per month, just to generate traffic. Believe me, it does work.
However, when I asked this company the percentage of visitors they converted on their marketing objective they had no idea. After further review, we discovered it was less than 1%. I may not be a rocket scientist, but that seems like a waste of money. What about CONVERSION?
I now see all these companies who claim they are a Social Media Agency. I even saw a proposal that promised to increase the number of fans a company had on Facebook, and to increase their Twitter followers. Again, this is not a bad thing, but what about CONVERSION?
You need to have a Web Business Strategy for how you are going to convert your traffic to be customers or clients. You need to give them multiple opportunities to execute your objective, and you need to make it so straightforward your visitors have no doubt what you want them to do on your site.
As you make your plan, think about the typical grocery store. Where do they put all of everyday items like milk, eggs, meat, etc? Yep, you are correct in the back of the store. Do you think they have a strategy behind that. Absolutely. They are trying to convert their business objective, and to get you to purchase, look at, smell, and sample, other items on your way to the things you really need. They are all about CONVERSION.
As you look at this blog post you may notice small buttons, or self promotional ads all over the page. Do you thing that we just put them there for design purposes? Absolutely not, we have an objective in mind. We blog to get you to our site. We want to get you to our site to tell you more about Internet marketing and what we do as a Internet Marketing Agency in Indianapolis Indiana. We hope you find the information helpful and also candidly we want you to talk to us more and ultimately become your trusted business partner.
So before you spend next years advertising budget with Google, take a few moments to think about what you will do when you drive traffic to your site. Google may be great at driving traffic, but what about CONVERSION?
Today and Tomorrow I'm attending the 2009 Blog Indiana conference in downtown Indianapolis. As if there isn't plenty of other people
tweeting, blogging, and facebooking about what they're learning, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents as I'm having a unique experience.
What I'm seeing at Blog Indiana 2009:There's a lot of great social media people here sharing a lot of excellent social media tips and tricks.
1.
@jasonfalls of
Social Media Explorer shared some rules and best practices about social media, but then showed us that there is always an exception to every rule.
2.
@edeckers @indymike from
ProBlogService are doing an excellent job of focusing the discussion on quality writing and metrics based blogging.
3. People are loving
@bradjward's presentation on the long tail of search. And I'm seriously enjoying
@y0mbo's creative note taking of the presentation.4.
@pateast Owner of
Hanapin Marketing shared some great common sense tips on how to earn business through twitter. (Take the conversation offline every once in awhile, start conversations, and if you meet offline always buy, be valuable)
What I'm hearing at Blog Indiana 2009:
There is a fair amount of SEO vs. Social Media competition going on. Why? We use the same tools (blogs) to accomplish a variety of different objectives. As a web consultant and marketer who blogs, and is paid to do search engine optimization as well as social media consulting, I encounter this every day.
So, What can I say? Oftentimes the SEO will focus on the keyword and search value of having a blog, conversely a social media advertising guru may only be thinking of the number of people they can engage with via the blog. Neither party is right 100% of the time as your blogging strategy must always be based upon the goals and business objectives of your web based strategy. If you miss this first and most important point, you're getting started on the wrong foot.
I think everyone would agree, don't blog just for blogging's sake. Blog with purpose and a goal in mind, then let that guide your blogging strategy!
Agreed? What do you think?
Stay tuned for day 2 tomorrow...
CAUTION: Do not embark upon large Internet marketing projects without laying a solid foundation. How do I lay a sound foundation?
Sound Keyword ResearchKeyword Research? What? Doesn't this only apply to Search Engine Optimization?
I know this may stun some of our readers, but whether you're embarking upon a search engine optimization project, a website redesign, a review of your website strategy, or just diving into social media and marketing, having an idea of what words and phrases your target audience will use to find you is paramount.
Think about it. In the traditional marketing world this is like conducting focus group testing. Conduct research to identify how the public will respond to your product, interact with your product, find your product, share your product with others and talk about your product.
So what are the first steps to effective keyword research?
- Find a good marketing firm that lives Search marketing. (Like Fusework)
- Brainstorm terms that you want your product, service or company to be known for
- Identify through which avenues people will learn about your product. (your web site, your blog, social media, print media, word of mouth, email marketing, press releases, etc...)
- Create a rough list.
- Using a keyword research tool (there are many!) refine the list pulling out the keywords that generate the highest level of traffic but have the smallest amount of competition.
- Refine the List
- Repeat steps until you're satisfied
- Incorporate keywords across all relevant media
- Track Results
- Repeat steps 4-9 on a regular basis or until you are satisfied with the results.
