Reviewing web analytics is perhaps one of the single-most important things you can probably do to have a successful internet marketing and web based strategy. The internet provides you the chance to review your data almost immediately several times a day rather than waiting for reports to come in.
As Fusework Studios shifts its focus to a digital agency primarily focused on a full-service partnership with its clients the need to reinvent its web based strategy became apparent. The web site has served its purpose over the years, but in order to branch into other areas of service for Fusework Studios' clients the web site needs to be changed.
There is more to this than meets the eye; however, Fusework Studios is implementing a full web based strategy with a focus on many different aspects of internet marketing. The web site is not the primary focus nor is it the most important goal for Fusework Studios.
More on Fusework Studios' goal will be revealed throughout the day as the entire staff comes together to implement and develop the web sites that are all a part of its internet marketing strategy. The concept is simple. Fusework Studios is determined to win search for specific keywords to create an edge on search engines with relevant content. All of the sites involved in this package will funnel the traffic to www.fuseworkstudios.com with points of conversions on each site as well.
I am excited to be a part of the team that is taking an agile approach to their internet marketing and web based strategy. I am confident that this will yield excellent results as we measure the analytical data in the near future. Tomorrow be a part of the process and learn more about the experience by following Fusework Studios on these sites:
Fusework Studios on Facebook
Fusework Studios on Twitter
A recent study indicates that 84% of social media programs don't measure ROI. That may spell doom and gloom for businesses that are considering the use of these programs, or it may discourage those that are already using these social medial communities for business and branding. I believe nearly every business can find a way to fit the social media paradigm. It may be difficult for some to find their niche, but I believe there is one for all businesses and individuals. You just need to know where to look.
It's easy to jump into social media marketing. In my opinion it may be too easy. For me it's getting much easier to locate a business or brand in a community and decipher whether or not they have a plan behind their presence. It's not to say that the plan is good or bad, but even a bad strategy is better than no strategy in most cases. At least then you're putting some forethought behind what you're doing.
What are ways to measure ROI from social media?
- First determine how or what you want to measure (conversion forms, traffic, referrals)
- Google Analytics is a great tool to track not only traffic but other metrics of interest
- Include Analytics code in URLs you links to help track what program or campaign referred the traffic along with what they did next
- In online conversion forms include a field such as "How did you hear about us?"
- Measure, adjust and repeat.
Jay-Crew Landscape, Inc. of Muncie, IN is running a promotion until the end of September open to all residents of Indiana within 60 miles of the city. The Green for Green Sweepstakes winner will receive $1,000.00 in Jay-Crew services toward a landscape upgrade!
A local client at Fusework Studios has a monthly contract in which we perform updates to their site, and the Account Manager Derek McClain has done a phenomenal job at thinking strategically on things to improve the site's exposure in the grand scheme of things as well as promote Jay-Crew Landscape as the premiere local landscape company.
This month we wanted to bring awareness as the busy season closes for Jay-Crew. To help promote Fusework Studios is enlisting the assistance of several Fusework employees as well as social media outlets.
- Fusework Studios announces the sweepstakes on Facebook page;
- Fusework Studios employees share the news on Twitter and Facebook;
- Jay-Crew Landscape utilizes email marketing to its existing customers to spread the news;
- Jay-Crew landscape announces the sweepstakes on Facebook page;
- Fusework Studios employees are blogging about it too.
This combined effort has one goal in mind which is to drive targeted individuals to Jay-Crew's site to have them register for an opportunity to win a $1,000 landscape upgrade. What does Jay-Crew get out of it?
- New contacts for potential new business;
- Jay-Crew asks why people feel they need these services which gives them inside information on how they can help them;
- Customer interaction on a digital media level.
I'll be sure to keep you posted as this comes to a close to give you some interesting statistics in our efforts. I am excited to see how social media advertising can help this local landscape company.
I sometimes find myself falling into the trap when devising a perfect blog post that will be an instant success and win me a lot of search of over-thinking what I'm actually writing. A real simple tip: Don't write your post thinking it's the next big thing.
