8 Things You Need To Know About Social Networking

social networking tips

Social networking has taken the business world by storm. From Facebook sharing to tweeting to actually attending seminars and meet-ups, the goal has always been to be more visible. Social networking is more than just having a consistent online presence. Offline interaction is as important as online engagement.

Social networking should not in any way be misconstrued as a replacement for face-to-face interaction. It is a marriage of your business’ on and offline persona. Belonging in communities which foster growth for your business is not only a way to let people know that your business is “out there”, it would also serve as your support group, your security blanket for a very unpredictable and often harsh realities of the business industry.…

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What The Panda Google Algorithm Change Means To Small Business Owners

In February 2011, Google made big news on the Internet by publishing an algorithm change for search engine relevancy.  By and large this was designed to punish duplicate content farms that re-purpose the same written content over and over in different forms.

I’ve seen plenty of panicked content online about what this means to e-marketers and website developers, but little in the way of how small business owners can capitalize on the Google algorithm change.

Winners and Losers

There were plenty of losers that aggregate informational content that are now scrambling to learn what has happened and re-strategize ways to defeat the Google changes.  …

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5 Biggest Website Mistakes for Small Businesses And How to Fix Them

5 biggest website mistakes and how to fix themYour website is the front door to your business. It’s imperative potential clients and customers  know where to find you, and once there, have a clear idea what your company does and how it can benefit them.

Implement these simple, inexpensive tips to ensure your website is achieving those goals.

1. Not claiming your Google Place Page

Look up your business in Google Maps and click on your business listing (or “Place Page”). Your business name will be on the left and a map on the right.  In between, at the top of the page, is a link that reads either “Business Owner?”…

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Keeping Your Customers Coming Back For More

Attracting customers is relatively easy, you just need to have a very convincing marketing strategy. The hard part is getting them to come back. If you are running a website (as most of us are), the challenge is to get a steady, if not increasing, number to visit your site everyday.

keeping customers coming back

It is not as easy as it seems, mostly because some people think that there’s no compelling reason to visit your site again. When you check your site statistics, you have a fairly good idea of what attracts your customers but what if you stray a bit from that? Does it mean that you won’t get enough attention?…

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5 Ways To Use Twitter Strategically For Your Business

using twitter for your small businessWhen using social media tools like Twitter to promote your business, it’s important to use them strategically so that you’re not wasting your time.

To take advantage of the below tips, I generally recommend using a 3rd party application such as Seesmic, Hootsuite or Tweetdeck since they offer column based layouts which typically makes it easier to navigate, in addition to features such as scheduling tweets.

1) Use Lists to Keep Track of People That Are Important to Your Mission

If you’re following a lot of people, it can be hard to keep track of who’s who and to make sure you see updates from the people that count.…

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Should Small Businesses Outsource SEO Or Take Care Of It In House?

The questions that plague small businesses seem to never change – only the subjects small business is asking these questions about. Unlike a corporation or large company, resources within a small business are often scarce.   As it is, you likely are doing the jobs 10 or more people would be in charge of in a larger company. SEO may sound like another truffle on your plate that you simply don’t have the stomach for.

“We have a great product, people will find us.”

This is a reaction you want to avoid. The most important aspect of SEO, or search engine optimization, any small business (or large for that matter) must realize is that it is not another “option” in how you market your business, it is a necessity born of a real and fast change in the way consumers search for various goods and services.…

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7 Tools For Measuring Social Media Marketing ROI

tools for measuring social media roiSocial Media is going crazy viral as each day passes. Nowadays, it seems that everybody and their mothers use different social networking sites for a variety of purposes. In a show of entrepreneurial spirit, small businesses everywhere started to get on this marketing technique and follow it with such gusto that every article seems to focus on this strategy.

The measurement of your return of investments is important because it gives you an understanding of how effective a particular marketing campaign is. Sadly, 84% of those using social media do not measure ROI.

There are various tools which you can use to measure social media ROI.…

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Kickstart Your Online Community With Your Offline Customers

Developing a thriving online community is a challenging task for many small businesses. But if you have a business with an offline component – a retail store or physical location, a call center, or any other offline way that you interact with customers and prospects – you can use this to your advantage. Don’t compartmentalize your thinking by trying to build your online community only with people that you reach online.

I suggest focusing efforts at first on bringing your existing (and happy!) customers into the online fold – this can really help build your community, grow your audience and kickstart organic online community growth.…

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Publicity for Publicity’s Sake

Internet marketing can be tough. You would need to have an effective strategy in place depending on what stage your business is in. The competition is fierce as everyone vies to take the top spot on search engine results.

online business publicity

There is a saying that bad publicity is still publicity and this is one line in marketing that reputable businesses should never cross. Take the case of the DecorMyEyes scandal. In a gist, the owner of this online eye wear business uses negative customer reviews to be on the top echelon in Google search.

It is a well-known fact that to be in the coveted top spot on search engines, you would need to have high page rank sites link to your site.…

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Which Hat Is Your Site Wearing? Optimizing Your Website

black or white hat seo techniquesIf you are like most entrepreneurs, you would already have milked different social networking sites for all their worth. And why not? It sure would drive more traffic to your site. The higher traffic percentage your site gets, the higher chances of getting more sales.

There are many search engine optimization strategies which can help increase rankings. A successful internet marketing campaign needs to be well-thought of and well-planned. You should never lose sight of your goal instead; you need to be guided by it.

The article SEO- Are You Missing The Point? suggests that the more optimized your site is, the higher ranking it gets, therefore increasing site traffic and a possible increase in sales.…

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