So what are some good keyword research tools?
And who are the best search engine optimization firms in Indianapolis? Well I'm partial, so I'll leave that to be decided by you.
I was driving home last Monday from a short vacation in northern Michigan. Do you know how many Cracker Barrel billboards there are between Gaylord and Indianapolis? It's astonishing, nearly too many to count! So, after six hours on the road and after seeing what felt like my 100th Cracker Barrel advertisement, my Internet marketing mind started to wonder. How is Cracker Barrel measuring the success of these billboard campaigns?
Simon Turner, CMO of Cracker Barrel stated in 2007 that... "
Billboards remain Cracker Barrel's primary marketing medium to generate sales and brand awareness among travelers..." This makes sense if they are targeting travelers, it's not a bad strategy. However, I'm more interested in knowing if putting nearly all of your advertising budget into this media is really giving you the results you need? What's your ROI Cracker Barrel? How does this affect the sales in the stores nearest to these billboards?
Although it may sound like, it, I'm not trying to come down hard on the traditional media folks. I'm just asking a question that needs to be asked. Regardless of whether or not you choose to market your company using social media advertising, search engine optimization or any type of web based strategy, you should still be asking yourself: How am I going to measure the effectiveness of my marketing investment before you blindly go purchasing hundreds of billboard advertisements.
I hope that they did some actual testing to determine which locations actually benefit from the billboard signage prior to their exits.
So here's my idea. Take down 10 billboards, and measure the revenue at the stores that are closest to the billboards. Does the location's revenue go up, or down? I bet you'd be surprised. If you're able to identify 10 ineffective billboards nation wide, imagine what you could do with just one month of that money (i.e. $25,000). If it were me I'd invest in the creation of an iPhone and FB app that embodies their Triangle Puzzle game. People who beat the game would then receive a free entree, a free drink, or a reserved seat next to the fireplace. I don't know about you, but that would actually get me to visit the Old Country Store. And the best part of it all, it's much more measureable than a billboard. What do you think?
Indianapolis is a hotbed of Internet marketing activity. Consider the following.
- Exact Target, one of the world's leading email marketing firms is headquartered in downtown Indianapolis.
- Compendium Blogware, business blogging SaaS provider also has it's HQ downtown.
- The Indianapolis Chamber of commerce is leading the way among other chambers by diving into social media through the creation of indylink.com an exclusive niche social community for it's members.
- Niche social media community, Smaller Indiana is a thriving hotbed of Indianapolis based Internet marketing experts.
I say this in response to a question posed to me recently by a client. She said... "Do you think that going with a social media agency, or search engine optimization firm on the east/west coast would be a wise choice?"
My response: Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to hire a New York, Boston, LA or Seattle based marketing house to see solid Internet marketing results. Don't go with a firm just because they have an address on the coast. Sure, there are a lot of great thought leaders who have made the NYC or the Emerald City their HQ, but the vast majority of firms are on exactly the same footing as the rest of us.
They have access to the same information and tools that the internet marketers in Indianapolis do. When you're searching for an Internet marketing agency, social media marketing company, or search engine optimization firm, hire based upon a solid history of results and excellent client service.
I have only been with Fusework Studios for a couple months, but already attended many meetings with corporate clients to discuss Indianapolis Internet marketing and search engine optimization. When consulting about website strategy and suggesting the addition of a news feed or RSS feed, I am constantly surprised at the response. Over half of the people that I meet with do not know what a RSS feed is! That’s completely understandable, but kind of funny to the geek in me who can’t remember when he first started using RSS feeds. Here we go with the super simple explanation.
If you are on a website and click on the RSS feed button (subscribe button) you will be updated every time there is a new article or post on the website. You can view your RSS subscriptions on your Google, MSN or Yahoo homepage, or in Microsoft Outlook, or with numerous RSS programs.
Imagine visiting the grocery store 15 times a week to get each of your favorite 15 magazines or newspapers. You could just sign up for a subscription and have the news delivered to you. No more wasted time going to the store to get the news you are interested in.
Instead of having to visit your 15 favorite websites several times a day, you can just read your RSS subscriptions to see what news is interesting to you. The RSS feed readers like Google Reader and the MSN.com feed reader typically only show the title of the news article or blog post to make it easier for you to wade through all the news.
This is a good example of why you should give extra attention to the titles of your website pages or blog posts, and the opening sentence or two, so RSS subscribers will be interested and visit your website. If you still don’t completely understand RSS feeds, please let me know, but I will follow up with tips on how to easily subscribe and deliver news on the Internet. Most importantly, what do RSS feeds do for your business and Internet marketing strategy?
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