We don't write in our blog and make updates in social media not wanting people to read and keep up with our thoughts and actions during the course of the day. I know I find myself wanting to contribute to the field of internet marketing and social media in a positive light by bringing new updates and thoughts on how to be successful. The problem is I have to remind myself to not go into a post thinking about how I could have a really positive effect on my blog through search and other means. My primary objective needs to remain about the message I'm delivering.
Here it goes: keep your post simple. Deliver your message with authority for your target audience. A well-rounded post with a clear message will result in what you really want which is conversion. In many bloggers' cases, it's all about exposure and interaction with their readers. How do you keep your mind on the message and not get caught up in thinking your post is the next big thing.
I've been amazed at the increase of traffic my blog has been getting lately. I know I have been writing about this more often, but I think there are small steps that I'm taking that is making this happen. If you want to have some success at blogging and your overall social networking presence I think there are lessons to be learned. Last week I touched on 5 simple steps to improve your search engine rank, but today I want to touch on a link strategy which will also bring more attention to your blog or your site if executed properly.
The focal point of any link strategy I believe is to have a central point in which you are driving your traffic. This is important whether your are wishing to attract attention to your blog or your web site. Do not forget, however, that a link strategy and increased traffic does no good unless you have an obvious point of conversion.
A couple of benefits to a sound link strategy:
- Exposure. Well-placed links for your target audience increases your blog or site's exposure to the right people. You don't want to place links to a site that sells children toys on a death metal band's site. I know the idea is far-fetched, but I've seen mismatches of epic proportions such as this.
- Google. Search engines are also included in this, but this is better documented for Google. In short, Google's PageRank Algorithm measures the relevance of a site through the "weight" of links that point to it. The higher ranked the sites that link to your site, the more "weight" those sites have on giving your site "relevance" or "credibility."
All links must focus on one central point. In my case it is my blog. I don't direct to other sites just to direct back to this point. All value comes from direct interaction between domains.
I am finding to give your link strategy the most benefits from execution you must link to one central point. While it may be beneficial to let others know of your other "outposts" it's better to drive the majority of your traffic to your "home." From my blog I link back to my social networks to let my visitors know that my presence is in other places, but I must take the time to have each of the social networks I participate in link back to here because this is where I ultimately want you to be. My conversion here is interaction. If you post a comment then I know you're interacting with me at the level I wish. For your corporate or other site needs it may be to fill out a form, register or buy something. Conversion is where the rubber meets the road.
I don't have a degree in internet marketing. The primary portion of my day-to-day job is not to improve search engine rank. However, in my spare time I have been blogging, and quietly I've been seeing my traffic improve from only a few family members to others that are starting to find me through search and my social networks.
- Include your keywords in your title. This is probably the first and easiest step. Actually put what you want to be found by in the title of your page.
- Include your keywords in your header tags. Many web developers understand what header tags are. I have found the most important tags are <h1> and <h2> tags. These tags not only show that this portion of your content revolves around those keywords, but it also allows search engines to follow an "outline" of your content.
- Use keywords in your internal links. This is often one of the more overlooked strategies, but I have seen great results doing this. You'll notice most blogging software places the title of your post in a <h1> tag and a link. This is no accident. It's Woofer Time! The Anti-Twitter provides your reader and search engines insight on what the page is about and encourages both to investigate. A poor use of creating internal links is to use "click here" rather than the subject of the page in the link.
- Find natural ways to use keywords in your content. Do no overuse your keywords. Use them as you naturally speak to your audience. The main strategy I use is to write the post and go back and find ways I can include the keywords without trying to sound forced. If it sounds "forced" then it's probably not the right place to use them. If you can find a way to use your keywords toward the beginning of your content you may be in better shape. It is also recommended to make your keywords bold.
- Write for your target audience. This is perhaps the least technical advice I could probably give. You have to try to understand what your audience is looking for. It's better to pick an audience for your post and make it known to that audience rather than trying to be something to everyone.
I hope I was able to give some sound advice to those that are interested. By no means do I claim to be the best or have a full grasp of how search engines work, but I do know based on my recent success and experience what has worked for me. I have found these five steps have not only improved my search engine rank, but they have also improved my writing.
I would say no. While you do want maximum exposure you should definitely want a high conversion rate. What's a conversion? A conversion can be as simple as buy now or a contact us, or a more involved point of conversion such as registration for a service or subscription. I'm not going to provide a detailed chart of traffic versus conversion, but I will try to explain my point of view quickly.
In terms of money and investing the main goal is to get a solid ROI (Return On Investment). This means if you spend $10,000 and only get a 20% ROI for the first year you only made $2,000. What this means it will take five years to get all the money you spent back before you really start reaping rewards.
Think about an event on Facebook. Let's say you create an event for a birthday party and send it to your 150 friends on your list. Only about 45 actually respond. That would be a 30% conversion rate. If you had a friends list of 300 and only 45 converted by responding to your event then your conversion rate would be 15%. You still had the same number of responses, but your pool of potentials was much larger and you probably couldn't feel as good about those results as the previous example. I know I wouldn't.
In blogging traffic is great because you have to have traffic to get conversion, but if you have no way of converting that traffic into something that makes your business money then that traffic is much like empty calories. What are some creative ways you can turn blog traffic into conversion?
First of all I love to grab all of my social media news and information from mashable.com. It's an amazing site, and I certainly can grab a lot of useful and interesting information from the site. Today I came across an interesting article titled Woofer: The 1400 Character Anti-Twitter. I use Twitter quite often, but I'm not a major user by any means. I do use it to keep in touch with other professionals in my line of work as well as communicate talking points and other personal needs.
Woofer appears to be the opposite of Twitter in the truest form being that Twitter is microblogging and Woofer is all about macroblogging. Twitter requires you to keep all your posts and updates under 140 characters. They are to be short and quick snippets of information and news that others can follow and use.
Woofer makes it blatantly apparent that they are not or in any way affiliated with Twitter in comical fashion. It's tag line is "when 140 characters isn't nearly enough." They actually require you to write a minimum of 1400 characters before allowing you to post. Talk about exhausting! You can also post your Twitter user name so that you can be recognized on the site. You can get a look at all users who have posted on Woofer as well. I find this whole concept very amusing. It's much like a parody.
This seems to be a front to get you to click through to another site created by the same people, Shuffletime. This site's concept is very interesting and seems to take the best links of the internet and turn them into game cards to play. I will likely look into this more into detail, but for now woof your life away.
I've heard this statement several times. I am sad to say that I'm guilty of saying this myself. Recently I heard my wife say "it" too. Until I started really dedicating myself to blogging and writing every day I couldn't come back with anything profound.
"Who would care what I have to write about in MY blog?"
Well, I've always tried to pride myself in admitting when I make a mistake or when I'm wrong. This time I was definitely wrong.
If I went by that logic, why would I have already done the following:
I joined those social networks to be able to keep in touch and find out what others are doing. I also joined so that friends, family and coworkers can keep in touch with what is happening to me personally and professionally. So the question now becomes how could I honestly believe that no one would want to read what I write about?
I think the truth is most people are not confident in their writing abilities. I know I have moments where I write something and delete it only to write it again because the way I worded it the second time was so much better when it really was the same. I think it's the fear of the unknown when you don't really know what you're getting yourself into. Another reason is I think that people believe they'll run out of things to write about. It's the dreaded writer's block everyone fears.
There is so much going on in the world and our daily lives I don't know how anyone could claim writer's block when blogging. I can see writer's block when writing a fictional story if you get to a point but don't know where to take the story next. Blogging is about real life. Real life doesn't quit or have "writer's block" when detailing what will happen next.
So if you're unsure of who would want to read about what you're writing in your blog look at the social networks you've joined. Your connections on those networks already are interested in you. By blogging you're not only getting a creative release for what interests you, but you're giving your connections an opportunity to get to know you and how your mind works better too.
